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maybe adventure games are dead?

Point and click adventure games aren't popular anymore, but they're far from dead. Just niche.
But there are plenty of other sub-genres in the adventure game genre, that are immensely popular.
Almost all horror games are just basically adventure games where it's easy to die. Visual novels are basically just adventure games with next to no puzzles. The type of game Telltale used to be popular for, was basically just a 3D visual novel. And Hidden Object games, are basically just adventure games which focuses on pixel hunting.
I find it funny that all of the poplar sub-genres of adventure games, just take an element from point and click adventure games that's considered "bad-design", then builds an entire game around it. 
So yeah, adventure games are very much alive and well. It's just the traditional LucasArts-styled point and click adventure game that's not doing so well.

What do you guys think about Pre-Ordering games?

My personal opinion, is why would you buy something that doesn't exist yet, when you can just buy it when it DOES exist?
I suppose I can kind of understand when there's bonuses involved, when there's a discount, or when there's a chance that they'll run out of stock.
But in video games, the preorder bonuses are terrible, preorder discounts are practically non-existent, and they're never at risk of running out of stock. So what's the point?

By preordering, all you're doing is funding a terrible business practice, where companies don't even have to finish or put effort into making games, because everyone has already bought them.

I remember someone who preordered Fallout 76. Now back then I thought it was going to end up being a good game. But I still thought he was an idiot to have preordered it! And now he regrets having done so.
So in short, no.
DON'T PREORDER!
DON'T BUY DLC!
DON'T PAY FOR MICROTRANSACTIONS!
DON'T BUY COLLECTOR EDITIONS!
If you do one or more of these things, you're helping promote bad business practices. 
After all, with how things are going, it won't be long until we get actual commercials that you have to sit through in AAA games. (I'm being serious here.)

My conclusion after finishing a full game, a 5-year project, and releasing it for free with zero impact is that it's more about luck

Well that sucks. But I guess it comes with the job.
You've got to make indie games as a hobby. Something that you make for yourself before anything else. Because otherwise you'll end up feeling really down when no one ends up playing it.

But I will be keeping up with this particular thread, to learn how to GET people to play my games.

Enough people are on antidepressants that it is ending up in the water supply in measurable amounts.

If that was true, then there would be no need to buy anti-depressants. Just drink some water. 

"Not a serious mental disorder" is very relative in 2019. You can expect people to refer to you as the planet Venus and "not have a serious mental disorder."

That is unfortunately quite true. Although it's always kind of been like that. It's just become more noticeable within recent times, because all of the nutjobs now have a voice thanks to the internet.
Although you probably shouldn't bad-mouth yourself. 

The things he did is not what a sane person would do but still that's what they concluded. What are your thoughts about that?

Well if we considered everyone who committed a murder was insane. We'd be sending them all to a mental home instead of a prison. Which sounds suspiciously like Batman's arkham asylum to me. 
But as for my thoughts on the matter. Maybe serious mental disorder, is just things like hearing a voice telling you to do it, or actually believing you're killing a monster. Simply murdering someone because you feel like it, doesn't count as a mental disorder, even if it's not normal.
I could go into a lot more depth of what I think, until I finally delve into philosophy and end up going way off topic. So I'm going to stop here, and just say, I'm not entirely sure.

[TLDR:]

I remember, this used to be the hardest thing for me to code. I used to do something really complicated that involved the open door being an object, and disabling a hotspot. It was really bad.

Nowadays though, I've managed to shove everything into a simple function.

Code: ags

function InteractDoor(this Object*, int closed, int open, int walkX, int walkY, int faceX, int faceY, int gotoRoom, int roomX, int roomY, bool unlocked)
{
  if(this.Graphic == open)
  {
    player.Walk(walkX, walkY, eBlock);
    player.FaceLocation(faceX, faceY, eBlock);
    if(player.x == walkX && player.y == walkY)
    {
      player.ChangeRoom(gotoRoom, roomX, roomY);
    }
    else
      player.Say("I can't get there.");
  }
  else
  {
    player.Walk(walkX, walkY, eBlock);
    player.FaceLocation(faceX, faceY, eBlock);
    if (player.x == walkX && player.y == walkY)
    {
      if(unlocked == false)
      {
        player.Say("The door is locked.");
      }
      else
      {
        this.Graphic=open;
        aDoorOpen.Play();
      }
    }
    else
      player.Say("I can't get there.");
  }
}

To explain it, a typical door might use something like this:
oDoor.InteractDoor(48, 49, 120, 150, 120, 130, 2, 244, 135, true);

The closed and open variables, are for the respective door sprites.
The walk and face variables, are there to get you to walk to the door, and face towards it.
The gotoRoom and room variables, are there to say which room it'll take you to, and at which coordinates.
The unlocked variable, is pretty self explanatory. You can easily use a room variable to fill that bit in, and have it change when you use a key object on the door.

