Gathering feature suggestions for the Engine

[Crimson Wizard]

LATER EDIT: THE NOW OFFICIAL ENGINE ISSUE TRACKER:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?project=3


Thanks for Khris for pushing me towards it (although he probably did not know about it )
Let's gather useful suggestions and problems that could be solved by adding features to the engine. Some were mentioned on forums already.

-------------------------
EDIT: I have to do this :
Let me elaborate why I started this thread. We all have some things in mind for sure. However, there are things being mentioned around forums, that could miss our attention. I suggest to gather them, if you find something interesting just give a link and some commentary.
-------------------------

My first contribution to this:
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=46344.0
Basically the guy wants his character's walking animation to have extra frames that play only once at start and never repeat (unless animation is reset).
I am thinking about "repeat from here" frame flag (or loop property). But there should also be a way to tell engine since it is walking anim, he should jump from one repeatable sequence to another if character turns into different direction without stopping.
Any thoughts on how to better design this? I mark "design" word, since it is question of one at the moment, rather than coding.

[Alan v.Drake]

The most viable choice that comes to mind would be giving the possibility to set an EaseInWalk and EaseOutWalk view to each character. The same could be done for a turning specific animation.

- Alan

[Joseph DiPerla]

Are we doing this one feature at a time or just popping in here and giving a list? If so, here is my list of suggestions that I have mentioned over the years that would make game development for *me* easy and *Possible*.

Editor:
*Point plotting for walkable area's, regions and hotspots. - Basically clicking a point on the screen at one location, then another and the editor would draw a line from that point to the next and continue doing so until the last point connects to the first and there you have your hotspot/region/walkable area, etc...
*A somewhat simple interaction editor. It doesn't need to be elaborate, but I would love to see this return even in minimum form to increase production time. Its a great little tool for those of us who can do AGS Script, but would rather do some minor stuff without scripting. Perhaps it can convert the interactions into AGS Script as a way to integrate this.
*Cross Packaging/Compilation. As I mentioned in another thread, AGS Seems to be just an EXE that loads up the AGS Data files, And single EXE's just seem to have the data appended to them at the end of the executable. If this is the case, The editor can be used to create cross platform packages to Linux and Mac. All that would be left to do is also include a way to compress it. The same would apply for Android (Maybe IOS? Do not have experience with IOS development). All a user would need to do is download the SDK/NDK and install it, tell The editor where the directories are that contain the compilers, put a couple of settings into the Editor and then let the editor do something to compile AGS, package the game with AGS in an APK with your own package name and key and you are set to go. Of course, this sounds simple in theory, but possibly not easy to do. However, when people see that AGS can be used not only to make games for other platforms, but also easily compile them, this would attract them more to it.

Engine:
*Particle effects. The Rain/Snow plugin is a great example of a particle engine, but something a bit more complete would be nice, particularly for fire and explosions and even things like Tornado's. This would simplify the process of drawing more graphics and coding the function into the game manually. A Particle engine could really spice up what AGS can do.
*Limits. Although I have no intention of using up the limits currently, I do want to see others that are using other engines also use AGS. I would like to see a big game developer use AGS for a commercial game (Think Runaway). I think that people do not realize that the limits are not unreasonable. They just see "What if I need more than that?" and they shy away from AGS. Its a shame because I really see AGS as the best Adventure Game Engine and the easiest to use. If others would look past some limitations, more would use it.
*Unlimited and Custom Resolutions. This has plagued AGS for a while. Its not a big deal as most developers would prefer to use the Resolutions that are already supported. But I have seen many complain about this and seen even some leave AGS for a different engine or custom engine (The Journey Down, is an example) so they can use a higher resolution. Anyone is free to do so, but it would be nice if AGS had gotten rid of this limitation as well. Since AGS is now 13 years old, I think its time that this feature was modernized a bit. The options I think should be included are either you input the custom resolution manually, or select it from a list. The list can give you idea's of what a good resolution would be based on the platform you are targeting.
*2.5D. Not necessary. I would use this, only if it supported MD2 files personally. However, having a 3D Animated object or character on screen nowadays is a lot simpler and faster for development than converting it to sprites. Well, in some cases I suppose. I wouldn't even know how to approach this or how to implement it. OpenGL would be one way, another one way that seems very good is Ogre 3D and/or irrlicht 3D. The file types I recommend for this, since it can support animated frames or bones are MD2, MD3, 3DS, .X.
*Playing across multiple discs. Although I heard many ask for this, with the release of DVD's and Blu Ray as well as more and more stuff being downloaded from the web, I do not see a big need for this. However, I have seen this being asked for and it probably should have been included years ago. But for some reason, I am starting to think this is already doable anyway.
*Translations for Movie voice overs and sprites.
*Sub Titles for Movies.
*Paralax Scrolling.

