Topics

I am in the process of making a diary-like interface where options appear as they become known to the player. I found out that the ListBox fuction would be perfect for this if it hadn't been for one thing...
There is no way of setting the selected item to look the same as the non-selected items. This ruins the impression of a diary. 
There are plenty of ways around this that I can think of, but the ListBox function is almost ideal and would require only a small change to become more powerful.

Or maybe there is a way to change the colors and I'm retarded?

[Rules:]

Rules: Give your suggestion for solution to the puzzle given. Use the listed items and whatever free items the rules allow you.

For example: Use useless item on old man. Get bent. (No, really!)

Voting: After the week we will vote in a most democratic fashion.

What If I win?: Congratulations! Then it will be your turn to post the next weeks puzzle.
PS. Do not post a new puzzle before you have been declared the winner. This is frowned upon by the community and society in general.

Now for the puzzle of the week!
There's no place like hole!

You are in a hole!
How did this happen? You were out searching for a legendary treasure that was supposed to be in the Buta-Buta cave when you fell into this pit located a few hundred meters into the cave. This is quite a pickle. Nobody knows you are there and help is NOT on the way. Your potential home for the next decades is 10 meters deep, has smooth rock walls going vertically up. It's also rather dark since your flashlight broke in the fall. You share this cozy home with a couple of dead guys, past explorers who weren't as clever as you.
Time to get out of there!

Items at your disposal:
- Broken flashlight
- 6 meters of rope
- map of the caves
- food (of your choice)
- extra socks (a must when you're hiking
- pickaxe
- walking stick
- 6 other items of your choice. must be items brought there by the two dead explorers. so no forklifts or dumptrucks.
- if you have a macabre disposition you can even use the bones of the explorers since this has adventuregame precedence. (MI2 comes to mind. twice even. three times if you include Walt running off with LeChuck's arm in the end there. LeChuck WAS dead, he was just moving an awful lot. you didn't actually USE the arm though...)

Ready, steady, GO!

[unzipped]

It's an old discussion, but it would be good if people could share their techniques to keep AGS game sizes down in size when unzipped too.

- Any way of making backgrounds take less space?
- How to compress sounds and what codec to choose?
- Anything else you can think of.

The reason for asking is the posibility of releasing a game on CD. If the game is to run from the CD it has to be uncompressed. If the game is large enough and has lots of animations it could be a tight fit.

OK... Here's my problem:Ã, 

I'm currently making the fighting engine for FoY. I want the character to only throw one punch for each time I press down a key. Without any code to check this he will repeatedly punch as long as you hold down the key. The way I've solved this is to make so that when the key is pressed the character throws a punch, a variable is set to 1. As long as the variable is 1 he can't throw another punch. I then check to se if the key is not longer pressed and set the variable back to 0 if that is the case.
So far so good.Ã,  8)
My problem is that I want to use the numpad for the fighting controls, and when I assign the right keycodes to the punches, weird shit starts happening! When I now press a key on the numpad assigned to punch he punches repeatedly. I use the numpad with NumLock on so that I am really sending the numbers 1 to 9. They have the same keycode as the "regular" numbers along the top of the keyboard. In fact, when I press 9 on the "regular" keys it works fine and the punch is thrown once. If I press 9 on the numpad the punch is thrown repeatedly until the key is released!Ã, 
The only thing I can explain this with is that a key pressed on the numpad is sent as a pulse instead of a constant signal. I remember from the old DOS days that some keys have double keycodes. This could explain why the program acts the way it does, since pressing the key would make the keyboard send two alternating 8-bit values.Ã,  If this is the case, could somebody help me find out what that second keycode is. If not, any other good ideas?Ã, 
And before any of you point out the obvious, yes I'll move the controls over to the keyboard for now.Ã,  :

[*UPDATE*]

Anyone of you I've ever talked to at some length have propably been confronted with my lack of enthusiasm when it comes to drawing characters. I have now decided to try and remedy this to some extent. After all I want to make a game, and all you people seem too busy/lazy to draw the characters for me.
I made the following character today, copying a style I've sketched out on paper for some time now. Just thought I'd "throw it to the wolves" before I get too fond of it. As the expression goes: Kill your babies.
So that's what I want you to do now. Kill my baby.

*UPDATE*
Fixed the legs. Some on the upper body, and the neck. Fire away all over again.



Paintovers are welcome.
(I know the legs are akward, updates will follow.)
(They actually already have.)

[Arrival and/or departure]

Arrival and/or departure

The character is about to embark on a great adventure. Or maybe he's coming home only to discover that things are not how they should be? Set the stage for an arrival or a departure. It could be an airport, a train station, a bus station or maybe a harbour. It might even be something completely different.

Restrictions:
Let's go for my favourite resolution: 320x240x32bit

Good luck!


EDIT: Added a couple of days to the deadline due to the forum being down.

So... This is just for fun. I'm trying to up my character drawing skills, and this guy came along. No holds barred. Edit, flame and yell all you want.

I used to do a bit of 3D back in the day. When I did I used the old Autodesk 3D Studio for DOS. I guess this would count as abandonware theese days, so I wondered if anybody still has this old gem. I miss it a lot. I can't stand the new version. It makes me want to jump off a roof!

So, please, please, pretty please! Anyone?

Please help me get to the bottom of this phenomenon.
I've noticed an alarming number of people here going for the "beard and long hair" look. Me being one of them.
Just wondered if we could run a quick "hands-up" on who has beard and long hair.
Just to clarify; any facial hair except sideburns will count as beard and hair has to cover your neck. Is this a common trait in adventuregamers?

I'm not sure if I should post it here. It's not a game yet, and might never be. Read on, an I'll try to explain.

