[omloflump]

I am a Mac user who desperately wants to make an adventure game but I can't use adventure game studio, or for that matter, any good adventure game engine. Does anyone know if any good engines exist for Mac? I can run either OS 9 or X. I have Flash MX, but I have no idea how to make an adventure game in that and there are no tutorials on how to do it, although I did manage to make a buggy text based game.

[custard]

Apparently, you can use the AGS editor with Virtual PC, however, i think you'd be unable to test it :/

[omloflump]

I wouldn't be willing to use Virtual PC, I am more interested in an alternative to AGS.

[g2-man]

The only ones that come to mind are MAD and MAGE\IndyJava.

[omloflump]

The MAD engine looks pretty good, but they still haven't got around to porting it to Mac. IndyJava is pretty good, but for some reason I can't open Java apps on my OS 9 comp.

[Erwin_Br]

Originally Posted by omloflump

IndyJava is pretty good, but for some reason I can't open Java apps on my OS 9 comp.

That's too bad, because Java is platform independent and runs on almost every operating system.

--Erwin

[Eddy]

You can try Divgamestudio.
I don't know I've you can get anywhere these days.

[friarphil]

You might also want to give the FACE engine a look. It's flash based so it should be cross platform. I havent really looked at it very closely, but I know it's out there and may be a solution.

http://www.face-engine.com/?newlang=eng

[g2-man]

Should have remembered FACE.

Just spent the afternoon trying to port MAD to linux...shouldn't be too bad, except I ported it to lua 5.0...but now the damn thing won't link and I can't understand why.

Edit: Figured it out. Working for me fine.

It should be fairly simple to compile MAD for Mac, almost certainly for OS X, but you'd need to find somebody with the hardware and inclination. I don't have the hardware unforunately. I might get in touch with powerbook owners I know.

[Erwin_Br]

SLUDGE works like a charm on Linux, when you use WINE.

--Erwin

[g2-man]

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

[omloflump]

I looked for divgamestudio but it seems to have dissapeared. No one's found a flash tutorial on adventure games have they?

[friarphil]

Originally Posted by omloflump

I looked for divgamestudio but it seems to have dissapeared. No one's found a flash tutorial on adventure games have they?

Didja ever check out the FACE engine? It's flash based nd designed specifically for adventure games. They have a tutorial on their web site as well.
http://www.face-engine.com/?newlang=eng

Ive written my own game engine from scratch in Flash, but unfortunately it isnt very user friendly at this stage, but if you are fairly competent with Action Script, it's pretty easy to create your own engine

[omloflump]

I am not great with actionscript, but with some sort of guide or tutorial, I think I could get by. Do you know any good tutorials that would help me learn enough to make my own engine? By the way, is flash a good system for adventure games? Would it be worth the effort? I want a game that can be played well in full screen. I'm worried that it might be slow or something. Also, F.A.C.E looks alright but I want to make games offline, I don't have cable

[omloflump]

The main problem I have when trying to make an adventure game in Flash MX is character movement. Most of the turorials I've found tell you how to move characters with a keyboard but not a mouse, and it is usually for top view games, so for each direction the character moves, the animation is the same. I want to learn how to have different animations for the different directions the character moves. I am also having trouble with the perspective, as in the standard semi-isometric perspective for adventure games. I have no idea where to begin with this.

[friarphil]

Unfortunately, I cant offer you any tutorials, but if you want an example of what flash can achieve as an adventure game, check out the ones that I have already designed:

A Case of the Crabs: http://www.otterarchives.com/bountygame.html

Brain Hotel: http://www.otterarchives.com/brainhotel/index.html

[omloflump]

Nice work on Case of the crabs! I haven't tried the other game yet but this has convinced me to try and get my game up. Now if only I wasn't actionscript illiterate On an unrelated note, does anyone know how to get Java applications running in full screen mode on MAC OS X? I don't seem to have that option. I'm thinkin of trying out IndyJava.

[Mnemonic]

Speaking of Java, you might want to take a look at SLAGE, a java-based engine being developed by the Space Quest 7 team. It's still under development and I don't know how usable it is ATM, but at least it's open-sorce and the authors might have some tips regarding Java games.
Just a guess...

http://www.slage.org/

[omloflump]

Thanks! I'll check it out. I like how it manages to have Simple, Lightweight AND Advanced in the name.

[Kickaha]

Some good possibilities have been mentioned already.

Others are to use a Hypercard descendant such as Supercard or Runtime Revolution. The original Myst was done in Hypercard, more recently "Alida" was done initially in Supercard for the Mac then ported to Runtime Revolution for the PC release.

Another option is to use Python with pygame (the approach being taken by the "Ages of Ilathid" team.)

Great to hear of amateur game activity on the Mac!