Is AGS the right tool for this

[iliveinasquare]

Hi everyone,

I came across AGS while looking at this game - https://www.thecrimsondiamond.com/index.html and I have had an idea for making my own game for a while.

I'm not sure if it would be suitable for AGS but here goes:

I am a photographer by trade and I have always been interested in point and click games but my idea is more simple:

To use pixellated still imagery of a location and allow the player to navigate it as a first person view (similar to Myst) but without any animation, just able to point in whichever direction, move around the world and have some ambient sounds playing in whichever location I may be in. The player will not be interacting with any objects (yet)

I have already got the sound and images ready in a format that I want and also have the layout of the place in which the player can navigate through (forward, back, left, right). I just need some software to be able to put these assets together in a playable format.

Is this possible with AGS?

Hope this is clear!

Thanks for your time

[iliveinasquare]

Another similar game which has the same control method that I am trying to replicate, is The X Files for PC, only the parts where you see the hand cursor and can move around the environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49epkEdmVA0

Also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0tCeS0EzSM&t=47s

Thanks

[InfernalGrape]

I'm still learning AGS and don't know it fully, but I think it could fit your idea.
You can make player invisible so it becomes "first person view" and I think there are some ways to go change from one "screen" to "other".

[Kastchey]

Each of these is 100% possible with AGS, and don't know about others but "The Room Without You In It" is even an AGS game

What you aim to achieve is exactly what AGS was built for so it should hopefully be rather straightforward but if you run into any difficulties, feel free to ask for help in the Beginner's Tech Questions section.

[Snarky]

Yes, as Kastchey says, this is perfectly possible in AGS. Examples include Ouroboros: The Sacrifice, A Room Without You In It, The Marionette, The Garden of Hades and The Clockwork Labyrinth, for starters.

Also, the examples you show don't do this, but many first-person games offer the ability to look around from one point in a 360-degree panorama view by moving the mouse. That's not something AGS can do out of the box, but there is an old module for it, so it's doable with a bit of work. (You need to use 3D-rendered backgrounds with certain settings to get it to look right.) Unbound is one example, IIRC. But just having static screens that you can click between is easy.

[InfernalGrape]

I've tried that module, and had to use older version of AGS to make it work (if i'm not mistaken - need to revisit and check).
Thankfully website provides different versions.

[Crimson Wizard]

I've tried that module, and had to use older version of AGS to make it work (if i'm not mistaken - need to revisit and check).
Thankfully website provides different versions.

Latest versions of AGS (3.5.1, 3.6.0) have full backward compatibility with the old games and scripts. Usually you have to adjust compatibility options in the General Settings to make deprecated functions work.

https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/ScriptAPIOverview.html#api-switches

[morganw]

It may also be worth considering Ren'Py. Like AGS, it is not targeted directly at making a Myst-style games but what it provides will allow you to do it without too many issues.

[LimpingFish]

The Panorama and Panorama3D modules seem to run noticeably slower in newer versions of AGS (anything past v2.72, really), though it will run. I presume something changed in how AGS handles the math involved.

[Herbert123]

In this case I'd rather suggest generic game authoring tools like Gdevelop, Construct, or Godot for a game like this. It is child's play in a visual game authoring environment such as Gdevelop to implement. Additional features like an inventory and clickable elements, etc. are easily added later.

At its core a game like the one the OP has in mind is basically a set of screens that are linked with invisible buttons.

The above tools also make it easy to export directly to a web project for sharing with others.