I have an idea for a game. It might become something, and it might not. I really need the help of a writer to find out. I'm not the worlds best writer myself, but I can have my bright moments. During one of theese moments I thought of an idea that I feel would be a really good foundation for an adventuregame.
It's epic and might easily get too big. Just thought it would be fun to kick some ideas around with a writer.
I hope my behaviour on the forums have been of such a character that this request will be taken seriously.

To any potential writers out there:
The setting is on a spaceship in the future, but you don't have to be interested in sci-fi. Might even be an advantage if you're not. The game revolves around humans and the human psyche (not in a 2001 way, tho...). Without giving away too much of the plot, the story is about a large spaceship travelling through space for centuries and what that does to the people on board it.
The people going on the spaceship at least know what it's like outside one. But what about their great-great-great-grandchildren? What happens when they land? The objective of several generations. What happens when generations of expectations are crushed?

Hope I don't sound too much like a pompous ass...

OK. It's like this:

I recently got my hands on an old "laptop". It's a Compaq LTE 4/75, 486 with 32MB RAM.
Sure, it's old and slow, but it runs Word and classic adventuregames just fine. The thing is that I would like to have USB-ports on it. It has two PCMCIA ports and the manual says they support Type I, II and III cards. All the USB-PCMCIA cards I find for sale are Cardbus (32-bit) and I have serious doubts that the PC will support them.
My question is: Do you know if this laptop will support Cardbus, or do you know where I could get my hands on a 16-bit USB-PCMCIA card (if there is such a thing)?

This is not really the place for it, but I thought it was such a good idea that I had to write it down. If one were to take this idea one step further one could make a "Last episode"-styled resumé when you load the game. Giving the player a quick reminder of important plot points, what they have achieved, and what is left to achieve.

Example:
Let's say we put this system on Indy: FoA, and you open a savegame from when you are outside the theatre in New York it would go something like this:

LAST EPISODE
(screenshot from the basement of barnett college) Indy came across a strange artifact in Barnett College's basement.
(cut to Kerner pointing a gun at Indy) His employer turned out to be a nazi by the name Klaus Kerner, who escapes with the artifact after claiming it is Atlantean.
This sends Indy out on a quest...etc

You propably see where I'm going with this?
I think it would just be a question of setting some global variables and making a large cutscene, summing up the entire game, with a litte "if" condition on showing each screen? Make the running of this cutscene a function and run it after each load? Do any more experienced programmers see any probplem with this?

Do I make any sense?

New stuff is added at the far end of the thread. Now and for ever.

The time has come once again when I call upon the community, pleading for your assistance. Please take a look:
Version 1
Version 2
Just for kicks
I need opinions on which style of lighting is better. I would like the image to have a somewhat creepy atmosphere. Any tips on how to make it creepier is also welcome. I am aware that the source of the light is nonexistent at the time. I will add it and post a new version if needed, but I think you are able to see where it's supposed to be? (on the pillar)
so please; tear it to shreds!

EDIT: New version!
Version 3

So... I seem to be posting relatively often in CL theese days. This time it's about a new style I'm (trying) to draw in. It's not exactly new either, just my version of it. Well a picture says more than a thousand words. (Could someone REALLY anal check out how many times that has been said in this forum, please?) Let's kick it!

Hey there people.

I have been trying to draw rock walls, and I would like your help to decide if I'm on to something. Let's all just watch the picture first:
2X

Excuse the darkness, but that's sort of the point.
I wondered if you could give me some feedback on this one. Especially on the rock. If anyone have any tips and pointers about drawing rock, I would be very pleased!

[Original size:2X:]

Made my first walkcycle. Not completely done yet, (some jumping pixels and arms aren't moving yet) but I don't think it looks too bad. Tell me what to do now, because I'm too tired to think...  

Original size:


2X:

[The Cell]

23:00, I restate my assumptions:

1. The Cell is a horror/thriller adventure
2. It will take longer to make than originaly assumed.
3. This is because it's going to be longer and better.
Therefore: It's going to be worth the wait!

All counters reset to zero:

GFX: 0%
Music: 0%
Story: 0%
Scripting: 0%

Changes since last time:
- The story will be somewhat different. Updates will follow shortly.
- New GUI that uses a combination of LEC and Sierra controls.
- I'm getting better at drawing!

SCREENSHOTS


Screenshot from the intro.


The first of what will be many rooms filled with puzzeling puzzles.


This may or may not be the main character. I still have to decide wether to redesign this guy or make a completely new dude. He may not be representative at all.

more to follow shortly...

So... I'm working on this game, see.  
This is part of the home of our hero, the secret agent. Not finished yet, but it would be nice to get some feedback before I get totally lost.


EDIT: Added some more details. No major empty spots left. (That's the Queen on the wall )


As I said it's not quite finished and it'll propably never be. I was sloppy when I started so the perspective is a bit off here and there. Just curious what you think of the style.

EDIT 2: Added char. See bottom post.

Howdy, people!

Playing around a bit in Photoshop trying to find a style. This is the most recent result. Hope you can help me with making it better. Body is to follow, (and I'm not looking forward to learning to animate ), but we'll take that later. I concider the face the most important for now. So without further delay...

Original size


4X



UPDATE!!!!

Mage: Tried to remove the outlines. I agree that they were "disturbing" This is a quick edit, not done yet, but...

Org.


4X


He has tight lips and a weak chin. I'll have to fix it... or just make him a villain.

Just thought I would throw this in here and hear what y'all think. This is the GUI for one (of the many) testgames I've been mucking around with. It's based on a (dutch?) comic about Inspector Clifton of the MI5. Anyone familiar with it?



The top bar obviously slides up and down, while the inventory is always on-screen. Right-hand inventory arrow is idle, left-hand arrow is "clicked".
(background is from InstaGames so nevermind).