Suggestions for the next version of AGS

[subspark]

In a similar fashion, if the game is run in windowed mode, it would be good if AGS could return "window focus lost" so that a GUI (game paused?) could pop up. Also Sierra/LucasArts

[Charity]

I would find the ability to write to ViewFrame.Flipped extremely useful.

[Crimson Wizard]

What about new Character class function like this:

Code: ags

enum EDirection
{
  eDirLeft, 
  eDirRight, 
  eDirUp, 
  eDirDown
};

function FaceDirection(this Character*, EDirection direction, BlockingStyle block);

[monkey0506]

Well you're halfway there already Crimson, why not just finish it off?

Code: ags

function FaceDirection(this Character*, EDirection direction, BlockingStyle block) {
  if (direction == eDirLeft) this.FaceLocation(this.x - 1000, this.y, block);
  else if (direction == eDirRight) this.FaceLocation(this.x + 1000, this.y, block);
  else if (direction == eDirUp) this.FaceLocation(this.x, this.y - 1000, block);
  else if (direction == eDirDown) this.FaceLocation(this.x, this.y + 1000, block);
}

[Crimson Wizard]

Well you're halfway there already Crimson, why not just finish it off?

*Sigh*
I did it, but decided to remove function body to save forum space :
Yeah, I have this as an extender function in the game I am currently working on. I simply thought it may be convenient to have it as built-in function. Simplier for newbies also.

[Rocco]

please increase the ammount of possible walkable areas, hotspots, and regions.
I work on very large rooms and have to deal with the limits very often.

[redspark]

Could the view creation wizard that I suggested (or some variation of) be implemented?  ( http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37874.msg497684#msg497684 )  Thanks.

J

[limeTree]

I was wondering about something for a while.
Would it be possible to make the background animation have some more options?
Like-I always hate that you can enter only I think 5 different backgrounds for the animation.
If there was more of them(like-really more)there could be a possibility to make better background animation while
the character is doing something.
Let's say a character is walking over a meadow and in the background there is this cool animation of a big airplane
accident.
And if there were a lot of slots for the background animation-more could be done.
Just thought i could share my thoughts... 

[TerranRich]

I was wondering about something for a while.
Would it be possible to make the background animation have some more options?
Like-I always hate that you can enter only I think 5 different backgrounds for the animation.
If there was more of them(like-really more)there could be a possibility to make better background animation while
the character is doing something.
Let's say a character is walking over a meadow and in the background there is this cool animation of a big airplane
accident.
And if there were a lot of slots for the background animation-more could be done.
Just thought i could share my thoughts... 

People will simply tell you to use an object instead, which I would as well.

The only good reason to increase BG frames that I can think of, is for games with day/night systems, a la Quest for Glory. But even then you could use overlays and such.

[hedgefield]

Ooh ooh ooh, would it be possible to let us set the size of the automatic font outline? I'd really love to just bump the outline up to 2 pixels instead of sizing up my font to make it more legible.

[edit] Oh and another thing: when you compile a game, it automatically adds the dialog_request function to the global script - isn't that obsolete now that you can just run code from within the dialogs?

[skuttleman]

Here's one: Would it be possible to zoom in on guis while editing them? It would help for lining up buttons on the background (like you can in rooms with objects or drawing hotspots/walk-behinds).

[abstauber]

Here are two minor improvements I'd like to see one day:

- anyclick event for inventory items
- placing event functions like cEgo_anyclick outside the globalscript without the need to create stubs
- variable    inspection inside the editor

[Scavenger]

Just a couple of things I think would be most important:

- More customisable Dialog and Text Box behaviours - right now they automatically pause the game, but I think whether they're blocking/non blocking/pausing should be up to the designer. For example, the dialog is brought up in Simon the Sorcerer in the Tower section - you can click something, or a timer automatically turns it off after a certain time. Likewise, the Opera scene in FF6 is another example - you have to choose a certain song lyric, and after time runs out, the dialogue options end and a cutscene plays.

Perhaps adding a Dialog.Enabled tag, a Dialog.ChosenOption variable to return which dialogue option you're running, and a Dialog.RunOption (option, FollowDialogState) function just in case we want the dialog backend but not the frontend. (I know I do - I find it easier to write my dialogs inside the dialog editor than in scripts)

That way, we can have the dialog up but the freedom to let the player click anywhere on the screen, rather than waiting for them to pick a certain dialog option (this opens up the "click on anywhere but dialog" function in Scumm games that lets people automatically exit dialogs, and the ability to bring the player's inventory into it, simply by checking if the player has clicked on an option or an inventory item. I'm sure even more exotic things can be coded this way too.)

- Non blocking playing of Speech files. I'm sure this has been suggested before, but is there anything stopping this from happening?

And just something a little self-indulgant, since everyone seems to have abandoned 8bit mode:

- More intuitive GIF importing for 8bit games. I don't think you can set it to use Exact Palette yet. That would be really useful for me - I had some room specific GIFs that I needed to import, and it was a total pain doing it. It kept totally ruining it even when I had all the settings correct, too.

But these aren't the highest priority, naturally.

[monkey0506]

As far as your requests for the dialog you might want to check out the DialogOptionsRenderingInfo functions for custom dialog rendering and/or the CustomDialog module. Specifically regarding the blocking issue, there's a setting on the General Settings pane which allows you to run game loops while the dialog options are displayed, though only repeatedly_execute_always functions are run (so you can't of course call a blocking function; though it would be possible to queue and run any other functions).

I think the only real reason that the speech files can only be played in a blocking fashion is the fact that currently the only way to play a speech file is via the blocking Character.Say function. The current workaround (as applied in modules such as the queued background speech modules (by SSH and myself)) is to use sound files instead where you need to play the speech in a non-blocking fashion.

[Scavenger]

As far as your requests for the dialog you might want to check out the DialogOptionsRenderingInfo functions for custom dialog rendering and/or the CustomDialog module. Specifically regarding the blocking issue, there's a setting on the General Settings pane which allows you to run game loops while the dialog options are displayed, though only repeatedly_execute_always functions are run (so you can't of course call a blocking function; though it would be possible to queue and run any other functions).

Thing is, I don't think you can control the dialog's presence while it's on screen - there's no opyion to turn it off. So even if you could, for instance, get REA to return an inentory item when you click, you couldn't then hide/turn off the dialog options and get on with the dialog. Nor is there any real easy way to run Dialog option scripts. It's all messy workarounds.

[Joseph DiPerla]

I personally would like to suggest Inventory Categories where you can assign an inventory item to a category such as Magic, erbs, weapons, etc...

Then you can choose what category the inventory window can display. This way the character can easily have multiple inventories rather than creating another character and displaying his inventory.

[TerranRich]

Post moved to: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=39210.0

[Ryan Timothy B]

I've noticed that quite a lot of games get released with Beta mode still activated when they compile their games.  I believe that most people must not know that there is a Debug mode, or it's just a matter of forgetting due to the excitement of releasing a game.

So I was thinking, perhaps when someone clicks the Build Game EXE button and when the "Your game has been compiled" message pops up, another message under that could say something along the lines of: "Remember, Debug mode is still on", if it was still on.

Or even the option of turning off the Debug mode for the EXE Build before it's built.  But turning off the Debug mode is already easy as it is, so perhaps a reminder is all that's needed.

[tzachs]

I've noticed that quite a lot of games get released with Beta mode still activated when they compile their games.  I believe that most people must not know that there is a Debug mode, or it's just a matter of forgetting due to the excitement of releasing a game.

So I was thinking, perhaps when someone clicks the Build Game EXE button and when the "Your game has been compiled" message pops up, another message under that could say something along the lines of: "Remember, Debug mode is still on", if it was still on.

Or even the option of turning off the Debug mode for the EXE Build before it's built.  But turning off the Debug mode is already easy as it is, so perhaps a reminder is all that's needed.

Or maybe a 'Publish' button, which will:
A. remove the debug option.
B. create an installer...

[TerranRich]

tzachs: That idea is a bit much, as there are free installers out there already. But I think Ryan is on the right track. There should be a way to let the user know that it's still in debug mode and to turn it off and re-compile if this wasn't what they wanted.