Considering CJ actually makes another version of AGS, what's a feature or extension of a feature you would like to see?
I am writing this not as a "shopping list" but as a venting for anything that you would love to see happen with the Adventure Game Studio Engine.
For me, I would have to say some form of online play.
Cheers,
Fluke
I would want better interactions, support for more than four background frames, and just an overall easier interface (although the interface is already easy). Online play would ROCK!
I want a more fleshed out "Make my game" button.
-MillsJROSS
Massive Multiplayer Online RPG capabilities.
Lens Flare support and reintegration of the bluecup glitch.
You're my kind of guy!
Minor use of scripts (Everytime I try to make a script I have a message saying ''ERROR in script''.
What do I want from the next AGS update? Free hookers and beer!
And a n00b filter! ¬_¬
I'd like to see a revamp of the dialog system with ability to move/delete dialog topics in the editor, and some way to access dialog topics and dialog text from other scripts to allow for more flexibility without abandoning the built-in system entirely.
Pamela lip-synch support for Lucasarts-style speech!!!!!!
I want that annoying talking blue cup from Radiant's game (But with speech voiced by Joe pasquale) to appear onscreen everytime you make an error.
Seriously though, I'd welcome some of the serious ideas requested before me.
Oh, yeah I'd like proper object allignment when putting objects on a 640 x 480 so they don't skip a pixel.
Oh and I want also a inventory system where you could prevent the player from picking up something until you drop an item (Like in RPG games).
Full OOP-support (object-oriented programming), meaning the simple support of classes (or structs with functions) without having to use the import-hack, structs in structs, constructors/deconstructors as well as overloaded operators for classes or structs.
I agree with Garage Gothic, a more flexible dialogue editor would improve workflow.
Quote from: advent on Sun 18/06/2006 09:18:23
Minor use of scripts
Quote from: advent on Sun 18/06/2006 13:28:11
I want also a inventory system where you could prevent the player from picking up something until you drop an item
If you didn't demand the former you could surely achieve the latter.
im looking at all these posts about online play, and i'm thinking?
what need will we EVER actually have for that. if anything, it'd just mean more n00bs posting questions in the tech forums
1) Yodaman is a sucker for online games.
2) Helm plays those MMORPG games all the time. He lives and breathes them. They are his bible.
I'll tell you what I'd HATE though:
user-friendliness. by which i mean, i dont want hints popping up saying: "HEYHEY NEED SOME HELP???????????????//????///?" and when you say no it says: "HEYHEY NEED SOME HELP SAYING YES????//???????/???????////??????////????/??/???///?//????"
Teh room menu buttons back!
Hammerite repellant.
Actually, I'd rather let CJ to surprise me with all the ass kicking new features I have never even could dream about!
I want people to have actually made a game using AGS before they go around suggesting new features.
I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration
Full TTF font anti-aliasing.
T-That's, y'know...w-when, or in-indeed IF, y'know, s-such a...thing...would be...um...p-possible?
*cough*
I'd like to eventually see a new version of AGS, presumably called AGS 3, that doesn't attempt to maintain backwards compatability, so we can have things like:
Resolution independant code, no 320x200 coordinate system.
Rather than using allegro, introducing a more abstract rendering system, so we can plug in a hardware accelerated graphics one, or system specific ones, for easy ports.
TTF rendering, unicode strings... no more hacking for people trying to write in japanese or hebrew whatever.
Expansion on the script language's OO features... (useful) inheritance for structs, virtual functions, perhaps some sugar like operator overloading... possibly a tall order, but I feel like I'm really wrestling with the language if I'm trying to write anything beyond the basics, like a reusable module.Ã, On the other hand I can understand if this didn't get put in, AGS script is for scripting AGS games... which it does pretty well at the moment.
Also in the script: structures such as dynamic arrays, and dictionaries, being able to dynamically create managed/reference counted user structs, and refer to them with pointers. Access to dialog trees.
A switch for people that script, so they jump straight to the script editor, instead of the interaction editor.
Just rattling off stuff I think would help AGS grow in the future. I think most of these suggestions would help module authors add more things to AGS, more easily.
Quote from: SSH on Sun 18/06/2006 18:26:22
I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration
This would also be my main request. It does use some hardware acceleration at the moment, but it might be possible to improve performance by using Direct3D for rendering in the future.
