Topics

1

Completed Game Announcements / Adventure: Welcome to the Genre

« on: 23 Jan 2018, 18:17 »

Thalia James' job in the Computer Game Maintenance Squad is seldom an easy one. After one of her assignments nearly ends in disaster, she is asked to track down five characters believed to be responsible for a series of criminal activities throughout the 2D adventure genre. With that to grapple with as well the mysterious condition from her past that has inexplicably resurfaced, the first annual Adventure Game Awards and the grand opening of something called the Mega-Game, this adventure is bound to be anything but mundane.

------------------

Unlike its predecessors, the majority of art, sound and music in AWTTG is original (that is, free online resources as opposed to assets mtaken from other games). You will still be seeing a number of familiar locales and characters, but there will be a lot of new places and faces as well (plus a few characters that will be familiar to you if you have played Adventure: The Inside Job and Adventure: All in the Game).





There will be puzzles, there will be inventory items, there will be dialog trees...



...and there will also be wardrobe changes.



Download the game here!

Adventure: Welcome to the Genre's AGS entry

Adventure: Welcome to the Genre's website (includes a walkthrough, behind-the-scenes info and other extra goodies)

2

Beginners' Technical Questions / Upgraded game no longer reading files from installation directory? SOLVED!

« on: 21 Jan 2018, 21:12 »

I recently upgraded my game to AGS 3.3.5, primarily to fix problems with the mouse moving too fast while in windowed mode. Unfortunately, this seems to be causing problems with the Easy3D plugin I'm using. There are four files which have to be in the game's Compiled folder in order for the plugin to work properly (AGSBlend.dll, AGSD3DVSync.dll, E3d080.dat and E3d0100.dat), but the game is behaving as if those files aren't there.

I suspect that this might have to do with this latest version not writing to the game's installation directory anymore, and I'm not sure if this is a bug, or if there's some trick to getting the game to read files from its installation directory that I'm missing.

Any guidance to solving this problem would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I managed to figure it out on my own - turns out it was a bug, and downloading a patch seems to have fixed it.

3

Site & Forum Reports / Games appearing under two separate names instead of one

« on: 04 Jan 2018, 06:03 »

Hi,

I just noticed that two of the four games I've uploaded are listed under "Akril15" instead of "Akril".

Since my first two games were uploaded under "Akril", I'd like the other two newer games to appear under that name as well, if that's not too much trouble (even though my forum name is Akril15 -- confusing, I know).

4

Beginners' Technical Questions / Save/Restore GUI Issues (SOLVED)

« on: 21 Dec 2017, 02:20 »

I've tweaked my game's Save/Restore GUI code slightly to prevent the name of the previously saved/restored game from always showing up in the GUI's text box, but I think I may have broken something, since one of the testers for my game reported being unable to load a previously saved game. I haven't run into this problem myself, but I still wanted to try to fix it.

I don't know if anyone is able to help me with this since the code is pretty messy, but I figured I might as well ask if anyone notices any obvious problems. (Also: I'm using Joe Carl's GUI, which uses Spanish names for a lot of the buttons that I never bothered changing -- sorry about that.)

Overwrite button:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. #sectionstart overwriteSI_btn_Click  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
2. function overwriteSI_btn_Click(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button) {
3. int p = 0;
4. while(p<partidas.ItemCount){
5. if((partidas.ItemCount>p)&&(partidas.Items[p]==guardar.Text)){
6. gOverwrite.Visible=false;
7. gSaverestore.Visible=false;
8. SaveGameSlot(partidas.SaveGameSlots[p], guardar.Text);
9. partidas.FillSaveGameList();
10. guardar.Text="";
11. gIcons.Visible=true;
12. Display("Game saved!");
13. if (player.Room==39 || player.Room==40 || player.Room==41 || player.Room==112) { //no walk!
14. mouse.Mode=eModeLookat;
15. mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModeLookat);    
16. }
17. if (player.Room==80 && gPuzzle1.Visible==true) {
18. if (mouse.Mode==eModeTouch) mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModePointer);
19. }
20. else {
21. mouse.Mode=eModeWalkto;
22. mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModeWalkto);
23. }
24. return;
25. }
26. p++;  
27. }
28. }
29. #sectionend overwriteSI_btn_Click  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
30.  

