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Good clean fun! Thanks for making that.

I would like to add myself to the list of people interested in region light levels up to 200%. Sorry for the late reply.

Thanks Ashen, everything is working perfectly now.

At certain points in my effort to get this to work I did receive the "Function declaration has wrong number of arguments to prototype" error. I was fiddling with syntax quite a bit at the time of the post, it's quite possible I made changes after posting but before replying to SteveMcCrea.

Thanks again to everyone who replied, I'm happy to have this working. I think it will be a fun addition to the project I'm working on.

In the header I've got an import line:

Code: ags

import function stormcloud();

Does that answer your question?
Thanks again for your assistance, I'm sure this is relatively simple but I'm just not sure what's going wrong.

Thanks for the idea of using a character- it's much better than an object, because I can always move it to the current room.

I'm writing a global function, and I've hit a snag around the use of pointers. I apologize in advance, because I'm more of a visuals person than a programmer and have a less than adequate amount of scripting experience.

the global function looks like this:

Code: ags

function stormcloud(Character *target_person) {
	cIcon.ChangeRoom(target_person.Room);
	cIcon.x = target_person.x;
	cIcon.y = target_person.y - 64;
	// timer script will go here
}

In the room script I have this funciton call:

Code: ags

	stormcloud(cBirdwoman);

When I compile I get this error: Error (line 43) wrong number of parameters in call to "stormcloud"

Line 43 is the function call I posted above. I suspect it's a pointer syntax problem. I've read through the wiki section on pointers, but there isn't enough detail in the part about using pointers as function parameters to help me here.

In comic books and some old RPG's, characters sometimes have tiny drawings over their heads that represent their feelings- stormclouds, flowers, radiating lines, etc.

I'm using this type of drawing during dialog, and I've been unable to figure out how to implement it. Ideally I would have a non-blocking function that would create and animate an "emoticon" for a set amount of time, then delete it.

I've currently got the following:

Code: ags

  RawSaveScreen();
  RawDrawImage(160, 120, 1);
  Wait(80);
  RawRestoreScreen();

This looks exactly how I want it to, but it the timing is interrupting character animation and dialog.

Is there a way to do this in a background process?

There certainly is a lot of soul in those characters. The father looks a bit stiff (and probably partly because you only posted a front view), but all the others convey a lot with their posture. Great work, really some of the best I've seen in any AGS game. Take your time and polish everything to perfection. Please don't abandon the project! This one definitely deserves a proper release.

[Simple GUI]

Would you as Rocky need a verb-coin? No, he's a simple interface man. Would Inspector Morse need some options? Yes! That kind of thing. It's part of the puzzle itself!

Great point. Makes perfect sense!

I'll second that. I'm not partial to any particular type of GUI. I can see advantages to both simplified and more complex interfaces.

Simple GUI
reduces the learning curve for novice players
keeps the GUI clean and unobtrusive
interferes less with the game's atmosphere
makes the experience a little more videogame-ey
limits guessing by reducing options

Complex GUI
opens up some new possibilities (open tree, push brick)
adds freedom, which can make the game world feel more real
encourages logical puzzle-solving, discourages guessing by making it useless or inefficient
gives the player a sense of being more in control of the character

Ashen- thanks for moving the thread, and sorry for any inconvenience it caused.

Crazy- Everything has sharp edges, I removed all antialiasing before converting to indexed mode. That would be a mess if I forgot to, thanks for double-checking.

TheVintageDemon - I'm a little short on the Burly Men, but there seems to be a good amount of Photoshop wizardry going on around here, so hopefully things will work out.

MashPotato- Wretched's method (from your thread) seems to be working for me. Thanks for the link, I didn't come across that thread while searching. He's right about it not working for slot 7 though, which is weird. But that answers my question, I'm officially happy now!

For anyone who has this problem in the future, here's a set of instructions:
1) Open the swatches window in Photoshop. Switch to the Windows palette.
2) Using the colors in the palette, draw the mask in Photoshop with no antialiasing (image > adjustments > threshold is handy here). Working right to left, bottom to top, the slots in the index seem to map to walkbehind 0 (unmasked), walkbehind 1, walkbehind 2, etc.
3) Copy the mask into a new document. Convert to indexed mode using the Windows palette.
4) Import into AGS.

