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Creative Production => Competitions & Activities => Topic started by: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51

Title: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51
Welcome to OROW 8!


I'm excited to announce that we have 15 entries!

In alphabetical order:

Betrayal - Bulbapuck and Mathias Niemand
Draconis! - Radiant and Fizzii
Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
Fly Paper - Limping Fish
Jack Trekker - Sunny Penguin and Alpy
Kanji Gakusei - cat and raeff
MI - calicoreverie
One Dungeon One Week - Khris
Sinking - WHAM and Ghost
Tattooroom - squame
The Addict - Adeel S. Ahmed and Handsfree
The butler didn't do it - Tzach and Noa
The Crystal Ball - oraxon
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The Rebirth - Grundislav


And here are the top 5 of every category:

Best Game

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
MI - calicoreverie
Jack Trekker - Sunny Penguin and Alpy


Best Graphics

The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Crystal Ball - oraxon
Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
Tattooroom - squame


Best Concept / Writing

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The Crystal Ball - oraxon
The butler didn't do it - Tzach and Noa


Best Sound / Music Design

MI - calicoreverie
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The butler didn't do it - Tzach and Noa
Kanji Gakusei - cat and raeff


Best Programming / Coding

One Dungeon One Week - Khris
Sinking - WHAM and Ghost
Draconis! - Radiant and Fizzii
Betrayal - Bulbapuck and Mathias Niemand
MI - calicoreverie

Congratulations to all participants and thanks for voting!

DOWNLOAD THE GAMES HERE! (http://cat.agser.me/games/OROW8/OROW8.zip)

====================================================

What is OROW, you may ask. Well, here is a short definition, copied and adapted from an old thread:

The OROW competition is a very simple competition were you make a game that is one room big in just one week. This competition has in the past proven what the members of this community are capable of, and it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Rules:
    -Entries must be made using AGS.
    -Entries should have only one playable room/location. *)
    -Entries may have cut scenes, menus or limited controlled sequences outside the main room.
    -Entries must not use any premade content except published AGS templates, modules and plugins.
    -Entries must be submitted anonymously, more on that below.
    -You may get one other person to help you with your game (e.g. music, sounds). Maximum teamsize is two!

*) This means a room in real-life definition, not an AGS room. So feel free to do close-ups, different views of the same room, scrolling rooms, outdoor scenes,... The main purpose of this rule is to keep it small and simple. Making a game in one week is an enormous task so starting small is a good way to actually finish it in time. We are not too strict about this rule, though.

Anonymous submission
An important aspect in this competition is the anonymity. This means that you cannot share any information about your entry. Nor can your game contain your name. This is because the game should be voted on by its own merits. Please also not include your name in the game info, as this can be seen in the file info.

You submit the game by sending me a link via PM. I will then upload it to another site.

OROW starts on Monday, 1st of July 00:00 GMT and ends Sunday, 7th of July 23:59 GMT.
You may start thinking about your story before that date, but you are not allowed to produce anything yet (i.e. no graphics, coding, music...)

The winner will be decided by public vote once the competition ends. There will be 5 categories: BEST GAME, GRAPHICS, CONCEPT/WRITING, SOUND/MUSIC DESIGN, PROGRAMMING/CODING.

To support testing of the next AGS version, participants are encouraged to use the latest Beta which can be found here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47966.0). Of course, this is purely optional.

Absolutely no information about your game should be shared with anyone until the competition and voting has ended. Please reply to this post if you intend to take part, but don't give any idea of what your game will be about.

In case you need some inspiration try this: http://videogamena.me/ (http://videogamena.me/) (thanks Miez!)

Have fun!

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: on Mon 10/06/2013 11:02:32
Great! I am not sure I will be able to participate, but OROW has always been a fav of mine!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Mon 10/06/2013 11:03:46
NO WAY! We're having a OROW? I bet I can pull myself together for a week. Yes, one week is perfectly within my attention span. Yay!

[edit]
Oh shiny!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Mon 10/06/2013 11:05:04
I desperately need to attend this one. I love OROW.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Miez on Mon 10/06/2013 11:09:15
Ehm ... yeah, I'll give it a try as well. :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: AdventureWhip on Mon 10/06/2013 11:29:54
It looks cool. Maybe I can try it. :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: awakening on Mon 10/06/2013 12:12:46
This would have been awesome for me. Finish a MAGS, do an OROW.  But I'll be away :(

I might have my own personal OROW :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Stupot on Mon 10/06/2013 12:33:13
I will be starting a new job that week, so it probably wouldn't be wise for me to participate, but we'll see.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Mon 10/06/2013 12:53:09
    The number of Positive Votes looks good so far. OROW sure looks promising. Count me in for this one. :)

P.S: I know it isn't necessary but I think you forgot to mention that we are voting here or perhaps you took a step ahead and went on to already announce it ;) rather than voting?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: kaput on Mon 10/06/2013 14:01:57
I'm in.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Miez on Mon 10/06/2013 14:15:50
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51
Welcome to OROW 8!

etc etc etc

Have fun!

But does this mean you won't be participating yourself, Cat?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 14:37:57
Quote from: Miez on Mon 10/06/2013 14:15:50
But does this mean you won't be participating yourself, Cat?
I will participate myself, but probably I will not vote as I will know who made the games.

Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Mon 10/06/2013 12:53:09
I know it isn't necessary but I think you forgot to mention that we are voting here or perhaps you took a step ahead and went on to already announce it ;) rather than voting?
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51
The winner will be decided by public vote once the competition ends. There will be 5 categories: BEST GAME, GRAPHICS, CONCEPT/WRITING, SOUND/MUSIC DESIGN, PROGRAMMING/CODING.

I have not decided on a voting system yet, people seemed to be dissatisfied with last times system.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Radiant on Mon 10/06/2013 14:50:08
I would love to join, but that is the one week in the next month or two that I cannot make it :(
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Mon 10/06/2013 15:04:08
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 14:37:57
Quote from: Miez on Mon 10/06/2013 14:15:50
But does this mean you won't be participating yourself, Cat?
I will participate myself, but probably I will not vote as I will know who made the games.
That's where we kindly get AGA to make an uploader script that makes the whole thing anonymous. (nod)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: kaput on Mon 10/06/2013 18:28:53
QuoteEntries may use content from any source, including pre-made.

What does this mean? Not sure I understand it correctly.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 18:45:19
Ah, yes, maybe I should rephrase this. I took this from an old OROW thread. What I mean is: It is ok to use freely available stuff(e.g. sounds, music, graphics). There are tons of public domain material on the internet.
However, you shouldn't be using stuff that you made previously and has since been lying on your disk. This would be an unfair advantage.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Mon 10/06/2013 18:48:53
But templates are okay to use? Nine-Verb, Verb-Coin, Two-Click and the like?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: selmiak on Mon 10/06/2013 18:49:24
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 18:45:19
Ah, yes, maybe I should rephrase this. I took this from an old OROW thread. What I mean is: It is ok to use freely available stuff(e.g. sounds, music, graphics). There are tons of public domain material on the internet.
However, you shouldn't be using stuff that you made previously and has since been lying on your disk. This would be an unfair advantage.
what's the difference?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 18:58:00
Of course templates are ok.

The thing is that this should be about making a game in one week. Now if you already have stuff that you made before, the game was not made in one week and this would be unfair for the other participants.

There is still time to change the rules. I'm open to suggestions about existing material. Maybe we should even not allow any premade stuff exept templates. However, I think there should be at least a rule to exclude RoN and OSD.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ponch on Mon 10/06/2013 19:07:19
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 18:58:00
I think there should be at least a rule to exclude... OSD.
It's because he's gay, right? Shame on you, Cat. I thought you were more open-minded than that. ;)

I think templates like the verb coin should be fine, but pre-made characters or backgrounds (and similar things) shouldn't be allowed. Just my two cents.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: kaput on Mon 10/06/2013 19:56:46
I can only speak for myself here, but I'm sure others would agree that having to do it all in one week (graphics/scripting/sourcing sound etc) is the fun and exciting part of all this? As far as I'm concerned it's the whole point in taking part. If someone can't do graphics, just get someone in on the project who can etc etc.

It's probably for the best that we give folks the benefit of the doubt that they'll take this 'seriously' and follow the rules anyway.

But, yeah... Really looking forward to this :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: LimpingFish on Mon 10/06/2013 22:46:28
In!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Tue 11/06/2013 05:40:52
Very exciting!

Will there be a theme beyond One Room?  Not that there needs to be, just wondering.

Is this on an individual basis, or can I work with a partner?  I'll likely participate either way, but thought this was a worthy question, as I would really like to work with an artist.

Excluding RON and OSD simply means we can't use those previously existing resources, right?  I assume we're still free to make a RON or OSD game if we choose, as long as all materials are created during that week?

I'll probably join in.  I'm looking forward to seeing the results!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ponch on Tue 11/06/2013 05:47:40
Quote from: dactylopus on Tue 11/06/2013 05:40:52
I assume we're still free to make a RON or OSD game if we choose, as long as all materials are created during that week?
I like the way you think! :cheesy:
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Tue 11/06/2013 07:56:34
Ok, changed the rule:
QuoteEntries must not use any premade content except published AGS templates, modules and plugins.

@dactylopus:

No, there is no theme.
In previous OROW competitions people have been working together on a game. This is ok, but I want to limit it to two persons per game.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: frenzykitty on Tue 11/06/2013 08:47:25
Id like to think my post had something to do with us having another OROW. Im in :-)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Armageddon on Tue 11/06/2013 10:35:36
Question. What if I made a game that took place in one room. But jumped to different points and time and the room looks a little different?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: WHAM on Tue 11/06/2013 10:48:04
Hells, it's just one week. How hard can it be?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Miez on Tue 11/06/2013 10:53:20
Quote from: Armageddon on Tue 11/06/2013 10:35:36
Question. What if I made a game that took place in one room. But jumped to different points and time and the room looks a little different?

I would assume that's ok? (it's an idea I've been toying with)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Tue 11/06/2013 20:52:31
Quote from: Miez on Tue 11/06/2013 10:53:20
Quote from: Armageddon on Tue 11/06/2013 10:35:36
Question. What if I made a game that took place in one room. But jumped to different points and time and the room looks a little different?

I would assume that's ok? (it's an idea I've been toying with)
I was just watching some Back To The Future videos on the YouTube, thinking the same thing.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Tue 11/06/2013 21:14:55
Of course time travel is ok.
Try this game for inspiration: Alien Time Zone (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/620/)  :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: tzachs on Tue 11/06/2013 22:42:10
Quote from: cat on Tue 11/06/2013 07:56:34
Ok, changed the rule:
QuoteEntries must not use any premade content except published AGS templates, modules and plugins.

It looks like I'm the minority on this one, but I do see the value of allowing public domain content. I mean, what is the goal of the competition? As I see it, have fun, create games, and maybe learn something new.
Allowing public domain will help to have more games, and allow people to concentrate on certain parts of game design, so I'm all for it.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Armageddon on Tue 11/06/2013 23:52:58
I'd really like to do some major scripting ideas before the contest, because I'm not very good and don't know how long it would take. :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Wed 12/06/2013 00:24:08
No matter what I said anytimes or anywhere on the net, I am in.

tzachs, I read that as "AGS resources"? Pretty much how MAGS allows the usage of use freeware music, but by default insists that the actual game content (sprites, backgrounds) are to be created for the game during the time of the competition. Sound effects, reference sprites and stock images would be allowed, but not a huge framework of scripting already made for another WiP.
Someone correct me if I am wrong  :-[
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Vince Twelve on Wed 12/06/2013 01:43:00
Ooh, I was going to do the Molyjam (http://www.molyjam.com/) that weekend, but this is better! (Though, I may only have time to work on the weekend anyways, so maybe my game can be both? :))
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: waheela on Wed 12/06/2013 02:09:57
My programming skills are lower than newbie status, so I probably won't enter, but I'm really looking forward to playing everyone's game though and voting! Woo! ;-D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 08:35:00
Quote from: Armageddon on Tue 11/06/2013 23:52:58
I'd really like to do some major scripting ideas before the contest, because I'm not very good and don't know how long it would take. :P
No, no production before the start of OROW! You can use already finished and published modules if you want.

So what should we do about the public domain resources? I don't want people to make RoN or OSD games from existing material but create something new, also graphics. However, using public domain sounds and music seems to be a good idea. Opinions?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Armageddon on Wed 12/06/2013 08:39:53
Sounds fine to me, I don't want to see anymore OSD games. :=
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Wed 12/06/2013 13:38:08
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51
Anonymous submission
An important aspect in this competition is the anonymity. This means that you cannot share any information about your entry. Nor can your game contain your name. This is because the game should be voted on by its own merits. Please also not include your name in the game info, as this can be seen in the file info.

You submit the game by sending me a link via PM. I will then upload it to another site.

    Well, that does sounds fair but I have one question regarding this issue:

What if, the game author can be recognized by the style he uses (or have used before) to draw the pixel art?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Wed 12/06/2013 15:42:18
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Wed 12/06/2013 13:38:08
What if, the game author can be recognized by the style he uses (or have used before) to draw the pixel art?
Like when Ponch releases an OROW game. His style is so unique and familiar that it's known to everyone who's game it is. We all try our best to not vote his games because of this.  (laugh)  (joking)

But yes, you'll always have that one style you can immediately tell who's it is. There's unfortunately nothing you can do about that though - unless you chose a different style just for the OROW competition. :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Wed 12/06/2013 16:36:29
Quote from: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 08:35:00
However, using public domain sounds and music seems to be a good idea. Opinions?

It has been said already that the fun of making a game should not be sacrified to super-complex rules, and I second that, but I think the MAGS rules are a pretty good template for this:

- The bulk of an AGS game is scripting and graphics, and that's what the game author should be able to create (and create especially for the game, meaning during the actual event). So just by stating that the game (script) and the graphics must be made during the event results in a playable (silent) game that was made during one week.

- Sound and music are hard to create yourself without the proper skill and equipment and they add to a game but aren't required. So allowing the use of freeware/pd resources sounds fair and good to me. I wouldn't even care if anyone uses resources previously downloaded; there is no way to check that anyways, and where is the harm, we are ALL on the internet and a few minutes of patient googling will get you everything.

- The same should go for stock images/reference material. If someone has no idea how something looks/could be drawn, using references/stock photos should be okay.


On a side note, I LIKE how OROW was announced early AND allowing to think about/plan the game before the actual work starts. Makes it easier to announce interest and also gives some time to bounce ideas around. Much less crual than the 24 Hour Comic, where you put the pen to the paper without any planning and then start your 24 hours of drawing and energy drink abuse.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 16:53:43
Ok, what about this: You can use material from the internet like graphics, music and sounds, but have to credit it in-game, even if it was public domain. This way people know what was made by the author and can cast their votes accordingly.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Miez on Wed 12/06/2013 17:00:14
Makes perfect sense to me...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Wed 12/06/2013 17:49:26
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Wed 12/06/2013 15:42:18
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Wed 12/06/2013 13:38:08
What if, the game author can be recognized by the style he uses (or have used before) to draw the pixel art?
Like when Ponch releases an OROW game. His style is so unique and familiar that it's known to everyone who's game it is. We all try our best to not vote his games because of this.  (laugh)  (joking)

But yes, you'll always have that one style you can immediately tell who's it is. There's unfortunately nothing you can do about that though - unless you chose a different style just for the OROW competition. :P

    That's why I am still wondering why can't we include our name in the game info? What is your opinion, cat?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: selmiak on Wed 12/06/2013 17:52:50
Quote from: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 16:53:43
You can use material from the internet like graphics, music and sounds, but have to credit it in-game, even if it was public domain.
So you can use guybrush from some spritesheets found on the net if you give credit?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Wed 12/06/2013 17:56:08
QuoteThat's why I am still wondering why can't we include our name in the game info?
It's only during voting. Afterwards if you want to add it to the games database you can upload a version with the credits. It's just to prevent popularity from swaying votes. It'll also make everyone really curious who made a certain game until voting is done.

I honestly love the anonymity that comes with OROW.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: tzachs on Wed 12/06/2013 18:10:08
Quote from: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 16:53:43
Ok, what about this: You can use material from the internet like graphics, music and sounds, but have to credit it in-game, even if it was public domain. This way people know what was made by the author and can cast their votes accordingly.
Sounds good to me..
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Wed 12/06/2013 18:17:13
Quote from: selmiak on Wed 12/06/2013 17:52:50
Quote from: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 16:53:43
You can use material from the internet like graphics, music and sounds, but have to credit it in-game, even if it was public domain.
So you can use guybrush from some spritesheets found on the net if you give credit?

I think I see your point- Grabbing a premade, high quality, fully animated sprite will safe time and look good. But who'd do so? Very few people here rip sprites, and a rip WILL be spotted- I doubt that anyone would be very impressed.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Bulbapuck on Wed 12/06/2013 18:41:36
Turns out I have a chess tournament that very week, so is it okay to make something the week before and submit it? Or is that not in the spirit of things?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Radiant on Wed 12/06/2013 23:19:06
Quote from: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 16:53:43
Ok, what about this: You can use material from the internet like graphics, music and sounds, but have to credit it in-game, even if it was public domain. This way people know what was made by the author and can cast their votes accordingly.
Given the huge amount of free graphics available throughout the internet, I'm not a fan of this rule. "New game" means "new game", it doesn't mean you get to recycle any and all free or public domain stuff you can find. Music is a different matter.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Stupot on Wed 12/06/2013 23:31:29
This is about trying to make a playable game in one week. The fact that you're only being asked to make a small one-room game is less of a limitation and more of a boon.  12ROW would be a different matter.  So, everything else should be done how you would normally do it, and if you would normally make your own assets, then you should try to do that here.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Igor Hardy on Wed 12/06/2013 23:43:13
Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51
    -Entries must not use any premade content except published AGS templates, modules and plugins.

Shame, that rules me out. I've been developing certain scripts for more than a year now (animation, simple physics, interface) and I don't intend to leave them be and start everything from scratch.

That doesn't mean I don't see the sense of this rule.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Thu 13/06/2013 00:31:35
Ascovel, it says EXCEPT for templates, modules, plugins. You're in the clear.  ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Phemar on Thu 13/06/2013 00:40:58
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Thu 13/06/2013 00:31:35
Ascovel, it says EXCEPT for templates, modules, plugins. You're in the clear.  ;)

Published templates, modules and plugins!

It would be great if we could use modules and snippets of code that we've written but never published.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Igor Hardy on Thu 13/06/2013 00:44:29
But those are my own, unpublished scripts. Although some are based on published modules of others.

EDIT: Yeah, what Phemar said.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Thu 13/06/2013 04:39:45
Quote from: Phemar on Thu 13/06/2013 00:40:58
Published templates, modules and plugins!
I read that 3 times and still didn't catch that. I'm a douche. ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ponch on Thu 13/06/2013 05:13:14
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Wed 12/06/2013 15:42:18
Like when Ponch releases an OROW game. His style is so unique and familiar that it's known to everyone who's game it is. We all try our best to not vote his games because of this.  (laugh)
Thank you, Ryan.  :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Thu 13/06/2013 05:49:22
Quote from: selmiak on Wed 12/06/2013 17:52:50
Quote from: cat on Wed 12/06/2013 16:53:43
You can use material from the internet like graphics, music and sounds, but have to credit it in-game, even if it was public domain.
So you can use guybrush from some spritesheets found on the net if you give credit?
As long as it is in the public domain, but I'm not sure the original sprite sheet is.
Quote from: Radiant on Wed 12/06/2013 23:19:06
Given the huge amount of free graphics available throughout the internet, I'm not a fan of this rule. "New game" means "new game", it doesn't mean you get to recycle any and all free or public domain stuff you can find. Music is a different matter.
I disagree that music is a different matter, personally, but that may be because I make music.

