Topics

Interesting article from the NY Times on LucasArts: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/technology/17lucas.html 

You might need to login to read the article, just nab a pw from www.bugmenot.com if you're so inclined. 

It seems they really want to be the "Number 1" game company.  I found a couple things of interest:

1) They're making a new Indiana Jones game.  They didn't say what type of game it woudl be, but why do I have the feeling it won't be an "adventure" in the traditional sense?  I envision 3 dimensions and endless crates.

2) A former advertising executive is running the company.  That bodes well.  People without any experience with video games SHOULD run a software company.  He actually said, "It is absolutely a sin," that the Godfather game wasn't released on time.  It's people like this that force out buggy games that haven't been properly tested.

3) Finally, I like this quote: "one of Mr. Ward's main goals is to create original franchises."  What a short memory they have over there.  It seems to me that LucasArts excelled at making original franchises until they switched over to mass producing Star Wars games.   No mention of LucasArt's history in the 90s is mentioned.  Anyway, check the article out.

-Logan

The date is set!  We will be having a meeting of AGS enthusiasts this coming Labor Day weekend (Sept 2-4th) hosted by myself, Anarcho, in Washington DC. 

Possible activities could include:

Talking about how great computer games are while staring at the Lincoln monument:



Comparing the works of Georgia O'Keefe as seen in the Smithsonian to the works of Steve Purcell:



and drinking a special "AGS ALE" homebrewed by yours truly and guaranteed to inspire disturbingly dark amateur adventures.



If you would like to attend and haven't already spoken up, either post a message in this thread or PM me.  I am going to ask that this is a 18+ event for obvious reasons, and if you're under 21, please PM me to talk about it before you come.

There will be limited accomodations available in my apartment (if you dare), otherwise I can help people with finding a hostel or hotel.  This hostel is actually a couple blocks from my apartment and in a very cool neighborhood:

http://www.washingtondchostel.com/prices.html

and here is another one with reasonable prices:

http://www.hostels.com/en/availability.php/HostelNumber.1859

Let me know how I can help, and I hope to see you here!

Logan



________________________________________________

Hi all,

A little while back, a few of us on Irc were talking about having a meet-up here in the US.  I live in Washington, DC and would be willing to host such an event.  I'm thinking we could do this over a weekend, or possibly over a long weekend (Friday-Sunday).  It can get miserably hot around here in the summer, so the best time to do it would probably be in May or early September, though I'm willing to do it anytime (though I might mention I'm out of town May 28 - June 4).

As for accommodations, I live in a one-bedroom apartment with my girlfriend and a cat.  Depending on how many people come, some people can certainly crash here.  Alternately, there are a few hostels in the area, though I'm not sure about availability.  We've also got plenty of hotels, if you're rolling in doe.

As for what we could do--I'm right in downtown dc, just a metro ride from all the monuments & Smithsonian.  There are a lot of restaurants around, and some fun bars.  If it's warm enough and people wanted to do it, we could also drive out to the beach (though it's a few hours away).  Oh and of course, we can get all nerdy and discuss Adventure-ish things all day and night.

I think I'd have to put an age restriction on this, either 18 or 21.  I don't know which would be better.

Anyway, let me know if you're interested!


Logan

Hi, I was hoping to get a little C&C with this sprite.  I'm better at backgrounds, so drawing sprites is a little frustrating for me...any advice would certainly be welcome.  Just to give you some background, this kid is from a poor home, he's a bit mentally handicapped, and can't talk.  I always imagined him as a sort of hump-back type, but this is the best version I've come up with yet.

thanks,

Logan

I haven't made a lot of backgrounds set outside, so I'd like a bit of c&c.  Do the trees in the foreground look ok?  How about the forest in the background?  I'd like to put something in that empty hilly space near the middle, but I'm not sure what.  I'd also like to change the horizon a bit, but not sure how.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks

Logan

Here's something I've been wondering.  Is there an easy way to alter artwork to coincide with changes in time and weather?  I've been spending a lot of time doing textures and hand-drawn gradients to line up with nighttime scenes.  But what about when it's daytime?  I really enjoy games that feature dynamic environments, but will including night-time and day-time backgrounds mean twice as much work?  Somehow I feel like if I just lower the darkness of the background using psp, it won't look quite right.  Are there strategies people employ to approach this problem, or is it just a matter of doing it the hard way?

