AVG Maker DS

AVG Maker DS
General
Author	Hewenxie
Type	Game Engine
Version	1.6
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2010/08/08
Links
Download
Website

AVG MAKER DS (AMDS) is a visual novel game engine for the NDS developed by Hewenxie.

It allows you to create text-based adventure games that can be played on the NDS.

Features

• Character and avatar display.
• Basic character animation.
• Background rendering.
• Custom text box.
• GBK support.
• Background music.
• Sound effects.
• Customizable button.
• Support file saving.
• Support the use of packaged resources for assets.
• Basic scripting with conditions, branching, and jumps.
• Variable support.
• Gallery mode.

Installation

Folder structure

root
 |-AVGMAKER.nds (DS execution file)
 |-avgFiles\
 | |-data\
 | | |-main.spt (script file)
 | |-chara\
 | | |-img.res (sprite resource file)
 | |-bg\
 | | |-bg.res (background resource file)
 | |-sound\
 | | |-sound.res (se resource file)
 | |-bgm\
 | | |-bgm0.mp3 (background music)
 | | |-...
 | |-font\ (font files location)
 | | |-arial_12.asc 
 | | |-simsun_12.hzk
 | |-component\ (custom text box location)

Supported formats

You must prepare the game files in compatible formats before converting them.

Image:

• Sprite - PNG format, 128x192 or 256x192 px, 16-bit. (e.g. chara1.png, chara2.png...)
• Avatar - PNG format, 32x32 px, 16-bit. (e.g. chara1.png, chara2.png...)
• BG - PNG format, 256x192 px, 256-color. (e.g. bg0.png, bg1.png...)
• Text box - PNG format. 256x256 px, 256-color. (textbox.png)

Audio:

• Voice - RAW format, 8-bit signed, 11025 Hz, Mono. (e.g. se1.raw, se2.raw...)
• BGM - MP3 format, 11025 Hz, 96 kbps or lower. Ideally under 1.6 MB. (e.g. bgm1.mp3, bgm2.mp3...)

Others:

• Script - TXT format.
• Font - arial_12.asc, simsun_12.hzk.

Conversion guide

Conversion tools:

• img_conv.exe - Image conversion tool.
• res_packer.exe - Resource packing tool.
• spt_gen.exe - Script conversion tool.

Convert the image files:

• Run image_conversion.exe, click on Open Files (打开文件) and select the image files.
  • The first tab is for sprites, the second tab is for backgrounds and custom text box.
• Click Start the Conversion Process (开始转换) and the converted files will be saved in bin/.
• A background image named bg0.png will generate the following files: bg0_Info.bin, bg0_Map.bin, bg0_Pal.bin, and bg0_Tiles.bin.
• A character sprite named chara1.png will produce chara1_Pal.bin and chara1_Sprite.bin.

Create resource files (.*res) from the game files:

• Run res_packer.exe, click Open (打开) and choose the files you want to pack into a resource file:
  • For img.res, select all the converted character sprites (e.g. charaxx.bin).
  • For bg.res, select all the converted background files (e.g bgxx.bin).
  • For sound.res, select all the .raw files.
• Click Generate (生成), enter the desired name for the output file (e.g., img.res, bg.res, sound.res), and click Save.

Convert your script file:

• Open spt_gen_win.exe, click Open (打开), select your .txt script file, and then click Convert (转换).
• The file will be saved as a .spt under spt/.

You can now place the converted files along with AVGMAKERDS1.6.nds on the SD card (refer to folder structure), or run it on an emulator.

Optionally, you can create a packed ROM with the tools provided.

