Poll
Question:
What is your favourite game of MAGS May?
Option 1: Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder
votes: 2
Option 2: The Rat Pack Do Cheesy Castle
votes: 2
Option 3: The Rat Pack
votes: 2
Option 4: Commando Raid
votes: 5
Option 5: Rat Playing Game
votes: 1
Option 6: The Burgomaster
votes: 1
Option 7: Lab Rat Maze!
votes: 0
Option 8: Echo in the Clouds
votes: 5
The voting is over, the results have been carefully counted and:
It's a tie!
Commando Raid by fernewelten and
Echo in the Clouds by Hobo, Selmiak, Myshkin and Pinback. 5 points a piece.
Congrats, to all involved. You will be contacted soon about choosing a topic for July.
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2254_1.png) | Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2254/) by DBoyWheeler |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2256_1.png) | The Rat Pack Do Cheesy Castle (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2256/) by Slasher |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2255_1.png) | The Rat Pack (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2255/) by CaptainD |
(http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/the-devious-and-daring-commando-raid-of%20linkattus.png) | Commando Raid (http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/) by fernewelten |
(http://i68.tinypic.com/2ilkor4.png) | Rat Playing Game (http://www.mediafire.com/file/vbcc1iau4jpt8um/Rat+Playing+Game+BETA+v0.01.7z) by Mandle |
(https://m.gjcdn.net/screenshot-thumbnail/200x2000/558784-v3.jpg) | The Burgomaster (https://gamejolt.com/games/theburgomaster/344123) by morganw, Blondbraid and handsfree |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2258_1.png) | Lab Rat Maze! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2258/) by Cassiebsg and Gurok |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2259_1.png) | Echo in the Clouds (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2259/) by Hobo, Selmiak, Myshkin and Pinback |
Vote using the poll at the top of the page.
Voting ends
June 24thTopic: RatsThis month's guidelines were set by Slasher
Interpret this Topic as you so wish.
You may use any pre-existing graphics if you want.
(https://i.imgur.com/Expeish.gif)
Ending: May 31st___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favorite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you have bad art skills, use it as a chance to do some graphic work. If you're sub-standard at coding, use it as a chance to give scripting a go. Ultimately, people will vote for the most enjoyable entry.
Rules
Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualise your game following the month's criteria (see top). Second, create your game fueled only by coffee. Finally, post your game in this thread, including:
âÅ"“ A working download link
âÅ"“ The title of your game
âÅ"“ A suitable in-game screenshot
At the end of the month, voting will begin, usually lasting for fifteen days. The winner chooses the next month's theme, and their name and game is immortalised in the MAGS Archive (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=games). For more information, please visit the Official MAGS website. (http://www.mags-competition.info/)
Hmmm... this one I think I can work with.
I wanted to put in, as the main character of the next MAGS (that I take part in), a skunk girl with rainbow colored fur (I kid you not), who is a very skilled gardener and works at a greenhouse.
Now to just find a way to combine her skills at gardening (or at the very least gardening/greenhouse themes) with this month's theme of Rats.
All I can say is...
(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/godzilla/images/3/3d/Challenge-Accepted-Meme.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/640?cb=20150620022426)
I have AP testing and final exams coming up this month, but I will try my best to make an entry, even if it has to be super short. The fact that we can use pre existing graphics will really help me out with this!
Okay maybe something about a rodent in a food preparation area, and a dilemma...
Nice to see you lads jumping on this month's Mag competition (nod)
I have chosen my title: Rat Salad....
All I need to do now is build it (laugh)
DBoyWheeler: I'm afraid, very afraid ;)
Having just woken up a few minutes ago and not having breakfast yet, my mind is working differently than normal...
Rat makes me think of rat pack. Which makes me think of Oceans 11. Which makes me think of the Deep Space Nine casino heist episode. Which also makes me think of a movie called Arena which also had Armin Shimmerman in it, as a rat faced alien. Which then makes me think of a Sam and Max Freelance Police episode with rats that live on the moon. Which makes me think of the movie starring Sam Rockwell called Moon.
So, maybe somehow I can put all of these random connections together to form a game...
QuoteYou may use any pre-existing graphics if you want.
This will help me a lot!
I claim the title: Cheese Quest! (...fairly original, huh? (roll))
Well, I think many will make a game about the metaphorical rat, but I'll make a game about a real rat!
I blame sleep deprivation...
From Moon led me to The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Which led to the Sixth Day, which led to Total Recall.
So, a cheese heist game with 2-6 playable characters with different abilities. All of the characters will be anthro rodents/small mammals living on the moon. And the goal will be to steal cheese from the casino built by the rat version of Rex Crater. And I have no idea how to work in the other stuff yet...
You guys sound like you're gonna build terrific games (nod)
I hope you can all pull it off...(nod)
Can't wait..
I'v just laid pen to paper, now what do I draw on it (laugh)
Well... I'm afraid that my game will be to ordinary for a winning game. :undecided:
Quote from: Kinkilla on Tue 01/05/2018 18:15:05
Well... I'm afraid that my game will be to ordinary for a winning game. :undecided:
No such thing... and even so...ordinary can be good...it could be a winner if it's done well (nod)
I think I'm going insane. I thought I had replied to Kinkilla... but the post seemed to have vanished in the twilight zone... try again? (roll)
It's not winning that matters, it's participating!
I can guarantee (no money back though!) that you will learn more in a month than in a whole year making a game all by your self.
Also make sure to remember to ask for help if you need it. No matter if you stuck with a piece of code, graphics, proofreading or even just need a beta tester or two. :)
And above all, have fun!
EDIT: Okay, I was neither crazy nor senile... I just found the "post I never made" on a tab that had "timed out" and thus was never posted... (roll) (laugh)
Quote from: MAGS Host on Mon 30/04/2018 23:03:35
You may use any pre-existing graphics if you want.
Because of this rule I've decided to release the AGS Trove early. Click the picture, download link at the bottom of the first post.
(https://s20.postimg.cc/xkibo6obx/logo.png) (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=55998.0)
At the end of the competition please consider donating any art you've created!
I hope to score with an unique GUI and some classic adventure jokes. Let's see what I can do in this month. ;)
Since the trove has been released before I had time to contribute, I'm going to offer to make graphics for anyone wanting graphics for this month. Anything I do will be publicly available for all, will be donated to the trove, and may not be great since I'm still fairly early in the learning process of using Inkscape.
I've got an idea for a short game that I know I'll be able to finish with everything I have going on this month. It's called "Ratz! The Big Show"
Life's not easy when you're a rock band made up of rats, especially when you're lead guitarist has lost his guitar. You play as the guitarist and have to go around the house to find small household items that can be made into a rat sized guitar.
Quote from: TGames on Wed 02/05/2018 03:33:35
You play as the guitarist and have to go around the house to find small household items that can be made into a rat sized guitar.
This makes me think of a version of the Borrowers, especially the anime version. This idea gives a lot of possibilities. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
Quote from: MAGS Host on Mon 30/04/2018 23:03:35
Topic: Rats
Interpret this Topic as you so wish.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/7138Y8rdwvL._SL500_.jpg)
(laugh)
_
Think I may have something. Haven't entered a MAGS for ages, will be good to do so again... hoping to team up with a long-time gamedev conspirator on this... we'll see.
I probably will stay out... for some odd reason the only thing I can think of are mazes... then again Rat Maze is a catchy name... (laugh)(roll)
I have an idea I'd like to try for this month's, however I'll be getting my laptop repaired so no idea if I'll be able to work on it during that time.
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Wed 02/05/2018 15:55:49
I probably will stay out... for some odd reason the only thing I can think of are mazes... then again Rat Maze is a catchy name... (laugh)(roll)
A Rat mother leading her young out of a maze filled with dangers and misdirection.. sounds good.. Go for it Cassiebsg (nod)
Morgan LeFlay: Hope you have enough time to create an entry (nod)
I have this idea for a game about a plague doctor, I already have a background and I've started on the sprites:
(https://i.imgur.com/vJNlYAD.png)
My idea is a pretty dark game about the black death and the witch hunts that followed, all while a doctor searches for
a possible way to contain the disease and dispel the plague carrying rats.
However, while I already have a rough idea for the story I currently don't have many ideas for puzzles and if anyone is interested to help me
with gameplay and programming please let me know.
I may have a little time to spare if i can help in anyway... ;)
PM me...
I've come up with the title and story (and even the title and subtitle graphics, when I get started on the title screen--they're still Paint Shop Pro files, so I can't post them here, sorry).
The title of the game is "Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder." ("vermin-truder" is a play on "vermin" and "intruder")
The story goes like this: A large rat man has broken into and is messing up Prism O'Breacadhanlae's greenhouse. Prism needs to find the means to get rid of this pest before he damages any more of her merchandise.
(Prism's last name is derived from the Irish phrase "breacadh an lae", meaning "daybreak" or "dawn". So she's quite Irish.)
I'm in! Hopefully i'll make it in time this month and this doesn't end up in the "unfinished games folder" as usual... Good luck to all! :)
Quote from: Dancing Cyborg on Wed 02/05/2018 21:35:05
I'm in! Hopefully i'll make it in time this month and this doesn't end up in the "unfinished games folder" as usual... Good luck to all! :)
My "unfinished games folder" is almost full (laugh)
Good luck and hope to see you at the finishing line (nod)
Current phase of my entry--got started on constructing the sprites of Prism. Once I've set up how I want them to look, I'll get started on the PNG individual sprites. Maybe I could even make a spritesheet to show to you all once ready.
Just a reminder that AdventureJam 2018 (http://jams.gamejolt.io/advjam2018) has also started and if your MAGS game fits in its timeframe (May 4th 9:00 PM EST - May 18th 9:00 PM EST) you could and probably should enter both competitions.
I started working on a project today and although I'm not particularily inspired by the rats theme, I'll try and figure something out.
Plan is to finish it in time for AdventureJam and then possibly add some additional polish or maybe voice acting for the MAGS version.
And it's good to see so much enthusiasm in this thread, looks like it's going to be productive MAGS month.
Indeed it appears so, Hobo..
Change of plan....last idea canned and new game started:
'The Rat Pack go Cheeseywood'
Can the Rat Pack make it to Cheeseywood's Tinseltown where the streets are paved with cheese? (laugh)
Quote from: Slasher on Sat 05/05/2018 16:21:38
Change of plan....last idea canned and new game started:
Maybe you don't even have to can it, depending how far into the developement process you were. AdventureJam rules seem to be rather lenient.
Rules: (http://jams.gamejolt.io/advjam2018/rules)
Constructing the game itself is not allowed until the beginning of the jam date. However, you are allowed to assemble your team (if you choose to have one), write your story/dialogue, and map out your game right now.
You are free to reuse any assets that you have made in the past, or use freeware or commercially available assets. This includes music, sound effects, models, et cetera. We only ask that you do not begin collecting or creating any assets specific to your AdventureJam game until May 4, 9:00PM EDT.
Slasher, that sounds interesting! ;-D
Well, I just found out, that I maybe have a small time slot for developing the game, so I had to cut my story quite a lot...
But I will increase the number of jokes and hope my best.
Aaand my game title is subtitled now! :-D
"Cheese Quest: The quest of the rat"
I started writing a daily (hopefully) gamejam log at blog.tulevik.eu (http://blog.tulevik.eu/)
Worked out the basic idea and direction of the game today and also did some pixelling:
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/lHKa6H1.gif[/imgzoom]
My problem is that I have sworn off MAGS to try to get another game finished but an idea for a simulation of a rat learning how to run a maze better and better keeps nagging at me. I'm interested in dabbling with AI stuff, always have been, and it could be a fun learning experience for me and the player about a simplified "neural network" system.
I might give it a quick, no-frills, try.
I feel a bit behind. I haven't even gotten past the planning/research phase. I don't even have a title yet.
But all the talk and doing a bit more research has made me decide I can at least make a mock up version of my game using generic looking mobile game type graphics.
And no, I'm not at all tempted to use the name Chucky and the Cheese Pack. Though it does give me an idea...
Did a weird mock-up of what is probably not interesting to anyone except myself and is not even a game except that you can make a maze and put a rat in it and run it through until it learns the best way to go... Game will probably include several saved mazes as examples... and maybe several saved rats...
Disclaimer: NOT a game...
P.S: An aditional artist may be onboard...
Quote from: Mandle on Sun 06/05/2018 18:24:58
Did a weird mock-up of what is probably not interesting to anyone except myself and is not even a game except that you can make a maze and put a rat in it and run it through until it learns the best way to go... Game will probably include several saved mazes as examples... and maybe several saved rats...
Disclaimer: NOT a game...
P.S: An aditional artist may be onboard...
Interesting Idea!
Now I'm finished with the new GUI, all room graphics (inclusive title graphic) and the opening cutscene! I'm pretty happy with the current state of my game.
Damn Mandle! Now I can no longer make that Rat Maze I was thinking of... (laugh)
Quoteyou can make a maze and put a rat in it and run it through until it learns the best way to go.
Reminds me of a betting game that we played at school parties. Four hamsters are released in the middle of a simple maze. The first one to get out is the winner. It could be fun :)
Day 2 of gamejam (http://blog.tulevik.eu/). Set up a basic game and worked on the walk cycles.
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/Z6qaGeH.gif[/imgzoom]
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sun 06/05/2018 18:52:38
Damn Mandle! Now I can no longer make that Rat Maze I was thinking of... (laugh)
Why not? At least yours will probably be a game and even get finished maybe!
It'll only get finished if I stop delaying the start... (roll)
Worked (http://blog.tulevik.eu/) on the interface and set up some menus and sliders today. Was a rather productive day.
(https://i.imgur.com/OtxYJ8d.png)
Hmmm... this is really asking for an Indiana Rodent sequel :grin:
Well, I took a rest day (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173712699129/may-8th-day-four-of-adventurejam-2018-and-mags) today and enjoyed the sunny weather.
I did spend some time to create a custom font though:
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/d5ACVPO.png[/imgzoom]
How's everyone else's progress? MAGS has been on for over a week now, anyone got anything playable or exhilarating to show?
