Messages

I was about to post the way I thought but even as I typed it, I realised more problems. This really is a complicated request, but perhaps it could work like this.

You can only use this transition with rooms the exact same size so the engine can automatically use the same x or y coordinates (depending on up/down or left/right scrolling) of the previous room. That's the way it would work in a Zelda style game anyway, as rooms are more like particular squares on a grid.

Another style would be, the way I'm guessing you originally meant with SQ, only left/right scrolling. In this case, only the height of the backgrounds would need to be the same.

The much more complicated but much more customisable way would be to be able to specify whether you want the room to "scroll" to the character, or to specified coordinates. I must admit, scrolling dependant on where the character is seems very complicated to me because unless there's a walk behind behind rooms, you would need to show the character moving between the rooms (otherwise, it'd look odd with him just appearing in the room a few steps away). In that case, I think it'd be better to have one large background with the screen set to specific coordinates until you moved to a region on the edge of particular areas.

I hope that wasn't all nonsense...

I don't know whether this is a suggestion or a question. If it isn't currently possible through "backdoor" scripting, then it's a suggestion for DisplaySpeechBackgroundAt, I guess. (Perhaps removing the CHARID parameter).

Is there some relatively simple way to specify x and y coordinates with DisplaySpeechBackground?

I have a question of my own, regarding the subject of this thread... how much longer does it really take to type "with" rather than "w/"?

I only just noticed that. I always write that when I'm making notes at uni, but I've never ever thought to type it. I do find 'with' much quicker to type myself. Hand writing though... once I saw someone else do it, I got into the habit and I can do it in a flash. I also hand write (again, only when making quick notes) something/someone/somewhere as s/thing, s/one and s/where.

I'm with Eric. Noone's forgotten, but there's no need to expect some kind of uh... hoo har (?) just because it's the same date some years later. People won't forget in the long term, but it does need to be ... I'm searching for a word, not "forgotten" but... left alone, I think, so we can get on with life again. As much as it was a tragedy, we can't constantly honour every one of these things and there have been a lot of things more devestating in terms of human life than this that weren't even remembered the day after by a lot of people. There's no real crime in this - it's necessary to move on. I don't want this date to become something that has to be dredged up every year for the rest of my life. Even though it's only 3 years, I don't think much needs to go publicly. I always feared it would be so when they started referring to it as "9/11". It was a bit like, "Oh god. It's been named after the date it happened, that means this date will be tainted forever".

Oooooh, I -love- the concept. I'm ALWAYS impressed with claustrophobic games, I think that it makes you think a lot harder about the possibilities of a particular setting. The BG is, of course, gorgeous and looks like a really nice setting for a game.

...And yes, Photoshop sucks ^_^ PSP rules!

I think you missed DC's point. DC wasn't saying you were going to boss people around but rather... you're looking for people to do backgrounds, characters, music and someone to help with scripting. So, what job do you have have? I'm not trying to be critical, but I understand the point being made. Obviously, you're handling the story but is that it?

No way (no offense intended, Fawful), make it something that involves classic characters. Maybe...

Mario's land has been taken over by new creatures! He needs to find a way to purge the land of them while saving the old school foes like shy guys and the like.

Or you can regress even further...

Some giant monkey has stolen Mario's girlfriend! He has to make his way to the as-yet uncompleted barrel factory to get her back (Double Dragon style XD).

Or go ...

Mario and his brother Luigi are a pair of plumbers when a plumbing crisis occurs in their town! Spikey turtles and other weird creatures are appearing in everyone's plumbing and they must get to the sourse of the problem and stop it.

Boy, I'm a genius.

I wish you luck, a cute little Mario adventure could be neat. I agree though, you HAVE to get the story finalized before continuing visual work or this is very likely to flop.

Yeah, this is another topic altogether but... whatever. I like all sorts of adventures for all the reasons stated here. I love that Lucasarts is all about story without mortality to get in the way, and I love how Sierra games put you on edge (and I do love creative death scenes, Space Quest in particular).

As far as ICFTD being an adventure or not or the whole genre thing - I totally agree about some people being genre police but it DOES make things more convenient. It can't always be used, but the fact is that a LOT of games fit fairly well into genres and it makes it much easier to find the kind of thing you like, or to explain to someone what a game is like. There are always those special games that cross boundaries and any intelligent gamer knows that but there's nothing wrong with using genre to make things easier.

Personally, I really believe ICFTD is a kind of adventure game, despite the fact that it doesn't fit in with the usual Lucasarts/Sierra conventions. Interactive fiction, whatever... in my head, "adventure" is how I would personally catagorise it, but that's just me.

