Adventure Game Studio

2025 - THE YEAR OF MAGS!

Theme: Home Country
Set by: Repi | VOTE NOW

(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/assets/img/games/2872_1.webp)	Tuulipuku-Tauno Darrassa (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2872-tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa/) by WHAM
(https://i.postimg.cc/kDPJzSbv/Vasa-screenshot.png)	The Vasa Fasa (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/competitions-activities/mags-june-home-country-open/msg636684209/#msg636684209) by Blondbraid
(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/assets/img/games/2877_1.webp)	Three Lions (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2877-three-lions/) by GOC Games
(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/assets/img/games/2878_1.webp)	VASILE THE TEMPLAR (DEMO1) (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2878-vasile-the-templar-demo1-/) by Weeklyjournaling

I would like to see local flavor in the form of Game Dev's home country. Latin puzzles from Rome? Choppin' trees and people in Quebec? Original Haitian zombies perhaps? Maybe Finnish people are forced to take public speaking courses by evil, babbling Americans in a dystopian Finland?

So create a game about anything, but place it in your home country.

Whispers of a Machine (Nordic countries)
(https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/16416203-whispers-of-a-machine-windows-these-robots-arent-working-too-the.png)

Kona (Canada)
(https://www.gamegrin.com/assets/games/kona/screenshots/kona-screenshot-0.jpg)

Sumatra: Fate of Yandi (Indonesia)
(https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/16562822-sumatra-fate-of-yandi-windows-finally-yandi-has-survived-his-ord.png)

Detective Di (China)
(https://cdn.nivoli.com/adventuregamers/images/screenshots/27775/detectivedi_02.jpg)

---

What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for all AGS users. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the guidelines set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and provide a kick-start into making adventure games and more. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you want to improve you 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.

Rules
Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualize your game following the month's criteria (see above). Second, create your game, fuelled only by coffee. Finally, post your game in this thread, including:

* A working download link
* The title of your game
* A suitable in-game screenshot

At the end of the month, voting will begin, and the winner chooses the next month's theme.

Remember that this is a challenge to see what you can do in a month, so any tinkering you do after that, including fixing minor glitches, is against the spirit of the competition. The exception to this is that you may go in and fix major, game-breaking bugs only during voting. We want you to have a game that voters can actually play and that runs on their machines.

So to reiterate, during the voting period fixing major, game-breaking bugs is okay, fixing minor glitches or making cosmetic changes is cheating.

Tips
Here are some ways to make sure you have a game to submit at the end of the month:
* Make a tiny game. Plan small, then cut it in half. Find shortcuts (e.g. if making walk-cycles is time-consuming, make the characters static or have it in the first person).
* Plan to have your game playable and submittable with a week to spare. This way you have a week to fix bugs, add some flourishes and maybe even get someone to test it.
* Plan to submit it a day or so early. This way, if there are any technical issues with uploading, they can be sorted out in time.

I decided to open up June's MAGS a little early because I envisage having no free time in the coming few days.
Enjoy the pre-extension.

As a major history buff, does the game have to be set within the current borders of my homeland?

If you look at Swedish history, Finland, Norway, most of the Baltic states, parts of Poland, and Germany were, at different points, part of Sweden.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Svenska_Stormaktsv%C3%A4ldet_%281560_-_1815%29.svg/800px-Svenska_Stormaktsv%C3%A4ldet_%281560_-_1815%29.svg.png)
And that's not counting the Swedish colonies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_overseas_colonies), but to be fair, nobody actually counts them in.

Well, I probably can't refuse as I offered an example like Detective Di investigating in Ancient China. So this is fine by me at least.

And as a Finn, it would be interesting to see how your tyranny would play out in your game  :P

Quote from: Repi on Fri 30/05/2025 18:00:52And as a Finn, it would be interesting to see how your tyranny would play out in your game  :P

Hey, at least we're not Russia!  (laugh)

Even though this is my theme, I'm going to be evil and participate >:(  :)

I can assure you I don't have any advantage, as I haven't done anything except having a small idea, which sparked the theme.

My game would be based around Finnish midsummer magic and incantations, thus the name Midsummer Spells. It's a dark comedy/satire, and horror about Finnish summer and relationships.

