Messages

Thanks for letting me know, CJ.

This is probably the last game I'll use plug-ins for. After this, I'll have to learn how to use these modules everyone is talking about! (Clearly, I am behind the curve)

- Ponch

[citation needed]

It's been years since I took a physics class, but as I recall it was something to the effect that thermodynamics prohibits the notion of the Big Crunch (remember that old theory?) because the law of thermodynamics (hereafter "T Law" cause I'm a lazy bastard and that's a long word) prohibits matter so diffuse from being pulled together from across the entire expanse of a flat universe (and, yes, it's flat!) -- something to do with the general weakness of gravity, an energy exchange of some sort, heat flowing at a set rate from a warm body to a cold body, etc etc. As I said, it's been a long time.

But that assumes that before the Big Bang that there was a Big Crunch (which is a theory more or less in the dust bin now). If there was only one creation event, i.e. that the universe erupted from a single point and that this event happened only once in the (pre?)history of the universe, then T Law can get bent, as it (like most of the laws that govern the universe) is dependent on spatial parameters which the early universe was largely lacking (or at best were very poorly defined). Plus there may (or may not have) been a near-equal amount of anti-particles at the time of the Big Bang, which changes the math on everything. There was an abundance of energy at that moment, obviously, and the universe hasn't seen its like since, so modeling that moment and the crucial moments that followed are very difficult as the universe we inhabit nowadays is a pale shadow of the universe at creation (as far as sheer potentiality goes).

In a nutshell, it depends on which universe model you subscribe to: the cyclical universe (Big Bang/Big Crunch over and over) or the non-cyclical universe. The latter allows for a Big Bang if you assume that the single dot of everything had always been there and always been super compressed. Then, "for no adequately explored reason" there is a "horrible space kablooie" and here we all are.

At least, that's what I remember from the bits of class I didn't sleep through. Any of you may have been more alert students than I was, so feel free to correct me if I misremembered something. (Which is very, very likely).

- Ponch

p.s. As I said, it's been years. It was so long ago, that people still thought the universe was spherical or curved, not flat. So everything the professor said might be out the window now.

p.p.s (Fixed some spelling errors. Still early in the morning, I guess.)

Hello all,

My next five games are coming out soon, the first of which comes out in June. No doubt you are all tingling unbearably with anticipation.

However, these games have been in development for a long time (since AGS 2.56d) and all the grunt work of coding was done before the advent of these new-fangled modules everyone is talking about these days. See, back in my day we used plug-ins and we liked 'em. We loved 'em! We were glad to have 'em! Hell, we were glad to have anything that saved time back when we had to program every AGS game with punchcards! And we all wore turnips on our belts, which was the style at the time. (Sorry, slipped into grumpy old man mode for a second there.)

Anyhoo, since I'm in the "polish and shine" stage of development, I really don't want to go back and rip out plug in code and replace it with module code, especially since I've finally got everything running smooth. And some of that code is from my early days with AGS, back when I took a hundred lines of code to do something I can now do in ten lines. Some of that code scares the willies out of me and I don't like to open those room functions unless all the lights in the house are on.

So my question is this: is it possible to bypass the plug in code with a variable check? Something as simple as a global int, for example. See, I don't have a linux or mac to check this out, but I'm hoping that I could just disable the snow/rain or parallax plug in stuff with a simple variable check on room load. But since the plug in code would still be there (just not activated if the user chooses to disables it by replacing the room0.crm file with one that resets the variable for example), would that "deactivated" plug in code still pose a problem for mac of linux guys (and gals) even though it's been ignored by the check?

Does plug in code still cause problems even if it's being ignored by the game?

I'm hoping it will not because that will save me a hell of a lot of time!

Thanks.

Ponch

Slightly off topic here, but I've been meaning to say this all season:

lo_res_man, that is an awesome avatar!

Also, good post.

For whatever it's worth, I learned way back in the 80s not to take advice, get into arguments, or seek the approval of people on the the other side of my computer screen (the fine folks of this outstanding forum excluded, of course).

So a message board is filled with a bunch of opinionated fools. I'm shocked. Faith is a deeply personal thing and it's doesn't jibe well with the interwebs, which is appallingly impersonal.

Whatever is wrong with the world is too big of a thing for any one person to fix, much less debate over tcp/ip. Look to answers within yourself (which it seems like you're doing anyway) because, in the end, in your own head is where you're going to spend your entire life. Talk about things like this face to face with real people you know in real life. You'll encounter a lot less trolls that way (usually).

