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So, this chap, I'm mostly quite satisfied with him, but because of the size of his eyes, I can't seem to twiddle the pixels to give him a look of anything but abject horror or shock. I can't quite seem to get his hair to match up in the absoute side view with what I expect it'd look like compared to the front views. What would be your advice?

...or, epilepsy strikes again. Every so often, I get afflicted with a crippling bout of deja vu and hallucination, which tends to put my sleeping schedule out of whack - just as soon as the world stops melting, and the orange snakes go away, that is. Looks like it's another six months before I'm driving again, then! (as long as I tell the DVLA about it, that is)

So, I thought it might be interesting to see if anyone else on here was similarly afflicted with epilepsy. After all, some of my best plot ideas have come from hallucinations, so it must be at least slightly helpful to the creative juices!

So, there's a lot about functions I don't quite understand, and I was wondering if you could explain to me what's going wrong with this. What I've been making is a script to cause a chosen GUI to swoosh into the view on a decelerating path, appear to overshoot and bounce, then move to the centre. That's not the problem I'm having, and I'll worry about it later. The issue I've got is that every time I try to run this function, it complains about having the "wrong number of parameters".

Code: ags

function TechnoGUIBounceIn(GUI *BounceGUI){
  BounceGUI.X = -10 - BounceGUI.Width;
  BounceGUI.Visible=true;
  int centring = (320-BounceGUI.Width)/2;

  int BounceMoveSpeed = FloatToInt((IntToFloat(centring) - IntToFloat(BounceGUI.X))/5.0);
  
  while(BounceGUI.X<centring+10){BounceGUI.X+=BounceMoveSpeed; BounceMoveSpeed = FloatToInt((IntToFloat(centring) - IntToFloat(BounceGUI.X))/5.0); Wait(1);}
  while(BounceGUI.X>centring){BounceGUI.X--;Wait(1);}
  
  
}

And then later...

Code: ags

if (keycode == 'I') TechnoBounceIn(gHelp1);

But as I say, what I get is "Wrong number of parameters to call 'TechnoBounceIn'". What have I misunderstood about making functions?

Many thanks!

In some cases, I think they'd be inappropriate. After all, in the kinds of adventure my mother plays, they wouldn't appeal to her, nor would she probably be able to cope wih twitch reflex fighting systems.

However, I'm thinking of including at least some elements of combat in future, and having just been playing BloodNet (whose combat, in my opinion, sucks), I was wondering what folk on here thought was their favourite fighting system, or would be the most appropriate for an adventure? Real-time fighty like Indiana Jones? Turn-based JRPG-style group combat? Something altogether entirely stranger?

So, in my attempt to make the art better, and the style more credible, I've been trying to do some practice at a scientific process of making characters. I'll do a close up, detailed version so that I can make them smaller and smaller as I build the characters, and comic-style images. So, without a great deal of extra delay, here's my rendition thus far of Doctor Regis, one of the protagonists of Technobabylon.



My basic concept is "late-middle-aged man, grumpy, tired, overworked, stressed about being blackmailed, doesn't care a great deal about his appearance, thinning hair, not exactly upbeat." Hence why I've mostly based his appearance off my Dad. Would you say this carries that impression across?

Musing about the potential issues of going commercial with games, and understanding my own limitations, I was wondering about the various ways of profiting from games. It is, currently, beyond me to set up a website with an e-shop capable of taking credit-card details and distributing copies of a game. I wouldn't expect nearly enough traffic for something like that, either. However, my line  of thinking was "donors who give more than £x will receive an extra bonus game". Both the optimist and the slacker within me believe that this is a straightforward enough system, e-mailing the game to those who've made such a donation. Although, that caused me to raise a couple of potential issues in my brain:

- does this count as a "sale" legally? That is, are there going to be complications over MP3 format and such that there would be if it were being sold through a website?

-does anyone else act like this already?

I'm sure Yahtzee did a similar thing with "director's cut" versions of his games, too.

So, the effect I'm trying to go for is a run-down, dirty, decrepid gas station in the middle of nowhere. I've been aiming for something rather more cartoony than I usually go for, though something about the colouring in the picture is bothering me, and I can't quite place it. I think some of the problems I get from colouring may be that I simply use "adjust brightness" when creating areas of higher lighting or shadow, and this may lead to the whole "dull" look that the colours have.



There's going to be an animating door where the big yellow gap is at the moment. Also, there are animated flies around the lamp. The J in the XJWJ sign above flickers, but I've as yet had difficulty in creating a good impression that the letters glow. All of the auras I do around them come out looking terrible - too opaque, too sudde, etc.

