Adventure Maker   
   Adventure Maker v4.5 Help Document  
Home (Adventure Maker website)

 

   
Help Contents

Search

Introduction
   Program Overview
   List of Features
   What's New

Creating software without scripting
   Getting Started Tutorials
   Some Techniques and Tips
   Creating puzzles without scripting

   Creating third person games
   Creating interactive 360-degree panoramas
   Creating software for
PSP
   Creating software for iPhone and iPod touch

Creating software with VBScript
(Full Edition only)

   Introduction to VBScript
   Language Reference
   Objects Reference
   VBScript Techniques and Tips

   Sample Source Code

Pictures, sounds and music
   => Creating Pictures
   Music Maker help
   Creative Painter quick help
   Sounds and Music
   Videos, Icons, Cursors

Plugins (Full Edition only)
   Overview of the Plugins System
   Downloading/Uploading Plugins
   The Plugin Properties window
   About the Flash Plugin

Tips
   User Interface Tips
   Reducing the project size
   End-User System Requirements

Advanced tutorials
(Full Edition only)

   Creating a custom startup menu
   Using ActiveX components (ocx)

Troubleshooting
   Common issues and solutions
   Known bugs and limitations

About us
   Credits
   Website
   Contacting us
   Helping out

"iPhone" and "iPod" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. "PSP" is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

As of the release date of this version, Adventure Maker is NOT affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apple Inc., Sony Corporation, SCEI, or any Apple or Sony subsidiary.

   

 

HELP CONTENTS

Tip: press Ctrl+F to search for a keyword.

 

Introduction
   Program Overview

1. What is Adventure Maker?
2. Is there any example of game created with Adventure Maker?
3. What are the minimum system requirements for Adventure Maker?

4. Is there a full version for testing? Is there a trial to evaluate the Full Edition?
5. What is the difference between "for commercial use" and "for non-commercial use"?

   List of Features

   What's New (Versions History)

 

Creating software without scripting
   Getting Started

1. How to create my first game?
2. How to create an island to explore?
3. How to create a lamp that can be turned on and off?
4. How to create a key that can be picked up?

   Some Techniques and Tips

1. Is there a way for a hotspot to be activated after I click on another hotspot in a different location (without scripting)?
2. How to go to a frame or to another frame depending on the value of a variable (without scripting)?
3. How to allow the player to open a door with a key?
4. Is it possible to create a hotspot that is on all or just some of the frames, without having to create it in every single frame?
5. How does the Dialogue Wizard work?
6. How to combine two inventory items?
7. How to get Adventure Maker to loop a video within a frame?
8. How to resize a hotspot?
9. How to achieve a "fade in / fade out" effect when going from one frame to another?
10. How to put frames into folder?
11. How to load a project that is located on a network drive?
12. How to run images larger than 640x480?
13. Does Adventure Maker support files with the "jpeg" extension?
14. Are global variables stored in the savegames?
15. How to edit the rippling water masks?
16. Can I rename the project folder, as well as move and copy it?
17. How to save a project?
18. The music starts over every time that I go back to a frame. How can I fix that?
19. How to duplicate a folder?
20. How to prevent the player from picking up several copies of the same item?

21. How to run or display a frame for a very short time only, like 10 seconds for example?
22. How to make it so that when the player reloads a saved game, the frame displayed is like a portal (...)
23. Can I make some areas in 1st person and some other areas in 3rd person?
24. Can I distribute a main game and then add expansion packs to it?

   Creating puzzles without scripting

1. How can I prevent the player from entering a room without having a certain object (such as a torch)?
2. How can I make my game so that if you turn 3 switches in the right order it will open a door?

   Creating third person games (Full Edition only, Windows only)

   Creating interactive 360-degree panoramas (Full Edition only, Windows only)

   Creating software for PSP

   Creating software for iPhone and iPod touch

 

Creating software with VBScript (Full Edition only, Windows only)
   Introduction to VBScript

- Introduction
- Variables
- Making variables interact with hotspots
- Going to another frame
- Available actions
- Modifying hotspot and text attributes
- Procedures

   Language Reference

- Functions that belong to Adventure Maker
- Message Boxes (how to use the MsgBox function)
- Input Boxes (how to use the InputBox function)

   Objects Reference

- Hotspots, text and looping videos
- Standard Controls

- VB6 Objects

- Objects used by Adventure Maker

   VBScript Techniques and Tips

1. How to launch an executable at run-time?
2. How to create a random variable?
3. How to go to a random frame each time that the user clicks on a hotspot?
4. How to hide the mouse pointer?
5. How to create a money variable, to increase it and to display it?
6. How to display a 2-lines message?
7. Is it possible to completely change the contents of the inventory when the player comes to another scene?
8. How to display a message in a frame instead of in a standard message box?
9. How to limit the number of inventory items carried?
10. How to change the picture associated with a hotspot?
11. How to move and resize a hotspot during runtime?
12. How to include web links?
13. How to display the LoadGame or SaveGame windows when entering a frame?
14. How to make a looping video appear and disappear every 7 seconds?
15. How to make a bird fly only from time to time (i.e. every X seconds, where X is a random duration?
16. How to create a score-system?
17. How to make the score appear on all the frames?
18. How to password-protect a part of the game?
19. How to create a global countdown?
20. How to completely replace the drop-down menu that appears when pressing Esc?

