

8-bit style, old-school adventure game released for Linux, Mac and Windows - BryanLunduke
http://lunduke.com/?p=2190

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TylerE
That ain't 8-bit. That's just crappy graphics ala 1995 Mac OS Classic games.
Looks alot like the old shareware Escape Velocity games.

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madjo
It is '8-bit style'

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TylerE
No, it _isn't_. It has many things that NO 8-bit system was capable of, like
smooth gradients in multiple colors, and rotated sprites.

16-bit I'd maybe grant you, but no way is it 8-bit.

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wheeee
Disappointing. I thought it was going to be a text adventure game, real old
school. Instead it was one of those new-fangled graphics adventures. Bah!

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rsaarelm
Those are still getting made as well:
[http://ifdb.tads.org/search?sortby=rcu&newSortBy.x=0&...](http://ifdb.tads.org/search?sortby=rcu&newSortBy.x=0&newSortBy.y=0&searchfor=rating%3A4-)

Interestingly, the IF scene is some ten years older than the current indie
game boom, and they're pretty much entirely non-commercial. There are some
serious quality games there for free.

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malkia
The graphics reminds me a lot of Star Control (I and II). Which is one of the
best games ever created.

Here is the UrQuan Masters (the open source version of it):
<http://sc2.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php>

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simonsarris
If its a simple enough game, why not program it to work in the browser! It
would have been a big plus if you want to target as many platforms as
possible, and you could probably get a larger crowd to play it if they were
able to play part of it online before purchasing.

As of right now we don't have any semblance of what the game is like, and even
8bit games had demos and shareware versions.

Shameless preview: I'm developing my own set of HTML5 Canvas games that I plan
to open source to that others can have some good examples and tutorials to
start making their own cross-platform browser games.

The first one so far: <http://cloudstork.com/temp/game.html>

(Warning: very unfinished means some ugly art.) That's a full playable level,
though it wont work well on mobile devices just yet.

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ido
I have tried some html5 game making myself, and I must say that although it
looks promising, at the moment it's still a lot easier to make the equivalent
game in flash (and there is no reason why a game like that can't be made in
flash).

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ajuc
Congratulations.

I'm working on something similiar (ok, the biggest similiarity is in graphics
- my game will be more like 2d sf action rpg with asteroid mechanics :)), and
I'm very interested, if there's market for such games.

If you could publish your experiences, I'd be grateful.

EDIT: here's alpha version of my game. Most thigs don't work, and bugs abound,
so beware :)

Should work on modern browsers (capable of webgl, or at least canvas).

<http://alan.umcs.lublin.pl/~ajuc/tiled_arcade_webgl/current/>

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jcromartie
I like how you're using standard HTML elements for the important bits outside
of the game's main display. That is a great idea and seems like an efficient
way (in terms of level of effort, not reinventing the wheel) to build a UI and
tools for a game like this.

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ajuc
It's also making canvas window smaller, so it runs faster :)

At least when it's using canvas software renderer, 20% of screen size is
making a big difference in fps (on my old PC 30 versus 37 fps).

But it would be worth it just for much simpler ui programming.

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jcromartie
And not just simpler, but _way_ simpler, and way easier to get nice results.
Think of all the stuff you get "for free" by using HTML in a modern browser.
You'd have to write all this stuff by hand or lean on a game library to
implement: text input, input focus, buttons, UI events, styled text (bold,
italic, etc.), text shadows, box shadows, skinned UI (CSS).

In fact, I bet big name games will increasingly embed things like WebKit and
use HTML5 and CSS for their UIs in the future.

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andrewcooke
stationEry. it's "E for Envelopes" (stationAry means not moving - it's an
Adjective).

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jfoutz
Also, .34 dwarf fortress is out today.

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netmute
Buyed it.

No sound. The screenshots are original size. Apart from that, great humor.

It's a nice little Point & Click. For a little less than 4 Euros, why not?

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IdahoEv
Oh right, I remember adventure games. Ten minutes in I've clicked every dialog
tree and tried every button on every visible object, and nothing seems to
indicate what to do next. If I click every possible combination I might
eventually find the right thing that unlocks the next part of the story.

This is fun because...?

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_delirium
I'm liking the minor revival of the 80s-style graphic adventure genre, with
new twists. I also enjoyed this game-poem-like one that came in 2010 (also
cross-platform): <http://cardboardcomputer.com/games/a-house-in-california/>

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mitsche
I really enjoyed playing that game as well.

On a side note, games likes these convince me that video games have the
potential to transcend into art, but that it's maybe not a good fit to
actually call them video games, as the game mechanic plays a minor role in
relation to the content.

If a game like A House in California wouldn't require a computer to be played,
but rather interacting with physical objects instead, it would be called an
art installation.

Just a thought. And it's off-topic really. Just wanted to share.

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papalalu
so.. why is an unplayed/unreviewed/undocumented game on here? is there
something special about it?

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AlexFromBelgium
It was released Today.

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jamesu
No demo?

