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[Sprite Jam - Timepiece]

Sprite Jam - Timepiece

Welcome to this frightfully belated leg of the Sprite Jam competition! In it, you will draw a sprite and post the picture in this thread, and then we will hold a vote to see which one is best.

To my aid and betterment, this time you will be drawing a timepiece.

It can be anything. A complicated astronomical clock that requires puzzling to work again. An hourglass filled with gold dust. A novelty pocket sundial. A faintly disturbing goggle-eyed cat-clock. Ancient calendar wheels, hewn from stone and lost in the jungle. It can be a background sprite, an inventory item sprite, a GUI-sprite... If it is a timepiece, we want it here!

You have until the 17th of April to complete your timepiece and post it in this thread. If you require an extention, do not hesitate to ask. Time is mutable, we are not.

Tick, tock, tick and the very best of luck, clockmakers!

[Background Blitz - Memorial]

Background Blitz - Memorial

NOW VOTING

Welcome to another Background Blitz competition! In it, you have three weeks to draw a splendid background for a room in an adventure game. Then, we shall vote, and decide which one is the best. The winner will have both glory and the task to run the next leg of the Background Blitz. The picture will be judged according to concept, playability and artistic execution.

This time, you shall build me a monument.

What sort of monument is your character visiting? An overgrown cenotaph in the countryside? A broken statue of a forgotten king in a forgotten land? An obelisk, shrouded in sand and the ages? A war memorial in the beating heart of a sprawling city? A memorial wall to all the Roger Egos who have died in the line of duty?

Go forth and draw! Then, upload and post the image in this thread.

You have until the 29th of March to submit your entry, but this date is open for negotiation if you require some more time. The more the merrier! Then, we will vote.

We are now VOTING! Until 10th of April! All can participate in the vote, and you will be casting your lots in these categories:


Concept: What is your background about? What sort of mood does it spark? What is, as it were, the big idea?
Playability: What is its opportunity for gameplay like? Walkable areas, hot-spots, and so forth?
Artistic Execution: How well does the picture convey an atmosphere? How well is it executed?

Here are the entries:

[imgzoom]https://i.postimg.cc/ZKZNyTXQ/FJB.png[/imgzoom]

stylez75's monument - and a grand and topical monument it is!



DBoyWheeler's lone mountain monument of lost lore of yore!



newwaveburrito's classical monument standing tall in dear old Ditherton!

[imgzoom]https://i.postimg.cc/02fZjKL3/background.png[/imgzoom]

ElvisTanner's splendid space memorial to his imperial squiddishness!

Go forth and vote below!

-Welcome to the Block, unit E-60. A new testing range has been prepared, all for you. It will test your abilities and gather valuable data for future research. So go forth, solve tricky puzzles, find goodies and do not get killed.-

-You will be rewarded with an Official Block-Corp Workplace Coffee Break if you conclude this test range successfully and pulse-havingly.-

-Good luck!-



AlphaBlock is a quick Sierraesque point-and-click puzzle adventure game, set in a testing facility. Use your wits and your inventory to solve puzzles, go to new rooms and find collectibles and score.

Be careful, though. Look before you touch!



AlphaBlock is free of charge, and you can download it now from this Itch page:

https://marc-reiter.itch.io/alphablock

Also available in Swedish.



The resolution is 320 x 200, and it is built on the splendid AGS Sierra template.

The Music is by maestro Eric Matyas.

Good luck, and have fun!

[OFFICE]

OFFICE

The Office. A strange place. A work-place. A decision-place. A safe retreat of rewarding work and warm coffee, or a Satanic mill of paper jams and toner-stained cuffs.
An office can be many things.

Which office is yours? The organised mess of a private investigator's office, where there are whisky within reach and the rain is forever drumming against the window?
The grey-white yonder of a corporate landscape, where the sword of right-sizing forever hang by its fraying threads?
The secret police office, where the lights burn day and night and where good citizen and enemy of the state alike have their hearts bared and vivisected on snow-white paper and bound with blood-red twine?
The cosy, cramped office of the weary and worn head master of the magic public school, where he retreats to play with his train sets when-ever young master Clotter does something silly again?

