Messages

Hello, I'm trying to figure out a problem I'm having with indexed attributes which is a feature I haven't used much in the past.

Here's a summary: I'm working on a pattern to get an indexed value of a managed struct pointer from another managed struct (source link below), which is more or less like this:

Code: ags

managed struct Child {
  int Index;

  import readonly attribute String Name;
  import String get_Name();
}

managed struct Parent {
  import readonly attribute Child* children[];
  import Child* geti_Children(int index);
}


String _names[];
Child* _children[];

String Child::get_Name() {
  return _names[this.Index];
}

Child* Parent::geti_Children(int index) {
  return _children[i];
}


void game_start() {
  _names = new String[8];
  _children = new Child[8];
}

But if I write `parent.Children[0]` in the script and build the game (3.6.2), I get an error:

Code: ags

Error (line unknown): in script 'LayeredCharacter.asc' around line 147: cannot resolve import (bytecode pos 1967, key -1).

The line in question is here:
https://github.com/clickpulp/ags-modules/blob/7c4f28793e072c86c672a1e3b85129e67b6541d6/game/LayeredCharacter.asc#L147

Is there something I'm missing, or is there something not supported in AGS 3.x, or is this a bug?

@Crimson Wizard, it's undoubtedly a very successful Open Source gaming project, and I wanted to know how they achieved this. I don't expect AGS to match for many of the reasons you mentioned, but at the same time, give yourself credit for keeping the releases going and managing improvements. There are also several significant projects being made in AGS even today, despite the current limitations.

I posted this before I completed watching the whole thing, and there are a couple of takeaways I got

First, who is maintaining the project, and we have a similar structure:
- Core maintainers (you, Drake, Erico, etc.)
- Volunteers (I'd consider myself in this)
- Companies? (Not so much, although Wadjet Eye coordinated the effort for Mac/iOS in the past, and I'm now willing to include myself in this.)

What does the AGS core group need to work on the most at this time? Time and/or funding?

For funding, I am confident I can gather several individuals or companies to make significant monthly or yearly donations to the project, including myself—maybe not Godot money (37k euros per month?!) but at least something to get started.

However, I'm unsure about the core maintainer situation, specifically whether one or multiple devs can use the money to dedicate time to it every week without having to make ends meet.

I'm watching a video about how Godot operates as an open-source project:

Sharing to see what we can learn from them for AGS development. They've been running a highly successful open-source project, which continually improves. What can we borrow from them? What doesn't work for us and why? Etc.

I may have found a compatibility issue that is not well documented in the migration steps:

If I call `lstSaveGames.FillSaveGameList();` for an older game where I save to slot 0, I now have to call `lstSaveGames.FillSaveGameList(0);`. The previous versions of AGS started with save slot 0, now it begins with save slot 1. The migration doc wasn't very clear about this.

Found an issue when helping a friend import a game created with 3.6.0 in regards to the fonts that can be improved:

1. When the fonts were imported, only one appeared on the font file list; the rest had to be removed and reimported

2. Moving fonts into the Fonts\ folder causes all kinds of problems. It would be nice if the editor detected them and asked to see if you wanted to import them. This should be true for anything automatically added to the game that AGS recognized as valid format

I have a couple of questions:
Is there a version of the docs with the updated scripting API?

Do I need to put the .crm files in source control or are they re-built by the editor?

[It does not provide auto-complete of AGS globals (rooms, characters, etc).]

This extension for Visual Studio Code (https://code.visualstudio.com) allows you to edit AGS scripts directly from there with syntax, taking advantage of editing features that may be lacking in the AGS editor.

It does not provide auto-complete of AGS globals (rooms, characters, etc). The extension is unaware of the AGS scripting API or what is in your game. It may autocomplete with existing items it can find in the project, but it will not be as robust as what the Editor provides.

Download, release notes, and install instructions here:
https://github.com/clickpulp/vscode-ags-script/releases/tag/v1.0.0-alpha.0

THIS IS AN ALPHA VERSION, HELP ME TEST AND REPORT BUGS 
I'm looking for people to test it out and report any bugs or give feedback in this thread or the Github issues for the project: https://github.com/clickpulp/vscode-ags-script/issues

Hello! I'm working with a few AGS developers to get their games onto new, exciting gaming platforms, and I am looking for an experienced programmer to help me during the testing phase for about 5 hours per week to fix the incoming number of bugs. I have several games on the list, so there will be work for the foreseeable future.

