Discouraged Into Ineptitude

Started by Shrew, Wed 20/05/2015 16:27:08

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Shrew

1st Post: Hey There!

I joined out of love of these relics from LucasArts, Sierra, SCUMM-VMs.

I work alongside game developers now and they keep asking about the games I have made myself.

I have only done Twine. I have so many bugs from AGS...Sprite Editor window never comes up, no way to change the colours of the Palette, it simply will not let me. I have Windows 7.

Looked into these problems in the AGS forum.

People found their solutions for them. I have not yet acquired the intellect to conquer these challenges. I am also in the arts at a professional level on the side and have script from Twine so I am ready to do this. But this forum is gargantuan, so I retreat away from ever posting this for years now.

But now my career is pushing me back here (thankfully). 

My storyline is humorous simplicity as a journey: Earthbound is a good example.

Can somebody help. Please.

Would be...life-changing for me :-)
(That's true)

RickJ

As far as I remember AGS doesn't have a sprite editor.  Graphics are prepared using other tools such as PS, PSP, GIMP, Paint, Gale, etc.  Sprites and palletes are imported into AGS for use.  I use Graphics Gale for pallette and pixely edits. 

Best advice is to start simple and learn little by little. Just ask for specific help in the Beginners forum. Progress tends to accelerate IMHO.

Shrew



So this is where I am getting those Sprites and Palette questions.

Thank you for the response! Made my day! ☺️

I'm going to go check out Graphics Gale

Snarky

I would strongly recommend that you make your game 32-bit, and in that case you don't have to mess around with palettes at all. The main use of the "Colours" node is to calculate the AGS color number of a given color, for setting text color etc.

The sprites node is a just to browse through all the sprites you have imported (mainly to look up the sprite number). You can't actually edit the graphics inside of the AGS editor, though it's possible to have it launch another application to do so.

To start off, the best advice is to follow the tutorial in the AGS manual (under Help). It will take you through most of the user interface and teach you the basics.

wynni2

Know the feeling - I started planning a game around 2007, and I'm finally feeling confident enough/have the time and energy to generate content.  I definitely agree to start with the online tutorial in the manual (there are also tutorials on YouTube, I believe) and then start building the simplest parts of the game.  For me, it was something like:

1) Pick a resolution (320x200, in my case)
2) Decide how the interface should work
3) Make a few basic sprites and see if they do what you want them to do.

Obviously those three steps take some time and effort, but actually seeing your work on the screen helps keep the momentum going. 

I've never used Twine, but I'm guessing there will be a learning curve in terms of switching that script over to AGS (discomfort with scripting was what kept my game in limbo for so long).  Once you start, though, the forums are incredibly good for answering specific questions. 

Ghost

Quote from: wynni2 on Wed 20/05/2015 18:41:02
1) Pick a resolution (320x200, in my case)

And a colour depth, because once you change it you are often required to re-import each and every sprite you already have in the game.

Shrew

Wow, thanks you guys!!! I had my hand over my face and made room for only one eyeball to read the screen of this forum post I made. I was scared of even engaging within this type of social sphere, but. So, thanks for the friendly reception!

Those Youtube videos have helped a ton! I have already gotten started...at a crawl..but started nonetheless.

And I did 16 bit because I thought it'd be even...easier. I presumed. The color depth is what I have had trouble with; that customization. I will have the window up for it, do one custom color, then it will vanish and I will not be able to customize any of the other colors after the one, hah. (roll)

*Puts training wheels on*

And to think I was about to purchase GameMaker Pro for $800 over AGS because I was scared to ask for help in the forums, lol. That would have been maybe absurd.

Appreciate it more than you can imagine!

kconan

Quote from: boredmodelgirl on Thu 21/05/2015 23:10:08
And to think I was about to purchase GameMaker Pro for $800 over AGS because I was scared to ask for help in the forums, lol. That would have been maybe absurd.

Most everyone here is pretty mellow.  Very rare to be e-eviscerated on the board.

I did my game in 16-bit, and I'm pretty sure I had a reason for that though I can't recall.  Anyway, good luck!

LimpingFish

Quote from: boredmodelgirl on Thu 21/05/2015 23:10:08
...because I was scared to ask for help in the forums, lol.

But AGS is officially The Nicest Corner of The Internet!*

*citation needed

Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

Andail

The above post possibly contains original research.
Its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations.

Just kidding, we're scientifically proven to be great!

Ghost

Quote from: kconan on Thu 21/05/2015 23:36:41
I did my game in 16-bit, and I'm pretty sure I had a reason for that though I can't recall.  Anyway, good luck!

