MAGS July “The Bride” (CLOSED)

[Stupot]

The Bride
Topic set by: FormosaFalanster
Deadline: July 31st

The Bride- She can be the playable character, or a secondary character, or the antagonist, or the damsel in distress, or the heroine, happy or not, young or not, but she's the bride! Design a game of any kind in which the imagery of a woman in a wedding dress appears, use it as an inspiration for a universe, a story, an intrigue, an adventure, an investigation, an emotional story, whatever you fancy, as long as she appears in it: the bride!








What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the guidelines set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you have bad art skills, use it as a chance to do some graphic work. If you're sub-standard at coding, use it as a chance to give scripting a go. Ultimately, people will vote for the most enjoyable entry.

Rules
Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualize your game following the month's criteria (see above). Second, create your game fuelled only by coffee. Finally, post your game in this thread, including:

* A working download link
* The title of your game
* A suitable in-game screenshot

At the end of the month, voting will begin, usually lasting for fourteen days, and the winner chooses the next month's theme.

Remember that this is a challenge to see what you can do in a month, so any tinkering you do after that, including fixing minor glitches, is against the spirit of the competition. The exception to this is that you may go in and fix major, game-breaking bugs only during voting. We want you to have a game that voters can actually play and that runs on their machines.

So to reiterate, during the voting period fixing major, game-breaking bugs is okay, fixing minor glitches or making cosmetic changes is cheating.

Tips
Here are some ways to make sure you have a game to submit at the end of the month:
* Make a tiny game. Plan small, then cut it in half. Find shortcuts (e.g. if making walkcycles is time-consuming, make the characters static or have it in the first person).
* Plan to have your game playable and submittable with a week to spare. This way you have a week to fix bugs, add some flourishes and maybe even get someone to test it.
* Plan to submit it a day or so early. This way, if there are any technical issues with uploading, they can be sorted out in time.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove has something you can use.
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Slasher]

Aww. we could have fun with this topic 

[VampireWombat]

Hmm. I'll see if I can come up with an idea.

[Stupot]

Anyone else in?

[fernewelten]

Anyone else in?

I might be in. At the moment, I'm treating the jam motto as an exercise for asset drawing practice. I might join if I can come up with decent puzzles.

[Mandle]

Awwww... no Bride Of Frankenstein in the images? Feels like a missed opportunity.

[Slasher]

Awwww... no Bride Of Frankenstein in the images? Feels like a missed opportunity.

Poor Frankie's a bachelor 

[fernewelten]

Awwww... no Bride Of Frankenstein in the images?

Would this lady do? I think I might call her Lady Anemone. What do you think of her?

[Mandle]

Awwww... no Bride Of Frankenstein in the images? Feels like a missed opportunity.

Poor Frankie's a bachelor 

Hey man, glad to see you still with us you old fart.

[fernewelten]

I think I might call her Lady Anemone. What do you think of her?

Meet Larry and Randy, Lady Anemone's shoes:

[fernewelten]

So here's a (more or less unwilling) groom.

If only this process wasn't that slow! I wish I could get faster at this.

[fernewelten]

(Prospective) groom's bedroom

[fernewelten]

Hall (still b/w).
This might become a "map" type of room, in first-person perspective where the doors are clickable and move Ego to the respective room.

[Pax Animo]

Hall (still b/w).
This might become a "map" type of room, in first-person perspective where the doors are clickable and move Ego to the respective room.

Reminded me of Mario 64's main hall.

[Slasher]

Awwww... no Bride Of Frankenstein in the images? Feels like a missed opportunity.

Poor Frankie's a bachelor 

Hey man, glad to see you still with us you old fart.

Yes, I'm still here, thank god...

They say I might as well face the truth
That I'm just too long in the tooth
Oh I'm an O.A.P. and weak-kneed
But I have not yet quite gone to seed

I may be over the hill now that I have retired
Fading away but I'm not yet expired
Clapped out, rundown, too old to save
One foot in the grave..... Well, almost....

I am finding it hard work now and I may lose a couple of weeks but I will try to complete a game on time...

Take it easy Mandle....

Nice idea fernewelten....

Good luck to everyone 

[Mandle]

Hall (still b/w).
This might become a "map" type of room, in first-person perspective where the doors are clickable and move Ego to the respective room.

Looks like a statue belongs on the landing of the stairs.

[fernewelten]

Looks like a statue belongs on the landing of the stairs.

Good idea! I'll see what I can come up with.

[Mandle]

Looks like a statue belongs on the landing of the stairs.

Good idea! I'll see what I can come up with.

Or a fountain if the house owners are of the gaudy taste.

A waterfall and Koi pond if they are more new-age.

[Stupot]

How are things looking, folks?