So, I've created a function designed to make the protagonist, Nancy, look around when she's standing still. So far, so good, she does look to the left when the cursor's on the left of the screen, and right when right, but now she refuses to walk anywhere when I click. I have a suspicion it's to do with the animating, but I'm not sure how I break her out of it to get her moving.

Code: ags

function Nancy_Gaze() {
  
  if(player.Animating == false){
   // Determine what direction Nancy is facing
   
   int FacingDir = player.Loop;
   int Neomousex = mouse.x + GetViewportX(); // Helps determine the real mouse.x in a scrolling room

   
   if (FacingDir==0){
     if((Neomousex - player.x < 30) && (Neomousex - player.x > -30)){player.UnlockView();return;} // Mouse too close to char
     if(Neomousex - player.x > 30){player.LockViewFrame(6, 0, 2);return;} // Look right
     if(Neomousex - player.x < -30){player.LockViewFrame(6, 0, 1);return;} // Look left
     
   }    
  }  
}

Thus far, I've only done it for when she's standing facing downwards, but I intend to get this issue sorted before I move on to the other directions.

Being the sort with an academic bearing, the combination of reductivist philosophies and adventure games has produced a notion in my head - that most (if not all) puzzles in adventures can be boiled down to several essential concepts.

For example -
- substitution: these puzzles require the use of an object in place of another, where their use might be unusual. Can't find  pen to write with? Use a stick. Don't have a fishing rod? Combine the car-aerial with the string.
- verbal: using conversation with characters to unlock progress.
- pixel hunt: false impression of challenge created by simply making objects hard to find.
- physical progress: puzzles requiring adaption of environmental or inventory items to enable progress to the next room. Door locked? Kick it, find the key, etc. Can't get up the cliff? Make the rope out of blankets, etc.
- external knowledge: where you need at least a degree of knowledge from the real world, or something you've learnt in game. What was that combination the monk told you? What temperature does the severed hand need to be for the machine to think it's real?

I think there are a few more categories that would cover most kinds of puzzle. Do you have any ideas what they may be? Or do you feel I'm being a bit *too* reductive?

On Steam a moment ago, I saw the latest iteration of 2D Worms they've got on the go. I'm tempted of course, but that's not the point. The point is its size - apparently, it takes up about 2GB when installed. 2 gigabytes! Personally, I think that's rather obscene, for a game that doesn't look particularly far-advanced from Worms: Armageddon! How can it possibly take more space than Worms 3D and Worms Forts did?

At the risk of sounding elderly, I remember the days when the whole of Worms fit on two floppy disks, X-Wing came on three, and the size of most games could be measured in less than 10 megabytes. What on earth do they pad these games with to make them so huge these days?

/fogey

[Technobabylon: Part 4]

How are you supposed to feel when your friend and partner is on the run, and has been accused of murder? Doctor Lao certainly doesn't know, but she does know that she doesn't believe it was Regis. Or, maybe she just won't?

Technobabylon: Part 4







Featuring:
- A plot development or several!
- Three playable characters (including a new one)!
- Refinements that I should have made several months ago!

Sure, I might have *said* that I wanted to aim for a different project/style, but I've got an extremely short attention span. So here's the fourth part of Technobabylon.

I started on it two days ago, and I'm about half-way through. Should have something testable by Tuesday, and something releasable by next weekend.

Until then!

[20 October]

Ha ha next weekend yeah right

At this rate, what with completely overhauling the art, I'd say it's around a week and a half before I have something testable on the go.

Well, I'm practicing a slightly different style, and I want to make sure that people, at a glance, can have a fair guess at what this young woman's occupation is, based on the way she's dressed.

I'll put up a 4-direction tomorrow, when I've finished it!
So, any suggestions to improve on how she looks before I get on to making the rest of her would be extremely useful!

Edit: New bits - see latest posts

So, I'm looking to branch out and experiment with making games in other systems, perhaps on other platforms. Only downside is, outside of AGS, I've never wholly made any games using another system like C, Lua or even Basic. Sure, I've made levels and models for other games before, but nothing programming-wise.

So, couple of questions:

1) What would you say AGS is most similar too, in terms of its logic? What would I have the least trouble adapting to if I were to move into a format for making games from scratch.

2) What do you think is the best way of learning such a thing? I'm going to have a lot of spare time on my hands, after all.

As always, your help is always much appreciated!

While pondering on the merits of courses of action towards a goal, I decided to try applying it into the next game I make. I've been making plans for other parts, but I just can't for the life of me think of an evil way to acquire eggs. Any ideas?

[Welcome to the future - welcome to TECHNOBABYLON: PART III]

"It's kind of depressing that this prison cell is both bigger and cleaner than my apartment..."


