Adventure Construction Set

Chris H.'s Ultima / ACS-style game development system!

Moderators: Ice Cream Jonsey, joltcountry

Toolazytologin

Post by Toolazytologin »

According to http://aosys.org/rev1/NoSpamFromUs.html Alpha Omega Systems is located in Santa Clarita.

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

OK, I've now created a little Adventure Construction Kit site:

http://www.mozomedia.com/ack

Hopefully some ACS/Ultima IV fans will eventually wander its way and get interested in it.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Hey, that is really a nice little page you have going there. Your web design skills are like the perfect match between looking nice and giving someone the &^%$ing information they are looking for (which about 80% of all websites fail to do).

... Whoa, that space game done in ACK looks cool as hell.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

Thankee! I just discovered there's some weird font stuff going on in IE 6 on the Intro page, so I'll have to look into that tonight. I made the basic layout in iWeb, but bumped into iWeb's limitations pretty quickly, so then threw it into Dreamweaver to complete it. A lot of the code iWeb generated was pretty bloated, too, and I didn't take the time to clean it all up, but the load time for the site doesn't seem too bad.

Yeah, the Space game included with ACK is more of a demo, there's very little gameplay, but you do go from being in an isometric building interior to cruising around the isometric city in your hovercraft, to launching your ship to scoot around the solar system (and you can land on and investigate the planets) to leaving the solar system to reach the galactic map -- all of which is very cool. You could definitely build a nifty Starflight variant from the base it provides.

ICJ

Post by ICJ »

Quick question, should you know off the top of your heard: can you do parties in ACK, or is it just one character that you move around the screen and control? I have installed the app and everything, but I am at work and just suddenly got curious.

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

You can't do parties - you only control a single character. However, you could simulate switching between different characters to an extent. You can change the player graphic icon and stats via a script (and store the 'switched from' character's stats in some variables), and then restore the original player icon, stats when you switch back, etc. You can't track or control readied weapons/armor by scripts, so this kind of switching would really only work if you were doing more of a pure adventure game, instead of something involving weapons and armor, but it has potential.

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

Er, note to self: when making a tribute site to a program, try to get the program's NAME right. It's Adventure CREATION Kit. Holy living crap. I obviously had Adventure Construction Set on the brain while making the site. This is now corrected, and I updated the Command Quick Reference text file with a note about how to test/change inventory in macros.

foody
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Post by foody »

Is there any chance there will ever be an Ultima 6 or Ultima 7 construction set? I will do anything to get my hands on it!
I WANT ULTIMA 7 OR ULTMIA 6 CONSTRUCTION SET! I WILL DO ANYTHING! PAY ANYTHING! GIVE ANYTHING !

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

foody wrote:Is there any chance there will ever be an Ultima 6 or Ultima 7 construction set? I will do anything to get my hands on it!
Actually, if you use the Exult engine (which requires you have Ultima 7 installed) you can indeed use the Exult Studio to edit U7 or make entirely new locations, etc using the U7 engine:

Exult
Exult Studio docs

foody
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Post by foody »

No, no, I am talking about like an official make like ACK or ACS or RPG maker designed to make game styles of Ultima 7 or 6. That is what I want. With easy click and play for script editor (events) and so on.
I WANT ULTIMA 7 OR ULTMIA 6 CONSTRUCTION SET! I WILL DO ANYTHING! PAY ANYTHING! GIVE ANYTHING !

jjsonick
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:49 pm

Post by jjsonick »

Ohh, well, Exult Studio is not that hard to use, but it's a little quirky, and I didn't dive that far into it. You could import entirely new graphics into it, create all objects and npcs yourself, etc. and make a new U7-style game from scratch using it (a la the way Martian Dreams and Savage Empire use the U6 engine) though it would be a LOT of work. And yeah, scripting in Exult Studio you have to do by hand.

