Game Pitch Competition - Round 4: "Son of a Pitch" (RESULTS)

[Snarky]

I really enjoyed this activity that Andail started (last round here), so I thought I would kick off another round!

Game Pitch Competition â€" Round 4: "Son of a Pitch"

The object of the competition is to present the best possible "elevator pitch" for an original adventure game.
So, come up with a cool idea, and explain it very briefly to someone in order to catch their interest and make them excited about it.

I've tweaked the rules a little, and changed the way you submit so that I don't know the identity of the authors (which means I can vote without any risk of bias).

Procedure

• Submit your game pitch via this form.
• Submissions close 8. August. I will then publish the entries here in this thread, and open a thread poll for voting.
• Voting will probably last 2 weeks. Discussion and feedback on the entries is encouraged, but make sure to maintain anonymity.
• After voting is over, the results become public, and we can then work to identify the authors and discuss the entries further.

Rules

• The pitch should be for some kind of adventure game (under a broad definition of the genre).
• Try to stick more or less to the word limits: An elevator ride is not that long!
• You may submit only one entry in the round (but you may edit your entry up until submission closes, using the link you get when you submit the form).
• The entry should be anonymous. Do not reveal your authorship until voting closes.
• Do not vote for your own entry. It's not cool.

All clear?
Then start sending in those pitches!

[Snarky]

Competition entries:

1. Lockdown
Epic narrative-driven adventure with multiple playable characters

After a massive-scale terror attack on a large city, instead of evacuating, the government decides to put the whole city on lockdown. Nobody comes in or out.
You play as multiple characters, all with different reasons for wanting to get out of the city.
As bombs and guns are going off around you, you must work together to find and puzzle your way out, avoid the military and escape with your life. And also you need to work out exactly what is really going on.



2. Small Pockets
A pure stealth point and click Adventure in real time.

A small town reporter wandering drunk on his birthday vaguely recognises tabloid faces entering an unassuming building. Sneaking inside he enters a stunning nightclub as the doors lock and a massacre begins…
Drunk on the third floor wearing an offensive shirt and tight trousers with only a wallet and the present from his Father: A Penknife, he must survive.
The massacre is in real time:
Hide? Help? Kill? Beg?
Try to alter events.
Drunken monologue choices after encounters dictate your final ‘Reporter' score:
FRONT PAGE! or under the Penis advert.



3. Rodric Downes and the pirate-princess
An english captain and his crew have to retake their own ship from swedish pirates

The Baltic sea, 16th century. The dashing swashbuckler Captain Rodric Downes and his crew find themselves captured and locked in the brig of their own ship by privateers led by a certain Cecilia Vasa, a princess answering to none save her older brother, the very king of Sweden. Unarmed on a ship full of enemies, Captain Downes has to rely on wits and guile in order to neutralize his enemies and retake his ship using whatever equipment he can find lying around, alongside the ship cargo, containing various strange new spices from all over the budding empire. ( FYI, Cecilia is based on a real historical person!)



4. What A Feeling!
A completely new way to play games â€" emotional direction!

This game is all about the feels… your character goes through the game and makes his / her own choices, BUT will make those choices based on the emotion you project into them. Faced with a problem, will you make them try to solve it by being pushy, distressed, affectionate or angry? Will you fill them with pessimism and a fatalistic view, or make them relentlessly chirpy and optimistic? With multiple paths to choose, the fate of your character is entirely in your hands!



5. Major Arcana
Player inherits deck of Major Arcanca tarot cards. Each card has a unique power

Bree Huxter just lost her job and is facing eviction from her apartment. She receives a package from her crazy, paranormal loving uncle. The package contains a letter instructing her to "Complete the deck to complete your life" and a single Tarot Card - The Sun.
Bree discovers that the tarot card can be activated to provide heat and light and concludes that the rest of the cards in her uncle's tarot deck must have powers as well.
With nothing to lose, she sets off on a journey to collect the rest of the Major Arcana and hopefully put her life back together.



6. Cliffhung
What happened next after all those movie endings that left you wondering?

It turns out that movies have souls just like living things. When a movie has a clear resolution its soul moves on to either Movie Heaven or Movie Hell. But movies that end ambiguously end up stuck in Movie Limbo. You play an agent of Limbo going from movie to movie and helping them resolve their "cliffhanger" endings so that they can move on: The Italian Job, The Matrix Revolutions, and the original Dawn Of The Dead are just a few the player will be visiting.



7. Mulled
A hardfrozen Christmas detective mystery, told as a playable advent(ure) calendar

On the North Pole, the winter night lasts half a year.
Having been kicked out of the Elfin Bureau of Benevolence, Tommy T. spends his days glugging mulled wine at the seedy North Pole Club, until a dame with a case that could rock the foundations of Santa's Workshop offers him a chance to redeem himself. Each day unlocks a new lead: He has until the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day to find out who's been naughty and nice, and baby it's cold outside…



8. Two Strings Attached
Play as both the murderer and the detective

A serial murderer is on the loose, and that's you. And you're also playing the detective on the hunt for the murderer. You commit the crimes and then follow the leads, slowly revealing the hidden motive, and also the hidden connection between both characters.