Screenshots

Changelog

v1.6 2010/08/08

• Fixed numerous bugs related to @call.
• Added font outline effect.
• Added @txt_select(var, number, bcolor, fcolor, text1|text2|text3|text4) for text selection.
• Added @SetGameName(name) to set the save file name.
• Global variables now usable in scripts.
• Included packing tool.

v1.5 2010/03/13

• Fixed issues with bg gray-out effects.
• Resolved a crash bug in Gallery Mode.
• Redesigned the MENU system.
• Added volume control for SE and BGM.
• Added a return to title screen feature.
• Added MENU system skin loading commands: @setMenuBg, @setMenuBtn.
• Fixed flickering effects.
• Fixed an offset bug in boxText in non-word-by-word display mode.
• Added font color definition feature: @SetFontColor().
• Fixed issue where characters did not shake during jitter.
• Added font shadow effect.
• Added gray-out effect to bg entrance/exit animations.

v1.4 2009/12/22

• Fixed a screen corruption bug when quickly switching character images.
• Increased the speed of sprite transitions.
• Fixed offset bug in boxText.
• Fixed resource reading issues for 256×192 images.
• All chara series display commands now support 256×192 images, allowing 2 characters side-by-side display.
• Fixed various flickering issues with left/right character displays.
• Corrected text color issues, consolidating validity to a single command.
• Added image button selection:
  • @LoadImageButton(id, resource, image, x, y);
  • @ImageSelect(var, number);
• Expanded capacity for BGM section.
• Updated image conversion tool, version 1.4 required; not compatible with previous versions.

v1.31 2009/08/01

• Fixed bug where horizontal shaking caused text offset.
• Fixed bug in switching gallery mode.

v1.3 2009/06/03

• Fixed bug where bg(null,1) did not apply a fade effect when clearing the background.
• Fixed bug with immediate save/load not working correctly in the menu system.
• Added screen wave effect @wave(time).
• Added background negative (color inversion) effect @colorEffect().
• Added background grayscale effect @graybg().
• Fixed crash when a standalone '\' character appeared (in v1.2).
• Fixed crash when @delay exceeded 5 seconds.
• Added gallery system command @review(script).
• Included graphical script editor THE 音速起子 developed by 全局变量D.

v1.2 2009/12/15

• Added screen brightness fade effects:
  • @fadeout(screen,type,time) / @fadein(screen,type,time).
• Added @cls(screen) to clear screen text (equivalent to @erase(screen)).
• Added spt_gen_win tool to replace the original script conversion program.
• Fixed bugs in @texton and @textoff.
• Optimized background loading, greatly reducing issues where large bg resources prevented BGM from loading.
• Fixed a potential crash during loading.

v1.1 2008/11/15

• Added inline pause marker \t for pauses within sentences.
• Fixed screen flicker when changing backgrounds.
• Added background transition effects, including fade to/from black and window-style fades.
• Fixed issue where previous dialogue briefly appeared when switching characters.
• Encapsulated BGM loading with command @res_playBGM.
• This update also includes a dedicated script editor by Zellshadow. See the "AVG MAKER DS Editor" folder in the archive.

v1.0 2008/10/18

• Screen shake effects (@quakex, @quakey).
• Added system variable save/load commands: @var_load, @var_save.
• Support for full-screen character display and left/right positioning (@lrchara, @res_lrchara).
• Menu system framework completed; quick save feature added (@menusys_on, @menusys_off).
• Added text box transparency toggle (@tbtrans_on, @tbtrans_off).
• Updated spt_gen to support indentation, line breaks, and end-of-line comments.
• Fixed comment line bug.
• Fixed BGM disappearing after loading.
• Changed BGM loading method (recommended MP3 size under 1.5MB).
• Fixed crashes and compatibility issues.
• Fixed BGM interruption issue.

v0.9 2008/09/13

• Recompiled using a new function library.
• Improved compatibility with M3/G6 Real.
• Fixed crash after executing gameover() (script-based branching still recommended instead).
• Recommended BGM format: MP3 at 11025 Hz, 8-bit, 96 kbps or lower.
• Further fixes to resource loading bugs.
• Added error prompts.
• Added character portrait display (@head, @res_head).
• Added ability to change button images dynamically (issues on real hardware).
• Fixed poor animation frame support.
• Fixed save bug.
• Fixed issue where text disappeared after textoff.

v0.8 2008/08/13

• Released.

External links

• Author's website - https://sites.google.com/site/hewenxie/
• GitHub (yayabo) - https://github.com/yayabo-handheldev
• Supported flashcards - http://www.yayabo.cn/thread-3057-1-1.html (archived)