Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “Oh, that Lizo,” I hear you say, “She never does any work on testgame anymore.  Why would I bother reading this month’s article and downloading the newest version of the game?”  We-e-ell, let me tell you something.  You just take a good look at the list at the bottom of the page, mister/missy, and be ye astounded.  That’s right: Plenty work has been done this month.  It’s rather exciting, if I do say so myself.

Of particular note is the newly implemented plot advancement within the castle.  The game is inching closer and closer toward being halfway done (as far as playable elements and story are concerned—there’s no way we’re anywhere near halfway done in terms of artwork).  I know you are all burning with questions about things that have happened in the game most recently.  Who exactly is that annoying black-clad boy in the castle?  What does the slingshot have to do with anything?  How the heck is Paul ever going to get Lily to take him where he needs to go?  (Not in that way, jeez.)  Well, as of this month, all of these questions are answered in the game.  Of course, you can’t actually do anything about it yet, but you can sure find out lots of stuff by talking to people! 

In general, there are three big new chunks of dialogue with three important people (important in terms of this section of the game, anyway).  It took a bit of time for me to plan out how exactly all of this dialogue and information would be linked together, and I think it works out pretty well.  It’s entirely possible, however, that some bugs and/or inconsistencies exist.  I really don’t think there are any, but hey, you never know. 

To anyone who plays this month’s update: Please let me know if you find anything in the game that doesn’t work and/or doesn’t make sense.  You do realize that you’re essentially my beta tester, right?  Yes, you; don’t look at me like that.  I expect you to report any problems in the game to me.  You scratch my back, I scratch yours, yes?  What’s that you say?  What exactly am I doing for you in return?  Don’t be daft—I’m making a point-and-click adventure game for you to play, aren’t I?  Not many of those around nowadays, I can tell you that much.  Right, I thought so. 

Well, now that’s settled, it’s back to business.  Check out the game.

TestGame v. 25

(no extra programs needed to run this file)

Things to do/new features of note: 

·        Tons of new plot stuff.  And I really mean tons.  Paul can now get to the point where he knows exactly what he has to do in this section of the game in order to advance.  Yay overarching puzzles!

·        Paul can now talk to/interact with the captain of the guard in the castle.

·        New dialogue options with the sulky boy (a.k.a. Hans).

·        New dialogue options with Lily.

·        Paul now talks to Lily automatically as soon as he enters the castle courtyard.  This makes much more sense to me than him wandering around and not even acknowledging that he’d found her again, since that’s what he’d been trying to do up until this point.

·        More background work in the castle foyer.

·        There’s now some semblance of a crowd in the castle courtyard.  Sort of.  There will be more later.

All the graphics and design are by Lizo. The dialogue was written by Lizo, with significant input by Paul. The background music is by Lizo. "Let's Go Skateboard" is written and performed by The Word Problems.  Adventure Game Studio (the program used to create this game) can be downloaded at http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

-- Elizabeth "Lizo" Medina-Gray {06-2007}

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