Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Competitions & Activities => Topic started by: Stupot on Sat 01/06/2024 00:30:18

Poll
Question: What is your favourite game of MAGS June?
Option 1: The Zoo by4KbShort votes: 4
Option 2: Carnival of Shadows by GooseKult votes: 1
Option 3: The Stew of Las Moras by Babar and jfrisby votes: 4
Title: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (RESULT)
Post by: Stupot on Sat 01/06/2024 00:30:18
Tourist Attraction
Guidelines set by OneDollar

Please vote using the poll above:

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5MzYwMC8xNjY3NTE0OS5wbmc=/794x1000/ZmuUei.png)The Zoo (https://4kbshort.itch.io/the-zoo) by 4KbShort
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5NDgxNS8xNjY4Mzk0Mi5wbmc=/794x1000/PqQS3S.png)Carnival of Shadows (https://goosekult.itch.io/carnival-of-shadows) by GooseKult
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzE2NzQ4MTI3LnBuZw==/original/zuU%2B8s.png)The Stew of Las Moras (https://bani-gala.itch.io/stew-of-las-moras) by Babar and jfrisby

(https://onedollarproductions.co.uk/uploads/RoadsideAttraction.jpg)

There are many ways to bring in the tourists and, more importantly, separate them from their money. Themed restaurants, sketchy fairground rides, strange art installations, museums about bizarre subjects... all trying to tempt you in with promises of unique and unforgettable experiences.

This month your task is to set your game in or around a tourist attraction of some kind. What sort of place is it? Is your player visiting the attraction, do they work there, or do they have some other reason for being there? Is it the hot place to visit, or just barely staying open? Maybe it closed years ago and is sitting abandoned... or at least you think it's empty...




What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for amateur adventure game makers. 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. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favourite" 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.

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, usually lasting for fourteen days, 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 walkcycles 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.



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=55998.0) has something you can use.
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?board=20.0).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: speksteen on Sun 02/06/2024 13:26:57
This is great! For weeks I wanted to get started making a western themed game. I can't for the life of me find the motivation without instructions like a game jam. I hope I can make something finish something for this month ends.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: VampireWombat on Wed 05/06/2024 14:47:50
This is interesting. I might try to make something. My city has 2 tourist attractions I'm aware of (3 if we count Palo Duro Canyon, which is about 30 miles away). Somewhat of a western theme might be hard to avoid since it is Texas. But I do have 3 different types of games in mind already.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Sat 08/06/2024 00:03:01
(https://i.imgur.com/9c6H9L0.png)

I hope I get this finished in time... Will be my first MAGS entry!

(https://i.imgur.com/HAI5ywQ.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/E5fBkFz.png)

I don't have too much to show for now but hopefully I'll make the crunch lol.

(https://i.imgur.com/jsDz9kr.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/J0LNTLr.png)

Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: glurex on Sat 08/06/2024 00:07:16
Quote from: GooseKult on Sat 08/06/2024 00:03:01I hope I get this finished in time... Will be my first MAGS entry!


Wow, it looks promising!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: speksteen on Mon 10/06/2024 08:12:49
Sorry all. I have to withdraw because life's responsibilities keep getting in the way. I still really want to complete that western so I'll be back and look forward to the rest of the entries.

https://imgur.com/gallery/ylQ8dPN
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: heltenjon on Mon 10/06/2024 11:22:53
Quote from: speksteen on Mon 10/06/2024 08:12:49Sorry all. I have to withdraw because life's responsibilities keep getting in the way. I still really want to complete that western so I'll be back and look forward to the rest of the entries.

https://imgur.com/gallery/ylQ8dPN
That's a cool picture! Real life first, always. But the "Finish your MAGS game" topic will be back again, so keep your files.  8-)
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Fri 21/06/2024 11:37:51
Lil update.

Pretty much finished just needs some polishing, granted I don't find any game breaking bugs in the meantime.

(https://i.imgur.com/jdAJtqk.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LJkizbe.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/x93NO5C.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/kqCk5BC.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ImXlZwd.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Hk0AB9p.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/cxD8jrf.png)
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: TheFrighter on Fri 21/06/2024 17:48:14

Whoa GooseKult, you did a lot!  8-0

_
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Fri 21/06/2024 20:19:53
Quote from: TheFrighter on Fri 21/06/2024 17:48:14Whoa GooseKult, you did a lot!  8-0

_

Yes I have too much free time at the moment and I don't like being alone with my thoughts so I just keep working! Though the screenshots might make it look like there's more to it. It's probably a five minute-ish game.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: tbook on Sat 22/06/2024 11:26:59
Quote from: GooseKult on Fri 21/06/2024 11:37:51Lil update.

Pretty much finished just needs some polishing, granted I don't find any game breaking bugs in the meantime.


Looking forward to playing your entry :)

I started a short story for a game for this MAGS, have some ideas for gameplay but with all my other obligations and my main AGS project I think this is a futile endevour, sadly.
I want to check out the game entries though, I find the theme inspiring.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jwalt on Sat 22/06/2024 12:25:01
Thought I'd take a minute to point out that Cat extended Creamy's Near You Background Blitz until the end of June. Since a Tourist Attraction might well be Near You, an enterprising game designer might be able to parlay a twofer and win both competitions. As the Blitz currently stands, there's only one entry.

Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jfrisby on Sat 22/06/2024 17:12:47
(https://i.imgur.com/FQDlqPo.gif)

Babar and I are stewing something up  :-D



Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: VampireWombat on Sat 22/06/2024 17:52:08
I had considered if it would be okay or not to do the background blitz and this mags using the same background. I haven't actually started work on a game yet, though. If I can get motivated enough to start, the one I decided on wouldn't be too difficult. Mostly have to remember how to do some programming I haven't used in a few years.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Mon 24/06/2024 20:17:55
Hi guys!

I needed to take a break from making my game so... I... made... a... game...  :grin:

I wasn't super into this theme at first, but I kept coming back to the thread to check on how everything was going and then one night BOOM; idea!

Couple of things: This could have turned into an actual long game, but my ADHD coupled with my need to get back to "paying" projects made me cut it short. If anyone is interested in this becoming something larger let me know? I can't sell it because copyright... (you'll see), but I could expand it over time I suppose?

Also; I was having trouble finding modern solutions to some of my issues. Most Google-pointed forum posts are no newer than 2012 so a lot of the example code is deprecated. So I've included the source code with this download. It's under the "SOURCE" directory and if you need to know how to make a simple cutscene, change dialogue, how I make things move or do object/inventory checks and interactions it's all there for you to see and use if you need. I hope this helps!

So here is my completed entry for this MAGS:

THE ZOO!