Damn, Finland has been mentioned (torilla tavataan!) so I guess I have to start drafting something here...

Hey! Norway and Finland both belonged to Sweden at the same time! We can all make a game and set it in Finland!  :-D

Okay, I have a game concept themed around alcoholism, depression and caffeine that is inspired by Leisure Suit Larry. If this isn't going to be the most thematically Finnish game ever I don't know what will!
Now to see if I can execute in time!

Quote from: WHAM on Fri 06/06/2025 13:18:21Now to see if I can execute in time!

You mean finnish in time (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/Smileys/AGS/lvsmiley.gif)

Quote from: cat on Fri 06/06/2025 21:41:52You mean finnish in time (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/Smileys/AGS/lvsmiley.gif)

Exactly that!

Here's what I have after 1 evening of work:
- Tauno, our protagonist, has 2 walkcycles and 2 standing frames done.
- First half of Tauno's home has had its first pass done. Still needs posters, trash, grime and detail to make it feel authentic.
- Script outline is written, story is set and I have my list of tasks to complete for the game (7-8 backgrounds in total, couple GUI's, 2 minor cutscenes with unique art)

Challenges I've set for myself this MAGS:
- First time using a verb-based UI
- Bilingual game (all dialogue and most text is on screen in both Finnish and English at same time)

(https://i.imgur.com/EKfyBs6.png)

EDIT: Oh yeah, the tentative name of the game is "Tuulipuku-Tauno ja Darrakahvi" (English translation, while changing the name in order to retain the Leisure suit Larry inspired alliteration, could be something like "Windbreaker Willy and the Hangover Coffee"). I have a few ideas for this character, as he has existed as a sort of in-joke in my friend group for years and years now, so I might reuse these assets for other games in the future, assuming this one is ever finished of course.

MAGS game status update. 3 room backgrounds are pretty much finished, 4 more are required. Talking animations are added in and I have scripted the players interactions with the doors. There are three functional doors in the game so far and they take 300+ lines of code to operate! I may have been consumed by madness in my effort to create functionality to simulate how difficult it can be to operate something as simple as a door when massively hungover. There's the locking and unlocking, remembering to turn the handle, pushing or pulling in the right way... It might be easier to just get Tauno buzzed again so it all doesn't seem so complicated.

I also have all the room navigation done and all the sound effects already in place, so those rooms can now be fully explored. The rest of the room transitions in the game will be simpler interactions.

Despite my effort of minimizing animations by omitting the up and down walkcycles, I'll have to go and do those anyway since I decided to add stairs the player uses in those directions for a mini-puzzle about avoiding the neighbors in the stairwell so the pensioner living downstairs doesn't shout at you for being too loud at night. Tauno can't really handle that kind of interaction in his current state.

EDIT: another sneak peek image with a more final verb UI and a test inventory item
(https://i.imgur.com/u5CJOE4.png)

EDIT 2: another sneak peek to prove

Spoiler

(to whom? myself mostly...)

[close]

I'm still making progress. Don't want to do new posts on a chain.
(https://i.imgur.com/GQMnoGo.png)
I'm having fun toying with the dithering tool in Aseprite, but the lack of a noise generation tool for texturing large surfaces is a major issue that forces me to use a secondary software to finalize some of my backgrounds.

I still haven't built much, but I feel I should post at least something.
(https://i.ibb.co/WRdCMCL/Sk-rmbild-2025-06-17-223458.png)
So far, the game takes place in the 1600s, and features a protagonist who's setting out to join the 30 years war
(yeah, I know, killing germans is hardly threading new ground for video game heroes  (roll) ),
but soon finds out even just getting to the battlefields can be a hazard in itself.

Final week of dev time is underway. I already know I'll have to scale back some ideas I'd wanted to do, and some art assets won't be of the kind of quality I'd like, but I'm fairly certain my game will be in a playable and completable state by wednesday evening, leaving me a couple days of time left to do final polish, tinkering with sound effects and music and such.

Crunch time has been booked for the weekend so I can push hard on finalizing the game for release.

