Noah's Adventures release 3.3

I just downloaded the demo.

I'd say it's a pretty fun game. I intended to only play for a few minutes to get a feel for it, but ended up not stopping till I got all the animals

The graphics could be better, but the gameplay is what counts in the end, and like I said, the game IS fun.

If I could give some detailed criticisms:

1. The textures do need work. There's no shortage of seamless textures on the net, both free and commercial, so this shouldn't be too hard to fix for a future release.

2. The ark is very well designed, but it needs some lights!

3. Lose the prefabs that don't belong in the ark. A computer?? I was kinda thrown off by that.

4. When Noah runs, he looks like The Flash. It's way too fast, although I did have some fun dashing from one end of the level to another

5. Some of the animals look too small. The giraffe and the elephant could both stand to be much bigger.

Overall, though, I think it's a great effort, and I can certainly see kids enjoying it a lot. Cheers!

Yikes! I'll fix that "flash" phenomena soon. The download file will be fixed in a couple hours.

The entforce variable varies greatly from machine to machine... Sorry about that...

Version 3.7 will be uploaded soon!
Thanks for the feedback!

The demo is fun, really!
But the cover of your CD...bad! IT's very empty. I hope its not the final version

Congratulation for this good rating!

Why is the resolution limited to 640x480?
Is this game made with the A5 [EDIT]Standard (I wrote Extra)[/EDIT]?

Maybe I find the answer by playing it, but the download file is a bit
to big for my 56K Modem.

@ Blindleader

A new CD cover is here! <see below>




Thanks to Marty Bee for making it happen!

@ Rich E.
It started with A5 com, but ended with A6 com. 2 years ago when I started it, 640x480 was considered "okay", but nowadays it's not as good. I fixed the resolution, because I use many panels in the game. These panels are based on .pcx or .bmp files. The "Hide and Seek", "Adventure" and even the main menu has animated panels.

So, if the user were allowed to change the resolution to high graphics mode, the engine itself could do it easily, but the panels would look small and out of place.

The panels are important to game play. If I re-size and re-do all of the panels, then I could fix the resolution to a higher graphics mode and I may still do that someday...

About the download size:
I tried to make it as small as possible. I considered removing more creatures to make it smaller, but then the zoo effect and gameplay of the shareware version would have been affected.

It still downloads on a 56k right? Maybe 3 hour download?
Just start the download, then go to church service and when you get back from church,then it will be downloaded?

hi ran iam happy you got it up b4 i loose internet for 5 months
infact i was very surprised i was even able to log on today
if i dont get the chance to reply dont get upset ill be back in 5 months i hope your still around

About the panels - I think you are able to size panels dynamically in the engine with the new update. So perhaps in a future version you will allow better resolutions.

Sorry Ran Man, but I don´t believe in (a) God, therefore I don't go to church.

But the screens are looking good so far. Maybe, I buy it one day.

hi ran no iam not upset just need to make alot of cutbacks for about 5 months iam buying a house so im just going to be using my cell phone for awhile


i think i still have a copy of your 1993 coloring book game on cd i deleted my site too sorry i need every penny i can save for awhile

Noah's Adventure

Ran used FLAT mode textures also no SHADOW for model for better performence (he could make 1024x skins and textures with shaders but than who want to play it with a weak machine), he sent a free full version for Iranian kids in here and I become his distributer in here, so they can play on the old machines, since everybody in around the world don't have a 2Gh PC and of course they love it, it's for kids...

Beside it don't made by Nintendo, it made by a hard working father , so he did a great job if anybody can understand this...

Randell, God and kids are happy and your game did this job so good

Hi Ran,

I finally got around to downloading the demo and I would like to offer some comments. Before getting into the criticisms, I would like to say that I think it is totally awesome that you completed a game. This is something very few accomplish. While I create game components and level design for training simulations and archaeological recreations, I do not have a game of my own under my belt. So, big time congrats are in order here!

Having said that, let's take a look at the game itself:

Resolution

Some have complained about the 640 x 480 screen resolution limitation and, frankly, it did not bother me at all. So I personally have no problems with that .

