Messages

good stuff, thanks

CreateGraphicOverlay (int x, int y, int slot, int transparent)

Creates a screen overlay containing a copy of the image from SLOT in the Sprite Manager. The image is placed at (X,Y) on the screen (these are screen co-ordinates, not room co-ordinates). If TRANSPARENT is 1 then the overlay will be drawn in the same way as characters/objects, if it is 0 then the a black rectangle will be painted behind the sprite.

I am confused on the isue of the transparency.  When set to 1, I expect it to display the same as characters/objects...yet, it ignores my alpha channel for transparency, which works on characters and objects.  I have found that using the upper left pixel as transparent DOES work, BUT it is not possible to get antialiasing this way.  When I change transparency to 0, it does not seem to have any affect when displaying sprites with or without an alpha channel.  Hence the confusion.

How do I get the square root?Ã,  Do I need to write a cumbersome approximation (using a cumbersome algorithm to compute powers as well)?

(I need this in order to compute the distance between two points for the function I am writing to slide graphic overlays since none seems to exist...and I need to slide graphic overlays instead of objects because I can't create objects during runtime!Ã,  sheesh, it's just one roundabout after another)

EDIT: nooo!Ã,  I can't even use a decimel data type to store the number...I'll need to write an approximation for that too...oh dear god.

EDIT 2:  ok...forget this...I'm abandoning diagonal movement and easily adjustable movement speeds.  I wrote the function more simplified, it slides horizontally then vertically to the new position, and to control speed you set the step (pixel jump) and pause (probably zero) between steps.  here it is if anyone wants it, its nothing special but might save u time.



function LW_SlideOverlay(int overlayID, int x, int y, int newx, int newy, int step, int delay){
// can only slide vertically or horizontally
// step MUST BE > 0
  if (x<newx){ //if moving right
    while (x<newx){
      MoveOverlay(overlayID,x+step,y);
      x = x+step;
      Wait(delay);
    }
  } else if (x>newx){ //if moving left
    while (x>newx){
      MoveOverlay(overlayID,x-step,y);
      x=x-step;
      Wait(delay);
    }
  }

  if (y<newy){ //if moving down
    while (y<newy){
      MoveOverlay(overlayID,x,y+step);
      y=y+step;
      Wait(delay);
    }
  } else if (y>newy){ //if moving up
    while (y>newy){
      MoveOverlay(overlayID,x,y-step);
      y=y-step;
      Wait(delay);
    }
  }
}

Ok, let me explain.

It's not just "the book" with pictures running in the background.  You will have a character that can move around on the screen and interact with things.  Instead of choosing what to do from a few dialog options like in the book, you will make those choices by doing them.  For instance, instead of choosing the right path or the left path from a dialog option, you will just walk down one or the other.

So you'll be able to walk around, pick up stuff, look at stuff, use inventory items, talk to people, etc...and it will be a lot less linear than the book (which has 17 endings!) because you could walk back to previous areas, for example...or you might not notice an object to pick up that you would automatically notice in the book 

Nellie: Actually yeah, I just found that great sight yesterday.  But that is for downloadable versions of the book...it won't be in computer game form.  But it will be helpful if I decide to make the whole series (god forbid I attempt that without some other fan help) because I am missing books 6, 14, and 16

When I try to use the variables I have "exported" from my main script in my room script, it doesn't seem to recognize that they have been defined....

eg:

at the beginning of global script:

int LW_SKILLS[18];

at end of global script:

export LW_SKILLS;

in room script (walks onto region):

if (LW_SKILLS[1]==0)
Ã,  something;

I can get around with by making a function to access and return the variable...but I'm confused why this doens't work to begin with

okay, I don't know about you guys...but for some strange reason I find these books compelling beyond words and they are by far my favorite adventure game even though they are not for the computer...until...now...

I'm working on a FAITHFUL representation of book 1 right now (you can even pull up your action chart in the game!)Basically every detail of the game will be the same, almost down to the last word, except instead of flipping through pages you will be walking around...and instead of pointing at the number table etc to fight, I'm going to do something that looks similar to QFG1.

I'm just curious...is there anyone else who shares my strange love of these classics?

Colossol,

your animation is really mesmerizing...it looks as though all the body parts have weight, really good.  can you tell me how you go about making an animation?  do you use any software?

Hmm...I've tried all the combinations, including that one, and it still silences all non-game sound.

wow....i am astonished that such a common feature would be such a pain.

what is a "line" ? never heard of that before

anyway, the whole reason I wanted this function was so that I could fill up a list box!  so...are you saying that I have to do "add item" command for EACH item i want to populate the list box?

i really liked the effect you had in the butterflies wings, even if the shape of the wings could do with a little work.  if i would make one suggestion, i would just say...i'd like to see his index finger outstretched instead of pinching.  i just think that would look a little better.  nice work.

ok first of all...

i know how hard y'all work on your preciousl little MIDIs, but I personally get annoyed by all of them and I would much prefer to

a) disable AGS sound, so that it does not interrupt my existing winamp music

or

b) keep AGS sound enabled but running but not cut off sound from other things (like winamp!)

