Topics

1

Site & Forum Reports / Sugestion: Game OS version

« on: 17 Jun 2018, 11:38 »

Hi

Not sure this has been suggested before, but with AGS now building to different platforms (well, so far Win & Linux, but there's work being done to expand this), that maybe we could had some extra button links? So game authors can post Windows, Linux, Android, etc, version?

Just a thought.

2

Completed Game Announcements / Lab Rat Maze! (MAGS - May.2018)

« on: 04 Jun 2018, 20:20 »

Lab Rat Maze! (made for MAGS - May.2018 - Theme: Rats)

Ever wondered what a lab rat feels when someone places him into a maze? Well, now you no longer have to wonder! Experience it for your self!
Feel frustrated by the unfair tasks, extreme level of memory and other skills requirements that evil humans put poor rats through!

Point&Click style! And keyboard helper (use keyboard as help certain tasks).
Two levels of difficulty! (Only difference is how you experience the maze, not how hard puzzles are.)
Res: 640x400, 32bit



Cassiebsg: Story, Scripting, Graphics & SFX
Gurok: Maze Scripting
Eric Matyas: Music
Beta testers: Durq, morganw, Shadow1000

Game page entry: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2258/

New version (please don't use it for MAGS voting purposes, link will be updated once MAGS is over): http://www.mediafire.com/file/n1nxl9est0259yy/LabRatMaze_v1.02_Win.zip/file

3

Recruitment / [HELP FOUND] Lab Rat Maze (Beta testing MAGS game)

« on: 02 Jun 2018, 09:31 »

EDIT: I close the thread now, since I have gotten enough offers. Thanks all you offered.


Hey

If you have a little free time this weekend to test my latest MAGS game, then I would appreciate the help (please PM for link).
Total game time (if you know exactly what to do and where to go): about 15 min... not sure how long it might take for someone who needs to figure it out... You tell me?

Anyway, this is a top down view game, where you control a lab rat being tested in it's maze solving skills.
If you like solving puzzles and wondering in mazes this your game! If you like dialogues and long stories this is NOT your game.

Deadline for game delivery: June 3rd (Sunday), midnight BST ... so you need to test the build and send report at least some hours before that.

This thread will "self-lock"  June 3rd, 20:00 BST...

4

Competitions & Activities / BACKGROUND BLITZ: URBAN (Winners announced!)

« on: 18 Mar 2018, 17:16 »

URBAN

Source: Google images

Draw Make a BG with a urban setting! Past, present or future; being it a street, alley, square... you decide!


Deadline: 15th of April 2018

Voting:

Concept: your background should tell us something about the place you have depicted.
Playability: does it have clearly defined walkable areas, things to interact with, etc?
Artistic Execution: does the image convey the wanted atmosphere? What's the feeling of the place? Is it scary/eerie enough? Would you pass the night alone in it? (if the answer is "yes", it needs to be scarier) Sorry, I had just copy/pasted this from you, as you could probably guess...

Now start working.

Time to vote!!!! You can see a summary of all entries here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=55889.msg636584531#msg636584531

See the WINNERS here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=55889.msg636585154#msg636585154

5

Hints & Tips / A Martyr Of Time

« on: 07 Mar 2018, 13:26 »

Need help!
How do I break the code?

6

AGS Games in Production / Stable Pete and the Joust (MAGS Nov.2017) DEMO v1.1

« on: 30 Nov 2017, 22:39 »

Stable Pete and the Joust

Story:
Pete, the stable boy, has grown tired of shovelling horse crap.
With dreams of becoming a prince by marrying princess Mary Belle, he decided to enter
the contest the the King had decided to throw for the purpose of finding her a husband.





Current game specs:
- Game res: 640x360, 32bit
- Music
- No SFX
- No Speech

Currently only Demo! (bugs may exist)

2/12/2017: v1.1 Fixes
- Exit dialogue line missing
- End of demo pop-up msg missing
- Ability to talk to a sleeping guy
- Reseting the power bar between Archery and Joust

This game/demo was made for MAGS Nov.2017 (Contest)

Expected finished: Dec. 2017 Some time during 2018...

Download link: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2215/

(To: MOD ... is this fine in here as a MAGS entry?)

