Messages

Code: ags

String labeltext = String.Format("%d", GetGlobalInt(7));
lblPoints.Text = labeltext;

1) Check in the Room Editor that the scaling settings for your walkable areas are correct.

2) In the Character Editor make sure that "Ignore room area scaling" isn't checked for you player character.

something like:

Code: ags

if (player.Room == cBrian.Room) cBrian.Say("I'm in the same room as you dumbass!");

should do the trick.

it makes sense that there's a bigger vertical space between separate options and between lines belonging to the same option.

Unless of course you have horizontal lines.

What the fuck are you talking about?

Edit: I realize that it should have said "it makes sense that there's a bigger vertical space between separate options THAN between lines belonging to the same option." But even so, line spacing between horizontal lines is vertical, I don't get what you're saying.

Do you actually get overlappings? I can see that the top of the "l" would probably touch the bottom of the "g", but not in a way that would affect readability. To me it looks like this is as-designed, it makes sense that there's a bigger vertical space between separate options and between lines belonging to the same option.

If the main issue is that they don't align to the background, either remove the background or shorten the lines. In my opinion a dialog option should never contain the full spoken line anyway, unless it's very very short - just summarize it and you'll fit it into one line.

I don't see the point in having retail game characters if the site is about AGS?

Edit: I would probably replace Garfield by the way, first of all that big orange cat really draws attention from the other characters, and second of all, that game no longer exists officially. How about Alexander from Cirque de Zale instead, or Jake McUrk, Fatman or Jessica Plunkenstein?

The point here isn't to censor anything or keep it away from certain people, which is as you say impossible on the internet. Rather it is to allow people to make informed decisions about the games they want to play (and possibly games they choose for others to play).

Believe it or not, but I've heard adult people say that they don't want to play this-or-that game because it's too gory. There was even some guy posting here who asked if my game was going to be scary, because he didn't like scary games! Does anyone but me recall a certain member of this forum - I won't name names - who was very upset about a scene in Flashbax of an old man masturbating? With just a few rating categories, these people would be prepared for what to expect from the game and could choose to play it or not.

And the rest of us can avoid wasting time on boring games without sex, violence and drugs...

A quick and dirty edit of Hillbilly's icon, but how about something like this to display the grade of severity:

Since you're already using degrees of content, couldn't the number of icons be reduced? Blood and gore would usually be involved at a higher level of violence, and suggestive themes, nudity and sex couls also be part of the same scale.

I see that you went for colors to represent severity. I really think you should consider a monochrome alternative, for print and for people who don't want a technicolor rainbow on their title screens. How about a system where the severity is measured in notches at the bottom of the icon (a la the volume display on a stereo)?

The concept of a toilet icon for bad language doesn't really work in other languages (not to mention that I find the word "potty mouth" a lot more offensive than the word "fuck"). And it's also rather ambiguous unless people already know what the icons represent, it could easily mean "this games show people urinating" a la Hitman, Mafia etc., which I'm sure is also covered by censorship rules.

I think the cartoon cursing symbols, like they are used in the PEGI logo, is the best way to represent foul language.

i didn't want it to look like i was plugging lassie to be honest

No, that would be bestiality.

I think this is a really good idea, and I would be quite impressed if you got it spread out to amateur developers outside the AGS community. Even if it doesn happen, I think it would be great to get some easier to read icons than the current AGS site ratings. (I also do enjoy the competitive aspect of it - I can't wait for someone to go for a maximum score  ).

As for the icon, I think it's a good beginning. But I think there are too many shades. Ideally, it should be done in strict black-and-white (possibly with one tone of gray like the background on the PEGI icons). And the pixel art style of the icon (including the font) wouldn't suit higher resolution games. If you do want it to be spread outside the AGS community, I recommend going for a very stylized vector-graphic style that can be resized for any resolution and for print, as well as one or two different pixel versions (say one at 64x64 another at 128x128) for use in lo-res games and on websites.
Also, the white border is very intrusive if you try putting the icon on a black loading screen. If you succeed in designing icons that are communicative enough you won't even need the text (also good for non-English language games).

