Adventure Game Studio

What is MAGS?
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 the rules set by the previous winner.

For more information please visit the Official MAGS website (http://www.mags-competition.tk).

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 the wonderful prize is to announce the next month's rules, and all competitors 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.

You are not allowed to (re)use material already created before this competition, you game must be completely new! An exception goes for sounds and music where you can also use free material that is available to the public.

Please do not just enter the competition with a rushed entry (a game created in just some hours or a few days)!

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Topic: Stone Age

This month's guidelines were set by last month's winner Radiant:

Back in the good old days, men wore animal skins, carried heavy clubs to hit each other on the head with, and chased down dinosaurs for breakfast. We didn't need such fancy new-fangled inventions like the wheel or fire, we just herded our woolly mammoths all day and watched the the latest show on painted cave walls. We don't need you young punks with your fancy spears, nosiree!

The game should play in the Stone Age. Whether this is a serious stone age (like on Discovery Channel) or a silly one (like on the Flintstones) is up to you. Possible other sources of inspiration include Joe & Mac Caveman Ninja, or the Clan of the Cavebear books; or try speaking only in monosyllables for a while and see what you come up with. The main character may be human, but could also be something else, like a pterodactyl or something.

Furthermore, the game should involve a new invention. This could either be a classic (like the wheel or fire), or something weird (like a cuckoo clock that nobody knows what to use it for). No further restrictions.

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All games need to be in by October 25th.

Please post a download link of your game entry to this thread, best with a screenshot. Thanks and good luck.

OOH!
Nice rules! Nice rules which aren't all obscure and confusing and limited...

I kind of want to try and make something... or at least draw some sexy cavegirl sprites... Anyone need sexy cavegirl sprites?

I played a Flash game that would have qualified for this (except it wasn't an AGS game, of course) not so long ago, where there were various levels and you (a caveman) had to complete a task at each level (make fire, woo a cavewoman and start a family, etc). Did anyone else play it and can anyone remind me what it was called? It wasn't OgOg (http://www.abc.net.au/gameon/ogog/more.htm) but it was similar.

This just screams for a Thog Infinitron (http://www.drunkduck.com/Thog_Infinitron/index.php?p=244962) fan game.  ;)

Quote from: paolo on Wed 01/10/2008 14:08:51
I played a Flash game that would have qualified for this (except it wasn't an AGS game, of course) not so long ago, where there were various levels and you (a caveman) had to complete a task at each level (make fire, woo a cavewoman and start a family, etc). Did anyone else play it and can anyone remind me what it was called? It wasn't OgOg (http://www.abc.net.au/gameon/ogog/more.htm) but it was similar.

Is StoneAge Sam (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/448272) the one you're thinking of?

Quote from: Eggie on Wed 01/10/2008 13:40:00
OOH!
Nice rules! Nice rules which aren't all obscure and confusing and limited...

I kind of want to try and make something... or at least draw some sexy cavegirl sprites... Anyone need sexy cavegirl sprites?

Ummm....yes? I need them to get up, get on the floor, and walk the dinosaur....

I likes these rules muchly....maybe, just maybe this could be my learning game to the new ags...

Maybe a new Gorthor of the Cave People is in order... Or not. I have waaay too much on my plate right now!

 Way back in the when, there was a game called Caveman Ugh-lympics (http://abandonia.com/en/games/219/Caveman+Ugh-lympics.html), It had fire making, dino vaulting, and wife tossing. Seriously a lot of fun,  the only one I was any good at was fire making, though I got some good distances with wife tossing.

After a long while I might be in, if I come up with the little side detail known as the plot.

Man I'm having a bril idea.. I migjt join in.. 27 days left, and I may come up with something.(I have the idea, sprites music and the rest is missing).

Nice topic. I really wanna join this one but I can't start until oct. 10th. Two weeks will be damn little time for that, but let's see.

Doh!  I already have a half-finished game that fits all the rules for this, and is actually called "Stone Age"!  I started it years ago and never got around to finishing it. :)

Quote from: OneDollar on Wed 01/10/2008 22:24:32

Quote from: paolo on Wed 01/10/2008 14:08:51
I played a Flash game that would have qualified for this (except it wasn't an AGS game, of course) not so long ago, where there were various levels and you (a caveman) had to complete a task at each level (make fire, woo a cavewoman and start a family, etc). Did anyone else play it and can anyone remind me what it was called? It wasn't OgOg (http://www.abc.net.au/gameon/ogog/more.htm) but it was similar.

Is StoneAge Sam (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/448272) the one you're thinking of?

Yes! That's the one. Thanks, OneDollar.

Hurrr! Hurrr! :)

Hopefully, myself, IndieBoy, Sylvr and Dualnames will produce an entry...

Quote from: SSH on Mon 06/10/2008 17:46:04
Hopefully, myself, IndieBoy, Sylvr and Dualnames will produce an entry...

Whereas hopefully means, that well we probably wont. As luck would have it I'm composing the music, so I'm actually gonna have to do my stuff anyways. Anyway, I really don;t even know what's the game about but I've agreed/begged to do some music. And I'll enjoy it.

