Topics

Hi.
I'm really enjoying this game but am stuck near the end.

Spoiler

I have opened all doors (including the secret one) except the apartment door. I think I need to bend the lamp post (since I have the hand on a rope) and/or do something with some sugar cubes.

[close]

A clue?
Thanks!

http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/

It's a free service where you upload an image (photo or illustration, noisy or clean) and follow a few steps and it emails back a vectorized version of your image. Seems to do a spiffy job.

Here's an example that shows how it can make anti-aliasing sprites easy. You could upload a sprite sheet and let it do the hard work - then just touch it up after.

[Points of View]

First the fine print:

- Participants will write a story not limited by length unless specified by the month's rules.
- It's impossible for a judge to be impartial in this kind of competition where, for instance, great writing can save a meager plot. So the voting will be public.
- The competition should last a month. Therefore, this particular one will run until the 26th of August. After that, we will have five days for voting. These deadlines are not absolute, but try to meet them.
- The actual posts must NOT contain the story, but a link to it. The story MUST be hosted somewhere, even if temporarily.
- The object of this is to write a story. It can be a short story with 10 lines, it can be a whooper with 20 pages. It can have no characters, or a myriad of them. It can be in first person, or third; present or past or future tense. Your ONLY limitations are the ones the rules state, if any.
- The winner provides the theme and rules for the next comp.
- The comp-starter may participate. It's happened already, and this voting system should eliminate unfairness. Of course, out of fairness, the comp starter should start it without already forming an idea of the story he may write.


The subject is: Points of View. Your story should consist of two (or more) points of view. They can be contradictory or complementary. The story can be humorous or serious. The points of view can be interspersed or one after the other.
Examples: first and third person; protagonist and antagonist; or dog and owner.

You do not have to stop there. Any way you intrerpret these rules should be okay, since this is a competition where the public decides.

If this was unclear, write your story how you understood me and come up with the rest.

Panorama module
for AGS v3.1

Creates a 360 degree rotating room from four rendered images stitched together.


(Image courtesy of LimpingFish)
Produces:


Here's a demo (of v1.2, not v1.6) (1.7MB):
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/PanoramaDemo.zip
Mirror (of v1.1, not v1.6):
http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agsuploads/SteveMcCrea/PanoramaDemo.zip

Here's the module (5.1KB):
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/Panorama16.zip

And here's a complete game: Heartland Deluxe, by LimpingFish:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=29162.0

New for v1.1
* added a manual
* added support for objects and characters (they behave like sprites)
* updated the demo
* covered up the little streaky triangle at the bottom with a GUI

New for v1.2
* added cursor mappings so you can animate cursors over hotspots and objects

New for v1.3
* added support for 800x600
* this has temporarily made the module require 2.72 final

New for v1.4
* added support for Cylindrical panoramas

New for v1.5
* added support for "strict" (enforce object based) scripting
* fixed crash bug when using 640x480 and new high res coordinates in script

New for v1.6
* animated backgrounds
* requires AGS 3.1

[Grid-Based Inventory]

Topic by Akumayo, who is away for another week or so. (He also suggested a High Score Module but I thought this would be the more generally useful.)

Grid-Based Inventory

Ever played one of those games where you can have as many inventory items as you want, so long as they don't exceed the space on your grid?Ã,  Like, you could have an item taking up only once block, or an item taking up four vertical blocks, or four blocks side by side.
I'd like to see you all make this a reality in AGS.

Bonus Points for:

• Ã, Player able to drag and drop items to new spaces on the grid
  
• Ã, Player able to define how many blocks and what pixel size each block has within their inventory
  
• Ã, Keeping as much of the original inventory item interface as possible (i.e. allow player to create inventory items in the old fashioned way)
  
  I realize that this will be mildly difficult, but it will also be a great contribution to the AGS world, I think.Ã,  So, good luck!
  
  Here are the rules:
  1. Must be open-source. We can hardly inspect your coding if we can't see it.
  2. Must contain instructions for how to add to an existing game; this will obviously be easier if the scripting is done as a module.
  3. Only use of the 3D, TCP/IP and maths plugins are allowed.
  4. Must provide sample game using your code.
  5. Team efforts are allowed, and you're probably expected to get help for sprites, etc from elsewhere.
  6. As far as possible, entries will be judged on their scripting and gameplay rather than GFX, SFX, music, etc.
  7. Winner will be decided by 1 week of voting at the end.
  8.Ã,  Please add your entry to the wiki page upon entry.
  

Creates an animated reflection like the once-popular java lake applets. Reflects a background image (can specify an alternate background frame). Characters and objects are also reflected. You can see the effect in action in this demo:
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/games/MegaDemo.zip (5Mb)

Download here:
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/LakeModule13.zip (3k)

Instructions are in the module header.
Works with AGS v3.1 and above. (Tested with AGS v3.2.)


