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Alright, I'm learning a lot here but I'm still in somewhat over my head.  I'm going to go research some of the things you've mentioned and do some experiments in AGS to see what happens.  Thanks a lot of all your advice and ideas!

Ahhhh.....
     I'm reluctant to build the type of function where I have to type in a variable that I would rarely actually use, but I like your work around idea of just formatting another string when I need it and calling that instead of raw text.  It's the kind of quick and dirty fix that appeals to me -thanks!

     On a similar note, though, the thought had crossed my mind that I might want to add voice acting, but I don't think I'll be able to use the same commands.  i.e.

Code: ags

 cVillain.Talk ("&12 You'll never get your kittens back.  Never!"); 

     wouldn't work for the same reasons (I haven't tested it, but it seems &12 functions kind of like %d in that it isn't actually part of the string).  So I'm assuming from what you say, these symbols and their functionality were hard coded into the character.Say function with C++ and there is no way within AGS to adapt similar coding into a custom function?  I can work around a couple of instances where I might need variables, but manually entering hundreds or even thousands of voice files is not something I'd like to undertake.

Hi.  I've been banging my head against the wall for a while now on this one without any progress, so maybe you guys can help me out.

I've written my own character.Talk extender function to replace character.Say in order to create speech bubbles.  I created a custom text window GUI, hijacked one of the Sierra speech-styles and relay the relevant string through a ghost character (called cGhost) who can be dynamically placed around the talking character's head.  So far so good.  But I can't wrap my head around how to adapt that function to incorporate variables.  I can't, for example, do something like this:

Code: ags

 cVillain.Talk ("I'm going to take all %d of your precious kittens.", kitten_count); 

because character.Talk only has two parameters (I hope I'm using that term correctly): function Talk (this Character*, String charsays).  So of course it doesn't understand the extra integer variable, because all I am giving it is a string.  Later on, after a lot of height, width, text length, character location variables, etc. etc., this line shows the speech in a nicely fitted bubble:

Code: ags

  cGhost.SayAt (this.x +sideoffset -GetViewportX (), charheight +bottomoffset -GetViewportY (), width, charsays); 

...but I can't put in dynamic variables like I could with character.Say.  My question is, how can I add an optional variable to a function, like in character.Says, so that I can build dynamic strings? 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Nice!  It took me a while to figure out how to extract the archive, but this definitely works.  I've been 4 months on a new Win7 system that would not run anything pre-AGS v3.0 (i.e. anything without the Direct3D option in winsetup).  Now I'm back in the saddle, baby!  Thanks!

I just wanted to point out that, due to my screen resolution, the title of this thread as it appears in the main forum index is always displayed as "Guess the Movie Tit...".  This is always a great source of amusement to me, despite the fact that whenever I actually click on the thread I have yet to see any follow through from the contributors....

[West Texas]

Between your new psychic abilities and Frito's thinly veiled death threats, we're afraid to leave the house!

What, thinly veiled death threats are keeping you holed up in the closet?  You purport to live in West Texas, man!  No Country For Old Men country.  You boys are supposed to eat six death threats for breakfast, and then wash it down with half a pint of straight Famous Dave's Devil Spit BBQ Sauce ^TM.  Start wearing some pants and man up, will ya?  And for pity's sake start pumping out those musky yet savoury aromas again!  I've got blue nostrils out here....

Goodness, why won't someone have a birthday already so we can get this thread back on track and Kim and I can go back to our lives! 

I think you can consider this thread officially hijacked.  Throw your wallets and cellphones into the bag and listen carefully to all instructions from the crazy looking guy with the monocle, or there WILL be consequences.  Messy, and perhaps slightly malodorous consequences.  Am I understood?

You keep this up, Baron, and I'm not breaking into your house in the middle of the night to spoon anymore. 

Is that an offer or a threat?  And how come I didn't smell BBQ tonight?!?  What's the Mrs. cooking at?  You can't make friends with salad, man.

It's freaky, is what it is! Seriously, I'm a little freaked out right now!

