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Hey there techies.

Maybe this is a basic question, but I'm trying to script a text parser and I'd like to have an easy way to check for generic nouns and verbs in sentences that have no written response, without writing out each individual response.

Note that this the answer isn't simply anyword" or "rol" as I'm not asking about generalizing whole words, but more of contextual check.

In simple terms, I want the player to be able to type "look house."  If there is a response in callroomscript, then I want that response to play.  If not, I want a generic response such as "There is no house here."

Right now, the only way I can see this working is by putting all my parser text in the global script with if statements such as:

Code: ags

if (cChar1.room == 1) {
Display ("Okay, you're standing in the house.");
}

else if (cChar1.room == 2) {
Display ("The house looks enormous.");
}

else {
Display ("There is no house here.");
}

However, this seems exceedingly awkward and bulky.  Surely there is a way to check whether a whole class of words have come up with a callroomscript response and then respond based on this?

What I would like to do, ultimately, in bad psedocode:

Code: ags

if (Parser.Said ("look %s", thinglooked)) {
if ((Parser.FindWordId != -1) && (calllroomscript was null)) {
Display ("There is no  '%s' here", thinglooked);
}
}

That way, every time you looked at anything in the game that was in the dictionary and didn't have an in-room response, you would get a generalized "that isn't here" type message.

Is this possible?  Is it something simple I missed?

Please treat me like a noob on this, since the last version of AGS I used had graphical scripts in it.  I'm an oldbie newbie.

[Writer's Blocks!]

Get ready for Writer's Blocks!



The tech demo, with puzzles!

A text based interface using mouse controls leads you through a new world!

You are a writer, stumped and stuck, blocked as it were, when a mysterious old man invites you into Blockland, a place filled with fictional characters, both friend and foe!

Can you collect all 10 magical blocks without being eaten alive?

This version has a beginning, middle and end, and a few challenging puzzles, but is nowhere near complete.  Meet Alice of Alice in Wonderland, Virginia Woolf, Bilbo Baggins, Mr. Darcy and others as you quest to find the "building blocks of the perfect novel.



Enjoy!

http://www.cardboardlogic.com/Games/blocks.zip

Graphics:
(Apart from some horrid pink artifacting that needs to be re-imported)
95%

Music/Sound:
60%

Live Acted Cutscenes:
50%

Script/Story:
95%

Scripting:
45%

The graphics are basically done, and the plot is set up.  The engine works great, with a few kinks.  This will be done by the end of April 2009, either that or the end of March 2036 (knowing my history).

Try out the demo!

[Edge of Reality]

Edge of Reality

EDIT: (download updated: Feb 1 2009) - Please tell me if this solves your various resolution issues, everybody!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Yes, that's right, Edge of Reality, the Longest Reality-on-the-norm game (both in production and potentially in gameplay) is complete.  Nine years after I started this project, I have fixed most (not all) of the bugs, piled on extra content and made a second, very cool ending.

You already might know how long the game has been in production.  Why should you play it?

Good question.  It may not work perfectly on your new advanced system (may need a few changes to your resolution set-up, for example), and it will occasionally crash (save early and save often).  But it is a unique game, which is why I finally completed it after all these years.

If you've seen the trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpQU76sUGdY) or the original, funnier trailer (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOl_reVnH0), you should have an idea that a lot went into this game.  Some of my testers thought the game was nearly over around the end of the first chapter.

Ha I say.  Ha followed by Ha, and potentially Hoo.

There are, in point of fact, four fairly long chapters and 1 that splits into two.

However, the game is more than the sum of its parts.



STORY

Edge of Reality picks up from early threads in the RON universe, just after the death of Davy Jones.  Reality has been hit by disaster after disaster after delicious cake, and our friend Mika is just starting to put it all together.

Our story begins, however, with never popular Scientist, Dr. Ronald Emeritus, historo-physcicist who has collected the chronicles of Reality in a secret book.  However, just as he begins his first glimmers of understanding, something arrives in Reality.  A mysterious, disembodied something.  And it's not happy.

