Topics

[Dun Laoghaire]

Well I thought it'd be a great idea to take a day of school, travel to Dublin and go to the open day of some of the colleges I want to go to. They're animation colleges... two of them, and I'm torn. Now here's the thing...

Dun Laoghaire
Dun Laoghaire is in a nicer area of Dublin than Ballyfermot, and has an intensive 4-year course covering all aspects of animation including classical animation, photoshop/flash, 3D studio max, other stuff. In the end, you're awarded a Bachelors something or other.

Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot is in a not-so-nice area of town, but it's one of the best three animation colleges in the world. True story. And much to my delight, the course there is endorsed by Walt Disney. My plan would be to take the Classical Animation course, which includes a bit of 3D animating, and then take the 3D animation night classes two days a week.

The Ballyfermot course is internationally acclaimed, and they get loads of Disney guys over to pep talk us and show us neat stuff. It's much more intensive, so it's a 2 year course as apposed to Dun Laoghaire's 4 years. Which is absolutely delighting, because it means I'll be in America by 22. Whoopee! It also means I'll be in America by 22 with a 3D animation course under my belt as well as proffesional classical animation Diploma ----

Now imagine a screech of brakes halting as I freeze. My eyes flash for a moment, and I go backwards over what I just said, repeatingly it silently in my mind.

Cue dramatic pause.

Then...

What the hell? Now I'm confused. So I need you good, helpful, smart people to help me.

What's the difference between a National Higher Diploma, a Bachelors and a Degree? If I do the diploma, don't I have to go on to get a degree anyway?

And which course would you go for, in my position? I'm not gonna make any decisions yet, but it's very important for me and I wanna make sure that next year, I make the right choice. Although the 2 year one is shorter, I will still be taking night classes to make up for material that would have been recieved in the Dun Laoghaire class. And why is Dun Laoghaire so hard to spell?

[Project Leader, Artists and Musicians, Animators and Script Writers.]

Okay, here’s the deal.

There are three competitions: Project Leader, Artists and Musicians, Animators and Script Writers. They are held for one week before the submitted material is reviewed by the Project Leader (Or if it’s the project leader, by me. You can forward bribes to PO box 12, Ballyfermot, Dublin 4). The Project Leader and Competition Organizer (In this case, me) will choose the winners for the other competitions.

Once a team is built, work on the game will begin. We will have four weeks to complete the project entirely. The clock starts when the last competition is run.

The team will be compiled as follows:

Project Leader   1
Animators      4   (1 Lead Animator will also be chosen)
Artists         4   (1 Lead Background Artist will also be chosen)
Musicians      2   
Dialogue      2



And now for the first competition....

- Project Leader
The first competition in every new ‘season’. All people that want to enter the competition are invited to submit their storyline/plot ideas. It’s a good idea to include a concise description of your idea, and your characters. It doesn’t need to be rock solid, just interesting and original. No sequels! Unless they’re really awesome sequels. You may submit concept artwork or music or even concept dialogue to emphasise your idea.

Remember, what you want is to get people interested and excited about this. It doesn’t have to be goofy or hilarious; it could be serious either. Don’t ramble on for ages either. Think of these headings as guidelines:

1. Brief introduction to your idea (Two or three paragraphs)
2. Sources of inspiration
3. Concept Material (optional)


You can add more or less information as required, but try stick with them.

The Job of the Project Leader:
The Project Leader will oversee the game production and may contribute to various other areas. S/he will ensure that the artists and other team members realize his/her vision. If people are slacking, the Project Leader has to drag them back on track. If deadlines need to be met, the Project Leader will have to make sure that they are. The game will finally be submitted under his/her name.

So get... writing! You have until Wednesday 12th to get your idea in, so take your time and put some research into something interesting.

And as this is the first time I’ve held a competition, excuse me if it lacks you know, finesse.

