OK
as far as the guards, i'd reccommend pushing all of the buttons...

Holy....the music takes up 13 MB

Would converting to mp3s save space? Or would you rather have better sound quality?

I think more people would dl it if it were smaller, even 17 or somethings seems a lot better than 20, so maybe it would make up for it.

EDIT: I just dled the new version Goodbye Life!!!!

EDIT: Why isn't it fullscreen anymore?

Where do i go to start the next dungeon?
I have been to the pit and seen the intent flying out...
I also found the little pyramid thing...
However, I can only go so far into it.
What do I do?

ALSO, a glitch that's not too important, after leaving the room with the intent coming out of the pit, the people are still there shooting at nothing, the intent do not keep coming out.

You have to use it in the mountain lodge on the keypad. But think about it - letters in phone numbers don't mean letters.



Because some people didn't like it resizing their resolution, and also I just forgot. Sorry. But this isn't the final final final release anyway, so it will be fullscreen when it's all done and fixed up.



That's the place. You need to hit each set of switches at exactly the same times (or near enough) to open the doors. Think about bombs or rifle...

I'll check that glitch. Checked. Fixed. Thanks.

great game. I played it to i got to the stupid stone puzzles. *game romeved from my computer*

can made walkthrough guide for this game?
&
Zelda Rating 100/100
This game 10/100
Which want do you prefer to play?

Ok I just got to chapter 3. Great cutscene. Also - one question. I opened up that cavern with the water boss dude (you know, by using the password on the conveyor belt). Is that what you're supposed to do after chapter 3? What is that for?

That miniboss gets you the flask. It's entirely optional but very useful, since you can fill it with Coffee for an 'extra life', as it were. Enjoy.

You might want to upgrade the AWC-400's weapons first though...



I take it you missed the Dungeon 1 FAQ? It's on the previous page.

Not really my cup of tea. I'd rather just play 'Link to the Past' again. The character's sprites are obvious zelda edits. The graphics clash in places, I just don't see the consistancy. Whoever said that this was better than Zelda obviously hasn't even played Zelda.

You put a great deal of effort into this, and I do agree that is a very good game for what Gamemaker can offer. Members here are too easily impressed.

Also, your compression is horrible. Zelda managed to fit on a SNES cartrige, which is obviously WAY less than 20MB. I suggest you take another whack at optimizing this thing.

Ok. Where do you upgrade the weapon? Original village, right? How many hits does the boss take? I never beat him. How do you fill the flask with things when you get it?

You don't have any proof of him editing zelda sprites. Besides, sometimes people come near almost the same characteristics and you couldn't even tell if it was some other game or not. Unless he said so, but I haven't seen him say anything like that.
Of course members here are impressed; it is because they see how hard it was to make the game. Most people can't make a game like this and you know it too. The actual gameplay was fine though.
His game compression has nothing to do with him; it's the fact that Game Maker makes big files for games like these. Even something you scripted in a couple lines lines of code and 1 or 2 sprites, when created into an executable, would probably be 1 MB or over. Game Maker isn't for making games for certain consoles or anything except the computer.
Now for my real thoughts:
The game was great. I love the old-school feel to it, it reminds me of those old games I used to play non-stop until I finished it. The story was fine, since I'm only in the first dungeon right now. I can tell you put a lot of effort into this to make sure everything went right, because there could have been tons of errors (which you probably had at first).
The only complaint I had was the fact that not all collisions looked right, and sometimes, you had to talk to someone right in front of them: they didn't face you either. But that's only minor - I'm going to continue playing this. It's worth the download.

There is no other way to get that many tiles rooms, that much code and that many sprites into a box, pad it with a whole lot of high-quality music and ship it for less than 20Mb. That's what GameMaker is like, and as far as I can see 20Mb these days isn't bad at all. I thankfully don't have to fit my game on a SNES cartridge, so why that should be the arbitrary size to determine whether or not it's 'too big' is beyond me. It's not a SNES game.

And yes, player's sprites and the NPC sprites are heavy LTTP edits. The rest is not.



