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Well, I got an iPod a week ago for my birthday but I can't really use it yet because I need to get ALL my songs tagged.

I have tried 3 or 4 different freeware programs (including itunes) for doing en-mass filename->id3v1 tag, but so far none of them are reliable enough to actually be helpful

Anyone know one of these programs that is reliable enough that you can actually select a whole folder and have it covnert without crashing?

I've written some short screenplays in the past and spent a lot of my time getting bogged down with the typesetting...I remember hearing from my old teacher that there is some nice software out there to make this easier.  I'd rather spend my time with the writing, and I do find it easier to write if I'm following a specific format WHILE I'm writing rather than formatting it later on.  So I was wondering...anyone know of any good free programs for doing this?  I'm sure LGM will have something to say 

a while ago I posted a demon sketch
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=20509.0

I've given it a bit of a redesign that I think fits the character better.

concept:




when drawing the concept, I couldn't decide on the specifics of the body.

Anyway, take a look at the preliminary model, tell me what you think of the new look.Ã,  I will probably be re-making it for the actual game, this is more of a preliminary test.

NOte: this is not textured yet, but you can see the shape.Ã, 









The demon is not inherently evil, because I do not believe in such a concept.Ã,  His actions may seem evil to men, but that is only because we do not understand his perspective.Ã,  He comes from the world of the dead, and he is immortal, so he's pretty accustomed to seeing death and he has never felt human loss so he can't possibl understand it.Ã,  All the demons can understand is that it can be very funny to watch how the humans react when you poke holes in their babies.Ã,  But, being immortal, they are very knowleable.Ã,  I want my demon to convey a sense of fear, ominance, ancience.

after modelling the head, I have gone through my magic cards looking for inspiration, and decided to model the torso after Lord of the Pit



alright and here's one more still untextured but gives a bit of a feel of the way I want him to look

No, this is not a hoax.Ã,  One of the lead engineers for BMW is funding this project out of his own pocket.Ã,  The R50R robot is planned to be in production for traffic control within the decade.Ã,  This thing is incredible.Ã,  It is able to track moving targets etc in a Terminator-style HUD, it is amazingly dextrous, it can literally stop moving cars, just watch the videos in the link below.

EDIT: If you're wondering why it has wheels it's because it's made partly from BMW Mini Cooper parts!



http://www.r50rd.co.uk/research/internal/v2i/engin/

a preliminary character sketch, not very serious...just trying to capture a feeling

I've never been a FFVII fan but after watching this trailer, I'm about ready to convert!!!

you guys have got to check this out...

http://na.square-enix.com/dvd/ff7ac/

Go to the trailer section...there are 4 trailers, each one is just a different cut...Trailer 003 is by FAR the best cut I suggest you watch that one

EDIT: by the way this is a MOVIE not a game

when I was a kid, my parents would always drag me around to garage sales to buy stuff, because we didn't have a lot of money and maybe they thought they could appease my childish hunger for new toys that way

well, I always hated garage sales because they made my feel cheap...but there was one thing I got which I may have never found otherwise, which was a beat up old book of Lone Wolf, Flight from the Dark, missing the cover, filled with scribbles, and some very dirty stains on it that I think was poop.

I was 11 years old then and I played that book and loved it.Ã,  when I discovered there were more of them, I started saving up my allowance to buy them...and I would regularly call my local bookstore to see ifÃ,  they had them in stock and try to order them

as the new books came out I bought them up, but I never managed to get them all...I was missing a few which bothered me because I wanted to get the true experience by playing them all in order from first to last.

Back then the internet was still pretty new and I couldn't go search around for things across the world that way.Ã,  If I could have, there's no doubt I would have the whole series already.

I've just discovered that there's another 10 books in the series (putting the total up to about 30) which I never even knew of.Ã,  Apparently, they weren't even published in the US.

Well, now I want to get them...fill in all the holes in the series...and play the whole damn thing from start to finish like I always wanted to!

I've been calling around and managed to get some pretty good deals on some of the missing books.

My collection as it stands:

1. Flight from the Dark
2. Fire on the Water
3. The Caverns of Kalte
4. The Chasm of Doom
5. Shadow on the Sand
6. The Kingdom's of Terror (in the mail)
7. Castle Death
8. The Jungle of Horrors
9. The Cauldron of Fear
10. The Dungeons of Torgar
11. The Prisoners of Time
12. The Masters of Darkness
13. The Plague Lords of Ruel
14. The Captives of Kaag (in the mail)
15. The Darke Crusade
16. The Legacy of Vashna
17. The Deathlord of Ixia
18. Dawn of the Dragons
19. Wolf's Bane (trade in progress)
20. The Curse of Naar (in the mail)
21. Voyage of the Moonstone (don't have)
22. The Buccaneers of Shadaki (trade in progress)
23. Midnight's Hero (don't have)
24. Rune War (don't have)
25. Trail of the Wolf (don't have)
26. The Fall of Blood Mountain (don't have)
27. Vampirium (don't have)
28. The Hunger of Sejanoz (don't have)

The ones in the mail are books I have never played...I hope that I can hold out on playing them until I have completed the series.

I'm almost ashamed to be spending this money on such small things, but...it makes me so happy to have things like this to hold on to

If videos arent compiled into the executable, then players will likely view them outside of the game.  I don't want players to be able to view the final ending movie (for instance) just because they felt like it!  This reward must be earned.

Luckily, the PlayVideo command does not have any extension checking on the filename string parameter...so video files which have no extensions (or misleading extensions) can still be played.

However, Media Player does not really care if your video files are misnamed...so any so-inclined user wanted to, they could still play those video files without knowing what format they are in, without playing the game first.

Are there any clever solutions to overcome this?

(Before anyone suggests it, loading the frames as sprites is not a solution, because it would be a royal pain loading all those sprites, and you could not create an animation with more than 320 frames this way anyway, unless you linked together multiple views...it would just be horrible!)

Here's the new design for the Wistan (main character) in my Tanglewood game.

Here is the old walk-cycle:


I don't have a walk cycle for the new one yet, I'm trying to learn some new animation software but you can have a look see and critique the model still.  I've put him into a pose here so you can see him in something otherr than a t-stance, I realize it isn't the greatest pose.

I posted this question in the beginners forum, but perhaps it is more technical than I originally presumed, because it's been there a while and not getting any responses.

So, please have a look--

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=20138.0

if you dont want it, let me know, id like to buy it 

im using AGS 2.7 and I dont want to use any obsolete procedures

I'm not using a bunch of "mouse modes" in my game, but I want a left click on any inventory item to pick it up...a right click to look at it, and a right click after an item has been picked up to go back to the regular mouse (ie drop it back in inv)

I'm a bit confused from the documentation...where and how should I script this?

sometimes my laptop starts making wierd sounds.  out of the speakers (originally i thought it was my hard drive which had my really scared).  it keeps makin this wierd repetetive sound like it has a bee stuck in it.  so far, it happens when im downloading a lot of stuff, or when im playing Legend of Kyrandia.

i managed to capture the sound

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/sounds/other/alien_sound.mp3

A lot of adventure games have room transitions where, after walking off one screen, you see them walk onto the next screen from off the screen.  this seems like a really simple problem but I'm not sure how to do it, because walkable areas do not extend off of the screen.

What are peoples opinions on 'dead areas'?  AKA, nothing to do here areas.  Some games have a lot of these areas...where perhaps there is just something that looks interesting, but provides no game information, or maybe it's just a forest to set the mood.  I am trying to have as few of these as possible...and trying to put something interesting on at least every place.  But how many filler areas do you think there should be between the important areas?

anyone know where I could find an a download for the abandonware game QFG IV?

this is something I'd love to see.

there are plenty of RPG mmorpg's...of course they all rely on killing monsters and quest solving....but I think it would be great if there were some that focused around puzzle solving.Ã,  They could still incorporate fighting to encourage teammates to play together (to bump heads together over the puzzles as well as work together to defeat monsters).Ã,  Instead of getting XP from killing you could get XP from solving puzzles.

The game could have one (or a few) MAJOR puzzles/quests...that would kind of be sitting in the background and perhaps never be completable, or only be completable after a bunch of expansions or something, and they could keep adding new puzzles to the game world as time went on...

edit: just noticed the other similar post

I just read that several major computer manufacturers (Dell, HP, etc.)
recently began selling computers with so called "trusted computing"
modules.  This is a very important technology, and it is VITAL that
every computer user understand it, because it will fundamentally change
the way you use your computer.  Trusted computing modules are a bit of
hardware that act like a lock for your whole computer.  They get to
decide which programs get run, and which don't.  This lets computer
manufacturers make new features like email that can't be forwarded, or
music that can only be played on one machine.  They can put an end to
viruses and spam.  They way they do this, however, is VERY SCARY.

Trusted computing is not about you (the user) being able to trust your
computer.  Trusted computing is about computer manufacturers being able
to trust you.  This is because the computer manufacturers do not give
you the key to the trusted computing module when you buy your computer.
  They keep it, and use it to decide whether or not you may run any
particular piece of software.  Trusted computing means that they decide
whether or not you get to access your pictures 10 years from now, or
whether you need to pay them to do it.  Trusted computing is about
whether or not you may access a web site or not without their
permission.  Trusted computing is about ending the free exchange of
information that the internet has created and replacing it with a small
group of companies that get to decide what you see and hear.
Television, movies, news, music, emails, and IM can all be censored
effectively using trusted computing.  They say they won't, of course,
but can you trust them to keep their word?

Trusted computing is here and now.  However, before they can lock us
out, they need to gather a critical mass of trusted computers such that
users have a choice of using trusted computing, or not communicating at
all.  The next computer you buy, ask if it has a trusted computing
module.  If it does, ask if they will give you the key to it.  If they
say no, then you know that they want to keep control of your
information and communication.  Don't buy, and tell them why.  Without
a critical mass of trusted computing modules online, they are
powerless.  Tell them you'd rather deal with spam than have a computer
that doesn't trust you.  And tell your friends about trusted computing.

The above is my understanding of trusted computing, but you should
decide for yourself.  I encourage you to visit the following links, and
learn about trusted computing yourself.  These links were among the top
10 results in a google search for "trusted computing", and I would
encourage you to conduct your own research as well.  Feel free to
forward this message.

http://www.newsforge.com/business/02/10/21/1449250.shtml?tid=19
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/home
http://www.eff.org/Infrastructure/trusted_computing/20031001_tc.php

I know, I know...it's annoying to see so many "firsts"...they are excuses for nothing.  Nonetheless, it is  

I really like the natural approach I get with the brushes...it seems to have capabilities for a lot of things completely impossible in Photoshop and I'm going to look into it for making dirty textures etc in addition to traditional painting...

One thing I am sorely missing from Photoshop is a Navigator window...the scroll bars are difficult for me especially with a Wacom, is there some equivalent thing I'm missing?

4 days and my break will begin...I'll be exploring the amazon jungle in peru...can't think about anything else.

What things are other people doing?