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<disclaimer>
...couldn't find anything on this....
</disclaimer>


By room variables I mean variables you declare at the top of a room script.Ã,  Not in the global.

So, I had this at the top:

int rate_trans = 2;Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, // static
int rate_opaque = 2;Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  // static

These were effectivly constants for my room.Ã,  the top one represents how many notches to make stuff more transparent per cycle, the 2nd one is the rate to make things less transparent. (ok they are the same at the moment).

I NEVER set these variables except for their initial values as seen above.Ã,  I had some strange things occur.Ã,  After much hair pulling and debuging I found that rate_trans was = to 100 during run time ?!?!?!?!?!?

One question I have about room variables is when and how often do the variables getting initialized?
Is it possible for some reason that rate_trans never got the = 2 and somehow ended up with a default of 100?

Anyway, this variable was used in room_repeat_exe every 5 cycles.
I have fixed it in the mean time by putting these variable declarations in the function called by room_repeat_exe.Ã,  For some reason then, the 2 value stuck.

thanks

I'm fairly sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find the right words to search for.  So, my apologies up front if this exists in the board.  Just point me to threads if they exist on this question...

I would like to show only parts of an object.  Sort of a "flashlight" affect... I only know how to show all or none of an object.

thanks

Greetings fellow gamers.
My name is Bryan, and I have Sleep apnea.

(crowd: "hello Bryan")

Anyway, I'm just curious who all out there has it too?
I've known that I have it for about a year now and have a cpap machine set to 13.Ã,  Recently, it has not been working well for me.Ã,  I just this past week switch to an apap machine set to avg 7, max 20.

So far, things still aren't looking good.
I was also wondering if anyone has had any surgeries for their sleep apnea, which surgery, and how well has it worked for you?

Any response is appreciated,
thank you

First, before anyone says anything, Scummbuddy gave me permission to resubmit this so that it can become a beginners FAQ item.Ã,  Scummbuddy deleted the thread thinking I wouldn't want it on the board anymore.

My problem was this:
GetObjectAt was not working as expected because objects would activate higher than expected, but the bottom of the object would NOT trigger the GetObjectAt function.

The solution:
As embarassing as it is, the solution was: my hotspot on the cursor was not exactly where I expected it.Ã,  It was, of course, offset a few pixels too low.Ã,  Once I reset it, it was all good.

Greetings, after a long absense, Etcher Squared Games is proud to present its 2nd game:Ã,  "Into The Light".

Required Description:
You play the part of Tim, a regular average guy.Ã,  You have been locked inside a room and you need to get out before harm comes to you. (Yes this is a "get yourself out of a single room game")Ã,  How did you get there?Ã,  Well, you accidentally witnessed a murder and the thug grabbed you, knocked you out, and you awoke in a strange place.

What's the catch?
Tim is blind.Ã,  You must count on your other senses to help you get your freedom.Ã,  Feel, taste, touch [er..smell I mean], and listen to your surroundings to find a way out.

Required Screenshots and downloadable zip:
http://www.geocities.com/etchersquaredgames/itl/

You will notice some of these screenshots look rather bare.Ã,  That is on purpose.Ã,  One pic is of an empty room.Ã,  Trust me, there is stuff in there.Ã,  That's just how you perceive the room at first until you start to look around.Ã,  The main game part itself is close to being finished.Ã,  I just didn't want to show the room after you discovered everything because that would, I feel, ruin a lot of the game.

I have yet to work on the intro basically going through what I just said above.
There will also be a demo/instruction cutscene to show how things work in the game since I'm doing some things a little bit differently from other games I've played on here (AFAIK).