A much shorter list than what I have ever suggested, but I think its the essential ones for now.

[Crimson Wizard]

Dang, lol, I was afraid someone will do that

Ok, my bad. Let me elaborate why I started this thread. We all have some things in mind for sure. However, there are things being mentioned around forums, that could miss our attention. I suggest to gather them, if you find something interesting just give a link and some commentary.

As for those lengthy lists, well, I honestly don't know. I think it is better to start using the issue tracker, since it is practically ready.

[Joseph DiPerla]

Ah ok. Gotcha. Sorry CW.

[AGA]

The Project pages have an option to add feature suggestions, with each suggestion having its own discussion thread.  That would probably be a much better way of keeping track, rather than having dozens of overlapping threads in this forum?

[Crimson Wizard]

The Project pages have an option to add feature suggestions, with each suggestion having its own discussion thread.  That would probably be a much better way of keeping track, rather than having dozens of overlapping threads in this forum?

Hmm... I am starting to think I did stupid thing here
Alright, I will post this to Project page, as well anything else I find.

EDIT: However, I still think we should encourage people to notice such things as they read forums and write them down somehere (Project pages or elsewhere).

[Snarky]

Stuff I think should be in the next release, copy/pasted from an old post (with some new edits):

* Mac and Linux ports (and Android and iOS if possible, PSP if available)
* Fix DirectDraw/Direct3D issues so AGS runs reliably on Windows
* Support for widescreen and HD resolutions
* Fix music stuttering on room change bug
* Savegames breaking on basically any game update (if possible to fix without major rewrite)
* Support switching fullscreen/windowed mode during gameplay
* Fix winsetup crash on games installed under Program Files (Win 7, possibly Win XP), probably by putting config files in a different folder

I think the various dev branches actually have fixes for most of these issues, so it's primarily a matter of merging them into the main branch and putting out a release.

[Calin Leafshade]

The Project pages have an option to add feature suggestions, with each suggestion having its own discussion thread.  That would probably be a much better way of keeping track, rather than having dozens of overlapping threads in this forum?

The bugs on the project page probably should be just purged. A lot of them are simply not relevant any more.

[JanetC]

* Support switching fullscreen/windowed mode during gameplay

This would be awesome.

[BigMc]

* Support switching fullscreen/windowed mode during gameplay

As far as I know Allegro 4 doesn't support this. This might require porting to Allegro 5.

[monkey0506]

Regarding toggling fullscreen in-game...I haven't specifically looked at the comparable Allegro functions, but this is actually quite easy in SDL, so I imagine it wouldn't be at all difficult. That and custom resolutions (which there's already a branch for that floating around somewhere). These are two things that are presently hard-coded, but it doesn't really make much sense for it to be that way.

Calin has made a fair point that a lot of the bugs currently in the issue tracker aren't relevant, but I don't think we should just purge everything. I started trying to clean it up and close out some of them, but I didn't have the changelog file readily available, and some of the issues actually predate these forums. I have the changelog file now...and some free time. monkey, away!

Edit: BigMc posted whilst I was typing. And...that's ridiculous what he said. We will do what's necessary though. Whatever it takes.

