Goodnight

1. Medli (TWW:HD artwork plz) 2. Bonk 3. Faith Connors

I came here just to post about that. Unfortunately most of the songs are still mono, shucks, I was hoping to make a CD with them, but they sound noticeably better nonetheless so thank you. Also the game itself has been updated to 1.2 with some major bugs fixed, including the screen_gamma errors that were crashing some people at the Sector 4 you-know-what, and lag-detection at the final boss which reduces the polygon count. That Mr. Remar is pretty spiffy.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. That game pushed the limits of what could be done with MIDI sound and 320x240x256 graphics, had a film-quality score and story, and having 3 paths and some randomisation didn't hurt the replay. I play through it about once a year, or rather three times, usually doing each path in succession. King's Quest 5 and 6 to a lesser extent. As an NES kid it was TMNT 2 and 3. With 2 I got to the point of beating Shredder in a matter of seconds.

Sounds a wee bit interpretive to me, new string chords, some different harmonies, stretching out the original's solo guitar to half-time; I'd call it a remix, and a mighty fine WIP. Nice quads and quints with the drums. I like how the change in drum types is made inconspicuous, and I was about to say I'd prefer it if they changed back and forth a couple times for different segments, but played it again and realised you already did that. Who needs ebb and flow. I'd only expect more of that if it were the full version of the song being remixed. Obviously needs some polishing and a proper ending (and a touch less attack at the start wouldn't hurt) but I'm not experienced enough to make suggestions for those.

I just want to thank everyone not only for their input but for giving the game a good play-through or two. It may be fairly short for a modern game, but taking at least a few hours for the first time through is a commitment I'm sure that the author will appreciate. I've played through many demos over the years yet still haven't sat down to conquer the full game. Yeah, wall-jumping would be pretty sweet, if it were implemented well (no consecutive wall-jumps, good horizontal velocity) and levels were designed to make use of it, and not allow for unintended shortcuts. That's my inner developer talking. But so many times during the game I've wanted to spring off a wall to reach an area that I couldn't figure out. The Shredders (hover bikes) can't jump on their own but they do launch a fair distance off of ramps. That's actually how you can reach some powerful weaponry early on. Personally I just love mowing down the Scouts with them. Cecilff2: I agree about switching weapons, but it's probably done that way to prevent abuse by quickly switching between them while shooting. A ReMix already. Holy smokes.

Are you talking about the switch near the end? If so, it's a known issue that deals with some graphics cards not liking the screen gamma technique used to simulate an alarm light. There is supposedly a patch on the way that gives the option to remove this effect. Sorry to hear about the problems - Sector 4 and beyond get pretty sweet. [edit] There was an updated released just today (Sept. 13) but unfortunately it doesn't fix that problem. He recognises that it is a serious bug and plans to fix it soon.

So true... and the funny thing is, those who make quality GM games usually have the programming (and logic) skill to work with real languages but prefer Game Maker for convenient functions and object-orientation. One of my own GM games, Duck Doom, was featured on G4 in a 2-minute segment. If I didn't have the skill or take the time to study Duck Hunt closely and replicate it perfectly, it would have gotten the "Nice idea, failed execution" treatment and never would have been shown on national TV. After the designing, GM simply made it easy to put the whole thing together. Yep, the trailer song is in the game. Not much else would "legitimise" the game like having its music remixed, but honestly I can't imagine hearing those notes in any other type of song, except maybe a soft bedtime ballad. But maybe you have some spiffier ideas.

That's a bold statement in so many ways. Iji is the enema to such shovelware as far attention to detail and the many improvements made through playtesting (it even takes colourblind players into account), but IMHO a real critic would strike it for being "too linear" and needing an editor for some of the dialogue, but meh. Fine compliment. It was only Thursday night ...? Cool... it gets a lot more exciting after the first 3. Sector 4 introduces Shredders, Sector 5 begins with major chaos, and Sector 6 has an immersive backstory section and a hidden mini-game. The Sector 7 boss Proxima is a real treat, visually and battle-wise. Quasi-spoilers: Sector 7 has you board a Komato spaceship, and the final boss is entirely vector-animated in realtime, takes up almost the whole screen, and bombards you with a ton of attacks at once. We're discussing producing an OCR-style torrent album with all the high-quality versions plus a few tracks that didn't make the final cut. Stay tuned for that. Haha Jill... that was one Epic, Mega, Game. I guess the Iji character is... somewhat Jill-like. Thanks for all the positive feedback so far, y'all. Feel free to make mention of anything you think could have been improved, since the author is studying game design and is really keen on constructive criticism. Even though the game is basically final, except for bug-patching, suggestions would be cool as well, as long as you know they won't be included at this point.

^^ Said it all. I just bought No More Heroes. It's one of those games that you can't judge by the mediocre scores; it's basically fantastic but has a bunch of glaring flaws that lower review scores.