UPDATE 3-1-05
---------------------------------------
Initial posting of game.
Intro - 0%
Demonstration/Instructions - 0%
Main Game - 85%
OVERALL 30%
---------------------------------------


UPDATE 3-9-05
---------------------------------------
Still working on game...
Main Game - 90%
Just modifying initial post, nothing worth bumping thread yet.
Will post when the game is fully playable.
Hope to have that by monday (3-14-05)
OVERALL 33%
---------------------------------------


UPDATE 3-12-05
---------------------------------------
DEMO available - click on the link above for the zip file
The main game isn't quite finished. It still needs some refining, but it's "win-able".
---------------------------------------



UPDATE 3-16-05
---------------------------------------
This project is on hold temporarily.Ã,  I'm still working on it, but it's going to be set aside for about a month.
---------------------------------------


UPDATE 4-5-05
---------------------------------------
Project resumed.
Redoing all code.
---------------------------------------


UPDATE 5-23-05
---------------------------------------
It's coming along still.Ã,  Still working on it.Ã,  Still nothing worth bumping thread over.Ã,  Recoding has been a blessing as I am doing things ways better and the game plays a bit differently than stated below.
Made some corrections to drawings that would make items appear when you were NO WHERE close to them.
If I could sit down for aboutÃ,  6 hours I could have a game that you could beat, but wouldn't be 100% done.Ã,  Once I have that, I'll bump this thread.
---------------------------------------


UPDATE 5-23-05
---------------------------------------
Finally, an update worthy of bumping this thread.Ã,  Details in the latest message.Ã, 
Summary:
The game can be beaten, but it may not be obvious how to do it without the entire game finished, but the path is there.
Changed how "feeling" things worked...details in message.
---------------------------------------

UPDATE 07-07-05
---------------------------------------
This has got to be the longest making of a 1 room game in history.Ã,  (I'm still currently in the middle of moving and selling my house.Ã,  Anyone want a condo on the NE side of Indianapolis?)
Added a LOT more descriptions to actions happening and now give better descriptions.
"No smell" e.g. is now "I can smell anything strange on the bla bla"

Game Portion: 90%
Intro: 35%
---------------------------------------

UPDATE 07-07-05
---------------------------------------
Game is in "alpha" mode.Ã,  Need people to test.
Changed the link. There is now a webpage with pics, download, and a walkthrough.

Game Portion: 95%
Intro: 55%
---------------------------------------

UPDATE 08-26-05
---------------------------------------
Game is 100% done.
Just need some people to BETA test it.
---------------------------------------

I tried finding this, but no luck in help or boards.Ã,  I fear I may not have been using the correct keywords.

What I want to do, is have some files embedded into my game, and once the play beats the game, I want to dump these files on the harddrive.Ã,  These are going to be images that are "behind the scenes" stuff for fun.

This isn't a HAVE TO HAVE in my game, just something I thought I'd throw in.Ã,  If all else fails I can have a link on the net that I give you once you beat the game...

thank you

I hope this is the best board for this this it isn't technically "adventure related"

I remember this roller coaster game where like 7 people would rate your ride, ranging from an old woman (the easiest to scare) to a construction worker (hardest to scare)

in between I think there was a child, a nerd, a preacher, etc etc...

I remember seeing this in college so it existed in the 96-99 range.

Anyone know what it is?

(First, if this is more of a Tech Forum Question I apologize, it seemed more appropriate here to me.  Otherwise feel free to move this thread.)

There appears to be no way to GetObjectTransparency.  I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything in the manual or these boards, but I cannot figure out how to do it. 

What I would like to accomplish is something like this:

repeat_execute()
{
  SetObjectTransparency(ITEM, GetObjectTransparency(ITEM) - 1);
}


I have a way to do it, since I know it's initial transparancy and can keep track of it in a global and edit the global one tick with every cycle.  But that code is getting a bit unclean. 

so basically I am:

repeat_execute()
{
  if (nFoo >= 0)   // as not to set transparency to a negative value
  {
    SetObjectTransparency(ITEM, nFoo);
    nFoo = nFoo - 1;
  }
}

I've heard a lot of people say good things about the Monkey Island Series and I want to play them, but I find like 3 different ones and I wonder, what's the proper order?

I've actually not had good luck trying to find this out on the internet.

So, I basically would like to know the proper order to play them.

thanks

Sadly I still only have 1 game under my belt.
But I've got some ideas in my head, but it got me wondering.

How long does it take a lot of you to make a game?
How many people do you usually have on your team to make a game?
(Please, DO NOT include any games used for competitions, just games you've casually made).

My first game, which can be completed in 30 seconds, took me about 4 total weeks from idea to script to compiled EXE.Ã,  Man hours...I'd say about 20-30 spread out among those 4 weeks.Ã,  And I've only got myself.Ã,  I don't have anyone to do music or drawing for me.
And I'd say drawing took a lot of the time since it was hard for me to coordinate any kind of animations.

