Messages

Fantastic! That looks like just what I need.

Thank you very much, dasjoe.

EDIT: I didn't use this in the end. The encoding was really bad quality, even on the best quality setting. I found out that I was using an out-of-date version of VirtualDub and that I also needed an extra plug-in to handle MPEG-2. But I got it done in the end and I'm very happy with the result.

I once told my friend not to hurry in the stairs and he fell 28 steps(he's still alive)..
Once however , well, I never watch the road for cars when I'm with company I let other do it, and my best friend has saved me many times but not that I was going to die.. however once ONCE he let me look and I did look and a bus just passed near him if he wouldn't duck the bus mirror would have hit him pretty hard.

The Suitor - I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you. I hope you are getting over the shock.

Dualnames - Far be it from me to be your mother and tell you always to look both ways when crossing the road, but when I'm with other people I always look to see if traffic is coming for myself rather than rely on them. My life is my own responsibility, after all.

The worst situation has to be when there is a crowd of people waiting to cross the road and one person decides to cross before the green man is showing to allow pedestrians to do so, and everyone else follows like sheep, then a car comes whizzing along and just misses them, and everyone looks surprised that they nearly got run over!

Does anyone here use Media Subtitler? It's a great little freeware application for adding subtitles to videos.

Anyway that's enough free publicity from me. I'm having problems embedding the subtitles in the video. I've saved the subtitles as an .ssa file, I've downloaded VirtualDub and the filter, I've loaded the video and the subtitles into Media Subtitler and set it up to point to the VirtualDub folder, but when I click on OK to begin the embedding process, I get "Can't open script file".

Alternatively, does anyone know of any other freeware to embed .ssa or .str subtitle files in an mpg video?

Thanks.

A find-in-any-script woudl be handy [snip]

Yes please! This would be extremely useful and is something I've wanted to use many a time.

I think you forgot that dialogs don't start until the current block of code has finished.

I thought it would be something like that.

In the past, it was possible to run code after a dialog by using a second RunScript-action; unfortunately there's still no proper way to do this in 3.x.

Ah, now that makes sense. I didn't mention that this is code is ported from 2.7x, which would explain why it probably worked before.

Thanks for the responses. I'll check out what works and give an update for other people's reference.

EDIT: Yep, that works fine now. I just had to make sure that the calls to start the dialogs were at the end of each function. So I now have:

Code: ags

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
  //some initial stuff here
  dialog[26].Start();
}

and each dialog has a run-script in it. Then dialog_request() runs the animations, plays the sounds and then starts the next dialog.

Thanks for your help, guys.

Sigh, never try to debug other people's code (although that's a large part of what I do for a living, but that's another story...).

The code I'm having problems with has a dialog that contains a "new-room" function. In the room_AfterFadeIn() function for the room that the character goes to there are five calls to dialog[xx].Start(), each followed by the animation of two NPCs:

Code: ags

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
  dialog[26].Start();
  character[35].LockView(76);
  character[35].Animate(0, 5, eOnce, eBlock);
  character[35].UnlockView();
  character[34].LockView(77);
  character[34].Animate(0, 3, eOnce, eBlock);
  character[34].UnlockView();
  dialog[27].Start();
  // snip
  character[35].Say("says something here");
  character[0].ChangeRoom(12,170,180);    // this is the PC
  character[34].ChangeRoom(-1,100,100);
  Wait(100);
  character[0].Say("something else here");
}

The final part of the code is intended to move both NPCs out of the room and to move the PC back to the room he was in when the original dialog started.

To sum up, we have a call from a dialog to change room, run several dialogs and then change back to the room we started from.

What happens is that the game changes to the new room and the animation runs several times, but the dialogs do not start up. Then the command to move the PC back to the original room causes the following crash: "Error: NewRoom: Cannot queue action, post-script queue full".

What should happen, fairly obviously, is that the the first dialog playes, then when the appropriate topic is chosen, the game changes to the new room, we see the dialogs, the animations run in between them and then the player gets moved back to the original room.