Graphics

Well, this is what I do for a living, so I will probably have the most to comment on here.

The textures, imo, really need to be re-done all over the place. The wood textures don't really look like wood to me. They don't look cartoony or real. They sort of look thrown on as if to say, "I know there needs to be textures here so I will just use these." It's not just the problem with tiling (lack of or obvious tiling) but the choice of textures itself. Some just don't look like they belong together. I decent job of retexturing the arc would go a long, long way to improving the entire atmosphere of the game.

The level design itself leaves quite a bit to be desired. While I realize that this is a kids game, I didn't get the impression that I was on an arc (a large wooden boat). I am not sure what the level reminds me of, but it does not look like an arc.

The models are OK. They are nothing spectacular. I liked Noah, but he could have been skinned a bit better. Most of the models seemed to have smearing on the skin along seams and it was pretty obvious. A little more work on the skin and on the UV map could easily fix this. The skins seemed to be really lacking in detail ... details that I think the children would really enjoy.

Over all, I think the graphics are OK, but it seems like Noah's adventure is stuck between cartoon world and reality. I think you should have chosen a direction and gone all the way. In other words, either Noah, the arc and the animals should be very realistic or very obviously cartoon-like. As it stands (IMHO) they are somewhere in-between.

Gameplay

It is hard to judge gameplay with only one game to play. As far as hide and seek goes, it is OK. The only thing I would want is a reason to find the animals. Why am I looking for them? They are on the arc so they can't really get lost. Even kids like a reason for what they do. Have you ever played any of the Freddi Fish (sp?) games? You might want to play a few to see how they work.

Side notes

Ham, Shem and Japheth looked like children to me as I encountered them in the arc. In the biblical account the children of Noah are full grown adults with wives of their own. This is how we get eight adults on the arc: Noah, Noah's wife, Ham, Shem, Japheth and their wives.

The voices are fun, but "God" sounds a little strange at times (at least to me).

I liked the voices at the menu .

I hope you don't mind the comments. I enjoyed playing the demo and look forward to what else you come up with as well as revisions to Noah's Adventure!

Hi Dan,

I agree that the textures and other things could have been better. Yes, it's definetly between a cartoony world and a real one.

The Shem, Ham, and Japeth models are kids. My original idea was to make them adults like in the biblical account, but Nitro777 gave me an idea to make them younger kids, so that the audience <kids> could identify better with the game. If Mel Gibson could make some things fiction in his movie <The Passion>, then I suppose it is okay for me also?

These games and movies are only a means of entertainment, but hopefully we provide a good message to the viewer.

Good news guys! The game was just rated 4 out of 5 below!





Filetransit


4 out of 5 ranking! lol
Hey, not bad for a game that got moved into Showcase 1 ?

seems like before I ever saw this game it was in version three... Just out of curiousity how did you come by your version number?

Congrat's Ran Man,

I still think you should pursue a game that has the kids feed the animals. Match food to the right animal. Feed the lions some of the extra rabbits.

How about a two by two game where you have to put animals in groups of two before the they can enter the ark. Kind of a Lemming's style game. Like you have in your intro video but make it a game.

I disagree with Dan about the textures. I think if the textures are to realistic they would detract from the other elements of the game. I think of the 50's and 60's Road Runner cartoons. WB (Chuck Jones) cut way back on the background art so that it did not detract from the main characters, Coyote and the Road Runner. This was done for budgetary reasons also. Television required more episodes for less money per episode.

Thinking about it some more a few experiments with the cartoon shaders would be cool.

Ken

You should try another type of cd cover...one that shows what is in the game .
Something like that:



For Ranmans defense I must admit that Noah would have had another level if I could have found enough time to finish the level in time
So its not his fault at all

this is how it would (will in the 2nd part ) look like:






A multi-terra level including ice, sand, swamp and grassland. (P.s.: I hope its ok to show the screens)

Hi Guys!

Good news! People like it!!! Woo, Ha, Ha!!!

