Messages

This issue keeps confusing me. No, it's not game.abortkey. However, it appears that removing the .TRA files from the game folder (even when no translation was selected!) avoids the crash. Isn't that weird?

The odd thing is that this sometimes happens and sometimes it doesn't, and I have been unable to reproduce it on my computer. Yes, there is a room 0 (older versions of AGS do default to room 0, which used to be called title.crm or start.crm or something like that).

Hmmm... maybe it's an odd setting of game.abortkey or something? But that should pop up a message box "the game was aborder", shouldn't it?

A friend of mine is getting an unexpected shutdown of the AGS engine. Any thoughts what this could be? There is no error message, and the log is as follows,

Adventure Game Studio v3.3 Interpreter
Copyright (c) 1999-2011 Chris Jones and 2011-2014 others
ACI version 3.3.0.1156

*** ENGINE STARTUP ***
Installing exception handler
Reading config file
Initializing allegro
Setting up window
Initializing game data
Game data file: e:/Data/Games/ERRAND/ERRAND~1.3-2/Errand.exe

Initializing TTF renderer
Initializing mouse
Checking memory
Initializing audio vox
Initializing keyboard
Install timer
Initialize sound drivers
Install exit handler
Initialize path finder library
Load game data
Errand
Checking for disk space
Initializing MOD/XM player
Init gfx driver
Built library path: d3d9.dll
Created graphics driver: Direct3D 9
Initializing screen settings
Init gfx filters
Detecting maximal supported scaling
Applying scaling filter: StdScale5
Switching to graphics mode
Widescreen side borders: disabled (windowed mode)
Attempt to switch gfx mode to 320 x 200 (32-bit)
Succeeded. Using gfx mode 320 x 200 (32-bit)
Preparing graphics mode screen
Initializing colour conversion
Check for preload image
Initialize sprites
Set up screen
Initialize game settings
Prepare to start game
Audio thread started
Checking replay status
Engine initialization complete
Starting game
Loading room 0
***** ENGINE HAS SHUTDOWN

The game looks great, but please put in keyboard support. There is a reason why almost no platformer uses mouse controls

A pixel hunt on the very first screen of the game?  No thanks.  Deleting this game.  Sad because I was really excited to play a new Indy game.  Pixel hunts ruin games.

I'm seconding this. Sorry, guys.

[Beer!]

For your consideration as Best Non-Adventure Game:

Beer!

Created for the second AGS Bake Sale, Beer! is a collection of frantic minigames where you have to grab the beer in each level under a very short time limit. Easy to pick up and difficult to master, this game rewards quick and out-of-the-box thinking. It comes with a cheerful cafe-style soundtrack, and assorted cast of bears and deer. It is part of the second Bake Sale bundle, the proceeds of which go to maintenance of our adventure game creation community. Suitable for all ages, surprisingly.

You know you like Beer! Everybody likes Beer! Cast your vote for Beer!

I don't think I'll have time for a trip to the US this summer, so count me out for now.

I thought about making a resolution to join every single MAGS contest for a year... then I decided I have enough ongoing game projects already. But do expect some releases in 2015

(emphasis mine) it is clear that he didn't support option C.

Fair point, it's plausible that he wanted something that wasn't on the list. Nevertheless, it strikes me that he clearly doesn't support option D ("make no changes") as he's repeatedly said that he does want changes. Perhaps his vote for this should simply be removed, rather than counted towards something he doesn't seem to want.

Anyway I'll cease nitpicking now; it's time to open AGS and get a rebuke from the editor that I shouldn't do that today. Merry christmas!

Sorry for bringing this up months later, but I re-read the old thread and I believe there's been a small oversight in the voting. For question 2.III, the one about Best Artwork, Dactylopus wrote:

    ...merge ________ into Best Artwork:
        replace BGs/CA/Ani with Best Sprite Art plus Best Artwork.

Sprite Art could include all Sprites in the game, not just Characters, and their respective Animations.  Background Art could include not only Background Art, but also the related Background Animations.

And later clarified that:

Well the wording of C threw me off. I'd like to see Sprite / Character Art (Sprites & Sprite Animations) and Background Art (Backgrounds and Background Animations).

So it seems to me that he's voted for option C, i.e. having two categories: one for the backgrounds, and one for the sprites. But in the Haskell code he is listed as having voted for D, i.e. three categories for backgrounds, characters, and animations respectively. Bicilotti, could you please double-check that? Thanks!