History:
1.0. First version. Used a screenshot to reflect objects and characters. Works with AGS v2.72.
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/LakeModule10.zip (2k)
1.1. Now takes a baseline to filter objects and characters, and doesn't reflect guis or cursors. Works with AGS v3.1.
1.2. Now works with right-to-left operator precedence. Thanks dualnames.
1.3. Now uses strict object-based scripting.

"A nostalgic look at what used to happen when you tried typing swear words into text adventures"

http://www.monkeon.co.uk/swearadventure

Great stuff for owners of Spectrums.

[Pull Down Menus]

Pull Down Menus

Example:


Features:
* mac-style menus (drag and release)
* add menus
* add items to menus
* get callbacks from items
* enable and disable items
* toggle items
* show, hide, move and scale the menu bar
* optional icons and right-side text (eg shortcuts) for items
* selection flash
* optional borders and background images

Module for AGS 2.72:
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/PullDownMenusModule.zip
Module for AGS 2.71:
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/PullDownMenusModule271.zip

Demo game:
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/PullDownMenusTest.zip

[Start the AGS Demoscene]

Start the AGS Demoscene

Let's try something a bit different. Put together a "demo" like the old C64, Amiga or PC demos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demo_(computer_programming)

What I envisage is two or three unusual (for AGS) graphics demos strung together, maybe set to music.
For example: a bouncy scrolling message, a voxel heightfield.
Extra points for getting that retro feel (crazy greets, pixelled artwork between parts, techno music).
This sort of thing is traditionally done in teams, with one coder working on each part, so team efforts are encouraged.

Here are the rules:
1. Must be open-source. We can hardly inspect your coding if we can't see it.
2. Must contain instructions for how to add to an existing game; this will obviously be easier if the scripting is done as a module.
3. Only use of the 3D, TCP/IP and maths plugins are allowed.
4. Must provide sample game using your code.
5. Team efforts are allowed, and you're probably expected to get help for sprites, etc from elsewhere.
6. As far as possible, entries will be judged on their scripting and gameplay rather than GFX, SFX, music, etc.
7. Winner will be decided by 1 week of voting at the end.
8.Ã,  Please add your entry to the wiki page upon entry.

(Rule 2 doesn't make a lot of sense in this context, but we'll interpret it as meaning that each part should be coded as a module where possible - for example, a bouncy scroller could be reused easily.)

I'm using RawDrawImage a lot, and end up with a huge warnings log full of:

Code: ags

RawDrawImage: Sprite 0 colour depth 8-bit not same as background depth 16-bit

When this is in a module it can be annoying to another developer.

It would be nice to be able to specify that I don't care about this and other warnings, either by classifying the warnings by severity (this one is harmless but may slow the game down slightly), or by giving the warnings unique IDs and something like this:

Code: ags

System.WarningDisable(eWarning_RawDrawImageDepth);
RawDrawImage(im, x, y);
System.WarningRestore(eWarning_RawDrawImageDepth);

where Disable pushes the current state of the warning, then disables it, and Restore pops.

Has anyone seen this, in London this weekend?
http://www.thesultanselephant.com/
http://www.thesultanselephant.com/gallery/gallery.php
It's a puppet show in various locations in London, with a 12 metre tall "robot" elephant.
It looks awesome - I wish I could be there!

[Particle Systems]

OK, the theme this time round is:
Particle Systems

That's it really. I want to see swirling smoke, spraying water, flickering flames, and drifting leaves, if possible all through tweaking some parameters. It would be ideal if
- each system was rendered onto a texture that could then be used as an object (and so characters can walk around it).
- it was fully modularized, with a flashy demo game.
- the code was available separately for quick perusal. We don't get much judging in this competition so anything that makes it easier to judge is a good thing.
- you didn't ask any pointless questions in this thread. If there's anything you feel I've left out of this description, or anything you don't understand, use your good judgment and discretion to fill in the blanks.

I know this is quite similar to the earlier weather competition, but it has unique challenges that set it apart.

Here are the rules:
1. Must be open-source. We can hardly inspect your coding if we can't see it.
2. Must contain instructions for how to add to an existing game; this will obviously be easier if the scripting is done as a module.
3. Only use of the 3D, TCP/IP and maths plugins are allowed.
4. Must provide sample game using your code.
5. Team efforts are allowed, and you're probably expected to get help for sprites, etc from elsewhere.
6. As far as possible, entries will be judged on their scripting and gameplay rather than GFX, SFX, music, etc.
7. Winner will be decided by 1 week of voting at the end.

Competiton runs 9th April to 23rd April.
Then, a week of voting.