-Logan

Thoughts on this bg?  I think it looks a little busy and it's hard to figure out what to focus on, but I wanted the room to look like a nasty mess.  It's not exactly where I want it, so any suggestions would be helpful.  Thanks.

Defective Yeti has rendered the Iraq Invasion into a text-adventure.   It's pretty funny...

http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/001561.html

Hey, I just started out on this room but it's not looking right.  It's supposed to be an upstairs room where the cieling slants down heavily on the right like an attic.  But it just doesn't seem to look right.  How do I fix it? 

Hi, can I get some feedback on this bathroom?



I'm not entirely satisfied with the walls, I'm thinking there is a small light on the cieling, and then a little light coming in from the windows...but it looks a little off.  Also, I'm wondering how this room looks in comparison to this hallways I made a little while ago.  Do they look like they'd be in the same house?

Hi,

I'm hoping to get a little C&C on this background.  I've tried a few things that I don't have much experience...namely this  shadow/texture you see on the walls and a bit on the floor.  How's it look?  And how about those indentations in the doors?  I couldn't get them to look exactly right...

Thanks

Logan

Do we have a thread somewhere that lists good freeware game sites?  It would be good to have a list somewhere, maybe a sticky in the completed games forum, so that enterprising AGSers can advertise their games on places other than the forums.  I just googled "freeware games" and came across a site called HippoGames...never heard of it before, but they have quite a few adventures for download (including 5DAS and 7DAS) with reviews---plus they get a ton of traffic.  I just submitted my game to them for review. 

If this hasn't been done before, maybe everyone can submit a few of their favorite sites, so that we can help spread the word beyond our borders about the many great AGS games out there.

-Logan


Here are a few sites that I know of:

www.the-underdogs.org
www.gamehippo.com/
http://www.reloaded.org/
www.adventuregamers.com/
http://www.diygames.com/

This is my first foray into low-res character art.  Any thoughts?  I didn't put a definite "mouth" on his face...i'm not sure if it's necessary.  How's the shading?  Is his left foot screwed up?

Edit: I've added a second character.  A small boy.  Any C&C on both characters would be helpful.

[MITTENS 2006 INFORMATION]

MITTENS 2006 INFORMATION

(If you don't know what mittens is, please read the wiki)

* Mittens this year will be organised by Farlander.
* It will take place in Benidorm, Spain.
* From Wed 16th August to Wed 23rd August 2006.
* You must be 18 years or older to attend.

Link to the camp site that we'll be staying at

___________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: 8.18.05 9:06 AM Version 1.1. is available for download below, and this time, the game starts at the beginning!  I also fixed certain bugs found by aussie.

UPDATE: 8.19.05 9:24 AM There is a slight bug at the beginning of the game after all of the cutscenes where the game will freeze on the wait icon.  Just hit ESC when this happens to end the cutscene.  But be sure this is the end of all cutscenes so you don't miss anything.  I would fix this right away but my computer apparently won't boot.

UPDATE: 8.31.05 Version 1.2 is now available.  This version has two of the big bugs fixed...the lag in the beginning and an incomplete walkable area near the water fountain.  More updates to come!  If you find additional bugs, let me know.
___________________________________________________________________

At long last, I am pleased to finally release:

EMILY ENOUGH: IMPRISONED

[/b]

By Logan Worsley

Betatesters: Steve McCrea, Petteri and Totoro

Emily Enough: Imprisoned is the touching story of a misguided but brilliant child heiress turned murderer, and her descent into the corporate underbelly of a New York State asylum.   The game features 640x400 hi color graphics and all original music.

Enjoy!

Download it at my new website here

Screenshots:

And special thanks to Scotch for hosting!!!

****Warning****

This game contains strong language, violence and even a little nudity.  It is not a game for the faint of heart.

What's the story with trademarks and copyrights?  Is it necessary to formally get copyrights and trademarks for AGS games to prevent people from stealing characters, ideas or stories?  I don't seriously expect people to do this with anything I've currently done, but I can imagine how pissed off I'd be if some company stole ideas/plot/a whole game of mine and sold it.  Has anyone ever trademarked or copyrighted their games before?  I see that you can do it through the US Library of Congress for $30.

Just wondering...