Here are some more independent reviews below:


Sofotex gives it a 5 star rating!
http://www.sofotex.com/Noahs-Adventures-download_L19802.html


Top Shareware gives it another 5 star rating!

http://www.topshareware.com/Noah's-Adventures-download-13906.htm

Soft32 gives it another 5 star rating!
http://www.soft32.com/download_25628.html

5 stars and these guys are not even religious folks! lol

Well guys, I'm starting to thing that these "Showcase 1" games are the best.

Ha, Ha! Just joking of course...

Let us know in a few weeks if 5 Star rating translate in to 5 Star sales for you. I am sure everyone is a currious as I am...

Congrats Ram Man, all the best to you and Noah.
Cheers.

good to see this one back in sc2!

Thanks guys!

See the images below to see a few more ratings for the product:







So, don't let the shareware method of distribution turn anybody off. This game is different than most other christian titles, because it has a downloadable demo for free! Mostly all of the other christian titles have to be bought by CD in a store. Well, that's fine for us, but what about the poor kid in South America, China, or elsewhere? They might be poor, but they would enjoy it just the same.

Instead of aggressively looking for a publisher or distributor, I chose this method for distribution for a reason.

Try going to a local bar or tavern and talk about God there and you might get booted out of the building! Yet, make a quality product that talks about God and market it as free shareware to the mainstream world and they like it!

Recently though, I've been in contact with a distributor that is interested in selling it to the christian bookstores.

I was watching Good Morning America and they had a bit about finding Noah's Ark.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/video_index/video_index.html

I found the link but I did not sign-up for the video on demand deal, I have not reviewed th video.

Anywho though you might find it interesting that Noahs Ark photos are in the news today.

Ken

, and I was just happy I found a matching pair of socks this morning.

P.S. Well done Ran Man. It is a great game, genuinely fun. I couldn't get the birds. They are flying up by the roof, and I can't get them. Any tips?

@ Nardulus

I hope they find the real Ark soon! It might even increase my sales! lol
Seriously though... I had my first "internet" driven sales yesterday. It was a lady from the UK and she said her kids loved playing it.
THE UK??? Maybe it's my avitar or something? hehe I thought for sure the first sale would be from the USA or Canada?

@ A.Russell
The birds are flying all over the place on the roof and down into the structure. Their hiding paths were made low enough for the player to get to.

So, make sure that the bird has been selected to find. Do this by looking at the "find me" box in the lower right corner of the screen. If it's not been selected, then it will just fly on the path around and the player cannot get to it.

Hurray!

Add a testimonial page!

Loler

Hey!

Congratulations! Who is your publisher?

Nice work ran man!! It's good that this game get's lots of attention, even though I'm not religious at all

When I look at the work done originally done for the game, but that didn't made it on time, I think there definately should be a sequel ! Nice levels!!!

Cheers

Congrats Ran Man!!

My 5 and 3 year old daughters love to play it! It's got a lot of charm.

You're an inspiration for many of the rest of us to finish our games and get them out there!

Oh i hate this game~
its sooo ugly!
And for that you wanna have money???
*show bird*

well iceland,

games dont allways need to be beautifull.
Someetimes the gameplay matters above the rest.
And that is what this game sticks out with head and shoulders:
GAMEPLAY!

thanks for this lovely contribution of youre game to the games world:D
Keep up the good work (Y)

regards,

@ fastlane

yeah, i'd like to see him finish such a game

I wanted to say congratulations on the completion of the game, it looks sharp and is a very original idea for a game. Can't say I have seen anything like it.

If you don't mind I would like to ask you how sales are doing? I am also getting ready to release a title which I have been working on for sometime, after I get things squared away I will show the forum here what I have. I am just curious in to what kind of success you are having.

I would love to see a nardlus like thread with look at all my sales

Hehe, well guys...

Sales are absolutely terrible! Here is a breakdown of all the sales of the game so far.

#1 Peter C. <in this thread> - said his kids liked it
#2 Jayne from the U.K. - said her kids liked it
#3 lady here at work bought 2 copies

Well friends! THAT'S IT!!!

So, in an effort to boost sales, I've just lowered the price of it down to $13.99

I was thinking that I had to boost sales somehow, so that the free download on the web-site could pay for itself. I consider that free download a measure of success and it has had about 15 gig in downloads in the past 2 weeks.