Isn't this really about making the game?  It's the writing and the coding that will really make the game.  I would put music and graphics on equal footing, below the importance of coding.  You can make a silent game just as you can make a game made out of squares, the music and graphics are extras.

I will aim to create everything from scratch (either myself or with a partner), so this issue likely won't impact me.  I feel that public domain graphics and sound should either both be allowed, or neither should be allowed.  Actually, if we are allowed to work with a partner, perhaps the public domain materials become unnecessary?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: frenzykitty on Thu 13/06/2013 08:21:32
Bulbapuck -  I think making it a week before would be fine. As long as you only worked on it for one week, I don't see why it should be a problem?

I have an idea, but it features 2 rooms (kinda), (Basically a room, and then the outside window ledge of that room) - would that be fine?

I think if the game has to be more that one room, it shouldn't be basis for disqualification - only creating more work for oneself I suppose :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Thu 13/06/2013 08:25:35
Quote from: Phemar on Thu 13/06/2013 00:40:58
Published templates, modules and plugins!
I definitely want to stick to that. If you made stuff before that is not published you have an unfair advantage over other participants.

However, there are two weeks left, you can still publish your modules so everyone can use them during OROW.

Quote from: Bulbapuck on Wed 12/06/2013 18:41:36
Turns out I have a chess tournament that very week, so is it okay to make something the week before and submit it? Or is that not in the spirit of things?
I know we did this for hour game, but I'm not sure this is in the spirit of OROW. I'd rather do another hourgame later next month just for you :) But if other people don't have concerns, it would be fine for me.

Quote from: frenzykitty on Thu 13/06/2013 08:21:32
I have an idea, but it features 2 rooms (kinda), (Basically a room, and then the outside window ledge of that room) - would that be fine?
Yeah, that would be fine. The rule is not very strict.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Radiant on Thu 13/06/2013 15:39:42
Quote from: Ascovel on Thu 13/06/2013 00:44:29
But those are my own, unpublished scripts. Although some are based on published modules of others.
So publish them :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Igor Hardy on Fri 14/06/2013 23:50:29
Don't tempt me. :) It would take weeks to clean up that mess for publishing. And I'm not even sure how to describe what it does.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: squame on Sat 15/06/2013 19:52:07
I wanna be in! ... i'm installing now for 1st time AGS. so i've got 2 weeks for learning and hopefully be able to be in the OROW...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: SinSin on Sat 22/06/2013 12:47:21
I MIGHT ...be in.  Depends on wedding planning etc.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Joseph DiPerla on Sat 22/06/2013 13:03:12
One Room? I am going to do this. For Once in my life, I will make an AGS Game. I already am thinking of puzzles and a small story. For my own satisfaction, I have to do this.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 07:59:38
Ok, should we go with the "all previously published stuff is allowed"? This would include graphics, music, sounds, code modules... I also want to limit this to public domain, creative commons and similar licenses and it should not violate any copyrights. So no Guybrush ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Andail on Sun 23/06/2013 09:05:29
Good initiative, Cat :) I'm tempted to participate with a really tiny game, just to get away from TSP for a while.

Quote from: cat on Mon 10/06/2013 09:23:51

*) This means a room in real-life definition, not an AGS room.

Surely you mean the other way around? One AGS room in the technical sense, but it can be a large outdoor scene, or a scrolling maze or whatever, as long as it's just one room file? Close-ups are handled with GUIs, right? Or am I wrong?

I don't really see why we should be able to use pre-made material - or stuff made by others - since that takes away the entire purpose of OROW. With too lenient rules, this activity will be reduced to merely an official deadline for releasing the game, instead of the time period allowed for creating it. But well, I won't object.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Armageddon on Sun 23/06/2013 09:19:37
No, one room in real life sense, you can have multiple angles. I think it has to be inside a place, outdoor field wouldn't work, but a maze of corridors would be fine maybe, but then if you zoom into a room or hall in the corridor that might be a room so I have no idea uhgggh.

I'm certainly going to use more than one camera angle in my room.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 10:23:16
No, I mean real life sense, like Armageddon pointed out. Outdoor scenes should be allowed as well, just keep it in one location. Please use your common sense when you decide what counts as "One room".

Any more comments about the use of pre-made material?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Sun 23/06/2013 11:03:54
Quote from: cat on Thu 13/06/2013 08:25:35
Quote from: Phemar on Thu 13/06/2013 00:40:58
Published templates, modules and plugins!
I definitely want to stick to that. If you made stuff before that is not published you have an unfair advantage over other participants.

However, there are two weeks left, you can still publish your modules so everyone can use them during OROW.

    Cat, you answered yourself once. I think that we should make scripts, graphics in one week (because that's what a game is all about). As there are many who don't know how to make music (like me) or there are also some who know how to make music but don't have equipments. So, we should let everyone use music that is available for free. But then I have also read out a post here which says that graphics aren't really a part of game and one can even make a game out of square boxes. Hence free graphics should be allowed.
   
    This is really becoming confusing. The only solution I can think of is as under (edit it as you see fit):

  1) You'll have to write your own script from the scratch or you can use only those templates and modules that are published here, at the forums.

  2) You may use only those graphics that are published for free, here at the forums (to avoid unfair advantage).

  3) Likewise, you may only use that music which is published for free, here at the forums.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As far as I know, the forums have a great deal of content published for free use. I only kept the "forum only" restriction because Internet is much vast and one can find superb graphics and music to make an excellent game but that would be unfair advantage to other contestants because the content one particular person may use would be literally hidden from the others. On the other hand, content published here at the forums is literally in front of everyone and anyone may use it. 
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Sun 23/06/2013 11:44:45
Quote from: Adeel S. AhmedI think that we should make scripts, graphics in one week (because that's what a game is all about). As there are many who don't know how to make music (like me) or there are also some who know how to make music but don't have equipments. So, we should let everyone use music that is available for free. But then I have also read out a post here which says that graphics aren't really a part of game and one can even make a game out of square boxes. Hence free graphics should be allowed.
   
    This is really becoming confusing. The only solution I can think of is as under (edit it as you see fit):

  1) You'll have to write your own script from the scratch or you can use only those templates and modules that are published here, at the forums.

  2) You may use only those graphics that are published for free, here at the forums (to avoid unfair advantage).

  3) Likewise, you may only use that music which is published for free, here at the forums.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As far as I know, the forums have a great deal of content published for free use. I only kept the "forum only" restriction because Internet is much vast and one can find superb graphics and music to make an excellent game but that would be unfair advantage to other contestants because the content one particular person may use would be literally hidden from the others. On the other hand, content published here at the forums is literally in front of everyone and anyone may use it.
I agree.  I have seen some content on the site, made my first few projects with them, and I'm sure there are more I haven't seen.  I encourage anyone to post any links to free graphics or music that have been published here.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Bulbapuck on Sun 23/06/2013 13:03:50
Quote from: cat on Thu 13/06/2013 08:25:35
Quote from: Bulbapuck on Wed 12/06/2013 18:41:36
Turns out I have a chess tournament that very week, so is it okay to make something the week before and submit it? Or is that not in the spirit of things?
I know we did this for hour game, but I'm not sure this is in the spirit of OROW. I'd rather do another hourgame later next month just for you :) But if other people don't have concerns, it would be fine for me.
I'm always up for hourgames, but they ain't no OROW :)
No concerns have been raised (in fact, no discussion has been made at all really) so is it okay to start tomorrow? I have an idea so I'll do it in any case but it would be nice to know if I was competing.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Sun 23/06/2013 14:22:02
Quote from: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 10:23:16
Any more comments about the use of pre-made material?

Just to sum up and reinforce what has been said already, I think this is a fair way of seeing things:

- Since this makes the bulk of the game: Write your own scripts.
- Since they make the visuals of the game: Make your own graphics.

From now on, you have a personal game.

Since sometimes you can't figure out something or don't have the time to write a full SCUMM: Use templates and modules from the forums as you see fit.
Since sometimes you don't know how to draw something: Browse the webs for reference material.
Since few people are talented musicians and/or don't have the equipment: Use music and sound effects from public domain / freeware sites.

(nod)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: kaput on Sun 23/06/2013 14:26:10
This^

Hope something can be agreed pretty soon, getting a bit silly in here  :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Miez on Sun 23/06/2013 15:46:12
Frankly I don't think the rules should be discussed at all: Cat is organising this OROW, she's calling the shots. If something is unclear: ask. If you don't like the rules: there's many other activities to enjoy. :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Sun 23/06/2013 19:10:08
Quote from: Ghost on Sun 23/06/2013 14:22:02
Quote from: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 10:23:16
Any more comments about the use of pre-made material?

Just to sum up and reinforce what has been said already, I think this is a fair way of seeing things:

- Since this makes the bulk of the game: Write your own scripts.
- Since they make the visuals of the game: Make your own graphics.

From now on, you have a personal game.

Since sometimes you can't figure out something or don't have the time to write a full SCUMM: Use templates and modules from the forums as you see fit.
Since sometimes you don't know how to draw something: Browse the webs for reference material.
Since few people are talented musicians and/or don't have the equipment: Use music and sound effects from public domain / freeware sites.

(nod)
I maintain my disagreement that music is somehow less important than graphics.

I would say that since few people are talented artists: Use freeware graphics.
OR
I would say that since this creates the atmosphere and mood of the game: Make your own music.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Sun 23/06/2013 19:43:05
Quote from: dactylopus on Sun 23/06/2013 19:10:08
I maintain my disagreement that music is somehow less important than graphics.

I never said that. I never said anywhere that music is less IMPORTANT than graphics. This has never been said by me.
I have said that fewer people are able to create their own, original music than there are people who are able to create their own, personal graphics.
This has indeed been said by me.

[edit]

Quoteand they add to a game but aren't required

Here, I see how this can be misread, but I find it strange you did so. I spoke in terms of functionality and under that aspect a graphics adventure game clearly needs graphics to be functional, while sound and music can be taken away- in the same way as voice acting can be replaced by text on screen. I didn't mean to make music look inferior.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 20:39:04
Ok, since there is going to be a sound/music category as every year, I'll stick with the current rules. So only original material except for published modules and templates.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Sun 23/06/2013 20:47:36
Quote from: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 20:39:04
Ok, since there is going to be a sound/music category as every year, I'll stick with the current rules. So only original material except for published modules and templates.

    But then, that would mean my game will be silent. No music, no sound effects at all. (wtf)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 20:55:23
Sing something for us! Or take a look at this game for music and sound effects http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1166/ (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1166/) (it was even nominated for best sound and music!)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: HandsFree on Sun 23/06/2013 20:55:42
The 'offer your services' thread consists almost exclusively of musicians. I don't think any AGS game needs to be silent... :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Andail on Sun 23/06/2013 21:00:57
People need to stop being so hurt about this and accept that there have to be restrictions, or this can't be a competition.

How are we gonna have an OROW if you're allowed to use precisely everything you point at on the whole wide interwebs? This whole activity will be reduced to a release date for whatever small-scale game project you might have lying around. A game jam is about everyone working on the same conditions, with the same time limit, and the same premises.

Can't draw? Use stickmen. Can't make music? Yes you can, just hum into the freaking microphone. I bet the one who makes a stick-men adventure game with self-recorded hummings is bound to win something.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Sun 23/06/2013 21:08:41
Quote from: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 20:55:23
Sing something for us! Or take a look at this game for music and sound effects http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1166/ (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1166/) (it was even nominated for best sound and music!)

    I see what was done there. :) If only I had guitar or violin! BTW, thanks for introducing me to a nice game, downloading it.

Quote from: HandsFree on Sun 23/06/2013 20:55:42
The 'offer your services' thread consists almost exclusively of musicians. I don't think any AGS game needs to be silent... :)

    Thanks for the tip, HandsFree. It looks like I will have to start hunting for the musician? But here is one already! Would you help me? :cheesy:

EDIT:
Looks like Andail got angry. Sorry man, if I offended you.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: SinSin on Sun 23/06/2013 21:56:57
The way I see it OROW should be games created in one week.. IE Graphics, Sounds, Scripts, GUI's ... basically everything ..
otherwise it should be called something else. 
Is there a ruling that states thou shalt work alone ??

Why people feel that they should be allowed to run around splicing graphics etc from other games they started is beyond me as those graphics could have been created months ago over the course of weeks and weeks..

Am I rambling here??  Andail is right    I'm so scatty

Automation (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/694/) is one hell of an example of great skill. A previous winner (2006) All made in a week and a game this competition should praise as its best example!!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: WHAM on Sun 23/06/2013 22:08:39
I had originally thought of going the way I go with my MAGS games, and using freesoundproject for sound effects.
However, now that I think of it and read the thread, I can see this is not acceptable. Thinking a bit further, I can find a freeware synth keyboard on the internet and make a short looping tune in audacity and I have a microphone for sound effects, so hells, this might turn out to actually be a lot of fun after all, despite the restrictions!

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Sun 23/06/2013 23:52:13
Quote from: Ghost on Sun 23/06/2013 19:43:05
Quote from: dactylopus on Sun 23/06/2013 19:10:08
I maintain my disagreement that music is somehow less important than graphics.

I never said that. I never said anywhere that music is less IMPORTANT than graphics. This has never been said by me.
I have said that fewer people are able to create their own, original music than there are people who are able to create their own, personal graphics.
This has indeed been said by me.
I didn't mean to insinuate that you said that, it was just the impression I was getting.  It's just that, for me, graphics are far more challenging than music, probably as challenging as music is to many of you who can make graphics.  Since we are making graphic adventures rather than text, graphics are indeed a requirement, but they could just be simple shapes.  The story and coding is what should be important.
Quote from: cat on Sun 23/06/2013 20:39:04
Ok, since there is going to be a sound/music category as every year, I'll stick with the current rules. So only original material except for published modules and templates.
Fair enough.  I'd say that makes for a good compromise.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Mon 24/06/2013 00:15:34
dactylopus, agreed, absolutely. And maybe I did lose my calm there a bit, sorry for that.

Cat, kudos for the final say- though I fear I'll have to go totally vaudeville style now  (laugh)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Armageddon on Mon 24/06/2013 00:54:07
Gosh darn, I had the whole soundtrack for my game laid out. :(
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: straydogstrut on Tue 25/06/2013 23:29:39
Back on topic, I'm tentatively planning to enter this - and we all know how unreliable I am! - so I'm preparing as much of the idea in my head as I can this week.

Good luck to all involved.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Joseph DiPerla on Wed 26/06/2013 00:30:35
Hmmm.. I guess the rules then eliminate me. Honestly I can't draw for my life. I even just tried stick figures, seriously. My attempt was to make a decent playable game. One room is doable because, well, its just one room. My art method would be to construct 3D scenes using 3D objects that I either downloaded or bought and creating the scene by rendering what I create into 2D. But this eliminates me because of the pre-made content. So, I guess I am out. Maybe I will still make what I wanted to make and release it in the spirit of OROW but not for OROW.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Wed 26/06/2013 09:46:21
Joseph, you can still join. Graphics are only one aspect. You can make simple, crappy MS Paint backgrounds, but when you have great story and puzzles, you can still win in other categories. Or you take your camera and make a photo background, there are many options...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Wed 26/06/2013 10:54:48
I once made a game for MAGS in 4 days (one of two AGS games I ever made actually). And it contained 3 rooms :D.

I want to clarify, is the OROW theme-based competition, or one is free to choose the topic/concept?
How will the jury make sure that nothing premade was used?

E: I seriously need to take a rest from C++ coding, so I might join only because of that :).
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Wed 26/06/2013 11:03:03
Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Wed 26/06/2013 10:54:48
I want to clarify, is the OROW theme-based competition, or one is free to choose the topic/concept?
No, there will be no theme.

Quote
How will the jury make sure that nothing premade was used?
Good point. I don't know how this could be done. I think we have to trust that noone is cheating.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Atelier on Wed 26/06/2013 11:14:13
This looks really fun, I'm definitely taking part!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Radiant on Wed 26/06/2013 14:51:53
Quote from: cat on Wed 26/06/2013 11:03:03
No, there will be no theme.
Pretty please, can we have one? :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Andail on Wed 26/06/2013 17:16:33
Yeah, why not a theme, really? That would probably reduce the risk of people using premade material, or starting prematurely.
But it's up to Cat, of course.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Atelier on Wed 26/06/2013 17:22:27
I think a theme would really help too. I have a couple of ideas but no real direction. The problem is, people may already have begun planning their games. If it was me, I'd be annoyed if I had to scrap what I already had.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Joseph DiPerla on Thu 27/06/2013 00:01:50
Quote from: Atelier on Wed 26/06/2013 17:22:27
I think a theme would really help too. I have a couple of ideas but no real direction. The problem is, people may already have begun planning their games. If it was me, I'd be annoyed if I had to scrap what I already had.

Too bad we cant have a w(eekly)ags competition...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Stupot on Thu 27/06/2013 00:30:15
Quote from: Joseph DiPerla on Thu 27/06/2013 00:01:50
Too bad we cant have a w(eekly)ags competition...
What about a 'Fortnightly AGS'? :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Thu 27/06/2013 09:24:03
Interesting idea, this would indeed reduce cheating.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Joseph DiPerla on Thu 27/06/2013 12:54:14
Quote from: Stupot+ on Thu 27/06/2013 00:30:15
Quote from: Joseph DiPerla on Thu 27/06/2013 00:01:50
Too bad we cant have a w(eekly)ags competition...
What about a 'Fortnightly AGS'? :D


I thought that was a writing competition. Never really checked it out, but thats what I thought it was.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Thu 27/06/2013 17:24:35
Quote from: Andail on Wed 26/06/2013 17:16:33
Yeah, why not a theme, really? That would probably reduce the risk of people using premade material, or starting prematurely.

Announcing this early and explicitely allowing to make plans was a great gesture; now paddling back and implying that there "will be cheating anyway" makes me a bit sad.
In fact, lots of sad.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Andail on Thu 27/06/2013 17:41:45
Quote from: Ghost on Thu 27/06/2013 17:24:35
Quote from: Andail on Wed 26/06/2013 17:16:33
Yeah, why not a theme, really? That would probably reduce the risk of people using premade material, or starting prematurely.

Announcing this early and explicitely allowing to make plans was a great gesture; now paddling back and implying that there "will be cheating anyway" makes me a bit sad.
In fact, lots of sad.

We don't have to be so melodramatic; some people are going to cheat, it's a fact of life. The question is how much they're cheating, and whether it's a big deal, and that's not necessarily the case.

I personally don't mind if this is just another "Release something" activity, without strict rules or criteria, but then I don't think it should be a competition, with a winner. We can't compare one designer who's done everything himself, within the time limit, with one who's used every cc-licensed resource they can get their grubby hands on, as well as material that's been lying around on their harddrive for years.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Thu 27/06/2013 17:46:22
And don't forget, the rules say you can team up with another person for this OROW.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: straydogstrut on Thu 27/06/2013 18:38:28
I'm surprised that this seems to be such an issue.

I haven't entered something like this for a long time so feel free to shout me down, but I perhaps naively assumed that making a game in a week meant making almost everything from scratch.

I say *almost*  everything because I expected royalty free audio would be allowed (and necessary for the likes of me), however I realise that's contradictory and I'm not going to be precious about it. I've blown my own sound effects into a microphone before..

Either way, I thought the point of these things was to make a game in the short time demanded, regardless of how the assets are acquired.

