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I'm currently just playing around with AGS, trying to see what I can do with it. I'm thinking of making something which would make some use of computer screen, so I need a slightly higher res to be able to display text and icons properly. I can't think of anything that would make this a huge problem, but I would like to have pixel-perfect hotspots.
If it's an AGS thing, I'm guessing it's not something that one could get by?

Unfortunately but that didn't do anything. The option was set to "false" and I tried turning it on/off but it doesn't do anything.

I realized that this thing happens only when both - the game resolution and the background are set to 480x270.
If the game resolution is 480x270, but the room background is.. let's say 320x200, the drawing function (on hotspots and walkable areas) works fine.
It also works fine if the background image is bigger, but the game resolution is smaller.

I changed the resolution from 320x180 to 480x270 and... Strange things started to happen.

I changed the Game Resolution in General Settings, and later I updated my background to be 480x270.
I would expect everything to work as normal, except that I would need to set up all the hotspots etc. all over again.

The problem is that somehow, the "brush" that you use to draw the hotspots has increased it's size to 2 pixels.
Usually, you can paint "pixel by pixel" but now the lines are thicker and I can't force it to draw over certain areas.

Is it some sort of bug? Or can you actually change the size of the brush? I'm not sure why it would change anyway.

Thanks, so it would be something like this: When Texbox1 is active, so is the Label2. When Textbox2 is active, disable Textbox1 and show Label1.

I think the problem would be that I need two textboxes at the same time, as the player needs to see both - username and password needs to be visible and checked against to prompt to the next screen.

I was considering using Hotspots for this too, so when you click on Hotspot1, enable Textbox1. If clicked on Hotspot2, enable Textbox2. The problem with this is that it will be a lot of work, if I ever want to move the GUI around - it would mean re-doing all of the hotspots.

Hi,

This is probably super easy to do, but I am no programming guru

I'm trying to create a login screen for a computer interface.
Basically I have a GUI with two TextBoxes, and when player types in correct username and password it will pop up a new GUI (computer screen).
The problem is that whenever you get to the login screen, both textboxes work at the same time.

This topic was the closest thing I found to get this to work (link).

That's the code I use:

Code: ags

function on_event (EventType event, int data) {

   // when a mouse button is pressed down over a GUI
   if (event == eEventGUIMouseDown)
   {
      if (gui[data] == gLoginScreen) // <-- remove it to effect an arbitrary GUI
      {
         GUI *theGui = gui[data];
         TextBox *theTextbox = null;
         GUIControl *control = GUIControl.GetAtScreenXY( mouse.x, mouse.y );
         if (control) 
          theTextbox = control.AsTextBox;
         if (theTextbox)
         {
            // disable GUI textboxes
            int i = 0;
            while (i < theGui.ControlCount)
            {
               if (theGui.Controls.AsTextBox)
               {
                  theGui.Controls.AsTextBox.Enabled = false;
               }
               i++;
            }
            // but enable the selected one:
            theTextbox.Enabled = true;
         }
      }
   }
}

However, I get error message saying: "Error (line19):'[' expected".

Using a different code, I have managed to get the text parser to work, in a sense that when you type in "username" it takes you to the next screen. The problem is that when you type "username" it appears in both textboxes, and I would like to make it work so that you need to have correct phrases in both textboxes (different ones) in order to get you to the next screen.

Thanks Snarky!
I have created the late_execute_always, and I have pasted the code over as suggested. It definitely helps, but there still seems to be some weird thing going on - the character still flickers a little when moving on x axis only. I don't think it's anything with animation, because when I set the character right in the middle of the screen, his animation looks super smooth (line 2 below). I'm guessing it's some kind of thing with AGS, where if character is moving and the camera has to follow him, it creates some sort of small distortion? To clarify, it's not as bad as before and I would call it usable, but it would be nicer if that little distortion wasn't there.

The only way I have managed to get the character anim to be smooth is with the line 2 (code below). It is a little bit hard to look at though, as character stays right in the middle of the screen, while everything else is moving.

Code: ags

  SetViewport(GetViewportX(), (player.y-140));         // has smooth-ish x, seems like it's the original AGS scroll? not sure - small flicker effect (usable)
  SetViewport((player.x-160), (player.y-140));          // no smooth scroll at all, can position character, very rigid
  SetViewport(GetViewportX(), GetViewportY());       // smooth scroll, can't position the character - small flicker effect (usable)

I think the best option is to go with line #1, but I just wanted to confirm if that's something I can still work on and it's a problem with "my" code or if it's just AGS thing that I have to get used to (the little flickering)?
Also, line 1 and 2 seems to be disabling smooth scrolling altogether. Is there a way around it or it's a trade off - either position the character where you want, or have a smooth scroll? Note: I did use cDummy for smooth scrolling before to offset the camera, but it creates a bunch of other problems.



