AGI: Fan Games (Demos) shut down ScummVM

[raziel-]

ScummVM 2.1.0git (Oct 10 2018 08:30:53)
Features compiled in: Vorbis FLAC MP3 RGB zLib MPEG2 Theora AAC FreeType2 JPEG PNG cloud (servers, local)

I'm not sure if this can be considered a bug per se, but it's doing something which is not correct, imho.

This "game" is just a self-running tech demo consisting of some sort of intro where the future game sets up it's story.

Clicking anywhere with the mouse or pressing any key will quit the demo immediately, which is fine, but it will also shut down ScummVM, which is wrong imho.

It should at least trigger an RTL.

Operation: Recon (DOS/English)

AmigaOS4 - PPC - SDL - BE
gcc (adtools build 8.1.0) 8.1.0

[raziel-]

The game

[raziel-]

Schiller (preview 1) (DOS/English)

This is another Demo that will shut down ScummVM.
Albeit this one lets you click and press ENTER to remove the text windows, but will still shut down ScummVM when it's finished.

[raziel-]

The other game

[raziel-]

Wizaro (v0.1) (DOS/English)

The next one that shuts down ScummVM, just answer "no" to any of the wizards questions

[raziel-]

Another game

[digitall]

I think this is intentional ... At least the AGI engine calls quitGame() on a fair number of engine shutdowns which causes ScummVM to close.

We could look at changing this behaviour as a global option i.e. all engines will RTL rather than Quit (Exit) by default, but I don't think this is limited to AGI engine as an issue.

[raziel-]

I think so too.

An example where this also happens is right at the beginning of "Gold Rush" from Sierra.
If one incorrectly answers the quesion one has to face the consequences and after that ScummVM shuts down.

I actually don't really know if this should be changed.

In a game like "Gold Rush" it IS intentional and forces the player to start the whole game over as part of a "punishment" as he/she either forgot to read the manual or pirated the game.

As long as no harm is done (i.e. shut down right at the beginning, when no gameplay was performed and no progress could get lost) i think it's fine, but if one is playing for some time and suddenly is thrown out without the chance to save that progress, that would be mean, imho.

I don't have a case yet for such behaviour in a game, except the "Wizaro" one, where ScummVM could get shut down while already having answered a question correctly, i think it should be as it is. (Even in Wizaro the harm down is pretty small, as the player is still at the beginning)

But maybe there are Sierra titles who does this after some game time instead of showing the "Quit, Restore, Restart dialog"?

As i said, i can't come up with any right now, i guess all behave good after the player enters the actual game.

[raziel-]

Intended behaviour