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Nothing too fancy to report, still chugging along working on it.

Got a trailer together though, so that's something at least.

Demo still up at https://axelord1942.itch.io/cyberpunk-97episode-1-demo

Thinking there might be one more update to the demo before I stop updating it so that the full release has something to offer anyone that's played it.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Hey!  This looks really good, I’ll check it out!  Good luck completing the 1st part, I’ll be looking forward to playing it...

Thanks!  I'm actually moving through the last of it fairly quickly so it should actually be done sooner than I thought!  I'll probably end up releasing one more fully polished build of the demo alongside a devlog outlining changes fairly soon. 

Feel free to give me any feedback!   

Brand spanking new build available for your perusal!  New UI!  New Stats!  Some of the same old bugs!

Story=95%
Graphics=85%
Puzzles=75%
Scripting=80%
Music/Sound=70%

Still some work left to do but it's all currently in progress.  I'm expecting this to be complete in 2-3 months and I'm looking forward to it!




Some older shots of the exterior of the building.  Most of Chapter 2 takes place outdoors.  Creating the city has been painstaking but enjoyable.

See you in New Jakarta!

Aw man, making a game like Dreamweb has been a fantasy of mine for so long!  I always really loved the game's look and this is definitely something I'm going to tool around with.

Thanks!

I high-key love this.  Useless inventory items are my favorite!

I also really appreciate this unfinished background art...it's a nice minimal look!

So much intrigue.  Where are his clothes?  Whose tears are in the vial? 

Even if this never gets finished I'm already thoroughly entertained! 

Man, it's been a while.    A lot has changed since I posted this.  My devlogs on itch.io are a little more current, but I'll try and sum it up as quickly as possible.  Scrolling through this original post was entertaining since:

1. I forgot I was even gonna put hunger in the game
2. The Personal Electronic Assistant proved to be a nightmare.
3. Playing as a woman is still a little buggy

Some of the major design changes are as follows:
Complete redesign of the PEA interface.  The short version is that I streamlined something that I made complicated for no good reason. The robust answer is that I had originally set the PEA interface in it's own instance, separate from the live game world.  In theory this was going to make it easier to compartmentalize changes to the interface and allow me to keep certain scripts from becoming overly cluttered.  This backfired and ended with softlocks as my design didn't allow me to use certain shortcuts that ended up being exactly what I was missing.  Furthermore, I was determined to make using the PEA feel as analog as possible, with the player having to access menus and functions within the PEA/instance itself.  This bloated and I ended up with a keypad to navigate a set of five options on five/six different menus.  This was extremely cumbersome.  Not only was it frustrating to get it all working right, this experience was not adding the flavor I thought it was.  I decided to axe the menu system altogether, and after a quick redesign I ended up with this:

Most, if not all the same functionality has been retained in this new gui.  The recipe list was also de-instanced and merged with the new gui, as well as character information and stats (which previously had been non-functional).

In addition, this also means that the systems for skill leveling/usage are in place and ready to go.

     2. Player Input, Occupation system and Rank system are finalized.  Player Input right now is limited to entering the character's name during creation but will be expanded upon to include running InfoSearches on conversation topics and hacking.  The Occupation mechanic is exactly what it sounds like; at some point you will have to get a job.  This will affect dialogue options and interactions in the second chapter (more on that later).  The Rank system will be a reflection of your actions in New Jakarta.  Spend too much time sneaking around and you'll be known as a thief.  Eventually this rank will combine with your occupation, so you may be a "Burger-Flipping Sneak", or a "Shady Repairman", or any other combination.  Currently this will only reflect the highest number/rank among a pile of hidden stats but I'm toying with the idea of it displaying a combination of the top two in addition to the occupation, with the end result being something along the lines of a "Sneaky Custodian Tech Wizard".




     3. Female content/interactions are now active.  The only exception is interactions with GOLIATH, which are on the to-do list.

     4. Restructuring of the story/chapters. This game is a mess under the hood; I'm not going to sugarcoat it.  My original plan was to have Chapter 1 end in a "open-world" setpiece which allowed the player freedom to roam around the Zone and get into the core gameplay loop.  This has proven unrealistic; what I'd need to write would wreck havoc on the code I've written so far and to be frank there's no need to put myself, and this project, through the hell of redesigning all the scripts to allow for this.  The elegant solution is to move the goalposts, obviously.  Instead the transition between chapters will also mark the transition between gameplay styles, with the first being a linear experience and the second being more of a sandbox.

