Adventure Creator Top 10 reasons for switching (Video)

Started by zeek, Fri 09/10/2015 02:25:52

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zeek

Hello,

I was testing out Adventure Creator with the Unity 5 engine over the Summer, and decided to make the big switch after about 2 weeks of use.  At the end of the summer, I made this video for the Adventure Creator forms to give my top ten reasons for switching.  Other forum members recommended I post it here as well, in case anyone was interested in some of the features as they related to AGS.  I still love AGS and what it has done for the post-90's Adventure Game era, and believe there will be many successful games made with it for years to come, but for my specific needs, it seems Adventure Creator is a better fit for me.

I really didn't want to post this here, as it is for a competing product, and I definitely have no ill-will toward AGS, and the many many users.  Just thought those who were interested in the Adventure Creator Plug-in for Unity might find this video helpful.  Hope all is well!  Happy Game Design!

Thanks,
Isaac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcvbProVHEg


Also, there is another thread here on AGS where other members discussed the Adventure Creator/ Unity Plug-in when it first came out.  I considered posting this link there, but didn't want to resurrect a dead thread, posting it below for easy access:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=49134

Retro Wolf

Impressive!

How does it handle scaling old fashioned low res pixel art though? It can look like shit when not scaled correctly.

Monsieur OUXX

It's obvious that professional products will always be superiori in terms of features, especially professional-oriented features. AGS just delivers what it promises: it's free. Free, free, free. And the learning curve is very low. What you see is what you get. That's why it's so cool.
 

Gurok

From a glance at the video you posted, it looks like the author of Adventure Creator has made the same oversight about animation as the Visionaire Studio guys did. The character is animated at a certain frame rate, but moves at 60 frames per second, creating a sliding effect. The only real workaround being to make a 60 FPS animation loop. I stick with AGS because it handles details like these correctly. It's also free, has an arguably better object model and is well documented.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Armageddon

Quote from: Retro Wolf on Fri 09/10/2015 09:06:38
Impressive!

How does it handle scaling old fashioned low res pixel art though? It can look like shit when not scaled correctly.
In short, it can't. I've bashed my head against Unity so many times trying to get pixel art to look proper, I've bought assets that promise it but to no use. It just can't do 2D well at all. Granted, Unity game Read Only Memories just came out and it has slightly off scaled pixel art everywhere but it didn't really bother me cause I loved the story so much. But still, even a professional Kickstarted game over two years couldn't get it right.

zeek

Quote from: Retro Wolf on Fri 09/10/2015 09:06:38
Impressive!

How does it handle scaling old fashioned low res pixel art though? It can look like shit when not scaled correctly.

Hello, sorry, I have zero experience using low-res sprites in Unity, I wouldn't be the one to ask for this.  My high-res ones seem to scale fine.  I've used them anywhere from 30%-190% of the original scale.  I know Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games was at least looking into switching, and was working on recreating some of his low-res scenes in Adventure Creator earlier in the Summer, he may be a better one to ask for that.

Quote from: Gurok on Sat 10/10/2015 00:49:17
From a glance at the video you posted, it looks like the author of Adventure Creator has made the same oversight about animation as the Visionaire Studio guys did. The character is animated at a certain frame rate, but moves at 60 frames per second, creating a sliding effect. The only real workaround being to make a 60 FPS animation loop. I stick with AGS because it handles details like these correctly. It's also free, has an arguably better object model and is well documented.

Hello, I don't know all the particulars on this either, when setting up an animation I notice it defaults to 60 fps, but you can change the fps of each animation which of course effects the speed depending on the number of frames you use... I have different speeds ranging anywhere from 1fps to 24fps... As to the gliding, I guess that hasn't bothered me as much, though Chris Burton has mentioned that he is either working on, or has fixed the gliding issue... That really wasn't a deal breaker for me.

My cutscenes in AGS were starting to get choppy with the music, and the timing of things (probably due to the high-res assets?), and beyond that, I was really looking for a low-effort option to have the game ported to multiple platforms upon completion, particularly iOS.  And of course the other features such as camera movements, resolution independent art assets, and the other favorite options mentioned in the video ended up being a bonus.

Although the learning curve was high (took about 2 weeks of work for my brain to switch gears enough to work on my own project).  I'm finding I'm setting up and navigating scenes much quicker than before, and able to spend more time on the art assets, which is a benefit to me as an artist (rather than a native programmer).

To each his own, I definitely know AGS is still the way to go for many.  For my needs, Adventure Creator is a much better fit, and thought I would share some of the benefits I've discovered during the transition.

Isaac

xil

Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 10/10/2015 03:49:48
Quote from: Retro Wolf on Fri 09/10/2015 09:06:38
Impressive!

How does it handle scaling old fashioned low res pixel art though? It can look like shit when not scaled correctly.
In short, it can't. I've bashed my head against Unity so many times trying to get pixel art to look proper, I've bought assets that promise it but to no use. It just can't do 2D well at all. Granted, Unity game Read Only Memories just came out and it has slightly off scaled pixel art everywhere but it didn't really bother me cause I loved the story so much. But still, even a professional Kickstarted game over two years couldn't get it right.

