Messages

[Display]

Looks like I got it working, this is just what I was looking for! Now I have my keyboard button image inserted into my TextWindow GUI, and everything works with the Display command.

Here's my code, does it seem alright ?

Code: ags

dynamic_test = DynamicSprite.CreateFromExistingSprite(6472, true);
    
gMessage_Box.BackgroundGraphic = dynamic_test.Graphic;
    
DrawingSurface* ds = dynamic_test.GetDrawingSurface();
    
// draw stuff
ds.DrawImage(5, 57, 13525);
ds.Release();

Thanks for all the help everyone!

[Room.GetDrawingSurfaceForBackground]

Here's how to draw stuff on a GUI's background:

Thanks, I managed to change the TextWindow background with this! Is there a way to place the DynamicSprite on to the background, like with the Room.GetDrawingSurfaceForBackground command, instead of replacing it?

I'll continue fiddling with these!

Thanks for the answers!

Because my game is almost completed and I'm just doing final touches, I'm looking for the simplest / safest a way that doesn't introduce any new problems. So I'm still figuring which approach to take.

It sounded like the main reason you didn't want to use a GUI was that TextWindow resizes itself to fit the text. Does that mean you're using a decorated TextWindow with a frame and tiled background?

Yes, that's the reason! And yes, I use a TextWindow with custom graphics (8 different corner sprites). Works well and looks nice enough. Little hesitant to use a new module at this point, but I might take a look.

Besides the above methods with the fonts, using DrawingSurface and DynamicSprite, which you paste onto a custom GUI's background (or set as a GUI button's graphic), is a most flexible method

I didn't know I could do this! What command should I use to paste the DynamicSprite to the GUI's background? I only managed to do it in room's background. Would it be possible to to paste it into my TextWindow GUI, it has a background image sprite in the editor. That would be the perfect solution!

Thanks for the tip! Downloaded it, I'll test it tomorrow!

Ok, tested the font edit tool, it's pretty neat and simple to use. But it seems that you can only draw white pixels (or erase them). My keyboard button image that I want to use is small, but made in Photoshop and has several colors and shading. Is it somehow possible to add that image to a font? I'm not very familiar with font editing unfortunately.

Thanks Khris!

That's a clever approach, I would have never thought of it. I'll try it soon and let you know if it works, or if run into problems.

[Display]

Hello!

Is there a way to insert an image into text (more specifically into TextWindow)?
I have a tutorial messages in my game that simply use the Display command. It works well, but I would like to insert an image of a keyboard button into it (rather than use a letter).

I don't want to use a custom GUI for the tutorial messages, because the amount of text changes a lot in them. Display and the TextWindow works well adjusting to the right size. I tried playing around with the Dynamicsprite, but couldn't create the sprite on top of the TextWindow.

So is this possible at all, without using custom GUIs for the messages? Thanks!

[Big news! Dreams in the Witch House has a publisher!]

Big news! Dreams in the Witch House has a publisher!

Bonus Stage Publishing is helping me to finish the game and spread the word. Feels good to share the load!

This means the game will be delayed to early 2023, so that they have time to do their thing. The upside is that DITWH will be more polished and tested when it launches.

Link to the official announcement: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1902850/view/3376037401290307161

I'm wondering how will saving work in the game: will it be possible to save at any moment, or does it include some kind of autosaving? The former would be better, it would greatly simplify exploration of possible paths and outcomes.

There's an autosave each morning, but you can also do manual saves. The saving is limited only in very specific situations / locations.

Good to hear that development is going steadily, I can't wait! On the other hand I don't mind you adding more stuff to the game

Thanks! It's easy and fun to add stuff, but to make sure it works in all the possible scenarios can be a pain in the ***!

To me it looks like some kind of resurrection machine. Let's see if I will dare to use it

Maybe the hieroglyph reads from left to right, making it the opposite 

Hi all!

It's been a while since my last update, so to fix this and to celebrate the new, fancy looking site here's something new!



Can you guess what the machine does? And do you dare to use it?

Also, the development is still going steadily on, and if I just stop adding new stuff, the 2022 release is still possible!

Thanks for the new versions eri0o! The checking of the braces (cliking next to them) is a handy feature. I still miss the automatic highlighting when typing in the script editor, now it works only in the dialog editor. To make them behave in a same way would be logical.

[AGS 3.5.1.21]

Ok, here's more testing results. And by the way, I'm using Windows 7 at the moment (working on my older laptop for a awhile). Normally I use Win 10 (I believe it behaved in a similiar way). Also the highlighting works in the dialog editor, but not in the script editor.

