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Is there a way I can change the edges' coordinates inside the room script if/when I want to (say, after a specific event)? In the room's properties, the edge values are referred to as LeftEdgeX, RightEdgeX, etc - but I can't seem to find the right code for changing them.

I'm trying to script a following scene:

1. After the character has acquired a certain object, he's passing through a meadow - where he attracts the attention of an angry bee - which starts to follow him around.
2. Wherever he goes, it follows. And when he stops, it flies up to him and sits on his forearm - which he's too afraid to move.
3. After he's been idle for 5-7 seconds, it finally stings him.

So, first, I put this:

Code: ags

cBee.FollowCharacter(cGray, 10, 0);

and it does the following around part beautifully. But a problem arises. I wanted him to always face the bee when he's not moving - for obvious reasons, and also because I want it to land on his arm, and it's the closest point to the bee only when he's facing it. The thing is, though, even though I put this:

Code: ags

 if (cGray.Moving ==false){
  cGray.FaceCharacter(cStrayBee2);}

in Repeat_Exec, he doesn't always turn around. And even if he does, he turns away again even if it's still there.

Also, how do I have the bee land on a specific part of his body? I'm guessing it involves specifying the main character's x and y (meaing where his feet are) plus/minus the distance from that point to the point where the bee should land. Keeping in mind that the x value will differ depending on which direction the character is facing (x - something if he's facing left, and x + something if facing right).

Allllso, I should mention that the character should be able to move around freely if the player wants to - not to make it explicit that they have to wait (be idle) for several seconds, because getting stung is the point of the puzzle, not something to avoid (by the way, is there some sort of a "HasBeenIdle(int how long)" command, and if not, how can I set a required period of idleness before he gets stung?).

I did try to set the bee's baseline to the character's baseline while it's usual flight altitute is at his shoulders' height, so that I could use the IsColidingWithCharacter option - but that only worked nice with cBee.Move and not so much with cBee.FollowCharacter, because that way, it simply bumped into the character and stopped there.

Since this one is quite a toughie, please let me know which script goes where - just to avoid confusion.

So I'm trying to script the following situation: when the character enters a certain area of the screen, an NPC jumps out. The character goes EEEK!, trembles, turns around, goes away and changes his mind about fulfilling his mission - while the NPC still growls behind him. The problem is, each event plays out in sequence instead of several events occuring at the same time. The NPC jumps out, performs the "angry mode" animation, freezes, the character says eek, THEN trembles, then turns around goes away - leaving the perfectly still NPC behind him.

Is there a way to make it look better?

I'm doing this via "Stand on hotspot" - when the character walks onto it, it triggers off the event.

I need:
1. The NPC to jump out and act all scary for as long as I tell him to.
2. The character react with only a slight delay - say, 20 cycles - by trembling AND going EEK at the same time (I'm guessing SetView might work here?), turn around, walk away and rethink his life - with the NPC still going berserk behind him.
3. The NPC to calm down and retreat - going back to his usual mode of animation. Is there a "go back to previous state" command for that or do I do it via SetView, too?

Please note that I made one of the NPC's (a swarm of bees) an object instead of a character - reasoning that it's not a person, not really one entity, even. Does that make scripting the whole event more difficult/easier or is it all the same?

I'm probably missing something very obvious here - but I've tried a bunch of things and none is quite what I'd want. So basically, I have two kinds of rooms:
1. The interactive ones, where the actual game takes place
2. Rooms I use for non-interactive cutscenes.
In type 1, I'd like to have the Iconbar on all the time - as in the classic LucasArts games. Obviously, I want it off in type 2. But if I use the string

gIconbar.Visible = false;

for a given in the AfterFadeIn function, it only goes away when the room's faded in. Conversely, if I set the iconbar to "Initially Off" and use:

gIconbar.Visible = true;

for a given room after AfterFadeIn, it isn't there from the start, either, it goes on with a second's delay. It's much "cleaner" than the previous option, but it's still a bit messy. So then I tried to put that same string in the BeforeFadeIn fuction - but that doesn't seem to work, the iconbar doesn't go on at all. Is it that I'm doing something wrong here or is BeforeFadeIn used for something else entirely?

So what do I do to have the iconbar on/off as soon as the given room loads and before the fade-in is complete? Some global variable? Custom room function with boolean value?

[THE INVASION STARTS HERE]

The Game is Released!!
>>> THE INVASION STARTS HERE <<<

THE ALIEN INVASTION STARTS ON NOVEMBER 30!!!