Have fun!
Steve

Whatever you do, do not go to see this film.
We had a company outing to see it this afternoon and it was by general consensus the worst film in living memory.
Now, let us never speak of it again.

There's an interesting article in Game Developer Magazine (March 2006) on the inspiration behind Insult Swordfighting:

For the INDIANA JONES game, we had needed a mini boxing game to replicate a scene from the movie [which was cut in the box office version]. I had greatly enjoyed SID MEIER'S PIRATES, which has a simple swordfighting interface. The player could strike high, medium, or low, and advance or retreat; so I stole... that is, I lovingly paid tribute to Meier's interface by using it for Indy's boxing match. Somehow I forgot to mention where I got the idea from in the first place.
After the game shipped, Gilbert had moved onto a game about pirates -- the first MONKEY ISLAND game. One day he stopped by my office and casually mentioned that he was thinking of using the Indy boxing interface in his game, saying, "It might make a good pirate swordfighting interface."
"I don't think that's such a good idea." I said, improvising fast. "This is a comedy games, and that's not very funny." It was a pretty lame excuse, but my colleague seemed willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. I found myself desperately searching for an alternative approach so I wouldn't have to admit my "loving tribute."
How can you make a swordfight funny? It was a tense moment. I've since learned that high pressure and difficult constraints can spur creativity. And then I thought of the classic swordfight in the movie and book The Princess Bride.
In The Princess Bride, and indeed in a lot of old pirate classics going back to Errol Flynn, the sword wielders' physical dexterity ran a distant second to their skills with insults and rejoinders.
It was decided. The MONKEY ISLAND fighting interface settled on matching insults to appropriate, funny responses as a core mechanism. We had turned a difficult limitation ("swordfighting isn't funny") into an inspiration for what proved to be one of the popular features of the game. And I had kept my own pirating secret. That is, until now.

"The co-founder of children's publisher Humongous Entertainment has been convicted of defrauding the Asia Europe Americas Bank of Seattle of more than $1.5 million, and sentenced to federal prison for 30 months."

http://www.gamedeveloper.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7407

This is Ron Gilbert's ex-wife!
I don't see any mention of this on grumpygamer...

The story so far:

Photoshopping isn't drawing a completely new image -- It's editing images to create a new image, such as editing one image or combining several images. The contest usually lasts for a fortnight. Also, you don't have to specifically use Photoshop -- Paint Shop Pro, MSPaint, or any other programs can be used. Please make sure your image doesn't exceed the width of the screen.

See this link:
http://www.somethingawful.com/photoshop/

And for other examples, see here:
http://www.worth1000.com/

-------------------------------------

This phortnight's topic: BLADDER HEALTH WEEK

Because Bladder Health Week is from Nov 13 - 21, I want you to create a poster promoting bladder health, or in some other way commemorate the week. Extra points for including adventure game characters, forum members, and/or onion rings.

No example image. My apologies.

Carving pumpkins is fun!

Aieeee!

I want to step through all the sprites in the game from my plugin.
This is the code I have:

Code: ags

          // global
          int s = 0;

          // in on_key_press
          bool exists = true;
          do
          {
            s++;
            if (s > 1000) s = 0;
            exists = true;
            try
            {
              BITMAP *agsBitmap = engine->GetSpriteGraphic(s);
              if (!agsBitmap || agsBitmap->w <= 0) exists = false;
            }
            catch (...)
            {
              exists = false;
            }
          }
          while (!exists);

It seems that GetSpriteGraphic can return non-NULL for nonexistent sprites, so I added the try/catch block to catch an access violation in agsBitmap->w. Unfortunately at some point GetSpriteGraphic throws an exception which AGS catches - out of sprite cache bounds.

Is there an easier way to do what I want to do? I don't want to resort to telling the plugin what the valid sprites are.

Cheers!

(Short?) French point and click adventure in Flash.
Lovely production values, but I'm not so sure about the gameplay.
I do like that clicking on an exit results in a second of walking animation followed by an immediate jump to the destination. Sort of like MI2's escape key shortcut.

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=10301

(I was bored waiting for a disk defrag.)

[Download v1.20 (Requires AGS v2.71 or higher.)]

This is a module to create and manage three dimensional rooms.
A picture is worth a thousand words:





The module includes a player movement controller (keyboard and mouse, collisions).
Full interaction with objects and characters is possible.
The zip file includes the module, plugin, and documentation.
Rooms can consist of sprites, cuboids, cylinders, spheres, pyramids and tetrahedra.

Download v1.20 (Requires AGS v2.71 or higher.)
(Now also uses a plugin for speedup!)
Mirror v1.20 (Thanks Neole & Rui)

Thanks to Jan Simon for the basis version, "AGS3D".