[fernewelten]

FINALLY got the turnarounds and walkcycles for the three protagonists (Lady Anemone, Count Bumbley and Lady Anemone's pair of shoes Larry and Randy).

I'll probably need to reduce scope ...

[fernewelten]

Here's the background music to the groom's bedroom:

My keyboard is geared for dance music: swing, trance, ballroom etc.. So I didn't find it easy to make it play some likeness to chamber music. I suppose I could have done away with the rhythm and chord generator altogether and simply played the keyboard like a piano, with some baroque sheet music. If I were a competent piano player. But I'm not, I dropped out of piano lessons at age fifteen.

[fernewelten]

Don't make Lady Anemone cross! 

Here's Vexed Lady Anemone's theme:

[FormosaFalanster]

Wow, even original music! Great 

[fernewelten]

Remember Larry and Randy?


They need a theme, too, and here it is!

[heltenjon]

Cool! Vexed Anemone's theme sounds inspired by Ravel's Bolero. It will be fun to see how you integrate these themes in the game.

[fernewelten]

I need to fine-tune the tune tempos.

[Mandle]

Loving that theme music!!! I'm such a fan of this kind of old-timey coquettish music!

[fernewelten]

Put in the starting cutscene yesterday night.

[fernewelten]

Filled in lots and lots of hotspot and object events.

[fernewelten]

So I'm in the testing phase, and I can probably present a game for you: “Castle Escape”.

It's become a one-roomer, so sadly, no hall yet. (Perhaps in another chapter of that story.)
Stay tuned ...

For a start, here's a screenshot:

[Stupot]

I’m going to be out of commission tomorrow, so you have a de facto 24 hour extension if anyone needs it.

[FormosaFalanster]

So I'm in the testing phase, and I can probably present a game for you: “Castle Escape”.

It's become a one-roomer, so sadly, no hall yet. (Perhaps in another chapter of that story.)
Stay tuned ...

For a start, here's a screenshot:

I'm happy to see someone did something with that theme

[fernewelten]

So I'd like to proudly present, as an entry for MAGS July 2021:

Castle Escape: Chapter 1

Count Bumbley is a brave chap that is living in a castle. One day, his girlfriend of two years is springing a little surprise on him ... and he must do something fast to prevent an imminent catastrophe from happening.

Help Bumbley save his life ... or at least life as he knows it!

Standard BASS interface (left-click: interact, right-click: Examine).
Get the inventory via the top-left  "hamburger" icon or by hitting "i".

Get the game here:

• for Windows
• for Linux (untested)

There are bound to still be rough edges, sorry about that.

I haven't had the time to do a 'Credits' room, but the upshot is, this has been a lone ride.

[heltenjon]

These shoes are made for talking... 

Very funny so far, but I haven't managed to solve it on my two first goes. I'll have to ponder it overnight.

[fernewelten]

About the shoes puzzle ... here's a little tip that may help:

When the conversation subject starts touching bribes trades presents...

Spoiler

the shoes start to obsess on one specific word in their replies ...

[close]

These options are among the ones that stay turned on (if I haven't made a coding mistake) and so are ready for replay.

[heltenjon]

So I've noticed. 

[Shadow1000]

These shoes are made for talking... 

Very funny so far, but I haven't managed to solve it on my two first goes. I'll have to ponder it overnight.

Same here. I spent about 40 minutes and can't find anything to do other than look at things,

Spoiler

get a book that you can't read, and move a nighttable around

[close]

. I assume there's more to it?

[fernewelten]

I don't know exactly where you're stuck.

If you've retrieved the alarm clock,

Spoiler

either interact with the door or use the alarm clock on the door.

[close]

If you have found out what the shoes want

I thing I've made a mistake here. I should have put better signposting in a specific hotspot. As it is, you always get the same reaction even when you've made progress which is bad.

So here goes:

Spoiler

If you examine some things, specific details will only become apparent if you are really near to them

[close]

Spoiler

Examine under the canopy when standing on the nighttable

[close]

Spoiler

Anemone has locked the wardrope, but perhaps there's something important inside?

[close]

[heltenjon]

Shadow1000:

I assume you haven't found the alarm clock.

Spoiler

Check all the hotspots in and surrounding the bed.

[close]

Spoiler

This book is judged by its cover. It's a _big_ book.

[close]

[heltenjon]

I'm stuck on the shoes puzzle. I've exhausted the dialogue, and the shoes basically tell me

Spoiler

that they want to be polished.

[close]

This may mean either

Spoiler

that I'm supposed to polish them, for instance by rubbing them with the curtain, bedcover or pillow (annoying that I can't do that),

[close]

or perhaps

Spoiler

that I'm supposed to make them dirty first, in order to make them need polishing. There's dust under the bed and white painting scraps on the top of the bed, but I can't kick the shoes underneath the bed.