9. The Professor
The untold story of the wise old man present in so many adventures

The world is in danger once more. Our only hope lies in Tonic the red hog. He must find the 8 purple glowies to stop Mr Robot Nick's machine. But Tonic doesn't know where to find them, he needs the professor.
The gameplay consists of heroes and townsfolk lining up to get guidence from you, the professor. By deciphering clues, following current events and other hints you give the heroes a destination and hope for the best. Will you save the world, or are you dooming these poor souls?



10. [Untitled]
Multiple outcomes and two player characters, Sierra-style, fantasy with real-world equivalents (think Discworld)

Mark Siemann has just joined the Adventurers' Guild, and he intends to take on several high-paying quests with a party of three serious, like-minded warriors. Which is too bad, because all he's got is a bubbly female orc (Scane) and a job investigating a murder down at the docks. As the investigation proceeds, he and Scane find themselves trapped in a web of smuggling, slavery, and illegal enchantments. At this rate, Mark will be lucky to even survive his first job, let alone get paid for it.



11. A Hard Nut to Crack
Think Detective Grimoire but with animals and a more complex clue system.

Oh no, Sammy Squirrel's nut stash has been looted! Without it, he will not survive the upcoming winter.
Enter Detective Felicity Fox. Help her collect clues and manage them in a special inventory. You can combine them to build a chain of evidence, use them on the environment to find more information or question suspects and witnesses.
Can you find the culprit and most importantly, the stolen food?

[Stupot]

Cool. These are always fun. I'll put my thinking bandana on.

[Snarky]

I just realized that there actually are a few submissions to the contest so far! (I thought I had the form set up to notify me when responses come in, but it appears that's not working.)

Anyway, today is halfway through the submission period, so if you have an idea, go ahead and write it up! Note that this time around, the pitch is split into three parts:

Title (optional)
Selling Point (the "hook" for the game, in max 15 words)
Description (max 90 words)

BTW, someone posted this on the AGS Discord server. It has some good tips for how to write a pitch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWRu3RRqQmY

[CaptainD]

Good stuff, thanks Snarky.

[Snarky]

Right, so just a final reminder: We're coming up on the last day to submit an entry for this round.

(I think for next round maybe we should try to publish the entries as they come in. Makes things a bit more interesting during this phase.)

[CaptainD]

(I think for next round maybe we should try to publish the entries as they come in. Makes things a bit more interesting during this phase.)

+1

[Stupot]

I'll go ahead and announce that I entered something. Completely forgotten what I wrote already but I guess I'll find out soon.

[JudasFm]

I entered as well! Just made it in time for the deadline

[Snarky]

Nine submissions so far in this round... still time to get them in before the deadline.

[Bulbapuck]

I entered as well, great idea for a competition! Rarely visit the forums these days sadly, but I heard about it on discord and got inspired

[CaptainD]

I entered but like Stu I'm now a little hazy on what I actually wrote!

Looking forward to seeing the entries, and thanks again Snarky for hosting.

[Mandle]

I'm in as well!

Oh and hi Bulbapuck!

[Snarky]

OK, eleven entries were submitted: Here they are!

Vote for your favorite in the poll at the top of the thread.



1. Lockdown
Epic narrative-driven adventure with multiple playable characters

After a massive-scale terror attack on a large city, instead of evacuating, the government decides to put the whole city on lockdown. Nobody comes in or out.
You play as multiple characters, all with different reasons for wanting to get out of the city.
As bombs and guns are going off around you, you must work together to find and puzzle your way out, avoid the military and escape with your life. And also you need to work out exactly what is really going on.



2. Small Pockets
A pure stealth point and click Adventure in real time.

A small town reporter wandering drunk on his birthday vaguely recognises tabloid faces entering an unassuming building. Sneaking inside he enters a stunning nightclub as the doors lock and a massacre begins…
Drunk on the third floor wearing an offensive shirt and tight trousers with only a wallet and the present from his Father: A Penknife, he must survive.
The massacre is in real time:
Hide? Help? Kill? Beg?
Try to alter events.
Drunken monologue choices after encounters dictate your final ‘Reporter' score:
FRONT PAGE! or under the Penis advert.



3. Rodric Downes and the pirate-princess
An english captain and his crew have to retake their own ship from swedish pirates

The Baltic sea, 16th century. The dashing swashbuckler Captain Rodric Downes and his crew find themselves captured and locked in the brig of their own ship by privateers led by a certain Cecilia Vasa, a princess answering to none save her older brother, the very king of Sweden. Unarmed on a ship full of enemies, Captain Downes has to rely on wits and guile in order to neutralize his enemies and retake his ship using whatever equipment he can find lying around, alongside the ship cargo, containing various strange new spices from all over the budding empire. ( FYI, Cecilia is based on a real historical person!)



