MAGS February “It’s About Time” (RESULT)

[fernewelten]

For context: I participated in a game jam some months ago. I was completely uninspired by the jam theme, and I never even got a story going. So in the end, I had to abandon the project.

On the other hand, I came up with lots of possibilities for this month's MAGS theme. So I decided on a complete rewrite, with a new story, completely new puzzles and new coding, all adapted to the subject of time and timeline. I've only recycled some visual and music assets that I had made for the old jam. And, of course, Count Bumbley and the shoes had already been drawn for Chapter 1.

This adventure has been written in AGS 4.0, using the new compiler. I thought it would be high time to have the courage of my convictions and to use the new compiler in a small production context. All in all, the compiler was up to the task.

Enjoy!

[Stupot]

Thanks for the entries guys. Some cool-looking stuff.
I'll rig up the voting soon, so get playing.

[Stupot]

Right'o. Sorry for the delay. It's about time to get the voting going.

Here are the games. Please vote using the poll above

	Prep Time by heltonjon
	Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by Newwaveburritos
	Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten

[Shadow1000]

Good turnout this month!

Here are my thoughts:

Prep Time by heltenjon

Spoiler

Game comes as advertised Completely dialogue based and some really cool batman graphics. Would possibly appeal to a diehard Batman fan. However, not much play value.

[close]

Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by Newwaveburritos

Spoiler

AMAZING game with a huge number of backgrounds and characters for a game created with a time crunch! I had a great experience playing and enjoyed the little story and had a lot of laughs. Weak on the puzzles but as I said, fun to play.

[close]

Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten

Spoiler

This is an excellent escape the room game. Very puzzle-heavy and continues the story where the last one left off. I found the puzzles to be right at that level where they are solvable but difficult enough to provide that challenge where you feel that satisfaction when you solve it.

Some notable features: two playable characters with different abilities; I liked the ghost's translucent effect and got a kick out of the part where he moves his head to the level of the action he is taking.

There are complete and detailed descriptions for almost EVERYTHING in the game and you can interact with MANY items that are not key elements of the game. This adds to the experience but may have overstepped the point where it's hard to know what locations or items participate in a puzzle or not. Some might find this to be attractive but I would have preferred less of it

[close]

My vote went to

Spoiler

Castle Escape. As with any game created under time-constraints, one challenge to the author is where to focus and designing and coding complex puzzles made the experience just so much better than a good graphic and story/joke experience

[close]

Awesome job!

[OneDollar]

My two cents:

Prep Time by heltenjon

Spoiler

As advertised it's a blend of joke game and fan boy game. Gameplay wise there's not a lot to do, just working through a conversation tree with (I think?) no real branching or possibility of failing. I'm not a huge Batman fan so I can't really comment on the fan boy side, but I know enough to get the joke.

[close]

Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos

Spoiler

This game has great atmosphere. The backgrounds are wonderful and there's loads of them (even if two were made outside the competition). The character art is also really good, and I love all the little touches you've added (e.g. death appearing in the graveyard, Nate casting long shadows when walking by the big windows, the extra animations for things like warming your hands on the fire and climbing on the train). The music fits well too, and it all combines to make an interesting and cohesive world that I wanted to explore. The story starts intriguingly, it shows you the aftermath of an event you're somehow responsible for and it seems like you're going to have work out what you did and put it right. But instead the rest of the game is chasing a clone from scene to scene. It was funny and I wasn't bored or anything, but for my taste I'd have liked some more story about how Nate listening to a tape led to evil clone wrecking a wedding party. Puzzles are mostly go to a location or talk to a person until the next scene happens. It gives the game more of an interactive story feel, though maybe some more puzzles would have balanced out the minimal plot. Again, just my personal opinion. Anyway I don't want to sound too harsh because I enjoyed it a lot. It looks and sounds great and it kept me entertained and interested for the whole play through. Also the game with the most interesting interpretation of the theme for my money.

[close]

Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by fernewelten

Spoiler

I hadn't played chapter 1, so I played through that first. There's a definite jump in art quality between the two, the study is nicely drawn and full of intricate details and objects. The transparent cupboard doors when playing as the ghost are a cool idea, and I'm also a big fan of how he raises and lowers his head depending what height he's looking at. Being able to play as two characters with different abilities was also great. I got stuck a few times with Chapter 1 because an object I'd tried before had changed its interaction after I'd done something else, yet it wasn't always obvious the two were linked. Chapter 2 doesn't really have any of this which is an improvement, the only minor example I can think of is that ghost doesn't mention the crystal ball when looking on top of the clock. The shoes 'stopping time' puzzle was a bit out there, but I didn't get stuck on it. The secret passage puzzle was the best one. Of the three games this feels like the most rounded, in that it has decent graphics, enough plot and some good puzzles.

