Adventure Game Studio

Topic: 'Time'

This month's guidelines were set by DuncanFX:

Time is running out for your protagonist!
Make a game featuring some form of timed "threat".

(http://www.thewebdesignresources.com/images/posts/amazing-clock-stopping-photoshop-manipulations.jpg)

Ideas to help you:

• A time bomb must be disarmed...
• A dying old man's final day...
• A comet is heading for the Earth...
• You're late for work! Hurry up or you'll be fired!
• You need to escape a bedroom before your illicit affair is discovered...

Ending 30/4/2011

---

What is MAGS?

MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, or provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favorite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you have bad art skills, use it as a chance to do some graphic work. If you're sub-standard at coding, use it as a chance to give scripting a go. Ultimately, people will vote for the most enjoyable entry.

You may get help for the competition, although you must end up doing something yourself. You should however be warned that it proves difficult to organize a big team within thirty days. You are not allowed to use material already created before this competition. Your game must be completely new! Music and sound is an exception; you can use free material that is available to the public, if you wish. Modules and templates are also allowed. Please do not enter the competition with a rushed entry (a game created last minute). Sure, you can make a game and rush it - but don't do this just to win by default.

Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualise your game following the month's criteria (see top). Second, create your game fueled only by coffee. Third, finally, and most importantly, post your game here, including:

✓ A working download link.
✓ The title of your game.
✓ A suitable screenshot.

At the end of the month, the all-important voting will begin! This period usually lasts fifteen days. Should you win, along with announcing the next month's rules, your name and game will be immortalised in the MAGS Archive (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=games). Yet hopefully, at the end of the month, the accomplishment of finishing a game will be your greatest prize. For more information please visit the Official MAGS website. (http://www.mags-competition.info/)

Can't I just resubmit LaSol?  ;D

I love time as an inventive in a game (Infection 1 had it, Infection 2 will feature time very prominently and LaSol was purely time-based) so I'll be looking into getting something out for this!

LaSol is the first thing that came up in my mind after reading about this MAGS topic.

Hah, this could be cool, over in one of the Critic threads they were talking about a VerbCoin that deteriorates.

Quote from: Armageddon on Fri 01/04/2011 18:53:54
Hah, this could be cool, over in one of the Critic threads they were talking about a VerbCoin that deteriorates.

Yeah, that was my idea and indeed it would fit with the MAGS theme of this month. Would anyone like to collaborate on something like that with me - "the deteriorating VerbCoin game"? Armageddon?

But I must openly say I have only time for something quick, dirty and simple. More of a joke game.

I could help, if you could code it I have a lot of time this month so I could make some art. :D

Quote from: Armageddon on Fri 01/04/2011 19:29:57
I could help, if you could code it I have a lot of time this month so I could make some art. :D

PM'd. Let's see what we can come up with. Maybe it'll hold together. ;)

Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 01/04/2011 20:06:36
Maybe it'll hold together. ;)

With sticky tape and love anything's possible;-)

I *may* attempt something for this (third time lucky) but how loosely can the time limit be interpreted? I mean, personally i'm not much of a fan of timed sections/games - probably the wrong MAGS for me but I just had an exciting idea - so i'm thinking more along the lines of an implied time limit that progresses with the story rather than in real time. Would that be okay? If not, i'll go with a traditional one I guess.

Quote from: straydogstrut on Sat 02/04/2011 12:50:08
I *may* attempt something for this (third time lucky) but how loosely can the time limit be interpreted?

I was hoping to keep the theme fairly open to interpretation. I didn't picture that there had to be an actual time limit or timed section necessarily when I wrote the rules, but there needs to be a sense of urgency or time "running out" to at least part of the plot/theme. :) Of course, a time limit or timed section would also be acceptable. ;D

Anyway, good luck to everyone who decides to give this one a go. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see what you lot are doing for a couple of weeks, as I'm moving cross country for a new job tomorrow and am going to potentially be off the net for a while. :(

Oh man. Just a while ago I was planning on making this one game idea I have for a MAGS competition and apparently this month's theme is the perfect fit. Let's see if I'll manage to whip up something playable in a month. I'll probably have forgotten about this by tomorrow.

I like this idea enough that I think ill attempt to enter a MAGS competition. I havent scripted in AGS in about a year or so. I hope  im not too rusty.

(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o227/Dayne007/BADDYGRAVEYARD22.png)


an image to solidify my promise  :=

I've finished the concept and design. Will start to draw final graphics in the upcoming few days and hopefully will get to coding by the end of the week. I'm aiming for a simple little game with a bit of replayability and lovely retro graphics. Perhaps some music as well, although I'm afraid my usual musician might be unable to work on this one.  :( If you want to make some music (preferrably something with a chiptune sound to it) PM me!

I aim to have:
- replayability without being frustrating
- voice acting
- intuitive controls and gameplay
- cool SNES style graphics (320 x 200)
- Alternate endings
- ACHIEVEMENTS! (Every game HAS TO HAVE achievements!)

Here's a little concept art:
(http://www.whamgames.com/images/magsapril/concept01_v2.png)

Quote from: WHAM on Fri 01/04/2011 17:48:12
Can't I just resubmit LaSol?  ;D

Can't I just resubmit Warthogs? ;D

Liking the theme this time. It immediately sparked some ideas in my mind. I think I'll participate in this one :)

Time is always a big issue in my game concepts,
so if i dont get too busy with work this month,
im in.  :D

I'd also love to enter this one.
I like the thing with the screen. Kind of gives you an extra kick in the butt.
(http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/5857/previewuh.png) (http://img830.imageshack.us/i/previewuh.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
If you can guess what this is rip... erm inspired from, you'll get a cookie


Actually I don't know if it's a little to heavy to lift for me.
Especially in the animation department.
I could use some help with the coding not so much with the platformer engine - which i already have partly but with implementing puzzles and also in the creative department.
Maybe someone want's to collaborate?

Quote from: mode7 on Tue 05/04/2011 21:19:48
I'd also love to enter this one.
I like the thing with the screen. Kind of gives you an extra kick in the butt.
(http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/5857/previewuh.png) (http://img830.imageshack.us/i/previewuh.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
If you can guess what this is rip... erm inspired from, you'll get a cookie


Actually I don't know if it's a little to heavy to lift for me.
Especially in the animation department.
Maybe someone want's to collaborate?

An Out of This World beauty this is!

Well, I'd prefer the term: Another world  8)

anyway... you get a cookie

Quote from: mode7 on Tue 05/04/2011 21:24:33
Well, I'd prefer the term: Another world  8)

anyway... you get a cookie

Yum! Thanks! :)

Looks like The Dig meets a very Blocky Another World. 8)

Quote from: Armageddon on Wed 06/04/2011 00:30:07
Looks like The Dig meets a very Blocky Another World. 8)

Actually, a "very blocky Another World" is a synonym to "Another World". ;)

On a side note, I may enter this MAGS, cause I could use a small break from Forge. And I had an idea, but then I saw that breathtaking screenshot and I'm not so sure anymore. Btw, I've PMed you mode7.

Quote from: mode7 on Tue 05/04/2011 21:24:33
Well, I'd prefer the term: Another world  8)

anyway... you get a cookie

Yep... I also like the name "Another World":

The game was released in North America under the title Out of this World in order to avoid confusion with the popular but unrelated soap opera Another World.

Just lost a week of time on my game due to pneumonia that got me hopspitalized for a week. Will start working again in a day or two, as I start to get back to my senses. Might not be able to finish in time.

Also: I need someone to work music! If you are interested, PM me!

Quote from: WHAM on Mon 11/04/2011 15:31:31
Just lost a week of time on my game due to pneumonia that got me hopspitalized for a week. Will start working again in a day or two, as I start to get back to my senses. Might not be able to finish in time.

Bummer. Glad to hear you're feeling better!

