Messages

Check the on_event(GUI_MDOWN).

Glad to hear that.

Why do you have patents, btw? And what are they, in non-bureaucratese terms?

Actually, no. I posted the same question on another forum and got the answer...

in QfG2 you can become a paladin no matter what (you don't need an imported character) only you can't get 500 pts as a thief if you paladinize.

in QfG3 you can paladinize only as a fighter. It's not particularly difficult EXCEPT that on newer computers, the Laibon gets impatient with you (in his hut) after half a second instead of half a minute, and every time he says so, you lose honor.

I believe that in case of doubt, a court case will have to be drawn to make sure the alleged prior art qualifies. There are some companies that exist solely by making patents like this, asking license fees off small companies because the average small company doesn't have the resources for a court case even if they would probably win.
Of course microsoft can out-court-case even the government so giving them patents is asking for trouble.

Great work Pesty! Yay!

When I click on the Registered Games List of 2004, I get a 404 file not found. http://www.sylpher.com/AGSAwards/reglist2004.htm

Sorry to bother you with this non-OO related bug, but it should be easy to fix...

the image on a GUI button is not clipped to the size of the button; instead, if it's larger than the button, it is drawn fully even outside the button.
(both in the editor and in the game).

Bug report:
If I rename a character that's referred to in a dialog script, the incompatibility between the old name and the new name will remain hidden until the next time I compile the dialog script.
Now suppose the old name occurs in dialog #1. If I edit dialog #2, I will be unable to save it because of the error in dialog #1. The error is confusing because it mentions a line number (from dialog #1) while actually dialog #2 is being edited on screen.
Hope that made sense

Don't patents expire in 20 years? Or would that Europe thingy allow people to, say, submit the expired GIF patent all over again and wait another 20 years?

(btw I'm Dutch)

I'm not going to use the title "Monkey Island 5", but "The Tyrant of Monkey Island" does include that phrase "Monkey Island".  I'm going to cover the copyrights in the credits.  If LucasArts is really that concerned, I'll just have to redo all the game graphics and change the title and all character/location names.  Not a big deal. :

That's not true - a mere change in names is not going to protect you against copyvio charges if you are still using characters similar to theirs (e.g. an incompetent pirate-wannabe who's married to the old love of a ghost pirate). Especially if they look similar (and if they didn't look similar, why are you intending to use the name Monkey Island to begin with?)

I am not saying that they will shut you down, but you should be aware of the legal implications of what you're doing.

1.  LucasArts has not shut down a fan-project (to my knowledge) since FOMI (Fate of Monkey Island) 5(? possibly 4?).

That's also because there haven't been any infringing fan projects that they care about. They seem not to mind Maniac and Zak projects, but will likely protect Monkey and Indy.

2.  I am, unlike so many before me going to include LucasArts and the SOMI team in the credits.

From a legal point of view, that is entirely irrelevant. These are lawyers we're talking about, and you think that 'being nice' will matter to them. It won't.

Also Monkey, I think you better check the copywrite on the Monkey Island name and see if tehy have already copywrited Monkey Island 5.

The name 'Monkey Island' is a trademark of LucasArts, Inc. and all related concepts, characters and storylines are (as always automatically) covered by copyrights. Creating a game called Monkey Island 5 would be a matter of infringement, and LucasArts would be entirely within their rights to shut you down by court order (and in fact, they have done so on several times in the past, on similarly themed games). Caveat emptor.

I believe HOTU has it.

Well, that's nice and all, but before asking people to commit themselves you might want to show something of the project, e.g. what is it about, how much of it has been planned yet, does it have a webpage, etc. Also what exactly is going to be your role in the whole project, other than organizing it? Finally, realize that your revenue may well be zero, so you may end up paying people out of your own pocket. I've seen competent artists or musicians asking $50 per piece or per minute, so that may be a lot of money.

Does anyone know the shortest & longest time a game has been in development for using AGS?

Well, 6-day Assassin was actually created in six days. And my guess is that the various Snail Quests were created in less than that, if you want to consider them true games rather than demos.
The longest completed game is probably AGDI's Quest for Glory II remake (which admittedly isn't completed yet but it will be soon). There are quite some games that have been in dev forever and ''will really be completed soon, honestly''.

Could a low spec pentium 4 manage 30 fps consistently.

Oh yes.

Is the scripting for AGS complicated or can you learn it inside out in a week?

Both, actually. It's easy to get started with, and you can keep improving yourself and finding new things.

Would something like monkey island 3 be possible? I'm very serious about this as I'm considering game design as a career move.

Certainly. But you may want to consider joining an existing team instead, just because creating an entire game on your own is a very large amount of work.

1. Is there a script command which can open an external file, similar to WinExec in MFC for example. So for example, I could open website when the user clicks a certain button from within the game?

No. Also in full-screen mode that would be mildly problematic. What some games do is write their own 'front end' program in, for instance, Visual Basic, that allows you to play, config, read help, go to webpage or uninstall.

3. Is there a way to hide/show GUI buttons during runtime?

As strazer says, or alternatively set their image to something empty, or put them on a different (but overlapping) GUI that you can turn on/off separately.

There are several SQ fangames made (SQ0, SQ:TLC) or in the works (SQVM, SQ7, SQ7). You may want to consider looking into them for atmosphere issues. Like Gilbot says, making changes to the original is something to be done very carefully. And that includes moving to 3-d - it's just not adventure gamish imho.

Also, I think you should seriously think about the amount of time required to remake even one game (let alone seven). For a SQ-sized game, a year or two is a reasonable estimate.

I think you'll have to stay away from the 'display' command, since it blocks everything (up to and including rep_ex_al).

In your repeatedly_execute, put something like this:

if (mouse.y > 185) GUIOn (your_gui_here);
else GUIOff (your_gui_here);

whats a good 'Free' image editing prog? cause i just took a screenshot but it came out a big black blob

GIMP.

I'm afraid I couldn't make head or tail of your website.

Am I correct to assume that by 'upgrading' you mean improving graphics and music (like Tierra's KQ1VGA) and by 'renovating' you mean redoing the storyline as well (like Tierra's KQ2+)?

If so, do you seriously propose to redo the entire Space Quest series, as your webpage suggests? And if so, please elaborate a bit.