Messages

Thanks for the comments! I forgot to mention that the game is still in debug mode. It's best to let Clark pick up the matches, or just press enter to add them to the current character.

TheJBurger & Guybrush P.: The problem you've encountered is that I simply haven't coded exchanging items yet. I forgot to mention that, sorry.

Darth:
1. I usually keep one option activated to keep the dialogue from auto exiting, I don't like it when it does that.

2. The dialogue windows flash for a fraction of a second when the next dialog text comes up, so I decided to put a wait() between each dialogue to prolong the pause. It simply feels more clean to me that way. ^^

_RyRayer_: There's a good chance they are. They were available for download at some free midi site.

Pablo: Thank you! The code for the verb coin is very simple. Here's a quick description: Make a GUI with 3 buttons. In repeatedly execute, make the GUI appear when the mouse button is being held down. Store the location number the mouse was over before the GUI appeared. Check for the button the mouse is currently over and once the button is released, trigger the corresponding action.

Mozesh: No idea when I'll finish this. Maybe before HT, even.

Thanks for trying it! There isn't much about I can do about the green, but I hope it won't disturb anyone too much.

Spoiler

Regarding the fire alarm: A dark corner may help you on your quest.

[close]

By the way, the demo is over after getting the second keycard.

A while ago, I took a break from Hero Theorem to make a small game with simpler graphics and sprites. This is what I have so far:

Click this here text to download!

Now, I kind of seem to have lost interest in this for some reason. I have a nice script and the puzzles planned out, and liked it in script form. Please give this a go and tell me what's wrong with it or just tell me what you think. Critique the graphics, dialogs/writing, gui, whatever you want.

---How to play---

Hold the right button so a verb coin pops up. Move over the desired icon and let go to trigger an action. Move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to access the inventory window. The rest is pretty standard adventure stuff. Hit F5 for a menu. You can change the game speed in it if you think it's too slow. A bit later in the game, you can use three buttons at the top to switch between different character modes.

Also, here's a screenshot:

Oh hey, let's all go and donate something to the Red Cross! IÃ, bet this would achieve more than driving this thread further into off-topic land. Arr!

One day everyone will stay in front of GOD.
You bombed Serbia!!!!
Now GOD is bombing you!!!!

LJUBI - The hurricane would have come even if all these things you've listed hadn't happened. In no possible way does anybody in the whole world deserve such a desaster, no matter what. Sure, you can be angry at americans for all these things for all I care, but saying this was a form of punishment for any of that goes too far. Please think again.

the reason behind the attacks was religious hatred not the fact that it's easy to do, the only solution to stop the attacks is an outright worldwide ban of religion but that's not going to happen so i guess people are going to continue to kill eachother and generally be stupid.

Even if we could make all religions disappear in a big bang, the crazy maniac fanatics (aka terrorists) would still remain. They'd find another way to fuel their agendas and hatred; politics, for example. If they can be so obsessive with their religion, why not with something else, too?

I'm not sure if there is a solution to this problem at all. Maybe it would help if we could change the way humans tick, but that sounds sort of hard to do. Humans tend to change rather slowly, if at all.

Where are we now? I heard lots of different things that give me the creeps:
1. They're taking off every waste basket from the tube, so that there is no danger coming from there.
2. They plan to make transparent bags, so everybody will be able to see what we're carying.
3. The plan to introduce electronic car tags, meaning that everybody will know where we are while driving (with the excuse that they do it to cut down crime).
4. They're planing to introduce a new law, which allows them to see any txt msg, e-mail or even track down where you actually are by using your mobile phone.
5. They're planing to put identity cards, with electronic tags, again...
6. There is a sign in every tube train saying: "For your added security video cameras are being introduced in London Underground system.", fine up to here, but goes on: "Anyone caught vandalizing or threatening our staff will be prosecuted.". I don't feel really reasured with this sign. I know that they will go after anyone who bothers the trains or the staff, but what about me? I actually feel quite threatened by this. The cameras are not there for our added security, but for guarding us against them.