[close]

Another idea (in order to give you some feedback about play progression) that doesn't fit with the hints in the dialogue, is that

Spoiler

I could simply jump down on the shoes from the top of the nightstand.

[close]

I had already

Spoiler

examined the canopy and discovered the need for brushes. This didn't feel like any progress until you hinted about it, because the count also said he had no talent.

[close]

The wardrobe

Spoiler

is locked. He says he's such a pushover, so I guess I could interpret that as a hint to push it over, however, I haven't found a way to do that.

[close]

I don't like that there are hotspots with the same name, like on the nightstand. I don't know if this is also the case other places, but I hope not.

It annoys me a bit that I can't look in the bowl or open the nightstand

Spoiler

perhaps to polish the shoes with a dirty sock?

[close]

, but I think that's mostly because I'm stuck.

I hope it's not a case of

Spoiler

choosing the right dialogue options in order, because I can't find any hints about any set order.

[close]

Help is appreciated. Perhaps we ought to open a hint thread instead?

[fernewelten]

I'm stuck on the shoes puzzle. I've exhausted the dialogue, and the shoes basically tell me

Spoiler

that they want to be polished.

[close]

You're n-e-a-r-l-y there!
But it seemingly isn't clear that a substantive is needed. I'd better rephrase the dialog option then. Would the following work better?

Code: ags

player: "I could find you a present! What do you say to the following item:"
    String answer = Game.InputBox("!My offer:"); 

Any answer for "present" will work

Spoiler

that contains "shoe polish" or for that matter, "polish" in any (upper or lower) casing.

[close]

[heltenjon]

My problem was that

Spoiler

The dialogue box wasn't showing. I didn't know that I could type anything. This ought to be inside a square, I think.

[close]

[fernewelten]

My problem was that

Spoiler

The dialogue box wasn't showing. I didn't know that I could type anything. This ought to be inside a square, I think.

[close]

In my opinion, that's more of a bug in the AGS than a coding error: I am using the command "Game.Inputbox()" and that should show the box no matter what. If there is a way to reproduce the error, we might report it. I've had no luck reproducing it on my system.

[Shadow1000]

I don't know exactly where you're stuck.

So far the only progress I've made in the game is to

Spoiler

find a book, move the nighttable around, and turn on and off the lightswitch

[close]

. I've tried interacting with each hotspot (there are actually a LOT of them for one room) and using the one inventory item on them and I don't see any way to progress.

So here goes:

Spoiler

If you examine some things, specific details will only become apparent if you are really near to them

[close]

Spoiler

Examine under the canopy when standing on the nighttable

[close]

It says something about

Spoiler

tasteful nudes. This is true when the nighttable is on the far right or middle position, with the lights on or off

[close]

Am I missing something?

[Shadow1000]

Shadow1000:

I assume you haven't found the alarm clock.

Spoiler

Check all the hotspots in and surrounding the bed.

[close]

I am pretty confident I've done that.

Spoiler

This book is judged by its cover. It's a _big_ book.

[close]

Spoiler

the only book I've found is Surviving in the Jungle. I've really tried using it on everything but I've made no progress in this game

[close]

[fernewelten]

This might be a left-click / right-click issue. In order to find the alarm clock, I've coded that

Spoiler

Bumbly must EXAMINE (right-click on) the spot under the bed.

INTERACTING (left-click) won't work (Bumbley will think that you want him to dust there and won't see the point of that)
USING INVENTORY won't work either without having examined the spot first (Bumbley will think that you want to deposit the book there for bedtime reading).

[close]

[Shadow1000]

This might be a left-click / right-click issue. In order to find the alarm clock, I've coded that

Spoiler

Bumbly must EXAMINE (right-click on) the spot under the bed.

INTERACTING (left-click) won't work (Bumbley will think that you want him to dust there and won't see the point of that)
USING INVENTORY won't work either without having examined the spot first (Bumbley will think that you want to deposit the book there for bedtime reading).

[close]

I seem to have missed that. Thank you!

I am confused about your first suggestion of

Spoiler

standing on the nighttable and looking under the canopy

[close]

How does that participate in the solution...?

Spoiler

is there any way to read the book?

[close]

[fernewelten]

I am confused about your first suggestion of

Spoiler

standing on the nighttable and looking under the canopy

[close]

How does that participate in the solution...?

This will become important when Lady Anemone has got her alarm clock.

Spoiler

Bumbley will find himself imprisoned in his own bedroom. So now he must somehow sway his captors. It may be called, "freedom", but it isn't free of charge...

[close]

[heltenjon]

My problem was that

Spoiler

The dialogue box wasn't showing. I didn't know that I could type anything. This ought to be inside a square, I think.

[close]

In my opinion, that's more of a bug in the AGS than a coding error: I am using the command "Game.Inputbox()" and that should show the box no matter what. If there is a way to reproduce the error, we might report it. I've had no luck reproducing it on my system.

