Who ever made Roger?

[Kweepa]

Reasons to keep Roger mk 1
* nostalgia - but you can keep him around as a template
* incentive to change main character - but unless you're making very bad game, a joke game or a Space Quest game, you'll have to change the main character anyway

Reasons to change to Roger mk 2
* less animation frames
    - smaller download
    - less daunting for a new user to make a new character ("I have to draw ALL THOSE FRAMES?")
* better looking first steps
    - will keep people interested when they download AGS
* convenient reference
    - perhaps we won't see any more of eric's front walkcycle

DEATH TO ROGER!

[MrColossal]

"will keep people interested when they download AGS"

if roger stops them making a game they weren't cut out to make an AGS game.

[Helm]

"will keep people interested when they download AGS"

if roger stops them making a game they weren't cut out to make an AGS game.

I agree, in theory. But that's kind of a slippery slope though, because a new user sees roger, the gui, the sample graphics, it all adds up perhaps to a not so good first impression. A good first impression won't make your game for you, but perhaps you might see ags now and have a bad impression and not touch it for months or years before you return to it and realise how awesome it was all along.

[MrColossal]

So then I would suggest replacing roger with a non descript template character that one can easily paint over and not Roger Wilco from Space Quest.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

But Roger IS nondescript!  Also, Helm is right.

[Kweepa]

I made a template:
http://www.steporg.com/step/ags/tech/ProgZmaxRogerTemplate.zip (18k)
Just unzip it into your AGS root directory.

[PureGhostGR]

Hmm.. maybe there should be a forum poll about this?

And if the option for a new character replacement gets voted, then perhaps a big forum contest for the new graphics?

That would be fun!

[Afflict]

That might be a good idea Pure Ghost.

I think Helm has a very valid point, ppl think like that. "Crappy graphics the engine must suck"

I like ProgZ's paint over looking awesome. Cool Idle animation. (all animation cool) Just like the idle more

[Ali]

Steve's pros and cons make a lot of sense. It's also worth remembering that nostalgia means nothing to someone who's new to AGS, and that the introdution of Roger Mark II wouldn't necessarily mean the death of Mark I for those who feel nostalgic towards the little fella.

[Ishmael]

The first impression shouldn't be of the stuff in AGS, it should be of the games that have been made with it. What other purpose would the game showcase serve anyway?

[Ali]

I disagree, I knew I wanted to make amateur adventure before I realised I wanted to play amateur adventures. I'd been using AGS for around year before I really sat down to play an AGS game. I don't think you can rely on people coming to the software having played the best examples of what it can produce.

[Mr Flibble]

I think getting rid of crappy Roger and simple cup would be like changing your country's flag.

The Cup and the Roger are like AGS's mascots, I think it would be wrong to sell them out in favour of Prog's (excellent, by the way) new versions.

Although I think the Default, Empty and Classic thing could work, but then what about all the newbs who may not even see Old Rog and Old Cup? They'd be missing out on heritage.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Mr. Flibble- please tell me you aren't serious.  These are sprites, not cultural icons!

Also, I went ahead and made a rough draft new gui, rather smaller than the default (242x20 instead of 320x27) but has all of the icons of the original supported, including the current item display.  Bear in mind that my goal here is not to create a generic template that everyone will use over and over, hence the alien motif.  Hopefully new users can look at it, say this is neat, and then decide to make their own since obviously not everyone is going to have a sci-fi themed game or want to have alien type icons.  That's the entire reason behind the design choice here--to dissuade people from milking the design but at the same time to give them a bit of eye candy and show them what's possible.  I haven't gotten around to the inventory screen yet but rest assured I will.  Also, I'll make pressed versions of the gui buttons, a design for the dialogs (borders and such), and anything else I can think of or is requested that would contribute to an improved template.  Stop the negativity and start the creativity! ^_^





And the icons to go with it:

talk:



walk:



look:



interact/use inventory:


pickup:


mouse pointer:


wait:

[SSH]

On a related theme, I wish the empty template still have the normal names for the cursor modes, as some cursor modes HAVE to be particular numbers, plus making generic modules that do anything with the mouse mode are nearly impossible without standardized names...

[DoorKnobHandle]

Once again, I strongly support ProgZMax's idea and the argument list by Steve McCrea. I think the idea of having the old Roger in a classic-template is great as well.

Considering SSH's suggestion, I'd personally love to be able to decide how the source code looks like (in the global script and header file) for all my new projects. I just hate the way the global script file is formatted initially. Maybe create a text-file in the editor directory with the content for both script files?

[SSH]

Why don't you just make your own template, dkh?

[DoorKnobHandle]

Ehm, because I... because I'm with stupid. Yes, that's it. Thanks for giving me this great idea.

[PsychicHeart]

Pimp my Sprite was put on hiatus shortly after Season 3, and a European-style show, Pimp My Sprite UK aired the following month.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Current version.  Still missing the inventory screen and save/load/quit guis.  Iconbar buttons press when moved over.

[FSi++]

ProgZmax, you should make a game about two Rogers fighting to death.
Or maybe I should make such a game...