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[Easter adventure]

Hello Folks,

Easter is just around the corner, and so I've got an Easter adventure for you.


Huggles goes on a trip

Huggles and his mum are rabbits that are living peacefully in a bunny meadow. But when they try to sell their eggs this year, they run into a snag. Huggles needs to rise above himself to save the day ...

• Fight with a strange lock
• go on a boating trip
• outwit a guard

and help Huggles help his mother to sell her Easter eggs!

(Note that the screenshot above isn't a spoiler â€" your lock will be dynamically generated and have different tiles.)

Standard BASS interface (right-click: examine things; left-click: interact with things).
Get the inventory through the top-left "hamburger" button or tapping the "i" key.

Note that the hotspot of the cursor is Huggles' nose. Helpful if you need to target something tiny on-screen.

I don't have a Linux box, so I've only tested the Windows version.
Download the game here:
https://gamejolt.com/games/Huggles_goes_on_a_trip/688487
(A Windows and a Linux version is available.)

Hints and tips thread: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=58995.msg636634455#new

Have fun playing, and merry Easter!



Newest update

Version 2.01

• Fixed some small bugs
• Uploaded the game to Gamejolt.

I can't download Huggles Goes on a Trip,

Please retry downloading. It used to have a problem at some time late yesterday night, but I re-uploaded it then.

EDIT: It seems that certain browsers can't properly grok "http://" addresses. I've modified my configuration so that "https://" addresses now work, too. Please download the game at https://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/HugglesGoesOnATrip/Windows.zip .

[I rented a boat]

I rented a boat

Well, I'm giving up on this. I feel as if I was caught in a walking simulator, but without the nice visuals.

Making out a "lighthouse mountain" â€" or any mountain as far as that goes â€" is simply beyond me. No matter where I  find myself traipsing around the lake thing, it's all some sort of cliff to me, and anything that isn't the lake could be called a "mountain" to me.

I can't manage to keep any sort of orientation, and I can't make out from the visuals where exactly I am. Subjectively I feel like going straight ahead, but seem to be veering sideways in reality .So I find myself "suddenly" being higher up or lower down or near the cave entry or somewhere else without knowing exactly how or why.

I suppose that there actually is some way of scaling some sort of cliff somewhere, but I haven't been able to make that out in an hour or so. Neither have I been able to make out any better way of handling the UI.

Now my eyes have become tired and strained.

[edges]

Mini game: Strange lock.

When the lock is displayed full-size on screen: How do you open this lock?

Spoiler

Ignore the lines and diodes on the middle of the tiles for the moment. Realize that in order to yield unbroken lines, the edges of adjacent tiles must match Within the middle of a tile, the lines could run any old way; what matters is just where these lines end on the tile edges. Adjacent tiles need to be oriented in such a way that the touching edges match.

How to use this for finding out how the tiles need to be oriented:

1. Consider the outer puzzle edges first: They don't feature any line ends. So tiles that are next to a puzzle edge can only be oriented in such a way that no lines run up to the puzzle edge. For many tiles that means that they can only be oriented in one way or two ways.

2. Note that the puzzle has a "hole" in the middle, which is a puzzle edge, too. Tiles that are adjacent to the "hole" can only be oriented in such a way that no lines run up to the "hole".

3.  Now consider the tiles that are adjacent to some tile where you already know its orientation. These tiles must be turned in such a way that their touching edges match the respective touching edge of the known tile. Again, in many cases there will be just one possible orientation. Now work your way iteratively through the puzzle.

[close]

So here's a thread for questions that might come up.

Note: I've discovered a problem with my game uploads. If you've already downloaded the files, please download them again to be on the safe side.

Sorry about that.

[Huggles goes on a trip]

Hello Folks,

Easter is just around the corner, and so I've got an Easter adventure for you.

I proudly present as MAGS entry:

Huggles goes on a trip



The rabbits Huggles and his Mum are living peacefully in a bunny meadow. But when they try to sell their eggs this year, they run into a severe snag. Huggles needs to rise above himself to save the day ...

• Fight with a strange lock
• go on a boating trip
• outwit a guard

and help Huggles help his mother to sell her Easter eggs!

Standard BASS interface (right-click: examine things; left-click: interact with things).
Get the inventory through the top-left "hamburger" button or tapping the "i" key.