Download: THE ZOO on Itch.io (https://4kbshort.itch.io/the-zoo)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5MzYwMC8xNjY3NTE1My5wbmc=/original/BNZtOK.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5MzYwMC8xNjY3NTE0OS5wbmc=/original/fv7IGl.png)
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Tue 25/06/2024 00:24:49
Quote from: 4KbShort on Mon 24/06/2024 20:17:55Hi guys!

I needed to take a break from making my game so... I... made... a... game...  :grin:

I wasn't super into this theme at first, but I kept coming back to the thread to check on how everything was going and then one night BOOM; idea!

Couple of things: This could have turned into an actual long game, but my ADHD coupled with my need to get back to "paying" projects made me cut it short. If anyone is interested in this becoming something larger let me know? I can't sell it because copyright... (you'll see), but I could expand it over time I suppose?

Also; I was having trouble finding modern solutions to some of my issues. Most Google-pointed forum posts are no newer than 2012 so a lot of the example code is deprecated. So I've included the source code with this download. It's under the "SOURCE" directory and if you need to know how to make a simple cutscene, change dialogue, how I make things move or do object/inventory checks and interactions it's all there for you to see and use if you need. I hope this helps!

So here is my completed entry for this MAGS:

THE ZOO!

Download: THE ZOO on Itch.io (https://4kbshort.itch.io/the-zoo)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5MzYwMC8xNjY3NTE1My5wbmc=/original/BNZtOK.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5MzYwMC8xNjY3NTE0OS5wbmc=/original/fv7IGl.png)

I am enjoying this! I'm just past the first main hurdle and it's pretty well thought out and tightly made. The setting is pretty cool too, though I've never watched much of The Twilight Zone, it reminds me of 'The Prisoner' series from the 60's. Nice work!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Tue 25/06/2024 11:04:07
Quote from: GooseKult on Tue 25/06/2024 00:24:49I am enjoying this! I'm just past the first main hurdle and it's pretty well thought out and tightly made. The setting is pretty cool too, though I've never watched much of The Twilight Zone, it reminds me of 'The Prisoner' series from the 60's. Nice work!

I tried watching "The Prisoner", but couldn't get too far into it only because of the sound design. I don't know if they meant for the music to be droning and rhythmic, and if they did that's great, but it causes me massive irritation to watch. Otherwise it's a very intriguing show... maybe I can watch it muted with subtitles...

Anyway, thanks for the feedback! Let me know if there are any major bugs or issues!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Tue 25/06/2024 13:07:48
(https://i.imgur.com/VISqHfi.png)



Carnival of Shadows: https://goosekult.itch.io/carnival-of-shadows

Can be downloaded or played in browser (Though it seems kinda laggy).

Story:

A group of four unlikely companions arrive at an abandoned amusement park, drawn by the promise of a unique experience. They quickly discover that the park is haunted by the restless spirits of those who perished in a tragic accident. To escape, they must solve puzzles, confront supernatural threats, and uncover the park's dark history before they too become part of the shadows.

I have a lot to learn about making games but hopefully someone will get some enjoyment from it! I had a laugh making it! Thanks for having me.


(https://i.imgur.com/8XgY9JH.gif)
(https://i.imgur.com/ND9Fm5U.gif)
(https://i.imgur.com/B6ubWUY.gif)
(https://i.imgur.com/B9SNlv6.gif)

(https://i.imgur.com/zzgR2Z0.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/EIyJt7E.png)
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Stupot on Wed 26/06/2024 09:30:58
Two games already, and days to spare.
Amazing scenes.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Wed 26/06/2024 13:52:57
Quote from: GooseKult on Tue 25/06/2024 13:07:48(https://i.imgur.com/VISqHfi.png)



Carnival of Shadows: https://goosekult.itch.io/carnival-of-shadows

Can be downloaded or played in browser (Though it seems kinda laggy).

Story:

A group of four unlikely companions arrive at an abandoned amusement park, drawn by the promise of a unique experience. They quickly discover that the park is haunted by the restless spirits of those who perished in a tragic accident. To escape, they must solve puzzles, confront supernatural threats, and uncover the park's dark history before they too become part of the shadows.

I have a lot to learn about making games but hopefully someone will get some enjoyment from it! I had a laugh making it! Thanks for having me.


I played through it for a bit, but got stuck after installing the first fuse. (this is a me problem, not a game problem I think)
I did have some difficulty hitting the hotspots for screen transitions and had to "wiggle" around the edges to move to the next area sometimes.
I really like the Maniac Mansion/DOTT idea of using your friends for things and how easy it was to acquire/leave them behind.
Sounds are great, animations are good and, though I'm taking a break due to the above stuck-ness, I will be coming back to finish the game because I do want to see how it ends!

Great work! Highly recommended for people who are better at playing Adventure Games than I am!  :grin:
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Wed 26/06/2024 14:44:43
Quote from: 4KbShort on Wed 26/06/2024 13:52:57
Quote from: GooseKult on Tue 25/06/2024 13:07:48(https://i.imgur.com/VISqHfi.png)



Carnival of Shadows: https://goosekult.itch.io/carnival-of-shadows

Can be downloaded or played in browser (Though it seems kinda laggy).

Story:

A group of four unlikely companions arrive at an abandoned amusement park, drawn by the promise of a unique experience. They quickly discover that the park is haunted by the restless spirits of those who perished in a tragic accident. To escape, they must solve puzzles, confront supernatural threats, and uncover the park's dark history before they too become part of the shadows.

I have a lot to learn about making games but hopefully someone will get some enjoyment from it! I had a laugh making it! Thanks for having me.


I played through it for a bit, but got stuck after installing the first fuse. (this is a me problem, not a game problem I think)
I did have some difficulty hitting the hotspots for screen transitions and had to "wiggle" around the edges to move to the next area sometimes.
I really like the Maniac Mansion/DOTT idea of using your friends for things and how easy it was to acquire/leave them behind.
Sounds are great, animations are good and, though I'm taking a break due to the above stuck-ness, I will be coming back to finish the game because I do want to see how it ends!

Great work! Highly recommended for people who are better at playing Adventure Games than I am!  :grin:

Thanks for playing! I'm terrible at trying to explain what to do subtly and my puzzle making skills aren't great so if you are stuck it is definitely my fault!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Wed 26/06/2024 16:15:07
Quote from: GooseKult on Wed 26/06/2024 14:44:43Thanks for playing! I'm terrible at trying to explain what to do subtly and my puzzle making skills aren't great so if you are stuck it is definitely my fault!