7

Completed Game Announcements / Unexpected at the Rising Star (Soundtrack available)

« on: 21 Oct 2017, 21:11 »

Starbuck has earned a dinner on the newly re-opened luxurious liner Rising Star. After Athena has turned down his invitation due to her being on duty, he went and invited Cassiopeia who gladly accepted.
Only Athena has now managed to get free from her duties and decides to surprise Starbuck so he doesn't have to eat alone.
How will Starbuck handle an unexpected double date? Can you help him out get away with the situation?





Features: Multiple endings, 2 Playable characters (in extended mode), Fully voiced, practical VerbCoin (+key shortcuts), some puzzles to solve and a lot of unexpected events!

Res: 1024x576, 32-bit

Use mirror link for a non-video version if you having problems with the video. This version is still missing a replacement Intro and Start video sequence.

Note: This is a Fan game based on the Original TV show Battlestar Galactica (1978).

Download here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2201/

Non-video version is available thru the mirror link (there is currently no replacement sequence for the intro and start videos, sorry, been lazy really!)

Languages: English (default), Turkish (a few lines might be missing as I'm still waiting for the final version, but game should be playable from start to finish.). No other languages are currently available, contact me if you wish to translate this game to your language of choice.

Soundtrack, original music by Eric Galluzo, now available as a zip file here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/jikskcnzrmef7qf/BattlestarGalacticaUnexpectedSoundtrack.zip

Thanks to all who helped this game come to reality!
WIP thread: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53283.0

8

Beginners' Technical Questions / Setting highlight in a ListBox

« on: 15 Oct 2017, 21:34 »

Hey.

So, I decided to let the player change the game language by selecting it in my settings, works almost perfectly (have a problem with the credits module, and this one).

What I want it to do:
I populate the list with the Language I want (using AddItem).
The check which translation is loaded (if any) and highlight the correct Language.

Result: When opening the GUI I see the current Language that is selected.

I was trying to use ListBox.SelectedIndex but this was resulting in some wierd behaviour... have a feeling I was changing the selecting but not the highlight or something.

Anyway, any help?
I currently have done a work around, since there's really only 2 languages to selected from, by just using an if/else and loading the list with the current language on top... but seems like a "stupid" way to do this, considering it would be much simpler to just set the highlight on the correct index.

9

Site & Forum Reports / [Sugestion] 10 latest games added

« on: 25 May 2017, 17:09 »

Was thinking it would be nice to have the latest games added, right on the front page of the games page.
Either a box like the Showcase or one like the "Recent Comments".

And yes, I do know I can just click the "All Games List" to get it but it requires a click on a link that can be overwhelming... "ALL GAMES... puff puff... that's a lot of games..." 

Just a suggestion, so feel free to ignore it. 

10

Critics' Lounge / Blender CG cutscene movie for my BSG game (suggestions?)

« on: 22 Mar 2017, 17:09 »

Hi all

Looking for some feedback on these little movies. I need to redo them anyway, so might as well get some suggestions on improving them. 

Keep in mind that I may not implement every suggestion or even any, as I'm not planning to put the game on wait until I'm 100% satisfied with them. So I'll probably implement the improvements and let it render during night and work hours, and if the new movie is ready it'll be in the release, otherwise, these will be in the release. 
I know, I'm complicated. 

So here's the setup, all is made in Blender:
I have the Galactica and the fleet ships parented, and moving from A to B, I got 2 set of star fields far way. The Galactica and ship fleets, are in a render layer, their afterburners are on another. Then The shuttle and Vipers have a layer each, plus a layer for each afterburner... And a last layer with the nebulas...
The composite is a mess, while the Intro was rendered everything at the same time, the Start movie was rendered in phases. First the stars, then the shuttle and last the ships (this is the method I'll be using now).

The Intro movie cutscene:
this one is just the plain movie, as it come out of Blender, so it's missing the speech, music and other texts. So just  a quick explanation, as it starts the traditional narration from the show starts too, at the same time some text like game by... using... based on... etc will be rendered in big fonts, and of course music will be playing, once you near the end of the nebula, the narration will end, the music will chance from a "quiet mysterious" track to the Main Theme music. Might add more credits to the intro at this point, or just leave it as is.
Reason I need to re-render this one is because I managed to render a diffuse texture material from the Galactica with reflexion!  So it's reflecting the starts on the texture and that makes it look very weird. 

