[Dark Comet]

Ayup folks!

I've recently become an active member of one of the funkiest online series of games EVER - Reality on the Norm, or RON.

I'm sure the name will stir a few brain cells in you long term FullyRamblers - Yahtzee's contriuted a few games to the fold, which now numbers more than 60 as of now, with at least 8 more to come in the next few months.

Anyhoo, in the recently developed spirit of game pimping and all, I'm announcing my efforts to the fold. It was suggested to me by YZ himself a few months ago, when I was blithering on about a SW project I had, to set my sights a bit lower. And I saw the sense in that. So this project is my intro to AGS, and if all goes well I'm gonna move onto bigger and more grander projects (Knightmare, anyone?)

The game is entitled 'The Return of Frank Malone', and follows on from one of the previous installments in the series, 'The Underworld'. You play wannabe gangster Frank Malone again, who is sprung from his prison and given a job working for a shady group in RON. The first job you are given forms the basis of the game, and while it appears simple, it will involve all the classic gangster activities you always wanted to do - forgery, dealing, poker games (cheating, naturally) and robbery.

I released a two room demo on the RON site a few months ago, and it is still there, but it's advanced a great deal since then (in terms of graphics and plot) and thus its quite embarrising. An official demo will be online within the week for you to enjoy and cajole.

And I mean that. No blithering. This game by RON standards s gonna be pretty big. I'm cutting no corners, Ive updated a lot of the backgrounds, there's gonna be at least an hours worth of gameplay in it and I'm taking time to draw and animate pretty much all the actions in game (Actually pouring whisky into a glass and drinking it rather than saying 'You pour the whisky into a glass and drink it'.).

So... stay tuned peeps.

[Rhubarb]

THE BARON CHARACTER IS MINE ALL MINE.

Seriously, I hate RotN. I really have an intense disliking for almost everything about it, from the games to the community, and I'm seriously regretting having contributed a character. Especially a character that I still tend to use quite a lot. Fortunately he hasn't been used in RotN games terribly often (so I'm told), although the fact that he's still being used at all irritates me.

[Yahtzee]

For crying out loud, when did this forum turn into a 'tell us about the AGS game you may possibly make' jamboree? There are some perfectly good forums on the AGS and RON websites you could tell this to. I know I can't speak for everyone, but I can't bring myself to give a flying toss about any amateur adventures that haven't been recommended from several reliable sources, let alone adventures that aren't even finished. Come back when you're ready to blow my fucking socks off.

[Dark Comet]

Meh. Fair enough.

They're not the most brilliant games in the graphics department, sure enough, and some of the games are just downright bad, but I just like the idea of it being a 'shared' thing - having ideas you put forward developed and taken further.

And the only reason Wolfgang is used at all is because, lets face it, he is a funky creation. An eccentric well spoken Victorian gent living in a mansion with a cane, cloak an array of olde style weapons? The man can do no wrong.

But meh. I only bought up this topic in the first place because everyone else is mentioning their AGS efforts and since I've been working on mine for quite a bit now (about 4 or 5 months - hardly something I'm not intending on leaving), I thought bringing it up wouldn't go amiss.

But I digress. I'll speak of this again whe it's done. Then, you can either ignore it or slag it off.

[Chyld]

Hmm, while it does make more sense to put under-development games in the Games Forum, let me run through some true clauses:

-Mr Yahtzee make AGS games, and very good ones at that.
-From this, people download these games, and play them.
-People enjoy downloaded games.
-Some people go from this to think "Fuck! I can do this!" Some even get past making one room.
-Those that actually make a game think "game... AGS... 5/7 Days... YAHTZEE!" and post accordingly.

I can see it being fucking annoying as hell, but I do wonder why you wonder...

[Rhubarb]

Oh naff off, Ben. He can post what he likes. Not everything anyone posts on this forum is a direct attempt to impress you or honour your frigging site. Most people on here don't even count on your presence anymore, what with infrequent absences. They're just playing about and letting their friends know what they're up to.

Comet - Yeah, I dunno. The 'shared game' concept is a good idea and all. I just had a falling-out with the community in general, and whether it was my own fault or not, it soured the whole deal for me. Plus I hate most of the characters in the little fictional world. It's entirely possible that you'll create something insanely cool that will blow the community's collective socks off. Although since it's your first AGS attempt, personally I wouldn't count on it.

The Baron's 'cloak' wasn't my doing, although it's a coolish addition. And he was meant to be an assassin... don't remember if I included that in RotN or not. Just to be pedantic.

[Dark Comet]

*Comes out of hiding, grinning*

You're probably right Rhubarb. I've been mucking about with gamemaking for at least a year and a half now (a year spent with Klick N Play - SHUDDER), but I've got it pinned down now. As far as quality goes - if it's good, it's good. If it's shit, I learn from my cock ups and make the next project better as a result. That's the best way amateur gamers 'evolve'.

Yeah, the assassin thing did come through. He tried to knock off Davy Jones in the second game (although laughably, he only bought one bullet, and ended up having his brother killed).

