Beginners questions

[Sandersen]

Hi there people!
Last days i have been wanting to try making a adventure game, and i stubmle upon this nice page.
Before i start with anything, i wonder:
- is it possible to make the games made with ags to an app to sell on f.ex apples app store? And in short how?
- do i have to know scripting/coding to use ags?
- is it possible to use asg on my mac?
- if i make a game, is any of the rights owned by somebody else than me, f.ex someone in ags?
- iam a designer, i have played adventure games in my childhood, i have a good imagination and think i could come up with a nice story and some nice graphics. I have done som css coding and web pages. Iam exelent in photoshop. Is it going to be a big thing for me to make a nice commercial game alone, or is that just a stupid dream? I mean... Do i need a lots of people to help, big money, a studio, lots of time..and so on? Or can i do this in my free time and make a game that would make me rich?

[Khris]

1) You can make commercial games with AGS and in theory, they run on Android. An engine port for iOS is in the works right now, afaik. Both are not stable right now and probably still unsuitable for commercial games. But you can always use a small publisher and sell a PC version. Has been done; there are more and more commercial games as of late.
2) Yes, definitely. AGS isn't a "click together your game" product. It uses its own scripting language which is similar to C++ or Java.
3) Yes, if you run windows using bootcamp or Parallels / another Virtualization software. While there is a more or less maintained port of the engine, you currently can't create games on Mac OS X.
4) The manual contains licensing information and there's a version without mp3 decoder available, afaik.
5) People have made commercially successful games by themselves. Look for The Cat Lady as an example. It takes much more time to get a game off ground than a web page though.

To get a feel for what developing an AGS game is like, check out these: http://www.twitch.tv/nihilstarcraft/videos?kind=past_broadcasts

[Crimson Wizard]

- is it possible to make the games made with ags to an app to sell on f.ex apples app store? And in short how?

To put it simple, technically the game itself could be run on all platforms without any changes: the game is merely a package of various data, what makes difference is Engine (and its versions for Windows, iOS etc). So, you may, for example, make a game for Windows PC first, and then run it on iOS without changing anything.
However, since mobile devices have specific user controls, you might change the user interface for iOS and Android versions, to make it touchscreen-friendly, and so on. Probably having this in mind from the very beginning is a good idea, if your final aim is to sell the mobile games.

1) You can make commercial games with AGS and in theory, they run on Android. An engine port for iOS is in the works right now, afaik. Both are not stable right now and probably still unsuitable for commercial games.

AFAIK Wadget Eye was preparing a Gemini Rue release on iOS. Don't know the details, hopefully Dave or Janet Gilbert will stop by and give some info about what happened.

- if i make a game, is any of the rights owned by somebody else than me, f.ex someone in ags?

In short - no, but, as Khris said, there might be some issues with mp3 decoder. There's usually an Engine version without mp3 support which should be more "safe" for commercial games. I know that Gemini Rue used one, for example.

- iam a designer, i have played adventure games in my childhood, i have a good imagination and think i could come up with a nice story and some nice graphics. I have done som css coding and web pages. Iam exelent in photoshop. Is it going to be a big thing for me to make a nice commercial game alone, or is that just a stupid dream? I mean... Do i need a lots of people to help, big money, a studio, lots of time..and so on? Or can i do this in my free time and make a game that would make me rich?

Probably those who made commercial games in the past would give more clever advice, but as I see this, if going commercial is really what;s your primary goal is, you better get some team (not necessarily big one, maybe several people). It is not only about being able to do everything on quality level (art, and music, and programming), but rather having better grasp on details. One man projects tend to have lots of flaws simply because single person becomes tired working on everything alone, and starts to overlook things.

[Sandersen]

Thank you guys! I learned just what i needed! I think i will make some concept art and a character first, and get some feedback on this forum before anything else:)
Its just crazy how appealing this retro game style is! Aspeccealy the pixel graphic, its magical! I want to create create!

I do work as a photographer/designer and did this project just a while ago:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=XZyTGOba91U
Maby something in that direction of style could be somehing..

I guess you see me again some day soon with something to show for. Thanx again!

[frenzykitty]

To get a feel for what developing an AGS game is like, check out these: http://www.twitch.tv/nihilstarcraft/videos?kind=past_broadcasts

I'm definitely gonna set aside some time and watch that. Will be great to see development from beginning to end. Kind of the ULTIMATE tutorial