MAGS May: "Tension" (CLOSED)

Started by Atelier, Fri 06/05/2011 20:30:22

Previous topic - Next topic

Atelier

Topic: 'Tension'

This month's guidelines were set by Creed Malay:

Make a game based around mounting tension in a closed environment.

This could be a ship lost at sea, a snowed in cabin, or a house surrounded by zombies.

The player should face conflicts with the other characters trapped there with them, having to deal with their panic, problems with each other and the player, and the fact that they might have agendas of their own...



Ideas to help you:

• How did the character(s) end up in this situation?
• Are there any ways of communicating with the outside world?
• What causes conflicts - different opinions, secrets being kept, limited resources?

Ending 31/5/2011




What is MAGS?

MAGS is a monthly competition for all 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, or 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.

You may get help for the competition, although you must end up doing something yourself. You should however be warned that it proves difficult to organize a big team within thirty days. You are not allowed to use material already created before this competition. Your game must be completely new! Music and sound is an exception; you can use free material that is available to the public, if you wish. Modules and templates are also allowed. Please do not enter the competition with a rushed entry (a game created last minute). Sure, you can make a game and rush it - but don't do this just to win by default.

Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualise your game following the month's criteria (see top). Second, create your game fueled only by coffee. Third, finally, and most importantly, post your game here, including:

✓ A working download link.
✓ The title of your game.
✓ A suitable screenshot.

At the end of the month, the all-important voting will begin! This period usually lasts fifteen days. Should you win, along with announcing the next month's rules, your name and game will be immortalised in the MAGS Archive. Yet hopefully, at the end of the month, the accomplishment of finishing a game will be your greatest prize. For more information please visit the Official MAGS website.

WHAM

Can't I just resubmit Lasol?  ;D

Nah, in all seriousness I think I will take a break from mags, at least for a month or two. Maybe create something bigger now to put all this practice to good use.
Wrongthinker and anticitizen one. Pending removal to memory hole. | WHAMGAMES proudly presents: The Night Falls, a community roleplaying game

Hudders

OK, hopefully this will be my first MAGS. I've got the time, I've got the equipment and I've got an idea.

What more could I ask for?

Do I have to be only powered by coffee though? It'd be nice to have some oxygen now and again. Just sayin'.

Armageddon

Can it be jsut the player? Or do you really have to have other people in the room.

cianty

Interesting topic. I am still amazed by last month's submissions and playing through all of them. I will try to enter this though and make this my first MAGS. Yay. :)
ca. 70% completed

Darius Poyer

Interesting topic this time. It has created a certain itch in me. Maybe I will do something for this. I'm particularly interested in the potential focus on interpersonal-relationships breaking down. Would be a good character-wiring exercise. Color me intrigued!

Creed Malay

Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 07/05/2011 03:10:27
Can it be jsut the player? Or do you really have to have other people in the room.

Well, the idea is to have heightening tension between characters. These "characters" might not be literal people present in the same room as the PC, but the dynamic should still be there, and develop over the game. It is not simply about setting the game in a confined area.
Mobile Meat Machines - Comics of Animals and Education! - http://meatmachines.livejournal.com/

Armageddon

I was gonna have tension about escaping a flooding room. And having to solve puzzles before you die, Other characters add a lot of time to story writing.

Eggie

#8
What if you drill through the floor and then a voice says "What are you doing? My cell's under here!!"
That sounds pretty tense.

WHAM

Quote from: EHCB on Sat 07/05/2011 21:53:04
What iuf you drill through the floor and then a voice says "What are you doing? My cell's under here!!"
That sounds pretty tense.

Sounds silly, not really tense.  ;D
Wrongthinker and anticitizen one. Pending removal to memory hole. | WHAMGAMES proudly presents: The Night Falls, a community roleplaying game

Eggie

Okay but what if it then said "Noooo, my pet piranhaAAAA! Get back in your TANK! Down boy! Down!"

Tension, amiright?

Armageddon

Ok I have an idea that involves someone on a screen talking to you while you try to escape your cell. Would that be allowed?

Creed Malay

#12
Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 07/05/2011 23:13:37
Ok I have an idea that involves someone on a screen talking to you while you try to escape your cell. Would that be allowed?

Don't see why not, sounds like it might be like the dynamic in Portal or something.

Go for it, and good luck! :)
Mobile Meat Machines - Comics of Animals and Education! - http://meatmachines.livejournal.com/

Hudders

Quote from: Creed Malay on Sat 07/05/2011 19:39:30
Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 07/05/2011 03:10:27
Can it be jsut the player? Or do you really have to have other people in the room.

Well, the idea is to have heightening tension between characters. These "characters" might not be literal people present in the same room as the PC, but the dynamic should still be there, and develop over the game. It is not simply about setting the game in a confined area.

Gah. This is giving me a headache at the moment. I kind of want to introduce another character to conform to this stipulation but I'm worried it will mess up what I've already planned.  :-\

Atelier

Ok, basically make a game featuring some kind of isolation/being stuck in a closed environment. If you want you can use other characters inside with you as plot devices but it's not compulsory.

Atelier


Hudders


cianty

Uh-oh! Hopefully I'll make it in time. There's so much other stuff going on this month...
ca. 70% completed

Atelier

Top bloke so is anyone else working on something. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Hudders

I was.

But I think, like Icarus before me, I have overstretched myself and I doubt I'll finish anything.

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk