MAGS February “It’s About Time” (RESULT)

[Stupot]

Topic: It’s About Time
Set by: OneDollar

The winner this month was Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos.

	Prep Time by heltonjon
	Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by Newwaveburritos
	Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten

This month the goal is to make a game that uses 'time' in some way. How you interpret this is up to you, but 'time' must be an important part of your game.

Some ideas to get you started...[/i]

• You're running late and have to find a way to make up time
• You play a superhero with time bending powers
• You're stuck in a Groundhog Day loop, looking for a way out
• A time machine sends you to the distant past or far-flung future
• There's an in-game timer, and the player's against the clock
• You visit the same location but at different times

Get your entries in quick, because time's running out...




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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[FanOfHumor]

I have a wonderfull idea around time but I will never do it. So instead of wasting an idea I will put it here for anyone who wants to make it.

A scene starts with an old man rocking back and forth in a rocking chair
a kid runs in curiously asking "Grandpa.Grandpa."what is it sonny?"grandpa replies. "What time is it?" The kid asks.
the old man takes out his pocketwatch and says what the time is.The kid asks excitedly"can I see the watch grandpa?"
"you mean may I see the watch"the old man corrects him.The kid asks again correcting his speech.the old man says"Allright but be cautious I've had that watch my entire life!"
he hands it to the kid and the kid drops it.Smash!!!"Ooops!"the kid says.A closeup of the watch reveals its handles spinning rapidly backwards.

"Look!its spinning backwards!" The kid exclaims.
the old man says"Stop telling me what's happening to the watch tell me what's happening to me!"
glowing lines spiral around him and he quickly de ages to a baby! The kid picks up the baby and carries him on the back of him.
The kid picks up the watch
The kid has to figure out how to fix the watch.
Unknown story ahead....
.....................
......................
......................
the watch is fixed and the old man(recently baby)becomes a middle aged man and all is well!THE END


I left the story bare so that anyone who uses this can use their own creativity.
If anyone wants to they can  use this and change it in anyway they like.

EDIT:It actually turns out I probably will be able to do this even with it being the 11th already.
I thought I couldn't make it in time because I am very slow at drawing but it turns out VampireWombat is going to help with the art.
DOUBLE EDIT:CANCELED

[cat]

That's a really cool topic and fitting as this is the shortest month of the year! (I do not have an idea yet and also don't have much time, though. Maybe if inspiration strikes for something simple...)

[brewton]

Stupot: I think I remember seeing MAGS on the list at https://itch.io/jams in the past. Is there any reason that it stopped showing there? Or was that another member doing it manually?

[fernewelten]

on the list at https://itch.io/jams

As far as I know, this list is for game jams hosted with itch, which MAGS isn't. However, I'm seeing MAGS regularly on indiegamejams.com. These jams aren't culled from the Internet automatically, so there must be some diligent and dutiful AGSer that takes the time to enter the MAGS of each month, each month. 👍🏼 

[brewton]

on the list at https://itch.io/jams

As far as I know, this list is for game jams hosted with itch, which MAGS isn't. However, I'm seeing MAGS regularly on indiegamejams.com. These jams aren't culled from the Internet automatically, so there must be some diligent and dutiful AGSer that takes the time to enter the MAGS of each month, each month. 👍🏼 

You're right, that's where I saw it. I forgot all about that site.

[VampireWombat]

I'm not to the point of making MAGS games again, but I have the time and could use some art practice. So if anyone needs graphics for a game, let me know.

[newwaveburritos]

Maybe against my better judgment given my available free time but I've been wanting to take a crack at a MAGS for a while and starting ten days into the shortest month feels pretty on brand for me.

[heltenjon]

I'm in with a joke game again, called Prep Time, which is basically a dialogue and some Batman memes. (Yeah, I promise to stop with the Batman jokes soon.)

I'm not to the point of making MAGS games again, but I have the time and could use some art practice. So if anyone needs graphics for a game, let me know.