The Start movie cutscene:
Don't mind the wobbly weird music, don't know why but VDub messes up the cap, and this time I was too lazy to fix it... This is capped in game, and the portraits, speech, text and music are rendered/handled by AGS, movie is just silently playing in the BG using the D3D Pluging by AGA. 

Thoughts? Too dark? Should I add a background to the portraits on the cut-scene? As a friend said, Athena's hair gets lost in the dark space... change of camera angle? I'm thinking that's okay, but might be better if I just keep the camera still and rotate it from left to right to follow the shuttle and just make the shuttle approach the camera instead? Though, if you don't suffer from motion sickness it might be okay as is. 

You got some suggestions to improve the afterburners? Some filter I should be using and am not?

Oh, I'm rendering every frame as PNG, so if you wish I can also post some stills if it helps.
Oh, I'm using 25 FPS for the movies.

[Add spoiler tag]

11

Competitions & Activities / Coloring Ball: Music (Winners announced)

« on: 12 Feb 2017, 22:15 »

<< Coloring Ball: MUSIC >>

Pick your favourite artist, band or music instrument and fill in the shape!

Rules:
- Gaps are accepted in the shape so long as the outline is intact.
- You may colour the outline
- You may rotate and flip the shape.
- You may NOT scale the shape or distort it.
- You may NOT paint outside the shape.



***Deadline is February 26th.***

Voting is now open:

#1 DBoyWheeler	#2 AnasAbdin
#3 arj0n	#4 Tabata
#5 Kumpel	#6 arj0n
#7 Hobo	#8 Blondbraid

Vote for your 3 favorites:
1st = 3 points
2nd = 2 points
3rd = 1 point


Trophies :



Voting has ended and now the exiting results of this ping-p music affair :

3rd place gets this shinning cobber trophy:
Goes to... drums roll!

Add spoiler tag for Hidden:

Hobo and Blondbraid

2nd place is awarded this shinny silver trophy:
Goes to... drums roll!

Add spoiler tag for Hidden:

Tabata

And last but not least, 1st place is rewarded with this precious golden trophy:
Goes to... drums roll!

Add spoiler tag for Hidden:

Kumpel!

Congratulations you now have the honor of hosting the next coloring Ball!

Thanks all for participating! And if you wish a participation trophy just shout... I forgot to make one.

12

Beginners' Technical Questions / File : read/write & error

« on: 12 Feb 2017, 18:58 »

Okay, sorry if there's a a simple solution for this somewhere, but I just coded an entire achievements GUI for my game, it's working pretty decent too.

Except that if there's an error on the file (like I edited using notepad and saved it), then game will crash.
I'm not sure how to fix this either.

I'm not sure if there's a problem with output.WriteString also, but I couldn't get the "input.error" to work with the "buffer=input.ReadStringBack();"

if I put the if before the read, it does nothing, and then the game crashes once it reaches the read line (File.ReadStringBack: file was not written by WriteString). If I  put the if (input.error) after the read, the game crashes and never reaches the next line to execute the if.

However in the manual it says "This function only checks for errors while actually reading/writing data." which seems to indicate that should work to also detect reading errors on the file...

So, am I doing this all wrong? Is the manual wrong? And can't AGS issue an error for devs to work with (like allowing me to delete the faulty file, create a new empty one and tell the player about the error?) instead of just crashing?

If there's no solution, I'll put a warning about not editing these .dat files on the readme/manual.txt (knowing nobody really reads these anymore) and if the player ignores the warning the solutions... as in "delete the file and start a new game".

13

Adventure Related Talk & Chat / AGS Awards - Improvements for Nominations

« on: 04 Feb 2017, 22:22 »

Now that nominations are over, I would like to suggest adjusting the nomination forms for next year, if at all possible.

1) Separate the categories into a page for it self, allowing members to vote in each category on their own time, instead of doing it in "one go". (I left my browser open to be able to take breaks... but would be nice to able to nominate in small steeps, as looking at that huge list can be a bit overwhelming).

2) Once you select a name from the list, a "picture preview" could be shown on the right. Can be just 1 of the pictures that is already in the db. And a link to the game page. Sometimes a name doesn't quite ring a bell, so a visual queue and a link to the game page would very usefull.

