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Hello all,

My next game features a pair of arcade sequences and I'm looking for a way to provide the player with an Auto-Save that will back the game up for them shortly before they stumble into a life or death situation. (BTW, there will be an Arcade Lite feature available to strip out the arcade sequences altogether for those who prefer their adventure without action.)

I would like to handle this is a fashion similar to "Prisoner of Ice" and it's "TroubleJoker" feature that saved a game before throwing you into the middle of the action. That way, if you die, you can just load the autosave slot and won't be penalized for not saving your game every ten minutes.

I've tried room enter functions (both before and after fade in) and walk onto region functions. I try to save the game in a slot the player would not normally have access to but when the game is reloaded, it seems locked up. No cursor, no GUI, nothing.

I've tried several flavors of code but have had no luck. Has anyone ever implemented this and if so, could anyone please post some of their awesome scripting to help me out? I will build a small shrine to you on top of my monitor.

Thanks,

Ponch.

Well, I just discovered the joys of MicroTech Instant File Hosting. (Thanks to Rui Pires for telling me about it).

This is a mini-game I made last summer when I was first writing the arcade code for my long-in-the-works Barn Runner: The Forever Friday. This early build of the code is pretty primitive. The targets only track left to right at various speeds and at various distances and altitudes relative to the player. They also "pop" to face the player in a shoot/no-shoot scenario that requires you to make the decision to pull the trigger before the target disappears. Also, the targets don't shoot back or spawn other targets when destroyed (this is only a gun range, after all.) The gun reloading animation also had yet to be implemented at this stage of coding so you have to make do with a flashing "Reloading" graphic.

So while many of the features that are now coded into The Forever Friday do not appear in this early build (nothing shoots back at you and there are no hit points for you or the targets, for example), I think it still serves as a nice demonstration for the arcade possibilities of AGS.

You can retry the ranges as many times as you like until you pass them (or switch to the Hand icon and USE the door behind you to leave the game) and the Spatha pistol holds three shots per clip so keep that in mind when squeezing the trigger.

And with that, let's roll those screenshots!


Debbie looks on while Prick prepares to get it done.



Behold the awesome power of my first person shooter code!!!1!



Sometimes range trials drag on late into the night.


Well, that's it. It's not a true adventure game but I hope that it serves as a mild diversion until I can get the full-sized Barn Runner: The Armageddon Eclair (which I made way back in 2003) online in the next week or so.


http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=486
Click here to immerse yourself again in the mind-numbing experience that is Barn Runner and I hope you might even enjoy it!

splat44

Here's the answer to your questions:

Spoiler

Use the empty pistol to smash the DataLink. Use the broken glass you get on the web.

[close]

Hope that helps.

Who?Me?, here is the answer to that puzzle. Hope it helps.

Spoiler

Use the Long Pole on the sap-covered piece of firewood. This will give you a pole with a plug of sap at the end. Use this to get the ornament down.

[close]

Glad you liked the game!

- Ponch

Wow! That was a fast reply!

I'll look into MicroTech then. I'm curious how they make any money hosting other peoples files without banner ads or pages to visit on their website before you download them but I suppose that's their own concernÃ, 

Thanks Rui. (Awesome avatar by the way.)

- Ponch

I'm glad you liked it Dave. I put a lot of work into the backstory of both the BGCZ and the City. Although the city wasn't featured in this game, I'll be showing off more of it in the future (and in the older Barn Runner games I plan to upload to the web shortly).

As for the rather conventional ending:

I originally had a snazzier ending planned including a nice long flyover of the BGCZ, across the fence line and out across the ash wastes and gun towers. But in order to get it out in time for Christmas, I had to axe it. Other sacrifices also had to be made- I lost another character (a woman ice-fishing in the hole the robot made in the opening cutscene) and an entire side-quest related to her and her cabin hidden deep in the woods.

I have every intention of releasing an anniversary edition of the game next Christmas with all this goodness restored. It will replace the current "Rated-E" version and come in two flavors: "Rated T" and "Rated M". After all, you can't have a hard-boiled detective story without a femme fatale (or at least the BGCZ version of one).

- Ponch

Hello all.

Some of you may know that I recently posted Barn Runner: The Prick Who Came In From the Cold (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=476)
It's getting downloaded quite a bit and I'm thrilled about it.