As for my status... Unfortunately, untangling the story has been even harder than anticipated, so I'm going to let it mature a bit. Therefore, my MAGS debut will have to wait for now, sorry. :-\

Sorry to hear that Wham. Good to hear you're back on your feet.

Also sorry to hear you're dropping out AJA. Good luck for next time. Who's still in now?

My developement is progressing with unexpected fast pace. There might be a slight chance to get out a game which is actually longer than 10 mins ;)

Quote from: mode7 on Mon 11/04/2011 21:56:41
Sorry to hear that Wham. Good to hear you're back on your feet.

Also sorry to hear you're dropping out AJA. Good luck for next time. Who's still in now?

My developement is progressing with unexpected fast pace. There might be a slight chance to get out a game which is actually longer than 10 mins ;)

You're making 11 min games now?! Wow, that's so badass~!! :D

Well then you better step it up because my game is 15 minutes! (no joke)

And man Wham, that blows. Hope you feel better soon and get to finish your game!

I'll finish it, since I like the idea. The deadline might prove a problem, but then I'll just take an extra month to polish and make an even better non-MAGS game if that happens.

Im sad that AJA couldnt make an entry this month.  :'(
(Your timebased games are brilliant.)

The concepts are looking very promising so far, could be a good month for MAGS.  :)

I will come up with some kind of burglarsimulation this month.
Dont know how much from my (rather complex) concept, i can finish before the deadline.
Not that much i guess, so the game will be in some state on 30th, and maturate after, as a non Mags Game.

Shame I won't be able to take part. It's definately time I start taking part in one of these. Maybe next time.

Anyways, WHAM and mode7, your screens both look awesome and I can't wait to see what you come up with. :D

Quote from: cianty on Sat 16/04/2011 19:37:30
Shame I won't be able to take part. It's definately time I start taking part in one of these. Maybe next time.

Hope so, MAGS May has a great theme :)

Quote from: WHAM on Tue 12/04/2011 08:16:00
I'll finish it, since I like the idea. The deadline might prove a problem, but then I'll just take an extra month to polish and make an even better non-MAGS game if that happens.

If needs be I can extend the deadline by a few days.

every deadline extension would be appreciated.  :)
Netherless i couldnt finish the whole concept this month,
so it will be a diminshed (but rather cool, i guess) MAGS Version.

I'm working to polish animations and backgrounds, and scripting like crazy. However, some madman seems to have purchased Dragon Age 2 and is forcing me to play it all night long, which is hindering my progress!
I hope to have a proper proof of concept out for testing by the 20th, after which it should be easy to add the few extra levels and finish up in a matter of days.

This is all theoretical, of course!

Extension would be probably appreciated. My engine is up and running so far though a little glitchy. The BGs are taking more time than expected but there's steady progress. I will have the first level out for testing at the middle of next week. If you want to do some testing you could send me a PM.

Nice. I started a small game two days ago und just realized that it would fit this MAGS' topic. So in case I get it to work properly until the deadline I'll participate this time.

Screenie:

(http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/5900/runawayscreensm.png)

Status update: I've got about 50% of graphics done, as well as about 50% of scripting done. I aim to get both of those numbers above 75% during the coming weekend.

I think I've already made the most difficult bits, now all I have left to do is to get a lot of tedious copy/paste to get all the aspects of the game working as intended.

Also: I believe I have  found someone new to do the music, and so far this seems to be starting up nicely. I might end up requesting a few days of extension, but I will do my best to avoid that situation on my part.

For my personal calendar: week 17 reserved for unexpected work... :-)

Status update:
Im working only on spezialfunctions, minigames and this kind of stuff, but not on the entire gameplay, so far.  :-\
Fortunatly i have company fot the graphics, so the graphics are 3d rendered and mostly done by a friend.
But i have to take care about the characters (i have only the player character so far) and dont know if i can get the others done in time.
I also had to cancel the trading part for the demo.  :'(
But there are some cool things in this game, and the trading part will follow in the full version.
To make this kind of game was always in my mind and an heart thing, since i played They stole a million as a kid.
So im very ecxited about it, and quit my regular work for this month.  ;D

Here is a little Screenie:
(http://www.abload.de/thumb/screenshot_12kxr.jpg) (http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=screenshot_12kxr.jpg)

please extend the deadline!!!  :P

I'll just copy and paste Whams post.
because its exactly the same here:

Status update: I've got about 50% of graphics done, as well as about 50% of scripting done. (I aim to get both of those numbers above 75% during the coming weekend). -well probably not really

I think I've already made the most difficult bits, now all I have left to do is to get a lot of tedious copy/paste to get all the aspects of the game working as intended.

Also: I believe I have  found someone new to do the music, and so far this seems to be starting up nicely. I might end up requesting a few days of extension, but I will do my best to avoid that situation on my part.


Anyway: chapter one is ready for testing. No music and sound effects but all the fancy fmv stuff is already in there. So far only Matti said he wants to do some testing. Maybe someone else wants to help?

@Wham: Good luck with finishing up your game.
@Matti: good luck with the game - so many contestants this is gonna be best mags eva!

I'm wondering: Is anyone here working on a point and click adventure?

Good to hear there's lots of entries this month.

Quote from: Rocco on Thu 21/04/2011 11:15:10
please extend the deadline!!!  :P

Will do! I'll see on the 30th how much extra time people need.

Good to hear everyone's getting along well. I've been keeping a little dev diary for my own entry ova 'ere (http://hedgefield.wordpress.com/tag/15-minutes/). Code-wise I'd say I'm at about 75%, and graphics are coming up to the halfway point now.

Quote from: mode7 on Thu 21/04/2011 11:17:07

I'm wondering: Is anyone here working on a point and click adventure?

Yes. Haha but you guys are gonna be over killing me with your guys 3d and more original stuff  :P But regardless I wanna make a game!

Edit: I have nearly all the graphics done. Starting the grind of programming. Music is being done with outside help. Ill do a wild shout out  and say if someone wants to do a walking down and walking up animation for my main character I would be ever grateful, otherwise we may hold witness to a noodle arm guy animation like my dead silence game  :P.

Ok the first demo is finished.
If you want to become a tester, send me a PM

Here's a screen from the intro to get your attention:
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/1725/demoscreen.png)

[whispers]...Another World...[/whispers] ;)

Ascovel, you already had your cookie  ;)

Quote from: Ascovel on Thu 21/04/2011 15:39:16
[whispers]...Another World...[/whispers] ;)

Yeah, this is like straight from the cover, i know
Yet the gameplay and story are different.

Quote from: Matti on Thu 21/04/2011 15:42:52
Ascovel, you already had your cookie  ;)

I dropped it between the cushions of my sofa. :(

Anyway, it looks lovely and I'll definitely check the game out as soon as it's released.

I MIGHT submit a tiny tiny game for this!

[EDIT]
Due to health problems I will not submit any games. Maybe another time though :).

I love the fact that, with the topic being

Quote from: Atelier on Fri 01/04/2011 16:28:42
Time is running out for your protagonist!

so many people are looking for an extension to the deadline.  ;D

Whatever the final deadline, I look forward to what promises to be an interesting selection this month.

Quote from: stepurhan on Sun 24/04/2011 08:01:52
I love the fact that, with the topic being

Quote from: Atelier on Fri 01/04/2011 16:28:42
Time is running out for your protagonist!

so many people are looking for an extension to the deadline.  ;D

That was my game idea at April 1st, but I abandoned work on it after the first week :(

Status report: I didn't exactly make my goals during the weekend, so instead I decided to cut some content to have any hope of meeting any deadline. The game turned from "short" to "bite-sized", but I hope it will still be entertaining.

I just checked the list of things that are not done but should be and it's a long, slithering thing, gnawing at its constraints. If luck is on my side, I will have the game out to the testers on saturday, will use said saturday to fix as many bugs as possible (likely using bubblegum and toothpicks to patch any holes) and will release minutes before the deadline.

