I have a problem with trying to make games

[fensome7]

Hello everyone first of all im sorry if this question and the answer is already somewhere in the forum but I have had difficulty finding it so here it is:

I've been trying for a few years to make my own game. Ever since I came across my first Adrift game and after playing it i became inspired to want to write/create my own.

After downloading Adrift 3.9 and discovering there was a program in the file which meant I would be able to was brilliant. However, when I opened the gen390 file a screen popped up stating several errors but still allowed me to continue on making a game and after spending more than 4 hours writing up a very basic draft shall we say, I then saved the file when I went to re-open it to carry on writing it was empty.

After downloading Adrift4 the same thing occured again and also this time a new problem came up. There was no "player" in the characters box and I couldn't create one which I thought nothing about any further as I still wasn't able to make a game due to the saving issue.

After downloading Adrift5 the saving game problem was fixed but the fact that I could not set a player character has still hampered any chances of me making a game as even after making a character and searching through all the options to see if there was a way i could set him/her to be the PC it still didn't work and could not find any solutions online as to what the problem was. I have tried uninstalling the software and re-installing it, but alas still nothing

I've tried almost everything myself + my friends know and even searching through several forums but still can't do anything about it. Any help is very much appreciated, thank you.

[ElliotM]

When you opened Adrift5, did you see a character with a blue icon that said "Player"? If not, you might not have the standard library. Click on the Adrift Developer logo in the upper left, then click on settings, and then choose the libraries tab and tell me whats in there.

I never used 3.9, and its been a long time since I've used version 4, so I can't help you with those. Version 4 is not freeware, so it will have task/object/etc. limitations unless you paid for it.

[fensome7]

The only library listed is;

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ADRIFT\Libraries\StandardLibrary.amf

Nothing else.


Thank you ElliotM you were right the standard library wasn't set up. It is now and its working I have the PC displayed now. Thank you.

[ElliotM]

Awesome, glad that worked. And welcome to the forums.

[fensome7]

Can someone please help me with another problem.

How do I add a property to an object so that it can't be taken out of where it is, But sothat it can be looked under.
I want the character to be able to look under items in a drawer to find money, but not be able to take the items and if they try to pick up the items then a message will be displayed to help them choose the right command i.e. "Get/Pick up/Take pile of Jeans" then I can have a message appear saying something like "Try not to move anything in the room too much, remember nobody is supposed to know you have been in here searching for something. Just try looking under them instead."

Or....

Do I just leave it as a static object and use the task commands for that?
Only problem is leaving it as a static object doesn't seem to work as I can't make it a static object inside the bottom drawer. An error message keeps appearing. The ADRIFT 5 manual didn't really have how to do that in any kind of detail as far as I could see.

[ElliotM]

Easiest might be to create a look under task that moves the objects in question into view. Unless you overrode taking certain objects with specific tasks, they will need to be static objects or parts of an object.

Making a new property can be tricky, but faking it might also be just as hard. I'll get back to you on that after I try an experiment.

[ElliotM]

Making a custom task for looking under something turned out to be super easy, so I will be recommending you do that instead of messing with properties.

Steps:

• Make your valuable objects but don't place them anywhere - leave them in location Hidden, which is usually the default.
• Make a new task for each of the valuable objects.
• Use the command syntax: [examine/exam/ex/x/look] under %object%
• Add a specific completion message, such as "You found ___"
• Leave "Task is Repeatable" unchecked.
• Add some restrictions, such as the valuable object must be in location Hidden, and that the referenced object must be ___ (which is the object you want the player to find it "under"). The player should probably also have seen the referenced object and be in the same location to prevent cheating.
• Add the action "Move object ___ to held by the player"

And your done.

[Campbell]

Actually I wouldn't do it like that, because it means you can't look under other objects. The way I'd do it would be:

• Create a new property "Under object description" for Objects, type Text
• Edit the "Examine objects" library task and remove "/under" from the command line
• Create a new task "Look under objects"
  - Command "[examine/exam/ex/x/look] under{neath} %object%"
  - Make task repeatable
  - Add restriction [Referenced Object] must have property "Under object description", else display "%CharacterName% can't look underneath %object%.Name!"
  - Output text: %object%.Property1 (Note, the property key will depend on what you created. If you type %object%.Under <tab> it should auto-complete for you.)
• For any objects that you want to be able to look under, check the "Under object description" checkbox in that object's property list and fill out the description.
• If you want to do anything special when looking under an object such as finding something, create a specific task to run after or override the "Look under objects" task and select the object you want to look under from the link. You can then move objects to the player and give any points etc.
  

[fensome7]

- Output text: %object%.Property1 (Note, the property key will depend on what you created. If you type %object%.Under <tab> it should auto-complete for you.

I understood all of it up to and past that point. I understand the command and how it will work put i'm not sure where you mean by output text?

[ElliotM]

When you make a task, there is a large space where you write text for the game which will be the output when that task runs and successfully completes. Type %object%. in it and you should start seeing an autocomplete menu. Choose your custom property.