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Hi all
I used the web wrapper in the past without problems. Today I tried to create a web wrapper for my new game demo and it doesn't work. If I upload the .ags compiled game here: https://ericoporto.github.io/agsjs/, it works perfectly, but if I use "ags_web.zip" (both the 0.1.0 and 0.2.0) the page starts loading, it reaches 100%, but then the screen remains black and the game doesn't start. Any idea what could be the reason? For sure it's something stupid but I don't know how to debug it.
Thanks a lot

Sorry, I cannot really tell, this is something to plan ahead and think through. Editor currently supports "color themes" (File -> Preferences -> Editor appearance -> Color themes), which recolor all controls. So I suppose similar method could be used to alter fonts everywhere. But we need to ask those who were working on this last time, maybe they have certain plans already (Chamber of Fear (persn on github) and Alan v. Drake).

Yes, font size as part of the color themes would be ideal! Maybe, if it's easier, you could try to build an experimental/alternative version that uses by default a bigger font size (maybe 4px or 6px more) and see what happens?
If you need a beta tester, I'm here. thank you!

[extremely]

Thanks again for the amazing work! I wish I knew more about Windows/.net programming to be able to help you.

One question, do you think it will ever be possible to customize the font size of the editor UI? Not the code editor, because you can zoom in/zoom out, but the right panel (Explore project and Properties) would be extremely useful!

[Where to download]

Hi everyone!
I'm finally happy to present you this tech demo/prototype of a new adventure I've started to develop after the summer. It contains only the prologue of the story. I had this idea a long time ago, but it became a reality when I met a young artist who liked the concept and started working on the graphics.

It's the most complex project I've developed on AGS so far, so I'm pretty proud of it.

The reason why I'm posting it here is to collect suggestions and feedbacks. I would like to know what you think about the graphics style, the dialog system, the custom say function, the mechanics, etc. To be honest, it's a very ambitious project, so I don't know if I will be able to complete it, but every feedback will be helpful.

Where to download
If you want to try the demo, go here:
https://emabolo.itch.io/the-homestead


The story
The story is not strictly autobiographical, but it's based on actual events and places. The villa (called "La Colonia") exists, and the story about the orphanage and the therapeutic camp is real. My friends and I actually thought ghosts were there when we were kids. I know that supernatural+80s looks too much like Stranger Things, but it's totally unrelated.

Graphics
No pixel art here. We decided to go for 1366x768 because it's a pretty standard resolution. The pictures are sketched, the characters are just drawings, and the only animations are the walking frames.

Gameplay
There are no verbs or right-click of the mouse, only left-button click. The first click is usually a sort of "examine", while the second click performs an action, but it depends on the object.
There are 5 characters that you can control only one of them; the others will follow you. The idea is that each one has specific skills that will be useful to solve puzzles. You cannot switch between them during this prologue, but it will be possible in the game.

Screenshot



For more info/screenshots, open the spoiler.

Spoiler

Some more images:

First screen:


The exploration starts:


Entrance:


The first NPC:

[close]

I receive this exception when I try to save the game with 3.6.0.5 editor.

https://ibb.co/CtCM3yb

Let me know if I can do something to solve it.

Great job! Thanks for adding System.Log(), super useful addition.

Doesn't make any difference whether the download came from a ZIP or DMG, from what I can find out.

I can confirm, at least with the way I created the DMG. If there is a better way, I don't know. I packed the .app into a DMG using create-dmg (installed with homebrew). I uploaded the dmg to a server, then downloaded it, extracted it, and tried to launch it. It has the same warnings as the ZIP. Basically, you need to use right-click and then "open" two times before you can really launch the game.

So if you are referring to a binary you built on MacOS, SDL2 is already inside the binary. It should work as long the standard C libraries are compatible across machines.

Ah ok, I get it now. I thought the SDL2 was not in the binary, because I read for the windows version the DLL should be zipped together with the exe. Or am I wrong?

Very sure.
https://github.com/renpy/renpy/issues/1326

Ok, I'll do some more tests. Just to be sure, you downloaded a DMG from a website, then you double-clicked it to open it, and then dragged & dropped the application icon to Applications?