As far as I see it, 8bit has fallen out of favour because the only thing AGS can do in on other colour depth is palette cycling*. It could be fun for a truly retro game but the restrictions aren't really worth the effort.
16bit is the catch-all standard that supports lots of colours and works just fine with your average project.
32bit gives you alpha transparency and works better with very fine gradients. The only downside is that a 32bit game will probably be larger.

__
* A sweet little effect where specific colours cycle through different shades, very nice for water and shimmer effects. It looked awesome in at least three LucasArts games.

kconan

Quote from: Ghost on Fri 22/05/2015 15:26:53
The only downside is that a 32bit game will probably be larger.

Yea I think this was why I went with 16-bit.  My game has a bunch of different stuff going on at the same time and I must have been worried about slow-downs.  Also, good to see you around Ghost!

Snarky

Quote from: Ghost on Fri 22/05/2015 15:26:53
As far as I see it, 8bit has fallen out of favour because the only thing AGS can do in on other colour depth is palette cycling*. It could be fun for a truly retro game but the restrictions aren't really worth the effort.

Also, 8-bit requires the game to set the screen to 256-color screen mode, which can be problematic to get to run correctly on modern systems. There is a high risk that a significant number of players either won't be able to run the game at all, or only with the colors all screwed up.

Quote from: kconan on Fri 22/05/2015 17:57:44
Quote from: Ghost on Fri 22/05/2015 15:26:53
The only downside is that a 32bit game will probably be larger.

Yea I think this was why I went with 16-bit.  My game has a bunch of different stuff going on at the same time and I must have been worried about slow-downs.  Also, good to see you around Ghost!

It may be larger, but AFAIK there's no reason it should be slower, unless you use some of those alpha transparency effects that are only possible in 32-bit.

I'd recommend 32-bit every time. You never know when you'll find a use for alpha transparency: it comes in handy in a lot of situations (for example, it's the only way â€" outside of 8-bit palette manipulation â€" to do a fade-to-black at whatever speed you want).

Babar

#13
Quote from: Snarky on Fri 22/05/2015 18:11:06
Quote from: Ghost on Fri 22/05/2015 15:26:53
As far as I see it, 8bit has fallen out of favour because the only thing AGS can do in on other colour depth is palette cycling*. It could be fun for a truly retro game but the restrictions aren't really worth the effort.

Also, 8-bit requires the game to set the screen to 256-color screen mode, which can be problematic to get to run correctly on modern systems. There is a high risk that a significant number of players either won't be able to run the game at all, or only with the colors all screwed up.
Also possible that making an 8 bit game simply doesn't work. I attempted it a couple of times (nothing more satisfying than having a fully playable, reasonable length game that could fit on a floppy if floppies still existed) with the more recent AGSes, and while I don't remember the exact sequences of problems I ran into, it did seem physically impossible. This didn't seem to be that big a problem because...nobody really makes 8 bit games.
Hopefully Scavenger will release a tutorial (and template) soon.
The ultimate Professional Amateur

Now, with his very own game: Alien Time Zone

Snarky

I split the topic, since help with AGS questions goes on a different forum. Here are the other posts: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52208

Scavenger

Quote from: Babar on Sat 23/05/2015 01:04:59
Hopefully Scavenger will release a tutorial (and template) soon.

Would this be something people would be interested in? I've been working with 8-bit AGS for years and I know how to make it do whatever I want mostly, and I know most of the bugs AGS has with handling it.

Snarky

... though it doesn't change the fact that I can't run your games with the correct colors. (I got 256-color AGS working once upon a time, but it required some relatively obscure hacking; and Windows reinstalls, new graphics cards or new drivers have long since broken it again. It just doesn't seem worth the effort.)

Scavenger

#17
Well, I tested it out myself. It works fine in windowed mode, which is what I use most often to test it, but fullscreen mode requires the following registry fix, the following is for Heatwave:

Code: AGS

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Heatwave]
"Name"="Heatwave.exe"
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=dword:4d672ee4


(You can get it in a .reg file here if you want)
This is something, from my meagre testing, that works on all instances of the executable (the only other computer I have available runs it fine anyway), so hopefully a dev can just make one version of it when they release their game. The ID you have to get from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\MostRecentApplication, but once you've done it once you never have to do it again (unless you recompile the game, I guess, but if you're just testing it, you should use windowed mode).

Interestingly enough, I don't think AGS even sets the desktop color depth in windowed mode at all, but in fullscreen you get the classic 8-bit colour warping on the desktop.

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