Scala for game making

[Philski]

During the Christmas Game Competition someone mentioned making an adventure game using Scala, this is something that has been in my mind for a few years now, and was wondering if anyone could answer a question or two for me.

First off, is it possible to create an inventory in Scala?  I don't think it needs to be particularly complex, however if making an adventure game I'd like to be able to pick up objects to use later on in the game.

Second, would the user be able to save their game?  This is slightly less important for what I have in mind, but would be useful nonetheless.

Also, can clickable objects in Scala only be rectangle?

Currently I'm still trying to get to grips with GRAC, which on the whole I love.  However there are still some things I'm having difficulty with, such as creating conversation trees. Also I'd love to make a game that will run on other systems as well as classic Amiga, so the only way (apart from emulation) I can see this happening with a game created in GRAC is attempting to get it to run using SCUMM VM.  However using Scala would be ideal as I could (as far as I can tell) convert it to multiple formats using Hollywood.

If anyone has any thoughts it would be greatly appreciated.

All the best,

Phil

[Gulliver]

With Scala you can do almost anything! You should edit the scripts, Lingua, the underlying scripting language is really powerfull and can handle and be customized according to your needs. And if you find it difficult, rememeber that it can also interact with Arexx. So yes, you can do a game with saves and buttons that are not only rectangles
Consult your Scala manual for further Lingua references, if you dont have one, Scala Inc. published an online a PDF regarding Lingo (Lingua for Scala PC products), which is very similar to the one used by Amigas.

Good Luck!

[Philski]

Thanks for the information!

I'm innthe process of getting the manual ready to print out (I have the CD only version from Amiga Kit) so I'll see what it has to say about Lingua.

Are there any good references to starting with Arexx? That's probably a stupid question but I really am starting from scratch.

[Gulliver]

Arexx reference over here:

http://aminet.net/docs/help/ArexxReference.lha


And there is no such thing as stupid questions

[Philski]

Fantastic!

Thanks again, Gulliver

[davideo]

Have you thought of looking at Amiga Vision or CanDo?

Both of these are similair to Scala.

Dave G :cool:

[Philski]

Hey Steve!

I haven't seen CanDo, but when I first started researching this I discovered a video demo of AmigaVision on YouTube and was blown away with what you could do so quickly and easily with it.  In fact it's that demo that got me looking into the multimedia possibilities I never knew the Amiga had (curse my young, uncomprehending mind back in the day!).

My reason for going the Scala route would be the support Hollywood has for Scala projects which would make life so much easier in porting the game to other formats (not to mention the fact it was the only one I felt comfortable using from a legal standpoint, as I was unable to find a copy of AmigaVision on eBay at the time and got the impression that you could no longer release anything commercially using Mediapoint).  As far as I could tell there is no support for AmigaVision in Hollywood or any other multi-format publishing package - although I did make the suggestion when Airsoft ran their questionnaire a year or so ago.

[davideo]

AmigaVision - like Scala - can be used in video editing and point and click information kiosks

Its very easy to use - I've still got my original version.

There was a game released that was made with CanDo but for the life of me I can't remember its name. It was a trading game on ships - I think :confused:

Dave G :cool:

[fuskoSCN]

@ Philski

Why not use Hollywood in the first place ? it is far more powerful than Scala

take a look at his homepage : http://www.airsoftsoftwair.de

Best regards

Torgeir Vee

[Gulliver]

Upto some point. The Scala GUI is easier to use, you can get Scala almost free, if not free. Then he can convert & compile that game with Hollywood + Malibu, not requiring to buy Hollywood Designer for that purpose, which costs 69 EUR!

[Philski]

Hey Torgeir!

Of course, that would indeed make the most sense - and I really love what it can do.  However, no doubt to make things as hard for myself as possible, I really want to make something that will be playable on classic Amiga's (such as my own A600 :p) as well as other systems.

One issue I did have when I first started looking at Hollywood was that it was unable to play animations in the background whilst the user interacted with the screen, however I believe that has now been solved.  Currently I have version 4 but have yet to pick up 4.5 - hope to do so soon though!

[Philski]

There was a game released that was made with CanDo but for the life of me I can't remember its name. It was a trading game on ships - I think :confused:

Dave G :cool:

Intriguing... I'll have to look into that.

[davideo]

Intriguing... I'll have to look into that.

I loaded up some of my games earlier and was scanning through them.

The game I was thinking of was 'Ports of Call'

Dave G :cool: