Messages

Five and a half hours into the game - nearly done - and it is a thing of beauty!

Congratulations!

I've been meaning to ask, any surprises with how the steam achievements played out?  Were you expecting everyone to toast the dryad?  Were you expecting the actor background to be the least popular option?

- Cogliostro

Audible released, "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made".

Nice to know this insanity isn't unique to the AGS community.

- Cogliostro

These are some gorgeous background!

A few years back I put together a method of using MS Word to do a spell check in AGS.  Not the most streamlined process in the world, but it might help. = Spell Checker

This was a fun game.  Looking forward to Chapter 2

- Cogliostro

Seven years ago I put this game out = Nine Hours to Dawn

I had thought I was creating a psychological/survival horror game... the concept drifted during production.  I'd like to hear what you think of it.

- Cogliostro

Pillars is BACK in production after a considerable hiatus.

- Cogliostro

Solution = If you're working with a GUI it'll turn off during BLOCK commands or while the code is waiting?!  I set it off screen and to ALWAYS on.  Issue resolved.

- Cogliostro

Okay, I wasn't happy with any of the modules/pug-ins for credits, so I made my own.  Somewhere along the line it stopped working and I didn't notice.  Now I cannot figure out what went wrong?!

For troubleshooting purposes, I set the background of my gCredit from transparent to BLUE.  Then I installed a couple of checks, TEST A thru D to make sure that I wasn't moving the GUI on accident.

Between Tests C & D the GUI turns goes transparent/disappears/moves - I didn't know?!

So I created the ResetCredit function, and added the lines to run it.

The screen starts, the GUI background image is set, and then it all disappears between test C & D?!  Keep in mind the position of the GUI never wavers.  Also, the ResetCredit function which worked fine to initially set the background image, does nothing on any of the subsequent runs.

I REM'ed out the repeatedly_execute_always() to see if THAT was giving me grief, and nothing.  The GUI still disappears.

Went into the GUI, checked controls 0 thru 4, (they are labels), and NONE of them are locked.  The GUI covers the entire screen.

Any ideas?

- Cogliostro.

Code: ags

// room script file

String RollCredits[5];
short Number;
int OrgPosition=500;
  
function room_Load()
{
  gBox.Visible=false;
  gGear.Visible=false;
  Mouse.Visible=false;

  aGreek.Play();
  gCredits.Visible=true;
  
  Number = 1;
  RollCredits[Number]=String.Format("Design, Story, Scripting, & Graphics:[Cogliostro");
  Number++;
  RollCredits[Number]=String.Format("AGS Game Engine:[Chris Jones");
  Number++;
  RollCredits[Number]=String.Format("");
  Number++;
  RollCredits[Number]=String.Format("Thank you for playing!");
  Number++;
  RollCredits[Number]=String.Format("");
 
  gCredits.Controls[0].X=0;
  gCredits.Controls[0].Y=OrgPosition;
}

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
  int x=0;
  while (x<Number) {
    gCredits.Controls[0].AsLabel.Text=String.Format(RollCredits[x+1]);
    gCredits.Controls[0].TweenPosition(0.75, 0, 200, eEaseInSineTween, eBlockTween);
    Wait(10);
    gCredits.Controls[0].TweenPosition(0.75, 0, -50, eEaseInSineTween, eBlockTween);
    x++;
    gCredits.Controls[0].Y=OrgPosition;
  }
  Wait(300);
  RestartGame();
}

**********************************************
EDIT
**********************************************

Looks like the TWEEN module died.  Replacing with a newer version....  More troubleshooting later - It's not the tween module. 


A lot of troubleshooting has allowed me to eliminate a bunch of possible causes.  The code as it is currently represented shows the problem.  If I do anything that causes a delay in the LOOP - WHILE (lines 47-59) it causes the GUI to disappear: either a wait command or a eBlock.

Thanks!  I'll pass that along.  As a side note, the backgrounds were all pictures we took during a family vacation in the Smokey Mountains.

- Cogliostro

I preserved the game as my son created it, so there's one bug.  Pick up the bucket BEFORE you pick up all the wood.