In all faiths, you'll find people who retreated into faith to shield themselves from an uncertain world. But you'll also find people who entered into their faith for a reason other than some sort of security blanket for grownups. I wasn't raised with any sort of faith whatsoever, yet after 35 years on earth, I find myself quite unexpectedly to be a spiritual person. Didn't see that coming! Ignore the zealots and focus on your own journey (if you'll pardon me going kind of touchy-feely there). Whatever it is you're looking for, no one else can find for you. If they say they can, they've probably got a price tag attached to it.

Short version, ignore the idiots and don't try to change them. You're likely wasting your time and probably going to get an ulcer for your troubles. Keep asking questions of yourself and in time you'll find answers you can live with.

And for the record, I believe that while evolution is a far from perfect theory, it's the best we've got and it makes a lot more sense than a literal reading of what is otherwise a pretty nifty allegorical creation story which has always struck me as more concerned with why the world is so screwed up than trying to explain exactly how the world physically came into existence. It makes more sense to me to read it that way than to use it a a scientific textbook that teaches the world is 6000 years old.

Anyhoo, that's my two cents on the subject.

- Ponch

Rui,

Nice job! I can't carry a tune in a bucket so I'm always impressed by anyone who can!

"Time is an illusion. Lunch time doubly so."

I'm ashamed to say I've used that line in serious conversations more than once. It's a special moment when someone present knows the line too.

Also worth mentioning, though I can't remember the full quote at the moment, is when Ford claims to be responsible for the giraffe.

Congrats to all the winners (and nominees). Also, nice presentation SSH. It was nice to have a front row seat. It would have been torture had I been a seat filler somewhere in the back. All I would have been able to see was Nelly tearing across the stage like some adorable Godzilla, terrorizing the smaller sprites.

I really liked the inset shots of the backgrounds. Maybe next time you could do a small shot like that for each game in all the categories. Truth be told, it's been a while since I played some of those games and had a hard time remembering which one looked like what. Might be nice to see a little pic of each nominee.

So kudos to the winners. I hope you all make the most of the fame, the adulation, and the big cash prizes that come with every trophy. But watch out for the paparazzi and all the hangers-on that come with fame. We don't want you guys to turn out like Britney Spears.

- Ponch

Once I'm done with a game and have burdened the world with it, I don't want to even think about that game for at least six months.

However, once I'm ready to start a new game, I like to go back and revisit some of the previous games in the series to get a feel for that world again. It sort of helps me get in the right mindset, if that makes sense.

- Ponch

Being a good president is about two things: political savvy, and camera presence - and neither is stored in either skin pigments, or testicles.

It seems to me you're making some rather rash assumptions about what I'm capable of keeping in my testicles.

That said, at this point I'm in the "anybody but Hillary" group. Unfortunately, I don't like McCain (for more reasons than I care to go into here) but I don't care for Obama either. Saw him speak publicly and it was at once both electrifying and completely devoid of substance. That's my beef with him. He doesn't really offer any policies (which may be a large part of his appeal -- gives him that blank slate that allows any voter to project their ideal candidate upon). Still, he's better than another run of the Clinton Dynasty.

I guess my point is that to me this election year is extremely interesting, but bereft of any interesting candidates... if that makes any sense.

Or maybe my point was that one should never underestimate my testicles. Ever.

- Ponch

Hooray! Thank you for that, Ponch. I've now finished the game. I'm glad I didn't delete it.

The patch doesn't seem to work if you load the autosaved slot (the "arcade scene skipped" message comes up, and then just sticks there - you can't click or anything)... I had to go back to an earlier savegame to get it to work. I might have saved over the autosaved slot though, so don't take this as gospel.

Well poop. I should have playtested that patch first. I was so busy getting the re-release of Cyclone Alley debugged for uploading this month [plug]available at my website right now. In case any of you wondered why The Prick Who Came In From The Cold ended so abrubtly, now you can play this long unavailable game and find out what happened next[/plug]. Big thanks to Rui for giving me a polite shove to dig that old gem out of the closet of doom, by the way.

This weekend I'll make some time to put together the proper patch with new movie and get that out by Monday or Tuesday, I hope... Wednesday at the latest... Maybe.

Thanks for pointing that out, Paolo. It's just the nudge I needed back to work on that!

- Ponch

v5.3 GM is noticeably faster and stabler, with much lower minimal requirements to a computer than 6 and 7 versions.

I still use 5.3 and it runs just fine. I tried 6 and 6.1 but eventually went back to 5.3. I've made three Barn Runner games with GM and 5.3 is the way to go if you ask me. However, you can (probably) make a SimCity game with AGS.