QuoteI would have to say some form of online play.
If you'd like to explain how you'd create a decent multiplayer adventure game, please go right ahead. The fact is that the genre doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer ... there's quite a long thread kicking around somewhere where we discussed this, and as I recall nobody could think of a way that would work.
Support for sprite sheets. Where you can edit the size of your sprite selection box.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 18/06/2006 23:00:57
Quote from: SSH on Sun 18/06/2006 18:26:22
I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration
If you'd like to explain how you'd create a decent multiplayer adventure game, please go right ahead. The fact is that the genre doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer ... there's quite a long thread kicking around somewhere where we discussed this, and as I recall nobody could think of a way that would work.
Ok, I will. You could have a nonlinear world where you could do whatever you want, but it had a LucasArts style GUI. You could do stuff (for example, if you had a DOTT online game you could explore all over the place and could defeat purple tentacle if you wanted to). This would be extremely difficult to script though.. probably impossible.
This sort of thing was tried with Club Caribe to mixed success. Was kind of annoying if you lost your head in the game though, since chances are someone took it and you could never get it back.
There's alot of stuff I'd like to see done, but ultimately a lot of the improvements would steer ags away from an adventure game creator and more towards generic support for pretty much anything.
A "guided tour" of how to use AGS with a voice-over by Cj
:p
Quote from: ManicMatt on Sun 18/06/2006 13:15:15
I want that annoying talking blue cup from Radiant's game (But with speech voiced by Joe pasquale) to appear onscreen everytime you make an error.
Yay for Cuppit! :)
Personally, I'd like support for that Wii thingii.
Quote from: yodaman11111 on Mon 19/06/2006 02:34:33
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 18/06/2006 23:00:57
Quote from: SSH on Sun 18/06/2006 18:26:22
I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration
If you'd like to explain how you'd create a decent multiplayer adventure game, please go right ahead. The fact is that the genre doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer ... there's quite a long thread kicking around somewhere where we discussed this, and as I recall nobody could think of a way that would work.
Ok, I will. You could have a nonlinear world where you could do whatever you want, but it had a LucasArts style GUI. You could do stuff (for example, if you had a DOTT online game you could explore all over the place and could defeat purple tentacle if you wanted to). This would be extremely difficult to script though.. probably impossible.
nbut that wouldnt need to be multiplayer to make it linear, although if you wanted to make an MMO in that style then yeah.
I would like a zoom function on the sprite previewer, as well a money system in some kind of non-scripting form.
A greater polygon count. Building half-life 2 mods with AGS takes forever! Also, all future updates of AGS should be distributed through Steam. Direct and simple downloading feels so last century.
And a few more room background frames.
Also support for movies in a /movie file (if at all possible).
And an "Order Pizza" button on the editor pane. I shouldn't have to get up and go make the phone call myself, not when I'm on a roll. This is an oversight that's been holding AGS back since it's earliest incarnations.
Other than these few quibbles, I can't think of anything AGS particularly needs.
Thanks for the continuing fine work, CJ!
- Ponch
Actually what i meant when i suggested the notion of online play is like CS, or Battlefield Online.
You go into a server, you play a "Round" of the game, with an adventure themed game.
Imagine it.
It's an online adventure game, in which you have to be the first to say, find some form of explosive.
Fun?
I'd say so.
Cheers,
Fluke.
I said TOK - TOK and they deleted it :o
so...
TOK - TOK
Now what would be really cool is that it would run the games via a flash interpreter online and save all your save games to an online database... though that would be a little difficult, huh? And yet, one can only dream...
Though I second the faster graphics processing.
- Ã, Structs within Structs
- Ã, RawDraw commands using less memory, so that raw-drawing continously wouldn't render character movement so choppy.
- Ã, Online support for those of us who want to make MMORPG's or online board/card games.
- Ã, The word 'adventure' removed from the engine name.Ã, That's so... limiting...
- Ã, Total conversion to Object-Based scripting (it's already helping so much ^_^)
- Ã, A way to add a password to the main game file, so one had to enter said password before editing the game.Ã, Thus allowing better team efforts because one wouldn't be afraid to upload the sourcecode to share with teammates.
