MAGS April: Unexpected

[Jon]

Zabnat your link doesn't work.

[Buckethead]

It works if you first click on screens to get at the site and then click on download.

[Jon]

There is no download button for me, must be something wrong with my PC.

P.S. I liked your game Mr. Buckéthead 

[zabnat]

Zabnat your link doesn't work.

Hmm.. should work. Did you try refreshing the page?

Anybody else having problems?

[Buckethead]

eh well I cannot figure out how to interact inside your game. It must be made on an unexpected way lol 

PS: thanks Jon 

[Klaus]

So this time we face an unexpected big number of entries! So let's start the voting now...

For voting please visit the MAGS site or make your choice right here:

West Of The Root by KC
Unexpected Quest by Mr. Buckéthead
Test Rat Escape by Wells8892
Odot Tamat On by zabnat
Me Go Store by Akatosh
Day of the Fish by Ollibony
Cabbage of the Closest Kind by FruitStripeApe
Alien Attack by Jon

Please vote only once and be sure to have played all games before sending your voice! Good luck to all participants.

For the time of voting now you're invited to post your opinion about all entries: Pros and cons of the games. What did you like, what not. In this case it's interesting how you compare the games - if this is possible at all.

[zabnat]

eh well I cannot figure out how to interact inside your game. It must be made on an unexpected way lol 

Well the interface needed to be confusing
And it is at first. I don't want to spoil the confusing part so:

Spoiler

Try dragging something on the screen. Like a "hand icon" or "mouth icon".

[close]

Spoiler

Click on main character and drag his hands or mouth to hotspots. Left click is walking, right click is looking. Invertory works with drag'n'drop too.

[close]

[CodeJunkie]

This is the best MAGS turnout I think I've ever seen, I'll see if I can play these over the weekend.

[zabnat]

Okay, I've "played" all the games and will now comment on them using plusses and minuses.
Some I've not managed to beat, even when I feel like I've tried everything, but I'm not a very good player so I'll come back to them if/when I'll manage to beat them and if my opinions change.

Alien Attack
+ Some good dialogue lines
+ "Hover" feedback
- Walk speed
- No feedback on actions
- Major graphical inconsistency (even if you are not goot at art, stick to one style)
- Plot?
- Walk speed
Bugs/Other:
Some problems with walkbehinds and transparencies.
"Invalid message number to display" when using butt on brace.
"MoveCharacter: character not in the room" when on the other world with another character.
Couldn't beat the game, maybe I'll try later with a fresh mind.

Cabbage of the Closest Kind
+ Being a cabbage
- No "hover" feedback
- No feedback on actions
Bugs/Other:
Got one "Invalid message number to display" but can't really tell from what, was clicking randomly at the time.
Not sure if I beat this...

Day Of the Fish
+ Partly nice graphics
+ Plot
+ Dialogue
+ Good feedback from actions
+ Fish character
- Graphic inconsistency (fish, flower and house look good, but cloud and taxi driver seem to be of different style)
- No "hover" feedback. Found that one hotspot by randomly clicking around. (in such a small game this is not so bad thing)

Me Go Store
+ Consistent and nice graphic style
+ Plot
+ Dialogue
+ "Hover" feedback.
- A bit too obvious puzzles (this could also be a good thing)
Bugs/Other:
Evil guy vanishes but the hotspot stays?

Test Rat Escape
+ Voice acting
+ "Hover" feedback
- Sound mastering

Unexpected Quest
+ Logical
+ Consistent lo-res graphics
- Feedback on actions
Bugs/Other:
On the second launch I couldn't change cursors or walk anymore.

West Of The Root
+ Atmosphere
+ Graphics
+ Plot
- Ending
- No "Hover" feedback
- Feedback on actions
Bugs/Other:
Couldn't have beaten this if debug mode wasn't active. I couldn't find my way back from room 6.


You'll notice that there's a mention about "hover" feedback (means that cursor reacts to hotspots or there a @overhotspot@ label somewhere) and feedback on action. This is because I feel those are very important things and affects the gameplay a lot.

Good luck to all and I'll edit this post once I get that Test Rat working...

edit: added Test Lab Escape

[Buckethead]

Ok here are my critics:

Alien Attack

The first think I noticed was that you used Roger as you character and the he walked very slow. This made playing to game already pretty anoing and boring. The graphics were also kinda messy which some times made it hard to see what you were looking at. (I actually though the piano was a closet  ). What I did find good where the cursors you used. Although they are not yours  I find them very functional. You puzzles were also OK although hard some times.


Test Rat Escape

I was suprized to see that this game actually had voice acting! Although the volume of it some times got very low it certainly made the game more fun. What I didn't like were the messy graphics. The fonts were pretty hard to read and the cursor buttons at the top just were some awfull colored things that I couldn't recognize., not very functional. In the end I found the game pretty fun. The characters said funny things and the voice acting made it even better! 