I plan to roll my own (and risk causing blindness to players) but I have no problem submitting an entry alongside someone who uses royalty free assets - the 'winner' in my mind is everyone who completes a game they feel proud of, and a game is more than a collection of assets.

I have no issue with a theme if some find this helpful. I will shoehorn my idea in either way.

Whatever the decision - and cat already made one anyway - I'll stand by it. No-one is forced to enter after all.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Thu 27/06/2013 19:41:10
I really do not want to derail this (again  :-\ ), but I wanted to say I didn't want to make a "melodramatic" post up there.

It's just that to me, it now looks like:

a) Let's start a competion, for fun.
b) Let's announce it early and allow people to plan/brainstorm/form a team, so that they have more time to actually make their game once the event starts.
c) Then, shortly before the event starts, let's set a theme so that there is less cheating.

And that lsat bit just sounds wrong to me. We never HAD much cheating here. It's usually all for the fun and I really like that spirit. If I came over wrong, then that was unintentional.
I just wanted to put that right  (nod)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ponch on Thu 27/06/2013 20:01:42
Quote from: Ghost on Thu 27/06/2013 19:41:10
We never HAD much cheating here. It's usually all for the fun and I really like that spirit. If I came over wrong, then that was unintentional.
I agree completely. Also, someone please post the theme today so I can get a head start on this game over the weekend, okay? :=
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Thu 27/06/2013 22:54:00
Quote from: Ghost on Thu 27/06/2013 19:41:10
b) Let's announce it early and allow people to plan/brainstorm/form a team, so that they have more time to actually make their game once the event starts.
c) Then, shortly before the event starts, let's set a theme so that there is less cheating.

And that last bit just sounds wrong to me. We never HAD much cheating here. It's usually all for the fun and I really like that spirit. If I came over wrong, then that was unintentional.
I just wanted to put that right  (nod)

    Completely agree with Ghost on this bit. This competition is not going to reward any money and for fun basis only. So, it would be unlikely someone is going to cheat.

    Secondly, call me melodramatic or anything, but since there was no theme set. I had already brainstormed/planned the game in my head and formed a team with Handsfree. Therefore, It would be very rude if a theme is set now.

EDIT: Thanks Bulbapuck, you just highlighted my error. Means a lot to me. Thanks again.
EDIT 2: Corrected little grammar this time :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Bulbapuck on Thu 27/06/2013 23:21:09
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Thu 27/06/2013 22:54:00
    Secondly, call me melodramatic or anything, but since there was no theme set. I had already brainstormed/planned the game in my head and had already formed a team with Handsfree. Therefore, It would be very rude if a theme is set now.

I agree with this. I don't think OROW has ever had a theme and it's never been a problem before. I think we should just stick with that. Besides, it's just a fun forum activity, I don't think people will cheat.

EDIT: @Adeel S. Ahmed fixed it :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Fri 28/06/2013 00:07:37
All you have to do is ask couple of simple questions:
Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Wed 26/06/2013 10:54:48
I want to clarify, is the OROW theme-based competition, or one is free to choose the topic/concept?
How will the jury make sure that nothing premade was used?


I now feel like a troll :D.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: dactylopus on Fri 28/06/2013 00:32:31
I support the idea of a theme, if only so that nobody gets a head start.  I will be happy either way.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Andail on Fri 28/06/2013 09:09:16
I didn't really mean hardcore cheating, as in creating sockpuppets to vote for your own contribution (although, of course, that has happened in the past (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=45011.40) too, for something as trivial as a colouring ball) I meant just some lightweight cheating as in, oh, I have this background I made some months ago that noone's seen, I guess there's no harm in using it.

But it seems most people don't want a theme, since that would prevent them from using the ideas they've already come up with (even though the OROW hasn't even started yet), and much less any other restrictions, so I'll just be quiet from now on :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Radiant on Fri 28/06/2013 10:47:12
Okay, I'm fine with having no theme, but could you please post a suggestion then for people who haven't started brainstorming yet? Following the suggestion, or not, would be entirely optional. As you may remember from Infinite Monkeys, I like making games out of crazy suggestions :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Miez on Fri 28/06/2013 10:48:18
http://videogamena.me/ ?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: frenzykitty on Fri 28/06/2013 10:50:54
Reloaded my new laptop with Windows, AGS and Paint.NET

I'm F%$king ready :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Tabata on Fri 28/06/2013 17:34:15
Quote from: Miez on Fri 28/06/2013 10:48:18
http://videogamena.me/ ?
(laugh) cool

If you read the suggestion you have to use it  :grin:
Spoiler
(http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/130628/x2lrkz4u.png)
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Fri 28/06/2013 17:36:46
For this OROW there will be no topic. But it might be an interesting idea for next OROW. The next organiser should keep that in mind.

Only a few more days!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Fri 28/06/2013 18:07:03
Quote from: cat on Fri 28/06/2013 17:36:46
For this OROW there will be no topic. But it might be an interesting idea for next OROW. The next organiser should keep that in mind.

+1 for that. I were thinking the same.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Radiant on Fri 28/06/2013 21:34:39
Quote from: Miez on Fri 28/06/2013 10:48:18
http://videogamena.me/ ?
Excellent.

Shall we have the Medieval Polka Massacre, or the Bizarre Baking Ultra (bakesale ahoy!), or will we be attacked by Italian Nudist Rangers? :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Sun 30/06/2013 00:02:30
    One more question to ask (it may sound silly). Many people here have different timezones. So, are they allowed to start and finish it according to their timezones? Or would all of them have to start according to Greenwich Time Zone? Considering, some timezones are much behind GMT while some are much forward than GMT.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 30/06/2013 08:16:32
The time zone is GMT, as stated in the first post.

I added one more rule:
Quote
You may get one other person to help you with your game (e.g. music, sounds). Maximum teamsize is two!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Adeel on Sun 30/06/2013 09:06:47
Quote from: cat on Sun 30/06/2013 08:16:32
The time zone is GMT, as stated in the first post.

Oh Sorry, didn't read that part.  :X Thanks for clarifying.

Quote from: cat on Sun 30/06/2013 08:16:32
I added one more rule:
Quote
You may get one other person to help you with your game (e.g. music, sounds). Maximum teamsize is two!

+1 for this. Good rule
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: frenzykitty on Sun 30/06/2013 15:42:09
Just wanna wish all the fellow competitors good luck <3
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: kaput on Sun 30/06/2013 15:48:15
Amen, bruddah. There's going to be some serious coffee abuse and all nighters. Which is fine as I'm incredibly familiar with sleep deprivation and crazy deadlines...

Good luck, folks. Let's have fun with it and fight a fair battle!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Khris on Sun 30/06/2013 20:01:31
In. I should be able to produce something between regular workload and sleeping.

Go time in 5 hours, correct?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 30/06/2013 20:10:26
Indeed, only 5 more hours to wait.

This is a great time to sharpen your pencils, brew some coffee and make sure you have the latest version of AGS installed! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47966.0)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: AJA on Sun 30/06/2013 20:43:53
Oh boy, I might not make it this time. But I'll try.

And in any case, I expect to have some weird and innovative OROW games to play early next week! Good luck, everybody! :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: LimpingFish on Sun 30/06/2013 20:58:50
OH GAWD!

Only a few more hours until the horrible, horrible pressure begins! :-X
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Bulbapuck on Sun 30/06/2013 21:06:03
Good luck everyone! Looking forward to playing some games :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: WHAM on Sun 30/06/2013 21:53:17
Oh dear, looks like the dev-time is starting soon. First sleep, then, first thing in the morning: GAME DEV-TIME!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: cat on Sun 30/06/2013 22:09:39
That's the spirit!

Only three more hours till OROW!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th)
Post by: Ghost on Sun 30/06/2013 22:18:41
For want of a smiley...

(http://i.imgur.com/gmn1Npc.png)
YATTA!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: ThreeOhFour on Mon 01/07/2013 13:26:58
Yoohoo!

I believe I have enough time this week to get an entry out - and made a good start today.

Haven't entered an OROW comp since 2008! Excited!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Grundislav on Mon 01/07/2013 14:42:50
Not to jinx myself, but...

LET'S DO THIS! :D

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Mon 01/07/2013 14:46:35
First day of OROW.
Time spent on project 4,5 hours (4,5 hours total).
Nervous breakdowns: 0
Mood: cheerful

Day 1 milestones completed according to plan, I have a working prototype running with placeholder sprites.
Tomorrow's agenda: animate main character, draw a first draft of the background, fiddle around with code.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Vince Twelve on Mon 01/07/2013 16:30:49
I think I'm in, but I'm going to double-duty my game with Molyjam (http://molyjam.com).  So, I'm starting on the 5th, and trying to make a game in two days that fits both competition themes.   (nod)

Good luck everyone!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: LimpingFish on Mon 01/07/2013 18:47:00
.NET Framework is corrupt!

Can't install required .NET Framework!

Can't run AGS!

Must work on graphics while trying to kick Windows into shape!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Miez on Mon 01/07/2013 20:12:57
Damn, with all these big guns joining in the fun, this is going to be some tough competition :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: dactylopus on Tue 02/07/2013 06:38:41
Quote from: Miez on Mon 01/07/2013 20:12:57
Damn, with all these big guns joining in the fun, this is going to be some tough competition :D
Indeed, but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying!  ;)

Today, I got past the brainstorming and sunk some time into the engine.  So far, so good.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone's games will turn out.  I've always loved how different each One Room game can be.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Adeel on Tue 02/07/2013 16:06:59
Quote from: dactylopus on Tue 02/07/2013 06:38:41
Indeed, but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying!  ;)

Today, I got past the brainstorming and sunk some time into the engine.  So far, so good.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone's games will turn out.  I've always loved how different each One Room game can be.

    That's the spirit, boy! Way to go! :)

Okay, so here is the log of my work so far:

    Completed and Tested the Guis. Coded the interface. Drew the character (left, right, front, back) and animated the front walking cycle. Not Bad for a start...

    Next goal is to draw the background and animate the rest walk cycles. After that, making hotspots and write some necessary code for them.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Atelier on Tue 02/07/2013 18:03:47
Struggling with perspective... I'll call it my style.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: AJA on Tue 02/07/2013 18:12:25
Yesterday, I only managed to fill one sheet of paper with sketches and pieces of dialogue before I fell asleep. If I keep going at this pace, I will either submit a game made in four hours on Thursday or nothing at all. :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Khris on Tue 02/07/2013 20:13:27
I feel like I'm already far behind... I'm going to have to force myself to cut stuff. Feature creep is already setting in :-D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: tzachs on Tue 02/07/2013 20:21:03
I have a beginning and an end but no middle... Does someone have a nice spare middle to share?
Anyway, decided to put it aside for now, and do some drawings. Maybe I'll get some design ideas from the characters..
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Stupot on Tue 02/07/2013 21:16:05
If I were taking part (which I'm not, but if I were) I wouldn't even dream of making a 3rd person game with walkcycles. :-)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: kaput on Tue 02/07/2013 21:33:42
Things are going well here (touch wood), but my predictions of sleep deprivation have come to fruition.

Tonight, we dine in hell! O-ROOOW!

QuoteFeature creep is already setting in

I've got a baseball bat next to me just incase... (*not really).
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Wed 03/07/2013 00:06:49
Quote from: AJA on Tue 02/07/2013 18:12:25
If I keep going at this pace, I will either submit a game made in four hours on Thursday or nothing at all. :P
I have the exact same plan! :cheesy:
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: LimpingFish on Wed 03/07/2013 01:22:47
I'm screwed! \o/

.NET has buggered me senseless, and I am left with no AGS.

Still working on visuals/sound/etc...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Wed 03/07/2013 03:32:12
Quote from: LimpingFish on Wed 03/07/2013 01:22:47
I'm screwed! \o/

.NET has buggered me senseless, and I am left with no AGS.

Still working on visuals/sound/etc...

Spoiler
v2.72. Join me! Let's be iconoclasts together! :cheesy:
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Wed 03/07/2013 08:18:19
Would be a pity LimpingFish if you can't participate due to stupid technical problems. Maybe you can get help in the technical forums?

The first part of my game is rudimentary playable now with placeholder art... I hope I can be bothered this evening to make sprites and animations :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Wed 03/07/2013 09:27:57
Yesterday (day 2) saw about a half of the in-game art assets done.
Today I will be implementing them, adding some actual gameplay (not just walking around anymore) and, maybe, some cutscene-writing.
When I started I had one plan for the story of the game, now that plan has changed completely, so there's that to work on...

If all goes to plan I should have the game 100% playable on friday and all artwork done. This would permit 2 days for testing and creating additional storytelling elements.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Wed 03/07/2013 09:57:16
Quote from: WHAM on Wed 03/07/2013 09:27:57
This would permit 2 days for testing and creating additional storytelling elements.

What, we are supposed to have storytelling? I knew I forgot something ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: ThreeOhFour on Wed 03/07/2013 17:08:00
Hello!

I now have all gameplay designed and implemented - with the exception of the final interaction click, you can finish the game now. All major art assets done - except the background needs some refining - and I'm now doing what animations I have left to do and adding in all the non-essential interactions.

I'm on target to finish, basically!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Wed 03/07/2013 18:01:16
Well that sums up day three.
Lost of fiddling around, basic user interface elements implemented and tested, more animations, more sprites, more features, more everything. I could say more but that would be spoiling the game :)

Oh, and also it is apparently on the 3rd day of 7 that I just glance at my design doc and go "yeah, eff that, I'm doing something else today!", so no more plans, just insane keyboard smashing.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Andail on Wed 03/07/2013 18:44:08
I won't have time to participate, unfortunately. We're going away tomorrow and over the weekend, and besides I'm just ridiculously stressed about TSP.

I wish you all good luck and look forward to playing your games next week!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: AJA on Wed 03/07/2013 19:59:08
Sorry guys, but I'm out as well. With approximately two hours of work behind me, I haven't even managed to break the story I was trying to turn into a barely interactive OROW experience. Working on the big damn feathery smashy game some of you may have played (aka. Angry Birds) has sucked all the creative juices out of me. :(

But I'm happy to hear many of you are doing quite well so far. Keep it up! :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Grundislav on Wed 03/07/2013 20:05:42
In somewhat over 48 hours I have managed to draw my background and characters and complete walk cycles for the PC.  The story and puzzles are all written out but not yet implemented.

Today I will code in the GUI and inventory items with the goal of having the game fully completable by tonight.  Tomorrow I will record some music and spend the bulk of Friday and Saturday doing animations and tweaks.

I'm excited for the final results!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: LimpingFish on Wed 03/07/2013 21:37:17
Quote from: Ponch on Wed 03/07/2013 03:32:12
Spoiler
v2.72. Join me! Let's be iconoclasts together! :cheesy:
[close]

Ponch, you magnificent b'stard! I'd reach through the screen and tickle your udders, if I could! ;-D

I was so caught up in trying to get .net working, I didn't see the obvious answer in front of me.

Time to go oldschool! \o/



Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Miez on Wed 03/07/2013 22:19:46
Well, damn ... looks like I simply won't have enough time to commit to this :'(
So sadly I'm pulling out as well.

And I already had this funky bit of code written and all! :-D

Code (AGS) Select

//-------------
// Septimal, determine the current day of the week
// ------------
int CurrentDayNumber = 0;
String CurrentDayName;

function InitDayOfWeek()
{
  DateTime *Today = DateTime.Now;
  int CurrentY = Today.Year;
  int CurrentM = Today.Month;
  int CurrentD = Today.DayOfMonth;
  int DayTable[12];
  DayTable[0] = 0;
  DayTable[1] = 3;
  DayTable[2] = 2;
  DayTable[3] = 5;
  DayTable[4] = 0;
  DayTable[5] = 3;
  DayTable[6] = 5;
  DayTable[7] = 1;
  DayTable[8] = 4;
  DayTable[9] = 6;
  DayTable[10] = 2;
  DayTable[11] = 4;
  String DayName[7];
  DayName[0] = "Solday";
  DayName[1] = "Moonday";
  DayName[2] = "Tiwazday";
  DayName[3] = "Wodansday";
  DayName[4] = "Thorsday";
  DayName[5] = "Frigaday";
  DayName[6] = "Saturnday";
  if (CurrentM < 3) {
    CurrentY--;
  }
  CurrentDayNumber = (CurrentY + CurrentY/4 - CurrentY/100 + CurrentY/400 + DayTable[CurrentM - 1] + CurrentD) % 7;
  CurrentDayName = DayName[CurrentDayNumber];
}


Ah well, maybe I can find some time soon to partake of a MAGS...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: xil on Wed 03/07/2013 23:38:22
Bit of a late start but I'm in! Good luck everyone :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Wed 03/07/2013 23:50:17
Owch! 3rd day and we have, what, three people dropping out. :(
But someone is also joining, albeit late (I don't think we'll mind, though): welcome aboard Calicoreverie!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Thu 04/07/2013 01:24:11
Quote from: LimpingFish on Wed 03/07/2013 21:37:17
Time to go oldschool! \o/
No school like the old school, baby! :cheesy:
Spoiler
(http://www.barnrunner.com/pics/misc/Cow_LucasArts.png)
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: oraxon on Thu 04/07/2013 06:14:08
Hi, all. I'm working on an entry. I made backgrounds before, but this is my first time using the engine, so one room is about all I can handle.  :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: JenniBee on Thu 04/07/2013 06:17:42
I'd like to join in on the fun too, if I'm not too late. :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Pinback on Thu 04/07/2013 08:33:27
Count me in.

*starts furiously drawing*
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Thu 04/07/2013 08:33:50
Sure, everyone can join!

Too bad that some people have to drop out, especially AJA - who is now going to win by default? (laugh)

On the other hand, great to hear that people are making progress! I finished most of the GUI yesterday and the game is fully playable. Still couldn't be bothered to do animations yet  (roll)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: frenzykitty on Thu 04/07/2013 08:36:52
I've unexpectedly had to move house in the middle of the week - which has made the week a write off - but Im still gonna do a mad push over the weekend and try to finish it :D

Got main menu, interface and shitty character animations done :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Adeel on Thu 04/07/2013 12:12:21
    After being stuck in scripting and wasting much of the time trying to get it work. Finally asked Handsfree to help and he solved it right away. Now I am wondering why I didn't ask him in the first place.

    Outlined the sketch for the background and started coloring it. Next Goal is to draw the rest walkcycles and immediately start making the game.

Here is log of my work:

INTERFACE: COMPLETED
GUIS: COMPLETED

Still got much work to do!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: ThreeOhFour on Thu 04/07/2013 18:08:24
Awh, shame to see people dropping out.

My little game is effectively done at this point. Tomorrow I'll wrap up the assorted outstanding things - basically a few little animations, some sound effects and a bit of dialogue, give it a thorough test and hopefully send it off to cat - going to be somewhat busy over the weekend, so this is probably my last real chance to work on it.

Best of luck to everyone else entering!  :smiley:
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Thu 04/07/2013 18:25:04
Sprites: 60% complete
Background: 75% complete
GUI: Abandoned
Cursors: Also abandoned
Inventory: In the bin next to the cursors
Steaks: On a plate next to the grill. 0% cooked
Beer: Packed in ice and ready to drink
Music: Loud
Ponch: 100% sexy

Let the long weekend begin! :grin:

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Thu 04/07/2013 18:31:04
Remember Ponch, don't drink and draw  ;)

Important info for submission of entries:
Please make sure your games are 100% anonymous, this means do not include your name anywhere in the game or readme, not even in the game properties. Of course if you use an AGS module, you can credit the author of it.
When you PM me your game please also tell me who else worked on your game so I can correctly list them when the results are revealed.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: xil on Thu 04/07/2013 19:17:02
Hi, I've got a (hopefully quick and easy) question: Can we customise the default/speech/etc fonts with free fonts?

