Messages

Yufster,

You may also be interested in usoing Bluster, my new game launcher/organizer.  It's perfect for making a CD collection such as the one you have in mind. It's easy to use and it allows one to create an auto-run CD and run AGS games directly from the CD.  It also has the ability to install individual games from the CD to the hard drive.  Here's a link to the promo:

Bluster

Yufster, you're welcome to anything you find on my website. Follow my sig below.   There is an event timer that grannies, aunties, etc could use as a cooking timer.  I created it to time a cable TV show I speak on but my wife uses it to bake  with.  

No games yet, sorry !!

Gilbot:  Probably you're right.  It's just that it seems like the computer I am using didn't do this before (some versions ago) and that there is possibly something going on that may be of interest to Chris.    Otherwise your explanation is adequate and is perfectly acceptable.  Thanks.

Here are a couple of things that I noticed and thought you would want to know about.  They are not necessarily bugs but they are unexpected behaviors.  


1.  Letterbox and 320x240 resolution

I get an odd result when using 320x200 in letterbox or when using 320x240 resolutions.    

In both instances the resulting screen is shorter than the width of the screen and is shifted to the left margin of the screen.   When I use 32x240 without letterbox the entire widt and heigth of the screen is filled up with the display.  

My video driver mode is 1024x768 True Color.   I have am using an Intel 82810 Graphics Controller.  

I don't know if this is something with my machine or if there is something up with AGS using these resolution/modes.  Just thought I would  share my observations with you.


2.  External Editor

I have also observed and unexpected behavior when using an external editor.  When I edit a room script with an external editor, such as meta pad,  movement of the editor window erases the underlying AGS window.   I think this was the case in earlier versions as well.  If this was discussed before I appologize for bringing it up again.  



Great work Chris

I heard a story about a German company that was originally called something like Scholman-Siemag.  They also didn't want to be associated with the SS so the just put an M in the middle and it's now called SMS.  

So here is my 2 cents worth:  Why not use something like shs.com or ssh.com and then create sub domains such as silicon.ssh.com,  entertainment.ssh.com, etc.. for whatever purpose you desire.

Proskrito:

I second request #3, to optionally vertically center or offset the button text.  This would be very useful.

4- I looked for a way to change colours of listboxes in script, but i couldnt find anything. if there is some way, please tell me, and if not, take it as another suggestion

Do  you mean the border and scroll buttons?  Yoou can turn them off and then draw your own.  Change colors by changing the underlying sprites.  You would need to incorporate your own scroll buttons and bind them with the script commands to  make the list scroll (~ ListBoxSetTopItem(..) or something like that).

If you mean the text I am not sure what if anything could be done with that.

Junc:  The download includes a Java JRE which is mostly what makes it so darn big.   Open Office is supposedly going to do a WSIWYG DocBock thing in their word processor.  

Yes I need to get back to that AE thing.  A couple of people asked CJ to add a DoAgsCommand(...) function that would ease my pain quite a bit.  The problem with this task is that I will need an uninterrupted or week to do it.  There are a lot of things to keep in my head whilst implementing.  

Goldmund:  I also prefer games in zip format.  I decided to use an installer for the Bluster project so that it would get placed in the Start menu and a desktop icon would get created.    

I came across NSIS a long time ago when I downloaded a program that was infected with a virus.  It wouldn't install because NSIS uses CRC checking.  That's when I started liking it.  I never got around to using it before because it takes a little time to do the scripting from scratch.   I  was pleasantly surprised when I saw what they we doing with the latest version.  

Hi Junc,

A few months ago I wrote an AGS GUI for a dos based docbook.    In case you are not familiar with docbook, you create an XML tagged source document and then run an XSLT translator program to create the output documnt which can be in any number of formats.

The dos thingy supports 2 forms of HTML, PDF, and CHM fairily well.    Here is an example of a document I made with this system.

Example of HTML
Examples of other formats

The dos system can be downloaded from the eDE User's Forum at
http://www.e-novative-forum.com/index.php

Check out the examples and let me knopw if you are interested.  I'll figure out wherethe GUI is at and walk you through the process.

Hey Scumm,

Cool idea.  I like it very much and will use it.  I have a couple of requests that will make it easier for me to incorporate this into everything.  

1.  Let's use your second version.

2.  Can paint the "ster" the same as you have done  the "Blu" characters.  

3.  Eliminate the text at the bottom of the screen.  I will use text components to display this kind of information on top of your drawing.  