So, if anybody here is ever thinking of making money in the shareware world, then I'd advise against it. I'm getting a lot of downloads, but hardly any sales. There's just no money in shareware anymore! I made more money in the 1993 release of "Sunday School Colors", than this 3d title makes.

Hey, at least kids all over the world are getting a FREE download right?! No matter if they are rich or poor, they are having fun! Is this success? Yeah! You bet!!!
No other 3d christian title offers this...

@ Iceland
If the graphics are that bad, then why the awards for it? <see below>













There are more awards than this. Hey, It can't be all that bad for all the awards right?
These awards are not christian either, but are just regular websites offering game downloads!
Funny huh?!

Congradulations Ran Man !!
I made a Freeware Game in 1995 called "Saul of Tarsus" and it was the old flat screen with flat characters and objects and homes, etc., but the kids in school loved it and even the adults could not stop playing it.
It was written in old BASIC style language and I had to "paint" 88 screens. Each screen was a place for Paul to travel.
The game started outside Jerusalem at the site Stephen was stoned. It started with him being stoned and ended with Paul and Barnabas getting on the ship and starting on their first missionary journey.
It was fun making and everybody enjoyed it.
THAT IS WHAT COUNTS !!

Keep programming games.
P.S. Currently I am working on finishing "Spiritual Warfare" with 3DGS ver 5 Commercial. I bought 6, but tried to update the game to that and it keeps having errors.
I do have a few different DEMOS done. 1 is 3 levels, and another is 7 levels.
But I think 7 levels for a DEMO is too much now. I mean, it takes me over 30 minutes to go through them and I made the thing. Imagine a new person playing it. It would be like playing a whole game. By the by, it will have 25 levels when done.
Gotta run, again Congrats to you.

Hi Ran,

Rome was not built in a Day. Marketing is critical even for sharware.

Get out there and start getting free promotion. Use Christian sites, Chrisitan Catalog companies, Christian Schools, tell them about your game get them to talk about with there members, then you start to see sales.

Finishing the game is just the start, marketing and promotion have to kick in. Since you are the publisher you are going to have to promote your game yourself.

Garage Games sells games on it site. It would be a hoot to see a 3DGS game for sale there.

I hope Rhinosoft and you have worked out a deal to get the game into the Christian Book stores. I think they have 1500 spinner racks.

Spend a couple of hours a week marketing your game, then you will see more sales.

Is there an award from Christian game reviewers, CGDC, you need some of those awards and reviews.

The search for Noah with satelites is hot right now. Can you get hooked into those articles.

Oh Well enough blithering, Ran, great work, once you are rested put on the marketing hat and find markets for your game.

Ken

I agree.

It's really tough to judge the market based solely on one product that's only been released for a couple of weeks.

Marketing will be your best asset here. Put posters on church bulletin boards, college campuses (as many of these kids have younger siblings, or even children themselves), etc.

Don't despair! Like others have said, the sheer fact that you have even completed a game and you have it out there for others to enjoy counts more than anything.

And you are actually surprised people are not buying this game?
This is the ugliest game that I've ever seen that was actually published. This game would have never been published if it wasn't by your OWN self!
It is an ugly game, and the gameplay isn't good, that's a lie!
It is boring and has no point.
I realize it takes a tough time to take a game out, but you just make me laugh out loud when you put this game on Showcase II and actually expect people to like it. If you all really do like it, why aren't you buying it?
I'm sure half of the people that said they like this game are lying because you are a long time on the forums.
Frankly, that is the worst I've seen done with 3dgs. The menu is ugly too.

@ Crazy <with 3 posts>

I'm already in contact with a publisher who is interested in it already! I can agree with you that the graphics are not as good as most modern games, but the target audience <little kids> are not so picky. Let me explain below why I left out graphics detail and made it simple.

Okay guys, here is the honest to God truth of the matter.

