MAGS September: "Stephen King" (OPEN)

Started by Atelier, Wed 02/09/2015 11:09:11

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Atelier

Topic: 'Stephen King'

This month's guidelines were set by Gurok and CatPunter:

This month, the theme is Stephen King. His style, his books or his crazy demeanor. Anything and everything Stephen King. Maybe the villain takes the form of a crow. Maybe the main character is force fed a fictional pain killer. Maybe you just want to feature his creepy face.

September is the all Stephen King, all the time month. Sharpen your axes, face unspeakable horrors that will haunt you for the rest of your life and make some crappy direct-to-DVD or TV special adaptations.

In the spirit of intricate rules from early MAGS competitions, there are some additional stipulations this month.

    1. Must have exactly two rooms (excluding title and credits)
    2. Must have exactly two characters

Ending 1st October



Image composition by CatPunter :-D

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

• You may work in a team to produce an entry.
• You are not allowed to use any material created before the competition. Your game must be completely new! An exception is music and sound; you can use any audio that is freely available to the public.
• Any modules and templates featured in this board 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.

Mandle

Oh nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Just when I thought I was out...They pull me back in!!!

Stephen King is my most-read author of all time and I have even spoken on the phone with him through an amazing series of coincidences...My throat did lock up at first though actually but I finally managed to ask him the relevant questions I needed the answers to...

Hey....if I do enter then maybe that will be what my game is about...

But I doubt it...

yamipanda

awww. That sound like loads of fun, but I'm still exhausted after OROW. :~(

ZapZap

Mmmm those rules are calling for a Misery or The Shining game... cool:tongue:
"Loose ends have a way of strangling you"

Stupot

Yeah, Misery would make an awesome escape-the-room style game :-D

Kastchey


Retro Wolf

I'd love to see the world of the Dark Tower in pixels!

Gribbler

Great topic! Can't wait to play your games!

Mandle

#8
Quote from: Retro Wolf on Thu 03/09/2015 19:24:34
I'd love to see the world of the Dark Tower in pixels!

Back in the '90's I started making a "The Gunslinger" (1st book) game using Director as the engine, VistaPro for the landscapes and Ray Dream Designer for the rest of the 3D graphics...I got as far as finishing the Way Station (opening scene) before the scale of what I was attempting overwhelmed both my computer's capabilities and myself.

The data is long-gone though :( There was no dropbox etc. back then...

I'd be tempted to remake it AGS style but I already have another entry planned out in my head...

P.S: I am a bit disappointed I must admit with the 2 room/2 character limitations on the theme. Throwing out a theme as potentially vast as Stephen King, with his many epic stories containing dozens of characters (The Stand, The Dark Tower, etc) and then limiting it to just 2 rooms and 2 characters seems quite a waste to me. Especially after many devs and players have just come out of OROW with its one-room limitation and might already be feeling a bit claustrophobic...Hmmmmmmm :-\

I just feel it may turn some people off from entering where they may have created something amazing otherwise...Just my opinion though of course...


My own project won't be affected as I planned it within the limits (more or less) and am happy with it as is. I'm more worried about the potential of this theme being stifled by the limits. As people don't like to re-use themes this is probably the one and only shot AGS will have at a Stephen King themed contest, so I feel no-limits would be the way to go...

selmiak

easy mandle, just win this mags and make your MAGS theme stephen king with as many rooms as the dev wants.

This is a really tempting theme. I'm a sucker for shining (book, kubrick/nicholson version, 3 part TV Series), if anyone wants to team up for a short game about shining just PM me and let's see what happens. Nothing too long as OROW is just over indeed.

Mandle

Quote from: selmiak on Fri 04/09/2015 01:22:56
easy mandle,

I'm not angry or anything. Sorry if that's what it sounded like. I just need to speak up when I think I see a missed opportunity for a project to become better. It's all just my opinion of course and can be ignored if I'm off-base...

I start work on my entry soon and very excited about it!

HandsFree

#11
Anyone like me to do music for this mags? ;-D

edit: I'll be doing music for Mandle's game.

Mandle

I have my front view of my Stephen King character completed and most of the side view...

Posting images here when ready:

(PENDING)

Grok

I've got a basic idea and a title: Matilda and the Curse of King Stephen.

One character (side view walking animation finished), cursors and the background for the first room started.


Crimson Wizard

I was playing with some ideas and wrote a 2-room 2-character game concept that I really like :)
It's been a long while since I actually tried to make a game myself, so I feel kinda rusty :undecided:; but since 2 rooms and 2 characters is not that much, I could even try to make it, regardless of whether I'll make it in MAGS schedule or not.

brit

I'm interested in creating a game involving part of the story line and a major character from one of Stephen Kings novels but I'm not sure what the rules are regarding copy-right infringement. Can any one direct me to a resource or give me tips on how to give the author due credit when making my adaptation? I should also mention that this will be my first game so it's fair to assume that I know very little about making AGS games in general.

Gurok

Quote from: brit on Sat 05/09/2015 16:50:57
I'm interested in creating a game involving part of the story line and a major character from one of Stephen Kings novels but I'm not sure what the rules are regarding copy-right infringement.

I asked CatPunter about this and she said:

Quote"Basically as long as it's a homage that isn't wholesale ripping off his work it should be fine. Creating a game where you just play through Misery, shot for shot? Not really. Creating a game where you play a nurse over time in her life, exploring her sad life until the end where you drive home and find your favourite writer wiped out in the snowbank? Probably a better idea!

You can use characters from the books or Stephen King himself, but try to avoid anything that would change the meaning of his work (Misery being the victim instead of the villain), make him look bad (Making a game where Stephen King is a rapist), or so serious it could be passed off as an actual adaptation of his work. Tweaking it enough, like making a man locked in a psych ward think he's playing out the events of Misery and Stephen King is an eldrich abomination that feasts on human's fears we all tulpa'd into exsistence would be sufficient tweaks.

Oh, also, no money making. If you want to sell it after make sure to get in contact with the guy to ask if that's okay."
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

brit

Thanks Gurok and CatPunter. I will start tweaking!

brit

Quote from: Atelier on Wed 02/09/2015 11:09:11
    2. Must have exactly two characters

Just to clarify, does this mean two playable characters or just two characters in total?

Mandle

Quote from: brit on Mon 07/09/2015 16:29:43
Quote from: Atelier on Wed 02/09/2015 11:09:11
    2. Must have exactly two characters

Just to clarify, does this mean two playable characters or just two characters in total?

I'm not an official in this contest but I would assume either is acceptable...Of course: the definition of what exactly is considered a "character" offers some leeway I feel. Obviously if you were doing a "Cujo" game then the dog would be considered a character, but a random mouse in the background would not I suppose... I'm counting on this leeway anyways for my own game so please nobody define "character" too strictly... (laugh)

Gurok

#20
I think Mandle has the right idea. We'll leave "characters" fairly open to interpretation. In my mind, it would be someone who has spoken lines. Other people might classify it as someone who is visible on-screen. You could use the technical definition of a member of the character[] array, but that might be a bit too strict. People sometimes use characters for other things (e.g. droppable objects). Use your discretion.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Stupot

Technically, all games are comprised of characters: 0 and 1

8-)

Mandle

Quote from: Stupot+ on Tue 08/09/2015 06:14:12
Technically, all games are comprised of characters: 0 and 1

8-)

That truth can be denied by nary anybody...

8-) 8-)

MUFFINinc

I keep meaning to get in on one of these but never do it.  Two rooms sounds like a good limitation, as the last time I tried to do a MAGS game...well, it is still technically being worked on.  I always want to turn everything into a huge game.  Anyway I love Steven King and this seems like as good a time as any so, I think I may tentatively be in.  Possibly.

brit

Thanks everyone for shedding light on the character thing. I think I've got the gist of it now. It's nice to know that I'm not going to get grilled on minor technicalities!

Mandle

Quote from: brit on Tue 08/09/2015 16:25:43
Thanks everyone for shedding light on the character thing. I think I've got the gist of it now. It's nice to know that I'm not going to get grilled on minor technicalities!

The truth is you could probably break every "rule" except the one month build limit and nobody would object to your entry. Most people around here are just stoked to see new games getting made with AGS. That's really what MAGS and other contests are for: Motivation.

Mandle

YAAAAAAAAY!!!

It took all day but I have finally achieved the first violent death scene in my game!!!

It works!!! And a guy dies very violently!!!

So:

YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

DISCLAIMER:
I am NOT a psycho nor do I condone violent death outside of the video game structure...

Mandle

Spent about 4 hours today making sure a subliminal thingy works right...And it doesn't even work right...But it is very subliminal so maybe nobody will notice how badly it works...?

So yeah...not a huge load of progress today...

:-[

Mandle

YAY!!! PROGRESS but:

A stupid amount of effort just to show a menu screen:



And apologies to Banksy for ripping off the image of the Grim Reaper dodgem cars piece he made in New York...

Sorry...but it was the most fitting image for the game...


vertigoaddict

I wrote a decent two paragraphs, but my connection glitched it out. So 'cause I'm lazy, I'm just gonna say keep it up Mandle!


Mandle

Well...Thanks to the musical genius of HandsFree I have spent the day turning the menu screen into the best feature of the game so far...

Still only half done but I think if it was projected onto a big screen at a nightclub with the images and music playing people could trip and dance to it...