That's very tempting, but I'm still learning scripting and so far, I'm sticking to 1st person. I fear I wouldn't be able to give your graphics justice in a 3rd person game...yet.  I'd be willing to help out with dialogues or something if someone else should need a hand, though.

[OneDollar]

Looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!

[heltenjon]

So, have you wondered how it is Batman spends his prep time? Peek behind the curtains in this joke game!

Prep Time

by heltenjon
Music by Eric Matyas
Graphics by various meme artists (I've attempted to credit them, but the origins aren't always easy to find.)



This is something in the middle ground between a joke game and a fan boy game. Not to be taken very seriously. Gameplay is entirely through dialogue.

Get it here: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2600-prep-time

[heltenjon]

Maybe against my better judgment given my available free time but I've been wanting to take a crack at a MAGS for a while and starting ten days into the shortest month feels pretty on brand for me.

How's progress?

[Stupot]

How are the entries coming along, guys?

Just a few days left.

[newwaveburritos]

It's too ambitious and in many places sloppy but it's (more or less) complete.  Probably a half an hour playthrough if you want to look at everything and take your time.  I'll upload it tonight, I think.  There's a bunch of little issues I want to fix but I think I should just let it go.  It doesn't need a custom icon, lol.  Full disclosure, I did already have two backgrounds that I shoehorned in to fit the narrative but everything else I made this month.  I probably spent about 100 hours on it altogether. Over 400 sprites in this one!

[newwaveburritos]

I guess it got a custom icon, lol.  Anyway you can find it here:

https://springstreetonline.itch.io/saturday-night-is-the-loneliest-night-of-the-week
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2604-saturday-night-is-the-loneliest-night-of-the-week/

[heltenjon]

Looks great! But you ought to put a zip file on itch for download. That's more convenient than four downloads, and it avoids the firewall triggers. My system had to be convinced about three of the four files that they were really safe.

[newwaveburritos]

Thanks for the heads up.  I fixed it and added the linux version.

[fernewelten]

I might be able to contribute this month, only there are family matters which have been taking a lot of time, so it mightn't be ready on midnight.

Wish me luck. 

[OneDollar]

Three (hopefully!) entries seems a good turnout for such a short month, good luck!

[fernewelten]

So, unfortunately a bit belated, I can present my adventure:

Castle Escape: Chapter 2

Count Bumbley had escaped his bedroom, where his love had imprisoned him in order to force him to marry her.(That was Chapter 1.) He's withdrawn into his study. But now he's in another pickle: How can he progress from there? The room seems to only have one door, and Lady Anemone is blocking that one. Perhaps a ghost can help...



Standard BASS interface: Right-click to examine things, left-click to interact with them. Get the menu via the "hamburger" button.

Sometimes you'll play the ghost, sometimes Count Bumbley. It's easy to recognize what's what: The ghost pointers are grey, and the ghost's world is slightly hazy.OTOH, the Bumbley cursors are coloured and the Bumbley world is clear.

Get the game here:

• for Windows
• for Linux (untested)

[fernewelten]

For context: I participated in a game jam some months ago. I was completely uninspired by the jam theme, and I never even got a story going. So in the end, I had to abandon the project.

On the other hand, I came up with lots of possibilities for this month's MAGS theme. So I decided on a complete rewrite, with a new story, completely new puzzles and new coding, all adapted to the subject of time and timeline. I've only recycled some visual and music assets that I had made for the old jam. And, of course, Count Bumbley and the shoes had already been drawn for Chapter 1.

This adventure has been written in AGS 4.0, using the new compiler. I thought it would be high time to have the courage of my convictions and to use the new compiler in a small production context. All in all, the compiler was up to the task.

Enjoy!

[Stupot]

Thanks for the entries guys. Some cool-looking stuff.
I'll rig up the voting soon, so get playing.

[Stupot]

Right'o. Sorry for the delay. It's about time to get the voting going.

Here are the games. Please vote using the poll above

	Prep Time by heltonjon
	Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by Newwaveburritos
	Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten

[Shadow1000]

Good turnout this month!