You'll need the 2nd Credit pouch, so collect two museum items and return there if you haven't already. Then talk to an NPC in the bomb shop (north of NSV) and give him 700 Credits to get the 'place four bombs at a time' upgrade. Then drive your boat to the northwest corner of the lake and go north past the lighthouse into a canyon. Inside the house there, interact with the NPC and his stuff to get some metal ore. Take this to the place where you first got the boat and give it to the NPC who works on weapons.

Why not use scaling instead of resolution?

It might slow down the game slightly but giving it optional would be useful.

Oh yeah, what version of gm did you use to make this?

Doesn't scaling also tend to 'fuzz' scaled sprites and ruin the 'clean' look of pixellated graphics? And, GM5.0.

First, in the overworld theres a place where you bomb these rocks to get to another save place, the rocks wont explode.

Second, how do you dig up things for a museum?

And third: how do you beat the boss after you go through the place you have 120 seconds to beat?

Thanks in advance!!!

Great game.. I found a problem though

When the ship was struck I went out the door into the lobby and the person didn't come down. I was stuck off-screen and had to ctrl, alt, delete it >_>

But nice GFX and SFX

Not all graphics cards fuzz the pixels, which is really a way to make them look better than to make them look worse although some might think clear cut pixels look better.


Oh and another thing, if you ever decide to try a more recent version of gm, make sure you use gm5.3a , NOT gm6. (I apologise to new members who never got to experience the pleasures of video memory and exclusive mode )

I'll tell you. When the boss comes out of the water, get far away from him and shoot him, disabling his shield. Then charge full speed at him before he dives again and run over him. You should hear a "screech" and he will dive. You can also get coffee and ammo from running over the smaller guys.

Heh, this game is great. Way more exciting than Albero (though that's a great game too). It's evident you put a lot of work into this, from hand drawn cutscenes to the vast size of the land to the challenging and original bosses. You didn't take the easy way out, and it certainly paid off!

Great work. I can see this one becoming another GM classic.

First off, totally amazing game. I just finished the first dungeon satisfied, but [editeditedit] Nevermind, just found the phone. I changed the letters into numbers, but it won't enter in the phone. A tad confusing, but I'll read back through the thread until I see an answer.
Once again, totally awesome game. Though some parts are a tad frustrating, I totally respect the work you put into it.

[run spellchecka.exe]

The rocks are now gone. They were a crude system to keep players out of the NW area before they'd finished Dungeon 2. Now they are replaced by dungeon blocks which do exactly the same, it just makes a bit more sense.

For museum items, use your sword.



What do you mean? After the cutscene, you got into the lift and went down but it loaded an empty room?



Are you sure you changed them correctly? I *think* the phone asks for the right string... the letters start on key 2, usually, no? Try just typing in only the numbers, without even any hyphens. You'll need a bit of luck to work the phone though, it's a complete easter egg. Try it.

Aargh! I spend one hour trying to beat that %!@$ water snake boss and now that I've beaten it and got the flask, I see that it's OPTIONAL!

Anyway, what do I have to do after that? It still says about the 'statues almost killed me' thing, even after that optional boss. So I take it that it wasn't referring to that when it said about a new place that opened up somewhere?

P.S. Is it a coincidence that Srehpog is Gophers backwards? =P

edit: Never mind, I got it. Feeling a bit stupid today.. xp

Hurray! I finally finished the game! (am I the first one?)

I really enjoyed playing this, and I sure hope there will be a second part!

Congratulations on this magnifisent game!

eh...
what do i do after i go to see the intent swarming out of the pit?

go to the temple at the right

looks ok
i am gonna down it tomorrow

Let me say congrats on being nominated for at least 8 or 9 categories in the Game Maker Awards. (topic in the community forum started by roachofdeath). This is a high honor - it shows people recognize your game. I highly suggest you vote for yourself or just go check it out. I voted this Best RPG.

After the cutscene I went into the lift and it loaded the lobby like normal, but the person in the green thing never came, so I was stuck

Yeah, I tried a number of different ways and variations... I triple-checked I had the right number, too. I'll PM you to see if I have the right combination so as not to spoil it here.

ah, yes, as luck would have it...
i figured it out right after posting, but my internet went down...O_O
hey, where's the guy who wants the batteries?
i looked in all the towns...

im glad to see your game is going good. Maybe you should try submitting it to gamehippo and a few other download sites=)
After two years work, alot of people should play this. I havn't played it in a while. I passed the first temple and i turned on the lighthouse and all that. I hopped in that hover craft and now im unsure of where I have to go. I went far east once and some big boss that shot lasers killed me. The other time i went north and i put that password in that machine and that monster blew open the cave. What am I supposed to do? I think i have to get into the temple in the centre of the lake...im not sure...any help??

