Considering buying Coldstone.

As a Mac user, I have been desperately trying to find a program to make adventure games in but to no avail. I recently stumbled across this program and my curiousity was considerably piqued. This program's main focus seems to be for making RPGs, so I'm not sure how adequate it is for adventure games. I would appreciate it if someone could tell if this program is worth getting, e.g could I make a Monkey Island type game with no limitations? And I want to be able to use my own painted backgrounds and characters. Is this program worth getting for that sort of thing? The basic things that it needs to be able to do are: Have a conversation system where you can choose from a list of alternative answers to questions that branch off into various dialogue trees, have an inventory system where you can use various items with other items or places, have the ability to show cutscenes when required, basically all the usual adventure game things. Could I technically remake Monkey Island exactly with this program (not that I want to) or would there be limitations? Help would be appreciated, I don't wanna waste money on it if I can't do what I want with it. Thanks.

Generally speaking you are only limited by your imagination and patience with Coldstone. Coldstone does lack Multiplayer support, allies, and Panther support(you need to run it on Classic for it to work). Coldstone is no longer available for sale untill a patch to allow Panther support is made. So you will be limited by the Regestration program not allowing you to use more than a certain number of events, maps and locations. To remove the unregestered restrictions you would need to talk to David Dunham at help@ambrosiasw.com

Hi omloflump, and welcome to the boards.

As GrahamVH has already said, there are very few actual limitations to what Coldstone can do if all is working as it should. At the moment, though, that's a pretty big IF. Ambrosia has promised us the problems are being addressed, and the community here is trying to be patient.

I'm not familiar with Monkey Island, but yes, you can have "a conversation system where you can choose from a list of alternative answers to questions that branch off into various dialogue trees, have an inventory system where you can use various items with other items or places, have the ability to show cutscenes when required, basically all the usual adventure game things." Coldstone also allows using your own graphics (backgrounds, items, characters, etc.) with some limitations concerning their format. There are limits on how much text will fit in the box, when having conversations, but this is not usually an insurmountable problem.

I suggest you download the demo version if you can work in Classic or OS 8.6 to 9.2 and also check out Pillars of Garendall which was made using Coldstone, and test drive each for a bit. This will answer a lot of the questions you have. Just be aware that both are overdue for an update.

Feel free to ask away here even if the questions seem elementary, we're glad to help new community members when we can. ~RD

(greets the new member)

The inventory system here doesn't really work as it does in most adventure games like monkey island. With a little work, however, you can "use" items with stuff on the map, but I don't think you can combine items (I'm not sure if you do that in monkey island, but you do combine items in many other games). But, as RD said, you could download PoG and the demo.

You could also try AGI Studio or Sarien, but I never understood AGI Studio, and never used Sarien.

(edit: link removed for reasons of legality. -Andiyar :/edit)

Ledorax, on Dec 18 2004, 07:43 AM, said:

but I don't think you can combine items
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Player has item A in inventory. Player finds item B on map. Dialogue = "I think I'll put these together" calls Event - - Drop item A, replace item B with item C (a combination.)

In Damsels in Distress (a PoG plugin) Player finds 5 scraps of parchment and turns them into a sheet he can then read, and also finds 5 scattered pieces of a sword which he then has reforged into "Blade Diabolus." In the Ranger's character in PoG/Trinity, the Ranger is constantly combining ingredients to produce potions. Creativity is the answer to this.

You should have no problem making an adventure game in ColdStone.

However, as stated above you need to use your own mind to come up with the ways to make things work the way you want them to. Also if it is going to be like the Myst games (Point and click to move) you should check out the CS manual when you download it. It shows a game just like that being worked on.

Rubber Ducky, on Dec 18 2004, 12:23 PM, said:

Player has item A in inventory. Player finds item B on map. Dialogue = "I think I'll put these together" calls Event - - Drop item A, replace item B with item C (a combination.)

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But then the player won't have to think, they don't have to try different combinations to solve puzzles.

Puzzles could be worked out with creativity. Obviously, this was just a barebones example. By using "ask entry" or globals/conditionals, the player can be forced to make the correct choices even to the extent of a certain number of tries before solution is refused until later. You can make the player think if you design the problem correctly. Consider the puzzles in the Mage Tower of PoG/Trinity.

