[omloflump]

Thanks! I'll look into it.

[omloflump]

Any news on a MAD mac port?

[atomicbear]

Wow, imagine other Mac users who want to make an adventure game. Neat-O.

I have been trying to figure out the whole Lucas-Sierra-Point and Click thing for some time. But programing is not my strong suit, doing the art work is.

A few years ago I tried to use the Indiana Java system, but found it a bit awkward. I have also attempted to program it in Director 5(a long-long time ago) and in one of the first versions of realBasic.

Lateley I have been working in Flash 4, and have made a really simple Myst style game as a test. It's pretty easy to do. I wasn't sure if a Scumm style game could be done in flash till I saw this game at the Altoids.com site: http://www.altoids.com/index.aspx?ar...relationid=405 it proved that it could be done pretty succesfully, so now I have to figure out that blasted A* thing

But I am open to other options, so if any of you have any more ideas, there are more then one of us Mac guys who want to make an adventure.

Oh, by the way, I'm new. I am Atomic Bear

[Kickaha]

Hello Atomic Bear.

"Brain Hotel" was done in Flash, and Pinhead Games have downloads for both PC and Mac (couldn't get the Mac version to run but that's another matter.)

[atomicbear]

Thanks for you kind greeting, I thought for a sec I had scared away everyone on this thread away

I saw the pinhead games, but have not tired them yet. I will download it now.

I saw a presentation for the new QuickTime at the Apple store last night. I forgot that a .swf file can be in a QT movie for playing of a CD-ROM, might be a possibility. And you can set a QT movie to be full screen, auto play, etc.

If I get around to making a game it will probably be on a CD-Rom or a big download since It will have a lot of bitmap images scanned in.


Love to hear some my fellow mac adventure makers how they are making their games.

Atomic Bear

[Kickaha]

I'm not sure how much indie and hobbyist graphic Adventure creation there is on a Mac.

Commercially Macromedia Director gets used (a similar product iShell was used for the first Crystal Key game.) Supercard, a Hypercard language, was used to create "Alida" and Cos Russo subsequently ported it to another Hypercard language Runtime Revolution so it would run on PCs.

I've used Runtime Revolution as the engine for creating something between a slideshow and a game (see W03.) Used properly (unlike the way I've been using it) it might serve particularly for LucasArts style games.

Quicktime I've looked at as an API then looked hurriedly away again, such a vast API to master.

Perhaps it's a question of using what you have and know.

[atomicbear]

Its so sad but true that there are few....well...no Point and click engines for the mac.

For the mac I have played-with making adventures in Coldstone from Ambrosia, TNT basic, Real basic, Hypercard, Indiana Java, and silvercreator. When I was a kid I programmed a simple Text adventure on a Apple II and a commodore 64.

I did this mini example of a myst style game in a day in flash 4:
http://www.bkolm.com/a_game/index.html so its just playing around. (use arrow keys to rotate and move, click on switches and doors)

I really mostly need to figure out that blasted A* routine. And how to implement it into an old version of flash. If I could get that far, I would be a happy camper.

I just played "a case of the crabs" and found it very well done and very playable. They should do a flash tutorial for us newbie’s. hint hint

[Kickaha]

Thanks for posting the link to your fun little Flash game in a day Atomic Bear! Artistic talents which you have judging from the rest of your site are much more in demand than programming abilities.

I'll be interested in what you thought of the various tools you tried for making Adventures on a Mac.

What do you mean by A* ? The A* I know is from another context (searching move trees in chess and Go playing programs.)

[atomicbear]

Your welcome Kickaha

Originally Posted by Mnemonic

Google for A* ("a-star") or Dijkstra's Algorithm; those are the two most common algorithms used in games (and not just adventure games).

I just talked to a PC game-programming friend who said that there are simpler methods then A*. He did use the term path finding though.

I would love a good visual example on how the Sierra or Lucas engines work(ed). I saw a visual example on the web somewhere once. The example had multiple paths as straight lines and crossing ones on a sorta grid. At least I think so.

