MAGS May "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (RESULTS)

[Shadow1000]

Oh damn. This game is still pretty bugged

It happens sometimes. Have to fix that I guess.

if you care to try it again...

Another Bugfix :-/

@Stupot:

The link to  Jump! Jack! Flash! in the first post of this thread is actually a dead link. I initially thought that the game was pulled from the competition as a result. Thankfully I read till Kumpel's most recent post and found the updated link and enjoyed this game. Can you please update the link to the active one?

@Kumpel:
I played Jump! Jack! Flash! last night and I LOVED IT! Great adaptation of the MAGS theme. I really liked the graphics and characters in the game. Good little story. The parts I liked most were:

- The game is PACKED with puzzles. It was one after the other and they are all really fun and well designed. Very impressive for a short game like this.
- I particularly liked the "Canadian stuck in the US" theme. Being Canadian and having been to the US many times, I was really able to relate to the encounter of the predictable apathetic American with a serious superiority complex. I don't think I've seen this theme in games before.

Well done

SHADOW

[Stupot]

Oh I missed that. Kumpel asked me to change the links but he must have changed it again.

The best ting to do is to make a database entry. That wayvI can just provide the link to the Game page and authors can change the links themselves if needs be.

[Khris]

Kumpel, if you put the game in your Dropbox's Public folder, then get its public link via the website (select file -> copy public link), you can update the zip as often as you want and the URL will remain the same.

[Kumpel]

@Khris: Tried that but last time i updated the .rar it changed the link.

@Stupot+:
I will make a database entry soon. I polished the game a little bit and that polished version cannot be in the contest, right?

Why is nobody else giving us feedback?
We wanna know what you guys think about our entries

[Slasher]

Why is nobody else giving us feedback?
We wanna know what you guys think about our entries

Let the voting and after it tell you that...

[Retro Wolf]

This might sound dumb but when I started making Rackham I'd just read an article about accessibility in gaming. So I tried designing it so it could be played one handed, with the intention of adding customizable controls later on. Then I realised I needed another button so that kind of went out the window .

I think I was being a bit overambitious with the personal time that I had this month.

Every problem that you guys mentioned was on the to do list but I wouldn't have made the deadline. No time for polish. It is certainly a shadow of the project that was in my mind.

EDIT:

Kumpel:
I enjoyed the pixel art and funny dialogue, but the gameplay can be a bit inconsistent, stuff like:

Spoiler

I couldn't use candy on hag, but could talk to her about it. This led me to believe that inventory items shouldn't be used on hotspots, but I needed to use wallet and gas pump.

[close]

There's missing interactions on certain hotspots. When sometimes I would get a "No" for using the wrong inventory item, other times nothing would happen.

I did enjoy the puzzles.

I feel like a bit of a tit head saying this (because of my own game) but it needs polish!

You also have a copy of the game's rar within the game's rar! Are you trying to create a black hole?!

Xil:

I found the art style pretty cool, you're a good writer but the text seemed hard to read at times (though I am using a small notebook laptop).
The game seemed to play itself for the most part (always telling you what to do next), I would have liked a little challenge. I'll be sure to check out the next part when you release it!

Cassie:

For some reason I always feel a bit doubtful when I see pre rendered 3D, but when I play the game it works out really well. I thought your game was really cute! Somehow the characters seemed simultaneously creepy and cute looking, they kind of reminded me of stop motion puppets.
I really liked the design of the town!

I did not finish yet though:

Spoiler

I know he's ugly but don't know if that means he has a scar? He's blonde and blue eyed, wears chequered shirt. I have the gas in the bottle.

[close]

Slasher:

I'm always jealous of Slasher's output, classic Slasher art and humour. I can only wonder what it would have been like if you'd spent the whole month on it!

[Stupot]

One week left to vote, folks
We only have 3 so far.

Where are all those French voters?

[Riaise]

I've played them all, but I've only just got around to writing up my thoughts about each game, so here we go:

Jumpin' Jack: the bean powered kid by Slasher

I enjoyed this game, it was well put together and the puzzles all made sense. The story turned out to be quite sweet in the end, and there were some good references to the Stones. I would only say that perhaps there could have been slightly more explanation about the bean power iself, but for a game that was created as quickly as this one was, it is pretty amazing!