No.  That's not right.

It's happy all right.  For all the wrong reasons.

Beginning with the startling disappearance of Reality characters, Mika must make her way through the sleepy town to unravel a mystery and reach Thakbor the Great before its too late (that rhymed!).  Her journey will take her right to the Edge of Reality: to the outskirts of town, the new city centre, the woods, the beach, the deep ocean, even other dimensions.  What she finds is alternately ridiculous and unsettling.

Because things get weirder as you reach the edge.

Style



Think everything from Yahtzee style insult humour to Captain Mostlyesque psuedo philosophical avante-garde anti-jokes.  Everything from Sierra style puns, to graphically violent Sombreros.  Disembodied heads of celebrities.  Iraq jokes.  The goofy cavalcade of poorly drawn villains and the burning embers of despair, all in one incredibly ugly package.  Once you get past the first chapter, it just gets weirder, and I think, funnier.

There's more to Edge of Reality than that though.  While not exactly the best RON game ever made, it is long, and deep.  You'll find lots to click on, and messages for nearly half the interactions you think of (you are actually rewarded for clicking on everything).  Half the fun I had making this game was going back to screens I'd forgotten and running through the various interactions.  There's a lot of text here, and while a lot of it is either drab or outdated, there's a fair share of bizarre lines and clever zingers.  I enjoy playing it just for that.

But there's more.  Numerous secrets, including a dramatic secret ending, hidden items that you collect to unlock alternate modes of play, and 4 optional mini-games (technically more like 5, if you know where to look).  There's lots of way to "die" in the first half with no real consequences (you immediately come back to life) and then in the second, more challenging half, ways to actually be killed that bring menace back into your adventure.

Multiple characters, optional paths, and many puzzles that can be solved in any order is just part of the draw that kept me plugging away.

Just remember to save your game first.  Much like a crowded slushy turnpike, there are bound to be crashes.  I could not fix every bug, and some just crash the game at random.  All gameplay should work without error messages though.  Feel free to report anything with a clear message like "Line 20011.  Wrong Side of Cube For Flotsam Test."



PLEASE though, read or at least skim the instructions first.  Some important gameplay info and known bugs are included in there as well as a cavalcade of jokes and just strange ideas to get you set up for the game's odd mood.

The game is HERE:

http://www.cardboardlogic.com/Games/Edge/edgeof.zip

It may not be your blue cup of tea.  It may not be your game of the year.  But it is different and distinct, and I think worth playing through for a uniquely twisted take on RON, and for more puzzles than you can shake an anthropomorphic monkey wrench at.

To remind you, check out the trailers above.

Are you ready to reach the Edge?

Hey all you evil monsters that devour children in their sleep!

Remember me?  No?  Good.

I'm bspeers, and about 9 years ago I came up with the name "Reality" for a town others had developed on these boards.  Yahtzee thought he would add "on-the-norm" and create the first in a series of community games featuring his own character, Davy Jones.  Since then, dozens of writers, scripters and artists have created their own twist on the Reality-on-the-Norm series, adding many new characters and ideas.

I made one of the first elongated demos for an ugly but bizarre game called "Edge of Reality"  Bugs and life issues, and just creating the huge amount of content this game required kept me busy since mid 2000, but I'm back, and though buggy, the game is now 99.9% complete.  It's on an old engine of AGS, meaning bugs (save early and save often) and it's about 70% ugly, and it also may not run on some newer computers, but it's done, and just needs a few polishing touches.

Only thing is, I need beta testers.  This will be a very quick process.  If you can't solve the puzzles, email me and I'll give you the best answer I can.  You won't have to actually finish the game, just tell me if it works on your system, and any major crashes.  I WILL NOT fix all the bugs, since they are largely harmless, and after 9 years of development, I haven't been able to fix them.  I will not add new content, new quests etc, but I may be convinced to add a new clue or two.  BETA wlll be short though as I have already thoroughly tested the game, and just want some impressions.  It will also be very limited, so post your email below (in any format you like) or PM me, and I'll put you on a shortlist.  The game should enter BETA in about one week's time.

