If I ever made a game in a day it would be a Sims like game that took place in Rome

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Awesome! I'm very much looking forward to this after Anodyne.

It'll be great and insightful to look back on these early posts after the game is finished.

working on a new game with jon.

Awesome, are we going to see a devlog for that too? If so, when?  

Just so you know, your updates are all very useful for devs, thanks for letting us know about the behind-the-scenes.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/06/can-art-be-games-avant-garde/

dude! gz 

Thanks!

I haven't even read that yet, I can't bring myself to do it, I get nervous.

So what happened was I contacted the guy who does "Live Free, Play Hard" on RPS to suggest the game for that series, and I thought it might be featured with about 5 other games, but I never expected a dedicated blog post.

It's cool but I'm in shock.

snip

Thanks for the feedback, those are all relevant points. Thanks for playing!

The game is free? Wow..
Such quality work for free, that's crazy

You should try selling school licenses though!

The game isn't very good. I don't think anyone should buy it.

But you can still play it here: http://playavantgarde.com/ (reposting the link for the new page)

Would an aspiring artist not too interested in the game part get enjoyment out of seeing this play out the way it's laid out or is this about hardcore micro management or something? Just curious, doesn't seem like it's a game for me but it could make for a nice gift for a friend.

Maybe, I don't know. The game is free.

I only played for a short while but it seemed pretty much just stat management. It's only the alpha though so hopefully that might change - would be cool if the history of the age was entwined, such as witnessing the birth of famous art pieces.

You're right. There are a few historical events and they allow you to paint in new styles.

The first alpha is out!



Play it here: http://playavantgarde.com/

There is way too much stuff to do still, but I thought people might want to play with it. My deadline is today anyway.

I hate to be repetitive, but congrats on getting greenlit. I just had to say it too.

New image for paintings in Avant-Garde. The back of a canvas is a recurring representation of an unknown painting (see the background!). Also added icons for Salon results (R for refused and medals):

A button that gives you reference for the background paintings and when you click it searches it on wikipedia:


A lot of historical artistic movements added:

This is a big gif. It's the (completely made up) dialogue in the 1863 Salon de Paris, showing how the Salon des Refusés came to be. A bit on the comedy side.



Known bugs: there's one instance where "Player" isn't being replaced with the actual player name.

Thanks guys!

I've been working on movement creation:

["Alpha v1: Courbet"]

Thanks for the reply, Gimym, it's very insightful. I agree with you more than you think.

I have added the game to IndieDB:


There's a news post there with the newest screenshots.

Also, I have a release date for the first alpha version: March 1st. I don't know how much will be finished by then, but however finished the game is, it will be playable then at the game's site.

The reason for a March 1st release is that it's the deadline for my master's project - the reason this game exists. Unfortunately the game won't be 100% finished as I would like it to be by then, but a playable alpha will be. The game will lack a few features, but may lack a lot of content, especially dialogues and storylines.

These dialogues and storylines will be released after March 1st in updates, as I am able to finish them. The idea is to release content by artist: the first alpha, playable on March 1st, will be "Alpha v1: Courbet", in which Gustave Courbet's dialogues and storyline should be mostly done. Other storylines will be missing, but next updates such as "Alpha v2: Manet" or "Alpha v3: Bouguereau" will add more storylines related to those artists to the game.

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm keeping that logo for now, but I'll create something better if I have the time. Problem is, there's not much of it.

I updated the site a bit, if you want to check that out.

wall of text

Ah yes, this is why I like this game. It's controversial, it stirs passions. I love that you are passionate about this subject, enough to write that huge text, but you know what? So am I.

Modernism has many characteristics, and only one of them isn't enough to define it - you need all of them. But there is something at the core, something that shapes the rest: destruction. The guy you mentioned, Picasso, is the one who said modernism is a sum of destructions. By the way, Picasso was a decent realist painter, either at the age of 14 or when older, but he was hardly the best.

The question is: destruction of what? Of laws, rules, conventions, and of the fundamentals of art. I am not trying to portray modernism as a series of steps towards progress. The game shows modernism from the point of view of the fundamentals: as a series of destructions and rejections.

