Messages

I just downloaded the latest vesion of AGS, v2.6, but the most recent manual I can find online is for version 2.4. Is there an updated manual out there somewhere that I'm missing, or is it safe to assume that the upgrades from 2.4 to 2.6 are minor enough that I shouldn't even worry about it?

Can you add me?

http://www.chapter11studios.com

Thanks!
-Josh Roberts

Heheh! I don't want to hear about this crap, Josh Roberts.

Let's also not confuse this Phil Roberts guy with me, Josh Roberts, a nice harmless little AGS user....

I'm waiting for AGS to gain sentience, personally...

Hey ya'll!

The newest installment in my game design journal, Adventure Architect, has now been published. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's sort of a design journal mixed with a dash of game design philosophy. And I'm using AGS to build my game, although the journal itself doesn't really get into the technical aspects of AGS.

http://www.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=332

Oh, and this month's topic is on puzzle design--something that's been a hot topic around here lately. (I don't post very often on this board, but I lurk... oh, how I lurk!)

-Josh

You know something? If you were truly inspired, you would do it all on your own. That's what I'm doing, save the music.

But there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to collaborate on a project, either. You can't measure someone's "inspiration" simply because he or she chooses a different approach than you. Many of the more successful AGS games have been team efforts. Now obviously, each team member needs to contribute a lot of work, and you can't just sit around and ask other people to do all the work for you--but there's absolutely nothing wrong in trying to build a team of like-minded people to bring a particular vision to life.

I'm not terribly concerned about the size of the sprites (160 pixels high) affecting the quality of the animation. We'll need to put more detail into each animation, but I want this to be top notch all the way, so the extra effort will be worth it. And if it proves to be too difficult to do, there are a few workarounds that could be possibilities.

cpage, e-mail me (chapter11studios @ yahoo.com) if you want to discuss specifics. Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions.

BTW mr roberts i'm really sorry about how i disappeared after that
I had a big series of bad events that ended with me leaving the internet for a month and a half

Hey, you're always welcome back if things are better for you now. As you can see, we still have a role that you could fill!

Here's a quick sketch of the general look we're shooting for with our character sprites:

http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/jake_in_color.gif

That was actually put together quickly by someone who's no longer on the team, but I like the look.

In terms of dimensions, our backgrounds are 640x480, and we're going back and forth internally debating whether to go 256 colors or higher resolution, but that will be determined shortly. But the height of the character sprites would be about 1/3 of the height of the screen. (I have the exact dimensions worked out elsewhere and would be happy to share them.)

P.S. Here are some character concept sketches that we'll be animating:

1) http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/evil_mastermind_complete.png
2) http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/mary_jane_full_body.jpg
3) http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/old_prospector_full_body.jpg

Also, my e-mail address is: chapter11studios @ yahoo.com

As some of you may already know, my little amateur game development studio is in the midst of producing a  new freeware adventure game set in the Wild West, with a decidedly Indiana Jones-esque flavor to it. (Check it out here for reference: http://www.chapter11studios.com).

We're looking for someone who can come in and create two or three different animated character sprites for our game. This could be either a one-time contribution or it could be a chance to join the design team full-time. Basically we are close to developing a beta demo of the game, and while I'm certainly interested (and intend to) learn animation myself, my time is stretched thin handling other aspects of the project right now.

If you're interested in helping out, even in a very limited capacity, please reply here or send me an e-mail. I'd be happy to answer any questions as well. Thanks!

P.S. Here are some examples of our screenshots and graphic style:
http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/screenshots/screenshot_stonehenge02.jpg
http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/screenshots/screenshot_outsidecave.jpg

I'm not sure who you mean may or may not have been snide, but I hope you don't think it was me! (And just to quell the raging debate, I copied and pasted the é character...)

-Josh

Maybe it's just my personal taste but it seems a little kinda pseudo-mystically clichéd for a Western. More like an Indiana Jones title (but then again, there's alot of exploring and such, so the Western backdrop might be just incidental). I'm sure I'll play the game, but I was just curious as to the origins and support, gamewise, of the title. PS: Do I get props for using the phrase pseudo-mystically clichéd?

I'll give you props for using the é character. I can never figure out how to make those. As for the title, it actually is pseudo-mystical in nature and is very much inspired by Indiana Jones et al. If you have the time and the patience, you might be interested in reading through my design journal, the first installment of which can be found here: http://www.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=142 Somewhere around entry number three or four I mention the title for the first time and descibe how it came about. But to really get the right background you should read through at the least the first five or six installments.

-Josh

How do you make them?

It's a collaborative process. I draw the layout of each screen with pencil and paper, i.e. where everything goes, what all the movable/removable objects are, spatial relationships between everything, etc., and establish the general look of each screen. Then I hand it off to one of our background artists, who takes the layout and draws a snazzier version in pencil and scans it into PhotoShop (although Paint Shop Pro works just as well for our purposes). Then, using the scanned penciled version, our colorist adds different layers of color until we get the results you see on the website.

i noticed the background thumbnails aren't linked to the full size images?

A minor technical glitch that we're working on... plus we have a bunch of new screenshots that we're going to feature soon too!

Actually, here's a sneak peak:
http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/screenshots/screenshot_stonehenge03.jpg

OK, so technically we never left, but our website was down for quite some time due to an extensive redesign. Now the site is back and our first adventure game, Rise of the Hidden Sun, is front and center with screenshots, character sketches, and preliminary design stuff!
http://www.chapter11studios.com

And look for lots more content in the coming weeks as well, including a new Adventure Architect column at Adventure Gamers Underground. If you haven't been to the site in a while, come on by and check it out! Oh yeah, we're also still looking for an animator to work on character walkcycles (although I may end up teaching myself the fine art of character animation if the right person doesn't come along to join the team).

Cheers!
Josh

I'd like to have time-triggered music and sound effects events in my game, but in looking over the documentation I can't seem to get confirmation that it's possible.

Example: I have a scene where the hero is walking along a rocky path with vultures perched in nests overhead. I'd like to do a time-triggered thing where every 15-20 seconds or so, a vulture lets out a screech.

Is this possible in AGS? It seems like it ought to be, but I wanted to make sure before I started planning on different sound effect schemes.

Thanks!
Josh

What, you mean no one's looking forward to my game? Hmm. To quote the great and wise Master Yoda: "You will be. You will be!"

Early screenshots available here: http://www.chapter11studios.com

-Josh

Chris, these Web-based visual tutorials are extremely helpful... Thanks!

I hope this is the correct place to ask this question... Is part seven of this web-based tutorial (which will cover animations, I believe) going up any time soon? How many parts will there be in all? I'm finding this very useful, by the way. Thanks!