Not at all! When playing adventure games I tend to play until I get stuck then step off for a minute due to my ADHD and "Time Being Used Appropriately" stresses pulling me to do other things (usually not even half as constructive).
Your game explained the mechanics and I know what I need to find/get/do I just have to find the right puzzle piece to do it and that's exactly how an adventure game should work!
It would be "bad" if I had no urge to go back. IE: Telltale's "Secret of Monkey Island" had such an obscure puzzle to get an item LAYING ON THE GROUND that I quit, uninstalled, and never went back. THAT'S bad game design.  :grin:
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Babar on Sun 30/06/2024 18:55:54
(https://i.imgur.com/HeYIaoc.png)
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjgwMzQ3NC8xNjc0ODA1OC5wbmc=/794x1000/ovz2zg.png)
There's trouble brewing at the oldest stew in the world, and it is up to you to help Moby figure out how to fix it all!
A game by @Babar & @jfrisby
Download here: https://bani-gala.itch.io/stew-of-las-moras

Tried making an AGS DB entry this time, but the site does not allow it.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Stupot on Sun 30/06/2024 22:01:40
That looks like 3 entries to me. Good job everyone.

I'll rig up the poll etc tomorrow, as I'm busy today, so there's still time to sneak in a late entry before then.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 17:07:09
Trying to play them. Made it through Zoo but currently stalled out on the other two. Made it into the Fun House in Carnival but seem to be stuck there. I suspect I've missed something. Also haven't hit on the right combination of stuff in Stew.

Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 17:45:53
Quote from: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 17:07:09Trying to play them. Made it through Zoo but currently stalled out on the other two. Made it into the Fun House in Carnival but seem to be stuck there. I suspect I've missed something. Also haven't hit on the right combination of stuff in Stew.



I don't think you've missed anything, just pay close attention to what the guy on the couch says! Thanks for playing!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 18:20:35
Quote from: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 17:45:53I don't think you've missed anything, just pay close attention to what the guy on the couch says! Thanks for playing!

That was the nudge I needed. And thanks for making a very enjoyable game! May be a bug if you click on the fuse box a second time after getting the Ferris Wheel to move. Seems to lock up the mouse movement and stall the game.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 18:53:44
Quote from: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 18:20:35
Quote from: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 17:45:53I don't think you've missed anything, just pay close attention to what the guy on the couch says! Thanks for playing!

That was the nudge I needed. And thanks for making a very enjoyable game! May be a bug if you click on the fuse box a second time after getting the Ferris Wheel to move. Seems to lock up the mouse movement and stall the game.

Glad you enjoyed and thanks for the info. I will look into fixing it after the jam ends!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jfrisby on Mon 01/07/2024 19:57:44
Quote from: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 17:07:09Trying to play them. Made it through Zoo but currently stalled out on the other two. Made it into the Fun House in Carnival but seem to be stuck there. I suspect I've missed something. Also haven't hit on the right combination of stuff in Stew.


If you know what you're missing, I can give hints!

One general hint:
Spoiler
A couple things require that you right-click 'look/examine' them to trigger progression.
[close]
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 20:20:57
Quote from: jfrisby on Mon 01/07/2024 19:57:44
Quote from: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 17:07:09Trying to play them. Made it through Zoo but currently stalled out on the other two. Made it into the Fun House in Carnival but seem to be stuck there. I suspect I've missed something. Also haven't hit on the right combination of stuff in Stew.


If you know what you're missing, I can give hints!

One general hint:
Spoiler
A couple things require that you right-click 'look/examine' them to trigger progression.
[close]

Both of our games start with riddles lol! Very original...
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jfrisby on Mon 01/07/2024 23:03:08
Quote from: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 20:20:57Both of our games start with riddles lol! Very original...

I saw that! haha.. I liked the manual keyboard input you did there! :)
Still need to finish playing the other games, only just started Carnival of Shadows last night.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Stupot on Tue 02/07/2024 01:43:17
Quote from: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 18:53:44
Quote from: jwalt on Mon 01/07/2024 18:20:35
Quote from: GooseKult on Mon 01/07/2024 17:45:53I don't think you've missed anything, just pay close attention to what the guy on the couch says! Thanks for playing!

That was the nudge I needed. And thanks for making a very enjoyable game! May be a bug if you click on the fuse box a second time after getting the Ferris Wheel to move. Seems to lock up the mouse movement and stall the game.

Glad you enjoyed and thanks for the info. I will look into fixing it after the jam ends!

It's fine to go in and fix game-breaking bugs during voting, so feel free. We want people to be able to finish the games.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jwalt on Tue 02/07/2024 02:11:26
Quote from: Stupot on Tue 02/07/2024 01:43:17It's fine to go in and fix game-breaking bugs during voting, so feel free. We want people to be able to finish the games.

That Ferris Wheel/fuse box thing I mentioned may not be an actual game breaker. Not much reason to revisit the fuse panel in the normal flow of the game. I appeared to get stuck inside the Fun House and decided to recheck the areas outside a second/third time.

I managed to get through all three entries this month. All had their good points.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: OneDollar on Sat 06/07/2024 13:56:16
Three games is a good turnout, and they're all really solid entries too!

I was trying to write feedback notes while I played through them all, and they accidentally turned into mini essays. Here's some heavily spoilery feedback (and some bug reports) for each game if you'd like it:

Carnival of Shadows
Spoiler
I liked the idea of multiple characters with different views of the world and different abilities, but I couldn't see any reason not to just have them all follow me constantly. It would have been nice to see this mechanic expanded on, like needing to leave certain characters in certain areas to solve a puzzle, or not being able to complete certain puzzles if a character was with you (like maybe you need to talk to a ghost but they won't appear around Tim the skeptic or something). It might have been interesting to have to ask/use specific characters to solve puzzles so that you have to think about their abilities and personalities, rather than them just helping automatically if they were with you. I liked that conversations happened differently depending whether characters were on screen or not.

The art feels like it's been pulled together from lots of different sources. There's different styles, and most noticeably different resolutions which can leave some of it quite blurry and unclear. It's definitely not the prettiest thing to look at, but I think it does fit well with the game's atmosphere. The music is a bit disjoined with some awkward loops, but again I think it fits the game quite well.

Adding riddles adds an interesting variation to the puzzles, though the game immediately gave me hints that I didn't need because Tim was on screen. I also think I would have preferred it if the game started dropping increasingly helpful hints after I got the answers wrong a few times, or gave me the option of asking Tim for a hint if I decided I needed one.

Most of the inventory-based puzzles in the middle were pretty obvious and didn't provide much of a challenge, either because it's clear from context (put fuses in the fuse box), or because the game outright tells you what to do (collect objects that appeal to children and put them on the bench). Again I think some of this could have worked better if the mechanic with the different characters was a bit more fleshed out. Needing Luna to tell you about the child ghosts wanting toys could be a good part of the puzzle chain, but at that point in the game there's no reason why the player wouldn't have Luna with them so it's effectively automatically solved. One inventory puzzle that I did think worked well was having to use the box on the dumpster, as that wasn't obvious and took me a while to figure out.