Graphics: 80%
Story: 90%
Gameplay: 70%
Dialogue: 10%
Event scripting: 5%
Music: Sounding good

Pushing on as soon as I get home from work today!

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Taking a few days off this week to make a little sprint to the finishline!

Im also in this boat and damn, we are sinking.   ;)
Im working around the clock on the game,  :P
to get a passaple game together this week.
If i had the same effort in my regular work, i would be rich.   :-[

My starting concept is also shrinking from day to day,
(only 2 mainobjects instead of 3, no trading as i wrote above, no pedestrians, and most probably no policemans  :'()
but fortunatly i had nearly all other pieces together yet, and can start to make the actual gameplay right now,
and i'm confident i can finish the task that the game is playable from start to end during this week.

Regardless of that i need more time, cause the concept is very susceptible for bugs,
and the whole Music - Soundeffect Thing has to be done.
So i suggest a deadline extension until  Wednesday 4. May!

Great idea hedgefield with the gameblog, i will enjoy and read it after the deadline.  :P
Good luck to all other Maggies this month.

Cripes! Just spent over 2 hours animating a single explosion!
And now I need to figure out how to animate fire! This is going to be close...

Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Sat 23/04/2011 18:53:15
Due to health problems I will not submit any games. Maybe another time though :).

Crap, hope it's nothing serious=S

I also won't be entering this one - just in case my earlier post was misleading - but I did get started on an idea at the start of the month before I got ill too so at least this month's MAGS was in some way successful. I intend to go ahead and make a game of it but there's no chance of meeting this month's deadline.

Goodluck to everyone who's taking part. I'm really looking forward to playing these games=D

Quote from: straydogstrut on Tue 26/04/2011 22:27:04
I also won't be entering this one - just in case my earlier post was misleading

Me and Armageddon have also postponed our 'joke game' project and it'll either become a MAGS of the future or be made outside MAGS entirely. The concept is too good to botch it.

I also realized my perfectionism won't stand any quick little games in general (only slow little games), so I need to secure some real time before I'll actually make any game at all. This month wasn't very rich in time for me sadly. :(

*sigh*
I'll probably stop developement where it is right now. I'm already far behind schedule and became extremely frustrated this morning, over a lot of small things that will take a lot of time to fix, about things not working out as planed and so on..
I should use the day to make some big progress but right now I'm just too frustrated. My social life has been suffering too, so I came to the point where I need to pull the emergency break. It's frustrating as hell to not finish a game again but this is what it is now.

The release version will feature the demo which is about 10mins of gameplay. I'll add some sound effects and ptp is doing the music and then release it.
I'm planing to finsih this up as most of the BGs are already done.

Sorry guys.

Nooooooo!  :o
Your project looked sooo coool!  :'(

Well its not dead. there will be a MAGS version and there will be eventually a finished version

Just make sure to finish it some day! Otherwise I will be a very sad panda.

Quote from: mode7 on Wed 27/04/2011 11:20:26
there will be a MAGS version and there will be eventually a finished version

Same goes here, probably. I've been quite productive yesterday and the game is technically done. But there's so much more I would like to add and the graphics could need an overhaul too, but I won't have the time for that and just concentrate on polishing up a few things. So probably I'll work on it later on and make a second version after the MAGS.

On the other hand - hey, I finished a game within a week, this could've been an OROW entry  :)

Oceanspirit Dennis: 3D [mags]

(http://www.pictureshoster.com/files/coavfqyxt78inui4rng.png)

Download OSD.3D (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1424)

Congrats for finishing your game Studio3

Thanks, Can't wait to play your full game. ;)

I am very close to finishing. Trying to polish as much as possible. But I should be able to upload the game on time.

I'm still deep in a swamp.
Can there be an extension until monday? That way I can try to graps straws during the weekend. I still need to write most of the in-game dialogue, touch up quite a bit of graphics and do a gajillion test runs of the game itself. Oh, and create a custom character.say script too!

Quote from: Rocco on Tue 26/04/2011 13:25:49
So i suggest a deadline extension until  Wednesday 4. May!

i cant finished the game before that day, i suspect.  :-[
Lost yesterday completly, and havn't enough time to work the whole upcoming weekend on the game,
so wednesday 4th May would be great.

Seconded, wednesday (or a bit later) would be real good since this weekend is going to be very chaotic for me (two birthdays and various QueensDay celebrations/activities here in Holland). Otherwise that would leave me with today only and I still have to do all the animations, not to mention some serious testing...

Quote from: hedgefield on Thu 28/04/2011 13:30:41
wednesday (or a bit later) would be real good since this weekend is going to be very chaotic for me

Quote from: Rocco on Tue 26/04/2011 13:25:49
So i suggest a deadline extension until  Wednesday 4. May!

Quote from: WHAM on Thu 28/04/2011 11:08:33
I'm still deep in a swamp.
Can there be an extension until monday? That way I can try to graps straws during the weekend.

Ok. New deadline is Wed 4th May with a bit of leeway after that. And thanks for your entry icey.

If the extension will get us four or more participants, I think it is a worthy sacrifice.
Thank Atelier!  :D

Sweet, cheers! I spent the whole day just getting the final puzzle to work right, so this means I can breathe a little easier now :)

thanks, this is absolutly neccesary for me, otherwise it would be at least a very silent and buggy game.  :P

Making good progress, the extension really saved my ass this time. Got 95% of graphics done, 90% of gameplay mechanics are working and I have working cutscenes etc.

I believe the game will be beta-worthy some time tomorrow and I will have monday and tuesday to fix any issues that arise.

Thats good news.

I hopefully get the game in a playable state without music and sound on monday.
So i can give it to betatester(s) and proofreading on monday evening,
and have tuesday and wednesday for adding music, sound, the corrected text and bugfixes. 

After sitting at my computer and wondering forever if I should release the game now....I have finally decided


I present to you:

THE LURKING HORROR
The games influence and inspiration originated from the 1979 movie, 'Phantasm'

(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o227/Dayne007/LurkingHorror2.png)
(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o227/Dayne007/LurkingHorror.png)

You are Mike, your brother has just run off to follow up on a lead about his missing friend at the local cemetery. If the rumors prove true about the place, your brother is in mortal danger and so are you!

http://www.mediafire.com/?3h3h9tlxy96fiv8 4.19MB download size

The game has multiple endings and should provide some replay value with multiple dialogue and solutions.

WARNING: GAME CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND GORE........download at your own risk  :=

Pro Tip: You can LEFT click AND RIGHT click on inventory items.

Enjoy!

So, the release status so far:

Diath	Released
Studio3	Released
Wham	Not yet released
Hedgefield	Not yet released
Mode7	Not yet released
Rocco	Not yet released
Matti	Not yet released
Abisso ?	Not yet released

Even with the extension it will be a close one, but I am hoping that some time tomorrow I will have my game as ready as it will be (I had to cut a LOT of content from my original vision, but oh well) and I will be able to playtest it properly during late tuesday and wednesday. I will release just before the deadline just to squeeze out as many hours of playtesting as possible. The game is now 95% playable and the end cutscene is not done.

UPDATE: Just sent the beta to a few people for testing. Will use tomorrow night to finish up the outro and fix bugs, maybe even add some pretty graphics too!

Wow, time's running away.

There are still some bugs and glitches left but I should be able to fix the issues within the next two days. So don't worry, I'm definitely releasing something  ;)

Almost finished here too. As I decided to release an non final version i had some time to polish things up. Added some great music and sound effects by ptp which really thicken the atmosphere. Theres a lot of already finished content that wont be in this version though.
Good luck to all the other contestants!

Same here. Sent the beta off to playtesters two days ago, so what's left is fixing a handful of bugs and doing some animations. I should be able to submit somewhere in the course of wednesday.