Me Go Store

What can I say? I love the simple yet funny and functional stuff in this game. It's pretty obvious that it's thrown together in a few days but you managed to make the best of it. I really like it how the characters dodge around when they talk and the simple humour and puzzles. The only bad things were a few small bugs. The hotspot of the evil guy stay when he's gone and when you talk to the store again you get another hate. All by all this game was pretty funny for a few moments, too bad it was so short.

Day of the Fish

This game really had nice and smooth graphic. The cursors where just like in akantosh'es game very funtional. The diolags and such where pretty funny. What I was missing in this game was a menu gui and hoevering over hotspots to make it clearer what to do.

Cabbage of the closest kind

I really like the fact that you play as a cabbage and how you roll around. It was funny and it moved smoothly. For the rest this game was pretty poor. There were no hotspots to click on and give you info or some hints. I'm not sure if this game even had and ending.

West of the Root

I like the art style of this game and the way the characters talk. It was fun to walk around for a while but I quickly got bored because there was no really feedback on the action. There was also no info given when I looked at a inventory item. Which sometimes made me wonder what the item supposed to be. Overall it was pretty nicely done and I wish I gotten a little further in it.

Odottamaton

What can I say? I liked it all the way. This game did everything right. The graphic were good and the game had some nice special features. The way of moving around worked well once I figured it out. Everything that looked like something was a hotspot with info. The game had nice animations also. I really loved this game, you got my vote Zabnat! 

My own game

Although my game was confusing I hope you enjoyed the silly humour in it. It had some bugs and flaws but I rushed it much in the end to make it deadline. The cursor bug was one I couldn't fix on time. You can work your way around it by clicking on 'menu' at the top and then click on OK.

All by all I find that this MAGS had a great out come. The rules were pretty hard, yet there were still many entries. In all of the entries was putten efford and most of them came out nicely 

[Akatosh]

Wow, people actually like Me Go Store?  :o

You know that means an extended version, yes?

[Jon]

Here's my take on the games, great turnout!

Alien Attack

This was my first game, so I know it isn't perfect. Graphics were pretty bad and it was filled with bugs. But on the plus side, I drew one hell of a 'Blue cup o' love'!


Test Rat Escape
I also found that the text was quite hard to see; but I think that was why the voice acting was included. It was short and simple, but you could tell that a lot of work had been put in for the voice acting.

Me Go Store
Another classic from Akatosh . Seriously though, I thought the gameplay was very good; with an 'Interesting' story. It was very easy to play and I enjoyed the humor.

Day of the Fish
This was probably one of my favourite entries, due to the nice graphics and dialog. I would have prefered the game to be longer though.

Cabbage of the closest kind

I didn't really understand this game, it had no purpose.

West of the Root

I like the backgounds of this game, but I never completed it as when I tried to

Spoiler

Shoot the bad guy

[close]

Nothing happened.

Odottamaton

Unfortunatly I was unable to download this game. But by the sounds of it, the game was very good.

Unexpected Quest
I enjoyed this game a lot, with crazy humor such as the Jaywalking ending, quite unique! You got my vote.

It was very pleasing to see many people eager to enter the competition, good luck to all!

[Buckethead]

I'm such a lucky bastard that you didn't manage to download Odottamaton because it was a very good game. You might have voted for it lol  I'm glad you liked my game and thanks alot for the vote! 

[Ollibony]

I'm glad that you guys liked my game. Didn't expect such positive feedback, really! And thanks for the constructive criticism, too.

A bit later I'll try to write down my review of your games, until then I just say: zabnat, you are the best!

[FruitStripeApe]

SUPER SPOILER
Cabbage Quest Help

Spoiler

Use rage on the center of the field.
After you use the rage you click on the top left screen to advance.
Then add poo to the oil then add the rocks then roll over it then roll into the hole.

Have fun with Circle Boy at the end.

[close]

Edited by moderator: You know, that you can use the [hide] [/hide] tags for spoilers.

[Klaus]

So after a long time we have a real MAGS competition again: A (kind of) big number of entries, different game styles and the exciting uncertainty about who's to win...

First: Thanks for all your reviews. They surely will help the game creators to improve their next games.

Now who's to win..? It is easy to say this time as the winner received roughly the same number of votes as all the other games together. So congratulations go to zabnat and his first game Odot Tamat On!

Also many thanks to all other participants for entering the contest...
I hope MAGS in May will end in the same big number of entries... cu then.

[Buckethead]

Well that certainly was what I was expected. That does no good the theme of this month.  Good that zabnat won, he disurved it if you ask me. The other entries were also very nice if you ask me. I dunno about you guys but I can't wait for the next MAGS. I'm curious what zabnat will come up with.