I liked the maze puzzle at the end, that was fun and again something a bit different to the standard inventory puzzles.

In summary I really like the setting and the concept. There's a lot of interesting ideas in the game, not all of them work as well as they could, but for me that's better than a boring game that doesn't try anything new. It's quite rough both in terms of graphics and bugs, but I still had a lot of fun playing it. I think I wrote so much about it because there's a lot that really works for me, and the bits that don't are interesting enough that I can see glimpses of how they could work with a bit more time to develop them. A really solid MAGS entry.

Bug reports:
I've got some bug reports for you, mostly because I ended up playing through a couple of times to see what would change if I did or didn't have characters with me at certain points.

Game breaking:
 - You already know about the bug with clicking on the fuse box a second time. I stupidly triggered this on my first play through, despite having seen it being discussed  :-[
 - I got a crash at the end after destroying the watch and freeing the ghosts: "The character 'Luna' could not be displayed because there was no loop 2 of view 33". I'm pretty sure this is triggered by causing Luna to follow you before clicking the watch (either by clicking Luna while she's holding back Mr Grins, or I think if you enter the final room without Luna following you she gets set to follow mode when she appears in the room)?
 - If Luna isn't with you when you place the last offering on the bench the game gets stuck in a loop of Maria saying "That's all of them".

Minor stuff:
 - You can use the fuses on the fuse box and turn on the power without needing Tim to open the door first (Maria will still comment that the door is closed after turning on the power).
 - I think the logic is backwards on the hint for the second riddle as you only get it if Tim isn't on screen.
 - I left my friends in the main carnival area (with the Ferris wheel). Exiting and re-entering the carnival by the main entrance makes them appear in the area with the carousel again. I assume this is a bug, though arguably they could have just wandered back there themselves :D
 - There's something odd going on with character baselines or z-depths or something as a character standing behind another will often be drawn on top of them instead - I'm not sure if this is an AGS bug or something in the game's code
 - Everyone comments on the newspaper even if they're not on screen.
 - The first time you click on the carousel it will spin and Luna will give you the explanation about offerings, this still happens even if you click on it after you've already placed all the offerings and moved all the ghosts.
 - Using the combined two end pieces of the key on the handle piece doesn't do anything, though it does work the other way around so the game isn't soft-locked.
 - One of the wrong doors in the maze at the end (I think heading south to the bathroom first then taking one of the two exits there?) takes you to the carnival entrance rather than the start of the maze (this might also be intentional?)
[close]

The Zoo
Spoiler
I haven't see The Twilight Zone, though the premise rings a vague bell so I might have heard of the episode before. Either way the game does a good job of quickly setting up the situation the player finds themselves in and the goal of escape.

The presentation is very good. Clear, black and white pixel art and good music. I'm not sure if the main background loop comes from The Twilight Zone or not, but it fits very well with the atmosphere. It's a consistent world and is interesting to explore.

There's some OK inventory-based puzzles. The fire setting puzzle was a little odd - the books are inflammable for some reason, so you soak them with alcohol, but you can't light the alcohol directly on fire or pour it over the couch and set fire to it with a cigarette or something. It seemed a little convoluted to me. I got stuck for a while figuring out what to do with the burning book - I assumed I'd have to put it in the fireplace then block the flue somehow to make smoke in the room - but after taking a break to play one of the other games then coming back I found it almost straight away. Otherwise interactions and puzzles generally made sense to me. I wondered if it would be possible to softlock by not taking the sign, so I tried it on a second play through and the answer was no. Kudos for handling that. I also appreciated there were two different endings to the game.

My main critique of the game would be that there's a lot of objects and hotspots, but many are missing interactivity for some, if not all, of the cursors. Some of these are especially confusing, for example there are four cupboards in the kitchen but you get no response when trying to use any of them. I find the lack of feedback a bit immersion-breaking as it makes me question whether I misclicked the object. There's a hotspot for the kitchen wall, but I couldn't see why this would need to be interactive and couldn't find anything to do with it. Conversely there's other objects in the background that look like they should be intractable but aren't. There's what looks like a doorway on the north wall of the living room, but it doesn't do anything, and there's a door in the hallway next to the kitchen which again can't be clicked on. In my opinion adding some extra interaction text, even if it's along the lines of "It's empty", "It's out of reach", "It's locked", would help a lot with keeping the immersion and justifying why the interactions aren't available.

The other part that feels a little odd is the score. You get points for solving the puzzles, and there's some more for actions that aren't strictly necessary which is a nice way of fleshing out the interactivity of the world. I like this and think it's fun. The main puzzle chain isn't that long, so having extra items and hotspots that aren't just red herrings but give you bonus points is a great idea. In theory it also adds replayability for players who want to try and find all the points. However from what I could see the game doesn't ever tell you the maximum number of points, or give you any kind of score recap at the end, so there's no way of knowing whether anything was missed. For the record I think my highest score was 13.

Overall it's a good little escape room puzzler with a cool setting and atmosphere. It feels a little unfinished in some areas, but otherwise it's a well put together game, and definitely worth playing.
[close]

The Stew of Las Moras
Spoiler
What immediately struck me about this game was the world building. I love the idea of this ancient stew that 14 stew masters have overseen, the collection of bizarre characters lining up to eat, and the villain who's content to just stand there and laugh while you try and clean up his mess. Oh, and Moby is here too.

The artwork really shines too. It uses a stylistically limited pallet with a good colour choice and everything is clear to read. I really like the character designs too (and that whale is incredible) and I appreciate that while there's very limited amounts of actual animation the characters bob about while talking. There's other small touches too, like after the scouts leave the other characters move up a place in line. It's stuff like that show a lot of effort went into the feel of this game. There's also quite a bit of (I assume) custom music in the game. I like that talking to some characters will give you different music tracks.

I like the puzzles. They make sense in the context of the game's world, but they do need a bit of thinking about. I particularly appreciated the desert sequence deaths - failing it gives you a fun narrative about what went wrong and, most importantly, you're given a retry button rather than just ending the game.

It's a fun game with a great sense of world building and is very funny too. It does something interesting and unique with the theme, and kept me engaged and guessing where the story was going.

