Poll-y-gone

Another poll is over, and QFG2VGAwins your votes for the game which should have got more nominations in the AGS Awards. It did actually win an award from its noms, however, which is more than can be said for Ben There, Dan That which must have been the biggest loser amongst the nominees.

Second and third were The Vacuum and Life of D Duck II. Both of these games didn't win any awards.

QFG2VGA therefore becomes the March 2009 pick of the month...

Creating a New Room template

One thing I find annoying is adding in the same interactions and scripts to a new room over and over again, but things don't need to be that painful with room templates. So here's a quick tutorial on how to do it:

First, create a new room to build your template in, or if you have a room you'd already like to use as one, just go to it and skip the next few steps. Bear in mind, however, that everything about the room will be used as a template including any backgrounds, objects, etc. you've got set up.


Choose the empty room template and create the room.


Expand the new room in the project tree pane and select Edit Room.


Then, I want to set up the basic, common, interactions for this template as I use them in most rooms. If I don't need them, I can just leave the script functions empty. So, go to the events pane...


And click on the ellipsis icon at the end of each row you want an interaction for.



This creates a blank function in the room script. Then click back to the room and the interaction pane and do the next one...


Until all the script functions you might want are created


And all the interactions you might want are set up in the room editing screen


Then, right-click the room in the project tree, and select "Create Template from this Room".


The template wizard pops up, hit Next.


Enter the template name you want it to have (there seems to be a character limit on this name) and hit Finish.


A confirmation dialogue pops up.


Then you can create a new room and select your new template (or use the standard empty room still for some rooms if you wish, or create more different templates) and you'll find your new rooms have all these steps already done for you!

So, give this template creation thing a try and save yourself some time and frustration!

Lego of me MAGS!

bspeers's not-very-finished lego-based MAGS entry was the only one this month, so he won by default. Lets see some more entries in March, people!

Happy Birthday to Blog

Well, one year ago today, I posted my very first blog post here in this hallowed place. Since then, the entire global banking system nearly collapsed, Tony Hart died and Americans finally voted for a decent president but this blog had pressed on regardless.

A big thank you to both my readers and to Dualnames and Leon my hard-working co-authors.

Feel free to add lots of congratulatory comments below...

Meet the deadline

Andail has posted a new deadline policy in the Competitions and Activities forum becuase too many competitions were stretching out indefinitely and losing momentum. So, if you're regularly involved in any competitions head over and check it out.

Reality on the Wiki

Well, Reality-on-the-Norm has opened up its new wiki and its new website. Not much there yet, so feel free to contribute!

Release your demo(n)s!!!

Yep, I'm sure we've all had those games that haunted us or stopped working on them for reasons, we'd rather not tell. Probably because we're too proud to admit we're bored or exhausted making them. Anyway, it's time for you to release those demons and hear either the silence or someone say "Why did you stopped loving this game?". The topic can be found at the glorious AGS forums here.

Now off to see what people so far have made scream in the top of my room like a cheerleader.
-Private Puddin's Comfort Quest:











-Nihilyst EGA goodness:











-Zabnat's Sam and Max background of some sort:









-JBurger's Space abandoned project art:










-Ryan's MAGS entry that never was:









-Space Piraite Caine's show-off of some really cool looking pixelated boobies!!!:




Nah, just kidding..we can't show them of here..:D




-ProgZMax's really cool looking game:









-Hofmeier's demo of his upcoming game:










Note: Some images contain download links(Have fun)

AGECC

AdventureGamers, the world's best adventuring site, have put up their ECC review and its a hearty 4 stars out of 5 (and remember that AG are verrrry picky: for reference, Myst, Simon the Sorcerer, and Beneath a Steel Sky all got 4 stars too). By the way, all future ECC reviews will be added to this article to avoid overload!

EDIT: And here's TIGSource's review and Destructoid's and GameMile's and Yesterday's Salad

Feels like I'm walking through broken emeralds

Gamezebo have posted a walkthrough for Emerald City Confidential if you've got the game and are stuck. But don't use it unless you REALLY have to, as the in-game hints are very good! Gamezebo also have reviewed the game (and Blackwell Legacy and Unbound).