Beyond research and re-watch Pluto Nash, I haven't accomplished much yet. But I have figured out a (probably inefficient) way of adding more interaction with objects. But it's not quite 4:30 yet, so I should be playing around with AGS for 2-4 hours this evening/night.
Quote from: Radiant on Tue 08/05/2018 18:37:32
Hmmm... this is really asking for an Indiana Rodent sequel :grin:
Don't. Just don't. I instantly want to do it/play it/join in. It hurts. :-D
QuoteI started writing a daily (hopefully) gamejam log at blog.tulevik.eu
It's a cool read. I'm appreciative of people who can make a game and keep a diary with such time constraints.
Nice doctor Blondbraid. Dropped Monocle games had a project with a similar looking character. I wonder what it became.
Quote from: Creamy on Wed 09/05/2018 10:31:31
QuoteI started writing a daily (hopefully) gamejam log at blog.tulevik.eu
It's a cool read.
+1 Really nice blog. And even if it wasn't nice, there are pretty pixel art pictures. One's gotta love pretty pixel art pictures.
Thanks, Creamy and Monsieur OUXX. Writing the blog is probably the easiest part of the day, takes about 15-20 minutes. Also, it sort of forces and motivates me to create daily content and assets for the game, otherwise I wouldn't have anything to show.
Quote from: Creamy on Wed 09/05/2018 10:31:31
Dropped Monocle games had a project with a similar looking character. I wonder what it became.
Yeah, Autoblight (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53193.msg636529789#msg636529789), but Sox hasn't logged in the forums for almost a year, so who knows what has or will become of it. I think there were a couple of other AGS games with plague doctors, but it's a cool concept and I'd certainly like to see more.
The Rat pack do Cheesywood: Video one in production
Nice to see lots of rodent-based activity in this thread. Keep it up, folks.
But... where is Tabata? I'd have thought she'd enjoy this topic.
Nice work, Slasher, that's an amazing amount of content already.
It was day 5 (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173745177294/may-9th-day-five-of-adventurejam-2018-and-mags) for me. Tested Snarky's SpeechBubble module (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=55542.0) and made a bunch of animations.
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/w5w7nBb.gif[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]https://imgur.com/aUgtvCO.gif[/imgzoom]
I myself am nearly done with the sprites of the main character in my game. Hopefully I might even make a spritesheet for showing off to you.
[Update]
Here's the spritesheet of the protagonist, Prism O'Breacadhanlae.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/954/41286834774_221528ba52_o.png)
I know the positions look wonky, but I said it before--animation ain't one of my strengths.
Well, next up on the agenda is working on the antagonist--the rat-man (and the "rat" to fit the theme) that's messing up Prism's greenhouse.
Well, I feel quite behind...
All I managed to accomplish yesterday was getting lost on Pinterest looking for reference pictures...
But today's goals are to create low detail characters and backgrounds so that I can make sure to actually have a playable game.
Hmm, everything looks very promising!
Especially the char. spritesheets of Hobe... Damn, they're looking amazing.
And I also prepared a screenshot to join the game. :)
(http://www.fastpic.info/image/20180510/2ad03854b9.png)
My idea kind of crashed and burned when I realized I hadn't thought through the AI logic properly to the end and that I didn't actually have the shortcut to a robust AI system that I thought I did.
I'm now back full-time on "A Martyr Of Time". Got a ton of work done on it yesterday. Looking good!
Best of luck to the amazing-looking projects in this round so far!
Can't wait to play all of them!
Another day filled with jam. (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173777830129/may-10th-day-six-of-adventurejam-2018-and-mags) Set up the whole game world today, there are 5 playable rooms.
(https://imgur.com/7VENrbq.gif)
@VampireWombat - I know the feeling, I could look at reference pics all day long.
@DBoyWheeler - You should probably take some time at one point and try to create a proper walk cycle base that you could then reuse for future games, it's been a bit wonky in some of your previous games too. Also, that's a great name for a character and I do like the colorfulness.
@Kinkilla - Is that GUI background made of cheese? If so, then that's delicious.
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 10/05/2018 14:54:01
My idea kind of crashed and burned when I realized I hadn't thought through the AI logic properly to the end and that I didn't actually have the shortcut to a robust AI system that I thought I did.
Thank god, AI's are the devil's work :-D Another doomsday prevented. Looking forward to "A Martyr Of Time", do you plan on making a game in production thread for it?
Quote from: Hobo on Thu 10/05/2018 23:40:26
Looking forward to "A Martyr Of Time", do you plan on making a game in production thread for it?
God no, I hate making those things. It's enough making a game without having to update a thread about it as well. (laugh)
(WIP)
I may or may not have inserted myself into a team midway through this MAGS. In May. Hey, that rhymes!
(https://s7.postimg.cc/y7rz3dxej/BG2_Techmodule_Airlock1ab.png)
Well, I didn't get any backgrounds done yesterday. But I did get a quick character base created which will work until I can create something better. But I did set the foundation for switching characters and each character having different interactions. And I researched a few pizza places with arcades, and the setting of the game has completely changed. Instead of being on the Moon, it's going to be in the ceiling of a Chuck E. Cheese type place with a gangster rat as its mascot.
Today's goal is to create a mediocre walk cycle and some mediocre backgrounds and at least start on dialog and some kind of intro.
Quote from: VampireWombat on Fri 11/05/2018 13:07:28
and some kind of intro.
I would actually advise you to work on the game itself and do the intro/outro last or towards the end unless you already have the entire game story written down and are sure that nothing will change.
Two reasons: As said above, things in the story may change as you make the game and this could change what needs to go in the intro.
The other reason: A game without a slick, animated intro is still playable. If you ran out of time you could just do the intro as a wall of text as a placeholder and redo it properly in the "deluxe" non-MAGS version. A game with a slick intro but no complete gameplay is not playable.
Just some things I've found from experience.
Thanks, but I still want to do an intro tonight.It's not going to be final or anything. But I feel it's something I need to learn to do in order to do other things. And the video I'll be learning from is only 3 minutes long, so it's not like I'll be spending hours on it...
Well, got a BG and a character sprite... now the hard part... coding the game mechanics... (roll) If I can get that one done, then there will be a game however lame puzzles I may add, otherwise it'll just move to the pile of "fail projects" that may or may not work in the future.
Quote from: Hobo on Thu 10/05/2018 23:40:26
@DBoyWheeler - You should probably take some time at one point and try to create a proper walk cycle base that you could then reuse for future games, it's been a bit wonky in some of your previous games too. Also, that's a great name for a character and I do like the colorfulness.
Yeah, I've NEVER been good at animating, but then, I seldom needed to. Maybe what I should do in the future is do the sideways animations first to give me a good idea of how to set up the front/back (i.e. facing down and facing up) animations later.
Quote from: Pinback on Fri 11/05/2018 04:19:08
I may or may not have inserted myself into a team midway through this MAGS. In May. Hey, that rhymes!
Hmm... I wonder with whom are you working with?
Anyway, here's a recap of my day (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173808261299/may-11th-day-seven-of-adventurejam-2018-and). Coincidentally had an artist helping me out with backgrouds.
(https://imgur.com/iNj9cjg.gif)
Amazing Artwork! 8-0
It's impressive to see how well your character fits with the new background, it all looks great!
Quote from: DBoyWheeler on Fri 11/05/2018 22:34:16
Maybe what I should do in the future is do the sideways animations first to give me a good idea of how to set up the front/back (i.e. facing down and facing up) animations later.
Or you could just stick with the disclaimers each time about being no good at animating. That's been working for you so far.
Sorry for the tough love, man, but you seem to put quite a bit of care into creating your characters so it seems a shame to me to see them stutter all over the place in the games.
Animating is like pretty much everything else: Nobody is born naturally good or bad at it. The people who are good at it worked on the skill to get that way.
Your characters are cool and you are one little step away from making them even cooler by moving a bit nicer:
"Character walkcycle" is just one quick google away...
... and a critics lounge away... (roll)
DBoyWheeler: I use a neat trick that covers Up and Down walking which can look OK if you really can't do them (like me) but of course if you can then do them....do them.
I am really pleased that many people are entering this month's MAG (nod)
Keep up the good work boys ;)
Alas, I didn't get as much done yesterday as hoped. I did get a mediocre sideview walk cycle made and 2 very very rough backgrounds. But I did learn some important building blocks. And I ordered Volume 1 of Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers...
Today I plan to try to make some decent backgrounds and characters. And tonight I plan to watch a movie and/or episode of something to give me ideas for puzzles and such.
Of course, keep in mind I do have a job in RL, so like my previous entry, I might be cutting it close with getting it done in time...
Well... Gurok has coded the maze for me... that guy is just too good. :-D
I'm still trying to understand what he did... but I may never do. (roll)
Anyway, I'll try and come up with some decent puzzlings for the rat... so that you not just going from A to B...
A short blog post (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173838388874/may-12th-day-eight-of-adventurejam-2018-and) and more mockup art from Pinback (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=10043):
[imgzoom]https://imgur.com/5yPrb0R.png[/imgzoom]
And it's good to see that other people are getting some stuff done too.
More mockup art?
Those aren't the finished screens for the game?
Quote from: Mandle on Sat 12/05/2018 23:54:47
More mockup art?
Those aren't the finished screens for the game?
Yup, it's all still work-in-progress stuff or at least that's what Victor's been telling me :)
They're missing some objects and probably need a bit of adjustment here and there.
Quote from: Hobo on Sun 13/05/2018 00:30:41
Quote from: Mandle on Sat 12/05/2018 23:54:47
More mockup art?
Those aren't the finished screens for the game?
Yup, it's all still work-in-progress stuff or at least that's what Victor's been telling me :)
They're missing some objects and probably need a bit of adjustment here and there.
Oh thank God. I thought you meant they weren't going to be in the game at all.
Didn't get as much done yesterday as planned, but did get some variations of a female base body made.
I am currently considering pausing work and making an unrelated game for the GameJam and picking back up on this one next weekend. Currently it feels like the best compromise.
GAH!!! I guess I just loved Bad Mojo too much to be able to resist this MAGS...
[IMGZOOM]http://i68.tinypic.com/2ilkor4.png[/IMGZOOM]
I'm in FFS.
Nice :) I'm still figuring how not to get trapped in the walls as I devised my first puzzle... (laugh)
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sun 13/05/2018 17:54:47
Nice :) I'm still figuring how not to get trapped in the walls as I devised my first puzzle... (laugh)
Could you not collide and bounce off? (laugh)
Nah, I figured it was better just to not jump into walls, less painful. (laugh)
I mostly rested today. Mostly. (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173868659034/may-13th-day-nine-of-adventurejam-2018-and)
(https://imgur.com/83Fp9Lh.gif)
Seems to be a lot of activity this month. Great to see.
Keep going, everyone. Remember to take regular breaks and say hello to your family and friends. X
Wow, people love rats... That's cool!
Nice work so far Hobo (nod)
Quote from: Slasher on Mon 14/05/2018 10:07:04
Nice work so far Hobo (nod)
Thanks, we're working hard on it. It's gonna be tough to finish it for AdventureJam, but eh, MAGS is more important anyway :)
Quote from: horusr on Mon 14/05/2018 09:27:51
Wow, people love rats... That's cool!
We're still sort of light on the rat thing, I'll try to make them more prominent for the MAGS version.
Quote from: Hobo on Mon 14/05/2018 13:41:34
We're still sort of light on the rat thing, I'll try to make them more prominent for the MAGS version.
I'd say it's looking good enough that you could just throw in the line "You dirty rat." or something and no one would complain.
My rat is acting like one! It won't stay still and is very nervous, runs like crazy through the maze and in the opposite direction I clicked on! So... it's very much alive! But I better make him more controllable so you all won't kill me (laugh) (I might have to make it keyboard only though).
Quoteruns like crazy through the maze and in the opposite direction I clicked on!
That's the ags pathfinder for you (laugh)
More awesome art from Victor:
[imgzoom]https://imgur.com/B0iHy3F.png[/imgzoom]
My post (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173903189164/may-14th-day-ten-of-adventurejam-2018-and-mags) have dried up a bit in terms of text, but I guess that was bound to happen.
Oh, selmiak (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=9350)'s helping me out with sound effects, I can probably write about that tomorrow.
Looking good Hobo (nod)
So far I have developed my game story-line and some game mechanics...
Eight of my usual brilliant backgrounds done (laugh) (laugh)
This is a game of connection links:
- Del, Rodney and Trigger
- Only Fools and Horses
- David Jason
- Dangermouse
- Rats
Del is fed up with Ratsville with its poverty, low employment and lack of cheese!
King Rat has hoarded all the cheese in his castle at Cheeseywood and Del intends to take it...
Will he and his friends succeed?
Just getting to Cheeseywood is a task!
If you do get inside King Rats castle how much cheese can you find and take using your Cheeseometer for reference?
Find out at the end (laugh)
Players can be switched at anytime between Del, Rodney and Trigger.
Use food to solve problems, bribe and barter...
cRodney.Say("Good morning, Del. You ready to come out?");
cTrigger.Say("Yeah. You said you were coming to the dump with us.");
cRodney.Say("We might pick up a few morsels.");
cDel.Say("Sorry boys, I won't be around for a while.");
cTrigger.Say("Err?");
cRodney.Say("Why's that?");
cDel.Say("Ratsville has had it!");
cDel.Say("No jobs. No prospects. Perpetual poverty.");
cDel.Say("Living crumb to mouth.");
cDel.Say("Constant cheese shortage.");
cDel.Say("Well, I'v had it with Ratsville!");
cTrigger.Say("What do you intend to do, Del?");
cRodney.Say("Yeah, what do you intend to do?");
cDel.Say("I intend to sneak into Cheesywood and grab us some cheese. The say Cheesywood is paved with Cheddar cheese...");
cDel.Say("... and the hills are dripping in Gorgonzola sauce.");
cTrigger.Say("No rat from Ratsville has ever reached Cheeseywood because of King Rat's soldiers!");
cRodney.Say("Yeah, his soldiers guard the border of Cheesywood to stop the poor from entering and stealing his stockpile of cheese!");
cDel.Say("Well, I intend to try!");
cDel.Say("Are you guys with me?");
cRodney.Say("Well, with all that cheese there it's got to be worth a try.");
cTrigger.Say("We would have to pass many dangers, as well as King Rat's soldiers...");
cTrigger.Say("...but for a mouthfull of succulant Chedder cheese...");
cTrigger.Say("...I'm in.");
cRodney.Say("Me to!");
cDel.Say("You had better pack your lunchboxes with grub sneaked out of the commissioner's pantry.");
cDel.Say("Come go guys, we have a few days journey ahead of us."); (laugh)
I no longer even know what game I'm making for MAGs this month...
