MAGS February: "Fictional Spirituality" (Winner Announced)

[ArgyBoi]

Stuff

LOL! Really good, Hana! Congratulations!
Cheers!
The Banana Baby Killer Whatever God(laugh)

Edited by mod: Removed unnecessary quoting of previous post.

[selmiak]

3 great games already! This is going to be hard to decide. Again!

[Seven]

HanaIndiana, that was hilarious and fun. The voice recording wasn't very clean since I could hear a lot of background noise and sometimes the mic moving but it was still good. It reminds me how much voice acting can really increase a game's enjoyment. The little death animations were cool too. Both you and Billbis's games focused mostly on telling a interactive story without providing any challenges or puzzles to get in the way of the narrative. This could be good or bad depending on who you ask. David Cage from Quantic Studios (creator of heavy rain and beyond two souls) would probably consider it a good thing but for somebody who likes more traditional adventures with puzzles that make you think and can get you stuck Symbiosis will hold favor. 

I don't know who is going to win. These are really good games. It should be a close call.

[Dmitry Stefantsov]

Well, I'm being a couple hours late... Hope, it's still acceptable to post my game. If not, please, consider it a bonus to this month MAGS

Title: Mobile Angel

Download link: Mobile Angel

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the game is implemented in two languages, English and Russian. Through the development phase all the dialogs were written in Russian, for it was convenient in our group to share updates that way, and the English translation was added at the later stages. So, to play "Mobile Angel" in English you should change the settings. Anyway, thanks for reading this, and enjoy playing "Mobile Angent"

Screenshot:


As in January MAGS I'll post more details on what the original idea was, and why the game is not called "Split Conscious". But now... a couple of hours for sleeping...

[Armageddon]

I was hoping for more Scientology based games.

[Janos Biro]

You may be reading "fictional spirituality" way too literal.

[Armageddon]

Now I wish I had made a game.

[HanaIndiana]

A lot of fun games!
I especially liked Lema Sabachthani, and how the story flowed. And the backgrounds and music in Symbiosis, and its atmosphere.

[Billbis]

I am totally ok to count Mobile Angel as a valid entry despite its very small delay.
I play all the entries, congratulation to all of you for releasing something ! I've also rate your games on the Database. It will be nice if we cross-rate our games so that they can reach the 5 rated threshold.
Thanks JuaniT, Seven and HanaIndiana for your kind words.

@JuaniT: Very nice background and music. They help a lot to the immersion. The end was a bit to trippy to my tastes, but the three first rooms were fantastic to play.
@HanaIndiana: Nice Voice acting, and very nice pixel art! Very funny little story. As absurd as I like.
@DmitrryStefantsov et al.: The story was very inventive, and I like following it. The very first traveling also render very good. I am definitely a fan of your animation method . Of course the game is less polished than the other entries, but its a charming default IMHO. Keep going !

[ArgyBoi]

Played all entries. Congratulations everyone for making the deadline.

@Billbis: already told you, but again: nice clean and sharp visuals, the storyline develops quickly. Not so sure if there's an alternative ending, because some puzzles seem to be completely optional. Like...

Spoiler

... giving the coin to the beggar, taking the sword, killing the Roman with the sword or the stone.

[close]

@HanaIndiana: liked the pixel art visuals and the humor. The voice acting was good (despite the audio quality). Not much to do puzzle wise.

@DmitrryStefantsov: nice visuals and some interesting scripting ideas. Although, similar to your previous MAGS attempt, maybe it was too ambitious for a one-month game. Maybe if you try to do something smaller next time you can make a game that gives the sense of "completeness".

As for my entry, the character animations are too "raw"; I'm really bad at animating and the time limitation was a big impediment too.
Also it's shorter than I originally planned, so the story had to fit the four backgrounds, and because of that it ended being a bit wordy.

[Billbis]

Not so sure if there's an alternative ending, because some puzzles seem to be completely optional.

Spoiler

Nope, you've found everything. I wanted to add a few more things, but had no time nor much inspiration. Also, yes, the game is heavily based on the Bible.  I'm not sure how obscure my final twist is.

[close]

I hope you'll make a post-MAGS version of your entry, I want to play the whole story as you planed it.

[Atelier]

Awesome, thanks guys! Been ridiculously busy today, I'll be able to open up voting tomorrow morning!

[Atelier]

The competition has now ended and voting is underway.

	Symbiosis by JuaniT
	Lema Sabachthani by Billbis
	The 4th Wall by HanaIndiana
	Mobile Angel by Dmitry Stefantsov

Click on the game title to download.

Be sure to play all the entries before sending your voice! Good luck to all participants.

VOTE

[Billbis]

Voted! That was an hard choice, because I like all the entries.

[Janos Biro]

I don't mean to offend, but I think Symbiosis is the only entry that is actually about spirituality. All the others are about something else. Some are very marginally touching religion, but not exactly spirituality, at least not as I think of it. Doesn't mean they are not great games. Lema Sabachthani is very well done, and it's about an event described in the gospels, presenting a twist from the common interpretation, but I feel it's more about history than spirituality. The 4th Wall puts the player in the role of a unpredictable god, but I felt no connection to the theme besides that, as this god is nothing but human. Finally, mobile angel could be about any kind of powerful being, or even a hacker. Again, I think the games are good, but Symbiosis is the only one that made me think about spirituality.

[Seven]

It was a difficult choice but I ended up voting for Symbiosis. I just felt like it was the most complete game with its story and puzzles. 

[Atavismus]

4 entries! Nice! I'm very glad to see that the theme inspired you!
Strong entries, thx for the quality guyz, but now it's hard to choose
Congratz and good luck all!

[Atavismus]

I don't mean to offend, but I think Symbiosis is the only entry that is actually about spirituality.

IMO, all those games are different and all are related to spirituality.
Spirituality is large. God, Religion are a part of spirituality.
Maybe Symbiosis is near of your own definition of spirituality (I can understand coz I share myself a point (no spoiler) with Symbiosis), but it doesn't mean other games are not "spiritual".
I see a spiritual journey in each of the four games.

I hope to see more games like this in the future
Congratz and thx again guyz!

[HanaIndiana]

Yeah I agree, I think they all fit the theme.

It can be considered as the link/relationship between us/our spirit and something higher (nature/universe/creator).

Each one is about a relationship or a link between a character and something higher.

[Janos Biro]

I agree, but just to be obnoxious, if you get hit by a train, this too can be described as "a relationship between you and something higher", but that's not spirituality at all. I think modern man has forgotten what "spirituality" really means, so he starts buying into this shitty pseudo-spirituality we see today. We are in the age of pseudo-spirituality, and that's the whole problem to me. (It's not simply my personal view, it is theological) <-- *That's ridiculous, ok, I'm just being ridiculous...*