Graphics, images and art

1. How can I post an image in the forums?
2. My image was replaced by something saying "I'm with stupid"?
3. How do I rip graphics from my favourite game?
4. Where can I find tutorials on drawing backgrounds/sprites?
5. What's the best paint program to use?

Using the forums

1. Where should I post my question / what is each forum for?
2. How do I hide spoilers in my posts?
3. I want to recruit members for a team game. Where should I post?
4. If I'm not registered, where can I post?
5. Why has my post been "edited for TXT-style spelling"?
6. What do the "Mittens" titles mean under people's names?
7. How do I report offensive behaviour or harassment?

Registration Quiz Q&A

The reasoning behind and answers to the registration quiz questions.

Graphics, images and art

Q: How can I post an image on the forums?

A: If you want to post a picture, in the Critics Lounge for example, you will need to have a web space account to upload it to. The forums themselves do not provide a facility for you to upload pictures; however, Neole of 2dAdventure has kindly provided some upload space.

Once you have the image uploaded to the internet and know the complete URL of how to access it, you can use the following forum code to include the image in your message:
[img]http://www.website.com/path/image.jpg[/img]
where the italic text would be replaced by the URL to your image.

NOTE: If your image is large (ie. wider than 600 pixels), please do NOT include the image into your post. Instead, simply post the http URL, which people can click on to open the image in a new window. Having large images in posts makes reading the thread very difficult for people running lower screen resolutions.

NOTE: You should always save your image as JPG, GIF or PNG. If you upload a BMP, the forums will not allow you to display it in your post. BMP files are uncompressed, and are therefore very slow to download, especially for modem users.

Q: My image was replaced by something saying "I'm with stupid"

A: You posted a BMP image. As explained above, this is not allowed because BMPs are uncompressed, and therefore take a long time for people to download. You need to convert the image to JPG or PNG with a paint package - do not simply attempt to rename the file to ".jpg".

Q: How do I rip graphics from my favourite game?

First of all, don't do it. Make your own graphics and your game will feel all the better for it. Games using ripped graphics rarely gain positive reviews.

• For Lucasarts games such as Monkey Island, there is a program called SCUMM Revisited which allows you to extract the graphic resources. Note that using ripped graphics in your game is breaching copyright, and Lucasarts may well tell you to cease and desist.
• For Sierra games such as Space Quest, there is a program called SCI Studio, which allows you to extract resources from older games. Note that using ripped graphics in your game is breaching copyright, and Sierra may well tell you to cease and desist.
• For AGS games such as Larry Vales, there is no resource extractor. People have worked long and hard on their games, and generally won't appreciate you stealing their graphics. If you want to use someone else's graphics, send them an e-mail and ask permission - they might send you the source image files, you never know.

Q: Where can I find tutorials on drawing backgrounds/sprites?

A: The Critics Lounge forum has a sticky thread, with many useful tutorials linked to. Have a browse there and you should find one of them useful. The AGS Docs page also has some links to art tutorials.

Q: What's the best paint package to use?

A: It depends what you're trying to draw. The Critics Lounge forum has a sticky thread with lots of links to paint programs that you can try out.

Using the Forums

Q: Where do I post my question?

A: There are quite a few forums, so it can be hard to know where to post. As a brief summary:

• The Beginners Technical Forum is for questions about how to use the AGS Editor and the basics of scripting. It is not for questions about what graphics package to use, or where you can download fonts.
• The main Technical Forum is for advanced scripting issues, bug reports and feature requests. Please DO NOT double-post your problem in both the Beginners and main Technical forums. Post in whichever one is most appropriate - a moderator can always move it for you if necessary.
• Only start a new thread in Completed Game Announcements if you have a finished game to announce.
• Adventure-related talk and chat is for all non-technical topics related to AGS and adventure gaming in general.
• The Critics Lounge is where you can post some of your work if you want to get feedback on it. The most common posts here are for art critique, but any "how can I make this better"-style topic is welcome. Please try to help out other people as well as just asking for advice yourself.
• Competitions and Activities is where we hold the regular forum activities, such as art, music and game-making contests. Never start a new topic here without specific approval, but feel free to take part in the existing competitions!
• AGS Games in Production is where you can let people know about the game you're developing. Please read the rules there about when you should post your thread.
• The Hints and Tips forum is where you can ask for help playing AGS games, and help out others when they're stuck.
• General Discussion is the clearing-house of all other threads. As the forum subtext says, "serious and silly threads are fine, stupid threads are not". If your post is thought-provoking, informative or funny then post it - otherwise please don't bother.

Q: How do I hide spoilers in my posts?

A: Glad you asked! If your post contains any spoilers about a game that other people may not have completed, you should always use the spoiler tags. To do this, type the following in your post:
[hide]spoiler text[/hide]
the text between the [hide] and the [/hide] tags will become invisible in your post, and the user has to highlight it to read it.

Q: I want to recruit members for a team game. Where should I post?

A: Over the years we've seen several people come and go, claiming they are organising a team game. Before you even think about it, you really need to make a game by yourself to show people that you know your stuff.
Once you have evidence of your abilities, then you should post in the Adventure-related Talk and Chat forum, giving as much detail as possible about your plans for the game.