I'm aware the rules in the first post imply you can't but I have played other OROW games with custom fonts (so I just wanted to clarify 100%). In either case, apologies in advance for bringing up what you can and can't use yet again!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Thu 04/07/2013 19:21:26
Quote from: calicoreverie on Thu 04/07/2013 19:17:02
I'm aware the rules in the first post imply you can't but I have played other OROW games with custom fonts (so I just wanted to clarify 100%). In either case, apologies in advance for bringing up what you can and can't use yet again!

Seconded, or are we expected to learn font-editing as well in a week? (I'll do it, if need be, watch me!)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Thu 04/07/2013 19:36:20
Free fonts are ok. Although I'd love to see your custom made font, WHAM  ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Radiant on Thu 04/07/2013 20:18:49
Oh, I'm still here. The less time I spend writing status updates, the more time I can spend coding. Mua ha haah!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: xil on Thu 04/07/2013 20:21:03
Quote from: cat on Thu 04/07/2013 19:36:20
Free fonts are ok. Although I'd love to see your custom made font, WHAM  ;)

Excellent, thanks cat. I also would also love to see WHAM's personally created font ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: selmiak on Thu 04/07/2013 21:43:47
Quote from: cat on Thu 04/07/2013 18:31:04

Please make sure your games are 100% anonymous, this means do not include your name anywhere in the game or readme, not even in the game properties. Of course if you use an AGS module, you can credit the author of it.
and don't use out of the norm winsetup.exe s ... I'm quite excited to see what you all are baking up :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Thu 04/07/2013 21:51:11
Quote from: cat on Thu 04/07/2013 18:31:04
Remember Ponch, don't drink and draw  ;)
2 L8!! :=
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Thu 04/07/2013 23:28:07
I have now poured something like 20+ hours into the game so far. The prototype is working (not going to say "well) but I am lagging behind plans a bit. No idea where I'll come up with time to make music, but we'll cross that obstacle when we come to it. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be able to play the game from start to finish for the first time.

Also I think I'm becoming ill, sore throat, runny nose, the usual flu symptoms. Crappy timing, though.

Now SLEEEEEP!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Adeel on Fri 05/07/2013 07:48:36
Quote from: Radiant on Thu 04/07/2013 20:18:49
Oh, I'm still here. The less time I spend writing status updates, the more time I can spend coding. Mua ha haah!

+1 Radiant! You just spilled out my thoughts.  :=
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: ThreeOhFour on Fri 05/07/2013 08:53:34
I've sent my entry off to our gracious hostess. Really enjoyed entering, good luck to everyone else finishing up!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Sat 06/07/2013 00:02:17
Five days done and game can now be played from start to finish. Tomorrow I test and add cutscenes to ensure the game isn't a crashfest.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Khris on Sat 06/07/2013 02:54:11
I'm like, halfway done. Just spent half an hour hunting an elusive, but really dumb bug.
Less than 48 hours to go. Off to bed.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Sat 06/07/2013 04:02:12
Dropping out now. Haven't touched my game since Wednesday morning and with friends in town until Sunday, I don't think I'll have any time to work on it again before the deadline.  :-[

Good luck, everyone else!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Armageddon on Sat 06/07/2013 04:10:12
It's probably for the best Ponch, since you have such a distinct style everyone would vote for your game. (and the boobs within)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Sat 06/07/2013 04:15:16
Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 06/07/2013 04:10:12
It's probably for the best Ponch, since you have such a distinct style everyone would vote for your game. (and the boobs within)
And yet it doesn't feel like a good thing. I had a neat little idea but I wasn't expecting to have someone on my couch this weekend. It's cramping my style, man! (roll)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Sat 06/07/2013 04:20:36
Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 06/07/2013 04:10:12
It's probably for the best Ponch, since you have such a distinct style everyone would vote for your game. (and the boobs within)
What? I thought we all agreed not to vote for his games?  (laugh)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Sat 06/07/2013 04:21:26
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Sat 06/07/2013 04:20:36
Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 06/07/2013 04:10:12
It's probably for the best Ponch, since you have such a distinct style everyone would vote for your game. (and the boobs within)
What? I thought we all agreed not to vote for his games?  (laugh)
:P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Grundislav on Sat 06/07/2013 07:31:48
Happy to report that my game is almost done!

Today was spent doing animations and music, as well as adding sound effects.  The game has been fully playable since Wednesday, and all that's left to do are 2 animations.  I intend to spend all of tomorrow working on them, hopefully being done by Saturday night or Sunday afternoon at the extreme latest.

Looking forward to playing every else's entries, as well as unleashing mine on you all!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Sat 06/07/2013 15:06:00
Day 6 and a half, the game is now finished. I even made music for it (first time I ever made music :/).
I'll take a rest and test the game a bit more, and will send it out to Cat some time tomorrow.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: LimpingFish on Sat 06/07/2013 18:16:03
I hate you all! "Ohh, my games almost ready! Ooh, my games finished!"...you bunch of robots!

Bitter? Me?

In unrelated news, I have, like, I don't have what could be termed a "finished" game.

...

Leave me alone.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ponch on Sat 06/07/2013 19:09:59
Quote from: LimpingFish on Sat 06/07/2013 18:16:03
In unrelated news, I have, like, I don't have what could be termed a "finished" game.
Made with 2.72, I hope? (http://www.vanwijst.com/games/smileys/sexy_cup.gif)

Meanwhile, my own game is going to be retooled as a MAGS game. By some incredible coincidence, my OROW game has the exact same theme as this month's MAGS contest. Weird, right? ;)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: kaput on Sat 06/07/2013 21:01:54
Glad to hear most of you guys are either finished or finishing up, really looking forward to see what you've been up to :). Sorry to hear about your situation, LF. I'm sure you'll find a reasonable solution.

I've put myself through some absolutely dire physical hell this week, but it's been an experience I'm glad I took part in. It's actually incredible what random obstacles I found in my way too. Nevertheless, I'll be submitting my entry tomorrow - the deadline is 12am? 


EDIT: It's clearly Limping Fish, not Limping P**h so I'm not sure why I referred to you as LP. Must be sleepiness.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Grundislav on Sun 07/07/2013 06:42:56
Just zipped & shipped my game off to cat! 
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: straydogstrut on Sun 07/07/2013 08:58:48
Quote from: Ponch on Sat 06/07/2013 19:09:59
Meanwhile, my own game is going to be retooled as a MAGS game. By some incredible coincidence, my OROW game has the exact same theme as this month's MAGS contest. Weird, right? ;)

Afraid I'm going to have to do likewise, sorry to let you all down :~( Among the pathetic excuses I can offer up are extra hours at work, wedding stuff, lack of Internet.. Yeah, pathetic!

I like what I've done with my idea so far so will try to release it this month either way. Excited to see so many of you racing past the finishing post - look forward to playing all the entries :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: WHAM on Sun 07/07/2013 13:22:14
Game could have done with some more polish, but I am tired and I am sick and I have sent it to Cat. Gods help us all!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 15:35:18
Final day!

I already got some entries - everyone who sent me a DL link should have gotten a reply now. I downloaded the games and checked if I was able to run them, but didn't play any further. I'm going to start playing them the same time as you are. Of course I will not vote, as I know who made which game.
Speaking of voting, does anyone know a good site to make a poll?

I'll finish my game this evening, just two more sprites and minor interactions are missing.

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: dactylopus on Sun 07/07/2013 15:38:26
Doesn't look like I'll be able to finish.  I seem to have set my goals for this project a little too high.  I may complete it this month as a MAGS entry, but I think I'd rather get back to work on other projects and finish this up as time allows.

Still looking forward to playing everyone's games either way.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Miez on Sun 07/07/2013 15:39:31
Quote from: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 15:35:18
Speaking of voting, does anyone know a good site to make a poll?

http://www.surveymonkey.com/ ?

(is rather limited in the free version though: max 10 questions, max 100 responses)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Armageddon on Sun 07/07/2013 15:44:01
Quote from: Miez on Sun 07/07/2013 15:39:31
Quote from: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 15:35:18
Speaking of voting, does anyone know a good site to make a poll?

http://www.surveymonkey.com/ ?

(is rather limited in the free version though: max 10 questions, max 100 responses)
Google Drive has a free voting survey thing that's really nice.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Adeel on Sun 07/07/2013 15:55:18
Poll Daddy (http://polldaddy.com) is one of those poll sites which a news / blogging website (I frequently visit) uses to conduct their polls. Try it. I haven't tried it (didn't feel the necessity) so I can't tell you whether its good or not. However, they seem to have a nice google rating.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Sun 07/07/2013 16:09:06
Quote from: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 15:35:18
Speaking of voting, does anyone know a good site to make a poll?
I've seen Mods use the forum's integrated polls. Just talk to a global mod or the 2 competition thread mods: Iceboty, Ali.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: AJA on Sun 07/07/2013 17:23:11
Speaking of voting, if possible, let us rate each game in each category (eg. 1-5) instead of just picking our favorite.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 17:30:04
Quote from: AJA on Sun 07/07/2013 17:23:11
Speaking of voting, if possible, let us rate each game in each category (eg. 1-5) instead of just picking our favorite.
I would, if I could make a poll that works this way. Could you setup such a thing?

I don't think the forum's voting system supports voting for different categories.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: AJA on Sun 07/07/2013 17:58:28
I think you can make a poll like that with google drive's survey system. Just add a bunch of headings (graphics, audio, gameplay, etc.) and under each of them one 1-5 or 1-10 rating thingy for each game.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Miez on Sun 07/07/2013 19:10:10
Yup, SurveyMonkey has the same features...
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 19:19:21
Does SurveyMonkey does require people to log in? Does it have a feature to track who has voted? (for avoiding spam votes, people voting more than once, people voting for their own game...)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Miez on Sun 07/07/2013 19:45:45
Logging in - I'm not quite sure. But it does make sure you can only vote once (tracks IP, I think).
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Andail on Sun 07/07/2013 19:49:45
I could just start five polls here in this very forum. Sure it means a lot of polls, but it's for a limited time. Maybe it'll feel better to have everything forum-based instead of external services that people will have to click on links to find.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 20:05:58
Would this mean 5 threads or is it possible to make 5 polls in one thread?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Radiant on Sun 07/07/2013 20:55:02
And submitted my game! Here's a screenshot:

(http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/ss/5176_0.png)
Spoiler
Just kidding on the screen, but the game is real :P
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Sun 07/07/2013 21:44:19
Ok, I'll go to bed now. I hope I'll find a few more games tomorrow in my inbox  :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Stupot on Sun 07/07/2013 22:30:02
I've used kwiksurveys.com before. Bit of an ugly interface, but it did the job very well.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Khris on Sun 07/07/2013 23:02:20
Don't have time, must finish.
I'll try my utmost to have it ready at GMT 0000.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: LimpingFish on Sun 07/07/2013 23:53:40
Seven minutes to spare!

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: xil on Sun 07/07/2013 23:57:37
I think I was a little too ambitious, but it's done (ish). Sending now!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: Adeel on Mon 08/07/2013 00:38:55
Finally I got relieved! Sent the link to our hostess. Only 22 minutes left until the deadline. I have become very tired now. This whole experience was an exhausting yet a very learning one.

I have seen enough of the editor that I plan not to see it for at least a week.  8-0

After all this hard work, I am going to sleep now since the local time here is 4:38AM. Not to mention that I will have to wake up at 8:00 AM (local).
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: tzachs on Mon 08/07/2013 06:37:38
Wow Adeeel, now that's dedication!
Unlike you I managed to sleep almost a full 6 hours.. Managed to squeeze in a game with some 20 minutes to spare, which I believe is better than the last time, so I guess I improved my time management skills.
I did have to skip on some unimportant tasks, like playtesting.. Oh well..

Was sad to hear about all the people that dropped out, but am excited to play all the games that did come out. Go OROW!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) !!!NOW OPEN!!!
Post by: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 07:05:52
I'm excited to announce that we have 15 entries!

In alphabetical order:

Betrayal
Draconis!
Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit
Fly Paper
Jack Trekker
Kanji Gakusei
MI
One Dungeon One Week
Sinking
Tattooroom
The Addict
The butler didn't do it
The Crystal Ball
The Reaper
The Rebirth

DOWNLOAD THE GAMES HERE! (http://cat.agser.me/games/OROW8/OROW8.zip)

Please note that "The crystal ball" cheated and used public domain music.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: frenzykitty on Mon 08/07/2013 07:07:40
Link isn't working for me?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 07:11:08
Ooops, should work now  :-[
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Radiant on Mon 08/07/2013 08:26:55
Wow, that's a very impressive lineup! Congrats to all on completing your game, you've done the adventure gaming equivalent of Nanowrimo!

I think it'd be fun if there was an informal poll option where people can guess, individually, who made which game (while keeping that out of this thread here until after the voting of course). Some people have a telling style, and some people may want to guess that :) Is that a silly question?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: WHAM on Mon 08/07/2013 13:17:48
Played all of 'em, finished most of 'em. Got stuck in a couple, got bored of a couple more. All in all a very cool contest lineup. Hells, before today I thought I was a strong competitor, but now that I see the whole lineup I feel far less confident... Can't wait to vote!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Adeel on Mon 08/07/2013 13:52:08
Quote from: tzachs on Mon 08/07/2013 06:37:38
Wow Adeeel, now that's dedication!
Unlike you I managed to sleep almost a full 6 hours.. Managed to squeeze in a game with some 20 minutes to spare, which I believe is better than the last time, so I guess I improved my time management skills.
I did have to skip on some unimportant tasks, like playtesting.. Oh well..

    Since this was my first game so it was almost certain that it would take more time than I had thought. Unfortunately, I had to skip the dedicated beta-testing too.

Quote from: tzachs on Mon 08/07/2013 06:37:38
Was sad to hear about all the people that dropped out, but am excited to play all the games that did come out. Go OROW!

    Same here. I was shocked more to see dactylopus going out. Because his spirit was high.

@Cat: May you please upload the games as separate zips along with the game pack? Because currently I am using very limited data plan (financial reasons) and therefore I can't afford to download the games above 80 MB.

Quote from: Radiant on Mon 08/07/2013 08:26:55
I think it'd be fun if there was an informal poll option where people can guess, individually, who made which game (while keeping that out of this thread here until after the voting of course). Some people have a telling style, and some people may want to guess that :) Is that a silly question?

    At least, not to me. It may be fun. We can start such thread in Rumpus Room (because its wild guessing) or Adventure Related (because they are adventure games). The final decision's up to the cat and the moderators, of course.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: kaput on Mon 08/07/2013 13:56:22
So many entries! Time to brew some coffee and play  :smiley:
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Ghost on Mon 08/07/2013 14:00:38
Now that is quite a bundle of games; congratulations! Gotta play them all!

Since I didn't manage to finish mine (and, sadly, decided to base the whole gameplay on a bit of a music gag), here's a screenshot of a drop-out  (laugh)

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/uoDUIPL.png[/imgzoom]

In case you didn't get the pun:
Spoiler
Shepherd chasing a rogue spectre across the Milky Way
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 14:01:00
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Mon 08/07/2013 13:52:08
@Cat: May you please upload the games as separate zips along with the game pack? Because currently I am using very limited data plan (financial reasons) and therefore I can't afford to download the games above 80 MB.
I can't do this today, I'm afraid, but I think the whole bundle is only slightly more than 80MB.

Quote
    At least, not to me. It may be fun. We can start such thread in Rumpus Room (because its wild guessing) or Adventure Related (because they are adventure games). The final decision's up to the cat and the moderators, of course.
Yes, I think Rumpus Room would be the place to do this. Please keep this thread free from speculations.

If someone wants to write anything detailed about any of the games here in this thread, please use spoiler tags.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Mon 08/07/2013 15:03:43
There, poll.

I made the poll last for one week, but I can change that to whatever you want, cat.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: dactylopus on Mon 08/07/2013 15:06:10
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Mon 08/07/2013 13:52:08
Quote from: tzachs on Mon 08/07/2013 06:37:38
Was sad to hear about all the people that dropped out, but am excited to play all the games that did come out. Go OROW!

    Same here. I was shocked more to see dactylopus going out. Because his spirit was high.
Yes, I'm truly disappointed that I had to drop out.  Unfortunately, there were health and work related issues, but that's just an excuse.  I essentially planned a game that was too ambitious for my abilities and scheduling.  Don't worry, I will finish it one day.

I've downloaded the games and I'm looking forward to delving into the action!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 15:15:41
AGA, I think we need to vote in 5 different categories (BEST GAME, GRAPHICS, CONCEPT/WRITING, SOUND/MUSIC DESIGN, PROGRAMMING/CODING), is this possible?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Mon 08/07/2013 15:31:24
Here's a download mirror: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uk5yhyalh5h07m3/ODOW8.exe
(sfx 7zip, 67MB, all games sorted into folders, and the game without a winsetup now has a setup.bat.)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Mon 08/07/2013 15:41:17
So one vote for one game in each category?  That's not really possible by default, but I'll look into options.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Vince Twelve on Mon 08/07/2013 15:42:43
Congrats to everyone who participated!  OROW is an awesome chance to just get something done.  I wound up not submitting my 48 hour Molyjam game because it broke the anonymity rules.  I had been Tweeting and Vining about it all weekend, and had to post it to the Molyjam site (http://www.molyjam.com/games/227).

I'm really looking forward to playing these games this week and voting!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Mon 08/07/2013 15:46:19
I created a form in Google docs.
It allows selecting one game in each category, that should be enough, right?
If you guys give me the go ahead, I'll post the link.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Adeel on Mon 08/07/2013 16:40:20
   
Quote from: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 14:01:00
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Mon 08/07/2013 13:52:08
@Cat: May you please upload the games as separate zips along with the game pack? Because currently I am using very limited data plan (financial reasons) and therefore I can't afford to download the games above 80 MB.
I can't do this today, I'm afraid, but I think the whole bundle is only slightly more than 80MB.

    Unfortunately, can't afford anywhere above or near 80 MB >:(. The data plan I like to use is currently not available so I have to workout with this one  (wrong).

    If you or anyone out there (who has downloaded the bundle) uploads each game separately to a hosting site. I'll be grateful to you/them.

EDIT: Khris, go ahead and post the link so that people would see what the form contains. If enough people like it then it may be used officially.

@dactylopus: I can understand. I also had set plans too ambitious. Most of the ideas were dropped due to the lack of time. With how much difficulty I completed the game, only I know it.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Mon 08/07/2013 17:28:20
I'd rather wait till I hear back. The advantage of a forum poll is that people definitely can't vote more than once, for example.

Like somebody mentioned earlier, to use the forum's poll system we'd have to create five threads, right?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Mon 08/07/2013 19:02:26
I'm currently setting something up on AGSA (I need to create a similar voting system anyway!).
If you decide to use it or not is totally up to you :).

Is it so that anyone can vote on 1 game per category?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 20:54:41
Ideally, we would have the thing AGA set up earlier but just 5 times in a row. So you can rate every game in each of the 5 categories with a number.

Maybe we should really do like Andail suggested and make 5 polls like the one AGA did?
Quote from: Andail on Sun 07/07/2013 19:49:45
I could just start five polls here in this very forum. Sure it means a lot of polls, but it's for a limited time. Maybe it'll feel better to have everything forum-based instead of external services that people will have to click on links to find.
This way every member of the forum could vote once and only once without the need to register somewhere else.

Would this be ok for the moderators?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: xil on Mon 08/07/2013 21:04:29
The simple machines website lists a modification called Additional Polls, which looks perfect for what you want: http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1586 (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1586)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Andail on Mon 08/07/2013 21:37:31
I'm unsure whether AGA's currently sorting out a multi-poll thread solution or not. If nothing has happened by tomorrow morning, I'll simply start five separate polls here on the activity board.