You can read the formal job details and apply here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RS6-mQLbxO2Fsazai6WRreakVQuzpVrdg1ZMM23XuAM/edit?usp=sharing

Also happy to answer any questions in this thread!

[Modules, Plugins, Tools, Templates, etc. authors: I NEED YOUR HELP!]

I've started a list of free/libre projects for AGS using the awesome guidelines. Many other projects use this, and it increases visibility for developers looking for add-ons and the goal is to provide visibility for public AGS projects.

https://github.com/agscommunity/awesome-ags

Modules, Plugins, Tools, Templates, etc. authors: I NEED YOUR HELP! If you want to share your projects on the list, please create a pull request, and I'd be happy to merge it in.

I was reading through the changelist, and I'm very impressed with all the changes in this version, despite the focus on 4.0. I want to thank all the contributors who made this possible. Great job, y'all!

I created an event in the AGS Community Discord to join the General voice channel and watch/talk during the awards ceremony. For anyone interested, you can click "I'm interested" in the calendar event here:

https://discord.gg/fqzPJEeN?event=1350462034738942062

Hello! As some of you know, I've been improving the AGS Community Discord server over the past couple of years. I'd love to integrate the forums more and encourage Discord users to participate here!

One of the things I experimented with was posting some new topics into Discord so that people there are in the know and can easily participate. I was going to use a bot to read the RSS feed. But what I need from both the forum and the games database is the ability to read only new posts instead of updates. That way, the posts for some boards (or new games released) can be automatically posted in some of the Discord channels.

Would it be possible to introduce this?

I don't have much experience designing good puzzles, but as I was working on a small game recently, I researched how to approach it. Essentially, I think of two types of mysteries: Riddles and Puzzles.

- A riddle is something mysterious where the player does not know the solution at first, but works towards it.
- Puzzles are situations where the player knows the solution (e.g., open the door, jigsaw puzzle) and works towards finding a solution.

To offer a good puzzle, the player needs to understand the goal first, and then work their way towards it. Often, I notice that the design ends up being a riddle with the player not exactly sure what they are solving, which can make it difficult. You have to be deliberate on what it is, and the player needs to know if they're solving a riddle or a puzzle.

Here's some notes that I wrote based on The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (Schell, 2008) chapter on puzzles (chapter 12):

- Make the goal easily understood: Right away the player needs to understand the end-result by looking at it
- Make it easy to get started: Player should be able to start moving pieces right away
- Give a sense of progress: Reveal changes slowly, instead of one big answer at the end. That would be a riddle instead of a puzzle.
- Give a sense of solvability: Make sure that it feels like it can be solved.
- Increase difficulty gradually: Make first solution an easy steps, then add more steps as it gets more complex.
- Parallelism lets the player rest: Give parallel challenges to take breaks in between, like crosswords
- Pyramid structure extends interest: A series of small puzzles that give a clue to a larger puzzle
- Hints extend interest: Well timed hints. What Ben (Chandler) told me once: give some kind of clue when the player gets stuck
- Give the answer! Give out the solution in some way. Show the final product.
- Perceptual shifts are a double-edged sword: "either you get it or don't is hard" - example. monkey wrench - changing perception to make it work.

Congratulations on the release. It's a mini mental achievement and it's great to see it live!

Couple of things I wanted to point out lol:

- the showcase says hundreds of games but we have thousands
- it's a bit difficult navigating to the community areas. I'd like to have a shortcut to the forums, discord, etc through the nav bar

Hey game authors, sorry if this sounds ranty:

Over the past year, I have noticed that in-game credits for AGS continue to be credited solely to Chris Jones. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to CJ, who worked on the project for approximately fifteen years. But since 2011 (fourteen years ago!), several authors have maintained and improved the code, with most of the contributions by @Crimson Wizard, @eri0o, @JJS, @sonneveld, and @morganw. We have the most robust engine today thanks to much of their work.

