Everything pisses me off.

monkey0506 · Sat 23/02/2013 09:29:05

Wouldn't it be nice if you could create an adventure game which you could play in the comfort of your own home on your PC, while waiting at a doctor's office on your Android phone, and while sitting on the toilet with your iPad? And you could even share your save game files between devices?

Thanks to JJS you can do that.

But, adventure games that are designed for PC generally aren't designed with those touch-screen thingies in mind. The interfaces are often awkward (or sometimes downright "impossible*") to handle when they were "made for PC".

Wouldn't it be amazing if you, as the developer, could design your game to fit the needs of the player? The needs of the PC player, the mobile device player, and the tablet device player can vary drastically. So how could one possibly appeal to everyone? You can't!

What could be done is that with a single line of code, the interface could be swapped out just-in-time to fit the user's needs. If the player is on a mobile device, you could load your touch-centric interface, while if they're back on the trusty old Compy 386 you could load your full, robust interface using the F-buttons and such.

That sounds terribly complicated and difficult, having to design multiple interfaces, and then make sure they don't interfere with each other. The truth of the matter is, designing multiple interfaces with these portability needs in mind is actually much simpler even than creating a single static interface from scratch.

Fortunately for you, however, everything here pisses me off. So I won't keep rambling.

*DISCLAIMER: Nothing is impossible.¹

¹DISCLAIMER: It is, in fact, possible to accomplish nothing. Therefore, nothing is not actually impossible.

Armageddon · Sat 23/02/2013 09:38:38

You used to be cool.

monkey0506 · Sat 23/02/2013 09:56:29

I still have a lot of unresolved emotional baggage relating to my revelation that I have failed to make the impact in this community that I would have liked to have had, and furthermore that the impact I have had may in many ways have contributed to the lackluster state thereof.

I came here because I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be Ron freaking Gilbert. I lost my way. During this transitory phase, I know I will piss a lot of people off. I just need an opportunity to say what's on my mind or else I'm never going to find my way back to where I wanted to be in the first place.

I'm bitter. Not quite angry. Just... bitter.

Armageddon · Sat 23/02/2013 10:30:14

I really don't care man. I've struggled with depression, I know you can't just turn it off. But gosh don't post about it online every two weeks.

Anian · Sat 23/02/2013 11:49:26

You guys are wacky.
-------
Here are some things my silly brain gathered together with no knowledge of anything, imagine what you can do if you put your mind to it:

Yes it is frustrating as all hell, even if you choose 1 platform (android, ios, pc), even within that you have to make sure it supports multiple resolutions. To some extent I imagine 3d is actually easier to adapt, because you "just" change the camera for each version (if the game engine supports multiple OS) and most of the things are solved.

First off all a verb coin (with icons not words) is actually good for touch devices as well, just a click to open and click to select action. Inventory might be kept in a separate screen so there's just a button (backpack or whatever) on main screen, to keep things simple and adaptable. There you go, interface all sorted while keeping it adaptable to all settings, no need for a lot of different interfaces.

There are various things you can do for the backgrounds, either 160dpi (middle of the road for androids which they know how to stretch and compress when using the pixel independent option), but otherwise 4 separate backgrounds (there's a guide for it on android pages). Make sure to keep the walkable areas to the smallest area of screen, it's easy to fill out the sides of the screen with foregrounds elements etc. which can be omitted on different sizes of screens.
But in general adventure games do have bigger issues than ie platformers, where the whole screen moves anyway, and more problems than 2d arcade things like Peggle, where every screen has the same area you need for interaction.

iPhones are basically another version of the android problem, but samey solution, more backgrounds and different resolutions.

Save games? Well wouldn't some kind of code system work. Save game and get a code which you can then put into another version of the game and then it recreates it. I think that might be the easiest way to implement it without going online etc.

Hope this ramble does one of three things: makes you angry enough at how stupid I am that you want to show me how to do it right and then do it OR makes you think "at least I'm not this idiot" OR (and this would make me happier) makes you think "those are actually some good ideas". Should make things less pissy, either way.

miguel · Sat 23/02/2013 12:00:26

A man without goals is a man who doesn't care about indentation.

