Messages

Venus--yes, there is definitely supposed to be dialogue during that scene.  You don't learn very much, but one important thing does become apparent.

If someone is reading this who has not played this far, DO NOT READ FURTHER...I'm not sure if I remember how to use spoiler tags on this particular forum...

Spoiler

You learn in that scene that Mitchell "believes Noah" and intends to "confront Knox tonight"

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Unfortunately I have no idea what this is really about since I can't get anything but the bad ending.  Of your two "optional memories" I have not tried one of them, but I have tried the other and nothing happened:

Spoiler

I used the eye AND the brain on the brain posters in the lab, as well as the ones in Knox's office.  Which poster did you mean? Is there something else that has to be done first?

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Looking forward to beating this game...

--Mick

Wow, thanks for all this help, this really does make a big difference!  I am new to this export/import stuff...if I alter a variable that has been exported/imported (i.e. change its value), will it still have a global effect?  i.e. if I do this export/import thingy, will things I do to the "imported" variable have an effect on the variable at large?

The reason I am asking is, this is a variable that I will need to access from pretty much every room in the game.  As long as I put in the export in the global script and the import in each room script, will it work the way I am intending?

I am sort of new to version 2.7 and I tried something which did not work, I can't figure out why. This is a very simple problem so I'm sure the solution is something I ought to already know but I honestly can't figure it out...

anyway, here's the problem.  I created an int at the beginning of the global script, knowing I would want to use this int throughout the entire game in various rooms. The GUIs recognize this variable just fine, it would seem.

The problem came when I tried to change the int from a room script. I got an error saying "Uknown token" or something like that, indicating my variable. Apparently the room script is not aware of this variable created at the beginning of the global script.

Can someone help me out? I realize I am probably being a dunce here...

Ahhhh!  Now I get it!  LOL, that would actually be a rather funny and intuitive feature.  Reminds me of playing "Metal Gear Solid" for the PlayStation 1.  There was this one scene where a character you are talking to tells you, "You have to dial this certain number...I have it with me...where did I put it?  Oh, that's right.  It's on the back of the CD case."  I spent a solid twenty minutes trying to find a "CD Case" inventory item in the room I was in and surrounding area, before realizing that he meant it literally--the number is printed on the back of the real CD case that Metal Gear Solid comes in.  Oy vey.

You do make a good point though--if nothing else, backward-time-travel cheating could be prevented, just not forward-time-travel.

--Mick

I'm sorry, what do you mean exactly, Vince?  Are you saying, use an in-game clock that does not connect to the computer clock at all?  Because that defeats the purpose of the question--what I was asking is if there's a way for the game to "know" how much time has passed since it was last played and if there's a way to avoid cheating with this, so the timekeeping device could not be an in-game feature.

Oh, thanks monkey!  I will definitely copy and save this code you provided, it should prove useful.  However, if  I understand correctly, even with this code as part of my program, players can still "fool" the game by adjusting their computer clock, correct?  The code seems to still make use of the computer clock to see how long its been since the game was last played, so someone would still be able to cheat...right?

I am just making sure, here--I actually still do find this code to be very valuable and if I make a game that involves realtime I will assuredly make use of this

--Mick

Heh, ok sorry, I thought it would be preferred for me to post this way rather than have all three questions in the same topic.  My mistake.  Guess I missed that in the manual--I looked for this but couldn't find it there.

Thanks for all your help.  You don't happen to know if there's any way to avoid the cheating method I mentioned above, do you?

I agree.  Trouble is, I am not at the computer with the game at the moment.  I will try to get some of the code up soon though--in the meantime if anyone has a clue what the problem might be just from looking at what I've already got up here, don't hesitate to post your ideas...

I am wondering if there is a way to have AGS "know" how long it's been since the player last played the game, perhaps via the computer's clock?  It would be an intriguing feature of a game, I think, if the gameworld progressed in time at the same rate as the real world, so that when you come back to it, the same amount of time has passed there as the amount of time that has passed in the real world.  Is there anyway to have AGS do this?

And my second question is, if there IS a way to do this, is there any way around the obvious cheating method of simply moving your clock backward or forward so as to skirt around the game's timekeeping system?

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

--Mick

I have been toying with the idea of a multiplayer AGS game ever since I first started playing Myst: Uru, a game originally designed to be a multiplayer puzzler-solving adventure.  I am wondering, has anyone else figured out possible ways to do this?  The players wouldn't necessarily have to be able to chat with each other at the same time but it would be fun if they could play different characters solving different parts of the adventure and leaving notes/journals for each other to read--basically an interactive adventure where you have to rely on clues from other players to solve your part too.

It's just an idea but right now I am stumped as to how it could be done.  If anyone else has any ideas, let me know.

--Mick

Hey, here I am with another dumb question.  This time I'm having trouble with a character staying transparent.  That is, it's not, and I want it to.  I'm using the newest version of AGS and I followed instructions I found in the help file for causing a character to "fade in" to the screen.  However, I only want the character to fade in halfway, and then remain at 50% transparency.  In the room's script I used a loop to fade the character in, then ran a couple of dialogs, then used another loop to fade him out.  What actually happened was this:  The character fades in to 50% as he is supposed to, but then he jumps immediately to a "no transparency" state, the dialog is run and then he just stays there.  I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.  Any ideas?

--Mick

Hmmm...can it be in first-person?Ã,  For some reason I've become obsessed with first-person games...what if I did one for this and the character was female--i.e. she was addressed as a female by NPCs etc--but we never actually see her (except maybe in a mirror or something).Ã,  Let me know...

