$108 Adventure Game Challenge

[hightreason]

The $108 Adventure Game Challenge jam is only 2 weeks away!

The guest judges this year are Francisco González and Amy Tant.

https://itch.io/jam/108-adventure-game-challenge

[CaptainD]

How is it already a year since the last one?!?!?!?! 

[VampireWombat]

I was literally checking Discord to find out the actual date, then I saw some update for the AGS forum and came here first. I guess being the 13th to sign up has caused some kind of curse or something after all. Or maybe it's Maybelline.

[hightreason]

The theme has been revealed!

The Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Read this for the exact rules: https://itch.io/jam/108-adventure-game-challenge/topic/4094096/the-theme

[Stupot]

Good luck to all ye who enter.

If you fancy killing two birds with one stone, you could enter the $108 Adventure Game Challenge and this month's MAGS at the same time.^*

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/competitions-activities/mags-september-alien-open/

^{*As long as their rules allow it. As far as MAGS is concerned, it's fine.}

[heltenjon]

So, on to play the games! AGS first, of course.

I played Abducted Intelligence (by Babar and Jfrisby) and liked it. Commented in the MAGS thread.

I also played Central Standard by SpringStreetOnline/NewWaveBurritos. As usual, the game is full of eye candy. The lighting in the opening scene, and also the view through a mirror in the first playable scene, those are show stealers. I also appreciated seeing scenes using graphics from Background Blitz. Gameplay was tampered a bit by a bug, luckily described in the game comments. There are really only two puzzles in the game, followed by a choice which determines the ending. (And the second puzzle kind of completes itself.) So it's a short game. I liked the graphics, naturally, but also the sequence with the girls talking among themselves, which really builds characterization. The programming for the cooking is also neat.

And I played Ramorama's Yip Quest: Gurk in Trouble In the former Yip Quest game, we controlled three kobolds. In this game, this is changed to only one. The graphics have got an upgrade, though, and now resembles more of an Day of the Tentacle style. It's implied that a version with more animations will be released after the game jam. This is a short dash around the castle, gathering ingredients for a potion that will destroy all bananas. I shudder about this evil plan!  The puzzles and writing are straightforward, but funny.

After playing those three AGS games, I wanted to see what AGS legend Edmundito had to offer and played With Our Eyes Wide Open. Grahf and Ben304 are also in on this game. Dream team! This is made with an adventure plugin to Godot, and it looks very impressive. The story is futuristic and retro at the same time, and the puzzles hit quite close to home for this old fart, at least. I liked the story and the characterization very much. The jam version lacks some polish - some descriptions and dialogues aren't updated when you do stuff in the game, which may at times make it difficult to know for certain if you have accomplished a task or not. Some dialogues are not implemented, instead the game tells you what the dialogue would have informed you of. Minor quibbles aside, this was a very nice game that delivered exactly what the theme for the jam asked for.

There are as I write this, 22 entries in the jam. There were more, but some non-adventures have been weeded out.

[edmundito]

@heltenjon Thanks for playing!

Indeed, life happened, and I didn't get the game to the level of polish that I wanted it to be, but I'm hoping to make some fixes when the jam voting ends.

[heltenjon]

Another AGS game, Cicero Demo, is an unifinshed, but promising work. The player is a boy who doesn't speak, out with his over-protective mother in the park. The gameplay is finding the correct triggers to make the story progress. Cicero uses body language to tell you if the action chosen is not correct, a bit like in the old Gobliins games. I would have liked to see how the story goes further, so I hope the author finishes this post-jam.

I also played Custodian: A Janitor's Quest. This is not an adventure game, but an action puzzle game. There's a long intro that plays like an adventure, which is very annoying due to a constantly repeating sound when someone speaks. Then the game proper consists of moving your vehicle while avoiding enemies and making them hit traps. I don't know if this game will be removed by the judges or not. I'm not a big fan of this gameplay, but the levels are decently designed and solvable, although some of them took me a lot of attempts to pass. Luckily, you have unlimited lives.

EDIT: Janitor's Quest was removed from the jam for not being an adventure game. 21 entries now.

[heltenjon]

@heltenjon Thanks for playing!

Indeed, life happened, and I didn't get the game to the level of polish that I wanted it to be, but I'm hoping to make some fixes when the jam voting ends.

There _are_ some expert touches, though, like skipping walking through the hallways when exiting one of the two important rooms late in the game. We _know_ Cobol will walk through those rooms, but there's no reason to show it. That's good storytelling. Noticed and appreciated.