Its not so promising here.
Feels and looks slowly like a real game,
but there so much unexpeted issues suddenly coming up.
And if sorted all this things out, which will take at least one day,
the game has to be balanced, tested and proofreaded.

Unfortunatly there are so much issues to solve that i dont can give the game to betatesters and proofreading today.
If i must realease tomorrow, i guess i must submit a game which isnt finished and polished as i wish,
and in the state it could and has to be, so i want to ask if its possible to extend the deadline again until Thursday night.  :P

Quote from: Rocco on Tue 03/05/2011 12:23:22
extend the deadline again

I think this would be a mistake. There has to be a point where you just say "enough's enough".

Spare a thought for those of us waiting on MAGS May.

I have to agree with Hudders on this one. Since one of the basic ideas behind MAGS is to practice working with deadlines, I think there should be a hard limit to how much extenstion there can be. We all could make better games if we just had more time. This will not change even if we get 10 days worth of extra time. 3 days seems enough for me, since everyone was aiming for the 30th anyway (weren't we?)

Rocco, maybe abandon the MAGS-ship this time and make a normal (or deluxe) finished
version of your game (without dealing with a deadline) and join MAGS the next time again?

Or, if possible, cut out the/some problem-parts of the game, test it and finished it within time...

Oh no, i had worked like a MADMAN!!! on this game the whole month,
and i will release it, thats for sure, in the worst case without extern betatests and without a proofreaded english version,
what makes me a little sad, cause my english is bad, and its for sure that i play the game not in the same way, like an extern person,
who will encounter bugs, that i never face bymyself,
but i can't do more as work on the game until i slide off from my chair (which i did the last days and weeks.  ;))

btw. its not possible to cut things off in this kind of game.

I can understand Hudders, and the guys waiting for the new mags, (couldnt start a new one anyway?),
but Whams statement seems a bit two faced to me,

Quote from: WHAM on Tue 03/05/2011 13:38:16
I have to agree with Hudders on this one. Since one of the basic ideas behind MAGS is to practice working with deadlines, ...

cause its easy to decide against a 1 day extension, when you have finished your game allready,
and maybe you forgot you were in the same position 1 week ago to beg for an extension.

butI'm wasting my time here in the forum philosophize, when an unfinished MAGS Game waits on my harddrive.  :o  :o

Rocco, I really really hope you manage to release your mags game in time.

Thumbs up anyway for the hard work you guys all put in this contest!

I'd say release it - no matter what state it is in. Its frustrating to do something for a competition and ending up submitting nothing at all.

But my game is not finished yet...  :(
I'm looking at working on this until around 2 or 3 o'clock in the night to actually add the ending to my game, among other things. Plus I've already had to drop two thirds of content from my original plan, even with the extended deadline.

It ain't all roses on this end either, Rocco, my boy

Welcome to the club of the distinguished supporters of fanmade Computergames,
sitting until 3 or 4 in the morning, and coding like hell.  :)

I'll take a half hour brake now, and then somewhere later in the night should be the exhilarating moment,
when i play my game the first time from start to finish. Yeahhh......  :D


So 4:08 and its done, i played it the first time from start to finish.  :D

Last day of the MAGS! Excitement builds!

Status:
Squashed or chose to ignore all reported bugs yesterday, started addin a new (small) feature. The ending of the game is still unfinished, I will have to simplify it a little. Added all sound effects I could, still could do a lot better.

Looks like I'll be working all the way into midnight tonight, again...

Damn I slept in... ::)
Ok guys lets roll!!!

This the most exciting MAGS in ages (for me). I'm really excited what you guys come up with.

Quote from: Rocco on Tue 03/05/2011 16:58:20

Quote from: WHAM on Tue 03/05/2011 13:38:16
I have to agree with Hudders on this one. Since one of the basic ideas behind MAGS is to practice working with deadlines, ...

cause its easy to decide against a 1 day extension, when you have finished your game already,

A one day extension is quickly followed by another and another. Before you know it you've had a week's extension.

It's possible that there is room for a larger, more vaguely defined, MAGS. Say, three month deadlines, (SAGS - Seasonal AGS :P ) with one-word themes: e.g. SAGS Summer: "Cheese". Make a game involving cheese in some way.

Just a thought. :)

So heres my game - at least a part of it:

Have fun playing

NAME: Concurrence

(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6088/screen2lw.png)
(http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5167/screen1g.png)

Link
http://www.mediafire.com/?a9pyrw0uq8atzvp

UPDATE: Fixed the sound bug

If anyone getting problems with the save system: Just hitting R while startup will override it.

I'm getting an error, mode7:

QuoteUnable to determine startup path: GetShortPathNameW failed. The specified game file might be missing.

@mode7: AWESOME

EDIT:
when starting the game, the menu is shown for a second before the intro is shown...

EDIT2:
I hereby demand a full version  ;)

Damn... the music is out of sync in the intro. Hopefully mode7 can fix it soon.

Quote from: Hudders on Wed 04/05/2011 13:27:35
I'm getting an error, mode7:

QuoteUnable to determine startup path: GetShortPathNameW failed. The specified game file might be missing.

Strange what os are you on?
Anyone else getting this error

Quote from: mode7 on Wed 04/05/2011 15:53:55

Quote from: Hudders on Wed 04/05/2011 13:27:35
I'm getting an error, mode7:

QuoteUnable to determine startup path: GetShortPathNameW failed. The specified game file might be missing.

Strange what os are you on?
Anyone else getting this error

Nope (running on 64bit win7)

Quote from: mode7 on Wed 04/05/2011 15:53:55

Quote from: Hudders on Wed 04/05/2011 13:27:35
I'm getting an error, mode7:

QuoteUnable to determine startup path: GetShortPathNameW failed. The specified game file might be missing.

Strange what os are you on?
Anyone else getting this error

I'm using WINE. I will try it on Windows when I get home.

@Mode7: Absolutely terrific! Now you have to excuse me, I need to play Another World again until you get the full version done :)

Spoiler

the last door only only let me in after I tried for about 5 times

[close]

p.s. Thank god for sprite file compression. It sized the EXE down from 123 mb to 23 mb! Ironically if I zip them both up the resulting files only differ by 1 mb...

@Mode7: Fantastic! You've done the game that obviously inspired this absolute justice, but I had the same problem as Abstauber:

Spoiler

I actually needed a lot more goes at the final hurdle until I finally succeeded than Abstauber's very respectable five . Although the door was always far from fully closed, the character wouldn't enter! At the end, I think I cheated: I quit the game, as the protagonist was standing right beside the door. After starting the game up again, the autosave feature put the character in that exact same spot, and I could just effortlessly walk through the doorway!

[close]

So, maybe you'll have to look into that for the final game. (Please, sir, I want some more! ;))

Now on to hedgefield's entry, and hopefully some more...

God I almost had a friggin' heart attack! No backups and AGS gave me an error how it was unable to compile the exe due to "currupt memory". One reboot later all seems well again. Phew.

Will post the actual game in a few hours, the competition looks tough, though...

So, I had to rush it a little but managed to make a stable and hopefully bug-free version of RunAway.

Don't expect too much, I didn't start this for the competition and I only worked on it for approximately 7 days. It was just a little idea I had and started to work on. I had to cut back on a lot of things like music, two-player mode and the graphics in general, but in case I get enough positive feedback I might work on it again later on.

Get it here (http://www.zshare.net/download/89779181f04ca322/).


(http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/8341/screen09.png)

Awesome six entries thanks and well done to everybody. Wham the pressures on! :)

Quote from: Atelier on Wed 04/05/2011 19:40:07
Awesome six entries thanks and well done to everybody. Wham the pressures on! :)

i'm awaiting the proofreading badly, so the pressure is on me now, i guess.  :P

Wow! Very strong entries! Good theme I would have to say

Nice work, Mode7, but I already told you that.

