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[propapanda]

Here's a sequence from the story's prologue. I'm thinking of finishing this part of the game and releasing it as a little teaser demo. I always hate it when demos give away too much of the main story and this prologue pretty much stands on its own.

[JobLeonard]

Your visual storytelling is top-notch, you know that?

[Beastboy]

This is beautiful scenary. Will they also be animated?

[propapanda]

Your visual storytelling is top-notch, you know that?

Thanks, really appreciate it

This is beautiful scenary. Will they also be animated?

I'm going for what one might call "minimal animation": Anything that can be animated in 2D within the game engine is an option, be it lights flickering, rain falling or wisps of fog floating around.

But I don't intend to do any "real" 3D animation, simply because it's incredibly expensive both in terms of computation and effort. Besides, I have no sense of rhythm whatsoever, so I'm terrible at it

[propapanda]

I have a confession to make: I’ve been secretly maintaining an MS-DOS port of the game. It’s got that nice Mode X 256-color VGA look, keyboard and mouse input, plays Ink stories, and since this week… Sound Blaster support!

And... I have absolutely no idea why I am doing this.

It's just what normal people do during their time off, right...? Porting their games to ancient computer platforms that nobody in their right mind's used in 25 years?

[JobLeonard]

absolutely no idea why I am doing this

Authenticity. I think the word you're looking for is authenticity.

[Beastboy]

I'm going for what one might call "minimal animation": Anything that can be animated in 2D within the game engine is an option, be it lights flickering, rain falling or wisps of fog floating around.

But I don't intend to do any "real" 3D animation, simply because it's incredibly expensive both in terms of computation and effort. Besides, I have no sense of rhythm whatsoever, so I'm terrible at it

I see, i also think that by doing fluid animation it can ruin a bit of the game mood altough i also think your game can benefit a lot from a motion comic style animations. Still it is nice and i want to see more

[Alain]

I have a confession to make: I’ve been secretly maintaining an MS-DOS port of the game. It’s got that nice Mode X 256-color VGA look, keyboard and mouse input, plays Ink stories, and since this week… Sound Blaster support!

And... I have absolutely no idea why I am doing this.

It's just what normal people do during their time off, right...? Porting their games to ancient computer platforms that nobody in their right mind's used in 25 years?

That is so cool, I would love to play your game on my Win98 machine. Although I often have trouble with sound and DOS games, because I don't have an ISA slot The screenshot in VGA looks great!

[propapanda]

Authenticity. I think the word you're looking for is authenticity.

Authentic, yes, but also slightly anachronistic The story takes place in the later half of the 90s, where such low resolutions were already considered a tad behind the times.

I might try with 640x480, though... that'll work in DOS and be more appropriate for the setting of the story.

That is so cool, I would love to play your game on my Win98 machine. Although I often have trouble with sound and DOS games, because I don't have an ISA slot The screenshot in VGA looks great!

Definitely need to get myself one of those old PCs! Currently I'm testing in DOSBox, and while it certainly makes for a more comfortable development environment, it just isn't quite the same thing

[Alain]

That is so cool, I would love to play your game on my Win98 machine. Although I often have trouble with sound and DOS games, because I don't have an ISA slot The screenshot in VGA looks great!

Definitely need to get myself one of those old PCs! Currently I'm testing in DOSBox, and while it certainly makes for a more comfortable development environment, it just isn't quite the same thing

At some point you definitely have to check it on a CRT if you can

[Alain]

I could not resist

[JobLeonard]

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!

[propapanda]

That's brilliant, made my day

Mind if I post the image on Twitter?

[Alain]

That's brilliant, made my day

Mind if I post the image on Twitter?

Of course, post away! I'd also gladly do some testing of the DOS version once it is in a state you feel comfortable to share it.

[propapanda]

That's brilliant, made my day

Mind if I post the image on Twitter?

Of course, post away! I'd also gladly do some testing of the DOS version once it is in a state you feel comfortable to share it.

Sweet, I might actually take you up on that! Would be really interested in seeing not only whether it runs at all, but also what kind performance one can expect. In DOSBox it's fine on a 386, but I'm not sure how much trust I can put into that.

What hardware specs are you running?

[Alain]

Sweet, I might actually take you up on that! Would be really interested in seeing not only whether it runs at all, but also what kind performance one can expect. In DOSBox it's fine on a 386, but I'm not sure how much trust I can put into that.

What hardware specs are you running?

My PC might be a bit too new. I wanted to have the best specs I could get in a Windows 98 machine, which is why it is a Pentium 4 with a GeForce4 and 512 MB Ram. Because it is a Windows 98 system, there is DOS running in the back of course, but compatibility is not the best.

[JobLeonard]

I wonder if the hard drive is the bottleneck with these old systems

[Igor Sandman]

The concept is great. You manage to find a look that fits the theme of the story so well. (Great graphical style btw)
Good job!

[propapanda]

My PC might be a bit too new. I wanted to have the best specs I could get in a Windows 98 machine, which is why it is a Pentium 4 with a GeForce4 and 512 MB Ram. Because it is a Windows 98 system, there is DOS running in the back of course, but compatibility is not the best.

No worries. For starters it'll just be cool to see whether it runs on real hardware at all.

I wonder if the hard drive is the bottleneck with these old systems

HDDs... I forgot all about those spinning plates of rust. Even from my SSD, it takes quite a while to load the animations in DOSBox in the lower processor settings. Might be time to optimize my GIF loading routines... or at the very least add a "loading" screen.

The concept is great. You manage to find a look that fits the theme of the story so well. (Great graphical style btw)
Good job!

Cheers, really appreciate it

[Alain]

My PC might be a bit too new. I wanted to have the best specs I could get in a Windows 98 machine, which is why it is a Pentium 4 with a GeForce4 and 512 MB Ram. Because it is a Windows 98 system, there is DOS running in the back of course, but compatibility is not the best.

No worries. For starters it'll just be cool to see whether it runs on real hardware at all.

Cool, then just let me know as soon there is a version to test!