*A wild ANACHRONISM appeared!*

[Nine Toes]

Hello.

I used to frequent this forum back in the day; like, 20 years ago. Game dev, like most of my other interests and hobbies, fell to the wayside when I got married, had children, and started working my life away.

My son is an adult now and in his last month of high school. The war ended up never happening, so he never got to lead humanity in the resistance against the machines... (joke. you had to be there.)

So now that I'm going to soon have plenty of free time on my hands, I'm trying to reconnect with things I used to get into. I've still got a handful of unfinished games and ideas that I want to finish stashed away somewhere. I'm wondering if they'll even work on current AGS builds?

Was hoping someone would be kind enough to give me the low-down on everything that has happened with AGS in the last two decades? A link of some sort will do, if it exists. I've popped in here and there over the years, but I haven't kept up with goings-on at all. Another thing is that unfortunately I haven't kept up with technology as much as I would have liked either.

It appears that AGS is now open source? Is that right? lol If so, I remember that being a big April Fool's joke once upon a time.

I was also kind of hoping to find out if anybody from back then is still around? I see AGA, Darth Mandarb, and Gilbot are still here. Looking at the member list, it looks like quite a few people I used to see around have been on in the last couple years at least.

...and it just occurred to me, some of those people may very well have passed away by now...

[Danvzare]

Was hoping someone would be kind enough to give me the low-down on everything that has happened with AGS in the last two decades?

Let's see...

• A collective series of games called "Reality On The Norm" was made (but is now mostly forgotten).
• Yahtzee got grumpy with the community and left, then became a successful Youtuber.
• The "Make your game" joke button was removed.
• Chris Jones decided he had better things to do in his life than support a game engine, so made it open source.
• Crimson Wizard decided he didn't have better things to do in his life than support a game engine, and has been working on it ever since.
• A member called Icey came onto the forum with really bad spelling and big dreams to make a massive JRPG, so everyone made fun of him, thus spawning Oceanspirit Dennis.
• Icey actually became competent, but then left to pursue other things
• The Ben Jorden and the Blackwell games were finished.
• Wadjet Eye Games was formed, and exclusively makes and publishes adventure games made with AGS.
• We finally got our act together with the AGS Awards.

And... I think that's all of the important parts.

...and it just occurred to me, some of those people may very well have passed away by now...

Yep. 
I don't know who was around back then (I certainly wasn't), but I assume you know about Larry Vales.    Well, the creator of that game series passed away a few years ago. 

[Nine Toes]

Heyo. Nice to meet you, @Danvzare.

• I remember RON. Never played any of the games. Or Ben Jordan. Maybe I should finally.
• Yahtzee... I remember him. He was never really around here much, if I remember correctly. Come to think of it, I don't remember what he was so famous for either... I might have played one of his games. Guess I'll have to check out his YouTube channel.
• lol I remember the "Make Your Game" button. I hadn't noticed it was gone. Does AGS still have the Christmas Day easter egg at least?
• As for CJ: I suppose, anyone could have guessed that he wouldn't want to maintain AGS until he was old and grey. For a couple years, I even wondered to myself if AGS was still around or if it had fizzled out into oblivion, considering the availability of other game engines like Unity. But I'm glad to see that he made it open source instead of abandoning it and letting it die. The work he put into AGS and the community it fostered would have been a terrible waste.
• I never got to meet Icey, but I remember Jodo Kast, Phil Roberts, and a handful of other people that you just couldn't take seriously. (I may or may not have been one of those people myself, but I'm happy to say I'm not the same person I was back then anymore. Or at least I hope.)
• Wadjet Eye Games... That rings a bell. I don't remember which member here was affiliated with that though. That's pretty cool that they're keeping adventure games alive. I saw an ad on Instagram the other day for a game company that produces old school, point-and-click adventure games "because they want to". I don't remember if it was the same company, but I think that's what made me come back here.

A couple years ago, I randomly came across an interview with a gal named Dragonrose who was a member of this forum. I guess she's some kind of game company director now?

I don't use Facebook anymore, but I was friends with a few people from here. I kept in touch with a guy named Ultimo who rage quit the forums back in the day, and then retaliated by launching a DDOS attack on it. He's doing good. He's married with children now. lol

I think I also remember reading about... Phil Reed, was his name? The creator of Larry Vales? I think I remember seeing him around here too.

I'm getting older and I should just accept that death is an eventual part of life for everyone, but... That was kind of a grim notion that just came to me as I was typing my last comment. I'm a little sentimental about this place, and the people I knew from here, even if I wasn't "friends" with them.

Anyway, I tried reading up on AGS's development over the years in the manual, but it looks like it's not working?... Or is that just me?

[Danvzare]

Nice to meet you too. 

Yahtzee... I remember him. He was never really around here much, if I remember correctly. Come to think of it, I don't remember what he was so famous for either... I might have played one of his games. Guess I'll have to check out his YouTube channel.

The games he's famous for, is 5 Days a Stranger and its sequels. I've not played them either.
I think he was also the one who made the first episode of Reality On The Norm, although I could be wrong about that.

lol I remember the "Make Your Game" button. I hadn't noticed it was gone. Does AGS still have the Christmas Day easter egg at least?

I have no idea. I've never loaded up AGS at Christmas. 

Wadjet Eye Games... That rings a bell. I don't remember which member here was affiliated with that though.

I'm pretty sure it's Dave Gilbert. But don't quote me on that. I'm terrible at remembering names.
Also, there's quite a lot of commercially released games made with AGS now. We get a few every year from all sorts of people. 

