What do you want from the next AGS update?

[AGA]

I want people to have actually made a game using AGS before they go around suggesting new features.

[SSH]

I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration

[LimpingFish]

Full TTF font anti-aliasing.

T-That's, y'know...w-when, or in-indeed IF, y'know, s-such a...thing...would be...um...p-possible?

*cough*

[scotch]

I'd like to eventually see a new version of AGS, presumably called AGS 3, that doesn't attempt to maintain backwards compatability, so we can have things like:

Resolution independant code, no 320x200 coordinate system.

Rather than using allegro, introducing a more abstract rendering system, so we can plug in a hardware accelerated graphics one, or system specific ones, for easy ports.

TTF rendering, unicode strings... no more hacking for people trying to write in japanese or hebrew whatever.

Expansion on the script language's OO features... (useful) inheritance for structs, virtual functions, perhaps some sugar like operator overloading... possibly a tall order, but I feel like I'm really wrestling with the language if I'm trying to write anything beyond the basics, like a reusable module.Ã,  On the other hand I can understand if this didn't get put in, AGS script is for scripting AGS games... which it does pretty well at the moment.

Also in the script: structures such as dynamic arrays, and dictionaries, being able to dynamically create managed/reference counted user structs, and refer to them with pointers. Access to dialog trees.

A switch for people that script, so they jump straight to the script editor, instead of the interaction editor.


Just rattling off stuff I think would help AGS grow in the future. I think most of these suggestions would help module authors add more things to AGS, more easily.

[Pumaman]

I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration

This would also be my main request. It does use some hardware acceleration at the moment, but it might be possible to improve performance by using Direct3D for rendering in the future.

I would have to say some form of online play.

If you'd like to explain how you'd create a decent multiplayer adventure game, please go right ahead. The fact is that the genre doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer ... there's quite a long thread kicking around somewhere where we discussed this, and as I recall nobody could think of a way that would work.

[Secret Fawful]

Support for sprite sheets. Where you can edit the size of your sprite selection box.

[Steel Drummer]

I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration

If you'd like to explain how you'd create a decent multiplayer adventure game, please go right ahead. The fact is that the genre doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer ... there's quite a long thread kicking around somewhere where we discussed this, and as I recall nobody could think of a way that would work.

Ok, I will. You could have a nonlinear world where you could do whatever you want, but it had a LucasArts style GUI. You could do stuff (for example, if you had a DOTT online game you could explore all over the place and could defeat purple tentacle if you wanted to). This would be extremely difficult to script though.. probably impossible.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

This sort of thing was tried with Club Caribe to mixed success.  Was kind of annoying if you lost your head in the game though, since chances are someone took it and you could never get it back.


There's alot of stuff I'd like to see done, but ultimately a lot of the improvements would steer ags away from an adventure game creator and more towards generic support for pretty much anything. 

[m0ds]

A "guided tour" of how to use AGS with a voice-over by Cj

:p

[Radiant]

I want that annoying talking blue cup from Radiant's game (But with speech voiced by Joe pasquale) to appear onscreen everytime you make an error.

Yay for Cuppit!


Personally, I'd like support for that Wii thingii.

[Hammerite]

I'd like to see AGS run with hardware acceleration

If you'd like to explain how you'd create a decent multiplayer adventure game, please go right ahead. The fact is that the genre doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer ... there's quite a long thread kicking around somewhere where we discussed this, and as I recall nobody could think of a way that would work.

Ok, I will. You could have a nonlinear world where you could do whatever you want, but it had a LucasArts style GUI. You could do stuff (for example, if you had a DOTT online game you could explore all over the place and could defeat purple tentacle if you wanted to). This would be extremely difficult to script though.. probably impossible.

nbut that wouldnt need to be multiplayer to make it linear, although if you wanted to make an MMO in that style then yeah.

[lo_res_man]

I would like a zoom function on the sprite previewer, as well a money system in some kind of non-scripting form.

[Ponch]

A greater polygon count. Building half-life 2 mods with AGS takes forever! Also, all future updates of AGS should be distributed through Steam. Direct and simple downloading feels so last century.

And a few more room background frames.

Also support for movies in a /movie file (if at all possible).

And an "Order Pizza" button on the editor pane. I shouldn't have to get up and go make the phone call myself, not when I'm on a roll. This is an oversight that's been holding AGS back since it's earliest incarnations.

Other than these few quibbles, I can't think of anything AGS particularly needs.

Thanks for the continuing fine work, CJ!

- Ponch

[PsychicHeart]

Actually what i meant when i suggested the notion of online play is like CS, or Battlefield Online.
You go into a server, you play a "Round" of the game, with an adventure themed game.
Imagine it.
It's an online adventure game, in which you have to be the first to say, find some form of explosive.
Fun?
I'd say so.
Cheers,
Fluke.

[AlbinoPanther]

I said TOK - TOK and they deleted it  :o

so...

TOK - TOK

[edmundito]

Now what would be really cool is that it would run the games via a flash interpreter online and save all your save games to an online database... though that would be a little difficult, huh? And yet, one can only dream...

Though I second the faster graphics processing.

[Akumayo]

• Ã,  Structs within Structs
  
• Ã,  RawDraw commands using less memory, so that raw-drawing continously wouldn't render character movement so choppy.
  
• Ã,  Online support for those of us who want to make MMORPG's or online board/card games.
  
• Ã,  The word 'adventure' removed from the engine name.Ã,  That's so... limiting...
  
• Ã,  Total conversion to Object-Based scripting (it's already helping so much ^_^)
  
• Ã,  A way to add a password to the main game file, so one had to enter said password before editing the game.Ã,  Thus allowing better team efforts because one wouldn't be afraid to upload the sourcecode to share with teammates.
  
• Ã,  Two or more script windows open at once, so one can edit the header, global, and room scripts without having to close down every time they need to change.Ã,  (Possible?)
  
  -Regards, Akumayo

[AGA]

Why password the source files when you could just put them in a passworded zip or rar file?

[Akumayo]

Because I'm too retarded to figure out how to put a password on my .zip files. 

[Gilbert]

Still I'm a bit favour of bringing back the old adding passwords to rooms feature (just foolproof implementation to avoid them from being loaded again in editor, this had been discussed slightly in the tech forums), better yet if the source script part be striped off the passworded file (like those contained in the packed compiled games). The reason is, AGS supports bug fixes/updates of a game by just putting a newer version of a room file to the game's folder.