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I have been working in a frontend for AGS (inspired in MAME frontends, basically a games database with extra features). It will have a GPL License. I'm writing it for Linux but it's written in Python so it can easily be ported to other OSs. Now it's on stand-by until I get a book from Amazon about GUI creation, so I decided to advance in another sense.

As you might know, in Linux you don't execute the game directly, you need to copy the right game engine to the folder first. If the game doesn't use external incompatible plugins it will work. The Frontend should make the repetitive tasks and allow "one click to download, one click to play"

To make this real I need your help:

AUTHORS
- Would you like to prepare a Linux and Mac friendly version of you games?

PYTHON DEVELOPERS
- Do you want to join in the Frontend development? I am veeery interested on you if you know about wxPython.

USERS IN GENERAL
- Even if you don't use Linux, I might port the frontend to your platform in the future,  which features would you like to see?

Edited.

Tartalo

Rd27: Thanks a lot for the hint. So that's a Yürei!
I case anyone else had the same doubt there's even more info in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurei

I like the fact that they can be more easily confused with a living person than an occidental ghost, and hiding the face seems to be part of the trick.
I find also interesting that they don't have feet, because not having feet or having animal feet is something that appears in mythologies and fantasies all over the world.

Not to start an argument about XP vs. Linux (I have both, but I only play with Linux every once in a while), but I find that a bit ignorant.

Ignorant? I have been repairing Macs and PCs professionally and I keep doing it for my friends. So I have seen enough situations to say that Windows is the most unstable choice without any doubt. Just have a look at your recommendations about how to install XP correctly in another thread, they are good recommendations and it shows that you know about what you need to keep Windows working but it's absurd you need to do it that way and it doesn't happen in Mac OS X and Linux.

I keep helping my friends but I never go from their house without recommending them a switch to a better OS. You are already playing with Linux, stop arguing with me and put your energy in learning more about it, because it will be a very valuable knowledge for you. This is a friend's recommendation.

There aren't supposed to be English subtitles for the top until you finish the bottom.

I solved the bottom, saw one ending, thought that being sold was just humor and quited thinking I had done it. Then I reminded the code thing, entered again, started a new game and the subtitles were there, in this moment both stories go simultaneous.

If this was the expected behavior all good, if not tell me which AGS version you used to develop the game and I'll try again, some games act odd if you don't use the right engine version. Windows users can't have this problem because the engine goes embedded in the game, but in Linux you choose it.

I wouldn't install Linux as a backup operating system, unless you're already very familiar with it - if your main OS goes down, you'll have more important problems than learning Linux to access your original data (not to mention file formats for which there is no Linux program to edit with.) And having XP as both the normal/backup OS lets you use NTFS on all partitions, which is a lot more secure and stable than FAT32. (I have nothing against Linux, but if you want to learn it, install it on yet another partition or under VmWare - that's what I have.)

Uh?

- Opening Firefox in Ubuntu (it's exactly the same as Firefox in Windows), going to your favorite forum and asking what's the name of the application to burn CDs is not rocket science. That if you didn't guess it on your own, which is the most probable thing.

- The FAT32 recommendation had nothing to do with Linux limitations, Linux reads NTFS, but while all rescue applications (even windows based) work perfectly with FAT32 for many NTFS is an obstacle. This is because FAT32 is perfectly documented an NTFS is not.

- Using the same OS for main an emergency installations is putting all the eggs in the same basket. Specially risky if this OS is the target of malware that is renewed everyday. Don't you think so?

Ah, installing it in another partition is what i recommended him, is there any other possibility for a real installation?

You might say that for saving data having a Live CD in a drawer is enough, which is true, but if it's already installed you won't have problems to find it when you need it and if you have to install any new application on it it is much easier on a real installation than on a Live CD.

Great discovery this game. You manage to mix a lot of logic classics in a single puzzle, besides the music, both stories... all helps a lot in motivating you going forward. (I know, my name is not yet in the hall of fame but will be soon, I screwed the order of the top story and my brain is too smoky to try again right now.)

Apart of telling that I like it a lot I'll make a couple of comments in case you want to keep improving it.

