Fall 2009 Design Contest

[olivier_leroux]

Originally Posted by nologgie I know, if I'd made one of my own, I could have played them all by now... Instead, I'm still looking forward to the public release.

I know I should update some things before the public release, at least get the credits list right, for all the cool sounds I made use of. But I don't really got the time and nerve right now.

I don't make the rules, but personally, I wouldn't mind if nologgie or anyone else secretly got access to the contest versions.

[nologgie]

Thanks for the vote of lenience! Still, I need to get back to work on the (FRUA) Hub dungeon.

I told myself to keep it simple, but after viewing Kaz-Keith's wall art, there are a few things I want to try. Now that I remember (a) what a pain walls are, and (b) what a marginal artist I am, it's too late. I struggle on with the bloody-minded determination of a Vogon Civil Servant. (Which is to say, I keep at it when I can't find something to distract me, but I remain wrapped around the axle, refusing to let go.)

In truth, by cannibalizing previous designs, I'm much further ahead than I expected to be. I'm also trying to save space by using the expanded dungeons, and the no do-only-once event limitation is even more tricky since I'm minimizing my use of quests and items.

When I'm done with this beastie, I'll be ready to experience the vast resources of DC!

How many pix?
How many variables?
How many events?
How large can my overland map be?

OH YEAH!!!

[Uatu]

I vote for lenience as well (...being the recipient of lenience myself, mind you...)

I do think that folks out there like Olivier and Budzo are much further ahead that I am by refraining to do much art and just working with the engine - I do have much to learn about the engine, as I have admittedly done much more art than actually work with DC

(In a way, being that I had a lot of art to do before I could do much work on my mod, I sort of resigned myself to just doing art, and then got used to that status )

Anyway, still clunking away at it...

[nologgie]

Since I've never managed to complete and release a module, I will certainly not criticize you for tardiness! One design I cannibalized artwork from today was for a 2008 contest. The other two were even older. The only ones I've actually abandoned (in my mind) were those lost to hard disk crashes, and I've incorporated elements of them into the newer ones.

[Uatu]

Well, I suspect that most of us have started more modules than we have finished (I started a bunch of RPG Tsukuuru 2000 games a long time ago as well, one of which died due to hard disk crash, including lots of custom art But I have moved onto better engines like DC now )

My problem is that I only have vague ideas for mods in general, for which I make art for, but then the vague ideas change (I do want to incorporate all things that sort of fell to the side in a future mod, it would be a waste otherwise!)

[nologgie]

One of my problems is that I have very clear ideas on what I want to do, but can't get the game engine to do it in a way that satisfies me. Another is that I get tied up with details, and run out of available events long before I complete what I thought was a small section. Having to break down dungeons into smaller sections, rewrite all the events, and set up the transfers between goes slower for me than the initial build. Plus, I'm more likely to take a l-o-o-o-o-ng break in the middle, and forget everything I was doing.

[Dinonykos]

The reason why we did not make the designs public from the beginning was that all of us should have their respective contribution reviewed by the other contestants, und thus also have a chance of improving the design. Of course, nobody is forced to hide his design from others (I, e.g., send mine to some friends, i.e. those who I would like to have as voice actors for a final version).

[Dinonykos]

Originally Posted by Uatu I would like to record my own sound effects now

I recorded some voice acting for DC during the weekend, and it was a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by Uatu I would add that Olivier's design made very good use of sound effects! (I had the opportunity to play with sound, and it was quite nice!)

Indeed! That's one of the strongest points of this design. I'd even say that sounds are more important for the atmosphere than graphics... Of course, you can play without sounds, while graphics are necessary in any case for typical FRUA/DC adventures. Still, good sound effects and music can more than make up for sparse graphics.

I am still a little skeptic using sounds from other games, though, especially when it comes to music and complex sound effects (I think this was also discussed at the FRUA forum earlier).
It should be okay as long as you do not make profit with your design. However, I plan to completely use free/own sound effects for my designs in the long run.

[olivier_leroux]

Originally Posted by Uatu I do think that folks out there like Olivier and Budzo are much further ahead that I am by refraining to do much art and just working with the engine - I do have much to learn about the engine, as I have admittedly done much more art than actually work with DC

Frankly, I don't know a lot about DC, but I've played around with FRUA for years and years, so I guess I've got a headstart in that regard.

Originally Posted by Uatu Well, I suspect that most of us have started more modules than we have finished [...] My problem is that I only have vague ideas for mods in general, for which I make art for, but then the vague ideas change (I do want to incorporate all things that sort of fell to the side in a future mod, it would be a waste otherwise!)

I don't consider any of my mods actually finished, but at least I managed to release two half ones for FRUA and one quarter of a mod for DC. That makes it about a fifth (or even less) of all the designs I've started - although most of the time this "start" only consisted of assembling vague ideas and graphics I liked, so I can relate to what you're saying. Even though I don't often create art myself, it's still a lot of work to choose, convert, modify and apply other people's art until I'm satisfied. Usually I'm never really satisfied; as soon as I start being content with the graphics I start getting doubts about the lame plot ideas and in the end discard them....

Actually "The Lesson" is a good example of that. It was fun to put it together, I even had more sounds and ideas for areas than I actually used, but now that the fun part is over, I'm not really inclined to continue the "story". Heh.

Originally Posted by Dinonykos Indeed! That's one of the strongest points of this design. I'd even say that sounds are more important for the atmosphere than graphics... Of course, you can play without sounds, while graphics are necessary in any case for typical FRUA/DC adventures. Still, good sound effects and music can more than make up for sparse graphics. I am still a little skeptic using sounds from other games, though, especially when it comes to music and complex sound effects (I think this was also discussed at the FRUA forum earlier). It should be okay as long as you do not make profit with your design. However, I plan to completely use free/own sound effects for my designs in the long run.

For me, working with sound was the greatest attraction in doing a DC mod because that's an area where FRUA is very limited. I put great store in graphics but I'm also very keen on sound and music.

Almost all of the sounds I used I got from freesound.org which is community for sharing sounds, the FRUA or DC of sound designers. The sounds are free and legal to use as long as you give the authors credit. I was very grateful for it.

[manikus]

Hello, my name is manikus. I've heard of htis DC thing, can someone help me out with it?

I thought I'd poke my nose into this discussion.

I haven't read any reviews yet, I think only Dinonykos has made them available? I have notes that I made while playing all of them, but damned if I know where they are...I'm now on a much more limited internet connection (to be read I must walk to the library to have one) and since I use two computers, the notes are likely hiding somewhere on teh other one.

I'm all for making these things public...I just opened up the Fall 2009 design contest Yahoo group to anyone who wants to join and will post that link here and in the FRUA community forums.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/...l2009_Contest/

My design is available (until I update and upload to the Yahoo group) at:
http://one.xthost.info/elminster/Academy_DEMO.rar The password is Fall2009.

nologgie come to the dark side where you have access to millions of events per level, with level size up to 100x100 and the largest overland I've testd is 4800x2400 pixels (or something ridiculous like that).

Yeah, so I'll look for those notes...I probably will just sent the notes, as I don't really feel like writing a review at the moment.