AGS ezine
:spam: For everything AGS related, be sure to check out the AGS ezine - http://www.amazing-ebooks.co.uk/ezine :spam:
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I've read the 4th one but, woot! How did I miss number 3? The Apprentice review in the 3rd one is great, though I think Apprentice deserves at least 93%. What factors do you use to determine the score?
As for the latest issue, the Buccaneer review rocks, as does the game ;) How does the MAGS score differ from a normal one? Is it in comparison with the other games or is it considering the fact the contestants only have a month? Anyway, keep up the good work :) |
I use five components:
sound graphics Misc stuff like scripting etc(bugs also go here) plot puzzles Apprentice mainly lacks depth of plot(which will hopefully be fixed in the sequel) and has some bugs and typos, and is quite short As for MAGS score, I have only two components - idea and realization for limited time |
In the category of depthless test games "Apprentice" is the best one. Besides, have you talked to the chrystal ball? That should bring you enough depth! (Please note: this is not meant as criticism.)
I thought most of the bugs were fixed for the updated version. But seriously, I would have given Apprentice full points just because of Lloyd and the chrystall ball... |
But this is criticism. This flame will give me friends and power, to be sure.
[flame]I have some comments abiout the article "Why is AGS better than the other engines" (second issue of the AGS ezine) Giving a list of all the bugs in other engines doesn't prove anyting about AGS, especially when the article tells nothing of AGS's features! With this in mind, the final conclusion is embarrasing: "As you can see, there are plenty of engines out there, but AGS is most certainly the best. You can create anything with it. The examples are many. It is very flexible and is constantly updated. Hats off to Chris Jones – the king of all engines!" I'll nitpick just for the fun of it - no, just because I think that the quality of writing about amateur adventures could be a little higher, and people need the right knowledge about engines, and the writers need to know that there's at least someone who doesn't like what they've written and how they might develop. If you ask me "Why don't you write it yourself?" I respond: "Because I don't know enough about other engines - anyone who doesn't know enough about other engines should stay relatively quiet about them." Quote:
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If you say that AGAST has no IDE, you have to remember to tell people that it has many helpful utilities. Without the paths editor creating paths would be almost impossible. 2ma2 once challenged Agast developers to make a platform game with Agast. His exact words in his website were: "Try to make this with Agast!" And an Agast platform game was created - though its only known to few. (AGS the most flexible engine?) Also, there are two commercial games made with Agast. That's certainly a merit. The latest Agast versions aren't buggy, the very first ones were. It seems unfair to compare games made with an old version of the engine, as the article was published in July. Quote:
I don't really know why so many people choose AGS, but probably because it was one of the first engines that were finished, and besides, it has the status of a retro engine, it has a real good-old-days -feeling. This alone has caused the fact that not as many developers have chosen the other engines, thus causing even more alienation of the other engines.[/flame] |
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That was the reason that cried AGS for me. Plus, there seemed to be something wrong with AGAST - maybe it's just my computer, but whenever I closed the Streamliner thing, I'd get an error and it'd make me restart my computer. With Wintermute, similar problem, once I opened the example game file, and close it; the next time I opened it - BAM! Some weird error and I could never open it again, unless I reinstalled. Again, perhaps, it's just my miserable hunk of computerous mass. SLUDGE just looked complicated; and when I put AGS and SLUDGE into consideration - given the above mentioned advantage that AGS had, that just did it for me and I chose AGS. I agree, that an article like that (which isn't even "in-depth") doesn't need to be in an AGS Ezine, but it's there...oh well :D |
Glad to hear some constructive criticism. So, here goes my defence
1. I do not explain the features of AGS, because this is the AGS ezine, and the readers should be common with them. 2. SLUDGE is shareware, and the "classy" features are for the full version only. IDE is really important for most users, because you do not have to trouble yourself with writing hundreds lines o'code which can be avoided with several clicks. Example: scaling levels, walkable areas etc. Moreover, engines with no IDE are more difficult to learn. And, you could make a game in AGS without any scripting. The quality of the game, of course wouldn't be as high as it would be if it were scripted, but many people just want to make a simple game without losing time in learning code. Also, a 256 color game in hi-res would run a lot faster than any SLUDGE game. 3. People choose AGS because you learn it slowly, but steadily. Once you get into the basics(like views, sprites and basic room operations), the things run very smoothly. 4. As for AGAST, I haven't learned it as much as the others, but judging from some games(ozzy and the quantum playwright & others), it is goddamn buggy. The bugs may have been fixed since then, but whenI played those games, the scripting felt really amateurish. And, finally, I've been searching for an engine for my game for a long time in the DOS days of AGS, but I could stand no engine for more than a day. Draw your conclusions. |
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I don't know exactly what started AGS' mighty rise to power, but I can say that my decision was made almost entirely based on the size and activeness of the AGS community. I've been an AGSer for about 6 months now, and the AGS forums are excellent. There is a real community feeling (though not quite so much as there is here), and there really are people knowledgeable in just about every area of game design, be it scripting, art, music, organization, story, or what have you. Chris Jones updates the thing constantly, and is extraordinarily receptive to bug reports and update suggestions. In other news, I agree with just about everything you said regarding the AGS/other comparisons. The main sticking point for me is that readers of an ezine devoted to AGS have probably pretty much already made up their minds... |
On the other hand, the Agast community is extremely intime. In AGS forums you literally have to push yourself through the mass.
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I wouldnt say so. There are no more that 40-50 active members of the community browsing the forums.
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Can't we all just get along?
I honestly don't see the point of these debates. I hung around the IF (text game) scene for ages, and there were a bunch of different engines. (Tads, Inform, Hugo, and some others). There wasn't a tads community, or an Inform community, there was just an IF community. Why bicker about which engine is better? I personally use AGS, but I could only dream of making a quality game like "Out of Order" or "Cubert Badbone" (neither of which were made with AGS).
They all have pluses and minuses. As long as the games are quality, does it matter? -Dave |
All of you have to agree, that there are much more /good/ games made with ags than with any other engine.
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For an example of what I mean, 1 out of every 5 AGS games is good, yet 1 out of every 3 SLUDGE games is good. However there may be a hundred AGS games but only 10 SLUDGE games, which makes for 20 good AGS games and 3 good SLUDGE games. Consequently, there are more good games made with AGS, but only thanks to there being more games in the first place ;) The numbers, I assure you, are purely fictious. I haven't played a single bad AGS or SLUDGE game as of date, but that's because I don't download every single game I see. :7 Speaking of all this anti-AGS you might deduce from my behavior, trust me, I love AGS - I picked it for my own first game :D |
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