Adventure Game Studio

Voting is now open. Please vote using the poll above.

(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2369_1_thumb_200.png)	Mr Bear Teaches English (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2369/) by cat, Marcin K and CaptainD
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDc3NTM2LzI0NTMzODIucG5n/347x500/dSIpTx.png)	Mystery Meat Mayhem (https://vampirewombat.itch.io/mystery-meat-mayhem) by VampireWombat

Title: Huts or Hats
Chosen by: Fernewelten.

Specifications:
This month, your game must feature at least 6 huts. Or at least 6 hats. Or a motley mixture of huts and hats; that's fine as long as there are at least 6 of them in all. The huts or hats needn't be all different and they needn't be all identical, but they can if you want them to be.

Don't take the words too literally: If some or all of the huts turn out to be doggy shacks or some of the hats to be oriental turbans, that's perfectly okay.

Happy game writing.

I think it's in the wrong board   (laugh)

Yes it is. Damn.
Hopefully a kind moderator can move it to its correct location.

But what about Hutts?

Quote from: VampireWombat on Thu 01/08/2019 14:32:03
But what about Hutts?

If you mean the Australian river, that might be the ideal place to place fisherman's huts next to!  8-)
Or perhaps organize a rubber duck race, only with hats instead of ducks floating down the water.


Here's yet another Hutt (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the%20hutt) I found in the Urban Dictionary. Don't know, perhaps have the “skanky, trashy girls” partying in huts and don cowboy hats as the newest fashion accessory?

Quote from: fernewelten on Thu 01/08/2019 18:28:01
If you mean the Australian rivers, that might be the ideal place to place fisherman's huts next to!  8-)
Or perhaps organize a rubber duck race, only with hats instead of ducks floating down the water.

No, I meant the large slug like aliens from Star Wars, like Jabba the Hutt. But I was mostly joking. The closest I'd come to anything like Hutts would be parody like in Spaceballs with Pizza The Hut.

Well, a hut is a hut, and that comprises Pizza Huts and Pizza The Huts. (Those specifically and exactly might raise trademark concerns, but never mind that.)

What about a hatted hut?
(http://www.loquimur-online.de/ags/talk/hatted_hut.jpg)

Here are some proverbs concerning huts (https://www.inspirationalstories.com/proverbs/t/about-hut/)
and here are some about hats (https://www.inspirationalstories.com/proverbs/?s=hats).
And also there is, of course, the Texan idiom “all hat, no cattle” about braggards.

Huh, I've lived in Texas all but 1 year of my life and never heard that idiom. I wonder if that's an actual thing or if it's like when the movie Diary of the Dead tried to use the phrase "Don't Mess With Texas" to mean something other than a anti-littering slogan, similar to "Give a hoot, don't pollute."

Someone could make a "Where's Waldo/Wally" type game with randomization of where he's hidden and using hats and huts at different locations.

Hello, readers of “Completed Game Announcements”,

we're temporarily here due to an unfortunate mistake and awaiting our relocation, but since you're reading this anyway, why not join the fun?  ;-D
Come on, you've always wanted to do this, haven't you?

To quote the Contest Rules:
“Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualise your game following the month's criteria. Second, create your game fuelled only by coffee. Finally, post your game in this thread, including:

• A working download link
• The title of your game
• A suitable in-game screenshot.”

Using prior artwork is allowed!

You've still got the whole month to attain your immortality as a game author!

Quote from: VampireWombat on Thu 01/08/2019 20:44:37
Huh, I've lived in Texas all but 1 year of my life and never heard that idiom.

You've never heard "all hat, no cattle"? I don't think it's specifically a Texan idiom. US politicians love it for some reason.
Is perchance this theme inspired by "Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken"...?

Quote from: Kweepa on Thu 01/08/2019 22:33:43
Is perchance this theme inspired by "Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken"...?

Feel free to make a game with 6 hats having a total of 18 corners, even though, you know, roundish hats might be easier to draw! ;)

Might be lumberjack's huts so the lumberjacks could wear lumberjack's hats, so that would take care of huts and hats at the same time.

Quote from: imsomnia212 on Thu 01/08/2019 04:49:56
I think it's in the wrong board   (laugh)

Now it's in the right one! Welcome, readers of “Competitions & Activities”: Come in droves and join this month's game writing jam!

So, no one's actually interested in the theme this month?

I'll be starting work on my game tomorrow (have to finish my entry for July first). It looks like I'll be making a Massimo and Twitch game that starts in Media Res. If only had a clue who/what they're running from and why...

I have some spare time and an interesting idea for a game concept that I would like to explore.

I need help with writing/creative thinking and art.

For art, I need:

• 6 different hats.
• 6 characters, the characters can, but don't have to, be face only drawings.
• A single background.

For writing, I need 6 short stories each having the length of 5-10 sentences .

• I will code the game mechanic.

If you are interested, send me a private message and I will reply with full details of the concept. Don't want to publish spoilers for a non existing game yet  :-D

I was thinking about making an English learning game for my toddler. But I will need the help of an English native speaker (preferably British, think Peppa Pig) to record a few lines for it. It won't be a lot and I'd do all the post processing.

Aww, guess I can't help then. Sure, I don't have a "Texas accent", but most definitely not British. But if you ever need video/still images of a Hunchback puppet that looks like a cross between Igor from Young Frankenstein and the Toxic Crusader, let me know...
(I blame watching UHF last week for me thinking that Eyegore Hunchback would be a good children's learning host.)

Thanks for the offer, but I want kids to learn something, not scare them with hunchbacks  :-D

Are kids scared by the monsters and the Count from Sesame Street?
When I last had a booth at the local Con a couple of years ago, I took Eyegore with me on the second day and not a single kid seemed scared. The closest was being shy.

But back on topic... Yesterday I figured out what Massimo and Twitch will be hiding from, and hopefully it'll be an interesting surprise. Now to figure out an overall plot for the game...

After spending so much time making a full length game, it's now time for a break and a little distraction.
Low Resolution, many hats, maybe some huts and a pirate-ish setting. The first background is drawn, so are some animations.
Let's see, but I think you can count me in.  :)

Only 2 weeks to go. How's everyone doing?

Tomorrow or Monday I should have parts for Massimo and Twitch finished enough to import into Spriter Pro to do walking animations. I have 2 backgrounds mostly finished (might add some details later). I also have the base programming and graphics for a cellphone gui completed. But I still only have a vaguely idea for the main storyline...

Two backgrounds are (mostly) finished, three to go... Walking animations for the player character are done, I have two npc-sprites (not animated). I still have to draw two or three more npc's. And I still have no talking animations. The inventory gui is nearly finished, and I've written the "storyline". But there are still many little things to do, sprites for inventory items, objects, etc... And the programming of course  ;)
I'm not sure if I can make it in time, but I'm trying. It's gonna be a wild ride.

I'm having problems getting the voice lines done. The voice actor I had contacted had some problems with the recording setup and doesn't have time anymore.

Is there any English native speaker who can record a few lines today? You can record it all in once go, shouldn't take more than a few minutes. I'm running out of time because of personal reasons the game has to be finished on Friday.

VampireWombat, would you like to give it a try? Anyone else?

Yesterday I watched episodes of Darkwing Duck and figured out more of the storyline. Still have to connect some dots, but at least I have a beginning, some kind of end, and some middle.

@ Flugeldufel  You don't have to do talking animations. I'd personally focus on everything else first and only do them if you know for sure you have time.

@ cat Sorry, but I have a sore throat and am hoarse today.

Cat, how particular are you about sound quality? If you like I can have a go at the lines using either my phone or my Mac's inbuilt microphone. I don't have anything proper though.

In the end, it luckily worked out and I got the recorded lines!
Will finish the game in time  :)

Hooray! 😃

Quote from: Stupot on Tue 20/08/2019 17:20:27
Cat, how particular are you about sound quality? If you like I can have a go at the lines using either my phone or my Mac's inbuilt microphone. I don't have anything proper though.

For future reference, something I learned from Mark (Mods) is to throw a towel over your head and record the lines under it. It improves the recording quality 1000%. Not quite studio quality, but close enough for such a cheap fix!

And Douglas Adams would be chuffed to know there's further proof that a towel is the most useful object in the universe.

Ugh. Things not going as well as I hoped. More hot days than normal and not getting enough sleep this week hasn't helped at all. But I have at least worked on the game every day, even if it's only been at a snail's pace some days.

I have at least made notes for dialog trees, different game branches, and multiple endings. I plan to start actual programming for the game this weekend. None of my backgrounds are finished and I don't have any animations yet, but I have enough to do the base programming.

Hopefully cat has or will have a finished game today. And good luck to everyone else who is working on a game this month.

