Hellooooo? Where are you? Who has you? Whats the status?
Are you lost?
Don't go into the light!
Well, put it this way, the last update was July 2002...
Well, sometimes ago (in November) Chris said that somebody is working over the demo game.
Why doesn't someone start a new demo quest that is made using the later versions of AGS?
i was supposed to be adding to it... not really adding but making a seperate download for RawDraw functions
but then a little thing called graduating stopped me from doing that
I think I inadvertently killed that one off...
Why you little...!
:P
m0ds
I have a small suggestion that would perhaps help this process along and perhaps also make the demo easier to understand.
Would it be a good idea to use the RunAGSGame() mechanism to launch the various things in the Games factory? IMHO, there would be several advantages:
1. People would be able to work simultaneously on their respective parts of the demo.
2. It is perhaps easier to understand several small demos that illustrate specific points or techniques, than it is to understand one giant demo that attempts to illustrate everything.
3. This, I think would work particularily well in demonstrating how different types of GUIs work and are implemented.
4. One last advantage is that it would makeit easy to expand the demo in the future. Modules could be added, deleted, or replaced as the future evolution of AGS may dictate.
Anyway food for thought. Toss the idea around a bit and see if anyone likes it. :)
Cheers
I like RickJ 's Idea. We can all contribute to this project this way and maybe even show different coding styles at the same time.
If we do this, I would like to remind everyone to add comments to the source they use.
Also, I would think that each demo ags game should not have a huge plot or too much features, or else the source code can confuse newbies and even veterans.
And we should always keep in mind that the Demo is for learning purposes and demonstrate the power of AGS.
Joey
In fact, if Chris doesn't mind, we can start making the game here already.
Why dont we start the volunteer process. We can use volunteers for:
*BackGround art
*Character Art
*Object Art
*GUI Art
*Inventory Art
Whoever wants to provide these few (We dont want to much art), we can then use them to make our demo. We can prolly even use Instagame to do this.
Now all we need is volunteers who would want to make a certain DEMO. EG:
I volunteer to make a demo Game with a quit screen, and a gui with animated buttons and inventory items.
Who wants to voulntee to make what demo?
Joey
I can do some art, especially characters and backgrounds :)
I think I could provide some "art" too if needed. Just IM or mail me your requests and I'll see what I can do.
My drawing skills suck, but I would love to do some programming.
by the way, you could use the teleport thingy to teleport to a diffrent ags game or a diffrent room.
use the teleporter, type in the file name and there you go.
Quote from: Joseph DiPerla on Sat 26/04/2003 02:59:55
And we should always keep in mind that the Demo is for learning purposes and demonstrate the power of AGS.
This might be where we've gone wrong actually. Thinking about it, I reckon the demo game should just be for learning purposes - if someone wants to see the power of AGS, they can download some of the games from the Games page.
The current demo game is a behemoth of confusion, due to the immense size of the global script, and it can't be very helpful to try and learn from.
Rick, that's probably going to be the best idea, to seperate it out into seperate mini-games to demonstrate the different features.
Anyway, here's a link to the last discussion we had on this:
http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=2194;start=0
i think this could be an excellent way to promote the new template feature ;)
There are some things the next version should have (if it is not too much trouble). Like acess to the Verb Coin room and other GUI rooms. Also, should be able to acess to the Beginners place (whatever it was named again), media wing and that mysterious door. Maybe the demo could have the way to program how to switch to other characters (like in Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle).
The first thing to do then is to come up with a number of main categories. I think this mostly done in the current demo game, but we may want to revisit this in light of the new approach. I haven't been in the demo for a long time but this is what I sort of remember. Please feel free to add your ideas or correct me on this.
- GUIs
- Multi-media
- Arcade
- Characters and Object
- Rooms (i.e. scrolling room, etc)
What category would just showing some basic stuff go under? EG: Scaling in rooms and light leves? I think some basic stuff should be included as a learning process.
And come to think about it Chris, your right... People could just look at the games page to see the power of AGS.
Joey
looping & dialogs
I guess this would go under GUI's, but lets not forget:
*Text Parser
*Verb Coin
*OLD SCUMM GUI
*SCUMM GUI
*CMI SAVE/LOAD GUI
*Sierra GUI
*Quit Dialog GUI
*Other Fan Made GUI's
And I was also thinking that maybe with the demo and source of each game, we can include a text file which could be a tutorial for what we did? What do ya think?
Joey
Wouldn't it be much easier to just start a new demo game?
Quote from: custard on Sat 26/04/2003 23:06:57
i think this could be an excellent way to promote the new template feature ;)
I've been meaning to ask about this. what is teh new template feature? I haven't updated my AGS in a while, since I dont use mos tof teh new features. could somebody explain it to me?
A template game is sort of like when you use Visual Basic and Visual C++ and when you start a new project it asks you what type of project do you want. EG:
A web browser
A note pad
A basic form
And then it asks you for specific info on each application, like what is name is and what kind of controls to have.