[BigMc]

It's possible to add support for this to Allegro 4, ASEPRITE did this, but the patch is not included in upstream Allegro. You could try to get the patch included into Allegro, but please don't rely on patched versions of libraries.

There might be other ways to support this, don't know. Porting to Allegro 5 might be a good idea in the long run anyway.

[Alan v.Drake]

It's possible to add support for this to Allegro 4, ASEPRITE did this, but the patch is not included in upstream Allegro. You could try to get the patch included into Allegro, but please don't rely on patched versions of libraries.

There might be other ways to support this, don't know. Porting to Allegro 5 might be a good idea in the long run anyway.

I think that someone willing enough could already do the fullscreen/windowed for direct3d, if I recall correctly there's no allegro stuff involved into the initialization of the graphic mode. Then of course I don't know much about that stuff and who knows what devious trickery may lay down that road.

Of the same importance there's the matter of monitor resolutions (I'm not speaking about game resolutions which were already addressed by skygoblin's build), there's really no reason at all we can't stretch the surface to whatever resolution one chooses, both software and d3d mode have ways of doing so. It's just a matter of adding a listbox with the available system resolutions and retouching some code about mouse position, I think.
I also tried in DD5 to draw fullscreen in windowed mode and it seemed to work just fine (there were no window borders by default in that case).

- Alan

[Crimson Wizard]

The bugs on the project page probably should be just purged. A lot of them are simply not relevant any more.

There are feature requests made in 2004 that were implemented either in dev.3.2.2, or Draconian Edition

BTW, what issue Categories should we have? Like, "Engine" and "Editor", or else?

[AGA]

I would have separate projects for engine and editor myself, to remove clutter and confusion.  If not a separate project for every separate branch of the engine.

[Crimson Wizard]

I would have separate projects for engine and editor myself, to remove clutter and confusion.  If not a separate project for every separate branch of the engine.

What about this for starters:
- Engine
- Engine Ports
- Editor
- Editor Ports (why not )
----
- Modules & Plugins requests and bugs
- Documentation (Manual/Tutorials issues)

[AGA]

Admins actually have the option to create projects now.  I see someone has already made a test project.  I've added those four though, since that seems a good start.

[Crimson Wizard]

Admins actually have the option to create projects now.  I see someone has already made a test project.

That was me

I wonder if monkey agree to copy all the versions he put in the original project...

[monkey0506]

I originally added every AGS (and AC) version because I thought I was cool. It made the formatting of the pages horrible though (check boxes for every single version for which versions it applies to and which version(s) it's fixed in?? ugh!). So I purged the insanity.

[Crimson Wizard]

Alright, I made whole bunch of them. I suppose 7 projects would be enough for anyone .

[Joseph DiPerla]

Is there anyway to add a +1 to the bug tracker for the bugs and features we want most worked on? Just a thought. I guess this could complicate things a bit as there might be some who would +1 everything. Perhaps also adding a -1? I guess not really %100 necessary or urgent, but would be nice.

[suicidal pencil]

it would be really great if the engine could handle Regular Expressions

[Vince Twelve]

Engine portability is definitely the biggest factor in my decision for whether or not to use AGS for my next project.  I love AGS, but if you're trying to make some money, it no longer makes commercial sense to work in an engine that only works (reliably) on Windows, unfortunately.

Please prioritize official engine ports for Mac/Linux (and maybe Android and iOS)!

[Joseph DiPerla]

First off!!!! Resonance is pure genius! Originality at its best! My brother bought it for me, and I cannot stop raving about it. Now, as far as portability goes... JJS already said that the ports to the other os and mobile are pretty much as done as could be. Now its just a matter of keeping the ports up to date with each update of the engine, which seems to be happening. So, I think you are good to go V12.

[RickJ]

I have a couple suggestions:

1.  Display runtime errors so that the error test can be selected, copied to the clipboard, and pasted into a forum post or email.

2.  Make command line arguments available to the script.  Probably needs some editor work as well to accomplish.

[Crimson Wizard]

1.  Display runtime errors so that the error test can be selected, copied to the clipboard, and pasted into a forum post or email.

