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Right. It's been a while but I decided to try my hand at AGS again. Anyway, I opened up my old project and the first real puzzle involves getting a lift working using some tools.

So anyway, I've don't inventory interactions before but I can't figure out why this isn't working. It parses the game fine but when I use the tools on the lift nothing happens.

Code: ags

function oObject0_UseInv ()
{
  if (player.ActiveInventory == (iTools)) {
    cEgo.Walk(225, 138, eBlock);
    player.Say("&42 Just gotta rejigger the thingymabob!");
    object[0].SetView(36);
  }
  else
  {
    player.Say("Nope");
  }
}

Ok. So I'm late to the party on this game. It's all been great so far but I'm at the bit where it's night and I assume I have to take the neighbours dog to see the ghost in the park.

I've admittedly given in after clicking around for some time and consulted a walkthrough, which mentions using the pills with the dog biscuit. However, I don't have a dog biscuit and I can't find one anywhere. The Indian lady doesn't have any dialogue options apart from "Ask to Leave".

Am I missing something here?

Not as much clutter as I usually put on my backgrounds, but it's

A- been a while
B- Going to have a bigass character behind the desk.

Thinking of still adding some wall dressings that will be funny, but not too out of place for Hell.

Any ideas?

I'm trying to make a simple puzzle where you have to give a character a book to progress the game.

The script attached to the use inventory on character looks a wee bit like this

if (player.activeinventory = iBook);
  (the rest is the action)

But when I test this, I get a vague "parse error near "player".

There isn't any real documentation on using the use_inv function or the Active Inventory value. So I'm stumped.

So after a friend told me to bite the bullet and actually try coding in AGS, as opposed to hoping someone would offer to do it. I fired up a newly downloaded copy, grabbed all my game graphics and spent today getting to work on learning coding.

6 hours later and I have a room, a custom-ish GUI and 48 lines of code covering all the basic look at and an inventory item.

I have an entirely new found respect for code monkeys.

Anyway, onto my questions:

-Is there any way to change the colour and font of the standard text box that appears when display("text") is called? It's defaulted White and black.
-Is there any way to change the quit game GUI? I can't seem to locate it, the grey jars with just about everything.
-Is there an easier way to do conditional branches without having to type out:

Code: ags

function hbookshelf_Interact()
{
  if (player.HasInventory(iDIY)) {
    cEgo.Say("I don't think I'll need the rest");
    cEgo.Say("Though I am curious as to how they filled four-hundred pages");
    cEgo.Say("with 'The Art of Bed-Making'");
  }
  else {
    cEgo.Walk(125, 144, eBlock);
    cEgo.FaceLocation(125, 150, eBlock);
    cEgo.Say("You never know when a book on DIY is going to come in handy");
    cEgo.AddInventory(iDIY);
  }
}

Lastly, how do I create an @OVERHOTSPOT@ style line for the action the player is hovering over on the GUI? Preferably hovering next to the cursor in a box.

Thanks in advance.

So I decided to kick my ass in gear and start working on The Darksiders seriously again. I made this character completed in one morning. She has got Standind, idle (she looks down at her notes), blinking and talking views completed. No walking as she's static.

Anyway, I just wanted your feedback, it's done in a superflat style like all my characters are. It's uber low res, so I've x2ed it, though on my browser that makes it blurry.









She goes behind the desk at the back there.

[The Darksiders - Part I - The Curious Case of Mark Idalo]

After a four year hiatus from really doing anything, I decided to restart one of my long dead games, The Darksiders. Before I begin I shall explain that the new thread is mostly down to the fact that after talking extensively with various people (RickJ and my Brother in particular) the game is pretty much completely different than it was 4 years ago. The story is similar, but ultimately less farce and more wit.

Anyway, without further ado, I (and hopefully when I get my graphics all done, my team) shall present to you:

The Darksiders - Part I - The Curious Case of Mark Idalo

Story

Detective Inspector Mark Idalo is brilliant, well, that is to say he WAS brilliant. For Idalo, life has taken a bit of a plummet. World War II is kicking up a storm, all the good London bars are closed, rationing means he can't get a decent Full English breakfast anymore and to top it all off, through a series of unlucky co-incidences, he's found himself deceased.

Undettered by this he sets out on his spectral way in an attempt to solve his murder, and uncovers something that could send both the afterlife, and the living world, to hell.

Figuratively speaking of course.

EARLY Screenshots
These screens represent what the graphics of the game will be like, only one of them is really "ingame", the rest are backgrounds, use your imagination to impose Idalo and a cursor on them for now 


I tried to capture the bleak feeling of run down London



Noir films and Jazz are one of my key inspirations



Life is a stage, or rather it was...