I will have to think for a bit to remember what I have done in the past Kickaha, but I am happy to share. What have you used?

Atomic Bear

[Erwin_Br]

Originally Posted by atomicbear

I saw a visual example on the web somewhere once. The example had multiple paths as straight lines and crossing ones on a sorta grid. At least I think so.

I will have to think for a bit to remember what I have done in the past Kickaha, but I am happy to share. What have you used?

Atomic Bear

Heh. Sounds exactly like the way the SLUDGE engine handles pathfinding. The outer lines define the walkable areas, and you can force a character to cross certain lines. Hard to explain, so here's a picture of one of the paths from my game:



--Erwin

[Trumgottist]

Hey, Erwin!

You should re-do that one. Maybe it doesn't cause you any trouble as it is (though I suspect it might be possible to end up with some strange pathfinding on that floor), but it does contain some invalid (i.e. concave) floor shapes and it's better to be on the safe side. Doing it the right way doesn't cost anything. You also have some unneeded subdivisions. Here's how I'd create the same floor:

[Kickaha]

Atomic Bear I haven't looked at LucasArts style games where how to move the character around is the problem. I mentioned before using Runtime Revolution for the Mystish gamelet I'm doing.

SLUDGE and SCUMM and AGS I assume solve the character movement for you. Pinhead Games must have done this in Flash for their games.

If the walkable area is a straightforward closed polygon then that seems to be a tractable problem. I don't think A* is relevant. Someone will have investigated this.

Character moving in something like a RPG is a different ball-game, an A* style algorithm would be very relevant there.

[AGA]

With AGS you simply draw the possible walkable areas, and any walk-behinds, and the game automatically works out the paths the character can take.

[Erwin_Br]

Originally Posted by Trumgottist

Hey, Erwin!

You should re-do that one. Maybe it doesn't cause you any trouble as it is (though I suspect it might be possible to end up with some strange pathfinding on that floor), but it does contain some invalid (i.e. concave) floor shapes and it's better to be on the safe side. Doing it the right way doesn't cost anything. You also have some unneeded subdivisions. Here's how I'd create the same floor:

Hmmm, interesting... But what about the table in the middle? I don't wan't the player be able to walk over the table (or follow the red arrow in my image below). The player needs to follow a certain route around the table (the white arrow).



Hehe, funny we're discussing this on the AG forums, by the way

--Erwin

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Erwin_Br

Hmmm, interesting... But what about the table in the middle? I don't want the player be able to walk over the table (or follow the red arrow in my image below).

Of course. What makes you think that my floor doesn't stop the player from walking through the table?

Hehe, funny we're discussing this on the AG forums, by the way

[atomicbear]

Thanks folks. It wasn't what I was thinking of, but seeing the patches in the example above gave me an idea of how to handle the walking in flash 4. I have to figure out how to impliment it now.

I would love to see/hear more of how engines allow you to specify how you can walk in a scene.

Atomic Bear

[omloflump]

And I'd like someone to make an engine for Mac. Wah! I'm hopeless at Flash.

[atomicbear]

Originally Posted by omloflump

And I'd like someone to make an engine for Mac. Wah! I'm hopeless at Flash.

...and I am using flash 4. It's missing a lot of very basic functions like having an easy wasy to find the mouse pointers cords with out draging a movie clip. But I know that it can be done somehow, so I am game to play a bit. I would be happy to share what I figure out if you like. Though it might be a while before I have anything.

I did find a way to find the mouse's position, so I am one step in the right direction.

Atomic Bear

[g2-man]

Originally Posted by omloflump

Any news on a MAD mac port?

Sorry omloflump, I'm afraid not. I have no access to a Mac to actually compile the engine. If I get any further, I'll let you know, though unfortunately can't promise anything. :-(

[omloflump]

Oh well, thanks anyway. If only AGS was on Mac, or at least open source.