Indeed we have! Marcin K., CaptainD and I proudly present:

Mr Bear Teaches English

(https://www.clowdergames.com/games/MrBearTeachesEnglish/screenhot1.png)

(https://www.clowdergames.com/games/MrBearTeachesEnglish/screenhot2.png)

An English learning game for toddlers. Discover various items Mr Bear will pull out of his hats and learn their names.

Download (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2369/)

The amazing graphics where made by Marcin K. who joined the AGS community not even a month ago. A great debut, I'd say (nod)
If you like his work, you can find more on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mkozlinski (https://www.youtube.com/mkozlinski)

The voice acting was kindly provided by CaptainD.


This game is for my daughter and she is already playing it on my phone  ;-D


You can play the game on your Android phone using the AGS Android port: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=44768.msg636607963#msg636607963 (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=44768.msg636607963#msg636607963)
Just install the app and copy the game to your ags folder.

The world needs more kids speaking like Captain Disaster!

Jokes aside (I'm sure CaptainD behaved himself)... Looks amazing! I will be using it with students as well I'm sure!

Quote from: cat on Fri 23/08/2019 19:26:14
The amazing graphics where made by Marcin K. who joined the AGS community not even a month ago. A great debut, I'd say (nod)
If you like his work, you can find more on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mkozlinski (https://www.youtube.com/mkozlinski)

My contribution to this project was slightly exagerated by cat :) All I did war to reuse some graphics from my archives with few small drawings and animation.
It was a fun and pleasure to colaborate on this.

So, how's anyone else who's working on a game doing? Is anyone other than Flugeldufel working on one?

I can honestly say I have no idea how much I have done with my game. Multiple endings and multiple solutions kind of complicates things. I do have all but 1 background finished enough to work for the game, even though ideally I'd prefer to have more detail. Today and tomorrow I plan to try putting the pieces together better and finish up what I can on Saturday. It'll be interesting to see if it comes out as an enjoyable game or if it ends up as a confusing mess...

So I had time to play Mr.Bear now.  (nod)
Here's some feedback:

Spoiler

Really nice and simple way to get kids to learn a few basic words. Graphics are great, voice is math... I mean numbers... I mean Star... I mean our lovely CaptainD with is always cool soft voice. Very appropriate voice.

A couple things I noticed:
- I would have loved a settings slider to diminish the SFX volume. The magic wand is a lovely sound, but after the 3rd time it starts getting annoying (in my hears anyway. maybe kids would just be pressing the button just to hear it.  (laugh) )
- I would have liked to be able to click the figure or the hat to hear the words sound again. It would be good for kids to listen to it repeated several times until they can say it correctly, without having to start over. And there's already a back arrow created, so having it there in the corner to go back and pick a new hat would be natural for any kid.
- I think I had a 3rd "suggestion" but it's now alluding me, so... no 3rd unless I remember it and then I'll edit it and add it...

[close]

I'm planning to install the game on my sons tablet and let him play it for a bit, so I'll give you feedback on it later (even though he's hardly a toddler anymore, and has already have 2 years English at school, he should know these words already).

If you want it translated into Portuguese or Danish I could give it a go, and try and find some voices for it.  (nod)

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Thu 29/08/2019 20:10:51
The magic wand is a lovely sound, but after the 3rd time it starts getting annoying (in my hears anyway. maybe kids would just be pressing the button just to hear it.

*I* was pressing the button just to hear it (roll)

 (laugh)

Hopefully I can make the deadline. I was supposed to finish up the main programming yesterday, but I still had a small fever. As long as nothing goes wrong, I should be able to finish in time. Unfortunately I was unable to get any walking animations made for Twitch other than left and right and there are no talking animations. And I'll probably either have to cut or at least modify one or two of the possible endings since it's unlikely I'll have time to make sprites for the characters used.  Of course there won't be time to fully test, and most likely I won't finish any earlier than an hour before the deadline.

Unfortunately I'm not going to make it. The programming took more time than planned because 50% of the time I had to read the manual or the forums because of many little problems that occur, when you code your first game... So there wasn't any time left for the graphic part: I have only two backgrounds and animations for the player character. But it's gar from being a complete game, I hope I can recycle some of the stuff for a next round of MAGS. Good luck to everyone else!

Shame you couldn't succeed. If you need and want help for a future MAGS, let me know.

I think I can finish my game within the next 5 hours. But I'm not 100% sure. I have most of the pieces, but I still have to put them together. And figure out some music to use...

Barely finished. Had to remove several options and I'm sure there's bugs...

With two minutes to spare too.

I missed the deadline though.