So far the feedback from friends has been very positive, at least in the sense that my game does seem to capture the atmosphere, look and feel of being a certain kind of Finnish very well. What kind of an experience will that be for non-finnish players? I've honestly no idea, but I look forward to hearing what people think!

EDIT: Why didn't anyone tell me that if I make my game bilingual I have to write everything twice!? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT'D BE THIS MUCH WORK!
But all in all I'm getting quite close to the game being in a beatable state now. A bit behind schedule, but not too badly. Things are starting to click into place here.

I've stayed up late to work on this, but I finally have the game in a basic playable state.

I sort of changed directions from my very first idea, ending up with a simple "escape-the-room" game, but mainly, I wound up really nerding out regarding the regal ship Vasa, even going so far as splurging a bit to visit the Vasa museum to learn some interesting details and even use the photos I took of real-life items found on the wreck as references for the items players can use in the puzzles for my MAGS entry.

If all goes well, you can expect an entry featuring historically accurate inventory items, a not so accurate puzzle, gender roles and a warship being turned over, and a Monty Python reference.

I'll be releasing the game later today or the coming night. I'm having a ton of dumb issues with the audio channels and clips randomly not working right, but I don't have time to rebuild all my sound code at this point. Having learned some new things again in this project, I'd do a few things very differently if I started this project again from scratch. Oh well, maybe in the sequel.


Fun fact: the Finnish national broadcaster YLE has a bunch of audio, sound effects and ambient sounds, available for free on the Freesoundproject sound library. So many of the sound effects in my game are actually funded by the Finnish taxpayer! This feels immensely appropriate. They even had fart noises!

EDIT: Release candidate has been sent out to a couple people and some initial fixes and tweaks were already done based on feedback. There are a hundred things I'd want to do but lack the time for, but such is the way of MAGS. Release will go out on Monday, I need to go out and buy cat food now, or else these fuzzy little bastard will eat my toes while I sleep!

I've learned that what I love about game development, is procrastinating.

Did you say Wednesday is the last day, @Stupot? :P

Quote from: Repi on Sun 29/06/2025 20:21:18I've learned that what I love about game development, is procrastinating.

Did you say Wednesday is the last day, @Stupot? :P

I second the question.

At the very least, I have something playable and will see if I can upload a preliminary version tomorrow.

Until then, I thought I'd share two of the photos I took at the museum for inspiration (Spoiler tag due to the size);

Spoiler

(https://i.postimg.cc/RF5bCTjm/20250623-130501.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/zGydnMN5/20250623-131246.jpg)

[close]

Tauno is now released and moving freely in the wild! Hide any and all alcoholic beverages (it's for his own good). Check out the game page from the link below:

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2872-tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa/ (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2872-tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa/)

Alternate Itch.io link: https://wham.itch.io/tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa (https://wham.itch.io/tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa)

Although this current version of my game feels more bare-bones than even the skeletons they dug up from the Vasa wreckage, I will be traveling away today, and despite bringing my laptop, if the Vasa ship disater has taught me anything, it's that even the modes of transport deemed modern for their time can still be unpredictable, so I might just upload what I have now, and if all goes well I'll upload a more polished verion to the AGS database properly later this week.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/vk804202gwh0z38/The+Vasa+Fasa.zip/file

The Vasa Fasa


("fasa" is a Swedish word for horror or deep fear)

A simple game celebrating the most glorious failure in Swedish history.

(https://i.postimg.cc/kDPJzSbv/Vasa-screenshot.png)

THREE LIONS
By GOC Games
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2877-three-lions/ (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2877-three-lions/)

(https://imgur.com/J5ot7d3.png) (https://imgur.com/rYsUCkL.png) (https://imgur.com/eOQFPVy.png) (https://imgur.com/DZDitfk.png)

Wednesday 26th June 1996

UEFA European Championships Semi-Final.

England vs Germany at Wembley Stadium.

And YOU have a ticket...or at least you HAD a ticket. Now you must use your wits to get yourself to the match as events conspire against you.

A traditional point-and-click adventure game created in one month for Adventure Game Studio MAGS June 2025.

Quote from: Repi on Sun 29/06/2025 20:21:18I've learned that what I love about game development, is procrastinating.