Save button:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. #sectionstart savegame_Click  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
2. function savegame_Click(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button) {
3.    
4. int totalSaves = partidas.ItemCount; //number of saves on list
5. String saveName = guardar.Text; //holds value of txtSaveName
6.  
7. if (saveName==""){
8. Display("Please enter a name.");
9. return;
10. }
11. // If there is no saved games yet, just save it.
12. if (partidas.SelectedIndex == -1)
13. {
14. gSaverestore.Visible=false;
15. SaveGameSlot(temp_savegame_index, guardar.Text); ///replaced 2nd item (temp_savegame) with guardar.Text. i hope this works
16. //SaveGameSlot(partidas.ItemCount+1, guardar.Text);
17. partidas.FillSaveGameList();
18. guardar.Text="";
19. Display("Game saved.");
20. gIcons.Visible=true;
21. }
22.  
23. else
24. {
25. int checkSave = 0; //runs through the list and checks for double entries
26. while (checkSave != totalSaves)
27. {
28. if (saveName == partidas.Items[checkSave]) // one matches, so overwrite it.
29. {
30. // If so, overwrite the selected save game
31. temp_savegame_index = savegameindex[checkSave];
32. temp_savename = saveName;
33. gOverwrite.Visible=true;
34. gIcons.Visible=false;
35. return;
36. }
37. checkSave++;
38. }
39.    
40. // There is no match, just save to a new slot.
41. if (totalSaves < 49)
42. {
43. gSaverestore.Visible = false;
44. SaveGameSlot(totalSaves+1, saveName);
45. Display ("Game saved!");
46. gIcons.Visible=true;
47. guardar.Text="";
48. }
49.    
50. else
51. {
52. Display("You have reached the maximum number of saves![Either delete or overwrite an old save if you[want to create a new one.");
53. guardar.Text="";
54. return;
55. }
56. }
57.    
58. if (player.Room==39 || player.Room==40 || player.Room==41 || player.Room==112) { //no walk!
59. mouse.Mode=eModeLookat;
60. mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModeLookat);    
61. }
62. if (player.Room==80 && gPuzzle1.Visible==true) {
63. if (mouse.Mode==eModeTouch) mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModePointer);
64. }
65. else {
66. if (cliff_hiding==false && chu_timer_on==false) {
67. mouse.Mode=eModeWalkto;
68. mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModeWalkto);
69. }
70. else { //if hiding
71. mouse.Mode=eModeLookat;
72. mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModeLookat);
73. }
74. }
75. return;  
76. int p = 0;
77.  
78. while(p<=partidas.ItemCount){  
79. if(guardar==partidas.Items[p]) {
80. //overwrite open
81. temp_savegame_index = savegameindex[p];
82. temp_savename = guardar;
83. gOverwrite.Visible=true;
84. gIcons.Visible=false;
85. return;
86. }
87.  
88. p++;  
89. }
90.  
91. if (p>49) {
92. Display("You have reached the maximum number of saves![Either delete or overwrite an old save if you[want to create a new one.");
93. return;
94. }
95.  
96. }
97. #sectionend savegame_Click  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
98.  

Restore button:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. #sectionstart restoregame_Click  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
2. function restoregame_Click(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button) {
3. if(partidas.ItemCount!=0){  
4. int index = partidas.SelectedIndex;
5. RestoreGameSlot(partidas.SaveGameSlots[index]);
6. partidas.FillSaveGameList();
7. savegame.Enabled=true;
8. guardar.Enabled=true;
9. cerrar.Enabled=true;
10. guardar.Text="";
11. // SetGameOption(OPT_WHENGUIDISABLED, 2);
12. }
13. else Display("No game to load!");
14. }
15. #sectionend restoregame_Click  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
16.  

