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It would be more like a rough sketch of a demo than a game...too many personal things I'm juggling. A simple one room interaction "demo" might be within my grasp, if I concede much. We'll see.

I got past Bob and Bub, but for some reason my character can't move up north. In fact, just as I turn right on the path Jimmy gets "stuck". Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Also, there's a house in Medora village with a board blocking entry to a closet. Is that or anything else needed in that room? The first house is unfriendly...am I supposed to do anything to get in?

There are a couple of bugs I've encountered:

1. After escaping the prison, you can cross the chasm without getting the board. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did occur to me on one gameplay (but not on another).

2. If you exit the Spencer tomb without getting the ring you can't get back in because Jimmy discarded the ring prior to entry. Either the door needs to remain unlocked or Jimmy shouldn't discard the key. My preference is to have Jimmy respect the dead and lock the door up behind him, but he is a troublemaker after all 

This sounds right up my alley concept wise, but it's going to take me too much time to get up to speed on the basics to get this done by end of month. To this end, although I will not be able to complete a game by eom I will set goals to read materials and understand the basics (characters, global scripts, room scripts, dialog scripts) so I can participate in a future endeavor.

I see the tremendous effort AGS has undergone in recent years and the folks here are super great in helping others in their development efforts. With a few posts I've read that AGS is going open source...can anyone elluminate me on where AGS is going and what risks are there in me continuing to use this platform for game development? I'm not pursuing this as a financial endeavor but generally concerned about the platform being abandoned.

Thanks in advance.

This couldn't have come at a better time for a newcomer to AGS. I'll definitely take a look and provide feedback...befor e I get started though I want to give the AGS supplied doc a complete read through first so I capture that absolute basics and to familiarize myself with the api.

Great thanks for the tip. It seems the GLOBAL script is where a lot of the magic happens...I hope this doesn't result in some epilepsy  :o

Thanks for the info and clarification on option B (I actually made an A in statistics LOL). One last question and I'll get busy...where do I put the code for the transparency within the animation cycles? The script for the character? And I suspect there is a property that tells me where in the animation cycle we are at?

Now that I'm thinking about it...we don't want to use the animation sequence...we want to use TIME since we want this effect to be constantly changing REGARDLESS of what is animating on the character itself.

Thanks for the quick feedback--very much appreciated. Since I'm still on training wheels, let's go with door A or B. Once I've chewed on those for a while...I may be back for particle effects etc help  

For clarification...for option A...are you refering to the transparency/opaqness properties I saw in the AGS manual?

For option B...could you clarify where I should  be reading about the sine function? I see math functions related to sin/cosine/tangents etc, but I suspect this isn't what you are referring to.

Any information you can refer me in regards to the alpha cycle in the animations in the AGS manual is appreciated. Is this the DynamicSpite functions and properties you are referring to? I've also downloaded a few modules/plugins and will be experimenting with a few as my journey into AGS continues; I will take a look at AGSBlend thanks.  Time to brew a cup and just read the entire AGS doc top to bottom.  :o

I'll post some results in the Critiques Lounge when I have a protptype together...this will be my first character performance.

Hi guys, I've just discovered AGS (dollar late and short it appears) and I'd consider myself very comfortable with programming but lacking on the graphical side.

My problem is I'd like to solicit feedback on best practice/approaches on how I can go about simulating the effect of a glowing character (angel, ghost etc).

Several characteristics I can conjure up:

1. certain pixels in the character will be transparent. Obviously, the magenta pixel can be used for this purpose.
2. pixels around the character should change to a brighter tint and retain the content of the background.
3. Is there a way to have certain elements of a character opaque? I see a transparency property..not sure if I'm on the right path here.
4. An effect where a character have multiple versions of a pixel to alternate between non transparent to transparent (opaque/glowing attributes)...perhaps switching out the character with a timer? I see a transparency function for a character but I am not sure if I should do this programatically or make it part of the character animation. If it is in the character animation, I'm not sure how I can apply the glowing/tint to surrounding pixels OUTSIDE of the immediate character's area.

I apologize as I'm sure there may be APIs I should know to do this but I'm also soliciting approaches on how BEST to accomplish this to save time. Being that I'm posting in the Beginner's section should soften the blow.  

Thanks!

I'm a little curious here...so you used the 3d software to generate the models, exported in formats that could then be used in AGS?

Seeing the dated posting here I was afraid that development was not continuing with AGS...in reviewing the features it looks VERY capable. It's a shame I didn't fall onto this tool years ago.

Is the Interact With icon a hand and a naked boob? LOL...

I'm still playing the first one, being that I'm new to the AGS scene and all. Personally, the smart-assnes was your attempt at creating a unique playing atmosphere...yes it grates on the player's nerves sometimes but I get the gist of what you were trying to do. I'd suggest you still try and do that while not being so condoscending or offensive to your player. Leisure Suit Larry is an example of walking that line. Personally, I think the AGS guys were a tad harsh on the game.

Yeah, you definitely have something with shrooms. Maybe eating them will provide an alternate reality for Jimmy that provides additional puzzles he has to solve...hmmm...

For a first game I thought it was VERY GOOD. Graphics are crisp...my major issue was the mobility of the character was difficult at times....and there was sometimes NO CLUE that you had to do something (the gnome puzzle, although very cool, was obscure.)

Looking forward to playing and providing feedback here!

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It has everything you can think of and more.

Better read the agreement...

http://freeplaymusic.com/licensing/termsofuse.php

Thanks for responding. My only feedback is that if I'm selecting a menu to read the correct day...then I should've gotten the code from that day. I didn't know that using a special key on that day was required, which was my complaint...since I "got" the puzzle but couldn't extract the code directly. It appears I didn't use the interface correctly to go to the date in question...in which case I stand corrected...Thanks for the feedback.

Another suggestion is to not allow the character to retrieve inventory items that aren't used. I'm sure you had a use for them at some point...but coming from old school Sierra games I know that almost all inventory items have a use in the game. I'm not including items that based on the puzzles which have multiple solutions. Example: Curtain, tin cup, etc. have no uses as far as I know.

Great effort...this is inspiring me to get cracking on a game.

You can't open the fridge:

Spoiler

You can't open the fridge until you stomp all the bugs. Get to stompin!

[close]

Can't open electric door.

Spoiler

The electric door needs power, and you need an item to supply power first...this is jacob's ladder found in the bedroom.

[close]

I have a list that eludes to blueprints, but I don't have anything that resembles blueprints in my inventory. I'm as dumb as a brick apparently...the list doesn't work on the death ray, control panel, etc. Help!

Great, thanks!

Finished the game now!

Cheers

SHADOW

So where's the vac tube--I can't find it.? Also, did you find the hidden game (I did-read hint above).

I still don't get how to find the pass code. I read the planner a dozen times. I must be  missing something. Any hints?

Spoiler

You need to read the diary from the day you read in the planner that the password was changed.

[close]

If you are still stuck:

Spoiler

The planner tells you which day the password was changed. Now go read the diary, and "right click" on that day. You'll read the code and "memorize" it for the door. This one got me too. The right clicking on the day was NOT intuitive.

[close]

awesome thanks for the quick response--that also indirectly answers a piece of my 2nd question