Inconspicuous murders await!

Gameplay info
As my attention is currently focused on graphics production, this is all subject to change later on due to mood swings and the ebbing of the tides.

-Medium length game
-Verb coin GUI
-A system that measures your reputation with certain people, making them more likely to give you clues or hints on what to do, non essential, more of a fun help system.
-320x200 resolution, though may up it for a constant inventory on screen (think R-09 style)
-Explore the Underworld! (screens of that coming later)
-Meet a diverse cast of spooks and mobsters
-I'm going to locate a jazz musician if it kills me, and have some awesome music to boot.

Progress
Ah my least favourite part of the pitch:

Story: 80% - Working out certain characters and dialogue, other than that I've got the story down

Graphics: 35% - Done a good number of backgrounds, about 7 in all, only 2 characters done and fully animated so far though. Hoping to get all of it done by mid July, I can (if I put effort into it) do a background in a day, characters take longer. If I put that much effort into it I could have it all done by the mid June. But I can't because of other commitments at the moment.

Scripting: 0% - Seeing as I'm not counting my mock up as scripting, it's not going to get started until most of the graphics are done.

Sound/Music: 0% - Again, going to wait until the end to get this bit done, the musician I find will have a better idea about what's needed.

ETA- 2009 - Slipped due to work and uni


Feb 29th - March 7th: I will be working on at least 2 new backgrounds, one of which will be an Afterlife scene. I'll also work on my Grim Reaper character and get an animation done for you lovely folks. Until that time, adieu.

So this is my latest background.




The slight reflections were a pain in the arse to do.

For some strange reason it reminds me of Trilby's Notes, the resemblance is unintentional. (Yahtzee has power now he's doing those video reviews, thus I fear him)

This will be used (if I go with the current script) for the intro of my latest project. It's a 1940's theatre stage. Done in my usual shadowy style.




And the "Godfather II" version:




I'm aware the shadows aren't technically correct at all but meh.

If anyone wants to do a paintover I can upload the Graphics Gale file to make it easier.

Forgive me for the n00b question but here's the scenario:

There's a broken lift in my game, the character has to fix it. First he obtains some tools from a mechanic who's too lazy to do it himself, then he has to find a manual on how to fix it.

So if the player uses the tools on the lift without the manual he says "I don't know what I'm doing!" and when he has the manual he fixes the lift.

So I set up my interaction like this:

Use Inventory on Object
  - Conditional - If inventory item was used (1)               <--- Tools
    Game - Display a message (4)                               <--- "I dunno what I'm doing"
    - Conditional - If the player has an inventory item (2)    <--- If player has manual
      Game - Display a message (5)                              /
      Game - Display a message (6)                             <--- "fixing", blah blah
      Game - Display a message (7)                              \
      Object - Remove an object from the room (0)              /___ Changing the broken lift to a working lift sprite
      Object - Switch an object back on (1)                    \    (Dunno know how to do it the view method)

Interacton Editor screenshot

However, even when I have the manual, he still says "I don't know what I'm doing" before then going on to fix it. Isn't there some sort of "else" clause for the conditionals?

Like if I have the book and use the tools he fixes it, if not he just says "I dunno lol".

I'm new to this (even though I've been on this site for ages I've never really made an advanced game).


edit by scorpiorus: moved from the Technical forum
EDIT by Ashen: Image replaced with text, for easier searching.

So I wanted to start making a game again after an immense Adventure Gaming marathon the other week (DeFoe Series, Monkey Island, DoTT). I decided to start with what I believe I do best, backgrounds. Having failed miserably in the past to do 3D I decided to return to pixel arting things.

Anyway, this is what I came up with:




I thought to myself; 'Shizzle, I'm out of practice'.

So I fired up photoshop to make it pretty, came up with this:





It's my first attempt at doing something like this in ages (last time I posted anything here was 2006, I've been working on my comic).

Also I dunno why I'm always compelled to do this background...

Refined and new one below...

Some of you may get this if you've ever been on 4chan. If not, the joke will pass you by. For those who have never been to that "place", it's not something you really want to know about, yet it is engrossing somehow.



This is for a new webcomic I am starting with my friend (2 webcomics, god help me) called Alternate Fire, it's one of those geek comics following a group of curious people through their lives on and off the internet. Twill be a curious affair...

If you've never been to 4chan, just critique the art. I do realise the 3rd frame looks wierd though.

Ok, this thread wont be as long as I planned. I wrote a really long post, with story info, characters etc. But my comp crashed and I lost it. So nuts to writing all that out again.

I digress. I have been absent from this site, save for the odd quip made in the Critics lounge every now and again. The main reason is my webcomic I started. Aramore.