Yeah, Out of this World was one of the main inspirations for the graphical style. As far as gameplay, there's a lot of System Shock 2 in there. MS Paint? Heh, I guess it does look like that by the screenshots. But if you see it in motion (there's a trailer on YouTube) you'll see the animation and special effects are pretty slick. The characters are actually pre-rendered 3D models.

Hay OCR, I'm doing a little campaigning to spread the word of a fantastic PC game that a friend of mine has recently released. It is called IJI by Remar Games, an action/adventure/platformer made with the Game Maker 5.3 software. You can find thousands of crap or so-so games on the GM website but this is the real deal; the lone developer (who has won several awards and contests for previous games and studies game design at university) spent over four years doing all the graphics from scratch in somewhat of a 16-bit, flat-shaded style, all the gameplay, story, and level design, plus the programming and sounds, all by himself with the help of a few voice actors and musicians. Screenshots? Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Iji, the titular character, is an average teenaged girl who is one of few survivors of a sudden planetary strike on Earth by an alien race called the Tasen. While recovering, scientists believing she has the most potential to end the threat outfit her with nanotechnology that they studied from the Tasen. The unwilling heroine has to overcome her emotions and confront the Tasen leader, but soon learns of a much greater battle. While combat is a bare-bones shoot/kick/duck affair at first, Iji's can upgrade her physical statistics along the way, such as strength, health, jumping, hacking, ability to assimilate alien nanotechnology into her own protective armour, and ability to use alien weaponry. There are 16 weapons to acquire and each one has its own advantages in certain situations. Toss in some highly-detailed boss fights, tons of secrets, extensive dialogue that can change according to your actions, and Mega Man X2 like hover-bikes, and you've got an overall fantastic game. If you want to head straight to the download page, go here: http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php In addition, I've written a Promotional Preview for Iji that describes in much better detail some of the game's aspects, from its choice of graphical style, to its attention to detail, to its many alternate routes and its storyline. The purpose of this Preview is not only to drum up some interest in the game, but also to address, from a tester and fellow game developer's point of view, some of what the author considered to be risks in releasing the game to today's marketplace, such as the obviously-outdated (albeit detailed) graphics, certain restricting gameplay choices, and more. As well there's some insight into the game's story, which although is a full creative work, seems to have garnered a reputation for being "pretentious" even though it's not meant to take itself seriously, yet at the same time can be immersive, a bit emotional, and quite humourous. My Promotional Preview can be read here: http://noproblo.dayjo.org/ijipreview.html I hope you guys and gals enjoy the game, and spread the word if you do. Both positive and negative comments will be compiled for the author, but if you feel the need to express some serious issues with Iji, it would be preferable to contact the author directly - I only suggest this because I've watched discussions of certain game aspects go back and forth between people who had no clue what they were saying except for their own assumptions. You know how the internet goes. Alas, have at it!

Whew, well that was my first WIP topic ever ever so it's a relief that I wasn't told it sucks. =P The track was originally started as a nightly, spiritual sort of overworld piece, but I noticed that groove developing and made it into its own song. I'm thinking about restarting it with some tense take on the Final Hours music, building to a crashing climax, then going into the present track.. I guess to represent its title, "The Next Day". Then the present track could have some Final Hours inter-weaved somehow into what's already there.. But some tips or suggestions would be great. Thanks; 0:33 is The Sun's Song 1:02 - 1:15 is an arrangement of the classic Zelda theme And I think the final two chords are the perfect time to add some Zelda 1 dungeon bass.

Click What I've got here is a mostly-original short tune with traces of some Zelda themes in it. I'm hoping to turn it into a Majora's Mask remix by adding to the beginning, something in the vein of the "Final Hours" music that would blend nicely into what's already here. Any ideas on how to go about that would be fantastic. Perhaps there's too much original for it to ever qualify it as a remix. If it's doomed to be a fanmix then so be it. Also this is merely a Wingroove rip with minor tweaks to some tracks.. most of it sounds OK to me, but aside from the pizzicato strings which are obviously bad, any tips for other instruments would be appreciated too.

Transcribing is pretty much what I do with most of the hundred or so MIDI songs I've posted to VGMusic, as well as a few "real" songs. I've learned so many musical techniques that way and I'd never be the decently-skilled composer I am now without all that transcribing. Right now I'm trying to do the Majora's Mask "Calling the Four Giants" theme. It's got so many vox layers forming beautiful stereo chords that it's a real challenge for me.

World's Smallest Tetris Coding and MUSIC by me, have at it!

Where's Waldo?

Everybody's covered the good ideas, so here are two from Mario Paint: LT: No animated GIFs (plus the pic is lame anyway), but give yourself a hand, cuz we'll be using that.