Time to work! Draw a game background set in an office environment, and post the picture in this thread. Then, we will vote on which one is the best. Good luck!

New dead-line: 14th of November.

VOTING: Dead-line: 19th of November.

The competition is now over. The victor, stylez75, may now begin the next Background Blitz.

[Block]

Somewhere in the Block, unit E-60 enters a testing range that will push his puzzling abilities to their limit. Go forth, solve puzzles, get Block-Points, live to tell the tale.

Spoiler

[close]

The purpose? Ripe, fresh testing data for the BlockCorp.
The risks? Perfectly safe! We promise!
The reward? An Offical BlockCorp Workplace Coffee Break & Relaxation Event. With real coffee*!

_{*Real coffee pending - official BlockCorp ersatzstreamlined coffee will be available at the conclusion of the testing range.}

BlockCorp would like to wish you a happy and productive day!

Spoiler

[close]

AlphaBlock is a small, Sierraesque puzzle game that I am making, featuring buttons, switches and a friendly computer to help you on your way. There will be score to earn, and Limited Edition Non-Denominational Spring Celebration Eggs^tm to find. Beat the puzzles, and win a coffee break!

Progress thus Far:

Graphics: 100%
Puzzles: 100%
Sounds and Music: 90%
General Scripting: 90%

It is proceeding steadily, and will most likely be in a presentable state by October. The bulk of the game is completed, it is mostly a matter of cutscenes, polish and a few remaining puzzles. It is only a trifle of a thing, but it has been an excellent opportunity to learn. I think it will be more than worthy of releasing when it is done.

UPDATE - 30th of September. The game is mostly complete. It is playable, and only wants some polish. Still well on the way of an October release.

Will be available in English and in Swedish. It will feature mild violence and mild swearing.

Keep an eye out for AlphaBlock - and watch this space!

[Sprite Jam - Bring Me Champions]

Sprite Jam - Bring Me Champions

Goode morrows, ye valiant ladies and gentlemen of Aegeeseria! Welcome to this round of the most fun Sprite Jam competition!

I, your king, require brave and bold knights to quest for the ancient blue cup, that mystical elder artefact of Aegeeseria. Therefore, I ask of you to provide me with:

Knights of the Blue Cup.

You shall make a sprite of a Knight, and submit a picture of it in this thread. You have 3 weeks to complete it, although the crown is prepared to provide an extension, if needed.

As I am the king, I shall judge the submitted entries and dub the winner. I do, however, encourage you to discuss them. I also encourage you to provide a little description of your sprite.

I will judge them based on their look, their usefulness as a game sprite, and how well they use the theme. Do not hesitate to experiment with the concept. A knight of the night flying a kite, for instance.
Concept art and rendered models (even photographs of sculptured plants) are also allowed, although I shall consider their future use as a sprite when I judge the entries.

There are no restrictions of size and colour.

You have until the 22nd of October to make and post your Knight in the thread.

If you require an extension, do not hesitate to ask. It can be arranged, within reason. So, grab your lance, mount your charger and sally forth and bring me a knight!

Summary:

Make a sprite based on the word Knight.

Post it in this thread.

The Deadline is 22nd of October, Year of our Lord 2020.

Do not hesitate to ask, if you have questions.

[Desert]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to a new leg of the Fortnightly Writing Competition!

The topic for these weeks are:

Desert



Ah, deserts. They are fascinating places. From the thousand star-lit nights of Araby to the frightful skeleton coast. From the Atacama to the Mojave. You find so many magnificent things in the desert, if you seek them. Say, what is happening in your desert? A majestic genie on their way to a meeting? An Indian mummy contemplating the world outside its mountain tomb? A rover in the Martian badlands picking up a signal from the Noctis Labyrinth? A deserter eating dessert in the desert?

So! Write a text on the topic of Deserts! You have free hands, as long as deserts are relevant to the text, or if you do something very clever indeed with the topic instead.

-Voting Commences-

Ladies and gentlemen! We now have three splendid entries to the competition! The entry phase is now closed, and we shall vote over which one is best.