In the game, you witness each destruction adding up. First: form. In Impressionism, it's all about the image in the retina: a flat projection. Color is more important than form, and while form isn't destroyed yet, it is made irrelevant. The destructions go on until every single fundamental of art is gone, even the last one: expression, killed by abstract paintings that say nothing.

My portrayal of modernism is daring, controversial and full of problems. Is it avant-garde? Is it conservative? I don't know, but it's what I feel is important.

The role of photography in the destruction of realism will also be included in the game.

Thanks very much for your post, it really helps me make the game. Sorry if I seem confrontational, but trust that I'm always soaking in your suggestions.

[what about the role of critics]

Very smooth looking UI. Nice!

Thanks! Since the game is so much about interacting with the UI, I've tried to make it nice and readable.

I post here for subscribing further advancement great idea!

However I'm not too comfortable with certain (typical) implicit assumption made about the creation process and the birth of those trend.

And what about the role of critics which to me seems essential, for example, "les demoiselles d'avignon" had stay hidden in a cave for a decade as picasso and his friends circle they didn't think it was worthy attention for the public, it was an experimentation a rivalry between matisse and picasso (yo mamma!). It was André Breton and André Salmon with Jacques Doucet who have brought it to the public (none are painter). I know this example is loosely outside of your time period but that's also a well known case.

You raise good points. Though I am not sure what you are referring to with "implicit assumption", if you could be more specific I would be able to improve that aspect.

I would love to add everyone to the mix: critics, models, artists, buyers, dealers... There are many people involved in the art business, and if I have time they will all be included. But my focus with the game is on artists, so my efforts go to them first. I think critics could be included in random events when a painting is finished or almost finished, and they could either decrease or increase its value. Thanks for the suggestion.

I've been working on logos to help me spread the word about the game with pretty images, and this is the latest version:

You can see other attempts at logos here and here.

I just set up a site as well, though it has nothing yet:
playavantgarde.com

The rain is a nice touch, but I didn't notice the man to the right before, he looks like a giant now that he's on the background parallax layer..

Also, you could totally move the entire sign post a bit towards the viewer, that way the signs will be larger.

You really nailed the mood for the café and that song is awesome!
I never thought I'd get this excited over a game like this, but the mood and immersion is superb!

Yeah, I spotted the man on the right as well, he can make things look weird. I think he can have his own layer if I have time to do that.

Larger signs sounds nice, I'll see how that looks.

Thanks!

ooh, glad there is still progress I like the song and that painting.

Nice, thanks a lot!

The rain is a nice idea but looks odd when the foreground layer is in focus. And there's still something that bugs my eyes when I mouse over the signs, it almost looks like they're still moving but I know they're not :s

Hm, yeah. I think I'll just try to make that menu work, I think its uniqueness compensates for it not being so practical, I don't think going back to a standard menu would be better, even though that one isn't perfect. There's still the main menu and the game's logo - I've made some progress with those today but don't have enough to show yet.

I like everything you're doing here and I'm really excited to play the game. The only thing which jarred a little is that last painting of the cafe. It's absolutely beautiful and captures the mood well but judging from the outfits it's from a later period than the rest of the game, which seems firmly rooted in the 19th century. Or perhaps you're going to extend the timeframe into the early 20th? That would be cool too.

(PS - is the gladiator game on hold for now?)

The painting is indeed of the early 20th century, you're right. The game goes on to 1914, and, since the café exists throughout all that time, I think I'll bend time a bit and use that early 20th century painting even though the game year at the beginning is 1863.

The gladiator game was abandoned in favor of the GitHub Game Off competition, as it happened in the same timeframe as the sports competition here. I ended up being a runner-up in the GitHub one, got some shirts and cups.

Today I ust worked on the Café some more, maybe I can finish it today and move on:

Avant-Garde OST - Paris. My musician sent me that song today, it's great. Check out his other songs here.

I'm working on the Café screen, where you talk with other artists to improve relationships, drink and create new artistic movements:

Excellent pixel art! Looking forward to seeing more and listening to the soundtrack.

Prizes arrived today:



Yay!