Suggestions for Hi-Resolution Adventures

[Ali]

Cobbling together this tech demo for Nelly Cootlot II has identified some points which could improve the way AGS caters to hi-res games. I would be grateful if you would let me know your thoughts on the following suggestions. I know some have been suggested and rejected before, but in the light of higher resolution games I think they are relevant.

Automatically re-importing sprites from files
In the tech demo above Nelly has around 400 frames for walking and multiple talking views. They don't take very long to render, but painstakingly replacing the sprites in the editor is extremely time consuming. Escecially since I've done it four or five times now trying out different styles (and she's going to have several outfits!) It would be a terrific boon to be able to select sprites or sprite folders and simply click re-import. Since AGS now logs the file path, perhaps this would not be such a challenge to implement?

Adjusting the walking direction based upon horizon
The walking algorythm seems to choose which direction a character is facing as if they were viewed from the top down. For games like Ben Jordan with high horizons, this looks fine. Nelly Cootalot, and the tech demo for Nelly II have very low horizons, and so the character often appears to be facing left when she should be facing up-left.

From my point of view the solution would be to have a vertical slider for each room to indicate camera angle. The top could represent a 100% (top-down) and the bottom 10% (almost side-scroller). Before the engine chooses the view to display, the angle could be scaled based upon the percentage set on the slider.

16 walking views
High-res games are far more likely to have sprites rendered using 3D or 2D animation software, rather than drawn pixel-by-pixel or by tablet. I think the argument that no one will ever draw 16 different walking views will become less and less relevant. 8 walking directions looks much clunkier with larger and more detailed characters than it does in low-res. I think some people would use 16 directions if they were available.

Um... 1024x786
Would DX9 make it a realistic possibility?
EDIT: Well I'd heard rumours... Hurrah!

I make these requests like an ungrateful child, because the marvelous addition of AGS 3.0 and DX9 has made AGS far more capable of producing beautiful hi-res visuals, but these niggling points are something of a hindrance. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

- Ali

[Privateer Puddin']

Um... 1024x786
Would DX9 make it a realistic possibility?

1024x768 has been available since AGS 3.1.0 Beta 3.

[Pumaman]

Automatically re-importing sprites from files

Yep, this has been on my to-do list for a while! I'll try to get round to it soon!

Adjusting the walking direction based upon horizon
16 walking views

These two have been requested occasionally, but there has never really been the demand for me to add them. Would anyone else use these features in their games?

Um... 1024x786

As Puddin' says, this is available in the latest betas, along with hi-res co-ordinates so that you can address screen space in "real" co-ordinates.

However, be careful when choosing 800x600 or 1024x768 -- these resolutions are square aspect ratio, and with the move towards widescreen monitors these days the game will probably look horizontally stretched if run on a widescreen PC.

I make these requests like an ungrateful child, because the marvelous addition of AGS 3.0 and DX9 has made AGS far more capable of producing beautiful hi-res visuals

Actually, this is a very interesting test case for D3D. If I go into Setup and switch it back to DX5, the game is noticably jerky and doesn't run well; whereas with D3D it's all smooth. Are you using alpha transparency or tinting extensively in this room?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Yeah, the ability to re-import a gif animation over a sequence of frames has been suggested a few times now (I think I even suggested it once long ago) and it would definitely make the editing process much easier.  AGS already has a single file replace option; it would not be too difficult to allow a person to select a sequence of frames and have that option change to 'replace all', right?

As for 16 walk views, I personally would have no use for it, but it would also mean needing 16 talk views, 16 idle views and so on.  I've wondered for a long time if it would be possible to just scrap the way AGS currently auto-uses the first 8 views and allow the designer to set which views do what through the properties pane or scripting.  That way you could add theoretical support for how ever many walking views you wanted, etc.

[Ali]

Actually, this is a very interesting test case for D3D. If I go into Setup and switch it back to DX5, the game is noticably jerky and doesn't run well; whereas with D3D it's all smooth. Are you using alpha transparency or tinting extensively in this room?

No significant tinting, but each sprite and the foreground parrallax objects all use alpha channels. (Of course the large alpha-channel vignette is automatically disabled in DX5 because it doesn't work at all). It runs at about the same speed for me using both drivers, so its interesting to be aware of the difference.

However, be careful when choosing 800x600 or 1024x768 -- these resolutions are square aspect ratio, and with the move towards widescreen monitors these days the game will probably look horizontally stretched if run on a widescreen PC.

Oh, I hadn't thought of that! To get around this problem, could newer versions of AGS allow a game played in a window to 'expand' that window to the size and shape of the desktop. Creating a black border, rather than scaling the game, to help with player immersion?

[Pumaman]

Oh, I hadn't thought of that! To get around this problem, could newer versions of AGS allow a game played in a window to 'expand' that window to the size and shape of the desktop. Creating a black border, rather than scaling the game, to help with player immersion?

Yeah, this has been discussed in another thread. I think the basic idea would be to run the game with sideways letterbox borders on widescreen monitors.

No significant tinting, but each sprite and the foreground parrallax objects all use alpha channels. (Of course the large alpha-channel vignette is automatically disabled in DX5 because it doesn't work at all). It runs at about the same speed for me using both drivers, so its interesting to be aware of the difference

Interesting that they both run fine for you. If you want to find out the difference, put  SetGameSpeed(1000) in your game_Start, turn on the FPS display using the Debug() command, and then run the game with both drivers. That'll show you which one is faster and by how much.

[De-Communizer]

16 walk-views would certainly fit my purposes very well, since the 3d character thing seems uncooperative.

[dalauder]

Adjusting the walking direction based upon horizon
16 walking views

These two have been requested occasionally, but there has never really been the demand for me to add them. Would anyone else use these features in their games?

I'm looking to make a game with graphics on par with Quest for Glory 5, but if I can't get 3d characters to work I'll want as many frames as possible. 16 walk-views would be very nice.