I'm currently making a very short private detective game for the gamejam with the player character being a rat who is being hired by a Chihuahua nicknamed Twitch who thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him.
It's possible that I might just make this an intro mission for a longer MAGs game. Or I might go back to the cheese heist game for MAGs. Or I might combine the two and have Massimo either investigate the heist or be part of the heist...
My game idea was really short, and I could have easily finished it, but I wasn't really feeling the theme. I'm deciding to work on other projects right now instead of this month's mags. If I'm really inspired by the theme next month then I will for sure participate.
You have already written more dialogue in one post than I have for the whole game, Slasher. :-D
Strolled around today a little: (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173936323499/may-15th-day-eleven-of-adventurejam-2018-and)
(https://imgur.com/1K8WGSq.gif)
Quote from: Hobo on Tue 15/05/2018 22:39:16
You have already written more dialogue in one post than I have for the whole game, Slasher. :-D
That might be true but I'd love to have your style of backgrounds (nod)
About to do the dive off the toilet rim...
(http://i65.tinypic.com/34tdde1.png)
But still a bit worried about that guy behind me...
Tomorrow is my last AdventureJam day (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173966724994/may-16th-day-twelve-of-adventurejam-2018-and), so we'll see if it's gonna be functional enough or will it be a MAGS exclusive release. :)
(https://imgur.com/hlGeWks.gif)
My first walk animation using Spriter Pro.
Twitch the Chihuahua.
(http://i63.tinypic.com/5l8hmc.jpg)
@Hobo: Wow! Nice setting. For some reason, it gives me the Metroid Prime vibes... almost.
@VampireWombat: Neat character... and Spriter Pro looks like a cool program!
Quote from: VampireWombat on Wed 16/05/2018 22:45:56
My first walk animation using Spriter Pro.
Twitch the Chihuahua.
(http://i63.tinypic.com/5l8hmc.jpg)
Is Twitch supposed to be walking or marching military style?
If it's normal walking you are going for you have the arms swinging in the wrong direction. They should be swinging opposite to the leg movement.
Nice looking character though!
Mandle: I think you have made a great start with Spriter. Maybe arms should be reversed, but so what (laugh)
And last, but not least... using drawn flipped images..... Something that often evades me (laugh)
Quote from: Slasher on Thu 17/05/2018 06:08:31
Mandle: I think you have made a great start with Spriter. Maybe arms should be reversed, but so what (laugh))
That's actually VampireWombat's sprite. I just quoted it.
@DBoyWheeler Yeah, it's quite useful. I've had it for 2 or 3 years, but this is the first time I've actually done more than glance at it. After setting everything up, the actual animation took me maybe 5 minutes.
@Mandle Ah, thanks. Guess I didn't pay close enough to the video I followed or something. Luckily I only have to adjust 2 key frames.
Quote from: VampireWombat on Thu 17/05/2018 12:51:12
@Mandle Ah, thanks. Guess I didn't pay close enough to the video I followed or something. Luckily I only have to adjust 2 key frames.
Can't wait to see it! It will be much nicer on the eye I think because with the marching-style walk and the big eyes Twitch looks quite zombie-like and a bit terrifying at the moment... (laugh)
Squaretrade has my laptop parts on backorder so I've been without a laptop until today. That means I probably won't get an entry in for this month. Very nice at the pre existing graphics rule change. I hope that rule continues.
Twitch with eyelids and updated walk cycle.
This is the last of animations for Twitch for awhile. I have to make animations for Massimo and two other characters today and tomorrow.
(http://i68.tinypic.com/zn57kg.jpg) (http://i65.tinypic.com/2jea6b.jpg) (http://i64.tinypic.com/2zxnzid.jpg)
Quote from: VampireWombat on Thu 17/05/2018 22:09:06
Twitch with eyelids and updated walk cycle.
This is the last of animations for Twitch for awhile. I have to make animations for Massimo and two other characters today and tomorrow.
Those eyes... Looks like Twitch's been up all night, making a MAGS game :-D
We're officially out (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/173998438689/may-17th-day-thirteen-of-adventurejam-2018-and) of AdventureJam now and focusing fully on MAGS.
Twitch is looking good!
Sorry, but felt I had to edit this in for people still scrolling down who haven't read DBoy's latest post (below) yet and don't want to know how to win his game or see what happens at the end before even playing it:
****SPOILER WARNING****
DO NOT OPEN THE HIDDEN SECTION IN DBOYWHEELER'S NEXT POST BELOW OR READ THE TEXT UNDERNEATH THAT SECTION IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THE GAME WITHOUT HAVING THE PUZZLE SOLUTIONS SPOILED AND/OR SEE THE ANIMATIONS FOR THE END OF THE GAME!!!
Quote from: Hobo on Thu 17/05/2018 22:27:28
Those eyes... Looks like Twitch's been up all night, making a MAGS game :-D
We're officially out of AdventureJam now and focusing fully on MAGS.
Nah, that's just his natural state.
And shame you had to drop out. But now I wonder how long your game is going to be if you still need to put in all that work. I still haven't given up hope of finishing by tomorrow night and I've put in less work in total than you have in 2 days.
@ Mandle Thanks. I'm probably going to refine him more next week.
Well, I've prepared the antagonist's sprites for my MAGS (and the "rat" for the theme).
It's a mutant rat-man who's messing up Prism's greenhouse:
Spoiler
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/948/40372908870_d5b2d310d4_o.png)
I forgot to name the animation at the bottom--those are the sprites of the rat man ravaging Prism's greenhouse.
(Spoiler below)
Spoiler
Basically, to get rid of him, Prism needs to prepare some poisoned cheese. The poisoned is gained from using bitter almonds to make cyanide (the same way that "not-bitter" almonds are made to almond milk). Then she slips it into some cheese (I'm thinking feta cheese, but that might change). Prism has heard this creature has been attacking people and causing trouble, so there are very few qualms in killing this vermin.
There's something about the rat-man that makes me think of the main antagonist... sort of... from a movie I watched years ago.
But that guy didn't have a head, was maybe and alien, and had dynamite in his shorts...
@DBoyWheeler:
DUDE! Why on earth are you providing a walkthrough for how to win your game before it is even made and without even a spoiler alert?!
I now feel almost zero anticipation to play the game with even the ending animation revealed like that.
If anyone hasn't looked at the hidden section in DBoy's last post and/or read the text underneath it in plain sight then here is an attempt at a:
****SPOILER WARNING****
DO NOT OPEN THE HIDDEN SECTION IN DBOYWHEELER'S PREVIOUS POST OR READ THE TEXT UNDERNEATH THAT SECTION IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THE GAME WITHOUT HAVING THE PUZZLE SOLUTIONS SPOILED AND/OR SEE THE ANIMATIONS FOR THE END OF THE GAME!!!
DBoy, seriously, you should edit that post a LOT!
Tiny little bot I just whipped up that may or may not be in our MAGS game.
[imgzoom]https://s9.postimg.cc/g9xd9q5db/Bot1bc.gif[/imgzoom]
Other entries are looking great! Can't wait to play all the MAGS entries this month, I've been away far too long. Also Twitch is awesome hehe (laugh)
Also here's a GIF showing a bit of my work process because what the heck.
[imgzoom]https://s9.postimg.cc/tpozct8cv/BG5_Bathroom2a.gif[/imgzoom]
Looks like I'm definitely out for trying to finish a version of my game for the Jam.
But at least I have plenty of time to make the full MAGs version.
Here's Massimo's current walkcycle.
(http://i67.tinypic.com/95ztk6.jpg)
I have been working on my entry together with Morganw and HandsFree about the black plague and the rats spreading the disease, and I'd thought I'd share a background for the game I've been working on:
(https://i.imgur.com/lwr3iQS.jpg)
I borrowed some motives from a famous medieval artist, can anyone guess which one?
Quote from: Mandle on Fri 18/05/2018 14:27:22
@DBoyWheeler:
DUDE! Why on earth are you providing a walkthrough for how to win your game before it is even made and without even a spoiler alert?!
I now feel almost zero anticipation to play the game with even the ending animation revealed like that.
If anyone hasn't looked at the hidden section in DBoy's last post and/or read the text underneath it in plain sight then here is an attempt at a:
****SPOILER WARNING****
DO NOT OPEN THE HIDDEN SECTION IN DBOYWHEELER'S PREVIOUS POST OR READ THE TEXT UNDERNEATH THAT SECTION IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THE GAME WITHOUT HAVING THE PUZZLE SOLUTIONS SPOILED AND/OR SEE THE ANIMATIONS FOR THE END OF THE GAME!!!
DBoy, seriously, you should edit that post a LOT!
I edited it. But then, no guarantee I might finish the game on time either, considering my flippin' random RL work schedule!
Got a lot of work done today on my game but nothing to show in the form of screenshots just yet: Graphics are a bit rough still...
But, I got the combat system roughly coded and semi-working and got the graphics for the final boss working but only in a draft form...
Game Concept:
You are a rat coming up through the sewers after smelling something delicious left over by careless humans. You must battle the denizens of the sewer pipes, and further terrors, to reach your ultimate feast.
Yeah, the game is an RPG (Rat Player Game)
Great ideas, guys (nod)
Hope you can all pull them off.
We could have a great MAG this month. (nod)
Well, after waaaaay too much fooling around with code today my rat can finally run from the start of the game to the end goal...
Now I just have to make it a "bit" more difficult to get there...
Looks like they'll be quite a few AI's and obstacles.... great idea there Mandle...
Meantime I am working on a Dungeon scene should you get caught trying to sneak into King Rats castle where you are sure to get skinned if you don't get out of there!!!!
Game progress: 50%
Well, I'm now in the programming phase. The rooms, characters,and inventory are ready. It'll be "silent" (no music or sound fx for this one... couldn't find any appropriate ones). But I sorta consider this game, in reality, a sort of "proof of concept" for this skunk girl, so I might hopefully someday put her in some more "fleshed out" adventures (i.e. medium length game or longer).
Well, I got an intro and and end now... (nod) Just need the "middle"... (laugh) (and solve a restart bug (roll) )
Quote from: VampireWombat on Fri 18/05/2018 00:43:18
But now I wonder how long your game is going to be if you still need to put in all that work. I still haven't given up hope of finishing by tomorrow night and I've put in less work in total than you have in 2 days.
It's not that long actually. Most of my time was spent on animations, since I'm still a fairly unexperienced artist, it takes me quite some time to draw and animate sprites. And I'm testing out multiple features that I haven't scripted in AGS before, so this has also slowed me down. I guess you could say that I have simply been inefficient with my time.
It's great too see all these updates and progress people are making. Hopefully they all get finished and released too.
Hobo, Mags is great for experimenting and learning. (nod)
Well, Gurok has improved the code, so now I can finish coding those puzzles we all love... cause otherwise you just run the maze with nothing else to do. (laugh)
@Hobo I quite understand. Most of my time has been spent learning how to make graphics in Inkscape and then animating them in Spriter Pro. At this point I'm not even sure I have a single thing done that's going in my final game...
But your art and animations look quite nice. So I'd say the time is well spent, even if it takes awhile.
Decided to make all our music/ambient sound from scratch for this MAGS because I am a sucker for punishment. Here's one of 5 tracks I made tonight;
https://soundcloud.com/gobletleechen/crew-quarters-ambient-track (https://soundcloud.com/gobletleechen/crew-quarters-ambient-track)
decided to add some life to pinback's already awesome background(s)
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/oaj2TOM.gif[/imgzoom]
It's not fair :(
Meanwhile mine is retitled:
The Rat Pack do Cheeseycastle...
Here's a new screenshot from our entry:
(https://i.imgur.com/tFdXHgq.jpg)
Why do I get the feeling that bucket is going to end up on that guard's head? Just too much Skyrim?
I had an idea for an entry working along with someone else, but he isn't able to due to time constraints... so I've come up with another idea that I think I can handle myself in the remaining week and a bit that's left. If I can, I'll post again - if not I'll go and hide in a corner!
selmiak, I love what you did with Pinback's (already awesome indeed) background. This is an absolutely AMAZING effect.
I'm slightly stunned to find myself with a working prototype having only decided to start working on this thing tonight.
It's not pretty, but here's the proof:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dd1V7GDV0AAIZLK.jpg)
Slightly better...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dd1afrCUQAEpaQ5.jpg)
I finally got my entry submitted.
Behold: Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/877/42287348461_522ff38772_o.png)
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/967/42287348321_a0a45ffc0b_o.png)
The completed game announcement is here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=56088
And here it is in the main AGS games list: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2254/
@Kastchey: Thanks. But now my teammates want me to do this to all backgrounds 8-0
@DBoy - Well done for finishing your game already. Do consider adding something in the way of background music or noise. You've still got a week to go.
yeah, grab a track from eric matyas or search for "royalty free" (music) on soundcloud, listen to some tracks until you find a fitting one and add this. this would be way cooler than a silent game.
Okay, I updated it to include music and sound--courtesy of RPG Maker 2000.
Okay so my game looks viable enough to get finished... it's a turn-based strategy game called "The Rat Pack". You manage a colony of rats and have to keep them alive as long as possible. It all works fine but the difficulty needs some tweaking (it feels difficult at first but you can quite easily get past a "hump" in the difficulty and keep going forever) and I need to add a few random events into it. Maybe descriptions rather than plain numbers for the skills. Also have nest size as a game element. Then SFX / music and I'll call it done.
Bashed my head against what is probably a simple coding error somewhere for about 4 hours today before calling a break for myself.
I'm sure I'll return later and the problem will be obvious. That's usually what happens.
I'm at the stage of trying to decide how to handle clues. I half figured out how to do a clue board last night. But I'm just not sure if it's best way to go.
I will be starting backgrounds to actually use, since I currently only have placeholder ones...
