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I'm not sure wether you're using text scripting or the intercation editor, but I believe that in both, StopMusic stops the background music, and since this is a sound, it may not apply. What I think you need to do is use PlaySound(-1); to stop the sound.

[However, though in this case it should be fine, in other cases, this would stop all playing sound effects (channels 3-5), not just one. Is there a way to use PlaySoundEx(-1,4) or something to stop a specific sound? I can't test it atm..]

Oh, wait, I just found this: StopChannel (int channel). Which breings me to this: Is there a function, or a way to create a custom one, which can return which sound a certain channel is playing (somethng like GetCurrentMusic but for sounds). It seems that IsChannelPlaying and IsSoundPlaying aren't quite right for this purpose. And/or a function about a sound- where (channel) is it playing, if anywhere?



edit: If you'll be using Play Music, you need to use musicx.mp3 or any other format as the filename, where x is the number.

Looking really promising, this! The thing is, I think a large game would be more comfortable and fun to use, and can teach newcomers more at once, more scripting style and organisation. However I do agree it may get difficult to use as an open source guide. Hmm, would it be possible to somehow make important scripts stand out?
Anyway, I've got a suggestion for the help/learning button you seem to have planned: You could click the button and see a GUI pop up with information about what you clicked on (when a cursor), and seperately, you could view all the tips you've seen so far in a type of library (in game, or in a seperate file, like a part of the manual. It would be nice (maybe) if each tip you see/discover is added to the list of reviewable tips, explaining functions being used or scripts
As an example: You see a character walking up and down the street, pacing. Clicking the '?' cursor on him or something like that (maybe a lightbulb?) will tell you how this was done, and add a similar, though slightly differently prahsed maybe, tip to the library. It would be best I think if the game exported values to a file outside, bolleans to check if the player found each thing. And then in the manual/tip library, it would check this file to see what it should display. When the player finishes the game, all tips discovered and not discovered will be shown, those who weren't with a certain icon or something. Hmm.. The reason it's best put in an html file is that it would be easier to write detailed tutorials, and have links to appropriate threads in the forum, etc..
Then again, I dunno, it's just an idea.

In that case, here's what you need to do:
First, since this is going to be avaialble in all rooms, you need to use global variables, which store number values (ints). Use SetGlobalInt(number, value); and GetGlobalInt(number); like so:

//when player clicks on item
SetGlobalInt(0, character[GetPlayerCharacter()].x);
//this sets the first free space you have to the player characters x position
SetGlobalInt(1, character[GetPlayerCharacter()].y);
//this sets the second free space you have to the player characters y position

Then, use this to return to the room (assuming you used a room, not the gui, as I didn't understand what you chose to use in the end):
NewRoomEx(character[GetPlayerCharacter()].prevroom, GetGlobalInt(0);, GetGlobalInt(1);

Hope this works for you

edit: strazer's post reminded me of something I wanted to mention: since the room is a closeup of an item, the player is hidden, and to make the game hide the player character, there's a checkbox in the room editor that says something like "Player character is hidden", and just thought I'd mention it in case you didn't tick it.
strazer is right, this should have worked without all these globalints.

Ooh, another game bout animals, yay! Sounds like it'll be a funny little game. It was almost hard to see the robbery element, that's a clever way to interpret the rules.
The background looks very nice, though the purple-ish sky is just a bit too strange. But it can add an interesting aspect all the same .

You need to change:
NewRoom(character[GetPlayerCharacter()].prevroom);
into:
NewRoomEx(character[GetPlayerCharacter()].prevroom, charx, chary);
This was you coose where the player character appears. Change charx and chary to the coordinates on the screen you want for the character. Most likely you'll want to set this to whereever the player was standing before, or you could just set it 160 and 260, that's in the center. In the room editor, you can put your mouse over the place in the room you want the char to appear, and check above the image to see the coordinates, written in this form: (x,y).

I suggest that if you want to get along well with the program, you should carefully examine the manual, and try to grasp the basics of how the engine works. Don't forget the tutorials!