[heltenjon]

I played AGS-er @Falsely 's game The Cold-Blooded Conspiracy. I'm not sure whether this one's made with AGS or not, though. Despite a few bugs, this was a very entertaining game, so when I hit a snag and ended up not being able to progress, I was motivated enough to restart and finish the game. The game tells the story of a confused journalist who is pranked by her co-workers into thinking she is going to write the next big story, exposing a conspiracy. Funny, with some serious points thrown in there as well.

EDIT: Mixed up Falsely and Polytely. Sorry.

I also played Death of Fo-Gu by Gugames with the AGS handle @guga2112 . This game is made with Unity. As usual, this is a high quality game, with lots of humour and a mix of traditional puzzles and experimental ones. The player lives in a tribe and has to learn about the three gods of fire, water and thunder. His quite modern theories are ridiculed by everyone. He also gets himself into trouble and must get out of it again, by fair means or foul.

Finally, I played Giant Space Babies by Smokeincaves. The game isn't finished, but there is a decent chunk to play, and it's fun. Well, with a couple of disclaimers. There are graphic descriptions (words only) of violence and death, and the main character is a horny, swearing, Stockholm syndrome suffering young woman who is set to take care of the Giant Space Babies mentioned in the title. Which are vicious, murdering creatures, by the way. The puzzles are nice and divided into steps, so it's easy to see where you're making progress. The game is made in Unity.

[heltenjon]

I played Escape from Rat Park by Merrygold, made in Godot. As the name suggests, the player controls a rat trying to escape from a lab before experimentation makes it an ex-rat. I had some troubles that I thought were bugs, and some that were bugs, and had to repeatedly start over. The story is nice and not too long, so it wasn't that much of a hassle. The puzzles are well thought out, but the execution lacks some signposting, and there are a lot of missing interactions. There is a nine-verb grid without reason for it, really. It's a nice little game, but if they patch it up a bit after the jam, I think your experience may be better.

I also played Dumbass/Smartass, made with LUA/Löwe by the apicici group. This is one of my favourites so far. The player controls the donkey, and his cavemen owners call him stupid all the time. But what will the aliens say about it? Hilarious throughout and a nice, challenging set of puzzles. Absolutely recommended.

I also played Dunningmals, which is made in something called SCUNK, running in SCUMMVM. This game is in alpha and is too buggy to play unless you are ready to be frustrated. The author put up a video with comments where he tells us about his plans for the game and how to avoid the bugs if you want to get to the ending. I guess this one cannot be recommended until it is in a later stage.

[Creamy]

I've played some of the games, mostly following heltonjon's recommandations.
It seems like many contestants used the same canvas to deal with the theme: your character is placed under authorities who overestimate their own skill and don't recognize your true value. Then, you prove them wrong...
Be prepared to be called stupid a lot 

Some thoughts:

- Death of Fo-Gu: entertaining puzzles and very polished for a 15 days game. Our character has an unfair advantage over his contemporaries in the form of the player's knowledge. I liked his polite ambivalence though.

- The Cold-Blooded Conspiracy: Also quite a long game with good puzzles. A bit harder than the others. I was curious about where it would go since it's the only game that I've played so far where the protagonist is genuinely inept. It didn't satisfiy me completely, yet it's unexpected. I watched the end on Youtube because the saves are broken.

- Dumbass/smartass: lovely game where you play a donkey in a post-apocalyptic world. A part of the ending can be spotted from a distance but the rest is pretty original. The visual is great.

- The Path to Enlightenment: another one that's pretty formulaic. Most of the priests are condescending and dumb in the game. It's done on purpose but it gets old pretty fast. Your mileage may vary if you're into Buddhism. It looks nice and the puzzles are fine.

- With Our Eyes Wide Open: the futuristic setting with the millennial protagonist brings some welcome melancholy to the straightforward puzzles. Too bad some portions were rushed. It looks ace.

- Cicero: a demo that ends abruptly.  You play a silent child watched by his mother in a park. She's expectedly annoying but the game has a certain charm with people talking in your back.

[heltenjon]

I played Wagasi Post by Cherrylux. This is made with unity and plays like a hybrid of visual novel and point and click. It's well written, with Japanese supernatural creatures like a kitsune, and gives the player a light, humourous read. There are no real puzzles, just some tasks that need to be done by clicking and talking in the correct order. I guess this one is aimed at fans of anime or manga that deals with supernatural beings and exaggerated emotions. Not bad, but not my cup of tea, either.

Another one: Going Up...Eventually by Steve Borich is a 3D game in Unity. This is one of those games where you understand what to do, but it's hard to do it. The player moves with keys, turns with the mouse, and picks up and ragdolls items by holding the mouse button. The goal seems to be to move a package upwards in a building. Of course, the elevator breaks down, and the player needs to destroy stuff to escape. I played twice, banging a fire extinguisher repeatedly at the control panel in order to break pieces away to reveal the puzzle underneath, most of the time missing the panel altogether. Both times the extinguisher eventually disappeared, probably behind a wall, and I had to quit. I don't think there was an option to save the game either. Basically, the game relies on skills I don't seem to have. I doubt I will return to finish this game, even though the 3D modelling may be impressive.

EDIT: I peeked at a Youtube let's play for this, and the game went into moon logic land. 

I've played some of the games, mostly following heltonjon's recommandations.

Then I think you should know that I'm saving some of the assumed best games for when I have more time on my hands. The comments tell me that there are a couple more very good games that I haven't got around to yet.

[heltenjon]

I played Rob in a Hood by Dace Games. This Unity game is set in a kind of open-world, where npcs wander around Nottingham and the forest in a giant, scrolling room. The story is a funny take on how the Robin Hood legend began. I enjoyed the story, but before getting to that, I had to walk and walk and walk around, exploring and talking to the npcs before finding the very few that were relevant to the game plot. I guess making this is the impressive part, but the open world just wasn't any fun. So this game was a mixed experience.

I also played The Big Spooky Mansion, which is Bennethon's third Lil'Henry game, made in Unity. We find Henry and his sister Penny trick-or-treating, when they get separated in a scary mansion. The player can switch between the two kids at any time, and they need to cooperate to escape the mansion, evade the ghost and hopefully find some candy. This is a short, family-friendly game that I liked well. It plays just like it is supposed to, and it's fun, while not particularly difficult. (For nitpicking souls, I don't think this game adhered well to the theme of the jam. Still a fun game, though.)

Then I gave Elyndra a go. This seems to be a prototype for a sort of rpg. The player controls an elf who opens a portal to check out a human secondary school. She can go around and talk to pupils or teachers, the latter will give quizzes that she can choose to answer wrong in two ways. I did two days at school, and then nothing else happened. If you like the genre, then the author says she will update it after the jam. As it is now, it's a demo. I'm not into this kind of game, although I'm somewhat familiar with the type through my 12-year old daughter.

EDIT: This game is removed from the results list, bringing the total number down to 20.

I also played Shipshape by John Karavas and others, made with Unity. Now this one was a lot of fun! The game is made in the graphic style of paper dolls used in Greek shadow theatre, and the characters are moved about on a stage while an audience shouts comments whenever something happens. This is used to great effect and is funny and original. The plot tells about a young engineer's assistant who is the one really fixing stuff, while others get all the credit. I'd also like to praise the music in this game, which feels exactly right for the story told.

[heltenjon]

This jam ended some time ago, and as I suspected from the comments other people left, Dumbfellas by Duck of Wood won. I postponed playing this because of the reported long playing time that didn't fit my schedule. But maybe I can cram it in soon.  Second place went to Gugames with Death of Fo-Gu (which was great), and third to The Tensor by Aruma Studios. I haven't played that, but rumors are our own Postmodern Adventures recommends it. Also in split third: The Path to Enlightenment, which I realize that I have mixed up with another game. I thought I had played it, but looking at the screen shots, nope, I have not. (It was the somewhat similar theme of @RootBound's My Siblings, the Stones that had me fooled that I was already enlightened.)

I did manage to play the game that ended up last: Saul relative has a time travel adventure. In my opinion, it wasn't the worst of the games, but I understand why it scored so poorly, as the graphics are very basic, filling only a small portion of the screen, the text flew by much too fast, and there were no sound fx or music. However, there was some small enjoyment in the humour of mistaken identity, and some fairly easy puzzles. The ending didn't trigger because of a bug they didn't manage to fix before the deadline.

I'll probably try to play the remaining games. 

[Laura Hunt]

and third to The Tensor by Aruma Studios. I haven't played that, but rumors are our own Postmodern Adventures recommends it.

Actually three members of this community (Postmodern, Chomba and myself) lent this project a hand with feedback and testing! It's a very cool little game, and only 15-20 minutes long, so do give it a try, I'm sure you'll like it