5 Years of MAGS Special: Anniversary Contest

[Klaus]

Oh, there's something special ...
Exactly 5 years ago, in June 2001, DGMacphee invented MAGS and started the very first monthly AGS competition.
Since its launch 55 contests followed up and about 150 games were created for these competitions.
So this month is the right time to celebrate MAGS with a very special event: The MAGS anniversary contest!

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What we already know ...
MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to use AGS to create a game in under a month, following given rules. For more information please visit the Official MAGS Website

Why should I enter MAGS?
We're not here to tell you that you should enter MAGS, but merely allow it as a creative opportunity to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and generally as a good kick-start for the new comers (a.k.a n00bies).
MAGS is the perfect opportunity to make a game, and all competitiors get the game placed on the MAGS website.
MAGS is meant to be fun and is aimed at everyone, despite their skill. If you have poor art skills work on graphics, and vice-versa, as the voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, you may get help for the competiton, but should try not get anyone else to do any part of the game for you.

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As this is a special competition there's also something special to the rules ...
This month you can pick any topic of the previous MAGS competitions!

You find them all in the history section of the MAGS Website (click "see guidelines" for details about each topic).
So you have the choice from 56 guidelines and I guess you all will find a topic that you like

You are not allowed to (re)use material that you already created before this competition, you game must be completely new!

A special competition, special rules and a special prize ...
This month the winner won't set the next topic, the prize this month is this unique "BigBlueCup" CD with almost all MAGS games of the last 5 years. It includes many games that are no longer available on the net and also all winning ceremonies ever made for MAGS.

And also something special about the deadline ...
This time you actually have the complete month, 30 days, to create your game! So all entries need to be in by late June 30th.


Please post a download link of your game entry to this thread, add the topic of the game (eg. 2006-05 The Journey) to your post and also publish a screenshot of the game, please.

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Finally I want to thank the previous MAGS hosts DGMacphee and Magintz for their work and also thank all competitors of the last 5 years for wonderful games and great entertainment. Thanks!

I hope there will be a lot of entries this time. Good luck to all who join this MAGS anniversary contest!

[Gord10]

Wow, it looks great I'm joining this month, guess.
(I have to win this, so nobody else will see my earlier crappy submissions for MAGS!)

[Steel Drummer]

TOO MANY TOPICS TO CHOOSE FROM!!

[Play_Pretend]

I am *SO* in on this.  N&B Remake is just going to have to wait.  Woohoo!  MAGS ahoy!  Sign me up!

06/01:  Woo-double-hoo!  Already got my topic, "Chess", and plot laid out...onward to graphics!

06/26:  Gah!  No way in heckfire I'm gonna finish this in time.  "The 8th Square" is just too grand a concept to limit to one month.  Worry not, you'll see it someday in the Production thread!  Good luck to all the still-innits!

[Steel Drummer]

What does it mean "winning ceremonies"?

[Erenan]

The ceremonies for the yearly award (favorite MAGS entry of the year). There's usually a little video to announce the winner.


I'm going to try to work something up this month. I'm actually starting on time for this one, so maybe I'll be able to finish it.

[Ubel]

* Pablo puts all his projects aside

I'm so in!

[Klaus]

The ceremonies for the yearly award (favorite MAGS entry of the year). There's usually a little video to announce the winner.

It's not only the ceremonies for favorite MAGS entry of the year: There are also some very old winner announcement videos for the very first contests and some more created for monthly competitions featuring the characters Mags and Maggie (that also once were the winners in a MAGS contest)

[Ishmael]

About re-using old materials, does it mean I'm not allowed to dig my archives for the old sprites and backgrounds, or that I need to create completely new characters and locations?

[Klaus]

About re-using old materials, does it mean I'm not allowed to dig my archives for the old sprites and backgrounds

You may dig your archive but you shouldn't use what you find there.

or that I need to create completely new characters and locations?

You shouldn't create a remake of an old entry. So the game and its storyline must be new. If you think of the ideas that characters and locations are based on you can use these. So you can make a new game with some references to an old game, e.g. by using the same main character name but with different sprites of course.

[buloght]

I'd love to enter this, though I have a lot of uni project deadlines, I'll just have to find time 

[Ishmael]

About re-using old materials, does it mean I'm not allowed to dig my archives for the old sprites and backgrounds

You may dig your archive but you shouldn't use what you find there.

or that I need to create completely new characters and locations?