My son wanted a shot at making his game in AGS.  This is the result.  I had him design it, write all the dialog, typos included, and enter all the code.  I created the graphics and coached from the sidelines.  This is the result:





Left click to interact / walk
Right click to examine / look

Click here to download the game!  20 minutes of your life you will NEVER get back.  (For the PC only)

- Cogliostro

"How do you get a job with CGMS?"
"Can we visit text-based games?"
"What was the hardest puzzle you ever faced, and how did you solve it?"
"Do we ever interact with other genres?"

Those are the generic sort of questions you can throw out there. Putting those out there for now, will come up with something more inspired later.

- Cogliostro

Spoiler

I had no problem on the first go through making the guy think the badge was real, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what I did differently.  What do I have to do to the badge to make it look real?

[close]

EDIT

Spoiler

I forgot about the second badge in the crane machine!

[close]

- Cogliostro

How do I get the orange lizard scales?

Spoiler

I have the tape on the forks, and setup the trap to catch the scales, set down the jelly beans.... and nothing.  What steps am I missing?

[close]

- Cogliostro

Okay, back on the 15th of January...

Spoiler

Trying to find all of the clues and I cannot get the one our of the rain pipe!

[close]

- Cogliostro

Every year I have less and less time, so my "reading" has been limited to what I can listen to in the car, and this has a subtle but real impact on my enjoyment of certain books.  Honestly, some books have parts that should just be skimmed.  Also, I'm pretty sure everyone is already familiar with J R R Tolkien, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett.  So skipping over some of the greats to give book recommendations on things I've been reading....

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher = The first two novels are okay - a remarkable accomplishment in the literary wasteland that is urban fantasy - but honestly, if you're having trouble, just skip 'em. From book 3 onward the series is just AWESOME! 

The Laundry series by Charles Stross = I strongly recommend the first three books.  It answers that burning question on everyone's mind, what would happen if Monty Python performed the works of HP Lovecraft?  If you think that sounds deranged, then you'll like the series.

Poor Man's Fight series by Elliot Kay = This is impressive military sci-fi series with a believable and likeable protagonist, a plot that progresses in a realistic fashion despite its futuristic setting, and lastly, the combat and hand-to-hand violence is riveting.  It's intense, real and most importantly, authentic.

Good Intentions series by Elliot Kay = The main character has a succubus and an angel bound to him, so very much NSFW nor for the easily offended.  Of course, in a world where the magic is real, there are consequences for meddling, and once you've attracted the attention of the supernatural monsters, you had better be prepared to defend yourself.

Just a few recommendations,
- Cogliostro

Brilliant, just brilliant.  I enjoyed Barrow Hill, and thought it awesome that someone had decided to make a game inspired by that, instead of Gabriel Knight.

I read through the comments from everyone else, and by and large agree with them, so I won't belabor those points.  Instead let me bring up just a few points no one else touched on that might tighten up an already tense experience.  Please take them as the constructive criticism as they are intended.

LITTLE COMPLAINT

Spoiler

I played the entire game thinking surely there must be some OTHER definition of the world TREACLE that I was unfamiliar with... and I was wrong.  Was this mess-with-the-tourist nonsense an homage to one of the works that helped inspire this game?  If not it runs the risk of breaking the atmosphere.  Though apparently, judging from the comments, not much of a risk.

[close]

TINY SPOILER

Spoiler

After Kate vanishes... Tim needs to panic a lot more, perhaps the game takes over and has him run down the road a bit yelling Kate's name.  These are the situations where people discover that they aren't always in control of their own actions.  Option two, have Tim give himself a pull-yourself-together speech.  Also, when he next talks to Dan, it should be more along the lines of "You little shit my wife is missing!" and less of "Wow, he must smoke a lot of pot."

[close]

BIG SPOILER

Spoiler

For the big finish I think you should have given the players a little more of Tim's fate inside the tower: an image of the ghost closing in on our hero, the ghost killing him or possessing him. THEN cut to the news report.  This is the final image you're using to haunt the players, fade-to-black can be part of it, but not all of it.

[close]

Hoping to see more games from you in the future,
Cogliostro

Still hoping to get the last few voice actors, out of 20 voice acting roles, I'm down to five.  None of these are huge commitments.  Anyone willing to step up?

- Cogliostro

Still hoping to get the last few voice actors, out of 20 voice acting roles, I'm down to five.  None of these are huge commitments.  Anyone willing to step up?

- Cogliostro