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If you try to call a function or set the value of a variable outside of any function then AGS doesn't know when you're wanting the code to execute. You can only execute commands (calling a function, setting a variable, etc.) from within a function, whether it's a custom function, a built-in function (like game_start), or one of the event handlers you linked in the editor.

Yep I figured, I need to stop coding attempts when my insomnia kicks in. I didn't know what function it belonged under or where else to put it...fixed now.

Hmm I figured it belonged under a function but I didn't know which one (manual didn't say).
Alright, it's under function game_start() now and working.

Thanks!!

Works for me.

I just put

Code: ags

SetSkipSpeech(3);

in the game_start() function in the GlobalScript.

Where did you enter yours?

You can also set that option in the general settings if you never change it throughout the game:
It's the "Allow speech to be skipped by which events" setting, set it to "Mouse or keyboard"

I need to stop attempting code while insomniac. Hehe.

Figures that I looked in the online manual and the not the built-in one for that...

But are extensions even relevant to use in either the script name or what you have them labeled as in the Music folder? Easily 98% of all my music files don't have extensions in the name.

So aMusicP6.Play() works....SetMusicRepeat doesn't, I still get an undefined token for that.

Definitely more along the lines of KQ5/6 where the backgrounds have more detail than the sprites and objects one can pick up. For instance:



I was actually looking for the cliff base first but think this is a better example, as you can see how bright and pixellated both Alex's and the not-really-an-old-lady's sprites are, same with the nightshade bush, as you can interact with it.
Whereas the rest of the scenery is notably less pixellated, with nice depth of field with the catacombs entrance right in front there and the large mountains in the distance.

Pencils are more in my budget range ATM but I'm wondering what sort of paper would be best-- Bristol? Marker rag? (Man I haven't done this in YEARS!) I always liked the Bristol texture as it's sturdy but if I recall correctly, bright colors (especially marker) didn't come out the best on it.
I loved using art markers!

I'm using version 3.2 and think the command for this might've changed since? That or I really don't know how I screwed this one up after comparing it to the video tutorial and the lack of mention of this in the manual.

I had to create a Music folder in the game's folder (and have it placed there, not in the Debug one) and moved a MIDI file there called "Music6" since I want it to play in Room6 and be on an endless loop. I also "uploaded" it in the Audio section of the editor so it has the script name aMusic6.

Code: ags

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
  SetMusicRepeat(1);
  PlayMusic(6);
}

Why do I keep getting "undefined token" errors? The file's named right and in the right place. The original file name didn't have a .mid extension, so is the extension even relevant? I got the same error with and without it.

Wait, that did nothing. I just entered

Code: ags

SetSkipSpeech(0);

and got a parse error. 3 looks like a better option but that didn't work either.

That bit really addresses how the player can skip the speech (which I set to 0, mouse or any key) but not an option to just "eliminate" text speed and just make it clickable to go at your own pace (ie, Legend of Kyrandia 1.)

I guess if all else fails just use Game.TextReadingSpeed at 1 or something?

Hey, that mountain scene directly to the right of the screen with the bits of snow is right from Quest For Glory 4 1/2...

I'm not going to jump into the ripped vs. not-ripped backgrounds fray, though I would prefer something more original to expand the game (vs my testing game I'm working on now that's not something to be taken seriously, it's just an exercise to learn the ins and outs of the game engine and uses ripped backgrounds and sprites out of convenience.)

But I will say this, I remember reading the FACS book that came with the game and getting all excited to take on the tougher enemies like Trolls and the like!
But I mostly fought brigands, goblins, and those stupid manta rays that always had me at the brink of death and no treasure on them. Maybe one or two cheetaurs, but I'd say 80% of most in-game combat were those pesky goblins.

There's all this info on trolls, ogres, dragons...but no dragon fight! (Not til QFG5, anyway.) Only one troll to fight in the game! One ogre! Both special event battles, not random baddies you run into in the forest...though I think I did come across one Saurus Rex on the Mac version and naturally when my hero was a total wimp.

So on that note, I agree with Ouxxey_games about the combat system-- to me, one big flaw of QFG1's combat system was that the main controls (let alone trying to use magic in battle) were pretty ass; there were countless times my hero died because he ran out of stamina, not hit points.
I'd consider that especially important for the dragon battle we got all hepped for from reading FACS but didn't come til the 5th game

Instead of trying to tweak the speech speeds individually, how can I just make one global setting that all speech text is clickable so the reader can go at their own pace?