Quote from: Dualnames on Mon 06/10/2008 18:04:12

Quote from: SSH on Mon 06/10/2008 17:46:04
Hopefully, myself, IndieBoy, Sylvr and Dualnames will produce an entry...

Whereas hopefully means, that well we probably wont. As luck would have it I'm composing the music, so I'm actually gonna have to do my stuff anyways. Anyway, I really don;t even know what's the game about but I've agreed/begged to do some music. And I'll enjoy it.

Music or not, we can still produce an entry.

Aren't team efforts sort of not accepted or something..?

Quote from: Ishmael on Mon 06/10/2008 20:22:23
Aren't team efforts sort of not accepted or something..?

Sure they are accepted, I can think of plenty of MAGS games that were team efforts.

Oh. I probably recall wrong then. Oh well, carry on and nevermind me.

I must have some kind of record for breaking games before there's anything to them to break.

Oh, no entries ... no winner ...

Just kidding ;) There are still 24 hours left (see timestamp of this posting) to submit
all your entries. Then the voting will begin - if there are games listed as entries here...

Ehhh... I've got one

Magical Whatever Girl Rocks Out In The Stone Age
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/EggHeadCheesyBird/screenshot-1.png)
Click to download (http://www.datafilehost.com/download-634a47f3.html)

I've gotta tell you, though. Right now I only consider it half a game. Oh, it's fully playable and everything; but soon, oh so very soon, the voice pack'll be ready to download and it will
KNOCK
YOUR
SOCKS OFF!

Seriously, it'll sound amazing. Look out for it!

On another note: Holy crap! I made a proper game in AGS!!

Cute game, Eggie! You might want to set the z-order of the option menu 1 higher than the inventory screen, though :).

Here's my entry:

Rock, Rock, Rock (http://ssh.me.uk/RockRockRock.zip)

Many thanks to all who helped, especially to Indie who has failed his university course in order to do my graphics.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3AB5h3nIi3g/SPTQzLR65iI/AAAAAAAAAEw/TTd9_W0KPYY/s320/sshot.png)

Quote from: SSH on Sat 25/10/2008 11:13:25
Many thanks to all who helped, especially to Indie who has failed his university course in order to do my graphics.

Nice to see people getting their priorities right  ;)

You know you're stuck when you start desperately trying to click on the bird in the background.

EDIT: Oh wicked, I wish I could have spent some time playing rock paper scissors, though. Maybe after the credits.

Quote from: SSH on Sat 25/10/2008 11:13:25
Many thanks to all who helped, especially to Indie who has failed his university course in order to do my graphics.

Go Team! ;D

Who made the voice acting?  ;D

Aaaaand here's mine...

Yay, I feared this would turn in another "won by default" and I WAS TOTTALY WRONG!!!!1!!!1!one!

Quote from: SSH on Sat 25/10/2008 11:13:25
Many thanks to all who helped, especially to Indie who has failed his university course in order to do my graphics.

Hooray for.... ending up not helping :( Oh well, glad to see it's done! I must play it. Terrible, Indie.

Everybody post your custom cave art:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/EggHeadCheesyBird/erk.png)
I drew Death from Sandman. I think I got her hook thing on the wrong eye... that must be why it was 'odd'.

Rad game, by the way. Annoyingly so.

Quote from: Eggie on Sat 25/10/2008 17:48:15
Rad game, by the way. Annoyingly so.

Heh thanks, the feeling's mutual ;D Loved your entry, great art and animation and genuinely funny too. Nice work!

Right, now I'm gonna go play Rock Rock Rock...

Edit: Great work guys! Its short but full of nice touches like the bird flying around and when you use the fire :D. Especially liking the floppy feet walkcycle Indie, puts my 2 frame one to shame. Hope the course doesn't suffer too badly... oh, and cool music Dualnames, very atmospheric.

I'm glad I have an excuse not to vote in this one...

Hey! 3 entries! For voting please visit the MAGS site (http://www.mags-competition.tk) or make your choice right here:

Rock Rock Rock by SSH (http://mags.typo.i24.cc?page=voting&fav=Rock%20Rock%20Rock)
Magical Whatever Girl by Eggie (http://mags.typo.i24.cc?page=voting&fav=Magical%20Whatever%20Girl)
Erk - Adventures in Stone Age Real Estate by OneDollar (http://mags.typo.i24.cc?page=voting&fav=Erk%20-%20Adventures%20in%20Stone%20Age%20Real%20Estate)

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

Quote from: OneDollar on Sat 25/10/2008 19:59:39

Quote from: Eggie on Sat 25/10/2008 17:48:15
oh, and cool music Dualnames, very atmospheric.

Thank God someone remembered me, I could make a tune for the outside, but I was only asked for 3 songs..none including outside. Damn it would have been fun making a tune for that. Anyway, I still haven't played it. I even made music before the first room was created by SSH.

Eggie, your game crashed. I believe it was when ... well I guess I should put it in hide brackets, just in case  ;D

Spoiler

talking to the stompy guy about doing his trick again.

[close]

I will now go and try to duplicate the error, because I forgot to note what the box said.

