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A couple things I learned from making a board game with a trademarked name, in case it's relevant:

-IP laws are unique in different parts of the world, so it's worth checking what's "too close" in any market you want to sell in

-It's less about exact VS non-exact copies and more about the potential for confusing your product with someone else's IP. So retaining the nickname "Indy" might be arguable in isolation, but combined with your sprites, setting, story, etc, is it meaningfully distinct?

-Trademark owners often have a legal requirement to challenge every attempt at infringement, simply because if one person gets away with it, everyone else can use their success as precedent for their own infringement. So the closer to the original IP you stay, the more you can expect a letter.

This all really starts to matter if you charge for the game or trademark part of it. Hopefully this helps!

I don't know if the new guy can vote, but I really like the idea of benefiting from a group of talented and helpful writers such as yourselves! Any form that this challenge takes would be a great experience.

It does sound like the time to write/give feedback/rewrite would be something to figure out (either longer than a fortnight, or a 200 word count limit, etc.)

A potentially less intensive variation could be giving people a 'requirement' instead of full-on feedback. For example, if somebody wrote a story about an alien invasion, the rest of us would offer things like "coconuts", "french conjugation", and "marmite". The author would pick one (or more) of those 'requirements', and then rewrite their story to include it in some fun, meaningful, or surprising way.

Regardless of how it shapes up, I'd love to be a part of it, and thank you for taking the time to think it out!

EDIT: I forgot to vote! I think Stupot's comments sum it up well, but my true vote for whatever version allows the most people to participate!

This is a wonderful demonstration of your platform template! The world you've added to it is so charming too. You immediately forget that you're playing an AGS game!

This should be fixed in 3.6.2 Patch 3 now (and later versions).

Thank you very much!

What a pair of tales! As a reader was wild to switch from a brutally mature revenge story to a clever fable. It's amazing how you all pull such captivating and comprehensive stories from a single word!

I really enjoyed both. My vote is for Mandle's story, and only due to an entirely personal aversion to banter between characters. Nothing at all about the stories themselves!

Thank you both for sharing!

@Ian Aloser You're right! I saw your hints and they were partially applicable to the captain's office. I thought I'd missed some item that revealed the messages. Thank you!

Yes Rik,
I forgot to mention this in my previous post
Will continue shortly, thanks for that !
EDIT:
And .... Solved for all players who will be stuck here

Spoiler

E=DOC, how stupid of me....

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Hey @Ian Aloser! I'm at the same place in the game, but I'm curious how you saw all of these clues (like the note under the lock, the bin, etc.) I can't see a bin in the room, and nothing is visible on the locker except the digital lock 

This is a wonderful step up from the current demo! It's stunning, fun, elegant, and full of charm. The characters, art, and the world itself really give you a sense that any adventure game is possible. I was genuinely sad that it ended so soon...

I've written down everything that came to mind along the way: a few bugs, some smaller tweaks that I think would help a new user play (and establish good practices), and finally a couple of larger food-for-thought ideas.

Take or leave whatever is useful of course - hope it's helpful!


BUGS

Spoiler

-TEXT: In the introduction text after ego first arrives, "environment" is misspelled.

-TEXT: Looking at the pond, "think" is misspelled

-TEXT: Ending dialog with the red wizard, "about" is misspelled.

-TEXT: Looking at the shrine -after- finding the key, the wizard still says "there's no key in here." Same applies to the pond and mushrooms.

-GAMEPLAY: Looking at the mushrooms gives the "I need to get closer" response that other objects give when you're too far away. However, ego walks to the mushrooms directly afterward. Either ego should say it's too far away and that's all (like the other objects) or don't say they're too far and just walk there.

-GAMEPLAY: Clicking the key icon on the open treehouse door walks the character into the door. For new users, that could be confusing. I'd either remove the key after use or switch back to the Walk To cursor.

-GAMEPLAY: Speaking to the red mage after selecting an option in "Room areas" starts the dialog in the "Room areas" list of options (regions, etc), instead of the root level of dialog. I think this applies to Objects as well.

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POSSIBLE TWEAKS

Spoiler

-ART: The inventory icons should have pixels indicating their hotspots. It's hard to use the item on ego if he's standing against another hotspot (such as the treehouse).

-ART: The "O" in the corner looked like a score. I didn't realize it was a menu popup. The inventory is such an big part of the genre that I'd suggest this button be larger, and have a "satchel" icon or something that makes the inventory more attractive and visually important.

-ART: The mouse icons could be more distinct from the game art. It's hard to tell when they switch from walk to look to interact, and there's a lot of switching on/around the treehouse.

-ART: The game is so beautiful that the basic GUI stands out; is it possible to add some of the flourish found in the title screen to the rest of the GUI?

-TEXT: The generic use inventory item response "That doesn't seem to be useful" was a confusing reply in some places (use key on pond). Maybe it's the grammar of it? I'm not sure what the "what" is referring to in that response (the key, the pond, the combination...) For example, while a typical phrase like "Nothing happens." is less interesting, it's clearly talking about the combination I was attempting.