Mandle

So....due to a real-life crisis over the 4 days holiday I had put aside to get a playable game together I am not going to be able to submit a full entry into this MAGS contest... :~(

BUT the game will go ahead and will be that much better for the extra time, as the concept has grown a lot due to the extra downtime I had sitting in deserted closing-time hospital waiting rooms, and also wandering darkened hospital corridors on a bit of urban exploring to kill time (creepy Stephen King mood right there) and also a lot of questions asked by HandsFree about how the music should fit certain scenes. The latter especially made me wonder how far I could take the initial simple concept and the scenes inspired by those questions should add a bit more charm to the game...

I may be able to produce a slightly-playable demo over the coming weekend as a submission...Time will tell...

(The hospital thingy was nothing life-threatening but did involve a ride in an ambulance. My wife was the patient. Like I said: nothing potentially fatal, but a great deal of soul-wrenching pain both to experience for her and to watch for me...PAIN SUCKS!!!)

Grok

Quote from: Mandle on Fri 25/09/2015 16:05:11
So....due to a real-life crisis over the 4 days holiday

---

(The hospital thingy was nothing life-threatening but did involve a ride in an ambulance. My wife was the patient. Like I said: nothing potentially fatal, but a great deal of soul-wrenching pain both to experience for her and to watch for me...PAIN SUCKS!!!)

Sorry to hear about that. I hope everything has turned out well for your wife in the end.

Stupot

@Mandle: sorry to hear that, mate. Hope you can at least put something out by the end of the month. If not, no worries. Give my regards to Mrs. Mandle :-)

Mandle

Quote from: Stupot+ on Fri 25/09/2015 17:27:38
@Mandle: sorry to hear that, mate. Hope you can at least put something out by the end of the month. If not, no worries. Give my regards to Mrs. Mandle :-)

Cheers my man...Replied in PM regarding the trouble and strife...

Mandle

#36
I've never entered a MAGS without uploading something no matter how incomplete so:

This is what I have to show for my entry:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

As mentioned before I could not get the game anywhere near finished in time because reality sucks...

The version in the download will allow the viewer to experience the menu screen. Please sit all the way through it to get the full experience...

Fullscreen, full volume, and headphones are a must!!!

Also you can click on the "Play" button to experience a little more of the musical genius that HandsFree has brought to the game so far...

Yeah, so basically just showing off the amazing work of HandsFree in the music video which is the menu screen...

The timing on a few animations are still a bit off (it's quite tricky getting them spot on) but I hope you can rock to it!

(Oh by the way: There are some videos in the folder. They are part of the full game and I didn't want to move them because then I'd have to edit the code and remember how to change it back later. Sorry that this increases the download size, not that anyone is probably going to be downloading this...but meh)

Stupot

#37
Okay let's open the voting.
Two entries this month:

Matilda and the Curse of King Stephen by Grok
Stephen King Dodgem Cars by Mandle

Click here to go to the voting page.
Please only vote once.
Voting ends October 19th

Gurok

We used to be able to see who was in the lead and how many votes each game had. I think that's missing now.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Stupot

Quote from: Gurok on Tue 06/10/2015 02:21:34
We used to be able to see who was in the lead and how many votes each game had. I think that's missing now.
I kept that as invisible as I thought it was more fun when the scores were announced at the end of voting. Would folks prefer to see the current standings? If so I can easily make the change.

Gurok

Quote from: Stupot+ on Tue 06/10/2015 03:13:00
I kept that as invisible as I thought it was more fun when the scores were announced at the end of voting. Would folks prefer to see the current standings? If so I can easily make the change.

I guess it's only me, but I liked seeing who was in the lead. I can understand it might have been removed because it was influencing the outcome of voting though. I think the way most sites with voting handle this is to hide the results until you've voted. Maybe that's the way to go.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Stupot

Quote from: Gurok on Sat 10/10/2015 00:54:18
Quote from: Stupot+ on Tue 06/10/2015 03:13:00
I kept that as invisible as I thought it was more fun when the scores were announced at the end of voting. Would folks prefer to see the current standings? If so I can easily make the change.

I guess it's only me, but I liked seeing who was in the lead. I can understand it might have been removed because it was influencing the outcome of voting though. I think the way most sites with voting handle this is to hide the results until you've voted. Maybe that's the way to go.
That's possible too, but the trouble is that it goes by IP address, which kind of doesn't really work. IP addresses constantly change so when you come back to check the score later it will show you the unvoted page again.

I'll set it to public, why not.

By the way folks. We need more votes. Only 4 so far.

Stupot

There's only about a day left of voting.

The winner will be announced in about 24hrs ish :-)

Stupot

The winner of MAGS September 2015 is:
Grok with 4 votes to Mandle's 3.

Well done Grok. You'll get a PM shortly inviting you to choose a theme for November's competition, which will start on 1st of the month.

For anyone wondering what happened to October's MAGS, well, there isn't one. But vertigoaddict and Chicky hav chosen cracking theme which will be the topic of December's competition.

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