3) That's about it... Though am sure others might have some other ideas.

(Sorry if I hijacked the thread... And I'll try to be there tomorrow. )

14

Beginners' Technical Questions / Loading/Unloading a plugin via Script

« on: 10 Jan 2017, 10:31 »

Okay, not sure if this is a yes/no question, or an advance script question, but is it possible to load and unload a script via game script?

I'm asking cause I wanted to use the AGS Theora plugin to play video as BG, only I found out that it it makes all flipped sprite frames invisible.
I guess I could go and import the sprites flipped, but that would defeat part of the point to save game size. Not to mention the pain of me identifying all flipped sprites.

Since I only need the video to run on one room, where use no sprites, or flipped anyway, if it's possible to unload it,  could just unload it when done using it, and load it back once I return to that room to play a movie.

Or maybe AJA's plugin will solve this problem, if I can get it to load.

15

Beginners' Technical Questions / Controling volume for extrenal MP3 and Audio CD

« on: 29 Nov 2016, 20:03 »

Uhm... Sorry if this is basic, but I didn't found an answer to this in either the manual or by searching the forum.

So at this point I'm guessing the answer is: You can't do that. In which case I'll just add a note that music volume control does not work for using external audio files or music CD.

Question is simple:
I have a slider to set the volume of the music, which I wrongly assumed worked for external files (PlayMP3File) and CDAudio... realizing today that these don't get affected when changing the slider back and forth.
So... is there a way to achieve this? Or should I just add the "doesn't work for this type of sound" warning?

16

Competitions & Activities / Coloring Ball: The Empty Lot (Winner anounced)

« on: 29 Aug 2016, 18:10 »

<< The Empty Lot >>

Entries + final scores + winners:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53874.msg636543502#msg636543502[




I was walking to work today when I stumble into a very weird event happening in this empty lot!
A "building" was appearing and changing at every micro second! It was so amazing the shapes and images inside, that I took my camera out and started shooting as many pictures as I could. I'm really looking forward to see those pictures as they come from the laboratory! I honestly have no idea of what I captured on film!

Here's a clean shape:


Rules:
They can NOT be rotated 90, 180, 270 degrees.
Shape can NOT be flipped horizontally or/and vertically.
Shape can NOT be scaled.
Shape outline CAN be coloured.
Shape CAN be animated. (you get 1 extra point! ).


Trophies
      
Participation



Deadline is September 12 14th 2016. (2 days extension!)


Entries + final scores + winners:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53874.msg636543502#msg636543502[

17

Beginners' Technical Questions / Playing a video as non-blocking

« on: 11 Jun 2016, 11:07 »

If this turns out to be an advanced question, please move it to the appropriate forum.

Is there anyway to play a video inside AGS as non-blocking?

Reason I ask, is because I need to have a video playing with muted audio, so I can use the game's music (can be changed by the player at anytime!).

I want the video running in the background non-blocking, so that I can add characters/narrator speech+text talking on the foreground. You could say "add it to the video", but again, the player can change the music at will in game, and I want the music to change, so sound in video needs to play muted.

I could import the frames into the project... but the intro video has currently 900 frames, and I have at least 2 more in mind. I'm afraid that it might become too heavy?
Another way would be to render the sprites and create the animations with views and the Tween module, which is probably what I'll end up doing if the non-blocking video doesn't work.

@CW or other code wizards: Assuming the video can't be played non-blocking atm, would it be possible/easy to make it possible to add "eNoBlock" to the video play options? Just wondering.

EDIT: I just found out this can be done using the AGS Theora Plugin.

18

Completed Game Announcements / [MAGS-May] Out of Gas (v1.2 available now)

« on: 01 Jun 2016, 19:05 »

A short little game I've made for MAGS May2016, theme: Jumpin' Jack Flash.

Out of Gas

Very basic story: Jack is driving home, when he runs out of gas just a couple blocks from the gas station.
He now needs to walk there and return with some gas.



Known issues: Restart doesn't work, viewing credits from the main menu will terminate the game, suspect description has a bug.
I'll soon upload a new version that will fix most bugs and last spellchecking. (But if you plan to vote for MAGS, then please use version 1.0)

Resolution: 640x360
Style: Adventure (Point&Click)
Music: Yes, MP3

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2065/

EDIT: Okay, all mentioned bugs above and some not mentioned, have now been fixed in version 1.1 (not yet available for download, as I'm waiting for feedback on proof reading and beta testing. Just to make sure everything is working the way it should. So maybe a day or two more, if you are waiting for a bug free version to play the game.