Confirm delete button:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. function del_yes_OnClick(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button)
2. {
3. //delete-yes
4. if(partidas.ItemCount>=1){
5. int index = partidas.SelectedIndex;  
6. DeleteSaveSlot(partidas.SaveGameSlots[index]);
7. partidas.FillSaveGameList();
8. guardar.Text="";
9. }
10. gDelete.Visible=false;  
11. }
12.  

Thank you very much in advance!

5

Adventure Related Talk & Chat / A Call for Question "Cameos"

« on: 18 Nov 2017, 06:01 »

Some of you may remember the thread I posted here a while ago where I put out a call for anyone who was interested in having a character from their AGS game(s) make a cameo in my upcoming game, Adventure: Welcome to the Genre. I've decided to do a similar "audience participation" type of thing that's going to be much less overt, but should still be fun to do if I get enough participants.

To sum up: If any of you have played the previous two games in the Thalia James series and have one or more questions you'd like to ask about the world in those games, any of the characters or even Thalia herself, please feel free to ask them, either in this thread or in a PM.

(I already mentioned this in the game's thread, but since barely anyone seemed to notice it, I decided to make it a post of its own.)

6

Beginners' Technical Questions / GUIs creating problems with timers - SOLVED

« on: 01 Nov 2017, 23:40 »

I've got several events in my game where I have timed sequences set up (not using AGS's timers, but ones including code like this):

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. function room_RepExec() {
2. if (timer<200) timer++;
3. if (timer==200) {
4. //timer expired!
5. //do stuff here
6. timer=0;
7. }
8. }
9.  

These timers work just fine, but I've just recently discovered that if I had my options GUI (just a normal GUI window) open when a particular timer ran out, the options GUI would close, the code meant to run after the timer ran out would try to run, but most of the animations wouldn't play and the game would hang, with the cursor perpetually stuck as the "wait" cursor. I thought this might be an issue with the game not being paused when the options GUI was open, but when I made sure that the game would pause while the options GUI was open (and unpause when it was closed, of course), the same problem occurred.

When I tried telling the game to only run the timer code when the options GUI wasn't visible, my problem was resolved, but it looks like I may have to go through my game and do the same thing to the Rep_exec section of every room that has one or more timers (and most likely add every other GUI which has the possibility of being open while the timers are running).

I would like to know if there is any tidier way of doing this, just in case this fix ends up being more trouble than it's worth.

Thanks in advance!

7

Advanced Technical Forum / Problems with "teleporting" system and mouse cursor not changing immediately

« on: 18 Oct 2017, 08:35 »

I have a couple of small but annoying problems I've run into in AGS.

Problem #1:

I have some code in my game that's supposed to teleport the player character to whenever the player clicks while the space bar is pressed that's in on_key_press and looks like this:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. if (mouse.IsButtonDown(eMouseLeft) && IsKeyPressed(eKeySpace)==1 && (mouse.Mode==eModeWalkto || mouse.Mode==eModeArrow)) {
2.    player.x=mouse.x;
3.    player.y=mouse.y;
4.    player.PlaceOnWalkableArea();
5.   }
6.  

This code worked fine for some time, but now, for some reason, it no longer does. I've compared the last saved version of my game where this code was working to the version where this problem first manifested itself, and I can't for the life of me figure out what I did to cause this. Everything in on_key_press seems almost exactly the same, and this problem is made even more difficult since my game is so far along by now that I don't know how I can narrow down what exactly is going on. This might be a lost cause, but does anyone have any idea what might be happening here?


Problem #2:

I have a system in place where the walk cursor changes to an arrow cursor whenever it's over an exit. An example (under a "Mouse moves over hotspot" section) would be something like:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1.   if (mouse.Mode==eModeArrow) mouse.ChangeModeGraphic(eModeArrow, 1280); //up arrow
2.  
3.   if (mouse.Mode==eModeWalkto) {
4.     mouse.SaveCursorUntilItLeaves();
5.     mouse.Mode=eModeArrow;
6.                                }
7.  

