Is AGS dying the same way adventure games did?

[Dave Gilbert]

I don't think AGS is going downhill at all.  If anything, more and more professional-looking games are being made with it.  Every year an AGS game is showcased at the IGF (last year there were two), and not every game made with AGS is made by a member of the forum.  The whole "indie game movement" of the last few years has made old-school genres of all types popular again, including adventures.  The fact that AGS makes those adventure games possible is bound to have an impact.

Dave Gilbert once said (don't make me link, cause I have it bookmarked) he's going off AGS. Well f*** him.

Um, could you elaborate?  I'm in the midst of making three games with it, so I don't see where this is coming from.

[Sslaxx]

Dave Gilbert once said (don't make me link, cause I have it bookmarked) he's going off AGS. Well f*** him.

Um, could you elaborate?  I'm in the midst of making three games with it, so I don't see where this is coming from.

Looking at the rest of the post in question, and subsequent posts, I think you've missed the humour.

[Dualnames]

Poor Dave, you just don't remember.

http://web.archive.org/web/20031206022330/pub6.ezboard.com/fdosuserforumsfrm4.showMessage?topicID=2739.topic

I do. 

I was just joking about that. I'm glad that the person that wrote this topic and the person I value most on this forum is the same person.
I know you're working on three games and generally are constantly busy with AGS and occasionally non-AGS related projects. My post referred to your past, so I  apologize if my petty attempt at humour, became an insult. That wasn't my intention. I hope you're not offended.

[Dave Gilbert]

Woah.  Holy 2002, Batman.  Yeah, I did give up on AGS for awhile to deal with some personal stuff.  I'd almost forgotten all about that.   No worries, Dual.  I get the joke now.

[tzachs]

Personally, I still work with 2.72.

Me too, albeit not for the interaction editor. I simply find the interface more accessible, plus it has better Linux support.

Hmmm, for me it was the other way around. I vaguely remember trying an old AGS version and not liking the interface at all... But then, I saw version 3.0 and the interface looked much more familiar to me, so I could instantly get the hang of it.

Dave Gilbert once said (don't make me link, cause I have it bookmarked) he's going off AGS.

Wait a minute there duals, do you go around regularly and bookmark some incriminating evidence about agsers, for future reference?
Respect!
I wonder what else you have bookmarked...

[Snake]

Yeah, he does. He's got a huge collection.

Dave: I love Eric's responce in the thread, "i'm sure you'll be back. i mean, you HAVE to come back to play my RON game... RIIIIIIIGHT?"

YOU MEAN THE ONE YOU NEVER FINISHED, ERIC??@?!1

[Dualnames]

Here's my favorite Bookmark.

http://web.archive.org/web/20020703020003/pub6.ezboard.com/fdosuserforumsfrm4.showMessage?topicID=3014.topic

Snaakke with love.

EDIT: As for 2.72 I recall several me saying that 3.0 felt so foreign for me, and so unfriendly. Now I'm 3.1.2, guys you're fucking missing out. No excuse, nothing. You're missing out.

[Ryan Timothy B]

EDIT: As for 2.72 I recall several me saying that 3.0 felt so foreign for me, and so unfriendly. Now I'm 3.1.2, guys you're fucking missing out. No excuse, nothing. You're missing out.

Yeah, I agree. I'm always about moving forward to what is bigger and better, even if it takes a little adjustment. Except for the new windows Paint, it's bloody useless with all those vector graphics always getting in my way. Good thing I only used it for rough sketches and such if I needed to visually explain something to someone in person.

AGS 2.72 was so damn fiddly it annoyed me. I agree that 3.x is as well with the events pane but not nearly as bad.

[Layabout]

Hahaha, DGMacphee's old toilet avatar. Damn I miss that guy. He got married and responsible and all that...

so did Dave, but he is still here.

[Dave Gilbert]

Hahaha, DGMacphee's old toilet avatar. Damn I miss that guy. He got married and responsible and all that...

so did Dave, but he is still here.

Married, yes.  Responsible... 

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I always find these types of threads strange because I don't think adventure games have died yet.  Dying a slow death?  Maybe.  But while the number of adventure games produced over the years has declined sharply it's never ceased entirely; Telltale is cranking out a steady (and profitable, presumably) stream of adventure games; the Adventure Company continues raping Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie's corpses for a Sherlock Holmes/Poirot game every year, and their next game is an adaptation of Treasure Island with traditional point and click controls; you've got games like Professor Layton on the DS; a thriving indie sector with loads of freeware and more and more commercial games; and finally the emerging remake market like monkey island 1&2 and Broken Sword.  That's an awful lot to overlook in order to say the genre is dead.