AGS 3.5.1.21

Script editor:
- Round braces working
- Curvy braces NOT working

Dialog editor:
- Round braces working
- Curvy braces working

AGS 3.6.0.35

Script editor:
- Round braces NOT working
- Curvy braces NOT working

Dialog editor:
- Round braces working
- Curvy braces working

eri0o's version

Script editor:
- Round braces kind of working: Works only when typing the brace, then typing another item next to it and deleting it by backspace
- Curvy braces kind of working: Works only when typing the brace, then typing another item next to it and deleting it by backspace

Dialog editor:
- Round braces kind of working: When typing the first brace, it gets instantly highlighted as red, typing the second brace highlights them yellow
- Curvy braces kind of working: When typing the first brace, it gets instantly highlighted as red, typing the second brace highlights them yellow

Ok, thanks for the detailed answer CW!

I'll switch to mono sounds when there's panning involved. There could be a mention of stereo sounds not working with panning in the Upgrading to AGS 3.6 page: https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/UpgradeTo36.html. Also, there could be a mention of this in the manual in the AudioChannel.Panning section. At first I thought that the panning was broken, when my sounds stopped working.

Can you clarify this? We've upgraded the library behind the script editor, and some things may still not be fully restored, but I think it's a matter of adding a fix or two.

This issue was mentioned before by greg, I think he explained it quite well:

2. The editor no longer automatically highlights matching braces as I type.  Instead, after typing the brace, I need to press Ctrl+B to highlight the corresponding brace.  Is that intended?

So the editor used to highlight the matching brace as yellow automatically when typing. If there was too many braces, the editor highlighted the extra brace red. This made it easy to see if the braces match or not. Hope this makes it more clear!

[EDIT:]

I just updated to the latest 3.6.0, a big thanks to everyone who is involved in it!

I have one issue: The audio panning does not work anymore with stereo clips. There was some discussion about the topic earlier:

Yes, Panning is not working within the sound library again (not sure if it worked before).

EDIT: It's confirmed that with the new sound library the Panning does not work for stereo clips, only works for mono clips, allegedly according to the OpenAL specification.
We need to investigate of the available solutions.
Opened ticket: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/issues/1637

EDIT2 According to the OpenAL specs:
https://openal.org/documentation/OpenAL_Programmers_Guide.pdf (page 21)

Buffers containing more than one channel of data will be played without 3D spatialization.

This basically means that stereo wave is not positioned by OpenAL in 3D space, only mono wave is.

In 3.5.1 version stereo clips worked fine when panning. I can change the clips that require panning to mono, but ofcourse it would be great to have that functionality back again. Any news about this issue? Should I just go with the mono versions?

+ One small extra gripe, but I also miss the yellow auto brace highlight when writing code. Other than that, everything seems great!

Thanks Matti for the comments, great to hear you like the demo! The full game will have a slightly calmer beginning, so it should be a little less stressful.

Also, thanks for the earplug bug report, I'll add it to my fix list (but not sure yet if / when I update the demo).

Will your playthroughs be available for those who couldn't or, for some reason, didn't want to watch them live?

Probably not, I think I'll leave the streaming to professionals! It was kind of fun and exciting though. Always nice to try something completely new.

[Get it on Steam:]

The demo got just updated to version 1.04!

Get it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/



There's a couple of really good changes and tweaks based on the early feedback:

- Support for Linux Proton / Wine
- Halved the time progression speed when in real-time. Now one real-time minute is 30 minutes in game
- Stopwatch symbol now shows all the paused situations
- Made a story object in Joe's room easier to spot
- Joe can now have planks for the rat hole
- Starting Math skill now 1.0
- Added 1 portion of food to starting items
- Edited Character Bar descriptions for Coldness and Wetness to be more informative
- Changed Coffee House button text from "Lunch" to "Meal"
- Added a couple of new comments for Walter when interacting with certain items
- New save game slot now empty (no need to delete the previous text)
+ some minor fixes / adjustments

And save games from previous version should work without noticeable problems!

[libagsteam-32.so]

Thanks for the comments!

Mainly I was worried about the compile warning that I got with the libagsteam-32.so. Don't really understand how Linux works, but I was happy to get rid of it by renaming it.

You can make an sh file call it Start.sh

Wow, that's heavy stuff. What exactly does the code do? I think I will leave the proper Linux version for now, and get back to it after the full release. It seems that many Linux users use the Windows version with the Proton / Wine thing.

Will there be dead ends in the final game? Maybe if I run out of money and get sick because I ran through the rain or something? 

Because the time is advancing and days pass by even if you just hang around doing nothing, there won't be dead ends as such.  Like if you have missed a puzzle, the game still progresses and new opportunites and dangers arise. I think the only dead end is that you die! 
If you run out of money, you just need to hang on until the next Monday when you get your weekly allowance in the mail. The odd jobs at the lodging house are also meant to act as a backup, if you run out of money. I try to balance the game so that it's ok to struggle a while, and then get back up again.