Island of Secrets

[JRedant]

Hey guys, I'm not sure if it's because my computer is running Vista, or if there's something in the tutorial that I'm not understanding, but I'm having trouble making headway into my game.

So I downloaded ScummVM, because SCIV.eve doesn't work with Vista. ScummVM was able to load, and run the Point and Click tutorial, and the template with no problems. But as soon as I made any changes, it decides that it doesn't want to run.   What am I missing?

Perhaps I should be using something other than ScummVM?

I'm going to try the tutorials again. Maybe I'm passing over something vitally important?

[JRedant]

 

Skip it, I figured it out. DosBox is my new best friend!

Now I'm foraging ahead! I'll let you know what I'm working on as soon as I get beyond one screen, one object, and one character

[Cloudee1]

Welcome, and yes scummvm will not work with our in development games. The short version is that scummvm is set up to work on a game by game basis. apparantly the pnc template was created before the last build so it does work. Good choice going with dosbox. If you need any help or get stuck, feel free to ask for help. looking forward to seeing what you make.

[JRedant]

It's probably been done before, but whatever!

What I'm doing is a port of Island of Secrets, published originally by Usborne back in '84. I had a lot of fun putting the code in when I was a kid. And now it's a pretty darn good source of visual material for a SCI-based game, I'm surprised they haven't done it.

I started using AGI, and that started becoming hairy. Especially the Picedit tool. I couldn't take it anymore, so I switched editing suites.

Now I'm hoping that my attention for this project lasts long enough to complete it.

[JRedant]

...oh what they hey, I'll post up the project site. 

https://sites.google.com/site/saskolinasoft/

[JRedant]

Okay, maybe someone can help me.

So I made another room. Then from the Script editor, I've done the following:

[New Script] --> {Room Number: 2} --> [OK] --> {proceeded to make script changes} --> [Compile]

Then the following error came up:
"[Error]: Unable to open vocab.000 for reading!
[Compile]: C:/(directory)/rm002.sc Failed!"

Worse still, when I go to the script list, rm002.sc is not listed. However, rm002.sc is in the directory, so that wasn't lost.

What steps am I missing?

[JRedant]

...once again, nevermind. >.<

Self-learning is a good thing!

[gumby]

...oh what they hey, I'll post up the project site. 

https://sites.google.com/site/saskolinasoft/

I like your 'leafy path' screenshots - nice art!

[Collector]

You may want to see this thread fro testing/running your game.

http://sciprogramming.com/community/index.php/topic,523.0.html

[JRedant]

I like your 'leafy path' screenshots - nice art!

That...took some time! I was using the tracing method there. I found that if it's worth doing, then it's worth doing well. Even if it's just tracing 24-bit color pictures to a very rough 16 color picture.

[Collector]

I see that you are using Studio. You will find that most here use SCI Companion various reasons. Except for a couple of issues, you may find that it is less buggy.

[JRedant]

Very well, I'll give SCI Companion a try then.

Could I port my work over from Studio, or would I have to start over from scratch?

[edit: ....*sigh*....nevermind. I answered my own question!  Oh, about to face my first major challenge. The cave. :-P ]

[Cloudee1]

If you are using the template game that comes with studio you will need to make a few changes to a couple of scripts but after that you should be able to use either companion or studio to work on your game. collector is right, companion is the preferred studio and in your case specifically, you may find the pic tools especially handy. you can import images and it will try to convert them to 16 colors for you.

[JRedant]

If you are using the template game that comes with studio you will need to make a few changes to a couple of scripts but after that you should be able to use either companion or studio to work on your game. collector is right, companion is the preferred studio and in your case specifically, you may find the pic tools especially handy. you can import images and it will try to convert them to 16 colors for you.

Let's suppose that the only script changes I made were to the two rooms alone, would it be slightly simpler to copy and paste the ones from SCI-Companion template that I need? Which ones would I need to move over?

[JRedant]

The cave has been a challenge. I'm at a point now where I need to ask...does this look like a cave? Or a glob of colors?

https://sites.google.com/site/saskolinasoft/rough-draft/entrancetodarkcave