AVG Maker DS

AVG Maker DS
AVG Maker DS
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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)