You shouldn't create a remake of an old entry. So the game and its storyline must be new. If you think of the ideas that characters and locations are based on you can use these. So you can make a new game with some references to an old game, e.g. by using the same main character name but with different sprites of course.

Thanks, exactly what I wanted to know

[hedgefield]

Hmmm, tempting. Just finished my last exam so I've got all month to get to this.

[Vel]

If anyone entering's in need of some music, Im available.

[edmundito]

Hey, is it a one person per game or can it be team based?

[Klaus]

Hey, is it a one person per game or can it be team based?

The answer can be found in the first posting:

you may get help for the competiton, but should try not to get anyone else to do any part of the game for you.

So it's not a team challenge but you can ask others for support (like Vel for music for example). So one person should really do the main/biggest part of the game. This is how it should be.

[lo_res_man]

I might consider it, one of the topics really caught my eye.

[vict0r]

So i don't have to look up all the previous topics... does anyone have a list?

EDIT: Never mind I found my way to the mags website.

[voh]

- Furthermore I want you to use one "country specific" item for each of these countries (e.g. Coca Cola in the USA).

I was looking through the archive and spotted that.

*cough*

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*cough*

I'll try and enter

[Barbarian]

Great idea in allowing people to choose what guidelines they like.Ã, 

Okay, I think I'm very tempted this time to actually enter this MAGs ( actually I was tempted before many times before, just always I seemed to be too busy with something else ).

The guideline I think I will choose is the "Underworld" idea.

Well, I got a long day of work ahead of meÃ,  so, I won't be able to get anything solid started 'till probably the weekend, but I have a few good ideas already about what I'd like to do.
Though, keep in mind, sometimes I'm a bit busy in my life ( work, other commitments and such ), so probably any game I make within the month would be probably "short / small" in size.Ã,  But hey, I think I'll give it a go anyways.

Best wishes to all people entering. I imagine we'll see some fantastic games come out of this MAGs (as there usually are anyways).

[Mikko]

Being one of the previous winners (no other participants ) I'm really interested about this one.  Like always the time might be a problem, though.

Anyway since it is anniversary I decided to follow the first MAGS' guidelines.

Good luck everyone!

[Saberteeth]

Man, I'm so entering thissone! Awesome rules. :awe:

I think I'll choose conspiracy for my rules list.

Again, awesome rules!Ã, 
EDIT: I lost all my files for my game. Damn viruses!  :'( :'( :'(

[sergiocornaga]

I'm probably not going to be entering, but I really would like to see this theme used. Hooray for zombies!

[Dave Gilbert]

Wanna use old graphics?  Sure you can, if if you choose THIS set of guidelines.

[Klaus]

Wanna use old graphics?  Sure you can, if if you choose THIS set of guidelines.

True - this is the only exception. But it also doesn't allow all kind of old material

[lo_res_man]

Well, I have decided to enter, And I have chosen THIS set o' rules http://mags.typo.i24.cc/?page=history&only=2004-03&pagetitle=Alternative%20Perspective. Hope to get it done!

[timlump]

Ok I'm in I finished my intermediate cert yestersay so lets so what I can pull together in 8 days,
I've chosen this topic
http://mags.typo.i24.cc/?page=history&only=2001-07&pagetitle=guidelines%202001-07

I'll probably never get it done but it is my first attempt so wish me luck

[Dave Gilbert]

I'm going for these rules:
http://mags.typo.i24.cc/?page=history&only=2004-10&pagetitle=Conspiracy

It's moving along quite quickly, so I'm 99% certain that it will be complete - in some shape or form - by the deadline.  Oh yes.  It will be complete.

[timlump]

i've decided actually to change my guidelines to this
http://mags.typo.i24.cc/?page=history&only=2001-07&pagetitle=guidelines%202001-07

[timlump]

i've changed the guidelines of mine again
since when downloading ron resources my computer suffered a near fatal error so im staying away from them
http://mags.typo.i24.cc/?page=history&only=2001-07&pagetitle=guidelines%202001-07

[Radiant]

Okay, I've decided to also join this MAGS anniversary edition, and have asked Fizzii to do the graphics. It's probably ready for upload tomorrow.

The chosen ruleset is...

Spoiler

all of them!