Did you say Wednesday is the last day, @Stupot? :P

Sorry, I saw this yesterday but apparently I wasn't in read-between-the-lines mode.

If it helps, I will leave the window open until Wednesday for further entries. Anyone who has already posted their entries: feel free to tweak your games until I open the voting.

Good to see a decent number of entries already.

Quote from: WHAM on Mon 30/06/2025 00:24:09Tauno is now released and moving freely in the wild! Hide any and all alcoholic beverages (it's for his own good). Check out the game page from the link below:

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2872-tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa/ (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2872-tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa/)

Alternate Itch.io link: https://wham.itch.io/tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa (https://wham.itch.io/tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa)

Congratulations for this release. It's quite a long game.
I'm trying to understand

Spoiler

the logic of the supermarket maze. For the beers I just walked straight in front of me. But this doesn't work to find coffee.

[close]

Thanks

Quote from: lanchong on Wed 02/07/2025 05:26:25I'm trying to understand

Spoiler

the logic of the supermarket maze. For the beers I just walked straight in front of me. But this doesn't work to find coffee.

[close]

Fairly major puzzle clue below:

Spoiler

At each step, try to look for one of the four directions that is the odd one out, that's different from the others somehow.

[close]

And the outright spoiler for said puzzle:

Spoiler

Coffee is never on sale or discounted when you need it.

[close]

There are already a bunch of great-looking games, and I would get my ass handed to me in this company. The Gods of Youtube shorts and long snacks got my soul, so I have to bow out. Sorry and thanks for the extension, @Stupot

Like @WHAM, I too had a game based in Finland. It is set in Midsummer, and around the spells we have here in the hopes of seeing a vision for a new spouse. Hopefully, I get this polished and done later.

Anyway, congratulations to all, who released a game. Good job!

I made a demo for a game but I'm unsure if it qualifies: I finished making one minute of the cutscene months ago and set it aside. I continued working on it starting june since the theme was perfect for it.
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzIxOTY1MTIyLnBuZw==/original/D%2BZncf.png)
A language learning exploration game: you are a knight templar from an alternative dimension, facing the evil necromancer Gerthart. He uses a spell to send you to modern-day Romania, in a village from Fundu Moldovei. An old couple let you stay at their house until you manage to return to your dimension.

Download here for windows:

https://mew-mew16.itch.io/vasile-the-templar-demo-1-no-audio

This is what the first cutscene is like with Audio.

Thanks for all the entries, guys.
@WeeklyJournaling, your demo qualifies if you wish it to. We often get demos or unfinished games as entries and that is absolutely fine.

Please vote using the poll above. you have about 20 days.

(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/assets/img/games/2872_1.webp)	Tuulipuku-Tauno Darrassa (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2872-tuulipuku-tauno-darrassa/) by WHAM
(https://i.postimg.cc/kDPJzSbv/Vasa-screenshot.png)	The Vasa Fasa (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/competitions-activities/mags-june-home-country-open/msg636684209/#msg636684209) by Blondbraid
(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/assets/img/games/2877_1.webp)	Three Lions (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2877-three-lions/) by GOC Games
(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/assets/img/games/2878_1.webp)	VASILE THE TEMPLAR (DEMO1) (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2878-vasile-the-templar-demo1-/) by Weeklyjournaling

Happy voting.
As always, let me know if I've made any cock-ups.

I finally got around to add some last-minute improvements to my game, and I've added it to the AGS database.

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2879-the-vasa-fasa/

I look forward to seeing everyone's thoughts on it (and whether they learned any history from it ;) ) and I'm looking forward to playing the other entries here!

These games were all amazing! It's so cool how much you can all do in just one month (and full credit to AGS for making it so easy to develop!). Voting for just one will be a painful decision; they all were 10/10 in terms of the assignment. Congratulations everybody! I hope the feedback below is somehow useful. It was very inspiring to play through these games!