Note that the hotspot of the cursor is Huggles' nose. Helpful if you need to target something tiny on-screen.

I haven't made the 'Credits' room yet, but the upshot is that this has been a lone ride â€" story, puzzles, coding, visuals, background music done by me.

I don't have a Linux box, so I've only tested the Windows version.
Download the game here:

• for Windows
• for Linux (untested)

Hints and tips thread: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=58995.msg636634455#new

So, where's the posting for MAGS March 2021 gone to

that the rewrites […] of the compiler […] have led to worse performance.

I'm currently not aware of any situation in which the rewritten compiler emits less efficient code than the old compiler.

So, what drew you into the project at first? Something you urgently wanted to have fixed/improved?

[ten years]

Hi folks,

So AGS used to be the brain child of Chris Jones, and I had already been a lurker at that time, thinking “Well I certainly don't have the time to make small adventure games right now, but there'll come the time when this will change, and then I will probably want to do them with this tool.”

And when I returned after many years, “suddenly” the project has turned open source, and there was a crew diligently coding away at the studio software, with a small hard core seemingly having done this for around ten years. I mean the crew that programs the system, not the crew that programs adventures using the system.

So how did this transition come to be? What made you take up such a colossal task of tending to about 200'000 lines of code in more than 2'000 files?

• Were you friends of Chris' at the time?
• Did someone rope you in?
• Were you fascinated at some aspect of the code?

Are there some annals somewhere where an “AGS historian” explains how AGS came to be? I'd be very interested to read them. 

Well, I'm stumped.

On a hunch, can you re-download the game? Just to make sure that nothing has been corrupted somewhere.

@Shadow1000

Spoiler

• Before ringing the bell, look (right-click) at the lamps, the doormat, the door (If you're in the middle of a dialogue and want to catch up on that, repeatedly choose the last dialogue option until the dialogues exit -- Scratchy shouldn't get miffed because of it).
• Ring the bell.
• Greet Scratchy, e.g., by choosing "Hi".
• Compliment Scratchy on the lamps, the doormat, the door until you get the audio clue. Just two of them should be sufficient.
• You should now have access to the following dialogues:
  
  
  
  • "You keep everything spotless here..." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your daily chores")
  • "Mice are said to be real cheese connoisseurs." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your cheese hobby.")
  • "Your maze is very well constructed! ..." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your tunnelling career.")

[close]

[Edit:]

@Shadow1000

I hope you haven't uncovered a bug.
Edit: I'm afraid you do have uncovered a bug. Thankfully it seems to be compensated by another bug, namely, that Scratchy doesn't strictly need that thing  after all, as soon as Joey has run through all

Spoiler

3

[close]

main dialogues.

Has Joey (the forklift) ...

Spoiler

told Jason that he should look out for a mouse broom? As Joey, click on Jason and select “Please look out for...” in the dialogue.

[close]

[/s]

Scratchy has the following dialogue, too …

Spoiler

Scratchy has the tunnel dialogues (reached by “Your maze is very well constructed! ...”)

[close]

Hi @lanchong

Spoiler

Jason/Joey need to get the idea that someone has made away with the key through the mousehole.

For that, Jason (the boy) must look at the mousehole after he has found out his bag is torn up. I think Joey will do likewise provided he looks (right-click) at the mousehole.

[close]

Thanks for these tips. I'm unfortunately stuck much earlier in the game.

Hi lanchong,

don't try that.

Instead, you need to ...

Spoiler

get Joey (the forklift) out of the room, but not out of the door.

[close]

Of course that means searching for Joey; he's hiding in the room somewhere.

Also,

Spoiler

after Jason (the boy) has realized he's locked in, he's willing to look at some things that he didn't want to look at before because he'll want to retrieve his spare key.

[close]

Note that Jason (the boy) can click on Joey (the forklift) and vice versa. That opens a short dialogue with the option to change who is the playing character. For some actions, Joey is suited and Jason is not, for others it is the other way round.

There's also an option to transfer aims: If Jason needs something specific, he can tell Joey to look for it and vice versa.

[All]

So here's a hints and tips thread for A Christmas Saved [MAGS December edition]

Where's Scratchy?

Spoiler

In the top right corner of the maze.

[close]

How do I get there?

Spoiler

Joey's headlights can illuminate all passage parts that lie straight ahead.
The walls on the perimeter of the known maze are thick to make it easier to see where the doorways are.