I've started writing new output system for that purpose:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=46290.0
It's a preliminary draft yet. Also I've started drafting error handling system, but don't know who will implement that and when.
Basically, idea is to customize where errors and warnings are being printed (log file, window, etc).

2.  Make command line arguments available to the script.  Probably needs some editor work as well to accomplish.

I don't think it is a difficult task. Engine already stores cmdline args, although they are used only during initialization. New script commands could simply create script objects of String type, that contain command argument, like:

Code: ags

int i = CmdArgs.GetCount();
String s = CmdArgs.Get(0);

I seriously think this is one day of work.

[RickJ]

I don't think it is a difficult task. Engine already stores cmdline args, although they are used only during initialization. New script commands could simply create script objects of String type, that contain command argument, like:

Thats exactly what I had in mind.  I know you are doing a lot at the moment but please put it on your to do list.  Perhaps someday when you are bored you can get around to doing this.

Your hard work is greatly appreciated.
Rick

[RickJ]

I would also like to suggest that the engine include PNG support so that screen shots could be captured as PNG or so that PNG images could be read into dynamic sprites at runtime.  BMP is such a pain to drag around everywhere. 

[geork]

I dunno how viable these suggestions are, being not very familiar with the internal working of AGS (I should start one day), they are to do with arrays

.2d arrays. so like

Code: AGS

int myArray[5][5]

.being able to create the number of array slots based on existing variables. so

Code: AGS

int myArray[myVar];

[abstauber]

I hope this is the right place to ask for this humble feature (and I hope it's not too trivial).
Currently it's not possible to control dialogs by keyboard. All it needs to do that is a method like this:

Code: AGS

Mouse.Click (MouseButton button, int x, int y)

I can haz that?


Or without the usage of custom dialog rendering, simple commands like this would also work:

Code: AGS

Dialog.SetActiveTopic(int option)
Dialog.StartTopic(int option)

[Scavenger]

I'm not sure how doable these suggestions are or if they're already implemented, but personally I would find these really useful!:

- Per channel volume for MOD file playing (plus tempo, speed, etc). I did a really simple one with Mikmod, but the volume control didn't actually work, so it just ended up muting certain channels. This'll be useful for more dynamic music playing. I could just try to remake the plugin though, if I'm the only one that wants it. If it comes to that... is it possible to pipe data from the .vox files to plugins? Could be useful for putting effects on speech, for instance, so you don't have to record a version of "That doesn't work" in a normal room, in an echoey cave, and as a robot. x3

- The ability to turn off the outline of a text input box in a dialog. It's possible in GUIs, so for consistency's sake should be doable in dialogues.

- Nonblocking speech, and playing speech files as audio clips. I'm... not actually sure why this wasn't possible before.

[SSH]

Can I suggest that this thread, as it links to the tracker, should be a sticky? Similarly, there should be sticky links to the trackers relevant to other forums.

[SSH]

Also, the bug tracker link on the right sidebar here goes to the old one and should be updated: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/AGS.aspx links to http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/BugTracker.aspx

[Snarky]

IIRC, AGA has said that all the ASP stuff is out of his control, it remains editable by CJ only. Would certainly be nice to get it fixed, but it might take a little while.

[Snarky]

Double post because these are completely unrelated.

there's no way I know of of reading the hotspot coordinates of a mouse mode.

There should be.

[AGA]

Isn't that mouse.x and mouse.y?  Although it's been a long time since I used AGS regularly...

[Crimson Wizard]

Isn't that mouse.x and mouse.y?  Although it's been a long time since I used AGS regularly...

That's position of mouse cursor on screen, what Snarky means is hotspot point on mouse sprite, that is - coordinates of cursor's active point related to sprite's 0,0.

[selmiak]

As I use .ogg for sounds already and just stumbled across opus I'd like to request support for this open source audio format in AGS for smaller filesizes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_(audio_format)

[dbuske]

What is the caching scheme for AGS?
Maybe updating it to modern specifications?