Does anyone remember the game (or it's sequel) "It Came From The Desert"? I was just reminded of it and wondered if people would consider that an adventure game? I'd never thought about it before but I most certainly would.

It had a really great non-linear storyline and an original interface. It was even quite thrilling in places. I have only fond memories of it. Trying to go out on a date with Dusty from K-BUG. Finally managing to shoot the antennae of ants in the action sequences. Ahh, it was fun. I especially loved escaping from the hospital and hiding in rooms, scaring other patients and whizzing around in a wheelchair. Hmm, a lot of the things I loved best about it were indeed the action sequences (some of them anyway, some others were hideous) but it really did have just a -great- adventure feel to it.

You don't want to use the standard "Game over" after death? The hospital idea reminds me of 'It Came From The Desert' (great game!) and that worked quite well, allowing you to continue on in the game, albiet putting you in an annoying position, after you've screwed up or failed at something. Restarting the game with another character reminds me of Maniac Mansion or (and this is a far cry...) the Ninja Turtles game. In that, if you "died", you were actually captured by the enemy and the player got the pick a different character to play with. At one or two points fduring the game, you got the opportunity to 'rescue' your lost players which I always thought was a nice touch.

Still, I'm rambling. I'm not entirely sure what you mean, could you explain in more detail? In a typical RPG, if your character dies, it's just game over and you load one of your saved games.

I also had a similar experience where this would have been useful. I worked through it regardless but it would have made things a bit simpler, so... yes.

I really think "hand drawn" is exactly that. You used natural mediums (not digital) to draw a background/sprite/whatever. If all you did was colour/touch it up on the computer, I still consider that hand drawn and I think no matter what the quality, people should be able to call it hand-drawn. I don't find it deceiving at all, because you can't go on anyone's opinion really, you have to look at it yourself and decide. Someone might say, "My game has AMAZING graphics" and you might look at them and say "Nope, those are some shitty graphics right there" but it is an opinion. I think the fact that when you hear "Hand-drawn", you expect a certain standard.. is just you (or whoever else does the same). Technically, if it's hand-drawn, it's hand-drawn and people should be able to say so.

Not to knock down your argument completely, I understand what you're saying, but I think trying to draw the line on quality is useless because everyone will always have a different opinion.

I wouldn't call my own backgrounds for Cique (which were in some cases, outlined on paper then scanned in and completely digitally) as hand drawn but if someone else wants to say so, whatever. The proof is in the pudding, as they say ^_^ Let people say what they want about their games, because it means nothing until you've seen them yourself. People are always gonna talk up their games and graphics...

And you can say why not just leave it alone and use the plugins? Well, becouse I develop and use Linux as well. I have a duel boot. At Work I only use linux. The linux version doesn't support plugins.

Gee, typical Linux user ^_- "Me, me, me" "Why isn't everything compatible with Linux?" "I use Linux so everyone should" "I call it my Linux 'box'"

(Don't take any notice of me, I have a grudge against Linux because I used to have a friend that never shut up about it)

I remember someone telling me about that ages ago as if it was the most amazing thing ever. I was really looking forward to it and imagine my disappointment when I discover it's all non-animated, program-generated ASCII.

The only thing I noticed is in Objects1()'s code:

Code: ags

LP 150)  {SetGlobalInt(9, 2); actiontimer = 0; Objects2_Run=0;} // disable itself

it should be:

Code: ags

LP 150)  {SetGlobalInt(9, 2); actiontimer = 0; Objects1_Run=0;} // disable itself

Not sure if it was related to why it didn't work though.

That was something I picked up on just after posting and by then I'd already editted this post about 20 times so I just couldn't be bothered ^_^ I -knew- you'd spot it though. Between my initially incorporating and changing your code to when I finally got it working right was hours and I found tonnes of tiny little scripting errors that took me forever to find. Got 'em all in the end though. One of my biggest problems was that the object's code would sometimes loop continually until I realised I had to "turn off" GlobalInt 9 after it started.

One another thing relating to the CCS plugin... does it ignore "flipped" frames in views? Because it seems to be doing that for me.

Yep, because the CCS plugin uses its own animation routine it could be that I forgot about implementing that. Thanks for spotting the problem, I'll see what i can do about it.

Groovy, thanks ^_^ If it's gonna be fixed within the next 3 months, it'll be useful for me. Otherwise I'll mirror the images myself.

Hmm, that would be really handy.

EDIT: Okay, I've hit a bit of a snag. The first part of the code (involving MOLERAT) runs fine, and then GlobalInt 9 is changed to 1... and nothing else happens.

