Objects or Characters?

[Bryce]

I'm not much of an AGS user, more of a programmer. And I'm making my own adventure game engine. I've fiddled around with many of the different engines out there, but I'd much rather design my own. Of course, I'm checking out other engines as a means of seeing what I'd like to do differently. AGS is definately the best engine available. So, my question is, in what circumstances would you want to use characters and in what circumstances would you want to use objects? Not obvious things like a box lying on the ground would be an object.

But lets say more complex things like... a bird flying across the screen? Or say for a maze like King's Quest 5 where you follow the guide through screen? A few more circumstances that come to mind are say characters that stay in one screen the whole time, and have no other entrance within the game besides in this one screen?

Just curious. Thanks in advance.

[Ishmael]

I think a stationery object, like the box, or any other, would be OBJECT. But all that moves, or is character you can talk to, but don't serve a task like objects, would be a CHARACTER, even if it is stationery and apperas in one room only.