[Best Freeware Game]

It's worth repeating that, based on discussion earlier this year, we now have a new category: Best Freeware Game.

And we no longer have Best Sound (it's now combined with Best Music), nor Best Original Story or Best Dialogue (both folded into Best Writing), not Best NPC (it's now combined with best PC into simply Best Character).

(with keyboard shortcuts)

Please, everyone, add more keyboard shortcuts to your game. It costs the developer all of 15 minutes to put in so it's probably the easiest way to expand your audience.

(fun fact: all classic LucasArts games had extensive keyboard shortcuts for everything!)

It won't cost you anything to add a display or message box in the first room pointing out that "right button = look, people!" As this thread proves, not everybody finds this intuitive.

Bear in mind that you should not take the interface that most people love, but the interface that least people hate. Because nobody is going to play your game specifically for its interface, but people who hate your interface will immediately stop playing your game.

Now while not everybody prefers the left-use right-look interface, nobody seems to have a problem with it either. Conversely, while many people really like verbcoins, many other people hate them with a passion. We could get into details as to why, but the bottom line is simply that verbcoins are polarizing whereas the two-button interface is not. For example, Ali posted that common feedback on Nelly Cootalot is that numerous players don't understand its verbcoin interface.

So the big picture is that using a verbcoin will cost you a fair amount of players.

Wasn't there a "throw a punch" option that was sometimes available?

Yes, as a dialog option when you're talking to people.

Stuff like unused art were always easily findable with stuff like ScummRevisited, but as far as I know, being able to look at decompiled SCUMM scripts is a relatively new thing, and they haven't been picked over nearly as much. Though you're right, it probably is unreachable code.

How do I decompile a SCUMM script, then?

If anyone's in touch with the ScummVM developers, they could surely open the TLC script and see how this is triggered.

Maybe punch the knight?

How? There is no "punch" command.

Edit: think I did ending 3A, It was long ago so my memory may be off - walked out and Elsa grabbed the grail, and she fell in the chasm. Does a second chasm open after the first one to kill Indy also if he grabs the grail from the first chasm?

Yes, it does. That would be ending 3C.

Unless it is just an alternative ending that never got into the game...

Well, that's why I'm asking the foremost forum of adventure game experts, right here

Spoiler

When I played the game there was an earthquake and the grail fell in a chasm as I recall so I left it there. Maybe Indy could have used his whip to pull it up?

[close]

Yes, you can do that. The obvious paths through this puzzle are,

(1) Pick up the grail, give it to the knight; Indy and Elsa leave with Henry and Marcus.
(2) Pick up the grail, walk out of the temple, a chasm opens under you and you die.
(3) Pick up the grail, give it to Elsa; OR just wait and she'll pick it up herself; OR try to walk out and she'll also pick it up. A chasm opens under Elsa and she dies.
(3A) now you can walk out; Indy leaves with Henry and Marcus.
(3B) or you can pick up the grail with your whip and give it to the knight; Indy again leaves with Henry and Marcus.
(3C) or you can pick up the grail with your whip and walk out, and a chasm opens under you and you die.

... and according to one walkthrough I've found, option 3C sometimes allows you to leave with the grail and get this special ending. But I haven't been able to reproduce that, so apparently I'm missing something...

It's like now a days, people don't dare get something done with a brand new name, we just need to reboot everything. It's sooo much easier to just grab a random established name and then just do something completely different to a completely different audience. Instead of just saying "Okay, we're picking up this old concept, update it to today's graphics, get rid of all that boring puzzle solving and walking around, we need to run and jump and be super active, oh but we've kept the name! Surely that must count for 90% of the game already right? Right?"

Well, it's not exactly new. The earliest example I can think of is PacLand. Released back in 1984, it is a platform game in the style of Super Mario Bros, although it actually predates SMB by a few months. It's cute, it's challenging, it's well built and playable. The problem is, it's not Pac-man. It's a side scrolling platformer and it has absolutely nothing to do with the dot-eating maze runner. The result of that was disappointed fans and negative reviews, and that's probably one reason why everybody knows SMB and most people haven't heard of Pac-Land. If they had picked a different name and a new protagonist, this would likely have been different.

So yeah, it's quite common for bigshot CEOs to reuse a name for pretty much everything. The point is that this rarely works.

Anyway, I enjoy a good platformer and would be happy to play a fairy-tale based platform game. I'd just prefer if they didn't call it King's Quest