Messages

Found a bug. I enjoyed the fashion police conversations, so I tried entering that room several times in a row, and at one point, I'm guessing because they'd run out of conversation, the game ended and I got the error message

in Room 4 script (line 184)

Error: EndCutscene: not in a cutscene

Thanks for fixing this one. I downloaded the game again today, but it has crashed with the opposite error:

in Room 4 script (line 81)

Error: StartCutscene: already in a cutscene

This happened when

Spoiler

the fashion police were talking about being harsh on the bum

[close]

(this line seems ripe for innuendo, but the game crashed before I could see if there was any).

It's not essential, but replayability is probably a strong factor. One reason that commercial adventure games fell out of favour is that once you'd completed them, there was little point in playing them again, unlike other formats of game (such as shoot 'em ups) where you get a different outcome every time round.

Things like randomness, multiple paths through the story, subplots, side quests and Easter eggs all help to make the game replayable. Even with these, the number of times you can replay the game and have a different experience is still limited because adventure games necessarily have a fixed main storyline and a fixed goal.

So if your game can get round this inbuilt problem, it is more likely people will want to pay for it.

Spoiler

talk to Bipasha and take a look at the office

[close]

Thanks, but I'm still stuck...

Spoiler

I can't talk to Bipasha about anything other than Raj, and I can't go upstairs without an appointment. I suppose I can get water from the waterfall, but I don't have anything to put it in.

[close]

I'm stuck way before then.

Spoiler

I have map, scissors and boxing gloves. I think I need to get the boxer a drink, but where can I find him one?

[close]

[http://www.barnrunner.com/patches/X2HotFix.rar]

Is there a trick to beating the robot in the church fight after visiting the monk's room?

This is also for TassieDevil and the handful of others who dislike arcade sequences.

http://www.barnrunner.com/patches/X2HotFix.rar

Hooray! Thank you for that, Ponch. I've now finished the game. I'm glad I didn't delete it.

The patch doesn't seem to work if you load the autosaved slot (the "arcade scene skipped" message comes up, and then just sticks there - you can't click or anything)... I had to go back to an earlier savegame to get it to work. I might have saved over the autosaved slot though, so don't take this as gospel.

I was in a similar situation a few months ago. Company A were very keen to have me, but I wasn't sure whether the job was right for me. I had a few more interviews coming up in the next day or two (I had several agents looking out for work for me), so I did what RickJ is suggesting - I told Company A that I had other potential offers coming up and that I would let them know. They were happy to give me a few days to make up my mind, which I think is reasonable for any company to do. After all, if they really want you and you are better than the next-best candidate, they would probably rather hold out to see if they can get you before considering an inferior candidate. I think it's unlikely that Company A, if they want you, will give up on you just because you take a day or two to make up your mind. (Of course, if you wait for more than, say, a week, they might think you weren't bothered, so don't leave it too long.)

In the end, Company B made me an offer too, and, as the offer was much better, I accepted it. Company A were fine with it. Of course, no doubt they would much rather I had gone with them, but just as you don't always get the job you want, employers don't always get the employees they want.

I would advise against Indie Boy's suggestion, even though I think it might be made in jest... if you joined that company after supposedly being bereaved and were all smiles at getting the job, they might smell a rat. If they think you've lied to them before you've even started, it could make them feel they can't trust you and question whether you were telling the truth at your interview.

EDIT: I forgot to mention... when Company A heard I was accepting the other job, they offered me more money, so like Rick says, it pays to be honest and to negotiate. In the end, though, it was about which job I felt I would be happier in rather than just the money.

[Nevermind]

Nevermind (and other combination words like chainmail) can be correctly written as a single word in spite of what the forum checker might tell you.  It's great to help people, but it's also important to be sure you're giving people the right information. 

I quite agree that it is important, so I've checked.

"Nevermind" exists only as an old-fashioned noun (see this dictionary entry), but the original poster is using "never mind" as a verbal phrase, so "never mind" is correct. (The same is true of "thank you" [a verbal phrase, short for "I thank you", as in "Thank you for your help."] and "thankyou" [noun - "a thousand thankyous" or "a thousand thank-yous"]).

