MAGS May “Sing a Song of Sixpence” (VOTING)

[Stupot]

Theme: Sing a Song of Sixpence
Guidelines: by jfrisby and Babar.

	Mathilde's Dream by Speksteen
	Blackbird Pie by Radiant

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing.
Wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the king?

The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money.
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird
And pecked off her nose.


Pick a line, character, setting, inventory item, element, myth about or something related to the nursery rhyme.




Raising a child I've been exposed to a lot of nursery rhymes lately - I thought this one of mysterious origin and meaning had potential as a theme, and was always absent from mixed-up-mother-goose and similar games  

See also:
https://youtu.be/Dksg19eCAv0?si=J4LpMkBhROLQOUF0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence
https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/families/rhymes-in-time/sing-a-song-of-sixpence

[speksteen]

Hi everybody,

Just a question. So far I have the animation ready and made a ambient soundtrack. I look forward to complete a short silly game but was I was wondering can I post updates here or in the in progress section.

I sometimes struggle with motivation and I thought putting myself out there gives me some accountability.

[RootBound]

@speksteen Yes, updates are strongly encouraged. 

[Stupot]

Absolutely, @speksteen. It's great to see what people are woking on.

[speksteen]

That's awesome!

I don't have much yet but it's a start. Learning the software as I go but I'm set on finishing the game.

https://gyazo.com/663f4922dc093667e022fedf80c1b6a9

[glurex]

I don't have much yet but it's a start. Learning the software as I go but I'm set on finishing the game.

Nice! The MAGS are an excellent opportunity to learn and play a bit with AGS.

[speksteen]

I almost felt like quitting yesterday. I get so excited I just can't force myself to stop working on the game. So I decided to take a break today and finish a little bit each day to keep it fun for myself. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-455507466/mathildes-dream
This is the song I'm going to go with. I was actually proud of it because usually I end up making something way too choatic and this one sounds pretty chill.

https://imgur.com/a/mQ8l4vG
This is what I got now. I needed to log in to Imgur and to my suprise I found my first game that I never finished. I spend so much time getting the first room right that I just eventually gave up. I all of this in Gamemaker which involved a lot of work! AGS is just way more convenient and practical.

The main characters even look a like. 
https://imgur.com/h2szQiE

[speksteen]

So I got a little bit enthusiastic and ended up finishing the game. 

It's now downloadable on itch: https://speksteen.itch.io/mathildes-dream

It's about 5 minutes long and a bit barebone. It's my first AGS game but I still would like to know if what you all think about it. Any feedback is welcome!

 

[speksteen]

Also made a trailer! 

[jfrisby]

It's about 5 minutes long and a bit barebone. It's my first AGS game but I still would like to know if what you all think about it. Any feedback is welcome!

Spoiler

I enjoyed this, and thought it was really eerie throughout!... I kept expecting something disturbing to happen, but it didn't really... but tension!    That might have been the music. I liked the music change between the king and the rest of the screens. Congrats on the first game!

[close]

I'm not participating this month, since we submitted the theme and I'm crazy busy, but here's the idea I was thinking about (if anyone wants a weird idea):

1 room, 24 birds rehearsing singing / choir practice, inside a pie. They make sounds (notes?) when you click on them.  something something...  That's all I had, it might look like this: 


(but better)

[heltenjon]

I'm not participating this month, since we submitted the theme and I'm crazy busy, but here's the idea I was thinking about (if anyone wants a weird idea):

1 room, 24 birds rehearsing singing / choir practice, inside a pie. They make sounds (notes?) when you click on them.  something something...  That's all I had

This would be a cool setup for a memory game, like simon says. Or for loom-like spells. 

[speksteen]

It's about 5 minutes long and a bit barebone. It's my first AGS game but I still would like to know if what you all think about it. Any feedback is welcome!

Spoiler

I enjoyed this, and thought it was really eerie throughout!... I kept expecting something disturbing to happen, but it didn't really... but tension!    That might have been the music. I liked the music change between the king and the rest of the screens. Congrats on the first game!

