Diamonds in the Rough by Atropos Studios

[alkis21]

Greetings to all adventure fans out there.

Since our upcoming game was kindly announced (http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=1244) by Adventure Gamers, I thought the polite thing to do would be to drop by and say hi.
If any of you have any comments or questions regarding DITR, I'd be glad to read them.

[Trumgottist]

Hi, Alkis! (I remember you from csipga.) The thoughts concept seems interesting.

[alkis21]

CSIPGA.. those were the days. How many years has it been? Never mind, don't answer that, I'll get depressed.
Some things on the Thoughts concept then:

Think of it as a second inventory. As you progress in the game, new thoughts are added and old thoughts disappear. A simple thought is a character's name, for instance. A more complex one can be a situation, like a meeting Jason just had or something he saw.
Thoughts can be:
-Examined (example: click on a name and Jason will tell you what he thinks about that person at the time)
-Combined (example: use a name on a situation and Jason will think if there's a connection between them)
-Used anywhere else in the game, just like inventory items (example: use a situation on a person and the person may tell you something about it)

Succesful use of any of the above may open a new location ("I'd better go ask X what he thinks of that"), trigger something somewhere else in the game, or even make Jason think of something new (a new thought will be added).

I like to think that the Thoughts panel will make Jason seem more real, instead of a marionette that obeys to the player's wishes. Plus, it should create some original puzzles. Don't worry if it sounds complicated, it's easier to use it than describe it.

[Kurufinwe]

So it's a bit like in Discworld Noir, then (except that that system was terribly underused there)?

[alkis21]

Excellent point, indeed it's Discworld Noir that inspired me to do it. They had a great thing going there but as you said, the idea was neither fully developed nor used as often as possible.

[Kurufinwe]

Great! :) I thought it showed a lot of promise there, but was hardly ever used (apart from Mundy's (sp?) murder, and as a conversation system), so it's nice that someone is willing to try to go further with that system. I'll be looking forward to seeing how your game turns out.

[bulldog]

Looks great, can't wait for the release.

[Junkface]

I really liked Discworld Noir's notebook system - I almost think it should have become standard for investigative style adventures. I'm glad to see someone else developing on it.

[Jackal]

Hi, Alkis. Glad to see you drop by. :)

The "thought inventory" is definitely promising. Strangely, after having been sorely neglected since DN, a similar system is also going to be used in Belief & Betrayal. Just shows you can't keep a good idea down. :D

[Lucien21]

CSIPGA

Is that some kind of golf tournament for murder suspects.

Closest to the body wins.


Anyway back on topic.


Welcome Alkis. Game looks great. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

[alkis21]

CSIPGA

Is that some kind of golf tournament for murder suspects.

Hehe... Good one, but as I'm sure you guessed you're not the first one who came up with that joke.
CSIPGA=comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
There were no forums back then, just newsgroups.

[Melanie68]

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a254/Melanie68/Smilies/aplodit.gif Welcome! I'm looking forward to your game as well. I like seeing all of the independent games out there. It makes for some great variety.

[alkis21]

Atropos Studios is happy to announce the beginning of what we are sure will be a very fruitful collaboration.
Nikolas Sideris will compose the music of Diamonds in the Rough.
Nikolas has a diploma in Piano with honours, a degree in Harmony, a degree in Counterpoint and a Master of Music from Royal Holloway College, University of London, with distinction. He has performed in concerts all over Greece, and his work has been featured in a number of plays and documentaries.
Visit http://www.nikolas-sideris.com to hear a few samples of his work. I suggest you go to Samples-> Commercial and listen to "A Tale of two Kingdoms", my personal favorite.
If you share my belief that music can be a crucial factor as far as the atmosphere of an adventure game is concerned, I'm positive that you will find this announcement very promising regarding the quality of the final product.

[stuboy]

This looks interesting. I think your main character looks like he's sucking on something, though.

Will keep an eye out.