Or, you could format and reinstall windows.. But if it's so cheap to get an update and you feel it's time, then good for you! I love getting new computer updates, even when it's not really significant .

No way, give up GF, The dig, S&M/Dott, for Myst? Never! There are some people who liked myst, but it comes nowhere near these wonderful classics!

Ok, there may be one more thing.. I used to close the mixer too, but maybe that's not a good idea, so don't close it, and make sure than when you see the "Vol" tab and the "Rec" tab on the mixer, the microphone icon is blue. It's a bit hard to explain in words, but that may be it.
If not, maybe there's a more complicated problem.

Yes, though I still like to use brackets just for consistency. Anyway, nesting is the way to go, but, in order to check wether Mary has the money or not, you don't use player.inv[1] == 1, as far as I remember.
So, if I suppose that the inventory number for the money (not the place in the characters actual inventory) is 2, use character[MARY].inv[2] == 1.
Also, you can't use GetGlobalInt(TalkToJohn) just like that, you need to either use a global variable and export and then import it, or you need to use GetGlobalInt(4), or whatever number you choose it to be. But the best way would be, imo, if you don't want to use int TalkToJohn; or something, is to put at the top of the global script (I think; not sure exactly, and can't test on account of AGS not working): #define TalkToJohn 4
and keep a note that you're using global int 4. That way, you can do this:

//talking to Sue
if (GetGlobalInt(TalkToJohn) == 1) {
if (character[MARY].inv[2] == 1) {
DisplaySpeech(SUE, "Here you go, take the book.");
}
else { //Don't have money
DisplaySpeech(SUE, "I have the book, but it costs 50 dollars.");
}
}
else { //Haven't talked to John
DisplaySpeech(SUE, "Hi there.");
}

However, if you want other dialogs available with both of them, maybe it's best to use dialogs rather than displaying speech. It'll probably be simpler that way too.

P.s. Btw, Elaine, my Icq doesn't work atm, in fact hardly anything on mypc works, but after i reinstall, tell me at what stage you are with the game, if it's time for puzzles yet. If you need help with text scripting also, I can help, I hope .

Hmm, I dunno what the problem is in your case, but up until recently I couldn't get my mic to work after 2 reinstalls of windows. I turns out the problem was very silly actually. In my windows (xp, maybe this applies to other too), the computer thinks the ports in the sound card are all for loudspeakers, because it think there are 6 of them. try opening the C-media mixer or whatever, and check in the options wether it's set to recognise 6 loudpeakers or 2.
The C-media mixer is always in the taskbar, near the clock, on startup. Otherwise, I think it's in the C:\WINDOWS folder.

Depends on your experience eith games, as Grim is a bit more difficult in level than S&m and dott. All of these are great, and I bet the dig is good too, just havn't played it yet, so can't tell for sure. GF is by far my favorite game of all times, but I am a fan of epic, story-driven games, and the immersion in grim really is fantastic. Dott and s&m are more comic.
Man, I wish I could find games like these in stores here! I'd be lucky to find even a decent action-adventure like BG&E, not to mention classics like those. I want another copy of GF, and I want the dig.. If I saw these games in a shop, I'd buy them all at once! Of course, I do have about 500 dollars in the bank account, so money is less of an issue. Then again, I want to get Syberia and Broken Sword 3 aswell.
Hmm.. *Ginny stops rambling.*


P.s. Where do you live Scuthbert? Which country is so incredible to have these games for sale?

[Note in Envelope]

Ooh, I love this competition and all the entries! Didn't have time until now to think something up, so here goes:

Items:
Window
Pot
Large Stick
Shrub
Scissors
Boulder
Note in Envelope
Pebbles
Powder

Jump Off CLIFF - "Yeeehah! The wind is blowing, baby! Wait, what was I trying to do again?" -die-

Use POT on WINDOW - "What the hell is this glass made of anyway!? It won't break."

Eat SHRUB - "It's not spinach. *snigger*"

Use SCISSORS - "Didn't your parents teach you not to play with scissors? Or was that not to run around with scissors.. Hmm."

Examine NOTE - "It's a recipe to make a highly dangerous acid that can eat through solid matter. Kinda like grog."
"It says: 'Mix some crushed leaves and shreded paper over a fire. Add secret powder, included in this envelope as a special one-time offer!'"
"Oh, there's some teal coloured POWDER in here.."

Use POWDER - "Mmm, no, it might burn my nose, really."

Examine BOULDER - "There seem to be a few pebbles lying here, the kind that can start sparks and a fire."

Use PEBBLES on SHRUB - "I shouldn't burn it yet, I need the leaves."

Use SCISSORS on SHRUB - "I got some LEAVES."

Use LEAVES with BOULDER - "There. Crushed leaves."

Use SCISSORS on NOTE - "Astalavista, cheap notepaper!"

Use LEAVES on POT - "The old cooking pot is full of crushed leaves now."

Use PAPER on POT - "Paper goes in."

Use PEBBLES on SHRUB - "Ooh, I started a fire!"

Use POT on SHRUB - "I feel like a neanderthal.."

Use STICK on POT - "My mixing skills are admirable!"

USE POWDER on POT - "Prepare for sparks! Youch!"

Quickly Use POT on Door - "The acid eats the door away, but I'm a bit scared to go in.. Never mind..."
J/K!
"The acid eats the door away, and victory is mine! Hey, what's that smell?"

Solution 2:

Use SCISSORS on window - "I've made a large crack in the shape of a hole in the glass."
Use LARGE STICK on crack - "Prod. Prod prod. PROD!!!"
"Oh, I've made a hole. Funny, that."
Use POT with STICK - "It's a brass pot on a stick!"
Use POT-ON-STICK with hole in wondow - "With my great strength and hand-eye coordination, I scoop up the item inside!"

Also:
Added items: House owner.
Talk to OWNER - "Hey, can I get something from your house?"
"Now way!"
Use SCISSORS on OWNER.
Talk to OWNER again - "How about now?"
"*pant* Sure, be my guest! *choke*"


Actually none of these really worked out as imaginitive as I had hoped, but meh. I would suggest to have less obvious options next time, such as not allowing for many extra items, maybe not any at all, and items that can't be used too easily to solve the puzzle. Just a suggestion to whoever wins .

I've been thinking of things like that for a while, but I think morecomplexity can helpeven more. Good and evil is a bit cliche. Anyway, I'll think of something and post it later on. Just wanted to point out you shouldn't use 50, I see no reaso. Just set it to 0 and add or subtract. It's easier to see opposites with negative andpositive numbers.

Personally, I would really enjoy such a thing, especcially if the updtaing was interesting. I don't think it would be too difficult to make, either. For example, we would just use one global int, and each time an important event occurs, we add 1 to this int. Then in the function for this cutscene, it would check if the int was more than 0 for the first event, more than 1 for the second, etc..

Now, this is perfectly good for linear games, but when there is some non-linearlity, and not just in puzzles, it gets complicated. Choices would have to be taken care of with lots of varaibles (in this case it's best not to waste global ints but use int declarations and exports-imports), or some clever use of one global int, and if actions can actually be subtly changed, or can happen in a different order, well, it takes some thought. Nevertheless, I love this idea! I will definetly incorporate it into my future plot-oriented games. Btw, on the topic, do you think such a thing would be neccessary/helpful/nice/not pointless in a game that's pretty long, but puzzle oriented mostly (not entirely)?

P.s. Oh yeah and definetly a checkbox of some sort.

Just for a little background info: Game Team Design is a forum in which hopefully peolple will be able to form teams and make games within a team. This builds up team work skills for anyone who would like to work in real game development in the future, or just for fun. There will be other competitions aswell, in particular ones for making a shortish (MAGS length maybe) game in a team of a few people. Also, the other competitions are sometimes similar to the ones on the AGS forums, but mostly they are original. For example, there are competitions for drawing items, writing detailed game plots, scripting, drawing a dramatic scene and possibly adding music to it, etc.. Maybe a betatesting competition, to see who can find the most (intentional and unintentional) bugs

Just thought I would explain a bit further, because I feel this thing can be a success with enough work .

Well, there is no right or wrong way, you should use whatever way works best for you, but as I gather your last method wasn't very fruitfull. So, I can tell how I do it (or believe it should be done):

1) Firstly, once you have an idea you are certain you want to make into a game (I get many ideas which i just like to leave alone for now), you should work on it just to make sure you know all the basic premise: Who are the most important characters (you don't have to have names yet, I usually can't think of a proper name at this stage), where does the game start/take place, when, if it's of any importance, and what special features it may have.
2) Start writing a lot about you game. It's nice to have written material to go through for inspiration and motivation. I like to write up a short passage about the location, about the time, the characters and their personality, and then the linear part of the plot. it doesn't have to be a lot (though in my case I do write quite a bit), if it's a short and not serious game a few lines about each character is enough.
3) You can start drawing some of the things at this point, I think, while simultaneously working out every single location in the game, dividing the plot into goals, obstacles, and eventually puzzles. Write some of the dialog, particularly the dialog that is connected to the puzzles, etc. Btw, if it's a long game, I'd go over this step in bits, each time with the next 'part' of the game, even if you don't show this division of parts in the game. Also, I like to have the GUI worked out and possibly scripted by now, or even before this stage.
4) Drawing and Scripting at the same time, or drawing and then scripting, or scripting and then drawing. Whichever suits you more. For a large game, each 'part' canbe done one by one. For example, I like to start working in the editor and scripting pretty early on, using placeholders if needed, and then putting in artwork that's finished. I don't like using placeholder backgrounds though, cause afterwards I need to redraw hotspots. Still, that's fine aswell sometimes.
5) Music, sound effects, voice acting if applicable (or later on) can be added later or in the proccess of making the game.
6) Beta-testing yourselfand then by other testers, fixing bugs, adding things like extra stuff, easter eggs, bonus material, intro of logo, start room (I like to have this ready beforehand though), manual, launcher, icons, etc...
Then a few more final tests and voila! All through the proccess, staring at any point you'd like, just as long as you have some work done, you can keep updating the players about the game .
I'd either do what's easier first or what difficult first, when it comes to sprites and bgs, if there isn't a difference for you, then at the same time.

Whew, got a bit carried away there.

There have been a few threads like this I think, but I can't find them right now, they're old. There's this though: http://www.kecek.com/forums/index.php?mforum=GTD&showtopic=24 on Game Team Design, a similar thread, though not yet many posts.
And also, read articles about puzzle theory, design, etc etc etc.. I have loads of them bookmarked somewhere, they're not too hard to find through google and on adventure game websites. Maybe later I'll make a list. There is one which you must read, though: http://www.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=142 .
There are 9 parts so far, and still counting. A few other articles on the same site aswell.

P.s. edit- I notcied someone else mentioned Rise of the Hidden Sun, too, heh (it's in the articles I linked to). It took me a long time to write this, on and off, so I didn't read older replies.
Anyway, I wanted to stress what Kinoko siad about lists: You need lists! Lists are your friends! They keep you organized and up to date, and are useful in teams too. I like to have lists for all the artwork needed, including animations, character, items, objects, backgrounds, GUIs, icons, and any extra art (like a starting menu and the logo for the company(sometimes) and game). Then all the music, all characters, locations, puzzles, etc..
And nothing beats a 'to do' list. Man, I love striking things out on the list, and adding new ones gradually.

How about Evil Enterprises*?

*Copyright Geoffkhan.. I think..Ã,  His Mags game

I was about to post what eric posted
We need an evil smiley.
"My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones."
lol..

P.s. I just noticed that I reallylove your signature Zor
Personally, I plan to achieve world domination by getting all adventure game fans to worship me when I make games, and thus they will be my army of minions, muahahahaha!!!! *sarcasm*

This is a good idea, I think.
I'd say you should check interface creation options, ease of use, control over the game, amount limitations.
Also, I think trying to script out several sequences or challenges and see where it is easier/possible to do.
For example, try to script characters walking around an area randomly performing actions, and see where it works better, more in depth, is possible at all, can happen between several rooms, etc.
Also, even when something is technically impossible yet, check for how often there are workarounds.
Resolution and color options.
How dialogs are handled.
But of course, I love AGS for the dedication of it's author, so update frequency, implementation of user suggestions, etc.
I'll be waiting for the results!

P.s. Maybe you'll have better luck of finding someone to test it on sludge on the sludge forums. Or you could ask in the same thread you linked to.

+
Community
User Plugins and support for plugins

Right, well firstly, you need to put the script in hotspot interactions, not inventory, because the interaction editor works in a way that it check if the player interacted with the object/hotspot/item/character, not if the player used the item to interact with something else. In this case, since interacting with the pot needs to be done with items, you use the "Inventory used on hotspot" interaction (I don't remember the exact wording, but you get it). Now, suppose you have the 5 items, 1-5, and the order they need to be put in is 23451. First, you need a integer (a variable that stores a whole number) to see if the player has started the sequence correctly and how he is progressing. If I recall correctly, strazer answered a similar question you asked before, and the way to script this is similar to the buttons.

----------
// in the game_start() function of the global
// this sets the globalint for the sequence to zero
/* actually you don't need this at all, you just need to choose a global int number to use for the sequence. it helps to write this with a comment about it's purpose, imo */

SetGlobalInt(5,0);
//Global Int number 5 will be used for the potion sequence

// in the script for "player uses inventory on this hotspot"

int itemused = character[GetPlayerCharacter()].activeinv;
//not neccessary, just for convenience
//this will store the item number that was used

if ((GetGlobalInt(5); == 0) && (itemused == 2) {
//if the first item in the sequence was used
LoseInventory(2);
sequence++;
Display("You used the correct ingredient, what's next?");
}

else if ((GetGlobalInt(5); == 1) && (itemused == 3) {
//if the second item in the sequence was used
LoseInventory(3);
sequence++;
Display("You used the correct ingredient, what's next?");
}

else if ((GetGlobalInt(5); == 2) && (itemused == 4) {
//if the third item in the sequence was used
LoseInventory(4);
sequence++;
Display("You used the correct ingredient, what's next?");
}

else if ((GetGlobalInt(5); == 3) && (itemused == 5) {
//if the fourth item in the sequence was used
LoseInventory(5);
sequence++;
Display("You used the correct ingredient, what's next?");
}

else if ((GetGlobalInt(5); == 4) && (itemused == 1) {
//if the fifth item in the sequence was used
LoseInventory(1);
Display("You have finished the potion! Well done! Bla bla bla...");
/*result of completing the potion. could be an item given or anything else*/
}

else {
Display("This is the wrong potion ingredient to put in right now.");
}
----------

There are more complicated ways to do this, which would allow the player to put the items inside in any order and then discover the result is wrong, so he'll get the items back, or find them again, etc..
Also, if you need other items to be used on the pot before or later, you need to change the else { ... } to:

-----
else if ((itemused == 1) || (itemused == 2) || (itemused == 3) || (itemused == 4) || (itemused == 5)) {
Display("This is the wrong potion ingredient to put in right now.");
}
-----

Or just make sure it's at the very end of the interaction (though that might not work).

P.s. Where are you from dikla, if you don't mind my asking?

Edit: Ah, ok, I didn't see your latest post until now.
Doing it the way you want is a bit more complicated, but not that different actually. I don't have time right now, but if you still need help I can write it up tommorow.

Well, I was going to request more signature space, since it seemed to me that last time I didn't have enough to be able to later put in a small banner for a game and a link to my website. But now there's plenty of space, though a little moe wouldn't hurt (I'm talking about number of characters allowed of course).

A small glitch I noticed when receiving messges was that even though I only got one PM, the popup message asks me more than once to open it in a new window. However it's not bothering me anyway, as I can always turn it off if I want, i just like the popup notification.

I really love the Quick reply thing, i should use it more.