[close]

I'm not participating this month, since we submitted the theme and I'm crazy busy, but here's the idea I was thinking about (if anyone wants a weird idea):

1 room, 24 birds rehearsing singing / choir practice, inside a pie. They make sounds (notes?) when you click on them.  something something...  That's all I had, it might look like this: 


(but better)

Reminds me of a puzzle in Toonstruck. As a kid I couldn't solve it. You basically had a clown face and different coloured buttons and they all needed to be pressed in the right order to solve it. The game would give you clues on what the next sound was going to be.

[heltenjon]

So I got a little bit enthusiastic and ended up finishing the game. 

It's now downloadable on itch: https://speksteen.itch.io/mathildes-dream

It's about 5 minutes long and a bit barebone. It's my first AGS game but I still would like to know if what you all think about it. Any feedback is welcome!

 

Normally, I'd wait until the end of the month with playing and giving feedback, but your enthusiasm got me.  I agree with jfrisby that the music is a good fit and gives the game atmosphere. I'd put it as dream-like, which is also the impression I get from the faceless, stylized characters. I liked the dancing guy animation! (Even though that part is a bit sad, really.)

The game is a fine five minute feel-good play. It's barebone in the way that there's little extras in the ways of descriptions, dialogues or stuff to do except what's needed to reach the ending. That also makes the game easy, of course, as there's not really any chance of making the wrong choices. I felt the same way as I do when playing some bitsy games, that the point is to convey a feeling. As the game is made from the poem/song, I think that is fitting to the theme of the month.

[speksteen]

@heltenjon  Thanks for the feedback and for taking the time to play it!

Too be honest I haven't made a lot of games but they all follow the same pattern. No thought put in actual gameplay. Definitely something to work on. Now that I know a bit of what AGS is capable of I'm confident that the next time I'll start the process with actually sketching out some gameplay elements.

I was so excited that I told my best friend I made a another game. When he asked me what the game was about I actually realized it isn't really a game but basically a animation with click elements. Let's see if I can do better next time

It was a fun experiment though. I love the ease and possibilities of AGS

[heltenjon]

@heltenjon
I was so excited that I told my best friend I made a another game. When he asked me what the game was about I actually realized it isn't really a game but basically a animation with click elements. Let's see if I can do better next time

We grow and learn. Don't be hard on yourself. The game is fun, it just concentrates on story and conveying feelings instead of making difficult puzzles. We hope to see many more games from you. 

[Radiant]

I'm tentatively working on something called Blackbird Pie, which is about... a blackbird delivering pie to people. Because why deliver with drones when you can have a blackbird, right?

But I'm also out of the country for some time so we'll see how far this comes in one month.

[Stupot]

How are we getting on, gang?

[Radiant]

How are we getting on, gang?

Blackbird Pie
You control a flock of blackbirds that deliver pie. But first you have to deliver milk and flour to the bakery (to make a crust) and get the crust and topping to the confectionery (to make your choice of various kinds of pie). It's pretty straightforward mouse controls to click on a bird and set its route. This is probably a concept that should be expanded further outside MAGS, but I've managed to downscope it enough to be playable within the month. Enjoy!

https://crystalshard.net/test/BlackbirdPie.zip
Art and Music courtesy of opengameart.org

[Stupot]

Thanks @Radiant and @speksteen.

I know the forum was down for some time yesterday, so I'll leave this open for a bit longer, in case anyone else has been trying to post an entry.

[heltenjon]

Blackbird Pie
You control a flock of blackbirds that deliver pie. But first you have to deliver milk and flour to the bakery (to make a crust) and get the crust and topping to the confectionery (to make your choice of various kinds of pie).

Impressive!

I played around with this, but only managed to make money from lemon pie, and only at the confectionary and the trash. Am I doing something wrong with the other two pies? I thought I was to deliver them at the sites showing the corresponding graphic, but I don't seem to be able to. I played until my money count was more than 24, just to see if that was a win condition, but I guess there aren't any?

Very creative and nice concept! Even as a prototype, this was fun. And juggling three birds was difficult - I frequently ended up filling a site with only one type of item by accident.