What if there's a monocled man lurking outside our window, sniffing our aromas? 

That's right.  Creepy Street runs both ways, man.  Beware the Bemonocled Window Sniffer of the Night!  It's 1 o'clock; do you know where your garbage is?

[Famous Dave's Rich & Sassy BBQ Sauce tm]

Who forced you to fill in a date or mark the map? 

If you really don't feel comfortable, you can simply leave it empty.

In my mind it was like a red-herring left on my trail for my many stalkers to find, one in a series of mis-clues subtly designed to lead them in ever tightening inward spirals until they eventually bonked heads somewhere in the crazy mushroom lady's back lot.  To leave my personal information blank would invite inquiry, but providing plausible alternatives would throw the hounds off the scent until it was too late (cue coconut sound for head bonking).  Maybe I wasn't even born in May.  Maybe I wasn't even born at all.  Maybe this is all just an elaborate ruse designed to confuse and obfuscate any trace of my IRL existence....

So I suspect you to have fun in lying instead of the “excuse” you told us.

You don't understand what it's like!  You're minding your own business and then suddenly there's this faint whiff of Famous Dave's Rich & Sassy BBQ Sauce ^tm and then even more suddenly there's Ponch breathing heavily over your shoulder, trying to spoon and asking you to read more quickly so he can turn the page.  I can't live like that any more!  The price of freedom is eternal anonymity.  You don't know me, man!  Back off.  Just.... just... back off, man!  Just be cool, and everything will be alright.

Thanks Ponch, Tabata -I really appreciate that.  Except... I kind of lied on my AGS profile for the sake of privacy.  Like all good-hearted people I was actually born in May (*gasp!*).  ....And since we're coming clean here, I've also misrepresented my location on the AGS map and my willingness to do AGS tutoring.  And I'd do it again, see.  With impunity -IMPUNITY!  Buwahahahahahahahahah!!1!!!

Although I'm a little slow with seconding it, I think Sane Co.'s Voice Acting Competition sounds like a great idea.  You could have fun, hone your skills, and not invest a tonne of time: the perfect contest!  I don't think the lines need to be terribly lengthy: short and sweet work for me.  Even just themes would work: two guys exchange insults -go!  A kid loses his candy -go!  Scolding wife is angry about trivial thing -go!

Welcome Ascovel and Dualnames!  I like the cut of your jibs -you guys will go far around here.

I'd disagree somewhat with the assumptions in Bror Jon's link.  It seems factually accurate -specific numeric figures add to the illusion -but personal experience dictates that a fundamental assumption has thrown off his calculations.  He states that the average human breathes 252L of air in an hour, and given his background numbers this seems roughly accurate.  He also states that 21% of air is oxygen -no arguing with that either.  But then he concludes that we need 53L of oxygen to survive in an hour (252L * 0.21 =53L), and this is plainly wrong.
      Consider the following: if you are trained in first-aid/CPR, they will at some point instruct you in assisted breathing -literally blowing the air from your lungs into a non-breathing victim's lungs.  This would clearly be a waste of time if you were using all 21% of the oxygen in the air for every breath.  A brief perusal of the internet suggests an absorbtion rate of somewhere between 1/5 and 1/3 of that for every normal breath.  This can reduce the number of plants you need by a factor of 3-5, depending. 
        Of course you would need permanent sunlight (or equivalent) to sustain full plant production all the time.  Since plants don't do photosynthesis in the dark, any down time would require a corresponding increase in the number of plants needed.

Ah, trophies..... that takes me back.  These are all that I've handed out:











Most of them were for the Animation Competitions a couple of years back, but I guess I'll have to do some research into the specifics.

If I may be so bold as to assume the temporary role of unofficial welcome wagon

I heard that the Unofficial Welcome Wagon Committee was planning to hand out free toothbrushes and fridge magnets to the newly arrived.  Is there any substance to this rumour?

Yes, it is Theatrx's prerogative to start a new Animation competition.  And the theme is brilliant!  I'll PM him to start a new Animation Competition thread.