[MurrayL]

I'd love to be able to use Switch/Case statements instead of enormous blocks of if/else if/else if...

[jannar85]

Hi. I've been searching the forum for a while, but haven't gotten the question I have answered.
What sort of resolutions do AGS support now? Has it come as far as it's supporting 1280x800 or 1920x1080?
If not, how much time are we looking on before this is added?

I meant I noticed a AGS HD build a short while ago, but can't really find it anymore.
I hope I wasn't dreaming about it

Is there also some sort of daily build of the engine? And where can the latest, up-to-date manual be found?

[dbuske]

https://gitorious.org/skygoblinags/
You can get 1280x720 with skygoblinags. See the above link.
Get the master version tarball and it can be opened with 7Z

Here is a direct link. https://gitorious.org/skygoblinags/skygoblinags/trees/master  The download is on the right side of the page.
Install the regular ags first and then copy the bin contents to the ags directory.
you have to start a new game to use the new custom resolution.

[jannar85]

Thanks! How will this affect other builds of AGS? Does it work with Android and so on?

[Crimson Wizard]

Thanks! How will this affect other builds of AGS? Does it work with Android and so on?

These changes are not used in JJS ports. Have no idea about other ports (if they exist).
As far as I know (I recall build author stated that), in order to make those custom resolutions work, author made a number of "hacks", rather than rewrote AGS graphic system the clean way. Probably it supports only one resolution and not support any other (even lower ones), but people who used it will know better.

[Calin Leafshade]

That branch, even with AJA hacks, is pretty broken. Barely floating will behave very oddly if you run it in a window for instance and do stuff like minimize the window or alt-tab.

The best thing to do is to wait for the problem to be tackled properly by JJS, Crimson, et al. Which they should do ASAP btw :>

[dbuske]

I am using the SkygoblinAGS version and it works in all resolutions.
I am using 1280x720
I think it should be added to AGS for a new version.
The code would have to be checked and rewritten if necessary.

[Crimson Wizard]

I am using the SkygoblinAGS version and it works in all resolutions.
I am using 1280x720
I think it should be added to AGS for a new version.
The code would have to be checked and rewritten if necessary.

Yes, there are plans to add this functionality to AGS.

[Knox]

Would it be possible/easy enough to increase the Custom Properties limit, or remove limits on that?

I think the limit is 30 right now. Something like 50-100 could be cool

Ok Im guessing this request could be merged into this issue?
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?issue=295.0

[Scavenger]

I'm not really hip to what version of allegro does what, or how fast, but I've been looking at the AGS drawing functions, and this:
http://www.udel.edu/CIS/software/dist/allegro-4.2.1/docs/html/alleg020.html

It seems that allegro uses the same function for transparency/lighting for any colour depth, not just 16/32bit: draw_trans_sprite, draw_lit_sprite etc. which AGS uses verbatim (through it's own wrapper function now, it seems).

AGS also has a lot of hacks going on in it which runs different code depending on the colour depth. Couldn't this just be simplified by using the COLOR_MAP functions where the BLENDER functions are used in lower bit depths? Is speed an issue? Memory? I guess you could make pre-baked LUTs on the compilation of the engine - with a good compression algorithm you can make them real tiny. A 100 level LUT set would be 6mb raw, but you could even cut it down to 50 or 25, considering the low fidelity of 8-bit graphics. It would improve the engine's capabilities, and cut down on the amount of ifs there are. The only concern would be palette cycling or doing a lot of palette tweaking, but even in commercial games in the 90s they didn't have those at the same time. I'm pretty sure AGS already uses it for sprite darkening on 8bit sprites, but I could be wrong.

I dunno, it just seems like it could simplify things, considering it's part of allegro already, might as well take advantage of it. Correct me if I'm wrong, though, I don't want to be barking up a wrong tree.

[Billbis]

Not sure if it is Engine related or Editor related, it is probably both.
Is there any good reason not to be able to change a custom property value within AGS script? Why is there no SetProperties functions?
Can it be possible to implement one?
That will make Custom Properties much more useful.
Not a big problem anyway, because workaround solutions are not so hard to setup.