EDIT: Here's some more reviews, I don't want to fill the blog with just ECC entries!

Casualicious
Jay Is Games

ECC both too casual and not casual enough

Blogger "Whiner" has noticed that some people who complain about Emerald City Confidential are basically doing so because they have confused expectations. Casual gamers expect a hidden object game (or a Diner Dash clone!) And Adventure Gamers expect a Monkey Island clone, or complain about the DRM or having to register an account on PlayFirst's site. As I posted in my comment: if they actually try the game (which you can free for an hour so never mind the DRM) then most people love it.

Richard Cobbett (Features editor on UK magazine PC Plus) has done a review of Emerald City Confidential on his blog and he's generally positive. The only problems he seemed to have with it were the price (which is controlled by Playfirst, so we can't blame Dave for that) and the difficulty level being too low (which was largely mandated by Playfirst, so we can't blame Dave for that).

BJ8 Tease

Grundislav has posted a teaser screenshot with his second playable character blurred out. For those of you desperate for Jordan-y goodness, head over to BJ4U!

At your service pack

A few more problems have cropped up in AGS 3.1.2, so CJ has put out AGS 3.1.2 Service Pack 1 to fix them.

A new home for RON

Well, looks like Reality-on-the-Norm will take CJ up on his offer of hosting, as a new forum has appeared over on the AGS forums, dedicated to RON. You can go there and discuss the re-organisation of RON games amongst other things...

They got the glory...

The underground "Aggie" from AdventureGamers has been announced and it goes to QFG2VGA. Winner of the readers award went to Broken Sword 2.5, a non-AGS title. Ben Jordan, Nanobots, Barn Runner and Ben There, Dan That were runners up.

One of the first essential indie picks of 2009

Yep, we're talking another positive Emerald City Confidential review. This time, IndieGames.com have cast their eye over it and think that "our Dave" has done a great job.

We're off to play ECC, the wonderful ECC of Oz...

Ding Dong! The game is out! Head over to Dave's site, pony up your hard-earned moolah and download the fabulous Emerald City Confidential. There's also a mildy positive review up already.

If you can't Beet them, blog them

Well, OK, its about 6 months late, but I just noticed (while hunting for a RLBAT picture!) that blog "Altered Beets" have published a top 10 list of AGS games. Check out if your favourite is on the list.

This week I've Mostly been returning to the forums

Those of you to have experienced surreal masterpieces Richard Longhurst and the Box that Ate Time or Vegetable Patch Xtreem Turbo will recall Captain Mostly, the guy who came up with the term "Mittens" for AGS meets. Anyway, the good captain has returned to the forums and so the "Days since last oldie returned" counter has been reset.

Aggie Do Do Do, Push Pineapple, Shake a Tree

AdventureGamers have started announcing the results of their own (staff-selected) awards, called "The Aggies" and their readers' choice, too. The first instalment of results doesn't include any indie/freeware so no AGS yet, but all the nominees for best underground game were made in AGS, so we shall soon see...

These are the DAGE of our lives

Rahakasvi has posted on the AGS forums about his new 3D adventure engine, called DAGE. It looks interesting, so check it our if you're hankering after a third dimension.

Doggone it

There's reports that The Home of the Underdogs, which introduced many to AGS games and hosted Reality-on-the-Norm may have died. Not sure what this means for RON's future either.

However, if you speak Russian, you may find that the new Russian AGS forum is your cup of tea (or samovar?)

You wait ages for a Dave Gilbert interview...

Then 3 come along at once. Yep, someone else interviewed the man, and funnily enough there's not a huge overlap between Adventure Classic Gaming's interview with him and the one I did, or bytejacker's.

'Blips Flishes Froodles for me..'

/Flished out:(Flish is on purpose)

-"He's an anteater, with a punk rock guitaaaaar":

Anteater, has finally released his game which has been worked on, troubled on, and pissed off on, for a very long time, so he just hands it over. It's a mind-boggingly big game in size, that's for sure. And it's also 3D, and shareware..yep, shareware. But that's just nag screens saying.."FFS I only ask for a Five Buck". Nough on that, the game is really good and also has some replayablility value. But that's just me. What's your word on that?