Tuulipuku-Tauno Darrassa by @WHAM

Spoiler

To cut to the chase, this game ultimately got my vote. I loved that overcoming a rough morning-after was the adventure, and that this was the representation of the home country. Every character was outstanding and so well developed: the old lady's dialogue, the sorta-horrible-sorta-grateful teens, the completely unnecessary happy guy on the bench, the unhelpful cashier... what a great cast with equally great writing. The puzzles were varied and surprising - for the record, I thought the difficult door locks were a great fit for the theme! The art was gorgeous and never empty, including a lot of great world-building that made the city block come alive. And the failure states really made the success feel more rewarding. Awesome work!

[close]

The Vasa Fasa by @Blondbraid

Spoiler

This one-room puzzle was excellently crafted from beginning to end. Every interaction seemed to have custom dialogue that helped you understand why things were or were not going to work, a level of care and respect for user can be hard to find (especially in a time-sensitive challenge like MAGS). I've visited the Vasa museum, so being able to participate in this national treasure/catastrophe was a real treat. There's a certain humour to the Vasa story, and I thought the tone of this game perfectly matched it. And the protagonist was fantastic—I'd love to go on more adventures with them!

[close]

Three Lions by @ddavey1983

Spoiler

As the son of British parents, this brought a lot of childhood memories right back, so I'm so definitely biased. This was such a funny and clever trip back in time with super fun puzzles that fit right into the world (like the dartboard, or the bacon, or the sword...). The NPCs and dialogue were extremely well-written; I was laughing all way through and couldn't wait to see what was in the next room. I particularly loved how your own character needed to understand the reason for doing things. I'm still trying to get the shiny sticker, but I'm happy to spend as much time as I can in this twisted Coronation Street!

[close]

VASILE THE TEMPLAR (DEMO1) by @WeeklyJournaling

Spoiler

An educational game was very unexpected, but it did teach me a lot! A huge amount of effort seems to have gone into the story, history, and voice. The more interactive parts were the most educational. I really enjoyed moments like the baking sequence. The dialogue scenes, on the other hand, I often found too long, as I was anxious to start playing. I'd love to play a more polished version and keep learning more, if that's in the cards for the future! 

[close]

Voted. Found all the games enjoyable, but didn't actually finish two of them. I voted for one of the ones I did finish.

Vasile:

Spoiler

It took a substantial amount of time for my system to download all of Vasile, but it had substantial voice acting. Didn't actually make the pie. Everything seemed to be working, but my carpal tunnel started acting up along the way from all the stirring.  ;-)

[close]

Vasa Fasa

Spoiler

Completed the game. Not a lot here, but it was graphically interesting and worked all the way through.

[close]

Tauno

Spoiler

Didn't complete this one. Seem to have lost the wallet in the pharmacy, which, I'm guessing puts an end to completing the game. Nothing bad to say about the story line, but I was not inclined to try again. Additional save slots might have helped me out, but game managed that, unless I missed something? Actually, I did complete the game by polishing off the partial cans of beer.  ;-)  But that was not the desired ending.

[close]

Three Lions

Spoiler

This one got my vote. Enjoyed the graphics, the game played well, and I finished it. Did have problems with the glue. It was not all that hidden, but I missed it several times moving through that area.

[close]

A new month, a new batch of games! As always, play the games yourself if able, but if you just can't find the time before the vote, check out the videos and consider voting anyway!

Three Lions by GOC Games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey7vlRDeHzc

The Vasa Fasa by Blondbraid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NWG7hhV23s

VASILE THE TEMPLAR (DEMO1) by Weeklyjournaling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NWG7hhV23s

I didn't want to make a video of my own game, but fortunately someone else has done so already, so I'll promote that here instead:
Tuulipuku-Tauno Darrassa by WHAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiVl0U9MVhE

Watched the video of my game and I had so much fun xD you crack me up. You gave me the idea of adding a skip cutscenes button. I'm sorry for the harm I caused you and your audience and it was useful to get another opinion so that I could see how tedious it could be sometimes.
I made the game because of the lack of resources for Romanian and I thought that someone who actively wants to learn the language can try to see the phrase in English and try to guess the words as they're reading the Romanian subs. So the cutscenes is kind of a warm up before gameplay. But I agree that it became too long. Thanks for playing :)

Quote from: WeeklyJournaling on Thu 10/07/2025 21:21:36I made the game because of the lack of resources for Romanian and I thought that someone who actively wants to learn the language can try to see the phrase in English and try to guess the words as they're reading the Romanian subs.