[Crimson Wizard]

Not sure if it is Engine related or Editor related, it is probably both.
Is there any good reason not to be able to change a custom property value within AGS script? Why is there no SetProperties functions?

Mostly engine related, and yes, this request exists for at least 9 years
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?issue=64.0

[Sslaxx]

Yeah, dunno where this one stands, or if it's a good idea at all (probably not), but maybe QuitGame could be extended to give a message on exit? Yeah, this is "inspired" by Icey's insistence on using AbortGame to exit his game normally because QuitGame doesn't give a message... http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48360.msg636458537#msg636458537 being the most recent example (I know of).

[Crimson Wizard]

Yeah, dunno where this one stands, or if it's a good idea at all (probably not), but maybe QuitGame could be extended to give a message on exit?

What kind of message do you have in mind?

[Sslaxx]

Yeah, dunno where this one stands, or if it's a good idea at all (probably not), but maybe QuitGame could be extended to give a message on exit?

What kind of message do you have in mind?

Honestly, I was just thinking of something along the lines of:

Code: AGS

QuitGame (0, "Your message here");

That is, allowing a message to be specified when quitting.

[Crimson Wizard]

Oh. Now, after I read that thread... heheh.

Well, that might be possible, although I should point out that with current engine ports the way this message is displayed varies from platform to platform. E.g. on linux it just prints to console.

[Radiant]

I would like to be able to use 'break' to get out of while loops.

Something that came up recently in a design I was making, is that AGS has a SetWalkbehindBase() function, but no corresponding Get function.

[Knox]

It would be cool if we could set GUIs to be drawn in front or behind characters. Something like:

Code: ags

gMyGui.SetMode(eDrawOverCharacters) or like gMyGui.SetMode(eDrawUnderCharacters)

[Radiant]

I occasionally type in symbols like *= /= &= |= ^= since these work in C / C++. They're not all that important but they would be nice to have at some point.

[Knox]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to set the Display text color globally via script, something like:
Game.DisplayTextColor = 15;

...or make it possible to at least change the text color for text windows, like this:
gMyTextWindow.TextColor = 15;

Seems this could be something that could be fairly easy to implement instead of using the current workarounds, am I right?

[Construed]

My most urgent need would be the capability to create objects at runtime, However I'm afraid if i upgraded ags all my code would be broken, so perhaps an included plugin?

[Knox]

Would it be possible to be use room objects "project-wide" in scripts by their real names set in the room? (right now it seems we can only use their real names in the room script). Same thing with hotspots (can't get the real names outside of the room script).

**NOTE: Im not talking about having access to the object's description "name" (.Name) but the actual object's real name in the room, like oCup, for example.

[Crimson Wizard]

Would it be possible to be use room objects "project-wide" in scripts by their real names set in the room? (right now it seems we can only use their real names in the room script). Same thing with hotspots (can't get the real names outside of the room script).

**NOTE: Im not talking about having access to the object's description "name" (.Name) but the actual object's real name in the room, like oCup, for example.

Not before the room system is revamped. Right now only one room is kept in memory at a time. Therefore engine has no idea about what's in other rooms, nor is able to read/change anything there.

[frenzykitty]

I second the call for higher resolution! My only real issue with AGS

[Crimson Wizard]

I second the call for higher resolution! My only real issue with AGS

Well...
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=49014.msg636473535#msg636473535

[frenzykitty]

Makes me a little nervous using a custom build... Has anyone had any major issues with it?

[Knox]

Not before the room system is revamped. Right now only one room is kept in memory at a time. Therefore engine has no idea about what's in other rooms, nor is able to read/change anything there.

Ok, thanks for the info on that Crimson.

On another subject, is it possible in future versions to be able to set the cachemax size directly in the Game Settings panel? (as apposed to manually modifying the acsetup.cfg file)

[Crimson Wizard]

On another subject, is it possible in future versions to be able to set the cachemax size directly in the Game Settings panel? (as apposed to manually modifying the acsetup.cfg file)

You don't have to manually change it, you can do that on winsetup window too (after you press "Advanced >>>" button).
But I suppose this will be not hard to add such kind of option to game settings too.