The entries and contestants are:

Dear Ben, by Ess2s2.
Sundancer, by Sinitrena.
and
The Parch of Woe, by Baron.

Read and vote on each piece, as according to the categories below:

Character: Who are they, and how well are they written?
Plot: What happens in the story, and how well is it realised?
Writing Style: Which story is the most well-written and built? This would include turns of phrases, spelling, narrative tricks and turns, etc.
Atmosphere: What is the atmosphere and the ambience of the piece like?
Theme: How well does the text connect to the theme of Deserts, or what other clever things does it do with the theme?


You have until midnight, 19th of June (up until your midnight) to post your votes in this thread. After that, we will tally the votes and celebrate the winner!

_{For the Newcomer: The Fortnightly Writing Competition is, well, a little competition in which we write and post a text within a fortnight, and then we vote to see which one is best. The winner is then to select a new topic and start a new round. It is very fun!}

[FLOWERS]

Welcome, once again, to another bout of the Fortnightly Writing Competition!

It is April, and Persefone has returned. Thus, it is only fitting that we write about...

FLOWERS

Flowers are lovely, are they not? The scents, the colours, the gentle hum of the bumble-bees... Flowers can be found in a lovely garden, where a romance is about to begin. Flowers can be found upon a casket, where one story has come to an end and, no doubt, another has begun. Precious saffron comes from beautiful crocus flowers, opium comes from blazing poppies. Poppies, that thrive on old battlefields and on lapels. Belladonna and hemlock are flowers, too, lest we forget. There is no end to what you can do with flowers...

Get your 'flower power' on, and write a piece that relates to flowers, and post it in the thread before midnight, 20th of April.


Since the world is quite disorderly at present, extentions to the dead-lines are quite possible, if required.

Best of luck!

For the Newcomer: The Fortnightly Writing Competition is, well, a little competition in which we write and post a text within a fortnight, and then we vote to see which one is best. The winner is then to select a new topic and start a new round. It is very fun!

I am currently working on a little machine-man game. The general user interface that I have in mind would use a sort of two-colour computer system style. It is a basic Sierra-esque game at a resolution of 320 by 200.

What I have found is that this combination of dark and light shades of green work quite well for the purpose. However, I am unsure of how this will look to others. I am fairly sure that I have ordinary colour vision, but I believe that it may look different to someone else. I have a very loose grip on colours in general, and could use some opinion on the matter. It may well be utterly eye-searing for anyone else.

Further, I would like to know what trouble it may cause to someone who is colour-blind. Does this combination blot out the text entirely, or is it at sufficient contrast to still be readable? Would mouse-over effects help?

Basic sample:

Spoiler

[close]

_{Lorem ipsum stream of consciousness quite unrelated.}

This would be the style of the general user interface. Dark green boxes with light green borders and text. Buttons will have text in a yellow shade, to infer that they are clickable (yellow = interactable, in this context). They will also display a second border around them when moused over. Buttons with images on them (such as the verb selectors) will be highlighted on mouse-over in that same yellow shade.

So, is it a tolerable set of colours for general use? Is it reasonably friendly to colourblind users? And if not, what else could be done to help them?

Thank you kindly. Do forgive the simpleness of this topic, but one would like to develop good GUI habits early, and to not have to possibly re-colour the entire project later on.

Listen to the beating of the clock. It will be dawn soon. You do not know if you have slept. You tell yourself that you have. It is plainly too little time left for a decent amount of sleep before work.

Write a little text about Insomnia. Write what you see fit. The confused accounts of a desperate insomniac, perhaps. The exasperated notes of a baffled sleep-doctor, maybe? Come, stay up. Have some tea.



'I would face all of the monsters in the world, if you would only let me sleep!'

The Deadline will be at Sunday, the 8th of December.

The Voting Categories are as follow:

Best Writing Style and Technique: Which story is the most well-written and built?
Best Character: Who are they, and how well are they written?
Best Plot: What happens in the story, and how well is it realised?
Most Intriguing Exploration of Insomnia: Which text did the most with the concept?