/Blips to see:
-Mystic Hall:

Beomoud, has finally been persuaded into show off a little of what he's making. Thank god for that. I'm a fan of those Black Isle games that appeared in the late 90's, and for a reason, his game is really giving me that sense of fear and adventure in my heart. The game resembles Icewind Dale and Diablo I and it also features 3d models in it. Another thing is that game really focuses on stealth (if you're planning on playing as an assasin) and also it might be expandable. Let's cross fingers.

/Comps to eeks:

Colouring Ball(14-27 Feb by Rharpe):
Can you draw a monster?

Background Blitz (27 Jan - Feb 11 by Ben304):
It's all about being creepy and loving to draw some graveyard...all left is the winner to be announced and some final minute entries. Bringing back from the dead rharpe's animation competition is as good.

Zyndicate says Classical, you say "What?":
Sprite Jam of course. The rules aren't really restraining so just see what others have done, and sprite it before the 24th.




/Things to froodle about:

There seems to be the time you guys that never finish a damn game, because you fear of doing so, come back at your enemies back and stab them to death. Isn't that swell?!No?!Ah flip your transistors man, it's seeing Leitor's Edge time...or Doctor Who Time or any other game authors are being consumed of like this:

So go here and give us some taste.

Spread the awards

I've created a Google Docs Spreadsheet with all the AGS Awards in it (excluding resource and the booby prize). If you're into stats, you can see it here.

Get a free MSc in funny dialogue

No, not a Master of Science degree, but a Magic Smiling Cat. If you'd like to hear Grundislav's wonderful rendition of the award acceptance speech, click here.

Wadjet, I them interview

Head over to AdventureGamers and read the awesome interview I did with Mr G (G for Guru!) and hopefully there will be a review of ECC in a few days, too!

Awards ceremony makes the papers...

Thanks to Ponch for this hilarious pic!

AGS Award results

Here's the full list of winners, or download the ceremony ZIP or self-extractor.

Lifetime Achievement Award
ProgZMax

Best Innovation
Colourwise, by bicilotti

Category Best Game Created with AGS
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us, by Le Woltaire

Category Best Gameplay
Nanobots, by The Ivy

Category Best Original Story
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us, by Le Woltaire

Category Best Dialogue Writing
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins, by Grundislav

Category Best Puzzles
Nanobots, by The Ivy

Category Best Player Character
Limey Lizard from Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard! by ProgZMax

Category Best Non-Player Character
"Magic Smiling Cat" from Little Girl in Underland, by The Ivy

Category Best Background Art
A Second Face - The Eye of Geltz is watching us, by Le Woltaire

Category Best Character Art
Once Upon A Crime, by Ghost

Category Best Animation
Quest for Glory II VGA: Trial By Fire, by AGDI

Category Best Programming in an Adventure
Nanobots, by The Ivy, programming by Vince XII

Category Best Sound Effects
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins, by Grundislav

Category Best Music
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins, by Grundislav, Music by Pete Gresser

Category Best Tutorial or Documentation
ColourWise, by bicilotti

Category Best Short Game
Beauties And Beasts, by MashPotato

Category Best Demo
Dust to Water (DEMO), by Le Woltaire

Category Best Non-Adventure Game Created with AGS
ColourWise, by bicilotti

Category Best Programming in a Non-Adventure
ColourWise, by bicilotti

Category Best Voice Work
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins, by Grundislav

With all due ceremony...

Yep, the awards ceremony is out. It's now 1.30am so I'm off to bed. I'll announce it on the forums in the morning if someone hasn't beaten me to it...

Also now available as a slightly smaller download (11.8M instead of 12.8M) as a self-extractor.

Trailer Park

Check out the Emerald City Confidential AWESOMENESS:

3rd time lucky

CJ's put out AGS 3.1.2R3 to fix a couple more things that cropped up at the last minute. Lets hope this is the last of the things that need fixing for a while!

See ECC

Wow, we're overflowing with Emerald City Confidential news today. Dave's done a video with scenes from the game:

Damsel in Dis Review

Captain D briefly reviews Damsel over on his blog. He's got a few other AGS-related posts recently too, so check them out while you're there.