And yes, OneDollar, you're quite right - grammar and spelling can come later. Far better to get the game finished than spend for ever looking every word up in the dictionary to make sure it's spelled correctly.

EDIT: Oops, always read to the bottom of the thread before replying. SteveMcCrea, you beat me to it.

I know this is probably an early draft of the conversation and that the criticism I'm about to offer is not what you asked for, but I think you need to take more care over the spelling and punctuation:

Lif:"What did you eat as a kid to get so tall Barbara!"
   should end in a question mark, not an exclamation mark.

Barbara:"Both my parents where in the NBA"
   should be "were", not "where"

Lif:"That would explain alot."
   "a lot" is two words

Barbara:"Hey Lif. Why did you move out here."
   second sentence should end in a question mark, not a full stop/period

Lif:"How many talking lizard's do you know?"
   don't use apostrophes in non-possessive plurals (should be "lizards", not "lizard's")

Barbara:"Hmm, I couldin't say, let me try to remember."
   should be "couldn't", not "couldin't"

Lif:"Nevermind."
   "Never mind" is two words, despite what many writers of adventure games would have you believe.


If this sounds picky or pedantic, remember that people's impression and enjoyment of your game will be affected by the quality of the English as well the quality of the graphics, gameplay, etc.

Good luck with your game. If you need someone to proofread it before you release it, let me know.

I assume that using copyrighted music  is also a bit lame, of course if it isn't obviously necessary to use a melody like that in your game.
[snip]

Just a point about copyright that is often misunderstood (and note that I am not a lawyer) - if you produce an original piece of work (be it music, a novel, an article or anything else) you own the copyright automatically. There is no registration process to follow (unlike patenting an invention). So if someone composes some music for your game, it is copyrighted, so saying "using copyrighted material is lame" makes no sense, because all music is copyrighted, unless the copyright has lapsed (usually so many years after the composer's death - at least, this is how it works for novels, which is why you can download the works of Shakespeare from the Internet for free).

Copyright means that people are restricted in how they can use that music unless they have been given explicit permission by the author. Of course, you have agreed with the composer that they are composing the music specifically to be used your game, which means they are giving you the right to use it. If they had written it for someone else or for themselves or to be released as a single and you took it and used it in your game without their permission, they could sue you for breach of copyright.

I do understand what you meant when you said "copyrighted music", though. You meant music made by a professional recording artist, but original music made by anyone else is copyrighted as well once it is in written form. Once again, I am not a lawyer.

Like you say, the best option all round for a clear conscience is to have some bespoke music made for your game. And the thing is, because the music is made especially for the game, the game will be better than it would have been with some music you acquired by more legally dubious means. So go for it - find a composer (there are plenty on this site) and ask them to compose some fresh, original, exciting music for your game!

This is a brilliant idea!

I'm sure we'd all love to see your pupils' work. When they upload their games, make sure you include links to them in the AGS database so we can all play them!

EDIT: auriond, I can see you are a teacher. You used the plural possessive correctly

I know you're looking for criticism of the rooms, but your character looks like he has only one eye, or two eyes but only one pupil in the middle of the two. Or is this intentional?

DazJ, it's looking a lot better. I think you've fixed all the problems you had initially. New pic, new criticisms, but don't be discouraged - it's looking good on the whole.

The problem with making it look more like an insect is that insects are gross, and the fasmo character is supposed to be cute.

To get your insect looking cute, make the eyes much bigger. Part of the appeal of babies, puppies, etc, comes from the fact that the eye is fully sized from birth, making it look proportionately bigger in a baby than in an adult. You can exaggerate this effect to increase the cuteness factor. See the third picture from A Bug's Life mentioned above - the eyes are much larger and much more human than in a real ant.

I think the problem is with the 'horizontal pillars' (sorry but I don't know what they should be called) being too large.

Anyway, I think there're something that are out of the proportion that makes it look odd.

The "horizontal pillars" are beams.