I've decided that I should release the earlier Barn Runner games I made for my friends. Most of these games were "Compact Disc-only" but with a little snip here and there followed by a generous helping of WinRar, I think I can get them down to a size that is more "Internets Friendly".

However, my Earthlink account's webspace is already getting a bit full and is seeing higher than usual traffic as of late - thank you all!

So my question is, has anyone had any experience with MicroTech? I tried to look them up on the Free Web Hosting review site posted in these forums a few pages back (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=17618.0) but either they weren't listed or I couldn't find them.

Has anyone had any bad experiences with these guys or could anyone recommend a better place to upload a few .rar files (all under 20Mbs) over the next few months where they could have a nice, long life on the web?

Thanks in advance,

Ponch

 :o

Wow! That is amazing!

I'll have to give that a try in a game.

Thank you for sharing that code.

Several of you asked for a faster walking speed and now you have it!

I've doubled Prick's walking speed and updated the game download link with the new file.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=download&game=476

Enjoy!

I'm glad everyone seems to like it! I plan to turn out another one shortly. If I have the time, I may even polish up the Gun Range Arcade Code Test Game (working title, I assure you) I cobbled together for my upcoming opus The Forever Friday and make another mini game out of it.

SGK - I was sort of shooting for a sci-fi theme as imagined through the filter of 1980s Hollywood when I started the Barn Runner games a few years back. That's why everything has such a 'retro' vibe to it. The sports car with cheezy fiberglass drag to make it futuristic, the high-power energy pistol that is really a conventional automatic pistol dressed up with excitingly chunky bits, even the robot is a Boomer from the old Bubble Gum Crisis cartoon. (Every robot in Barn Runner is from old science fiction - witness C-3PO in the dump.) If it plays a little cliche then that's what I was shooting for. I'm glad you thought the game was great. That makes my day.

Potch - in the future, I'll speed up his walking a bit. Several people e-mailed me with the same complaint. Thanks for the feedback.

Developer - thanks for tipping me off on how to post images. My downloads went way up once I posted some screenshots. Thanks.

And as for Vespr's question:

Spoiler

About the Christmas Present / Teddy Bear - it's the same as the Antique Automatic Pistol you can find: It's just a little bit I threw in for flavor. I mean, what's Christmas without presents to open?

[close]

And to everyone else that posted or e-mailed me, thanks for the feedback!

And with that, I'm taking off for a few days.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Ponch

Thanks everyoneÃ,  for being kind to my new game!

For the guest stuck on the "Bird" Screen:

Spoiler

There is a small, shadowed nook between the trees on the lower right hand side of the screen. Walk back there and try to find a way to distract the bird once you've looked at him (or his nest) and learned about his weakness: Place something that glitters on the web.

[close]

Developer, there is a screenshot available on the games page. Should I post a link to it here? I'm new! I don't know what to do!

Well, I've been lurking here for quite a while and using AGS to make games for the amusement of my friends.

Now I am finally ready to make the big leap and let the forum know of my existence and open myself up for horrible, heartless mockery of my poor game designing skills.Ã, 

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Barn Runner: The Prick Who Came In From the Cold.

This is actually the fifth game in the Barn Runner series which began as terribly misguided spoof of Blade Runner / Escape From New York / and The Andy Griffith Show. It's the far future imagined through the filter of the 1980s!

The game has a Christmas theme (sort of) and centers around a lazy, egocentric policeman in the distant future tasked with hunting down and destroying runaway robots who have had it with lazy, overbearing humanity and finally vented their mechanical rage on their hapless owners and anyone else within easy reach.Ã, 

Naturally, like all humanity in the future, the cop hates his job and doesn't really put a lot of effort into it. So it's up to you to make him accomplish anything.

So without further ado, my game can be found here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~anvilpress/downloads/MiniGame4.zip

Don't worry, this isn't an action-oriented game and there are no arcade sequences. It only sounds terribly exciting, but rest easy: It isn't exciting in the least.

Please download and enjoy my little game. It isn't the greatest but I certainly could have done much, much worse. (And have on several occasions!)

UPDATED!

Now with cool screenshots (for as long as my bandwidth holds out)



The flying car you have locked yourself out of.



A dump filled with treasure (and rusty bed springs).



And finally a frame from the thrilling opening cut-scene.

And there you have it: My Christmas present to the AGS community! I hope you enjoy it and I'll see you all back here after Christmas vacation.Ã,