[close]

[Barbarian]

Hi everyone.Ã, 
Ã,  Ã,  Just to let you all know that unfortunately I'm going to have to bow out of this MAGs.Ã,  I had a lot less spare time than I was hoping for (damn things such as "work" and "responsibilities" and other various commitments and distractions got in the way ), so I simply was not able to get enough of my project completed in time (though I'd say I still got about half of it completed).Ã,  Of course I'm a bit dissapointed myself that I didn't have the time to commit to this project, especially considering this is a very special MAGs and all.

However, all is not lost, I still plan to continue working on this little project over the next month or so (but not as a MAGs of course) in hopes to release it in the near future.

In case some of you have not yet seen the recent "Release Something" thread, I'll post a couple of samples here of what I was working on for this MAGs (art work is hand-drawn by me the "old fashioned way" using pencils and paper, then scanned into the computer):





Ã,  Ã, Thanks for understanding that I didn't have the time to finish this game within the deadline.
Ã,  Ã, And, my respects and congrats go out to the people who manage to complete their MAGs game in time this month.

[Ubel]

I didn't finish my game either. For the first week I couldn't come up with any idea at all. And when I finally got the idea and started working on it, I became lazy and fed up on the project. Just like I do with any game project I start. ¬¬ I might finish it someday though.

Here's a screenshot of the game:


If you are interested, you can read a bit more about it on my website: http://www.pabsoft.com/games.html

Sorry.

[Afflict]

Man I only saw this now.. grrrr.

Wish I knew about this a little sooner. Anyway goodluck to all and close off is 30 june?

[Klaus]

Just to let you all know that unfortunately I'm going to have to bow out of this MAGs.

I didn't finish my game either.

Sad to see your games not being part of the competition :'( The concepts look very promising...

close off is 30 june?

Yes, it is! To go in detail the end is reached in 48 hours from now (see timestamp of this posting). So game creators had the whole month - 30 days - for game creation. Much longer than for usual MAGS competitions, but it's all special this time

By the way: Don't get confused when the next MAGS competition already starts on July 1st while this one is still in progress! In the end there will be an overlap of about one week then.

[Erenan]

I'm also dropping out on account of not being able to finish in time.  :'(

Here's a screenshot of what I was working on...



I was using three rule sets: 2004-10: Conspiracy, 2005-07: Underwater, and 2006-03: The Skies. I might complete it later and release it anyway. Same stuff the others are saying.

[Phemar]

Is it 00:00 GMT tomorrow the deadline?

[SSH]

I can see that anyone who DOES enetr is going to win by default... 

[Mordalles]

maybe the comp should run for 2 months, then everyone can finish their games. 

[Dave Gilbert]

I can see that anyone who DOES enetr is going to win by default... 

Don't jinx it!  I hope I'm not the only entry AGAIN this time. :-(

Anyway, you might have seen my "In Production" post about my game "The Shivah", but I figured I'd throw in my 2 cents here with an exclusive mags thread screenshot!



This should be done by tomorrow.

[Phemar]

Ok well Bartimaeus and I are entering a game called "The Netherworld."

We're using "The Underworld" set of rules, and we'll have the game by 00:00 GMT on 30 June.

It's good to see we're no the only entry

[Dave Gilbert]

[woot] Woot [/woot]

[Radiant]

I can see that anyone who DOES enetr is going to win by default... 

Don't jinx it!  I hope I'm not the only entry AGAIN this time. :-(

PSYCH!

[JuuL]

I think Mordalles has a good point. There is no reason why this "M"AGS couldn't continue for another month - or maybe just a week or two.

[Sam.]

doesnt the M stand for Monthly? I think that's a pretty good reason.

[UP]

But what if it stands for... Umm... Months-long?

[Klaus]

Well, no need for a big discussion:

The idea is to use AGS to create a game in under a month

And you already read:

To go in detail the end is reached in 48 hours from now (see timestamp of this posting). So game creators had the whole month - 30 days - for game creation. Much longer than for usual MAGS competitions, but it's all special this time

So now you still have 12 hours left to submit your entries (see timestamp of this posting). Good luck!

By the way:
Don't get confused by this other competition out there that's also called MAGS: The Millenium AGS contest, that is passed from one generation to the next over about 1000 years. Very exciting as the AGS engine might slightly change over this short period of time and it is expected that some participants won't remember the exact deadline in the end. So also good luck to all families and clans that take part in this challenge. I hope you make it in time ... when it's time. But that contest has nothing to do with our MAGS here which is limited to one month only!

