Hey look, everyone, it’s time for the monthly update of testgame! This month’s article is short and sweet, but don’t let that fool you. We’ve got a nice handful of new things to checkout in the game as of right now!
The most important new thing in the game builds directly upon last month’s update. Yes, that’s right, we’ve got even more important Plot Advancement going on with Herkimer. For those of you who missed last month’s article (and I don’t remember whether I actually said this or not), all this new stuff with Herkimer basically represents the big turning point in the game, plot-wise.
The Big Reveal (as Real-Life Paul keeps calling it) happened last month, but this month’s new dialogue expands on the information and explains some things, so this is a very critical time. Basically, if you have any interest in testgame at all, now is the time to play, because we’re actually getting somewhere. For those of you who have played up through the secret tower room in the castle before, I’ve even given you a super helpful save file in this month’s update that starts right from that point, so you can get all the Herkimer stuff without having to play through the whole game (which, having just done that, is surprisingly long).
Other than that, I don’t have anything too exciting to report. I’ve been mostly working on background graphics, and really trying to nail down the way the forest screens should look. I actually feel like the screen outside of Paul’s room might be finished now—I’m extremely happy with it currently—and the central forest screen is heading in the right direction. There are a couple of other small additions and/or changes that you can read about in the bulleted list below.
(no extra programs needed to run this file)
Important note: Once again, I’ve included a couple of save files from various parts of the game to save some time for those of you who have already played testgame a million times (there’s a “Part 2” save file that starts outside the castle, and a “Before Herkimer” save file that starts…before Herkimer).
If you’re using Windows Vista and you want to load the game from one of these save files, you’ll have to move the agssave.001 and agssave.002 files that I’ve given you into a folder called “New game” under the “Saved Games” folder in your Windows user name folder. If you’re using Windows XP, the save files should go into the folder C:Documents and Settings[your user name]My DocumentsMy Saved GamesNew game.
Things to do/new features of note:
- More dialogue with Herkimer!
- New interactions with Artie: Paul is now able to use the stone inventory items on Artie at various points in the game (with suitably different results).
- A helpful addition to Artie’s dialogue, of the “What did you say I should do, again?” variety.
- Added animation in Paul’s room (this is all recycled animation that I just hadn’t gotten around to putting into the game yet): Paul trying to open the locked door, Paul using the computer, and Paul interacting with the gumball machine.
- Background work: forest outside door and central forest screens.
All the graphics and design are by Lizo. The story and dialogue were 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/.