[Knox]

But I suppose this will be not hard to add such kind of option to game settings too.

Awesome!

[MUFFINinc]

I apologize in advance if someone has already mentioned this, but I think a String.Prepend function would be helpful.  At present the only way I can figure out how to insert new text before the text of an existing string is to create a new string with the text you want, append the old string, and then replace the text of the old string with the text of the new string.

[monkey0506]

You could do it all in one shot with:

Code: ags

String Prepend(this String*, String newbit)
{
  if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(newbit)) return this;
  return String.Format("%s%s", newbit, this);
}

Usage:

Code: ags

String text = "World!";
text = text.Prepend("Hello ");
Display(text); // shows "Hello World!"

[MUFFINinc]

You could do it all in one shot with:

Code: ags

String Prepend(this String*, String newbit)
{
  if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(newbit)) return this;
  return String.Format("%s%s", newbit, this);
}

Usage:

Code: ags

String text = "World!";
text = text.Prepend("Hello ");
Display(text); // shows "Hello World!"

Damn, writing code is like a martial art or something.  Every time I start feeling like I'm good enough at it to start calling myself a hotshot, someone comes along and shows me some new way to do something that is utterly mind blowing in its simplicity.

Thanks!

[selmiak]

Is there any chance and/or possiblity to implement x264 support for HD Video? it's as open source as ogg vorbis.

[m0ds]

Sorry not sure where else to post this but: Minimize whilst building EXE or rebuilding all files

Sometimes sitting here for 15 minutes not able to use my desktop because AGS won't minimize during these processes is.... annoying

(If it already exists and needs to be toggled on or I'm missing a key sequence for it let me know, but with 3.3.0 I can't seem to minimize)

[Crimson Wizard]

Sorry not sure where else to post this

We have am issue tracker: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=projects

Some people had problems accessing it (not enough rights), so please report if anything is wrong.

[arj0n]

Editor:

1.:
The Global Variables view now has 3 colums: Name, Type & Initial Value.
It would be nice to have an extra column 'Usages' so you can see right-away what var(s) aren't used (anymore).

2.:
The Global Variables view now only uses max half the width of the whole pane size. It would be nice if it would use all the space there is or at least twice the width it now does.

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Is it possible to make the built in scrolling adjustable ie: Viewport.offset(cChar.x, cChar.y - 100);
playing with SetViewport in repeat_execute turns out really award with blocking walk scripts etc.
Let me know if I'm being a noob....

[Crimson Wizard]

Is it possible to make the built in scrolling adjustable ie: Viewport.offset(cChar.x, cChar.y - 100);
playing with SetViewport in repeat_execute turns out really award with blocking walk scripts etc.
Let me know if I'm being a noob....

Use repeatedly_execute_always, that runs even during blocking scripts?

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Is it possible to make the built in scrolling adjustable ie: Viewport.offset(cChar.x, cChar.y - 100);
playing with SetViewport in repeat_execute turns out really award with blocking walk scripts etc.
Let me know if I'm being a noob....

Use repeatedly_execute_always, that runs even during blocking scripts?

Yah, that kind of works, but there is terrible shuttering that otherwise (without the adjustment to built in scrolling) is not there.

[Scavenger]

Hey, would it be easy/possible to uncouple Character.LightLevel from regions? I like using LightLevel for a few effects and it's difficult to juggle moving the sprite and making sure it's on the correct region for the lighting I want on them. If it could be done manually, like Character.Scaling can be done now, it would make my job a lot easier.

[Crimson Wizard]

Is it possible to make the built in scrolling adjustable ie: Viewport.offset(cChar.x, cChar.y - 100);
playing with SetViewport in repeat_execute turns out really award with blocking walk scripts etc.
Let me know if I'm being a noob....

Use repeatedly_execute_always, that runs even during blocking scripts?

