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[m0ds]

An AGS tech question, didn't feel it qualified a new thread:

Basically, using 2.72, what is "Compress Sprite File" ?

1 - My spr is 160mb. To what size will this option roughly compress it to?

2 - The help file says game "speed" can be compromised, anyone care to eloborate? Will my cutscene times change, what changes exactly?

Thanks

[Gilbert]

Basically, using 2.72, what is "Compress Sprite File" ?

Exactly what it says. It compresses the sprite data to save some space (by default the sprite data are not compressed). However, because of performance reasons, it only uses the RLE method (just consider it (one of) the cheapest and simplest compression method), so the effectiveness depends heavily on the nature of the graphics and in general it's weaker than methods such as the LZ and Huffman variants.

1 - My spr is 160mb. To what size will this option roughly compress it to?

As stated, it depends heavily on the nature of the graphics. If there are a lot of FLAT coloured areas (or large fully transparent areas) in your sprites RLE would normally does its work quite well, but if the sprites are more "complicated", like photorealistic ones, have rapid variations on colours and/or heavy in gradients, etc. the save in space can be negligible. (In other words, try it and see if it really helps.)

2 - The help file says game "speed" can be compromised, anyone care to eloborate? Will my cutscene times change, what changes exactly?

In fact, because of the retarded nature of the RLE scheme, CPU load used in decompression is almost non-existing, so unless you have a very crippled system it shouldn't affect much of the games' speed. In fact, as sprite compression reduces file sizes, it may even help in improving performance if the actual bottleneck of a certain system comes from disk accesses.

[m0ds]

Thank you Governor! Much appreciated  8)

[Diegan]

Hi, I am new to AGS and would like to try and make a game with a friend of mine. Two questions pop to my mind before even starting:

- Do I have to be a programmer in order to make a game? I have a little knowledge over the basics of programming, but not much, so if being a programmer is required, maybe I won't be able to make a game
- The other question is: what software would be good for making sprites, and making backgrounds and objects? I guess there must be neat programs better than paintbrush lol

Anyway, thank you!

[Anian]

- Do I have to be a programmer in order to make a game? I have a little knowledge over the basics of programming, but not much, so if being a programmer is required, maybe I won't be able to make a game
- The other question is: what software would be good for making sprites, and making backgrounds and objects? I guess there must be neat programs better than paintbrush lol

1. Like any tool, AGS is here to make your life easier, but you'll need to learn how to use AGS itself. Level of programming knowledge needed depends on what you want to do, but for the sake of argument let's say that to make a very basic game, you just need to read, to use common sense and for a start follow some basic tutorials (such as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ml_DR76Cl4 - it's for an older version of AGS, but basics are mostly the same). Programming is very quick and simplified for simple things.
When you go into more complicated stuff, more programming is required. The wiki/manuals on the main page of the AGS site pretty much offer any info you might need.
I found that a lot of expirienced brilliant people contribute to the forums, so make sure to search the forums before asking stuff, especially the two top parts of the forum, you'll probably find a topic where somebody wanted to do what you want to and already found a solution to it:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?board=6.0
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?board=2.0
Search those (and other) parts of the forum when you have some trouble and if you can't find an anwser then ask where it's apropriate. Respect the rules of the forum and you'll be rewarded for it, trust me.
There's a even a "Recruit a team" thread, so you can make an offer/present your project there and someone who finds it interesting will probably join you and help out.

2. here's a recent topic about that http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=43392.0  as you can see there's quality free software as well as some you have to pay for, your choice, but rememeber, that far more of results depend on your skills than on the actual software.

...oh, and welcome to the forums.  

[Scavenger]

I didn't want to make a new thread for this, and it seems a little far fetched, but this game has been on my mind for years and I don't know what it is.

It's an RPG, first person, it might have been raycast (I remember sprites walking around Wolfenstein fashion), and you could throw herbs at people if you equipped them in your weapon slot. There were guards walking around also, but if you hit them and they collided with you, you went to a new screen which said "You spend the night in a cold, dark prison cell."

I for the life of me cannot remember what this game was, and it's driving me crazy. I never personally played it, I just watched my cousin play - he quickly traded it in for Day of the Tentacle, I believe. It's not any of the Elder Scrolls games, not Realms of Arkania, not Amulets and Armor, and not Eye of the Beholder. I just can't figure out what it was.

[Guybrush Nosehair]

I don't want to divert everyone's attention from the last question asked, but I've also got one. Although I've been a member of this community for a while now, I must admit that I have never played an AGS game (save for a few Indiana Jones and other misc. demos.) So, now that the summer is coming up, I figure it's time I actually sit down and play a game. I have high demands for games, so I hope someone can help me find what I'm looking for.