It might seem a bit of an intimidating function. And it could probably do with some refactoring. But it works for me. And I just typically copy and paste that function into all of my projects now. It is for the two-click interface though.

TLDR: To put it more simply for you. Have one door object, that just changes between an open sprite and a closed sprite, and just check which sprite it currently is, to determine whether you should open it or go through it. Don't go messing around with hotspots, regions, and walkable areas. You just need one door object, two sprites (of the exact same size), and a check to see which sprite the door currently is.

ok thanks. How would one write a script that changes a cursor when hovering over an object? I've done it for hotspots but seems not be more tricky for objects.

You don't need a script for that. You can set that up in the cursors. As there is an option to "animate" and to "animate only on hotspots"
So just experiment with that a little bit.

Looks like one of those old freeware Gamemaker games.

I think it's a game called 'Sparks'?

You're close. Almost close enough for me to say you got it. But what you've said is the equivalent of calling "Alone in the Dark" simply "Alone".
Come back with the full correct title, and you'll have it.

Less than a week left! The number of nominations so far is very low, not a single game got the 5 required votes, yet.

So play the games released this year and start nominating. Remember, there is no need to play all games to be able to nominate. Just make sure to nominate the ones you have played and liked for the categories you find appropriate.

I'm going to make my nominations closer to the end of the week. But thanks for the reminder. I almost forgot it was this Sunday.

ristar?

Nope. 

I'm really surprised no one here has mentioned the typical 320x200 or 640x400 resolutions.

old lucas arts games were in 320x240

I thought the old LucasArts games were in 320x200, but due to the size of pixels on monitors back then, you need to stretch it to 320x240 to avoid the image from looking squashed.
Wait, I'll check... yep, I'm right. The backgrounds for Sam and Max were 320x200. So it's safe to assume that the rest of the games (except CoMI) were also in that resolution.

Isn't that the woman who plays The Master in Doctor Who?

Close. Michelle Gomez actually played Missy.

Just because she changed her name, doesn't mean I'm going to use it.
I still call Eggman "Robotnik". 

We've already done that one Danvzare, pick another one. 

Oh crap, really?
Ok then. Sorry about that.

[imgzoom]http://indieruckus.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/spark-750x400.png[/imgzoom]
How about this one. 

[imgzoom]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/88fac950-a2fd-4283-b93c-6e649819ecad/dcyim43-5f8db9e2-2790-4812-a231-60710850ade7.png[/imgzoom]

Isn't that the woman who plays The Master in Doctor Who?

Looks like Sonic Mania.

The art has piqued my interest.
I'll probably download and play this game later today. 

I think it's a good idea to participate in a MAGS-competition and do a small game within a month (something I should've done a long time ago instead of starting several large projects that never got finished). Just go for something small and plan a game with a few rooms and few characters and see how much you can accomplish in time. This might help to estimate the amount of work and the time you need for something larger. I recommend playing a few MAGS or other short games to see how people design small games.

+1

If you want to get a good idea for scope and how to make games, participate in a MAGS competition.
That's my first bit of advice for making a small game.

Now if you want to know where to start, here my magic little formula.
First, come up with an idea. A premise. For example, a pirate is stranded on an island and wants to get off.
Second, list the main events in your story through a series of bullet points. For example, pirate makes plans to build raft, then builds the raft, then gets provisions, then sails off.
Third, write a list of things that need to be done to accomplish each bullet point, preferably working backwards. For example, pirate makes plans to build raft by getting paper and pencil. Pirate makes pencil by getting wood and graphite. Pirate gets wood by breaking branch off tree.

From there, it's just about making all of the necessary resources and putting it all together.
Also remember, things don't have to look good on the first pass-through. You could try to make it perfect the first time round. But I find it helps a lot if you make all of the resources quickly and without any attention to detail, as it gives you a good sense of what you need to make and what might need changing. In other words, get a playable prototype out as soon as possible. (In a larger scope game, you might want to do that in chunks. But in a small game, you should be able to the whole game.)

I hope that all helps. 

Pushing Daisies?
Spaced?

Black Friday by Danvzare

Spoiler

Hilarious, it was a pleasant surprise that the scarecrow was the player character. The voice acting adds a lot, the hay animation made me crack up. Are there different endings?

[close]

Sorry, no. There are no alternate endings. The continue button is only there in case the game crashes or you forget to save.
I'm planning on updating the game so that it deletes the autosave after completion.

Hasn't this ship sailed? Everyone seems to have quietened right down about crypto and none of them are driving Ferrari's yet.

Doesn't that make now the best time to buy then?
So then we can sell when it's popular again!
...
Or we could just get into the stock market. 
I honestly don't know much about crypto currency.