Here are my thoughts:

Prep Time by heltenjon

Spoiler

Game comes as advertised Completely dialogue based and some really cool batman graphics. Would possibly appeal to a diehard Batman fan. However, not much play value.

[close]

Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by Newwaveburritos

Spoiler

AMAZING game with a huge number of backgrounds and characters for a game created with a time crunch! I had a great experience playing and enjoyed the little story and had a lot of laughs. Weak on the puzzles but as I said, fun to play.

[close]

Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten

Spoiler

This is an excellent escape the room game. Very puzzle-heavy and continues the story where the last one left off. I found the puzzles to be right at that level where they are solvable but difficult enough to provide that challenge where you feel that satisfaction when you solve it.

Some notable features: two playable characters with different abilities; I liked the ghost's translucent effect and got a kick out of the part where he moves his head to the level of the action he is taking.

There are complete and detailed descriptions for almost EVERYTHING in the game and you can interact with MANY items that are not key elements of the game. This adds to the experience but may have overstepped the point where it's hard to know what locations or items participate in a puzzle or not. Some might find this to be attractive but I would have preferred less of it

[close]

My vote went to

Spoiler

Castle Escape. As with any game created under time-constraints, one challenge to the author is where to focus and designing and coding complex puzzles made the experience just so much better than a good graphic and story/joke experience

[close]

Awesome job!

[OneDollar]

My two cents:

Prep Time by heltenjon

Spoiler

As advertised it's a blend of joke game and fan boy game. Gameplay wise there's not a lot to do, just working through a conversation tree with (I think?) no real branching or possibility of failing. I'm not a huge Batman fan so I can't really comment on the fan boy side, but I know enough to get the joke.

[close]

Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos

Spoiler

This game has great atmosphere. The backgrounds are wonderful and there's loads of them (even if two were made outside the competition). The character art is also really good, and I love all the little touches you've added (e.g. death appearing in the graveyard, Nate casting long shadows when walking by the big windows, the extra animations for things like warming your hands on the fire and climbing on the train). The music fits well too, and it all combines to make an interesting and cohesive world that I wanted to explore. The story starts intriguingly, it shows you the aftermath of an event you're somehow responsible for and it seems like you're going to have work out what you did and put it right. But instead the rest of the game is chasing a clone from scene to scene. It was funny and I wasn't bored or anything, but for my taste I'd have liked some more story about how Nate listening to a tape led to evil clone wrecking a wedding party. Puzzles are mostly go to a location or talk to a person until the next scene happens. It gives the game more of an interactive story feel, though maybe some more puzzles would have balanced out the minimal plot. Again, just my personal opinion. Anyway I don't want to sound too harsh because I enjoyed it a lot. It looks and sounds great and it kept me entertained and interested for the whole play through. Also the game with the most interesting interpretation of the theme for my money.

[close]

Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by fernewelten

Spoiler

I hadn't played chapter 1, so I played through that first. There's a definite jump in art quality between the two, the study is nicely drawn and full of intricate details and objects. The transparent cupboard doors when playing as the ghost are a cool idea, and I'm also a big fan of how he raises and lowers his head depending what height he's looking at. Being able to play as two characters with different abilities was also great. I got stuck a few times with Chapter 1 because an object I'd tried before had changed its interaction after I'd done something else, yet it wasn't always obvious the two were linked. Chapter 2 doesn't really have any of this which is an improvement, the only minor example I can think of is that ghost doesn't mention the crystal ball when looking on top of the clock. The shoes 'stopping time' puzzle was a bit out there, but I didn't get stuck on it. The secret passage puzzle was the best one. Of the three games this feels like the most rounded, in that it has decent graphics, enough plot and some good puzzles.

[close]

My vote:

Spoiler

It was a tough choice. Castle Escape: Chapter 2 narrowly edged out Saturday Night for me.

