Messages

[Background Artist]

I'll be on the wild list too, as Background Artist

I'm using AGS 2.62 but I've had the same problem with other versions.  When I create a 640x480 game, the actual co-ordinates within the editor only reach 319x239 (half of the size).  This is really annoying because a lot of the time I can't position buttons and objects correctly as they are always too far in one direction.  It's irritating to have to go back and edit each image or background so that the objects fit.  Should this happen, or what am I doing wrong?
Also, when I import sprites I tick the 'import for 640x400 resolution' box because otherwise they are too big.  Why 640x400 and not 640x480?

Thanks in advance,
SimB

I'd move the character left a little - would probably balance out the picture a bit more.

I think the containers stand out quite a lot - you can see that the top and bottom are made using the circle tool, which is fine if you have a very straight and uniform look, but looks a bit odd in a room with a cartoony look.  I'd draw them by hand.  Make sure also that they fit the perspective of te picture - if I'm not mistaken, the large container should be facing about 30 degrees anticlockwise, and the same for the other containers.
For oldness, I'd try and add some manky colours to the floorboards to make them look a bit rotten, some piles of dust in the corners of the room, a cobweb in a high corner.  You can make rusty looking barrels by making a rusty part first on one side (use several orange/yellow colours) and then adding bits of flaky paint in the middle to join them together.  I'm not sure what the substance is in the large container, but if it's old it'll have a film of dust, dirt and cobwebs on the top.  I'd also reduce the quality of the photo on the poster - it looks too photo-like for the rest of the picture.
It is a nice scene though, and I'm sure it'll look great when it's fixed.  I like especially the broken floorboard, the crack and the path.

Cool picture!  I'd add that the guitar neck is perhaps bent downwards a little - I think the middle of the neck would travel through the fingertips should it be straighter.
And you aren't the only one that can't ink.  I tend to scan my stuff in and then 'ink' it in PSP on a new layer.  I find a size 2 brush with about 20 opacity works well because if you trace your lines several times you get a bit of a grey edge which makes them a lot smoother.  It is a lot easier to ink on PC with a graphics tablet (which I broke not long ago ).
The only tips I can give you about inking are ones that I've read - thick lines for foreground and shadowy parts, thin lines for background and light parts (or something like that).
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/inking/ink.html - this might be helpful
http://neondragonart.com/dp/ - this site has a short tutorial on inking which might help

I think magic would be fine as it's a sort of accepted part of the fantasy genre.  Of course, not all fantasy games have to have magic in them, and the idea of where magic comes from can vary from game to game.  Magic is okay though, and there probably aren't many opportunities in the MAGS competitions to include it.

You don't have to have an inventory I suppose, but if you carry more than one or two items at a time it might be best to have some sort of way of showing them.  You can always post on one of the Tech boards if you're stuck.

Big thanks to everyone who voted for me!Ã,  I'm still thinking of next month's rules but don't worry, I'll PM them shortlyÃ, 

And I'll see if I can fix some of the glitches I didn't have time for in the monthly release so that I can post a revised version on the announcements board.

Try this: http://www.sonicspot.com/sequencers.html

I'd recommend Evolution Audio Lite if you can find it.  I got mine off a coverdisk but I think you can get it off the internet.  The Lite version won't expire and the only real setback is that you can't save tempo changes, but if you use something like WinJammer (non-expiring free version) then you can make the tempo change and re-save.

Yay, I've always wanted to make boss music.  And failed every time I tried 
Mleh, I'll give it a go.

I just want to mention that there is a bug in my game which could end up making it unsolvable.  It's in the room with Korin in, though I'm not to sure what causes it.  It doesn't happen all of the time (never happened to me), so just save the game as soon as you go in and you'll be fine.
Sorry to anyone that's been affected by this bug  - there is actually a saved game I accidentally left in the download which you could use, but it will also skip past a few puzzles and bring you very near the end.  I wouldn't recommend using it though - it only takes minutes to replay back to there.

Can the creators of games vote for themselves?

Just finished in time.
This is my first MAGS entry (and first finished game) and I've had a lot of fun making it.  My entry is called Korin's Mines.  It's about a snail called Eric who has to stop Korin, a strange evil man, from destroying the world with a new substance, Second Energy.
Note that this was not a half-finished July entry- the snail is there because I can't animate people 

Download: http://www.benfold.com/sim/KMines.zip
Hope you enjoy playing.

But then you'll get the MS window thingymabobs and if you move the mouse too far to the top-right you'll accidentally minimize or worse, close your game.  Apart from enlarging each room image to have a border there isn't much I tihnk you can do. You could perhaps have a single black background imagem to use for every room, then make the room graphics as object 0 in each room so that all other objects are on top.  I'm not too adept in AGS but perhaps if you make a baseline well under object 0 it will draw the player on top of it.  It's a bit of a bodge though and if it does work it would be bad practise.

40 hours?  I'm not sure whether the time displayed above your post is the same for differing timezones, it says 17:36 for me.  If I live in GMT -00:00 will I be able to theoretically submit one minute before midnight at the end of the 26th August?
Anyway, my entry is nearing completion, although I may have to make some cuts to get it in on time.

My only suggestion is that IN_MIDDLE is getting changed somewhere between it being confirmed as '1' for script two and the third script not running.  Do you have anything else that changes IN_MIDDLE?  Even if that is the case though, I can't see why it won't display the top and bottom of the third script.

Go to the sprite manager.  Right mouse-button > Import sprite (or Import over this sprite to replace old images).  Make sure that you have 'transparent colour' set to the top-left (or another corner if that is used by the actual character part).  Be sure that your outside colour isn't used anywhere in the same picture or else that will be transparent too.  Re-import each frame and each one should be magenta around the edge only.  If not, open up that frame and just change the colour that goes pink to something similar in RGB - just increase the red by one for example.

Do these objects have duplicates in the editor?  If they do, then you can delete the unnecessary ones, but make sure you get the right ones by checking you move scripts.  If it's not that, try making all of your objects invisible and run the game to see if there's still there.  Then if it's ok you can turn on one and run it to see if you get any strange results.  Also, try checking the move scripts to make sure that the objects aren't accidentally moving to the middle of the screen with a high speed value.

By images, I assume you mean objects?  When you turned off the objects did you do it by unticking the 'this object is initially visible' box?  If you did then the object would still exist, but not be visible in the game.  I'm not sure what these 'ghosts' are - I can only think that you've made duplicates of objects.  Try scrolling through the object list to make sure you have no more and no less than you should have.

  I solved it
SetInvDimensions seems to set the space items take up.  I don't know why it worked fine on the default inventory though - I can't see how it can tell the size of my items.  Still, it's fixed.
Sorry about the hassle