I have an "in the works" game that I plan to release once the Barn Runner games are done. At one point I had a star base screen (think XCom) where you could customize your base as the game went on. I used hot spots to check where the player was placing what sort of structure on the terrain map. The graphics were based around a hex tile and designed in such a way that they fit together in any way. Each tile had its own cost, its own stats and added various bonuses (and detriments) to your growing base.

I scrapped that part of the game to focus more on "Star Flight meets Star Control" style game play but (for 2.56d at any rate) it seemed to work as a smallish city builder just fine in AGS. Granted it was limited to 20 "units" due to the hotspot limit, but I was able to build some nice little structures with it. If I was able to do it that way (which I admit is a little limiting if you want to do a sim larger than an space outpost), I'm sure that someone who is a better coder than I could really do something great with it.

Short version, while GM is probably easier for this sort of thing, I have no doubt it could be done in AGS, plus doing it with the power of the big blue cup would be serious bragging rights!

- Ponch

Proximity: my game, Revelations, wasn't nominated in "best programming" either, although it was a very challenging project to realize with AGS

dkh, Revelations totally should have made that cut, imo. If I'd bothered to vote for anybody, I would have voted for that game for programming. I did a Spy Hunter style game in AGS so I have some idea of the coding hoops you must have jumped through to pull that game off. Amazing.

Sadly, I forgot to vote until it was too late. And popular vote is a fickle thing under the best of circumstances. But that's how it goes, isn't it? Don't stress about it, Proximity. Better luck next year, dude. Stick with it and sooner or later, you'll get more recognition

And SSH, is it too early for me to go on another sad, drunken bender about the total lack of love my game got? I feel it's time, what with the weekend coming up and all... but I'm not sure

- Ponch

Ireland's a small country which hasn't had much of an impact on the world...

Come on, Emerald! Don't be like that. You guys gave the world Dustin the Turkey! We are forever in your debt

Freddie Mercury was of Indian descent, and born in Zanzibar.

And Queen without Freddie has sadly become a mockery of what it once was.

Sure, I know. But I think Queen, I think Britain. Hell, I'm sad to say that I'm old enough to have seen Queen in concert. Damn, that band was absolutely awesome.

And Rui, there is no Queen without Freddie. It's all a conspiracy! (By the Freemasons or the Illuminati or something). Made in Heaven was barely a Queen album and after that, nothing else is Queen, no matter what Roger and Brian say.

To the topic at hand, I asked my girlfriend over dinner tonight what she thought of when I said "Britishness" and, without missing a beat, replied "James Bond, Princess Di, fish and chips, those cool buses, and Shaun of the Dead."

Thank you, Great Britain for Simon Pegg. Thanks to him, I met a hot geeky chick (they do exist!) while in line to see Hot Fuzz. She was even knew about Spaced! I am forever in your debt.

Now I feel even worse about how we sent Madonna your way. Sorry 'bout that, guys.

- Ponch

Well, being an American, my view of the world is tragically skewed Joking aside, I know more than a few of my fellow Americans who view the world in a fashion disturbingly like those puppets in Team America, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

When I think of Britishness, I think English. Irish, Scottish, etc get their own sub-category in my brain. Right or wrong, to me British = English. And English brings to my mind (such as it is) Stiff upper lip; dry wit; the BBC; Doctor Who; terrible food (sorry); rain and fog; and a rather remarkable quiet determination about things. To refine that last point further, I'd like to think that if we Americans would just shut the hell up more often and keep our "I've got something I'm gonna say" to ourselves a bit more, we'd be a bit more like the Brits. We both have the same "can do" attitude about things, but the Brits don't seem quite so quick to brag about it as we are. Also, the Brits I've known over the years were generally affable but certainly not anyone to be f*cked with. Of course, most of the Brits I've known were during my years in the military, so take that for what it's worth. Also, most of what I know about England involves London, Kent and a few other places I was too drunk to remember very clearly. Stonehenge and a wall left over from Roman times come to mind, but it's all a bit alcohol-fuzzy around the edges and time isn't helping. What can I say, I was young and thought I had brain cells to spare.

Anyhoo, that's what I think when I think of "Britishness," which is a word that's hard to define and also one that my spell checker doesn't recognize.

God save the queen and all that. (Queen was an awesome band, by the way. Thank you for that one, Great Britain. Sorry we only had Britney Spears to offer in return.)