21. How to display the frame name on all the frames?
22. How to display the current time on all the frames?
23. I have a Dialogue and when it end I want it to go to a new frame. How can I do that?
24. How to allow the player to examine the inventory items?
25. Can I create recursive timed events?
26. How many timed events can I create?
27. In the dialogue wizard, how to make it so that the message won't disappear until you click on it?
28. How to go to another frame only after the player has clicked 5 times on a hotspot?
29. How to play sounds and/or videos from within VBScript?

30. How to determine if the player has a specific item in the inventory?
31. How to show/hide an item that is already in the inventory?

   Sample Source Code

 

Pictures, sounds and music
   Creating pictures

1. How can I create pictures for use in the games or applications created with Adventure Maker?
2. What programs can I use to create the pictures for my games or applications?
3. What is the best resolution (image size) for my pictures?
4. When I import a picture, I can notice a significant quality loss. How can I solve the problem?
5. My pictures are too large to fit the screen. How can I resize them?
6. Where can I find FREE tools to create or modify pictures, sounds, videos, icons, screenshots, help files, and more?
7. Where can I find links to 3D rendering software, free models, texture archives, file conversion tools, 3D tutorials, 2D/3D software plugins, filters, and more?
8. Where can I find tutorials, meshes and materials for Bryce?

   Music Maker Help

   Creative Painter Help

   Sounds and Music

1. Where can I find free sounds to use in my games or applications?
2. How can I create my own music?
3. What is the Ogg Vorbis audio file format (.ogg files)?

   Videos, Icons, Cursors

1. How can I convert my AVI files into the animated-GIF format?
2. How can I crop/cut a video?
3. How to know if a given CODEC is installed?
4. What types of icons and cursors are supported?

5. Is AVI a particular format or is it the product of a particular program?

 

Plugins (Full Edition only)

   Overview of the Plugins System

1. What is a plugin?
2. Where can I find them?
3. How to install a plugin?
4. How to use a plugin?
5. How to uninstall a plugin?
6. How to create a plugin?
7. How to distribute a plugin?
8. I want to distribute a plugin, but I want to prevent people from being able to view its source code. How can I do that?

   The Plugin Properties window

   Downloading/Uploading Plugins

   About the Flash Plugin

1. How to play a Flash movie from within Adventure Maker?
2. How to stop all the Flash movies that are playing?
3. Does the end-user need to install the Flash Player?
4. How to detect whether the Flash Player is installed or not?
5. How to provide the end-user with the Flash Player?
6. How to send a message from the Flash movie to Adventure Maker in order to change the value of a variable?

 

Tips
   User Interface tips

1. What are the available keyboard shortcuts?
2. Is it possible to change the background picture of the Adventure Maker UI?
3. Is it possible to minimize the Adventure Maker window?

4. The scroll bars do not work properly. How can I solve the problem?
5. How to remove the "Debug" menu that is in the drop-down menu when I run my project?

   Reducing the project size

1. How can I reduce the size of my AVI videos?
2. Will the unused files become part of the final executable?

   End-User System Requirements

1. What are the system requirements for the software created with Adventure Maker?

 

Advanced tutorials (Full Edition only)
   Creating a Startup Screen
   Using ActiveX components (ocx)

   - Where to find the components
   - How to install the components on my computer
   - How to install the components on the end-user computer
   - How to use a component inside Adventure Maker
   - How to modify a component property
   - How to call a component method
   - How to intercept the events of a component inside Adventure Maker
   - How to know the ProgID that corresponds to a given OCX?
   - Action.AddComponent
   - Action.RemoveComponent
   - Action.IsComponentInstalled
   - Action.DoesComponentExist

 

Troubleshooting
   Common issues and solutions

1. I keep getting a "File Corrupt" error message when trying to install Adventure Maker.
2. I get an error about Msdxm.ocx when installing Adventure Maker or a game created with it.
3. The installation is successful, but when I try to launch Adventure Maker, I keep getting an error message.
4. Adventure Maker starts properly, but it crashes during use.
5. The alpha-blending transitions are abnormally slow.
6. I can only see the first frame of my animated GIFs.
7. I can see weird lines all across the dialog boxes of Adventure Maker.
8. I cannot get any of the cross-fading of sounds to work.
9. I get an error message when adding an item to the inventory.
10. When I import a picture, I can notice a significant quality loss.
11. The scroll bars do not work properly. How can I solve the problem?
12. I got the following message: "Failed to load control 'Gif89a' from Gif89.dll." Where can I get the mentioned file?
13. At full screen, I get a black line between the frames (during slide transitions).
14. When a friend plays our game on her computer, all the hotspots have moved slightly.
15. I get this error: "Cannot call this method while the script is executing".
16. Sometimes the LoadGame and SaveGame features don't work very well in panoramic games.
17. I have another problem. What can I do?
18. How can I contact Technical Support?

   Limitations and known bugs

1. What are the known bugs of this version?
2. What are the limitations of this version?
3. What are the limitations that concern GIFs and animated-GIFs?

 

About us
   Online Website

   Credits

   Contacting us

   Helping out