It's probably only for the better if people have to think/play some more before casting their votes!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Mon 08/07/2013 22:11:38
Is it possible though to check for errors in the selections? What if one accidentally (or deliberately) gave two games a 5 point rating in the same category...? Do those votes get excluded? Is it even useful to force people to create a top five in every category?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Mon 08/07/2013 22:16:31
No, as far as I understood AGA's poll was about rating each game for its merits independently. If you thought two games had fantastic graphics, both could get 5 points for example.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Mon 08/07/2013 22:24:37
 -
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Ubel on Mon 08/07/2013 22:35:52
I think having the possibility to give each game a 5 point rating in each category is overcomplicating it. People often use those systems stupidly and give 5 points to games they like and 1 point to the rest (exaggaration, I know, but you get the point). We just want to figure out which game is the best in each category. So having people select their favourite for each category is enough. Simple and efficient and it will attract a lot more voters! I see absolutely no need for an additional scoring system. In the spirit of OROW, keep it simple! :)

I'll definitely post my opinions on each game later. So far I'm thoroughly enjoying most of them. :) Great job you crazy creative people!

EDIT: Peder's voting page seems perfect!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: xil on Mon 08/07/2013 22:51:09
Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Mon 08/07/2013 22:24:37
I put together this: http://new.agsarchives.com/orow-voting.html

This system seems to fit perfectly in my opinion?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: LimpingFish on Mon 08/07/2013 22:55:11
Wow! Lots of entries! ;-D

Playing through them now.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Radiant on Mon 08/07/2013 23:10:17
Quote from: Pablo on Mon 08/07/2013 22:35:52So having people select their favourite for each category is enough.
I disagree with that. With so many participants, I would like to at least pick a top three or best five or something. Otherwise you're just going to end up with lots of games with 1-2 votes each and no clear answer.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: dactylopus on Mon 08/07/2013 23:19:02
I'd like the ability to rate each game in each category.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Mon 08/07/2013 23:40:01
Peder's page is good, but the default selection should be "Choose a game" or something like that, not one of the entries (since it creates bias, as absurd as that sounds. Science! ;))

I was thinking maybe picking a best and runner up in each category? Five seems too much, and dactylopus, are you suggesting the ability to rate 75 combinations of games and category individually?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: xil on Mon 08/07/2013 23:43:51
Quote from: dactylopus on Mon 08/07/2013 23:19:02
I'd like the ability to rate each game in each category.

That approach to me sounds great if you are someone very interested in the OROW. But, for the average gamer, to have to put that much thought/time into playing the games, and then voting (requiring 75 selections of scores - beat me to it Khris!), seems a little bit of overkill and could potentially put people off voting all together.

Also I don't like the idea of negative voting for what is essentially a competition. In a competition, the winners should win and the losers should know they need to do more next time, not, the winners scored 5's across the board and you got 0 for everything etc, this isn't the games database.

Upon reflection, I do agree that simply giving one vote per category is not the best idea. So a top 3 might be the best approach? However, surely that would require a custom voting system like Peder created, but changed to allow 3 dropdowns per category. That's up to Peder if he wants to change it though.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Ubel on Mon 08/07/2013 23:46:16
I second the idea about selecting the top two/three games in each category. It's a good compromise.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Tue 09/07/2013 00:07:53
If you people can wait until early - mid tomorrow, I can probably whip something up using forum logins.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Armageddon on Tue 09/07/2013 01:39:28
One Dungeon One Week is amazing. Is that some sort of Dungeon Crawler module? Girl and Rabbit is the funniest thing I've played in awhile. I got stuck on Betrayal after getting the pendant. The Reaper and The Rebirth having connections is pretty cool too.

Are we allowed to talk about the games?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: dactylopus on Tue 09/07/2013 03:08:58
I guess I hadn't considered it would be 75.  I just remember participating in the voting for the Ludum Dare game jam, and ratings were on a 1-5 scale in each category.

I do see the point, however, that most people are not likely to take the time to rate all 15 of the games in this way.

I'd support choosing the top 3 games in each category.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 08:13:20
Quote from: Armageddon on Tue 09/07/2013 01:39:28
Are we allowed to talk about the games?

Yes, but please use spoiler tags so people who haven't played the games yet don't read it accidentally.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Tue 09/07/2013 09:08:27
Voting page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/orow8/).  You don't have to vote for more than one game if you don't want, but there's the option of up to three votes per category.  One vote per forums user.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Problem on Tue 09/07/2013 09:21:12
Just wanted to say that I'm totally imprwessed by the quality of these entries. (nod) It's amazing what everyone has achieved in just one week. Some of those games could easily have been MAGS winners. It will be very hard to vote.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Adeel on Tue 09/07/2013 09:25:34
First of all, I want to say thanks to cat and Peder Johnsen+ for their help. Secondly, I want to ask a question. Since there are two Voting Mechanisms developed. Which one should be used or will be considered "official"?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Tue 09/07/2013 09:38:48
The one on the AGS site!

I don't mind either way really, but this one seems to fit more users' preferences.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Radiant on Tue 09/07/2013 09:49:24
When is the voting deadline? I will need some time to play everything.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Lasca on Tue 09/07/2013 10:10:12
Great games, and great competion!
Love the games, but I can't get OWOD, MI och Tattooroom working on my laptop, because of the resolution. Anyway to work around this?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Ubel on Tue 09/07/2013 10:15:22
Quote from: Lasca on Tue 09/07/2013 10:10:12
Love the games, but I can't get OWOD, MI och Tattooroom working on my laptop, because of the resolution. Anyway to work around this?

Try changing the Graphics filter in winsetup.exe to a supported resolution or turning it off completely.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 12:07:21
Awesome AGA, thanks a lot!  :)

Please be fair and do not vote for your own game!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Radiant on Tue 09/07/2013 12:17:08
Since the voting system keeps track of forum names, perhaps you could just filter them out :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Tue 09/07/2013 12:21:45
Easier said than done at this stage, given only cat knows who made which game!  cat, if you could draw up a list of the user IDs of everyone involved in each game's design though, that would be useful when it comes to results time.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Tue 09/07/2013 12:26:42
What's wrong with voting for one's own game? (I say this impartially as i have not entered)

Political candidates vote for themselves and if people are not allowed to vote for themselves then it potentially gives an unjust vote to someone else who they voted for because they could not vote for themselves.

Just food for thought.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Tue 09/07/2013 12:48:00
Exactly, it would be a different thing if the authors were only voting amongst themselves. But seeing as a lot of people are voting, and the votes will be heavily biased anyway, I don't see why people shouldn't vote for their own game (if they think the vote is justified or course).
(I voted as objectively as possible, but may have done something awkward :-D)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 13:42:11
Because then some people will be honest and vote vote for the games that they think deserve it most and others will be the usual assholes and only vote for their games in all categories.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Stupot on Tue 09/07/2013 13:56:21
I would feel dirty voting for myself anyway.

Anyway.  I've only had time to play a couple of entries so far, but they were both really good.
just to be sure, when is the deadline for voting? I want to do a proper little review for each entry if I have time.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: WHAM on Tue 09/07/2013 13:57:59
Quote from: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 13:42:11
Because then some people will be honest and vote vote for the games that they think deserve it most and others will be the usual assholes and only vote for their games in all categories.

Harsh way to say it, but I agree. If the developer has so little faith in his/her own creation that they feel the need to vote for themselves, then the developer is in the wrong.
With things like political elections the gesture is a bit different, as there are millions of voters, so voting for yourself is more of a gesture and has little effect. I am guessing OROW will have less than a hundred voters, so even a single vote CAN change the game and has a far higher likelihood of doing so.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Adeel on Tue 09/07/2013 14:01:10
Quote from: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 13:42:11
[...] others will be the usual assholes and only vote for their games in all categories.

I second cat's opinion. This would be similar to asking your friends to vote for your game. Moreover, if a person votes his game for top position in all the categories, it would affect the results greatly.

UPDATE: Wham said it all.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Radiant on Tue 09/07/2013 14:30:09
Quote from: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 13:42:11
Because then some people will be honest and vote vote for the games that they think deserve it most and others will be the usual assholes and only vote for their games in all categories.
I will take the optimistic view and suggest that most community members here wouldn't act like that.
Spoiler
(but if it's assholes you're scared of, you should probably disallow voting for any account created after the contest started, and you should find a way to stop people from asking their friends to vote)
[close]

But anyway. I'm curious whether it matters if I vote, within a single category, for games A-B-C in that order, or in C-B-A order? I think it probably shouldn't matter because that'd lead to unnecessarily complexity, but it's up to the organization of course.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Tue 09/07/2013 14:30:52
Accusing a majority of the people who participated in this OROW of being unfair, egotistical assholes is kind of questionable I guess...?

And voting for your own game doesn't have to be because you are having little faith in it and are desperately trying to push it. That, again, assumes malice, and I find this way of thinking pretty cynical and sad.
If you genuinely think that your game was the best in one category, why not vote appropriately? If we don't allow that, we have to exclude all the developers from voting, because otherwise it WILL skew the vote.

But if we don't, it should be pretty obvious anyway if somebody just chose their own game in every category, right? I say rather than using iron clad rules, use common sense when looking at the detailed results, and strip away what's obviously fraudulent before releasing them.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Calin Leafshade on Tue 09/07/2013 15:53:18
Entrants should either be able to vote freely or be barred from voting entirely surely?

Anything else just skews the vote.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AJA on Tue 09/07/2013 16:18:12
Has this been a problem previously? Everyone's been free to vote for whatever game they please and not many, if any, people have had a problem with that. Then again, we haven't had much variety in the winner for the past four or so OROWs. :P But preventing people from voting altogether is definitely not the way to go, since that's part of the fun.

OROW is not about winning, I see the competition format merely as an incentive to get people to join in on the fun. OROW is about getting fun little games made and then giving the creators feedback both in the form of votes and, more importantly, comments. It's as much a playground for testing ideas as it is for going crazy with concepts that would never work in a longer game. That's how I see it anyway. And that's why I keep asking for a rating based voting system, but I'm okay with the top-3 or top-5 idea that's been thrown around. That's much more preferable to a choose-your-favorite voting system.

Haven't had time to play any of them yet but today or tomorrow I shall begin my sacred task!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Adeel on Tue 09/07/2013 16:28:51
Quote from: Khris on Tue 09/07/2013 14:30:52
[..] use common sense when looking at the detailed results, and strip away what's obviously fraudulent before releasing them.

Its easier said than done. Besides, there is no way you can tell the game got many votes because of merit or fraud votes were involved.

Surely, you can check all the new accounts created in between the voting time, comparing the i.p and all such to sort out the "games with fraudulent votes". But that would mean an exhaustive job, not to mention: Annoying.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Ryan Timothy B on Tue 09/07/2013 16:50:02
Have you got something to hide, Adeel?  (laugh)

Great work everyone. I'll start playing the games real shortly to give my votes and comments. When is the voting deadline?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Adeel on Tue 09/07/2013 16:54:39
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Tue 09/07/2013 16:50:02
Have you got something to hide, Adeel?  (laugh)

Nah! I am pretty sure already I am not going to win.  I'll just wait for a miracle. Therefore I am not going to take "all the trouble" of creating fake i.ds to vote for my game! :D :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Tue 09/07/2013 17:52:44
If anyone else also rather download each game separately for any reason you can do so here: http://new.agsarchives.com/orow.html
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Tue 09/07/2013 18:12:03
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Tue 09/07/2013 16:28:51Its easier said than done. Besides, there is no way you can tell the game got many votes because of merit or fraud votes were involved. [...]
Yeah, I'm aware of that. But I'm only talking about AGA finding that somebody has voted for a particular game in every category and no other game, something like that. Clear evidence of misconduct, in other words.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: xil on Tue 09/07/2013 20:37:14
Personally, I'm not going to vote for my own game as I don't think it's in the spirit of things, but I have absolutely no problem with people voting however they want.

At the end of the day no one is winning a large monetary prize etc and I'd say most, if not all, of the games were made more-so for the personal accomplishment, rather than a desperation to win? So it really doesn't matter too much. If someone wants to check for an obvious 'mark their own game top for every category', then go for it.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: frosch on Tue 09/07/2013 21:12:47

Hello Peter (#278),

four of the archives (the-butler-didnt-do-it.zip - sinking.zip - one-dungeon-one-week.zip - educating-adventures-of-girl-and-rabbit.zip) on the mentioned site have a size of 0 KB.

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Tue 09/07/2013 21:56:54
So, one of the major things of OROW is trust. I trust that noone did start earlier than the deadline, didn't use stuff that was not allowed or use unfair means. I politely asked that noone should vote for their own game and I trust that noone will.
AGA made a great voting system that we should all use (I will not, because I know who made which game)

Now we should stop arguing and focus on these amazing games! I played more than half of them now and they were all great and unique. I'm looking forward to playing the rest of the games.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: ThreeOhFour on Tue 09/07/2013 22:38:33
Well said, that.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: kaput on Tue 09/07/2013 22:43:46
Hear, hear  :smiley:
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Stupot on Tue 09/07/2013 22:48:34
Quote from: Radiant on Tue 09/07/2013 09:49:24When is the voting deadline? I will need some time to play everything.
Quote from: Stupot+ on Tue 09/07/2013 13:56:21just to be sure, when is the deadline for voting?
Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Tue 09/07/2013 16:50:02When is the voting deadline?
It seems that one has to be debating or arguing about something in order to get one's posts noticed, these days.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Peder 🚀 on Tue 09/07/2013 23:16:11
Quote from: frosch on Tue 09/07/2013 21:12:47

Hello Peter (#278),

four of the archives (the-butler-didnt-do-it.zip - sinking.zip - one-dungeon-one-week.zip - educating-adventures-of-girl-and-rabbit.zip) on the mentioned site have a size of 0 KB.



Thanks for this info! I put them up as zips, when they really are rars. All fixed now! :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Mati256 on Wed 10/07/2013 03:01:15
Just tested the first 14 games. Will leave the last one for tomorrow because now is too late.
I just want to say that all the games are great and its great that this competition has so many entires.
Some of the games betray their creators and it's pretty obvious who designed them.  (laugh)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Wed 10/07/2013 08:12:27
The voting information is stored in such a way we could award points (say 3, 2 or 1) to each game, depending on whether or not it's a user's first, second or third choice in a category.  That would be a simple, and (I think) effective way of doing it.  Having stripped out any self voting shenanigans of course.

Voting doesn't currently have a deadline, since no one seems to have suggested one.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: cat on Wed 10/07/2013 08:39:09
Ah, yes, I'd suggest to close voting on Sunday afternoon or early evening. AGA or I would then post the final results and reveal the authors. The thread should then stay open for another week, so people can write comments for the games.

Would this be ok for you, AGA?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Radiant on Wed 10/07/2013 11:11:17
Quote from: AGA on Wed 10/07/2013 08:12:27
The voting information is stored in such a way we could award points (say 3, 2 or 1) to each game, depending on whether or not it's a user's first, second or third choice in a category.
I would suggest against that. Just give everything a weight of one and count which gets the most votes in a category - because I don't think it's fair that being first-out-of-fifteen is considered three times as valuable as third-out-of-fifteen, it makes the latter vote too unimportant.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: Khris on Wed 10/07/2013 11:31:16
A weight of one is as bad; if fifty people chose the same winner and runner-up, this wouldn't get reflected in any way in the vote, although they all thought that one game was better than the other.
I'd use 1.2, 1 and 0.8 or something like that.

Edit after AGA's post:
I'd pull them farther apart, otherwise 15 times 2nd place is as good as 14 times 1st place. How about 1, 0.75 and 0.5?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: AGA on Wed 10/07/2013 11:43:07
1.00, 0.93, 0.86 would be 1; (1 - 1/15); (1 - (2 * 1/15)).  That would seem fair?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: dactylopus on Wed 10/07/2013 12:10:31
Not sure about the voting, but I just finished preliminary plays through all of the entries.

Really good stuff!  I'm going to have to come back to a few of them.  I was really enjoying them!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games
Post by: kaput on Wed 10/07/2013 12:52:14
Re voting - it sounds like you guys are talking about something like this?

http://www.slideshare.net/myddelton/the-alternative-vote-system-in-practice

You have to click through the slideshow for the whole example.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: frosch on Wed 10/07/2013 17:39:59
Hi,
where is the archway to exit
Spoiler
on the WIN! page
[close]
of Draconis? Or is it's missing a bug?
Spoiler
There are still 80 gems to collect.
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Radiant on Thu 11/07/2013 11:13:56
Quote from: frosch on Wed 10/07/2013 17:39:59
where is the archway to exit
Spoiler
on the WIN! page
[close]
of Draconis?
I think that is a victory screen, just like how I think the "reality" quote in Betrayal is a victory screen :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: dactylopus on Thu 11/07/2013 12:02:23
These games are a lot of fun.

Some of them are quite... unsettling.

Good work, everyone!  I'm playing through some of them again while I decide how to score.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AGA on Fri 12/07/2013 12:39:23
Quote from: cat on Wed 10/07/2013 08:39:09
Ah, yes, I'd suggest to close voting on Sunday afternoon or early evening. AGA or I would then post the final results and reveal the authors. The thread should then stay open for another week, so people can write comments for the games.

Would this be ok for you, AGA?

Sorry, completely missed this post until now.  There have only been 20 votes so far.  The trouble is that, giving people only two days' notice (if I were to change the banner announcement to give a deadline of Sunday) might not give people enough time to play all the games and vote, if they may have thought they had longer.  Perhaps a deadline of next the end of Wednesday might be better?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: cat on Fri 12/07/2013 13:00:29
Does anyone need more time to play the games and vote?

I'm just afraid that keeping this open longer might stretch it too much and people lose interest.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: straydogstrut on Fri 12/07/2013 13:09:58
I plan to play them all this weekend so I'm glad I haven't missed the deadline! Ending on Sunday is okay by me :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Phemar on Fri 12/07/2013 15:34:41
Sunday is good!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: dactylopus on Fri 12/07/2013 16:02:37
I finally got around to voting.  This was a lot of fun.

There was an awful lot of talent this round, I didn't get to vote for everyone I wanted to vote for.

It should be interesting to see how it all pans out.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Vince Twelve on Fri 12/07/2013 17:00:05
Can't wait. Tomorrow is OROW playing day for me!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Khris on Fri 12/07/2013 17:01:49
Only 20 votes!? What the hell.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Adeel on Fri 12/07/2013 17:05:44
Quote from: Khris on Fri 12/07/2013 17:01:49
Only 20 votes!? What the hell.

Khris, how did you check that only 20 votes are casted so far?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AGA on Fri 12/07/2013 17:14:59
Quote from: Adeel S. Ahmed on Fri 12/07/2013 17:05:44
Khris, how did you check that only 20 votes are casted so far?

Quote from: AGA on Fri 12/07/2013 12:39:23
There have only been 20 votes so far.