So, what's the workload like for everyone?

So, a game I'm going to be making has the potential of being very repeatedly_execute() code intensive.  Maybe not, but I thought of a concern I possibly need the answer to...

As I said, a lot of code is going to be in my repeatedly_execute(), and I saw nothing in the manual or in these forums about the load repeatedly_execute()  can take? 

Being that this executes by default 40 times/second it just seems some code intensive functions could bog this down?

I otherwise don't know how to word my question expect for:
"Is this really a concern I should be having?"

Maybe someone has posted this, I don't know. 
I'm breaking one of the early rules mentioned here, but that makes it all the funnier...

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php

here's the code I have:


#sectionstart repeatedly_executeÃ,  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
function repeatedly_execute()
{
Ã,  // put anything you want to happen every game cycle here
Ã,  RefreshMouse();
Ã,  if (GetObjectAt(mouse.x, mouse.y) == 0)
Ã,  {
Ã,  Ã,  ObjectOn(0);
Ã,  }
Ã,  else
Ã,  {
Ã,  Ã,  ObjectOff(0);
Ã,  }
}
#sectionend repeatedly_executeÃ, 

I have object 0 initially invisible...
this code is not working as expected because I'm guessing getobjectat only works if the object is already visible

what I want to do is have the object show up when the user cursors over it and disappear once it moves away...


If i'm unable to do this, this will really hinder my new game idea...

So, I was trying to think of another project I could do by myself (i.e. not so good graphics), but thought...

Hey, what if I could make a game where graphics were unimportant or unneeded.

Then I thought, well a game about a blind man, where all you see is a black background and white trimming for objects.

The look icon would be a hand+eye because you'd have to feel the item to look at it.

You'd have to learn to tell people apart from the color of their speech (representing different voices e.g.)....

Just something like that.

What do people think?

So, I managed to get through my first game without any major problems.  Going back to it already I see that there are a few things I was I had done differently.

So, I did some searches and really found nothing on Design, standards, or conventions.

Plenty on tutorials, but nothing on a "best way how to" sorta thing.

And I'm sure the veterans here have come up with a way to do stuff.

So, have I missed such a webpage or perhaps we could just add to this thread a discussion about good general practices for current and future noobs.

(Please feel free to move this thread if beginners tech isn't quite the best place for this.  It seems like the best place to me at time of writing)

I think I have had enough comments to call the game good.
No one found any bugs.Ã,  Just style suggestions.Ã,  I've changed what I could.

But here it is, my training project is released:

http://www.etcher2games.com/SierraQuest1/



I also want to pose a question.Ã,  The Completed Game Anouncement rules suggested to post the game in the Games Main page.Ã,  I remember reading NOT to post your first training game, but I can't find it.Ã,  Is it OK now?Ã, 

Either way.Ã,  If people find this game amusing enough to post it on there, let me know and I will.Ã,  Otherwise I won't until I'm told/suggested to by AGS higher ups.

I mentioned this in the beginners troubleshooting thread, but it seems appropriate here...

I'm thinking this is a bug, but if someone can confirm that'd be nice.

Create some type of event, something simple like looking at a hotspot.

Under that, create, say, 7 runscript actions.
each runscript just does a display of a different # or letter
(let's just say "1" for the first script..."2" for 2nd...etc etc)

now the pattern I've noticed, it is will only run actions # 1 and 2 and the last one.Ã,  So, in the example above, you'd see a display of 1, then 2, then 7

make your event run 10 scripts, you'll just see 1, then 2 then 10....

So, how does one put a
"
in a Display or in a dialog.Ã,  I couldn't find how to do something like that anywhere.

[I read manual and searched forums and couldn't find anything, if there is, please kindly point me to the right direction and my apologies if I missed something....]