I want a full length game with good artwork (LucasArts-esque or better) and voice acting. Also, it must be free. Does anyone have any suggestions for such games? Thanks.

[Hudders]

I want a full length game with good artwork (LucasArts-esque or better) and voice acting. Also, it must be free.

Depending on your definition of "full length", you're unlikely to get all of that in one game. Especially when you specify that it should be free.

[Wreck]

I didn't want to make a new thread for this, and it seems a little far fetched, but this game has been on my mind for years and I don't know what it is...

I could be wrong as it's been donkeys years since I played them, but this sounds a lot like a mid 90's game called Witchaven, or it's sequel the imaginatively named Witchaven 2 (which both used the Duke Nukem 3d engine).

[arj0n]

I didn't want to make a new thread for this, and it seems a little far fetched, but this game has been on my mind for years and I don't know what it is.

It's an RPG, first person, it might have been raycast (I remember sprites walking around Wolfenstein fashion), and you could throw herbs at people if you equipped them in your weapon slot. There were guards walking around also, but if you hit them and they collided with you, you went to a new screen which said "You spend the night in a cold, dark prison cell."

I for the life of me cannot remember what this game was, and it's driving me crazy. I never personally played it, I just watched my cousin play - he quickly traded it in for Day of the Tentacle, I believe. It's not any of the Elder Scrolls games, not Realms of Arkania, not Amulets and Armor, and not Eye of the Beholder. I just can't figure out what it was.

Arx Fatalis?

[Chicky]

Quick one, i figured someone will know!

What are the legalities regarding use of sounds from freesound.org? I'm planning on using some stuff in a film, it's not commercial just youtube/vimeo etc and maybe some film festivals.

[RetroJay]

Hi All.

I have deleted my question cos it was silly.

Jay.

[Scarab]

I don't want to divert everyone's attention from the last question asked, but I've also got one. Although I've been a member of this community for a while now, I must admit that I have never played an AGS game (save for a few Indiana Jones and other misc. demos.) So, now that the summer is coming up, I figure it's time I actually sit down and play a game. I have high demands for games, so I hope someone can help me find what I'm looking for.

I want a full length game with good artwork (LucasArts-esque or better) and voice acting. Also, it must be free. Does anyone have any suggestions for such games? Thanks.

The Ben Jordan games are the closest fit I can think of, A set of seven medium length games, several of which have voice acting, and an 8th due to be released this year.

They are some of the first AGS games I played, and I highly recommend them.

Other series that come to mind are the award winning Chzo Mythos by Yahtzee [link to 1st game of 4], and the Blackwell Series by Dave Gilbert, although the latter is not free.

[Gudforby]

Quick one, i figured someone will know!

What are the legalities regarding use of sounds from freesound.org? I'm planning on using some stuff in a film, it's not commercial just youtube/vimeo etc and maybe some film festivals.

They claim on the main page that freesound is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds, stating the words Share, Remix, Reuse - Legally. So I don't think it will be any trouble. I've done the same thing myself many times.

They also have a legal page with more information. It seems you only need to attribute the creator.

[Snarky]

I remember at some point someone criticized an AGS game (and AGS games in general) for using the default speech font, claiming it was ugly. And I agree, it's not a great font.

But which font should I use, then? Is there an obvious, superior substitute in roughly the same style? (Bitmap, not TTF.)

[ddq]

Snarky: This is where I go for all my bitmap font needs. There's hundreds of good, free, low-res fonts there, so you've got lots of choices.

[Snarky]

Cheers, ddq. Those all seem to be TTF fonts, though. I'd like a SCI font if possible. Also, I'd rather not have to evaluate hundreds of maybe-suitable replacements; it's quite tedious to import each one into AGS, setting the right outline options and then running the game to test how it look. I was hoping someone might be able to just say "Yes, this is a good LucasArts-y speech font with consistent character heights and outlining that you can use instead of the default AGS one."

[Khris]

Yes, this is a good LucasArts-y speech font with consistent character heights and outlining that you can use instead of the default AGS one.

   

It's ttf, too but should be exactly what you're looking for. Import it at 10pt. I've included the outline font though you shouldn't need it if you use automatic outlining.

[Snarky]

Sweet! Thanks Khris!

[InCreator]

Can you define custom brush in photoshop so it's texture is still intact?
I want use photograph of tree leaf and scatter & rotate it around like any custom brush, but I want it's texture to stay intact instead of being replaced with single color.