Bug reports:
 - Unlocking the right case in the gift shop plays the bending down animation, but not the standing back up animation and breaks Moby's walk cycle.
 - Pretty minor, but if Moby has to walk through the gift shop to interact with something (e.g exit the stew scene, then use the water trough) the gift shop wall will start but not finish fading away as he walks through, leaving it in a semi-transparent state.
[close]

When the poll is open I'm going to vote for:
Spoiler
The Stew of Las Moras. I really enjoyed all three entries, but the combination of world building, artwork, puzzles, and humour swayed it for me.
[close]
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Stupot on Sat 06/07/2024 15:26:06
Sorry for the delay with the poll. Keep your eyes peeled
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Sat 06/07/2024 21:59:02
Quote from: OneDollar on Sat 06/07/2024 13:56:16Three games is a good turnout, and they're all really solid entries too!

I was trying to write feedback notes while I played through them all, and they accidentally turned into mini essays. Here's some heavily spoilery feedback (and some bug reports) for each game if you'd like it:

Carnival of Shadows
Spoiler
I liked the idea of multiple characters with different views of the world and different abilities, but I couldn't see any reason not to just have them all follow me constantly. It would have been nice to see this mechanic expanded on, like needing to leave certain characters in certain areas to solve a puzzle, or not being able to complete certain puzzles if a character was with you (like maybe you need to talk to a ghost but they won't appear around Tim the skeptic or something). It might have been interesting to have to ask/use specific characters to solve puzzles so that you have to think about their abilities and personalities, rather than them just helping automatically if they were with you. I liked that conversations happened differently depending whether characters were on screen or not.

The art feels like it's been pulled together from lots of different sources. There's different styles, and most noticeably different resolutions which can leave some of it quite blurry and unclear. It's definitely not the prettiest thing to look at, but I think it does fit well with the game's atmosphere. The music is a bit disjoined with some awkward loops, but again I think it fits the game quite well.

Adding riddles adds an interesting variation to the puzzles, though the game immediately gave me hints that I didn't need because Tim was on screen. I also think I would have preferred it if the game started dropping increasingly helpful hints after I got the answers wrong a few times, or gave me the option of asking Tim for a hint if I decided I needed one.

Most of the inventory-based puzzles in the middle were pretty obvious and didn't provide much of a challenge, either because it's clear from context (put fuses in the fuse box), or because the game outright tells you what to do (collect objects that appeal to children and put them on the bench). Again I think some of this could have worked better if the mechanic with the different characters was a bit more fleshed out. Needing Luna to tell you about the child ghosts wanting toys could be a good part of the puzzle chain, but at that point in the game there's no reason why the player wouldn't have Luna with them so it's effectively automatically solved. One inventory puzzle that I did think worked well was having to use the box on the dumpster, as that wasn't obvious and took me a while to figure out.

I liked the maze puzzle at the end, that was fun and again something a bit different to the standard inventory puzzles.

In summary I really like the setting and the concept. There's a lot of interesting ideas in the game, not all of them work as well as they could, but for me that's better than a boring game that doesn't try anything new. It's quite rough both in terms of graphics and bugs, but I still had a lot of fun playing it. I think I wrote so much about it because there's a lot that really works for me, and the bits that don't are interesting enough that I can see glimpses of how they could work with a bit more time to develop them. A really solid MAGS entry.

Bug reports:
I've got some bug reports for you, mostly because I ended up playing through a couple of times to see what would change if I did or didn't have characters with me at certain points.

Game breaking:
 - You already know about the bug with clicking on the fuse box a second time. I stupidly triggered this on my first play through, despite having seen it being discussed  :-[
 - I got a crash at the end after destroying the watch and freeing the ghosts: "The character 'Luna' could not be displayed because there was no loop 2 of view 33". I'm pretty sure this is triggered by causing Luna to follow you before clicking the watch (either by clicking Luna while she's holding back Mr Grins, or I think if you enter the final room without Luna following you she gets set to follow mode when she appears in the room)?
 - If Luna isn't with you when you place the last offering on the bench the game gets stuck in a loop of Maria saying "That's all of them".

Minor stuff:
 - You can use the fuses on the fuse box and turn on the power without needing Tim to open the door first (Maria will still comment that the door is closed after turning on the power).
 - I think the logic is backwards on the hint for the second riddle as you only get it if Tim isn't on screen.
 - I left my friends in the main carnival area (with the Ferris wheel). Exiting and re-entering the carnival by the main entrance makes them appear in the area with the carousel again. I assume this is a bug, though arguably they could have just wandered back there themselves :D
 - There's something odd going on with character baselines or z-depths or something as a character standing behind another will often be drawn on top of them instead - I'm not sure if this is an AGS bug or something in the game's code
 - Everyone comments on the newspaper even if they're not on screen.
 - The first time you click on the carousel it will spin and Luna will give you the explanation about offerings, this still happens even if you click on it after you've already placed all the offerings and moved all the ghosts.
 - Using the combined two end pieces of the key on the handle piece doesn't do anything, though it does work the other way around so the game isn't soft-locked.
 - One of the wrong doors in the maze at the end (I think heading south to the bathroom first then taking one of the two exits there?) takes you to the carnival entrance rather than the start of the maze (this might also be intentional?)
[close]

The Zoo
Spoiler
I haven't see The Twilight Zone, though the premise rings a vague bell so I might have heard of the episode before. Either way the game does a good job of quickly setting up the situation the player finds themselves in and the goal of escape.

The presentation is very good. Clear, black and white pixel art and good music. I'm not sure if the main background loop comes from The Twilight Zone or not, but it fits very well with the atmosphere. It's a consistent world and is interesting to explore.

There's some OK inventory-based puzzles. The fire setting puzzle was a little odd - the books are inflammable for some reason, so you soak them with alcohol, but you can't light the alcohol directly on fire or pour it over the couch and set fire to it with a cigarette or something. It seemed a little convoluted to me. I got stuck for a while figuring out what to do with the burning book - I assumed I'd have to put it in the fireplace then block the flue somehow to make smoke in the room - but after taking a break to play one of the other games then coming back I found it almost straight away. Otherwise interactions and puzzles generally made sense to me. I wondered if it would be possible to softlock by not taking the sign, so I tried it on a second play through and the answer was no. Kudos for handling that. I also appreciated there were two different endings to the game.

My main critique of the game would be that there's a lot of objects and hotspots, but many are missing interactivity for some, if not all, of the cursors. Some of these are especially confusing, for example there are four cupboards in the kitchen but you get no response when trying to use any of them. I find the lack of feedback a bit immersion-breaking as it makes me question whether I misclicked the object. There's a hotspot for the kitchen wall, but I couldn't see why this would need to be interactive and couldn't find anything to do with it. Conversely there's other objects in the background that look like they should be intractable but aren't. There's what looks like a doorway on the north wall of the living room, but it doesn't do anything, and there's a door in the hallway next to the kitchen which again can't be clicked on. In my opinion adding some extra interaction text, even if it's along the lines of "It's empty", "It's out of reach", "It's locked", would help a lot with keeping the immersion and justifying why the interactions aren't available.