EDIT: There you go:

An error has occurred. Please contact the game author for support, as this
is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 3.02.1025)

in "GlobalScript.asc", line 68

Error: AnimateCharacter: invalid loop number specified

Also, for OD's game... anything that appears in text doesn't stay up. Like, dialogue is impossible to read because it's flashed up and then vanishes. It's impossible to play the game this way. :( Anyone else having that problem?

Quote from: Sylvr on Sun 26/10/2008 02:44:04
Also, for OD's game... anything that appears in text doesn't stay up. Like, dialogue is impossible to read because it's flashed up and then vanishes. It's impossible to play the game this way. :( Anyone else having that problem?

Erm... none of my testers did ;). There's a text speed option in the options menu, but even on the fastest setting its still fairly readable. You could try playing with that anyway. Anyone else getting this problem?

Not me, just plays perfectly, indeed even with the slider all the way to the right....
Great game, btw...

All the games rocked but One dolllar's entry was just the best. Funny and nice graphic are the win!  :)

Quote from: Klaus on Sat 25/10/2008 22:26:17
Rock Rock Rock by SSH (http://mags.typo.i24.cc?page=voting&fav=Rock%20Rock%20Rock)
Magical Whatever Girl by Eggie (http://mags.typo.i24.cc?page=voting&fav=Magical%20Whatever%20Girl)
Erk - Adventures in Stone Age Real Estate by OneDollar (http://mags.typo.i24.cc?page=voting&fav=Erk%20-%20Adventures%20in%20Stone%20Age%20Real%20Estate)

Very nice entries! That's going to be a tough pick...

Three very good entries, but my extended compliments go to Eggie for creating an adventure game that really felt like an authentic cartoon show, without losing a bit of interactivity. That's a vote, way to go!

Here's a quick review of all the contestants. Might contain spoilers.

Rock Rock Rock by SSH
This had a good idea, but the game was too simple and short, even for MAGS game. It was also bothersome not to get any feedback when done something wrong. Eg. trying to interact with the crocodile. Even a "ugh!" sound would have been better.

Magical Whatever Girl by Eggie
The music were good. The setting was quite different and thus good. Vulgar humor worked really well (dinosaurus part), if the game would have more of that, this entry would be no. #1 in my list. The default interface sucks as always. It's also good call not to try to fill all the plot holes with overly boring dialog.

Erk - Adventures in Stone Age Real Estate by OneDollar
Someone should hit OneDollar for using installer. When I got over that, it turned out the game was really good for a MAGS game, the drawing part crowned the game. It was kind of funny when given the chance, of course I drew a dirty picture and the family that moved in seemed to like it also, even tough they admitted it was kind of strange picture. Player speed slider was a good addition also. The puzzles were conveniently easy.

Quote from: Smumm on Tue 28/10/2008 08:56:24
Someone should hit OneDollar for using installer

I used an installer to try and stop people doing the old 'run the executable from within the .zip file then complain that it doesn't work' thing (and for a vague attempt at professionalism), but you're not the first person to complain. At some point (probably after MAGS so I'm not accused of trying to sway the vote ;)) I'll upload a mirrored version that's in .zip format.

Thanks for your review though!

Vulgar humour?
Damn, MWG is the one character of mine where I regulate myself to try and be kid friendly when I'm writing for vhere...

I guess I jus' can't helmp meself.

Quote from: Smumm on Tue 28/10/2008 08:56:24
Someone should hit OneDollar for using installer.

Not meaning to be off-topic but... I never understood the hatred for installers. A few years ago I never heard of anyone having a problem with them. I rather enjoy installing a game.

and to be on-topic, all the games this month impressed me, but OneDollar's idea to add the cave drawing part was ingenious. Nevertheless, it was really hard to decide which to vote for.  :P

So the voting is over now! As most of you already said these are all very impressive entries this time. But one game started like a rocket and none of the other games was able to catch up - in view of this month's voting. More than 50% of all votes were given to

Erk - Adventures in Stone Age Real Estate by OneDollar

So congratulations to the winner and also many thanks to all participants.
See you all again next month?

Congratulations (http://ags-ssh.blogspot.com/2008/10/outbid-by-one-dollar.html) OneDollar! The best game won!

Yes, congratulations... for now.

But I'll be back... and next time I'll have a PROPER DESIGN DOCUMENT and... and walk cycles that actually look like walking and rooms that are laid out so I don't need to put in convoluted additional cutscenes to make sure people don't solve puzzles before they even know there's a puzzle to solve.
You been warned! You've all been warned!

Seriously, though. Erk was the greatest. I love Erk. Erk is my homeboy.

Eggie, your game was great, but who can resist writing on walls? In modern society - hooligans, in stone age - artists! :)

Yay! Thanks to all who voted, and also thanks to Eggie and SSH for providing such good competition. Voting should have been closer in my opinion

Quote from: Eggie on Fri 31/10/2008 17:22:39
I'll be back...

Please make another game with Magical Whatever Girl. The characters really lend themselves to an cartoon adventure game style... and if you don't I'll cry. So there.

Awesome game, OneDollar, congrats! :)

Congratulations, OneDollar- a well deserved, stone-agey victory! BAM  ;)

Yay! Well done!