The basic info is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpQU76sUGdY

STORY:



When Mika Huy (the underused character, at least, 9 years ago) has trouble dealing with Davy Jone's recent death, she seeks a fortune teller to develop direction for her life.  At her consultation, however, Mika learns of a much greater disembodied threat to all of Reality.  As Mika searches for Thakbor the Great, the only person who can stop this terrible power, she realizes more and more about the universe in which she lives, and crosses over into the very edge of her reality.  But what is real, and what is not?  And why did somebody glue the silo shut?



Along the way, Mika will meet celebrities, the undead mayor, a mime with a death wish, a man who loves hotdogs, a hovering sombrero, and many other bizarre characters from my mind and from the minds of the RON community.

GAMEPLAY

A traditional point-and-click, but with numerous buggy mini-games, four playable characters, and two endings that represent anywhere from ten minutes to an hour of optional content.  Also, special bonuses for completing with different numbers of points.  If you ever complete it.

This game has more rooms and more puzzles than any AGS game of its time.  Almost every feature I put in the game strained the very limits of the AGS version I used, from the number of Global Integers, to dialogue trees, to screens, to characters and items.  A lot of tricky coding allowed me to by-pass some limits, and others I had to rub up against.  Trust me when I say this was an ambitious project.

Are you ready for it?



BETA tests begin in ONE DAY!  Release is planned for January 24th, barring total harddrive meltdown.

[Edit by strazer (Use the "Modify" button!):]

Hi all,

My schooling is almost done, so I'm back trying to finally finish Edge of Reality.

Problem is, I've been stuck on the same 3 problem for what feels like years.

Firstly, I have a room with 2 elevators I want the player to be able to summon at will and walk in at will (rather than automatically forcing the player to step into the booth as soon as she hits the button).  The elevators never seem to work, but it's a complicated problem involving one door being animated and one being done with objects and I can't seem to crack it.

The second problem is a small one.  I have a mask Mika puts on, but after she takes it off, there's always a flash of it on again before she goes back to her normal walkcycle, and I swear I've tried everything to get rid of that frame.

Finally, there's a puzzle I'm almost ready to give up on altogether.  I want to drop a stone down an open hole and then trigger a switch in a cutscene based on how many rocks you drop down and which hole you drop them down.  For some reason I can't cause anything at all to happen in my puzzle room (and no it isn't a room # higher than 200 or whatever).

There's one other bug that I can't seem to fix, but I think that one may be literally impossible.

If anyone out there has Ver 2.2 chops and some patience, I would LOVE some help.  I want to make some progress on this damn thing, after all.

Edit by strazer (Use the "Modify" button!):
Okay I will!

Edit: And just to clarify, I'm hoping to either send you the scripts in question for your analysis or the whole game if need be.  Your prize is my eternal gratitude and credit in the longest RON game ever made.

Oh yes, and as I've stated before, I can't upgrade because of a few scripting "tricks" I'm using and some graphical scripts.

Yo Mamma so fit, she's no sleepwalker, she's a sleep triathlete!

Yo mamma so fine, she's got a point on the end!

Yo mamma so fat and ugly... in bizarro world!  Oh, your mother's great!

You mamma so kind, when people call the goodwill, they get her!

You mamma so clean, when she sneezes, windex comes out!  OHHH! (spritz, spritz, spritz)

Hey cats and kittens.

Well, I've been working at a new job setting up a store called "Mountain Eqipment Co-op" --basically the largest co-op chain for outdoor goods in Canada.  It's an interesting company in that they do make an attempt to produce environmental and social stability, but still end up (these days) sourcing most of their products from third-world sweatshops.

Over the last few weeks, we've had multiple people come in to our store and say that we were the most organized opening store in Canada, and more organized than most stores already open.  I'm part of the 4 person team that got national chain-wide attention for our surprisingly well-set up backstock--before the store was even open!

