MAGS June: "Alien Invasion" (OPEN)

[Atelier]

Topic: 'Alien Invasion'

This month's guidelines were set by Radiant:

The aliens are coming!!! As we speak, Earth is being invaded by the little green men from Mars! By the evil robots of Asimon III!! By the tentacled monstrosities of Counter-Neptune!!! Run awaaaaay!!!!

Okay, so the theme is Alien Invasion. A rather large group of strange extraterrestrials have landed on our planet, they want something, and they're willing to use force to obtain it. The player could be a random Earthling, a Man In Black, an alien invader, or something else; they could want our cattle, our water, our soap opera stars, or basically anything; and it's up to you how the situation gets resolved. If you need more inspiration, may I recommend H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds; Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game; or the classic movie Mars Attacks!

Ending 30th June



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What is MAGS?

MAGS is a monthly 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, 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.

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. For more information, please visit the Official MAGS website.

[Adeel]

Looks interesting. Count me in.

[Radiant]

I might make something too, I'd have to think about it.

[Adeel]

I might make something too, I'd have to think about it.

For your own theme?

[yamipanda]

Sounds fun. I'll see if I can come up with something.

[Ghost]

I'm in.

Alien Cow Rampage: Orion Needs Your Milk
an original single player board game

I mean, hey, I can't fail forever, right? At some point a game will form by sheer accident.

Also please note how hard it was to come up with a proper acronym title. I am rather pleased about how that turned out.

Spoiler

It's clever because the acronym formed by the title is, in fact, acronym. Recursivey, like.

[close]

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edit:

Progress is being made. Also a title screen.

[DBoyWheeler]

I'm in.

I mean, hey, I can't fail forever, right? At some point a game will form by sheer accident.

Also please note how hard it was to come up with a proper acronym title. I am rather pleased about how that turned out.

Yeah, I saw what you did there.  And I look forward to see what you'll put on the table, Ghost.

[Radiant]

For your own theme?

I'm pretty sure it's allowed to enter your own MAGS, and that this has happened before. That said, if it bothers people I'll just go design something else instead

[Adeel]

I'm pretty sure it's allowed to enter your own MAGS, and that this has happened before. That said, if it bothers people I'll just go design something else instead

Ah, not at all! You're more than welcome to come and join us. It's so nice to have many entries!

[AprilSkies]

I'm in love with Ghost's title screen!

[Ghost]

I'm pretty sure it's allowed to enter your own MAGS, and that this has happened before. That said, if it bothers people I'll just go design something else instead

Has been done several times and there was never a rule that said it can't be done. Plus your stuff's great as a rule. So help us make this a FEMUR*!
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* Four Entry MAGS, Unusually Risky!

I'm in love with Ghost's title screen!

Thanks a lot! So I'll get your vote if I just relase the title screen?

[Retro Wolf]

@Ghost: Reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons when I was a kid!

[Ghost]

@Ghost: Reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons when I was a kid!

SUCCESS! \o/

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edit

Say, we're a bit about half-time. How's everyone doing? Will there really be four awesome entries this time? Are we talking extension already? Will there be a side-wiping OSD entry by qptain_nemo? Is June really the most rainy day of the month? Will Ponch finally submit a MAGS game? Is all that soccer stuff clogging up the competition, or will PAUL safe us all?
Why does OldSchool's avatar look different each time I look at it?
So many questions.

[LostTrainDude]

Say, we're a bit about half-time. How's everyone doing?

I think I'm designing something too large (at least for a noob like me!) to be developed within the month :\
We'll see, anyway... At this stage, I still don't even have an alpha version of the game

Oh, and your Lightweight BASS template is always amazing, btw!

Will Ponch finally submit a MAGS game? Why does OldSchool's avatar look different each time I look at it?

Ah, yes... If Ponch would submit a game, it would be aMOOsing! And... I did never really notice the shapeshifting Oldschool_Wolf avatar... Witchcraft!

[Retro Wolf]

I have no idea what you're talking about... You must be on drugs or something! Or perhaps it's an optical illusion!

[Ghost]

Well, tiny update:

Final pieces of code are clearly dropping in place. There's lots to do but generally the game is playable. Weekend should see the end of "home testing", and four brave forumites have already signed up for beta-testing/balancing purposes.
They have been hand-picked for being either utterly objective, terribly geeky, or reportedly cruel to the insect kingdom (bugs, natch).

A full list of six awesome original music tracks, made by promising newcomer JasonB, have arrived.
They are absolutely awesome.

Basically, you're in for a single player board game that could be described as "NetHack and Muchkin meet Chainsaw Warrior in a cartoon world with groovy blue alien invaders instead of some boring one-man-army lumberjack".
It's a complex Solitaire game where you face punishing odds with a randomly generated Invader who JUST WANTS SOME MILK. The game's locations are represented by cards, which are either encounters or locations, allowing you to make your journey through an Earthling town plus nearby pastures based on stealth, brute force, or heavy use of rule-altering alien gadgets.

Also you get to build a Saw Chain. That's many saws made into a chain. Orionese are really clever and have even mastered teleportation, but they totally suck at weapon building.

Looks like this:

(All graphics pretty much subject to change. Game may or may not contain blue dice.)

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EDIT

And I still say that Oldschool's avatar changes appearance more often than MINE. And I actually UPLOAD these things!

[AprilSkies]

Ooohhh Ghosty!!!!
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G !

Stop posting previews!!! (because I can't wait to play it)

[Radiant]

Looks cute!

I'm afraid I'll have insufficient time this month to produce something. See you next time!

[Ghost]

Nooooooeeeees! Man down! MAN DOWN!

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edit
I apologize for my rambling in this thread. It's the joy of creation and the thrill of adrenalin that moves my fingers in clicking movements over the worn-out keys of my board-chow-laden keyboard.
I've missed that and man do I like it!

[Ghost]

*BUMP*

I ran into a couple of nasty bugs and just today reached a state that qualifies as "beta". I'm not too happy about rushing this all. So...

Can we have an extension? Anything, really, but probably a week would do for all of us?

In case I am the only one who's actually working on something, I'm doubly reluctant to rush into a MAGS release with hotwire code, and if this is indeed the case, ignore my suggestion above and read it as:

Can I have an extension? Anything, really, but probably a week would do for me?

Possible?