Take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-wjMDTwk_w&list=UURFK2_qC6hEGcYA2Ngd6_dw
This looks very interesting and convenient (as long as you know what you are doing).
I guess even AGS can get some inspiration from this, maybe we can convince him to code some stuff for ags (if he doesn't want to wake up next to his favourite horse's head...)
There is also some code (https://github.com/bladecoder/bladecoder-adventure-engine) availabe, anyone care to compile and share?