Greetings, everyone, and welcome to this month’s edition of testgame.exe: Making the Adventure! This month we have for you, surprisingly enough, a nice handful of new things to check out in the game. Not nearly as much as you’re probably used to by now, but whatever, I’m sure you can deal with it.
Right off the bat, I’ll just point out that we are now at a critical(ish) part in the game. I’m of course referring to the point at which we stop following a plan and start relying on Lizo being able to make stuff up on the spot. As of this month, Paul can now complete the petition puzzle. Wait. Crap. I take it back. He can get all three signatures, but he can’t actually give it back to Amazing Anthony to wrap things up. But three whole signatures, that’s, like, pretty close to completion!
Having said that, I’d also like to apologize for the status of the newest signature acquisition in this month’s update. That is to say, it works, and you can play through it, but it does some things I’m really hating right now—it requires you losing at least one item and not being able to get it back until you finish getting the signature. I swear I’m going to fix this for next month, don’t worry. Oh yeah, and it also results in Paul getting an item that appears as a blue cup (the default item picture) in the inventory as of right now. This is what happens when I don’t get a chance to wrap up parts of the game before presenting them to an audience.
So yeah, I have a general idea about what happens after the petition puzzle. (Hint: It involves the guard captain, the slingshot, and Hans.) As far as specifics go, though, not so much. This is going to require some brainstorming.
Speaking of brainstorming, Paul and I have been chewing over some ideas for the mechanics of the rest of the game, and I have to say, it’s looking pretty promising. We even came up with a possible use for *GASP* the map. Wasn’t I just saying last month how I might have to take that item out of the game because the I thought it might have long since evaporated in the shifting mists of creativity? (Oh my good lord, remind me never to make metaphors again.)
In any case, give the game a try this month. There’s some pretty cool stuff, and much, much more to come!
Actually, yeah, if you don’t feel like playing the game this month, just try drinking lots of Spasm in Paul’s room. I’m really proud of this new animation, even though it makes me feel completely disgusting whenever I look at it.
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Things to do/new features of note:
- Paul can now get the THIRD AND FINAL signature on the petition! This part’s still a little fuzzy (there’s some animation and objects that need to be drawn in), but still!
- Ability to look at/interact with the calligrapher in the castle courtyard side screen.
- Ability to try to get Paul to sign the petition himself, either by using the petition on Paul or using the pen and the petition together in the inventory.
- New animation! Try drinking four cans of Spasm and see what happens.
- New things to look at/interact with in the castle hallway (the one with Hans in it).
- Two new screens. Well, it’s actually the same background, but whatever, that’s allowed. I’m going to need to redraw them later, but this will do for now. Go up the stairs in the castle and to the left and right. Don’t expect to actually be able to do anything, though.
- Fixed a glitch: The game went into an infinite loop when Paul tried to use the petition on Omar from the left side of the stream, but that has been fixed now (in the most cheaty-faced way possible). Credit goes to Hans (not the Hans in the game) for spotting this one!
- No more cheating for Michael Gray! I found what part of the game lets you push the ‘~’ key and see lines of script, and I TURNED IT OFF. I don’t know if this would’ve actually let you cheat, but I can’t take that chance.
- It’s “playwright,” not “playwrite.” You learn something new every play!
All the graphics and design are by Lizo. The dialogue was written by Lizo, with significant input by Paul. The background music is by Lizo. “Let’s Go Skateboard” is written and performed by The Word Problems. Adventure Game Studio (the program used to create this game) can be downloaded at http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/
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Elizabeth Medina-Gray (a.k.a. Lizo) is the creator of the game-in-progress tentatively titled "testgame" and the author of "testgame.exe: Making the Adventure." She thinks videogames are cool. 
