https://github.com/deadsuperhero/actionwheel

A VerbCoin / Sierra hybrid for Adventure Game Studio
https://github.com/deadsuperhero/actionwheel

adventuregamestudio ags

Last synced: 4 months ago
JSON representation

A VerbCoin / Sierra hybrid for Adventure Game Studio

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/deadsuperhero/actionwheel
• Owner: DeadSuperHero
• License: mit
• Created: 2021-02-28T06:42:44.000Z (over 5 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2021-02-28T07:54:54.000Z (over 5 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-04-13T06:47:43.823Z (over 1 year ago)
• Topics: adventuregamestudio, ags
• Language: AGS Script
• Homepage:
• Size: 10.5 MB
• Stars: 3
• Watchers: 1
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: license.md

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

          
# ActionWheel

_Note: This template is designed for AGS 3.5.0_

ActionWheel is an open source game template for

[Adventure Game Studio](https://adventuregamestudio.co.uk). The goal of this

design project is three things:

1. **Visual Simplicity** - in point-and-click adventure games, it's sometimes easy

to end up in a situation where the game UI elements take up way too much space.

Worse yet, sometimes there's a significant amount of distance between the

 _thing you want to click_ (a verb icon, like "Use") and a _the thing you need to

 click afterwards_ (an object, like a lever)

 

 ![Picking up items](https://github.com/DeadSuperHero/ActionWheel/blob/main/Screenshots/pick-up-items.gif)

 ActionWheel attempts to solve this problem by putting everything you need in

 one place, at the shortest possible distance from where you clicked. The idea

 is similar to VerbCoin by LucasArts, which was used in some of their most

 popular games. However, the design is also highly influenced by the Sierra

 Creative Interpreter, courtesy of Sierra On-Line. My design intention was to

 put both systems together into something new.

 2. **Context-Driven Indication** - ActionWheel uses several different kinds of

 labels to indicate to players certain kinds of context:

 * Cursor Label - A hovering label next to the mouse pointer appears when

 all interfaces are closed, showing Characters, Hotspots, and Objects in a given

 room. This easily shows to players what things in an environment can be

 interacted with.

 * Wheel Label - The Wheel Label clearly explains the buttons on the wheel.

 Additionally, the label will contextually update for certain kinds of

 properties - for example, the "Use" icon can change to "Pick Up" or "Touch" to

 indicate what kind of action is available for that button.

 * Inventory Label - Finally, the inventory window shows what icon is currently

 under the mouse.

 

 ![Label-Switching for Actions](https://github.com/DeadSuperHero/ActionWheel/blob/main/Screenshots/multi-context.gif)

 3. **Integration of Elements** - ActionWheel aims to design a new kind of

 point-and-click interface that incorporates traditional pop-up windows into

 a stationary cursor area, based on where the player clicks. Similar to the first

 principle, the intention is to keep the most important, most-accessed functions

 within immediate reach for the player. In addition, this particular design is

 intended to be friendly to both traditional desktop inputs, as well as mobile

 tablets.

 

 ![Opening Inventory anywhere](https://github.com/DeadSuperHero/ActionWheel/blob/main/Screenshots/inv-open-2.gif)

 ## Current Status

 A very basic demo game has been put together with a 1.0 release of the GUI's

 functions. Although the code is a little ugly and a little hacky, it works well

 enough to release as a template.

 There are a few future goals that I want to explore for the project:

 * **Custom Dialog Rendering** - I'd love to figure out how to incorporate

 custom dialog buttons with icons into the UI. This is somewhat harder, and

 requires the use of dynamic sprites, but it's 100% possible that speech options

 could also be factored into the UI somehow.

 * **Tablet Optimization** - I have a few ideas on how AGS might be optimized

 for touch interfaces, and want to experiment with them in the near future. The

 biggest two things are: representing touch inputs to an engine designed around

 mouse clicks, and visually showing to players exactly where fingers are positioned

 using the AGS Camera API.

 ## How to start using this!

 There are two basic ways to get up and running:

 1. Git clone this repo and open up the demo game

 2. Git clone this repo, and instead put the `actionwheel.agt` file in the folder

 where your AGS Editor lives.