- Ã, Two or more script windows open at once, so one can edit the header, global, and room scripts without having to close down every time they need to change.Ã, (Possible?)
-Regards, Akumayo
Why password the source files when you could just put them in a passworded zip or rar file?
Because I'm too retarded to figure out how to put a password on my .zip files. :P
Still I'm a bit favour of bringing back the old adding passwords to rooms feature (just foolproof implementation to avoid them from being loaded again in editor, this had been discussed slightly in the tech forums), better yet if the source script part be striped off the passworded file (like those contained in the packed compiled games). The reason is, AGS supports bug fixes/updates of a game by just putting a newer version of a room file to the game's folder.
Delete buttons for Items, Characters, Views and Cursor Modes. I know there's no harm in leaving them blank when unused, but it just doesn't look tidy. :P
Oh and a customizable Sierra-style inventory. And maybe even a grid-based inventory (S&M Hit The Road, The Dig, etc.)
Funny.
Most of the features (serious) asked are already possible, but might need some reading and scripting (or ask Strazer to do it for you). Changing the inventory grid is possible. RTFM!
And OOP, which I'm not a fan of, isn't essential. Monkey Island didn't use it, Doom didn't use it and neighter did Super Mario World. Why people worship it is beyond me. I think it's just an excuse for not making games.
Multyplayer online games? Why do you want that function when you don't even own a server? Oh, I get it. You want to PLAY it, not MAKE it.
Answer: Buy Uru, download Plane Shift or play WoW on an illegal server if you don't have money.
Why does AGS need to be bigger in size by impementing functions only 3 or 4 people over the world have an intention of using?
Quote from: jet on Tue 20/06/2006 18:26:05
And OOP, which I'm not a fan of, isn't essential. Monkey Island didn't use it, Doom didn't use it and neighter did Super Mario World. Why people worship it is beyond me. I think it's just an excuse for not making games.
Well, it's not essential, but it can save your butt a whole lot of work. Your statement about OOP clearly shows that you can't be quite used to normal programming in languages such as C++ (which is very close to the AGS script-language). There have been so many debates over OOP and why it is possibly the greatest strength of C++ over languages such as C, Java or even HTML, and I have yet to see one worthwhile argument against it. I don't know if you realize that AGS already uses OOP-elements such as structures? And this is the best example: there are so many technical things that wouldn't be possible to do in AGS in a comfortable way without using the struct-keyword (take my project "Troopers" as example, or my "Particle Engine"-Module, they wouldn't work without structures).
I also fail to see how OOP could possibly be an excuse for not making games, which makes me seriously wonder whether you really understood its principles. I don't want to offend you in any way, there may very well be a reason that I just never realized or something. In this case, I'd be grateful if you could share it with me.
Oh, and that games such as Doom or Monkey Island didn't use OOP really shouldn't be listed as argument why AGS shouldn't support OOP either. I agree that you won't need structures, classes, overloaded operators etc. when writing a simple adventure game in AGS, but as soon as you get any more technical (which is what a lot of advanced scripters like to do in AGS), you can't get around most of those OOP-helpers. Another example: you want a normal adventure game, but would like a realistical physics-simulation for one puzzle - you could use classes to build yourself a working vector class, which comes in VERY handy when implementing physical stuff.
Yes, you're right Jet, early 90s games tended to be written in C... the object oriented languages we use now mostly weren't standardised back then. Just about every game written today will have been written in an OO language. I know it can be hard to get for a beginner coder to see why, I certainly didn't get it for a while, but it makes programming most things a lot less painful.
Note that in the source for any big game written in C you'll probably start to notice hacky object oriented patterns, even though the language isn't tailored for them.
I think anyone that codes extensively with AGS would appreciate more along the lines CJ has introduced. Those that don't like OO coding can always stick to plain old functions and variables.
dkh: no offence taken. I personally encountered bad, emotionally experience with OOP.
(btw. although I remember my two years as a computer science student as a fast moving blur, isn't c++a 2nd generation language and java a 3rd generation (the OO) language?)
There are a few very talented programmers on the boards, created a test game but haven't made a propper game, yet do promote new features (nothing wrong with that, really. God knows I've done it and god knows I got them). Not directed at DKH, I know he worked on FOY, or Scotch who is working on his own engine.