The same thing applies to AGS, really; can you say an engine is dying when the number of games (and their average quality) made with it seems to increase gradually each year?

[Baron]

Hey, whatever happened to the Mentor Program from back on EZ Boards?  Resurrecting that would bring all kinds of newbies into the fold.  Think of all the CrAzY projects we can help jumpstart!  (cap/miniscule alternating spelling for old time's sake).

EDIT: OMG we can call it the Padawan Program!  This must happen.

[Dualnames]

Hey, whatever happened to the Mentor Program from back on EZ Boards?[/url]  Resurrecting that would bring all kinds of newbies into the fold.  Think of all the CrAzY projects we can help jumpstart!  (cap/miniscule alternating spelling for old time's sake).

EDIT: OMG we can call it the Padawan Program!  This must happen.

Having seen those kind of threads and the [sarcasm]greatness of results.
[/sarcasm]

Baron are you serious? 

If this is serious I pick Ben304. To be his mentor. The boy needs discipline!

[Ponch]

I pick Ben304. To be his mentor. The boy needs discipline!

Goodness, this thread is getting kinky!

[dbuske]

I have been playing adventure games since they first began. 54 years old.
First Sierra sold out and the new management dropped adventure games.
Than Lucas Arts decided to change to keyboard movement.
Than we had to wait for smaller companies infrequent releases.  Thank God for The Longest Journey!
I like AGS and am using it for my game "Danse Macabre."

[Phemar]

Than Lucas Arts decided to change to keyboard movement.

I don't think it's keyboard movement that killed Lucasarts  - It's the mass amount of Star Wars games they decided should take priority over adventure games.

[m0ds]

That or just their vision to follow the 3D evolution. Up until GF, all it required was one CD, one install, one epic amount of point and clicking. Then GF not only meant keyboard control, but also 2 CD's and too much time waiting for the game to RUN off the CD. That killed it for me, I lost faith in them at that point. Don't get me wrong, GF was amazing, but the game running directly pretty much from CD, let alone the copy I had - brand new - barely worked, just sucked.

The art of 2D and storytelling never died. Too many players and developers trusted in what 3D "might" bring, and for many did. But AGS is only growing, along with the popularity of its games. People will never, ever put aside the beauty of 2D hand drawn art and storytelling, and that's something AGS will always be able to provide.

It's a bit like when Mr Revolution said the P&C is dead. It's still one of the most shocking statements I've ever heard in person. It just shows to me commercial companies lose touch with the real world. They live by sales.

[Igor Hardy]

It's a bit like when Mr Revolution said the P&C is dead. It's still one of the most shocking statements I've ever heard in person. It just shows to me commercial companies lose touch with the real world. They live by sales.

I's say, even worse than "lost touch with the real world" - in this day and age you can still make a lot of money just letting people P&C in 2D, right? Farmville, Broken Sword re-releases, remakes, ports, more remakes... So Revolution lost touch with its money-making brains too (for a while at least).

[Mati256]

I don´t thing AGS (or adventure games for that matter) will die soon.
Adventures might not have a big place in the games world, but they are never going to die. And of course, AGS is not going to die either. As long as there is Internet, AGS will not die.
As an example, when Microsoft tried to kill old games creating Windows with no DOS, some people came out with DOSBox and ScummVM.
What I mean is, of course Call of Duty 5 is cool, but point n click games are special.

As Gilbert said: “I don't think AGS is going downhill at all.  If anything, more and more professional-looking games are being made with it.”

Just my two cents.

That or just their vision to follow the 3D evolution. Up until GF, all it required was one CD, one install, one epic amount of point and clicking. Then GF not only meant keyboard control, but also 2 CD's and too much time waiting for the game to RUN off the CD. That killed it for me, I lost faith in them at that point. Don't get me wrong, GF was amazing, but the game running directly pretty much from CD, let alone the copy I had - brand new - barely worked, just sucked.

My 2nd CD arrived broken. That sucked.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

You know, I don't remember having trouble playing Grim Fandango when it came out.  Now this might be because at the time I was primarily using my Amiga and didn't get Grim Fandango right away because it was pc only, but I'm pretty sure I played it the same year it was out.  I remember because I used to have one of those slot-loader 2x cd-roms, the ones where you place a cd inside a container and insert it.  I actually did (and still do) think games should just be distributed in those containers to avoid them being manhandled and scratched.  It seemed like such a cool way to store them as well (you could write on the tops of the cases and stack them) and they were only about 2 bucks a piece when they came out.  Another benefit was you didn't need a cd tray anymore so you didn't have to risk busting it, or in my case, having it stick 8/10 times.