Spoiler

I can't seem to get through the closing door though, even when it looks like I'm quick enough.

[close]

Wow! So many games to play :D

I´m stuck in "concurrence":

Spoiler

I´m at the vines, now what? Feeling like a complete idiot here ::)

[close]

Had a quick try at all the games. Good stuff in here. I'll write short few sentence reviews on all of them and post here. At the moment I feel very good about two games, and will give those two a lot more time before deciding on who I will vote.

@Bulba:

Spoiler

use an inventory item on them

[close]

Wow, so many games! :o This is a great edition of MAGS - too bad I didn't have enough time to participate.

Darn, can someone please upload WHAM´s "Of the Essence". His host is down again...

Wow, a total of seven games, that's got to be a record!

15Minutes:
Very stylish, great overall concept, a bit too easy though.

City of Thieves:

Spoiler

Just finished it, is it possible to get the 20,000? I'm pretty sure I got all the money out of both locations.

[close]

Wow, I definitely see you spending all your nights creating this, can't imagine the amount of work you put into this. The minigames are nicely done and

Spoiler

I felt actual tension when the police showed up during the second burglary

[close]

:D

Concurrence:
Damn impressive, coding the movements must have been a nightmare. The graphics are beautiful, love the birds whooshing by closely in the intro.

Spoiler

I'm still stuck at the screen with the two little platforms. I managed to run-jump to the second one, but I can't jump from standing, he always makes a step first and plunges to his death. Help?  

[close]

Of The Essence:
I finally managed to play through this using JoyToKey, the scripted events were perfectly paced, digging the artillery explosions. Now add diagonal walking and native Joystick support ;D

Run Away:
I couldn't get far, I'm constantly getting stuck behind trees or houses and there seems to be a bug with shooting the bazooka upwards (the nine fields include the one I'm standing on and it's game over).
Will give this another try once I understood the controls properly.

Mirror for OF THE ESSENCE (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/995571/Essence_WHAM.rar)

So many entries, great! When was the last time that a MAGS had this many entries?

Congrats to all of you on finishing (or finishing a reduced version)!

Haven't played any of them yet, but will do so tomorrow, probably. :)

I thought 15 minutes was hilarious!

Of the Essence is also a lot of fun.

Concurrence is nicely styled but I found the controls awkward and gave up on it in frustration after falling to my death for the billionth time. I'm still stuck in the same place as Khris.

QuoteIf I am not mistaken, this might also be the first AGS game to feature achievements! Correct me if I am mistaken!

You are :) .
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1318  


Playing the games now, concurrence is rather buggy (the platform edges in particular) but quite impressive so far.  Also it needs a readme with all the controls and such.  If you want to make it work a bit better, have the character stagger back once when against a cliff (when walking).  This was used in Fade to Black to great effect so you could get as close as possible to an edge for a timed jump, etc.  Also, making the collision area actually line up with the platforms is a good idea, since 90% of the time you'd fall off with a good 2 bodies wide worth of ground left beneath.


Essence:  Pretty cool!  I'd like to see this expanded so this event takes place some time later in the game, with the rest of the game having Commando or Ikari Warriors style control.  The music in particular was very retro-delicious.  My only issue with it is the controls could be more responsive and his vertical movement speed should match his horizontal with perhaps 8-way movement added for great justice.  Very nice!

Lurking Horror:  As a huge fan of Phantasm, I can't fault the story, though for some people it will seem pretty surreal and confusing in this condensed form.  I'd really like you to officially slap on the Phantasm title and do an actual, faithful translation of it from the film.  It would be awesome to see the balls of pain flying again.

City of Thieves:  Pretty neat!  The lockpick sequence is a bit fiddly because when it first starts it's easy for it to pop off and fail until you figure out what's going on, but the mechanics are good and it's a good framework for a larger game.

RunAway:  It's difficult for me to say much about this as it feels like more of a framework for a game than a game right now.  I'd like to see it after more time has been spent on an actual story and gameplay model.

15 Minutes:  Simple, yet funny.

OSD 3D:  Not sure what to say, really.  The battle is rather confusing and one-sided, the '3d' effect isn't particularly functional or compelling.  Basically I'm just not sure what's going on or if this is even a game.

MAGS April 2011 pack (7 games): direct download (http://www.xs4all.nl/~tdepaus/MAGS/MAGS_April_2011_Pack.zip)

I think I can make it 8. All I have to do is finish this game soon.

@Arj0n
I figured that part out :p
The problem is that I don't know how. I tried every single key.

Quote from: Bulbapuck on Thu 05/05/2011 10:10:43
@Arj0n
I figured that part out :p
The problem is that I don't know how. I tried every single key.

Spoiler

tab and spacebar while in front of the vines, can't remember if you need to duck. But you probably figured that already out too by now :-)

[close]

In Concurrence, press esc and you will see the info for controls.  ;)

Quote from: Khris on Wed 04/05/2011 22:50:44
Run Away:
I couldn't get far, I'm constantly getting stuck behind trees or houses and there seems to be a bug with shooting the bazooka upwards (the nine fields include the one I'm standing on and it's game over).
Will give this another try once I understood the controls properly.

I didn't have the time to improve the environment/item randomizer any further, so if you got bad luck, you'll get stuck early on despite good planning. But you should really aim for using your items as infrequently as possible.

I haven't encountered a bug with shooting the bzaooka upwards, but there seems to be a problem with shooting both the pistol or the bazooka two tiles to the left. I'll look into it and may upload a new version asap.

Quote from: ProgZmax on Wed 04/05/2011 23:24:10
RunAway:  It's difficult for me to say much about this as it feels like more of a framework for a game than a game right now.  I'd like to see it after more time has been spent on an actual story and gameplay model.

True, that's why I don't submit it to the game database or post it in the games forum. I DO have quite a few ideas about what could be improved and enhanced, so I'll probably update the game later on, but I'm not sure if I can find the time anytime soon. But I really wanted to get it out for this MAGS  ;)


I haven't played all the games yet, but these are some nice entries. Essence is hard but rather cool. Too bad you aren't going to expand it. 15 Minutes was easy but fun (as the others mentioned). As I'm a huge Another World fan I really like Concurrence and I don't have any problems with the controls (they're quite similar to AW).

ok I'm back from my boozing spree:

@Khris: you can perform a standing jump by pushing shift+up
Sorry the movements aren't documented better (you can hit esc though) the full version will feature a context driven tutorial

@ProgZmax: Thanks for your comments. The stagger thing is a excellent idea. Its on my  list already.  Its true that the painted bg doesnt always match up that good with the grid based level design. I will try to improve this and make some tweaks here and there.
I don't see how the game is buggy apart from that. Could you be more precise.

@Everyone else: Thanks for your lovely comments. The timelimit for the door is a little too tight. I might expand it.

I completely forgot to emphasize that a lot of credit for the games dense atmosphere goes to ptp88 (Analog Guy) and his awesome music and sound effects. Thank you buddy and sorry for not mentioning earlier.

Quote from: Studio3 on Thu 05/05/2011 02:03:21
I think I can make it 8. All I have to do is finish this game soon.

I'm confused now. Would you like me to include your game? You can't have two entries.

Woop woop.

For voting please visit the MAGS site (http://www.mags-competition.info/) or make your choice right here:

The Lurking Horror by Diath (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=The%20Lurking%20Horror)
RunAway by Matti (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=RunAway)
Of the Essence by Wham (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=Of%20the%20Essence)
OSD 3D by Studio3 (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=OSD%203D)
Concurrence by mode7 (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=Concurrence)
City of Thieves: Rescue Sandy by Rocco (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=City%20of%20Thieves:%20Rescue%20Sandy)
15 Minutes by hedgefield (http://www.mags-competition.info/?page=voting&fav=15%20Minutes)

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

Voting doesn't work for me.