So the backgrounds don't have to be tile based or scrolling? Can I just paint a big picture and use that as a background, marking the various points where the character can walk? And I assume it doesn't have to be 3D And yes, I do want it Point and Click. Also, this is a stupid question, but you CAN change the perspective right? Thanks for all your help.

Oh, and I was just wondering, is there anyone who has actually made an adventure in Coldstone?

A big picture can be used as a stamp on a layer behind the player eliminating the need for ground tiles. The player can walk behind trees and houses etc. which are placed as stamps on a layer in front of the player. Access to where the player can move is determined by movement tiles which are invisible. I don't think true 3D is possible, it will be a two dimensional playing field. The normal view is from above the player at about a 45 degree angle with the player always in the center of the screen until he nears the edge of the map. I don't know how much one could change the perspective. This would be a function of the graphics more than anything else.

P.S. When you want to add a thought or question to something you have just posted, you can use the "edit" feature to do so.

Hi. I use a 30 degree downward view, and most of the graphics that come with Coldstone are between 30 degrees and 45 degrees. There's new graphics up on the add on page that shows a much more steep angle down, and that works, too. I think the key is consistency.

I am making a full-length RP game from scratch. I've been using the Coldstone graphics, but am changing many of them to my own. I've also made other graphics myself as well as changed the Coldstone graphics to meet my needs.

You CAN use a big picture for your ground, but the loading time might be a problem. I don't really know. If you play POG, you can see how the Player moves around. Of course, you can't GET POG right now!

I think (perhaps mistakenly) that I'm doing some innovative things with my game. I find that you can do quite a lot with Coldstone. I've had to adjust what I've wanted a couple of times because of the limitations of Coldstone, but I also think that the adjustments have actually made the game better. I need another year, I think, building the game. By then, I'm thinking that the Coldstone update will be out and I can publish it.

Yes, you can point and click. When you teleport to another location (not a map), the curser changes to a pointer. You can point and click easily to another location (another view of the room for example). These would be a series of pictures where you can indicate areas where the Player can click to enter a different location. As of now, you can't have any animation in a location (not a map; in maps you can have animation.)

Sorry RD and Debra, but I don't know if you understand what he means.

He's looking to make a game similar to what you see here.

As I see it, it is possible, however it would be difficult to do some of the more advanced aspects of the game, and the way I see it, you'd probably be much better off using a different tool. While I have made sidescrollers in coldstone, I find that for point-and-click adventure games like monkey island, you'd have to sacrifice a few things, and other things would take a lot of effort to accomplish.

However, if you plan on perhaps making an RPG or Card-based Adventure after your point-and-click hame, then you could probably use Coldstone. Though I predict you will be coming here often for help on how to do certain things ;).

Best of luck with your game! Monkey Island was fun.

(Edit) Incorrect. Abandonware is illegal unless the original copyright holder gives legal permission for their software/game to be distributed in the public domain. Until such time as the copyright holder - whom I believe is LucasArts - states that their games are now public domain, downloading their software is illegal. Hence, I can't let links to such be posted. -Andiyar (/Edit)

(Edit) I belive they have... but arguing isn't going to get us anywhere so I'm just going to drop it (/Edit)

This post has been edited by OgreBob : 20 December 2004 - 11:46 AM

Thanks for all the help, I probably won't bother getting it then. Unfortunately there are no decent alternatives.

omloflump, on Dec 20 2004, 07:09 AM, said:

Thanks for all the help, I probably won't bother getting it then. Unfortunately there are no decent alternatives.
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Have you looked at the programs posted by Ledorax?

Are they working? When I checked them I got an error.

Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, what are where are the programs?

omloflump, on Dec 21 2004, 06:44 AM, said:

Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, what are where are the programs?
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Ledorax, on Dec 18 2004, 07:43 AM, said:

You could also try AGI Studio or Sarien

I'm not convinced either of these will do what you want.

omloflump, on Dec 21 2004, 11:44 AM, said:

Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, what are where are the programs?
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Why doesn't anyone ever notice my posts? <_<

Oh, and Sarien is an emulator, hehe. Sorry, I didn't know what it was at first :blink:

Ledorax, on Dec 21 2004, 09:31 AM, said:

Why doesn't anyone ever notice my posts? <_<
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Don't get paranoid, Leddy, some of us do notice.