But then, I was late, not once, but twice, each by about 5 minutes.  Despite me being on contract, despite our credentials, I was fired today, the sole reason stated being those two days lateness (and 1 day I missed due to a family emergency, on their approval (I didn't even ask to have it off)).

So, now I'm out looking for a job, and as such, my game, Edge of Reality is going to be slowed down.  I'm stating that here rather than the "games in progress" thread because it's more of a general personal issue.  It sucks that days before opening, I can just be laid off, and because I haven't been with them for more than 3 months, they don't even need a reason, at least in this province.  They're even opening a week early because of our good work.

Typical.

If you've had similar experiences, feel free to post them here--it might make me feel better.  If not, well, enjoy yourselves anyway, I've got some applications to fill out.

Okay, it's not terribly important, but I had a few sources to add to what I said in a post a little while ago and wanted to share them, because I think it may inform people about the history of manga in general and the use of symbolism.

It is generally assumed that manga's "western" appearance is a form of self-loathing and western love.  Few sources that seriously study the art-form will say this, however, because the history just doesn't quite support it.  Many societies look to others for inspiration and loath aspects of themselves, and Japanese people do often look to the "west," but it is not a unique or all-encompassing phenomenon.  Anime and Manga often mock other cultures as well.

However, in another post, I said that hair colour was related to shading time, which is still possible.  Original manga hair was left blank or partially shaded.  This didn't just save time shading the hair (blank is faster than any other method I could imagine), but made character identifcation easier.  Maybe speed was not the main (or even the slightest bit a significant issue), but most sources I have found say it is not an issue of envy of the west or any such silly thing.  It may still be so, but people have to realize it isn't "just wrong" to use a variety of sources that you may or may not agree with to form your opinion.

Here are some sources.

http://www.umich.edu/~anime/info_haircolor.html
http://bosp.kcc.hawaii.edu/Horizons/Horizons2001/69LinkPastPresent_Anime.html

Here are some key quotes:

"Back when artists were just starting to draw what we would consider "manga" today, they only had three options for hair color: black, white and grey. It would seem that, when trying to draw Japanese characters, only black could be used, but shoujo manga artists started to leave the hair of their Japanese characters un-inked. Doing this allowed the reader to distinguish between characters easily, and it also helped balance the page and make it more artistic. However, the Japanese characters were still presented as looking traditionally Japanese, and the reader accepted them as Japanese."

Even traditionally Japanese anime characters can have hair of any color, even colors that don't traditionally appear on any real human! Like with manga, assigning different hair colors to different characters allows the viewer to recognize which character is which. Hair color has also traditionally been used to indicate some part of the character's personality.

Hair color is one symbol that can indicate a character's personality type. Although hair color can symbolize different personality traits, it does not have any relation to the ethnicity of a character.

I also reccomend this book.

Despite the fact that I say this is a continuation of the debate, it isn't for me, I just wanted to share that info and people were right in saying the original post was not the place for it.

Perhaps this could lead to further debate about cultural appropriation and national pride issues related to art, however.  Just an idea.

Ready for the greatest Reality on the Norm Game ever?

In terms of size, that is.

Probably not quality.

Definitely not.

DOWNLOAD THE TRAILER HERE:

FUN TIME IN HAPPY LAND

I'm not going to write a huge description.  Taking place some point in the RON series, this was originally created in 2000, or 1999 or something, envisioned as a more bizarre response to the first Reality on the Norm game, taking the word "reality" quite seriously and "norm" quite figuratively.



A deep storyline embedded (shown, not told) in a ludicrous adventure spanning multiple islands, and possibly other worlds/universes, this is probably the longest RON game ever made.  Back when it was originally beta tested, it already far outstripped the competition possibly having more content than all the others combined.  This was the game that broke all the limits of AGS when it first came out.  But all that would be nothing without humour and depth of character.  Which this has.  Neither.



Or some... maybe.  And some violent deaths.  Outdated comedic references and politics combined with just a touch of spite.