After two years and three months in development, and some recent, unexpected hurdles, the game is finally allllmost there. The final round of beta testing is almost over and I'm adding some final touches here and there. So unless we get invaded by aliens, the game will premiere on Friday, November 30! Check for more news at the bottom of this post.

The game tells a story of Gray - an alien living on the moon. One day he decides to (drumroll!) go visit Earth. And as he speeds through the atmosphere - surprise, surprise! - something goes wrong with the ship and - SURPRISE! - Gray crash-lands in a corn-field. What he has to do now is... Yes, you guessed it: find the ship and go home. How original indeed!  :

Gray is your good ol' point'n'click adventure game - with a smart and somewhat sarcastic protagonist. Expect him to say something about everything he sees, do crazy things and have a snide comment for every one of your failed efforts.

Gray quickly makes new friends - both humans...


...and little critters of nature...


The game runs in 320x240 and utilizes only four colors: dark blue, red, orange and beige. I love experimenting with limited palettes, my webcomic also makes heavy use of three-four color sets. This time, however, it's more than just my whim - in Gray the four colors play a vital role. So I really hope the above screenshots didn't make your eyes bleed!

Here's a little walking cycle of Gray:

and for those who liked the farmer, here are two idleness animations of the hygiene-aware redneck:


UPDATE: October 1, 2010

The game's got a musician on the team now Swordofkings128 contacted me last week and offered help - which I was more than happy to accept! The guy's a real pro! His creativity and versatilty never cease to amaze me. Here's a sample of a beautiful in-game music track he did. Click to play!


And here's the location that the song is for:


UPDATE: November 10, 2010

Swordofkings128, who's supplying the music for the game, made a whole bunch of wonderful background themes for different locations and different times of the day. Added a whole dimension to an otherwise humble project. Which, in turn, made me want to expand the whole game! There will be more interactive characters and MANY more puzzles.

Current progress stats (as of November 10):

   Story: 100%
   Backgrounds: 90%
   Animation: 75 %
   Coding: 10%
   Music: 50 %

UPDATE: May 1, 2011

The game had to be put on hold for a while due to work, work, work/college, college, college, some weird health issues plaguing the team etc. But work was finally resumed last month and continues at a nice pace - with yours truly dividing time between graphics, animation and coding. It's hard to estimate the progress in all those areas percentage-wise, because the game grew expotentially, but it's much, much, MUCH farther than the last time I posted an update and it's coming along nicely.
ALSO, a new member joined the team - Sephiroth, who's a great artist and an amazing coder. He's helped me out with some CRAZY pieces of coding (and believe me, I have CRAZY ideas) and a couple of nasty bugs that were driving me even crazier than I usually am.
Be sure to check out new screenshots above (replaced the ones that I originally posted).

UPDATE: January 14, 2012

Check out the newest posts for news and sneak peeks!


UPDATE: April 30, 2012

We have close to all in-game songs and the game's basically playable from start to finish -- but most conversations, Look At's and interaction responses are still in the works. There's still a FEW things to do that I haven't even started, like sound fx, the outro and the Polish translation. I'm hoping it'll be ready for beta-testing in a month or so, so we could then release by the end of June.

In other news: the dev team grew! By 100%! So now there's four of us:

- SwordOfKings128, who's stuck with me from almost the very beginning, does the music -- and blows my mind on a daily basis.

- Sephiroth is back and assists me with some serious coding. I just think of something crazy I'd want in the game -- and thirty seconds later he sends me the code.

- Paul Franzen, the newest member on the team, offered to proofread and edit dialogues (and monologues) in the game. Ah, poor, unsuspecting soul, didn't know what he was gettting himself into

Speaking of which, here's a sample of Gray's rhetorical talent - the all-time adventure game classic:



And this one of the game's milestones -- the game's own Quit GUI:



Because, obviously, a game with only four colors couldn't have a GUI that is GRAY

UPDATE: September 6, 2012

After two years in production, the game is allllmost ready!

Dialogues: done
Graphics and animation: pretty much!
Music: last song in progress

I plan/hope/play for the game to be out within a month. I'm currently in the process of adding sound effects. Once that and the outro song are complete, we'll run the final round of beta testing.

Oh, and here's the new logo:



UPDATE: November 25, 2012

THE ALIEN INVASTION STARTS ON NOVEMBER 30!!!

After two years and three months in development, and some recent, unexpected hurdles, the game is finally allllmost there. The final round of beta testing is almost over and I'm adding some final touches here and there. So unless we get invaded by aliens, the game will premiere on Friday, November 30!

Also, my long-time friend, Ellana Dayligaun of the incredibly talented band Invisible Animals, let me use one of their otherwoldly songs in the game's outro sequence. The result was MIND-BLOWING!