Any good freeware adventure engines?
 

I've been working on sprites and backgrounds for a adventure games that has been going through development hell. Any suggestions?

Depends on resolution requirements, platform compatibility etc., but AGS has proven extremely stable and has a very helpful community. For hi-res or 2.5D stuff, Wintermute seems a good choice, though I don't have any personal experience with their forums.

I thought about something more cross platform, anything besides those engines and game maker?

Sludge is a cross-platform engine. If you want to try out a game made with it then Frasse and the Peas of Kejick is a good example.

I beta tested Frasse, but I've never actually made anything with Sludge personally so I can't tell you how easy it is to use.

I think I have heard about sludge but I didn't use it yet. I'll try to get around to trying it today. Make some simple images and put it in there.

Also does that mean the game supports animated gifs or pngs?

I would sooo recommend AGS, it changed my life.

It changed my life too, but I haven't tried any other adventure engine, so I can't compare. :)

However, I'd like to say that the state of the forums and communities based around an engine are a very important aspect of it, because, even if you won't need any help with the development itself, the primary response to your finished games will happen right there.

Ditto on the life-changing quality of AGS - without even having released a game yet, simply using the engine started my career in games journalist, lead to a job at EA and got me an awesome girlfriend. Though I probably shouldn't vouch for AGS' miraculous qualities without adding the disclaimer: "Results may vary" :)

If you're worried about cross-platform compatibility, check out the very promising XNA based AGS port XAGE, which could very well offer Mac, Linux, browser (via SilverLight), Xbox 360, Android and even iPhone/iPad support by the time your game is done.

Pinback! Hello hello :D, fancy seeing you over in this forum :P (sorry for the off topic...)

I wholeheartedly recommend SLUDGE. I've played with AGS and Wintermute as well, and while they're great, I just prefer the way SLUDGE works and then there's of course the fact that it runs natively on my Mac.

Do you know what was used to develop SLUDGE? Like C or C++ or Boo? I thought because Boo is related to C# XNA type of programming right?

@ GarageGothic - AGS led to a GF! You lucky duck, AGS really is a catalyst for miracles then!

@ Sughly - Hey dude! Small world...

And yeah AGS support is off the charts, I almost have to beat back the helping hands with a stick.

Relationship only lasted four years, though - started going downhill around the time AGS 3.1.2 was released. So stick to version 2.72 if you're in it for the ladies ;)

SLUDGE itself is developed in C++, if I'm not mistaken. Objective C on the Mac.

I don't see the relation with Boo and C#, though. And XNA.