1st person adventure games by AGS

[SilverWizard_OTF]

You know, i have considered a lot the matter of creating 1st person adventure games. This brings me in mind a marvellous magnificent adventure game, which is called "Black Dahlia". The atmosphere of see only what the hero sees, creating the illusion that you can move in a 3-d environment, is something exciting, isn't it? I would like to hear your opinions about how many are AGS's advantages to this side of game developing.
  Well, i have personally created a 1st person adventure game using AGS. It is called Soul Release, it has simple graphics, you can't turn the camera to any direction (view is "static") but it is a good first start. I will post it to the forum soon (if i can find where to upload it!). The basic idea was that player can go to one view to another by clicking a spesific icon on the screen.

[biothlebop]

I haven't played Black Dahlia, but first person view can help enhance the immersion, somehow it usually seems to slow the tempo down as well and suits horror/exploration/realistic/epic fantasy themes (in adventure games). I think comical first person adventures are a minority (can only think of one).
I am certain that good things can be achieved with it if you manage to keep up the suspense and pacing. For adventures or games in 2d, I'd still go for third person with first person views/cutscenes now and then. Probably because the only first-person adventures I liked were old Legend games.

[lo_res_man]

I personally have been planning a fan-made myst sequel for years. Basically the idea was the original Stranger learned how to Write from Atrus and you explore this age he (or she) had written. I have the game world and story mostly designed, the trouble is making puzzles that fit the perspective. I agree though, Legend games are Fun! (one thing myst doesn’t have is a sense of humour)

[xenogia]

The Illusion of Murder; the game I am currently developing is a first person adventure game.  The game plays a realistic style game as it has actors, photographic locations, etc.

When I release it I'll be interested in the reaction, if it isn't too good I'll probably go 3rd person in part 2.

[Ali]

I think Black Dahlia is an excellent and much underrated game. It's the best FMV game I've played, though it isn't up against much competition!

The problem for amateurs to face would be how to populate a First-Person world. In 3D it would require either detailed models or FMV, and both would be challenging. On the other hand, it's difficult to justify the mysterious emptiness of a lot of FP adventures.

A hand-drawn FMV game would be a novel idea though.

[lo_res_man]

I was going to either learn 3D modeling or make a REAL world model that I would take a camera around and shoot pictures.

[m0ds]

AGS is simple for making first person adventures, in fact - very very easy. But it certainly wasn't designed with those in mind. In the early days talk of Myst round here might've got you boo'd off forum Still... though it's easy to make 1st person adventures you definitely won't have some cool capabilities like (I assume) they use in Black Dahlia (I heard good things about that game, too - but never played it myself).

For example, I don't think AGS allows you to use panoramic images, if it could then that would step up the possibilities of exploring a 3D world.

The basic idea was that player can go to one view to another by clicking a spesific icon on the screen.

That's cool. Personally though I don't like directional buttons, I prefer the age old method of changing the cursor when the player moves the mouse over a "walk-to" style hotspot, an up arrow for fowards, down for back etc. That way you only have to worry about creating the hotspots, rather than working out whether one of your direction buttons needs to be disabled or enabled for each scene.

I beleive the focus really needs to be placed in the main screen with 1st person adventure games, and that GUI's are very sparse - but that isn't a "rule".

[Alun]

For example, I don't think AGS allows you to use panoramic images, if it could then that would step up the possibilities of exploring a 3D world.

Unless you mean something different by "panoramic images" than what I think it means, sure AGS allows it.  Isn't that basically the same thing in practice as a wraparound scrolling room background, like in Duke Stanley, National Hero and Heart of Abraxas and probably a number of other AGS games I'm not thinking off offhand?

[m0ds]

Ahh now you mention it that makes sense, Alun. Then I guess its perfectly possible.

[biothlebop]

Depends on the angle you see. Larger than 60 and you have to include perspective distortion.

[LimpingFish]

Modelling a 3D room for use as a 360 panoramic view is pretty precise, tho, and requires a lot more work than modelling for a static viewpoint.

I know. I've tried. And failed.

Repeatedly.

Plus...I'm lazy.

[biothlebop]

http://canopus.physik.uni-potsdam.de/~axm/mwpan_vr.html
If you want the depth feeling, the image must be distorted along it's edges. Try rotating this thing around either to the left or right and you will see that stars/focalpoints that appear closer to the middle when they are in the centre of the picture move towards the corners when they are on the edges. This is for a hollow sphere, a more complex image would have different distortions.

[lo_res_man]

One of the main problems I can think of when using AGS, is the fact that the program only allows a (for a first person game) limited number of rooms. this of course assumes you use one room for each step.

[nihilyst]

The help file talks abouta maximum of 299 rooms. But next to all those limitation, there is this sentence: "If you think any of these limits is a serious problem, contact me and I can probably increase it."

But you could do it with more than one picture in a room.

cheers
nihilyst

[Anian]

let me ask this then:
I'm trying to workout a way to make a 1st person view game with some 3d graphic I'm doing in UnrealEd (map maker for Unreal Tournament and Unreal games),
anyway if I wanted to make it so I could go back and foward (maybe with hotspots, like an arrow appearing, maybe with buttons in the interface itself), but I wanted to make it a bit more dynamic (cause I always found to have arrows for turning etc. a bit like I have a broken neck and can only look foward) - so you can move the cursor to the right and the camera (or rather the background would scroll but I'm talking about the illusion) would turn
so I had an idea to make, not an exact 3d surrounding by making a model of a room and taking screenshots then to paste them together, but to make it all, for example, against one wall and walk along that wall while taking screenshots. you see the Unreal has a problem and that is that it morphs the picture at the edges anyway so when I would make 2d pics of it in rotations the textures and objects would look bad and wouldn't match
would that be a good solution?

[LimpingFish]

I think trying to use static views for more than, say, six viewing angles (Foward, backwards, left, right, up and down) would probably prove fairly cumbersome.

Plus, if you're planning to use six different screens everytime the player takes a step, like in the old Dungeon Master game, thats a hell of a lot of screens. :/

[SilverWizard_OTF]

For Valar's sake, i was thinking something more sophisticated!

I don't know how yet, but i was thinking something like creating a room, where the screen would scroll so the player can see behind him, to the left e.t.c. In other words, a 2d picture that can give the illusion of a "static" 3D environment.
     Do you have any idea to do this? I know it sounds a bit strange, but programs that turns a picture into a panorama work with this way.

[Mordalles]

download heart of abraxas. it completely rotate 360 degrees in one room. i think that is what you are looking for. i think its a really good idea. and might employ it myself someday. 

[LimpingFish]

As far as I know making a game using a "Quicktime Panoramic Movie" technique would be a bit difficult. The following would be required:

A: A  3D scene modelled for a complete 360 viewing angle. (By far the most difficult part!)
B: A way to split these renders into a series of static 2D images.
C: Importing them into AGS and displaying them in a way that the illusion of 360 movement
     would be seamless, or close too.

Its not as simple as Front, Back, Left, Right, etc. A true 360 panoramic image curves at angles that would be almost impossible to create by hand.

As far as I know a 360 panaoramic photo of a real world location needs to be taken with a special camera, or a number of special cameras.

In a CG rendered world, such views are achieved by a special rendering process.

Unless you're using a fairly consise 3D package, I don't see any way to easily achieve what you want. :/

[lo_res_man]

I do not represent irfan view in any way, but you might wish to know,  irfan view now has the ability to make panoramic images from several still shots. Thought it might be useful