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I know I have to put doors in, fix the windows and that awful patch of grass in the centre but.... What d'ya think? I just looked again... I'll also add shadows to create depth.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the tent is also gonna be fixed. Wish I'd actually thought of that before uploading it. Duh.

The variety in storys, scripts, art and music that can be seen in the AGS forums is amazing, so I thought I'd start a thread where everyody can post the names of their main inspirations, for music, art, stories... whatever. It'll be interesting linking peoples styles to those of their mentors

For art, I love Tetsuya Nomura and all of the Monkey Island III team. I got loads of inspiration from the MI3 art, but mostly from Tetsuya who is constantly refreshing and new.

Storys, plots, scripts etc.,.... All the rest comes from Tim Schafer, who is truly truly godlike

i cant get on the chat this is the last thing that happened

<Yufster> and can  i have @ps?
<Robb> No
<BOYD1981> you have to draw one sprite for the object in the game world, and one for in the inventory
<Yufster> how do you become an op?
<Unilin> You can't
<Yufster> but how do u?
<Robb> By being a god
<Yufster> what does it do?
<Yufster> i wan t one
<BOYD1981> it allows you to ban people
<Yufster> plz can i have 1?
<BOYD1981> for being annoying
<Yufster> what duz ban do?
<BOYD1981> or being hosamov
*** Robb sets mode: +b *!*@195.218.107.176

i dnt no wat happned now i cant get on it is stuck it says#ags can't join channel (address is banned) wat do i do?

also wat is ops

send pocky

I recently downloaded bought a Gameboy Advance, and one of the games I got with it was Broken Sword - The Shadow of the Templars. I knew it was an adventure game that had previously been released for PC, only because I remember seeing pictures of the waitress in one issue of PC Gamer about 1994. I'd never played it.

I completed the entire game for the first time on the Gameboy Advance. I'm not sure if it was originally a point and click, but the engine on the GB was more like Grim Fandango, using the arrow keys to move the character instead of a mouse. It was completely enjoyable.

It led me to wonder.....

I don't believe Adventure Games are dead. I think they're dormant, waiting for somebody to take that risk and release something completely out of this world. The Gameboy or another hand held would seem the perfect system to release Adventure Games on. On long car or train journeys etc., people could see how much farther they could progress, solve a few more puzzles, etc.,

And of course, for all us oldies it would mean we'd be able to play new adventure titles with crappy 256 colours once more! With an adapter to plug the GBA into the TV for a full screen... (or just MAXIMIZE the screen in windows.... coughcough).... Eurythmics blaring in the background and a few 80's posters.... It could almost be like home again.

For all people wondering why I'm obsessed with Life in 256 Colours, I'll have you know it's a psychological problem whereby I crave the security offered when graphics were 320x200 and 256 colours.

No not really, that's just my excuse.

What do you think? Could the GBA be the helping hand that drags Adventure Games out of the murky waters of Dormantopia?

http://web.ask.com/redir?bpg=http%3a%2f%2fweb.ask.com%2fweb%3fq%3dwhat%2bprograms%2bwhere%2bused%2bto%2bmake%2bMonkey%2bIsland%2bII%2b2%26o%3d0%26page%3d2&q=what+programs+where+used+to+make+Monkey+Island+II+2&u=http%3a%2f%2ftm.wc.ask.com%2fr%3ft%3dan%26s%3da%26uid%3d0840F143A824E90F3%26sid%3d12D47243A824E90F3%26qid%3d3C6F0EA271258C4AA913D23B357DCFF8%26io%3d2%26sv%3dza5cb0def%26ask%3dwhat%2bprograms%2bwhere%2bused%2bto%2bmake%2bMonkey%2bIsland%2bII%2b2%26uip%3dc3da7408%26en%3dte%26eo%3d-100%26pt%3dvv%2b%253a%253a%2bdigital%2bgraphite%26ac%3d24%26qs%3d0%26pg%3d2%26u%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.vinayvenkatesh.com%2fblog%2farchives%2fcat_interesting_stuff.php&s=a&bu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.vinayvenkatesh.com%2fblog%2farchives%2fcat_interesting_stuff.php

WTF?! Uh, anyway, yeah, look at that. Look at it cross-eyed and you'll see a third picture form in the centre that's 3D!!! Uh wait, you have to scroll down the page a bit to find the picture.

Jesus christ, my eyes are bleeding.

[don't even remember my 386]

I don't remember my SNES coming with Spyware preloaded. I don't remember Monkey Island collecting my personal information for Microsoft. I don't remember Monkey Island II handing Bill Gates a remote control for my 386. I don't even remember my 386.