Now, it would be a shame if our world turned into something like Orwell's 1984 because of terrorists. If some of these things (especially those electronic tags for tracking people's position) would actually become reality, it wouldn't be a nice world to live in. The growth of tolerance pales in comparision to the growth of science.

Thank you very much, kind sir! 

This is kind of an old thread, hope it's still okay to inform you of a bug:

When I switch rooms using SetPlayerCharacter, objects and regions (probably hotspots and walkable areas too) seem to use the status stored for the previous room. Looks like the module doesn't recognize the room change.

It would be great if you could fix this. I'd love to use this cool module for my game, but this one bug is preventing me from doing so.

Thanks~

If you want to use this module for whole conversations, you could do that with some pretty simple repeatedly execute code:

int queue;
function repeatedly execute() {

if ((BackgroundSpeech.IsCharacterSpeaking(cEgo)==0) && (BackgroundSpeech.IsCharacterSpeaking(cRoger)==0)) {queue = queue + 1;}

if (queue == 1) { BackgroundSpeech.Say(cEgo, "Hello."); }
if (queue == 2) { BackgroundSpeech.Say(cRoger, "What a lovely day!"); }
if (queue == 3) { BackgroundSpeech.Say(cEgo, "Meep!"); }
// ...and so on.
}

I didn't check if the code is error free, but it should explain how to do this.

God I suck at sprite making.

No, you don't. He's a good sprite, he is. (Also, god wouldn't care if you did, I'm sure. )

Assuming you want to keep the outline style, I made this quick edit:



I added another layer of shading and took the liberty to change his form a little. Is this what you were looking for? Or would you like to get rid of the outlines, which then would be a completely different spriting style?

The guy in the edit looks like he's been just punched in the stomach.

Would you explain why you think that, please? I can't seem to see what makes him look like that. Is it his face? His pose? Thanks in advance.

I've been making games for 5 years now. I have so many unfinished projects sitting on my harddrive that it's a shame. Some of them are joint efforts with Gustav, a friend of mine. We always aimed so high that the amount of work became too much for us to handle, and we quit. We did that to 4 or 5 promising projects.

A month ago or so, I started a solo project, my smallest one ever. No 12+ hour gameplay blockbuster, no story with endless twists and turns. Only a handful levels and enemies and re-used tilesets in some levels. Kinoko's 'Release Something'-Thread gave me the final prod to give this tiny-sized project a shot. It was the first time I've actually brought something to completion. People liked it despite the fact that it was really short. It's on Underdogs now, too. Makes me happy, that.

All this probably can be condenserized into the following conclusion:

The first game, no matter how long you've been trying to make games and how well you know your coding, should be very small. If you manage to finish it, you can make a slightly bigger project next time, and so on. That's how it seems to work for me.

It seems this has worked for others as well: Gustav made a small action puzzle game, then made a bigger game called Streambolt. The Herculean Effort guys made Apprentice, and then Apprentice 2. Hamish (an ex-member of the gamedev group I'm in) made Furry, a small platformer. Then Commando, a bigger platformer. It seems people's abilities shap up quite a bit with each finished game.

My game Hero Theorem (my current project, medium size) keeps progressing decently, and it's over the 50% mark now. I cut a lot of the game out (reducing the original size by a good 40%), yet I still like what it's becoming. Despite the fact that it's not one of the super-epics I used to dream of. I'd much rather make shorter games that'll be finished for sure than super-huge epics I grow tired of. When you're past the half, the end starts coming into sight. That feels good.

Ghost, I'd suggest you make it a smaller game for now. Maybe splitting up the story into two or three games would be possible? You could make each game better than the last, and maybe also take the feedback you'll recieve to heart. Either way, good luck with your project! ^^

This game looks promising indeed. I've always liked SNES action rpgs (SOM 1+2, Terranigma), or whatever the proper definition for them is.

Oh hey, didn't you say something about a demo in your 'Release Something' thread? How's that coming along? Still planning to release one?

