Topics

I apologize if this thread doesnt quite meet the criteria for this section,

I just wanted people to know how important it is to backup your game in full every time you edit it! 

I almost lost about 3 months worth of work because I had a hardware failure last night.  Luckily, I just bought a cheapie computer from work that I wanted to see if the game would run on it, so I copied over the entire tree of the game including source.  It was my only copy outside my local machine that wasnt over 3 months old!

Please don't be forced to turn your projects into abandonware because of a major setback like this!

Hi all
   I really tried to search for this, so I do apologize if this is redundant.

   I have noticed that displaytopbar has a timeout that is something around 5 idle clicks per word in the display message.  The problem with this, is that I find it is too short.  For example, I am dyslexic and I have to read things a few times in order to get comprehension out of it, even if it is my own writing.  I know there are a few game settings for the topbar, but they only pertain to fonts and font colors.

   I have tried to come up with viable alternatives to the top bar, but they all seem to end up being overly complex.  Such as, I tried writing a gui function that appears over a standard dialog, but its too much work to write in it and also generating a dynamically sized gui is not in my grasp if it is even possible at all.

   Can anyone either suggest a good alternative to the topbar or if there is a way to eliminate the timeout and have it act as a standard display window?

I would much appreciate any advice!

Lou

[PreText]

PreText
The legend of the lost jewel was a game that I wrote back in 1990-91 using a sierra style game engine that I wrote in BASIC when I was about 14-15.  The story has been redeveloped, was rewritten in SCI, but because of SCI limitations, is now being re-rewritten in AGS.

To mimic old world sierra graphics with the later versions of the sierra interfaces, all backgrounds, animations and sprites are being made in 16 colors using the SCI editor, then adapted to AGS.

Story
Hundreds of years ago, a jewel existed that was held by an ancient tribe called the Rannu.  It was a jewel that they believe held the universe into balance.  The tribe was destroyed by conquistadors and the jewels were scattered throguh time.

Happenstance causes Derek, the main character into a modern day story of murder, deception and adventure.   He looks to find his way home from an archaeology expedition and ends up entwined in the middle of blood-thirsty power hungry people seeking to find the gem in their own desires of greed.

Screenies





Status
Story: 100%
Graphics: 50%
Music: 50%

Crew
Game development, graphics and code: provost (me)
Game music sounds and supplimentary storyline help:  Chris "Scorposer" Moorson

Greetings

   I REALLY tried hard to search exhaustively to find a solution but I am coming up dry.

   I need to create a couple of objects that need to be able to turn off and on in every room I create.  To be more exact:  the player picks up a compass at one point in the game.  Hitting f4 should turn the compass on.. the background of the compass is the face, and the foreground is the needle which wobbles back and forth over the right direction.

   I had minor success creating an overlay in the global script that turns the face on, but then when you leave the room, of course the overlay goes away, and if you hit f4 to try and toggle it, it has lost the overlay.  I tried importing and exporting the overlay but it doesnt seem to be something you can import and export.

   In short, does anyone have ANY idea how I can accomplish this in the global script so I dont have to have the same two objects in every room?  I can do that and have a function that is imported into every room that controls the direction and animation and such, but that seems like the wrong way to go.

   Again, the goal is to be able to hit f4 to toggle two objects.  One is the  compass background and one is the needle foreground.. and if it is possible to animate the foreground with a view, that is the ultimate goal.

Any advice would greatly be appreciated!

Lou