What do you think? Was life better when it was in 256 colours?

[CONCEPT ART]

I started this thread so people can talk about stuff that bugs them in games, and swap hints and tips on avoiding such problems. You don't have to be a game making whiz kid to notice this stuff. If something feels out of place, then it shouldn't be there. So pleasepleaseplease everybody, submit as many hints/tips/problems as you can!

My biggest problem with games released with AGS is the artwork. It doesn't MATTER what it looks like, it's the fact so many people leave such a clashing gap between the sprite graphics and the BG graphics, or change their style halfway through a game, or when they don't make the background to the same proportions as the hero, so the tables only reach his knees and the doors are twice his height.

Okay here's my contribution to this thread, and my suggestions on how to tackle the above problems:

CONCEPT ART

In Beyond Reality, the very first thing I did was a CRAPLOAD of concept art. This wasn't even nessecarily related to the game. I drew loads of different rooms, different people, different places, used different colours... And then I'd pick out pictures I liked for no particular reason and I'd go, "Hm, this suits the theme." or "This looks like ass, but it suits the style." or "I like this, but it's not the style I'm looking for, unless I like ass."

Then I'd maybe draw using that style a bit more. Basically, getting used to it and getting a feel for it. This also allowed me to start imagining certain in-game situations and how I would style them.

Then I designed the characters that would play a large role in the game, and a few important rooms. I saw them and decided it was definately the style I wanted.

My graphics aren't even particularly good, but the point is I'm keeping a similar theme throughout the entire game and it also allows me to use more creative 'camera' angles and suchlike. It also prevents me from going overboard with the Gradient tool  .

SKETCHING YOUR BACKGROUNDS IN MS PAINT FIRST.

This is something I recently discovered, and I love it so much. It's so so so much fun. For a few boring hours you sketch crap pictures in MS paint, but when you're done you can flick through 50 crap pages and pick any background you want to work on. It makes production faster and also somehow allows you to make more interesting 'camera' angles, etc.,

If you DO do concept art, you might want to create all of the backgrounds together as otherwise you could lose the style, working on them over a long period of time. So something I found insanely useful was to simply sketch out, VERY roughly, every single background I needed in MS paint. It took about an hour to complete crap sketches of over half the games backgrounds. It also made it easier when it came to colouring ETC.,, I could pick a background I wanted to work on and mess with it until I was happy.

This also means it's incredibly easy to import that background into AGS, test the proportions with your main character, and make any alterations, WHILE IT'S STILL JUST A CRAPPY SKETCH.

This is probably one of the most useful things I have ever learned.



I haven't released this game, but I did work on loads of RPGmaker games which I completed but never released due to the insane file size (lowest being 36mb) and the fact I'm on dailup... I do, however, LOVE making HUGE games. And have FINISHED huge games. So this next project will be my first HUGE game that is somewhat under 20mb.

Now you know you're not listening to a homeless hobo.

http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.geocities.com/yufster/GBS.zip

Here you go, there's a lack of one on the internet so I painstakingly drew every frame out for you, with my own blood and sweat, and signed my name in each individual pixel.

It's Guybrush. He's walking left, right, up and down, and standing facing all directions. It's ready to import straight into AGS in 256 colours.

Guybrush has a distinctive, "I have a large egg stuck in my ass" walk, that is embedded in many peoples minds as THE way for an adventure character to walk. So use his sprite to crack the difficult Up-Down walk pattern or whatever. Notice how he FLOUNCES and BOUNCES as he walks. This shows he is gay.