The only problem with this system is that if the cursor is set to be a certain graphic, then moves over a region/hotspot/whatever associated with a different graphic, sometimes the cursor doesn't change immediately. It may stay as the previous cursor for a split second or, in some instances, briefly remain stuck as the previous cursor (I've seen this happen when I have the cursor over a hotspot that makes the cursor change to the "right arrow" graphic, and if I leave using that exit, the mouse winds up over a hotspot set to use the "up arrow" graphic, yet the cursor initially appears as the "right arrow" graphic until the mouse is moved off that hotspot, then onto it again). I tried putting mouse.Update(); in repeatedly_execute always, but it didn't help.

This isn't a huge issue, but it is slightly annoying, and if there is a relatively simple fix, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give!

EDIT: Fixed indents.

8

Advanced Technical Forum / "Pause game when shown" GUIs suddenly behaving like "always shown" GUIs (SOLVED)

« on: 18 Nov 2015, 00:32 »

I've discovered a problem with my game's save/restore, quit, and similar GUIs: they're supposed to pause the game when they're visible, but now, for some reason, if I click outside their windows, the game acts as if it isn't paused and react as if the GUI wasn't there, by running an interaction associated with whatever part of the screen the mouse was over when I clicked. The GUI either temporarily disappears while the interaction runs or stays gone permanently. Initially, it would run a "touch" interaction response, which I tried to get around by removing all instances of me changing the mouse to use the touch mode when one of those GUIs was opened, but now it acts like the walk cursor whenever I click outside the window, making the main character walk to the point nearest to the spot I clicked (this also happens when I close a GUI window).

I've looked at the old versions of this game that I've saved over the past few months and found a version when this didn't happen, but I've compared both this and the version I saved immediately after it, and I can't find any significant differences between the two games' general settings, unhandled_event, repeatedly_execute, repeatedly_execute_always, on_mouse_click, game_start or on_event sections (the GUIs are identical as well). I do have one section of script that closes the inventory window if the player clicks outside it, but the code for this is identical in both versions.

Is there anything else that I might have overlooked?

9

Adventure Related Talk & Chat / Character Cameo Opportunity

« on: 24 Oct 2015, 10:43 »

I need something from the AGS forums, and this time, it isn't just help with AGS:

Some of you may have noticed the announcement of Adventure: Welcome to the Genre in the Games In Progress forum. There is going to be a scene at the end of the game which requires the presence of several AGS characters. If you'd like your character to make a brief cameo, please send me a PM and I'll try to make it happen!

All I need is a sprite showing your character sitting down (as if in a chair), preferably facing away from the camera (up, diagonal up right/left) (UPDATE: the remaining slot can only accommodate a side view). There's no restriction on what resolution your character is or how big or small he/she/it is. If you don't have any sprites of your character sitting, I can probably create one from a standing sprite.

There's room for only seven characters, so act fast.

1. Taken!
2. Taken!
3. Taken!
4. Taken!
5. Taken!
6. Taken!
7. Taken!

UPDATE (2-7-16): All slots have now been taken. However, one volunteer has yet to submit their sprites to me for some time. If I don't get a response from them in the next few weeks, I may consider accepting one more character, depending on how the scene turns out.

10

AGS Games in Production / [ RELEASED ] [ RELEASED ] Adventure: Welcome to the Genre

« on: 21 Oct 2015, 22:59 »

Thalia James' job in the Computer Game Maintenance Squad is seldom an easy one. After one of her assignments nearly ends in disaster, she is asked to track down five characters believed to be responsible for a series of criminal activities throughout the 2D adventure genre. With that to grapple with as well the mysterious condition from her past that has inexplicably resurfaced, the first annual Adventure Game Awards and the grand opening of something called the Mega-Game, this adventure is bound to be anything but mundane.

------------------

The third installment in the Thalia James series has been in production for the past 2-3 years, and is finally nearing completion!

Unlike its predecessors, the majority of art, sound and music in AWTTG is original. You will still be seeing a number of familiar locales and characters, but there will be a lot of new places and faces as well (plus a few characters that will be familiar to you if you have played Adventure: The Inside Job and Adventure: All in the Game).





There will be puzzles, there will be inventory items, there will be dialog trees...

...and there will also be wardrobe changes.




