I wanted to suggest an "Export mask to file" option for the toolkit if this is not too difficult to add.
The reason for this is that it makes the conversion of the game into a higher resolution easier.
Example: I would like to upgrade some of my games from 320x240 and 640x480 to higher resolutions.
With this option it would be pretty easy since just new backgrounds need to be imported.
The existing hotspot, walkbehind, walkable area and region masks just need to be exported then scaled up to the desired resolution,
later they get reimported into AGS with the "Import mask from file" tool.
It wouldn't be a big deal to convert a 320x240 game into a 800x600 game
given that the backgrounds were drawn in higher resolution first then scaled down to smaller sizes
which is actually a common practice when you draw a detailed background...
With faster getting computers, higher game resolutions and therefore conversions
from old games into new resolutions may become a common practice.
In the meantime, you could import a white background, then make a screengrab. Not selected hotspots use different shades of grey, so upscaling and reimporting it should work flawlessly.
Quote from: KhrisMUC on Thu 06/08/2009 12:56:26
Not selected hotspots use different shades of grey, so upscaling and reimporting it should work flawlessly.
This might work, but becomes really annoying with scrolling rooms and partial screengrabs that have to be glued together in a pixel perfect way...
I second this request. I was looking for this functionality just a few days ago.
I just make my walkbehind and hotspot masks within a drawing program. I find it's easier than using AGS for that purpose. Also you can resize. :P
But this request isn't all that bad.
Coincidentally, I've just been trying to figure out whether it's possible to collect the mask information programmatically using hotspot.GetAtScreenXY, but given the lack of 2D arrays it doesn't seem feasible.
Being able to pull out the masks would be tremendously useful, as would extracting the rest of the room information, as detailed here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37481.0) (AGS to XAGE script conversion is maturing nicely but without the room information all objects and hotspots have to be created and hooked up to scripts manually).
Ok, there seems to be some support for this, so I'll certainly consider it for a future version.
Me and CodeJunkie would need export/import of walkable areas, and/or regions possible in runtime, for our current project, so I'll voice my vote to implemant that, if you feel like it.
I've heard a few people ask for the ability to edit regions during run-time.
How do regions work anyway; I'm talking behind the scenes in AGS? Is it a large array? Or does it turn the regions into an image and check for pixels, so to speak? I'm mainly curious because I wonder what is faster for the CPU, checking regions, or checking for pixels (on a separate background).