Apart from that, you're on your own, I'm afraid. The maze is randomly generated.

[close]

So how do you get past Scratchy?

That's a lengthy process, but here's how to get started:

Spoiler

You need to get her to like you. So start off tactfully. If you simply go off on her with impertinent requests, she'll become miffed in no time.

[close]

I noticed. So once that happens, what do I do?

Spoiler

The only successful option is to apologize.

[close]

That doesn't get me far. What did I miss?

Spoiler

After you apologize, you must really restart "from square one", i.e., greet her anew and so on.

[close]

But I'm running out of options. All of them seem to irritate her.
1.

Spoiler

Hint: The last dialogue option is always a safe way to back out of dialogues.

[close]

2.

Spoiler

You might have entered into the conversation a bit too hastily. If you look (right-click) around a bit …

[close]

So how do I know when the time of pleasantries has passed?

Spoiler

Well, you know, she starts to like you. And you'll get audio feedback. Once you do, you'll no longer get the options for the pleasantries, but you don't need them either (unless you drive her up the wall again).

All the "Tell me again" options are safe.

[close]

What's up with the whistling?

Spoiler

There are three of them:

• I'm miffed.
• I'm now at peace again. (Restart with greeting her.)
• I like you. (Often, a lot of options will disappear that you no longer need.)

[close]

I need to find some trivia (facts). Where do I get them?

Spoiler

Well, you know, we were told to make this contest about “companions” …

[close]

I need to find something for Scratchy, namely., …

Spoiler

… a broom.

[close]

* Where?

Spoiler

Joey and Jason need to find something adequate in Jason's room.

[close]

* What?

Spoiler

The paint brush on Jason's desk can be repurposed.

[close]

* I know where it is, but I can't take it.

Spoiler

Joey (the forklift) must tell Jason (the boy) to look out for the broom, otherwise, Jason won't see the need.

[close]

So what exactly do I need to say about Scratchy's various experiences?

Spoiler

The facts are randomly generated, sorry.

But note that you can safely select the “Tell me again…” options to be told all the respective facts again. Also note that in the Scratchy dialogues, each line must be confirmed by a click, so you can take as long as you want to process those facts.

Each dialogue should comprise an option (the last option) that allows Joey to safely back out. Some of these last options will terminate the conversation, but no worries, when Joey gets back he can jump right into the “Tell me again …” options to reprise where he left off.

[close]

[Last-minute notes:]

Here's the screenshot.


Download the game here:
http://loquimur-online.de/ags/JasonSavesChristmas/JasonSavesChristmas.zip

Hints and Tips thread

Last-minute notes:
The fast-forward button skips the cutscene. So don't click on it unless you want to do that.

There isn't any inventory. Jason can only carry one thing in his hand, thus he needs to make use of it immediately. Joel, likewise.

The game has a small bug: The school bag can't move to the desk when the chair is in rightmost position, and it can when the chair is in leftmost position. It should be the other way round of course. I'm not fixing this right now because the bug isn't deal breaking. Simply move the chair if you can't move the school bag.

When I playtested the game, sometimes the wall clock was wrong. This only happened in the compiled versions, never in those sessions that I started from the Editor with F5. So I suspect an Engine error. Unfortunately, i can't reproduce the issue reliably.

Will we have a last minute flood?

I might be able to present a game this month … but today being Silvester and all, I'm not sure whether I will get it ready by this evening.

Would it be possible to get an extension?

[after]

What would you use instead of a timer? A boolean variable maybe? (set to true when you save, check if it is true in repeatedly_execute_always, change room and set to false if it is, set to false also on on_event?)

The mechanism that AGS provides for that is CallRoomScript().

The button would call "SaveGameSlot(99);" and then  "CallRoomScript(RESTART_GAME);". Each room would have "function on_call(int script) { if (RESTART_GAME == script) do_your_thing();". Then the function do_your_thing() would be implemented in GlobalScript so that all the rooms have identical handling code. This handling code would run after "SaveGameSlot();" AFAIK. I hope.

CallRoomScript() is my go-to method whenever I need to start some code after the current script has finished. What a pity that this approach entails putting a room event handler into _every_ room, which is easy to forget and error prone.

Now if AGS had a similar "CallGlobalScript()" function that would trigger a "on_global_call(int script)" function in GlobalScript.asc … but alas.