@mode7:

Spoiler

I'm at the blast door, however I can't do anything. I picked up the rod and still have the shard in my inventory but I can't use them anywhere and I can only look at the console.

[close]

I'm probably again missing something obvious, the jump I couldn't figure out was explained right there in the pause menu, stupid me :=

Quote from: Khris on Thu 05/05/2011 17:35:27
Voting doesn't work for me.

@mode7:

Spoiler

I'm at the blast door, however I can't do anything. I picked up the rod and still have the shard in my inventory but I can't use them anywhere and I can only look at the console.

[close]

I'm probably again missing something obvious, the jump I couldn't figure out was explained right there in the pause menu, stupid me :=

Hint 1

Spoiler

You are missing an item..maybe some back tracking might help you..

[close]

Hint 2

Spoiler

You still havent discovered all locations

[close]

Solution

Spoiler

You can use the rod at the wall in the cave

[close]

Final and proofreaded Version (City of Thieves) is now online.
link is the same as before -> http://www.maniac-mansion-mania.de/downloads/AGS/CityofThieves_RescueSandy.zip

Quote from: Khris on Wed 04/05/2011 22:50:44

Spoiler

Just finished it, is it possible to get the 20,000? I'm pretty sure I got all the money out of both locations.

[close]

Yes it is possible, so i guess you missed something, but its very close. Total money ammount is around 20900.

Quote from: Khris on Wed 04/05/2011 22:50:44

Spoiler

I felt actual tension when the police showed up during the second burglary

[close]

:D

This is the best comment for me,  ;D cause my biggest fear was that you cant feel the tension, and without that the whole game wouldnt work. 
(And i started to implement the police on monday this week.)

Quote from: Arj0n on Wed 04/05/2011 23:56:46
MAGS April 2011 pack (7 games): direct download (http://www.xs4all.nl/~tdepaus/MAGS/MAGS_April_2011_Pack.zip)

Arj0n: Please can you alter the zip pack with the updated version from City of Thieves?

So i guess i have time tonight, to look at the other entries.  :D

Cheers Khris, works now.

Quote from: Rocco on Thu 05/05/2011 18:06:30
Arj0n: Please can you alter the zip pack with the updated version from City of Thieves?
So i guess i have time tonight, to look at the other entries.  :D

MAGS April 2011 pack (7 games): direct download (http://www.xs4all.nl/~tdepaus/MAGS/MAGS_April_2011_Pack.zip)

Pack contains:
The Lurking Horror by Diath
RunAway by Matti
Of the Essence by Wham
OSD 3D by Studio3
Concurrence v1.1 by mode7
City of Thieves: Rescue Sandy v1.1 by Rocco
15 Minutes by hedgefield

@Arj0n:
I hadn't, thank you  :)

I have now decided who to vote for.
Also: my two cents on each of the games (in no particular order).

The thing Studio 3 made
> Meh. Too complicated for me, I couldn't grasp the intricate battle system in place here
> Great story, though!

15minutes
> I like the idea here, very goddamn much! Yesss! I will have to invest more time to this game.
> I got the game to bug out quite badly within the first minute =( Seems a little unfinished, or perhaps just lack of testing
> Funny as heck!
> I blew it =(

concurrence
> So it's prince of persia / another world. I sucked at all these games, and this was no exeption. I got stuck, and eventually got frustrated after dying a gajillion times. Haven't finished so far, might keep trying. =(
> Still, the little bit of the game I got to see was pretty as heck! Really lovely art
> Buggy and unfinished, though I would love to see the final version. With a bit of polish this game could be really awesome

RunAway
> An interesting idea, but hampered by crude control scheme and uninformative graphics. I hope you will keep developing this one in the future, though. There is a good idea here.

Lurking Horror
> Good atmosphere and the quality of animation earns you back all the points you might have
lost due to simple character sprites, and you still end up in the green!
> I've gotten into creepy stuff like this lately, and I have to admit I loved the theme. Needs more creepy tall people! =)

City of Thieves
> Not a fan of 3D models turned into sprites, although this is one of the better ones
> Mouse control is less than ideal for this type of game, keyboard control would have given
much more feel of urgency and preciseness to the game (see Yahtzee's Art of Theft)
> GUI seems to function a bit strangely. The buttons don't all seem to react the same way
> I have to reduce points for lack of manual and use of music from a Troika game (that music is holy! Using it anywhere else than the original game is sacrilege!)

Here are my thoughts on the games

15 minutes:
This game has a nice mix of humor and game play. Without giving away anything, I really liked the last puzzle and how it all operated.


concurrence:
I didn't have any trouble at all figuring the controls out. I completed the game and would like to say you should defiantly expand on this because you have something really good going here.


In essence:
The only downside I really have to say about this game is that it seemed like punishment when you died because you couldent skip the intro  := otherwise this is another game that has promise and should get expanded on!

OSD:
There isn't a whole lot to say that others already havent.


City Of Thieves:
The mini games took me a minute or two to figure out what in the world was going on but when I did I was very impressed on how it worked! The 3d characters are not really my thing but this is another one of those games that should be expanded upon!


RunAway:
This was a fun little game. Add some flashy animations and a little user friendly controls and you got yourself a pretty unique AGS game!

Lurking horror
Since this was the game I made I'm not going to say a whole lot about it. I would actually like to do a full length game with Phantasm but I would fear I would not be able to give it the best presentation nor the care it rightfully deserves. I will discuss it with my artist but we have a much larger and less borrowed element game planned  :)

[OVER ALL]
This was really tough competition and very strong entries! It was really hard to vote

Quote from: WHAM on Thu 05/05/2011 20:51:54I got the game to bug out quite badly within the first minute =( Seems a little unfinished, or perhaps just lack of testing

Send me a PM with the details, I thought I squished all gamebreakers! Thanks for the kind words though, glad you liked it :)

I don't follow MAGS that closely in general but this does seem like a strong and bountiful edition. So many interesting games! Haven't had time to check them all out yet, will do so in the next few days. Great job everyone.

Here's what I think, I don't know if I can vote if I didn't play them all though.

15 minutes:
This game was GREAT the art style was cool, the puzzles were perfect I had a blast and defiantly would like to see some more Jack Brewer games. The animations were perfect though, very smooth and clean.

concurrence:
This game looks great as anyone can tell, I couldn't beat it sadly because the controls didn't always work and I could never get past those two pillars. This was enjoyable but far too hard.

City Of Thieves:
This game was an absolute joy to play, not only was it fun and very solid, it was the first 3D rendered AGS game that didn't look terrible. I loved racing around and stealing money, the only tool that was hard for me to figure out was the alarm deactivation it wasn't very clean and I ended up losing the game when it went off. I also loved the walk animation and sound it just fit.

Lurking horror
I've been meaning to play this but haven't had the time, I'll update this when I play it.

There were a ton of great entries in this contest and I can't wait for the next one. :P

Hey there,

I wanted to comment on each game but people seem to have pointed out the most obvious. I really enjoyed playing them, and was surprised by the quality of the games even though the authors didn't seem to have enough time to add everything they wanted, so I'll definatly be waiting for expanded/complete versions! I still have to beat concurrence, it should be easier now that I get the controls  ::)

I have to reduce points for lack of manual and use of music from a Troika game

I love(d) troika games, and I don't really like the use of this either, but, nevermind, really it didn't take the fun out of it, just deserves to be mentioned. Btw did you know one of the team members at the old Troika Games was called Chris Jones?  ;D

Quote from: Sephiroth on Fri 06/05/2011 01:17:03
Hey there,

I wanted to comment on each game but people seem to have pointed out the most obvious. I really enjoyed playing them, and was surprised by the quality of the games even though the authors didn't seem to have enough time to add everything they wanted, so I'll definatly be waiting for expanded/complete versions! I still have to beat concurrence, it should be easier now that I get the controls  ::)

Code Select Expand

I have to reduce points for lack of manual and use of music from a Troika game

I love(d) troika games, and I don't really like the use of this either, but, nevermind, really it didn't take the fun out of it, just deserves to be mentioned. Btw did you know one of the team members at the old Troika Games was called Chris Jones?  ;D

LOL! I have never even heard of troika games and I certainly never take music from somewhere else! I am composer and I specially made music for this game!  >:(

I have my own studio with full of synthesizers, effect processors and other tools and I specially compose only my own music with my own unique style. I spent hours with this project and I didn't do that in order to be accused of using someone else's music!