THIS GAME'S GRAPHICS IS PUSHING THE A6 ENGINE TO THE LIMIT! lol

Okay, now let me explain why now this is the case...
The Ark is made out of blocks and the player can see from one end of the Ark to the other end. When I tried to put more details in the Ark like, support pillars, columns, lanterns, ropes, ect, all across the Ark, Well guess what happened?

On my P3 800 MHz, the frame rate dropped like a rock!!!

Does anybody understand that this is important??? We cannot make games that require a 2 gigahertz pentium as a minimum standard right? Most people do NOT have computers like this!

If I chose to divide the Ark in 2 or 3 smaller separate sections, then I could have added more detail into it, but since I chose it to be one BIG ark, then I had to make the Ark and room blocks as simple as I could to get the frame rate higher.

As it stands, the frame rate drops when looking from one end to the other, even with the simple block graphics as Nardulus can testify to...

So, those of you calling it "ugly" need to understand that a BIG Ark like this, is just plain hard for the A6 engine to display all of those pixels on a P3 800 MHz machine. Hey I love gamestudio A6, but even it has some limitations!

I cannot use LOD or FOG on this thing! I wanted the whole Ark in all its size to be displayed, so that the player can see how BIG it was. The full version has twice the animals, so the frame rate gets hit again with that.

So, when we make a game, we all must be sensitive to frame rates and adjust our plans accordingly!

People always want to shoot someone else's accomplishments down... it's a shame really.

Hi Alkai

I was only trying to explain that the Ark level is made out of blocks, so it is in effect a giant room.

Everybody, download the demo and then walk <not run> from one end of the Ark to the other and see just how BIG it is.

In an effort to help people out, then let me say this.
Generally, you don't want to ever make a room made out of block this size! , because it is too big for the engine to display. lol

Before I ever started on this thing, I told God that I would make an Ark level of accurate biblical scale and that kids worldwide would enjoy playing it! So, this was an important goal for me! This is why I did not divide it up into smaller sections and add more graphics.

If sir "Crazy" thinks its soo ugly, then besides the awards given it already from different download sites, then also feel free to compare a competitor Noah zoo game graphics below: See the super COMMERCIAL Noah game shots below and compare.

SCREENSHOT FROM COMPETITOR NOAH GAME




Now compare that with my new Noah game shot below:




Another shot from the super Noah game below:



Now look at our new Noah game made with the A6 engine



Now com'on crazy! Which 3d Noah game has better screenshots? and tell me of another Noah game better than this one now?

Now notice that the competitor Noah game does indeed look like little rooms! This is exactly what I wanted to avoid!!!

You have to keep your target audience in mind. What YOU may value is of NO value to little kids! lol

I don't know but the Ship doesn't looks like a ship from inside. Wierd...

Not so, Ran. You should see the things I am developing and these are for machines with 32 MB video cards and 700+ Mhz systems. Curves, detailed textures, etc. It takes a lot of work, a lot of planning and some fresh thinking, but it can be done. Don't blame the engine.

I'm not wanting to blame the engine, but what I see is the frame rate on a 800 MHz dropping badly when looking at the length of the Ark. Nardulus seen this also, and suggested I place a partition wall or walls blocking the length view of the Ark. That idea would have worked.

Looking at the side hull the frame rate booms upwards, but looking down the length of the Ark, then the frame rate drops to 20 or less.

Are the curved levels you make are they the size length-wise of this Ark??? I'm very interested and curious if so. Take a walk length wise in the Ark and see if your curved surface levels are of this size?

Hey, you changed your avitar again! What happened to that old classic pirate guy avitar you used to have? lol

Hi Ran,

I would be really interested in seeing a teachers guide developed for the game. I would like to give it to the Sunday School at my church.

Heres a marketing plan for you. Offer a free CD and teachers guide to Sunday Schools and Christian Schools, Noah is OT so it will be of interest for the Jewish religon, time to go visit some temples to. Eventually it will get exposed to a classroomn full of kids and then you will start to get some marketing momentuem.

Talk to your local newspaper maybe they could write an article about you gifting the Churchs your game. You could then sell it to families that want it at home. A little self promotion will go a long way.