There are also members who can't code very well. I think Kinoko said she hated scripting and Grundi didn't know there was a DisplaySpeech function.
It's like the programmers say they don't have the creative freedom or the propper tools to make a game, while the normal folks just make a popular game without those tools.
Please realize that the people who don't know anything about scripting are the base users of AGS. Do you think OOP would atract or scare away newbies? Be honest.
Quote from: jet on Tue 20/06/2006 18:26:05
Funny.
Most of the features (serious) asked are already possible, but might need some reading and scripting (or ask Strazer to do it for you). Changing the inventory grid is possible. RTFM!
By grid-based inventory, I mean an inventory where you can place an item anywhere in the fixed-size inventory grid, taking an item (putting it in the cursor) automatically removes it from the inventory, etc, like in the games I referred. Currently the inventory GUI isn't very customizable, though I admit it's not something many would bother to customize, but it's just a suggestion.
I don't think it'd affect the ease of use of the script language for newbies very much, they don't use the OOish stuff as it is, except that I think Strings and new style Characters and so on are slightly easier to use, especially with the autocompletion. The main benefit I think new language features would have on newbies is in using modules written by other people. Ã, A few things I've tried to write in AGS script have become too much trouble, or effectively impossible, due to language limitations. Writing, for example, a custom dialog system, becomes so much easier if you can simply make a ConversationLine class with a dynamically sized list of suboptions, and subclass it for different scripted responses to lines.
I don't think these features are essential either, and if it's really difficult to implement in AGS script, well... ignore that request, but it'd rock for a lot of us I think.
On C++ being an OO language or not... it's designed for writing very object oriented programs, that's good enough for me. Ã, Java is a bit more of a pure OO language. Ã, You could say that Ruby is purer OO still. Doesn't really matter to me, I just like having the features there to write understandable and extendable programs.
Also I didn't take offense at you saying it was an excuse for not making games, I didn't quite know what you meant. You're right in some ways, a lot of the tech forum module authors probably won't make games... it's not a big problem, as long as they're producing something others can use, I think :) My work with AGS is mostly as an artist anyway. Should have something out this year...
Of the things mentioned so far, what I'd most like to see are:
- further OO options (nested structs and pointers to structs especially)
- Dynamic data structures, like vectors and maps.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I'd really like are callback functions. Heck, as long as we're listing unrealistic wants, it'd rule if AGS had higher-order functions like Lua and Squirrel do. (Realistically, this is probably impossible without completely refactoring the way AGS handles functions, but it would be cool.) ;D Barring that, regular callback functions would be cool, too.
HoN
Quote from: SupSuper on Tue 20/06/2006 15:56:34
Delete buttons for Items, Characters, Views and Cursor Modes. I know there's no harm in leaving them blank when unused, but it just doesn't look tidy. :P
Yeah, that ticks me off too. I think it also makes the game take up extra space, doesn't it?
Not much as far as I know.
Also, read this (http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/index.php/AGS_Editor_%26_User_Interface#Deleting_stuff_besides_sprites_and_frames), especially the WARNING part, which is one large reason you can't delete most stuff.
* Proper scaling of TTF fonts at low res.
* Also, though I'm not sure could and how would it work -- direct animations as video files. Like, instead of frames, I could import .avi or .mpeg file into sprite editor and use it as an object (animated texture/whatever) without need to make it animate by script. i.e -- draw a bg with tv on it and put .avi sprite over the place where screen is...
I don't know how it's called. A dynamic sprite?
* Transclusent area editing. Like, when drawing a walk-behinds in AGS, (optional) transclusent color would make it much easier (I know CJ-s "area editing tools" upgrade policy, but I've never been fond of doing this in paint programs).
* Highly improved and more flexible GUI making. To make cool GUIs more easily, instead of using somewhat predefined templates (like a text window, for example).
a better support for special characters, so that u dont have to work with translation files all the time to create your game... so u can write the dialogues in your native language and an english native speaker could translate it into his language...
Did I mention I REALLY would like proper TTF font rendering? :=
QuoteBy grid-based inventory, I mean an inventory where you can place an item anywhere in the fixed-size inventory grid, taking an item (putting it in the cursor) automatically removes it from the inventory, etc, like in the games I referred. Currently the inventory GUI isn't very customizable, though I admit it's not something many would bother to customize, but it's just a suggestion.
