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Maybe AGS would benefit from a true visual style editor.
Like for a particular room you could drag and drop the characters where they should start.
Maybe it could do a dry-run of what the character is to do.
Adventure Maker style highly modified still using scripting.
Just throwing out an idea here.
Maybe plan movements right in the editor with points in the room for the character to hit.

I should be done with Bapu in a couple of weeks.
I have improved everything on it, so it looks alot better than my 1st and second games.
I just have 4 dialogs to do and I am done.

Thanks for the help.
I fixed the problem with eRepeat.
I am now going to move the character out of the room with player.y = -1;
Much thanks

I checked the documentation and couldn't find how to use the REPEATSTYLE optional parameter.

AudioChannel* AudioClip.Play(optional AudioPriority, optional RepeatStyle)

This is one of the problems I have run into, frequently the program help files don't go into enough detail.  Optional parameters are frequently not shown.
What is the actual REPEATSTYLE parameter explanation?

room_RepExec() is already used in the room, so I need a way to keep an ambient sound (spaceship engine sound) to keep running why the dialog is running.
I thought repeat style would work under the play function.  Here is the script.

// room script file

function room_RepExec()
{
player.ChangeRoomAutoPosition(2, 2000 +400);   \\the main character is set to not be shown in this room.
}

function room_Load()
{
aAmbient_engine_3.Play();
}

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
dintro.Start();
}

Thanks it worked.  I just added +400 into the (    ).

From the editor help:

"Altenatively, you can specify the position where he will get placed in the new room. newPosition can be 1000 for the left edge, 2000 for the right edge, 3000 for the bottom edge and 4000 for the top edge. Then, add on the offset within that edge where you want to place the character, in normal room co-ordinates.
Example:

player.ChangeRoomAutoPosition(4, 2100);"

My question is the help doesn't show how to write the offset from the edge. Is it?
player.ChangeRoomAutoPosition(4, 2100, 567, 789);

Some of the plugins are old and not updated and do not work with newer editor versions.
What plugin are you having problems with?

I started a blog for my game.  Kind of a production blog.  I am currently working on BAPU, so I am talking about that. Check out the link below.
Remember to play my SHI- jack the ripper game.

http://dreamadreamproductions.wordpress.com/

Thanks for the reply.  It was user error.  I didn't have the main character marked as not in room 1 and 2.  He starts in room 3.

The game is set to start in room -1 which does not exist

I have the main character set to start in room 3.  When I try to run the game, I get the game starting on room 3 instead of room 1.
If I set the main character to start in room 1, I get the above error message.
room 1 is named room1.crm.
What is the problem?

Seems to work fine except for two things.
1. The sprite manager keeps flipping the resolution back to 460x400 460x480 after editing the sprite.
2. I have only been able to get 2 modules to work.  agsblend and fmod.  the others I tried do not even show up on the list.

I thought this thread might help newbies to get started making characters for use in an AGS game.
I am also a relative newbie, so I am hoping the resident experts will chime in with corrections and helpful tips.
Let's keep this post to making characters only.
Here goes:

What I have learned to do is use a PNG photo, or you could use a drawing and make it a .png file. I use Gimp painting program.
First I scale the photo up to a much bigger size.  This makes getting the transparency right up to the edge of the character itself easier.
I use layer transparency (looks like small chess board squares) to cover the background for transparency.
Once that is done, I resize the photo to the size I want it for use in my game.
Then I use filter-enhance-sharpen to make the image as clear as possible.
I then use antialias, which doesn't seem to really do anything, but I use it anyway.
I save the file in .png format.

Then I go into AGS and import the image.  I tell AGS to use the alpha channel.
Then choose either top-left Pixel, bottom-left, top-right, bottom-right, leave as is, or no transparency.
Choose the one above where there is no image, but only background.
Once the character is imported, set the resolution to 320x200 320x240. AGS will scale the character size up if needed.
If you edit the image again, AGS will set the resolution to 640x480.  You will have to hand reset it back to 320x200 320x240

The game is in production again.  I had to do some updates for another game.
I am learning all the time, so this game is getting better and better.
I finally worked out how to get the character (Gandhi) look better using layer transparency and png photos.
Once AGS will keep the character size at 320x and not keep flipping back to 640x, it will save me alot of character tweaking.

I also was unable to reduce the size of my 2 finished games.
The biggest file is the vox file.
Is there a way to reduce the size of that?

The final version of SHI-Jack the Ripper is uploaded.
I added a magnifying glass to look at photos.
I improved the visibility of the fonts.
I am quite proud of it.  I plan to nominate it for next years award.
Is there an award for research?

The absolutely final version of SHI-Jack the ripper was uploaded.
Added a new sprite for Sherlock Holmes.  Fits in with the design better.
Added a few more photos.
Changed the "look" sprite to a better looking magnifying glass.  Can be used to look at photos.
Repaired hotspots that somewhere along the way got messed up.
Better looking inventory sprites and top bar sprites replaced with better looking sprites.

I checked it out, just for the heck of it.  I downloaded and installed all the microsoft requirements.
When I tried installing the XAGE and it failed to install.
I am not looking for a new development engine; I will always use AGS.
But I like to check out the competition...
From time to time I will check it out.

Thanks for the responses.

I used winrar and compressed the audio.vox file before using rar.
It is still 130megs!
I tried checking the compress sprites checdkbox in general settings, but that didn't seem to do anything.
What can I do in the editor to get the game smaller?
Delete unused resources?

Does anyone know anything about this engine.
Apparently AGS games can be exported to it.
It seems to be alpha.

I noticed that edited sprites flip back to 640x480.
It would be nice to have a check box to keep it at 320.