------------------


UPDATE (11-9-17):

First off, I want to apologize for abandoning this thread for so long. For over a year, I was in a pretty bad place where not only was I unable to work on my game, but even simple projects felt like things I had to force myself to do, and the pleasure I got from them was minimal. As of a few weeks ago, I've finally gotten to the point where I'm able to work on Adventure: Welcome to the Genre again.

The game is ready for beta-testing (drop me a reply or a PM if you're interested, and I also have a somewhat more atypical (and hopefully, more fun) request: If you've got any questions you'd like to ask about Thalia and/or her series (either serious or non-serious), please send them my way.

(Also, I feel I should clarify something I said in my original spiel for the game: when I said the game's music would be mostly original, I meant that it wasn't ripped from other games. Almost none of it was created specifically for this game and is mostly royalty-free tracks, but it should still sound good.)

Also, here's another screenshot:



UPDATE (11-15-17): Beta-testing is underway.

UPDATE (1-23-18): The game is finally out! Check out the AGS page here or just download it directly here!

11

Advanced Technical Forum / SOLVED - All imported sprites being replaced with blue cups

« on: 07 Oct 2015, 06:12 »

My game has suddenly developed a serious problem. Every sprite I import gets replaced with the image of a blue cup when I add it to a view and run or save the game. I found another thread on this topic from 2008, but the scenario described in the last post doesn't apply to my situation.

I've tried importing different sprites, installing a fresh copy of AGS in a different folder (I'm using version 3.2.1, and I'm hesitant to change to a newer version at this point) and importing the sprite in that version, but I keep running into the same problem.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

12

Advanced Technical Forum / Easy3D Module can't handle alpha channels?

« on: 30 May 2015, 23:00 »

I want to include a brief 3D "gimmick" in my otherwise 2D game. Unfortunately, this has turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be.

I've finally got a room working using the Easy3D module, but now I've run into another problem which I can't seem to get around: if I use a sprite with an alpha channel to create a wall, it always turns out opaque, with pink filling in the areas that should be transparent. Both the sprite and the background are 32-bit, so I don't think mismatched color depths are the problem here. I tried opening the game in AGS 3.3.3 (I was editing it in 3.2.1) and setting the sprite alpha rendering style to "proper alpha blending", but nothing changed. I think the problem be a DrawingSurface issue, and I'm still pretty unfamiliar with that part of AGS.

If there's anyone who might be able to give me some advice on getting around this problem, I would truly appreciate it.

13

Advanced Technical Forum / Using Magnifier module in an unconventional way

« on: 24 May 2015, 05:25 »

Hello,

It's been a while since anyone has replied to the Magnifier module's thread, so I figured it couldn't hurt to start my own.

I'm working on a game where occasionally, a small section of the background (and any objects in the vicinity) are visually distorted via a brief animation like heat waves or water ripples. For a while, I had no idea how to do this, but I realized that the Magnifier module could be modified to do something like this.

As it turns out, it does...sort of.

If I come up with a section of code like this (not complete!):

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. //magcounter is a variable that is being increased while this sequence is happening
2.         if (magcounter==60) Magnifier.Sprite=7505; //first frame of the animation
3.        if (magcounter==65) Magnifier.Sprite=7504;
4.        if (magcounter==70) Magnifier.Sprite=7503;
5.        if (magcounter==75) Magnifier.Sprite=7502;
6.        if (magcounter==80) Magnifier.Sprite=7501;
7.        if (magcounter==85) Magnifier.Sprite=7500;
8.        if (magcounter==90) Magnifier.Sprite=7499;
9.       if (magcounter==95) Magnifier.Sprite=1150; //last frame of the animation
10.       if (magcounter>=100)  {
11.         Magnifier.Enabled=false;  //turning off the magnifier also resets magcounter to 0
12.      //code for what happens after animation is over goes here...
13.       }

And enter it in the section of the script where I want the animation to play, it doesn't work (it stays completely transparent until it ends), but if I set up the script to trigger this code from repeatedly_execute, it does work. The problem is that calling it from repeatedly_execute is pretty inconvenient, especially if there's a lot of code that comes after the animation.