[close]

[heltenjon]

My thoughts this month:

Prep Time by myself

Spoiler

In hindsight it could have been a fun experiment to name the game Batman: Prep Time just to see how many random outside downloads that would generate.  I'm not in it to win it, this was made to keep the contest going and for my own (and hopefully some others') amusement. I wanted to make a game that was dialogue only, and as such has happened upon all the technical limitations of that - not being able to save or change room without leaving the dialogue. (Although I managed to do so anyway.) The joke part of the game is the ridiculous plot and the deus ex machina tech Batman can produce, while the fanboy in me wanted to play the comedy with straight faces, so I tried to write the dialogue as close to how the characters talk as I could. It was actually most fun to write Alfred. (Hope I have avoided any "tally-ho, old chaps" moments.) The research done also adds up to the weapons he is portrayed with in the combat picture.

Part of the joke is that the player can't fail. Batman has placed this game (?) in our reality for someone to play. 

[close]

So, did anyone spot which game Batman is playing on the Bat-computer? 

Then on to the two good games:

Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos:

Spoiler

Eye candy! The game looks incredible, and there are lots of shadows, reflections and animations to gawk at. The storyline is funny and confusing, and the gameplay doesn't really involve any real puzzles. There are some hidden stuff, like the beer that is not marked as a hotspot. I took delight in making my character drink a lot of it!  It was a fun experience to play, and it bodes good for the author's long time project. Not a challenge, though.

[close]

Castle Escape: Chapter 2 by Fernewelten:

Spoiler

Fernewelten is one of my favourite puzzle makers in here, and he didn't disappoint. Solid puzzles, even though the shoes part I did while trying to achieve something else... Funny characters with their own personality. Great idea to make a puzzle out of the communication between the playable characters! It's also commendable how you use theme music connected to the character who is in the spotlight, even if our music tastes doesn't match 100%. I liked the music at the "This has happened" screen the best. You can really play! I also got a laugh out of how the ghost held his head in various positions.

[close]

My vote goes to

Spoiler

Castle Escape. The puzzles make a game, usually.

[close]

[fernewelten]

There are complete and detailed descriptions for almost EVERYTHING in the game …

And that's not even the worst. After the ghost has found its glasses, most of the clickables have TWO descriptions: the ghost's are preponderantly different from the count's. I really went to town this time.  I promise more restraint in future, if only to spare my poor fingers a mountain of typing.

I'm flattered to learn that a player as actually taken the trouble to look at all this lot. 👍   I was wondering … but then it was already too late to stop my endeavour.

[heltenjon]

I'm flattered to learn that a player as actually taken the trouble to look at all this lot. 👍   I was wondering … but then it was already too late to stop my endeavour.

+1

[newwaveburritos]

Oh, it's great that so many people have taken the time to play the game carefully.  I'm flattered as well.  I'm really glad that the little details and animations didn't go unnoticed.  Next time I'll put in at least one puzzle, lol.  Really, though, I wanted to actually make a game instead of farting around and that's what I did, which is a great feeling.  It was a great and eye-opening experience.

[Shadow1000]

Hmm...it seems that the last post in this thread is a few days prior to the vote being closed, and no post announcing the winner, and the title still indicating (VOTING).

Numerically, the winner is Saturday is the Loneliest Night of the Week, so, congrats at winning the February MAGS!

[Stupot]

Thanks, Shadow.

Indeed the winner is Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos. Congratulations. I’ll PN you in the coming days about choosing a topic for April.

â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"-

MAGGIES 2021

Thanks to all those who participated this month.
If you haven’t already, it would be great if you could head over to the MAGGIES thread and vote for your best three among the 2021 MAGS winners. This will decide the best MAGS game of the year, and the winner will be announced as part of the upcoming AGS Awards ceremony.

Thanks everyone.

[newwaveburritos]

Oh, jeez, thanks everybody.  I'm honored that you picked my weird little game.  It's really a thrill and I really had a good time making it.  I'll do it again and next time I'll feature some puzzles, lol.

[heltenjon]

Congratulations to Newwaveburritos!

Also thanks to whoever voted for my game...I really didn't expect it to get any votes with this competition.