4. What A Feeling!
A completely new way to play games â€" emotional direction!

This game is all about the feels… your character goes through the game and makes his / her own choices, BUT will make those choices based on the emotion you project into them. Faced with a problem, will you make them try to solve it by being pushy, distressed, affectionate or angry? Will you fill them with pessimism and a fatalistic view, or make them relentlessly chirpy and optimistic? With multiple paths to choose, the fate of your character is entirely in your hands!



5. Major Arcana
Player inherits deck of Major Arcanca tarot cards. Each card has a unique power

Bree Huxter just lost her job and is facing eviction from her apartment. She receives a package from her crazy, paranormal loving uncle. The package contains a letter instructing her to "Complete the deck to complete your life" and a single Tarot Card - The Sun.
Bree discovers that the tarot card can be activated to provide heat and light and concludes that the rest of the cards in her uncle's tarot deck must have powers as well.
With nothing to lose, she sets off on a journey to collect the rest of the Major Arcana and hopefully put her life back together.



6. Cliffhung
What happened next after all those movie endings that left you wondering?

It turns out that movies have souls just like living things. When a movie has a clear resolution its soul moves on to either Movie Heaven or Movie Hell. But movies that end ambiguously end up stuck in Movie Limbo. You play an agent of Limbo going from movie to movie and helping them resolve their "cliffhanger" endings so that they can move on: The Italian Job, The Matrix Revolutions, and the original Dawn Of The Dead are just a few the player will be visiting.



7. Mulled
A hardfrozen Christmas detective mystery, told as a playable advent(ure) calendar

On the North Pole, the winter night lasts half a year.
Having been kicked out of the Elfin Bureau of Benevolence, Tommy T. spends his days glugging mulled wine at the seedy North Pole Club, until a dame with a case that could rock the foundations of Santa's Workshop offers him a chance to redeem himself. Each day unlocks a new lead: He has until the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day to find out who's been naughty and nice, and baby it's cold outside…



8. Two Strings Attached
Play as both the murderer and the detective

A serial murderer is on the loose, and that's you. And you're also playing the detective on the hunt for the murderer. You commit the crimes and then follow the leads, slowly revealing the hidden motive, and also the hidden connection between both characters.



9. The Professor
The untold story of the wise old man present in so many adventures

The world is in danger once more. Our only hope lies in Tonic the red hog. He must find the 8 purple glowies to stop Mr Robot Nick's machine. But Tonic doesn't know where to find them, he needs the professor.
The gameplay consists of heroes and townsfolk lining up to get guidence from you, the professor. By deciphering clues, following current events and other hints you give the heroes a destination and hope for the best. Will you save the world, or are you dooming these poor souls?



10. [Untitled]
Multiple outcomes and two player characters, Sierra-style, fantasy with real-world equivalents (think Discworld)

Mark Siemann has just joined the Adventurers' Guild, and he intends to take on several high-paying quests with a party of three serious, like-minded warriors. Which is too bad, because all he's got is a bubbly female orc (Scane) and a job investigating a murder down at the docks. As the investigation proceeds, he and Scane find themselves trapped in a web of smuggling, slavery, and illegal enchantments. At this rate, Mark will be lucky to even survive his first job, let alone get paid for it.



11. A Hard Nut to Crack
Think Detective Grimoire but with animals and a more complex clue system.

Oh no, Sammy Squirrel's nut stash has been looted! Without it, he will not survive the upcoming winter.
Enter Detective Felicity Fox. Help her collect clues and manage them in a special inventory. You can combine them to build a chain of evidence, use them on the environment to find more information or question suspects and witnesses.
Can you find the culprit and most importantly, the stolen food?

[dactylopus]

I had a pitch ready to go this time, but decided to put that on hold as I will be endeavoring to make that game a reality.  I was unable to think up a new pitch in time, but I swear I will enter one of these contests!

That said, I did read all of these pitches and they are all interesting in their own ways.  Ultimately, one was a clear winner to me so my vote was easy to cast.

Good luck to everyone, and thanks for sharing your ideas!

[Mandle]

I just read all the entries and voted...

It looked like a really hard task at first to decide but then I hit upon the one that just captured my interest above all others...

VOTED!

[Riaise]

There are a lot of good pitches here. I was stuck between two, but in the end I voted for the one that I think I personally would most like to play. A lot of these would make really great games, though!

[JudasFm]

I was stuck for a long time, but in the end I managed to pick one to vote for

[Bulbapuck]

Hi Mandle

Great entries! Loved to hear all these ideas, they could all turn into great titles. Very inspiring too! Ultimately my vote came down to the intresting direction one entry took that I felt was fresh and fun.

EDIT: removed hint

[Snarky]

Yeah, great to see so many solid entries and now quite a lot of votes! (Which are pretty evenly distributed so far.)

As organizer, I would ask you to please refrain from giving any hints about which of the entries is yours until the voting is over, to ensure anonymity as far as possible.

[roughsleeper]

Hey all. I'm new here and still learning AGS.
I voted for the one that immediately made my imagination explode.
Great ideas and a great community all round.

[CaptainD]

For me there was a clear winner which I voted for, but a lot of good ideas.  I won't say which I voted for until after the results are out...

I'm also looking forward to finding out which idea made roughsleeper's head explode!

[Stupot]

Some good ideas here but the one I voted for was my clear favourite.

[selmiak]

I voted 2 in hopes that lots of people do so and it is revealed who sneaked in penis. Also survivor games are cool!

[Mandle]

who sneaked in penis.

My guess would be that that penis belongs to

Spoiler

Slasher

[close]

(No confirm or deny yet though please)

[Gurok]

I found a lot of these too avant garde for my taste. I voted for 11 because it was the easiest to picture working, though I really liked 3 as well.

[dactylopus]

I'm going to venture a guess that #11 belongs to DBoyWheeler.

[Stupot]

I'm going to venture a guess that #11 belongs to DBoyWheeler.

That would be my guess too. It's got a furry animal, it's family-friendly and DBoy often likes to hypothesize about “It's like [game title] but [with a difference]”

[Snarky]

Let's hold off on the speculation, can we? The whole point of keeping it anonymous is to separate the person from the entry, and the more we theorize about who is behind each entry, the harder that becomes.

[Snarky]

Bumping for a final call:

Voting closes soon, so if you haven't voted yet, please do!
Any one of the entrants would appreciate your vote, I'm sure, and it might break what's currently a tie.

[Mandle]

Ooooohhh only about half an hour until results? This is getting exciting! Already voted long ago here though...

[Stupot]

Congrats to Major Arcana. This nearly got my vote as it has a good adventure set-up. In the end I voted for Mulled as it just sounded so fun.

[cat]

Results! I guess this means I can now write some short comments for each of them:

1. Lockdown
Interesting setting and idea, but I'd imagine this more an action adventure (with stealth sequences) than a classical P&C adventure.

2. Small Pockets
The first part sounds interesting, the rest just confusing.

3. Rodric Downes and the Pirate-Princess
An interesting setting, though I'm not sure how well this will work as an adventure game.

4. What A Feeling!
An interesting approach, but I'm not sure how well this will turn into an actual game.

5. Major Arcana
I like the hunt for MacGuffins and the "Complete the deck to complete your life" idea, but for my taste this is too much about magic.

6. Cliffhung
The problem I see here is, that the player is required to have watched all movies beforehand. Otherwise he would not understand it or be completely spoilered.

7. Mulled
My favourite. I love the setting and the idea of the advent calender. My only concern would be that 24 days could become a bit boring with time. This could probably be mitigated by having Tommy pass out for a few days etc.

8. Two Strings Attached
This sounds a lot like Fahrenheit to me, not sure if there would be some unique twist but the pitch didn't sell it.

9. The Professor
Funny idea but I don't really understand what the gameplay would be like.

10. [Untitled]
I don't like Sierra-style fantasy. Period.

11. A Hard Nut to Crack
A cute idea, however the clue stuff could become complicated or boring if not done well.

[Cassiebsg]

Congrats to all entries!

Took me a very long time to decide on a entry... but I wouldn't have guessed that voting after last call would make a difference... congrats Major Arcana! I enjoyed that one the best, as it seemed to have and all intriguing adventure game vibe to it.
I'll comment on the other entries later on.

[Mandle]

Congrats to Major Arcana. This nearly got my vote as it has a good adventure set-up. In the end I voted for Mulled as it just sounded so fun.

+1 I also voted for Mulled.

[cat]

Congrats to Major Arcana. This nearly got my vote as it has a good adventure set-up. In the end I voted for Mulled as it just sounded so fun.

+1 I also voted for Mulled.

Seems the three of us have similar tastes For me it was also a close one with Major Arcana.

[Snarky]

Hey, congrats on all the entries, and particularly to our winner this round, Major Arcana!
Thanks to all the voters, and thanks Cassie for breaking the tie.

There were a lot of pitches that seemed promising to me, with no clear winner. Some comments:

1. Lockdown
For some reason (probably the terrorist attack and the multiple playable characters) this reminded me of Resonance, and that's one of my favorite AGS games â€" good going! I also got at least some sense of the gameplay, so bonus points for that.

2. Small Pockets
I like the specificity of this pitch, but I can't quite get a bead on the tone. Is it funny gore or just gruesome? Also, not a huge fan of realtime choice games.

3. Rodric Downes and the Pirate-Princess
The historical setting is cool, and I'm particularly drawn to a game set in the Baltic Sea during the Swedish empire. But all pirate adventure games have their work cut out for them escaping a certain long, three-headed-monkey-shaped shadow, and I'm not convinced this does.