Welp, I was thinking there yesterday... when I go to college, I'm gonna be needing the following:

1. Wacom Tablet (Mmmmmmm....delicious)
2. Laptop, for those long, commuter train journeys.
3. Lots of funky clothes and some dodgy mates. (Mmmm. Brains.)

Anyway. I figured that all this stuff... all two pieces of stuff... it's gonna cost me a lot. So I'd better start getting it now. Also, what a great excuse for when I ask my mother for $1600!!! "It's to ease the pressure on my freshman college year, mom. I'm only thinking of you."

You see, I have thought very carefully about this.

So the first item on my list just so happens to be a Wacom Tablet. I've wanted one of these for ages, and if there's a reason to work my lazy, no good butt over the summer, this is it. That, and also all the illegal drugs I can buy with the money I earn. Talk about long-term investment!

So what would you guys recommend? Does size matter? What's the best option for me, concerning a Wacom Tablet, and how many of my organs am I going to have to sell to get it?

I have heard good things about the Intuos 2, but I'm not sure what size to get. Obviously, I want the biggest one there. But perhaps this is not even nessecary. Who knows? I could make a living out of drawing postcards. Perhaps, if I got one of the very small ones, I could even use it as one of those awesome little doodling machines. You know, the ones with all the pixels, and it looks really cool, but inside there's all these toxic chemicals? Yes, except inside mine, will be circuit boards and wires!

PS: I am not sure if circuit boards are supposed to go in drawing tablets. I am only guessing, because I do not know much about electronics. But it is a minor detail.

[room script filefunction room_a() { // script for room: Player enters screen (before fadein) ChangeCharacterView(EGO,44);SetCharacterTransparency(EGO,0);}function room_b() { // script for room: Player enters screen (after fadein) AnimateCharacter(EGO,0,5,0);Wait(40);DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Papapishu!!!.");ChangeCharacterView(EGO,15);Wait(40);AddInventory(12);ChangeCharacterView(EGO,1);DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Dumb Child Safety Caps.");}]

Here's the problem: Ian falls off a roof, lands on his head, gets up. Everything is normal. Player eats sleeping pills. Player gets transported to new room. Everything is still normal. Player does ANYTHING, and all of a sudden, Ian is smacking his head off the ground instead of walking.

Basically, what seems to be happening is that after he is transported to the new room, Ian seems to revert back to his "head smacking" view from the previous view as soon as the player clicks on anything in the room.

It completely doesn't make sense. I checked the room scripts for both the new room and the previous room, and everything seems to be in order.



room script file

function room_a() {
 // script for room: Player enters screen (before fadein)
 
ChangeCharacterView(EGO,44);
SetCharacterTransparency(EGO,0);
}



function room_b() {
 // script for room: Player enters screen (after fadein)
 
AnimateCharacter(EGO,0,5,0);
Wait(40);
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Papapishu!!!.");
ChangeCharacterView(EGO,15);
Wait(40);
AddInventory(12);
ChangeCharacterView(EGO,1);
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Dumb Child Safety Caps.");
}



That's the room script file for the OLD room, view 1 being Ian's "normal" view, view 15 being his "Pick Up" view, and the other one being his "I Like to Smack My Head Off Things Randomly" view.

Here's the room script file for the NEW room, the one where the problem occurs:






function hotspot1_a() {
 // script for hotspot1: Look at hotspot
SetObjectView(0,29);  
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "It looks really far away...");
ObjectOn(0);
AnimateObjectEx(0,0,6,0,0,1);
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Purple Monkey Dishwasher.");

}
function room_a() {
 // script for room: Player enters screen (before fadein)
GUIOn(2);  
}

function object0_a() {
 // script for object0: Interact object
 
FadeOut(1);
NewRoomEx(32,35,101);
}

function hotspot2_a() {
 // script for hotspot2: Look at hotspot
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "It's some sort of a web...");  
}

function hotspot3_a() {
 // script for hotspot3: Look at hotspot
 
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "It's a really thick web... sort of a ghostly blue...");
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "I'd hate to see the creature that spun THAT thing.");
}

function room_b() {
 // script for room: First time player enters screen
SetCharacterView(EGO,1);
LoseInventory(12);
}




Eh?!??