Well....

Although I do agree, this probably is a very harsh statement and if you were going to answer it fairly you would probably say: In short, it can, but with a huge amount of effort. Plus saying it can't do 2D well at all, I guess you mean it can't do pixel perfect well at all as it really is fine with 2D in general?

What I found after a similar period of head bashing is that you simply have to limit the resolution options for your project, and if you were to switch a camera for a zoom for a cut scene or into an object, that camera must have a specific zoom setting that works in the same aspect ratio as your main camera. There is also a very cheap asset (about $7) that can do pixel perfect movement, but again, I agree it's not 'perfect' unless you use specific settings.

So all in all, AGS just does pixel art so much better because it is so much more restrictive. I personally have had a really bad time with Unity and pixel art, but I did get it to work, and if you have a style like dungeon of the endless for example, then you can make it look absolutely awesome.

If AGS could export to multiple platforms with ease then I wouldn't go near Unity for a pixel art project, but I think if a programmer could control the art and asset creation to make specific pixel art then Unity is an option if they really know what they are doing with resolutions etc.

Quote from: Gurok on Sat 10/10/2015 00:49:17
From a glance at the video you posted, it looks like the author of Adventure Creator has made the same oversight about animation as the Visionaire Studio guys did. The character is animated at a certain frame rate, but moves at 60 frames per second, creating a sliding effect. The only real workaround being to make a 60 FPS animation loop. I stick with AGS because it handles details like these correctly. It's also free, has an arguably better object model and is well documented.

Really interesting, I didn't do too much work with the animations when I messed around in Unity but that sounds really annoying if it can't be sorted. I can't stand sliding characters!
Calico Reverie - Independent Game Development, Pixel Art & Other Stuff
Games: Mi - Starlit Grave - IAMJASON - Aractaur - blind to siberia - Wrong Channel - Memoriae - Point Of No Return

IceMan

Quote from: Gurok on Sat 10/10/2015 00:49:17
From a glance at the video you posted, it looks like the author of Adventure Creator has made the same oversight about animation as the Visionaire Studio guys did. The character is animated at a certain frame rate, but moves at 60 frames per second, creating a sliding effect. The only real workaround being to make a 60 FPS animation loop. I stick with AGS because it handles details like these correctly. It's also free, has an arguably better object model and is well documented.

Hi, I'm the author.  Just for the record, there's no oversight - AC can optionally move characters only when they animate.  Animation is, by default, handled using Unity's animation system - meaning the framerate is set to whatever value you choose.  However, there are many animation systems out there on the Unity Asset Store - so AC also allows you to instead animate characters using an engine of your own choice by writing a "bridge" script that connects the two systems.

Gilbert

I don't see any problem in bringing in modern competitions and stating what good stuff the other engines have to offer.

The one problem that bugs me is that this new engine is called Adventure Creator, which is quite weird when mentioned here.

IceMan

Quote from: Gilbert on Wed 14/10/2015 17:21:36The one problem that bugs me is that this new engine is called Adventure Creator, which is quite weird when mentioned here.

An unfortunate coincidence -  AGSs former name didn't enter my mind at all when naming it.  All I was concerned about was that it made clear what the toolkit does - which was probably the same logic Chris Jones applied back in the 90s.

Babar

There are only so many ways you can name a program that helps make adventure games :D. Most of them are probably used now...
Adventure Game Creator
Adventure Game Engine
Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Toolkit
etc
The ultimate Professional Amateur

Now, with his very own game: Alien Time Zone

Gurok

Quote from: IceMan on Wed 14/10/2015 17:07:27
Hi, I'm the author.  Just for the record, there's no oversight - AC can optionally move characters only when they animate.  Animation is, by default, handled using Unity's animation system - meaning the framerate is set to whatever value you choose.  However, there are many animation systems out there on the Unity Asset Store - so AC also allows you to instead animate characters using an engine of your own choice by writing a "bridge" script that connects the two systems.

Maybe someone should give a demonstration of how these things can work together in Adventure Creator. I was only going by the video posted.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Eggie

I've played with Adventure Creator a bunch and really like it! Though I'm still grateful AGS can finally support widescreen resolutions because that's the only real thing that would have persuaded me to stop using it as my go-to. Although, gosh, if I ever want to do something small that would be better suited to playing in a browser than downloading then AC would be an amazing way to get that out there!

Take those two cents, pour some milk on 'em and eat them like cereal hoo doggy.

Technocrat

I've had a couple of months of fiddling with Adventure Creator, and I have to say it's quite a good entry into Unity. Plus, it finally gives me something to do with all of those 3D models I've got!

It still does the 2D things (not as intuitively as AGS though, I must say), but the big draw for me is being able to get things like Technobabylon working on Android. And the 3D.


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