4.  Move Bluster up a little higher, possibly half the distance from where it is now to the top of the pic and still look ok.  

5.  Also is it possible to get a pick of just the tornado thingy with a transparent or solid background.  I would use this to make icons, etc.  I suppose that you would need to keep some of the sky in place and/or as an outline.  I just don't want to have an icon that is square box.   If I have the drawing I can o the conversion,  I think

6.  Have you done this in photoshop w/ layers?  If so can you send me the PSD file?

7.  If not in PSD form can you send me 3 PNG files as follows:
a) Composite that you posted
b) Bluster text
c) Logo with Background
d) Logo without ackground

8.  Give your name as you wish it to appear in the credits.  

Nice picture Scummbuddy.  For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to draw wind.  The only thing I could come up with was my crummy tornado.  You have really captured the idea of a bluster.  

Thanks for your help and I hope I haven't asked you to do too much more or seem to be unappreciative.  

Thanks again...

Rick

I guess there are a lot of installers out there but I have decided to use this one.  


NSIS Installer

It's script based so it's very flexible and it seems to do a good job at compression.   You can get a nifty IDE fo it here:

HM NSIS Edit  

The IDE features a syntax highlighting editor, a pointy and clicky wizzard, and online help.  You can create a complete  installation package using  the wizzard only.  Everything is GPL'd open source  so it's cost and nag free.   The newset version is in at an ALPHA-4 stage (seems very stable to me) and it seems like there will be a production release soon.

I suppose everyone has their own favorite, I thought I would share this with everyone.  

I just released the latest version and made it available for everyone to try out.   Please let me know what you think and what needs to be fixed before I finish.

There are provisions for translation to languages other than English.   There are two fairly text files that need to be translated.  One of them is the HTML help file and the other is a windows style ini file.  There is a brief description of how to make a translation in the help file.  I will be happy to assist anyone who wishes to make a translation.

Have fun everyone 8)

I would also find this useful.  Things like my animatin engine and Scorp's character control system (a script version of it) would greatly benefit.  

I'm checking out some of the links y'all gave me though. Perhaps education in the US would be better. The only thing that wouldn't make sense then is that I can go to a university in Ireland that is one of the best three in the world, for free, whereas I could only afford to go to a mediocre one for a very high fee in America.

Do all of your under graduate work in Ireland.  Chech out schools in the US to do your post graduate work.   Find one that has many internships and that will hire you to do research or teach for salary + tuition.

Staying home for as long as possible is a good plan.  You will be able to save money and stay away from all sorts of distractions that come from moving out into the real world (no disparagement intended here).

Planning 2 years in advance is also a good thing so don't apologize for it.  

I can tell you are working your way through this in a methodical and logical manner.  You will surely end up with the results you desire.  Just keep on ...

Question 1: Is it possible to make it look as if the character is wading through water? I tried to attempth this with making part of the path walk-behind but it isn't working...

This a difficult problem.  You may be able to simulate something by making the surface of the water with two semi-transparent objects.  The one in the fore ground would be the walk-behind area and the one in the background would not be a walk behind.  In this case the the walkable are would be a relativly narrow path under the water surface.  This is a rather limited solution and it is questionaable how well it could be made to work.  

Question 2: Is it possible to make it so a portrait box can appear ontop of the fore-ground (much like a game message box) like in the leisure suit larry games when the character looks at a person?

One of the dialogue styles you can select pops up portraits during dialog.  You could also use an object, characters, overlay, or GUI  to do the same kind of thing.  

Question 3: Is it possible to simulate the character reading a book (like in Morrowind) when a html document contains the text inside the book and thats displayed on a book graphic when a book is read?

There is not an HTML browser but you can overlay a gui and a listbox to display the contents of a file.  You could make the GUI  look l;ike a book and make the listbox controls and border transparent.

Hope this helps.  

I do a two year diploma in Ballyfermot, then transfer to Dun Loaghaire to do a one year bachelor thingymedoodle.

So far so good

I then get a H1B or something, visa to move to the states.

To get this, I have to secure a job first, so I would contact say, LucasArts or whatever, present my portfolio and ask them to sponser me to work in the US.

This is essentially correct.  The main difficulty I can see is in securing such a job offer.  It would be much easier if you were able to do an intership or something with your future employer or establish a relationship in some other way prior to applying for a job.   Apply for a graduate school or two in the US to hedge your bet.  

