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I'm just curious...is there any good software that people can recommend me which I could use to alter my voice to a wide range of voices so that I could do my own voice acting?

went to test game, and my computer shut down

I've never had this happen before in AGS or any other prog on this computer

there's not much chance of finding the problem in my situation but just somethign to keep an eye out for!

I'm scripting a GUI like that used in NWN.  For those of you who aren't familiar, let me explain:

Right clicking brings up a series of evenly spaced globes in a circle around the current mouse location.  There is a globe for each possible option that can be chosen based on what was clicked.  At this time, the cursor disappears and is replaced with a line going from the origin to the current mouse position.  Releasing over one of the globes selects it.  If there is a sub-menu, that menu will open; else the option corresponding to that globe is executed.  When a globe is moused-over, the title appears below this option menu.

There are a few things I don't know how to do:

The biggest problem for me right now is having the ray which goes from the origin to the current mouse position.  I can't use an overlay to draw a line for some reason which would be really nice.  Instead I have to use RawDrawLine -- whenever the GUI is up, I save and restore the screen continuously so as to allow the line to move.  But the problem with this is that I can only save 1 screen!  So when I close down the option box, I've still got a line left!

It would be nice if I could create graphic overlays for all the same things I can do with RawDraw.  It would also be nice if there was not a limit of 1 saved RawScreen.  I think maybe sometime in the future you'll be able to rotate an Overlay which would solve the problem but I can't do that now.

So it seems that my only option is to create something like 50 or so sprites depicting a line at each angle and then compute the angle between the origin and current mouse position (using a math plugin) and use that to choose which sprite to display!

Well I think the restriction of 10 overlays is really quite harsh and I'd like to request that it be upped.  A value of 100 I think would solve most problems, but I think a value of 1000 would be a fair number. 

Still, I wonder...why do these restrictions exist?  Even if arrays are being statically defined...why can these not be part of a game's settings?

I have nothing to C&C but this is a topic for the artists.

I have always wondered how do they do the VGA or EGA graphics for the old games.

They often don't have the look of being hand-drawn.Ã,  So I wonder, how do they mask that?Ã,  People aren't perfect and I won't accept the explanatino that they are "just good"...there must be some techniques about their design process that helps them to get a professional look besides just being "good" at pixel art.

Looking at a game like QFG...I wonder, if perhaps someone has painted pictures IRL, then scanned them in and shrunk them down before converting to VGA?

A lot of times I see shading that is done with alternating pixel patterns and stuff like that also.Ã,  I don't believe someone went through the tedium of placing all those alternate pixels....because they often appear to have been done in a way that looks computer generated.

This makes me think that someone drew a cartoon, then colored it on the computer, then used some software to make an EGA rendition, which is capable of forming in-between colors by using pixel shading patterns.

Does anyone have any knowledge of these "professional" processes?

In this test I am only trying to import 1 area.  I made a 2 color image (solid black and solid white) and converted it to Indexed color in photoshop.  When trying to import it as a mask, I get an error message telling me to paint my mask using color index 0 for blank and 1+ for layers.  In Photoshop, I don't see a way to do this...I can view the color table but it does not say what the indexes are!  I would assume black is an index but it's giving me the error with this simple 2 color image.

screenshot key doesnt work for it

Well I might as well make this into a fun decision 
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How about allow .avi files to be used for sprite import for animations?

I have found it extremely difficult to manage sprite loops that involve tons of frames...I can't see the difference between them and if I import 1 frame in the wrong order, then I've got to start all over...it's also not nice having folders filled up with so many sprites.

I would like a plugin that allows me to handle text in a chat-log type system.

Aka,  everything that is said in conversation is added to the log...and they can scroll up to read past comments.

IF you still don't know what I'm talking about, think NWN, Baldur's Gate, etc.

I would like to see a way to include .cpp/.h files (that would accept C++ code), either through the use of a prepocoessor directive such as #include, or by setting them through some kind of visual editor.

A lot of code, such as the STL, has been written in C++ and shouldnt' have to be written over again for AGS use.

I don't know how the AGS Script technically works -- if it is really using a C++ compiler, then this should be pretty simple right?

If it really is using a new compiler...then you could just incorporate a c++ compiler to compile the included files into binary, and then use that.

I've seen the AGS plugin API thing...but I'm not sure that's what I want.

Basically, I would like to bypass the AGS scripting editor...and just do all my scripting in C++...but be able to call internal AGS functions from there.  I haven't seen any AGS cpp/h files available for download though.

Can I get some feedback on what would be the best way to do this?

Yes...it's anal retentive...but worth it...and yes I have better things to do, but I did this instead.

BTW if you think I made a real mistake with one of the categories feel free to call me on it heh

one of those things I've just never figured out how to do is to color single pixels in photoshop.  even when the brush size is set to 1 pixel, it's actually coloring about 3 pixels.  I can adjust the dithering(? i think thats what its called) down until its only affecting 1 pixel, but then it's only got like 1% opacity.  so...is this a capability of paint that is unmatched by photoshop?

What do you think?

For some reason the changelist was on the forums, and now the link is broken now that the forums have changed servers...where is the changelist for the new version of AGS?

where do I put a script to have it execute on an interaction event that happens for all rooms?

there appears to be a slight bug in the plugin support that doesn't allow the plugin features to be used in the global script outside of the main functions (ie, where you would define global variables). 

Edit by strazer:

AGS 2.7 Beta 8 introduced the Maths.Sin function.



here is my attempt, which is not working.  the problem is somewhere in the Taylor approximation -- it seems to think I am dividing by zero.

************

function sin(int x)
{
  //add 5 decimel places (to hold decimels)
  x = 100000*x;
 
  //find equivalent value of x between -Pi to Pi (Taylor approx of 3 terms is nearly perfect here)
  while ((x-2*314159) >= -314159){
    x = x-2*314159;
  }

  //computer Taylor approximation
  //  ie. x = x - x^3/3! + x^5/5! - x^7/7!
  x = x-x*x*x/(6*100000*100000*100000)+x*x*x*x*x/(120*100000*100000*100000*100000*100000)-x*x*x*x*x*x*x/(5040*100000*100000*100000*100000*100000*100000*100000);
 
  //return integer
  return (x/100000);
}

I am finding it very difficult to work on such a large game, there is so much work to do. 

I had tried just jumping into it, but I ended up with my sprite numbers getting very disorganized...my room nubmers getting confusing, my room transitions then became a pain to program since there was no logical progression...and as I worked, I wanted to change things about the plot and the art...

I keep starting over, and struggling with the process.

From those of you who have completed big projects, what procedures did you use that worked out well?

Now, my backgrounds take a long time to make...but I'm afraid that once I draw them, and test the game out, I'll want to be changing things around with the plot andstuff and then I might need the backgrounds to change.

So now I'm thinking maybe I should just make the whole game using quickly sketched graphics, playtest it, make sure it is fun, then go back and draw all the backgrounds well...

Can you game makers share some advice on good practices?  Ways for organizing sprites, methods of attacking the project, etc?