MAGS June: Television (RESULTS)

[AprilSkies]

Wow! Just Wow, LTD!!!
(So I guess I have to reach the end to hear Dave's song )

EDIT: Err.. it seems the download doesn't work...

[LostTrainDude]

Thanks AprilSkies! Yes that's the ultimate reward for completing the game
The link should be working now!

[AprilSkies]

Yep, it's ok now! Thanks dude!

[CaptainD]

(So I guess I have to reach the end to hear Dave's song )

Yes that's the ultimate reward for completing the game

I fear you are setting people up for major disappointment....

[Stupot]

Okay, time's up! We have three entries for June.
Time for voting has begun

	Wrong Channel by Xil
	Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception by Mandle
	Fanbots by LostTrainDude, Kastchey and CaptainD

Play all the games and then
VOTE for your favourite HERE!
Voting closes July 21st.

[Mandle]

I had to vote for Fanbots....being a major Red Dwarf fan, and the game and puzzles were just so awesome!!!

It was a very hard toss-up however as I also loved the dark mood of Wrong Channel and the puzzles there were great too...

But, the inner Fanbot in myself won out and the closing "Neighbors" "Androids" theme song just won me over...

Amazing entry!!!

[Bulbapuck]

I'm struggling a bit to find games to LP, so I decided to LP all these games. The playlist is here if you're interested: https://youtu.be/VwHe2U3bJ0A?list=PLEem6SKeUgpUTdSg7d7oRYNsiAD7NyGrD

Some comments:
I absolutely loved all these games, they were very different and it's super difficult to judge them against each other.
Wrong channel: Loved it, the puzzles were really clever and it was a really cool concept.
Feng shui: A really, really interesting game. At first I was a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities, but it just started to flow naturally after playing a bit. Excellent design.
Fanbots: This was a more standard approach. I think I would enjoy this more if I had actually watched red dwarf, but nevertheless I loved the enourmous amount of bad puns xD

In the end I had to go for Wrong Channel, everyting just clicked in that game and I loved it. Excellent competition!

[Cassiebsg]

I also have a few comments on the games.
First I think everyone did an awesome work!

Wrong Channel
This game is pass my intelligence!
I haven't yet finished it, mostly cause 2 reasons: I hate death and start again games; and I've seen the the solution. I can feel that game story and execution are tip top!

Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception
I have a bit hard to distance my from the first version and the last version, but in a hole I enjoyed the well thought out puzzles. Even though I'm not much for 1st person adventure games.

Fanbots
I just LOVE Red Dwarf! (first seasons of it anyway, before it started going downhill), love the isometric and the game theme. In fact I love everything in this game, but felt cheated with too easy puzzles. And when I finally got to a puzzle that involved thinking a bit...

Spoiler

...it got ruined (IMHO) by red/green coloring and no way to deselected a wrong option... Not that it mattered much, since you could just start over.

[close]

For this reason, and because we asked to vote for "the most enjoyable", I voted for...

Spoiler

...Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception

[close]

.

[xil]

Another really top quality MAGS month! (Even if I do say so with one of my own games in there )

Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception: I agree with Bulbapuck, at first I was a bit lost but once I realised the hotspots were quite specific I managed to get through to the end without too many issues! I thought the controls were a fantastic experiment and with a little tweaking would create a unique interface you could perhaps even use as a template for other games. I enjoyed the style which to me felt like an interactive version of the browser based escape the room style games and without going anywhere near a spoiler, I thought the game story and ending were great!

Fanbots: What a great choice for a theme! The graphics were fantastic, I love the pixel art style and it worked well in isometric! The game did end up being more of an interactive story but I felt that it was a good fit for the theme. You could also easily expand on the idea an have each of the robots with a different skill and the ability to switch to play each one even. Again, without spoilers, the ending was genius!

Really tough to choose between them but my vote goes to...

Spoiler

Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception - I felt the hard work put into the unique interface just pushed it ahead of my love for Red Dwarf

[close]

[Mandle]

I'm struggling a bit to find games to LP, so I decided to LP all these games. The playlist is here if you're interested: https://youtu.be/VwHe2U3bJ0A?list=PLEem6SKeUgpUTdSg7d7oRYNsiAD7NyGrD

DUDE!!!

I must thank you so much for giving me a first-time experience as a game developer:

I have never actually seen a player play through one of my games from beginning to end as a blind playthrough trying to work everything out in real-time...

I don't have any friends in real-life who want to play these kinds of games, and they would only be humouring me if I made them try so it wouldn't be interesting on both ends...

The fact that you were F-bombing when frustrated and excited when you discovered new stuff got my heart racing while watching your videos: This is exactly what a developer wants their players to go through while playing their game!!! I loved seeing those reactions!!!