Crimson Wizard · Sun 24/02/2013 15:21:43

Monkey, if you go and make a small game instead of writing those posts, your impact on community will be much better.

Stupot · Sun 24/02/2013 16:00:33

You think you haven't made an impact?
What about this guy?
<-------------------

The random tagline the editor's splash screen told me that I will never be Ron Gilbert as well... It's a lot to take in, I know.

Ryan Timothy B · Sun 24/02/2013 16:15:26

I miss the old Monkey posts about girls he's interested in and such.

LimpingFish · Sun 24/02/2013 22:05:46

Chillax, Monkey!

I'm not sure I understand the root of your problem, but what kind of impact would you like to make? Have I made one? Has anybody? Did I sleep through mine?

Any positive contribution to a community will have an impact*. It may not result in a parade, but not a lot of things in life do.

*Negative contributions can also have an impact, but I would guess that's not what you're aiming for.

Knox · Mon 25/02/2013 00:17:50

If its means anything you've taught me a lot about scripting (and so many others I'm sure), and all those plugins/modules you've made is amazing! Im glad you're part of this community...and I dont think it would be the same without you.

Calin Leafshade · Mon 25/02/2013 01:00:01

Oh dear lord.

Grim · Mon 25/02/2013 01:34:54

Well that's true, it pisses me off sometimes too that people can have all those unrealistic expectations and want things they don't really need that much.

But you're really wrong about making an impact. You're certainly someone I totally respect and I know you're really, really smart. This dark phase is probably something we all have to get through during our lives at least once.

Ponch · Mon 25/02/2013 17:05:57

Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Sun 24/02/2013 16:15:26
I miss the old Monkey posts about girls he's interested in and such.

Ditto.

Seriously, Monkey. Go make a RON or OSD game or something. Rekindle your love of AGS games by making an AGS game.

monkey0506 · Tue 26/02/2013 04:08:26

The more people like Calin Leafshade and Armageddon reply wrongly to these threads the more I want to keep pushing.

Don't you people know the first freaking rule about trolls on the Interweb? FFS.

Crimson Wizard · Tue 26/02/2013 07:19:45

Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 26/02/2013 04:08:26
The more people like Calin Leafshade and Armageddon reply wrongly to these threads the more I want to keep pushing.

You seem to get a very wrong idea of how these threads affect people...

Seriously, troll? You sound more like a man with butthurt.

Tramponline · Tue 26/02/2013 08:39:24

To quote the Sherpa, one of 'recent' pop-culture's most iconic products:

Quote...man's most positive positive tive, is a nega-tive, is a mega-negative...

Aahh, Monkey, keep smiling! Try not to focus too much on the negative tives, or at least make those nega-nega tives*!

Never healthy to concentrate too much on the discrepancy of one's alleged should-haves & must-haves and one's own faulty self. We've ALL been there, are there or frequently come back to it with some kind of masochistic pleasure.

Relax, man. It sounds a little like you want to overtake yourself, two times at best, while kicking your own arse at the same time. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, don't try it, I tell ya, it physically impossible!

edit: Or, are you indeed trolling? ...which would make this question instantly redundant - f**ng bleeding liar's paradox!

*...that's your nerdy kid's geek-humor way of saying it's a positive tive after all, in case you didn't get that, oi!?

Khris · Tue 26/02/2013 11:41:38

NickyNyce · Wed 27/02/2013 13:57:57

I'll tell you what really pisses me off. When you wake up to your doorbell ringing last night at midnight. It's my neighbor, he's telling me that my brand new 2012 Chevy Malibu (20,000 miles) is in the middle of the street in pieces. The kid that lives on the corner of my block came home drunk and tried to parallel park. He totalled my car and two other neighbors cars before getting stuck on the sidewalk between a fence and a tree.

I was up until 3am with the police in the pouring rain as they locked him up for DWI.

Pictures coming later after I take the bus home from work.....#@$%!!!

Anian · Wed 27/02/2013 14:07:19

Damn, Nicky, yeah that is messed up.