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If you're doing nice grid-based movements I'd suggest using a 2d array.  Everytime the object is dragged and let go, find the new mouse position relative to the old mouse position to find out which direction it was dragged.  Then check those new positions in the matrix to see if it is empty, update and redraw.  For example:

{ {0, 0, 2, 2}
   {1, 1, 1, 2}
   {1, 0, 2, 2}
   {1, 0, 0, 0} }

0 = empty, 1 = shape 1, 2 = shape 2

If you try to move shape 1 to the right, first check that the array is big enough each time and if so check the item to the right of each 1.  If any of the checks return something other than 0 or 1 then change some variable to mean that it is impossible (a boolean is suitable).  Otherwise, set all the 1's to 0's and all the 0's in the new position to 1's.

Def that RPG looks fantastic, please keep going!

My ideal game would be one that gets finished.  Seriously though, I'd like to make a simple tile-based RPG with mech combat and take it from there.  Different parts of the mech can be upgraded after buying, researching or finding the technology.  Advanced mechs can spawn repair droids and anti-missile droids etc.

I'd also like to make a sidescrolling shoot-em-up (see avatar), but coding that from scratch (or even in AGS for that matter) is a little out of my reach.  Nevertheless, it's a fun thing to make graphics for.

I've gotten into the park and had a little wander around, looks good so far!  I'll get back to you when I get further

This is the best MAGS turnout I think I've ever seen, I'll see if I can play these over the weekend.

For the dust problem, if possible, move your computer out of the desk fully while its still plugged in, take the side off and turn it on to see if the fans are spinning properly.  Otherwise, just unplug it, take the side off and clean the fans.  You're not really risking much damage unless you touch the circuitry a lot.  Just give your boards a little blow and use tissues to clean out the fans and the rest of the casing.

For the memtest program, I use one that comes with the Knoppix boot CD.  You can download the image at ftp://ftp.knoppix.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/knoppix/ (get the latest version in your language).  You might also find Knoppix useful if your Windows ever stops working because you can still access most of your things through Knoppix to back them up.

I was getting memory problems after inserting a new RAM module, but testing each module individually in each slot turned out fine in Memtest when ran for about 24+ hours each.  I think I may have been using more RAM than the motherboard is allowed in the specification (check your motherboard manual).  It was those sort of gremlin problems where random things were going wrong - scanning on startup, sometimes 'fixing' hundreds or thousands of dodgy files, unreliable copying and saving, programs no longer working.

Be sure to back up everything that is important to you, preferably several copies in case your computer makes a mess of copying.  Try running Seatools and getting Memtest to work if you haven't already, or try similar programs.  It is possible that your motherboard may be faulty, but I don't know if there is an easy way to prove that.  Sometimes these problems can be a nightmare to track down

Looks like one to keep an eye on over the coming months, very interesting indeed.  I'm hoping it will be useful for testing out game ideas, tilesets etc pretty quickly, and then writing the final game from scratch.

How very odd.  Have you got something weird going on with palettes in your png - maybe if colours are being reduced they're being converted to those weird shapes.  Check that the RGB of your background is the same throughout, and is this happening to all sprites of all sizes, colours and only pngs?  If you upload the original png other people can try importing it too. 

Perhaps imagine the window as a grid of squares (or rectangles) and make a 2d matrix for the cleanliness of each part of the window.  Have a section in repeatedly_execute to see where the mouse is moving and what matrix position it is in to update the matrix.  Make particularly dirty areas into objects that change graphic as the window is cleaned.  The window is cleaned when, for example, the matrix contains all 0's.

Fantastic edit Scotch, and a great reference piece too.

Dgarrrr!



32x32, 9 colours (including background)

Radiant: According to reviews on Amazon I think they are the VGA remakes.

I also read bad things about these packages, that they are just thrown together very poorly, with an out-of-date verson of DOSBox that doesn't run the games very well.  The sounds seem to be altered a little, copy protection left in LSL, no physical manuals but pdfs instead, and the 'firecracker' bug in KQ6 is still there (of which I know nothing about).  It all sounds like Sierra have no care at all for their older games but just want a cheap sale, and well, I'll probably still be a sucker for that.

Haven't played a single SQ, KQ, PQ or LSL game in my lifetime, but have so wanted to.  Wouldn't be surprised if I buy the lot.

Great game!  I'll admit I had to use the help thread a little, but the puzzles are all logical.

I'm in the prison and I've found a bug.  If you use the map in your inventory when in prison the inventory GUI stays open, the text appears behind the GUI and will not disappear over time.  It can't be skipped with space or anything else I can think of.  I'm using v1.1, but I didn't see anything about this being fixed in the releases since.

AWOL = Absent WithOut Leave, meaning they've joined the competition and then disappeared off the face of the Earth.  I'm really surprised the idea got any interest, hopefully if enough people approve it might get off the ground.

I haven't made a RoN game because I only remember about RoN around once a year and as Radiant says, it has grown very big now, so I'd also vote for a new series.

I don't know much about Bradless but IMO that was out of order.  I haven't played either version of the game but if the guy wants to add it he can, I don't think it's necessary to publicly humiliate him.  We should be trying to teach him how to improve his games, not setting up hatesites for our own pleasure.  Remember, "don't be hatin"

Just get a new DVD writer, as people say they're very cheap.  Mine even came with Nero OEM which is a great little program.

It sounds to me like you have a hardware fault.  I used to have a problem where everytime I boot up windows flags up more and more corrupt files in the scandisk thingy.  It was a memory problem, I think I was using more RAM than my motherboard wanted.  Have you installed any new hardware recently?

First thing is back up everything important to you onto cd, dvd, USB stick etc and check it's backed up after.  Next, look up your ram and harddisk manufacturer's websites and see if they have a consistency checker.  There are probably easier ways, but Knoppix has a copy of memtest on its bootable cd.  Whether you find problems or not, you seem to be looking very much at a reformat.  During persistent and very elusive hardware problems I ended up reformatting many many times, and just be aware that if you do have a hardware problem you'll want to find out what it is as soon as possible or you'll go insane looking at the windows install screen.

As a side note, I've always used the ^^ windows xp pro with no problems, except for security holes since I can't install either SP.  You may have a better version, but when trying to boot from the install CD my drive wouldn't recognise it and had to download the pre-install floppies from microsoft.com (which comes on 6 floppies damnit, it's like being back on the Amiga again).

Anyway, good luck with fixing your pc.  I'm no tech guru, I've just had my fair share of problems.

I can come up with some ideas and scenes, but I can't flesh it out into a proper story.  For example, one game I wanted to make was a horror game set in the future where a virus infects computers very rapidly.  Since much of the environment is made of machinery, the virus causes havoc, and the machinery starts killing everything in its path.  It all seemed fine to me so far, but after sketching out several scenes in a research building, where the game starts, I couldn't find much to build on.  The basic plot was to get out of the building and stop the virus from corrupting every machine in the country, but I couldn't think of what the player can actually do besides the boring 'escape from building' and 'sneak into building and beat bad guy' routine with generic obstacle puzzles in the middle.  Sorry if what I'm asking sounds really vague, maybe you're right about finding someone else with ideas.