The other part that feels a little odd is the score. You get points for solving the puzzles, and there's some more for actions that aren't strictly necessary which is a nice way of fleshing out the interactivity of the world. I like this and think it's fun. The main puzzle chain isn't that long, so having extra items and hotspots that aren't just red herrings but give you bonus points is a great idea. In theory it also adds replayability for players who want to try and find all the points. However from what I could see the game doesn't ever tell you the maximum number of points, or give you any kind of score recap at the end, so there's no way of knowing whether anything was missed. For the record I think my highest score was 13.

Overall it's a good little escape room puzzler with a cool setting and atmosphere. It feels a little unfinished in some areas, but otherwise it's a well put together game, and definitely worth playing.
[close]

The Stew of Las Moras
Spoiler
What immediately struck me about this game was the world building. I love the idea of this ancient stew that 14 stew masters have overseen, the collection of bizarre characters lining up to eat, and the villain who's content to just stand there and laugh while you try and clean up his mess. Oh, and Moby is here too.

The artwork really shines too. It uses a stylistically limited pallet with a good colour choice and everything is clear to read. I really like the character designs too (and that whale is incredible) and I appreciate that while there's very limited amounts of actual animation the characters bob about while talking. There's other small touches too, like after the scouts leave the other characters move up a place in line. It's stuff like that show a lot of effort went into the feel of this game. There's also quite a bit of (I assume) custom music in the game. I like that talking to some characters will give you different music tracks.

I like the puzzles. They make sense in the context of the game's world, but they do need a bit of thinking about. I particularly appreciated the desert sequence deaths - failing it gives you a fun narrative about what went wrong and, most importantly, you're given a retry button rather than just ending the game.

It's a fun game with a great sense of world building and is very funny too. It does something interesting and unique with the theme, and kept me engaged and guessing where the story was going.

Bug reports:
 - Unlocking the right case in the gift shop plays the bending down animation, but not the standing back up animation and breaks Moby's walk cycle.
 - Pretty minor, but if Moby has to walk through the gift shop to interact with something (e.g exit the stew scene, then use the water trough) the gift shop wall will start but not finish fading away as he walks through, leaving it in a semi-transparent state.
[close]

When the poll is open I'm going to vote for:
Spoiler
The Stew of Las Moras. I really enjoyed all three entries, but the combination of world building, artwork, puzzles, and humour swayed it for me.
[close]

Thanks for playing Stupot!

I use gimp and a broken mouse to make my assets and I'm not an artist so my visuals are a bit limited! I have switched to aseprite for my latest project, and I'm learning about how to make proper pixel art at the same resolution, it is something that bugged me as well. I guess most of the downsides can be blamed on the amount of time it takes me to get the script side of things working... A couple months ago I didn't know what an if else statement was! But I will persevere and hopefully improve!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jfrisby on Sun 07/07/2024 04:21:52
Quote from: OneDollar on Sat 06/07/2024 13:56:16I was trying to write feedback notes while I played through them all, and they accidentally turned into mini essays. Here's some heavily spoilery feedback (and some bug reports) for each game if you'd like it:

Thanks for the kind and long review, OneDollar! This made my day :D 🥣
Spoiler
We knew the giftshop wall could be finicky (and it was my stupid idea to not just make that an interior screen :P), but didn't catch that right display case!
[close]


I finished both of the other entries and have been meaning to write something, I enjoyed my time with both!

The Zoo:
Spoiler
Really loved the b+w, and the idea of putting a happy ending on a twilight zone episode is somehow really nice... in a subversive way haha..  I love that TZ had those uncomfortable non-resolutions... but there could be a whole series just tying up all those endings too... 70 years later :D
[close]

Carnival of Shadows:
Spoiler
I liked the multiple character idea, that seemed like it had a lot of potential! I noticed the other characters seemed to take a few seconds to catch up to you when you left the screen, and that seemed impressive, if it was intentional :D The maze was fun!   

Possible Bug:  I restarted this once, because I think I somehow searched the dumpster but didn't get the item there... I kept trying to take Jake to help search it, and I'm pretty sure Maria started saying "there's nothing else I need there" without having the bear(I think it was a bear?)...  But I didn't try to reproduce it. 
[close]
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: heltenjon on Sun 07/07/2024 18:06:53
Here are my thoughts this month:

Carnival of Shadows:
Spoiler
As I said in the game's own thread, I got Five Nights at Freddy's vibes from this. I like the crazyness set in a place usually there for fun. Visually appealing, especially the ghosts of children. The idea of commandeering your friends with different abilities is a good one, although it doesn't get much time to shine in such a short game. The best solution seems to be to simply let them all tag along at all times. I'd have liked it if they weren't all available or if it caused trouble if the wrong one was present. Now, to be fair, I ditched them on my own, but that was by clicking on them by mistake or trying to make them respond to something. I wanted the big one to look in the dumpster for me, but when he did nothing, I clicked on him, resulting simply in him staying put. (Nice that he acknowledges that the main character could have asked him after solving the puzzle in another manner, but still...) I found the controls a bit fiddly, and had to resort to the keyboard movement (which I'm not a fan of) to be able to switch rooms in an easy manner. Small gripes aside, I liked the game and found the ending satisfying. The strong suits are definetely atmosphere and how you build it throughout the story. Difficulty: fairly easy (but riddles can be hard for us non-native speakers).
[close]

The Zoo:
Spoiler
Nice black and white to set the Twilight Zone mood. This plays out like an escape the room game, with (somwhat) logical puzzles and enough hand-holding to make me see what's intended easily. (Well, I thought the fire should start in the fireplace, but as I always try other things first, I found the solution before trying that.) I liked the two endings, too. Good storytelling there. I think this game works better for someone familiar with the story or concept, because there could have been more backstory baked into the descriptions. However, there are limits for how much to include in a jam game on a deadline.
[close]

The Stew of Las Moras:
Spoiler
Oh, this was so brilliant. The premise is so funny it kept me laughing about it and talking to friends and family about it for days. The limited palette works well here, as well, giving the game the same sort of instant familiarity as the other games by this duo. We recognize your games at a glance now.  ;-D  The music changes, giving each character their own theme, which i felt worked very well. Subtle does it! The characters are varied and funny, and the puzzles are challenging, but fair. I guess the treks into the desert are text-only for time reasons, but the writing is good, so it doesn't matter much.
[close]

I will vote for
Spoiler
the giant Stew Pot.
[close]
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Mon 08/07/2024 03:18:06
Quote from: OneDollar on Sat 06/07/2024 13:56:16Three games is a good turnout, and they're all really solid entries too!