[Ha Ha Ha Ha! Excuse my langauge, but fucking halfwit!!!]

  :o  :o :o :o

http://www.genmay.com/showthread.php?s=9825b5f6f60ab6f00faff6217c7ce838hreadid=223333&perpage=50&pagenumber=1

Ha Ha Ha Ha! Excuse my langauge, but fucking halfwit!!![/b]

EDIT: Hmm, perhaps it's fake. He'd want to hope it is  

Methinks it would perhaps be neat, to have a sort of... assignment competition. It could vary in content from week to week, IE midis, background, characters, concept design. Every week, or fortnight or whatever, we'd be given a new topic to work on, for instance:


Design a character for a new Final Fantasy game. She is female, half elf, whatever, blah blah blah, has three heads and is supposed to be all hung up over the death of her pet hamster. Only requirement is that she's short, fat, and has a big axe.

Or,

Design a concept for an evil, evilllll dungeon-like lair, in which LeChuck resides in the new Monkey Island. Only requirement is that there is one helluva big pool of acid in the corner.

Or,

Create a midi for the new bad guy in Monkey Island, keeping with the style of the rest of the music (From the other series). *enter short description of bad guy here*

Or,

In Grim Fandango II, Manny has kids. Design them!!! (coughcough lame! coughcough but challenging)

Or maybe even,

We're making another DOTT, and we need a plot. Begin plotting! Now! And somehow, fit Orange Tentacle into the plot, and several main character deaths!!! And some cows. We need cows. Yes! Ha ha! This is gonna sell like hell! Hell, with cows! Ha Ha! Why aren't you laughing, Mr Schibblebunny? This is hilarious! Hell with cows! Ha Ha Ha!


Do you see where I'm going with this? I think it'd be fun to see various peoples artistic takes on some of these. Like, if I was on the LucasArts team designing a new Grim Fandango, and my project leader INSISTED Manny was having kids, and I wasn't FORCED at GUNPOINT to design them.... how would I design them? What would they look like? And who would come up with the most interesting take on them?

What say you?

I was just thinking there recently.... like five minutes ago, perhaps... about how great experimentation is. Something I love experimenting with is graphics. Boyd likes experimenting on himself, but that is besides the point....

The point is, I used to use RPGmaker, and because of the graphical restrictions I found myself improvising a lot. I used a technique that was used a lot in Final Fantasy VIII; I tried to implement in game graphics with cutscene graphics. The end result was actually quite nice:



Yes, the picture is small, but anyway. See the eensy weensy little sprites down there? Yeah.

In Final Fantasy VIII, this was also very successful because it helped ease the transition between gameplay and cutscenes. Usually, you could tell when a cutscene was coming because of a pause in the gameplay and a black screen. Similarly you knew when it was over, and there was an unpleasant transition between soft, smooth CGI animation and the polygon characters.

Take for instance, the Ragnarok scene in FFVIII, where the ship crashes through Lunatic Pandora. The merging of graphics really brings the player into the action of the event. It starts off as you stand on the deck of the airship, and the camera zooms past our polygonal character into the FMV sequence. Then as the airship lands, we once again see our polygonal characters run onto the deck of the airship, merged seamlessly with the FMV animation. There was no definitive beginning or end of the cutscene. Similarly, this method is used in the beginning of Grim Fandango, where we are taken from the intro sequence by the camera zooming out on Manny and taking its place in the ordinary room position.

We don't have FMV sequences to merge the gameplay with. But such techniques could certainly be used. I'd love to see some experimenting like this. Look at the stylish graphics of Fear Effect... that game sucked, but I was addicted to it because of the graphics which were new for that time.