I'll close voting at 23:59 on Sunday then, since people seem to agree with that.  I should be able to send you some stats early - mid Monday then, cat.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Radiant on Fri 12/07/2013 17:36:12
Quote from: AGA on Fri 12/07/2013 17:14:59
I'll close voting at 23:59 on Sunday then, since people seem to agree with that.  I should be able to send you some stats early - mid Monday then, cat.
Will we get to know the 2nd and 3rd place in each category too?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AGA on Fri 12/07/2013 17:51:49
I will give cat the raw information, she can do what she wants with it.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: cat on Fri 12/07/2013 18:02:35
Quote from: AGA on Fri 12/07/2013 17:14:59
I'll close voting at 23:59 on Sunday then, since people seem to agree with that.  I should be able to send you some stats early - mid Monday then, cat.
Awesome! I'll try to post the results in my lunch or coffee break  :)

Quote from: Radiant on Fri 12/07/2013 17:36:12
Will we get to know the 2nd and 3rd place in each category too?
Yes, definitely. I probably will not post the complete result (I don't want anyone to feel bad for being last) but at least the top 3 or top 5 in every category.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Stupot on Fri 12/07/2013 22:45:02
Played them all and voted.
Really impressive and awe-inspiring work all round.
There's a reasonably polished Bake Sale or Summerbatch right there already.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: selmiak on Sat 13/07/2013 01:35:44
only played about 25% of the games. even though they are short a longer voting deadline would be nice.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: LimpingFish on Sat 13/07/2013 02:28:42
Sunday is fine. I already have my favorites.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: tzachs on Sat 13/07/2013 08:49:40
Played and voted!
I was also really impressed by the quality. I think it's partly because we were given time to think about the games beforehand. It definitely proved itself...
I've already wrote some mini reviews, will complete them for all the games and publish my thoughts after the results are posted.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Miez on Sat 13/07/2013 11:07:28
Totally agree with most previous comments: the quality of these games is impressive. Well done contestants!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Vince Twelve on Sun 14/07/2013 05:44:02
Done!  My first finished game was an OROW game, so I look forward to playing the games each time it's held!  Played through all the games this evening, pausing only to eat.  What a great time!  I can't remember another OROW with such great output.  Some people know how to take advantage of AGS's strengths!  Man.  Good job everybody!  I got my votes in.  Some of them were really hard.  I hope people don't just vote their favorite across the board and actually put some thought into the voting.  Because there are some in here that probably deserve some recognition that may not get included if that happens.

I've written mini-reviews for each game and I'll post them all after the results are up!

Again, congrats to everyone who participated.  If it was your first game, double congrats.  You've now finished something.  You know what it takes to finish something.  Now go finish more things!!!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Ghost on Sun 14/07/2013 11:35:30
Voted!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: miguel on Sun 14/07/2013 14:19:01
Voted as well. The quality was really impressive.
Congratulations to all participants.
As always with voting I feel that I've been unfair with some games but I can't help but to vote in the game(s) that I've enjoyed most playing even if other games have the same quality...Oh well, enough said.


Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Ilyich on Sun 14/07/2013 15:06:05
I'll join in with the praising of the participants - it's a very impressive lineup of games indeed! Very diverse too, a real explosion of creativity - excellent work, everyone!

And although it was tough to vote because of the high quality and diversity of the games, it was great to be able to vote for many different games in different categories, because they all have different strong points.
Congratulations to all the contestants and thanks for this nice little treat - it's been a lot of fun! :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AGA on Sun 14/07/2013 15:38:21
34 votes so far.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AJA on Sun 14/07/2013 16:26:45
Played and voted, finally! That was quite a bunch of OROW games. Great work, everyone!

Mini-reviews coming after the official results!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: cat on Sun 14/07/2013 20:19:20
Last reminder! Voting closes at 23:59 (BST) today!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: nihilyst on Sun 14/07/2013 21:03:10
I am deeply impressed by the quality of this OROW's games. And all of that done in a week ... wow! :D
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AGA on Sun 14/07/2013 21:34:08
37 votes, and about two and a half hours to go.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: LimpingFish on Sun 14/07/2013 21:36:40
I have voted! Very hard to whittle my choices down to just three games in each category, though. I feel a bit guilty for leaving some games out. :(
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Bulbapuck on Sun 14/07/2013 22:49:09
Voted!

Those were some fantastic games, well done everyone ^^
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: AGA on Sun 14/07/2013 23:00:08
39 votes, one hour left!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: Adeel on Sun 14/07/2013 23:02:25
So apparently Bulbapuck got here first :D

Just voted. Playing them was really a fun :)

Well Done Everyone.

Well done to me for creating my first game. ;)

Oh and I'll hate you if you did not vote for me! (Just kidding (laugh))

Congratulations to cat; of course, for organizing such an event with great success.

Best of Luck to everyone!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: straydogstrut on Mon 15/07/2013 00:31:40
Wow, seriously impressive, very distinctive entries from everyone! Congrats to everyone who took part  :smiley:
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: selmiak on Mon 15/07/2013 02:29:22
still 25%, not voted, had fun already  :-D :P
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: cat on Mon 15/07/2013 13:39:43
Results revealed!

First of all, here is the list of the authors:


Betrayal - Bulbapuck and Mathias Niemand
Draconis! - Radiant and Fizzii
Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
Fly Paper - Limping Fish
Jack Trekker - Sunny Penguin and Alpy
Kanji Gakusei - cat and raeff
MI - calicoreverie
One Dungeon One Week - Khris
Sinking - WHAM and Ghost
Tattooroom - squame
The Addict - Adeel S. Ahmed and Handsfree
The butler didn't do it - Tzach and Noa
The Crystal Ball - oraxon
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The Rebirth - Grundislav


And here are the top 5 of every category:

Best Game

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
MI - calicoreverie
Jack Trekker - Sunny Penguin and Alpy


Best Graphics

The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Crystal Ball - oraxon
Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
Tattooroom - squame


Best Concept / Writing

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - Pablo and qptain Nemo
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The Crystal Ball - oraxon
The butler didn't do it - Tzach and Noa


Best Sound / Music Design

MI - calicoreverie
The Rebirth - Grundislav
The Reaper - ThreeOhFour
The butler didn't do it - Tzach and Noa
Kanji Gakusei - cat and raeff


Best Programming / Coding

One Dungeon One Week - Khris
Sinking - WHAM and Ghost
Draconis! - Radiant and Fizzii
Betrayal - Bulbapuck and Mathias Niemand
MI - calicoreverie



All entries where great and I'm happy to confirm that every game got votes in at least two categories, with most games getting votes in every category.
Also people did not blindly vote for the same game but really did consider which game would deserve a win in which category. So thank you all for spending the time to make such thoughtful votes!

I am very impressed with the high quality of games and want to thank all game authors and contributors for their great effort. It's amazing what you have accomplished in just one week.

Finally thanks to AGA for setting up the voting system and announcement and the moderators for supporting this event.


I will write a short review for each game in the next few days.
@Moderators: Please keep this thread open for at least another week so people can write comments on the game or this OROW in general.


All game authors are now encouraged to add their names to the game, maybe improve a bit if they want and then upload it to the AGS database.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Download the games and vote!
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Mon 15/07/2013 13:45:13
What a great success this OROW was! So many excellent games. Thank you for organizing this all, cat! Congratulations to everybody that entered!

Also, I guessed a LOT of game authors correctly (as opposed to the last years where I did REALLY bad haha), the ones I didn't get are people that I haven't noticed much around yet which is even more awesome, to maybe see some fresh blood join the AGS game making ranks!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: qptain Nemo on Mon 15/07/2013 14:31:35
 8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)

I'd like to take a moment from all the gloating and say... guys who made The Crystal Ball, Jack Trekker and The Tattoo Room, I loved your games to bits. I want to kiss you all right in the face. (creepy, I know, but I co-designed Girl and Rabbit, so don't tell me you didn't see this coming)

Especially The Crystal Ball. It was my personal favourite in every aspect. Hell, the music was so moody and fitting, if only it was original, I'd nominate it for best music too without second thoughts. Oraxon, you have my utmost respect along with interest in your further gamemaking endeavours. Quite saddened by seeing your game not win anything, as in my eyes it was the best.

Also The Rebirth was damn splendid, but Grundislav doing splendid things goes without saying, so I'm going to mercilessly underplay it like that.

Having said that, my music didn't even get into top 5? The soundtrack of Butler Didn't Do It didn't win the music award? Bah, you guys clearly have no taste. :P

All in all, it was an honour to compete alongside such great entrants! And I heartily thank all who voted for us. Perhaps later I shall join the discussion and provide some more verbose mini-reviews. But now if you excuse me, I have to return to ecstatically, triumphantly pouring champagne all over my body and practicing the condescending stare of superiority.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Adeel on Mon 15/07/2013 14:33:27
I am happy to see that the game I voted for Best Game and Best Writing has won both awards, i.e., Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit.  8-)

    Hilarious game, especially the rabbit's slaps can't be forgotten easily (laugh). Actually, I am impressed by its quality and length considering it was made only in a week. Good Job, Pablo and qptain Nemo! You deserve respect!

I am somewhat surprised that MI got the votes for best sounds. Yes, the voice over was good and as such but I thought "The Butler Didn't Do It" deserved it more. Oh well... :X

I am eagerly waiting for the Grundislav's Rebirth. High Quality Graphics and Story seems interesting as well. Especially liked the main character.

Don't know why but the first thought (when I listened to the music and singer's voice) was that this game is definitely made by cat.

Congratulations, once again, to everyone especially the winners (where's treat now? ;)).

P.S:   For those, who are wondering (or who care) about my game: The game will be more polished. New puzzles will be added. Animations will be added. Jokes will be included. You'll get to play those original puzzles which were opted out owing to the lack of time. One or two bugs were found which will be eliminated.

    This was my first game and therefore it contains hiccups of first game. However, OROW provided me to release my game within a deadline and this has encouraged me to work on my (previously intended to be first) game which I had left in the middle.

A big thanks to Handsfree without whom, the game would have been absolute trash. (He saved my neck :D).
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Vince Twelve on Mon 15/07/2013 14:38:23
Hey qptain Nemo, you want to borrow some of my trophies? (nod)

Woo! Congratulations everyone! And congratulations to the organizers! You did a great job bringing this together!

Here are the reviews that I hastily typed up while playing the games:

ODOW:
Wow, I really appreciate the amount of coding that must have gone into this.  As someone who also loves doing weird experiments with AGS, this impressed me greatly! The 3D presentation was very effective. I'd love to see this expanded into a full rogue-like with randomized levels and more enemies, weapons, and magic!  Two thumbs up! (Please release your source code!!!)

The Addict:
Some cute writing and graphics here. Obviously with more time you would have gotten a walk-cycle in, but the sprite is nice as are the backgrounds.  If you continue with this, get someone to quickly proof-read and edit your writing a bit.  Lot's of people on the board willing to help with that (though I understand not doing that during the one short week you had to make this).  That being said, you committed several "cardinal sins" of Adventure Game Studio game making.  I see them in lots of first (and second and third...) games and they're easy to fix.  Fixing these things will make all your games infinitely more playable:

1) Make sure your mouse cursor is easy to see.  It doesn't stand out from the blue background enough and it's sometimes difficult to see where you're pointing.
2) Hotspot markers on your inventory items. It's really hard to tell if I'm clicking an inventory item on something because there's no clear indication of what part of the inventory item is my cursor hotspot! This issue is one of my pet peeves and it's really easy to fix!
3) Make responses to wrong combinations.  When I try to use the bar on the door, tell me why it's not a good solution.  This is especially annoying in combination with #2 because it makes it so I'm not sure if I missed when I tried to use the pink box on the hand dryer or if there was just no response to my incorrect guess.  It's very easy in AGS to put in default responses so it at least says "That doesn't work." when I try something wrong.  Make sure you add it to all your games and it will be a big improvement!
4) Too slow walking! Just a minor point, but I thought your guy walks annoyingly slow.  The default AGS speed is too low and makes a lot of people's first games annoying to play because they don't know that they can crank it up!

All of that is meant to be constructive criticism and not insults towards your game. It feels like a first game, and that's fine.  Everyone has to make one.  (Most people never even get that far.) I hope you keep at it and improve with each new game!  There are some great ideas in here, and now you've got something done.  Time to take the lessons you learned from OROW and make another short game!  Each time you learn new stuff!  Good job!

Butler:
Oh god, I was laughing from the very start when the brother was repeatedly admitting to the murder.  Great horse sound fx!  Love the cute graphics! I got stuck not noticing the individual book hotspot.  I cracked up the first time I went to the left and then came back to find the doctor dead.  Each time was funnier than the last.  Very funny writing.  A couple spelling errors to fix up, but that's no big deal.

I'm going to harp on the hotspots for the inventory cursors again.  It wasn't a huge deal here since the characters were pretty big and easy to hit and there was the hotspot label at the bottom of the screen making it easier.  But still, make a little arrow on the inventory cursors or something! 

It's also a little bit tricky to walk left and right in the room without clicking on something else.  And you have to walk away from the center of the room and then walk back to it if you want to go to the other side which is a little annoying.  That could be polished up a bit.  Maybe just have an arrow on screen that you click to walk to one side or another instead of using a walkto cursor at all.

Overall, a well-concieved, hilarious short game.  Very impressed!

(Edit: I'll tip my hand. I voted for Butler for best game.  Something about it! I hope it gets polished up a bit and given a proper release!)

The Crystal Ball:
Very nice atmosphere and implementation of the verb coin (Although it took me a little bit clicking around before I figured out it was a verb coin. They always trip me up!)  Good writing.  I liked how you can look at the cop and get a bunch of details from his physical features and then use those in conversation.  I didn't try to say different things in the conversations, so I'm not sure if there are any branches or not.  But I hope there are!  I wish there was some kind of conversation with the cop at the end to wrap things up or a twist or something.  But it ended alright.  Well done!

Mi:
Loved the presentation.  Great color pallete on the backgrounds and awesome Anime-dub voices!  At the start I thought it was going to be some kind of action platformer.  The puzzles were alright.  Psychicly sending items to Akemi from her cat was a cute idea.  It was a short, but nice experience.  Great job for one week!  I will take a moment to again wish that there were hotspot indicators on the inventory items! But at least there was a mouseover indicator label, so it wasn't so bad.

Great job!

Flypaper:
LOL. I was like "Man, I am into this! This dude spent some time on these graphics, I- oh wait..."

Kanji Gakusei:
Very cute little game.  I'm also going to pick on this one for not having hotspot indicators on your inventory items.  It's my pet peeve!  Hard to hit a three pixel duck with a stick when you're not sure which pixel of the stick is the pointy part!  Other than that it had cute simple puzzles and a nice idea.  Kawaii, etc.  I would have liked to have some kanji lesson in there, like someone explaining how the tree kanji looks like a tree and if you draw three of them it means forest, etc.  Could be expanded into a nice educational game.  Well done!

Sinking:
Very nice idea!  It took me a couple rounds to figure out exactly what was going on and what I was supposed to do.  But I think I figured it out.  Never managed to beat it on Normal though.  THings go to shit really fast!  I think falling off stuff might be a little too sensitive.  Especially when something's broken but you don't know where and have to go looking all around for it.  I fall off stuff a lot!  Very cool stuff though.  It's really fun and challenging (I never even bothered attempting hard mode!).  There's a nice variety of stuff to do.  It becomes a nice little time-management thing.  Too bad the other crew are useless and there's no reason to keep them around.  Or is there?  Two thumbs up!  Great job!

Jack Trekker:
Now that's how you fucking make an introduction.  Great stuff.  Love the guitar riff.  Great graphics in the room.  Love the out-of-focus foreground.  Hilarious writing.  Cracked up at "French or somethin'."  And OH SHIT, LOOK OUT NOW! INVENTORY CURSOR HOTSPOTS. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! TAKE NOTES Y'ALL.  Ahem. Sorry.  Well done on that.  Great polish all around.  Couple a' decent puzzles and some great style and junk.  Well done.  Two thumbs up!

Draconis:
Some more great scripting on display here!  It took me a while to get used to the rule set.  It seemed weird that falling gems would kill you and you could only collect them while they were still.  Using fire was a little weird too.  But the concept is good!  I liked the first two levels, but they were a bit hard.  I'd like to have a couple simple ones to teach the basics as you build up to the harder ones with lots of ways to die.  It also feels really bad when you get really far in a level and then make a dumb mistake and have to start over.  Bad enough to make me not try that second level for the fourth time!  But I felt like I played enough to get it and it's pretty great.  This could be refined into a very cool thing.  And you have a custom level editor text file!  That's pretty great!  A little more and it could be an in-game editor!  Sweet!  Good job!

Girl and Rabbit:
Hooray! I'm now marginally better prepared to face the challenges of the world.  I loved the hand-drawn-but-pixels look on the backgrounds.  The character sprites were great, too.  Right off the bat, I just sat there talking to the rabbit to hear all the funny shit he said.  Loved the score going increasingly negative.  Some decent dialog puzzles.  Liked the shooting thing at the end.  Bam. Serial killer out the door.  Well done!

The Rebirth:
To be continued! Great stuff here! Loved the character animations. Especially THAT animation.  The backgrounds were great as well.  An interesting plot that only HINTS at a grand conspiracy with mass casualties and world-wide implications?!?! That's right up my alley.  If I had one complaint it's that the main character walked a bit too slow for me.  That and the fuse puzzle should have involved on over-complicated wiring task that involves math and requires people to take notes so that everyone gets pissed off and hates you.  Two thumbs way up!

The Tatoo Room:
Really clever idea! Could be expanded with more customer requests and pictures to choose from!  Great art.  I love the creepy guy's face, though the audio grated a bit.  Took me a couple tries to figure out exactly what I was doing, but I was able to satisfy the dude on my fourth try.  Neat concept.  Good job!

The Reaper:
Whoah.  A far-future sequel to The Rebirth, perhaps?  Did you two work together? :) Great stuff here, obv.  Art is all around stunning.  The raven flying away was tops.  And how did you do that refraction effect on the jars? That's awesome.  If I had to come up with a complaint, it would be that you have to walk back and forth from the panel to the pump one too many times and the walk speed is too slow.  Or maybe that removing the rubble hotspot after getting a piece would have made walking easier.  But you know I'm just nitpicking there.  Groovy stuff.  Super creepy ending!  Two thumbs up!

Betrayal:
Damn, that was disorienting.  And I mean that in a good way.  The whole thing is supposed to be that way.  The perspective, the weird audio near the start.  The doors.  That was a great effect.  Some clever scripting to make that work, I imagine.  Well done.  Interesting way of rolling out the story in glimpses and hints.  The art isn't great obviously, but you make up for it with lots of other stuff.  It was unique!  Great job! Just slap some hotspot indicators on those inventory graphics and you get two thumbs up!

Did the game end with the Dick quote?  I couldn't get anything to happen on that screen, and never had a use for the pendant, so I just quit.  Was there something else?
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Adeel on Mon 15/07/2013 15:13:03
Thanks Vince for your detailed analysis on my game. I really appreciate it and never (ever) consider it as an insult. :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: kaput on Mon 15/07/2013 15:14:39
A big congratulations to the winners and everyone that took part! Really an excellent bunch of games and I'm glad I could have mine stood by them. Roll on OROW 9.

Quote from: qptain Nemo on Mon 15/07/2013 14:31:35
I want to kiss you all right in the face.

:-*

Quote from: Vince Twelve on Mon 15/07/2013 14:38:23
Jack Trekker:
Now that's how you fucking make an introduction.  Great stuff.  Love the guitar riff.  Great graphics in the room.  Love the out-of-focus foreground.  Hilarious writing.  Cracked up at "French or somethin'."  And OH SHIT, LOOK OUT NOW! INVENTORY CURSOR HOTSPOTS. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! TAKE NOTES Y'ALL.  Ahem. Sorry.  Well done on that.  Great polish all around.  Couple a' decent puzzles and some great style and junk.  Well done.  Two thumbs up!

That really made my day and junk. Cheers Vince!  8-)

All in all a fun experience. For anyone who is interested, most sound fx in Jack Trekker were made by using a Granite Pestle & Mortar, closing a microwave and swinging a skipping rope. Oooh yeah... That's how I roll!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Ubel on Mon 15/07/2013 16:19:51
Well, this made my day! Working with qptain Nemo on this game was tons of fun. So much fun in fact that we finished the game in just under 4 days. I did have quite a strict personal deadline going on. Thanks to everyone who voted!

I'm not at home right now but when I am I will write some of my opinions on the games. One thing I will say though is that I enjoyed most of them thoroughly and was very impressed by a few! Amazing job everyone!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Stupot on Mon 15/07/2013 16:21:51
Jack Trekker had puzzles?
I liked what I saw, but I didn't actually come across any gameplay :/ It must have broken on me and I assumed it had ended before it had begun.  I'll try it again.  Sorry Sunny an Alpi.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: kaput on Mon 15/07/2013 16:25:46
QuoteJack Trekker had puzzles?
Cheeky bugger  (laugh)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Adeel on Mon 15/07/2013 17:19:50
If this thread will remain open for a week. Then I'll provide you with my reviews. I need to play them again for proper review.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Grundislav on Mon 15/07/2013 17:20:03
Hooray!  Congratulations to everyone, and I have to say I was very impressed with this batch of games, not just because of their quality, but also because of the sheer number of participants. 
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: LimpingFish on Mon 15/07/2013 17:55:40
Well done everybody! Some damn fine quality games all round!

Pablo! I really dug EAoGaR! It's the first time in a while that I've actually laughed out loud at a game. Really well done to both you and Nemo.

As for the rest of the games, I'll just say this. There wasn't one game among them that I felt let down by (except mine :P). It was one of the strongest OROWs I've ever played. It really was difficult omitting some games over others when it came time to vote.

As for my own entry, it came about on the Saturday before the deadline, after two aborted entries (the first was to be abandoned due to the loss of a functioning AGS 3.x, while the second was nowhere near finished), and was really just me making a point about managing your time properly. The opening quote basically translates to time wasted is time gone forever, while the title, Fly Paper, was a joke about luring the player in, in this case with a dramatic intro, before revealing the truth.

Apologies if anyone felt gypped.  ;)

And thanks to cat for organizing, and to AGA for setting up the voting.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Ponch on Mon 15/07/2013 18:46:04
Congrats to the winners! I would have voted, but I still have two games left to play. :-[

I hope we can do this again next year!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Vince Twelve on Mon 15/07/2013 19:10:36
Quote from: LimpingFish on Mon 15/07/2013 17:55:40
[...]the title, Fly Paper, was a joke about luring the player in, in this case with a dramatic intro, before revealing the truth.

Oh, you!
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: AJA on Mon 15/07/2013 20:34:05
A huge congrats to Pablo and qptain Nemo! I was very conflicted about which game I liked best, since there were so many good ones this time, but I really can't complain that yours won, it was absolutely hilarious!

Okay, time for reviews! I'm probably going to repeat some of what Vince has already mentioned but here goes anyway, in alphabetical order... There may be SPOILERS ahead!


The Addict
This fun little game didn't have much graphical oomph but the weird gameplay and writing held my interest. The dialogue between the protagonist and the narrator was fun, as was contacting god himself. As I started chatting with the mirror and the cup, I was certain someone was having a mental breakdown, in a good way. Gladly it wasn't me. One thing that drove me a bit crazy was that the cursor was almost the same color as the back wall and got lost really easily. Other than that, good work!

Betrayal
Wow, that was one mind-bendy game. The door puzzles were a really nice and novel idea and the whole room transformation thing was really effective and creepy. The story itself was as confusing as I'm sure it was meant to be. Was there any use for the pendant at all? A nice little game, well done!

The Butler Didn't Do It
Oh the hilarity! The writing was great! Silly, insane and brilliant. Loved it! "How did you open the closet?" "Let's just say I googled a walkthrough." HOW DID YOU KNOW!? ;D (Yeah, I had some trouble finding the book hotspot.) There were so many utterly ridiculous moments in this game I can't even remember them all. The brother admitting being the murderer, the detective's murder, the doctor turning out to be a horse, the piano. The ending was a bit of a letdown but not so much that it changed the way I felt about this game. Also, the graphics matched the style of the writing really well. My only problem with the game was that you couldn't skip the intro and quickly restore your save. Awesome job, all in all!

The Crystal Ball
At first I thought the game was broken since the only interaction I got was for clicking on the exit. But thanks to Nemo and his OROW8 trailer video, I finally realized that it was in fact a verb coin GUI. :P I really loved the concept and the atmosphere of this game. The art style was very fitting and I happen to like art that's a little rough around the egdes. Gently pumping the criminal for information was really interesting. I just wish there was more of a chance to fail, ie. to scare the criminal away, and more actual gameplay to properly figure out how to get the info out of him. But it was great for a week's work! I hope you'll keep polishing the concept for a future game.

Draconis!
At first I was slightly concerned that the game would be just about running around with the dragon, collecting some gems and burning up some knights, but I was happily surprised to realize that it was actually a proper puzzle game. The second level was quite hard, it took quite a few tries to completely understand the different gameplay mechanics and how they worked together. (Some of the stuff was probably mentioned in the help screen but I forgot about most of it quickly.) The third, and sadly final (proper), level was much easier than the second. The biggest issues I had with the game were that you couldn't save the game and that the dragon moved so damn slowly. But overall it was lots of fun!

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit
I was sold at the first slap. I enjoy playing silly and absurd games even more than I enjoy making them so this was definitely one of my favorites. After the intro I paused for a while and hoped the game would remain funny all the way through, and as I reached for my drink... *SLAP* "Don't just stand around! Do something!" Biggest grin caused by a game in a long while! The writing in this game was so much fun. The only downside was that towards the end the puzzle solutions became a bit too obvious. A well deserved win! Thanks, guys!

Fly paper
Perfect length! ;D

Jack Trekker
Oh boy, I got off on the wrong foot with this one. The intro was awesome but as soon as the game started, I realized that this protagonist guy was a total asshole. I have issues with these kinds of macho idiots so I was really hoping he would end up totally mauled and shredded to pieces by the end. (That's how I justified writing one such beast myself.) Sadly, it didn't happen. :P I liked how much effort had gone into the art and animations (so many gradients!) and the puzzles were very nice as well. I had some problems with not finding the "open mouth" hotspot for a while but I got there in the end. Also, save & load wasn't supported but the reload hotkey was still available, and no way to skip the intro. While the protagonist wasn't really my cup of tea, the game itself was very enjoyable and chatting with the three dames did produce some laughs. Good work!

Kanji Gakusei
I'm ashamed to say that I haven't finished this one yet. I'm still missing the kanjis for cat and fish. I enjoyed the cute and simple graphics and the challening puzzles. It took a while for me to realize that I could get the mountain kanji with the coal and the piece of paper. Boy did I feel stupid for not realizing that sooner. I clearly suck at adventure games. The music was a bit annoying at times but overall it's been a nice little game.

MI
Beautiful art style and overall atmosphere! The voice acting was a nice cherry on top. The gameplay was a bit simple but otherwise enjoyable. The problem for me was that the game was just sooo slow-paced. Everything seemed to take a really long time from the slow running to the slow fade outs/ins when going through doors. And on top of it all, bringing up the UI interrupted the movement compeletely. Also, the save/load GUIs weren't working (I'm assuming they weren't even meant to be accessible). I would've really liked to know more about the characters and especially the back story - who were the bad guys and why were they after the heroes? But even with the slowness issue, I did enjoy the game, good job!

One Dungeon One Week
Holy fcking shit! That's really impressive for a week's work! Apart from the blinking doorways, the tech worked well and it was a real pleasure to explore the dungeon. A couple of times it was a bit hard to start fighting since I walked past the enemy and had to keep turning around to see where he'd gone but I did get those green buggers in the end! The eery mood was really enjoyable. My main gripes were that sometimes the input seemed really laggy and that I would've liked it to go on a bit longer. Great work!

Sinking
I found the concept of this game really interesting. The gameplay was exciting and hectic and I was surprised to find myself enjoying the feeling of hopelessness. The graphics looked good and worked well in the context. There were some problematic bits, however, as there usually are with quickly made prototypes of new kinds of gameplay. First of all, I think the experience could have been improved by removing fall damage altogether since you had to keep running around the place all the time and the enjoyability of the funny sound/animation of the poor sod falling on his face wore out quickly. And the crew seems to be utterly useless? It was also weird that I got more points for getting killed than for winning the game. Even weirder: needing to completely restart the game in order to try again. Anyway, I feel like this game has lots of promise to be fantastic if it's developed further. A really impressive effort for one week. Great job!

Tattooroom
The art was really pretty. The gameplay itself was a bit confusing. First of all, in all four of my tries, the customer wanted the exact same tattoo: a siren. I would've thought the tattoo would be randomized since there was a bunch of books with different tattoos but maybe it was just a matter of running out of dev time? Also, I had some trouble putting items back on the table. Nevertheless, it was a fun little game, well done!

The Reaper
Wow. Gorgeous. It's amazing how much Ben's art has improved over the years. Simply stunning work, including all the animations! Definitely the prettiest of the bunch. And the music completed the athmosphere really well. The main issue with this one was... "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" YES! MULTIPLE TIMES! :P It's a bit of a pity it seems to have been only a prologue to something bigger and even awesomer. I was hoping to find out more about the characters and the game world in this game but I guess I can wait. Overall, this game looks and feels like a completely polished little adventure. Awesome work!

The Rebirth
The story of this game was really intriguing and very dramatic. Too bad we didn't have the chance to get deeper into the backstory. The dialogue was really well written and the art & animation looked great! There wasn't much gameplay (like most OROW games) but all of it was good and kept the story going without stalling at a difficult puzzle. I guess The Reaper happens in the same universe some time later? You should've named these differently so we would have played them in the "correct" order. ;D Oh and, to be continued? Not you too, Grundislav! :P Great game!


And wow, I just realized none of the games crashed for me. There's usually been at least one game that goes out in a flash of press-ok-to-replay-through-everything. But not this time. Great job, everyone!


Holy hell, that was a lot of games and a lot of words to write. I hope at least some of you find these comments useful in your current or future projects.

Thanks again to everyone who managed to complete their game for this OROW! It was a blast playing them all. Can't wait for the next one, I just wish I'll have time to participate myself.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: WHAM on Mon 15/07/2013 21:35:18
Word on Sinking:

Since everyone seems to think the NPC's are useless, here's what they actually do:
Cap'n: warns you when an obstacle is coming up and you need to avoid it (no warning if he is down or dead)
Gunny: loads the torpedoes for you automatically
Pump man: enhances water pumps so you can survive 3 simultaneous leaks instead of just 2
Engie: increases engine power, making you travel faster and thus win the game faster

The scoring was a bit odd, I admint, but I didn't have time to playtest enough to fine-tune it.

If you want to see how my game was made, you can see the whole process (in high speed, accompanied by silly music) here: http://youtu.be/BW5tVf3VQEA
(The video is still uploading as I post this, but should be viewable in a while)'

Final note: Sinking will not be developed further, but might act as a base for future games. The platforming worked surprisingly well despite basically being made in a few hours and I can definitely expand on it to deliver a platforming adventure game one day. Thanks to everyone for playing and voting! Me being second only to Khris is a pretty big honor, actually. :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Bulbapuck on Mon 15/07/2013 21:51:21
Vince twelve and AJA, thank you so much for the kind words. I love your games so it means a lot to me.

As for the pendant, there is an easter egg to find in the game where you need the pendant. It also clarifies some of the story, but it's not necessary. The end of the game is that quote (any click anywhere should take you out of the game and I don't really know why it doesn't :p)

My computer sadly broke down (posting this at a friends house) so I'll see if I can find a way to play through the games once more to give a few words about the games, but I can say right now that I enjoyed every entry. This was an amazing OROW, thank you cat for hosting it :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Ubel on Tue 16/07/2013 08:39:00
Well, here are some opinions. I'm not a big review writer so they're pretty short and basic.

Betrayal - I really enjoyed this game purely for the design concept. I didn't really get too much into the story of it but the way the room transition was designed was lovely and it felt overall very immersing. Well done!

Draconis! - Very impressive programming! I was pretty shit at this game though so I didn't get past the first level. :D

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit - A couple of things. I want to mention the sound effects and the music, which were all made from scratch by qptain Nemo. The slapping sound you hear often in the game was produced by Nemo actually slapping his own face multiple times before getting a decent sample. I salute him for his commitment. The music was also produced under a strict deadline so he did a great job within those limitations!

Fly Paper - This one cracked me up and I actually laughed out loud. :D

Jack Trekker - Out of all these games, this one definitely has the best main character! Really funny dialog, great graphics and that intro video was just golden! Definitely among my favourite OROW games, all time.

Kanji Gakusei - Great to see we weren't the only ones making educational games for this contest! The graphics were cute, the puzzles were just right. I don't have much to say except overall a good little game. :)

MI - The voice acting and art was very good and I hope you continue this into a longer full length game. I'm intrigued by the background story.

One Dungeon One Week - Really really impressive stuff. I can't fathom how you pulled this off in one week! Combined with a good storyline this would make for a really entertaining experience.

Sinking - Now, I didn't play this much, apart from trying it out pretty quickly. I don't know what it was that put me off, maybe the whole feeling of being thrown into this hectic platformer environment all of a sudden. It looks very good and the controls felt alright. It seemed pretty solid but I can't say much because I didn't play through it.

Tattooroom - This one also made me laugh and it's among the prettiest OROW games ever.

The Addict - This one I didn't play much either because I was put off by the odd dialog and the simple fact that I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't mind the simple art though since I'm usually a sucker for simplistic art styles, as long as it's consistent and the gameplay is good.

The butler didn't do it - Hilarious music. :D Great characters and dialog too. The art style was effective and I can see quite a bit of effort has gone into it. I didn't finish it yet but I might get back to it.

The Crystal Ball - Brilliantly written game and good looking too! I played this through a couple of times and would love to see it expanded into a more diversely branching dialog puzzle.

The Reaper - Looks amazing. You outdid yourself with the art. I didn't particularly like the puzzles in this one but everything else was ace!

The Rebirth - Another fantastic main character! Really interesting and I found the whole concept immersing. Well written and the puzzles were clever and inventive.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: kaput on Tue 16/07/2013 15:49:29
My thoughts, sponsored by rant co. Here:

Betrayal
When I started to play the game I wasn't really sure what direction it was going to head in, then as things progressed I was pleasantly surprised to see it take such a poetic turn. Being taken through the sequence of memory events that lead to the grim finale was a thoroughly interesting experience.

Draconis!
The coding here makes this game a great little number. It's a real eye opener and great example of how flexible the AGS really is. Like others I did find the second level hard and didn't manage to complete it, but I did enjoy playing it. The level maker gives the game  great replay value.

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit
As soon as the rabbit started talking from behind the bush I knew something really funny was about to happen (grim or otherwise), and like others when the rabbit planted a slap on the girls face I couldn't help but burst out laughing. A brilliant interpretation of the whole fairytale kid-meets-animal-goes-on-adventure thing. I love how incredibly pessimistic the game is. the bit at the end with the businessmen jumping up for the money was pure brilliance. It's a fantastic piece of work.

Fly Paper
Yep, the game roped me in as well. I was like "This is going to be amazing". When the punch line kicked in I laughed like a hyena. Was that supposed to be a singalong?

Kanji Gakusei
A really nice and cute little game. It has it's educational qualities but like others I think it would have been pretty cool to have learned more. The graphics and music were charming. All in all a good OROW game.

MI
What can I say, the intro was awesome. Nice voice work. Good relaxing music. I did get stuck at times and felt that characters moved a bit slow but I did like the game mechanics. A very contemporary game both in art and concept. Nice one.

One Dungeon One Week
This could really be extended to be quite an excellent game. The coding and programming of the dungeon system is obviously pretty awe inspiring and again shows the flexibility of AGS. I only wished there was more to it. The music provided the atmosphere I would hope to expect from such a game.

Sinking
this game was actually my favourite, up there with Girl and Rabbit. Brilliant idea and IMO executed perfectly - especially for a weeks work. The music was really groovy and the graphics were nice and contemporary. The replay value of this game is massive. I'll probably play many times more!

Tattooroom
I found this game to be really chilled out and pretty nice to look at. The pop-eye character was pretty hilarious with his sound bite. Considering the game was done in a week I'd say it's a great achievement but I also feel that it could be developed further into a pretty great tattoo sim. I hope it does!

The Addict
Nice work for a first game, Adeel. You can be forgiven for the lack of animation because of this reason, not to mention the fact that it was made in a week. The music and intro screen made this game feel very retro, certainly in a nostalgic way. Speaking to god was pretty funny but speaking to the hand dryer??? That was hilarious. Well done, mate. Pure insanity.

The butler didn't do it
The music for this one rocked. What a great idea to go A cappella - and it really worked. I too found the writing in this one to be hilarious - the doctor was a horse!? Who'd have thought it. The death scenes really did make this game what it is, and yes, the last one was epic haha.  Once criticism is yes, I had problems with moving to the other side of the screen at times. But really that is something that can be fixed pretty easily.

The Crystal Ball
A really good concept that I feel could have done with a little more. The atmosphere was great and I liked the art, but I feel like I was mostly lead by the hand when playing. That's not to say that it wasn't awesome, because it was. It's a world I'd like to revisit some day when more is happening, if that makes any sense? The music is great, Kevin MacLeod is brilliant.

The Reaper & The Rebirth
I'm gonna write about these two together because I feel as though they belong together. Both the concept and artwork in these games are tops. Grundislav is brilliant at rotoscoping and clearly is getting better at what he does esp in terms of graphics. Ben's artwork is so striking and lovely and I' m pretty sure everyone can agree with that. These games are a great way to introduce the player to what is to come, and I for one highly anticpate what that will be. The music was brilliant (especially in The Reaper), absolutely my cup of tea. The intro of The Rebirth could have done with some music but what can you do. When it did kick in it was really good (esp the final scene music and timing of it).  I guess my only problem was the movement speed of the character in The Reaper, but I can deal with it. Great stuff
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Ghost on Tue 16/07/2013 17:37:20
Quote from: Pablo on Tue 16/07/2013 08:39:00
The slapping sound you hear often in the game was produced by Nemo actually slapping his own face multiple times before getting a decent sample.

So now we know what nemo's face sounds like! That IS educational  (laugh)

Great games all around, and well deserved winners. It's really amazing to see the variety of styles, plots, ideas... overwhelming in the best sense of the word.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: tzachs on Tue 16/07/2013 19:14:04
Thanks for everybody that commented on our game. I'm happy people found it funny and liked the music.
I hope to polish the game and integrate your feedback (and yes, I'll put markers on the inventory items!) and then publish to the database. Though I did say the same thing on Office Shenanigans (last OROW's game) and still haven't delivered, so we'll see...

This has been a wonderful OROW, I enjoyed all the entries, and I think almost all possible results outcomes would have made me say "well deserved winners", since really (kitsch alert), everybody's a winner here!
Though my vote actually did win, so congratulations Pablo & Nemo!
And thanks to cat for being a wonderful host!

Here's my mini-reviews, I wrote most of it a while back, so I do repeat stuff that people already said, sorry about that:

Betrayal-
Really cool concept with the doors, a very creative game mechanic. Good programming skills to pull that off. The story and twist was nice (though nothing that I haven't seen before), and the execution was interesting. I wasn't quite immersed as I should have, probably due to me not getting much background info on the character and/or not enough time with it.
I believe that in a full length game you'll have more time to flesh out the character so it will probably work better.

