MAGS March "Cut in Half" (VOTING)

[heltenjon]

Here are my thoughts this month:

MORT

Spoiler

It's great to see someone making a game using the split screen tech from the AGS Camera Tech Demo! (I assume.) For those of us who played and loved Rootbound's earlier game Elevation, this is a welcome return of the same kind of puzzles. Back and forth, re-using a sparse selection of multi-purpose inventory items. Even though this may be a platform game, thankfully there's no jumping, and I made it through with lots of time used, pondering what to do and trying the combinations.

The humour in the dialogues work nicely, and whoever said the drone was "lovable", had it spot on. Great premise, good delivery on the theme of the month, and fun gameplay, unfortunately hampered by some bugs. I'd be happy to rescue the pink robocop again in a sequel or five. (The helmet paintover gave me instant robocop vibes.)

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Pod Dwellers

Spoiler

I haven't had time to beat this one yet, but will play until I do. There's a lot going on under the hood here. The theme is evident in the two-part nature of the game. At first, I had the feeling that the first part, in the Space ship, was almost unnecessary for the meat of the game. But I realize that you may control which people you start with by careful selection, and that may give the necessary head start to make your colony avoid dying instantly.

The game is made more difficult by hiding almost all stats, so actually knowing which characters will work in given situations is a bit of hit or miss, though I got some ideas through trial and error.

The game sports no graphic thrills, and that spartan look means that Mandle made this well knowing that he would not win this month's contest. And I love that so much - that people don't participate to win, but to share their game ideas with others. The game is just that - ideas on top of ideas. Maybe not all has been polished yet, but it's a great prototype. I will give further feedback in the game's own thread after I make further progress.

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Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

I must admit up front that I read the hint about the wall, and afterwards couldn't believe I'd missed that. This game, too, was far from the easy stroll MAGS games often are. I enjoyed the puzzles very much, especially that clues were left everywhere - it became a part of the problem to sort out what was just background noise and what was actual useful info.

Last month, the creators treated us to a horror-themed game set after some sort of disaster. This time around, there are also constant allusions to the past, but this time it's hilarious. Pancakes as holy food is so funny, and also a bit eye-opening as to how the real-world religions and traditions work, without being mocking or seeming disrespectful. It's wonderfully pulled off.

The graphic style with the limited palette works well this time around, too, especially the giant bugs. And once again, the music track is atmospheric in a less is more-way that I cannot really explain. It's more of a feeling than a fully formed opinion.

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I voted for:

Spoiler

Breakfast Requiem. All the gods have names like someone's trying to say something with their mouth full of pancake. And there's a Ghostbusters reference so well hidden, it may well be unintentional. Anyway, the great humour tipped the scale this way, even though I enjoyed all the games.

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[RootBound]

@heltenjon I wish I had remembered that the AGS camera demo existed.    It probably would have saved me a lot of time and given me more space to iron out the bugs.    I did have fun figuring out how to do split screen though. Now I'll have to play the camera demo and take a look at the source, see what other cool things I might do next time.

[heltenjon]

@heltenjon I wish I had remembered that the AGS camera demo existed.   

And now I wish I had thought to post that observation when you posted the first screenshot. 

[cat]

As promised, here are some mini reviews:

MORT

Spoiler

I loved the game. What looks like a platformer is actually a classic point and click adventure but with creative controls. The split gameplay was excellent and I loved the drone and that the two players were able to interact with it to exchange items. The scene when they reach the common floor and the separation line goes away was amazing. The graphics are also great. Of course, there has to be a bit of polish and bug fixing and the last room's puzzles need some fine-tuning. Best interpretation of the topic and progress updates throughout the competition.

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Pod Dwellers

Spoiler

Interesting concept, I enjoyed the first part most. The second part was too random for me. I managed to survive for some time, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do actually. There was only a handful of events that would repeat permanently but what happened each time was too random for me. Often I picked what I would think reasonable team members but didn't have a successful outcome. Good interpretation of the topic and some progress updates.

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Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

I like the graphic style and the world building, but the puzzles were too read-the-designers-mind for me. The topic was not really met (was the cut-in-half pancake ever used) and there was not a single progress update for the whole month.

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I voted for:

Spoiler

MORT. It was the best interpretation of the topic and most fun to play.

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[RootBound]

Thanks so much for the kind words @cat ! It makes me very happy when people notice the small details like what happens when you get to the final room.

And I notice we have a winner! Glad to see every entry was someone's favorite. Congratulations to @jfrisby and @Babar for a really sweet entry.

Thanks again to everyone who played MORT, both those who voted for it and everyone who gave feedback and reported the bugs. Great competition all around!

[heltenjon]

Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

Spoiler

The topic was not really met (was the cut-in-half pancake ever used)

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Spoiler

I take it you didn't reach the game's end? I'd say that qualifies.

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[cat]

Spoiler

I take it you didn't reach the game's end? I'd say that qualifies.

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Spoiler

I did, but it didn't matter to the story. The result would have been the same had the planet split into three or more parts or exploded into tiny fragments.

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[jfrisby]

:o 
Thanks to everyone that voted for us, and thanks to Mandle and RootBound for awesome games!! 

I've had a blast this last couple months, and look forward to learning more! This one got overambitious and messy and I was cursing the amount of inventory items involved.. lessons learned! (maybe?  hopefully?) 

@heltenjon Thank you for the incredibly kind review!

@cat I was worried about cursing ourselves if we posted updates, and Babar likes surprises.. but this is definitely a priority in the future!... especially since I love reading everyones updates!
I was trying to put the 'Cut in half' theme in everywhere.. But I agree it doesn't really come across.

Spoiler

The original plan was to cut the bridge in half at the end, (which we kind of did?) but it doesn't really make sense...  and there was the inner/outer world stuff, and half buried head... but it all got kind of subsumed by syrups.

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Thanks again all 

[Mandle]

Congratz to all for either winning and/or getting a game "finished"!

I had a ton of fun making mine but started late and by the time I had the mission template done didn't have the time to make more than 15 or so. The good news is that the template means I can plug in new missions willy-nilly for future releases (DLC "seasons" in the current parlance I believe hehe) and game-balance be damned!

[Ponch]

Congrats to the winners and everyone who made it across the finish line! I didn't vote this time around because I wasn't able to complete all the games.