I have all the walk-behinds for a room  drawn in Photoshop. I am running into problems when I try to "import mask..." from within AGS. I think it has something to do with the palette slots Photoshop is putting the colors into.

I understand that mask color 0 should be the unmasked areas, and colors 1-15 should be the different walk-behinds. But whenever I convert to indexed mode, I end up with the colors in the image scattered randomly throughout the palette. For reference, I've tried a number of different conversion methods.

When I try to import the image, AGS says:
The GIMP works fine. I'll just use that for now, but I'd like to understand what I'm doing wrong in Photoshop.

I'm really excited. Thanks for the good news, m0ds!

Hello everyone. I'm beginning to script my first few cutscenes and would appreciate the insight of people who have done a fair amount of this. I'm learning as I go, so I'm making an effort to work in as clean and proper a fashion as possible. Any tips would be appreciated.

I'm planning on one room function for each cutscene. Within that function, all dialog and character events will happen (SetView, Walk, goto-dialog, etc.). This seems a little decentralized.

What other ways have people organized their cutscenes? Does this seem like a decent approach?

The sequence looks nice so far. Here are a couple random ideas you may or may not want to use:
1) have the "ghost" draw a square framing the portal, then pop the portal into existance with a burst of light
2) animate a TV-like flickering glow surrounding the portal, but have the portal itself be nearly white.

This has been a good year for me. I was having a bit of a creative dry streak. In the past I used to do modeling, texturing, and level design for 3D shooters, but for a long time I just wasn't being creative. Then out of the blue I decided to make a 2D adventure game, and I've been working nonstop ever since.

2006 marked my introduction to AGS. Many thanks to the venerable Mr. Jones and this community. I've been impressed many of your projects, including BaRoN's "The Winter Rose", Ali's upcoming "Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy", DanClarke's "The Legend of the Lost Lagoon", and iSTVAN's "Sydney Finds Employment". It's really motivating to see people making quality products. So everybody keep working, ya?

I've been tinkering with an unannounced game for about three months. It's been a lot of fun so far. (I should begin a production thread in mid 2007, but content may begin to dribble into the Critics' Lounge before then. My plan is for 2007 to be even better than 2006 was!)

Happy New Year to all!

Hi ktalebian-  Forgive me if you already know this. Inventory checks (and the answer to your other question) are covered in the manual, which you can read by hitting the F1 key while in the editor.

I think the variable you want is "Character.InventoryQuantity".

You seem to have a good attitude. I doubt you meant any harm, but you might want to be more careful about checking the manual before posting here in the future. Some people are really bothered by that. Best of luck with your questions!

[Edit:]

Oh, I like the shoulder movement in your edit, ProgZmax. I'll definitely use that suggestion. I'm in the middle of an edit, it should be posted soon.

Edit:

I incorporated your suggestions as best I could- the animation now has an even number of frames, and the shoulder slides forward when the arm extends. This edit needs a lot of cleanup. Does the shoulder twist needs to be spread out over a few frames? The rear arm also seems too jerky (as it appears from behind the torso)- maybe it should decelerate more and be darkened a bit. I'm also curious about the head and neck. Do they seem too rigid?

This is a blocked-in version of a walk cycle. The final will be shaded like the image to the right.

I'm aiming for a fairly realistic movement style with only slight exaggeration. That said, right now this feels a little stiff to me. Any thoughts?

Oh, and seeing as I'm relatively new around here- hello to anyone I haven't met!

Neat backgrounds. The style is very consistent. I for one am looking forward to seeing more as your work progresses!

If you're creating the lair of a cartoon mad scientist, here are a few classic prop suggestions:
oversized electrodes with electricity arcing between them
laboratory glassware, especially glassware filled with colored fluids or suspended organs
operating tables
large adjustable overhead lights, like the ones you see at the dentist's office
magnets
surgical tools

Your previous background turned out quite nicely. Have fun with this one!

This is one neat-looking game. I love the palette and consistent style.