EDIT: Oh, one other question--do the objects HAVE to be in the actual inventory as items, or can they just be objects in the game that the player needs to interact with.  I had another great idea for this MAGS but if I run with it, my player character will probably not be able to have an inventory...

Wanted to make a progress report and a request.

FIRST: The town environment is now about 33% done.  There will be other locations besides Northbank itself but since Northbank itself is much much larger than all of the other locations combined and is where most of the game takes place, this represents a pretty big progression for the development of the game.

SECOND: I'm looking ahead here and there are still some considerable graphics that I need, don't have, and do not have the tools to make.  So I am wondering if anyone is interested (or knows anyone else interested) in making and contributing some backgrounds for the game.  I could not pay, of course, but I would give you credit at the beginning of the game, so you'd get some publicity in return for your work (how much depends on how successful the game is).

Here's what I still need:

2D or 3D graphics for the interiors: twenty-something background scenes that would be the interiors of each building.  Only one or two of the buildings will be fully navigatable (is that a word?) 3d environments--most will be single scenes and I'm just as interested in well-rendered two-dimensional pictures / paintings as I am in quality 3D artwork.

Locations outside Northbank: Four major locations need to be built as 3d environments.  Each of these will need somewhere around 5-10 scenes, and they really need to be 3d graphics that are at least as good as those used for the town itself, to maintain consistency.

Is anyone willing, or does anyone know anyone else who would be?

--Mick

I checked out your sight--I can't find a demo anywhere, is there one?  I'm really looking forward to the finished game!  KQ3 was one of my favorites, it's nice to see someone redoing it the way it ought to be done.

--Mick

Thanks for the feedback so far guys!  Sorry I don't have more of a "game" yet but I wanted to see what people thought of the whole navigation system first.

The jumpiness happens on my personal laptop too--it's an issue of computer speed, it's not jumpy on my friend's computer which has a much faster processor.  That's why you can change the transition, type, btw--for slower computers use "Quick" or "None" transition type.

I'm going to change my host soon so that this is easier to download.  As for progress so far, I've finished all of the "rooms" for the area included in the demo now.  I still have to finish the rest of Northbank--it's not even a quarter of the way done--but once that's finished, the game itself will be about 50% complete.  Just building the environment is going to take the biggest amount of time.

Once I've finished the game environment I'll put out a real "game demo" which will probably cover all of Day One (the game is divided into fourteen days).  Day One will mostly involve getting acquainted with the town and its residents and becoming introduced to the mystery.

SSH--thanks for the info!  Ironically, I now cannot see the screenshots anymore.  I am definitely getting a different host.

Thanks for the note about the cursor in the Facemaker.  I hadn't noticed that bug, though I have noticed a few others--for example the robe-changing aspect doesn't work which is frustrating.

The right-click doesn't include the walk verb?  That's annoying.  I have no idea how to fix it though.  Anyone have any ideas?

Yes, right now you cannot interact with anything, just move around.  BTW I forgot to mention in the features the transitions--if you go to the Control Panel (The A/N button does it) then you can adjust the transition level.  "None" gives instant transitions from room to room, "Quick" uses Dissolve, and "Quality" uses Cross-fade.  Just one more page from the Myst book (pun intended...)

Did I design Northbank village?  Yes and no.  The layout of the village is identical to that found in the map of "Wizard's Challenge", the book-and-paper adventure this is based on.  The graphics themselves were created by me using the free downloadable Map Editor for a game called Etherlords 2--a great RPG that for some reason almost no one has heard of or played.  So basically I put together the map on the E2 map editor and picked out the graphics I wanted for each building, in some cases combining several graphics to make the building unique, and then went through and took pictures of different parts of the 3D map.

When finished, Northbank will include at least the following:

Boatright, Zoo, Jewel Store, Herb Store, Cloth Store, Woodcarver, Inn, Blacksmith, Supply Store, 2 Warehouses, 2 Docks, 3 wizard's houses, Abandoned House, Haunted House, Mayor's House, Church.

And that's just the town itself--there will be several "outside" locations, including Old Northbank (the old poor section of town), a hermit's cave, the old Guild Tower, an alchemist's house, and a wilderness area.  As I said, when its done this will be a pretty hefty download.

Glad you like it so far!  I'll get a better host...

--Mick

Uggg, this is ridiculous.  The links work, then they break, then they work, then they break.  I could see the screenshots before, but then later SSH couldn't, and now I can see them again.  Largo, I'll take your advice.  Hopefully soon I won't be having these problems.

Wow, this looks really good to me.Ã,  Could you tell us a bit more about the storyline and setting?Ã,  I have never heard of this gothic soap before, and don't really want to do the research into it unless your game ends up convincing me the soap is worthwhile (The only reason I read Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar books was because Betrayal at Krondor was so much fun...)

EDIT: Also, do you have a demo yet and if so could you post a link here?

The links up top work now.Ã,  I guess my host was having some kind of trouble which is now fixed.

All right, here are the SCREENSHOTS.Ã,  Please remember if you download the demo (via the links in the first post of this thread) that you need to rename the .ex1 files as .exe.






Any feedback would be much appreciated!

--KingMick

I'll have the screenshots up later today.  BTW I just clicked those links to test what SSH said, and I'm getting an error page about bandwidth error or something like that.  Says it'll be fixed within 12 hours so I'll try again then.  In the meantime it looks like the files will be unavailable for at least 12 hours--but as I said, if nothing else I will have some screenshots up later.

--Mick