How is the input box supposed to look? It might be some setup of mine that's the culprit here. EDIT: The Save/Load commands doesn't match with the squares on my screen either. I suppose they do on yours.

There's one leap of logic that escapes me:

Spoiler

After striking a deal, Bumbley will suddenly remove the curtain. Perhaps he could say something in the camera to make the player know that from now on, something will be different? I don't entirely get why he won't even check for curtain parts earlier.

[close]

Other than that: Great humour and funny characters that I'd love to see more of. The musical themes work very well! And we get right from the start that Bumbley will understand significantly less than the player, that's the deal here. The movement of the shoes are very "alive"!

[fernewelten]

How is the input box supposed to look?

Here's a screenshot of my setup:


Yes, this is u-g-l-y and a custom GUI would look much nicer. But there's a very good reason to prefer the humble Game.InputBox() in a game jam context: AGS doesn't have the concept of a "modal" GUI. As soon as you put up your own GUI, you break up your program flow very drastically and are saddled with lots of gratuitous code ugliness.

For instance, here in the current example, I'm in the middle of an AGS 'dialog'. I can EITHER  do String answer = Game.Inputbox(); and continue with processing answer at once. That's all I need. answer is a local variable, and when I've done with it, it will go away automatically.

OR, the alternative is to design a custom GUI, which is time-consuming. Then I need to do SomeGui.Visible = true; into my code and exit out of the AGS 'dialog' completely at this point. Control will continue at a completely different place in code (i.e, with the event handler of the OK button of the GUI), so the context of where I came from is unavailable.  In order to get at the answer and process it, I will have to use an ugly global variable (probably a text field of that GUI). That variable will never go away, and remnants from old answers in it can wreak havoc when I'm not careful. When I happen to call that custom GUI several times from different places, then the program flow will always end up at the same place, (i.e., in the exact same button event handler), no matter where the logic has come from, so I have to resort to very ugly kludges to keep the different control flows apart. ...

,,, well I'd better stop with my ranting right now. You get the picture. The point is, in a jam context where you're stressed for time, the lowly Game.InputBox is far superior to custom GUIs, for all its ugliness. 

[heltenjon]

Rant received and understood. I totally get that there's no time to do a GUI for such a thing in a MAGS. Your screen looks exactly like mine, so I guess I can delete all those screenshots I just made.  Though it's no fault of yours, I failed to understand that this was a box for typing, probably because the bottom line/cursor is invisible. Somehow, I thought that this box would fill up with items I could offer the shoes after gathering them. User error. 

But I agree. If there is an easy way to make this command show the entire box (with air around it) in an update, this would probably make life easier in such cases as this. On the other hand, not many games use typing.

[fernewelten]

I _think_ there's a way to get all of the InputBox input to show: Namely, by configuring a really tiny font directly before calling Game.InputBox() and restoring the original configuration directly after.

I'll have to look up the details. If I remember correctly, you need to configure some specific font number (might be the font #1) or the font used for Dialog() commands or some such ... 

That shouldn't be too hard to put in and make the Shoes puzzle much more playable.

[Stupot]

Sorry for the delay.
From what I can see, Castle Escape: Chapter 1 by Fernewelten is the only entry, and therefore the winner. Well done for completing your entry, Ferne. I'll be in charge touch in due course, about choosing a topic for September.

[Shadow1000]

I finished the game!

- Graphics are pleasant to look at, as always.
- Extra points for a creative story
- Definitely meets the theme for the competition.
- I think the strongest point is the personalities of the characters. Both COMPLETE opposites and I felt really bad for him being forced to marry a complete b---h like her...
- It took some time and help to get into it, but some of the puzzles were fun! There is certainly a lot to do in a one-roomer game like this!

Any lack of polish (no pun intended here) in the design is completely understandable considering the time constraint of completing the game by month-end.

Overall, well done. Something tells me that this game will win this month's MAGS...

[fernewelten]

I _think_ there's a way to get all of the InputBox input to show: Namely, by configuring a really tiny font directly before calling Game.InputBox() and restoring the original configuration directly after.

I've found it. Include some tiny (for a 720p game) font and name it, e.g., eFontTiny. Do

Code: ags

FontType current_font = Game.NormalFont;
Game.NormalFont = eFontTiny;
String answer = Game.InputBox();
Game.NormalFont = current_font;

The input box won't get any bigger and will stay just as ugly, but the text that is input now fits into its area, and the button texts aren't off.

In principle, that would work with SaveGame() and RestoreGame(), too. But there's no good place to restore Game.NormalFont to what it was. These windows are always displayed after the end of the current control flow no matter where the corresponding functions have been called.


Edit: Implemented this in Castle escape; 12 pt seems to work best with the font
Also reworded the "Present" question.