Q: If I'm not registered, where can I post?

A: If you're not logged in you can post a reply to any thread, but you can only start new threads in the Beginners Technical Forum and the Hints and Tips forum. We would of course encourage you to register an account to take full advantage of the forums.

Q: Why has my post been "edited for TXT-style spelling"?

A: We're grown-ups on the forums, and we like to talk using proper language. Any mobile phone-style speech ("thx", "ppl", "u", etc) will be automatically edited out of your post. Please talk properly, you'll gain a lot more respect that way.
 

Q: What do the "Mittens" titles mean under peoples names?

A: With some forums, your title depends on the number of posts you've made, or on how long you've been a member. At the AGS forums, to gain a title you have to come and meet us in person!

Mittens is an annual AGS meeting, which started in 2002. So far we've been to the UK, Sweden, Greece, USA, Spain, Canada and France. The Mittens titles reflect people who have attended one or more of our meet-ups:
Mittens Initiate -- attended once
Mittens Faithful -- attended twice
Mittens Regular -- attended three times
Mittens Liege -- attended four times
Mittens Addict -- attended five times
Mittoholic -- attended six times
Mittician -- attended all seven times

To find out more about Mittens, see the Mittens page on the AGS Wiki.

Q: How do I report offensive behaviour or harassment?

A: Luckily, this is something we very rarely have to deal with at the AGS Forums. If, however, you find that somebody else's posts are overly offensive, then in the first instance use the "Report to moderator" link on the post to alert the moderators to the situation. If the problem continues, contact one of the forum moderators or CJ via a Private Message.

Registration Quiz Q&A

The forum registration quiz is designed to make you think before you post. The questions are not intended to be hard - rather, they are intended as an interactive way of teaching you the forum rules. If you're having difficulty with the quiz, read on:

1. You are having a problem getting SetAreaLightLevel, a script command, to work properly. Which forum should you post it in?
The "Where should I post" section here should help you.

2. And how should you title the thread?
A bit of common sense here should see you through. Always be as specific as possible about the problem you are having in the thread subject - if you thread is vaguely titled, people won't tend to bother reading it.

3. You are just starting out, and you have a technical question you feel is too simple to ask. What should you do?
Make sure you've read through the tutorials and searched the forum before asking a question, as they may well hold the answer you're looking for.

4. You are looking for team members to work with you on your great new project... what should you do?
See the "How do I recruit team members" section above.

5. You want to ask for hints for an adventure game, such as Larry Vales. Where should you post the question?
The question more-or-less gives away the answer. If you get this wrong, read the "Where should I post" section here.

6. You have just decided to start work on a new game, and you want to tell us all about it. What should you do?
Reading the rules of the Games in Production forum should help you answer this one.

7. You wonder if anyone else from your country reads the forums. What should you do?
Rather than filling the place up with nationality threads, the AGS World Map can help.

8. All posts in the forums should be made in what language?
In order to assist communication, we ask everyone to speak English on the forums. This is not meant as an insult to your nationality - rather, a way of ensuring everyone can understand each other. If everyone went ahead and posted in their own language, nobody would know what was going on!

9. Someone has posted a piece of artwork in the Critics' Lounge that you don't really like. How should you reply?
Common sense really - if you can't work this one out for yourself, you don't deserve to be a forum member. Always give constructive criticism - just saying something sucks is no use to anyone.

10. No-one has answered your post in the 2 hours since you posted it. Should you:
We know you're eager to get your problem sorted out, but we don't spend all day reading the forums. People have work, sleep and real-life commitments that come before answering your question. Have patience.

11. Someone replied to your question, but they didn't quite give the answer you were looking for. Should you:
If you don't get an answer to your question, the chances are you weren't specific enough about the problem. Give as much detail as possible to help people help you, but keep it within the same thread.

12. Quake and Counter-Strike are adventure games.
No comment.

13. You feel the need to reply to a thread, but you don't really have anything to contribute - what should you do?
Before you reply to a thread, ask yourself whether you're really contributing anything. Is your post interesting, helpful or amusing? If not, don't post it.

14. Someone replies to your post in a sarcastic manner or seems to be making fun of you. What should you do?
We tend to be quite a light-hearted bunch, and any insults are usually said in jest. Don't take yourself too seriously, and don't get offended if people seem to be mocking you. If you don't have a sense of humour, don't post.

Finally, please note that the majority of forum members are 16 years of age or older, and that the General Discussion forum may occasionally contain some adult content.
The forums have a minimum age limit of 16 for two main reasons:
Firstly, since most of us are adults we like to be able to talk in an adult manner, and this includes bringing up topics such as sex, drugs and so forth where appropriate. These topics may well be inappropriate for children to read.
Secondly, young people tend to post in an immature fashion. This is nobody's fault - after all, kids will be kids - but it can get tiring for the rest of us, especially if someone has the over-posting bug and keeps replying to every thread they see.

If you're under 16, but you can behave in a mature manner, we're happy to have you.