In any case, the full credits are available in the manual:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/Credits.html

I would recommend crediting in a couple of ways:

The short and brief way by using the copyright notice:

Created with Adventure Game Studio (AGS)
Copyright (c) 1999-2011 Chris Jones and 2011-2025 various contributors

Remember when Photoshop used to credit everyone on the splash screen? Go to the credits page in the AGS manual, copy everyone's name, and put them in the credits. Example:

Created with
Adventure Game Studio (AGS)
Alan Van Drake, Benjamin Penney, Benoit Pierre, Bernhard Rosenkraenzer,
Cameron Cawley, Chris Jones, Cristian Morales Vega, Dominik Mierzejewski
Donovan Watteau, Edmundo Ruiz Ghanem, Edward Rudd, Erico Vieira Porto,
Ferdinand Thiessen, Francesco Ariis, Gilad Shaham, HomeLight Games,
Ivan Mogilko, James Duong, Janet Gilbert, Jochen Schleu, Joe Lee,
John Steele Scott, Martin Sedlak, Matthew Gambrell, mausimus,
Michael Rittenhouse, Morgan Willcock, Nick Sonneveld, Ori Avtalion,
Pablo Navarro, Paul Wilkinson, Per Olav Flaten, Peter Bouillon,
Piotr Wieczorek, rofl0r, Ryan O'Connor, Scott Baker, Shane Stevens,
Shawn R. Walker, Stefano Collavini, Steve McCrea, Steven Poulton,
Sunit Das, Thierry Crozat, Tobias Hansen, Tom Vandepoele,
Tzach Shabtay, and Walter Agazzi

Up to you!

Finally, give special thanks to those in the community who helped with your game's development.

I think Tween module can make parallax in zoom in/out too. @edmundito

Not exactly. Changing the camera/pos size does not look well at the moment. The problem is documented here:

https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/issues/2612


I'd love to see parallax support configurable in the room settings, but in the meantime, isn't there a parallax module out there?

I'm going to be biased and recommend some locations near me in the US in hopes that I can attend:

1. If you're interested in the country and want to see Amish/Mennonite riders in buggies and historic ride trains, go somewhere near Lancaster, Pennsylvania! However, several of us also live near the PA/NY area.
2. Washington, DC: "So this is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause." - But to be serious, there are museums, monuments, and all kinds of exciting things to see.
3. I'm going to Disney World/Cape Canaveral! - Somewhere near Orlando, FL
4. Colorado in the summer - Great for outdoor activities like hiking, mountain biking, etc., and it's sort of in the middle of the country, so it's equidistant from anyone coming from either side. Someone suggested this on @Grundislav's stream, and I thought it was a great idea.

@heltenjon Thanks for playing!

Indeed, life happened, and I didn't get the game to the level of polish that I wanted it to be, but I'm hoping to make some fixes when the jam voting ends.

This project hasn't been updated in some time, but it's one of those essential projects for the community. I made a fork of the source code here, part of a new project to enable the community to openly contribute to stale modules/plugins/etc: https://github.com/agscommunity/agsteam

If you've been working on improving the plugin with more recent changes, feel free to contribute to the fork.

I'm excited to see this come through!

Here's my feedback so far:

- I find the progress bar on the carousel gallery a bit distracting. I'd either go without it or make it more subtle (like a little circle in a corner with a more muted color)
- The login panel could be wider
- Not keen on that "Create / Play / Join" section in the main page. I would get rid of it and make the section "Create your Own Games" should be first
- The navigation should have more focus on using the editor (manual, etc.) - I really like the format for Docusaurus (https://docusaurus.io) or vite (https://vitejs.dev)
- Join on the navigation should be "Community", that's the most common thing I see in other sites
- Discord is missing from the Join page
- The History section could use some updating

Bugs:
- Is the "latest from our forums" correct? The posts are from 9 months ago
- The cookie notice looks very small from a mobile device (too much left and right margin)
- The links in "top creators and contributors" has an extra space inside the hyperlink tag
- When switching to dark mode the logo shifts (maybe because the font outline goes away?)