This game was scripted in version 2.22 of AGS, and due to programming conventions, could not be safely upgraded, meaning all the new content is in that same format, bugs n' all.  Extensive testing has revealed no deadly bugs, and bug testing continues, as does addition of content until release date.

TRAILER IN WMV

EDIT: Didn't delete idea to avoid confusion, but hadn't noticed SSH's idea, so striketrhough so people know it's not *the* idea.

Okay, 3 opening (obvious) remarks:

1.  No one decided that I should start a thread on this--I have no interest in being a leader anyway.

2.  The old thread seems to be going on a lot about general meta-theory stuff, but a few people have suggested that we just get started, thus, I decided to offer a new thread for the very preliminary stages.

3.  Feel free to lock this if Andail or anyone else has any objections.  I will not be the least bit offended, and neither should anyone else be.  I just thought I'd be proactive and throw some ideas out there.  Since we're talking about being completely open and collaberative, I thought the forums would be a decent place to get started, and we would eventually need several different individual posts each on different aspects.

Again, please lock this if I'm overstepping my bounds here.  OR, erase what I've said and let someone like SSH or Andail post a more formal document.

That said, here is my suggestion for a general idea for the massive collaberative project:

1.  It should be fun--that doesn't mean it can't be a drama, but should not be so serious that people get too heavily involved and attached to one idea that is to be altered by other people.

2.  The basic outline should be a smash hit with just about all potentially involved--otherwise it's going to be tough to get large numbers of people to commit hours to the project.  Individual bits may meet some niggles, but if the whole thing isn't well liked, there isn't going to be much point.

3.  The possibilities for locations and characters must be diverse.  Since a uniform art-style and writing level would be exceptionally difficult given the massive collaberative model (unless all sub-par artists or writers were denied the right to contribute, a bad idea IMO).

That is why I suggest that ideas be well -hashed out with disagreements and adjustments made public.  If people don't like the idea presented below, please say so, and we can A) reject it, or B) adjust it as needed.  The only principle I ask we follow is that responses be respectful and collaberative--no one genious is going to make the ideas better on their own.

I propose dimension travelling as the core concept.  Why?  The idea of multiple intersecting realities is not often included in adventure games, and it rife with possibilities for action and comedy, plus since every imaginable possibility can be played out, graphics have an excuse to be variable, as do situations.

I propose a comedy, or at least a humorous adventure--that is my bias, plain and simple.  It's not any easier than a drama, but it does allow for some slightly more outlandsish ideas to be incorporated.

Here is the idea I thought of this morning.

Three officers and a low-ranking "red uniform" fodder from the Inter-Dimensional Physics Enforcement Squad (IDPES) are on the trail of an at-large physics criminal currently in violation of 3 of the fundamental laws of physics.  Unlike Star Trek, since the IDPES are constantly in other dimensions than their own, there is no desire to prevent massive change to the flow of history, thus there is no "Prime Directive."  For those that aren't Star Trek nerds, that means bascially the police have a carte blanche and investigations often end up being exceptionally violent and random.

Unfortunately for IDPES, about 45 minutes into a high-speed inter-dimensional chase, the four being crew is hit by an angry Hat-rack (in a dimension of intellegent hat-racks and ottomans), tearing open the fuel cells, leading to a last minute crash landing on an alien world in a potentially hostile dimension.

Now the Chief Investigator (man? woman? thing?), the Physician/Scientist, the enormous, head crushing enforcer and the guy who clearly has no purpose other than to be killed part-way through the game must find a way to patch up their ship, re-fuel (hopefully permenantly altering the flow of history in the dimension) and track down their criminal before IDPES command finds out what happened and cuts their doughnut rations for the month.

Perhaps the characters will have to do dimension hopping without their ship, maybe using a lot of cooperative puzzle-solving using all three useful members of the team?  Perhaps there is a larger conspiracy afoot?  Or maybe the adventure is even more straightforward and pointless than it originally seemed?  And what happens when people get away with breaking several laws of physics for any length of time?  Only time will tell.