I wonder if Joey's origins will get (slightly) unearthed in this one? Will there be another prequel of sorts...where you play as Rosa's grandmother? (Or at least see some of her?)

Pixel is my favorite, particularly for sprites and inventory items, but my "grail" graphics would be those Sierra-style backgrounds that were obviously hand-drawn/painted with bright interact-able objects and sprites that were pixellated.

Since I finally have some downtime, I'm dying to pick up some kind of art supplies.

What kind of mediums would work best for emulating that handpainted style? (Aside from actual paint, I'm fairly broke and was never good with paint. Pastels, Caron D'Asche, and basic pencil maybe though.)

I got TONS of errors when the stuff in the rooms didn't match up-- whereas it didn't create a fatal error for the control panel one, the icon just didn't work. I got it to work correctly now though.

Nope, only one is btnControlPanel_OnClick. I think it was mislabelled in the Events window the entire time.

Looks amazing so far!!

Solved it!

Here's the utterly stupid and obvious thing I missed...

That damn lightning bolt button. I just had it as "btnControlPanel", not "btnControlPanel_OnClick". That and I realized with the last 10 times I hit F5 to try out other scripting aspects, just HOW crucial it really is to go through that Event button first. Doesn't matter if you script first or after hitting it, but I'm hitting it first from now on so I don't get confused. And my script was correct, just wrong label. Definitely leave this here for other beginners with the same problem though.

And now that I see the control panel I designed pop up on screen....yeesh I need to scale that thing down.

Noted. But I'm open to learning different techniques, then using whichever one I find easiest or appropriate to the room/event/etc. After all scripting has some room for experimentation and trying new things, it's not like doing taxes. (I'd know, I'm an EA.)

This is a hi-res monitor, but I ran it at 4X and came out like what I'd probably expect it to look like full-screen since I'm using VGA-style backgrounds.

When I'm ready to compile the "real thing" though, will it just replace those other files in that folder?

Thanks for the tutorials link-- bookmarked, I'll definitely be referencing those. For now I just fast-forwarded to vid #14 on how to transition rooms but I'll watch the entire series when my attention span kicks in again.

I'm also trying to take it slow and do very basic stuff first before moving onto more complex scripting events and commands, then graphical niceties come later, ie, trying to figure how to get that freakin control panel to show up correctly and do things with the inventory before I get into other characters, dialogs, and character deaths.

Thanks again for your help!

It's just that I remember that era so strongly! (And then there's that special room in the CD version of Space Quest where you can see all the stuff that merited lawsuits.) Specifically right after the huge Napster blow-up, I remember Metallica sued Revlon or some other big cosmetics corp because they had an eyeliner called "Metallica" then anyone who had one of those suckers new in the packaging? Got big bucks for them on ebay.

But since it wasn't as socially acceptable back then to have most music subcultures mingling with computer gaming (even though I've always been proud to have those beams cross...and have the ambition of asking one of NYHC's finest to provide the soundtrack for a game I'm hoping to produce some day), I guess that was one lawsuit Sierra got spared from. Heh.

That and I don't think Dr. Brain was as famous as the other titles. But the thought totally occurred to me when I was replaying it the other day. And I guess in Japan they aren't as lawsuit-happy as they are in Amerika.

I'm going to go with the DoOnceOnly one for now with the tree stump, will give the variable method a shot in with a different hotspot in another room of my This-Is-A-Learning-Experience-Adventure. Thanks so much!

Next step: connect the rooms.

Also, any way I can get the test-run upon hitting F5 to show up bigger? At least a bigger window if not full screen? The entire window comes in at the teeny 320x200 resolution which makes things incredibly hard to see.

The wiki didn't answer my question on this as it had to do with changing the name of the hotspot mid-gameplay-- I mean this as in the context of the character knows something/has something.

Ie, you inspect a tree stump where the first Display hints that there's something inside it ("The hollowed out tree stump looks like a good place to hide things.")

So you interact with the stump hotspot to get an inventory item (I like this as it requires no Object scripting!) But how do I get the Display message associated with that hotspot to change after that event has occurred? And regardless of if the character has that inventory item or not (idea is they already searched the stump.)