I've grappled with this problem numerous times as I've worked on my game, and no matter how I try to figure out what's going on, I'm always forced to give up. Now, I've finally decided to ask for help here.

Does anyone know I can solve this problem, or if there's a way of doing what I'm trying to do without using the module?

14

Completed Game Announcements / Late Last Nite (2015 AdventureJam entry)

« on: 20 Apr 2015, 02:05 »

Welcome to Late Last Nite, an adventure in excess.

Join our protagonist Morgan as she stumbles through a series of bizarre fantasy settings -- a mer-pirate lagoon, a junk food forest, and a steampunk vampire nightclub -- in search of three missing relics. How will her night end? It's up to you to decide!


This game was a collaboration between me and Jess Morrissette (designer/writer of the Pledge Quest games), Chris Ushko (Space Quest: Incinerations), Troels Pleimert (who also did another game for this jam titled What's in the Safe?), Frederik Olsen (Space Quest: Vohaul Strikes Back), Natalie Juhasz (who did another game for this jam, Long Live the Cat King) and Gareth Millward (whose work I admit I'm not that familiar with).

Working on this game was at times almost surreal as the game itself. Given the limited time we had to work on it, there are a few glitches, but so far nothing bad enough to cause any crashes. If you have thirty minutes or so to spend, feel free to give it a play and if you like the game, please consider voting for it.

Download it here!

15

Beginners' Technical Questions / Player stops animating when Walk cursor is clicked on a blank spot (SOLVED!)

« on: 09 Feb 2015, 19:39 »

I'm working on a game that has a couple of rooms where there are no walkable areas and the walk cursor only functions as a cursor that changes to an arrow when the player moves it over a hotspot designated as an exit and makes the player character leave the room when the player clicks on one of those hotspots.

The problem is that the player character is constantly animating in these rooms, and if I have the walk cursor selected and click anywhere on the screen that isn't designated as an exit hotspot, the character stops animating. I've tried setting the animation as a continuous idle animation, but I still get the same result.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem?

Thanks in advance.

16

Advanced Technical Forum / SOLVED. Different background size causes problems with footstep sounds?

« on: 22 Feb 2014, 21:40 »

Hello,

I'm working on a 640x400 game in AGS 3.2.1 and have run into an unusual problem.

In this game, the main character has footstep sounds that change depending on the surface she is walking on. The script for doing this looks like this:

Global script (repeatedly_execute_always):

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. if (GetWalkableAreaAt(player.x, player.y)==1 || GetWalkableAreaAt(player.x, player.y)==2) steps_dirt();
2.     //if player is on walkable area 1 or 2, have her footsteps sound like she's walking in dirt
3.  
4.  if (GetWalkableAreaAt(player.x, player.y)==3) steps_grass();
5.     //if player is on walkable area 2, have her footsteps sound like she's walking in grass
6.  
7.  if (GetWalkableAreaAt(player.x, player.y)==4) steps_stone();
8.   //stone
9.  

steps_dirt, steps_grass, etc. point to the contents of this script (footsteps.asc):

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1. function ros_steps_grass() {
2.   //setting footsteps (grass)
3. ViewFrame *frame = Game.GetViewFrame(1, 0, 4); //change the GetViewFrame numbers to the character's view, loop and frame number
4. frame.LinkedAudio=aGrass1; //change to number of first grass footstep sound effect -- this is the sound that's going to be assigned to the frame in the previous line of code
5. frame = Game.GetViewFrame(1, 0, 4); //every one of these lines represents a frame where a footstep sound is supposed to play -- keep changing them to match the way they appear in the character's view, and make sure to include both left AND right footsteps!
6. frame.LinkedAudio=aGrass1;
7. frame = Game.GetViewFrame(1, 1, 4);
8. frame.LinkedAudio=aGgrass1;
9. frame = Game.GetViewFrame(1, 2, 4);
10. ///and so on...
11.     }
12.  

This code works fine in every room except one. The main character's footstep sounds won't play in this room. If she enters this room from an adjacent screen, her footsteps do have sounds, but the sounds are carried over from the walkable area she was on in the previous room. I've tried to figure out what the problem is, and strangely, it seems like the only thing that might be causing this problem is the size of the room's background -- it's 640x750, while the rest of the game's rooms are 640x400. I've tried replacing this room with a 640x400 background, and voila -- the footstep sounds play without any problem.

