Interactive film game

[The Thinker]

Hello all, I'd like to know if there is some gaming engine to make an interactive film game like the '80 games (dragon's lair ecc...)
I'd like to make an interactive film
Thanks and Ags forever!

[Phemar]

Well, you could sort of use AGS for that ... I suppose. I mean, your whole game could be dialogue (with alternating backgrounds and lots of animation) sort of like Ballonface from the 1 week 1 room competition ...

[SpacePirateCaine]

Since Dragon's Lair, for example, was primarily just timed button-pressing, it wouldn't be all that hard to create in AGS at all (For someone who knew what they were doing, unlike myself). The daunting task, of course, would be actually animating the thing. Bluth took six years, apparently, to finish the original, and it was something of a team effort. If you have the dedication to undertake such a project, it wouldn't be impossible at all. For all their glitz, they weren't exactly 'complicated' programs (Simplicity can be a good thing). I'm working on a game right now that, in essence, works quite similarly - a handful of timed puzzles where a certain action is 'preferred' - I just give the player a little more time for reaction, since it's mouse-based (And has lots of optional actions), and it's not quite the 'focus' of the gameplay.

I figure you'd probably want to create it using a keyboard interface, like the original computer releases (just the arrow keys, save, load and attack). It allows for a bit more response time than mouse interactions, though both are possible.

[Helm]

as dragon's lair motion cels were if I remember correctly vectors to save space, no, you cannot do that in ags. Go with flash.

[SpacePirateCaine]

Helm does have a point as far as vectors-based art is concerned, but if you wanted to do it with sprites I imagine that it'd be fully possible. Seems to me the old DOS versions would've been done in that manner. Not nearly as 'clean' looking, perhaps, but with a little tweaking, it is a distinct possibility. And AGS is free, of course, which is more than can be said for any Macromedia (And now Adobe... Damned Adobe) products.

[Kweepa]

Dragon's Lair was a laserdisc game:
http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/tech/pages/dl.asp

While you're playing back a video you can't detect time or type of key press. I think the only way to do this would be to wait until the video finishes then present a couple of options (perhaps while looping the end of the video with background frames or sprites).

[LGM]

Dragon's Lair was also on computer..

And besides that point, Macromedia Flash would be the perfect program for what you want.