But it can be done easily by scripting: Griddy Inventidorry (http://www.babar.squarespace.com/storage/other/inv.rar)
As someone who has only played AGS games to date, I'd like to see improved multiplatform support. Allowing plugins to be ported (or maybe allowing plugins to be developed in some sort of multiplatform language?), etc. One of the reasons I think it'd be so desirable to make games for SCUMM, were it possible (even though it would be very hard) is simply the number of platforms ScummVM has been ported to.
I also think multiplayer would be interesting, either via some sort of access to a TCP/UDP/IP stack or by some sort of higher-level multiplayer abstraction which would automatically sync characters walking, and so forth. I think it would be quite possible to make well designed multiplayer adventure games, just so long as they've been designed for multiplayer in the beginning.
But what would be more immediately useful and interesting network-communications wise is some sort of HTTP facility, which could allow for high score tables and so forth.
Excellent idea. No-one can beat my highscore in Novo Mestro though.
Speaking of structs within structs, it seems it's possible with some types of C++, and it's also possible to declare struct types in the struct declaration, instead of in the global script:
struct movies_t { //declare struct
string title; //string value
int year; //int value
} Matrix, Donnie_Darko; //declare objects using struct (Matrix.title)
struct friends_t { //declare another struct
string name; //string value
string email; //string value
movies_t favorite_movie; //nest movies_t in data known as 'favorite_movie'
} charlie, maria; //declare objects using struct
Now we can:
marie.favorite_movie.title = "Donnie_Darko";
Would this be possible to implement in AGS? (It gives an error if you do it presently.)
-Regards, Akumayo
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Thu 22/06/2006 03:40:11
Not much as far as I know.
Also, read this (http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/index.php/AGS_Editor_%26_User_Interface#Deleting_stuff_besides_sprites_and_frames), especially the WARNING part, which is one large reason you can't delete most stuff.
I understand some of the concerns about deleting stuff, however most of that is gone now that AGS has gone OO. There is still the possibility that your scripts could access the wrong thing, and debugging that could potentially be difficult to spot right away, but still I think being able to remove Cursors, Characters, Fonts, and things would be really cool. (Especially considering that I have, in the past added several inventory items (around 20 - 30) that were only for testing purposes. Sure, I could have ended up editing some of them and making use of them, but I personally like to start that kind of thing from scratch.)
Or, if not a form of proper online play, at least some kind of online scoreboard/highscore list implemented into the game. That is, if Billy in Florida gets the 4th highest score of the game and inputs his details, Willy in New York can see that score and know that Billy has that score.
or you could give them an web address with a scoreboard in it to input your scores into. probably be easier to do as well.
Quote from: Hammerite on Sun 25/06/2006 08:31:26
or you could give them an web address with a scoreboard in it to input your scores into. probably be easier to do as well.
Also very easy to lie, and always get the highscore :P
you could also have a password at the end that you'd have to enter to be able to input your score, of course you could still lie.
damn never counted on that.
(Getting really off-subject now but):
I suppose you could use file output to output a .dat file of the highscore from AGS, and then instruct the user to upload that .dat file. Then, you could build a webpage that the user could input the .dat file's web location, and then the webpage htm would extract the contents into a highscore, ask the player for name/location/etc, and then add it to a scoreboard.
That's a lot of trouble though, for the developer AND the user.
Or you could use the HTTP plugin Dorcan made... ::)
Well yeah, that's what HTTP functionality would allow, for highscores. Didn't know there was a plugin for it.
What I suppose you could do without it is tell the user the URL to enter their score at, as well as their score, and then some sort of key that is generated from the highscore, sort of like a registration key in many shareware applications.
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Sun 25/06/2006 02:16:13
I think being able to remove Cursors, Characters, Fonts, and things would be really cool.
Seconded. However, I have the feeling that several people don't even bother to remove the default Roger sprites from their game :)
Also, I'd like the game to put the three standard .WFN files is its directory, so that I can edit them easily with FontEdit.
An explanation as to why inventory item sprites are antialiased everywhere EXCEPT in the inventory. :P
Did you mean alpha-channeled sprites?
I think it's just because alpha-channels aren't supported in GUI's, yet.
Oh. I see.
N..Nevermind then...I...I guess. :-[