[close]

My vote:

Spoiler

It was a tough choice. Castle Escape: Chapter 2 narrowly edged out Saturday Night for me.

[close]

[heltenjon]

My thoughts this month:

Prep Time by myself

Spoiler

In hindsight it could have been a fun experiment to name the game Batman: Prep Time just to see how many random outside downloads that would generate.  I'm not in it to win it, this was made to keep the contest going and for my own (and hopefully some others') amusement. I wanted to make a game that was dialogue only, and as such has happened upon all the technical limitations of that - not being able to save or change room without leaving the dialogue. (Although I managed to do so anyway.) The joke part of the game is the ridiculous plot and the deus ex machina tech Batman can produce, while the fanboy in me wanted to play the comedy with straight faces, so I tried to write the dialogue as close to how the characters talk as I could. It was actually most fun to write Alfred. (Hope I have avoided any "tally-ho, old chaps" moments.) The research done also adds up to the weapons he is portrayed with in the combat picture.

Part of the joke is that the player can't fail. Batman has placed this game (?) in our reality for someone to play. 

[close]

So, did anyone spot which game Batman is playing on the Bat-computer? 

Then on to the two good games:

Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos:

Spoiler

Eye candy! The game looks incredible, and there are lots of shadows, reflections and animations to gawk at. The storyline is funny and confusing, and the gameplay doesn't really involve any real puzzles. There are some hidden stuff, like the beer that is not marked as a hotspot. I took delight in making my character drink a lot of it!  It was a fun experience to play, and it bodes good for the author's long time project. Not a challenge, though.

[close]

Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten:

Spoiler

Fernewelten is one of my favourite puzzle makers in here, and he didn't disappoint. Solid puzzles, even though the shoes part I did while trying to achieve something else... Funny characters with their own personality. Great idea to make a puzzle out of the communication between the playable characters! It's also commendable how you use theme music connected to the character who is in the spotlight, even if our music tastes doesn't match 100%. I liked the music at the "This has happened" screen the best. You can really play! I also got a laugh out of how the ghost held his head in various positions.

[close]

My vote goes to

Spoiler

Castle Escape. The puzzles make a game, usually.

[close]

[fernewelten]

There are complete and detailed descriptions for almost EVERYTHING in the game …

And that's not even the worst. After the ghost has found its glasses, most of the clickables have TWO descriptions: the ghost's are preponderantly different from the count's. I really went to town this time.  I promise more restraint in future, if only to spare my poor fingers a mountain of typing.

I'm flattered to learn that a player as actually taken the trouble to look at all this lot. 👍   I was wondering … but then it was already too late to stop my endeavour.

[heltenjon]

I'm flattered to learn that a player as actually taken the trouble to look at all this lot. 👍   I was wondering … but then it was already too late to stop my endeavour.

+1

[newwaveburritos]

Oh, it's great that so many people have taken the time to play the game carefully.  I'm flattered as well.  I'm really glad that the little details and animations didn't go unnoticed.  Next time I'll put in at least one puzzle, lol.  Really, though, I wanted to actually make a game instead of farting around and that's what I did, which is a great feeling.  It was a great and eye-opening experience.

[Shadow1000]

Hmm...it seems that the last post in this thread is a few days prior to the vote being closed, and no post announcing the winner, and the title still indicating (VOTING).

Numerically, the winner is Saturday is the Loneliest Night of the Week, so, congrats at winning the February MAGS!

[Stupot]

Thanks, Shadow.

Indeed the winner is Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos. Congratulations. I’ll PN you in the coming days about choosing a topic for April.

â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"-

MAGGIES 2021

Thanks to all those who participated this month.
If you haven’t already, it would be great if you could head over to the MAGGIES thread and vote for your best three among the 2021 MAGS winners. This will decide the best MAGS game of the year, and the winner will be announced as part of the upcoming AGS Awards ceremony.

Thanks everyone.

[newwaveburritos]

Oh, jeez, thanks everybody.  I'm honored that you picked my weird little game.  It's really a thrill and I really had a good time making it.  I'll do it again and next time I'll feature some puzzles, lol.

[heltenjon]

Congratulations to Newwaveburritos!

Also thanks to whoever voted for my game...I really didn't expect it to get any votes with this competition.