[SSH]

m0ds has told me that he now thinks he wont be bale to make the millenium AGS deadline....

[Mikko]

Count me in!

As one not making it before deadline..

Too bad. This time it was not because of megalomaniac plans, but just the usual shortage of free time like I predicted earlier.

[Dave Gilbert]

My game should be up shortly.  Hard to believe the deadline is actually here.

[Phemar]

The Netherworld.

Okay there we go.

It's playable right through, though are still a few things I'd like to add in a later release.

- Cheerz, Zor and Bartimaeus

Edit: Added some screenshots

[Bartimaeus]

 

[Dave Gilbert]

Made it with an hour to spare. 

DOWNLOAD THE SHIVAH

Join Russell Stone, embittered Rabbi, as he struggles to solve the murder of a former congregation member. 

Written, designed, and conceived by: Dave Gilbert
Character portraits: ProgzMax
Music: Vel
Backgrounds: Dr. Scary

Featuring an original score, tons of dialog, men with skullcaps, and multiple endings!

PHEW!

What an amazing month!  Working on this game has been a great experience.  Special thanks go to Dr. Scary who virtually held my hand during the making of the game, as well as Vel and Progz for all their fantastic comments that improved the game mightily. 

I hope you enjoy the game as much as we did making it.

[Klaus]

Okay. Three entries in the end. Not really the number that I hoped for in this anniversary contest and I awaited some more entries rushing in during the last few hours. But okay: Three is not bad and all entries look very promising. So it will be hard to make a choice. Let's start the voting now:

For voting please visit the MAGS site or make your choice right here:

The Shivah by Dave Gilbert
The Netherworld by Zor and Bartimaeus
Infinite Monkeys by Radiant

Please vote only once and be sure to have played all games before sending your voice! Good luck to all participants.

For the time of voting now you're invited to post your opinion about all entries: Pros and cons of the games. What did you like, what not. In this case it's interesting how you compare the games - if this is possible at all.

[Phemar]

Klaus The Netherworld is by Bartimaeus AND me.

[Mordalles]

okay, great mags games.

[Afflict]

Ouch...

[Bartimaeus]

I used a lot of references for that room but it was all drawn by hand, with the pencil tool, by myself.
It took a lot of time.
I forgot how similar I made the composition though and I'm really sorry if it looks like I stole your idea buloght. I used your cave for inspiration and ended up doing basically the same thing.
I can change it for later versions if this is a problem.

[buloght]

Oh, hi, just playing your game really fun!

No it's no problem, it doesn't look exactly like mine, and I'm honoured you would reference something I made But it doesn't look exactly the same, I don't mind

[Bartimaeus]

Lol thanks dude.
It really wasn't intentional that it look so similar.

[SSH]

Having looked around this thread and the MAGS site (which still has the previosu months rules, btw) I can't see when voting ENDs...?

[Klaus]

Having looked around this thread and the MAGS site (which still has the previosu months rules, btw) I can't see when voting ENDs...?

There's no announcement when the voting is over - there never was. It usually ends after 3-5 days.

By the way - the MAGS site settings are okay: It already shows the new rules of July! That's part of the overlap I spoke about here.

[Klaus]

So let's finally come to the end of this special MAGS competition.
First of all many thanks to all participants: All entries are very exciting and offer the whole range of adventure experiences going from weird to serious - in the best sense

The MAGS competition is tough this month

True words.. Not easy to decide which's you favourite game I quess. Now after a really long time of voting - almost one week is also special for MAGS - the winner is selected. More than 50 votes were submitted this time, a big number compared to the usual contests.

So what's it all about? How did the community decide? Which game received most votes and who will get the unique MAGS anniversary CD?

Who is on top? Russell Stone, Godfrey or the Mittens crew?

The winner is "The Shivah" by Dave Gilbert. Congratulations and again also many thanks to the other game creators for these excellent entries. I hope we meet again in one of the next MAGS competitions

[bluber]

Even the winner is a little suprise for me, I  congratulate Dave.

[Phemar]

Awww, congrats Dave! Good job.

[mätzyboy]

And a worthy winner it is! Loved the game!

[Dave Gilbert]

Thanks, everyone! And "mazel tov" to Bartimaeus, Zor and Radiant for two fantastic games.