It looks like this code has got itself a bit tied up in knots and a script is not returning in time for something else to happen, or something like that.

Can anyone suggest how to fix this? I'm using v3.0.0.23. Thanks very much.

I know this is irrelavant but wow paolo good job..really.

Thank you, Dualnames, it's nice of you to say so.

This is a big game, with dozens of rooms and lots of side quests. I estimate I'm a little over halfway through.

By the way, I've got a bit further now, so if anyone has made use of everything above and is stuck, I can provide more hints.

EDIT: While working on the English translation, I completed the game and played through pretty much everything that it's possible to do in the game, so I (or Punkkommando, of course) should be able to help if anyone gets stuck with anything else.

I'd just like to say that I have the honour of translating this game into English, and, in my opinion, it is even better than Part I! So I'll try not to keep you all waiting too long

OK, here are a load of hints that should help, depending on how far you've got with the game (all in English to help everyone):

Yes, you are right about what the main goal of the game is. The first thing to do (at the waterfall ["cascata"]) is:

Spoiler

Talk to Matt about everything. He'll tell you what he needs to make you a new bass guitar. He'll also tell you what you need to do so that he can teach you the tune that will destroy the cliff.

[close]

After that, here are various things you can do at each of the places on the map. No doubt there are other things, but this is pretty much what I have done so far:

GIARDINI (park)

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Talk to "Inutile" (who'll be called "Basket Case" in the English version). To challenge him, you need to find something to use as a whip (I don't know what). I think that if you do, and you beat him in the challenge, you'll get a the whip from him, which, as he as hinted, is useful to you in some way (see next hint).

[close]

Spoiler

South American Indians use the material that the whip is made out of to make strings for instruments... that is something you need for the guitar.

[close]

Spoiler

Look in the sandpit.

[close]

GIARDINI PARROCCHI (church grounds)

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Go into the church. Talk to the Blues Brothers about everything. They can help you, but you'll need to be appropriately dressed. Make a note of what they say you need to wear.

[close]

CASCATA (waterfall)

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Talk to Matt about everything, if you haven't already. Things to check out: kebabs; postcards; T-shirts; telescope; Sminkio doll; Pino Scotto doll; dilapidated bridge. Whether any of these get you anywhere, I don't know.

[close]

CASA NONNO E JANNA (Grandpa and Janna's house)

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Talk to Nonno (Grandpa) about everything.

[close]

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I'm not sure whether the climbing plant on the wall or the video entryphone are useful in any way.

[close]

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There is an item here you can pick up.

[close]

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Go into Janna's cave and talk to her about everything.

[close]

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There is a "useful" item here you can take that is not much use by itself, but...

[close]

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Once it is in your inventory, look at it or interact with it to find something of genuine "utility".

[close]

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Go into the prison cells. Talk to the priest about everything to find out what he wants you to do (see next hint).

[close]

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He needs proof that you are a trustworthy person. I don't know what this is yet.

[close]

CARLO'S CAFE

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Talk to Carlo about everything. Look at and interact with the games and the fridge. I don't know if any of this gets you anywhere.

[close]

FERMATA (bus stop)

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Talk to Cuba and Mila about everything. Someone elsewhere in the game has something they would like.

[close]

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Go into the tunnel. Examine the posters. There is something you can take here. It might be useful for your costume, I'm not sure.

[close]

CAMPO DA CALCIO (soccer pitch)

Spoiler

Try to take the ball. Caio won't let you have it.

[close]

Spoiler

Talk to Caio. He'll ask you three questions. Get the answers right he'll give you the ball. If you get them wrong, just try again. I won't give the right answers here, partly because I don't want to spoil the game and partly because I can't remember which ones they are but they are the same every time.

[close]

MONUMENTO (monument)

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Go to the POSTE (post office). I haven't found anything else useful you can do at the monument yet.

[close]

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Interact with the trash can and you'll find something.