Having narrowly escaped death at the hands of a bomber, agoraphobic Trance-addict Latha Sesame finds herself being questioned about the incident by the city's law-enforcement body, CEL.

Having managed to track down his blackmailer, CEL agent Doctor Regis finds himself being diverted to conduct a quick interview with a shaken young woman who may have information about a recent bomb attack related to him and his department...

Can Regis keep his story straight long enough to track down those responsible for his current strife? And can he protect this young woman?

Welcome to the future - welcome to TECHNOBABYLON: PART III

Download it from here!




If you've played it before, well, you know what you're getting into!
If you haven't started on Technobabylon, well, get yourself back to part 1!



(And don't forget to rate it on Gamejolt!)

...and not just playing them, I'm not quite *that* lazy. I've already had a gapyear, thanks.

Well, my year of teaching in Korea is about to finish, and I'll have saved about £5000 from it, which from my budgeting, would last me about a year before I desperately needed to find work again. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to be looking for "proper" graduate work as well, but the way the UK seems to be at the moment, I'll probably end up back in teaching by 2012 again.

So, from May --> Other job, I'm going to be trying to improve my skills a whole lot, whether it's art (which AGS can help me readily make use of) or programming (for which I'll have to learn something else). My ideal goal is to have something commercially available by the time I finish, something fairly decent being *sold*. That'd be nice.

So, has anybody else ever saved up and taken a few months out for some serious game-making?

Since I've had a lot of people complaining about the inventory in the last couple of episodes of Technobabylon, I've decided to try and change it to a more BaSS flavour. Currently, I've got a GUI at the bottom that slides out when the mouse is over it, and I've now placed an inventory box into it. The problem now is that every click on objects in the custom window causes it to "Look at" the object, even though the custom mouse clicking script is supposed to cause "left click interact, right click look".

This only happens in the new, custom inventory though. The old one has absolutely no problem reacting seperately to the left and right clicks. Is there something I've missed when making this new inventory?

This bit's for the mouse clicking:

Code: ags

function on_mouse_click(MouseButton button) {
  // called when a mouse button is clicked. button is either LEFT or RIGHT
   if (button == eMouseLeft || button == eMouseLeftInv) {
  if(mouse.Mode==eModeTalkto){ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeTalkto);}
  else {
       if (GetLocationType(mouse.x, mouse.y) == eLocationNothing) ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeWalkto);
      else {
        if (player.ActiveInventory != null) ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeUseinv);
        else ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeInteract);
      }
  
  }
  }
  else if (button == eMouseRight || button == eMouseRightInv){
    // right-click 
           if(mouse.Mode==eModeTalkto){mouse.Mode=6;return;}
        if(player.ActiveInventory!=null){player.ActiveInventory=null;mouse.Mode=6;return;}
        ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeLookat);
  }

}

[TECHNOBABYLON: PART III]

It's a little depressing to me that this prison cell is both bigger and cleaner than my apartment...was...




After having her apartment destroyed by persons unknown, Latha Sesame finds herself in the custody of CEL, apparently for her own protection (at least, according to the nervous agent who interviewed her). Compelled by her addiction to reconnect to the Trance, she finds herself warned that her attacker may be closer than she thinks - and must escape, or risk them trying to finish the job.

It's the safest city in the world to live in. Or at least, that's what they say. It's
TECHNOBABYLON: PART III



The third part in the ongoing adventure series, this will be a brief return to the "one-room escape" theme, which I can hopefully continue to breathe a bit of originality into. Plus, more insight into everyone's favourite reclusive Trance-addict.



At the rate it's going, it's likely to end up finished by the end of March. Or at least, in a testable state by then. Speaking of which, anyone fancy joining in for the testing phase? There are certainly a few who've already volunteered, or provided extremely useful input in part 2!

See you in the future...

Since I'm wont to come up with peculiar ideas to make non-adventures out of AGS, another concept leapt into my mind and started making a mess. Well, first it started with how implement it, which is frankly the easy part. The other bit of my brain thought "how about making it with a crossover of AGS/adventure characters?" After all, that seems to be the big thing these days (Star Wars characters in Soul Calibur, Spartan in Dead or Alive, Snake in Smash Bros., Capcom vs. Everybody, etc).

So, what characters do you reckon would go into a fighting game? I'm sure Cheffie the Chef, with an array of utensils for armaments, could make mincemeat out of anybody (and probably risotto, too).

Oceanspirit Dennis would be a must-have, too.

I've been practicing mimicking a style of comic that's been a perennial favourite of mine, and was wondering how well you people thought it's coming out.



The shape of the arms is what's bothering me the most, personally.