Code: ags

#define START if (actiontimer==0) {}
#define LPÃ,  Ã,  else if (actiontimer==
int actiontimer=0;
int Objects1_Run = 0;
int Objects2_Run = 0;
int yaxis;

Code: ags

ccCreateCommand(2, "ROOM:6,5,150; MOVE:70,150; MOVE:5,150; SET:Global(9)=1;");
ccCreateCommand(3, "ROOM:6,280,150; MOVE:215,150; MOVE:280,150; SET:Global(9)=1;");
ccCreateCommand(4, "ROOM:6,155,50; MOVE:155,100; MOVE:155,50; SET:Global(9)=1;");

Code: ags

function Objects1() {

if (Objects1_Run) {

	START
	LPÃ,  10)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectView (0, 25);
	LPÃ,  20)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 80, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  30)Ã,  Ã, ObjectOn(0);
	LPÃ,  40)Ã,  Ã, AnimateObject (0, 2, 5, 0);
	LPÃ,  50)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectFrame (0, 25, 2, 5);
	LPÃ,  60)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 100, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  70)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 120, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  80)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 140, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  90)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 160, yaxis);
	LP 100)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 180, yaxis);
	LP 110)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 200, yaxis);
	LP 120)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 220, yaxis);
	LP 130)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 2, 1);
	LP 140)Ã,  Ã, ObjectOff(0);
	LP 150)Ã,  {SetGlobalInt(9, 2); actiontimer = 0; Objects2_Run=0;} // disable itself
	}
}

function Objects2() {

if (Objects2_Run) {

Ã,  Ã,  	START
	LPÃ,  10)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectView (0, 25);
	LPÃ,  20)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 240, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  30)Ã,  Ã, ObjectOn(0);
	LPÃ,  40)Ã,  Ã, AnimateObject (0, 1, 5, 0);
	LPÃ,  50)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectFrame (0, 25, 3, 5);
	LPÃ,  60)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 220, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  70)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 200, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  80)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 180, yaxis);
	LPÃ,  90)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 160, yaxis);
	LP 100)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 140, yaxis);
	LP 110)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 120, yaxis);
	LP 120)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectPosition (0, 100, yaxis);
	LP 130)Ã,  Ã, SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 1, 1);
	LP 140)Ã,  Ã, ObjectOff(0);
	LP 150)Ã,  {SetGlobalInt(9, 2); actiontimer = 0; Objects2_Run=0;} // disable itself
	}
}Ã,  

function background_actions_RE() {

Ã,  Ã, if ((actiontimer>0) && (IsGamePaused()==0)) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Objects1();
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Objects2();
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  actiontimer++;
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  }
}

In repeatedly_execute:

Code: ags

if (GetGlobalInt(9)==2) {
Ã,  Ã,  if (randthree<2) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  SetGlobalInt(9, 0);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  SetCharacterViewEx (MOLERAT, 21, 2, ALIGN_CENTRE);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  ccExecuteCommand (MOLERAT, 2);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  }
Ã,  Ã,  else if (randthree==2) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  SetGlobalInt(9, 0);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  SetCharacterViewEx (MOLERAT, 24, 1, ALIGN_CENTRE);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  ccExecuteCommand (MOLERAT, 3);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  }
Ã,  Ã,  else if (randthree==3) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  SetGlobalInt(9, 0);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  SetCharacterViewEx (MOLERAT, 21, 0, ALIGN_CENTRE);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  ccExecuteCommand (MOLERAT, 4);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  }
Ã,  Ã,  }
	
if (GetGlobalInt(9)==1) {
  SetGlobalInt(9, 0);
Ã,  Ã,  if (randtwo<2) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  ifÃ,  Ã,  Ã,  (randthree< 2) {yaxis=90; actiontimer=1; Objects1_Run = 1;} //start Objects1()
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  else if (randthree==2) {yaxis=120; actiontimer=1; Objects1_Run = 1;} //start Objects1()
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  else if (randthree==3) {yaxis=150; actiontimer=1; Objects1_Run = 1;} //start Objects1()
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  }
Ã,  Ã,  if (randtwo==2) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  ifÃ,  Ã,  Ã,  (randthree< 2) {yaxis=90; actiontimer=1; Objects2_Run = 1;} //start Objects2()
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  else if (randthree==2) {yaxis=120; actiontimer=1; Objects2_Run = 1;} //start Objects2()
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  else if (randthree==3) {yaxis=150; actiontimer=1; Objects2_Run = 1;} //start Objects2()
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  }
}

background_actions_RE();

I'm relying on the ~ debug function to tell me what's going on and all I know is that once GlobalInt 9 becomes 1, nothing else happens. I can't figure out at what point the problem begins. I changed quite a few things in your code to suit myself, but I don't think any of the changes should be a problem except for the #START define (I just didn't know what "if(0) {}" was doing...) and exactly where the 'background_actions_RE();' goes - which I'm not sure of.