First of all, great overall looks and style to your game... I'm REALLY looking forward to it. Now, a little request:

In rooms with reflective floors, I would just LOVE the player character to be reflected in it. It's something that really bothers me in newer, commercial adventures. I think it shouldn't be too hard to do, adding a flipped version of the sprite (maybe a little less contrasty, or even translucent, OR even dissolving with the distance) beneath the player sprite. It might look cool, and I remember having it seen in "Monkey Island 2".

Thanks! I'll most likely not add mirroring because there are quite a few different characters moving about in the library. It would be sort of hard to do for all of them.

I'd just like to say the portrait of the two main characters is amazingÃ,  :o.And see the character with red hair, he has a anime/manga look to him. I was wondering will other characters look this way too or was it not deliberate?

Thanks. I usually try to draw with only a hint of manga (no big eyes/small noses etc). My characters will most likely always look slightly manga-esque, I've always drawn that way and can't seem to put it off.

By the way, the kid's hair should be brown, not red. I hate being color blind.

There's many ways. You could use a global integer and add 1 to it when you hand over an item. You can run a check if it's 3 and make him say something when it is.

You could as well use a global variable, or add the items you handed over to the NPC's inventory and check which ones he has.

Check SetGlobalInt() and GetGlobalInt() in the manual, and alsoÃ, Character.AddInventory(), Character.LoseInventory() and Character.InventoryQuantity[] in the manual for details.

I'd have a solution, but it's a bit messy. And you'd have to write your own function. You need it for a straight line, right?

Create a new character and set its speed to 0 (makes it move instantly to a position), we'll let it be the bullet. Write a function with the variables 'fromchar' and 'tochar' or similar.

In the function, do these things, and make sure to execute them in this order:

1. Set the bullet chara position to x and y of the character specified with variable 'fromchar'.

2. Use MoveStraight with the bullet character and use the x and y values of 'tochar' as your destination.

3. Check if the character overlaps the 'tochar' character. Character.GetAtScreenXY() would work, and maybe character[].IsCollidingWithChar(), too. Return 1 if it overlaps, or 0 if it doesn't.

Alias - You're right. And just in case it runs too slow for someone, AGS has a downgrade to 16 bit option now. Handy!

Calacver - Thanks! ^^

Bigmac - I had to cut out a part of the game and that threw me way back to 30%, but now I'm back at 50%. Hooray!

Here's a pic of the two main characters:



By the way, a lot of the older screenshots aren't up to date anymore, I've edited and redrawn a few of the backgrounds, and some had to go completely.

Loop areas sounds cool, but it's pretty specific, and kinda complicated. I've always coded it myself and never had any problems with that.

I wouldn't find setting two or three values per loop very complicated. Also, I'm not sure why it would be much more specific than the coded version. Wouldn't the result be the same? If it were integrated in AGS, we could make easy use of it during idle animations, too. Would look great during animated background speech and on walkcycles.

I sounds like it would be hard to implement into AGS, though.

Yes, because I'm using a few alpha channel sprites. The resolution is pretty low, so I guess this shouldn't cause too much speed loss - or so I hope.

Hehe, now I'd like to know why you want to know that... do tell, please!

I'd find more frames per loop very useful, too.

Since we're on the topic, would it be possible to make a button of sorts to set all frames in a loop to a certain speed?

Another interesting idea would be 'loop areas', where we could specify a range of frames the animation would keep looping if the loop boolean has been passed as 1, and maybe for walk and talk animations, too (could be a game option). That way, animations could have an intro and outro, allowing for smoother transitions. This can be coded to some extent (I've done that for my game), but it uses up so many frame loops.

EDIT - The last suggestion is already in the tracker. Sorry~

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php?action=detail&id=472

I had one of these medion tablets too. It worked great for about 3 years. Still works, with some minor hiccups. I paid about 40 Euros for it, not bad at all! I'm using a Wacom A4 tablet now, but they're really expensive.

I found a cheap medion tablet on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39980&item=6787500234&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW