N00b here.....

[Godzilla]

Hello guys. Here is my question: I have downloaded AGS 3.3.0, Win AGI, SCI Studio and SCI Companion on my laptop. (I deliberately missed Wintermute and Visionaire because I don't care about 3D characters and 3D high resolution backgrounds). My laptop runs Windows 8. As all of you , I always wanted to create an adventure game. My judge about using one of the above engines is based on the simplicity of the scripting language. Also, I want an engine to be easy to use by only one person, since my development team is consisted by only me. (in other words I don't care about fancy graphics, sound and animation). So, which program should I use? I think SCI and AGI engines have compatibility problems with my Windows 8 (after all it's normal cause they are old programs), something that doesn't happen in AGS 3.3.0. But AGS 3.3.0. has a very difficult scripting language (similar to C/C++) and I kinda HATE programming. I think SCI and AGI engines have more easy scripting language. Am I wrong? Also, I have NO previous experience in programming, even in BASIC. So, any suggestions would be REALLY helpful.

[Collector]

AGS would be the hardest to program in, but has the most modern IDE of the three. It also has the largest active user base.

You will probably find more help here with SCI and SCI is more flexible than AGI. Compatibility is no problem with DOSBox. I made a run utility that will start your project automatically in DOSBox from the run button in either Studio or companion. Though things have been slow here lately, there are people here that can help with scripting questions. Besides these forums, there are tools and tutorials here on the main site. There is also the SCI Programmers Wiki - http://sciwiki.sierrahelp.com/

Programming in AGI is by far the simplest. Though I have not done so, it should be possible to getting an AGI project to run in DOSBox automatically from the run button in the IDE. For a single developer AGI may well be the route to take. There have been a ton of single developer games made. I have just recently recovered a lot of AGI tools and documentation from the Wayback machine. You can find it here - http://agi.sierrahelp.com/ and the Wiki here - http://agiwiki.sierrahelp.com/

Good luck with whatever engine you use.

[Doan Sephim]

When I started with SCI I also had no familiarity with any programming languages.

It took some getting used to, but I am now fairly decent at coding with SCI. As Collector pointed out, the forums here are a little slow these days, but I have also found that whenever I needed help with something, there were people here.

I have only worked with SCI, so I can't really comment on which one you should use. Good luck with your adventure!

[Godzilla]

Thank you both for your replies.

I decided since I am a total beginner to use the "WinAGI" game engine.

It's somehow easy to program for a non-programmer.

It's very easy and fast to create adventures for a single developer.

After all, as I already said, I don't care about fancy fonts, graphics, animations, videos, sounds and speech.

If I succeed to come up with some adventure games using WinAGI, I will -probably- move on to SCI programming.

I also understand that things in the forums are a little bit slow. That's okay.

One question: When I try to use a template (Game->New game->From template) I take the following message:

"The interperter version for this game does not match known Sierra versions. This is not a valid template directory".

What does it mean?

[Collector]

Probably the interpreter files are missing from the template folder. Be sure AGI, AGI.COM, AGIDATA.OVL, CGA_GRAF.OVL, EGA_GRAF.OVL, HGC_GRAF.OVL, HGC_OBJS.OVL, IBM_OBJS.OVL, JR_GRAF.OVL and VG_GRAF.OVL are in the folder.

[Godzilla]

Hmmm, when I open the directory "Templates" in the WinAGI directory, I see 4 sub directories: Version 2, Version2VB, Version3, Version3VB.
(Version2VB and Version 3VB stand for Visual Basic type of syntax)

Then, when I open -for example- Version2 template sub folder, I see the following set of files:
WORDS.TOK,
VOL.0,
VIEWDIR,
TEMPLT,
TEMPLT,
SNDDIR,
PICDIR,
OBJECT,
LOGDIR,
globals and
subdirectory named "Resources".


I use the "WinAGI GDS" ver 1.1.22 by Andrew Korson 2005 - 2007.

[Collector]

You need to add the interpreter files. http://agi.sierrahelp.com/Tools/index.html#SierraAGI

[Godzilla]

I take the same message.

[Collector]

Unzip the "Sierra AGI Interpreter v2 936" download into the game's folder if you chose one of the v2 templates. If you chose v3, use the "Sierra AGI Interpreter v3 002 149" link. If you add the files to the template folders (Unzip "Sierra AGI Interpreter v2 936" in the Version 2 and Version2VB folders; unzip "Sierra AGI Interpreter v3 002 149" in the Version3 and Version3VB folders), they will be copied with the template the next time you start a new game from a template.

[Godzilla]

Yes, I did that. For example, my files in the subfolder "Version3" are the following:
WORDS.TOK
VOL.0
VIEWDIR
TEMPLT
TEMPLT
SNDDIR
PICDIR
OBJECT
LOGDIR
globals.txt
AGI.EXE
AGIDATA.OVL
CGA_GRAF.OVL
EGA_GRAF.OVL
HGC_GRAF.OVL
HGC_OBJS.OVL
IBM_OBJS.OVL
JR_GRAF.OVL
VG_GRAF.OVL
and the subdirectory, named "Resources"...... but still doesn't work

anyway, IS that something important, in case I will never manage to use the templates?

If I try to make a game from scratch will that affect my game?

[Godzilla]

I can't believe it. I chose to make a new game from blank. I opened the logic window and.......I just realized that the letters are sooooo small, i can't even see them. I tried to use the magnifier but the problem is not solved. Furthermore, I see no button to enlarge the font size.

(I think this is the way of my laptop to say....."Man, use Adventure Game Studio, not this program!!!" )

[Collector]

Control + mouse wheel will increase the size of the font.

I an not sure why you would still be getting errors. Perhaps something is corrupted. Replace the "Version2" and "Version3" folders in the Templates folder with the ones in the zip and then try to create a new game from the template.

By the way, avoid the "Version2VB" and "Version3VB" templates. They use a scripting like VB. This will cripple you when you try to move on to programming in other engines.

[Godzilla]

Thanks for the reply. Yesterday night I found another way to enlarge the font size. Ctrl+Shift+< or >.

As for the Visual Basic syntax I wasn't planning to use it at all.

But I am still worrying about the templates. Anyway, my question is: Will that "problem" affect any future game I will create (from a blank project)?

[Collector]

I don't think you will want to start from a blank. Without more experience there is too much that you would have to recreate. BTW, am I to assume that you dropped the interpreter files in your game's folder, too? Have you tried a new from template since you added the files to the template folders? Have you tried the version 2 template?

[Godzilla]

How can I sent/show pictures (.jpeg) in here?
I have made 8 "prtScrn" images of my monitor screen so you would be able to see what I can see and maybe you can explain me better what I have to do, because -although I am a native Greek- all these ..... look Greek to me.