I was trying to write feedback notes while I played through them all, and they accidentally turned into mini essays. Here's some heavily spoilery feedback (and some bug reports) for each game if you'd like it:

Carnival of Shadows
Spoiler
I liked the idea of multiple characters with different views of the world and different abilities, but I couldn't see any reason not to just have them all follow me constantly. It would have been nice to see this mechanic expanded on, like needing to leave certain characters in certain areas to solve a puzzle, or not being able to complete certain puzzles if a character was with you (like maybe you need to talk to a ghost but they won't appear around Tim the skeptic or something). It might have been interesting to have to ask/use specific characters to solve puzzles so that you have to think about their abilities and personalities, rather than them just helping automatically if they were with you. I liked that conversations happened differently depending whether characters were on screen or not.

The art feels like it's been pulled together from lots of different sources. There's different styles, and most noticeably different resolutions which can leave some of it quite blurry and unclear. It's definitely not the prettiest thing to look at, but I think it does fit well with the game's atmosphere. The music is a bit disjoined with some awkward loops, but again I think it fits the game quite well.

Adding riddles adds an interesting variation to the puzzles, though the game immediately gave me hints that I didn't need because Tim was on screen. I also think I would have preferred it if the game started dropping increasingly helpful hints after I got the answers wrong a few times, or gave me the option of asking Tim for a hint if I decided I needed one.

Most of the inventory-based puzzles in the middle were pretty obvious and didn't provide much of a challenge, either because it's clear from context (put fuses in the fuse box), or because the game outright tells you what to do (collect objects that appeal to children and put them on the bench). Again I think some of this could have worked better if the mechanic with the different characters was a bit more fleshed out. Needing Luna to tell you about the child ghosts wanting toys could be a good part of the puzzle chain, but at that point in the game there's no reason why the player wouldn't have Luna with them so it's effectively automatically solved. One inventory puzzle that I did think worked well was having to use the box on the dumpster, as that wasn't obvious and took me a while to figure out.

I liked the maze puzzle at the end, that was fun and again something a bit different to the standard inventory puzzles.

In summary I really like the setting and the concept. There's a lot of interesting ideas in the game, not all of them work as well as they could, but for me that's better than a boring game that doesn't try anything new. It's quite rough both in terms of graphics and bugs, but I still had a lot of fun playing it. I think I wrote so much about it because there's a lot that really works for me, and the bits that don't are interesting enough that I can see glimpses of how they could work with a bit more time to develop them. A really solid MAGS entry.

Bug reports:
I've got some bug reports for you, mostly because I ended up playing through a couple of times to see what would change if I did or didn't have characters with me at certain points.

Game breaking:
 - You already know about the bug with clicking on the fuse box a second time. I stupidly triggered this on my first play through, despite having seen it being discussed  :-[
 - I got a crash at the end after destroying the watch and freeing the ghosts: "The character 'Luna' could not be displayed because there was no loop 2 of view 33". I'm pretty sure this is triggered by causing Luna to follow you before clicking the watch (either by clicking Luna while she's holding back Mr Grins, or I think if you enter the final room without Luna following you she gets set to follow mode when she appears in the room)?
 - If Luna isn't with you when you place the last offering on the bench the game gets stuck in a loop of Maria saying "That's all of them".

Minor stuff:
 - You can use the fuses on the fuse box and turn on the power without needing Tim to open the door first (Maria will still comment that the door is closed after turning on the power).
 - I think the logic is backwards on the hint for the second riddle as you only get it if Tim isn't on screen.
 - I left my friends in the main carnival area (with the Ferris wheel). Exiting and re-entering the carnival by the main entrance makes them appear in the area with the carousel again. I assume this is a bug, though arguably they could have just wandered back there themselves :D
 - There's something odd going on with character baselines or z-depths or something as a character standing behind another will often be drawn on top of them instead - I'm not sure if this is an AGS bug or something in the game's code
 - Everyone comments on the newspaper even if they're not on screen.
 - The first time you click on the carousel it will spin and Luna will give you the explanation about offerings, this still happens even if you click on it after you've already placed all the offerings and moved all the ghosts.
 - Using the combined two end pieces of the key on the handle piece doesn't do anything, though it does work the other way around so the game isn't soft-locked.
 - One of the wrong doors in the maze at the end (I think heading south to the bathroom first then taking one of the two exits there?) takes you to the carnival entrance rather than the start of the maze (this might also be intentional?)
[close]

The Zoo
Spoiler
I haven't see The Twilight Zone, though the premise rings a vague bell so I might have heard of the episode before. Either way the game does a good job of quickly setting up the situation the player finds themselves in and the goal of escape.

The presentation is very good. Clear, black and white pixel art and good music. I'm not sure if the main background loop comes from The Twilight Zone or not, but it fits very well with the atmosphere. It's a consistent world and is interesting to explore.

There's some OK inventory-based puzzles. The fire setting puzzle was a little odd - the books are inflammable for some reason, so you soak them with alcohol, but you can't light the alcohol directly on fire or pour it over the couch and set fire to it with a cigarette or something. It seemed a little convoluted to me. I got stuck for a while figuring out what to do with the burning book - I assumed I'd have to put it in the fireplace then block the flue somehow to make smoke in the room - but after taking a break to play one of the other games then coming back I found it almost straight away. Otherwise interactions and puzzles generally made sense to me. I wondered if it would be possible to softlock by not taking the sign, so I tried it on a second play through and the answer was no. Kudos for handling that. I also appreciated there were two different endings to the game.

My main critique of the game would be that there's a lot of objects and hotspots, but many are missing interactivity for some, if not all, of the cursors. Some of these are especially confusing, for example there are four cupboards in the kitchen but you get no response when trying to use any of them. I find the lack of feedback a bit immersion-breaking as it makes me question whether I misclicked the object. There's a hotspot for the kitchen wall, but I couldn't see why this would need to be interactive and couldn't find anything to do with it. Conversely there's other objects in the background that look like they should be intractable but aren't. There's what looks like a doorway on the north wall of the living room, but it doesn't do anything, and there's a door in the hallway next to the kitchen which again can't be clicked on. In my opinion adding some extra interaction text, even if it's along the lines of "It's empty", "It's out of reach", "It's locked", would help a lot with keeping the immersion and justifying why the interactions aren't available.

The other part that feels a little odd is the score. You get points for solving the puzzles, and there's some more for actions that aren't strictly necessary which is a nice way of fleshing out the interactivity of the world. I like this and think it's fun. The main puzzle chain isn't that long, so having extra items and hotspots that aren't just red herrings but give you bonus points is a great idea. In theory it also adds replayability for players who want to try and find all the points. However from what I could see the game doesn't ever tell you the maximum number of points, or give you any kind of score recap at the end, so there's no way of knowing whether anything was missed. For the record I think my highest score was 13.