The problem is, I think, that the room extends too far back, the point of view is too high (as if the person viewing the scene is in mid-air) and the beams are too large. Yes, it looks isolated (mainly because it is empty) but all of these shortcomings (to my mind) give an oppressive edge to the image. I thought this was a picture of a cellar or a dungeon before I read that it was supposed to be a hotel reception.

A reception would have more than just one overhead light bulb, and if it is abandoned, why is the overhead light on?

Sure, it is meant to be isolated, but if I walked into this hotel looking for a place to stay I'd find it very unwelcoming. Or is that the intention?

Just my thoughts.

I'll PM you my comments.

Well, poop. My game got nothing. *sob* Thanks a lot, AGS community!

There, there, no need to be down. I nominated you too, but you just didn't make the top 5, alas.

What a bumper crop of fantastic games we had in 2007! Deciding who to vote for in some of the categories is going to be tricky.

If i don't use return how else do i say to my room script that by the time that the game starts the hour is 9?

Remove the "return" statement from the script header, then declare "hour" in the global script instead:

Code: ags

int hour;

Define it in game_start, as you have already done.

Alternatively, you can define it at the same time as you declare it at the top of the global script:

Code: ags

int hour = 9;

Whichever way you do it, you then need to export it at the end of the global script:

Code: ags

export hour;

Import it at the top of each of the room scripts that use it:

Code: ags

import int hour;

You should then find that "hour" is equal to 9 in each of the room scripts that uses it.

If "hour" is used only in one room script, then it's tidier and simpler to declare and define it at the top of that room script instead - no exports or imports will be needed.

I would suggest you do the same with all of your other variables. Declare any that are used in more than one room at the top of the global script, define them in game_start and export them at the bottom of the script; import them into the room scripts that need them. Declare and define any variables that are used in one room only at the top of that room script. Any variables that are used in one function only can be declared and defined within that function.

game_start is only for doing things like initialising variables. You should not be declaring anything in there (that is, writing things like "int x"). When you say "and this is where my structs begin", do you mean you are initialising your structs? You certainly shouldn't be declaring structs in game_start.

So

Code: ags

struct MyStruct
{
	int a;
	bool b;
};

and

Code: ags

MyStruct m;

do not belong in game_start, but

Code: ags

m.a = 10;
m.b = false;

is fine, provided m has already been declared earlier on, either in the global script or in the script header.

But you probably realise this. I think the problem could be that you have put a return statement in game_start:

Code: ags

#sectionstart game_start  // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
function game_start() {
player.z -= 15;

hour = 9;
SetTimer (1, 2400);
return hour; 

//lots more initialisations snipped
}

which means all those initialisations after the "return" never happen.

A couple of tips for future reference when writing code and posting it here that will make it easier to read and help people to help you. (Apologies in advance if you already know this.)

* Use the "code" tags [ code] and [ /code] around any code you post to the forum (without the spaces after the "["s).

* Indent your code correctly. Indent by an extra tab (or a fixed number of spaces) after an opening brace ("{") and come back by one tab on the line with the closing brace, like this:

Code: ags

a_function()
{ //open brace on the line *after* the function name
	some code inside braces
	some more code inside braces
} //close brace that lines up with open brace

AGS tries to do this for you, but often gets in a mess (in v2.71, at least).

* Line up the closing brace with the corresponding opening brace. AGS does not do this.

* Don't put more than one statement on a line.

In this case, it's not the braces but the round brackets. The problem is that you've forgotten to close the bracket in this line:

Code: ags

cDom.Say("A table is a form of furniture composed of a surface supported by a base, usually four legs. ";

There should be a closing bracket before the semicolon. The error comes out at line 69 rather than on this line because the parser keeps on going, looking for the close bracket, and eventually runs out of buffer space several lines later.

Is it possible to change the Text Color attribute of text window GUIs from within a script? I've looked at the attributes of the GUI, there doesn't seem to be anything like TextColor. The manual doesn't mention how to do it, and threads in this forum suggest it might not be possible...

Specifically, what I want to do is set the text colour in the Sierra-style GUI I'm using for their speech so that "Say" uses different colours for different characters, like it would do in LucasArts style.

I'm using v2.71. Is this functionality available in a later version, or is there a workaround for v2.71?

Thanks.