    5. Randomization of certain events.  At first certain units would be accessible and others would not and that was that.  This felt too rigid, so now 90% of doors are randomized to either open or short-circuit (they are currently weighted to open more often than not), with the unit beyond the door also being picked randomly from a pool of available units.  Potential loot will be randomized as well, although key items will be found in the same locations and will be excluded from the random rolls.


That's all the major changes, which constituted the bulk of what needed to be done for this to start nearing completion.  Still a few big to-do's left, but they just need love and time.

    1. Finish GOLIATH AI's dialogue and speech.
    2. Connect the elevator and lobby (easy-peezy)
    3. Autosave system
    4. Cutscenes
    5. Character transfer system a la Quest for Glory and Mass Effect.  This one will be tricky, but the idea is to produce a string of text/numbers that will allow you to port your character into the next chapters.  This is the big one, and the one I will likely leave for last as it would be used between all the chapters.  If anyone has any tips or even alternatives to porting a character I'd love to hear it!

I was convinced this would be done by the end of 2020  . Oops?

That being said, Episode 1 is almost done and most of the framework for Episode 2 is in place so development should go much smoother.  I'll be pushing an updated build of the demo sometime this week, looking forward to the feedback!

-Axelord1942

Problem is not necessarily on this one script. When AGS compiles the game it writes all functions in order, and if in the script that comes before this one (in the compile order) you forgot to close a bracket then you will get the error on the next script when AGS tried to add this new function to the list.

So my suggestion is to try locate the script that comes before and start from the bottom up and check for a function that might not be closed. Or just do that to the latest scripts you changed, since it's more likely for the culprit to be there.

Ohhhhh....this actually makes a lot more sense.  I'll get right on it!

its*

Thank you!  English isn't my native tongue and i get those two mixed up still!

I guess? Not sure how to label this one. If I'm in the wring place please let me know. Yesterday I loaded up the editor and put in some work, tested the game and everything ran fine.

Today I open up the editor and hit F5 and it's telling me

Dialog 4(1): Error (line 1): Nested functions not supported (you may have forgotten a closing brace)

Dialog in question (nvm that line one has the default ags stuff in it and not mine)

Code: ags

 // Dialog script file
@S  // Dialog startup entry point
  Display("Hobo: 'I know what yer lookin fer!  I've seen it, yes I have.  Seen the stink coming off of them who pray to the unclean one!' ");
  Wait(20);
  Display("Hobo: 'If only I had a way to quench my terrible thirst...' ");
  
return
@1
  int ran=Random(100);
  
  if (ran <= 50)
  {
    Display("He chuckles raggedly.");
    Display("Hobo: 'It's the OIL COMPANIES!  They've been digging their dirty claws into our most sacred Mother Earth!  The very air is unclean!' ");
    Display("He rambles on as you realize your time and money have been wasted.");
    Funds -= 50;
  }
  else if (ran > 50)
  {
    Display("Hobo: 'I thank you, strangers.  Truly, these are worrisome times.  There's a junkyard I seen...I watch em shuffling in and out of there, late in the night when nothing stirs.  They are the UNCLEAN!' ");
    Display("GAINED INTEL.");
    object[3].Visible = true;
    Funds -= 50;
  }
  ListBox1.AddItem("-Hobo Encountered.");
stop
@2
  int ran=Random(100);
  
  if (ran <= 80)
  {
    Display("Hobo: 'I thank you, strangers.  Truly, these are worrisome times.  There's a junkyard I seen...I watch em shuffling in and out of there, late in the night when nothing stirs.  They are the UNCLEAN!' ");
    Funds -=100;
    object[3].Visible = true;
    Display("GAINED INTEL.");
  }
  
  else if (ran > 80)
  {
    Display("The man cackles gleefully as he runs off with your money.");
    Display("Finances won't be pleased.");
    Funds -=100;
  }
  ListBox1.AddItem("-Hobo Encountered."); 
stop
@3
  aRadiochirp.Play(eAudioPriorityLow,eOnce);
  cParty.SayBubble("Interrogation tactics authorized.");
  int ran=Random(100);
  
  if (ran <= 60)
  {
    Display("After a few moments, he cries out.");
    Display("Hobo: 'Okay! Okay!  I'll talk!  Please, spare this unworthy acolyte!  I have seen them moving in and out of a nearby junkyard.  I will tell you where it is!  Harm me no more!' ");
    object[3].Visible = true;
    Display("GAINED INTEL.");
  }
  else if (ran > 60)
  {
    Display("Despite continued aggression, the man only rambles incoherently.  Perhaps he doesn't know anything after all.");
    Agents += 1;
  }
  ListBox1.AddItem("-Hobo Encountered.");
  
stop
@4
  Display("One of your agents shoos the man off as your team continues on it's way.");
  ListBox1.AddItem("-Hobo Encountered.");
stop

Most of my dialogs have similar structure. I've gone through them and can't see what's different about this one.  Furthermore, I'd like to point out that I've made NO changes to this dialog in about a week.