- Ponch

1) Age group
o   20-25
o   26-31
X   32-35

2) Gender
X   Male
o   Female
o   Other

3) Occupation
o   Student
X   Professional
o   Administration
o   Other:____________

4) Level of education
o   Secondary school
o   Diploma
X   University degree
o   Post graduate

5) Status
o   Married
X   Dating
o   Single

6) Ethnicity: Texan

7) What kind of movies do you like?
(Number in order of preference. 1 being the least and 5 being the most favourite)
2   Horror
3   Comedy
4   Action
1   Drama
5   Adventure
4   Thriller and suspense
5   Sci-fi
1   Fantasy

8) What do you look for in a movie?
(Number in order of preference. 1 being the least and 5 being the most favourite)
5   Good Story
4   Good Visuals
2   Good Soundtrack

9) Do you often watch movies with:
X   Friends
o   Family
o   Your Spouse
o   Yourself

10) What is your opinion on sexual innuendo used in movies?
X   Good (if it serves the story)
o   Okay
o   Bad
o   Don't really care

11) What is your opinion on a homosexuality-based story?
o   Good
o   Okay
o   Bad
X   Don't really care

12) What is your view on full or partial nudity used in a movie?
X   Good (if it serves the story... or even if it doesn't )
o   Okay
o   Bad
o   Don't really care

13) What do you think of comedy based on awkward situations?
o   Good
X   Okay
o   Bad
o   Don't really care

14) What do you think of movies containing crude or offensive language?
o   Good
X   Okay (if it serves the story)
o   Bad
o   Don't really care
o   Other:____________

15) What do you think of movies dealing with political issues?
o   Good
o   Okay
o   Bad
X   Don't really care
Other: I don't get my politics from movies.

Hope you make the deadline!

- Ponch


UPDATE: How many responses do you need? My girlfriend will be over tonight. If it's a matter of number of responses, I could ask her to fill this out too. I'll check back in a few hours so post if you could use one more response.

Voted!

Thanks, Rui and Paolo. I'm all sobered up and ready to find a way to go on living

SSH, I know I didn't nominate any games, not even my own. But I'm terribly lazy and was hoping to be swept into power on a tidal wave of goodwill after everyone read my post in the "good deed" thread and realized what a noble human being I am!

In retrospect, it was, perhaps, not the greatest of plans. But, as I said, I'm lazy that way.

Oh well. Best of luck to all the people I just voted for... Only moderate luck to those I didn't vote for

- Ponch

Well, poop. My game got nothing. *sob* Thanks a lot, AGS community! Now I'll have to drown my sorrows in booze tonight! I mean, I was going to get drunk anyway, but now I have to get drunk for a reason! And a bad reason, at that! I can't imagine I'll enjoy it at all! ... At least until I start drinking, I suppose.

Congrats to all who made the cut. I'm glad Nelly Cootalot made the grade (in a lot of categories at that! Well done Ali!), it was my favorite AGS game this year.

Also, I'm also a bit surprised that Art of Theft didn't make the grade. I thought it was a shoe in!

Oh well, off to the liquor store.

- Ponch

Well, last Thursday night I was standing in line at a vending machine on campus, dying for some caffeine before my next class. A small kid in front of me kept trying to get the machine to accept his wrinkly dollar (which at last estimate, is something like 1/1000th of a euro, I think) to no avail. What such a young kid was doing by himself in a side hallway on campus at night is beyond me, but he was getting increasingly frustrated by the machine spitting his dollar back at him.

I was running out of time and getting a little pissed off myself, when the kid stepped aside and said, in the smallest voice, "I'm sorry, mister. It doesn't like my dollar."

Gah! I felt so damn sorry for the little guy! I told him I would trade him my four quarters for his wrinkly dollar. He beamed, made the trade, and ran down the hallway with his Mountain Dew (hopefully, running towards someone who loved him and not, say, out into the unforgiving night!).

Or course, I knew when I made the trade that those four quarters were all the change I had. I didn't have any bills small enough for the vending machine to accept, so I would have to do without an energy boost before my next class. Fortunately, my instructor that night was one of those professors who think that any lecture worth giving is worth giving in the driest monotone possible, so it wasn't even a struggle to stay awake. I was out like a light and slept like a baby for the next hour and a half.

If I were a smart man, I would stop right here and bask in the retelling of my own good deed and the adulation you're all sure to heap upon me, and not reveal how, after watching this kid try at least a dozen times to feed that poor excuse for a dollar into the machine, I tried to get that damn machine to take that poor dollar... four times! Honestly, I thought swearing loudly at it would help!

I just wanted caffeine so damn badly! *sob*

Oh well, that's the story of my one (admittedly small) good deed for 2008... so far.

- Ponch