Overall it's a good little escape room puzzler with a cool setting and atmosphere. It feels a little unfinished in some areas, but otherwise it's a well put together game, and definitely worth playing.
[close]

The Stew of Las Moras
Spoiler
What immediately struck me about this game was the world building. I love the idea of this ancient stew that 14 stew masters have overseen, the collection of bizarre characters lining up to eat, and the villain who's content to just stand there and laugh while you try and clean up his mess. Oh, and Moby is here too.

The artwork really shines too. It uses a stylistically limited pallet with a good colour choice and everything is clear to read. I really like the character designs too (and that whale is incredible) and I appreciate that while there's very limited amounts of actual animation the characters bob about while talking. There's other small touches too, like after the scouts leave the other characters move up a place in line. It's stuff like that show a lot of effort went into the feel of this game. There's also quite a bit of (I assume) custom music in the game. I like that talking to some characters will give you different music tracks.

I like the puzzles. They make sense in the context of the game's world, but they do need a bit of thinking about. I particularly appreciated the desert sequence deaths - failing it gives you a fun narrative about what went wrong and, most importantly, you're given a retry button rather than just ending the game.

It's a fun game with a great sense of world building and is very funny too. It does something interesting and unique with the theme, and kept me engaged and guessing where the story was going.

Bug reports:
 - Unlocking the right case in the gift shop plays the bending down animation, but not the standing back up animation and breaks Moby's walk cycle.
 - Pretty minor, but if Moby has to walk through the gift shop to interact with something (e.g exit the stew scene, then use the water trough) the gift shop wall will start but not finish fading away as he walks through, leaving it in a semi-transparent state.
[close]

When the poll is open I'm going to vote for:
Spoiler
The Stew of Las Moras. I really enjoyed all three entries, but the combination of world building, artwork, puzzles, and humour swayed it for me.
[close]

Wow! Thanks for the big feedback. I completely forgot about the kitchen wall when I was working on everything else. It was supposed to be a look point with a reference to the episode and... oops. XD
As for the puzzles and such I had a lot of ideas and I half-implemented a lot of them, but with leaving those pieces in I didn't use I can see how it would cause confusion PLUS how alternatives could be implemented. I wanted to do that in this game (similar to Conquest of the Longbow), but it seems like I was still thinking inside my own little box.

Thanks for all the feedback!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Stupot on Tue 09/07/2024 08:47:23
Time to vote

Very sorry for the delay in getting this up. I just haven't been able to squeeze out a moment with my laptop.

Hopefully you've been enjoying the games and thinking about your favourite one.

Please vote using the poll above:

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5MzYwMC8xNjY3NTE0OS5wbmc=/794x1000/ZmuUei.png)The Zoo (https://4kbshort.itch.io/the-zoo) by 4KbShort
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc5NDgxNS8xNjY4Mzk0Mi5wbmc=/794x1000/PqQS3S.png)Carnival of Shadows (https://goosekult.itch.io/carnival-of-shadows) by GooseKult
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzE2NzQ4MTI3LnBuZw==/original/zuU%2B8s.png)The Stew of Las Moras (https://bani-gala.itch.io/stew-of-las-moras) by Babar and jfrisby
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jwalt on Tue 09/07/2024 12:56:15
Voted. Enjoyed all three of these!

Spoiler
My vote went to Carnival of Shadows, mainly because it's the one I enjoyed the most. Nothing wrong with Zoo. Stew seemed pretty far out there, and for me, it suffered as a result.
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Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Tue 09/07/2024 13:25:07
Quote from: jwalt on Tue 09/07/2024 12:56:15Voted. Enjoyed all three of these!

Spoiler
My vote went to Carnival of Shadows, mainly because it's the one I enjoyed the most. Nothing wrong with Zoo. Stew seemed pretty far out there, and for me, it suffered as a result.
[close]

Spoiler
Thank you for the vote ! I'm glad you enjoyed!
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Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: WHAM on Tue 09/07/2024 19:40:20
I have once more tried all the MAGS games and you can find videos of my attempts here. While I'll happily recommend you play them all yourself, if you just can't be bothered then this might be an option for you:

Carnival of Shadows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F09kNNqCUPY

The Stew of Las Moras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98KTtuVTP74

The Zoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpfSEzymzA
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: GooseKult on Tue 09/07/2024 20:39:35
Quote from: WHAM on Tue 09/07/2024 19:40:20I have once more tried all the MAGS games and you can find videos of my attempts here. While I'll happily recommend you play them all yourself, if you just can't be bothered then this might be an option for you:

Carnival of Shadows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F09kNNqCUPY

The Stew of Las Moras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98KTtuVTP74

The Zoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpfSEzymzA

Thanks for playing Wham, I enjoyed your video and the critiques are helpful. I'm not too sure whats going on with the z-order and the font's or why jake didn't help you the first time.  Other than that its mainly my half-baked idea's that killed me, I was so scared of missing the deadline that I dialled things back too much and rushed other things. Going to watch the others now!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Fri 12/07/2024 06:48:09
Quote from: WHAM on Tue 09/07/2024 19:40:20I have once more tried all the MAGS games and you can find videos of my attempts here. While I'll happily recommend you play them all yourself, if you just can't be bothered then this might be an option for you:

Carnival of Shadows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F09kNNqCUPY

The Stew of Las Moras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98KTtuVTP74

The Zoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpfSEzymzA

Thanks so much for the feedback! And I left a comment on the vid for you for algorithm and it makes more sense there than here. Thanks again!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: Stupot on Wed 24/07/2024 16:44:12
Voting is over and we have joint winners.

The Zoo, by 4KbShort, and The Stew of Las Moras by Babar and jfrisby.

Congratulations!
You will be contacted soon about coming up with a theme for August.

Unlucky to Goosekult. And thanks to everyone for your entries.
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: jfrisby on Wed 24/07/2024 17:36:13
Congrats 4Kb!  Thanks all for playing and voting! 🥣🥣 :D
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: 4KbShort on Wed 24/07/2024 23:26:25
Quote from: jfrisby on Wed 24/07/2024 17:36:13Congrats 4Kb!  Thanks all for playing and voting! 🥣🥣 :D

Thanks! And thanks for everyone who played and voted! Ties can be fun as they also tend to bring out more interesting ideas. Let's hope we step up to the challenge!
Title: Re: MAGS June "Tourist Attraction" (OPEN)
Post by: OneDollar on Fri 26/07/2024 20:40:15
Congratulations all of you!