Anyway, the reason I thought about this way because I was using that very technique in BR, and I thought I'd show this screenshot:

Just a suggestion for the next version... it's sort of petty but anyway...

When making a character face a direction, you use FaceLocation, right? (Or FaceCharacter, but you need another character present to do that); Well since most people only have Left, Right, Up and Down walking sprites, it seems a bit excessive for those people to have to use coordinates the whole time to make their characters face left or right.

Now I'm crap at explaining myself, because I really don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but perhaps it would be easier if there were a command that was simply:

FaceDir(EGO,left);

If you know what I mean. Rather than having to come up with X and Y coordinates when all you want EGO to do is turn left.


And maybe a button that automatically reads your background pictures and lays out the walkable areas, hotspots and walk-behinds...

Level design is never really something a lot of us think about. Adventure Games don't spring to mind quickly when somebody mentions level design; it's usually something you'd associate with long loading times or Quake... or both. But in reality, levels are the world in which the player interacts, so pretty much every game is built on levels.

We rarely consider level design when building adventure games, or at least I know I rarely do. This is a very interesting read, and it's written by Steven Chen (Double Fine Productions) and Duncan Brown (LucasArts). It may not appeal to everybody here, but as a (not very good) artist, I find it pretty fascinating. Download the Word File Here. (Right click and save as)

Here are some juicy extracts:

Building materials, or texture in the case of games, lend a great deal of character to a space. Brick adds warmth, stone is cold, and white walls clinical. The first rule is to keep it simple. Try limiting yourself to three materials. One for the floor, ceiling and walls or even simpler. The architecture should be background and not draw attention away from gameplay with dazzling textures. Add detail with trim like wainscoting and mullions, but keep them in a consistent material. Avoid mismatching construction types, the weaker, lighter materials should always go on top.

Light is the most effective way to dramatize and enliven a space. You can improve a corridor simply by adding skylights or backlighting...

In an architecture studio you are asked what the concept for your design is. They are asking what the big organizing idea or ‘parti’/ spatial idea behind your project is. Organizing ideas and types are often tied to specific programs like schools or hospitals or structural types like brick arches or gothic vaults. In games the player isn’t going to get a chance to ask you that question so you better make it clear what you concept or idea is. When designing game levels you might want to be think about some these types to reinforce the idea of feeling of space that game narrative might involve. If you have a story idea about some huge corrupt corporation trying to take over the world with cyborgs (an often used and hackneyed story line) then it might help to go look at what some of the great corporate headquarter buildings look like; how does a corporation express it’s power in the world by building architecture?

[Grim Fucking Fandango]

For the following reasons:

Sam and Max Talkie
The Dig
Full Throttle
Grim Fucking Fandango

Go on, you bastards! Go on! Tell me I haven't played Grim Fandango again! Remind me again! Make fun of me some more! Because if you do, you will just be dumb and wrong!!!! What? You're always dumb and wrong? You think so too? Good, because you are totally right!

PS. Dude! I'm hallucinating! One of those characters on the start screen looks like... looks like Manny, with Tim Schafers Head cut out of a Photo and pasted on top. I should really stop drinking coffee.

EDIT: What is this little sticky mark on the Grim Fandango box, Marky?

[// script for room: First time player enters screenDisplaySpeech(EGO, "If I know Doctor Fred, he's got the Tentacles tied up in his secret lab...");FaceLocation(EGO,183,179);DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Question is... where is his secret lab?");GUIOn(2);]

When will I stop with the stupid problems already?!? First the Missing View, and now THIS!!???

Here we goes....

 // script for room: First time player enters screen
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "If I know Doctor Fred, he's got the Tentacles tied up in his secret lab...");
FaceLocation(EGO,183,179);
DisplaySpeech(EGO, "Question is... where is his secret lab?");
GUIOn(2);


It's just after a cut scene. It's in "First time player enters screen". There are no other script commands for that room.