(off-topic - I always thought it would be funny to make censorship icons that really showed what was offensive about the game, so you'd have PEGI-like icons of erect penises and exploding heads)

I don't mean to criticise monkey's ScrollingDialog module, but I would recommend writing your own dialog system to fit your specific needs. I started doing this myself today - I was having some of the same problems as you regarding text color - and it turned out to be much easier than I thought. The basics - from conception to a functional prototype - took about an hour.

My module uses RawDraw and graphical overlays to display the options, which means that you don't have to deal with GUIs, labels etc. and as long as you just want to display your options on a black background (or on a fixed size graphical background) it seems quite ideal for the purpose. Since it uses RawDraw instead of labels, you could even have keywords highlighted in different colors or use different fonts within the same option.

As long as you've got a reasonable grasp of how to use structs and arrays, and are prepared to write your dialog in the script instead of using the dialog editor, writing your own dialog system will save you loads of grief with the limitations of the built-in system.

As for me

Spoiler

I cant for the LIFE of me figure out how to keep the 'hair' together. I've walked around everywhere!

[close]

Spoiler

There's a tree with some sticky sap in the woods. However, it's all tried up - so how to get some fresh sap from the tree?

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I played the BJ1 parody Sven Goran just two days ago, so I remembered most of the puzzles quite well and went through the game without much hesitation. The voice acting was great - and I also thought Chris Walken when I heard the ranger speak (there seemed to be some recording problems with the hippie's lines though?). Usually I hate voice-narration for look-at and interaction messages, because it's much too slow, but I rather liked the southern drawl of the narrator - reminded me a bit of Gabriel Knight in fact (Gabe himself, not that awful narrator lady in GK1).

I'm also happy that the ending didn't feel as Scooby Doo-like as the original. It certainly felt like a more serious game, and the gore wasn't out of place. It's also nice that the silly puzzle with the composit photo was replaced with something more realistic. And the graphic novel style cutscenes were lovely, very GK but also very effective.

My one complaint is that the maze area felt more like a man-made park than a natural area (nice, crossing paths surrounded by bushes as compared to the overgrown swamp area in GK1). And the overarcing plot sure seems promising:

Spoiler

The backstory of BJ's grandfather and his exploits in Europe during the 1920's must surely become part of the story. And who's this Quincy Sanbourne who wrote the Paranormal Investigator book? I wonder what the Vatican guys mean by "We've found another one" - a virgin over the age of 18 ?

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Edit: Now that BJ1 had gotten a facelift, doesn't BJ2 seems out of place among these more serious games... No way, I'd rather see Grundislav spend his time on BJ6. Great in-joke about the series of books Ranger Rick is reading btw 

Spoiler

Yeah, searched it. But that "it" only appears in the upper left corner. Also I used another thing on it to make the spark. But where do I use that?

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Spoiler

No, if you listened to the dialog you got the compass directly from the ranger. You should find something else in his backpack and then use that on BJ

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[hate]

Spoiler

Can somebody please give me a hint on the maze. I hate mazes.. Grr...

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Spoiler

Have you searched the ranger's backpack? Perhaps you should use what you find in it

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Damn you Grundislav, I was just about to go to sleep (it's quarter to six in the morning here) - Now I'll be up for another hour. Seriously, this is great news, can't wait to try it - maybe I'll play just a liiiitle bit before heading off to bed.

Ok, for the text box issue you basically have to search through all the savegames for a matching text, so you want to do something like this:

Code: ags

int currentsaveslot;
bool foundsamename;
while ((currentsavegame <= SaveList.ItemCount) && (foundsamename == false)){
    if (SaveText.Text == SaveList.Items[currentsaveslot])  foundsamename = true;
    else currentsaveslot++;
    }
if (foundsamename == true) SaveGameSlot(SaveList.SaveGameSlots[currentsaveslot], SaveText.Text);

As for SelectionChanged, you could use that if you for example want to copy the name of the selected savegame to the textbox (so the player can modify the name of an existing game before overwriting it).