I will keep the issues separate for the future. Sorry about that.

[Note:]

1) Thanks for the explanation, it definitely makes sense  (I think)!
2) I have set the yCoord to player.y - it helps with the GUI problem (the screen no longer goes up when the GUI is on), but it makes the screen jitter really badly, as well as the character appears to be moving up and down in place while moving (note, it's not animation problem, since I'm using 1 frame for up and down movement at the moment).

This topic http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=34514.msg451054#msg451054 is the closest thing to my problem. However, there is no "Anti-Glide" mode in the setting anymore (the post is from 2008, or I just don't see it?) and the solution from the last post in the thread doesn't do anything, except for making the image flick every "counter==" frame.


Also, I found that the "int yCoord = (player.y - 100); " seems to be redundant. I simply set the line to "SetViewport(GetViewportX(), (player.y-140));" (but it gives me problem #2).
Note: This code is currently in repeatedly_execute_always, since it doesn't seem to have an effect if it's in RepExec.

Sorry for the double post.

I was working on attaching the book to it's GUI, and I found a solution to issue #1.
Turns out the solution was super easy. In the "Design" section of the object, there's a "Clickable" function. Turning it to "false" solved the problem and the cursor is no longer changing in the game, which is exactly what I wanted for the parallax objects.
It works perfect and it's simple enough to do for each parallax object in the future, unless there's some "hidden" disadvantage of making these objects unclickable?

EDIT:
I looked around the forums some more, and I have hacked together something like this:

Code: ags

  int yCoord = (GetViewportY()-30);
  SetViewport(GetViewportX(), yCoord);

Partially, the code above is what I was after. It offsets the viewport just enough so that the character is in the lower part of the screen.
However, there are two problems with this, and I have no idea how to approach them.
Problem 1) When I hover over the GUI on the top of the screen, the viewport jumps a lot higher than it was originally. I have some ideas on how I could fix this, so I will work on this some more.
Problem 2) Is a little more complicated. The screen being a little bit higher than the original introduces a problem when scrolling downwards. E.g. lets say you have a ladder in the game. When I go upwards, the camera nicely scrolls and the character is kept in the lower part of the screen. However, when I try to come down the ladder, the viewport won't scroll down because (I'm guessing) it doesn't have to - the viewport has another 30 pixel to go before it starts scrolling.

I tried playing around with the edges (int EdgeY) in the Smooth Scrolling script, but with no luck.
Any ideas how to make it possible to scroll back down?

That is great, works like it should. Thank you very much!

I'm just curious about few things: so the variable needs to be above (and outside) the function, so the "int" can be accessed throughout?
Also, why should it be like:

Code: ags

if (bp<2) bp++;
  BookPage();

I would have thought that the first line would be enough, or I would have put the "BookPage();" first, assuming that the second line would be a follow up to the function. I'm not questioning your approach, it's just something I haven't picked up from the tutorials, and I'm simply wondering why things are the way they are.

Thanks again!


Oh and I will check out the "SetViewPort" in the repeatedly_execute function. Awesome

Hi,

Sorry for the second thread, but I wasn't sure if it would be best to continue under the first one, or to create a second one.
I'm also sorry for putting multiple questions/problems in the same thread but splitting them up into couple various ones seemed unappropriated.

I'm trying to set up a bunch of features before I start creating all the rooms, items and puzzles for the game.
The way I usually work is that if I get stuck way too long on one thing, I move onto something else, so I can come back to the first problem later with a fresh approach (hence I "generated" so many questions).

Here's what I have been struggling with:

1) [SOLVED] Cursor Modes - I'm planning on using two clicks instead of Coin Verb etc.
I already found all the scripts and help on the forum and I got everything working. However, I'm also using the Parallax and Smooth Camera module, which complicates things a little bit. The problem is that the cursor changes depending if it's on hotspot or object. To have some Parallax layers on top, I'm using objects on the background that I don't want the player to interact with (e.g. trees in the front, mountains in the back). I couldn't find another way for the Parallax effect to work, so I'm trying to get the object's PxPos in order to determine if the cursor should change.

Code: ags

void UpdateMouseGraphic() {
  if (player.ActiveInventory != null) return; // do nothing
  int newGraphic = 30;  // no location / walking
  int lt = GetLocationType(mouse.x, mouse.y);
  //  ORIGINAL: if (lt == eLocationHotspot || lt == eLocationObject) newGraphic = 27;
  if (lt == eLocationHotspot) newGraphic = 27;  // interact                            
  if (lt == eLocationObject && (object[0].GetProperty("PxPos") == 0)) newGraphic = 27;   // if it's an object AND it's PxPos property is 0 (no parallax)
  else if (lt == eLocationCharacter) newGraphic = 27;  // talk
  // change?
  if (newGraphic != mouse.GetModeGraphic(mouse.Mode)) mouse.ChangeModeGraphic(mouse.Mode, newGraphic);
}

Problem with the above is that I'm only limiting myself with object[0], whereas I want to check "all the objects".
I have tried multiple different variants, but I can't get it to work.