Quote from: ptpt88 on Fri 06/05/2011 07:06:54
LOL! You must be kidding me!!! I have never even heard of troika games and I certainly never take music from somewhere else! I am composer and I specially made music for this game!  >:(

Unless you are saying you made the music for City of Thieves, I believe you.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=43192.msg578109#msg578109

Quote from: WHAM on Fri 06/05/2011 07:43:09

Quote from: ptpt88 on Fri 06/05/2011 07:06:54
LOL! You must be kidding me!!! I have never even heard of troika games and I certainly never take music from somewhere else! I am composer and I specially made music for this game!  >:(

Unless you are saying you made the music for City of Thieves, I believe you.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=43192.msg578109#msg578109

lol... damn, I misunderstood. He should have designed his phrases better.

misunderstanding - although ptp WILL do the music for dualnames troica ^^

Perhaps using the code tag instead of the quote function confused us all.
I trust you, sir ptp88, shall show mercy and forgiveness to poor Sepiroth this one time.  ;)

Ok I give my two cents on the entries:

15mins:
My favourite so far. Short and easy puzzles. But great presentation nice music and quite funny. Also best use of the theme.

City of thieves:
Cool idea. I DID like the lock picking sequence. Much more fun than the one in oblivion. Rendered GFX work for me too.
Screams to be a full game

Essence:
Nice animations. The engine is also working quite well. My only problem is that you cant skip the intro after watching it 3 times (after dying 3 times) I gave up. Will try again- promised!

OSD 3d
I already wrote my opinion in the thread

Run away
Are the levels procedurally generated? This is quite impressive - the scrolling is a bit anoying. As said before more of a framework than a game.

Lurking horror
I did but the dying animation was well worth it. Cool atmosphere. I really WAS scared.  Begs to have a little more atmospheric BGs.

Overall the amount and quality of this months mags is extremely high. Will be a though vote

Ah well, I should have used the quote, sorry for the misunderstanding ptpt88, my comment on Concurrence had nothing to do with it, it would have been clear if I used quote and named the game I was referring to :p

Anyways I just finished playing and casted my vote, thanks for the great games!

Since everything has been summed up already now I can only say this:

Huge THANX for the great entries guys!

This mags had an exciting tense already due to the deadline 'issues'.
So even when there was no game released yet, the theme (TIME) did really fit this mags  :D

I will post my 2cents about all entrys tonight.
when is the voting deadline (the next one.  :P)

Quote from: Arj0n on Thu 05/05/2011 19:33:13

Quote from: Rocco on Thu 05/05/2011 18:06:30
Arj0n: Please can you alter the zip pack with the updated version from City of Thieves?
So i guess i have time tonight, to look at the other entries.  :D

MAGS April 2011 pack (7 games): direct download (http://www.xs4all.nl/~tdepaus/MAGS/MAGS_April_2011_Pack.zip)

thanks, Arj0n.  :)

bigthanks for your comments.  :)

Quote from: WHAM on Thu 05/05/2011 20:51:54
City of Thieves
> Not a fan of 3D models turned into sprites, although this is one of the better ones
> Mouse control is less than ideal for this type of game, keyboard control would have given
much more feel of urgency and preciseness to the game (see Yahtzee's Art of Theft)
> GUI seems to function a bit strangely. The buttons don't all seem to react the same way
> I have to reduce points for lack of manual and use of music from a Troika game (that music is holy! Using it anywhere else than the original game is sacrilege!)

well there is actually a halfbaked keyboard control implemented,

WASD -> move player
G,L,U, ->  AGS standard keys for switching mousemodes
so its actually possible to play the game with keyboard and mouse combined.
my aim was also to make it fully playable with keyboard,
but after thinking about it, i didnt really know a decent solution to pick inventoryitems with the keyboard and act with them on the hotspots near the player, but i will look into this..

the music issue:
two weeks ago, i started thinking about the music, my first intention was to use a remix from They stole a million.
So i searched and found one, then i email the author about the permissin to use it, but never get an answer.
as the game evolves i realized, that the They stole a Million Theme won't work anyway,
cause its more a fun-sounding and wont approach the feel of the game.  
Vampire:Bloodlines is one of my all time favourite games, and so i knew the music would fit very well to the game.
And it does, especially for the theme when the police is nearby.
I was also under heavy pressure to get a music in the game, at all.
I started includeing sound and music on monday as well, so there wasn't much space for wrong decisions.
AndI'm pretty happy with the result, and sorry i dont want to sacrifice Troika or Vampire:Bloodlines, i see it as an obeisance to them.
Not to mention that this music is only used for the mags version of the game.

Manual:
The basic infos about the minigames are in the readme, the inventory gui in the bottom was introduced in the intro,
and to change mouse.modes with the right cursor key isnt that unusual in AGS - Games.
Which control infos are you missing?  

> GUI seems to function a bit strangely. The buttons don't all seem to react the same way
Please can you point out for me, what you mean exactly?

sorry dopplepost.  :-\

Here are my 2c about the games

15 minutes:
Well this game is almost perfect, the concept, the style, the fonts, the biowareish talksystem,  so well polished and fit together like a charm, no doubt my vote goes to 15 minutes, it was so much joy to play, congrats this is real gem.
If i look with the magnifying glass for critism, the only point that i would mention is the lack of a few soundeffects.


concurrence:
really great presentation, are the graphics drawd by yourself?, the controls are really good and similar to prince of persia 1, at least so far i can figure it out, cause my main criticpoint is the lack of a readme with the exact keycontrols. So i get to the vines and stucked there, i gave up, after hitting all keys on the keyboard but didnt manage to go over this obstacles. What brings me to the next point, which is maybe related to the fact, that i didnt see more of the game, but i cant see the Time Theme in your Game, cause except the quote from Einstein in the beginning, there was no relation to the mags theme, maybe this will appear later.


In essence:
Well, the intro.... i cant stand it longer then 3 times, but what i see so far was very promising, cause at game start it reminds me on Who dares wins or Commando, so i was a little bit dissapointed, as there was no meaningful opportunity to use the shootgun.
i struggled at the tanks, maybe i missed a later section, where it come in use.
So it was only running to right until you die.

OSD:
Ok, so there is nothing more to be said.

QuoteDave Miller 30.4.2011

RunAway:
I liked this concept very much, one of my favorite AGS Games is  Forklift -> http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=42094.0
which a somehow similar approach, from Technocrat. So it was funny, to run a bit around an blew some things up, but it was obivious that this game needs a lot more work to be finished. Hope you will continue this concept. I got a game crash while playing:
in "room1.asc", line 853
Error: NewRoom: room change requested to invalid room number -1.
 

Lurking horror
The atmosphere was very well captured, but i didnt came very far, and im not that patient in the moment when im stuck,
cause the work which i laid back for this MAGS, has to be done now.  :P

Wow thanks Rocco, that's some high praise :) Glad you enjoyed it.

Incidentally, I put up a new version fixing the bug WHAM encountered: http://bit.ly/mGwSvH

And now that I've had the time to play through the other entries, here's some more feedback.

Concurrence
Loved the art style and the animations, very fluid and very true to it's inspiration! Congrats also on making it just as frustrating as it's inspiration ;) I think I died about 40 times at the wobbly rock bit before I gave up. If the controls were a little more forgiving this would make a fine full-length commercial game no doubt.

