Those familiar with Rogue-like games and other tile-based adventures (such as Ultima IV) would be happy to know one of the tools for creating these games is still kicking and breathing. Unless, of course, you’re not into designing games…

Enter the Adventure Creation Kit, otherwise known as ACK. Its latest version (3.212), though essentially a DOS program, can now be used in Windows XP and Mac OS, and contains several new features, including a new sound engine as well as mouse support. A small launcher program is included in each zipped archive for both Windows and Mac users, along with a modified version of DOSBox where the actual program runs.

ACK Screen in DOS

Through this launcher program, one can either launch ACK wholesale in one big DOS window complete with all the options, or click on buttons on the launcher program to make each option on the ACK menu run as a separate “module.” Graphic files, such as the character tiles, can be dragged-and-dropped into the project folder and incorporated into the game files.

ACK Launcher (on Windows)

Interestingly enough, discussion about ACK started about April last year on the Jolt Country forums, which started the ball rolling. Over the succeeding months, a promotional webpage got set up, comparisons with Adventure Construction Set were made, even IF author Robb Sherwin got into the conversations. Somewhere along the line, ACK author Chris Hopkins, who had originally given out the software for free, decided he would update the program for everyone and fix whatever needs fixing.

In fact, there has been so much discussion generated from the subject a separate section has been allocated on the Jolt Country forums for ACK updates.

From v2.0 to v3.212. All from simple discussions about the software.

Perhaps we should generate buzz for Hugo too?

EDIT:  Josh Lawrence, the ACK site maintainer, emailed me regarding the site’s movement to WordPress. I’ve updated the URL for the ACK website. Thanks again, Josh!

Mike Roberts had recently posted on the IF newsgroups about the TADS 2 update. Those who have been more-or-less involved in the newsgroups are probably aware that the last version Roberts had released for TADS 2 was v2.5.10. This version consisted mostly of compiler and run-time engine bug-fixes, but nothing much in terms of UI had been changed.

Version 2.5.11, though still a minor update, now boasts of a full IDE. The TADS Workbench, which is essentially a graphical debugger, now has the added functionality of source editing through the built-in Scintilla editor module. In other words, what used to be just a way to see where the breakpoints are on the source code, now allows you to actually edit the code itself. An external editor (e.g., Crimson Editor, Vim, etc.) could still be set up within the Workbench; however, those who are still deciding what IF language to work may no longer have to search for an alternative to Notepad.

TADS Workbench: Scintilla editor in action

Another helpful feature added to the TADS 2 Workbench is the documentation search engine. The same functionality that’s built in on the Inform 7 environment has now been added to the Workbench, allowing users to skim through HTML pages of the TADS 2 manual, though this appears to be much, much slicker than the Inform 7 one. Depending on the package you obtain from the IF Archive, the docs search can be done online (through the manuals at tads.org) or offline (HTML files included in the installer).

Docs Search results

According to a recent email from the author, these extensions of the TADS Workbench are still “experimental,” as they have not been extensively tested on the TADS 2 environment as with TADS 3, where these features are already a part of. However, he is optimistic that they will work reasonably well, considering they came from the same code base.

I’ve previously written about certain adventure game authors shifting their gears over to other software that are more regularly updated. This post will feature the recent (and not-so-recent) changes to some of the game design software I’ve been checking out, so readers can have a better clue of what they need to be looking for.

First off, the long overdue one: Adventure Game Studio (AGS) 3.0. At its current version (3.0.2), a lot of changes have been put in after AGS 2.72. Most of the changes were made to ease designing of adventure games further, and to straighten out issues that have plagued AGS since its inception.

AGS Editor opening screen

AGS creator Chris Jones has settled on using the .NET Framework for making the next major version. This decision was apparently made to focus less on rewriting the software from the ground up and to minimize issues for authors upgrading to the new version with their v2.72 WIPs. During the time when he announced the release of the new version, Chris stated that only the Editor would require the .NET Framework, not the run-time engine, to the relief of those working to port the AGS engine to other systems (there’s a Mac OS and a Linux version available already).

Aside from the utterly modern look, several new features have been added to the AGS editor, including tabbed windows for opening multiple scripts at a time, debugging features such as breakpoint setting, and the ability to import editor plug-ins. Another useful feature especially for teams of people working on a project is the built-in support for revision control systems such as Subversion. Certain features that were available on v2.72 and older, such as the Interaction Editor and the ability to edit Global Messages, have been scrapped, and any interactions from a v2 game imported into v3 will be converted into scripts.

tabbed script editor

Not only has the editor features have been updated, but also the manual. Jones has fully updated the CHM manual included in the package, and gone are the days when you would obtain a ZIPped archive file from the AGS site. The author has also created an actual installer package (minus .NET Framework 2.0, which can be downloaded here) to prevent install issues seen previously with v2.

More articles about AGS 3.0 can be read from Andrew “SSH” MacCormack’s blog.

Finally, Tim Furnish has decided to officially declare SLUDGE as open source! He had recently uploaded the source code to Sourceforge, and has renamed the whole bit as OpenSLUDGE.

Here’s hoping all the bugs get fixed once people start tinkering with the engine’s code, especially those memory leaks some authors had been experiencing.

Definitely w00t!

[ Thanks go to Erwin from Adventure Developers for the link. ]