Don't worry, the flask is very useful. It's like an extra life or two...

And no, of course not.



Wow, that's brilliant, thanks. Did you like the 4th dungeon? Pre-boss quest? The game boss? You are the first as far as I know. Well done!

Anyone else?



That's amazing. I hadn't noticed, either. How nice.




Do you remember doing anything else in the previous room before that?



Yeah, sorry everyone, Retro's right. The Samosaphone actually wants to hear 1-800-CHEA-ME instead. I accidentally missed out a number. Happy dialling...




The password-tunnel-snake thing is optional, but useful. You might want to wait until you've got the weapon upgrade for the AWC-400 though (and that means a Lv2 wallet and 4-bomb upgrade before it). The laser-axe-statue place is where you want to go. Kill that boss and then head to the temple on the North edge of the lake. After THAT, go to the building in the southwest quarter. I'll write a new FAQ soon, I think...

Thanks for all your feedback, everyone. I can't believe how many mistakes I left in.

Yeah well with a massive game like this you are bound to leave one or two things out. I mean after all you did do it all by yourself,right?
I'd be disspoainted if I payed money for it and it was a commerical game and it had this many mistakes, but you did a good job I think!

errr...sreh, i'm gonna pm you a question b/c i don't wanna ruin it for those who haven't gotten this far.

But overall, very nice.
A little glitchy.
Umm...several times, i have gone through a screen, landed on a rock of some kind, and been stuck. I would then have to exit, and reload my game file. It can be very annoying at times...
Also, the save file screen (when you use a save point) did not update chapters.
But, despite the bugs, good job!

Oh yes, a bug: when you come out of that very,very messy house south of the town northwest of the starting town, the main character never appears. (BTW, getting into that town was VERY frustrating.. but fun. xp)

EDIT: Uh oh. I've just started Chapter 4 (after you beat the bad bat boss. Beh.) and everytime I go into Commander Daska's office, the game suddenly exits with no warning and I'm left staring at my desktop. =p Looks like I'll have to take a break. >_<

See, I need to know exactly where. How am I going to fix these things if all I have is 'sometimes'? I know some rooms do that, but unless I get told which ones and from which direction, I can't fix it.

And what do you mean the save screen didn't update chapters? Was there something wrong with the display?




that's odd, because I remember editing the code to fix those. Maybe I didn't save. I'll update the file in the next couple of days.

What's this game doing on the second page??
Come on people! This is a game truly worth playing!

Hmm. There's some good news and some bad news.

Bad news:
Unfortunately it appears in my infinite wisdom, I made it impossible for you to fight the game boss. Towards the end of the game there's a pre-final-boss quest where you work with special sybols to open the way to the game boss. You'll know when you've done this, since you need three. When that route is open, the teleport object mistakenly takes you to the ending cutscene, NOT the pre-final-boss cutscene, and so you miss the plot twist and spoil the ending.

For this reason:
IF you have not updated, do NOT enter or even go near the obvious lair of the final boss once you have beaten three symbols. Be patient, and see what upgrades you can collect meanwhile.

Good news:
The download link has been updated. If my suspicions are correct, this version of Ark has NO impasse-bugs. A clean, start-to-finish solid game.

NEW UPDATE: Bug-Free (I think)

Get the full package here, and the replacement EXE file here.

Oh, and it's scaled this time so it appears big and fuzzy in fullscreen. I won't be keeping that though, since the message boxes still display off-centre and some of the graphics aren't clean. But just to sve your resolutions. See how nice I am? Enjoy!

I can't wait to get power back now since I just got slammed by something named wilma, but when I do I'll dl it.

Oh yeah this new version gives you the option to switch between fullscreen and non-scaled or windowed mode right?

Well, it scales everything up in fullscreen mode, so it looks like it's playing on 640x480 (except the message boxes don't scale), and as normal in windowed mode. In the final finished version though, it will resize the resolution.

Now there are no more barriers. The end of the game is in sight. Just remember who's challenging you: Intent Heart. Very nasty.

