MAGS March "Cut in Half" (Result)

[Mandle]

Here's my entry. For what it is worth. Very low-frills and confusing to play I'm sure. Had no time for fancy stuff, but will add a guide to play in here. Really just a start/proof of concept on a full game I will continue working on probably.


POD DWELLERS

Escape the doomed Starship Voidlight before it is split asunder by a giant asteroid. Then try to survive, and perhaps escape from, the hardships and dangers of an uncharted alien world.






DOWNLOAD HERE FOR WINDOWS AND LINUX

GAME NOTES

This is basically a proof-of-concept for a larger, more detailed game I plan to continue working on.

Building the 'game engine' inside the AGS game engine to handle an unlimited number of missions for the Pod Dwellers took me muuuuuch longer than it probably should have, so time ran out for writing a large number of missions. This means not a lot of variety once the player is stranded on the alien planet but I was sure to include everything needed to complete the game.

Some people may notice a similarity between my game and the popular game "60 Seconds". This is no coincidence. 60 Seconds was a big influence on me in making this. I thought "What about a game like that but set in space?". What WAS a coincidence was that the developers of 60 Seconds came out with their own take on the genre set in space while I was making mine: 60 Parsecs. Haha, oh well.

Anyway, game notes:

* It is not transparent in the game in its current form, but every type of person DOES have their own particular skill set. There are 20 skill stats for each character and each "class" is unique. Basically, if you assume a particular character is good at a certain challenge, then they probably are. Need to pew-pew with blaster pistols? A soldier is good at that! Or maybe a lovable space-rogue pirate who may or may not shoot first?

* You will notice that the storage area of the pod has a LOT of empty slots. Those are all for the future.

* The number of items brought on a mission cannot exceed the number of people on the mission. If you get a red flash and a buzzer then you are already at the limit and can swap some out if you like. Sorry there is no counter to show total people/ total items. There was no time.

* Yes, it is annoying that mission equipment is always returned to the storage area after each outing. Sorry about that. It was a workaround for an issue I knew how to fix but would have needed major time I did not have to do so. On the plus side, it IS good to think about your mission profile of people and equipment each time, so this "feature" kind of forces that.

* Almost every character consumes food and water every game day. If they are active on a mission that day, THEY WILL CONSUME MORE than people sitting around doing nothing in the Living Space. This is a VITAL thing to consider to survive long. Spamming every mission with all available people will get you killed pretty fast.

* If you see a quick red flash and hear a slight buzz out of nowhere, this is your people dying from starvation and/or thirst. Sorry that this flashes by too quickly to notice who exactly died.

* VERY IMPORTANT: Medkits brought along on missions have the potential to save a person who would have otherwise died. This also depends on the total medical skill of the team so a doctor or two along on missions with medkits are great medic backup if possible. If the person's life is saved, the medkit is consumed. (You will see a green flash when this happens)

* That being said, most characters have at least SOME skill in every area. You might not HAVE a doctor but someone else might know a little more about that stuff than the average joe. No miner in your pod? What's the next best thing?

* In the same vein, other items brought along on missions are also useful. This is not transparent but is pretty much common-sense rules. If you want to do some mining, for example, what do you bring? If you want to impress someone brainy, what do you bring? And so on.

* Monks are copyright-safe Jedi.

* Yes, there are SUPPOSED to be laser swords in the game. The sprite for them is already in it, but not utilized yet. Time ran out.

* Science level is NOT SUPPOSED to show up (in this version). It's an amorphic amount of knowledge, not an inventory item. Although I will probably add an indicator in future versions. Just another thing where time ran out.

* There IS a way to win the game. For now, I will leave that as unclear as the game itself does as I think part of the fun may be figuring it out. In the full game I envision, there will be multiple possible endings. But for this MAGs version there is only one. Well, apart for various ways to die along the way. The good news is that the limited resources and options in this version make finding the win conditions fairly easy I believe.

* Have fun I hope.