There is IRE, which is kinda aiming to be what you want, but it's not complete, and the docs haven't been updated in a while, though development does slowly continue on it:
IRE

foody
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Post by foody »

Well, I am wondering if there is any programmer here who are willing to join me in this project? I am currently developing it from scratch using Visual Basic.NET but performance would be super fast, sweet, etc if someone else could join me in this project. Thanks in advance.
I WANT ULTIMA 7 OR ULTMIA 6 CONSTRUCTION SET! I WILL DO ANYTHING! PAY ANYTHING! GIVE ANYTHING !

Nihil Vulture

Vulture is the Master of the ACK Madness :P

Post by Nihil Vulture »

Mwhahahahahhhaah!!! If it wasn't for me, ACK would prolly be in Alpha Omega stasis :P Or maybe not :P Nah, actually I am glad to see that years of me wanting (i mean YEARS, since 2001) an ACK site made, until I was introduced the time to spread the great Gospell of Chris Hopkins to Jolt Country Forums... (Mind you I am not Mr. Hopkins, but a devoted follower of his greatest work, ACK 2.0) Now Mr. Sonic has a name on Google search (which I did google Adventure Creation Kit), and lo and behold, I love it! The site was just primitive, but good, like a Abruptum album or a Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger album... Congrats Mr. Sonic, take it up a notch! BAM

Nihil Vulture

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

Thank ya, Nihil. It was definitely ICJ's discussion of ACS and your mention of ACK that inspired me to finally build the site. Though I made a serious tactical error in creating the site with iWeb (which if i ever use again, it will only be to make a personal photo album) which produces messy, bloated code which is pain in the ass to clean up and customize. I mention this, because I'm already realizing I should add a Links section, but wondering if I will, because I dread going into that code. Shudder.

I also pimped the site out to two Ultima-fan-project-news sites, and they kindly linked to it, so hopefully that'll attract a few more to the program.

foody
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Post by foody »

* sniff * :sad: But I really wanted an Ultima 6 construction set much like ACK or RPG Maker or ACS but for Ultima 6 engine.
I WANT ULTIMA 7 OR ULTMIA 6 CONSTRUCTION SET! I WILL DO ANYTHING! PAY ANYTHING! GIVE ANYTHING !

DanElmaleh

Looking for ACS Adventures

Post by DanElmaleh »

At http://www.AdventureConstructionSet.com I am trying to find any old ACS adventures. If you have any please email them to me at DanElmaleh@hotmail.com or post them out there. I would like to create a repository of user-created adventures.

foody
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Post by foody »

Thank you so much for the link. I love it. I am going to be visiting your webpage daily for news and for new ACS games. I have my C64, Apple II gs and Amiga 1200 to develop my ACS games there. I am going to start with my Apple II gs first, make my complete ACS adventure, then email it to you to upload and work my way to C64 and eventually Amiga 1200. I love that site, love it.
I WANT ULTIMA 7 OR ULTMIA 6 CONSTRUCTION SET! I WILL DO ANYTHING! PAY ANYTHING! GIVE ANYTHING !

DanElmaleh

Glad you liked it.

Post by DanElmaleh »

I hope to have new content as I have been posting on every message board I can find where people talk about ACS. Please share the site with any other fans you may know of. Thanks for writing. Looking forward to seeing your adventures.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I'll put up an update on the main page of this site, and also a permanent link. Thanks for doing this, Dan!
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

foody
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Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:56 pm

Post by foody »

@DanElmaleh

Thank you so much for this awesome website heheh! I notice there are couple of new more adventures by the user. Keep up the good work, finally a community for the ACS. I am counting the minutes to start building my own ACS through Apple II gs to share it with the community. Could you add a screenshot of each adventure for each file so the user can see a screenshot of the adventure to download? Also could you add an email to the author as well as an online chat so we can chat live about our models? Thanks in advance.
I WANT ULTIMA 7 OR ULTMIA 6 CONSTRUCTION SET! I WILL DO ANYTHING! PAY ANYTHING! GIVE ANYTHING !

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