I'm glad to see that people are interested in the project, and ashamed that I don't have time anymore to give it the attention it deserves.

This thread might help you understand the code a bit better, if you want to take a crack at it.

This game has what I like to call "Stickerbrush Symphony Syndrome". Where the only thing stopping me from throwing my computer in frustration is the awesome music.

It is a very good game, though. Just way too hard for my feeble skills. 

I'm currently in Rochester, but I won't be for long.

Funny, I already happen to be playing through this game. I've only finished the first chapter so far, and I doubt I'll get much further given my current schedule. I'll be following this thread anyways.

I'm playing a Ventrue, mostly focused on dialogue. Dominate is a very cool ability, since I can usually get what I want without resorting to violence. I'm relying on melee combat and Fortitude/Presence/Blood Buff for the few situations where fighting is unavoidable.

Yes and yes. Though it's on hold until someone fills the role of programmer.

I'm pretty sure that's a Game Maker error. Usually the game works if you try running it again. If it's still breaking, restarting your computer sometimes fixes it.

I'll second the statement that Andy did a great job hosting. I was disappointed that the awards didn't have a professional host (like Anthony last year), but it seems to have worked out anyway.

Before the Fez drama really takes off, I would like to say that the rest of the winners were all good choices, IMO. Congrats to all of them.

As for Fez, that's a controversy I'd rather stay away from.

There is a strong possibility that I will be going to both this and the IGDA party. The 71 bus travels along Market and Haight Streets, so it's a pretty direct route. I recommend buying a weekly MUNI pass at a Walgreen's, so you don't have to worry about bus fares.

If you're taking a trip down to the mission, I heartily recommend La Taqueria, which serves the best quesadillas I've ever eaten. I'm sure I'll eat there at least once, even though it's quite a trip from the Moscone Center.

That's a good question. When I lived in San Francisco, I didn't eat much in that part of town, but I know this Indian restaurant is pretty good, and cheap, too.

I'll third The Spirit Engine 2. It's probably my favorite indie game of all time. The tutorial isn't very good, but stick with it. Once you figure the game out, it's fantastic.

I'd skip the first game entirely. It's nothing all that special, and it isn't connected with the sequel in any way.

Lucky Europeans, with your affordable education and health care. 

To be honest, a lot of game design is basically intuition. It's more art than science, so it can't be easily taught. Even the best professor can't make a good designer out of someone without an intuitive grasp of the subject. Still, there are some very good game design books available. Unfortunately, I don't have the names of any of them on me right now...

It's a good tagline for selling the developer, but probably not the game itself.

I'm not sure how it makes sense to learn more by doing than by schooling, either. I would hopefully be making games AT school, together with real-life people I can brainstorm with, while having teachers present. I would also be getting my student loan, making it possible for me to focus on getting better without having to worry about my economy.
If anything, education seems like a very safe bet, but still I have that nagging feeling... I was really looking forward to having some sort of income...

I would advise against this route. I go to a school with a good game design program, and I've taken a few of their classes. I've made several games for these classes, and I wouldn't consider releasing any of them. When you make games for classes, you have tight deadlines, and arbitrary restrictions (such as what language or platform to use). You and your teammates will make a game that matches the professor's rubric, not a game that's necessarily any good.

You can certainly learn something about game design by working this way, but you already have a degree and experience working at a game company. You already know just about everything they would teach you. If you start your own indie studio, you'll probably learn more, and you can save money on tuition.

Here is a link to all of the tracks I received for Indie Brawl.

Cool. Is that song actually from AUS, or just made in a similar style. It's been a while since I played the game, so I don't remember.

As for the second point you raised, I have no intention of letting the project die. However, I don't have the time to continue programming it myself, so if you know any programmers who would be interested, send them over. 

I always wonder why people get so upset over problems with the IGF. It's just a contest, and while it does have some flaws, it still does a pretty good job of identifying the best indie games out there.

I suspect that the business plan of some indies looks like this:
Step 1: Make Game
Step 2: Win IGF
Step 3: Profit!

Honestly, if you make a good game and you market it well, people will buy it regardless of whether it won the IGF.

To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if I was the only person who ever found all 20 friends on a single play-through. The fact that someone else put the time into accomplishing the feat means a lot to me as a game designer. I'm glad that I made something worth caring about. 

How. The. HELL are you supposed to win? The world is huge, there are 20 friends, and you only get a few minutes to do it 

This is an important question, so I'll start by answering it directly, and then I'll explain my motivation.


SPOILERS below


If you want to find all 20 friends, here's how you do it:
1- Locate all 20 friends over the course of several playthroughs. Some are a little challenging to find, but with some critical thinking you should be able to find them all.

2- Plan your route. Some routes are quicker than others.

3- Practice the route until you can make it through with few mistakes. There's a little room for error here. You have 5:40, and it is possible to find all friends in under 4 minutes.


Finding all 20 friends in a single playthrough is very difficult, so you'll probably want to focus on finding as many as possible, rather than shooting for 100% completion. This is intentional, and here's why:

- What is winning, really? Sure, The Ultimate Celebration directs you to find all of your friends, but will that really change anything? Finding your friends isn't going to stop the meteors from falling...

- You don't need to find all 20 friends to experience most of what the game has to offer. The entire world can still be explored over the course of multiple playthroughs, and you don't need to win to understand any message the game contains.

- If you want a truly difficult challenge, the game gives you that option.