Yah, that kind of works, but there is terrible shuttering that otherwise (without the adjustment to built in scrolling) is not there.

There was a parallax module that did pretty good scrolling, maybe check that? The example of the games which use it is "Nelly Cootalot".

[Dualnames]

Primordia also uses it. And the Cat Lady I believe.

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

I'll see if I can figure it out, thanks for the tip!

[Cassiebsg]

Sorry if this has been posted/asked before, but am wondering if it's possible to "downgrade" and AGS game, using the filters?
We have a lot of x2 to increase the size, but no /2 or /3 filters to downgrade size.

Let's say I have a 800x600 or higher res, but I wish to run it in a window at 640x400... would this be possible in the future? or am stuck with the minimum res the game provides and can only increase it?

[Crimson Wizard]

Sorry if this has been posted/asked before, but am wondering if it's possible to "downgrade" and AGS game, using the filters?
We have a lot of x2 to increase the size, but no /2 or /3 filters to downgrade size. :-

Yes, it is possible since 3.4.0.0 alpha. http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=51050.0

[Cassiebsg]

Thanks CW, then it's a shame the game I wish to play is made with 3.3.2.0...

[Dualnames]

Super question will there be a chance to parse through a big array (repeatedly) without having fps drops?

[Crimson Wizard]

Hey, would it be easy/possible to uncouple Character.LightLevel from regions? I like using LightLevel for a few effects and it's difficult to juggle moving the sprite and making sure it's on the correct region for the lighting I want on them. If it could be done manually, like Character.Scaling can be done now, it would make my job a lot easier.

I added an issue to the tracker: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?issue=634.0

Super question will there be a chance to parse through a big array (repeatedly) without having fps drops?

This I can't answer. It sounds like "will the engine ever run faster?".

[Calin Leafshade]

How about a "late" rep ex function?

Currently AGS runs the rep ex functions before it runs the game logic so any scripts that rely on player position or view/loop/frame are always out by one game loop.

So I think a function that runs after the game logic would be useful.

Edit:
I just very quickly added it in and it seems to work but I'm not familiar enough with the engine to say if it will cause issues.
https://github.com/CalinLeafshade/ags/tree/feature_late_repex

[Crimson Wizard]

How about a "late" rep ex function?

Currently AGS runs the rep ex functions before it runs the game logic so any scripts that rely on player position or view/loop/frame are always out by one game loop.

So I think a function that runs after the game logic would be useful.

Edit:
I just very quickly added it in and it seems to work but I'm not familiar enough with the engine to say if it will cause issues.
https://github.com/CalinLeafshade/ags/tree/feature_late_repex

Yes, you had already make an issue for this before, I think.
That might work. Is the "late_*" a suitable name though?

[Calin Leafshade]

Late seems like an ok name to me. Not sure.

Maybe final_?

[Klytos]

The new build is looking really good, I love the ability to easily build to different platforms and the ability to define your own resolution. Plus the while/break/continue/for functions are going to be very helpful.

With the changes to resolutions, is it possible to change the resolution at run-time? Using AGS commercially I have found that if there's a single issue that my customers have brought up that was solely to do with the engine, it would be not having this functionality. Is this something that's possible to look at?

[Dualnames]

Btw sounds with lesser duration than 200 ms will not play.

[Crimson Wizard]

Please, use the Issue Tracker to report bugs: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=projects

May mods lock this thread please?

[Sslaxx]

Please, use the Issue Tracker to report bugs: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=projects

May mods lock this thread please?

More that they should lock this thread and replace it with a sticked post about using the Issue Tracker.

[Dualnames]

Is there a way I can ask for a way to force the mouse inside the boundaries of the window when in windowed?

[Crimson Wizard]

Is there a way I can ask for a way to force the mouse inside the boundaries of the window when in windowed?

I know how to do this with Windows, but not other OSes. Unless someone gives me a tip this might require some time to investigate.
Can you please post this request in the Issue tracker: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=projects
It is not easy for me to track all the requests in forum threads...