Good to hear you got a laugh out of it! For me it was a little bit of an absurd experience, but I see what you're trying to do. What made it especially funny for me was that I did something very similar in my own game, trying to give the player the opportunity to see both languages at once and make connections on specific words, and we seem to have had rather different approaches to the same challenge. I also work with romanian colleagues from time to time, so hearing the language spoken gave me minor flashbacks of being at work.

I'm stuck at Tauno

Spoiler

I was able to get beer and coffee with the hint above, but I don't have enough money to pay for the coffee. I don't have enough cans to return them.

[close]

Quote from: cat on Tue 15/07/2025 19:56:21I'm stuck at Tauno

Spoiler

I was able to get beer and coffee with the hint above, but I don't have enough money to pay for the coffee. I don't have enough cans to return them.

[close]

Hint 1:

Spoiler

Did you ever find Taunos wallet? That's where money lives!

[close]

Hint 2:

Spoiler

Never should leave home without it.

[close]

Hint 3:

Spoiler

As Tauno stumbled home from the bar last night, he probably went to sleep with his clothes on.

[close]

Hint 4 - Full solution:

Spoiler

Did you remember to make your bed?

[close]

Spoiler

I made my bed right at the beginning. I think I found the wallet but he just kept the coins from it. I got more money from the teens, IIRC, and spent some in the pharmacy and for the beer. I still have a few coins, but the cashier says it's not enough.

Btw, I enountered a bug: In the supermarket, my inventory was already full so I didn't see the beer I took from the shelf and was caught shoplifting. Only when I drank some of the half-empty cans the pack of beer showed up in the inventory. I think there should be arrows to navigate the inventory.

[close]

Quote from: cat on Wed 16/07/2025 07:29:11

Spoiler

I made my bed right at the beginning. I think I found the wallet but he just kept the coins from it. I got more money from the teens, IIRC, and spent some in the pharmacy and for the beer. I still have a few coins, but the cashier says it's not enough.

Btw, I enountered a bug: In the supermarket, my inventory was already full so I didn't see the beer I took from the shelf and was caught shoplifting. Only when I drank some of the half-empty cans the pack of beer showed up in the inventory. I think there should be arrows to navigate the inventory.

[close]

Regarding being stuck with no money (spoilery):

Spoiler

If you got the money from the wallet and from returning the cans, is it possible you didn't actually talk to the teenagers before buying the beer? That is: is it possible you just gave them some beer for no reason? I tried to fix this bug in a minor update later on, but at least the first release builds of the game had it possible to give the kids the beers without having talked to them first, in which case you never got the money from them for buying the beers in the first place.

Not very Tauno-like to give away free beers, and thus a poorly designed (albeit realistic and thematically appropriate) game over situation if this is the case. The three ways to get money in the game are the wallet, the teenagers and the cans and all three must be found in order to win, otherwise Tauno will be out of money. Current version should have Tauno refusing to pick up the beers if he hasn't talked to the kids, which should prevent this.

Another fun way to lose the game, and not necessarily realize this, is to pay for your groceries at the shop and not pick them up before leaving. Someone else will nab them off the counter while you're away and there are no refunds, so this would also be a way to lose money and thus lose the game without Tauno ever realizing what he'd done wrong.

Just stuck in an endless loop of hangover...

[close]

As for the minor inventory bug:

Spoiler

Yeah, the inventory space carries a small risk of running out of space to display all items if the player doesn't drink their beers, never have Tauno put aside the empty wallet and especially if they also pick up the coffee filter before leaving home. I tried to design the game so that a scrolling inventory wasn't necessary, but just barely ran out of space for it. None of the playtesters I had run the game ever encountered this issue, but I should have known someone eventually would. I think my eventual fix will be to adjust the verb button sizes down enough to make space for 12 inventory items displayed instead of 10 and try to design any sequels better in this regard.

Missing the wallet even after making the bed was the main cause for my playtesters getting stuck this way. The item is a bit small and easy to miss when it falls to the floor, but I felt it wasn't unfairly so, especially since it has an animation for keen-eyed players to spot.

