Topic: MAGS May "What are they doing in there?" (RESULT)

[Stupot]

Time to find out what you've all been doing in there all month.

Two games. Please vote using the poll above.

	A Suspicious Date by Artium/Tuathlait/Durq
	Cave of Avarice by Blondbraid, cat and Slasher

@VW You don't have to feel bad about competing against a group. That said, why don't you try putting together your own formidable team for next month :-)

[cat]

Looking forward to having a suspicious date

Since I feel horrible and there's no way what I can have finished can compete against games made by groups, I'm going to drop out and rest.

Please don't feel horrible - MAGS is a though thing to do, no matter if alone or in a team. Working in a team makes a few things easier like sharing the work and motivating each other (you don't want to be the one who fails the project), but there also have been fantastic one-man-shows. Last year's well deserved MAGGIES winner was made by just one person!
Just as Stupot said: form a team for next month!

[Slasher]

Thanks for your comments Kastchey...

VampireWombat... I have gone up against teams alone before and won.... Don't be put off by it.... Just do your best and believe in yourself

Slasher

[VampireWombat]

I guess there was misunderstanding in my wording. Sorry about that. The feeling horrible was because of a migraine/sinus headache hybrid with connected nausea.
The mention of teams was meant that the people who made the games this last month would have put actual effort into their games. And since I never found my groove, the only decent thing I had was some arcade cabinets and 3 decent looking sprites.
If only one game had been submitted, I was going to force myself to finish up with what little plot I had planned. But since a second one had been submitted, I felt it was better to lay down than to try to make a game that would just have a PTA meeting set in 1983 with talk about the evils possibly going on at a video arcade and then switch to the arcade where kids are just playing games.

And as for teams, unfortunately the last two times I tried working with others didn't work out so well...

[Retro Wolf]

Well done on the entries guys!

[Slasher]

A Suspicious Date
by Artium/Tuathlait/Durq

What a fun game...very enjoyable.

A little extra at the end would have not gone amiss...

Well done

[Shadow1000]

I'm pleased that we had some last minute entries this month!

My comments:

A Suspicious Date

Spoiler: ShowHide

As others have pointed out, I spent most of the playing time getting the hang of the interface. The end was predictable yet funny. I really like when people come up with a new way to design puzzles and game interfaces rather than using the traditional elements. Amazing how you can create a game with only one background! Of the two, this one met the theme of the month better in my opinion.

Cave of Avarice

Spoiler: ShowHide

I cannot believe that the graphics, puzzles, animations were put together in such a short time for this game! I knew the graphics would be outstanding when I saw Blondbraid's name on it. Sound effects, background sounds, you name it...very rare for a MAGS entry. Aptly named, this game was a pleasure to play. The puzzles were a good variety and well-designed but on the easier side. I had a laugh at the jumping puzzle. And lastly, a moral lesson at the end to round things up

My vote goes to

Spoiler: ShowHide

Cave of Avarice. I enjoyed it more overall.

[Blondbraid]

So I just played A Suspicious Date:

Spoiler: ShowHide

I personally found the story a bit too predictable and spotted the twist almost immediately, and by the end I felt more sad for the characters than amused by the mistake,
but all the same I liked the puzzles and it was great to use the mechanics to connect the clues in the receipt to things in the environment.

[VampireWombat]

I haven't been able to finish either game yet. I'm only able to figure out 4/5 of the clues with A Suspicious Date. I'm sure in hindsight it'll make sense what I'm doing wrong...

And I can't get Cave of Avarice to run at all. It crashes despite any of the changes I make to the settings. Any chance of getting a Linux version?

[cat]

And I can't get Cave of Avarice to run at all. It crashes despite any of the changes I make to the settings. Any chance of getting a Linux version?

It doesn't use any plugins, so I think it should work with Linux. I can build and upload a linux version in the evening.

[VampireWombat]

It doesn't use any plugins, so I think it should work with Linux. I can build and upload a linux version in the evening.

All I know is that I've tried like 15 different AGS games and Cave of Avarice is the only one that's given me any problems today. I just hoped a Linux version might fix whatever the problem is.

Spoiler: ShowHide

[cat]

I'm using a new AGS beta version and sadly there is no option to compile for Linux anymore. I posted in the thread of the beta:
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=57133.msg636606550#msg636606550

[VampireWombat]

Thanks for the effort. Maybe there's some issue because of it being the Beta. I guess I can try playing it on my laptop instead.

[cat]

The download mirror in the game database now provides a Linux version of the game.

[cat]

I returned from a suspicious date, and what shall I say - spot on regarding the topic!

Spoiler: ShowHide

I love the idea of the UI, using the receipt is so creative. The only problem is, that without the hint in this thread I wouldn't have figured out how to use it. Anyway, it was very clever but very short - it was over too soon, I would have loved to play another "level".

[selmiak]

I played them both and can only echo what cat said about the suspicious date, another level or even more would be cool, so it is very very short and has tricky controls. So my vote goes to the longer game with more exploration, Cave of Avarice.
Well done both teams!

[artium]

I played Cave of Avarice a while ago and finally found time to write a review:

Spoiler: ShowHide

The quality of the game is very high.  I enjoyed it very much. The graphics, story and puzzles are excellent.

The introduction was a little to long in my opinion. After a "cinematic" intro you had an in game one as well. Maybe it is me personally but I started to lose patience and was eager to start playing the game already.

The emotional first person intro was very immersive in my opinion.

Using the lantern in cave to reveal only part of it was cool idea. I think that this idea was under utilized. You could hide and object somewhere in the cave and turn it I to an exploration puzzle.

The crocodile puzzle was a good idea as well.

In the idol room I was expecting one of the idol to be different so I checked each one of them

The crack in the wall was a little hidden and took some time to find.

Overall, if someone told me this is a chapter in full featured commercial game, it would not surprise me.
You built the character well and this story could theoretically be expanded into a series of small advanture games or even a whole franchise.

[cat]

Thank you for the reviews so far!

Spoiler: ShowHide

About the puzzles being to easy: Slasher and I were "hired" by Blondbraid to design the puzzles - looks like we did our job only so-so, if they were too easy 
The maze puzzle was originally more complicated and I agree that using the lantern for a puzzle would have been a great idea. But you can do only so much within a month...

[Stupot]

Couple more days to vote.

[Stupot]

Well the votes are in and have been counted by our panel of experts. The winner is:

Cave of Avarice
by Blondbraid, cat and Slasher

Well done gang. You will be contacted soon about choosing a topic for July.

Commiserations to the other team.