[close]

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Talk to Emogirl about everything. You'll find out the sort of person she likes to go out with.

[close]

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Go into the bar. They sell ice-cream here. Someone else in the game likes ice-cream (who you might or might not yet have spoken too) - I'm not sure whether this is significant.

[close]

This is less than half of what I have done so far and should keep you busy for a while. I'll post more tips later.

EDIT: OK, more tips, continued from the above.

One other key goal of the game:

Spoiler

Find four musicians who can teach you the tune you need to destroy the cliff with. I won't say who these might be, but so far I've found two solo artists and two groups.

[close]

One big hint on clicking on things: if you click on something, sometimes it has no effect because Captain Fortune walks over the top of the thing that you clicked on. Try clicking and then moving the cursor well out of his way. This doesn't always work, but does sometimes.

Spoiler

In the bar next to where the emo girl is, talk to Manny about being a connoisseur of cocktails. He'll tell you how to make a cocktail. There's someone else in the game who would like one of these, but there are a load of ingredients you'll need to find first. You may already have seen some of them in other locations or got hold of some of them. You'll find at least one of them near someone who is crying.

[close]

Spoiler

Talk to Manny about being the Grim Reaper. He'll want proof that there's been an accident. Once you've given him something, you'll be able to take something you need from this room.

[close]

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To prove that there has been an accident, give two other characters elsewhere in the game something to play with. Oh dear!

[close]

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Investigate what has happened. Here you'll find something that proves you have been here.

[close]

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Don't forget to go into the theatre (off to the right of Manny's bar). There's someone else here who needs your help.

[close]

PARCHEGGIO (car park/parking lot)

Spoiler

Talk to Agente Ryder (Officer Ryder). No doubt there is something useful you can find out here too.

[close]

FONTANA (fountain)

Spoiler

Try to take the parcel. It looks like you need to find some way of getting hold of it. Talk to Felicina. You can use an inventory object somewhere here, too, to collect something you need.

[close]

Go left to the CARBONAIO (a place that was used by the criminal Carboneri in days gone by).

Spoiler

You can get your hands on something in this building even though you can't go inside.

[close]

There must be something you can do in the FALEGNAME (carpenter's workshop) but I haven't found out what yet.

FORNAIO (bakery)

Spoiler

Talk to Nardo - he'll give you another task.

[close]

Spoiler

There is an item you can take here that will be useful later on.

[close]

CASA DI SMINKIO (Sminkio's house)

Spoiler

There is a item you can take here.

[close]

Spoiler

Have a look in a place where things often get lost, and you'll find another item.

[close]

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Talk to Sminkio about everything. I'm not sure whether this is useful or not.

[close]

PIAZZA

Spoiler

Talk to the butcher. You'll get another inventory item.

[close]

Spoiler

Just on the left, a little way up the steps, is the rear entrance of the butcher's shop. You can get into the butcher's that way.

[close]

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Talk to Jason about everything (and there's plenty to talk about). I'm not sure whether this is useful or not, but it is amusing.

[close]

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There is what looks like an inventory item here, but I'm not sure whether you can pick it up. At least, when I tried, Jason got upset.

[close]

CASA DELL'ESPERTO DI CAPITELLI (house of the export on capitals - that's the tops of columns, by the way, not capital cities or capital letters).

Spoiler

Somewhere in this room is an item that is of use to you.

[close]

Spoiler

I wonder if a bit of matchmaking might be possible here? I don't know how, though.

[close]

STUDIO DATABASE

Spoiler

Talk to Pino Scotto about everything. This will suggest something else you need to do.

[close]

Spoiler

There is someone else here you need to talk to, too, but you can't see him. You'll have to move the cursor around until you hit the appropriate hotspot. His name is a pun.

[close]

Spoiler

Talking the hidden person will reveal another possible task.

[close]

VETTA (peak)
I haven't been able to get here yet. Maybe you need something to get there, or need to have done something.

SOTTO IL PONTE (bridge)

Spoiler

Talk to It (the clown) about everything.