VW, you messed up the link. It's not clickable.
I had to copy the text and paste it into a new window.

VW, the game crashes when I push the red button:

Quotein room 9, line 34
Error: MoveCharacter: character not in current room

Quote from: Creamy on Sun 01/09/2019 11:13:40
VW, the game crashes when I push the red button:

Spoiler

That most likely means that something happened at the motel where the the slime didn't change rooms.
I'm guessing you chose the 2nd dialog option after the slime appeared.

[close]

I uploaded a second file which should fix the problem and adds back in an option which I accidentally clicked not to show.

Quote from: VampireWombat on Sat 31/08/2019 23:58:45
Barely finished. Had to remove several options and I'm sure there's bugs...

Mystery Meat Mayhem (https://vampirewombat.itch.io/mystery-meat-mayhem)

Unfortunately I couldn't play long without the game shutting down several times. I don't know if the rules say you can correct errors and reupload but I couldn't get past

Spoiler

pressing a big red button

[close]

without the game crashing.

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Mon 02/09/2019 14:20:05
Unfortunately I couldn't play long without the game shutting down several times. I don't know if the rules say you can correct errors and reupload but I couldn't get past

Spoiler

pressing a big red button

[close]

without the game crashing.

Was it the same error Creamy posted? If so, it should be fixed in the second file I posted yesterday. If not, I need more information to know how to fix it.

Quote from: VampireWombat on Mon 02/09/2019 14:35:45

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Mon 02/09/2019 14:20:05
Unfortunately I couldn't play long without the game shutting down several times. I don't know if the rules say you can correct errors and reupload but I couldn't get past

Spoiler

pressing a big red button

[close]

without the game crashing.

Was it the same error Creamy posted? If so, it should be fixed in the second file I posted yesterday. If not, I need more information to know how to fix it.

I thought I had but I readownloaded and this time I was able to get past the red button and complete the game.

Thank you

@VW
Uhm, just started playing it... have no idea what I'm doing, but calling the office crashes the game.  :(
Just thought I would give a heads up for those who still haven't played it. (and you to fix it  ;) )

Another bug (not game crashing though): Clicking on load at the main menu displays the load GUI behind the main menu, witch means, you can't use it, then starting the game, displays the Load gui, but you can't click it until you are done with the dialog choices (whom forunatly show up above the GUI) but you can't see what is happening until one gets control again outside.

Edit 2: Finished...

Thanks. I'll look into it tomorrow. The office one is probably because I probably either failed to add anything to the dialog tree or didn't actually create it at all. Not sure about the load, I thought I copied and pasted it from a working load...

About the load: You need to make sure the GUI z order is higher than the z order for the main menu.

About the crash, my guess: you deleted the function and forgot to delete the link to it.

Voting is now open. Please vote using the poll above.

(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/games/2369_1_thumb_200.png)	Mr Bear Teaches English (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2369/) by cat, Marcin K and CaptainD
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDc3NTM2LzI0NTMzODIucG5n/347x500/dSIpTx.png)	Mystery Meat Mayhem (https://vampirewombat.itch.io/mystery-meat-mayhem) by VampireWombat

Thanks to everyone who entered, even if you didn't get to finish in time. Keep trying :-)

Okay, the issues brought up by Cassie have been fixed as far as I can tell. I also fixed an issue that when you use the search engine in the phone and choose Massimo Investigations to search. I apparently had it added missing a t somewhere in Investigations.  Not that it matters since I didn't have time to make any searches in the phone have any use...

Quote from: VampireWombat on Sat 31/08/2019 18:53:47
If you need and want help for a future MAGS, let me know.

Thank you! Maybe I just need a little more coding practise. But now it's time to play the two games that've been submitted in time.  :)

@Cassiebsg Thanks for the feedback!

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Thu 29/08/2019 20:10:51
- I would have loved a settings slider to diminish the SFX volume. The magic wand is a lovely sound, but after the 3rd time it starts getting annoying (in my hears anyway. maybe kids would just be pressing the button just to hear it.  (laugh) )

I already lowered the volume, but I think it could be even lower. I don't want a slider, because I want to keep the GUI as simple as possible (that's also why there is no quit button, my kid would certainly manage to press it unintentionally)

Quote
- I would have liked to be able to click the figure or the hat to hear the words sound again. It would be good for kids to listen to it repeated several times until they can say it correctly, without having to start over. And there's already a back arrow created, so having it there in the corner to go back and pick a new hat would be natural for any kid.

