MAGS March "Cut in Half" (Result)

[Stupot]

Cut it in Half

Guidelines set by: cat
Deadline: April 3rd (Half-way point March 19th)

VOTING OPEN
Please vote using the poll above.

	MORT: Manageably OK Response Team by RootBound
	Pod Dwellers by Mandle
	Breakfast Requiem by jfrisby and Babar

Share it, divide it, split it up, reduce the budget, size, whatsoever.

A big problem for finishing a MAGS game is starting too big. The smaller the scope, the more likely it is you will finish in time.

For an additional challenge, I suggest that you strive for having a game that can be played from start to finish at half-time (March 19th)! Roger walking around an empty screen with blue cup placeholders? Some puzzles still missing? No music? Dialog that sounds like written by a 4 year old? All fine, as long as it is playable. You still have half a month to finish the rest.
No need to post the half-finished game, but a post about your progress would be nice.



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.

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Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove has something you can use.
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board.
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[eri0o]

The idea of cutting reminds me of my favorite Magic the Gathering card, Fact or Fiction



Also I watched the Romeo and Juliet movie from 1996 yesterday and not sure what I was expecting but it had a city divided by Capulet and Montague in half.

Interesting theme.

[Durinde]

Have an idea, so hopefully will be able to participate in this one.

[RootBound]

The wheels in my head are turning
... I really shouldn't start another game right now but maybe I can keep it small for once. 

[jwalt]

It is getting kind of weird in jwalt-ville, regarding the last few MAGS topics. Here, once again, the topic seems to be falling nicely in line with my story arc in the effort to get Josh and Davy back home. I saw my Thorvald's Sphincter as two halves of one tool. Only, not sure I'm up to another effort? Have to see if I'm able to make any progress?

PS Thanks, Cat! Just as we planned... 

[cat]

Great to see some interest already!

Just to remind you, this is the important part of this month's challange:

For an additional challenge, I suggest that you strive for having a game that can be played from start to finish at half-time (March 19th)! No need to post the half-finished game, but a post about your progress would be nice.

[Kastchey]

... I really shouldn't start another game right now but maybe I can keep it small for once. 

"I really shouldn't start another game right now" is something I should probably make a sticky note of and plaster it somewhere where I can see it

[eri0o]

I am trying to think how to join cut in half with exploration. Maybe some game where the world is made of interconnected boards where the game happen and then either cutting the board or yourself to adapt to the world would somehow be the mechanic to traverse the world... Haven't come up with anything that makes sense yet.

[Kastchey]

Or, more literally, a game where the land is split in half by a huge chasm, and you need to either get across to explore the other side, or down the chasm to find something.

[The Great Underground Empire]

I can't participate this month or next because packing and moving whee!  But I would like to submit for anyone to grab: a magician's assistant who gets sawed in half, the magician has a heart attack, and now you've got to get yourself back together!

[Radiant]

Ok, I'll bite this time! 

[eri0o]

Trying to have more ideas, maybe using the split technique, had an idea where you can split yourself, so you can be in two places at the same time and maybe you can split again and be in four places at the same time, but you cut your mass and size in half each time, so the world could have puzzles/gates that requires you to be at specific size or weight to access... This would allow playing with the AGS multiple cameras.

[newwaveburritos]

I think another 22 room extravaganza is just what this MAGS needs...

...oh wait 11...

[heltenjon]

Trying to have more ideas, maybe using the split technique, had an idea where you can split yourself, so you can be in two places at the same time and maybe you can split again and be in four places at the same time, but you cut your mass and size in half each time, so the world could have puzzles/gates that requires you to be at specific size or weight to access... This would allow playing with the AGS multiple cameras.

If you are a robot, splitting into different parts could also make you split up different mechanics or abilities.

Come to think of it, if you're not a robot, how about trying to decide which of your multiple personalities you need to solve the obstacles? 

[Ponch]

Once again, I'm in. This time, I look forward to making one-fourth of a game before I run out of time. 

[heltenjon]

I think another 22 room extravaganza is just what this MAGS needs...

...oh wait 11...

Took me a while to get the joke.   

[eri0o]

I think I finally came up with something that uses the splittable robot concept from @heltenjon that could work, now need to hack up some form of level Editor to test the idea out.

[RootBound]

So the .gif below is all placeholder graphics, but for my interpretation of the "cut in half" theme, I've been attempting an extremely faux split-screen effect (note the changing cursor color    ). It's been fun to program, but only because it's working so far.    We'll see whether I can get far enough to implement actual gameplay (it needs a lot more to become something besides a programming exercise), but I'm happy with the result at this stage. 

[The Great Underground Empire]

@RootBound Nice!    I just had a sudden nostalgia flashback to the old game Hard Hat Mack!

[jwalt]

Would not say I'm making a lot of progress with this one. Tentatively titled: Mir Amesh. GameBoy video capture for one of the rooms:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/qf6yhuaqt6j0upq/Mir_Amesh_2024-03-09_16-15-03.mp4/file

Not happy with much of anything, but still trying.

Edit: Worked on fan, and added piano:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ia1yinimjm3bc8y/Mir_Amesh_2024-03-10_06-00-05.mp4/file