Additions?  Subtractions?  Cursing my name and family for generations to come?  Please delete or move if it is deemed necessary or this simply isn't all that useful.

Okay, I'm making a large map that the characters can explore the world from.  I know that the pathfinder can't handle anything higher than that (I also tried to see, and indeed it didn't work).  I only would need a few hundred more pixels to get a nicely-spaced world map, but am concerned about what possible memory problems AGS might run into.  I was thinking that if I didn't allow use of the pathfinder, say if I used arrow-key movement, I might be able to run the larger room, but I don't want to have to set up all that just to find out that larger rooms don't work for other reasons.

So, has anyone done research into rooms greater than 2800 on the y axis (I already have seen that higher values work in the x axis)--are there any problems that are likely to come up, or is it just a pathfinder problem?

I'm talking about a room that's likely going to be 3300 X 3600, ideally.

As a footnote, if anyone working on AGS 3d is reading this, do you think the 3d engine could be applied to a map to give it a bevelled effect similar to the Mode 7 effects on world maps in console RPGs for the SNES, etc?  I'm planning on looking into it eventually, I just was wondering if someone already had some idea.

Okay, I'm working on this project right now where I have a bunch of stats recorded in a struct/array and I want to copy them all instantly to an array that uses the same stats, but I don't know how.

Although my knowledge of the terms is not exactly ideal, I can give a general idea.  Basically, I have a struct MyStatsStruct and arrays mychar[30] and battchar[10].

In a battle, the battchar stats act as dummies, allowing the characters to be in a different order and allowing some automation of functions.

So, let's say MyStatsStruct includes the properties hp, hpmax, spdmax, spd, sp, spmax, etc.  I first check which characters are first, second, third and fourth in the roster, and then set the stats of each dummy to that of the corresponding character using aditional "id" property.

So, for example, if battchar[1].id = 4, then I set battchar's hp hpmax, and so on to be equal to mychar[4].

Well, I can do this manually so that each of the 40 stats or so is copied from mychar to battchar accordingly, but this is going to be very unweildy very quickly.  Both arrays already share the same struct.  battchar has properties .hp, .hpmax, .sp, .spmax etc, as does mychar.

What I am looking for is a way to copy all of the stats from one array to another that shares the same properties.  I can only see it in dos language, but there it would look like:

battchar[1].* = mychar[4].*;

Is this possible?  How can I accomplish this, and am I even going about it in a way that AGS will interpret correctly?

Thanks

I dunno if this is beginner or normal, but something tells me it may be in a part of the manual I just haven't found.  And I am just beginning this project after all.

Firstly, for those who may chide me for making a long game as my first AGS project, this is definately not my first project.

Now questions:

Is there an upward limit on imports into the script header before the game will start to slow down?

Reason being that I am working on an RPG and I have already set aside all 500 global ints for statistics (most of which will be invisible to the character, but are necessary for the skill/experience gaining systems for each of the characters)--in fact, I may theoretically need more than 500 stats.  On top of that, I will need several dozen other minor properties (I suppose these will be ints for the header) and then I will need more ints to store everything that changes in each room (such as treasures taken, characters whose diolog changes as the plot proceeds, etc).  I have calculated that I may be importing several hundred ints to the script header--is this going to be a problem, and if so, is there an easier way?

Also, I am going to have a group inventory which will allow characters to hold a maximum of 99 of each item, allowing for numerous potions, or extra helmets to sell, or what have you. I think I know how to script this (just to a check of number of items and an if statement/else, right?) but will this push the limits of the run-time?  Is there any problem with memory should a character have say, 99 of every item and say 300 different items?  This is unlikely to happen, even if I do get the game finished, as there will be many items of which there is only one, but I may as well find out now what hidden limits there are.  I have already abandoned a very long game before nearly 90% through because of AGS limits (that have since been increased, but then, it's a long story).

Well, we all know they're only sporatically funny, but the game does look like a hoot (unless this is now old news):

http://www.homestarrunner.com/pqtrailer.html

Well, those who know me might know me as the second longest running unregistered user in AGS history.  Others might know me as the guy who isn't doing anything on the games he's working on.