-GAMEPLAY: The exterior treehouse door hotspot could be larger. Or maybe this is solved by the point above regarding hotspot pixels on inventory items?

-GAMEPLAY: It's a bit tricky to get back in to the treehouse from the balcony, since the clickable ego blocks the door.

-GAMEPLAY: I wasn't sure what the other gem was for. After all the conversation with the red mage, I also forgot I was meant to find a gem at all.

-SPEECH: Many of the red mage's lines felt long, so I lost track of my instructions trying to take it all in. I would limit each dialog line to one sentence, and each topic to three sentences total. (See below)

-SPEECH: Additionally, maybe remove the red mage's dialog when ending the conversation. For example, after he walked me through Walkable Areas and told me to try CTRL+A to see them, I had forgotten what keys to press, because of how much reading there was after he told me.

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LARGER IDEAS

Spoiler

1
I think the red mage's dialog could drastically cut back. If this is an introduction, I'd suggest staying very surface, and just introducing the AGS concepts rather than explaining them. Let the manual do the heavy lifting, and use this game to get people excited about the engine's power.

There were so many topics, and so much information in each one, that I fear we'll lose interest and no information will be retained.

For example, each dialog option could contain two sentences:
A. Definition
-"Hotspots let the user interact with areas of the room in different ways: examining objects, entering rooms, and much more."
B. In-game example
-"There's a hotspot over the stove. It triggers some dialog. Try clicking on it now."

Something like applied to all dialog options could make this demo feel more like an interactive introduction game (if that's the goal, of course!)

2
Another option could be replacing the items in the mage's house with (forgive the typical example) crystal balls, and each one would teach you about a different feature (GUI, Scripting, etc). Essentially bringing the dialog tree to life visually. This would showcase the categories engine's power at a glance, and add more interactivity, versus having it all contained in the mage's conversation.

3
One last question was whether to include inventory combination. Perhaps there's some item that requires adding a gem to, and then placing on the shrine to complete the game?

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I'm happy to volunteer ! I'll write back on the points listed as soon as I can.

Hello! This is an incredible game so far!

I've hit a wall here:

Spoiler

In the basement of the house, after the elevator and food storage room, there's a Securbot that won't let me pass. I have the items from the statue puzzle, but I couldn't open the emergency panel.

[close]

Any clues would be appreciated!

Amazing! Count me for a test, I'd love to try this!

Amazing! Count me for a test, I'd love to try this!

Congratulations! Incredible art & atmosphere and the story sounds outstanding

Case solved! That's a wild ending to the story. Thanks for the great detective work! I'll keep all the artwork at the right depth then, thank you!

@CalDymos here's one enthusiastic vote for completing it! The work so far has been incredible

@brushfe

-Not sure what you mean by knockback. Like from firing a weapon?

-Sliding sounds trickier to code. I'll have to think about whether I'm up to that challenge or not.

-Projectiles are also not included. If you think this is a standard feature of most platformers I can think about adding it. Just trying to leave the possibilities more open for people to take it in different directions.

Hey! Happy it's helpful!

I should've clarified knockback - it's when a character is hit by a hazard and is pushed back a little bit. And projectiles could be more like enemies in motion, so maybe you're right to skip them!

It's a good question about what's standard in a platform (or what people would be hoping for)... i imagine it'll depend on their frame of reference. Chances are you'll see more clones of Hollow Knight than Mario! But maybe after a test of the first version the feedback you get will help answer it.

If I can help at all along the way, please let me know!

AWESOME.
This really looks (and sounds) like a long lost Manhunter game...
Keep it up, and if you need help testing, count me in!

Thanks a million! I'll definitely take you up on that offer!

I decided to look into this, and found that I cannot reproduce the problem in the latest AGS 3.6.2.
It appears that this solution for 32-bit games is already working there, and magenta background pixels appear opaque.

@brushfe , please tell which version of AGS are you using, and which color depth your game is?

Sure thing! I'm on Build 3.6.2.12 32-bit, July 2025. The colour depth is 32-bit.

Other settings I've changed include: Game speed is 40; resolution is 320x200.

It's incredible to see something like this made in AGS!

Looking back at past platform games I've made, the list you have sounds great. Visually, things like parallax, layers, and animated tiles will really help add polish.

I would love to help beta test this whenever you're open to it!

In terms of additions, one thing I found very useful while developing in platformers in Construct was the control over character and projectiles 'physics'. I put it in quotes because it wasn't real physics, but being able to control things like:

• Variable jump height
• Double/triple jump
• Landing/bouncing off enemies
  
• Knockback
• Sliding
• Projectile speed, arc

If this would be possible to include in the template, that could help bring a lot of variety to the games made (Mega Man vs Super Mario, for example). But this is just gravy... platforming in AGS is wild enough!

Huge congratulations @Rik_Vargard! This looks incredible — every screenshot looks like it could be its own game. I can't wait to get lost in Metro City!