You already "close" the current item when clicking on the hat again, so playing the word again when clicking the item is a good idea.

Quote
If you want it translated into Portuguese or Danish I could give it a go, and try and find some voices for it.  (nod)

Mr Bear Teaches Portuguese - why not? I can send you the translation file, it's really not a lot, but I want to fix a few other issues first once voting is over.

Mystery Meat Mayhem

Spoiler

I like how the game starts right in medias res. The characters look great and the dialog between them is written well. I get some Sam&Max vibes from it and I hope we will see more of Massimo and Twitch in the future.
However, the rest of the game is chaos. The story doesn't make sense and there is hardly any gameplay. There are great ideas, like calling someone or taking photos of the screen, but it not integrated in the story itself. It seems you focused too much on coding fancy features but neglected the actual game.
It's a pity, because I think it could be a fun game. You can draw, write, code and have great gameplay ideas but you seriously lack in project and time management. Maybe with your next game you can focus on getting it done from start to finish and add the fancy stuff only after the basic stuff is done.

[close]

Quote from: cat on Tue 10/09/2019 13:11:24
Mystery Meat Mayhem

Yeah, I had things planned out to be different for the game. But then I got sick with a fever the last week and only even finished it as much as I did because you were the only one to have submitted anything.

No other feedback?

Quote from: cat on Fri 13/09/2019 21:16:49
No other feedback?

I already voted, but didn't have any time to write a feedback

And my game really doesn't need feedback. I already know most of what went wrong. And since this month will be my last MAGS for awhile, the time management issue won't be a problem for me any more.

Two days left to vote ☑️

Quote from: VampireWombat on Sat 14/09/2019 21:13:20
And since this month will be my last MAGS for awhile

:~(

Quote from: cat on Mon 16/09/2019 19:07:19
:~(

Several things the last few weeks have made realize it's time for me to move on to larger projects. And I honestly need a break after working on so many MAGS games. I'm sure I'll still participate at times, I just can't promise how often.

Yay! Thanks for the votes!  ;-D

@VampireWombat: I'm looking forward to your larger project!

Congratulations. And thanks. I'm sure I'll make posts on the forums if/when it's time.

I meant to get you guys some feedback for quite some time now, sorry it took so long.
Here it is:

Mr Bear Teaches English

Spoiler

Very well executed and entertaining, the latter being somewhat of a feat given that it is a learning game for kids! The idea fits the theme perfectly, the graphics and voice acting are cute and the whole concept is just lovely. I'm certainly going to test it on our kid when he's born :) It would be lovely if there was some kind of an extra once all hats from a category are clicked, or if there was a chance for something special to pop up from a random hat to surprise the kid playing the game.

[close]

Mystery Meat Mayhem

Spoiler

The style is nice and the beginning was really promising, but then the storyline went haywire. I do fully understand that you were planning a larger scope for the game and that you only released it so early to let cat and the team have some competition (and as the votes show, the competition was decent), so I viewed it as a sort of an interactive trailer for a larger project and as such it was a good effort.

[close]

I voted for

Spoiler

Mr Bear. Great job cat and team! Congratulations on winning the competition, too.

[close]

The votes have been counted, check, recounted, verified, authenticated, confirmed, corroborated, reconfirmed and ratified. Then after an intense peer review they have finally been sent to the adjudication bureau for approval.

The winner is:
Mr Bear Teaches English By Cat and the team.

Well done guys. You will be messaged soon regarding your topic for October.

I finished my and JimReed's game (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2374/), just a few days after the deadline.

Mr Bear Teaches English...

Nice looking and executed game...

It would have been nice if the child had to select a word (say from 4) of what the object was...

Fun game though ;)

Mystery Meat Mayhem

The game itself was quite cutely drawn and the story ok...

The main thing that was annoying was the characters kept turning when speaking.

But overall, well done  VampireWombat...  (nod)

We may meet for next month's MAG so get yer guns out  (laugh)

Quote from: Slasher on Wed 25/09/2019 18:45:35
Mystery Meat Mayhem

The main thing that was annoying was the characters kept turning when speaking.


We may meet for next month's MAG so get yer guns out  (laugh)

Yeah, I can't remember why it did that. I would have fixed it if I had had the time.

Not likely unless next month's theme is really interesting and/or is one that I can re-uses graphics from other months.

I made some slight performance improvements to the game, scrolling and the build menu should be faster.

@Slasher
Great idea! I'll see if I can do something like that in an updated version of the game.