Of The Essence
Great game aside from that intro business. The direct keyboard control worked extremely well and I had a ot of fun dodging bullets and ducking into craters. Didn't make it to the end but if you ever make that intro skippable I definitely will try again! Liked the art too, the little mans were very nicely designed. A full campaign with more varied gameplay would kick ass!

OSD3D
A very interesting idea, I've never considered making a 3D game like that. Must've been quite a headache too, syncing both sides to eachother. Sadly my eyes are inverted or something because when I do the cross-eyed thing everything goes backwards instead of forwards. This happens with other 3D stuff aswell, for me I need to have it inverted for it to work. But nice idea nonetheless.

RunAway
Took a try or two before I got the hang of it but then it was quite enjoyable. Sometimes the randomly generated map makes it a little unforgiving to go the wrong way as I found myself trapped on the wrong side of a fence or tree several times. But it's something I haven't seen before and behind the basic graphics and interaction it reminded me a little of the fun I had playing the Commandos series.

Lurking Horror
I'm a big fan of horror games so I quite enjoyed this one. The atmosphere is super important with this genre, and you got it down pat right away. I then realized it may not be the smartest to play it right before bed so I left it for further exploration during the daytime. :)

City of Thieves
Excellent game, reminded me a lot of this game I played back in the day where you were a sneaky mustached fella doing burglaries around a free-roaming cartoon town in a very similar manner. I think it was by those Jowood fellas that also did the Neighbours from Hell games. Once I got the hang of it the lockpicking game was very cool, and the tension of searching around with the cops outside was nicely done. Having to turn off the flashlight was a nice touch, although for burgling purposes you might as well leave it off since you could see everything just fine without it. The flashlight corona also looked a little strange since it overlays across the background, but ofcourse realtime lighting in such a way would have been impossible, so still a good solution. Agreed that it would make a great full-length game too.

Again, nice job everyone!

QuoteI don't see how the game is buggy apart from that. Could you be more precise.

The two doors, mainly.  The first one I couldn't get through (tried using the bar on it/playing with the computer) and then I reloaded a save and it was magically open; the second one, no matter how fast I was the door would always prevent me from moving even if it was well above me, even if I was ducked and tried rolling through (which really should work).  Once again, I reloaded near the door and just walked through it, but had this not been possible I would've abandoned the game to be honest.  The doors are pretty much the serious issues aside from the edges that need to be addressed.

With that in mind, I still voted for your game so that should give you an idea of how impressed I was by it!

Thanks for pointing this out ProgZMax. The first door is actually a puzzles you might have missed. That you still could go trough after loading is a rather serious bug. The one with the second one is a serious game breaker. I'll hotfix that when i get home today.

The platforming issues i will adress next week. I want the engine to be functioning perfectly before progressing in making the game.

Concurrence:
I only had serious problems with the 2nd door, the timing is too tight.
Still, the platform edges could use an improvement.

What a month. Seven games and a record breaking MAGS!

The 37 votes cast are as follows:

Entry	Votes	Breakdown
The Lurking Horror by Diath	1 vote(s)	2.7%
Runaway by Matti	0 vote(s)	0%
Of the Essence by Wham	3 vote(s)	8.1%
OSD 3D by Studio3	5 vote(s)	13.5%
Concurrence by mode7	9 vote(s)	24.3%
City of Thieves by Rocco	9 vote(s)	24.3%
15 Minutes by hedgefield	10 vote(s)	27%

Congratulations hedgefield!
(http://www.gifs-paradise.com/animated_gifs/fireworks/animated-gifs-fireworks-14.gif) (http://bestanimations.com/holidays/fireworks/Fireworks-02-june.gif) (http://bestanimations.com/holidays/fireworks/Fireworks-01-june.gif)

However, we're still not done.

As soon as mode's Concurrence was featured here (http://kotaku.com/5801135/this-one-goes-out-to-fans-of-out-of-this-world), it got an explosion in the amount of votes (the article had 8,768 views when I checked), and the votes probably would have carried into the hundreds if I hadn't closed voting. This means technically mode is the winner, by a huge majority, but it wouldn't have been fair to count these votes because not all the games are featured on a popular website ;) (Awesome response though mode, I'd definitely suggest going commercial on it)!

So these results are from the last vote statistics before that article was posted.

Adios.

Congratulations Hedgefield, a deserving win! I thank whoever voted for me. In my eyes, I made my second published completed game and that's what is important to me. I have toyed with the thought of adding voice acting to the lurking horror, but only time will tell how that turns out. But Congratulations to everyone that made a game in this competition!

Cool! I'm honored that people appreciated 15 Minutes this much while the competition was so strong. And on my first MAGS too! Thank you everyone for voting and congrats to the other participants for finishing their fine games (and even getting them on Kotaku, nice one mode!). That makes you all winners in my book.

I had a really hard time voting on this one, thanks to all the participants for all these completely different games! Congrats to you, hedgefield, and the close second winners!

Quote from: Atelier on Thu 12/05/2011 19:29:02
What a month. Seven games and a record breaking MAGS!

AMAZING MONTH INDEED.

Awwwww, crud! Oh well, I lost to the best... Wait, what is THAT thing doing with 5 votes!? :o

Oh well, this was a HUGE MAGS and a deserving win to hedgefield. I have to admit that 15 had the best implementation of the theme. Good job!  :)

Congrats hedgefield, I was surprised that OSD made it into 4th place! It got 5 votes despite the bugs.

@WHAM: Must have been the 3D effect & maybe because it was a RPG. :P

Congrats, hedge, and thanks to you all for the great games, I enjoyed everyone of them. Well, every game..

Quote from: Matti on Thu 12/05/2011 21:06:29
I enjoyed everyone of them. Well, every game..

Haha

Me too.

Mm, I do understand the bitterness. I would be well annoyed.

But let's leave it there.

Heh, a total of a meager 37 votes? That's pretty lame, forums!

Not to diminish the feelings of win but that's far from being representative.

Congrats Hedge, hilarious game and by far the best use of the theme. Maybe you could extend on the idea in the future.
And thanks to everyone else who participated. This was quite a ride indeed!

Congrats, hedge!

Quote from: Khris on Thu 12/05/2011 22:09:37
Heh, a total of a meager 37 votes? That's pretty lame, forums!

Not to diminish the feelings of win but that's far from being representative.

Even when games were awesome (snakes of avalon, eternally us, space pool alpha, hardspace all being entries on that mags and all being nominees for the ags awards) the votes were quite on the low side.

18 Eternally Us
16 Snakes of Avalon

(I waited till the dif between them was bigger than one)

Which means that 37 votes make this MAGS a quite successful one.
And 7 entries is like 3rd best. Where Babar's Samarkand holds the trophy of pwning 8 people.

I have to admit that this was the first time I ever voted for a MAGS game because in the past I never got around to play all of them..

Quote from: Matti on Fri 13/05/2011 15:25:26
I have to admit that this was the first time I ever voted for a MAGS game because in the past I never got around to play all of them..

Yeah, this is the second time I've ever voted. Last time was in 2009.

Big concrats Hedge, 15 Minutes is the well deserved winner, and for me it was the most fun entry to play.
But wait, if I had't voted for you....  ;D, just kidding

Thanks to all participants for making such a strong and high quality competition.
This month was very hard, but also very productive for me,
and i have a base for an epic thief game now.  :D
Although i dont really know what the players liked and disliked in my game, cause theres not much feedback about it,
but anyway it was a great theme, a great competition, with a lot of funny and entertaining games,
so thanks to all they have played the games and voted and congrats to all other participants it was a pleasure to play all the entries this month.

I think the games page needs to be changed so that the give feedback has a big animated .gif button, so people might notice it and use it. At the moment only a very select few games seem to get a lot of feedback and reviews, while most struggle to get even the five sets of votes requited to see an average score.  :(