One another thing relating to the CCS plugin... does it ignore "flipped" frames in views? Because it seems to be doing that for me.

EDIT2: After tearing my hair out a few times, I've managed to get it looping fairly nicely, I just need to slow it down and see how it looks then. Will post more when I've got it right.

Oh hell, that makes things much easier, thanks. (Why can't I ever think of these methods?)

I'm having a bit of trouble with a piece of code I'm written and I'm not sure of which direction to take it in...

Basically, I have a character that I'd like to do various actions in a loop. This is to be triggered with a GlobalInt, so I've put it in repeatedly_execute. There are a few random numbers involved to change the actions slightly but I want it to generally move in a back and forth loop between GlobalInt(9, 1) and (9, 2).

Code: ags

if (GetGlobalInt(9)==2) {
    if (randthree<2) {
      SetCharacterViewEx (MOLERAT, 21, 2, ALIGN_CENTRE);
      ccExecuteCommand (MOLERAT, 2);
      SetGlobalInt(9, 1);
      }
    else if (randthree==2) {
      SetCharacterViewEx (MOLERAT, 24, 1, ALIGN_CENTRE);
      ccExecuteCommand (MOLERAT, 3);
      SetGlobalInt(9, 1);
      }
    else if (randthree==3) {
      SetCharacterViewEx (MOLERAT, 21, 0, ALIGN_CENTRE);
      ccExecuteCommand (MOLERAT, 4);
      SetGlobalInt(9, 1);
      }
    }
  
else if (GetGlobalInt(9)==1) {
    if (randtwo<2) {
      if (randthree<2) {
        SetObjectView (0, 25);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 80, 90);
        ObjectOn(0);
        AnimateObject (0, 2, 5, 0);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 3, 5);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 100, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 120, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 140, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 160, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 180, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 200, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 220, 90);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 2, 1);
        ObjectOff(0);
        SetGlobalInt(9, 2);
        }
      else if (randthree==2) {
        SetObjectView (0, 25);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 80, 120);
        ObjectOn(0);
        AnimateObject (0, 2, 5, 0);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 100, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 120, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 140, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 160, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 180, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 200, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 220, 120);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 2, 1);
        ObjectOff(0);
        SetGlobalInt(9, 2);
        }
      else if (randthree==3) {
        SetObjectView (0, 25);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 80, 150);
        ObjectOn(0);
        AnimateObject (0, 2, 5, 0);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 100, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 120, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 140, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 160, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 180, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 200, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 220, 150);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 2, 1);
        ObjectOff(0);
        SetGlobalInt(9, 2);
        }
      }
    else if (randtwo==2) {
        if (randthree<2) {
        SetObjectView (0, 25);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 240, 90);
        ObjectOn(0);
        AnimateObject (0, 1, 5, 0);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 3, 5);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 220, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 200, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 180, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 160, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 140, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 120, 90);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 100, 90);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 1, 1);
        ObjectOff(0);
        SetGlobalInt(9, 2);
        }
      else if (randthree==2) {
        SetObjectView (0, 25);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 240, 120);
        ObjectOn(0);
        AnimateObject (0, 1, 5, 0);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 3, 5);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 220, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 200, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 180, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 160, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 140, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 120, 120);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 100, 120);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 1, 1);
        ObjectOff(0);
        SetGlobalInt(9, 2);
        }
      else if (randthree==3) {
        SetObjectView (0, 25);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 240, 150);
        ObjectOn(0);
        AnimateObject (0, 1, 5, 0);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 3, 5);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 220, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 200, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 180, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 160, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 140, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 120, 150);
        SetObjectPosition (0, 100, 150);
        SetObjectFrame(0, 25, 1, 1);
        ObjectOff(0);
        SetGlobalInt(9, 2);
        }
    }
} 

The CCS commands are just basic moves back and forth, but of course aren't blocking. Given that I can't use any blocking functions in repeatedly_execute (and I don't want to because this should all be happening without influencing the player character), everything just flies by and loops instantly.

Is there some way to achieve this without using a thousand SetTimer scripts between each SetObjectPosition etc? I can't have it simply move because I need the object to move to precise spots instantly.

Faaantastic, thanks very much ^_^

I just remember this while thinking about webcomics and it occured to me that Kid Radd is so cool he deserves his own thread. Anyone that hasn't read this is missing out, and I'm sure being fellow gamers you'll all be able to appreciate this ^_^

http://home.att.net/~miller.daniel.r/index.htm