Memoriae by Xil

Wow, this is one stylish looking game! I love the stark graphics and the descriptions, making it almost a hybrid between a point and click and a text adventure. The story is really intriguing and my only complaint is that it ends far too soon! I'd be very interested in playing a full version of this game.

Out of Gas by Cassiebsg

This is a very cute game. I liked the main puzzle, but I did have very slight trouble finding all of the correct information (I guessed one of them and happened to be right). I really enjoyed the atmosphere, it felt like a proper bustling little town. A lovely little game which I very much enjoyed.

Rackham by Retro Wolf

Now, this is an original idea for the theme! I would never have thought of something like this. The gameplay does get a bit repetative after a while, but it is fun to play. It did take me a short while to realise that I had to actually plant the seeds and not just water the bare patches of earth, but that's probably just my own stupidity. I liked the graphics too, simple but in a very charming way. A nice little time-filler.

Jump! Jack! Flash! by Kumpel

I loved the opening to this game, it really sets up the theme nicely. The graphics are very nice, and the animations are all well done. The puzzles are logical, but I found that clicking some things (or using inventory items with certain things) would give no response, which made the game feel a bit unpolished (although I see that you've been working on it since). A really good effort, though, and a fun story!

[xil]

Hey everyone, thanks for the comments

I'd probably describe Memoriae as an interactive story, heavily inspired by games like Kentucky Route Zero. I think it will always be a bit like Marmite as to whether you enjoy that kind of thing but I'm glad people liked the graphics. I never intended to cliff-hanger it as well and do have a full story created, I just lacked the time unfortunately.

Bit of extra info about my game re the feedback:

Spoiler

Kumple: The whole experience would have become much more clear if I had had the time to complete it but I was never quite going for a cold-hearted killer vibe. Mandel got it pretty spot on - it's very much riffing off the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In that film (which is set in the near future) the act of removing memories is now just another legal everyday operation (think laser-eye surgery) that people can just go have with little to no bad side effects or risks.

The relative ease and the way removing a memory is almost a nonchalant act in the game's future should paint a stark contrast to how things are in present day for the player. I created a sort of memory removal company (kinda like a private detective) for my protagonist Jack and, in a cruel attempt to fool the player, I refer to him as a contract killer. However, I almost immediately let the player know that all is not as it seems with my initial dialogue choices as no one in their right mind would answer the phone 'Memoriae Contract Killings, how can I help?' if they truly were in the business of murdering people!

[close]

Onto the other games though! I've just about got through all the games so will give my thoughts.

Slasher

You already know this but you are an absolute machine when it comes to making games. Whilst obviously not the most polished you excel in something that I myself am pretty terrible at: finishing what you started! I really enjoyed the story and how in such a small game you managed to get a nice arc . I did get stuck quite a bit but I got there in the end!

Kumpel

The intro was absolutely fantastic! It's also really hard to pull off a night-time scene but you did that really well. It was a shame you didn't quite get all the interactions scripted in, but it didn't really spoil anything for me to be honest. I did fail miserably a few times at the maths bit though haha.

Cassie

Awesome game and my favourite of the lot! Your graphics are constantly improving and as others have stated I really like the charm of the characters. It would have been nice to have larger areas to click on the NPCs but it didn't get in the way of the nice story and puzzles.

Retro Wolf

It took me ages as well to realise that I had to plant the seeds before watering the ground haha but I soon had a tomato forest going on! You've done quite a few games I've seen on Game Jolt in this style and it really works. I also really appreciate this style achieved within AGS.

[Retro Wolf]

Thanks for playing everybody!

Fun facts:
-I originally set out to make a pure action game, until I drew a watering can!
-The AGS room is only 320 pixels wide, the player never actually moves!
-The plants are an array of enumerated types, I loop trough them to change their state and draw to the background surface.
-No AGS objects in the game room and only Jackie is an AGS character.
-For the robots I made a struct which is also an array, so I could scale up the amount of robots as desired. I just loop through the array to process and draw robots.

Ideas I had (no time):
-Your own robots so you could automate your farming.
-Milkable cows. (With fence posts to stop them wandering).
-Placeable turrets.
-The robots are supposed to attack plants not the player.
-Fully powered farts would explode your plants, and would go off on its own if you waited too long. Explosions would kill robots.
-A depressed friend you had to reassure "It's all right now...".
-The guy flying over was supposed to be an ex boyfriend. He's the one sending the robots (I never got round to timing his fly overs with robot spawning).