After this, I could switch jobs within my industry quite easily.

After you have a green card you can change jobs as often as you like.  If you change jobs before your H1B application is processed your new employer will have to start the whole process over again.  I am not sure what happens after you have the H1B but before you have a green card.  

Do I have this right?

Pretty much.  The only additional thing I would suggest is tp check into some post graduate programs in the US just in case that job offer doesn't materialize.   Find a couple of graduate schools that have internship programs with Disney, Pixar, etc...  

Go for it...

I didn't mean to be mean to you Roger.   .   It's fairly typical for testers to recieve confidential  (I use the word loosley) advance access to the things they are testing.  Some use e-mail other's set up a forum for the purpose.  

Thanks for your comments.  I am sure that some folks will be glad to hear that it kind of works.  If you want to post stuff like reviews and comentary over here to inform everyone of what's going on that's fine with me.  

But what I would ask you to do is to post your detailed test results in the BluSoft forum I provided.   This will serve as a punchlist I will be working from.  

You may want to try some of the other test I suggested.

Thanks for your help

RickJ

No!  It's a tool for getting stuff done.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If you want to be a tester, just get to work.

Quote:
i)Function StrPixLen(int font, string); Kinda like StrLen but returns the width in pixels

A possible addition can be worked around using a centred GUI label.

CJ, I could use this one.  When using a listbox to display a text file, it's very tricky knowing when to wrap the text to the next line.  This could be very handy if it's not too much hassle.

Happy birthday

I agree with much of what Mr. Colossal has to say.  It's not enough to just have a stack of degrees, you'll have to become an exceptional artist and that will have to come from inside yourself and from a lot of practice.  

I also agree that you will most often be judged by what you can do.  But there is a catch here.  Let's suppose you are an exceptional 3D Animator working for Pixar, Disney, or whoever.   Well if you are really good at something they would (or at least your immediate management would) want to keep you doing whatever you were doing and promote/pay/etc you as little as possible to keep you doing it.   When it comes time to fill higher positions (i.e. team leader, manager, director, etc.), postions of authority and prestiege, they will, more often than not , turn to competent persons of lesser talent.   Your not not having an advanced degree will be used as an excuse to keep you where you are.   Although there are exceptions to this scenario, it none the less happens quite often.  

Having an advanced degree shows that you are able to be productive on an intellectual level.  It's not that you got good marks on this class or that class; rather it's that you took a whole lot of difficult classes and got good marks bewcause you were able to do the work.  In addition, going through the process is a transforming experience.  Professionally speaking, you will be a different person comming out than you were going in.  

The other advise I will give you about getting a good education, is that you should also take the time to learn the business of your profession.  Where, how, when is the money made... who are the customers and what do they want ... etc.  Most people make the mistake of not figuring this out until their later years .

Enough about school, now comming to the US...

SSH is right about the requirements for H1B visa.  I sponsored one of my employees a number of years ago.  The company has to show that no US citizens are available for the work.  In your prospective profession, I think, it's much easier because it requires artistic talent, which, as Mr. Colossal rightly points out, can't be measured in terms of how many degrees you have.  Normallly the company will run an add in a prominent local newspaper offering employment.  The trick is to narrowly tailor the requirements so that nobody applies or meets them, except for the person seeking the H1B.   Having a master degree then is just one more qualification you may have that would exclude oithers (like all those award winning artists) from applying.  

The other way is to come on an educational Visa.  To qualify for that you need to:

• Apply and be accepted at college or university
  
• Be able to show financial stability (i.e  enough money in the bank for one year's tuition, room, board, & other expenses).
  
• Be able to speak English.

If you were going to apply to graduate school (i.e master'sdegree)  most universities will hire you to teach some courses or to help[ a professor do research.  In this case they pay you a salary and free tuition.   Usually you have to be a student though for 6-12 months first.

=========

I think you are thinking the right things.  Just be persistent and work hard.  Ask a lot of questions and take the time to analyse the answers.  If you learn how to ask the right questions, many times the answers becoime self evident.

Good Luck!
RickJ


P.S. Here are a couple of links to the Carnegie Mellon University program I was speaking of in my earlier post.

Masters of Entertainment Technology

IEEE Article - Shaping an Entertaining Future at Carnegie Mellon

http://www.cmu.edu/magazine/02winter/cooler.html