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I discovered the SetWindow function, it's pretty nifty. With 640x480 I either get a tiny window in the top-left, a tiny window constantly spinning(this happens in a number of resolutions) or an error. I'm not on my home machine either, so I'm afraid I don't have the details.

One new problem I've had is that the third 'Ray Hits' float goes off the edge of my screen so I can't read it and just have to estimate where objects should go. Also, in a QTVR context it would be very useful to be able to change the filter for all objects at once in-game, and possibly to position them. This would make it very easy to position objects to act as hotspots, then make them invisible.

Hope you're enjoying what sounds like a holiday/sitting in a hotel lobby for no reason. Feel free to relax and not bother dealing with my ungrateful whining.

I'm having trouble with 640x480, the same problem Garage gothic mentioned earlier in the thread. At high-res I just get a 320x240 window in the top left of my screen. I remember an earlier demo that worked in 640x480, but the documentation for the new version says it's still supported.

I'm interested in the QuicktimeVR-ish possibilities you've demonstrated Mr McCrea, so high res would definitely be preferable. Also, would it be possible to alter the size of the 3D window within a game, so a player could choose based on the speed of their PC?

Sorry for all the questions, but my understanding of how this works is minimal, I just think it's pretty and fun.

My apologies Steve, I'd seen those images but I'd misunderstood what I was looking at. I was also under the impression that Quicktime VR used a cylinder or a sphere rather than a cube. 

Now I understand I wish I had the time to play around with this.

Myst is a poor example because it uses still 2D images.
As I understand it, games like Zork Nemesis, Black Dahlia and Post Mortem work like Quicktime VR. A panaromic 2d image distorted with a sort of fish-eye so that when you pan and tilt it creates the illusion of a three-dimensional environment. I'm not sure whether AGS 3d would be suited to this kind of thing currently.

A distorting panorama would be a great feature, but would require AGSers to master panoramic rendering/photgraphy before it would be very useful. I something like this was developed though I think it would encourage people experiment, though I can't say I have any idea of how real-time distortion would work.

['monkey brain operates machine']

I'm afraid I was distracted by the 'see also' link titled 'monkey brain operates machine'.

I daren't click in case it's not a mechanical banana picker, or some kind of dung flinging apparatus.

Vignettes are something I'll have to add in in PS after.Ã,  I assume you used a graphics application similar to PS for that paintover, any chance of a tut?

I'm afraid I deleted the files after I posted, so I can't show you the sequence I followed, but I'll describe it. You can add vignettes afterwards, but I'd suggest you always bear them in mind while lighting, then you've got a double-vignette pincer movement that can look super-nifty.

1. Desatutated the colours by about 70%.
2. Crudely atempted to get rid of the halo around the lights (you wouldn't need to do that of course).
3. Masked off the walls of the house (not the beams).
4. Used a light brown with a multiply blending mode to darken and weather the edges, and to simulate soft shadowing.
5. Used the mask again to do the same to the beams, then the door, the tombstones and the grass.
6. Tinted the midtones towards sepia and the shadows to browny-green. Instead of doing this you could just change the original colours in your scene.
7. Blended a number of (blasphemy!) gradients for the sky including a light circular halo behind the building. You'd want to take more care over this than I did - a few whispy clouds would look great.
8. Copied and pasted the (now dim) window-glass, blurred it and used the screen filter to create a glow.
9. Got a big ol' soft brush and used the a light grey with a multiply filter to darken the corners of the screen.

Im afraid I can't help you with UV unwrapping in max, I use Blender. What Geoffkhan said about lighting from pitch black sounds like very good advice though.

Hope that's helpful.

I think you have a really nice scene here, but it's spoiled by the texturing and lighting. I find your colours to be overly saturated and there are too many conflicting light sources that damage the composition of the images.

Don't get me wrong, I really like what you're doing and I know how difficult it can be to texture scenes like this. I'd suggest you consider the following:

1. Make use of wide, skewed angles with your camera as well as with the scene. The dead-on shot of the house is striking, but the closer shots lack focus. Also, tilt up to cut off grass rather than the roof.

2. Create a new, more intricate scene for the close-up of the door. The beams look a little too wide when we're that near to them. It would allow you to add interesting details and textures.

3. Instead of using lots of little spot-lights, try using just one or two. Don't worry about where the light should come from in the scene - it isn't important with this style. Angle them to pick out the details you're interested in and to model the shape of the scene. The bright stars are also a little distracting, you neededn't get rid of them (as below) but I'd suggest making them fainter and fewer.

4. Use vignettes where necessary to guide the viewer's ayes to the points of interest. Include some shadowing in the textures. Make objects darker towards their edges.

6. Choose a limited number of colours that suit the mood of the location, and be creative with them.

Here's an image to give you an idea of what I mean. You probably wouldn't want it to look so monochrome, choose a pallete that fits with your idea of fireview.

I'm deeply suspicious of this kind of screenplay formula. That isn't to say I have a problem with strict narrative conventions, I love fairy tales which are highly formulaic. I just feel that the form of a narrative should grow out of its content. The content shouldn't necessarily be shoe-horned into a preset structure.

On the other hand, I think this is a very useful way of approaching and analysing modern blockbusters. I also think it would be a lot of use to people writing adventure game plots, because it's often more fun to find yourself in a formulaic narrative than it is to find yourself watching one.

Thanks for posting it Geoffkhan, it's though provoking. If anyone is interested in stepping back in time pre- this guy and pre-Joseph Campbell, Vladimir Propp set out 31 functions which loosely describe almost any folk tale, fairy tale or hollywood fairy tale.

Noir detectives don't kill their way to the truth.

You must of forgot about Max Payne.

I have not! Max Payne was what started my bi-monthly 'Noir detectives don't kill their way to the truth' rant.

On topic though, the second knife image is a vast, vast improvement. The clarity of the composition is much stronger. I would suggest you make the ketchup on the document the same shade as that on the floor. I also think the document is a little to large to be on the floor and further away from the knife. To me it looks a little like it is being dropped by the hand in the foreground.

If that was your intention, however, never mind!

-Ali

Radiant's Font Editor loads bmps, SCI fonts and TTF and it saves SCI fonts. It's not exactly what you've asked for but it's easy to use and it would certainly allow you to tailor the font to the style of your game

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=23521.0

I favour the second passage because it is more fluid and has gently wry humour that the first lacks. The first is more precise and mechanical, and consequently less enjoyable. The character is a machine, but I, the reader, am not*. Most importantly, at the end of the second passage, I genuinely wanted to get on and solve the mystery.

There are, however places where the second passage seems a little clumsy. The repetition of 'emerge' and 'information' after the screen shake doesn't seem as intentional as the effective repetition of 'satisfaction' in the second paragraph of the same passage.

I would also suggest substituting 'logic' and 'illogical' for 'reason' and 'irrational' once or twice. This is simply because I think "Spock" whenever I hear 'illogical' used repeatedly.

This last point is just a thought, but for me, this reads like a voice-over. It's full of signifiers that we only just have enough information to grasp. The point I'd like to make is that it's much more interesting and enjoyable to hear someone speak material which cannot fully be understood than to read it. One thing you might consider would be writing an abridged version to use as a game intro and include the full version in the game's readme. It think that could be have better pace in the context of the game. Presumably, opportunities to give depth to the Exos and their Domus would come through exploration of locations.

As I say, that's just a thought. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

-Ali.

And as an aside: Great to have you back! We missed you!

Seconded!

*Or if I am, a squashy pink machine.

If I were you I'd redraw the character at low resolution (that is, guybrush's resolution). I think you're absolutely right to try an put together your game with simpler graphics to begin with. Fo that reason you'll save time with low-res style.

This is a not-particularly-good  paintover to indicate what I mean:

Admittedly, my paintover looks like guybrush dressed as a mignight-cowboy style hustler, but try to get past that. I think you'd find it easier to shade at this resolution, simply because there are fewer pixels to deal with.

[Artphreak:]

I need some help with the final scene:

Spoiler

I read the post about giving rabbinical responses to "out rabbi" him but I cannot seem to choose the correct responses-the girl always dies and then so do I one way or another...any further hints?

[close]

Artphreak:
I'm not certain of this but...

Spoiler

Did you show mercy on the subway? If you didn't, I'm not sure it's possible to save her.

[close]

I don't visit the forum for a year and some odd days and then I get a picture of a photoshopped asian kid in my inbox.

If that's what it took to bring you back, I think it was worth it.

Glad to see you on the boards again!

This looks great!

Does the second screenshot show a character singing-in-denial about a scary forest or have I misunderstood?

Oh, 1 last thing. If my planned Resolution was to be 640 x 480, does that include the GUI (I think thats what its called, you know, the Pick Up, Push, Pull etc) and if so, should I be drawing slightly smaller then the 640 x 480 ?

If the Graphical Usier Interface (GUI) is going to be visible all the time, as in Monkey Island, you should draw your background smaller. There's no point drawing something no one will see.

I'd suggest, and this is a matter of taste, that you consider making your backgrounds with an aspect ratio of something like 640x400 even if you have pop-up GUIs. The reason I'd say that is that a wider image is better suited to showing a character in context. Less-square aspect ratios also compel you to be more creative in terms of composition without actually being more difficult to work with.

This was an enjoyable and distinctive adventure. Bravo!

I would love to see this style of dialogue based investigation employed in a longer game. It would really allow characters to develop. If you're not planning another Rabbi Stone game I may be compelled to become a Rabbi as a substitue.

In a Columbo/Stonesque manner, just one more question:

Spoiler

Do I recognise the girl in the bar? Talking apparently to no-one eh?

[close]

Couldn't you create 2 identical rooms, one with roofs and one without? Then when the player walks through a door, send all the visible characters from one room to the other and set the transition mode to dissolve.

I don't know if that would be game-size-efficient, but I guess it could work.

[object]

Yeah, and Bunny Milk, I got the hang of cutscenes, like if I want to make the title fade in, I make a new view and a loop and assign it to a character that looks stuningly like the title. I get it.

I'm no expert, but I think it would be better to make a title an object rather than a character. You probably wouldn't need it to talk or change rooms, so that youd be easier.

Also, there are many royalty free sound effects available the web, particularly for non-commercial use.

I'm glad to hear you're working on Blender/Anim8or support, I don't mind waiting. Since your previous post asked for any requests for the plugin I thought I'd mention a smallish-one. While it's currently possible to set the camera's tilt on the Z axis, would it be possible to set its roll on the Z axis (or whatever axis is depth)?

Good luck with your thesis!