How do you do it? CMake is wired to do full static library compilation. It doesn't depend on anything, you can check with ldd on command line.

I don't understand your question. I just downloaded ags-v.3.6.0.4.zip, extracted it, copied the resources of the game, compiled it with "Cmake" and "make" (like I did with 3.5.1.8). Everything worked smoothly. It wasn't supposed to work?

I compiled 3.6.0.4 on my Mac from source code (followed the guide I posted some days ago in the Mac thread). My game works perfectly. The only problem that I found is that in windowed mode, there's no way to open the game with the window enlarged. The game always opens in a small window 320x200 in the center of the screen. I can drag the window corner and resize works perfectly, respecting the ratio, but the game always starts small. This is the config.

Code: ags

[graphics]
driver=software
windowed=1
screen_def=max
game_scale_fs=proportional
game_scale_win=max_round
filter=stdscale
vsync=0
render_at_screenres=1
match_device_ratio=1

I tried also with "game_scale_win=3", it doesn't change.


Another thing: how to distribute the game for mac? My game works probably because I have SDL2 installed on my MacBook, but if I want to send the game to someone else how can I embed the library?

I've seen that programs supplied within a dmg image don't get restricted in the same way that programs distributed in a zip file do, although I imagine it may get stricter in the future.

Are you sure about that? I tried creating a DMG with "create-dmg" (installed via brew), it's not complicated. But when I send the dmg to my friends, they see exactly the same warnings when they try to launch the game. The only advantage is that dmg is more "mac style", but apart from this, I think it's the same.

BTW...
Why do we have to launch the GUI of CMake? I didn't even write in any info on it's main screen; went off and compiled fully without a hitch. :/

You are right, it's useless if you follow the guide, because I copied and pasted the command you have to type to use CMake from the command line. For me, it was useful because the CMake gui told me what to do to have CMake in the path
I guess the guide can be simplified.

Hi Manu, would it be OK if I added this to the AGS Wiki? It would be a great resource for people to keep an eye on. And then if the procedure changes, we can always update the wiki page.
Thanks for doing this!

Yes of course! Feel free to copy it, or if I have access to the wiki I can do it.

It works a treat by the way! I just compiled my game from scratch using the latest AGS version source code. I imagine this is how the wrapper is also created?

I'm not sure if it's created with Xcode or CMake, but I think the result is the same. Basically you are creating your "wrapper" in this way (if this is the right term). In fact, you can replace the files inside Resources, change the icon and rename it, and use it for another game.

[macOS version of their AGS game starting from scratch]

This is a small guide for all the people that would like to compile AGS and create a macOS version of their AGS game starting from scratch. I'm posting this guide here, but if you think it should be somewhere else, let me know.

Consider that the easiest solution to create a mac OS version of your game is to use the pre-made wrapper created by TheVolumeRemote: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47264.msg636631416#msg636631416
With this wrapper, you can simply copy your game assets into the Resources folder, and it's done.

But if you want, you can do it from scratch following the small guide below. The main advantage is that as soon as there is a new version of AGS, e.g., 3.5.1.8, you can build your game with the latest version of the engine without waiting for the new wrapper.

It's pretty easy if you have some familiarity with the Mac terminal. And you don't need to install 50GB of XCode, just CMake. See details in the spoiler below.

Spoiler

PRE-REQUISITES

• 
  Download and Install CMake
  Download CMake from https://cmake.org/download/ - Choose "macOS 10.13 or later"
  Copy the app to your Applications folder. Launch it.
  Now open the Mac Terminal and type:
  PATH="/Applications/CMake.app/Contents/bin":"$PATH"
  


• 
  Download and Install Xcode Command Line Tools
  (not Xcode, just the command line tools).
  Go here: https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=command%20line and choose a version, for example "Command Line Tools for Xcode 12.5.1"
  Download the dmg and install it (unless you already have it, of course).


• Download a free app called Image2Icon
  You will find it here https://img2icnsapp.com or on the Mac App Store.