UPDATE: So, I decided to skip 1.1 over, and 1.2 is now available. Hopefully, bug free, this time!

19

Beginners' Technical Questions / Read/Write a particular line from a file

« on: 23 Mar 2016, 22:11 »

Sorry for asking but I've been reading the manual and previous forum posts to this question, and I either concluded that this can't be done the way I thought it could, or I just haven't found the answer yet.

Am using Beta 3.4.0.6 and I want to be able to save some data into a file, so that the player, if they start a new game (by closing the game and opening it again) can have those choices set the same way they left it.
To be more specific, I have coded so the player can choose between default music, mp3 music or Audio CD (with track selection).

Like the ags config file, you have a "variable" name with a content that can be altered by setup, or by hand with notepad (if one knows what write in there). So that's basically what I want.
It can either be a line that just says "CD Intro = 1" or even just 1st line is "1", 2nd line is "4" etc.

I was going to use the File.Open, but can't figure out how to read the info I need from it.
From a previous post I got "write five eFileWrite, and then read five eFileRead to get the info from the 5th..." but that's rather inefficient, as it seems I would need to put a bunch of ifs, just to find the data am looking for. And since selection of tracks is not linear I have no way to know which data will be written first in file...

Is it just me that is over complicating something simple?
I had thought that I could just check for the variable and then read the "int" or at least say something like "Write.To.File(3)" and then "Read.From.File(3)" where file could be the line number (or how ever AGS saves the data).

Is there a simple way to do this? Is there a command I have yet to find that can do this?

[Add spoiler tag]

20

Recruitment / [HELP FOUND] BSG78 - Unexpected at the Rising Star

« on: 26 Feb 2016, 22:44 »

I've finally reached a point where I'm happy with my models, and am now coding and doing small animations for a short game, where you''ll get to control Starbuck as he finds himself inadvertently on a double date with both Cassiopeia and Athena. Or in other words, I'm recreating the scene from The Long Patrol episode.  You'll get to do what he did and get the same end  result... but you'll also have the possibility to get away with it (meaning that Athena and Cass won't meet at the end).

Anyway, this small game will serve as both a self standing game and as a tech demo for the full length game.

WIP thread is here for more info.

Game is freeware, and as thus the only thing I'm offering is your name in the credits!

If you wish to help out here's what I'm looking for:

- Music (if you happen to love making music and always wished to do a BSG inspired song, this is your chance! Alternative you can just search for appropriate music on free sites. This will be the default music for the game.    Taken!

- SFX (I don't want to rip sounds, and hate having to search for them on the internet. If you enjoy recording your sounds or searching free sites for SFX sounds... please do!)   Taken!

- Voice Acting (youtube links):
 - Adama, Taken!
 - Athena,  Taken!
 - Starbuck,   Taken!
 - Cassiopeia,  Taken!
 - Concierge/Waiter from the Rising Star,   Taken!
 - Cook 1 (older male),   Taken!
 - Cook 2 (younger male)  Taken!
 - "intercom" (female) Taken!
 - Easter egg! Taken!
If you think you could do a good Patrick Macnee , then I might add the intro speech as well. Taken!

Note: You don't need to be an impersonator or even a close match, though for the main characters I'm looking for at least "tone" right...

- 3D art - Anything you might wish to help  with is just fine! Even if it's just a Languatron (done!)!

- Translation - If you wish to see this game in your native language and wish to translate it yourself, I'll send you the txt file and a copy of the beta game.

- Alpha/Beta testers! - Think I have enough for now. However, if you really really wish, send PM, I won't deny anyone.

Add spoiler tag for Hidden:

The so very important position to spot and find bugs, also a chance to give input and improve the game as it's being developed! Note, you don't need to be an expert Point & Click gamer. And I can provide a walk through if you don't wish to figure out the game on your own.
Expect to get a build in a month or two for first testing... depending on how my free time plays.

Thanks, feel free to apply here or via PM.

EDIT: All help has now been found. Thread can be locked.