4. What A Feeling!
It took a while before I grasped how this is different from Legend of Kyrandia 3 or Grrr! Bearly Sane. It's an ambitious idea, but I tend to think only being able to affect actions indirectly would be pretty frustrating.

5. Major Arcana
Unlike cat, I find the magic stuff compelling, and the idea of collecting items with different magic powers suggests some interesting Loom-esque gameplay. I would have liked a little bit more of the in-game story rather than just the premise, but this was still my runner-up and I see why it won.

6. Cliffhung
It's really cool to see people come up with more off-beat ideas, but I just do not get this pitch. I feel that most times when a movie ends in a cliffhanger or otherwise ambiguously, that ambiguity is essential to the story. So this sounds to me like a game where you make classic movies worse.

7. Mulled
Like I said in a previous round, I'm a sucker for all things Christmas, and I think it pairs well with a film noir spoof. I do agree with cat that 24 episodes is too much, but then again the idea of one chapter per day is part and parcel of the Advent Calendar format. (Suggestion: Split it off between two or even three separate characters, each with alternating episodes and standalone stories that only come together at the end.)

8. Two Strings Attached
Yeah, it's been done before, and it's hard to see how you'd make it an interesting challenge to solve a crime you already committed (Fahrenheit cheated quite a bit), but if you know how to do it you definitely have my interest.

9. The Professor
I was a bit confused by the mashup of Sonic the Hedgehog parody and play on an adventure game trope (though really, primarily an RPG trope, no?). As a pitch I'm not sure that was the most effective presentation of the concept. I do have some of the same concerns about this as for What A Feeling!, that the indirect control will be frustrating, but I suppose I can imagine it as more of a sort of strategy game. (Incidentally, I did some coding for hire on a game that resembled this a little.)

10. [Untitled]
I do enjoy Sierra-style fantasy, and I think there's a promising game idea here. I would guess it failed to capture any votes because the pitch hasn't quite zeroed in on what the cool thing about this game is. The thing that sounds most interesting to me is the odd-couple dynamic between the super-serious rookie and the cheerful orc, so I would lead with that.

11. A Hard Nut to Crack
This all sounds quite fun. I don't know Detective Grimoire and was put off by that at first (which I guess is always a risk when you describe something in terms of other games), but you do explain it quite well. To me the story made it sound like a kids game while the gameplay seemed pretty challenging, so I'm not sure exactly who this game is for.

[tzachs]

Congrats to "Major Arcana"!
I voted for "The Professor", found it to be a really interesting idea, actually, with lots of potential to be a unique game, but it will definitely be hard to execute well.
"Lockdown" was my 2nd place, it's a game I would definitely want to play.

I pitched the "Two Strings Attached" idea. I didn't know it was done before, never played "Fahrenheit", I'm afraid. My main inspiration for this was actually from "Inspector Columbo", but I thought of taking it to a darker place, kind of like "Dexter". Both Columbo and Dexter really put an emphasis on the psychological games between the main characters, and I thought it would be interesting to try and transfer it to game form. Unless "Fahrenheit" already did that...

[CaptainD]

I feel that I slightly misunderstood the intention of this competition with my entry - possibly conflating it with some of the conversation about game mechanics that came up at the end of the previous competition - I mistakenly thought that the pitch was to be about a new idea for HOW to play a game rather than a complete game idea in itself.  Anyway my mistake, you may have guessed from this that my entry is one of those that failed to garner a vote!  (Also I haven't played Legend of Kyrandia 3 or Grrr! Bearly Sane so not sure how similar in concept those are.)

Anyway some lovely entries but my vote went for Cliffhung.  I just loved the idea, reminded me of "All in the Game" a little.

[Mandle]

Guys, I don't think we are supposed to be saying yet which was whose... Or are we not doing the guessing round this time?

[Snarky]

Sure, we can, but if people want to reveal their identity at this point I won't stop them. It also makes the guessing game a little more manageable.

I have no particular idea whose ideas are whose.

[CaptainD]

Guys, I don't think we are supposed to be saying yet which was whose... Or are we not doing the guessing round this time?

Sorry assumed it was irrelevant with mine once voting over and I didn't get any votes anyway, hope I didn't spoil anyone's fun!

I'll sidle off quietly now...

[Blondbraid]

My pitch was the one with

Spoiler

Pirates. I got inspired from reading about Princess Cecilia of Sweden. When her brother, King John the third couldn't give her the money she was entitled to for her dowry, he gave her a fleet of ships instead, which she used for piracy to such an extent that he eventually had to arrest Cecilia for not being satisfied with merely robbing ships from enemy nations, but the ships of allies to Sweden as well.
And with that said, Cecilia was still one of the less violent members of her family!

[close]

[Cassiebsg]

Guess it's time for some feedback before I run out of time again.

1. Lockdown
I enjoyed the pitch and seemed to be interesting, how ever the "And also you need to work out exactly what is really going on." was off put for me. I guess sometimes I like things to be simple, and that "twist" sounds more to me as "oh, I need more, I need a twist..." Sometimes less is more, and I would have probably voted for this one if not for that.

2. Small Pockets
Stealth, P&C and Real Time don't really sell it for me. I like traditional P&C...

3. Rodric Downes and the Pirate-Princess
Interesting story, but I couldn't see that much of a possibility of puzzling and the ship makes it "limited" space. Since it's from you, I guess the problem is solved since yours games tend to be more story driven than puzzle solving. And I would play it just for that!

4. What A Feeling!
Interesting idea, but again there was no story behind this pitch (waves at CaptainD). Also the way it read it made me think this was more an interactive novel rather than an adventure game.

5. Major Arcana
Got my vote. I liked the idea of a card with magic powers and going on a "quest" to find the remaining cards of the deck. Looking forward to play this in the near future... start working!

6. Cliffhung
To be honest I didn't like this one bit. For the first, as already pointed, it would require the player to know the movies. But the biggest problem I see is that "cliff-hangers" in movies is often what make awesome cause it makes you think about the endless possibilities... nicely neat wrapped endings... probably a cozy feeling and then you soon forget about the movie.
7. Mulled
This ended up being my runners up! Took me a very long while to decide which I liked best. Like before, start working! I don't think the games needs to play exactly as 24 days... cause 1 "quest" here can very well be a "day". So I don't see why that would be a problem.

8. Two Strings Attached
This ended up being on 3rd favourite... I haven't played the mentioned game(s) but the plot seemed a bit on the predictable, which is probably why it ended 3rd. I liked the idea and would be interesting to see how you'd pull that one out.

9. The Professor
I definitely doomed these poor souls. Entry didn't really caught my interest one bit and I "jumped out" at the third sentence.

10. [Untitled]
Story wise seems okay... I think you got penalized for not bothering with a title. I loved Discworld, even though it was rather insane on some of the puzzles, and I do like sierra games... though I've come to really dislike the interface.

11. A Hard Nut to Crack
Nothing really catchy. But could turn out good as a game for children. So if that was your intention, go for it. I'm sure the kids will love those furry cute characters.

[Riaise]

Congratulations to Author Number 5! That was the one I voted for, as it seemed to be one of the most complete ideas and the mystical elements appealed to me. I also really liked number 1, Lockdown, and I'm a bit surprised it didn't get more votes. It sounds like it would be very tense and the mystery of working out what was going on while playing as different characters could work really well. Like Snarky said, it sounds a bit like Resonance, which is a good thing!

[Bulbapuck]

Congraulations to Major Arcana! Thank you Snarky for hosting

9. The Professor
I definitely doomed these poor souls. Entry didn't really caught my interest one bit and I "jumped out" at the third sentence.

This was my entry, and I feel that this was a bit cruel. I know I didn't have the best idea, just a goofy concept floating in my head, but I figured I would give it a shot. It's always nice to learn new things and get feedback, but it sucks to get shut down for something were you really tried. I know that can easily happen when giving feedback to a lot of entries, but I would have personally prefered you just skip my entry here...

I do appreciate the feedback overall though, hope to find the time to write up my thoughts on the other entries. This is not something I'm good at so I'm thrilled I got a vote.

[Snarky]

I know it can be rough, Bulbapuck. It sucked when my entry got no votes in one of the earlier rounds. Just keep in mind that the feedback is only one person's opinion, and when you look at how widely dispersed people's votes for their favorite are, it's clear that people have very different individual reactions.

I'm curious to find out who's behind the winner (I don't think anyone has claimed the credit yet?). I'll keep my entry to myself a bit longer in case someone still wants to guess.

[Cassiebsg]

Bulbapuck, when I give feedback I tend to be honest. It's not meant to put you down or hack on you or anyone else. Personally I value honest feedback, no matter how cruel it may be, cause only then I know that someone cared enough to try and help me get better. And "jumped out" doesn't mean I didn't read the entire pitch. It just rubbed me the wrong way. And you also got some positive feedback from tzachs.
I can't say if the game would awesome or not, but the pitch just didn't sold. Kind of felt you were selling the game to 4-5 year olds, not pitching a game to other adults.

That better feedback?

[Durinde]

I'm not super active in the forums, so I guess I should probably out myself as the winner so people aren't trying to guess one of the regulars. Thanks to everyone that voted for Major Arcana, it's an idea that I've had for a while but haven't gotten around to developing yet.


I was actually suprised on how the voting turned out. From the comments prior to voting, I wasn't sure I'd get any votes, so it was a pleasant surprise.

I think all of the enteries were good ideas and my vote was completely on personal taste and interest.

1. Lockdown: Great solid idea and I can picture it working. Normal people caught up in extradonary circumstances always make for a great narrative and having multiple people with different skills allows for variation in puzzles. If we had mutliple votes, I would have definately used one on this idea.

2. Small Pockets: I can see this working best as a 1st person adventure game where you are sneaking around, building your inventory, and trying not to get caught.

3. Rodic Downes: This is what I actually voted on. I'm a sucker for anything historical and Swedish pirates seems like such a left-field idea that it grabbed my attention the most.

4. What a feeling: Interesting concept, I just had trouble visualizing how things would work. I think with a longer pitch to flesh out the mechanics it is a completely workable idea.

5. Major Arcana: My entry. I had't considered the similarities to Loom as another poster mentioned. I also think the game needs antagonists. I've been thinking about adding a rival element of a shady character trying to grab the cards before you do.

6. Cliffhung: Seems like it might be a fun project. Just didn't catch my attention. Might be a little too meta.

7. Mulled:  This one may have just been about timing. I'm kind of burnt out on hard-boiled detectives at the moment and thinking about Christmas while it's still summer just didn't feel right. Solid concept and completely workable. Lots of potential for comedy

8. Two strings: Good concept and I'd like to see it in action, but as mentioned in Mulled, I'm a bit burned out on detectives.

9. Professor: I like the idea with playing with the adventure genre world by having the player be more of a guide than an active player. Again I'd like to see the longer pitch where the mechanics were explained.


10. Untitled: A lot of potentional. I like the idea of a serious "RPG" character ending up in an "adventure" world. Loveable sidekick that gives a very Sam & Max feel to it.

11. Hard nut to crack: 3rd game to fall victim to my current disinterest in anything involving a detective. Again solid concept and completely workable. Might be a little too "cutesy" for my personal taste.

Again I think all of the base concepts were good. I just voted on the one that caught my attention the most.

[Snarky]

Congratulations, Durinde! I hope you do make this game.

So, in case anyone wants to try to guess, we have:

1. Lockdown -
2. Small Pockets -
3. Rodric Downes and the Pirate-Princess - Blondbraid
4. What A Feeling! - CaptainD
5. Major Arcana - Durinde
6. Cliffhung -
7. Mulled -
8. Two Strings Attached - tzachs
9. The Professor - Bulbapuck
10. [Untitled] -
11. A Hard Nut to Crack -

Other confirmed participants are Stupot, JudasFm, Mandle, Snarky. (As always, I might have overlooked some things.)

[CaptainD]

I think Cliffhung might be Mandle, Lockdown by Snarky and Small Pockets by Stupot+?

[Bulbapuck]

That better feedback?

Absolutely, thank you. I didn't have a problem with it being negative, honest criticism is very helpful. It just gets to me when feedback is just "this was bad" without a reason. I know you didn't mean it that way but I didn't know how else to read it.

[Mandle]

I think Cliffhung might be Mandle

You are correct!

It was just an idea I was making up as I wrote it in the form so I'm quite pleased it got 3 votes.

Snarky probably said it best though that this could ruin the ending of certain movies. Then again, some people hate movies that end without a clear resolution. I don't mind it now and then but I can kind of see these people's point sometimes: If I wanted to spend time getting invested in a story and the characters only to be left hanging with no real conclusion then I have real life to do that for me.

[Snarky]

Lockdown by Snarky?

Nope, but it was my vote!

[dactylopus]

I voted for Major Arcana, so I'm glad it won!  Congrats to Durinde, and thank you to everyone for participating.  It was great fun to read and consider them as games.

My least favorite was the Christmas game.  Those always turn me off.

[JudasFm]

I've no idea which pitch belongs to who, but I can narrow the odds a little by saying that mine was 10

[tzachs]

Snarky probably said it best though that this could ruin the ending of certain movies.

When the game begins, you can ask "which movies have you already seen?" and let the player check all of the movies from a list, and then only put those in the game.

[Mandle]

Snarky probably said it best though that this could ruin the ending of certain movies.

When the game begins, you can ask "which movies have you already seen?" and let the player check all of the movies from a list, and then only put those in the game.

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean "ruin" as in "spoil the ending for the player". I meant it more like Snarky meant when he said that going beyond the ambiguous ending of the movie destroys the reason for that style of ending.

I can see this being true in many cases. Often a movie ends ambiguously to show that life goes on and the character(s) choices beyond that point don't matter as much as their own growth during the time of the story does. Castaway comes to mind as fitting into this category for me.

But sometimes movies seem to use this kind of ending as an excuse to be more mysterious than they really are and/or the writers didn't know how to end the story and/or they ran out of time/money.

These are the ones I would want to see in Movie Limbo.

Oh, and by the way, I voted for Mulled. The advent calendar idea just sounded like a ton of fun to me.

[Snarky]

My least favorite was the Christmas game.  Those always turn me off.

Well, each to their own.

Yes, that one was mine. Thanks for the votes and kind comments, everybody. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I once mentioned the digitally enhanced Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book I made for Secret Santa one year; that was a variation on the same basic idea.

My only concern would be that 24 days could become a bit boring with time. This could probably be mitigated by having Tommy pass out for a few days etc.

I don't think the games needs to play exactly as 24 days... cause 1 "quest" here can very well be a "day". So I don't see why that would be a problem.

I was a bit perplexed by these suggestions, since it seems so clear to me that having one episode per day is essential to the format, but then I realized that even though other countries have (physical) advent calendars, "Yule Calendar" serials (Christmas-themed TV shows with one episode per day from 1. to 24. December) is a uniquely Scandinavian tradition. (These often come with a traditional advent calendar as a licensed tie-in, where each window reveals something related to today's episode.) That's the kind of thing I want to recreate in adventure form.

So in case it wasn't clear, I meant that the game would literally be released on a day-by-day basis in December, with a new chapter becoming available every day (most likely as a browser-based game).

[Stupot]

Seems like most people are just announcing their own work rather than guessing, which is fine by me. Mine was Lockdown. Thanks to Snarky for the vote.

I hadn't intended to rip off Resonance, but I guess I did a little bit. I wanted to convey that it would be quite twisty and that you might not necessarily be able to trust even the player characters. In that sense it is probably even more like Resonance.

It's quite a challenge with such a low word count to convey an original idea, with a hint about gameplay, storyline, genre etc, while also trying to hype it up and make it sound appealing. I don't envy the people whose job it is to do this for a living...

Actually wait, I do envy them. That would be a great job.

[Riaise]

Major Arcana: My entry. I had't considered the similarities to Loom as another poster mentioned. I also think the game needs antagonists. I've been thinking about adding a rival element of a shady character trying to grab the cards before you do.

See, I don't think it does need antagonists. To me it sounds more like it should be about Bree fighting her own demons after her life has spiralled out of control, rather than being a race against time to find the cards before someone else. The challenge comes from Bree herself having the courage to hunt for the cards and the natural obstacles that stand in her way. At least, that's how I imagined it when I read the pitch.

[Cassiebsg]

+1. I totally agree with Riase... had you put that in the pitch and I would have voted for Mulled.
I don't think it needs any antagonists, the character is already motivated to find the cards and see what other powers they might have.

[Durinde]

+1. I totally agree with Riase... had you put that in the pitch and I would have voted for Mulled.
I don't think it needs any antagonists, the character is already motivated to find the cards and see what other powers they might have.

I get the concern and honestly I had no thoughts about antagonists when I wrote the initial pitch. Everything is pure theory at this point, so it's great to see people's perspective on what they envisioned the game to be.

[cat]

I made entry 11. I wonder if votes had been different if people didn't try to guess the author beforehand.

On another note: Play Detective Grimoire if you haven't done it yet. It's a flash game, should take less than one hour and you can play it for free here:
https://armorgames.com/play/200/detective-grimoire

[Snarky]

Yeah, that's why I encouraged people to refrain from speculating about the identities behind the entries. Maybe we should do away with the guessing game after the contest so people don't focus on this question?

On the other hand, as I recall there were no votes in the last few days of the contest before Cassiebsg's (note for next time: one week for voting is plenty), so I wouldn't think it affected the outcome in this case.

I watched a video of Detective Grimoire and liked the madlib-style "parser" control, so I might give it a shot.

[Stupot]

Yeah, I'm not really into the guessing game either. It's not really fun unless you know who all of the entrants are.

[Snarky]

Well, if people want to continue it, we could post a list of participants when the voting is over.

Should we take a break, or are you all ready for another round to start soon?

[Mandle]

NEW ROUND!!!

[roughsleeper]

Hey all. I wrote Small Pockets and voted for Cliffhung as Movies are really my kind of thing.
As soon as I read the pitch, I envisioned hundreds of story threads waving about like loose film from a spool searching for a relevant partner.
Major Arcana would have been my second vote as it was the most solid pitch. Someone just suggested an antagonist, yet I feel the cards themselves are not wanting to be found, which makes them the antagonists. Finding them all possibly leads you to a family reunion where they all bicker maybe?

Anyways, it's great to stetch the brain like this.
Still getting used to AGS and not much time, but I'll be around Gals n Guys.

[Stupot]

I'm always up for another round. When we have enough of these we could hold a MAGS where the theme is to make a game based on one of these pitches :-)

[Snarky]

That's all the entries identified, then:

1. Lockdown - Stupot
2. Small Pockets - roughsleeper
3. Rodric Downes and the Pirate-Princess - Blondbraid
4. What A Feeling! - CaptainD
5. Major Arcana - Durinde
6. Cliffhung - Mandle
7. Mulled - Snarky
8. Two Strings Attached - tzachs
9. The Professor - Bulbapuck
10. [Untitled] - JudasFm
11. A Hard Nut to Crack - cat

Thanks for participating, everybody. It was fun!

Since there's some appetite for another round, I'll go ahead and start a new thread. This time around I'll also try tweaking the rules a little...