[jfrisby]

after a bunch of last minute version control nightmare stuff...
Babar & I present....



Breakfast Requiem

Download here:
https://bani-gala.itch.io/breakfastrequiem

(edit: I uploaded a small fix at 5pm...)

[Mandle]

My original upload had one bad bug due to a typo in code (a one letter difference) that made it unfinishable. I changed just that one letter and re-uploaded.

[heltenjon]

My original upload had one bad bug due to a typo in code (a one letter difference) that made it unfinishable. I changed just that one letter and re-uploaded.

NOW you tell me!   

[Mandle]

NOW you tell me!   

SORRY! I got done testing at 1 a.m. this morning and noticed that the win condition blurb doesn't pop up. I found the problem and was sure I had fixed it. But instead of 'gMessage01.Visible' I typed 'lMessage01.Visible'. That was the 'typo' of just one letter that borked the ending. FIXED NOW!

[Radiant]

The deadline is April 3rd.

Oh good, I see that I can use the MAGS for April to finish my MAGS gam for March.

[Stupot]

Voting is now OPEN!

Please vote using the poll above.

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

As always, please let me know if I've made any mistakes or missed anything out.

[cat]

I'm stuck in Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

How can I defeat the beast? I have 3 syrups and a pancake cut in half. I can't turn the wheel. I can't use the explosive or the knife or actually any inventory item on the beast.

[close]

[jfrisby]

I'm stuck in Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

How can I defeat the beast? I have 3 syrups and a pancake cut in half. I can't turn the wheel. I can't use the explosive or the knife or actually any inventory item on the beast.

[close]

Spoiler

There's a bit of maybe rough puzzling ahead...  I think you have a closet to open, and something in the debris that fell through the floor, to get you started.. 

[close]

[Shadow1000]

I'm stuck in Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

How can I defeat the beast? I have 3 syrups and a pancake cut in half. I can't turn the wheel. I can't use the explosive or the knife or actually any inventory item on the beast.

[close]

Spoiler

There's a bit of maybe rough puzzling ahead...  I think you have a closet to open, and something in the debris that fell through the floor, to get you started.. 

[close]

I'm basically at the same place

Spoiler

How do you open the closet? How do you open the cork on the oil bottle?

[close]

[jfrisby]

I'm stuck in Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

How can I defeat the beast? I have 3 syrups and a pancake cut in half. I can't turn the wheel. I can't use the explosive or the knife or actually any inventory item on the beast.

[close]

Spoiler

There's a bit of maybe rough puzzling ahead...  I think you have a closet to open, and something in the debris that fell through the floor, to get you started.. 

[close]

I'm basically at the same place

Spoiler

How do you open the closet? How do you open the cork on the oil bottle?

[close]

Spoiler

Looking at the closet door is supposed to hint you towards trying to find a way to use your phone (there is a brick near the entrance to examine)...  This was probably too subtle, sorry!   For the Oil bottle, make sure you've examined all of the bodies.

[close]

[Shadow1000]

Spoiler

Looking at the closet door is supposed to hint you towards trying to find a way to use your phone (there is a brick near the entrance to examine)...  This was probably too subtle, sorry!   For the Oil bottle, make sure you've examined all of the bodies.

[close]

Spoiler

THANKS! I totally forgot about the communicator because it wouldn't let me use it once indoors. I would NEVER have found that brick had it not been pointed out. onwards!

[close]

[RootBound]

I'm stuck on  Breakfast Requiem as well, though it seems a bit earlier than others were...

Spoiler

I've gotten to the locked closet and have thrown bread down the hole, and have translated the bug tablet. I have the knife and the corkscrew. Can't figure out how to progress from here.

[close]

[Shadow1000]

Well, another month, another MAGS vote. Here's my 2 cents:

MORT

Spoiler

This game is the most polished of the group. Even more points for the application of the theme. Gameplay is excellent, with two playable characters who interact with each other, sharing resources and even the loveable helper drone. Another area that shines is the idea of combining adventure game puzzles with a platformer to create a unique experience.