The problem: After he says "...Secret Lab..." control is returned to the player. Without any commands from the player, the second control is returned Ian disappears, and a few moments later it boots out of the game with an error, "MoveCharacter: Player Character not in Room".

EDIT: Oh my GOD, never mind. Am I an idiot? It was a command from the previous room trying to take effect. Dumb me! Let all potential future idiots learn from the proffesional dunce. Do not be dumb, like me!

EDIT: Meh. I changed the thread a bit. Basically, what do you think builds a strong and likable character, one that you can connect to as a player and sympathise with?

I just sort of realized that I have a bunch of your music on my hard drive. I even like some of it. It's nice.

But maybe you remember the remix of Murray (I am Murray, the Mighty Demonic Skull!). Well, my sister is three, and she won't stop listening to it. She's enchanted. She's singing along to it and everything, and she's got this whole head-shaking thing going when she mimicks Guybrush saying, "Uh-huh".

Well, I just thought a thread tributed to you would be nice, seeing as I DO have a lot of your music, and you're making my sister-babysitting-thing a lot easier.

Three cheers for Trapezoid.

Since I was 10 years old I wanted to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. It inspired MI, for heavens sake, of course I did. Anyway, now it's inspired a  movie too.

So naturally, when I was told we were going to Disneyland, Paris on our school tour... I was all like, "YAY!" And Sorcha was all like, "Sometimes they cancel the Disneyland Trip" and I'm all like, "Well I'll demand a refund if they do!" And she was all like, "I don't even think PotC is IN Disneyland Paris." And I was all like, "Yes, it is!" And she said, "I think that's in Disneyland Florida." And I'm all like, "I hate you!" And then I started crying and was all like, "But Ron Gilbert..." And she was all like, "Yeah, where does he live?" And I was all like, "San Francisco" And she's all like, "And where's that?" And I'm all like, "In America" And she's all like, "Where in America?" And I was like, "California" and she's like, "And what else is in california?" And I'm all like, "...Florida?" And she's all like, "So do you think he flew to paris to visit disneyland, instead of just driving a few miles down the road?" And I'm all like, "That's a stupid exaggeration!"

Here's my question. Please somebody, tell me... where is Pirates of the Caribbean??? Paris or Florida?

I have this midi... it has a sort of starting theme for when you first enter the town, and then it goes into the tune that I want to loop. But I don't want it to loop from the BEGINNING, it you catch my drift, but from a few seconds INTO the midi.

I was wondering if there was a way to do this in AGS. I'm pretty sure there is but I can't figure it out. Also, is there any way you can add layers. Ah, again, I can't explain what I'm asking for. I mean like in MI2, where you walk to different areas of Woodtick for example, and it plays different 'layers' of the midi over the original, or something.

Whoops, did I just edit all this?

This problem is probably so retardedly simple, but I can't figure it out. I've done it loads of times before. I'm probably tired, but now it's just getting on my nerves.

I have THIS:

SetObjectView(0,30);
AnimateObjectEx(0,1,6,0,0,0);


When the character walks over  Hotspot.

There is DEFINATELY a View 30, and DEFINATELY an Object Number 0.

Am I spelling Definitely wrong?

Anyway,

When I walk over the Hotspot, it boots me out of the game with an error message: "SetObjectView: Invalid View Number".

It is so DEFINITELY a view that it's not even funny. Also, the Loop Number is correct.

Is it Definitely, or Definately?

EDIT: It works with other view numbers...?

EDIT 2: Well, it works with all view numbers BELOW view 30, but doesn't work with a view number HIGHER than view 30....?

Music isn't my forte, (Neither is religion, that's why I failed it) but anyway, this is the opening theme to Beyond Reality, so it's pretty important that everybody thinks it's okay. So, C+C, pretty please!

The ending part (The very quiet part) is a tiny bit off time but that's okay because I may be lengthening it slightly, depending on the finished cutscene.