- I wish you could move the balls without entering a different screen, I had to enter the controls repeating myself "top-left, top-left..." (and even so I made errors more than once.)

- If you play this game with the Linux engine the English subtitles for the top story might not appear when you start a new game. If they appear and you save the game, the subtitles will stay every time you load it again.

Yes, not a game, but what an atmosphere! I agree with Gord10 that you don't need a sudden apparition with noise to scare, but bit more subtle "buh" works very well with me, I really liked the two details with the note in the corridor, they are just in the limit (won't give more details not to spoil it, but I hope you understand what I mean).

By the way, the long hair over the face seems to be always present in oriental horror. Does it have an explanation?

More games like Linus Bruckman or GFW, more games that include elements from other genres, like platformer or RPG...

I was playing Linus today (I thought I had completed it, and I had done just half of the puzzle he he). It's difficult to say where a genre ends and another one starts, but I would put Linus in the Logic games category, the best logic game I have played in ages.

When the limits of a genre are explored gems like this can appear, games where you can see which fountains they are drinking from but can't classify easily, and sometimes they mean the start a whole new category, a reference to describe the games that come afterwards: "It's like Rogue, Manic Miner, Maniac Mansion, Doom, Myst, Tomb Raider..."

But some other times the experiment is an uncooked mix of genres, and very few games have done it in a way that satisfies the fans of at least one of the reference genres.

I haven't played yet an adventure with multiple endings and feel that as an added value.

Err... not even Reactor 09?

Not even Maniac Mansion, I have the feeling that I have missed an important part of the authors work but if I replay an adventure before I have forgotten the solutions I get bored, It's like reading a book for second time, I will discover things I didn't see the first time, sure, but I need to forget the details to enjoy really the second reading. And I have seen only a few films two times in a row, films like Memento or Mulholand Drive were it's impossible to get it all with only one viewing. (Ah, and Sim City, because I was already in love with Frank Miller's comic). But don't feel bad about me, I can live with this.

Thanks God my mom doesn't know a word of English, otherwise I could only play Tetris.
Unfortunately, somebody translated for her sexisforfags.com and now I have to hide my condoms, damm!

How did this come up again???

My fault, I was too bored yesterday and replied to old posts I found interesting.

For now I'm sticking with XP. I am a PC guy and always been.

I am happy to hear Windows is treating you better than the average user, but if you are serious about Music creation start saving for a Mac, you won't regret it.

Linux does have powerful tools but setting the system for music and video creation in Linux is nowadays so complicated it doesn't pay (The first thing you need to do is a Kernel recompilation. Ugh!). Maybe in a couple of years... projects like "Ubuntu Studio" are making this situation change.

If you have tried everything and still don't find the reason why your computer acts odd the best is to make a backup of your data before it's too late and reinstall the OS as soon as you can. It's hard work but it's also the magic problem solver.  (Before you reinstall anything check your HD for hardware problems and replace it if it has problems)

If you go that way and your HD is big enough I would consider making 3 partitions:
- About 8 GB for Windows in NTFS
- About 8 GB for Linux in Ext3
- The rest in Fat32 for your data

Even if you don't do the Linux part having your data in a different partition will save you work next time your OS dies (It will)

But why would I install Linux? I did it just to learn and the day my Windows died (again) and I was really happy to have another working OS already installed in the PC. (In fact, I stayed in Linux since then)

If you want help with this you can send me a PM

Tartalo

I have used seriously Macs, Windows and Linux.

In your case I would go for Mac without any doubt, it's the best platform for audio and video creation and it just works.

Linux would be a choice if you are ready to learn a lot about computers, there are tools for serious audio and video creation and you can get a very powerful system, but in my opinion it doesn't pay the effort unless you want to go for really professional and are ready to build your own starship. There's no middle point.

Windows is good if you like viruses, random crashes, and being Microsoft's idiot. Ah, and it has games too.

Realistically speaking, I don't think anyone is going to put the effort in to create a Linux or Mac version of the editor from scratch -- there's a lot of functionality there and it would take several months to write. Therefore, it's really not worth the hassle of documenting the file formats.

If you make a search in Sourceforge.net you will see that several similar projects have been started and some of them arrived quite far. So there is an interest in developing a free adventure maker.

