MAGS December "Depleted" (RESULTS)

CaptainD · Wed 09/12/2015 00:16:33

Okay so it looks like I may have something.

Plot: You are on a routine mission that takes you through some caves in space, no problem your autopilot handles that while you relax. Until... you are hit by an asteroid and your ship's energy levels plummet to critical levels unable to sustain the autopilot, leaving you to take manual control and get through the caves without destroying your ship.

Got the basic controls and how to set up the screen sorted out. Collision detection is reasonably good.

Screenies:

This will be my first ever solo MAGS entry and will almost definitely be pretty awful

so please be gentle if / when you eventually do play it.

Stupot · Wed 09/12/2015 01:30:36

As Cat pointed out the rule clearly says the game assets (apart from music and publicly available modules) should be completely new. I think it is fair to have this rule to encourage creativity and teamwork (if you can't/don't want to make your own backgrounds, try to find someone who can/does).

That said, I'm not going to be personally dishing out disqualifications for using a few recycled pictures, not unless the other participants feel that a line has been unduly crossed. And at the end of the day the judgement will be in the voting.

I think this rule is there for a reason and I'm not going to lift it. However, I wouldn't want this to deter anyone from entering. I would expect honesty and openness on the part of anyone who thinks they might be bending this rule. And I would hope that this transparency be met with friendly discussion and a small dose of leniency from other participants.

Mandle · Wed 09/12/2015 02:58:19

Cheers for that Stu: I think that ruling is a fair and wise descision. Rules are mostly stretched and bent and otherwise topographically altered in a lot of AGS contests. And, like you said, as long as the rule-bender is honest about such stuff, it can be taken into account by the voters. At the end of the day what we really want is MORE GAMES!!!

CaptainD · Wed 09/12/2015 10:58:31

@Funkpanzer - love the look of your game, real 8-bit vibe to the graphics too!

May you learn to LOVE timers

Mandle · Wed 09/12/2015 22:31:21

Did anyone else think "T.A.R.D.I.S." when they saw CaptainD's first screenie?

CaptainD · Thu 10/12/2015 00:05:52

Quote from: Mandle on Wed 09/12/2015 22:31:21
Did anyone else think "T.A.R.D.I.S." when they saw CaptainD's first screenie?

Hah... my wife just play-tested it and said exactly that!

(For the record I also thought so but it wasn't actually intentional!!)

Got it working pretty well now, will post some updates soon.

Funkpanzer · Thu 10/12/2015 17:23:10

Thanks @CaptainD, looking forward to losing control of that TARDIS!

I have been staying up way too late every night with this and finished level 2, menu fonts, UI, splash screens for level intros 1-3, the entire script up to level 5, and a working game clock thanks to @Snarky! Also made the mistake of leaving negative space inside of objects and characters and am really looking forward to re-exporting/importing all the sprites.

I've discovered that the BASS template doesn't play nice with dummy inventories and now need to figure out how to use buttons as inventory items (or remove this completely unnecessary feature).

Here's Coach's office in Level 2 -

- and the locker room.

Cassiebsg · Thu 10/12/2015 20:24:54

Yes, Tardis... but I thought it was intentional...

Wow, that is looking great Funkpanzer! So "spectrum" but without the painful colors!

(at least these look a tad more pastel than the original palete).

CaptainD · Fri 11/12/2015 11:45:45

I did think about changing my spaceship sprite but what the hell, if it looks like the TARDIS, there are many worse things to be compared to.

I've added 3 tunnels so far to make your way through and have designed the fourth. Intro cut scene and controls screen done. Checked to make sure that it does basically work. All looking good so far - tweaking the difficulty level has been one of the most difficult things, finding that sweet spot between too easy and too difficult has been a challenge.

- Happily flying along with full hull and shields...

- Probably about to die....

Mandle · Fri 11/12/2015 12:07:52

Quote from: CaptainD on Fri 11/12/2015 11:45:45
tweaking the difficulty level has been one of the most difficult things, finding that sweet spot between too easy and too difficult has been a challenge.

Yeah...that takes a lot of time. It was the same with my monster game last month. And another problem is that as you test the difficulty you get better and better at your own game, so it becomes harder and harder to keep perspective, and the game tends to end up way too difficult for a first-time player...

In the case of my monster game this is not a huge problem as there is no way at the moment to actually win the game. If anyone ever replayed it they would just be aiming to beat a high-score before dying. So it all becomes kind of relative and the difficulty is not a huge issue.

But in the case of a game where there is an actual goal to reach, win the game, and then game over, and feeling of completion: Too high a difficulty can make the player frustrated indeed...

Good luck mate! If you need a tester at all gimme a yell! Cheers!

JudasFm · Sun 13/12/2015 14:02:42

Quick question: can we make a game about something that starts out full and depletes as the game goes on? Example: you have 10 charges on your fuel pack, it's up to you when you use them but when they're gone they're gone. The idea is that the player has to find a way out before everything is depleted.

Stupot · Sun 13/12/2015 22:45:16

@JudasFM - I don't see anything wrong with that. You can pretty much interpret the theme however you want, within reason.

Atavismus · Wed 16/12/2015 09:49:58

Hi all!

Because the theme is so good, Hobo (gfx), Peder (code) and me (story/puzzles) are in!
It will be a small one room game.
I won't say more about it, but here is some concept art:

Stay tuned!

JudasFm · Mon 21/12/2015 12:47:10

My title screen, hand-drawn in good ol' Twisted Brush:

There'll be things like New Game, Load Game etc there for the real thing, obviously

I was going to add the main character, but no matter what I did it just ended up looking weird, so it can stay as it is. I might change the writing though, see how it goes...

Mandle · Wed 23/12/2015 16:33:38

The last two teasers look extremely interesting!!!

Cannot wait to play all these games!!!

JudasFm · Thu 24/12/2015 09:22:49

This is turning into a real (re)learning curve for me; it's been so long since I used AGS that I find myself going to the Help menu a lot more than I used to

It should be done by the deadline though

Atavismus · Thu 24/12/2015 13:37:54

Just a small update: we are not dead!

Mandle · Thu 24/12/2015 15:44:32

Quote from: Atavismus on Thu 24/12/2015 13:37:54
Just a small update: we are not dead!

OMG dude...You totes just posted at 1337 O'Clock!!!

CaptainD · Sun 27/12/2015 20:47:34

Okay mine is finished, apart from waiting for a title screen (which will be awesome as it's by one of the most talented artists on the AGS forums, pity it will make my in-game graphics look even more awful!

) - and adding 3 or possibly 5 difficulty levels, which will be very easy to do (just setting some variables).

How are everyone else's entries going?

Stupot · Sun 27/12/2015 21:46:25

Things are looking promising. Good luck wrapping up your depleted projects. 3 days left. Deadline is when it is no longer 2015 anywhere in the world.