I've been testing a new GUI and it was almost working, but now when I call up anything---the quit , load and save GUI, the proper screen will appear, but none of the buttons will work.  My script is sort of a mish-mash of stuff I've gotten from various posts---and it sure isn't pretty.  I've looked through it a number of times for missing/misplaced brackets, and I fixed one...but I can't see anything else that is wrong with it.  Help!

My GUI script:

if (interface == ICONBAR) {
    if (button == 4) {  // show inventory
      show_inventory_window();
    }
    else if (button == 5) {   // use selected inventory
      if (character[ GetPlayerCharacter() ].activeinv >= 0)
         SetCursorMode(4);
    }
    else if (button == 6) {   // save game
         
      ListBoxSaveGameList(7,2); // Fill List Box with saved games
      SetCursorMode(6);
      GUIOn(SAVE);                   // Bring Save interface on             
    }
         
    else if (button == 7) {   // load game
      SetCursorMode(6);
      ListBoxSaveGameList(4,0);
      GUIOn(LOADGUI);
     
    }
    else if (button == 8) {  // quit
      SetCursorMode(6);
      GUIOn(QUITGUI);
    }
    else if (button == 9)    // about
      Display("EMILY ENOUGH: IMPRISONED[by Logan Worsley Adventure Game Studio v2 run-time engine[Copyright (c) 1999-2003 Chris Jones");
    // end if interface ICONBAR

    if (interface == INVENTORY) {
    // They clicked a button on the Inventory GUI
   
    if (button == 1) {
      // They pressed SELECT, so switch to the Get cursor
      SetCursorMode (MODE_USE);
      // But, override the appearance to look like the arrow
      SetMouseCursor (6);
    }
   
    if (button == 2) {
      // They pressed LOOK, so switch to that mode
      SetActiveInventory(-1);
      SetCursorMode(MODE_LOOK); 
    }
    if (button == 3) {
      // They pressed the OK button, close the GUI
      GUIOff (INVENTORY);
      SetDefaultCursor();
    }

    if ((button == 4) && (game.top_inv_item < game.num_inv_items - game.num_inv_displayed)) {
      // scroll down
      game.top_inv_item = game.top_inv_item + game.items_per_line;
    }
    if ((button == 5) && (game.top_inv_item > 0)){
      // scroll up
      game.top_inv_item = game.top_inv_item - game.items_per_line;
    }
  }


  if (interface == QUITGUI) {   
    if (button == 1) {
      QuitGame(0);
    }
    if (button == 2) {
      GUIOff(QUITGUI);
      Mouse.UseDefaultGraphic();
    }
  } 
//INTERFACE SAVE GAME

    if (interface == SAVE) {
     // List element was clicked, copy selected item's text to the TextBox
  if (button==2) {
     bg_save_idx = ListBoxGetSelected(SAVE,2);
     ListBoxGetItemText(SAVE,2,bg_save_idx,bg_save_buf);
     if (StrComp(bg_save_buf,"<new>")==0) StrCopy(bg_save_buf,"");
     SetTextBoxText(SAVE,3,bg_save_buf);
  }

  // SAVE button was pressed, save the game
  else if (button==0) {
     SetRestartPoint();                 // Restart here
     bg_save_idx=ListBoxGetSelected(SAVE,2); // Save game in new save game slot
     ListBoxGetItemText(SAVE,2,bg_save_idx,bg_save_buf);
     if (StrComp(bg_save_buf,"<new>")==0) {   
        bg_save_slot = ListBoxGetNumItems(SAVE,2);
        GetTextBoxText(SAVE,3,bg_save_buf); 
        if (StrComp(bg_save_buf,"")==0) StrFormat(bg_save_buf,"Game-%d",bg_save_slot);
     }
     else {                             // Over-write an existing save game
        bg_save_slot=savegameindex[bg_save_idx]; // slot with name from textbox.
        GetTextBoxText(SAVE,3,bg_save_buf); 
       if (StrComp(bg_save_buf,"")==0) ListBoxGetItemText(SAVE,2,bg_save_idx,bg_save_buf);
     }
     GUIOff(SAVE);          // Close dialog amd return
     //TURN ON NORMAL GAME GUIs HERE
     SaveGameSlot(bg_save_slot, bg_save_buf); // Perform save operation last otherwise
     //Display("Saved as: %s", bg_save_buf);    // SAVE dialog will be active on restore
  }