Oh yeah, the opening sequence goes like this... Logo, tiny bit of a cutscene, a few credits. Then another song will continue for the duration of the rest of the cutscene.

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/MUSIC10.mid

[UP!!!!]

Yeah... see, I didn't know where to post this, so it might as well go here. I'm too lazy to find a REAL technical forum for scanners. So anyway, I figured you guys might be able to work this out.

I got my UMAX Astraslim SE scanner, like, four months ago. It worked great. It has no power lead; it gets it from the USB port. Anyway, here's the thing: now it's STOPPED WORKING.

I haven't used it for about four weeks since we moved house. It's definately the right lead, and the green power light is on. It detects the new hardware when you plug it in. It SHOULD be fine... except when you try to scan, it gives an error:

"TWAIN Error!"
"Failed to open the TWAIN driver."

I reinstalled the driver and restarted, and it still gives the error. I don't think I changed any settings since I last used it or anything. It's so incredibly frustrating. So, um, anybody got any bright ideas?... And m0ds, SHUT UP!!!![/b]

EDIT: Guess I should mention I'm on XP.

EDIT 2: I reinstalled the driver... or did I??? Maybe I only reinstalled... the SOFTWARE!!! Huh. Where do I put these retarded files? What's wrong with me? Somebody do this for me. Or did I? I don't know. What? Why isn't there a help file for this?

EDIT 3: Oh, yeah, GREAT answers in the troubleshooter, UMAX! This is the question that everybody wants to know the answer to: Can’t find a power switch! THERE ISN'T ONE, YOU ASS.

EDIT 4: M0ddddddssssssssssss

EDIT 5: Oh... wait... it's working... really really SLOWLY... if I do it manually from the control panel. It won't work if I use the Scan Panel Software.

EDIT 6: Okay, so it's like, something to do with the software. I broke the software! Not the scanner! m0ds, I did not break my scanner!!!!! Ha ha ha! I did break the essential software though, and now I need to know how to fix that, instead.

EDIT 7: This happened to the other three printers, before I broke them in various grisly ways. Is this a bad omen? I think I'll sleep with the scanner under my pillow tonight, just in case.

EDIT 8: Rock a bye baby, on the tree top... when the wind blows the cradle will...OH MY GOD!!! MY BABY! MY SCANNER! IT OVERHEATED UNDER THE PILLOW! WHAT HAVE I DONE!??!

EDIT 9: I think I'll start doing something worthwhile with my time. But yeah, the scanner software. Not working.

I thought this belonged in the technical rather than beginners forum, since it's probably gonna be a hella scripting. Anyway, here's the problem.

I can do a lot of stuff with AGS, and cutscenes involving talking/walking/etc.,. Here's the problem: Programming isn't my forte, so I really need somebody to really help me with this one. You can catch me on AIM as YufsterChan, or MSN as Yufster@Hotmail.com

PROBLEM:
Okay, the character has to complete four small tasks, which are, in no particular order:

1.sabotage something
2.sabotage something else
3. find an item
4. announce that he's ready to compete in the race

Sounds a muddle but I don't want to give everything away. Anyway, there's a sack race, and all the three contestants need to jump together, at the same time, across the screen. Halfway across I need to run animations of the other two contestants falling over and the main character jumping on ahead gleefully.

I don't know how to run the animation of the characters falling over in mid-run (I have the animation complete, but when I tried to run it I suddenly realised that the character would just keep moving, with this amusing gait that I like to call "Slaptooth") Anyway, I figure I must not know something. Also, how do I make the dialogue option (I'm ready to race) available AFTER he's completed all THREE tasks?

SO.....

1. How do I run the animation of the characters falling over in mid-run
2 .How do I make the dialogue option to run this cutscene only available AFTER the three tasks are completed?


As a seperate question, how do I run a script from within a dialogue? It's driving me insane. I tried to figure it out from the demo game but it confused me even more.