It's a fantasy yarn. I can't really reveal much about the plot at the moment for fear of ruining the big twists and such I've planned for it. It's set in a world that is divided into 3 kingdoms, Aramore, Barud, and Calose. The world itself is steampunkish/medievil/sci-fi. There will be areas of immense technological advance. A shock for the mostly rural protagonists. Imagine a less dark Final Fantasy VI style world.

Having said that, the story itself starts on a dark note. The main character, Eneyu Makor, a prankster 15 year old, dreams of a conflict that seems to have no beginning anyone can remember, just a hopeless cycle of killing and fighting. These dreams will come in every so often. They always tell a different story. And all end the same way. The world being engulfed in a bright light.

It's a story that the reader will have to piece together, and I always hope to go deeper than anyone would expect on the surface from a fantasy comic. Most of the time it will be entertaining, but there will be some very brutal moments. Be warned.

As for the art style. I kinda went all wannabe Manga with it. Some people will find this a problem, but it seemed only natural to me.

I have some images prepared to show the style some are quite sketchy:


I use 3D often in the first chapter. This is a large floating siege tower. A ruthless killing machine that glides silently through the war-torn streets. This is from the "dream world". The colouring of which I did as a nod to Sin City and other graphic novels with selective colour. Looking back, I didn't do it as well as Frank Miller, but that's probably why he's a famous comic author and I'm not .


Liores Trenolus, one of the main characters of the main story. She is a shy girl who doesn't really trust anyone. I based her off Shinji Ikari from Evangelion. But she's not going to be as depressing. And the backstory I have planned for her is pretty cool. The emo haircut is a satire of what most people will no doubt think when they see her.


A page I was quite proud of when I drew it. From the first dream sequence.


The final design for the Commander character of the first dream sequence. He originally had a helmet with a visor and two good eyes. But I scrapped that design.

Well that's all I guess. I hope you enjoy the comic as it grows weekly (every wednesday, I wish I could spare more time to do two a week),

Major thanks to my friend Tom Turton for hosting it and making the site work so well based on my sketchy MSN conversations and Photoshop scribbles.

Meh Bryce 5 was free. I must stress the landscape took little effort whatsoever, I just made the dropship (which you can barely see >_<)



Fortress thingy unfinished.


Desk of a Soldier.

2D artage



Some BAD sketches of mine I did while I was waiting for my brother to come off Battlefield. I sorta overlayed some colour quickish.

I want to know before I texture this if there's anything else you'd add to this scene?  It's a remake of the Fireview background I did along time ago, except this time it's going to be atop a hill as opposed to by some lava.  (The games set in a fiery afterlife).  I'll change the flat plain that its on to a more sloping affair.  Apart from that I'm happy with it mostly.  I just know the people here love to suggest things to add in.

Its a kinda club where the elite of the underworld hang out and get up to no good etc.  The lighting is all done, though I've yet to add in the lamps and torches etc.

So I'm sitting in an I.T room during my free period surrounded by a class of screaming year 8's (fun for all ¬_¬).Ã,  Loading up paint I drew this:



(perspective point left in as its DAMN HARD TO CONCENTRATE SURROUNDED BY 13 YEAR OLD CHAVS!!Ã,  )

Might make a game using this setting.

This is a continuation of the drive to redo all the ol' darksiders work in shiny 3D.  Obviously I've lost the originals of these but you can still critique these two scenes, which were done over the past two days.
Take into account I'm a n00b in 3D:



This is the reception for a Police station.  I tried to make it look clean and modern as that is what annoys the main character so much (especially the REALLY HORRIBLE CARPET).
One of the wanted posters is pretty obvious, the second one on the wall is LeChuck.  I have another one handy in case political slander isnt welcome

I found the original of this one lurking around these forums actually:


Another angle, just the outside.  It's kinda a silly little joke about privatisation.


This is the ship that carries souls to the underworld


And the original of this one as well

I'm making the real world backgrounds very serious and such, and the hellish backgrounds skewed and OTT.

This is for a little webcomic project me and my mate are starting up (another webcomic, JUST what the internet needs >_<)

But I dont care, it's written by me and my friend and we're basing it on some old games of mine.  The style is anime (groan again) but it's a style I believe fits the bill for fantasy and a style I myself practice alot on top of the random cartoon styleez.

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/Monkey+Island/-/pv_design_prod/p_NJVK.31961277/id_8775617/pNo_31961277/fpt_/opt_/c_/pg_

That is all

Well I got a WACOM for my birthday, and after some getting used to it, I did a sketch.

So heres my first try at graphics tablets in general (done in Photoshop)


Mooch beta.