[close]

Spoiler

There is an object here you can take.

[close]

CASA NATALINO (Natalino's house)

Spoiler

Try to open the boot (trunk) of the car. You need something to open it with. A relative might be able to help you here.

[close]

Spoiler

Talk to Natalino about everything.

[close]

BOSCO (woods)

Spoiler

Part of your guitar is here. I haven't been able to get it.

[close]

Spoiler

Search the shed.

[close]

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There is a boat (BATTELLO) down by the river. It's a bit hard to walk there.

[close]

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Once on the boat, go inside and talk to Tilly about everything. Here you'll get another task, for which you need inventory item you don't yet have.

[close]

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Go through the doors on the right. Talk to the character here about everything. Swap a certain inventory item (already mentioned above) for something you need from him.

[close]

Spoiler

Go back and do what you need to do with Tilly. To win, you need to beat her three times. If you fail, go back and try again. Making the same choices gives the same results, so once you win one round, that is what you need to do to win that round again. No answers here... work it out for yourself! Tilly rewards you with something you needed earlier on.

[close]

And one more hint at the RUPE (cliff)

Spoiler

There are two hotspots here that have not been given names ("Hotspot 3" and "Hotspot 4"). Investigate both. You'll need an inventory item (I don't know what) in order to do be able to do anything with one of them.

[close]

Phew! That's as far as I've got, and now I'm stuck. It looks like there's still a long way to go!

Anyone have any further hints on how to go on from here?

Eli,

I'm currently working on the English translation, and have a played a good part of the game. Where are you stuck? What have you tried doing?

It looks like a couple of people have downloaded this game and played it. Has anyone had any trouble getting the game to start? When I click on "NUOVO GIOCO" ("NEW GAME"), the game hangs.

EDIT: I've downloaded the game and been playing it for a while now. The interface is a bit fiddly to use at times but the game is well worth playing, I think, and has given me a lot of laughs too.

EDIT: An English version is now available: download it from here (59M approx).

The music pack (which is the reason for the original file being so huge) is being uploaded separately so people can choose whether or not to download it.

About the game:

Where Man has failed...
    Where God has failed...
        Punk rules!

Punk bass-player PuNKKoMmANDO hates the town of DoVaDuLa'S and is determined to destroy it, but his countless attempts at doing so have always been thwarted. When the police confiscate his bass guitar, PuNKKoMmANDO turns to the punk-rock guitarist Matt Freeman for help.

Available in English and Italian

Features:

* A huge number of locations and characters
* Lots of wacky humour
* An hour's gameplay or more

Hey, ProgZMax, that looks great! The sky looks like we'll be seeing Samantha from Bewitched flying past at any minute...

Sounds are nice, but they shouldn't be necessary to play the game. This was a real problem for me in return to zork as I did not have a sound card when I rented the game. Personally I prefer games WITHOUT speech as they tend to vastly increase file size, as for other sound effects I would suggest putting the them in an optional file that can be downloaded separately. Another idea would be to have sound effects represented on the screen with words like Clank, Bang, Bonk, Snap, and other words, (can't remember the name for those words that are named for what they sound like).

I quite agree with all of these points. When I play these games at work (in my lunch hour or after hours), I generally have the sound off. Our machines don't have speakers, and those of us who need audio use headphones. So when I was playing Ben Jordan 7, it was only by chance that

Spoiler

I picked up the phone in Ben's bedroom as there was no indication that it was ringing other than the sound.

[close]

That game had great voice acting in it but it made the download huge - to his credit, though, Grundislav did provide a link to a download without the voices when people asked for it.

If you've played Trance-Pacific, you'll know that it is completely silent (I had trouble getting sound effects to work at the time) but includes a couple of places where sound plays an essential role,

Spoiler

in particular, the pipe in the corridor.

[close]

The sounds are represented by onomatopoeias (I think that's the word you were looking for, mkennedy) or by a character drawing attention to them. That said, it would have been nice to put sound in, but there was not time.