Is my editor freaking out?  Or am I missing something obvious?  Using AGS 3.5.  I started this project on 3.4.1 I think? It updated fine and I've had no issues until now.

The guys face on the ID with the hand "check in" needs to be blured. It's to sharp, it jumps out of the image and looks bad.
Other then that i have nothing to say rather then good luck!

Thanks for the tip! I'll go ahead and run the layer through a filter. 

I'm curious if this will going to be commercial or not. Because if it is, the title background screen is from the game Murder by Peter Moorhead, and you will receive a C&D.


After than that, it's interesting, good luck with your project.

I have no intentions of making this commercial; I've created a bunch of assets myself but the rest are all borrowed from various sources.  Most of the textures are from Duke Nukem 3d, Doom 2 and Shadow Warrior.

Thanks for taking a look!

Inspired by pretty much every piece of cyberpunk media comes Cyberpunk '97!  Explore a new, yet familiar future where corporations run everything and everyone is miserable!







https://imgur.com/a/RacM5ol

The idea struck me while making a mod for doom 2 (can you tell?)  While that mod is dead in the water, this is alive and well!

This will be a three episode story, with the first and third stories being more narrative-driven and the second-one being more open-ended.
Episode 1 is currently around 30% complete and the demo is in a more or less playable state.  Check it out at https://axelord1942.itch.io/cyberpunk-97episode-1-demo 

You play as a survivor of one of the recent megaquakes and have relocated to a new city with no job, no money and no friends.  You will struggle overcoming (or ignoring) the trauma
that led you where you are as you use your wits to get ahead in this unforgiving world.  Will you be a law-abiding Citizen? Or will you adopt less scrupulous tactics, stealing and hacking your way
to the good life?  Will you choose to uncover the secrets of the world's third-largest corporation?  Hell, if you want to forego all that intrigue and just get a job; do it!

Current planned features that are in development but missing in current build:

-ExtraNet: The world will be full of extranet domain addresses that the player will be to look up on their Personal Electronic Assistant.
-Hunger: You gotta eat.
-Simple skill system: Rigging (low-tech engineering), Streetwise, Subterfuge and Security.
-Playing as a woman not finished yet, may crash game.


The workflow on this thing is stupid but I, for one reason or another, am quite pleased with this monstrosity...I just hope someone else finds something to like here!
Right now I would suggest not using the Personal Electronic Assistant as it is currently undergoing an overhaul.  For now just use the "R" key to bring up a recipe list once it is charged.

Send the grue in after me.

I was overlooking a loose bit of code from a now removed event where the player was awarded the item in question, consider this closed.

><*

So the item iwirebits is used in two different recipes.

When I use the item for the first recipe, it disappears like normal.

When I use it on the second recipe, (after picking the iwirebitis item up again and NOT having one already in inventory) I get the correct item in response but I also received a duplicate of the iwirebits item. (as if .LoseInventory wasn't used)

It happened twice, but just now I tried to duplicate it and it didn't happen.

I'm going to keep trying to duplicate it again.

Could it just be a random bug?  I'll keep the debug console open next time it happens and see if there's any more info I can provide.

I know this is probably simple, but hear me out.

Player can craft different items. If the player gets some iwirebits from one location, crafts an item, and then finds some more iwirebits later and crafts a different item with it later, will this cause a conflict?

I ask because I'm getting a strange bug where I'm getting a duplicate of a component after using it in a new recipe.

I looked through ~390 different forum posts with the various search terms with "item issues, item duplicating, etc. etc."

Code is as follows:

Code: ags

function ismallbat_UseInv()
{
  if (player.ActiveInventory == iwirebits)
    {
      Display ("You wrap the wire around the battery.");
      player.LoseInventory(iwirebits);
      player.LoseInventory(ismallbat);
      player.AddInventory(iwirebat);
    }
  else (player.ActiveInventory !=iwirebits)
    {
      Display ("That doesn't seem to work.");
    }
}

Am I using this wrong?  Any help would be appreciated, I'm trying to fix this so I can put my demo up.

Somehow this game remind me this old classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHBRVlH8ApY

I've never heard of the INCA games. I feel like I missed something beautiful. I'm watching the video now, this game is absolutely bonkers.  What the hell is this even.

