FAQ

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.  One useful host is imgur.com, where you can upload JPEG or PNG files for free and select the code "Direct link to layouts" to receive the link to your image.

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]https://www.website.com/path/image.png[/img]
where the italic text would be replaced by the URL to your image.

NOTE: If your image is large (i.e. wider than 800 pixels), please use the tag in this way to resize it: [img width=800 height=600]https://www.website.com/path/image.png[/img].  Having large images in posts makes reading the thread very difficult for people running lower screen resolutions, and resizing the image in this way will make it fit comfortably for the majority of people.

NOTE: You should always save your image as JPG, GIF or PNG.  BMP files are uncompressed, and are therefore very slow to download, especially for people with slower connections.

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 (no longer widely available - you'll have to hunt for it yourself!) 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 (again, not easily obtained), 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, 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.

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 page on the main site also has some links to art tutorials.

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.

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

• Completed Game Announcements - for posting your finished games.
• AGS Games in Production - for promoting the game you're developing, and seeing what others are up to.
• Hints & Tips - for finding help when you're stuck when playing AGS games.
• Adventure Related Talk & Chat - for discussing things that are AGS or adventure-related, but not technical.
• General Discussion - for serious and silly - but not stupid! - threads.
• The Rumpus Room - for the sillier, more off topic threads.
• AGS Engine & Editor Releases - for announcement and discussion of new AGS releases.
• Beginners' Technical Questions - for help with starting off scripting your AGS game.
• Advanced Technical Forum - for more advanced help with scripting your AGS game.  For engine or editor development, please see the relevant forum.  For bug reports, please see the Bug and Suggestion Tracker.
• Modules & Plugins - for saving yourself some work, by using a module someone made earlier.
• Recruitment - for finding people to join your game projects.
• Critics' Lounge - for getting suggestions on how you can improve your art, music, and more.
• Competitions & Activities - for practising your art, music, writing and game making skills in forum competitions.
• Engine Development - for discussing and planning the development of the AGS engine.
• Editor Development - for discussing and planning the development of the AGS editor.
• Other Engine & Editor Development - for discussing and planning the development of engines and editors that stuff of from the AGS community.
• Site & Forum Reports - for reporting issues found on the AGS site and forums.  Game bug reports go in the Completed Game Announcements forum, and bugs in AGS itself should be reported in the Bug and Suggestion Tracker.
• Reality-on-the-Norm - for the discussion and development of Reality-on-the-Norm games.
• AGS Archives - for the discussion of the AGS Archives AGS game archive.

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 click the 'show' button to read it.[/hide]

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 Recruitment forum, giving as much detail as possible about your plans for the game.

Nowhere!  While unregistered users can read all the public forums, they cannot post.  If you're interested in contributing to the community, please register!

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,  France, Italy and Ireland.  The Mittens titles reflect people who have attended one or more of our meet-ups:

• Mittens Serf (1)
• Mittens Vassal (2)
• Mittens Knight (3)
• Mittens Baronet (4)
• Mittens Baron (5)
• Mittens Viscount (6)
• Mittens Earl (7)
• Mittens Marquess (8)
• Mittens Duke (9)
• Mittens Lord (10)
• Mittens Monarch (12)
• Mittens Deity (all)

m0ds also has the Mittens Founder title, as he hosted the first Mittens event.

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

[AGS vs Hate Speech, and how you can help.]

AGS vs Hate Speech, and how you can help.

As a community, we want to be as inclusive and welcoming as possible. As such, we strongly believe that there should be no tolerance for harassment, discrimination or expressions of bigotry. These things are already covered by more general forum rules, but we see the need to also state specifically that hateful expressions based on ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or other personal characteristics, whether targeted at individuals or whole groups of people, are not acceptable. Some people believe otherwise, and while we may not have the power to change their thinking, we do have the power to limit their use of these boards.

Furthermore, The AGS Forums are hosted on a UK server, and as such is subject to British equality and diversity legislation, laws on hate speech, libel, and (at present) the Human Rights Act.

With that in mind, posts or threads containing any of the following will be subject to deletion, and users who post such material will be subject to disciplinary action. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but to provide examples of the sort of thing that is not welcome.

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1. Race
Discriminatory language or expression of views based on race or ethnicity; including, but not limited to, propagation of ethnic stereotypes.

2. Gender and Sexuality
Discriminatory language or views concerning gender and sexual orientation; including, but not limited to, misogyny, homophobia, anti-transgender rhetoric, and the wilful misapplication of pronouns/names.

3. Religion
While debate and critical discussion of religion may occur, any purposely antagonistic attacks on a person's religious beliefs (or lack of same) or blanket aspersions against certain religious groups (or non-believers generally) will be treated as a violation of forum policy.

4. Politics
While discussions of a political nature may occur, expression of extremist views, including, but not limited to, pro-Nazi/Fascist rhetoric, Holocaust denial, and the propagation of conspiracy theories associated with fringe and extremist movements (Pizzagate, GamerGate, etc.), will be considered a violation of forum policy.

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Note that this policy covers not just overt expressions of bigotry, but also indirect ones made by insinuation, use of particular phrases, symbols or memes associated with extremist movements, or presented as jokes.

The moderators hope that the need to enforce these rules will not be a regular occurrence, that our community is a place where hate-speech and bigotry are as abhorrent to you as they are to us. Please help prove us right.

If you do find somebody else's posts overly offensive, then in the first instance please use the "Report to moderator" link on the post to alert the moderators to the situation.  If the problem continues, contact one of the staff via a Private Message.

Thank you for reading.

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.