So sound in a game definitely adds to the playing experience but, in my opinion, game-makers need to remember that not everyone will be able to hear sound in the game. A puzzle that relies on sound alone can be an unfair one to some players.

Hi, just wanted to say I've created an article for Spoonbeaks Ahoy! on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly_Cootalot:_Spoonbeaks_Ahoy!

More people should know about this fantastic game!

The link is incorrect. Try this one instead (which includes the ! in the URL):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly_Cootalot:_Spoonbeaks_Ahoy!


Looks like you fixed it at the same time as me

The nose looks flat to me. If you look at the brow, the eyes, the cheekbones and the lips, these all have depth, but the nose looks two-dimensional. I think it might be to do with the symmetry of the shadows, and also that the shadows come up right the sides of the wide part of the nose - if the lighting is from above, would they come up this far? I can't really say how this could be made to look better, I'm afraid.

Personally I'd like bringing back the P3n1s award, but restricting it to games made as a joke. But given the flame wars we've had on the subject, I can see why people wouldn't want to.

In that case, how about we have "Best Joke Game" instead? This will make it an award for inventiveness rather than a potentially insulting booby prize.

The background is looking lovely. I take it you are going to change the house too - the house would be dark as well, and if the lights are shining through the windows, this would make it seem even darker or even completely silhouetted (as your eyes adapt to the bright light, other things nearby end up looking darker).

I played a Flash game that would have qualified for this (except it wasn't an AGS game, of course) not so long ago, where there were various levels and you (a caveman) had to complete a task at each level (make fire, woo a cavewoman and start a family, etc). Did anyone else play it and can anyone remind me what it was called? It wasn't OgOg but it was similar.

Is StoneAge Sam the one you're thinking of?

Yes! That's the one. Thanks, OneDollar.

Hurrr! Hurrr!

I played a Flash game that would have qualified for this (except it wasn't an AGS game, of course) not so long ago, where there were various levels and you (a caveman) had to complete a task at each level (make fire, woo a cavewoman and start a family, etc). Did anyone else play it and can anyone remind me what it was called? It wasn't OgOg but it was similar.

OK, quick science lesson (skip to the "Why do things look blue at night?" bit if you're not interested):

Anyone who spends time with little children will have heard the question "Why is the sky is blue?" Unfortunately, the answer requires a little bit of physics, so will be beyond the average toddler/pre-schooler.

Visible light from the Sun is made up of radiation of various wavelengths. Of these, red has the longest wavelength, and bluey-purple has the highest. (Other types of radiation exist outside this range: for example, radio waves have longer wavelengths than red light, and X-rays have much shorter wavelengths, but that is by the by...). The other traditional colours of the rainbow (orange, yellow, etc) come in between, with progressively shorter wavelengths as you go through the spectrum.

Radiation with long wavelengths (that is, red, orange and yellow light) is more easily scattered by particles (dust, water vapour, pollution, etc) in the Earth's atmosphere than radiation with shorter wavelengths (green, blue, purple), which means that the light that manages to reach our eyes looks blue.

If the sky is overcast, light of all frequencies is scattered, so the cloud cover looks grey.

(Oops, I didn't read miguel's later reply - sorry for the duplicated info.)

====

Why do things look blue at night? Because film-makers put a blue filter over their lenses (or do the equivalent in post-production) to make things look cold and dark, as Ryan Timothy has already mentioned, so we have become accustomed to thinking that blue = night time. If you go outside at night, or look around a darkened room in the middle of the night, you'll see that things don't really look blue, they are just dark.* If anything, things look yellow at night in the city and indoors, as the spectrum of light from street lights and standard light bulbs does not have much blue in it and so is yellow.

* Correct me if I'm wrong and somehow blue light manages to leak around the illuminated part of the Earth and illuminate the dark part, or the Moon reflects only the blue light from the Sun (it doesn't, or else the Moon would look blue), but darkness means no light or reduced light of all colours!