The templates are similar to this, but they instead are user created into an .AGT file. When AGS loads, it looks for these AGT files just like it would look for an AGS Plugin. When you click new game, it asks you which template to use.
You can make a template game with no rooms, but all the GUI graphics and stuff and all the buttons programmed in already.
Download it and try. It is a very useful feature.
joey
Quote from: Jimi on Sun 27/04/2003 17:26:06
Wouldn't it be much easier to just start a new demo game?
I don't think so, no. A lot of people put a lot of hard work into the current demo game, and to throw it away for no reason would be silly.
The current game does include most of the GUI demos - LEC, AGI and SCI, which are worth keeping, and the main games factory graphics are sweet too, so we don't want to dispose of them unless absolutely necessary.
QuoteAnd I was also thinking that maybe with the demo and source of each game, we can include a text file which could be a tutorial for what we did? What do ya think?
Funny you should mention this JD, I am about to spring a docbook tutorial system on everyone. I'll make seperate thread in this forum about it.
So yes, I agree that it would be nice if there were tutorials, in some form, for each of the demo components. Templates would also make a lot of sense for GUI's as well. I think you would want to strip out any un-necessary stuff from templates so as to minimize the work some one would need to do to start a new game.
JD would you like to be a project coordinator, you seem to be pretty good at that sort of thing? I will be willing to contribute .
** edit **
Here is the new docbook thread ...
http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=5745&start=0 (http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=5745&start=0)
whoa! that sounds cool!!! I think this would be a great time for me to upgrade.
thanks chris!
Project coordinator sounds good! I dont mind. Really it all depends on what Chris thinks too. If he is cool with that, then I am down.
I can start with anyone interested in helping out with this to PM on this board.
Joey
EDIT: Should this topic be moved to Games in Production?
OK, Chris has given me permission to try and make a Demo Game, always using the original Demo Game as well. Remember, those who made that game put a lot of effort into it.
Right now I need, several people to help me in this.
First off, I am gonna need Graphic artists:
Background artists
GUI artists
Object Artists
Inventory item artists
I will use the original character from the original demo game. If anyone wants to make NPC's, let me know.
Also, I need those who would want to participate in making the Demo. IF you want to participate a piece of code or a small demo game, let me know by PMing me and mentioning the following:
Name
What you want to code
What graphics you'll be using
I want to try and make this small in size.
Also if you have suggestions regarding what should be done, please post them here.
RickJ, if you could PM me, I would appreciate it. :)
Joey
Well, as I said earlier I would like to do some character art and backgrounds. PM me (my nick is Petteri A) or email
I'll do background art.. and basic character art.
Yes I can do come backgrounds or characters is you want.
Good stuff guys, and good luck.
One request - try and do decent commenting on any scripts included in the game - the demo game will be distributed in its source form, and preferably people should be able to understand what the script is doing :)
I had encountered an issue though... In the old demo quest, we had some stuff that used the animation editor. Should we redo that stuff scripted, and should we seperate the Demo Quest into seperate adventures for easier understanding of the source code?
Joey
QuoteOne request - try and do decent commenting on any scripts included in the game - the demo game will be distributed in its source form, and preferably people should be able to understand what the script is doing.
I couldn't agree more. There also should be consistent coding and commenting styles as well.
QuoteI had encountered an issue though... In the old demo quest, we had some stuff that used the animation editor. Should we redo that stuff scripted,..
I would seem like the answetr to that is yes. CJ please confirm for us.
Quote...Should we seperate the Demo Quest into seperate adventures for easier understanding of the source code?
I guess the main demo should include the original demo quest, and the AGS factory. The factory would include a number of departments. From each of the departments you would be able to launch seperate games. What does everyone else think?
I think that original Demo Quest and AGS Factory definitely should both remain...
Quote from: Joseph DiPerla on Fri 02/05/2003 22:13:25
I had encountered an issue though... In the old demo quest, we had some stuff that used the animation editor. Should we redo that stuff scripted, and should we seperate the Demo Quest into seperate adventures for easier understanding of the source code?
You don't have to keep it strictly faithful to the original, so if you don't want the animation in there then just remove it completely. But yes, otherwise please do re-do it using the new interaction editor.
Oh, that's another thing - where possible, it would be nice to use the interaction editor rather than scripting, since it'll be easier for newbies to understand.
As for splitting it up - I would say yeah leave the original demo intact, but remove the arcade rooms from it, as they caused a lot of clutter in the global script and so forth - if they can be placed into a seperate "Advanced" game or something, that'd be cool.
Ok, thanks CJ and RickJ. BTW: I just wanted to add that RickJ will be co-coordinator on this with me. He seems very talented and skilled and he also seems like a good team leader and coordinator. So I am glad to have him help me in this.
Joey
Good luck, guys. I worked on the old demo, so if you need anything, let me know.