  // CANCEL button was pressed, cancel operation
  else if (button==1) {
     GUIOff(SAVE);          // Close dialog and return
     //TURN ON NORMAL GAME GUIs HERE
  }
}

//INTERFACE 6 - RESTORE GAME

if (interface == LOADGUI) {
  // CANCEL button was pressed, cancel operation
   if (button==1) {
     Mouse.UseDefaultGraphic();
     GUIOff(LOADGUI);       // Close dialog and return

     //TURN ON NORMAL GAME GUIs HERE
  }

  // RESTORE button was pressed, restore the game
  else if (button==0) {
     bg_restore_idx=ListBoxGetSelected(LOADGUI,2); // Perform save operation
     if (bg_restore_idx==-1) {          // No selection, nothing to restore
        Display("Please make a selection first...");
     }
     else                               // Ok continue restoring game
     {
        ListBoxGetItemText(LOADGUI,2,bg_restore_idx,bg_restore_buf);
        RestoreGameSlot(savegameindex[bg_restore_idx]);
        //Display("Restored from: %s",bg_restore_buf);
        Mouse.UseDefaultGraphic();
        GUIOff(LOADGUI);
     }
   
    if ((button == 4) && (game.top_inv_item < game.num_inv_items - game.num_inv_displayed)) {
      // scroll down
      game.top_inv_item = game.top_inv_item + game.items_per_line;
    }
    if ((button == 3) && (game.top_inv_item > 0)){
      // scroll up
      game.top_inv_item = game.top_inv_item - game.items_per_line;
    }

  }
}
}

Hi, I just made my first custom inventory GUI and I've come across one problem.  When I look at an object in the inventory, the character's speech is displayed behind the GUI and off to the side.  Is there a way I can set the speech to always be directly below the GUI when the inventory is open, or have the inventory GUI disappear while the character is describing what's in there?

I've been looking through the manual and functions for an answer, but haven't found one...

First of all, if this has come up before, I apologize.  I didn't see it mentioned in the suggestion tracker.

Is there any way to increase the number of frames that are allowed in each animation loop?  I would find this particularly useful for idle and talking animations, as I inevitably run out of frames when putting together something complex.  With most animations, you can always continue through to the next loop, but with idle animations you need to be able to go back to the beginning and repeat, and talking animations each have their own front/back/left/right views so you can't continue to the next loop.  I've had to cut out certain actions or gestures several times because there weren't enough available frames.

Maybe I'm way off base and there are ways to do this without changes to the engine, but if not I would love to see this improvement.

I started to ponder this question while on a plane last night (because, as you see, i'm a dork).  I don't know if this has come up before, and I know it might sound like a lame topic for discussion, but I think it's interesting.  I think that when it comes to a game's design, deciding on character speech or text boxes for  visual observations makes a big difference in any game. 

Think to the difference between a Monkey Island game and a King's Quest game.  When you look at an object in MI, Guybrush makes some pithy comment about his surroundings.  When you look at an object in King's Quest, you get some grandiose description from some godly narrator. 

Now obviously if a game leans more towards comedy and works the character speech angle, you're going to expect a less serious response.  But no matter how serious a game can be, if it only uses character speech to respond to "look" commands, you're going to miss out on rich descriptions that can help develop setting.  This is one thing I feel I missed out on in my game, Emily Enough.  I only used character speech, and found that I couldn't build up the creepiness of the setting just by using Emily's own observations.  I could, however, build up her character by allowing the player (which has just been me, so far) to see how she responds to different things.

I'm working on the design for my next game, and I think i might go the opposite route with a narrator describing things rather than the character doing it.  I just think back to games like King's Quest III that were visually unimpressive, but still very indepth and creepy because the designers did a good job of building up the setting through commands like "LOOK AT BOWL" and "LOOK AT STAIRS".

Does any of this make sense?  Is it at all interesting?  Thoughts?

I've had this problem forever, and have yet to figure out how to fix it.

Say I have two walkable areas.  Both areas use continuous scaling.  The area in the foreground goes from 100% to 90%, and the second goes from 90% to 20%.  The problem is, when the character walks onto the second second area, she doesn't smoothly move from 90% to 90% scaling, but makes a big jump to a smaller size.  I don't have the two regions interlocking, so that she would accidently walk onto part of the second region that is at 70%...I think this should work but it doesn't.

Any thoughts?