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A very enjoyable, eerie experience!

Spoiler

I especially liked the attention to detail: the *actual* vanishing of Lady Winterbourne throughout the episode being an example.
I also enjoyed how the ending is presented: a grotesque, slight shift in tone that I always enjoy!

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I join the people praising the pixel art and how expressively you used it throughout the game, and I also want to add how nice it is to see another isometric AGS game 

So, in short: Great job! Looking forward to your next projects!

Well done, Alan, a deserved result for such a good little game!

Congrats to all the entries! 

Oh wow, I got mentioned in the BCT!

Great episode as always, guys

Thanks lorenzo for contributing

"manache" is actually "mannaggia", which is a variation on "damn"! Maybe a tad more "direct".

So yes, you could indeed use it in lieu of "porca" if you wish! The only difference is that it needs an article to specify who or what it is that you're targeting .
So "Mannaggia (al)la miseria!", "Mannaggia al diavolo" or even "Mannaggia a te", if you want to address it to a person you are talking with (e.g. "Ho fatto tardi, mannaggia a te!", "I'm late, damn you!")

About "Death and damnation!", I suppose it sounds different in German but both in English and Italian sounds too "grandiose" and dramatic to be considered seriously, I think

I completely missed 03! And maybe some others

The way 03 is structured it does make little sense, especially as a way to swear.
If you were directly translating from English I *may* be able to give you a better equivalent for it?

Then, I still look at 09, 10, 11 and 13 and can't make up my mind.

You could do some variations like:
10 "Sono fregato" (I'm screwed)
11 "Che casino!" (What a mess!)
13 "Non funziona più niente!" (Nothing - referred to the machine - is working anymore!)

Reading now both 12 and 15, I think you could probably go with just one (my choice being the 12th)

Then 23, "Ho finito" means more "I have finished doing a task" rather than "I'm done for good", assuming that was your intention. If that's the case you could say "Sono finito" (which is very very similar to "Sono spacciato").

That should be all (or at least I hope) So... Ok, ho finito!

[may]

Congratulations fernewelten! And sorry for the late reply!

About the barks:

Spoiler

You are right that "macchina" may be confusing, we use it for a lot of different things but you can always sort out its actual meaning by looking at the context. So I guess you are ok with using it
There isn't - as far as I know - a better word to describe an "ice cream machine", and "macchina per fare i gelati" is quite a mouthful .

case  8: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Gesu', culo e filo spinato!"); break;

I'm not sure what the English equivalent you had in mind was, but this is probably too much of a makeshift curse (plus some may find it offensive)

case 10: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Tutta cannata."); break;

It may be different between each dialect but, as far as I can tell, "cannato" is an informal way to describe getting something wrong, rather than something broken (e.g. "Ho cannato l'esame", "I failed the exam")

case 13: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Tutta fritta."); break;
case 14: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Tutta fregata."); break;

They are quite similar in their meaning so I would probably choose just one and, among the two, I'd go with the first one

case 16: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Agghiacciante."); break;

Even though it's one of those words that is starting to get used over and over just to emphasize something, we "officially" say this when some event with "a scary flavour" happened. A murder can be "agghiacciante", for instance.

case 19: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Questa è la fine."); break;

You can go just with "àˆ la fine" right away

case 21: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Ora sono arrabbiato."); break;

Since you used "Cazzo!" before you can use "incazzato" which is more consistent

case 23: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Crocifere turche!"); break;

I think I need the English equivalent, for I have no idea what you actually meant with this

case 25: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Oh caro."); break;

I don't think we really say "oh dear", here.

case 29: cVendorWin.SayBackground("Maledetto! "); break;

If you are referring to the machine itself I'd probably say "maledetta macchina!", if this is more of a "Damn!" situation, then I'd probably use "maledizione!"

case 30: cVendorWin.SayBackground("E' sparito tutto."); break;

Sparito is, probably, as "flexible" as "gone". If I heard "è sparito tutto" without seeing what is actually happening, I'd probably either think that someone robbed a place or that everything disappeared from a screen (but that may just be because I'm around computers most of the time ).

So if by "sparito" you mean something more like "it's over", I probably won't use it.

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Phew! I hope this is useful!

Phew, at last I managed to play the two entries!

Goat Burn

Spoiler

This may be a tiny little entry, but the tune in the background (even though it's a placeholder) and the "low visibility" mixed with a somewhat Ultima VII-like top down view give the whole thing a mysterious and superinteresting vibe. I would love to see a whole game with similar characteristics! Not talking specifically about an extension to this one.

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Mamma mia

Spoiler

A full-fledged entry! Congratulations! I admit I got through the keypad puzzle without really having a clue about what I was doing. I also agree with the the general opinion about the timed, random sequence puzzle, but I think that it's maybe a couple of iterations short of being well done But this is MAGS! Things don't have to be perfect! If you revisit it some time down the road let me (or all of us) know! I appreciated the Italian swearing! Not 100% accurate, but loved it nonetheless

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After some thought, my vote went to

Spoiler

Goat Burn! Even if it's just as an encouragement to work on something similar in the future

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Thanks for taking part, folks! This was nice. I especially enjoyed all the discussion this thread has generated!

Awesome! Two entries and it's not even midnight! 
Congrats fernewelten and VampireWombat!

Are there any other last minute surprises in store from fellow AGSers?

No matter how long or short your entry is
There are memorable games out there that happen only inside one room and also games that have no inventory whatsoever, Lamplight City being a quite recent example!