That's funny, I thought the ending was quite odd, I just (re-)defeated 3 symbol-bosses, and there came the end.

I kinda missed a big ending boss, gonna play it right now

Unfortunately, there are.. =p

I can now go in Daska's place, and the commander says something like "Sorry, +string(global.playername), he's not in right now!" I think you're missing something there, but it's not a major problem.

Then I went to NSV into the big building in the center. Daska, the architect and a third guy are in there. I can talk to the first two, but I can't seem to talk to that third guy at the bottom-right, no matter from which direction I approach.

So I figure I have to go to the architect's, err, palace in the lighthouse village. As soon as I come in, I catch a glimpse of an empty blue chair and, just like in Daska's office, the game quits. >_<

I am stuck (again). I got to the vilage with the sentinels, looked at the map thing, got the 100 shot upgrade, but I cant blow up the bombable wall...

Also, In the place where you have to bomb the four spots at once, I cant seem to get it.

One last question: If you download the updates, can you still use your current saves or do you have to start the whole game over again.

A few days later and I'm still stuck at the phone. Exactly whhat is it I'm supposed to tell this guy that I want? It's something to do with Coffee, but I must have to phrase it exactly. I've wasted about a week in total trying to get past a number of things with the phone, and it'd really help if I didn't have to wait twice as long. Any good samaritans out there want to lend a hand? >_>;

Congrats on winning the last Cage Match, Srehprog :D

Great Game!
But I think I found a bug:
I talked to the NPC in the Kiosk in the village. I clicked yes and whent away. When I pressed the "P"-button, the game was closed.

Maaaaan. I want to download it, but I'm waiting for all the bugs to go away . I don't want to start it and have to stop and redownload it everytime a bug comes along. . . I played an earlier version, and it was cool. That means its only gotten better since then. Sigh, I'm still waiting until someone completes the game without much notice of bugs. That's when I'll download.

All three of those are fixed and avoidable. I'll update again soon, no doubt... You don't have to go to the Architect's place at all. After the NSV radio scene, go back to the west village, then south for some eye-candy and directions.




You should speak to Daska in the HQ room until he disappears. Then find him outside the third dungeon and talk to him there.

The four bombs in the mountaintop weapon-mod hut need to each be touching one of the little floor lights surrounding the rock. Keep trying and you'll get it eventually. You'll know when you do.

Saves will always work with new versions. I not, I'll tell you all so.




You do need to be very careful what you say. Capitalise and use proper punctuation, I guess. That thing is basically the Cheats menu - it's in no way necessary.

And thanks, but unfortunately the previous game maker failed to nominate a successor, so I now fight the game I chose to replace me. How ironic.



Again it would seem that certain modifications were not saved. I have no idea how this happened, as I remember making the changes to the code to make sure that bug didn't appear. To avoid it, wait until you've opened the village gate, then you can pause.




Well, the new .exe archive is only ever about 6Mb, and it IS possile now to finish the game. It just depends on where you go and don't go on the way. The more bugs that are found, the fewer the areas that have to be avoided. As I said though, you can get to the end from the beginning, so in a sense there is a way through.

As you answered to one FAQ why doesn't the telephone take the secret number:
1-800-CHEAT-ME.

It doesn't work for me too, yet you said CHEAT=CHEA (cus da machine is broken).
That didn't work either.

Do i need some special codes or entry-type to dial the number correctly.

I've tried lots of letters and number yet nothing happens and i still keep getting the Error sound.(ding!)

What do I have to do to get over this?


...

If the phone isn't related on getting the game through, i have checked all rooms and no progress.

Maybe im a total No0b and i suck at playing games oh well...

Do you feel lucky...Punk?... Well... Do You?... Punk?...

I have an example
go to the pit south of the NW village.
Then head west, then south while keeping at the left of the screen.
When the transition ends, you land on the rock and are stuck.
That sort of thing, but at different places. I can't name them all, just thought it was worth mentioning.


No, when you use a save station, you get the data from the first save [i.e. Chapter 1] even if it's like Chapter 6 you're on.

Great game, but I think I have found a bug. The game froze I guess. It happened after the ship was attacked. And I whent on the elevator. Thats when it froze.

How do I save?