Since then, he's pretty much been the mastermind behind more or less all of the nefarious plots and schemes in RON. When it hasn't been that freaky mad scientist, of course. And generally, they revolve around killing the chicken that killed his brother. A little contrived, maybe, but the 'Night of the Kittens' series is by far the best thing about RON.

Whether or not this was where you planned on seeing him I know not. You say you still use the Baron a lot? Fanfiction and stuff, y'mean?

This post has been edited by Dark Comet: 20 May 2005 - 02:50 AM

[Rhubarb]

FANFICTION? How the fuck is it fanfiction? He's my bloody character!

I use the Baron in most of my endeavours. He's featured in my little comic that I posted a while back in the Screening Room, and in numerous other drawings. He's also the main villain in a (largely humorous) novel I'm writing. Hence my irritation that other people use him in quite different contexts. I see him as a rather aloof and unshakeable type with a placid and slightly effeminite appearance, every inch the Victorian gentleman, who goes about assassination like Raffles goes about thievery.

Since then, he's pretty much been the mastermind behind more or less all of the nefarious plots and schemes in RON.

Well, shit.

As far as quality goes - if it's good, it's good. If it's shit, I learn from my cock ups and make the next project better as a result.

Well said. That's by far the best approach to have. I'm planning out an AGS game but it's hugely ambitious and is literally going to take me years if I actually end up doing it. This is an example of what not to do.

I have no idea who Frank Malone is, so I can't comment on your idea much.

This post has been edited by Rhubarb: 20 May 2005 - 04:57 AM

[Dark Comet]

Erps. Wrong word there. I normally use the term 'fanfiction' as an umbrella word to describe all net fiction. So he's been in other things then? Cool. Is the Screening Room still online?

I see him as a rather aloof and unshakeable type with a placid and slightly effeminite appearance, every inch the Victorian gentleman, who goes about assassination like Raffles goes about thievery.

The whole 'swiftly and with style' thing eh? Cor. Yeah, as a mastermind of evil schemes, Restaurant Fraud and Summoning an army of kittens to Dispatch a Chicken is a bit of a far cry from gentlemanly Arsene Lupin style jaunts. Nice sketch, BTW.

Frank Malone is pretty much a wannbe gangster. He's been on one game already, 'The Underworld', which was basically played for laughs and little else. He had an evil twin brother called Fred. That says it all.

He has a lot of potential for development, and I was kinda let down when he did very little in the 'Underworld' that was ganster-ey. So I'm having him sprung from his Mexican Prison and put into the pay of a shady group who ultimatly want Gower out of office, thereby making Reality a normal town again (Frank is ideal for this kinda pawn, since Gower put him in that prison in the first place).

But I digress. Good luck with your AGS project, btw. Happy to help with any beta testing when you finish it.

[Rhubarb]

Mmkay. What is it about FM's character that intrigues you so? Do you just like gangsters or what?

[Dark Comet]

Yes. Yes I do.

I really like Film Noir detective stuff - I help run a Roleplay/Story website on Avidgamers called the Freelance Detective Agency, and it's based around the 'good old days' in 1920's America. Cyncial Private Detectives, smooth talking fine looking Femme Fatale's, Sharp dressed gangsters running Prohibition rackets and speakeasys... they're all things really close to my heart.

Of course, I know that gangster's are paradoxal in their ways - they make a living with crime, after all, and anyone who looks into the gritty realism behind them will see there are some very unsavoury elements of them (anything involving Joe Pesci in a film, for example). And of course, modern day 'yardies' and such aren't a patch on the fantastic mafia's of yesteryear.

[SimeSublime]

Is the Screening Room still online?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just jump from Yahtzees forum to the major index, and you'll see there's much more to the forums, Screening Room included. Thought I don't remember Rhubarb's contribution. Must go back and check.

[Jane Sherwood]

I just can't stop staring at that drawing now...

[Dark Comet]

OFFICIAL DEMO UP FOLKS!!!

Click ME!!!

Rhubarb:

I have decided, after replaying the RON games, that the Baron has not achieved his full potential as anything other than a bad guy.

True, he has orchestrated a downright nefarious plague of kittens, and that is commendable. But as a dashing assassin who's engagingly eccentric and has a swordstick (Nice Inspectre Hovis homage there) there's a lot more he can do.

So, I have decided to briefly include him as a subplot to the main story - he will be shown in a citscene breaking into DVS's mansion, and will cut away just as he draws his swordstick.

(Maybe introduce him with 'Damned Mulberry Bush. I knew that quack lacked a lot of qualities, but I didn't expect topiary to be one of them).

Of course, if you really REALLY don't want him featured, I wont.

[Rhubarb]

Yay! I think.

I love my Baron. He's such a crazy fuck. I only get bothered about other people using him because I don't know most people who make RotN, and the ones I do know, I dislike. It'd be awesome to see how he turns out.

Also, your link doesn't work.

Sime - The thread is here. You posted in it. :|

Jane - do you check your AOL email account anymore? If not, well, that's probably for the best.