Topics

1

SCI Syntax Help / So how customisable is the interface in SCI1.1?

« on: February 17, 2017, 09:47:52 AM »

I've been going through SCI, trying to get the hang of each bit of it, but there's something that's bothering me about it that I need to clear up: Is the standard Sierra interface hard coded, or in a script somewhere? I've been looking and looking for it, but I haven't yet found where the interface is defined. I know the top bar is drawn by the script, and you can change it, but I'm not sure about the iconbar, or whether you can create a different interface style that doesn't have the iconbar/right click cycle. Maybe something like Left click interact, right click look? A verb coin? How hard coded is the interface in SCI1.1, and if it isn't, where is the script that controls these things?

2

SCI Syntax Help / Can someone explain how to do blocking actions?

« on: February 11, 2017, 07:45:03 PM »

I've been messing around for the past day or so with SCI 1.1, and so far I really like it - it's way better than SCI0 for what I do, which is mostly VGA stuff.  I've been working through the tutorials and the help file getting used to the engine, but there's still something I've not got my head around, and that's stopping the game while an action takes place, say, if you have an example scene:

Man: "You should try the wine. It is on the table over there."
Ego: "I think I shall."
(Ego walks to table, picking up animation plays.)
(Wait a second or two)
Man: "To your health, good sir."
(Ego drinking animation.)
Ego: "Egad, this is poisoned!"

I know that in AGS, you could queue up Character.Say commands and animations like so:

Code: [Select]

cMan.Say ("You should try the wine. It is on the table over there.");
cEgo.Say ("I think I shall.");
cEgo.Walk (200,150,eBlock);
cEgo.LockView (EGO_TAKE);
cEgo.Animate (0,5,eBlock);
cEgo.UnlockView ();
Wait (80);
cMan.Say ("To your health, good sir.");
...etc...

But I'm not sure what the equivilent would be in SCI Script... I've managed to do a Script before (while running through the tutorial to make the ship move), so I'm certain it's something to do with those, but how I'd set it up so that the player can't interact while this is going on except to skip speech is beyond me. Any pointers to where I should look? Thanks in advance!

3

AGI Development Tools / WinAGI keeps inserting uncompilable characters into logic files?

« on: April 29, 2016, 03:04:42 PM »

I'm trying to mess around with WinAGI, because sometimes you just wanna create a really old game with a really old engine. (its view editor is one of the best ones I've seen as well, it's so easy to animate in!). The syntax isn't too hard (though I have no idea how to do blocking actions, i.e waiting for an action to complete before continuing with a script), but I have a real problem with WinAGI's logic editor.

Whenever I work in the AGI syntax, writing a "{" character keeps placing vertical tabs (ASCII 11 - the little male symbol) around it, and then the compiler won't  compile it until I fiddle around blindly in the editor to make those vertical tabs vanish. The BASIC syntax does at least compile, but I really hate BASIC, being a C programmer. Is there anyone who knows why this is happening, how I can make it stop, or how to fix it? I've been looking into the source code but I can't see where it ignores whitespace, nor can I get Visual Basic 6.0 working on my machine so I could recompile it.

4

SCI Syntax Help / Resetting Walk Cel to 0 and other questions.

« on: April 16, 2011, 08:24:29 PM »

Recently, I have developed a great interest in creating a game in the SCI engine. I love how it looks and sounds (and it has the exclusive honor of being the only game engine capable of full EGA graphics you can develop for), and I really want the engine to flourish.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a programmer. I'm an animator by trade, and every programming language I know is C-like (mel scripting, AGS-code), so this new engine (and the scattered documentation) is rather intimidating. The art is the easiest part for me, and the programming the hardest. Could anyone kindly help me with my novice questions?

1) Resetting the Walk Loop to Cel 0 when Not Moving
Something that really bugs me about the way SCI handles walking is that it doesn't reset the loop when you stop, leaving EGO to stand around with his leg in the air. This is acceptable for roughly realistic walk cycles, but for more exaggerated, cartoony ones, it'd look odd:

I don't think having his hair suddenly stick in place would be very appealing somehow.

I imagine you'd have to put it inside a doit method, checking if EGO's view is currently a walk, and if EGO is stopped, set the cel number to 0. But do you put it inside a script of it's own? A main script? A room script? What if I want to extend this functionality to all actors?

2) A Question of Memory
How many props can reasonably be in an SCI screen before it goes belly-up? I've heard a lot of people worrying about heap space. Only thing is, I have quite detailed rooms, like so:
Click here
Would having that many props in one room crash the engine? Would baking the sprites onto the background (via judicious use of AddToPic) ease the load on the engine?

3) Persistant Parser

Say I want to have a persistant GUI in my game, that served as the Parser, a quick Inventory button, and a few bits of flair. How easy would it be to have a persistant parser (like AGI) on the screen all the time, and would it interfere with the rest of the engine's workings?


I'm really sorry for inundating you guys with my questions. I'm really enthused that there are still people working on engines like these, and I so wanted to join in on the game making front.