Quoteselmiak, I love what you did with pinback's (already awesome indeed) background. This is an absolutely AMAZING effect.
Yep, it looks better and better. I'm curious to know how you did that Selmiak.
QuoteI'm at the stage of trying to decide how to handle clues. I half figured out how to do a clue board last night. But I'm just not sure if it's best way to go.
Maybe have a NPC help the player in game?
Good luck everybody
Quote from: Creamy on Wed 23/05/2018 14:46:20
Maybe have a NPC help the player in game?
Not quite sure how I'd make that work since I already have 2 main characters to switch between. When doing some things, they talk to each other first. But thanks for the suggestion.
I'll probably play a bit of some games to help figure it out.
I dropped a lot of rat poison around in my game today...
It's not killing the player fast enough though...
Must combine with enemy attacks for a full test!!!
Balance is a bitch!
Balance is EVERYTHING.
Especially when you're stupid enough to attempt making a turn-based strategy game on a single low-res screen and yet make it interesting to play.
(Despite this stupidity and the struggles to balance it, I'm rather pleased with how my effort is turning out so far.)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dd5NzY_U8AEG2ac.jpg)
Quote from: Creamy on Wed 23/05/2018 14:46:20
Quoteselmiak, I love what you did with pinback's (already awesome indeed) background. This is an absolutely AMAZING effect.
Yep, it looks better and better. I'm curious to know how you did that Selmiak.
glad you like it Creamy :)
So basically I collected all the pollen outside my window and threw them up in the air, sneezed and this swirled them, then I made the clouds drunk so they turn uncontrallably... 8-)
Well, I used all of yesterday trying to get puzzle 3 to work... and failed. :~(
Today at work, after thinking about it, I realized I had complicated my code... so I wrote (on paper) 6 lines of code... got home, replaced the long, complicated and bugged/not working code with my new 6 lines, run the game and "yeah" it worked"... :-D So we're at 3 puzzles now... Tomorrow a new problem will arise, but today I'm happy. (nod)
Quote from: CaptainD on Wed 23/05/2018 17:10:43
Balance is EVERYTHING.
IKR?!
It looks like we are making quite similar types of games: Strategy Sim & RPG.
I even considered adding a sim element to my game early on where you had recently become a mommy rat and you had to care for your newly born young (awwww so pink and slimey) back in your nest which was why you were venturing out to get food, but I've cut that back to just having your "nest" be the shop where you buy upgrades to your skills and can save the game (for a cost of XP... I'm quite proud of that feature and don't think I've seen it done before in a game)
It's been some days, so here's a short blog post (http://blog.tulevik.eu/post/174220770224/may-24th-day-something-something-of-mags) and more eye candy:
[imgzoom]https://imgur.com/jbk0Hso.gif[/imgzoom]
Hobo your background art is AMAZING :shocked::shocked:
Quote from: CaptainD on Fri 25/05/2018 08:21:41
Hobo your background art is AMAZING :shocked::shocked:
Thanks, backgrounds are all Pinback's (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=10043) work and selmiak's (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=9350) adding some awesome environmental animations to them.
Quote from: Hobo on Fri 25/05/2018 11:43:38
Quote from: CaptainD on Fri 25/05/2018 08:21:41
Hobo your background art is AMAZING :shocked::shocked:
Thanks, backgrounds are all Pinback's (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=10043) work and selmiak's (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=9350) adding some awesome environmental animations to them.
Pinback's background art is AMAZING! :P
I'm sure selmiak's awesome environmental animations are also fantastic.
The bits you are doing give the artwork meaning though so neither of them are as important as you (don't tell them that, unless they need to be put in their place...) ;)
Now it's crunch time.
This weekend is when I'll be doing the implementation of everything I've laid the groundwork for.
So, mostly dialog and scripting.
Backgrounds are most likely going to be pretty bare bones and characters will only have side views.
But both Twitch and Massimo will have different guis, and abilities. There will be more than one way to do everything. And there will be multiple endings.
Yay! A title screen is now done! Not quite what I'd hoped 100% but... moving on... Gotta get combat working...
Didn't get as much done yesterday as hoped. For various reasons I flip flopped across 3 or 4 different templates until ending up back to the one I started with. But I did figure out how to easily make a hybrid interface that combines the simplicity of a BASS system with more options for the characters. Originally I was using objects, which was inefficient at best. Now I'm using a variable with if/else if/else.
Yesterday I was hoping to see Mortal Kombat with rodents from Mandle. Today I'm hoping to see a Secret of Monkey Island type combat, but with finishing moves like Mortal Kombat...
Quote from: VampireWombat on Sun 27/05/2018 13:24:29
Yesterday I was hoping to see Mortal Kombat with rodents from Mandle. Today I'm hoping to see a Secret of Monkey Island type combat, but with finishing moves like Mortal Kombat...
Who knows what you'll be hoping tomorrow... (line borrowed from "J", Men In Black)
Getting close to a workable and understandable combat system after writing the tutorial hints for the player (and myself to remember how it works) and then trying to plug the system into the game...
70% done on that chore maybe...
How's everytone else going?
Okay I've finally had a third evening to work on this. Have tweaked (and re-tweaked!) several equations, added a title screen (kindly made by Katschey) and added a win-game situation - and of course made sure that it is in fact possible to defeat the game!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeTpwH0W0AARgmG.jpg)
Still a fair amount of tweaking to do, but honestly not sure how much more time I'll be able to spend on it before the end of the month.
Good to see some progress being made. How are the games coming along? Just 3 days to go.
Also, where's Slasher? He hasn't posted for a week.
Well, my game's not going as well as I'd like. I hit an art block every time I try to make backgrounds. And I have yet to find a proper balance of handling clues. So I'm probably going to simplify things and maybe even dummy out the clue board. And probably only have 3 endings.
Today I'm going to force myself to make backgrounds and use whatever comes of it. And tomorrow I will tie up any loose ends, with final tests on Thursday.
I only need to implement the last puzzle and do some final adjustments/bug desinfection... only I have a "little" problem with the way I want the last one to work, and for that I need Gurok... (wtf) But I'll code it as is now, and hope he can figure a way to fix the problem... otherwise the "problem" will be less of one for the player to solve... (laugh)
Quote from: Stupot on Tue 29/05/2018 00:35:44
Good to see some progress being made. How are the games coming along? Just 3 days to go.
Also, where's Slasher? He hasn't posted for a week.
Unfortunately I had been quite ill during the last week but feeling better now.
It was just as well that my entry was practically done, though I don't have time for proper testing so i'll have to go with what i have.
I will upload it later this evening and hope for the best (laugh)
Meanwhile, i am excited by all the entries this month and they all need a pat on the back (nod)
regards
Slasher
Glad you're back and feeling better, mate.
There is a game upload to database error 403..access forbidden.
Cheers Stupot (nod)
(https://i.imgur.com/gTOfxHJ.gif)
This game deals with oppression and having the courage to face the oppressor.
It's a kind of Robin Hood story.
You may notice a link connection with the characters and the topic (laugh)
Download: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2256/
|
Storyline:
There had been years of oppression and cheese starvation under King Rat. One day, after having had enough Del, Rodney and Trigger pluck up the courage to put an end to it and plan taking all of King Rat's cheese and feeding the cheese starved. So they pack their lunchboxes and set off to King Rat's Cheesy Castle. Of course getting there is another story as they have to first make their way through a wood to find Checkpoint Charlie, and so their journey begins.
Once they eventually arrive at Cheesy Castle they need to avoid being seen and sneak into the castle. If seen they are put into a dungeon. Once inside the castle they must search the tower and take any cheese they can get. Their eventual aim is to get King Rat and his rat soldiers out of the tower and go to the top of the tower where you can take all the cheese that is there which includes melted Camembert running down the walls and a floor of cheddar cheese.
Beware that you don't get caught as King Rat's soldiers are cut-throats that like to skin lesser rats!
Along the way meet Bovis a villager, Clive who is King Rat's jester, Duncan the Donkey who has an injured leg, a wild Coyote and a rat soldier who want to jazz up his cheese sandwich!
All solutions to problems can be solved with food... Yes, food.
You can switch the main character to Del, Rodney or Trigger during the game. Keep an eye on your 'Cheese-ometer' as it shows the current weight of cheese taken.
Once you get to the castle you may if you so wish abort and go home.
Be aware that there is some humor towards the end that may offend some! (but not me...he who dares ;))
You may notice the link connections between the characters and the Topic.
Screenshots
(https://i.imgur.com/Fxymd6s.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/SQWoMUq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/7Qmzmca.png)
|
Specs:
640 X 480 resolution
32 Bit color
Direct3D9 hardware acceleration
Download: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2256/
|
glad you feeling better. :)
But you do realize there is still 2 days? plenty of time for testing and debugging. (nod)
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Tue 29/05/2018 17:54:32
glad you feeling better. :)
But you do realize there is still 2 days? plenty of time for testing and debugging. (nod)
I meant testing by someone else.. I'v been over it quite a few times...but it's always someone else that finds things (laugh)
Until Database error is fixed here is a direct link to The Rat Pack Do Cheesy Castle:
Direct Link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/yv86mm8f12fhu7g/The+Rat+Pack+Do+Cheesy+Castle.rar
Well, I had some nice ideas for this month but didn't get further than the drawing board. Best of luck to the rest of you!
So did I... it's been way too long since the last time I really used the editor so a customized GUI defeated me this month. It was a good exercise, though.
In an attempt to make myself useful I stuffed some graphics down CaptainD's throat instead.
Well, ours is almost done... there's one only "little small" bug to be fixed... well, okay, it's a big bug since it crashes the game, but on the plus side it's right at the end and all that is missing for the player to do is to run out to freedom!
Hope Gurok can fix it. :)
Then I just need to fix the usual problem with the restart point tomorrow and do a play run from the start. (laugh)
The Rat Pack Do Cheesy Castle..
New Build uploaded.
Typo's / wrong grammar spotted...Fixed.
Cheese chute issue with Rodney and Trigger...Fixed.
And few few other minor bits.
Seems like ours is now sort of finished, still need to do a play run and look for eventual bugs, but I think it's playable from start to end, and that restart now works as it should. :-D
But now I want to enjoy the good weather and have a dip in the pool. later all
Oh dear... Oh deary, deary me...
I really thought I would get my game finished today, and now, don't get me wrong, I worked on it for 12 hours getting it to do what I want 20% of the time and not doing what I want 80% of the time...
I guess it's make or break tomorrow or...
Any chance of an extension over the coming weekend?
Quote from: Mandle on Wed 30/05/2018 16:34:29
Any chance of an extension over the coming weekend?
I wouldn't mind a weekend extension. I'm probably going to release an early build or a demo no matter the deadline, but a few extra days always helps.
And then I'll keep working on it over the summer to flesh it out and add some polish. I really feel like my original plans for a tiny jam game with few simple puzzles and a cobbled together story don't do justice to Pinback's and selmiak's awesome visual contributions and Myshkin's music. It definitely deserves more time and effort put into it.
Hobo: If you really can't complete the game to full justice in time I would defiantly go for the short demo. If you do that very well, and the player enjoys it they may well want to play more more more... in which case your rating will go up (nod)
Plus you will have unlimited time to really work on it...
Quote from: Slasher on Wed 30/05/2018 20:44:45
Hobo: If you really can't complete the game to full justice in time I would defiantly go for the short demo. If you do that very well, and the player enjoys it they may well want to play more more more... in which case your rating will go up (nod)
Plus you will have unlimited time to really work on it...
Yes, end it with a cliffhanger (nod)
Ugh... unlimited time. I've been making Kingdom of Ehcilc with unlimited time limit and it's been in production for four years :)
I'd rather wrap this one up in a month or two.
Well, "finished" mine for today. :) Total play time (knowing exactly what to do and where to go) ... 15 min (laugh)
If I have time I'll do a second play run tomorrow, just to see if I can add a last "feature" to it, plus I noticed something that I should fix (just cause you guys like to break stuff! (roll) ).
@Hobo, careful, as soon as you have "unlimited time" and the pressure is off the polish might end up dragging for ever... (roll)
Quote from: Blondbraid on Fri 18/05/2018 21:03:45
I borrowed some motives from a famous medieval artist, can anyone guess which one?
Is it Albertus Pictor?
Got mine finished:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2255/
Thanks to Kastchey for forcing some artwork on me! (laugh)
Captain.... Right click causes mouse to vanish :~(
Did you have any trouble using the ags database to upload your game?
Augh don't right-click then! 8-0 Think I know why that happens. In testing we never thought of right-clicking!!
Upload link goes to the Itch page, did you have any problem with it?
Captain,
i meant when 'add your game' filling in database details and then submitting... i end up on Forbidden... access denied!
Quote from: Slasher on Thu 31/05/2018 08:40:35
Captain,
i meant when 'add your game' filling in database details and then submitting... i end up on Forbidden... access denied!
Ah... in that case no, it all went through normally for me. Have you tried logging out, logging back in and trying again? Clearing your cache? Otherwise you'll have to get help from those more qualified in this area than me!
I got it to submit but i am am unable to edit it... Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Edit: Managed to edit it ok so game on database.
Quote from: Mandle on Wed 30/05/2018 16:34:29
Any chance of an extension over the coming weekend?
Quote from: Hobo on Wed 30/05/2018 20:27:33
I wouldn't mind a weekend extension.
Granted :-)
Sunday midnight BST
Yay, an extension. Now I can properly test and maybe even have up and down walk cycles. Maybe even make backgrounds that don't look like a toddler made them.
Great news! This helps out a lot.
Somebody make it rain so I don't want to go out over the weekend! :P
Quote from: selmiak on Thu 31/05/2018 13:28:24
Somebody make it rain so I don't want to go out over the weekend! :P
This May has been one of the warmest and sunniest that I can remember. And I've barely had time to enjoy any of it :(
Hello, Community!
I've just surfaced from the abysmal depths of a month-long coding spree, fuelled only by coffee (and large bottles of mineral water and cola), and now that I've come to surface, I'm finding out that
ten pages of discussion have come to be in the meantime.
Boy! Sorry I didn't have the resources to join.