With love  

[Oh, WAIT.I forgot. I didn't sleep last night, so it's tomorrow already. I'd better dig something up.Here we go. For all the nice people, who bother to check the main thread page for updates, or perhaps the suckers that were lured here with the promise of chocolate and bunnies:d00d! It's cutscene graphics! But even though it looks nice and all... it isn't animated. At all. Not one bit. So much for that. And no, there is no chocolate, and no bunnies, and no chocolate bunnies. Nothing. Zilch. Naut. That is what you get for repeatedly believing a liar. Ha! False hope! I love it!Maybe I'll try animating for my next project. But I don't even have a program to put cels together right now, so enough about that! Happy Halloween. THE NEW IMPROVED, SLIGHTLY MORE AWESOME UPDATEOh geeze, I only just posted on page 5 of this thread, the new update. Now I have nothing to update with here, and I'm all out off coffee-and-self-multilating-insect stories. Okay, wait, I'll think of something.Bah. It would have been fine if I hadn't called this update "slightly more awesome" than the last, but now it has a reputation to live up to. Oh man. Okay. Give me a few minutes, I'll think of something to make it awesome. I promise.Okay, maybe later. Like, tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow.THE PREVIOUS, BORING UPDATEGreat, we have a bunch of new helpers! Although... I'm not entirely sure what they're meant to be doing yet. I mean, you know when you just hang around, expecting somebody to tell you to do something but they never do? Uh huh.Oh wait, I just got an email. Hang on...Oh, that was just one of my associates. Anyway, here are the helper people. SSH - Programmer, CounsellingPetteri - MusicVel - Man ServantWell, if you're reading this and you're not any of those people... fear not! There are plenty more positions open for man-servants.Now, I have phone calls to make and business associates to remove from my leg, so if you will excuse me...I'll just wait here 'til somebody calls me....Yufster Out.]

Oh, WAIT.
I forgot. I didn't sleep last night, so it's tomorrow already. I'd better dig something up.

Here we go. For all the nice people, who bother to check the main thread page for updates, or perhaps the suckers that were lured here with the promise of chocolate and bunnies:



d00d! It's cutscene graphics! But even though it looks nice and all... it isn't animated. At all. Not one bit. So much for that. And no, there is no chocolate, and no bunnies, and no chocolate bunnies. Nothing. Zilch. Naut. That is what you get for repeatedly believing a liar. Ha! False hope! I love it!

Maybe I'll try animating for my next project. But I don't even have a program to put cels together right now, so enough about that!

Happy Halloween.



THE NEW IMPROVED, SLIGHTLY MORE AWESOME UPDATE
Oh geeze, I only just posted on page 5 of this thread, the new update. Now I have nothing to update with here, and I'm all out off coffee-and-self-multilating-insect stories. Okay, wait, I'll think of something.

Bah. It would have been fine if I hadn't called this update "slightly more awesome" than the last, but now it has a reputation to live up to. Oh man. Okay. Give me a few minutes, I'll think of something to make it awesome. I promise.

Okay, maybe later. Like, tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow.




THE PREVIOUS, BORING UPDATE
Great, we have a bunch of new helpers! Although... I'm not entirely sure what they're meant to be doing yet. I mean, you know when you just hang around, expecting somebody to tell you to do something but they never do? Uh huh.

Oh wait, I just got an email. Hang on...

Oh, that was just one of my associates. Anyway, here are the helper people.

SSH - Programmer, Counselling
Petteri - Music
Vel - Man Servant


Well, if you're reading this and you're not any of those people... fear not! There are plenty more positions open for man-servants.

Now, I have phone calls to make and business associates to remove from my leg, so if you will excuse me...

I'll just wait here 'til somebody calls me....



Yufster Out.

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


Names may be changed, backgrounds do not represent the final quality of the finished product, no similarities to actual people intended except for Monica Lewinsky, yadayada I think you know the drill....  )

Website here. Exclusive Screenshots and... Also information on OTHER, GREAT new games! All one of them.


Ian is spending the night in a Family Run Motel when a small child is attacked by a cloaked demon. A girl called Aya intervenes, but too late... The demon escapes, and the child is left in a coma. Aya explains to Ian that the Dream Catchers are from the Dream World, and are stealing the minds of children. Somehow an opening has been created, a hole between Reality and Dreams. Nobody knows exactly why or how. The only way to find the missing minds of the children is to enter the Dream World...

...Which is a place that Ian is pretty familiar with anyway.


Ian has to sleep like he's never slept before to save the day.





Ian's particular Dream World is compiled by his own thoughts and imagination. He must find a way to break from his own subconscious into the dreamworld of the Dream Catchers and rescue the lost minds.

His Subconscious is split into three areas, Ridiculous Cliffside Village, Foreboding Mountain and Mysteriously Innocent Town. He is free to travel these areas for most of the game.






Features
Non-Linear Gameplay
A large section of the game takes place
within the Dream World Map. Ian can
solve the puzzles in any order he wishes.

Lovable Characters
If you like alligators and piranhas, you'll
love these characters.

Original Storyline
I pride myself on the fact I wrote the entire
story and plot, sewing up plotholes and
writing puzzles, way before I started
the graphics and programming.

Loads of other Really Neat Stuff!
Like free chocolate and money for all!



INFORMATION
PLOT, STORYLINE AND SCRIPT
Are, believe it or not, complete

MUSIC
I am looking for a composer with a style that
will suit the games atmosphere. Probably,
I'll release a demo before I get a musician.