Well, now the main reason for not helping others is finished.  I have finished editing a video of Juggling from the UVIC Juggling club.  It's about 3-4 years in the making, and a real artistic piece, exploring new patterns, tricks and ideas about juggling.  It is very entertaining and might break a few stereotypes about jugglers.  It is aimed at the juggler-hobbiest, but it is entertaining enough on its own, due to editing, music, and the unusual visuals.

The low quality trailer is available from this address:

http://www.vicfootbag.com/vicjuggle/SemiStreet/

Now, if God Quest or Mallorie O'Mussey needs my work, and is willing to discuss exactly what they need of me, I'm willing to help.

But check out the trailer, it's fun.

I just had to say something about people posting pointless posts to complain about people posting.  I'm tired of it.  When we offer unofficial particular problems with the way people post--using endless alliteration, capital letters, pointless posting of petty bandwidth wastes, I think it wastes bandwidth.  It think if anyone points out a pointless post that proferrs pointed commentary over people's pointed posts, they should be punished.

I mean, whatever purpose, when a post complaing about the wasted ways people post pointlessly or people's typos, trancends two pages, the pointless posts have taken too much space for spaced out banter.  It becomes mindless moping mascurading as poweful polemics, or becomes being clever for the sake of being clever.

Sometimes it seems like people who point out pointless problems with pointless posts are themselves more pointless than the pointless posts they mean to point to.  Rather than release really random complaints complaining over people's posts, it would become less costly to be constructive quietly, than argue endlessly uselessly, purposelessly in "purple prose."

I hope sincerely that settles things.

Firstly I appologize if this is Gen Gen material, but I think it fits here.

Here's the scoop.

As some people know I've been working on a few games, for myself and others.  I'm the weakest link on Neole's God game, one of the main writers for the team challenge team 5 game (which is still running), and the creator of Edge of Reality (now with improvements, about 85% done).

This summer I started a new *short* project which is currently 60% done.  It should be finished by the end of September (I meant to finish it in 2 weeks... and then it expanded, and expanded).  The concept was simple.  I do a juggling/comedy show starring myself as a slightly mad goofball called Drake Blakely with a stuffed sidekick named Kropkin the Communist Penguin.  I thought they were great characters, and decided to make a game based on them for Kids in my show.  Naturally, the game would be 100% voice acted--since I would be playing my own character.

Well, the game is funny, the plot is pretty good, the puzzles are challenging but not impossible, and the voice acting has gotten good reviews.  I did a lot of work stretching my voice and finding good actors from my family and friends.  The graphics are generally poor, save my young brother's pretty good anime characters (which I messed up a bit by shrinking).

The game is worth playing, especially with the voice pack.  But here's the problem.  Right now the game is 45 megs uncompressed.  No big deal.  But since this was always meant to be given out to kids on a CD, I have gone nuts with descriptions and voice.  The voice pack is now around 450 megs, and should reach nearly 700 by the time I'm done.  I have a lot of already recorded dialog yet to put in, and a large amount of myself yet to record (but I write and speak it more or less simultaneously, knowing the characters and plot).

So.  I don't want to extend the finish date of this or Edge of Reality by coming up with a whole new demo, but I also want people to be able to see the voice, actions and puzzles interacting before they download.  Would people download 700 megs sight unseen (or unheard in this case) from a relitively accomplished AGSer (or me)?  How do I even upload such a project?  Would people download the game without sound and allow themselves to guess how much better it is with sound?  

Any suggestions?

Thanks for any and all help, especially from fellows (and non-fellows) who know me.

Doddleeedoo!

This is a problem I never had before, and now, suddenly, it's occuring.

My game features a team of characters, one following the other everywhere except in a few specific locations.  I used to be able to turn off this following, but now, there's an illegal exception every time I do.  I checked global scripts, and I can't find any contradictions (like an "always follow" script of some kind).  But the game always crashes at the exact line where I release following (the character is char 1, no doubt possible, I'm passing FollowCharacter (1, -1) as the exact line, with ; etc, of course).  I have tested multiple rooms and situations.

