The 13th Disciple... bug fix

[Cloudee1]

For some reason or another I took a peak at this one today. I found out pretty quickly that there was a bug that pretty much brought the game to a screeching halt.

When entering the dean's office, program control moves the ego to the front of the desk. Talking to the dean then triggers him to move between the ego and the door. When the ego then attempts to exit the office, the dean is standing in the way and you still don't have control of the ego in order to move around him.

Fix: The dean now stops short of getting between the ego and the door. Allowing you to leave as you should when that time comes. Changed the version to v 1.01, your welcome.

You can find the game here.

[Collector]

I hadn't noticed this bug when I was going through the AGI games. I'll update the version for the Wiki. I just noticed that the new layout for the games seem to be missing some of the details that the old had. It is no longer apparent if a game is AGI or SCI without looking at the screenshot or downloading the game to look at the files. If you still have the rating system in place, would it not make sense to have some indication that a game is not yet rated?

BTW, I have been working on an AGI/SCI version detection tool. Since there is no reliable location for the game version string in the logic/scripts it uses the same method as every such tool has going all the way back to the old AGINO tool. That was to generate the hash of certain game files to check against a database of hashes. AGINO is the least complete list and NAGI and Sarien do not include the fan games. None of these list SCI games. ScummVM had the most up-to-date lists, including SCI games, but is full of errors. I did notice that they finally added most of the SCI fan games, but it still is missing the most recent. The thing most commonly missing is the interpreter version, which ScummVM does not seem to be that concerned.

The tool will scan the interpreter itself to get the interpreter version, as well as the VERSION or QA file if present to get the game version. It works for PC, Amiga, Apple and Atari versions, though the SCI interpreter detection for non-PC games still needs to be added. It defers to the database for the platform, release date, distribution type and any missing information if game or interpreter versions returned null from the scan. I have been going through my games with the tool to correct errors in the AGI and SCI databases. It is generating the most complete list of AGI and SCI games to date.

Anyway, the reason that I mention this here is that I'll need to add a new entry for your updated version. I would like to setup some kind of submission form, either here or on the Wikis for submission of new and updated fan games to add them to the database.

[Cloudee1]

I have been slowly adding back the details of the games. Everytime I turn around there seems to be some other template I need to rewrite for the updated styling and that keeps distracting me from the outside the forum features, for instance I haven't even touched the sierra games area yet.

As for the AGI SCI bit on the games list, I did something similar to what I did last time. On the main list, you will notice an agi or sci designation inline with the game titles. I haven't carried it forward yet to the single game listing though, I'll do that now. Or do you think it needs to be more prevalent than that?

[Collector]

I see it now, but it could stand to be a bit more distinct from the background. What about a lighter shade for the drop shadow, or would that look too weird with the other dark shadows? The Sierra games were not too fleshed out on the old software. I have been meaning to give you a hand at it, but have a pretty full plate right now from several other projects.

I feel for you with all of the updating the customizations for the new board version. I am facing this, too. The latest phpBB is enough of a change that I can no longer simply update my custom style and mods, they need to be recreated. I have created a non functional board to work out the style before I upgrade the real board. The database conversion went smoother than I expected, but took far longer than the minor updates of the past. Mods are now done by extensions, which should make it easier when it come time to update the board, but the main main mod I use, a syntax highlighting mod, has not been updated yet, so I had to manually do that myself.

So far, recreating the style is proving to be far more difficult than the old version. It uses new features to CSS that I have never seen before. Rounded corners and gradient fills that were done via images are now done purely trough CSS. It now has a number of dynamic  menus that need to be taken into account. I have most of it worked out, but there are a few items that are eluding me as to where to change them. It was also complicated by the fact that I had CloudFlare activated and was banging my head against the wall trying to figure why my CSS changes were not showing. I figured it out when the next day the changes I made finally showed.

[Cloudee1]

I put in a little extra time last night and have the ratings showing up again on the single game listing page. So as far as the game listings go, I am pretty content now with the single games pages. The multiple games listing I am not so keen about. I am trying to get away from having pages and pages of games and instead listing them all on a single page. But trying to come up with a minimalist layout to get them all to fit nicely leaves me kind of scratching my head as to the most relevant info to show on that page which then leads a user to the single listing where the download and all information is available. Like I said, I am not all that keen on it, but for now I am going to focus elsewhere as it is currently functional and more or less serves it's purpose.

I really need to get the tools up and running again as well as get the tutorials all up and listed.