Draconis-
Cool game, very impressed that it was programmed in one week. Level design was spot on, there were some challenging puzzles there. Nice graphics too, the dragon and the gems with their sparkling animations were very cute.
I eventually quit without finishing because I was frustrated with two things:
1. Every time you die (or get stuck) you start from the beginning of the levels. Since the levels were long, this was frustrating.
2. You die a lot and the game is not very forgiving. It seems that firing at the enemies was not always as quick as anticipated...
Hardcore gamers might like this, but if you want to approach a more "casual" crowd, then this would have to be amended by sleeker controls and shorter levels (or long levels with save points).

Girl and Rabbit-
Hilarious game! A lot of time was invested in the jokes and it shows. The slap animation is fantastic and kept cracking us up. The graphics were very good too, and the music fit nicely with them. The ending was brilliant too.
If I do have some critic to offer, is that the businessman mini-game was a bit annoying and needlessly time consuming. The concept was hilarious, but the execution lacked a bit. Making them visible just a little more time and making sure that the distribution of colors was more even would have made it more bearable.
By the way, up until playing "The Rebirth", I was sure this was Grundislav's game, just to show you how funny I thought the game was.

Fly Paper-
Hilarious! Epic fail! This is a fantastic way to go down in flames...
This game should be submitted in all OROWs from now on if you ask me, it could be a wonderful running gag (maybe use a different name every time).

Jack Trekker
A kickass introduction! Though it did set up the bars quite high, and the game itself was not of the same quality (or style, for that matter).
Don't get me wrong, though, I liked the game a lot.
It has a nice atmosphere, and nice puzzles to go with it. I'm a big fan of talking heads, and enjoyed some of the humor in the game. Although there were some inconsistencies in the graphic styles, the art was quality overall (though I would change the colors of the walls which were a bit too flashy for me).

Kanji Gakusei
Very nice graphics, and unlike some other game on this list, this one was actually educational!
The atmosphere of this game was consistent throughout the graphics, puzzles, dialogs and music, which was nice.
My main critic of this game is that the puzzles were not challenging enough (except the puzzle with the coal and paper which was cool), and since this game is more puzzle oriented than story oriented, it was vital for the game to really shine.

MI
I liked the game, voice acting added a lot. I liked the mechanism of switching between the characters and using it to solve puzzles. Though I think this was also a trap: On one hand I thought maybe you could have come up with more sophisticated uses for this mechanism. On the other hand, some of the puzzles were basically repeating the same idea, and then it seemed tiresome that you should do it over again.
So you showed some innovation but it requires some more experimintation to get it right. I think adding some more back story would have given it some more spice, I was expecting an ending scene with the monster that locked you up in the first place, I guess there was not enough time (and believe me, I can relate to that).

ODOW
I have a major dislike for first person 3D, but I bit the bullet and played the game to completion.
I was very impressed! It was very smooth, and didn't give me a headache (which is why I usually don't play these sort of games).
Some great programming, and a great proof of concept.

Sinking
This game shows great potential. The atmosphere was very tense and the back story intriguing. The gameplay has a lot of potential, and can probably be balanced more to provide a great experience. It does need work though. First, it was unclear what needs to be done, and the texts went by so fast I didn't manage to read them. Also, it wasn't clear who said what. When taking a new piece of inventory, the old inventory is thrown away, but it took me a while to understand that, I thought you shoot something downwards and didn't realize you replace your inventory. You need to find some better way to clarify that. Lastly, I would have made the character recover faster after falling down, since he fell down a lot...
On a side note, I noticed this is your second game in which you deal with a sinking submarine, which made me wonder if you have a small obsession  ;)

Tattooroom
What a lovely game! I loved the concept, and think this can be enhanced to a much larger game, with all kinds of customers with crazy demands and puzzles rising in difficulty (or alternatively, this could be made into a fast action type of game, which you need to do a lot of tattoos fast).
The graphics were beautiful as well, and the sound effects also. I tried to think of some constructive criticism, but couldn't find any... that doesn't usually happen to me, so let me just tell you well done!

The addict
I really liked the music in this one, well done on that. The game itself was weird and refreshing. It showed some great humor, some of it was probably lost due to not being enhanced enough by the environment. For example, the entire concept of the room changing to living things talking to you (which is a great concept), could have been made more dramatic if there were proper sound effects/music transitions, and if the whole room suddenly transormed and changed style. The living objects could have been made more alive, god talking to you could have been made more impressive, etc.
I also believe I stumbled upon a bug, I talked to the cup first and got to assemble the key before talking to the urinal...
Anyways, for a first game (which was made in a week), this definitely shows promise.

The crystal ball
Again, really nice concept. Great graphics, the visual effects made the atmosphere in the game shine. This game also has some replay value, which is also a nice plus. I like branching dialogs as a main mechanic, and it worked well, though they could have used a little more polish since they were very essential to the game experience. By a little more polish I mean going over all the branches and making sure it all makes sense, it felt that in some of the dialogs you assumed they talked about stuff that they might not actually talked about yet. Maybe it's just a feeling, but a feeling is everything...
Also I felt that the move between the cop and the criminal was too sudden. First, I wasn't ready to leave the cop, I wanted to talk with him some more. And the criminal just appeared with no introduction dialog. This should be thought of, maybe wait for the user to explicitly say he's done with the cop, and then do some "oh, I hear him coming..." with some tension music.
All in all, a very nice and innovative game, with a unique atmosphere.

The Reaper + The Rebirth
Wow! What a great idea, creating two teaser games to promote a big epic game, great stuff. I also liked seeing how you shared elements between the games. The graphics in both games were stunning, the animations were top notch (and wow for that raven animation), the story and the twists gripping, and in short I'm very much intrigued to see the finished product.
I wonder if you already have everything planned, or if you were improvising a little.
My only issue with the games is that the puzzles felt a little rushed, I sorta got the feeling that you put it there for the sake of "let there be puzzles" and maybe they could be thought of more to be more challenging and/or entertaining. This was an issue I had in both games.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Stupot on Tue 16/07/2013 23:06:17
Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Mon 15/07/2013 16:25:46
QuoteJack Trekker had puzzles?
Cheeky bugger  (laugh)
Haha, no honestly, something must have gone awry.  I've since played the game again and enjoyed the puzzles :)
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: cat on Wed 17/07/2013 11:17:29
Thanks for the comments about our game! raeff was very happy about the 5th place for music, since he even did some research about Japanese instruments and searched them in the midi library.

About learning more in the game: The original plan was to let the player not only stick the found kanji in the book but let him or her draw them with mouse gestures. This would actually have been the main part. I still want to do that for a deluxe version of the game.

Here are my comments for the games:

Betrayal
I did like the game mechanics very much. I think the appearing and disappearing rooms presented the state of mind of the protagonist very well. The music was nice but a bit too up-beat for my taste to fit the mood of the game. The theme reminded me a bit of "9 months in".

Draconis!
Well coded Digger-clone. It took me several tries to beat the first level and I gave up on the second. I didn't much like the original, either. I guess this is just not my type of game.

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit
Amusing game, took me a while to figure out what this was about. I loved the slapping animation and the negative counter.

Fly Paper
Too bad you didn't finish it, it was very promising!

Jack Trekker
The secret lovechild of Indiana Jones and Johnny Bravo :) I loved the character and his comments were so much fun! I'd just have expected more puzzles, for example somehow deciphering the hieroglyphs or stuff.

MI
Lovely! Great voiceacting and atmosphere, I loved her hairstyle and the animation. I only wasn't too fond of how this teleporting stuff was done, there could have been more interesting interaction between the two characters.

One Dungeon One Week
Well coded, I even managed to finish this game. Is there something I could do during the fights? Did it matter where I clicked or something?

Sinking
Interesting concept, you seem to like underwater stuff :). Tried it twice at medium difficulty and died twice - is it possible to win this game? I had problems walking to the correct point to climb the ladders.

Tattooroom
Nice idea, funny graphics. I'd have loved to play this with different customers and more templates.

The Addict
The dialog/monolog and setting with talking to bathroom items was fun, I had to laugh out loud several times. Also great music. A bit more polish would have been great, but none the less a good first game, especially considering the short time frame.

The butler didn't do it
Best plot and very nice music. One hotspot was hard to find. I found it hard to walk between the two different parts of the room. People dying one after the other was hilarious.

The Crystal Ball
Interesting idea. I played it twice to see if I could change the outcome by choosing different dialog options. However, I didn't notice much difference. Did she say a wrong name in the end and if yes, why?

The Reaper
Amazing graphics, also great effect on the jar in the foreground. The walking animation was a bit stiff. After a few times I found the walking forth and back between pump and switch a bit annoying.

The Rebirth
Great story, very emotional. The moment when you open the door was great (especially if you played The Reaper before). I wonder where this is going.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: tzachs on Wed 17/07/2013 11:35:56
Quote from: cat on Wed 17/07/2013 11:17:29
Jack Trekker
... I'd just have expected more puzzles, for example somehow deciphering the hieroglyphs or stuff.

Well, actually..
Spoiler

You can decipher the hieroglyphs. That's how you know how to solve the last puzzle of the game.
I say try it again, it's actually a very nice puzzle.
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: cat on Wed 17/07/2013 11:45:00
For me, that happened somehow automatically.
Spoiler
I looked at the stuff and then I had another dialog option.
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: tzachs on Wed 17/07/2013 18:57:15
cat,
Spoiler

I think that the dialog option gets added when you have the clue you need to decipher the message.
When you click on the new dialog you get a few seconds in which you should execute the clue, though I guess you just brute forced your way by trying everything you had on the talking head...
[close]
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: oraxon on Thu 18/07/2013 08:40:09
Thanks for the kind words and/or constructive comments on The Crystal Ball. I'm going to try to revise it and add another ending.
I apologize for using public domain music. That was a stupid mistake. I didn't read the rules closely enough, but I sure will next time.

Betrayal- Ingenious design. Emotional. Mystery was embedded in the game mechanics. Made me want to know more.
Draconis- Hard but clever. Really shows off great, experienced puzzle planning. I had no idea we could do this with AGS. Fun to be the dragon for once, and deal with pesky knights.
Flypaper- Sorry you ran out of time!
Girl and Rabbit- Tons of funny writing! Great pop quizzes and clever scripting to put it together. Liked how the gun mini-game broke up the gameplay. I enjoyed the relaxing width of the world.
Jack Trekker- Appreciated getting multiple characters, lipsync, combining inv. puzzles, intro cutscene, a bit of everything. And it was truly in one room. Everything contributed to a very strong style.
KanjiGakusei- Liked having an unusual heroine and a non-violent series of solid puzzles. Made me want to visit the location. I found objects just when I needed to. It had a friendly vibe, and felt sleek - it does just what it needs to do.
Mi- I never realized these mechanics could be done in AGS. Loved hearing their voices. Nice clean look. Appealing characters. Switching characters is always great. Fun cat animations. I hope they defeat their enemies someday.
ODOW- Amazing engineering & visual feat. Great potential for a longer game, but short enough to be easily playable. Good music, too. Pushing the boundaries of AGS.
Sinking- Fun, confident, easy gameplay. (but I'm sure the engineering was not easy!) Nice to have difficulty levels, a timer, and timed events. Easy to navigate and understand. Lots going on and constant, varied things to do. Attractive characters and background. Fun replay value.
TattooRoom- Great concept and game design. Loved the art style. Such a different vibe than everyone else. Enjoyed the realistic steps of the puzzle, and the tension of a timer. This would be a great longer game. Dying to see the next customers.
The Addict- Lots of potential. I'm afraid I got a bit stuck, so I can't comment.
The Butler- Fun to have so many whimsical characters with different states. Intriguing and hilarious at the same time. Really taking advantage of the "one room" idea. Suspense built every time I crossed the room! Good music.
The Reaper- Solid, puzzly adventure. The main puzzle complicated itself in a fun, realistic way. Gorgeous mood, color, polish. Nice deep world suggested through the details. Enjoyed the banter between characters.
The Rebirth- Loved the high drama. Impressive reversals of fortune for everyone in a short time. Deep world suggested through details. Great use of anticipation/suspense. Careful placement of music. Very cool that it linked up with The Reaper.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Radiant on Fri 19/07/2013 11:43:15
Quote from: AJA on Mon 15/07/2013 20:34:05
Draconis!
At first I was slightly concerned that the game would be just about running around with the dragon, collecting some gems and burning up some knights, but I was happily surprised to realize that it was actually a proper puzzle game. The second level was quite hard, it took quite a few tries to completely understand the different gameplay mechanics and how they worked together. (Some of the stuff was probably mentioned in the help screen but I forgot about most of it quickly.) The third, and sadly final (proper), level was much easier than the second. The biggest issues I had with the game were that you couldn't save the game and that the dragon moved so damn slowly. But overall it was lots of fun!

Quote from: Pablo on Tue 16/07/2013 08:39:00
Draconis! - Very impressive programming! I was pretty shit at this game though so I didn't get past the first level. :D

Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Tue 16/07/2013 15:49:29
Draconis!
The coding here makes this game a great little number. It's a real eye opener and great example of how flexible the AGS really is. Like others I did find the second level hard and didn't manage to complete it, but I did enjoy playing it. The level maker gives the game  great replay value.

Quote from: tzachs on Tue 16/07/2013 19:14:04
Draconis-
Cool game, very impressed that it was programmed in one week. Level design was spot on, there were some challenging puzzles there. Nice graphics too, the dragon and the gems with their sparkling animations were very cute.
I eventually quit without finishing because I was frustrated with two things:
1. Every time you die (or get stuck) you start from the beginning of the levels. Since the levels were long, this was frustrating.
2. You die a lot and the game is not very forgiving. It seems that firing at the enemies was not always as quick as anticipated...
Hardcore gamers might like this, but if you want to approach a more "casual" crowd, then this would have to be amended by sleeker controls and shorter levels (or long levels with save points).

Quote from: cat on Wed 17/07/2013 11:17:29
Draconis!
Well coded Digger-clone. It took me several tries to beat the first level and I gave up on the second. I didn't much like the original, either. I guess this is just not my type of game.

Quote from: oraxon on Thu 18/07/2013 08:40:09
Draconis- Hard but clever. Really shows off great, experienced puzzle planning. I had no idea we could do this with AGS. Fun to be the dragon for once, and deal with pesky knights.

Thank you for your feedback! I've started a Game In Progress thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48694) for Draconis's continued development.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: qptain Nemo on Sat 20/07/2013 09:02:55
Alright, time to share my thoughts, now that they've calmed down a little. I mean, what, with us TOTALLY DOMINATING THIS COMP- ahem. So yeah, without further ado:
(in a totally chaotic order)

Fly Paper
Everybody seems to really enjoy the joke, but it got me good. I was intrigued alright. Not that I'm bitter or blame you though. Still liked the surprise. You don't see that kind of turn every day.

Mi
I really liked that light surreal style and the melancholic mood of the game. Would like to see more of that kind of thing. I liked that the game didn't waste lots of effort to explain itself. Now that fairly traditional core puzzle solving isn't really what I'm after, but it was a very pleasant experience nonetheless.

Jack Trekker
I just loved this game. It made me laugh from the start to the finish. Incredibly stylish and beautifully ironic intro. The silliness. The machismo. The dialogue. It's simply brilliant.

Oh, btw, and that little camel that trips over and starts spinning? I LOVED THAT!! I bet you thought no one would appreciate that little bit of silliness, but I love that kind of random humour! :D

ODOW
Writing a functional 3D renderer and adding some gameplay on top in 1 week, all with a rock solid implementation? Hell yes. Well done. I really liked the cozy oldschool look and the dark moody music as well. My only criticism is perhaps that I think I'd like to see a more unusual enviroment than just a traditional fantasy dungeon. Because of that it lacked sense of discovery for me. But still, it doesn't belittle this impressive effort.

Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit
Ugh, what is this. Clearly an amateur effort made by some lam3 n00bs. 0/100, would develop again.

Draconis!
Very cute and decent, but it's very hard for a game to grab me with puzzles alone, so alas, I quickly lost interest.

Betrayal
Sweet music. Lovely weird atmosphere. Loved the transitions between weird and cheery moods. I like the concept overall. But I felt the final reveal was a bit too obvious in the context. Didn't leave me severely disappointed, but I certainly wished there was a more unexpected, more weird twist to do the atmosphere that was set up justice.

Sinking
Fucking loved the premise in the intro. Really liked the concept and how it was implemented too. Ironically though, haven't really played it properly yet because I have to really be in the mood to play gameplay-focused stuff. But it's definitely a game that has my endorsement, thumbs up and so on.

The Tattoo Room
One word: brilliant. Simply brilliant. It charmed the living hell outta me. It's absolutely adorable. This is a game that I actually kept playing just to try all the different things long after I've beaten it. And you know, to be honest, when I saw this, as one of the OROW participants I thought to myself "Oh shit, this is brilliant, everybody will love this, we're screwed." So yeah. One of the best.

The Butler Didn't Do It
First of all: dat soundtrack. Lovely job. Me and Pablo were sure it'll win the best music. Next, the writing is hilarious. The "this is worse than Game of Thrones" line outright killed me. The game is absolutely ridiculous and it manages to keep it on the such level that it's impossible not to interpret all of its silliness as a good thing. One thing I was really confused about though is how walking between the two sides of the room was so incredibly obtuse when it's the single most used action in the game. But oh well.

The Addict
The only reaction this game has gotten out of me is utter profound confusion. And I'm afraid it's probably going to stay that way.

Kanji Gakusei
I value being honest above being nice, and I don't know how to sugarcoat this anyway, so I'm afraid I'll just have to say that this game didn't do much for me. Or nothing at all. Well, except that it's a straightforward educational game about a little girl that entered the same competition as our Girl and Rabbit game, that parodies exactly that concept. And that fact is absolutely hilarious.

The Reaper
The background is awe-inspiring. Absolutely stunning. In combination with the music and overall mood it's a very nice love letter to post-apocalyptic atmosphere. I liked that a lot. On the other hand, the focus on fairly generic puzzles over evocative narrative did disappoint me a little and the game generally suffered from being underdeveloped due to the constraints. But since apparently it's merely a prelude to Ben's and Grundislav's upcoming collaboration, I think we can count on that the final work won't have this issue.

The Rebirth
This conceptual counterpart of The Reaper has impressed me even more overall. Nice writing, interesting characters, some brilliant ideas (loved the "burnt my hands so can't activate the hand scanner" problem), some actually decent drama. What's not to love? Grundislove! Ahem, so yeah. A splendid short game that made me think it could become a serious competitor to Technobabylon series.

The Crystal Ball
Oh yes. My very personal favourite. The Crystal Ball has enchanted me. The intriguing premise, the incredibly evocative graphics, the very fitting even if unoriginal music, the clever writing, I loved every bit of the game. The overall mood was impeccable. And seeing the focus of the game being observation, manipulation, choices and dialogue puzzles made me absolutely ecstatic. The game has clearly suffered from the time constraints of the competition and it would greatly benefit from the additional interactions, that very evidently were planned, being finished and having actual non-linearity and various consequences. Needless to say, I want more. Still, even as it is, it won my heart.

And for me, it won the OROW.

Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: Adeel on Sun 21/07/2013 21:47:55
Sorry guys, owing to some unforeseen reasons. I couldn't submit my review.  :( If Moderators will keep this thread open for few days more, I'll submit it. However, that seems very unlikely.
Title: Re: OROW 8 (July 1st - July 7th) - Results
Post by: selmiak on Sat 27/07/2013 23:45:46
finally finished them all, somehow I'm sad I didn't make it in time for the voting, but somehow I'm also glad as it is very hard to decide who's best as the games are all great on their own. Superbe stuff you did in one week!