Anyway, I proudly present to you as a MAGS entry:
(http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/index-Dateien/image001.png) | The Devious and Daring
Commando Raid
of Linkattus, The Lowly Janitor Rat,
In Order to Free
Ratzelda, the Princess of His Dreams,
And to Get Her, Too
| (http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/index-Dateien/image002.png) |
(What? That
is the title of this adventure! 8-) )
It features:
- a BASS like interface,
- hand-drawn art in Inkscape,
- original music, recorded from a Yamaha keyboard and edited in Audacity
- the AGS system by Chris Jones and later contributers
- lots of Adventuring and Frolicking :-)
- Rats
- and a Cat.
Oh, and bugs (probably :-[ ).
Get the game here (http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/)
(I reserve the right to make urgent, last-minute bug fixes until the deadline. :) )
Screenshot: http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/the-devious-and-daring-commando-raid-of%20linkattus.png
[imgzoom]http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/the-devious-and-daring-commando-raid-of%20linkattus.png[/imgzoom]
Have fun playing and give me feedback!
When cupboard is unlocked 'looking' still says it's locked...
Oh cool for the extension :)
Then I don't need to rush to the last minutes fixed today before uploading and posting. :D Polish time! But it's damn hot, so now that there's an extension I'll go back to the pool and enjoy "summer". :-D
Quote from: Slasher on Thu 31/05/2018 15:47:35
When cupboard is unlocked 'looking' still says it's locked...
Well, rats. ;-D Thanks for the tip, I've fixed it. I'll wait a bit with the improved upload since uploading transfers around 100 MB and takes about a quarter of an hour. Something else might come up at the last minute.
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Thu 31/05/2018 15:53:33
Oh cool for the extension :)
The first post wasn't updated, so I wasn't sure if the extension was for everyone or not...
Of course they are... even if you didn't ask for one, if it's granted then it's for everyone (we're all in the same ship here, it leaves dock at the same time...) ;) Even if some decide to throw their paddling boat in the water before time. (laugh)
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Thu 31/05/2018 18:06:19
Of course they are... even if you didn't ask for one, if it's granted then it's for everyone (we're all in the same ship here, it leaves dock at the same time...) ;) Even if some decide to throw their paddling boat in the water before time. (laugh)
With that amount of nautical reasoning, I'll take your word for it. :)
I think you must be spending too much time in the pool...
Quote from: Stupot on Thu 31/05/2018 12:40:18
Quote from: Mandle on Wed 30/05/2018 16:34:29
Any chance of an extension over the coming weekend?
Quote from: Hobo on Wed 30/05/2018 20:27:33
I wouldn't mind a weekend extension.
Granted :-)
Sunday midnight BST
YAY! Such good news!
I worked on my game all day Wednesday even though I could feel a cold coming on, ended up having to take the day off work yesterday sick (and no AGS of course, only resting). Feeling a bit better today. Tomorrow I have the afternoon off and also Sunday of course.
I'm actually at the point where the game
almost works completely but I'll need a clear non-clogged-up head to track down all the issues in the code.
And then some time to play, replay, replay, test balance, tweak, etc.
Should be doable.
I anyone is up for doing some beta testing, drop me a PM, I could a couple people for that. (nod)
I thought a bit about why I wasn't feeling the full motivation to work on my game and I realized that it was partially because I wasn't fully feeling the crawling skin factor that I got from "Bad Mojo", my inspiration for making this game in the first place.
I have never felt that awful skin-crawling feeling from a game quite as much as I felt it in Bad Mojo.
So, yeah, I went and googled a bunch of images and plugged them into the game to hopefully provide this effect.
In any case, my skin crawled while searching such things as "rat drowned in toilet" and "spider attack"..
While I was looking at and working on the images I was brushing imaginary creepy-crawlies off my legs and neck...
Gotta go sleep now. Dreading the dreams that will come tonight...
Testing is underway, and we're trying to iron out all faults and specially those pesty bugs that refuse to be squashed... (wtf)
I hope I have just sent the last test version out, and that my next step will be to release the game upon unsuspecting innocent AGSers... (laugh)
At some point I seem to have made a mess of my game...
Good thing I have 11 hours left. How many npcs, how the game is solved, and which functions remain in the game will be a surprise for everyone... especially me.
RAT PLAYING GAME
You play as a sewer rat who, one day, detects a delicious smell coming from a plate of food accidentally left out overnight on a restaurant counter somewhere far above his sewer-pipe lair.
YOU MUST DEVOUR IT!!!
Along the way you will encounter enemies to fight, poisonous bait, a powerful final boss enemy and, hopefully, some moments to make your skin crawl.
Save up your XP and return to your lair to buy upgrades to your stats and skills and maybe eventually you will defeat the final boss enemy and get to the exquisite prize!
[IMGZOOM]http://i68.tinypic.com/2ilkor4.png[/IMGZOOM]
It's 2AM... I'm almost collapsing right now so I'll just put the link for the game download and fancy the post up a bit more tomorrow:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD (http://www.mediafire.com/file/vbcc1iau4jpt8um/Rat+Playing+Game+BETA+v0.01.7z)
WARNING: PLEASE DON'T USE ANY KEYS EXCEPT FOR A,S,D (and Left Mouse Click)... I haven't had time yet to debug using keys not needed in the game...
(I fear I introduced some nasty bugs at the last moment while trying to fix an issue... I will deal with them later if they crop up... No more energy left right now for further testing "tonight")
EDIT:
YUP! Bugs galore!!! (see my next post below for more details)
* Don't use the DODGE button in combat. It is bugged and useless at the moment. Dodge skills are still vital though (see my post below for more info)
* The RUN away option in combat is a bit bugged: If the enemy is between you and your lair you will try to run through the enemy and get pulled back into combat. If you run again I think you can escape.
* Sometimes the game starts to run super-slow in the restaurant area and even ALT-X is hard to use to force-quit from the game. I don't know if this is only my crappy system or an actual bug.
* The rat cannot turn back after starting the climb up the side of the restaurant counter. Using movement direction keys here might break the game so just let him run. He must be too tempted by the smell of the food so close at hand I guess?
* A few other minor issues.
I did manage to play the game through from start to finish and win it despite these problems. I did have to force-quit (spamming ALT-X until it worked) when the slo-mo issue happened a few times and go back to my last save.
Feel free to give it a go but remember that bug-fixes will be done soon so you might want to wait on that or at least replay the game after the issues are solved.
I've come to the conclusion that whatever mess that would come out of what I now have wouldn't be fun for anyone to play.
To save everyone unneeded pain, I'm dropping out now. But Massimo and Twitch will return.
Sorry to hear that VampireWombat.
Hopefully we'll see you next month (nod)
Quote from: Blondbraid on Fri 18/05/2018 21:03:45
I have been working on my entry together with Morganw and HandsFree about the black plague and the rats spreading the disease.
Unfortunately HandsFree was called into action elsewhere, but here is the entry from Blondbraid and myself.
The Burgomaster(https://m.gjcdn.net/game-header/1700/344123-nrxpffsw-v3.jpg)
Download from Game Jolt (https://gamejolt.com/games/theburgomaster/344123)
Alternative download link (Windows) (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xu7trnxpbntirek/TheBurgomaster_Win32.zip?dl=1)
Alternative download link (Linux) (https://www.dropbox.com/s/dccmmxa4n6209ap/TheBurgomaster_Linux.tar.gz?dl=1)
Lab Rat Maze!
Ever wondered what a lab rat feels when someone places him into a maze? Well, now you no longer have to wonder! Experience it for your self!
Feel frustrated by the unfair tasks, extreme level of memory and other skills requirements that evil humans put poor rats through!
(http://i.imgur.com/Qe8BR1q.png)
Superb resolution of 640x400 pixels & 32bit color!
Point&Click style! And keyboard helper (use keyboard as help certain tasks).
Two levels of difficulty! (Only difference is how you experience the maze, not how hard puzzles are.)
Music by Eric Matyas!
Game by Cassiebsg and Gurok (who coded the maze).
Beta testers: Durq, morganw and Shadow1000
Download/game page link: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2258/
Soon, there will be fire in the sky! Or was it just an Echo in the clouds?!
Echo in the Clouds
Brought to you by Hobo, Pinback, selmiak and Myshkin
[imgzoom]https://imgur.com/Dnk5aUn.gif[/imgzoom]
Download the demo here: DOWNLOAD HERE (http://tulevik.eu/ags/Echo_in_the_Clouds_Demo.zip)
Edit: Here's the AGS game page link (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2259/).
The contest is over and voting us underway until
June 24thEight entries this time. That's more like it! Well done everyone.
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2254_1.png) | Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2254/) by DBoyWheeler |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2256_1.png) | The Rat Pack Do Cheesy Castle (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2256/) by Slasher |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2255_1.png) | The Rat Pack (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2255/) by CaptainD |
(http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/the-devious-and-daring-commando-raid-of%20linkattus.png) | Commando Raid (http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/MAGS/) by fernewelten |
(http://i68.tinypic.com/2ilkor4.png) | Rat Playing Game (http://www.mediafire.com/file/vbcc1iau4jpt8um/Rat+Playing+Game+BETA+v0.01.7z) by Mandle |
(https://m.gjcdn.net/screenshot-thumbnail/200x2000/558784-v3.jpg) | The Burgomaster (https://gamejolt.com/games/theburgomaster/344123) by morganw, Blondbraid and handsfree |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2258_1.png) | Lab Rat Maze! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2258/) by Cassiebsg and Gurok |
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2259_1.png) | Echo in the Clouds (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2259/) by Hobo, Selmiak, Myshkin and Pinback |
Vote using the poll at the top of the page.
Voting ends
June 24thLet me know if any details are wrong or you want to add a team member.
WOW!!! 8 entries!!!
And, yeah, it seems I did manage to introduce a few mysterious bugs (no pun intended) around 2AM last night...
I have, however, done a playthough of the game and managed to win it despite the bugs but sometimes a weird thing happens (on my system at least) where the game gets into a super-slow loop and even ALt-X is hard to use to get out of the game.
This only seems to happen after the player has cleared the rim of the toilet and usually somewhere on the restaurant floor.
But sometimes this doesn't happen and everything goes smoothly.
Also, there is a new bug where you cannot turn back after you start the climb up the restaurant counter. I guess our rat is too tempted by the goodies on the counter above and can't help himself?
The Dodge button in combat seems very bugged so probably best not to use it until fixed. You don't really need it anyway. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't invest points in dodging skills: they are vital!!! The rat tries to dodge every attack automatically anyway. The Dodge button is just a system where if you consciously make a dodge then you get a better chance to hit or run away next turn. Like I said: it is currently broken so don't use it until further notice.
Also, the run away system is now broken, but not completely. I had it working so that the rat would run left or right depending on which side the enemy was on but that is not working now and the rat will only run back towards his lair. So, if you are on the other side of the enemy from your lair and run you will get pulled back into combat. But if you then run again you will get away (I think). This works in the pipes at least. It could break the game in the toilet/restaurant area. Not sure. But by the time you are up there you probably won't be needing to run much anyway.
There are several other issues as well: stuff that worked before but not anymore. I'm sure most are simple fixes so I will take a look a bit later after I've recovered from the 12 hour session yesterday.
Apart from this to-do list I'm quite pleased with my game and amazed that I got it working yesterday as well as it does.
Play now if you wish (I'd really like to know if anyone else gets the weird game-freezing) but please play again after bug-fixes: Notification to come.
But, for now, I'm gonna go play some of the other entries. Need to step away from my own game for a bit. I'm waaaaaaaaaay too sick of looking at it for now to maintain any kind of perspective or sensible thinking process...
I'm going to update my impressions of the games here as I play through them:
The Rat PackSpoiler
Oh, so much fun!!!
The rats' voices jumpscared the hell of of me the first time they popped up but I got used to it and they added so much fun and many a laugh to the game!
I won it on my second try. It was perhaps a little easy once you know what to be careful of. In a future version maybe EASY, MEDIUM, HARD, IMPOSSIBLE difficulty levels could be added? I know it's hard to get balance just right in these kinds of games, especially during a MAGS, but with a bit more time I think it would add a lot to the game's replay value.
Nevertheless, the game provided the fun of slowly growing in power until the things that terrified you before became just minor annoyances. This is the main fun of any RPG/Sim game: feeling that your power and abilities are growing, and that you are overcoming harder obstacles because of this, and this game does it well!
The random events were just frequent enough to affect the gameplay a bit but not so frequent that they become annoying or eclipse the main, central strategy play.
Wonderful game!!!
Spoiler
As I have come to expect from a historical game featuring the art of blondbraid this game really does a great job of pulling the player into its world. The graphics are lovely and really made me feel the claustrophobic streets of the town and suited the gloomy and opressive state of fear and distrust hanging over it. A nice little history lesson concerning the ironic persecution of the Jews who, because of their customs, did not put up with the rats, and therefore did not catch the plague so much, and therefore must be the guilty ones causing the whole thing! I've always suspected that old women living alone outside of town with many cats were persecuted as witches for similar reasons.
A lovely and touching twist at the end which cleared up a few confusing points in the game like why are we in the doctor's house as if it is our own and how do we know how to mix the elixer... Nicely tied up!!!
The ending "cutscene" was a bit abrupt but I suspect that was cut short for time reasons.
A short and charming game very well done that didn't overestimate what is possible to make in just a month.
Spoiler
Well, what can I say? So far this is the game that I have had the most fun with! The puzzles are great. I completed it without hints but did get deliciously stuck a few times for a bit, but never to the point of frustration. And I always felt the solutions were fair and hinted at enough by the game.
One thing I maybe could have done without was the way characters fade in and out when they go through a door. Interesting choice there but it didn't really work for me. I would have prefered they just appeared instantly and not because it made me impatient. It just detracted slightly from the inworld reality for me. Just an opinion and not a huge issue.
I loved the maze area!!! So much fun to navigate around! I'd say a fair few players may complain about the slow walkspeed in the starting room but I didn't really mind it. The laid-back music suited a slow stroll along the sewer-bank.
I did encounter some glitches in the maze room:
The first time I entered the maze room the game screen went black and the music got stuck in an infinite loop. I tried again and the same happened. I figured out that I had to change the graphics setting to "software driver" (or whatever it's called) in setup and then everything worked fine.