Anyway, I tried reading up on AGS's development over the years in the manual, but it looks like it's not working?... Or is that just me?

Huh, you're right. The manual isn't working. One of us should probably report that.
None the less, you should be able to read the manual that comes with the editor.

Also I'm surprised no one else has responded here yet.
Maybe they just thought my explanation was good enough. 
Speaking of which, I forgot to add that support for AGS games was also added to ScummVM not so long ago.

[Crimson Wizard]

I cannot tell which exactly manual is not working, since you did not mention that, but the online manual is available here:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/

The history of major changes may be found in "Upgrading from a previous version" section:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/UpgradingFromPreviousVersion.html

[Nine Toes]

The games he's famous for, is 5 Days a Stranger and its sequels. I've not played them either.
I think he was also the one who made the first episode of Reality On The Norm, although I could be wrong about that.

5 Days a Stranger! I loved that game! I wasn't aware Yahtzee made sequels to it either. I had kind of wished for a sequel to that game for a while. You should really give 5 Days a play. I think it's about an hour long.

I have no idea. I've never loaded up AGS at Christmas. 

Yeah, me neither. 

I think that's one thing I really missed from this place. Cheeky British humor.

I'm pretty sure it's Dave Gilbert. But don't quote me on that. I'm terrible at remembering names.
Also, there's quite a lot of commercially released games made with AGS now. We get a few every year from all sorts of people. 

Okay, I remember him now. Quite the heavy hitter in the game community. I remember, someone - I think it was a guy named Boyd - had a banner, "Dave Gilbert Forever" in his signature.

I'll have to check out Wadjet Eye Games, and a few of these commercially available titles. I guess I never considered that people would still pay for indie adventure games like these. So does that mean some of these games are available on Steam, or even the Google play store? Have adventure games made the move to mobile devices?

Huh, you're right. The manual isn't working. One of us should probably report that.
None the less, you should be able to read the manual that comes with the editor.

I cannot tell which exactly manual is not working, since you did not mention that, but the online manual is available here:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/

The manual that comes with the editor doesn't appear to be working. At least for me...



Regardless, @Crimson Wizard, thank you for the links, and nice to meet you. And thank you for taking up the helm to keep AGS alive. Means a lot to an old nerd like me. :thumbs up:

Also I'm surprised no one else has responded here yet.
Maybe they just thought my explanation was good enough. 

Could be. Could be any number of reasons.

Part of me was a little worried it would have something to do with my history here. All the years I lurked around on this forum, I didn't really contribute or do anything memorable.

What's more, I was in my mid-twenties. I had a bad attitude, bad temper, and a really unsavory sense of humor. I said a lot of dicey, not-so-nice things to a few people on here, and made a lot of really cringe remarks.

I had started to clean up my act after I became a dad. I even had two games that I was finally making some serious progress on, but then I stopped coming here and unfortunately those projects have been collecting dust since then, being transferred from hard drive to hard drive over the years.

I'm hoping I can bring them out of limbo, is why I inquired about AGS technical developments.

[Crimson Wizard]

The manual that comes with the editor doesn't appear to be working. At least for me...

This is usually caused by Windows blocking the downloaded chm file. You can fix it by finding ags-help.chm file in editor program files, open file properties and click "Unblock".

[Danvzare]

I cannot tell which exactly manual is not working, since you did not mention that, but the online manual is available here:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/

This one (the one that the sticky on the Beginner's board points to): https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/manual/
I didn't realize there was another manual out there.

So does that mean some of these games are available on Steam, or even the Google play store? Have adventure games made the move to mobile devices?

Yep, yep, and yep. 

What's more, I was in my mid-twenties. I had a bad attitude, bad temper, and a really unsavory sense of humor. I said a lot of dicey, not-so-nice things to a few people on here, and made a lot of really cringe remarks.

Don't worry about it. I doubt anyone but you, remembers or cares. Everyone here tends to let bygones be bygones, and I've yet to see anyone hold a grudge.
As long as you're humble, disagreements tend to blow over without any issues. And hey, it's not like you got banned, so clearly nothing you did was that bad.
Besides, you should see some of the stuff I've said over the years. 

Good luck with your projects. It should hopefully be possible to bring them out of limbo, although if you encounter any issues importing them to the latest version, I'd recommend installing a bunch of older versions, and importing it between each version one step at a time.
Backwards compatibility has been a very important part of the development of AGS. It's only recently that the various developers (there's quite a few who work on the engine) have been considering removing some of the backwards compatibility in order to make the engine function better and be easier to maintain.

[Crimson Wizard]

Backwards compatibility has been a very important part of the development of AGS. It's only recently that the various developers (there's quite a few who work on the engine) have been considering removing some of the backwards compatibility in order to make the engine function better and be easier to maintain.

Dropping backwards compatibility has been suggested from the start. The problem with this project was that there were people who wanted to have a fully backwards compatible engine capable of running old games (because it was important for other systems), and those who wanted to drop compatibility completely. The ones who were writing backwards compatible engine were more active in practice, and when I joined the project I did not realize this whole issue, so went along with their chosen route, and kept backwards compatibility for way too long. This had a large negative impact on the development.

Then, I double checked that "quite a few" means "many". No, we are not "quite a few" developers, we are very few. There's literally couple of people who work more or less persistently (at least for the last several years), and then maybe 2-3 more that contribute periodically. The people changed over time, but these numbers remained same. The list of people working on AGS credits over 40 people, but majority of them have made couple of contributions over the years and never returned again.