That being said, this is kind of incredible in all the best/worst ways.  Maybe when I finally start learning another engine to build in I'll have a fancy 3d space to fly around in.

And I promise my voice acting is miles better than this. 

I really appreciate this input!  This is extremely insightful, and helps me put this stuff in the proper context!  I'll make sure to post results!

Seems very good Axelord1942!

This is my fourth project on AGS, the last three were back in 2009 or 10.  Still getting reacquainted!

Where we can find your games?

Nowhere, unfortunate;y!  Two of them were lost when my motherboard failed all those years ago and the other I got beaten to the punch.  Someone released a game almost exactly like the one I was working on and it took the wind out of my sails for a while.  This is also the first time I ever bothered to post about what I was working on!

This game is more or less a reimagining of that concept, but with more of an Elite type feel.  The original project was heavily influenced by the sci-fi/dark comedy of shows like Red Dwarf and movies like Dark Star.  The plot was about a lone engineer who woke up after an undetermined amount of time in stasis and he is the last crewmember on the ship.  As the game went on he would discover that the majority of life in the Universe has died off and he is more or less alone.  It was dark, mean and bleak and I regret ever scrapping the project.

But!  Years have passed, and I'm feeling froggy again.

Love this idea, seems an extremely ambitious project so hope development goes well!!

You and me both!  I always had two visions with adventure games:  to make an amazing Quest for Glory clone (damn you, Heroine's Quest!  What an outstanding game!) and to make a game that had the spirit of the Space Quest series but with a more fully realized game world and more freedom of choice.  Sierra games, bless their heart, never really rewarded the player for exploring (Oh, you want to see what's on the next screen before you do X?  Get sliced into a million pieces!) and I always felt it was an oversight, although I understand why they made them the way they did.

Won't stop me from trying to up the ante!

Seems interesting and I just love space! Good luck!

Also, I would like to urge you to "upgrade" the game from 16-bit to 32-bit.

It was an oversight while I was setting up the game, I hadn't even noticed until I wrote in on the post.

Never had to do this before, what kind of a pain in the arse is it going to be? Am I going to have to redraw all my sprites?  Because that sounds absolutely demoralizing.

Space and sci-fi are unbeatable when it comes to worldbuilding, you can do almost anything you want! 

This is excellent.  This template is going to help me IMMENSELY in understanding how this actually works.  The examples given in the in-program help menu leave a little to be desired

Once I get the time today I'm gonna boot up my prototype and start plugging away and see what kind of lemonade I can make.

Yeah, you pretty much nailed it though.  All I really need is the stress/sanity variable (trying to keep the game mechanics as simple as possible).

Hey, man. A couple of months ago, I was in your shoes. But the good people on this forums helped so much, that now I understand a lot of things (still a noob, but not so much anymore ). Sooo I'm confortable enough to try and help you out.
What you want is simple enough, I think. You want a stress/sanity level. Okay, your character becomes crazier and crazier when he does some things, right? 

Coincidentally, have you played Darkest Dungeon?

Hey all, just wanted to drop my pebble in the pond here.  This is my fourth project on AGS, the last three were back in 2009 or 10.  Still getting reacquainted!

Anyhow, Tales of a Spacer is a pretty simple concept.  Explore space, trade cargo and (if you feel like it) find the root of the story's plot!

The focus will be less on narrative and more on player choice, no forcing an arbitrary plot down anyone's throats.  After introducing the player to the game's systems and mechanics it will be largely be left up to the player where they go and what they do.  Now, this is more or less true for most games, so the plan is to reward that initiative.  Planned features include:

-The ability to set up a space station in orbit around a small roster of planets, upgradeable modules will allow the player to handle certain affairs from home that they would otherwise have to venture out for.  This will include services such as shops, repair bays and a few more ideas I'm toying with.

-Same as above, but on a small roster of select planets and it's an outpost instead.

-Small roster of purchasable ships/cockpits, as well as a few upgrades for each.

-Turn-based combat (if i can nail the coding down!)

-Planet exploration, away teams, organic quests on planets (Star-Trek style, ever wanted to save a green princess?)

Tech Stuff: AGS 3.4.1
            600x480/16-bit
            LW BASS interface
           


Included are some screenshots. Take a peek! Currently I'm designing some cockpits from scratch so I slapped one together using a template from Wing Commander 2 for testing in the meantime.






If anyone ever wants to play-test a build, let me know!  I'll try to post an update if anything significant happens! 

Yeah, I figured that out the hard way and switched to a button.  That project, since it really matters to me, is on hold until my scripting gets better.  Working on a less important one until i get more comfortable with it.