MAGS June "Neglected Historical Eras" (RESULTS)

[Stupot]

How's progress? A little under 48 hours remaining. Start getting your ribbons and bows out.

In the last push... (I'm actually coding with my other hand while typing this, and drawing graphics with my foot)

Hehe, I dread to think what you're using to stir your tea :-)

[Cassiebsg]

His nose?

[Mandle]

Naw...I was using that dangly thing men have in the middle of their body:

Spoiler

My necktie (sorry...corny old Japanese joke...)

[close]

I'm out of gas for today...must sleep...

But I have a "playable" version of the game which has been sent off to a few "tester" if they are able to help out in the next 24 hours or so...If not, then that's all cool too...

Hopefully I can get the last bells and whistles chucked in tomorrow to make the game actually understandable and finish off the ending...or if not, then I will just release a partially incomplete version with apologies...for now...

G'night!

[Cassiebsg]

My men were lost at sea...

[Blondbraid]

Wow, and to think that I made my game with the mouse in one hand and my head leaning firmly on the other hand. I didn't even start working until halfway into the month!
But then again, looking on the final result it's about ten minutes of playtime, and it feels less like a historical courtroom drama and more like a fever-dream with popes in it than I originally intended.

Anyway, my game is complete now and I have put it up for all to play, and it will be fun to see your opinions on it!
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53697.new#new

[CaptainD]

My men were lost at sea...

I ran out of grog... although maybe my crew already had too much?!




Also, congrats Blondbraind for completing your game!

[Mandle]

I ran out of grog... although maybe my crew already had too much?!

Looks like the Captain himself had a bit too much too...You're supposed to hang a left at Cuba!!!

[Mandle]

Ducking in at the last moment, and much too much out of gas to provide any further screenies, but here is my entry:

Make of it what you may:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME

Not even sure if everything works right or not...

I will be testing it myself tomorrow, but for now I must collapse into bed...

Goodnight AGS...

EDIT:

Yeah, I couldn't sleep without playing through the game and making sure it was playable to the end...

Here is a screenie as proof that the historical four voyages of Columbus are possible at least...



The fictional FIFTH voyage is up to you, the player, to reveal however...

EDIT:

Oh...It seems I forgot to change the credits to include the names of my last-minute testers: CaptainD and Cassiebsg...I will rectify this heinous oversight ASAP...

I also forgot to mention anywhere in the "Game Info" that the game is autosaved every time you return to port (the shop), and reloads on the shop menu when you select "Load Game" from the title screen menu. So you should never have to redo a voyage once it is finished, unless you wish to start a new game and make different buying choices along the way...

I'm really interested to see if anyone can complete the game...I can...But I'm a bit of a pro at it by now after all my own hours upon hours of testing...

[Blondbraid]

Nice game Mandle!
It's a great idea and I loved the slapstick humor in all the sound effects and voice-acting as well as driving in circles,
it reminds me of the scene in Borat where he flies to America and we see the weird path he takes...

Though I must say the endless spinning text on the title screen left me a little sea-sick.

[Mandle]

Nice game Mandle!
It's a great idea and I loved the slapstick humor in all the sound effects and voice-acting as well as driving in circles,
it reminds me of the scene in Borat where he flies to America and we see the weird path he takes...

Though I must say the endless spinning text on the title screen left me a little sea-sick.

Cheers for the good words! It was an insane rush to get the game "finished", including breaking it time and again at the last minute...

Any comparison to Borat can only be a good thing!

We have CaptainD (and his patient 5-year-old) to thank for the voice acting. He PM'd me asking if he could help with any sound effects and I immediately jumped on him to do the voice acting for the crew's varying moods...I love the voices, and always smile at the charm they add to what otherwise might have been a bit of a bland experience...

[Stupot]

The competition has now ended and voting is underway.
I hope I didn't miss anybody.

	Columbus Lander by Mandle
	The Cadaver Synod by Blondbraid
	Blackudder: To doubloon or not to doubloon by Slasher

Click on the game title to download.

Voting

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR VOTE
Send the title of your favourite game under the subject MAGS JUNE

Remember:
* try all the games before you vote
* vote only once
* vote for your favourite

Don't forget to rate and comment on the games' AGS entry page.

Voting Ends: July 14th

[Mandle]

After playing all the games:

I loved The Cadaver Synod for its graphical charm and its farcical representation of bureaucracy taken to new heights of insanity when deciding on matters that would affect the entire course of the future history of mankind...Much like what we are coincidentally seeing now in America and Britain (or...actually..."coincidentally" Blondbraid...did you actually have such a subtext in mind? If so then please submit a resume to the British parliment...I hear they are looking for smart people...)

But I must, however, vote for "Blackudder" for these reasons which I will copy/paste from another thread and then hide because spam:

Spoiler

I just finished playing and I must just say:

Trust a bloody old fart of a Brit to completely understand the comedy recipe of Blackadder!!!

The gameplay is good...I mean...don't get me wrong...

BUT!!! The script of the game so perfectly follows an episode of Blackadder that it SHOULD be an episode!!!

