AGS Manual

If the list of templates is empty

The templates are normally located in "Templates" folder withing AGS Editor directory. If the folder is empty, that could happen if AGS Editor installation went wrong, or you have run from an incomplete package. What you may try:

• Reinstall AGS (preferably downloading an official release),
• Download templates (see below).
• Copy "Templates" folder from any other versions of AGS if you have them on your computer, but make sure these versions are not newer than the one you're going to use. Also in this case you have to be ready to possibly update the game scripts as templates may be using deprecated script commands.

Using downloaded templates

If you've downloaded a game template from the internet, you should find a file with a .AGT extension. This is the AGS Template File, and you just need to copy it into the "Templates" folder within the AGS Editor directory.

Creating your own template

A game template is basically just an archive containing all of the game source files, which are then extracted into the new folder when the user creates a new game.

To create a template, first of all you create a game as normal in the editor. Once you have everything set up how you want it, select "Make template from this game" on the File menu. This will bring a regular "Save file as" dialog where you select a file name and location where you'd wish to save the template to, and then the Editor will compile the template for you.

The Editor has two ways of gathering the game files into the template.

By default it takes following files from your game's folder:

1. Core game files (Game.agf, acsprset.spr);
2. All script files (*.ash, *.asc);
3. Room files (*.crm);
4. Font files (agsfnt*.ttf, agsfnt*.wfn);
5. AudioCache directory with imported sound and music files;
6. Speech directory with voice-over files and lipsync files (if these are present);
7. Supported video files (*.ogv, flic*.flc and flic*.fli);
8. Translations (*.trs);
9. Text files, in case you'd like to include a README.TXT or whatever (*.txt, *.pdf);
10. Icons (*.ico);
11. Preload image file (preload.pcx).

The second way is to use "template.files" file, as explained in the section below.

If you include a template.ico file in your game folder when you make the template, then it will be used as the icon in the Start New Game dialog box. Otherwise, the icon will be taken from user.ico (if present), or if not it will get the default AGS icon.

You can also include a template.txt file in your game folder. If you do, then its contents will be displayed to the user in a messagebox after they create a new game based on the template. You could use this to explain briefly about any key aspects of the template, or it could tell them to read your README file. This file should be quite small, its entire contents need to fit into a standard message box, so keep it below 255 characters.

NOTE: Do not simply make a template out of a half-finished game. If you want to make a template, you should start a game from scratch and make your changes - the user probably doesn't want to already have a semi-completed game when they use your template. Rather, game templates are about different types of game controls, gameplay mechanics you want to share.

Creating template with the use of the patterns file

Starting with 3.6.2 Patch 2 release of the AGS Editor, you may optionally go second way and write a pattern file for your template. This file must be called template.files, be located in the project folder, and contain any number of filepath patterns with wildcards. Following is the example of what a template.files contants may look like:

# Include the files that match the patterns:
Game.agf
*.asc
*.ash
*.crm
*.ttf
*.txt
*.wfn
acsprset.spr
Speech/
AudioCache/
template.ico
template.txt
template.files

# Exclude any files that match the patterns:
!_Debug/
!Compiled/
!*.bak
!*.user
!*.lock

On one hand this method requires writing an explicit list of files or patterns which you like to include, but on another it allows to include any custom files or subfolders and their contents.

In a pattern file, each line can be either a pattern, empty, or a comment (which is preceded by the character #). A pattern is of include type by default. If has ! (an exclamation mark) as first character it is an exclude pattern.

The patterns of the file are matched from top to bottom, to each file, recursively, found in the project directory as follows

• If there is no include pattern that matches a file, it is not included;
• If there is a included pattern that matches a file, it is included, unless a pattern of exclude type is listed below that also matches it;
• If a pattern of exclude type exists but a later pattern causes a file to be included, it should be included.

Compatibility: The template.files is supported by AGS 3.6.2 Patch 2 and later versions.

See also: Setting up the Game, Tutorials Index