Magenta IN SPACE

[EmmaGundersen]

Magenta IN SPACE!

Genre: Sci-fi

Story:
You are the test pilot for an experimental Faster-Than-Light space ship. You are stranded on an alien planet after the ship's power source malfunctions, and in order to return home, you are forced to steal a mystical orb from an ancient temple, as it is capable of generating more than enough power for your ship.
There's just one problem: when you remove the orb, a lovecraftian eyeball Star-Creature is released from the sun, where it was apparently being held captive! 
It is up to you to save the solar system by visiting each of its five planets and putting their temples back into alignment so that the Star-Creature can be sealed away again - before it consumes the planets and destroys your home!

Structure:
Chapter 1 - centers around being stranded on Planet 1 and stealing the orb.
Chapter 2 - Magenta returns to her home planet (Planet 2)

Spoiler

but is forced to steal her space ship and escape the planet when the Elder Council refuses to commit to stopping the Star Creature

[close]

Chapter 3 - Non-linear: Magenta travels around Planets 3-5 in order to restore the balance in those temples. Each planets puzzle chain is intended to intersect with the other two, similar to the Tri-Island area from MI2. After achieving a certain level of progress on a planet, however, you enter a planet "finale" state meaning you cannot leave until the temple is restored.
Chapter 4 -

Spoiler

Magenta returns to her home planet to knock some sense into the Elder Council after they have been corrupted by the Star Creature's influence / restoring the Planet 2 temple

[close]

Chapter 5 -

Spoiler

Magenta returns the orb to Planet 1. Some sort of climax occurs.

[close]

Background:
I collaborated with a friend of mine to create an early version of Chapter 1 for AdvJam2023. This version can be played here. For the completed game, Chapter 1 will be somewhat expanded with extra rooms + updated art and new animations.
I took a break from working on Magenta after the summer of 2023, but having completed my other game Skrex Banmarist and the Kasalowan Conspiracy
I have recently (winter 2024-25) returned to it, now working on it solo in my free time.

Screenshots:

Magenta on the jungle planet Teccailiv (Planet 1)

One of the new Teccailiv rooms

Nothing bad could come of removing the glowing green orb!

The sun is now an eyeball

The Temple on Armillaria (Planet 2)

Planet 2 Temple, Atrium

Elder Muscaria's cottage

Development Progress: (2025-01-21)
Story: 90%
Puzzles: 50%
Scripting: 30%
Graphics: 40% (Planet 1 and 2 almost fully complete)
Sound/Music: 5%

Expected completion date: TBA

[EmmaGundersen]

Quick update for the start of April:

I've not been able to work on the game for most of March but Chapter 2 is fully done (barring bug fixes and minor animations); the new additions to Chapter 1 are almost done; I have made some more character animations for Magenta (of the type that can be used at multiple points); I have been in talks with a composer for the soundtrack; and I have started on the art for the remaining three planets, all of which will be a part of Chapter 3 (as noted above). Beyond that I have mainly been working on the script in order to create a more effective "skeleton" for the game, which should speed up the rest of development.

Since I want each of the planets to have a unique look, I asked fellow AGS creator Falsely
to do some concept art for the planet Mastea, a bit of which I will share below (plus the first (more or less) finished screen of that planet, based on one of the concept sketches):





As I am still experimenting with styles for the other two planets I won't share any screenshots yet of those, but a little bit of progress is being made across the board.


Development Progress:
Story: 99%
Puzzles: 60%
Scripting: 35%
Graphics: 40+% (Planet 1 and 2 fully complete)
Sound/Music: 6%

Expected completion date: TBA

[Falsely]

I take worldbuilding very seriously. That's why all my game design documents are in Comic Sans MS.

Good luck with development - I'm excited to see all these planets in action!

[CaptainD]

Looks like this will be fun and a nice improvement on Skrex Banmarist and the Kasalowan Conspiracy (which was also pretty fun) - hope development goes well.

[EmmaGundersen]

Looks like this will be fun and a nice improvement on Skrex Banmarist and the Kasalowan Conspiracy (which was also pretty fun) - hope development goes well.

Thank you! I hope so too. And yes, Skrex was a major learning experience for me, I've improved a lot on probably all areas since starting it :-)