I bet you’re all here to check up on your favorite monthly article about the production of a little point-and-click adventure game we like to call “testgame.”  Either that, or you just stumbled in here.  Well, in any case, I’m here to bid you welcome.  I’ve got some interesting stuff for you this month, not the least of which is some significant story advancement/puzzle completion.  So let’s take a look, shall we?

As I promised in last month’s article, this month brings the completion of the major puzzles in the current quarter of the game.  For those of you who have played the game already, this means that, as of this month, you will be able to finish absolutely everything having to do with Amazing Anthony (and his petition) as well as the Guard Captain (and his hand).  What does that leave for this part of the game?  Not a whole heck of a lot.  As far as the plot goes, we’ve got some loose ends to tie up with Hans and Lily, and then it’s off to visit Herkimer and the next part of the game!

Of course, there’s still a lot of other things that need to be done—I’m thinking specifically about graphics and animation, and some holes that need to be filled in—both in this and the first part of the game, but that’s besides the point.  Before you know it, you’ll be able to find out why Paul was brought into this strange world in the first place, and what Lily and Herkimer know that he doesn’t.  Oh man, that could actually be in just a few more months.  My pace is slow, but it’s more or less existent!

On a more specific note, this month’s work on testgame was interesting and involved programming things that I’ve never had to do before.  While I was working on the scene for the completion of the Amazing Anthony/Guard Captain puzzle, I learned such important rules as: “Don’t try to move Paul to a new room and then continue to write more code in the same function, because the game will not move him to the new room when you actually tell it to, and it will become confused and crash and you will be very sad.”  However, I managed to get around this by breaking the scene up into smaller packages and placing them into the various rooms.  If you get to this part, you’ll see what I mean.

Also, I am slowly realizing that I may have made parts of the script more convoluted than they should be.  I have about a million integers floating around, for example, and I’m sure some of them have exactly the same purpose as others.  But at this point, I’ve forgotten what exactly does what in the game, and since everything’s working right now, I don’t see any reason to go back and tidy up (as it’s very likely that I might kill something).

Well, that’s about all I have to say about this month’s update.  Go ahead and check it out, and let me know if you find anything that’s horribly wrong.  I think there’s some fun stuff in there. :)

(And play from the included save file if you want to skip over the first part of the game, in which there has been no updates this month.)

TestGame v. 34

(no extra programs needed to run this file)

Things to do/new features of note:  

·        Ability to finish the puzzle with the Guard Captain completely.  This involves using one final item, so go do it!  There are a few variations in this depending on where you are in the petition puzzle at the time.

·        You can now watch Amazing Anthony’s new and improved show.  Give him the signed petition, then be sure you’re in the castle courtyard screen when five minutes have passed.

·        Also!  The much-anticipated completion of the Amazing Anthony/Guard Captain puzzle!  After you give the signed petition to Amazing Anthony, go talk to the Guard Captain (or, give him the final item to complete his puzzle—this will also get you there).

·        New interaction with the Guard Captain and the petition if you use it with him after completing his puzzle.

·        New item!  Oh yes!  (Hint: it’s the slingshot!)

·        The hand item icons have been tweaked a little, just so that they look significantly different from the hand (“interact”) action icon and I don’t get confused as often.

·        Background work: castle hallway.

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 {03-2008}

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