I've played adventure games for years and have always wondered how these games are developed. I would like to try my hand at creating a game and I've googled some free game-making software: Adventure Maker. Has anyone tried this?

I don't know about that one, but I do know a lot of our indie game makers use AGS.

Ana

Thanks, Tigre. I checked out AGS, looks like it requires a knowlege of scripting, and seems to indicate that it doesnt run on Win 7. will check further...

You may want to check out the Forum dedicated to people like you over at JA+ Developers Zone

The wintermute engine is also an option: The Lost Crown and Dark Fall III were made with that engine. It is free and can be found here.

Thanks Greyfuss and Jarkeld, will check both your suggestions

Wintermute is hard to learn; Adventure Maker is easier but the last time I used it messed with Word. Two computers would be good because Adventure Maker is light years easier. Although not as sophisticated, AM is plenty difficult enough for the likes of me and a better starting point unless you have good skills, which I don't by any standard.

thanks 8dog. The latest version of AM hopefully has taken care of the glitch with Word. Think I'll give it a shot, I noticed some pretty good tutorials on their website

Adventure Maker is praised for not requiring any scripting to create games, which makes it probably easier (and quicker) to learn than the others. But it's important to remember that if you're not scripting, you're more limited in your game-building choices. Also, I heard recently there are some problems in Win7 with running the AM-made games - namely, the Windows Media Player interferes with the playback of media files you use (audio or movie).

Personally I use AGS (Adventure Game Studio) to make my adventure games, which is a very flexible and well established tool. Supposedly works on Win7 without problems, but I haven't tested that myself. Win7 is known for compatibility problems in general.

Yes, MacMac, Adventure Maker is a great tool for making simple games using photos. I've got a game I've been working on, half done or so, but keep getting side tracked making an iPad app and working with TSL. But when I get it done, I'll share with Boomies. Try it, it's really fun and easy to use.