Also, There is a wall between areas L-79 and 79L but it's not doing its job: If you are in L-79 and click on the exit door in 79L the rat walks to the wall and then fades from view, going "through" the exit he shouldn't be able to reach. Handy short-cut but not intentional I'm assuming...
A few other minor problems were:
the mop end not disappearing from inventory after you have attached it to the handle.
Opening the ransom note causes the room music to stop and never return. This made the final room feel a bit lonely for me as there was no other room to go to to restart the room music.
MAGS games almost always have bugs though so no biggies and nothing really game-breaking.
The humour was pretty much spot-on for me. Never got annoying and when it was funny it was very funny!!! I especially liked "Were you raised in a PLANT NURSERY??!!". That almost made me spit my drink.
LOVED THIS GAME!!!
Spoiler
Up until now The Condemned was my favorite ever Slasher game. But now this is my new favorite!!!
Well, maybe... I'm not sure if anything can replace my love for The Condemned... Let's maybe call it a tie!
But more about this game:
Excellent game design! And here is why:
* The player understands straight away that the upsidedown design choice of many starting inventory items to use up instead of collecting is the main mechanic of the game... Instead of hoarding we are depleting!!! Now the player doesn't have to be constantly scrubbing the screen for new items.
* The game draws you forward and you can never go back. Now the player knows that they haven't missed anything.
* Once the player enters the castle they can immediately understand that this is a heist story: Grab as much cheese as you can but even if you don't you can still finish the game. You can rush to the ending or take your time figuring out each cheese heist solution... WOW!
* There are three unique characters that talk in turn and, even though the AGS speech mechanic makes it hard to tell who is speaking, I felt like I knew who it was because of the way in which they said it. Character individuality!!!
* Lastly, the theme of the impoverished masses versus the uber-rich overlord might seem a middle-ages theme but also applies now where we have exhausted the potential of capitalism where it is pretty much as much an end-game scenario as feudalism was back in the middle-ages... It cannot continue to work once the end-game conditions are reached... Happened with feudalism and will now happen with capitalism... Great lesson in this game...
I'm very conflicted now about my final vote...
Spoiler
The AMAZING visuals, animations and mood are all spot on! The gameplay interfaces are perfect (well, some capital letters at the start of the console descriptions might be nice)... At the moment it seems to be an interactive fiction though where the game just guides you forward through the story. Maybe there are some puzzle sections missing like rerouting the pressure to the airlock door etc. which will be in the final game?
A puzzle or two wouldn't go astray, unless the goal is interactive fiction in which case it's fine.
I did encounter one bug when I pressed the other button on the crew member's tablet. It failed to delete the current text and everything became unreadable.
Nice cliffhanger ending. I'm thinking the tunnel of clouds is maybe the gateway to the afterlife and the orbs flying by are souls on their way through. So either maybe our character is an "angel" manning "God"'s updated technology or mankind's science has discovered the gateway to the afterlife and are trying to conduct a mission to understand it. Probably wrong but either story would be very cool!
Spoiler
I had some problems running this game on my crappy old computer. It kept telling me that some file names didn't match or were missing from the game folder. Did you rename any files after compiling?
Anyway, I downloading it at work and have been playing it there.
Absolutely entrancing maze/puzzle game!
The opening movie is just WOW!!! Cassie, did you make that movie in Blender?! Like, you modelled and animated it?! If so, you are ready to produce a full 3D animated game (taking up like 50GB of course)... (laugh)
The coding of the maze is some kind of black magic I don't even pretend to understand. Gurok is a wizard! Always suspected so...
The only problems I noticed with the maze coding were:
* Sometimes the rat would travel through unexplored (black), and yet mysteriously passable, areas on his way to the goal I clicked and explore them on his own. Psychic rat!!!
* There is a floor-pad in the upper-right area that becomes visible from beyond a solid wall even before the player has unlocked that area.
Now, the push mechanic... Yeah, I know you are going to work on that. It's really hard to use and tedious to push an object a long way. How about you just hide the object when the rat starts pushing it, change the view of the rat to an animation of him pushing the item in front of him (like Mr. Jingles in The Green Mile) and then, when he drops it, change his view back to normal and teleport the object to its new position? Just an idea.
I actually deleted my own saved game after I almost got to the end so a 9-year-old student of mine could play it while the rest of the class was doing a test she had already done.
She had about 30 minutes with the game and managed to solve it up to the same point I had (she's been my student since she was 2 so has a lot of experience with puzzle-solving games of mine that I use in class :P ). She told me that the "Simon"-style trial-and-error memory puzzle was the most fun.
I'm still yet to complete the final top-right area because of lack of time on the work computer after that.
I told my student we will play again during game-time in her lesson on Monday and she is really looking forward to it.
However, I think I've seen enough of the game to be able to say that it is a ton of fun and that if anyone ever completed it as a totally blind first playing with no hints in the "hard" maze mode they must be a genius! (And they probably also missed the AGS initials in the maze (laugh) )
UPDATE: I finished the game with the same student I mentioned before. I couldn't really understand the logic behind the final puzzle so we just kept pushing buttons until it worked out. I didn't get the reason for the red boxes as it seemed we could just run through them anyway. It was still a satisfying feeling to have completed this excellent game
Spoiler
As I had already had the complete story of the game, including the solution to all the puzzles, spoiled for me before I played it, and had even seen the final fate of the bad-guy, I couldn't really get much enjoyment out of the gameplay.
So, it's very hard to comment on anything except to say that the simple, colourful graphics are appealing. The walkcycle... not so much...
Maybe next time the author can avoid spoiling his own game for future players before it's even released?
My vote went to:
Spoiler
Commando Raid.
It was really a coin-toss for me between Commando Raid and Cheesy Castle but in the end I went with the former.
Okay I'm going to do my best to play all the games this time... will keep this post updated as Mandle is doing with his (btw thanks for the kind words buddy, I am indeed working on an expanded version of the game! ;)):
Rainbow Skunk Prism
Spoiler
Very short and not so sweet for poor Mr Ratman! Colourful visuals and logical puzzle. Good choice of music tracks too! ;-D)
Spoiler
I'm afraid I haven't got very far with this one - might be missing something obvious. I like the rat's scuttling animation and the dialogue is quite amusing.
Spoiler
Enjoyed the banter between the characters. Most puzzles were easy but the very first one had me going for a while! "You need some more cheese cheese cheese" will be on repeat play in my head tomorrow... thanks for that! (laugh)
Quote from: CaptainD on Mon 04/06/2018 14:28:25
Commando Raid
I'm afraid I haven't got very far with this one - might be missing something obvious.
Well, have a look in the comprehensive Tips and Hints in this forum article (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=56132.msg636587607#msg636587607)!
Happy Adventuring! :-D
[I've moved all the hints and tips to the article given above and sorted them. Let's keep the environment tidy! ;-) ]
Ok I just played all the games and here are my thoughts:
Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-TruderSpoiler
Features about 2 1/2 minutes of gameplay. Bright visuals and the same walkcycle as past games by this author. I played it again after the second release and the music is an improvement.
Spoiler
Looks like a good idea and a lot of detail to the simulation. I spent some time trying to work out an algorithm that will keep me alive more than a few rounds but at some point I felt that it just was not compelling enough to persist to the point where I have 1000 rats
Spoiler
Really well-done game! Simple but adequate story and puzzles on the easier side, but plenty of gameplay. I am very impressed by the multiple playable characters and the fact that one task can be completed in more than one way. Very complete for a MAGS entry done with time contraints. Overall a fun playing experience
Spoiler
Excellent game. I liked how the story unfolds and the graphics. I particularly enjoyed the puzzles. They are more complex and well-designed than usual for a MAGS entry. I am not a fan of maze puzzles but somehow I enjoyed this one. The end seemed a bit rushed but that's understandable because of the time constraints for the contest
Spoiler
I love RPGs! I spent significant time developing my character before I felt ready to go out into the big word (i.e. toilet) but unfortuately the game froze up and I could not continue :( If Mandle decides to tweak up the technicals of the game I will want to give it another try
Spoiler
Mandle's description is perfect for this one. Brilliant implementation of the environment that really puts you into the period and makes you think and feel that you are there. Fast historical note: one additional reason Jews were less affected was because of ritual laws that required washing hands before eating, ritual immersion, washing corpses and so on. The connection between hygiene and spreading of germs was not understood in medieval Europe.
Spoiler
Very creative! The graphics and play environment are beautiful. I found that the gameplay needs a bit of tweaking but overall a good experience
Spoiler
The strong point here is the awesome pixel art! This looks like it has what it takes to become a full game. (It says demo on the opening screen so I assume that something is underway). I didn't feel that I had enough of an idea as to what was going on in the story and gameplay was more a series of things to do rather than actual puzzles. The rats seemed more peripheral than central at least at this point
My vote:
Spoiler
The game I enjoyed the most overall was Commando Raid. The experience of the puzzles as well as the NPCs, humour, complex puzzles that require combining items and disassembling them really stood out. The puzzles were right in that spot where I had to think about what to do and try different combinations but I was able to complete the game without help or hints. I think that for a classic adventure nut like me all the attractions of adventure games that pull the user in are present in this game and it deserves my vote
@Fernewelten
Did you know, you can nest the spoiler tags within each other. So you could save space on your post and people can click deeper into the nest depending on how much help they need.
Quote from: Stupot on Tue 05/06/2018 00:00:20
Did you know, you can nest the spoiler tags within each other.
Great tip! I've grouped the hints in my posting now.
@Shadow1000
I've fixed the game-freeze bug I'm 99% sure, and that version is uploaded to same link. I'm going to be fixing as many other bugs as possible in a few hours hopefully so maybe hang on until then before trying again.
YAY!!! I think I've finally crushed all the bugs in my game (except for the actual ones you have to crush yourself)...
I will update posts above in a bit and finally upload the game to the AGS database after I play it just a bit to make sure it's all A-okay...
But, for now, if you want to play it I'm 99% sure it is bug-free!!!
EDIT: DAMN THE 1%!!! Okay, one last bug fixed and should be good to go!
NEXT MORNING EDIT: CHEESUS CHRIST!!! I played a bit more this morning and noticed something strange and when I went into the code saw that I somehow deleted a vital line of code before compiling last night. Corrected now and working fine! The good news if anyone downloaded the last version is that save games will still work.
This should be final version! There's still a few glitches but nothing game-breaking so they'll just have to stay until after MAGS.
***IF ANYBODY PLAYED MY GAME BEFORE THIS FINAL VERSION I WOULD REALLY LOVE IT IF YOU COULD DOWNLOAD THIS "BUG-FREE" BUILD (FROM THE SAME LINK ABOVE) AND GIVE IT ANOTHER TRY. THE GAME HAD MANY BUGS AND NON-WORKING CODE IN IT BEFORE, MAKING IT PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE TO FINISH THE GAME. I HAVE PLAYED THIS NEW BUILD FROM START TO FINISH TWICE AND, ALTHOUGH QUITE CHALLENGING, THE GAME IS NOW COMPLETABLE...YAY!!!***
Also: I'm kind of glad I didn't see this video before this MAGS round or things could have gotten real dark, real fast:
THE MOUSE UTOPIA EXPERIMENTS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgGLFozNM2o)
*Kinkilla wakes up from sleep*
Hey, what? It's already june?
Well, I guess that I'm too late. (roll) (Damn you illness!)
But I try to play all of the 8 (!) games and write down my thoughts:
Check back later. :P
Quote from: Mandle on Mon 04/06/2018 02:12:39
I did encounter some glitches in the maze room: […]
Hi Mandle,
Thanks for the detailed report and for uncovering the bugs.
Concerning the maze room: The music can freeze up right at the beginning because the computer has to become VERY BUSY at that point. Whilst Linkattus pole-jumps up the shaft, the computer jumps into action: It generates a beast called “randomized spanning tree†through something named “Dijkstra's algorithmâ€, then it connects the subrooms according to the aforementioned tree, makes sure that all the subrooms are indeed interconnected, and lastly searches for the two rooms that have the most distance one from the other. The one room is connected to the exit, the other to the sewer room and a random third one to the guard's key room. Lastly, the computer decides just what specific door should lead to just what specific room.
Unfortunately, AGS is scantly equipped for this sort of algorithmic heavy-lifting, which makes it harder. No recursive functions, no multidimensional arrays ...
Anyway, when the "Oh oh" jingle comes and Linkattus notices his plight, the computer is ready and Linkattus can start exploring.
It's all very technical, but I've done my hardest to disguise that aspect and stress instead how _individual_ the different areas of the maze are.
I'll probably counteract this specific bug by already fading out the music in the sewer room. Thus, nothing will play during the calculations, thus, nothing can hang or loop.
Of course, I'll also look into the other bugs. Thanks for pointing them out!
Quote from: fernewelten on Thu 07/06/2018 21:11:46
Quote from: Mandle on Mon 04/06/2018 02:12:39
I did encounter some glitches in the maze room: […]
Hi Mandle,
Thanks for the detailed report and for uncovering the bugs.
Concerning the maze room: The music can freeze up right at the beginning because the computer has to become VERY BUSY at that point.
No, I don't think that was the main cause. I walked away from the computer and made something to eat and came back like 5 minutes later and the game was still locked up.
As soon as I changed the graphics option to the software thingy I got into the maze room in bare seconds.
Must be the outdated graphics card on my crappy computer. I've had similar troubles with other games which is why I knew to try changing graphics options.
* Updated everyday
Commando Raid by fernewelten
Spoiler
I played much of the first version and it was going quite nicely. There were a few areas of concern, like baselines, inventory spacing and clickable boss. The graphics were nice and so were the dialogs. However, I downloaded later version and the door you came in from would not close and therefore you could not access the tap or the bag. Also some variables did not set properly giving wrong answers to what should have been true. This is reference to the bag and mop head. This was a game breaker for me. Still baseline error between player an cupboard door. With corrections this would be quite a good game. Hopefully the author will correct these. New build better.
OK.. Have managed to enter the maze. This area at the moment has a few flaws which stunts an otherwise great area. Will persevere.