ECCETA

Dave Gilbert has posted about Emerald City Confidential going gold over on Wadjet Eye's site. So the game should be with us on the 19th February. Cool as mince!

AG (no S) Nominations out

This year, AdventureGamers are doing awards and their 3 nominations for "Best Underground" (which is what they call freeware games) are all made in AGS. Head on over, check it out, and leave a comment if you wish.

Ceremony in production

The Awards voting has closed and production of the ceremony is underway. We'll have it with you lovely folks as soon as possible.

We're not all as pefect as BHO

Even CJ's not perfect. A major bug in AGS 3.1.1 just cropped up, so CJ quickly leapt into action and fixed it in 3.1.2... but, I hear you cry, 3.1.2 was already released! Yes, and CJ just re-released it. If you use the option-off-forever dialog script command you need the fix, otherwise it has a couple of extra goodies. Read all about it here.

Neck and Neck

Not long left to go on the AGS Awards voting and the Best Game itself is neck-and-neck. One game did have a big lead, but another has caught it up. So, if you don't want to complain that the wrong game won... VOTE!

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Spheres

-Indiana Jones and How The Hell Did I Forgot this?!:

Or how a three room game, can really take you back to the glory days of the past. First, I should apologize that we haven't said a word about this despite it has been out since the 10 of January. Secondly this game, is really a fine example of a short, but yet very enjoyable game. As the typical story comes, yes, Doctor Jones and the Nazis and all, you'll be wanting more. The graphics are so loyal to the original Lucas Arts game, you'll think that they're ripped. Anyway, short yes, bad not.
The game is by Miez, and he's his debut in releasing an AGS game done mostly by himself. The rest are Mark Lovegrove (mods), Nacho, Big Brother, and dkh. So don't thank Lucas Arts, the graphics aren't ripped!!! Hope they remember than Fountain of Youth game. *cross fingers*

Get it here.

Sagen Sie mir, was ist das Problem!

A german-IPed reader of this blog keeps giving articles low star-ratings. Fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion, but I'd love to see a comment (and you can do those anonymously) as to what the problem is occasionally... then I can fix it, perhaps! Or PM me on the AGS forums if you prefer!

Most popular articles

Well, as its nearly a year of the blog, here's some info over the first year:

August (when the forums were down for an extended period) was my most popular month, until this January, when the Awards seem to have piqued interest and I hit a new record of 846 unique visitors.

The Top 10 articles on the site are:

• Top 10 AGS series
• AGS Awards nominations
• The results of the pick-of-the-month poll
• Ben Jordan 7 released
• Unsung Heroes of the AGS forums
• My cameo in Ben Jordan 7
• (wrong!) announcement that QFG2VGA would be out soon
• Beta of walkcycle generator
• Short review of 4 new games out with Quest in their names
• Waxing lyrical on how fab the AGS forums are

From this, we can conclude that you guys like to hear about big name games, be flattered, make walkcycles, choose the pick of the month and read lists of top games...

Duty and Be Reviewed

Award-winning AGS adventure Duty and Beyond has been reviewed over at AdventureGamers. Many of you will have played the 2006 game, but if you haven't experienced Piet the pizza-delivery-boy's escapades, then check out the review and it may just persuade you to take the plunge.

Annie Get Your Pick

Indie Games have chosen Annie Android as one of their Freeware game picks, so congratulations to Mr Ben.

Making movies

Strange Visitor has shared with us the fun new(-ish) site for making animated movies. Its still somewhat limited, but some of the work posted by AGSers in the forums is quite entertaining.

ABC, easy as 312

CJ has officially released AGS 3.1.2 to the huddled masses outside his luxurious snow-covered mansion. Don't download it all at once!

Passed the century

110 votes in the Awards so far, thanks to everyone who has put their oar in. But if you haven't its more important than ever: there's even one category that has every single nominee tied and two other categories have just one vote between the leader and 2nd place, so your vote definitely counts.

Purloined poll

Well, the results are in for who was most robbed by not getting ANY nominations and looks like Barn Runner is the one who has been most diddled. However, its already the January Pick of the Month, so This Game (which came second in the poll, just ahead of Cosmos Quest 2) get to be February's pick.

The next poll is for which game should have had MORE nominations.