So, I know that several commands do not actually execute until the script is done.Ã,  I've gotten in the habit of just running everything in script.Ã,  So, what I've done up to this point, if I need action1, dialog, action2....
We'll say on the interact click I'll just put 2 actions of both scripts..

script 1:Ã, 
action
action
RunDialog(4);

script2:
action
action


both of these scripts being part of what happens during the interact click...
by the first script ending, that causes RunDialog(4) to actually run
after that is done, script2 runs...


but I've run into a problem now where I've need 4 scripts, but #3 is NOT getting run...

background:
main character is "ROBERTA"
these actions are getting generated but using an item on a character named LOANGUY
during the scene "ROBBER" comes in and says stuff and eventually "BOND" comes in too


here is script 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display("a1");
if ((GetCursorMode() == 4) && (character[ROBERTA].activeinv == 3))
Ã,  {
Ã,  Ã, 
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  StartCutscene(1);Ã,  Ã,  // start a cutscene
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  IN_MIDDLE = 1;Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, // this is a global I use to help me out
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Cursors_gamehourglass();Ã,  Ã, // a function that disables all cursors but the hourglass and shows only hour glass
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  MoveCharacterBlocking(ROBERTA, 110, 167, 0);Ã,  // move roberta closer to loan guy
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  RunDialog(9);Ã,  Ã,  // a conversation between roberta and loan guy
Ã,  }Ã, 
Ã, 
Ã, 
Ã,  Display("b1");

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the above runs just fine...I see "a1" and "b1" showing

now script 2

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Display("a2");
if (IN_MIDDLE == 1)
{
Ã,  Display("Just then, you here some rustling at the door.");Ã,  Ã, // a message
Ã,  character[ROBBER].room = 5;Ã,  Ã,  //
Ã,  character[ROBBER].x = 78;Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  //
Ã,  character[ROBBER].y = 250;Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  //
Ã,  FaceLocation(ROBBER, 78, 0);Ã,  Ã,  //
Ã,  MoveCharacterBlocking(ROBBER, 78, 187, 1);Ã,  //
// the last 5 lines place my robber in the room, but out of screen then move him
// into the room
Ã,  RunDialog(10);Ã,  // a stick 'em up dialog of just the robber
}
Display("b2");

-----------------------------------------------------------

this too runs just fine, I see "a2" and "b2" show up
the conversation works ok too, and for those wondering if that is broken, here's the script for dialog 10
@SÃ,  // dialog startup entry point
return
@1Ã,  // option 1
ROBBER:Ã,  "All right everyone, hands in the air!Ã,  I want everyone's money!"
stop

so I think I'm doing it right...



now script 3, this is the one getting skipped:


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Display("a3");
if (IN_MIDDLE == 1)
{
Ã,  Display("OH NO!Ã,  The bank is getting robbed.Ã,  Your dreams of Sierra-On-Line are quickly fading away.");
Ã,  Display("But what's this...?");
Ã,  Display("Once again you hear something outside the door.");
Ã,  Display("This time it's a police car, and someone is bursting in.");
Ã,  character[BOND].room = 5;
Ã,  character[BOND].x = 78;
Ã,  character[BOND].y = 250;
Ã,  FaceLocation(BOND, 78, 0);
Ã,  MoveCharacterBlocking(BOND, 78, 190, 1);
Ã,  ChangeCharacterView(ROBBER, 14);
Ã,  RunDialog(11);
}Ã, 
Display("b3");

----------------------------

this script3 NEVER happens.... I don't even see the "a3" and "b3"


script 4, which executes......

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Display("a4");
if (IN_MIDDLE == 1)
{Ã, 
Ã,  robberyhappened = 1;Ã,  // the robbery event has occured
Ã,  IN_MIDDLE = 0;Ã,  Ã,  // turn off the fact I'm in the cutscene
Ã,  Cursors_gamenormal();Ã,  Ã, // return cursors to normal gameplay
Ã,  EndCutscene();Ã,  // end cut scene
}Ã, 
Display("b4");
Ã, 
----------------


I see the "a4" and "b4"

My only guess is this:
This is running via character "Loanguy"
but in script 2 I am 'touching' the ROBBER character...
does is invalidate the script 3 perhaps?Ã,  Ã, 


another question to pose here is...Am I even doing this properly?
is there a better way of doing this.Ã,  is there a more proper way about this?

thank you

So, after all chats with all my characters, the cursor automatically changes to the pointer cursor.

1. I don't want that.
2. That cursor is normally disabled in my game.


How do I get it to go back to the chat cursor.

thx in advance