Rat Playing Game by Mandle
Spoiler
This has the makings of a fun game, given enough time to play about with and learn the variables. The graphics were coarse but kind of fitted the game and i found them acceptable (Mandle style (laugh)). Combat again needs time to figure out. The variable buttons could have been tarted up and a change of fonts would not go amiss. Overall a nice little game that i would play over and over a few times to get to know it better.
I can understand releasing this as a kind of demo, a taster. I can also see Mandle had put in a lot of effort into it, but of course time is a funny thing.: it runs out to quickly.
A good effort from an old veteran who likes to push the barrier in style and taste ;)
Overall I quite enjoyed it.
I now see an updated version so i will play it and amend my review accordainly...
Will play new build tomorrow.
Played latest version. It was better. I kind of feel it growing on me... game breaker if you stop on first left bend. Apart from that I would personally would like the fonts to stand out more during combat, I can't see very well as it is. Having got used to the variables I can see me playing this repeatedly. It is a fun game and a few tweaks would make it even more playable and more fun. Great effort and a good game.
The Rat Pack by CaptainD
Spoiler
A game about playing with variables to obtain a successful outcome of a family of rats. This game has a single screen and is quite self explanatory. Getting a good balance and moving on was good fun. However, the mouse disappearing was game breaking and quite annoying and MUST be sorted as I would have liked to have gotten further than I had.. Effort went into coding the variables.
All in all a fun game that I could play more of given a fix of the mouse vanishing. I found it quite enjoyable and could spend quite some time playing around with it. Good effort for a nice game. ;)
Echo in the Clouds by Hobo, Selmiak, Myshkin and Pinback
Spoiler
So far...Game looks interesting.. Nice graphics and animations. Story line good... Atmosphere good.. Only downside I can see at the moment is the save/load system which did not appeal to me in its use... I have now finished the game and the combination of authors have produced a really good demo game...
Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder by DBoyWheeler
Spoiler
A nice colorful game. Basic and simple. Not ground breaking but effective. Shame about the walk animations which I'm sure will improve in future games by this author. Some fun and very basic.
The Burgomaster by morganw, Blondbraid and handsfree
Spoiler
Enjoyable game. Great graphics from Blondbraid as expected. Story taken from a truth.. Nicely produced. Puzzles not to hard. Fun game.
Lab Rat Maze! by Cassiebsg and Gurok
Spoiler
Nice animation start to the game. Like the way the game paths opens up as you progress, nice scripting by Gurok. More to come...
Quote from: Mandle on Mon 04/06/2018 02:12:39
As soon as I changed the graphics option to the software thingy I got into the maze room in bare seconds.
The maze room is comparatively huge. It might be that the graphics driver or card could not handle the dimensions.
Quote from: Slasher on Fri 08/06/2018 08:49:40
Oh, it still says v.0.01...
Yeah, I didn't change the version numbers because it was just simpler to upload and overwrite the existing file on Mediafire so it wouldn't break previous download links.
Regardless though, the current version is the final one and the one that actually works without any game-breaking bugs.
Quote from: Slasher on Fri 08/06/2018 08:49:40
Commando Raid by fernewelten
However, I downloaded later version and Spoiler
the door you came in from would not close
I'm so sorry. It seems that I've inadvertently created a mind blocker for everyone that happened to play the old version first. I agree that this is stumping then. But the thing is,...
Spoiler
Linkattus has better manners now. He won't bang the door shut, but he'll close it nicely when using the door HANDLE. (And he must be anywhere to the right of the water, or else the first click will make him cross the bridge and the second click on the handle will close the door.) To explain what I mean, see this YouTube video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Zm-wcVu7w&t=72)
The rationale for the change was this:
Spoiler
In my playtests, I found myself on several occasions to want to move Linkattus over to the other side of the bridge and to click "anywhere" on the right hand side for this. Bam: My click happened to land on the door purely by chance, and the riddle was spoilt inadvertently.
So I had to do something to guard the riddle a little more. So now Linkattus muses on the insides and outsides of door blades unless the user clicks on the door HANDLE.
The better solution is planned for for the non-MAGS version: Making the room a tad wider so that the right wall is just out of view when Linkattus is on the left side and comes in view when Linkattus goes over the bridge. So there's much less chance of clicking on the door inadvertently. I can then release the constraints again.
Quote from: Slasher on Fri 08/06/2018 08:49:40
Spoiler
clickable boss
The revised version (i.e., the version as of the end of the weekend extension) already sees to it that
Spoiler
the boss is really hidden when invisible. If you mouse over him, the status bar won't point him out any more.
I have finished my impressions of each game in my post on the previous page (well, except for an update on Cassie's game after I finish the final section)...
Not much other feedback going on in this thread or elsewhere for the EIGHT games that MAGS garnered last month!
Come on, AGSers!!!
Others are doing a better job at giving feedback on the games than I could, so I've let laziness take over...
I'm still playing through them. This week I've tried to play at least 10 minutes a day of one of them. Except yesterday when I ended up playing Kerbal Space Program instead of doing anything remotely productive...
But I could start giving feedback later today if I need to.
I plan on giving feedback, once I'm done with all. I'm only needing to play one more, and then maybe 2 others that I have tried but died before I even figured out how it worked... guess which 2 are those? :P )
Thanks for the feedback Mandle! I'm amazed at it, yes (speacially about the light puzzle, as I thought I had overdone it with 9! 8-0).
Using a second view for the pushing was my "backup" option if I didn't managed to make pushing work. (roll) But I think I got a good idea for how to do it, without making a new view... I'm playing with it, hope I'll get to the solution.
As for the reveal of places that were blocked my "solid" walls... was it in corner tiles? (ones that are not blocked my a wall in the diagonal?) If so I noticed that, but was my fault for not making a solid wall all around as I intended (and was too lazy to fix it)... You can pretend that the rat can see through the small gap that the tangent of two wall blocks make... (laugh)
I want to emend some of my comments based on some game revisions and reading what others have pointed out:
1) I really feel remiss in not having commented on the OUTSTANDING opening scene of Cassie's rat maze. As much as the game itself was creative and a fun challenge, watching the intro scene was a complete pleasure.
2) I replayed Rat Playing game, this time to completion. This game has all the addictive qualities of an RPG: I really enjoyed the thrill and challenge of developing strategies of how to level up the character, running out to the big, bad world and seeing what works and what doesn't, then repeating and slowly progressing that way. Mandle put in so many areas that you can level up that there are so many ways to beat the game and this type of complexity makes the game very enjoyable. What I really like is when a game is released for MAGS, created in a short time but the basic idea is so good that you feel that it can be expanded and expanded...and this is one of them.
Good news, I solved the pushing problem... finally! (nod) I just need to fine tune it, as right now the object is a little too far away from the rat, but it's just a matter of adjusting the coords. I'll post a link here to the new version to anyone who wants to test the new pushing code later on today. :-D
And thanks Shadow, if nothing else at least the intro works. (laugh) Only thing missing is Mandle, but like I said, that was just the cherry on top of it. As I enjoyed making a game with almost zero words in it for a change. (roll)
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sun 10/06/2018 13:56:42
As for the reveal of places that were blocked my "solid" walls... was it in corner tiles? (ones that are not blocked my a wall in the diagonal?)
No, it is the...
Spoiler
...push-switch about halfway up the wall to the right of the AGS letters, on the still-hidden right side of that wall...
I will send a screenshot tomorrow from my work computer if this is too vague but here is a small sketch:
|
A|
G|X <--- Somewhere about here
S|
|
Thanks, after a little fiddling I managed to get that object to show up. Need to beat Gurok for that one... (laugh) Cause I barely understand how this wizardry works... I thought I would have spend the entire month coding it, and then he went and did it in a night. (roll) Has for the rat running crazy through black unexplored areas, I blame the pathfinder. We tried very hard to make it that you could not click on black areas and that the cursor would not process any clicks on non exposed tiles, but guess the pathfinder is better to by pass our "do not process this click" (cause I can't reproduce it). Just for reference, did you change the rendering engine? It's on Direct 3D 9 by default. Might be that other modes react differently.
EDIT: So, we've fixed those "trigger pads" showing up. Was my fault. Tks to Gurok to figure it out though. (nod)
As for the Push it's working pretty fine now... I just need to stop it from going into the walls. (roll) And it'll be renamed to "Grab" in the help. ;)
Oh, and no, I did not model the cage or the rat, those are credited in the credits (since we could use pre-existing graphics, I saw no reason to use time to make something someone already had done). And yes, I did the animation and added materials and lighting (lighting of the dark had a bit of help by Snarky's critic on the BG blitz. (nod) ).
EDIT 2: For those wishing to try the game with push/grab function improved, this is the version to get: http://www.mediafire.com/file/n1nxl9est0259yy/LabRatMaze_v1.02_Win.zip/file . Please note that you should not use this version to judge/vote for the competition. Hope it makes the game less annoying to be played. (nod) (of course, now that I made it so easy to move stuff around, players are likely to encounter other "bugs": like not all objects can be used in all pads... (laugh) ).
Cassie, what I meant was that when you click on a visible area sometimes the rat will take a "shortcut" through a non-visible area (which now becomes visible as he passes through it). The player doesn't yet know that area is a possible path to get where they want to go, but the rat (the pathfinder) does know. That's why I called the rat "psychic".
Quote from: Slasher on Fri 08/06/2018 08:49:40
However, the mouse disappearing was game breaking and quite annoying and MUST be sorted as I would have liked to have gotten further than I had.
Well, of course the game is over when your last mouse disappears...
Ohhhhhhhhhhh...
Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-TruderSpoiler
Nice little game. Again, like others keep mentioning, you should work on your walk-cycle instead of keep excusing yourself for not being an animator.
The front view is good enough, but you should work on the side view. There are plenty of tutorials about how to, and then there's the critics lounge to help improve your skills. Please do something about this, as it kind of ruins a perfectly nice experience. Also the walk speed should have been a little faster.
Not many puzzles, so I was kind of surprised when it ended.
Spoiler
Slasher trade mark! Nice game with good story and some pretty decent puzzles. (nod) I enjoyed being able to change the rat to play with. Would have been nice with some better descriptions of what some stuff they had was. As it was my solution was "Try everything until something works"... Though I solved the radio at first try. (laugh)
But wish you stopped using the Sierra interface and moved to a 2 click interface instead, as I just don't see the Sierra having any benefit in your games, it's often in the way. :-\ Deselecting an object to select another was also a pain. Eventually I noticed I could click the "interact" button on the right to get the hand and select a new one.
Spoiler
First time round, took me less than a minute to die... and wonder "what the hell happened?"... Second time I was in a roll and was progressing nicely, until I got a bit carried away... Maybe killing the entire colony before the food reaches zero is a bit unintuitive.
Not really my kind of game, but still nicely made and worth playing. That is if one likes the gender. (roll)
Spoiler
I loved the simplicity of this game, yet the puzzles felt hard to solve (I admit I looked up the solution more times than I wished...). I loved the idea of "disassemble". (nod) I was annoyed by not being able to deselect an object inside the inventory. Would have been nice to allow it inside.
I almost felt like "I want to give up!" once I finally reached the exit and realized I needed to go back to find the key! 8-0 Not so much because of finding the way, but because the rat moves sooooo slow in this BG. Suggestions to improving: Speed up the walk speed! Make the transition sequence faster and maybe code a double-click to make him run/skip the walk to the next exit.
Also the last puzzle felt forced and illogical. And I'm almost sure I had tried it before... but maybe before I had offered it to Kitty. Why not just mash the paper and throw it? Or the cap of the bottle? No cat would mistake that huge UFO for a ball/play thing... (laugh)
Nice end! (nod)
PS. You should also ensure that inventory items have a clear use spot, and they're not blocking the spot you want to use them on. Also, I'm sure it sounded like a good idea to have two cursors, one for game play and one for dialogues, but two cursors that that a completely different pointer was just annoying as I kept choosing the wrong option by accident.
Oh, and in case someone hasn't mentioned yet, but I'm sure they have, you can pickup the mop head multiple times.
Spoiler
Well, I tried twice and twice I died with the 1st encounter with another creature... so I didn't progress that long. I also did not see any changes in the stats during the fight. As it kept telling me I had 3 lives and then I died. ??? So now I need to download the fixed version and hope that it plays better. :)
EDIT: Played it a couple more times, this time the fixed version. I haven't done much either, besides win one fight then try and return to my lair and lick my wounds (as advised) just to meet a new creature on my way back that killed me. :(
Definitely not my type of game, I may still give it a few play times just to see if I can get it going, but not one I'll play to the end. I'm just an adventurer/puzzler... (roll)
Spoiler
Oh boy... well, it started bad due to the huge res, it's filling my entire screen and performing very very slow. :( I would rather something half size... but AGS can't do that! >:( Graphics are top notch as Blondbraid has already gotten us use to. :) Story seems very interesting... so I'm looking forward to play more... only someone decided that "Save game" was expendable... which means I'm reluctant to play a game I have no idea how long it'll take and plays slugish... so in other to start it, I need to wait for a slot where I might have a chance to finish it in one go. :-\ Not sure that'll happen before the voting deadline though.
EDIT: So, managed to get some time today and played it. Wasn't as sluggish this time around, maybe my computer was as tired as me the other day... (roll)
Anyway, nice little story. I felt though that the doctor reached to the conclusion a bit too fast and easy. Puzzles weren't many of, so no struggling with what to do. Enjoyable little game with great art! Good job. (nod)
Spoiler
Lovely lovely game, both visually, mechanically and story wise! And I'm bias for sci-fi stories. (nod) Didn't felt there was much to do, and just when it was getting interesting it ended. :~( And since I hadn't saved, I have no idea if choosing any of the other options would have resulted in a different out come (as in a bit more game play). I'm guessing it wouldn't. A msg showing up "This is were the demo ends..." would have been nice though.
EDIT: And my vote went to
Spoiler
Commando Raid! :) Just a nice little game, got a few faults, but nothing that the author can't fix with time if he so desires... Or move on to the next game. ;)
Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-TruderSpoiler
I don't have much to add. I saw the rat man before the hidden spoiler was added, so I already knew how to beat it.
Could have used something to make it more interesting and not quite so straightforward.
I only played the version without music, so I don't know how much the music improved it.