[Cassiebsg]

@Retro Wolf... oops, just saw that you're stuck?

Spoiler

Ah... but that's just a guy that looks like the real burglar! Pitty v1.0 is a bit buggy, I'm not sure if the burglar is actually circulating in that version. I've fix it in v1.1 plus a ton os other minor bugs, just waiting for Mandle to have some time and get me a revised proofreading before publishing v1.1. Anyway... Here's some hints if you still stuck:

Spoiler

Pay attention to the old lady and the gas guy, they actually give you hints, even if they are "generalizing"... embrace the hints if you can't find the burglar to take a good look at again.

Spoiler

And you don't have to get all right, 4 out 7 right is good enough.

[close]

[close]

[close]

I've still not finished Kumpel's... and there's no save function! Which means I'll have now to restart it for the 5th time tomorrow!

[Kumpel]

@Cassie: WHAT??? What is the problem with mine? is it a bug or are you stuck? Just ask me!

Sorry. Never implemented a save function before. I will do that for the polished version though. (Also I will customize the inventory bar)

But it's really not that long. I hope you can master it before the voting time is over

[Stupot]

@kumpel. I nearly had the same trouble as Cassie, but decided to leave the game running minimalised while I did some other bits, and after a while I tried again and finished the game. Nice stuff. Enjoyed the puzzles and whole scenario. Looking forward to the polished version.

I guess that's my little review of Kumpel's game, so consider this space reserves for my thoughts about the others (which I've yet to play, sorry)

[Cassiebsg]

Kumpel, problem is that I only play at night when I have time, and I turn off the computer when I go to bed... I know silly idea, but I do. Which means that sometimes I only get to play 5 minutes, before I'm too tired to continue. If I get stuck and can't save, just means I need to start over.

Spoiler

Besides, you locked the cursor on the gas GUI, which means I wasn't able to exit. 2 of the "quits" was just me trying to exit it. And one time I was looking for a menu or a save, so I pressed all keys starting Esc and then hit F9 and it restarted!

PS - Implementing a 1 save slot, like I did, took me less than 5 minutes!

[close]

[Gurok]

Thank you to all entrants for making this a really great MAGS! I have voted, and it was tough. There were three that were pretty inseparable for me. Anyway, here are my reviews:

Out of Gas by Cassiebsg

I loved this game. To me, it felt like playing a Nintendo game or the Sims or something. Just had the right atmosphere to it. There were so many little goings-on in the city that it seemed full of life. It was a bit hard to gather all of the clues for the thief, and some positive reinforcements upon correct guesses would've been appreciated. I also think he's the most well-mannered thief I've ever met. He always took the time of day to at least say a few words while he was on the run. I also like that there was a character in the city who looked almost EXACTLY like the thief. Finally, the car models were very cute, with tiny little wheels. Lovely.

Jump! Jack! Flash! by Kumpel

This game's introduction set the mood really well. It felt MOVIE LIKE (great success). There was some great characterisation in the game too. "Metres, huh?" -- I really liked that line and it said so much about the guy's attitude by saying so little. The litre/gallon maths puzzle was easily the best puzzle of this MAGS (and I'm not just saying that because I got it first time). I thought the plot twist was fantastic, and left me wondering why a criminal would lie around licking car batteries all day. Lastly, I wanted to see inside the service station and I wanted to know what happened to Louise (thought there might be some resolution to that). Stuff like that is the mark of good storytelling. It got me intrigued and invested in the game world. Good job.

Oh, I have to mention this. The main character talks about how he had "wild intercourse" in his car. That actually made me chuckle a bit because it just sounds so artificial. Most people would just say "sex". Please don't change it though.

Jumpin' Jack: the bean powered kid by Slasher

Slasher's games are always really well told. Slasher, you've played to your strengths here by keeping the story simple and framing it expertly. I found it very easy to understand. You established things really well. There was no nonsense and very little setup required. Just clear heroes, villains, machinations and action! The game would've benefited from additional proofreading, but the story shone through.