Except, this time, I wasn't just waiting to laugh at the:

SPOILER ALERT

Spoiler

Eventual and inescapable failure of the "cunning plan"...
NO! I was dreading it after all my hard work getting all those treasures!

[close]

It's a much different feeling when you are watching someone else being the comedic fallguy than when you yourself are being that fallguy...

I knew that the...

EXTREME SPOILER ALERT

Spoiler

boat was going to sink (well foreshadowed by the way, and in the vein of the show where Blackadder never listens to Baldrick's occasional gems of actual wisdom)

but I really was hoping that the comedy formula of the show was not going to be applied in just my special case...

And then it was...And I had a good laugh at my own expense...

[close]

Slasher (yeah, I'm never going to call you "Mystery Man"), you are a natural comedian: You understand very well the formula of comedy, and how it should be hokey and campy and hinky, and anything else with four letters ended with a "y"...

I have never failed to get a smile and a laugh out of whatever games you manage to pull out of your arse in a week or two...

Please...oh...please keep doing what you do!

[close]

And, after having resaid all that:

Blackudder just had a lot more to do for the player interactive-wise...Even if they were simple things like finding obvious objects on the screen...I always felt that I was involved in deciding what to do next...

So I guess I felt more immersion, and therefore just a very bit more fun because of that factor...

[Blondbraid]

I loved The Cadaver Synod for its graphical charm and its farcical representation of bureaucracy taken to new heights of insanity when deciding on matters that would affect the entire course of the future history of mankind...Much like what we are coincidentally seeing now in America and Britain (or...actually..."coincidentally" Blondbraid...did you actually have such a subtext in mind? If so then please submit a resume to the British parliment...I hear they are looking for smart people...)

With the new travel and passport rules, I'm not sure if they'll let me in...

But no, I started working on my game before the whole Brexit thing started, though I do think it's telling of our times if a parody of a trial that took place in the dark ages feels like contemporary satire.
As some dead guy once said, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I'm voting for Blackudder for similar reasons, as well as being a fan of Rowan Atkinson!

[Mandle]

But no, I started working on my game before the whole Brexit thing started, though I do think it's telling of our times if a parody of a trial that took place in the dark ages feels like contemporary satire.

[Miez]

Good turnout this time! Looking forward to playing the entries...

[Riaise]

Columbus Lander by Mandle:

I'll admit, I'm useless at games like this. I only got onto the second voyage. I found the controls a bit difficult at first, but it got a bit easier with some practise. It was interesting to follow the route of Columbus, but it would have been nice to have some labels on the map. Great work!

The Cadaver Synod by Blondbraid:

This is a great little history lesson! It's a very interesting idea, although a bit light on gameplay. The graphics are lovely and it's very well made for such a short space of time. A very charming little game.

Blackudder: To doubloon or not to doubloon by Slasher:

Wow, the humour is absolutely spot on in this game and the dialogue is incredibly true to the show. The controls are a little bit fiddly - I didn't notice at first that the cursor was changing colour, so using different icons, or perhaps just more distinct colours, might have worked better. The puzzles were good, so overall, well done!

[cat]

Great games! I enjoyed the games a lot and it was interesting to see, what everyone would come up with for the topic.

@PlayPretend I hope you will still finish your Edo game.

Columbus Lander by Mandle:
Interesting concept and quite educational (though I didn't manage to finish even the second journey but I'll continue trying)
Loved the voice acting!

Bonus points for the historic aspect.

The Cadaver Synod by Blondbraid:
What a weird story - you made me read the Wikipedia article about this, so thanks to you I learned something new!
The graphics are nice and the writing is good. On the other hand, there is not so much gameplay. Would any of the dialog options I choose make for a different outcome?

Bonus points for the historic aspect as well.

Blackudder: To doubloon or not to doubloon by Slasher:
This was just hilarious. I don't know Blackadder but this was still fun to play. The dialog was funny and the ship was an adventure gamer's heaven - so much stuff to pick up. And it is even put on a nice list (the money count made me crack up).

Looting the ship and the funny dialog made this the winner for me.

[Blondbraid]

On the other hand, there is not so much gameplay. Would any of the dialog options I choose make for a different outcome?

Well., there is one difference...

Spoiler

The dialogs will have different punchlines!

But otherwise, you can not affect the outcome of the trial and it always ends the same. Partially because I wanted to showcase the Kafkaesque absurdness of an historical mock-trial where the defendant was clearly judged beforehand,
and partially because I didn't have any time or ideas for implementing more non-linear gameplay.

[close]

Regardless it's fun to see that my game has taught players something about history, and it will certainly be exciting to see what the results of the vote will be!

[Slasher]

Spoiler

But otherwise, you can not affect the outcome of the trial and it always ends the same. Partially because I wanted to showcase the Kafkaesque absurdness of an historical mock-trial where the defendant was clearly judged beforehand,

[close]

Sounds like our Parliament

[Stupot]

oting has finished and the results are as follows:

• Columbus Lander by Mandle - 0 votes
• The a Cadaver Synod by Blondbraid - 4 votes
• Blackudder: to doubloon or ot to doubloon by Slasher - 6 votes

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