Is there any real correlation between the lack of footstep sounds and the larger background, or might there be something else that's causing this?

EDIT: Solved! It looks like the different size was causing some confusion with the game's coordinates, but I was able to get around this problem by putting some lines like this in the room's repeatedly_execute_always section:

Code: Adventure Game Studio

1.  if (player.y>648) steps_dirt();
2.  else steps_stone();
3.  

17

Beginners' Technical Questions / Simplest way of implementing an "interrogation" system?

« on: 12 Apr 2013, 05:31 »

Hello,

I'm creating a game which involves interrogating characters to learn information about various topics (similar to the notebook mechanic in Laura Bow 2). Since this would mean asking the same questions repeatedly, I was considering creating a single dialog tree displaying the 4-5 different topics, with different responses depending on which character is being interrogated.

However, this is turning out to be more challenging than it first appeared. I can't figure out a way to tell the dialog tree which character is being spoken to (and thus, exactly what to say when responding to the protagonist) other than assigning a boolean variable to every character that is set to "true" when the conversation starts, then "false" once the conversation ends. Is there a simpler way to go about this that I may have overlooked, or should I go ahead and start implementing the true/false variables?

As always, thanks in advance!

18

Engine Development / PNG alpha channel problems

« on: 19 Feb 2013, 03:39 »

I've been working on a game with another person who is supplying the graphics for it. Recently, I encountered a strange problem when I was working on the game's inventory.

The inventory items are going to be PNGs with shadows created using a Photoshop's Drop Shadow effect. The PNGs look fine once they are exported from Photoshop, but when they're imported to the game and I run the game, this is what happens:

The image on the right is what I see in the game. The shadow creates a semi-transparent "cut-out" in the inventory window,
revealing the background behind it. At other times, the shadows appear completely opaque, both in the editor and the game. I have no idea why this is happening. Both the game and the PNGs are 32-bit, I'm not importing the PNGs incorrectly either. Does anyone know what's going on, and how I can resolve this issue?

19

Beginners' Technical Questions / Closing a GUI by clicking outside it [SOLVED]

« on: 11 Jan 2013, 23:22 »

Hello,

I'm working on a game with a Sierra-style inventory window. However, instead of using a button to close the window, I want the window to close when the player clicks outside it. This is a stripped-down version of the code I'm using (in repeatedly_execute):

GUI *thegui = GUI.GetAtScreenXY(mouse.x,mouse.y);
if (thegui==null && gInventory.Visible==true && mouse.IsButtonDown(eMouseLeft)) {
gInventory.Visible=false;
}

This method almost works, except for one problem: Clicking outside the window does close it, but it also runs an interaction depending on what hotspot/object I clicked on and what mouse mode is currently active -- e.g., if the Look mode is active and I happen click on the player character when I close the GUI, the game closes the GUI and runs the player charcter's Look interaction.

How do I stop the game from doing this?

20

Completed Game Announcements / Pledge Quest II

« on: 08 Oct 2012, 18:55 »

Well, it's been some time since Pledge Quest I was released and the Space Venture Kickstarter met its goal. However, in the hopes of guilt-tripping persuading a few people into contributing a tiny bit more to the project, Decaffeinated Jedi (creator of Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset, the world's first Space Quest fansite) and I have completed and released Pledge Quest II: Noodle Shop of Horrors!

When Bea (no relation to the Bea in the Space Quest series) and her boyfriend Roger (no relation to the Roger in the Space Quest series) go out to lunch at a nearby noodle shop, things take a turn for the weird. A maxed-out credit card turns out to be the least of Bea's worries, as she discovers that the Space Quest series -- and thus, the Space Venture project as well -- have been erased from existence. She now must travel back in time, find the individual responsible for this insidious act and get the timeline back on track (mostly by combining various objects with other objects).

You can download Pledge Quest II (for Windows, Mac and Linux) by going to its page on the new PledgeQuest.net website.