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We really should only have the dynamic sprite warning log thing in Debug versions, not compiled.

I totally agree with this. No reason to worry the end user with a non-problematic error that is bound to happen whenever someone uses Alt+X or Alt+F4 to quit the game.

Edit: And just to remind CJ, please remove the 50 character limit for savegame names.

Edit 2: A recent post reminded me of something I've been meaning to suggest for a while. Any chance there could be a GetArraySize(name) function? The size property must be stored somewhere since AGS knows when to crash with an out-of-bounds errors, so it would be great if that value could be retrieved at run-time. Of course you can always keep track on it using a #DEFINE (for static arrays) or an int, but especially for dynamic arrays it would mean cleaner code with less variables to juggle around.

I must admit that I've had more fun with casual hidden object games than with any "real" adventure released last year. But it's definitely an acquired taste. They're not really pixel hunts, as you are usually allowed a limited number of clicks (if there's a time limit, clicking randomly more than 5 times or so will usually deduct a few minutes from the countdown) and all items are visible on-screen, only "hidden" among other junk in the background.

The genre seems to be evolving though (not necessarily for the better - the first Women's Murder Club game was much more challenging that the second), with more variety, mini games, logic puzzles and dropping the arbitrary searches for 5 flowers or the letter 'Q' in the middle of a crime scene investigation.

They're not bad games, but definitely no adventure games, and certainly a very casual gaming experience. Most adventure fans will hate them, and most hidden object fans will find "true" adventure games quite boring (as evidenced by the response to Dave Gilbert's Emerald City Confidential). If you want to give them a try, I recommend Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets written by Jane Jensen. There should be an hour of gameplay in the demo version, more than enough to make up your mind about the genre.

DISCLAIMER: Neither I nor Oberon Games can in any way be held responsible in case you actually do blow your brains out. To be on the safe side, you may want to read a review instead of becoming another casualty of hidden object game related suicide.

Wow, that's some damn impressive work, clarvalon. I personally see much more potential in your converter than in the recent discussion about a Nintendo DS or Wii compatible AGS version. You say that structural differences prevent a perfect automatic conversion, what areas in particular does this relate to? Is it just the art that needs to be exported manually, or does it limit any AGS script functions?

Unfortunately I can't answer your question, but keep up the good work, and please keep us posted! 

If you google for "tin can alley", you'll see that's a fairly common term for this kind of game.

Methinks they are both based on the standard "ear protection required" pictogram.

Another huge benefit of LCDs is that they save electricity compared to CRT monitors of the same size. After my laptop died in the fall of 2007, I went back to using my old desktop computer with its very nice 19" CRT screen. It still worked fine, and I didn't really feel any need to buy a new laptop anytime soon. But I got a nasty surprise when I discovered that my power bill for 2008 had actually DOUBLED compared to the two previous years - in fact, the extra electricity expense I ended up paying for a single year with the CRT could easily have bought me a quality LCD screen (though obviously part of the increase was due to the 200-something watts used by the PC) . Damn! Lesson learned, now I've got a brand new laptop.

CJ, when you say "copy the alpha channel", do you mean the same effect as DynamicSprite.CopyTransparencyMask? If so, I don't think it would help achieve the effect intended. What's really needed is some kind of additive - not sure that's the right word - alpha support where for instance two smoke particles can be drawn on top of each other with the final sprite still be semi-transparent, but more opaque than if only one smoke object had been drawn.

Seems a bit overly complicated to me, monkey. What's wrong with:

Code: ags

void DrawSurfaceAtXY(this DrawingSurface*, DrawingSurface *source, int x, int y, int transparency) {
  DynamicSprite* sourcesprite = DynamicSprite.CreateFromDrawingSurface(source, 0, 0, source.Width, source.Height);
  this.DrawImage(x, y, sourcesprite.Graphic, transparency);
  }

?

You could optimize by putting in some coordinate checks for CreateFromDrawingSurface, to avoid handling a bigger section of the image than we need. But in your example, you still draw the full surface so no real speed gain by the cropping and changing of canvas size.

Float On, there is a module that already does that, though it should be updated to use extender functions and add diagonal directions, but that's pretty easy to do yourself. In fact, it's probably easiest to write it from scratch, should take about 5 minutes.

I love Carnivàle, it's easily my favorite TV show from the last 17 years (crap, has it really been that long since Twin Peaks? I feel old), and I recommend it to anyone I meet. However, I don't really see it working as an adventure game. True, it has elements of investigation, but it's mostly about character development at an emotional level, which doesn't suit itself for gameplay. In fact, if you switched between Ben and Justin as player characters, Justin's part would probably be the more interesting as he has a real project while Ben is mainly being led by others.

If I was to turn Canivàle into an adventure game (don't read if you haven't watched the entire series):

Spoiler

I'd probably do a prequel about Lucius Belyakov's hunt for Henry Scudder, focusing on the parts of the Avatar mythology (based on Knauf's pitch documents) that weren't revealed in the two existing seasons. Of course it would be a huge spoiler for anybody who hasn't watched the show, but I don't think a simple retelling of the events of the series would be very interesting for the core audience of Carnivàle fans.

[close]

On the other hand, if you're talking about creating a game inspired by Carnivàle rather than based on it, I'd say go for it. The depression era setting in itself would definitely make it unique, and if you could come close to the visual style it would be amazing (actually the credits montage inspired elements of the GUI design in my own game).

I wrote a flood-fill script for AGS as part of a bunch of drawing tools for creating light/scale maps for an as-of-yet unpublished module. However, it's quite slow, so I don't know if it would be useful (for instance it makes the music glitch if you fill a large area - however, you could put in some Wait(1) calls which would circumvent this and the user could actually see the area being filled gradually, which would make for a nice effect).

There's a good pseudo-code example of it on wikipedia, which I used as the basis for my script. Here's the basic code from my game. I haven't tested it in a while, so I don't remember if there's any unresolved problems:

Code: ags

function noloopcheck FloodFill(this DrawingSurface*, int x, int y, int color) {
  int beforecolor = this.GetPixel(x, y);
  if (beforecolor == 0) return; //added this so that you won't be able to fill the black outlines with color
  this.DrawingColor = color;
  this.DrawPixel(x, y);
  color = this.GetPixel(x, y);
  if (color == beforecolor) return;
  
  int surfacewidth = this.Width;
  int surfaceheight = this.Height;
  
  int stack[];
  int maxstacksize = surfacewidth*surfaceheight;
  stack = new int[maxstacksize];
  
  int currentstacksize;
  //the following lines are indented wrongly because I removed a conditional before posting
    stack[currentstacksize] = (y*surfacewidth)+x;
    currentstacksize++; //we already decided that beforecolor != fill color
    while ((currentstacksize > 0) && (currentstacksize < maxstacksize-12)) {
      int value = stack[currentstacksize-1]; //because 0 is also an index
      int stacky = value/surfacewidth;
      int stackx = value-(stacky*surfacewidth);
      this.DrawPixel(stackx, stacky);
      currentstacksize--;
      if (this.GetPixel(stackx-1, stacky) == beforecolor) {
        stack[currentstacksize] = (stacky*surfacewidth)+(stackx-1);
        currentstacksize++;
        }
      if (this.GetPixel(stackx+1, stacky) == beforecolor) {
        stack[currentstacksize] = (stacky*surfacewidth)+(stackx+1);
        currentstacksize++;
        }
      if (this.GetPixel(stackx, stacky-1) == beforecolor) {
        stack[currentstacksize] = ((stacky-1)*surfacewidth)+stackx;
        currentstacksize++;
        }
      if (this.GetPixel(stackx, stacky+1) == beforecolor) {
        stack[currentstacksize] = ((stacky+1)*surfacewidth)+stackx;
        currentstacksize++;
        }    
      }
  }

It could be optimized a lot, and when I get time I'll probably rewrite it to use scanline flood fill instead. Also, some of the areas in you example, such as the tree, are a bit too detailed to fill properly using this method. If you need those details, it would be better to make the area to color pure white and add the detail lines as an object on top of the background.

Edit: Tolworthy wrote while I was posting, and his suggestion is good too. You don't need to use characters for that though, you can also use Object.Tint, so that the areas to color and their positions, are set on a room by room basis, which would probably be easier to manage.

Games on DVD players are nothing more than a bunch of video clips with the menus to play them disguised as a game interface. So what you're looking for is a regular DVD authoring tool. DVDStyler seems to be a pretty good and free program fit for the task.

Edit: monkey, I agree that just like FMV games in general, DVD player games tend to be crap. But I heard good things about the DVD version of Tender Loving Care. I only played the Windows version, but it was definitely an interesting and quite unique experience.

Yeah, this took me a while too. I tried everything: "be happy", "live", "quit working" and so on - even tried just typing "the word"

Spoiler

Type "love", and you have won the game.

[close]

Baskerville is nice, and has an antiquated feel which would fit your yellowed pages. But I also second Trent's suggestion of Garamond.

Wow, I finished the game (there's more to life than green paper, kaputtnik)! Found it quite inspiring despite the simplicity of it all.

Yeah, the Character Control plugin has been modulized and is available here (not even sure the original plugin would even work anymore).

That's interesting to hear. Do you perhaps have some links or demos for those KQ/MI/SQ fangames? This is rather before my time, so to speak, and I'm curious what's out there.

I think the King's Quest games referred to are the two VGA remakes by Tierra, now known as AGD Interactive, as well as Infamous Adventures' later KQ3 remake.

The Space Quest fan games were mainly developed in AGI Studio, and the two I know of (and recommend) are Space Quest: The Lost Chapter and Space Quest 0: Replicated.

As for the Monkey Island fan games, several were made using the Klik & Play tool. Unfortunately LucasArts were quite eager to send cease-and-desist letters in the early 2000's, so many of them are no longer to be found. It seems that The Devil's Triangle is still online. But Scurvyliver's Fate of Monkey Island seems to be gone after Lucas' lawyers stopped its sequel from being made. Another cancelled but quite promising project was Legends of Lechuck (text in german but with some screenshots). And of course there's the AGS made spinoff game Night of the Hermit.

No, AGS games only work as stand-alone executables. The game will have to be downloaded to be played. If you want to make an adventure game to be played in the browser, you might want to check out Lassie Adventure Studio (unless of course that's the one you already tried). You'll need a copy of Flash to use it though.

Not a stupid question at all, I actually had to look it up to make sure. This is what CJ said back in 2004. I don't think the plugin functionality has changed since then (except no DOS support of course).

The DOS and Linux engines will load a game that uses plugins, but when they attempt to initialize a script that uses a plugin function, they will exit with an "undefined function" error.

So if it's just, for instance, the snow-rain plugin, you can just check for the OS and not run any function calls to the plugin unless the game is running under Windows.

If both computers are on the same network you could use Windows' Remote Desktop feature to access your desktop from the laptop. Don't expect to be able to play games through this connection though, it will lag horribly.