[Edit by strazer:]

ok...i tried the string class method and the generic method,

string skills[5] = {"dddsf", "fgfdg", fdfg", "fgdf", "fgdfs"};

and

char skills[5][10] = {"dddsf", "fgfdg", fdfg", "fgdf", "fgdfs"};

and variations of each.

i looked in the help file, the online manual, and browsed some of the other tutorial/information files.

i'm sure it's out there but i'm wasting too much time on this, please throw me a bone.

Edit by strazer:

AGS v2.71's new "String" type supports this:

  String skills[5];
  skills[0] = "dddsf";
  skills[1] = "fgfdg";
  skills[2] = "fdfg";
  skills[3] = "fgdf";
  skills[4] = "fgdfs";

Tracker entry: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php?action=detail&id=111

Hollister man:  huh??  the light is clearly coming from the right side, this is consistent in the arches and the tree...

anyway, the only problems i have are with the flat bushes in the back, and the arches need to be smoothed out i think

If you want to have multiple text boxes on the same GUI, why not make multiple GUI's that appear to fit together and open/close together so that the user thinks/sees it as 1 window but it is really multiple?

well the script can be found here:

http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/scripts/data/1061870846093.shtml

I know you can download the beta of the aurora toolset from bioware, perhaps even the full version, but it would be pointless because unlike AGS it doesn't compile into a standalone executable, it must be run from Neverwinter Nights so you would have to buy it :(Ã, 

it's a pretty good RPG thoughÃ, 

EDIT - ok, the above file will be useless to you if you don't have NWN because you won't be able to access the code.Ã,  So here is the actual code, which might help you to look over.Ã,  I have very good style so it should be easy to read.Ã,  I think some of the features I have mentioned have been removed from this version to speed things up.

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/nwn/scripts/an_animal_ai_inc.rtf (function definition include file, 18 pages)

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/nwn/scripts/an_animal_damage.rtf (script runs when an animal takes damage, 1 page)

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/nwn/scripts/an_animal_death.rtf (script runs when an animal dies, 1 page)

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/nwn/scripts/an_animal_heartb.rtf (script runs continuously on each animal (aka heartbeat), 1 page)

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/nwn/scripts/an_animal_spwn_c.rtf (script runs on an animal when it "spawns" setting it to be carnivore, 1 page)

http://ardan-nights.org/members/downloads/nwn/scripts/an_animal_spwn_h.rtf (script runs on an animal when it "spawns" setting it to be herbivore, 1 page)

The perspective seems to be from within the room so I think you should crop the perspective so you can't see the ceiling

The wall texture looks very unrealistic to me because you have made the wood grain visible, yet it is pink.  If someone painted wood pink, you would no longer see the texture - and I have never heard of pink wood stain.

I do not think that your method of applying texture is very effective here, I can see that you just used layers and cropped the texture to the size of the object...but you ignore the angle that the object is facing, so everything get's the "im facing front" texture.  You either need to distort your texture with your program, or hand draw each face differently, or use solid colors, I think.

Also could do with some shading.

Ginny,

I made it for Bioware's Aurora Engine for Neverwinter Nights.  It's sort of like AGS in that you get pretty much complete control over everything with scripting but it's in a 3d environment.  Yeah, I got pretty carried away with this project...I actually did a lot of animal research, to get realistic constants for how long animals could go without food, how much food different types of animals consume on average, and what ratio of an animals bodyweight was edible.  Plants would reproduce asexually and then herbivores would look for food that was in visual line of sight, or communicate to other members of the same species, and also remember food locations.  Carnivores would hunt other animals and some would also eat freshly killed animals that they found.  When the meat was eaten off a dead animal it would be replaced by bones which would eventually decay.  I tried to program realistictally and modularly the reactions between animals...for instance, if a carnivore was threatened by another carnivore of smaller size it would fight back...but if it was attacked by a carnivore of larger size, it might flee.  Stuff like that.  I also programmed in for animals to reproduce with miniature versions of themselves (babies) after certain durations, and these babies would evenutally turn into adult sized versions.  Animals could also move across between screen areas.  This allowed for animal populations to actually gradually move around from location to location.  Eventually I realized that my little creation was a bit too indepth, because it was extremely difficult for a game designer to design a STABLE ecosystem...so I ended up removing a lot of the features, such as dynamic population sizes, and making it so that whenever an animal is eaten a new one would be born -- this would make it so that the population ratios would be as originally designed by the game creator.

it looks very good!  areas of improvement are in the shading of the mountains and rocks, which look very 2d.   the shadows seem to all be suggesting different locations for the light source.  i think if you could post a higher resolution image I could make more crits.  This image should be viewed at 400% size I think that would be game resolution....so it's useless looking at a smaller image which can give a different feel.  But when I blew it up, it became evident that the JPG quality was too low and many of the details are smudged...save it at level 12 and show again if you want us to see the details.