Spoiler
The visuals were nice and the story was pretty good. The puzzles were pretty straightforward. The ending seemed a little abrupt.
Overall was good. I'd like to see it expanded upon to some degree.
Spoiler
I admit that I had to look up things 3 or 4 times. I had a general idea of things, but the having to look first threw me off. And I simply didn't think of using the first bar to pry the others.
Currently at the maze. Unable to make myself go back to playing it due to my dislike of mazes.
Spoiler
Very beautiful game. I enjoyed the setting. At times it made me think of Alien/Aliens.
Once I saw that the rat was missing, I instantly thought of the movie Splice for some reason. So I wasn't surprised at all to see a humanoid rat. My only complaint is that there's no ending other than thanking me for playing. Looking forward to seeing a longer version.
This one got my vote. The science fiction elements, setting, and visuals easily won me over.
Spoiler
Haven't played enough yet to give much feedback.
Having trouble making myself go back to playing it. The fact I generally dislike mazes in games could be why...
Spoiler
Played 4 times and didn't get too far. Kind of fun, but difficult for me. Probably I just need a different strategy.
Spoiler
I haven't found a difference in playing the different rats yet other than different items.
I thought that I was given a hint at one point with getting past the spider when Pilchards were mentioned. But trying to put one on the web or giving one to the spider doesn't seem to work. Then again, I had never heard of Pilchards before.
Currently at Checkpoint Charlie.
Spoiler
Pretty fun. I made it to turn 101 before my rats all died. The graphics are crude, but get the job done. Otherwise I can't think of a single thing that should be changed.
Cassiebsg....Thanks for your comments...
Time restrictions usually mean you miss stuff out... I agree, I should have made more interactions for the Inventory descriptions etc.
2 click operations... possibly...but it is what it is...
cheers
Slasher
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Mon 11/06/2018 21:20:04
The Burgomaster (Barely started, so no full review yet)
Spoiler
Oh boy... well, it started bad due to the huge res, it's filling my entire screen and performing very very slow. :( I would rather something half size... but AGS can't do that! >:( Graphics are top notch as Blondbraid has already gotten us use to. :) Story seems very interesting... so I'm looking forward to play more... only someone decided that "Save game" was expendable... which means I'm reluctant to play a game I have no idea how long it'll take and plays slugish... so in other to start it, I need to wait for a slot where I might have a chance to finish it in one go. :-\ Not sure that'll happen before the voting deadline though.
I think the time to finish it for a first time player is probably about 15 minutes.
You might find the downscaling performance is significantly worse with the OpenGL renderer, if you've switched the settings.
This is a premium narrative experience, so a high resolution monitor is recommended. :)
We've had some great games this month..(nod)
And some very very close to determine a winner, though everyone is a winner..(nod)
Quote from: Slasher on Tue 12/06/2018 09:38:09
We've had some great games this month..(nod)
And some very very close to determine a winner, though everyone is a winner..(nod)
Everyone's a winner baby
That's no lie
MAGS games never fail to satisfy
Quote from: Slasher on Fri 08/06/2018 08:49:40
game breaker if you stop on first left bend.
Please explain what happened and why/how it broke the game. Could you not move anywhere or something like that?
Hi Mandle,
I stopped just as I turned the first left bend and the Rat would not move...kind of got stuck there..
Quote from: Slasher on Tue 12/06/2018 13:24:59
Hi Mandle,
I stopped just as I turned the first left bend and the Rat would not move...kind of got stuck there..
Testing now!
EDIT: I couldn't actually get the rat stuck in the corner but I did notice a slowdown in performance if I used the movement controls a lot while in the bend so it's possible that the game wasn't 100% stuck but appeared to be. Or maybe I just couldn't find the one place it freezes up completely.
Mandle
Turned face down just up the first bend...rat would not move... quit game and got Idirect3DSurfice9::Presentfailed error..
Still a fun game though ;)
Slasher
Thanks for the bug reports, Slasher.
I have no idea what that error message means but I'll probably just leave the game as is. It doesn't seem to be something that happens often and I'm scared of breaking the rest of the game by messing with it too much.
I have finally updated all my feedback on page 11 to include final impressions of Lab Rat Maze and my final vote.
It was a very hard choice so I just had to go with my gut in the end.
To clear about the last puzzle with the red blocks.
Spoiler
Originally they were just there to block your way to the wheels, and you had to push/pull them so you could get past them. Only I found out that if I made them blocking, Gurok's maze code didn't show them, and if you couldn't see them then you could not click on them to interact. So I made a quick change and made them to be "plug them into the wall socket to release each one the wheels". The only thing that have no logic here, is to figure out how and which is the first block to plug... the others just then slide into place (sorta). Here there is no logic, I just decided that was the 1st one, then the 2nd the 3rd and the 4th. Kind of the same way for which wheel works first, second, etc...
There is one change that I thought about making, but decided not to (because the puzzle was already so buggy, that I was afraid of breaking it again if I changed it). And that was to make the 1st block lock all other 3 blocks into place at the same time. So that you had to align all the other 3 blocks first and then push the 1st one into place. But the possibilities of this breaking the game was too much, that I chickened out and decided to leave it as is.
An no, all blocks move in a per-determined way, none moves randomly. ;)
So, yes, I admit it, this puzzle needed a little bit more of polishing to make the logic a bit more solid. (roll)
This must be one of the longest MAG competitions ever (laugh)
Quote from: Slasher on Sat 16/06/2018 07:25:57
This must be one of the longest MAG competitions ever (laugh)
Kinda makes sense with 8 games for people to play, but I also kinda get the feeling that they aren't getting played all that much.
Maybe can MAGS get a banner announcement when voting is underway?
A lot of people might have lost interest after some months of tepid turnout, but a blockbuster month of 8 games could turn this trend around? Maybe?
I'm trying to get around to playing all entries before I vote, I'll update the list as I complete the games:
Rainbow Skunk Prism and the Vermin-Truder by DBoyWheeler
Spoiler
It's a short game, and I can't say I'm impressed with the gameplay or graphics and it was a bit annoying that the characters moved so slowly.
But I don't want to come off as too harsh, I liked the music and the titular heroine was cute and funny.
by Slasher
Spoiler
This game had decent art and some solid gameplay and puzzles. It's entertaining, though I think the potty humor towards the end would be more fun for a younger audience than me.
by CaptainD
Spoiler
It's an interesting turn-based strategy game that was fun, though the font was hard to read. I also think that there is some room for improvement, like having some illustrations for the different events and more visuals to go with the text, but for a Mags game it was decent and the strategy was entertaining even if I never came close to 1000 rats.
by fernewelten
Spoiler
The game started promising enough but unfortunately I was unable yo finish it due to a bug where the inventory icon disappeared after the protagonist read a letter. :(
Game by Mandle
Spoiler
This game had some really fun RPG mechanics and the rat was really nicely animated, my only complaint was that making the menu text transparent with a black outline made it needlessly hard to read and making the text a solid color would improve the readability. Otherwise it was a fun game.
Quote from: Slasher on Sat 16/06/2018 07:25:57
This must be one of the longest MAG competitions ever (laugh)
Yeah, I secretly added one more week of voting than usual. It is dragging a bit. But it's close at the top, so some more votes would be useful.
Quote from: Blondbraid on Mon 18/06/2018 21:11:30
Spoiler
It's entertaining, though I think the potty humor towards the end would be more fun for a younger audience than me.
You'r showing your age...I'm much older than you and it had me in fits (laugh)
Quote from: Slasher on Wed 20/06/2018 13:28:34
Quote from: Blondbraid on Mon 18/06/2018 21:11:30
Spoiler
It's entertaining, though I think the potty humor towards the end would be more fun for a younger audience than me.
You'r showing your age...I'm much older than you and it had me in fits (laugh)
Even Shakespeare never forgot to include some low-brow humour in every play to remind the audience to have a laugh at itself while along for the ride.
It can be overdone, but that's really just a matter of preference.
Quote from: Mandle on Wed 20/06/2018 17:06:03
Quote from: Slasher on Wed 20/06/2018 13:28:34
Quote from: Blondbraid on Mon 18/06/2018 21:11:30
Spoiler
It's entertaining, though I think the potty humor towards the end would be more fun for a younger audience than me.
You'r showing your age...I'm much older than you and it had me in fits (laugh)
Even Shakespeare never forgot to include some low-brow humour in every play to remind the audience to have a laugh at itself while along for the ride.
It can be overdone, but that's really just a matter of preference.
I never said that the humour wasn't fun, but I was a bit miffed at the thought of
Spoiler
The rat pack eating cheese that the rat king and his soldiers had farted all over... :-X
Quote from: Blondbraid on Mon 18/06/2018 21:11:30
Spoiler
even if I never came close to 1000 rats.
Shadow1000 said the same kind of thing about the 1000 rats goal and I meant to mention something then but forgot:
The goal of 1000 might seem too tedious to try for when you are only gaining like 10 rats per breeding and then losing 3 or so to traps etc. but the gains increase exponentially so, roughly, it takes about as long to get from 100 to 500 as it took to get to 100 and then only about half that to get to 1000. So, by the time you get 500 you'll be gaining well over 100 rats per breeding. I think I jumped from 800 odd to over 1000 in my last breeding and won the game.
My own game is a bit similar in that it's easy to die early on but then, as you get stronger, you'll find youself one-hitting most enemies and the XP flowing in at a huge rate. Of course, in my game this is countered a bit by the exponential growth of skill costs but once you get to the point where a skill becomes impossibly expensive to afford the next level you probably don't need it any higher.
Just a few points for people giving up early on. ;)
For those late to the party, just a reminder that voting is still in progress but reaching closing time very soon! Enter your votes now! (And if you haven't played the games, you still have plenty of time! Most games can be played and finished in less than 15 minutes...) ;)
A tie, eh? Congratulations to the two champignons!!! Well deserved!
(And I tied with The Burgomaster! That's quite an honour!)
I'm honoured! 8-) Let's call it a tie and let Hobo et al. decide on the theme of next month.
I feel bad for Lab Maze Rat though.
For me, Commando Raid and Cheesey Castle were my two favorites, basically tied for 1st place but I couldn't vote for both, and Lab Maze Rat was my next favorite. Perhaps people gave up on it too fast because of the slightly clunky push mechanic and having to push some things quite a distance? Well, I hear that issue is now fixed so it might get some more appreciation in its next incarnation?
So if it were possible I would have voted:
1st: Commando Raid & Cheesey Castle
2nd: Lab Maze Rat
3rd: The Burgomaster
The voting is over, the results have been carefully counted and:
It's a tie!
Commando Raid by fernewelten and Echo in the Clouds by Hobo, Selmiak, Myshkin and Pinback. 5 points a piece.
Congrats, to all involved. You will be contacted soon about choosing a topic for July.
Congrats to the winners - and in fact everyone (especially the 2 people who voted for my game, really wasn't expecting any votes tbh!). One of the best MAGS competitions that I remember.
Well done guys..... Hope you make more games (nod)
Congratulations...(nod)
All in all this MAG was a good show with some good games... (nod)
Roll on July's competition.. My Gun is loaded (laugh)
It's a shame I never found the time to play all entries before the vote ended, but congratulations to both the winners.
Quote from: Blondbraid on Mon 25/06/2018 10:17:34
It's a shame I never found the time to play all entries before the vote ended, but congratulations to both the winners.
Yeah, damn these short voting times, right? :P
Mandle, don't worry, it's a tough competition, and ppl can only vote on their favorite. Getting 0 means squat here... :-D Getting 0 comments on the game page however... :-\
Anyway, congrats to the winners! :-D
Conga rats to the winners.
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Mon 25/06/2018 16:11:03
Getting 0 comments on the game page however... :-\
Yeah, seriously guys. I guarantee anyone who has made a game obsesses over checking the download number and the rating box and the comments. It's disheartening when you see the download number going up but nobody comments or rates, isn't it?
Well if you recognize that description in yourself, then repay the favour. Rate some games and leave some comments. Somebody might just do the same for you.
Congrats to fernewelten and all the other participants. Good to see that it was a fairly tight race and I always love sharing victories. Hopefully this won't be the peak month and we'll see tons of more great MAGS games this year.
I did play all of them and voted, but sadly haven't left any feedback yet. I'll go over them again during this week and try to formulate some thoughts on the game pages and their respective threads.
My laptop has been down due to faulty mains adapter...just brought a new one and i will be leaving comments tomorrow...
Quote from: Cassiebsg on Mon 25/06/2018 16:11:03
Getting 0 means squat here... :-D Getting 0 comments on the game page however... :-\
Yeah, but what I would really love to see is just one single mention that somebody beat my game.
I'm also guilty of not commenting/rating other MAGS games on the actual game page but that seems more up to the community to me rather than the MAGS devs... We talk in here, give feedback in here, vote on each other in here... There's only so much masturbation we can do... We need the real thing!!!
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 26/06/2018 18:50:57
Yeah, but what I would really love to see is just one single mention that somebody beat my game.
I gave it another go last night and had quite nicely levelled up, but I kept coming across areas where my rat would not longer move so I had to quit. :(
Quote from: CaptainD on Thu 28/06/2018 08:35:57
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 26/06/2018 18:50:57
Yeah, but what I would really love to see is just one single mention that somebody beat my game.
I gave it another go last night and had quite nicely levelled up, but I kept coming across areas where my rat would not longer move so I had to quit. :(
Oh crap, really?! I thought I had solved those issues. Are you using the newest build?
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 28/06/2018 12:45:10
Oh crap, really?! I thought I had solved those issues. Are you using the newest build?
I'm not sure... I can try re-downloading and see if there is any difference.
Quote from: CaptainD on Thu 28/06/2018 12:47:41
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 28/06/2018 12:45:10
Oh crap, really?! I thought I had solved those issues. Are you using the newest build?
I'm not sure... I can try re-downloading and see if there is any difference.
The way to easily tell: Return to the nest after you have been damaged. If the damage heals back to full life then that is the fixed version.
If this wasn't happening before you were playing the bugged version.
Oh, there's an easier way to tell: If your old saves don't work anymore then you were playing the bugged version.
My comment on the results: without specifics, I am surprised, but the people have spoken. Congrats.