I agree with Dan about getting more out of 3DGS frame rate wise. The problem is it takes hard work, some extra tech / art knowlege, and TIME to try different things. This is part of the balance an indie developer has to contend with. Should I tweak my game play or should I tweak the level so I can get more frames per second. When you have a team working on the project there are hands enough to cover both, as an indie you have to pick which is most important to you. Or double your development time.

Part of what would be valuable to 3DGS users in the future would be ways inside of the engine that speed up things that do not take special knowlege. JCL and team are working on improving the performace along with adding features, maybe they could brainstrom a few ways to offer even more performace automatically.

Ran put some of that great engery into promoting your game to audiences that would welcome it. Cold calling or Dialing for Dollars as I call it needs to be something your get started on.

Last thing, your game looks a heck of a lot better than Deer Hunter and look at how many Deer Hunter games have been sold. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, now you have to convince the public to part with 14 bucks to buy the game. Promoting the game will be just as hard as making the game, but I am sure you are up to the task.


Ken

Would'nt it be nice if WED made the LOD's automatically for us. Or 3DGS used Intels real time LOD code. These features would give us improved frame rates but not require much from the user.

Just a silly thought.

Ken

yeah, the lod stuff works like a charm as long as you dont see the different stages (buildings, maps with hallways and areas)...its very useless when creating outdoor areas at all.
Starting from gaps in the terrain or ground files up to texture seams and hard edges on geometry.

I fully agree that indoor levels and small outdorr areas can be handled with that very good.
But no chance using it for outdoor stuff.

I am using LOD for everything like a moron and its great for keeping the framerate as high as possible...but still the engine suffers from good levelgeometry lod.
As long as every triangle of a hmp is diplayed no matter how far away you are, the a6 cant compare to commercial quality huge outdoor games.

But if you just use different texture sizes for your lod and dont change your levelgeometry you will still have insane framerate add-ons. So, yeah it helps but still huge good looking outdoor areas are not createable with A6 yet, without covering everything in thik fog

just my 2€


back to topic :
I agree with nardalus about marketing and the others about "first having to establish a customer interest".
The school idea is quite good.... i would try it

btw.: the quiz section of your game.....not easy...not easy at all !!!

Dan is right. LOD would improve the Ark level frame rates, but it would also increase the over-all file size. This is due to the extra .wmb files that would be needed. Since it is already an 18 meg download, then unfortunately cannot be used in the shareware demo.

A publisher is interested in this and improving the graphics, so we'll see what happens with that.

@ David
Hey buddy! I remember that "Saul of Tarsus" game! I remember seeing it listed with my old "Sunday School Colors" game. Nice meeting you here!!!

@ Nardulus
Yeah, I should go visit Jewish synagogues here. I'll just wear my "Star of David" and tell them I'm Judeo-christian. lol Maybe they can convert me.

Hey guys! Check out these web hits and all the countries after 6 days into the month...



Top 30 of 84 countries accessing Noahsadventures.com
8 gig of traffic after 6 days

# Hits Country
1 3912 Network
2 2977 Unresolved/Unknown
3 1927 US Commercial
4 1063 Canada
5 372 Netherlands
6 320 Romania
7 300 Germany
8 202 Italy
9 198 US Educational
10 194 Czech Republic
11 159 Australia
12 158 United Kingdom
13 127 Belgium
14 110 France
15 92 Austria
16 88 Sweden
17 77 Switzerland
18 69 Poland
19 68 Russian Federation
20 64 Slovak Republic
21 61 Spain
22 57 New Zealand (Aotearoa)
23 56 Brazil
24 52 Greece
25 50 Thailand
26 46 Israel
27 44 Saudi Arabia
28 40 Taiwan
29 39 Denmark
30 35 Estonia

Agghh!!! Success!!! ALL THE WORLD IS TOUCHED BY THIS GAME!

Well, just start charging them now

Mmmm, it seems a lot of people are indeed interested, if you could improve the graphics a little more, it could be a real winner!

and if we added all of those things to Noah's barge, then it will also need a 2 gigahertz pentium to run on!!!
Woo, ha! ha!!!

---

And perhaps light...
edit: it's called avAtar not avitar...you said it 2 times...