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For this sort of code which only runs once a frame it's not really relevant which is faster - the game is doing hundreds of thousands if not millions of operations to draw the screen, so a hundred here or there makes no odds.

As for the local variables, I don't know how AGS's scripting language works internally but generally, there is a pre-allocated "stack" (like a tall set of shelves) and when you create a local variable it is added to the first empty shelf from the bottom. When you leave a function, or part of a function (between {}) any shelves that were used are emptied, by changing the "pointer" to the first empty shelf back to the value it had before you entered the {}. This happens whether you have used local variables or not.

The point is that for 95% of game code it's more important to be legible than fast, because you're not going to make it much faster anyway, particularly if you don't know how it works (like me - I'm just guessing).

Steve

Not quite: the RON game is just "The Lost Dollar".

I haven't played these, but I loved some of the British equivalents by Ian Livingstone et al like the Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

So, I'm definitely interested!

I'm not quite sure I understand, though... is it going to be graphical, with cutscenes interspersed with decision trees and combat?

That depends on what the plugin is doing.
For example, just ignoring the maths plugin would be very bad.
Also, for calls that return values the stack would at least have to be padded.

someone working for a talented company like Illusion Softworks would defenitely know at least a bit of coding [...] Even if he would just be an texture artist or something in that order.
My apologies if I'm wrong, this were just my two cents.

I've never met a professional game artist that knows any coding, or had any interest in coding.
Roles in game companies tend to be pretty strictly delineated.
A better question would be why he doesn't want to team up with a programmer at illusion to do an adventure - but maybe there's just no-one interested

So i set up a little test trying to change the fire seed object while the fire is burning and it doesn't seem to work [just messing around seeing if fire growing or spreading or a fuse or something would work]

I was considering that (using a view rather than a sprite as the seed) but it would slow it down a fair bit, and it would be a lot of work if some of the frames were different sizes. So I shelved the idea.

actually modifying the strenth doesn't do much, if i set it to 0 there's still quite a bit of fire left

Did you have an area of the seed sprite lots of pixels tall? I tuned it so that 100 was a nice flame and 0 was little pops. You could try -33 (if you care).

but otherwise it's still pretty awesome, what i've always wanted is a hires particle system... oh imagine the smoke you could make with that

What do you mean, hi-res particle system? I've written particle systems for games before, so one for AGS is not impossible. But it's probably a week's work or so... It would probably still render into an object for sorting purposes. The big problem is passing all the parameters to make it useful.

It doesn't look quite right to me...
Seems there's less red than there should be.
I'll look at it tomorrow.

Invalid object, eh? Sure, I'll sort that out.
I think aborting the game is still good. I just won't create the sprites.

The one problem I saw, if I'm being critical, is

Spoiler

The coffee drink/brownie ingredient is a little obscure. I might've missed something, but it was only a guess that that's what you needed. Maybe if the pedestrian had said something about getting the last ones in the shop, and just beating some old lady to them, it'd made a little more sense.

[close]

Spoiler

I seem to remember that he did say they were the last ones in the shop, and grandma did say the shop was out of her secret ingredient.
But yeah, if you miss those hints first time around I'm not sure you get them again...

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SteveMcCrea: Thanks! That will be up,...

No problem. Make sure to get the latest version (from 8 May I think) - there are some extra functions.

I want to keep the content diverse.

That's very wise!

I've got no problem with you putting the fire plugin on juncSource.
Go right ahead!

Dookie,
1. Sounds like a bug, unless... has grandma made the brownies yet?
2.

Spoiler

Have you gotten rid of the labourer yet?

[close]

Some myth counterage: hornets in general are in fact much less aggressive than smaller wasps (unless you provoke them, of course). Also, their sting is almost certainly not fatal unless you're allergic.

These are Japanese giant hornets though...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021025_GiantHornets.html

I saw that on the National Geographic channel a while back. It looks just like Starship troopers! Little bees clinging to the backs of flying hornets, etc...

Some of the other info in the NG film was interesting:
The hornets are Japanese, and the bees are European imports.
Japanese bees kill the hornet scouts by swarming over them and vibrating up to 113 fahrenheit - the hornet dies at 112F and the bees at 114F.
The hornet sting contains 13 different nasty chemicals, and a sting is usually fatal. [EDIT - ok, maybe not usually fatal, but can be fatal.]
There was also a funny bit where a Japanese hornet researcher dug up a queen during the winter from a little hollow under a tree and cradled her in his hand and stroked her, before tucking her back into bed.

All I need to hear is that you're working on a new game!
I don't think tutorials are going to help us much - it seems to me your artwork is the result of skill, not technique. I hate you

nickeedoo,
Trip over to the thread in Hints and Tips for help in your situation.

Look at the door.

Grandma won't let me in the kitchen, I've opened the vent but I can't stick anything in the vent. I've got some batteries. Oh, I'm going to bed. Grrrr

Spoiler

I never had Grandma lock me out of the kitchen...
Try interacting with the vent in various ways (forget your inventory).
You will know what the batteries are for when you need them.
To go to bed, first find your bedroom.

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Added new flame manipulation functions:
FireDisableSeeding - turns off flame generation but allows the existing flames to continue
FireEnableSeeding - turns flame generation back on
FireSetStrength - a value between 0 and 100 (object starts at 100) to turn down the size of the flames
See the docs in the zip.

Last update before alpha blending!

Oh, I thought it was a 7 layer haute dog.

You need to get into the Dojo first.

Well, this was a FANTASTIC game!
Certainly the best so far this year.
Probably my favourite AGS game...
nickeedoo, you hit it spot on when you said the graphics are comforting.

So, your hints:
CD player...

Spoiler

Open it again.

[close]

Vent outside Dojo:

Spoiler

Use sponge on grandma's cooking pot.

[close]

You should be good to go from there!

Again, thanks for the great game, Cerebrit. Great hints in the incidental dialog, great sound effects, etc. There's just a bunch of little bugs, mostly to do with the default responses.

I just got wiped out by the giants, after buying all the good stuff.
Owwww! My wrist!