NOW BUILD THE AGS APP:

• Download the latest version of the AGS source code.
  Go here: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/releases
  and download the file "Source Code (zip)"


• 
  Unzip the archive somewhere (for example /Users/yourname/src/)
  You will obtain a folder like this:
  /Users/yourname/src/ags-v.3.5.1.8
  


• Copy the game resources:
  Delete all the files inside this folder "/Users/yourname/src/ags-v.3.5.1.8/OSX/Resources/"
  Go to the Compiled/Data directory of your AGS game, and copy all the files you find there, to the folder you have emptied  "/Users/yourname/src/ags-v.3.5.1.8/OSX/Resources/"
  


• 
  Create the game icon
  Open Image2Icon, drag and drop a square image representing your game icon into the app, and choose "Export -> ICNS.
  Call the file "ags.icns". Copy this file into "/Users/yourname/src/ags-v.3.5.1.8/OSX/Resources/"
  


• Build the game
  in the terminal, enter the OSX folder:
  "cd /Users/yourname/src/ags-v.3.5.1.8/OSX/"
  
  then type:
  cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
  
  this will take a while. Once it's done, type:
  make
  

Final steps

• 
  If everything went well, you will have in the OSX folder a new app, called AGS.app
  rename it with "mv AGS.app MyGame.app" (where "MyGame" is the name of your game, better not to use spaces)


• Enter MyGame.app/Contents/ and search for a file called Info.plist.
  Edit it with a text editor, like Sublime text, and change a few lines,
  CFBundleIdentifier = invent a unique id, for example: com.myname.mygame
  CFBundleName = My Game
  you can also change CFBundleVersion to add your game version and NSHumanReadableCopyright to specify the copyright.
  


• Try the game.
  The game app (eg. MyGame.app) is inside the OSX folder. I suggest you zip it so that you are sure you will always keep the original version.
  Then drag and drop MyGame.app somewhere else (eg. Desktop).
  Double click the app to launch it.
  

DISTRIBUTING THE APP
You can simply upload to itch.io the ZIP file you created before.
Unfortunately, unless you are enrolled in the Apple Developer Program (99 eur/year) you won't be able to sign the app. This means when you distribute your game, people will receive several warnings.

You should instruct your users to do this:

• download the zip file
• extract the zip file and move the .app to Applications
• right-click the game icon in Applications and select Open. It will open a window with some buttons. If there is no "open" button, close the window, don't do anything.
• right click again on the game icon. This time you will see an open button.

In case I decide to pay for the Apple Developer program I will let you know how to sign the app

[close]

[System.SaveConfigToFile()]

I think mac port should write a log? If you enable logging in config file, or from command line (if you can run this port from cmd line on your mac), then you may know more information on what is happening.

Posting this here for completeness even if we spoke on Discord.

The crash was generated by System.SaveConfigToFile() which is in fact an API available only on 3.5.1, while I was using the Mac "wrapper" created by TheVolumeRemote with version 3.5.0 (downloaded here: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47264.msg636631416#msg636631416).

In the meantime, I learned how to compile the game on Mac with the latest version of AGS starting from the source code. I will post a step-by-step guide soon, it's quite easy in the end.

After reading (2 times) Sapiens, I finished Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. Really mind-blowing.

emabolo, TheVolumeRemote should generate a new wrapper for 3.5.1, or produce a tutorial on how to compile the 3.5.1 code into a Mac engine so I no longer have to bother him by proxy, HINT HINT HINT ;P

I have no desire to install Xcode, it's too much for my Mac, it will probably destroy it
I'll be waiting for the new wrapper, thanks a lot to the developers!

I just refreshed my Mac wrapper with a new version of the game, just copying the .exe and the .tra and renaming the exe "game.ags". Unfortunately, the app does not even open. I can see the icon on the dock, and it shuts down immediately. If I put the old game back, it's working. Is it possible that the wrapper 3.5.0 is not compatible with AGS 3.5.1 ? If not, what else could be the reason?

[below]

The "proper", or at least most convenient, way to go about this would be in fact to generate a .trs file, call it something like "EN_corrected", send it to the proofreader and tell them to add their corrections below each original line, as if they were translating the file. Then you just use that file as the game's default "translation": https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=58812

Sure, but then you end up with a hardcoded English version (where the English text is used as tokens basically), and a "real" English version in the file. This is what I was going to do when I realized it was not a clean solution and a token version would have been nice