GRAPHICS
Just under one half of the backgrounds are
completed, and a few sprite animations

PROGRAMMING
Is not my strong point. Only a few loosely
connected rooms for testing the backgrounds.

NEAT FACTOR
Huh.


Due sometime in a distant future... possibly Christmas 2003 if I have a lot of free time (which I plan for, as I'm doing Transition Year! Buwahahhaa!

Wait, let me rephrase that....

COMING CHRISTMAS 2003!!!
(with possible short, year long delays )


I'd love any comments, critisism or ...(?)....oh yeah, suggestions (my mind is going )

Give it to me straight Doctor.

Yes! More, Doctor, More!

...

Before making the graphics on my game I'd like to know what style GUIs you people all prefer. The Lucasarts style monster that sits on the bottom of the screen (think MI) was my personal favourite. There was also the Sam and Max one that allowed for an entire screen devoted to the room instead of the GUI. And there was the CMI one, which would probably be my favourite if I wasn't completely biased and loyal to the older games  

The problem being that if I make a load of full screen graphics without leaving room for the GUI should I decide on an MI1 style, I will have to redesign all the rooms I have designed

I think this is the right place to ask... I'm having difficulty making my Sprite Animation look NOT awkward... I have the basics there but somehow it looks like he's LIMPING or something. I was wondering if somebody could supply me with Guybrush Sprites to study (Or characters from another P+C Adventure from that time) because I can't find them ANYWHERE. I really need to rip off somebodies sprites study those sprites!

You Suckers!!!! Love to all.  

This isn't a problem for me any more, I don't know how I solved it (I restarted AGS and that didn't fix it, I also tried reloading the room, that didn't either... ) But I would sure as hell love to know why it happened.

I had a scrolling screen with a 256 colour BG. Everything was working fine and I had the areas all set. I had tested the room before, with MUSIC2 playing. Then I changed the music to MUSIC3 and tested it again.

It seemed fine, except for an odd sound when it loaded the room, like a piano key was stuck or something. If you tried to walk it would also be fine. It was only WHEN YOU WALKED ON A CERTAIN AREA of the screen that it crashed with an error and quit AGS. Every single time the same area. Eventually I dismissed it and kept working, telling myself I'd ask here later. I imported an updated version of the same background and tested it, forgetting the problem... which was gone.

What the heck was that? It seemed as though the Music and the Background disliked each other or something! And why would a midi make it crash in one particular area of the room?

I'm a very curious person  

...(I'm female )

I just wondered how many females used these forums, so we could flock together and gossip and bitch... (yeah, I'm joking)... because I noticed that there seem to be more guys and most games are released... by guys. In fact, the only game I've played by a female at all included a "totally spies" style main character complete with an initial inventory of pink nail polish, a mobile, pink purse and some glue to fix her broken heels.

I'm still getting aquainted with people, so it'd be nice to know

Also, let's counter this pink stupidity and make a lesbian seagull game. Who's in for a lesbian seagull game? I have invented the main character, her name is Dolphin and she's strong. Her mother was an amazonian warrior. Seagull. And amazonian warrior-seagull. Her lesbian lover was killed in a tragic accident involving a cat and some teeth. Dolphin sets out to avenge her lovers death, armed only with her sexuality and also some wings, and this thing the RSPCA clipped around her neck. Speaking of which, she's also being hunted by the RSPCA, who want to investigate her sexuality mercilessly. With other bigger, LESBIANERER seagulls, and also a Gay Hawk.

Who's with me?

okay so I can design the rooms and add the music and hotspots, teleport between rooms etc etc.,

I wanted to try and do some sort of a cutscene where the main character enters a room is automatically taken from the players control and say walks over to the other side of the room to have a conversation with somebody... automatically. The player isn't in control the moment he enters the room.

Unlike RPGM, there is no "Auto Start Event"...   It made it soooo much easier...  

Okay can anybody tell me how to do this? I'm a complete newbie by the way so don't make my brain implode.

I've been making games for years in RPGmaker, making my own sprites, backgrounds, music etc., and only recently discovered the AGS community. Maybe 7 months ago or so

Anyway, I'm going to learn to use AGS or Sludge, and as it's going to take some time to learn it I'd rather know I'm making the right choice. Could somebody, without much prejudice for either engine, please describe the pros and cons of both? Although I'm taking it that most of you here prefer AGS You never know. Sometimes the underdog is the champion, or something.