I can't copy and paste the error message box on this machine, but I can write it down now--know, though, that on this same machine, I was able to Followcharacter (1, -1) before:

An exception 0xC0000005 occured in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x004468E0; program pointer is +6, ACI version 2.55.560, gtags (4,0)

AGS cannot continue (blah blah blah, you know this bit)

(Room 63 script line 67)  [that's the line where I put the FollowCharacter script]



What can I do??

Is it just me, or is photoshop terrible for pixel art?

I'm trying to make a juggling character for a game I'm making (it stars the character I play in a real-life juggling show), which involves a rotating chainsaw, sword and juggling ball.

Unfortunately, paint doesn't handle simple rotation well--photoshop is the only program I have which allows mutliple layers for adjusting the trajectory of each object, but it has a problem.  Anti-alias! What a bummer for any transparant background--since shades of the background are replicated around the edge of every manipulated object, even when on an entirely different layer.

I have scoured the help file's index and seach engine, turned off anti-alias on every single available menu (for each major tool), but still it leaves those little colour lines all over my artwork, effectively ruining it.  And I can't stand the action of having to re-outline everything every time I move it (the colour selector can't select the difference between the anti-aliased colour and black even at tolerance 10, meaning selecting all the colour at once is virtually impossible without leaving even more work than with the pixel-by-pixel replacement.

So my question to all you great AGS artists is this: is there any way to turn off anti-alias when doing things like rotation, effects, etc?  If so, how?  If not, any suggestions on an equally robust program that will actually do what I want?  I just want to be able to rotate objects to precise co-ordinates without them getting little mixed colour outlines.

Thanks to all and any who can help.

Believe it or not, this is about AGS (WOW!)

I've been working on a new game (don't worry all 3 or 2 of the fans, Edge is still rollin' along), a short one which should be ready in a couple weeks (no hints, but it's about a certain juggler and communist penguin) and I just wanted to point out how great AGS really is.

Since animator and walkable areas issues prevent me from upgrading for Edge of Reality (animations changed, or maybe a bug I was harnessing the power of was eliminiated) from version 2.22 (or whatever), I haven't really tried an upgraded version apart from tinkering with my psychotic nightmare game (which I believe about 3 people played).

But the latest version of AGS makes me PEE! It is fantastic!  Chris Jones has come up with so many huge improvements in a very short period of time.  Just think of all the new features that enter in one month alone!

First, I went in, looked at the engine, tried to find bits like the dialogue editor (faster), the views editor (much faster--and you can click through views instead of having to go back and forward tediously), the rooms editor (rooms with names so I actually know what the room is? That's craaazy!), the interactions editor (Conditionals rock!), and script editor (WHAT? It fills in my script *for me*?  That'll save the constant referents back to the help file.  Hell, why bother scripting at all--the engine does it for you).

I was amazed.

So then, I'm typing in co-ordinates for rooms, and I check the forums because miraculously, the room I imported at 320 x 200 remained proportional when I upgraded the game to 640 x 480 -- I mean, that has got to be an error that will disappear later, right?  It can't all have worked so beautifully and smothly, right?  Well I never bothered asking, because I read about the 'right-click to save room co-ordinates to the clipboard' feature, and I literally died.  I'm dead now as I write this.  I believe my left arm has become infested with those flesh eating insects the medics are all using these days.   The one most difficult and painstaking part of room interactions has been fixed.  And that only barely touches into the realm of regions, THOUSANDS of text colours, and easy "new room" feature (plus simple voice acting options, etc).

ARRRGGHH!! This engine is TOO GOOD!!!

Chris Jones, you are insane.  I am going to call the police, seriously, man, really, going to call up MI5 or Scotland Yard or the local constabulary and have you comitted because your are insane.  As soon as this death thing heals.

I really hope my girfriend is a necrophiliac.