As we're approaching the finish line I'd like to thank all of you who joined or expressed interest or simply took part in the discussion.

[H E A T]

And we're halfway through the month!
Coincidentally it's also a "Screenshot Saturday", one of those online weekly events that all the cool kids participate in!

If any of you has something to show, this is a perfect time! Boost our morale! Help us fight the H E A T!

There are suspended fries near my place.

This genuinely made me chuckle!

This is done in Spain too! ("Mucha mierda") 

Ha! That's great I think it may also be because Naples had a Spanish domination in 16th-17th century (also a reason why the dialect contains also Spanish words)!

That definitely sounds more fun than my ideas.
But I'd be afraid of making a game based on something I know absolutely nothing about.

I agree with what Blondbraid said (Thanks for sharing Blondbraid!)

Also, one of the "hidden" purposes of this MAGS is to learn more about the world and the people who live in it so, even if you ended up using something that doesn't actually belong to you or your culture, you still would have learned something (and the same goes for us, when playing).

If it is cheese that needs to roll, then so be it!

Here, the lottery is legal and there are even vending machines that sell lottery tickets, but no casinos. But Oklahoma has(or at least had) casinos and no lottery and you couldn't even legally get a tattoo.

Actually this is interesting in the same way it was interesting to read Tom Waits say that St. Louis is the place where the most people wear red pants - although this one may be an entirely made up assumption.
It is nothing majestic, but it's indeed unknown and peculiar (if it were true) .

That said, though, the "tradition" or "custom" doesn't have to be "spectacular". Also, definitely can move away from your birthplace and be part of something you feel you belong to: a religion, a video game "club", an actual club, a workplace. I suppose the "mandatory" thing here is that it's something you think it's worth sharing



Another example comes to mind, although I can't guarantee it's "unique" at all.

Here in Italy, whether they are superstitious or not, it is customary to say "merda" (=shit) to live performers, instead of the more traditional and polite "good luck"\"break a leg" alternative.
Most theater companies I met\worked with (amateur ones at least), have this "ritual" where, right before going on stage, they all gather in a circle putting a hand on top of each other's, then shout "MERDA!" out loud

This is because back in the day when people used horse-driven chariots, to see a lot of horse poop outside of a theater meant that a lot of people came to see the performance!



EDIT: Yet another example! This has been told me some time ago by a friend of mine, and may just be his own experience.

In a place in Sicily, Saponara, there is a religious procession - "Quadrittu" (="little painting", in Sicilian dialect) - where the devotees follow the image of the Virgin Mary carrying long, lit torches/candles held up against it.
The peculiar thing, according to what my friend told me, is that often the devotees wear no gloves or similar protection so, when the wax melts and drips all over their hands, alongside all the prayers apparently there are often people who engage in blasphemy by cursing .

Searching a bit, it seems that this procession comes from a time where charcoal burners were not able to take part to a specific religious event, because of their job being out of the city walls and their employers won't allow them to. Apparently one night, in the XVII century, these charcoal burners came down the mountains (carrying long torches), entered the church, and decided to take the image to celebrate their own way.

[really]

Wow, I really really did not expect this many votes! Thank you so much, everyone! 

Also, congratulations again to Mandle, VampireWombat and Jack for three great entries! I'll do my best for June's theme 

[The Era-Gone Trail]

At last! I played all the entries and cast my vote.
I like this trend of keeping on pushing AGS towards unexplored territory (either within the adventure game genre or outside of it), so congrats to all of you!

After some reflection I chose:

Spoiler

The Era-Gone Trail! I personally think Mandle has often gifted us with very peculiar entries and this is no exception! As Cassiebsg, it was the game that kept me playing the most!

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Speaking of my entry, instead, what I was trying to provide was actually an exploration of the feeling of "purposelessness".

At the beginning of the game you have this fresh unexplored "world" for you to explore, where "leaving a mark in its history" is something that can feel unique.
As eras go by, though, travelers end up walking already walked paths and their contribution to history feels more and more just a "line" in a list.

Put this way, I suppose it's a tad depressing, although that was not the intent!
The concept was maybe more interesting to me to explore through game mechanics, as a developer, than it is to the players who are not supplied with the same tools for "catharsis".

Thank you for all your feedback, folks! I really appreciate it 

I can't see the video but I'm 100% sure is the Tom Waits' record
Because that's the exact thing that came to my mind upon reading the theme!

EDIT: Can see it on YouTube, not if embedded! Sorry 

Wow Mandle, this looks awesome! Downloading it right away!

Thanks Kastchey!

And VampireWombat, looking forward to see your entry! Anything even the slightest more aesthetically pleasing than what I just published is meant to be a success so GO FOR IT!

[TRAVELERS]

I dedicated very little time to this, but here goes nonetheless

(To see the three images below, hover the table with your cursor)

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/keI6NBq.png[/imgzoom]

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/oUDq7d5.png[/imgzoom]

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/a7KmaBx.png[/imgzoom]

TRAVELERS
Download

TRAVELERS is a prototype. The gameplay progressively and purposely loses purpose the more you play.

The game can be played with both mouse and keyboard.

Thank you all for the amazing show! The amount of work put into this is incredible and it shows: the Awards just keep get better and better!

And thanks to Kastchey for providing such a spectacular "live act" for a band that doesn't even exist!
Here is the track that was played on stage, hope you enjoy!

This looks so good.
Will give it a spin ASAP

Congrats on the release!