----------
2) A general question with Parallax objects. Do they have to be "objects"? Is there a different way to set it up? Any best practice?

----------
3) Camera - My backgrounds currently are quite tall, and the camera always centers on the main character. In some places, I want the camera to be higher up, to show the background a little bit better. I have currently created a cDummy character which is attached to main hero. I placed the Dummy slightly higher than the main character, so I kind of have the camera a little higher up. However, it's not perfect, and depending on different positions of the character I get different results with the camera - I can't control it that well.

Is there a way to keep the main character within the lower 1/3 of the screen?

----------
4) [SOLVED] Book GUI - I wanted to have a book in the game, where player can read-through (well, look at some images), which later helps solve some of the puzzles. My current approach was based on Densming's tutorial on List Boxes. I have a GUI background, two buttons at each side of the book (for flipping through the pages) and a large button that overlays the background. The idea was that when you press the left/right button, the image on the large one would change, imitating flipping through the pages.

I thought I could have a function that keeps track of the variable, and depending on it, it would change the picture. I was thinking that the buttons (left and right) could add or subtract the variable, thus changing pages.

Something like this:

Code: ags

function BookPage(int bp){
 
 if (bp == 0){
   bBookPage.NormalGraphic = 33;
 }
 else if (bp == 1){
   bBookPage.NormalGraphic = 34;
 }
 else if (bp == 2){
   bBookPage.NormalGraphic = 35;
 }


}

And later the buttons:

Code: ags

function bTurnRight_OnClick(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button)
{
  BookPage(+= 1);
}

Although the above doesn't give me any errors, it also doesn't do anything in the game at all. I went through all of the tutorials, and it all makes sense when shown with examples, but when I try to apply anything to my own script I just keep asking myself questions "what if, why is that etc." and I can't get anything to work.

From what I understand, each of this tasks is relatively simple, but I am new to programming, hence I thought that the best way to start learning would be with AGS. Any kind of help would be appreciated, even pointing in the right direction (e.g. link to a similar problem) would be great!

Hey there,

I'm new around here so please bare with me (I'm mostly do game art / design, so my programming knowledge basically equals zero).
I started playing around with AGS a couple days ago and today I got really stuck at making custom Speech/Say dialogues.

What I'm after is something similar to Superbrothers style of narration.
Whenever the player interacts with an object, the text instead of showing above characters head, would slide in from the top with a custom background.
The background that is used for Serria Speech Style would seem like best starting point, but the GUI for that doesn't have the "layout" options, and I can't seem to have it being displayed on top.

This Topic was the closest thing I have managed to find, that could somehow do what I was after.
I tried going with the Akril 15's last post and have used the bits of code found on the last post. Of course, I got some errors, but I have managed to get through them - I used the transparent font, I made a GUI with Label, named everything correctly until I had no errors.

The things is... nothing has changed. I'm using LucasArts speech mode, and the only difference is that it has transparent font and the GUI appears on top of the screen.
What did I miss?

EDIT:
I did some digging and I have something like this:

Code: ags

void MySay(this Character*, String text) {

  TextButtonOK.Visible = false;
  TextLabel.Visible = false;
  gTextTop.Visible = true;  
  TextLabel.Text = text;
  gTextTop.TweenPosition(0.5, 0, -1);
  TextLabel.Visible = true;
  Wait(40);
  TextButtonOK.Visible = true;

}

Would this be a correct way of setting this up? I placed the code at the top of Global Script. The visibility stuff is just some fluff to make it a tad nicer.
I set up the original position of the GUI to be off screen, so that way I can tween it onto the screen.

A little extra: I tried to get the button and the text to tween their transparency, but Tween Transparency options don't seem to work with buttons and labels?
I also tried tweening text color from 225, 0, 255 (magenta transparency) to the color of the text I'm planning on using, but that way the Tween function just goes through all of the colors in between magenta and my color
I imagine it's fairly simple thing to do, so I will do some more digging on this.

Also, I realized that calling "MySay" in dialogues doesn't quite work (e.g. cHero.MySay("blah") and I imagine it would need some further work when setting up custom Say function for dialogues?

And the last thing... currently that Say function is set up to wait 1sec before player can click on "ok" button to close the option. Would there be a way to set up a timer that waits long enough depending on the text length? Like it does in the original MI style speech?