Unfortunately, with all that said, my own experience was spending a disproportionate amount of time being really stuck compared to the amount of time I spent progressing in the game. I don't mind a game that's more challenging but it gets to a point where I just lose the satisfaction of achieving progress because of the slow pace of advancement. I have to admit that I gave up at one point and did not complete the game

[close]

Pod Dwellers

Spoiler

Interesting concept. I can't say that I completely got the idea of what was going on during gameplay, but I do gather that this is a part text/part graphic simulation survival game. I played the game until it told me that I was dead.

[close]

Breakfast Requiem

Spoiler

Good puzzles, reasonable graphics, good story, ridiculously silly to the point of being really funny. Overall an impressive job to create a new bizarre world packed with puzzles of varying style and difficulty. I needed a few hints but the experience was really enjoyable

[close]

My vote went to (drum roll, please):

Spoiler

Breakfast Requiem. Simply because I had the best overall experience playing

[close]

[jfrisby]

I'm stuck on  Breakfast Requiem as well, though it seems a bit earlier than others were...

Spoiler

I've gotten to the locked closet and have thrown bread down the hole, and have translated the bug tablet. I have the knife and the corkscrew. Can't figure out how to progress from here.

[close]

Spoiler

I'm not sure if you threw the 'correct' pancake down the hole. It requires a warm sweetened pancake to summon a creature ... otherwise you can throw endless pancakes down.

The locked closet, if you look at it, tells you to call the support desk for a unlock code.  Now you need to find a brick in the fountain room to pry open for cell signal :p

Sorry for these ridiculous puzzles!

[close]

[RootBound]

@jfrisby Stuck again 

Spoiler

I'm at the beast. I have cleared the pipes and poured the explosive syrup into them. I have a cut in half pancake. I have been digging though the debris trying to find something, and all I can find is a small brown spot on the floor that does not have a name when the cursor hovers over it (next to the grasshopper king's foot). I can't pick it up or use any inventory on it. Not sure what I'm missing. 

[close]

[jfrisby]

@jfrisby Stuck again 

Spoiler

I'm at the beast. I have cleared the pipes and poured the explosive syrup into them. I have a cut in half pancake. I have been digging though the debris trying to find something, and all I can find is a small brown spot on the floor that does not have a name when the cursor hovers over it (next to the grasshopper king's foot). I can't pick it up or use any inventory on it. Not sure what I'm missing. 

[close]

Spoiler

Endgame spoilers:  So this section, you need to have poured all 3 syrups down the plumbing, which will "arm" the cave to explode (this is very poorly hinted in the commandments in the buffet room "do not mix syrups")...   So now that everything is 'shaking'... you must make the lizard roar and shake the cave, by throwing a discus at him (hard/stale pancake).

thanks for playing!

[close]

[RootBound]

Played the other two entries and voted!

Spoiler

I liked both, and they were trying to do two very different different things, so it was a tough decision. Pod Dwellers was a really interesting survival strategy game, something I've never seen with AGS before, and I enjoyed playing with it. Everyone always ended up dead after about 45 days (if that). Breakfast Requiem was a truly strange and often funny classic point-and-click, and while some of the puzzles were not super intuitive for me, I still enjoyed it a lot.

I voted for Breakfast Requiem both for overall enjoyability and because I saw more references to the MAGS theme there.

[close]

P.S. If anyone else is stuck on MORT, just let me know. Happy to provide hints or a walkthrough.

[Babar]

P.S. If anyone else is stuck on MORT, just let me know. Happy to provide hints or a walkthrough.

Since you offer, I'm stuck

Spoiler

At the first guard bot, with a steel strip/plate

[close]

[RootBound]

@Babar

Spoiler

Go back down and use the metal piece on the breaker door. There will be occasional up and down in this game.

[close]

Truth be told, I think it's probably better to treat it as a standard point and click puzzler rather than a platformer. It's definitely less fast paced and straightforward than a regular platformer.