The characters were hilariously drawn. I loved their faces! Bean-powered "kid" might be a bit of stretch. I thought they might be secondary school students or something, but honestly, Jack's frame was about the size of a grown man. Still, made it very funny. Reminded me of those Tim and Eric sketches where they dress up like little boys Also, admittedly, it was toilet humour, but the sense of urgency around Larry's constant flatulence was just a tiny bit amusing.

I noticed a Rolling Stones reference too. That was nice.

Rackham by Retro Wolf

I would've liked to be able to use the IBS to jump aboard the ship. I actually had no idea what purpose the ship served. I never got to finish this, but it just seemed to be wave after wave of robot aliens with no end in sight. Was planting stuff supposed to help me? It seemed like I only got cash from shooting things, not growing things. Pretty cool how you could plant a tap!

I liked this as a change of pace from the other adventure titles. Pretty good.

Memoriae by xil

Some of the artwork in this was really well drawn. The intro had me drawn in, but the walls of text were off-putting. It's not that I don't like reading (I do), but the weird choice of font, combined with the lack of integration left me wanting to skip most of the dialogue. The game would've benefited from more showing, not telling. Even something as simple as speech-bubble conversations with the characters would've helped. I didn't like the way it read like a script.

I liked his job as a hired memory eraser. It did well to stick to the theme too, with Jack and references to gas. I thought the ending was pretty abrupt. I think you did well to incorporate so many well-drawn screens in such a short time period. Good stuff.

[Cassiebsg]

Jump! Jack! Flash! by Kumpel
Loved almost everything about this game!
Cinematic intro! Great sprites, good story! Fully packed with crazy puzzles!
The points that track a bit down:

Spoiler

As mentioned before: No Save, locking the mouse for the gas pump GUI (maybe I could have canceled in the red button? I panicked and never tried it! ). And some bugs, that made the game in a funny way not intended of suited. Like the character becomes tiny when walking behind the car, he losses tint when talking to Louise. Fix these are it's a great game! My favorite of the lot!

[close]

Jumpin' Jack: the bean powered kid by Slasher
Great little game to get one into the action! Simple yet effective puzzles, and loved the story.
I'm not much into fart jokes, and being stuck on the first screen for a while was starting to annoy me. Remaining of the game went smooth!
And yes, your plan worked! If you hadn't done yours in 7 days, I would not have even tried to make mine!
So thanks for the inspiration and challenge!

Memoriae by xil

Love the graphics! Can't say it enough times! And lovely interface!
That said, I didn't actually felt like the game started, and then it was over.
As for the rest, I agree with Gurok, too much text that's hard to read for my like.

Rackham by Retro Wolf

Ahmmm... I guess this type of games are just not me.
It has great potential to be rather addictive game, but I found the controls hard to work out. And for some odd reason you decided the normal sprite that shoots laser would not have anything on her, which made me loop through countless times. Need a lot of polish, if I'm going t play it again.
Lovely graphics though!
In other words: I suck at this type of games!

[Stupot]

Voting has finished and the results are as follows:

• Rackham by Retro Wolf - 0 votes
• Jumpin'Jack by Slasher - 0 votes
• Memoriae by Xil - 1 vote
• Jump! Jack! Flash! by Kumpel - 4 votes
• Out of Gas by Cassiebsg - 8 votes

Well done Cassie. Victory is yours! You will be contacted soon about choosing a topic for July.
Thanks to all the participants and voters.

[Kumpel]

Congrats Cassie!!!



You so deserved it! It simply was (almost) flawlessly programmed, very well designed and fun to play - all wrapped in 100% eye candy. Therefore, without a doubt, the best product of this month

These bugs broke my neck, I guess. Thanks for the four people who voted in my favour though!
I am really glad, you liked my first ever released quick shot adventure game that much, to give me your vote.

Be sure...

*humming the Terminator tune*

I WILL BE BACK!
Jump! Jack! Flash! 2.0 is coming soon with a slightly extended (which means properly concluded) story, a save function (thank god!), a custom inventory bar and a nice little main menu...

[Mandle]

• Mamoriae by Xil - 1 vote

You would think a breast simulator would have gotten more votes!

CONGRATZ TO CASSIE!!! A well deserved win indeed!

[xil]

• Mamoriae by Xil - 1 vote

You would think a breast simulator would have gotten more votes!

Haha! (noted as well )

Congrats to everyone who took part and congrats to Cassie, a well deserved win!