I guess that the reason why many of the projects died is because they didn't arrive to the critical point where you hear a community's noise around, which is a powerful batteries recharger, but some of them are alive and in good shape (PipMak for example, a Myst-style adventure maker).

What makes AGS different to the rest is an already established community of users and if AGS opened the game format it would set a standard.

I wouldn't expect hordes of developers coming, but I bet it also wouldn't last long until someone tried to make an AGS compatible editor for linux or Mac, either from scratch or adapting one of the already started projects.

There are people already making a port of the engine to Linux and Mac, there are people using the AGS editor with Wine under GNU/Linux (Which I tried and is a pain in the ass)... You won't really know unless you try.

this is an interesting topic, and more details and some revisions would be nice.   

I wasn't thinking of making more numbers, this post was just a side effect of a bigger project I am working on, making these stats with the tools I already have was too easy not to try. But if you want to see more numbers just say what question you what an answer for and I will try.

I think that an old-school text adventure is even better for your needs because you also have to write.

If you are afraid that a fully textual adventure would scare the students maybe something like the interface of "Trilby's Notes" is the best:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=736

I wish I had a teacher like you in my school days.

always include a platypus. You'll increase your downloads by a factor of ten for just one platypus, as scientists around the globe will happily confirm. 

That's true only if the platypus is naked.

I just played this game: I couldn't move from my chair until I finished it.

It's unusual to see Gay characters in games (in fact, it's quite common to see stupid homophobic comments), it was about time to see some normality in games too.

Anyway, you know about Matt's preferences since the very beginning, it appears in more than one dialog, and it can affect the ending of the game. After giving so much importance to it, I was expecting the main character going out of the locker or something like that, really, but no one else talks about sex anymore, and at the end it seems to be as important in the main story as a single silly comment to the security guard. Did I miss something?

Besides, while the right answers to Matt or the security guard are quite important, it seems you have no control in what your character will call the girl, and the sarcasm fight doesn't affect the game. This seems unbalanced to me, If there's a message about respect in this game (that even affects humor), shouldn't this respect be for everyone?

Even with these small story details that confused me, an excellent game.

I love logical puzzles with appropriate hints, see Myst for a lot of examples. They don't need to be so complicated I just played Reactor 09 and found most of the puzzles quite easy but interesting too.

I don't like:

- Highly time depending puzzles in the middle of an not time depending game, the worst thing is that usually controls of the game are not suitable for a time depending action.  One example: When the bad guy is chasing you in 7 days a stranger, without this the game would be much better in my opinion. When I want fast action I play shooters.

- Absurdities unless they are funny. I liked Monkey Island's sick puzzles, but insulted the authors of Kyrandia 2 when I read in the walkthrough that the only way to win to the Octopus was dropping the lucky thing to the floor. It gives me luck if it's on the floor but not if I have it in my pocket? Absurd.

- When it's obvious that you have solved the puzzle but you still need to keep with a repetitive task. One example: Kyrandia 2, when you need to "repair" the rainbow. (In fact I abandoned this game there, my patience has limits)

Big perks include (1) multiple story paths or different endings; (2) puzzles with multiple solutions; and (3) non-linearity.

I haven't played yet an adventure with multiple endings and feel that as an added value. I usually end with the sensation that I missed something important but playing the whole adventure again to look for the alternative endings gets very boring for me. Matter of taste.

Big YES to multiple solutions. It's essential when it's of common sense, if you need to reach something high and the steel bar will work but not the umbrella and the answer you get is a plain "It won't work" it's disappointing. I also like when you have different paths without changing the big story, when you have alternative small puzzles you can solve to advance in a bigger puzzle, this is really an added value because sometimes you simply don't get what was in the author's mind.

Another big YES to non-linearity, but try to do it without spoiling the story. In some cases discovering things in the "incorrect" order will advance facts and hints that make the game less interesting. Is Monkey Island a good example of non-linearity? If I remember well you permanently have 3 big problems to solve simultaneously that are almost independent.

What formula would you use instead?

Average number of downloads per game, as listed by category.

Sorry, I edited my post while you were answering