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I have not returned the cans. He says there are not enough of them. I still have one half-empty can in my inventory, but if I drink it it's too much and the game ends.

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Quote from: cat on Wed 16/07/2025 10:18:41

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I have not returned the cans. He says there are not enough of them. I still have one half-empty can in my inventory, but if I drink it it's too much and the game ends.

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Spoiler

Take some time, walk around a bit, and the buzz from the previous cans will wear off. Drinking too much too fast will get Tauno drunk all over again, so he needs to be paced out a little. There is also a hidden benefit to having him buzzed earlier in the game that can make some frustrating actions easier to deal with if you figure it out, though now it's probably a little too late in the game to really benefit from it.

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Mechanics explanation:

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There is an alcoholism stat that increases whenever you drink and decreases on every room transition. But as long as you have some, you can just USE most doors that would require complex fiddling around with the handles to get through otherwise and Tauno will channel that buzz to make his life a little easier and more functional. He drinks because things are just simpler for him when he does...

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First of all, I want to say that all games hit the theme, each in their own way.

Vasile the Templar

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Wow, this game is huge! The demo alone is already almost one gig. How big is the full version going to be?
I like the graphics and the voice acting. However, the concept didn't work for me at all. It's not how learning a language works for me.
You should decide if you want to tell a story or teach a language. Reading the sentence first and then hearing it again was weird. Why not just have Romanian voice acting with English or Romanian subtitles?
The intro sequence and dialog was fun but the cooking was so boring, I just clicked through all the dialog and didn't listen to it.

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The Vasa Fasa

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I remember visiting the Vasa museum many many years ago. It is indeed an impressive ship and museum. However, this does not really show in the game. The room is very limited and most of the time I didn't know what I was doing. I shot the barrel just because and only later realized what I was supposed to do.
The graphics are nice and the animations really smooth.

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Three Lions

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A blast from the past. For someone living in England in 1996 this must be a trip down memory lane. I didn't, so I probably missed quite a few references. Fun nonetheless! The intro and outro with the music and the photos are a nice touch.
The graphics are nice and there is a surprisingly large number of locations to visit. Very classic adventure game puzzling.

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Tauno

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A deep and complex game. An unexpected protagonist from a person that does not drink alcohol at all, if I remember correctly.
The graphics are clean and consistent, there was a lot of effort put into sound effects.
There is a plethora of different puzzles, some involving quite some coding. I loved the one where you have to wait for the old lady to finish. The maze was actually quite clever, but I didn't get it myself, I needed a hint. Same applies for the beer can puzzle. The problem with the game is, that all the thoughts that went into it are somewhat hidden and not obvious (like the secret alcoholism stat, just way too subtle for me to get), so if I hadn't read your commentary, what remains is doors that are super annoying to open.

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I still have to ponder for which game to vote.

My thoughts this month:

Vasile the Templar:

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Nice graphics and voice acting. The game unfortunately falls between two chairs and turns out neither really an adventure nor a learning piece. For me, the long non-interactive parts and the cooking became tedious. The basic idea for the story is good, though.

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The Vasa Fasa:

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Escape the room-game set in a historical scenario. Blondbraid delivers high quality graphics and a good puzzle. Short on playtime compared to the other entries. I did want to see the heroine's fate later on.

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Tauno:

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The whole Kaurismäki vibe give this an extra dimension. Solid delivery on story, graphics and puzzles. I especially liked the character-driven humour. I did not like the maze puzzles nor the difficult doors, even though the latter works well as a joke.

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Three Lions:

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Ah, GOC Games returns! The game is filled with 96 throwbacks, music, posters, chocolate brands etc. The graphics are pixellated, probably in 96 style themselves. The story is filled with humour, fun puzzles and it all seems nicely tied together. Even though I could spot the ending, it was satisfactory - and it's one of those games that somewhat tells the difference between American and English humour.

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Who to vote for?

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I voted for Three Lions. Both WHAM! and Blondbraid made very good MAGS games and was considered. It's great to see WHAM! put his money where his mouth is - It's easy to point out things that can be done better (re:mags youtube videos), but he actually shows how to do it better. (In a way I wouldn't be able to, for instance.) We're lucky to have you all.

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