I loved seeing the deductive leaps you made both correct and incorrect and it was a very important study for me in where my games connect with the player logically and also where the logical disconnects might lie...

Slight spoiler:

Spoiler

I also LOVED that you cut the second part in mid-scream instead of showing how the game quits itself lamely and just returns to the desktop...

[close]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT AWESOME ENDING!!! It had me laughing my ass off and now I must go back and watch it again for some more chuckles!!!

Thanks again mate!

Slight spoiler:

Spoiler

(Oh, I also tripped out when every time I said "I shut that infernal machine away in there for a reason..." you told me "Good for you!"...It was hilarious to hear someone answering back my own voice inside my own game: But still a bunch trippy... )

[close]

[LostTrainDude]

I've finally managed to play this month's entries

Wrong Channel
I loved the exceptional work put together by xil, his style (not just the aesthetics of it, but the whole experience) seems to get more and more of a unique trademark (I think I have said that already somewhere, but who cares!).
I've enjoyed the mood and the concept, also the way in which the main puzzle is designed makes you keep your fingers crossed all the time hoping you are right (which is perfectly fine for me, considering that it's an horror game)!

Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception
Usually I'm not really able to enjoy this kind of "Escape games", but the amount of effort put in this and the unexpected polish made it a really nice experience. Some interactions could need some little more tweaking

Spoiler

I missed the right bunch of pixels when useing the hook-powered wooden stick on the trapdoor on the top a few times, so I initially thought that was not the solution

[close]

but none of this felt too frustrating

So yes, IT WAS a difficult choice indeed... But I think I'll give my vote to Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception, because it was more of a surprise for me to enjoy that So there's actually nothing against xil's entry!

It has been a great MAGS, folks Thank you all for your feedback, appreciation and votes!


On a side note: Bulbapuck thanks A LOT for what you did with your Let's Play videos
I had great fun watching you play Fanbots and you actually made me aware of some bugs we couldn't reproduce ourselves once we found them the first time

[Stupot]

Are people using the link above to vote?
When I said 'Vote for your favourite here' above I meant click on the link to go to the voting page.

If you have mentioned your favourite in this thread but not voted on the mags website, please go to this link:
http://www.mags-competition.info/index.php?page=voting and click on your favourite. If you have already done that, please ignore this message.

:-)

[xil]

Are people using the link above to vote?
When I said 'Vote for your favourite here' above I meant click on the link to go to the voting page.

If you have mentioned your favourite in this thread but not voted on the mags website, please go to this link:
http://www.mags-competition.info/index.php?page=voting and click on your favourite. If you have already done that, please ignore this message.

:-)

Oops (have now voted officially!)

[Mokho]

Congrats! They are all excellent games, each one in his own style! It has been hard to choose but finally I had vote for Mandle's game.

P.S. I'm still working on mine. It will be soon available 

[Mandle]

Are people using the link above to vote?
When I said 'Vote for your favourite here' above I meant click on the link to go to the voting page.

If you have mentioned your favourite in this thread but not voted on the mags website, please go to this link:
http://www.mags-competition.info/index.php?page=voting and click on your favourite. If you have already done that, please ignore this message.

:-)

Thanks mate for the clarification...I voted in the link and then posted my opinions here which might have caused the confusion so I PM'd everyone who had voted in the thread so far reminding them to vote in your link as well...

Probably spam, but....yeah...

SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!!!

[CaptainD]

SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!!!

I think we may have found next month's theme?

[Stupot]

I must say, voting turn-out for this month has been phenomenal, assuming (as I do) that you are all honest, lovely folk who only voted once. There's still about a day left, so get voting if you haven't already and watch this space for the final result.

It's been fun playing at host for the June comp and I hope I didn't take too many liberties. I think Atelier has things under control so I'll step aside, but I'm happy to help out if ever the need arises :-)

[Stupot]

Okay, voting is now CLOSED.
And the results are as follows:

In third place... Fanbots with 3 votes.
In second place... Wrong Channel with 6 votes.
In first place... Feng Shui and the Art of TV Reception with 7 votes.

Well done to Mandle. Nice job, mate. FSATAOTVR was a fun and clever game indeed. I guess Atelier will soon ask you for August's theme.

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Congrats Mandle! If I didn't get totally stuck on wrong channel I would have played FanBots and voted 
Great games all around none-the-less 

[Mandle]

Woah...close votes, as it should be.

I'm SO STOKED that I actually won a MAGS!!! And against such worthy competition!

I can't wait to tell my older students who tried out the game that I won. They have bugging me for weeks about it...

Thanks to Stupot+ for an inspiring round, to the other entrants for the stiff competition, and to all those who voted, whether for my entry or not!