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What happens when a bunch of bored IRC AGSers get together and demand to make an hour game competition out of the blue?

Why...

AN IMPROMPTU HOUR GAME!

..of course.

This week's theme?  Public Service Announcements. 


And no forum-goers, you didn't miss out on your opportunity to participate.  Afterall it was impromptu.


Anyone who participated, feel free to toss your entries up here.

Voting until Wednesday.  Or Thursday.  Of this week.

Cheers!

T.O. Noir
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Background:
T.O. Noir was conceived over the weekend of April 23-25th 2010 during Toronto Game Jam #5.  As such, everything that was done on the game thus far was done over the course of a weekend.  That said, it has held enough promise to continue progress wise, and there is an upcoming 'showcase' the Toronto Game Jam Arcade coming up for the end of May, after which the game will be released for everyone (or at least a version).

The theme of the Game Jam was 'missing', and this little adventure deals with a missing fellow, and the twists and turns not only involving his disappearance but his current whereabouts.  Dealing with the people who his life had some sort of impact on.  In short?  It's a noir'ish PI tale, with some 'oddness'.

...also, the image of a goat on a pole was a required image for the 'Jam', before anyone asks.

Screenshots:






Current Progress/Credits:
Without putting %s...
a 'rough' version was completed over that Jam weekend, with roughly about 10ish+ minutes of game, and around 3 ways of 'ending' the game.  However, parts were rushed, cut, etc.
That said, the 'jam edition' has been given to a few people for feedback, and anyone who has one of those versions, please feel free to share impressions here if you'd like.
At this point, I'm adding back in all the content that was planned, plus adding some more content.  Voice acting is in the works.  Etc.

Audio deserves a special shout-out, as during the Jam it was done by Harry Mack (who has worked on a number of excellent games, and does some incredible audio, both sfx and music), and for this upcoming 'Arcade' will hopefully continue to be added to by him.  I'll put a link to his site in here soonish.


So, all that said...this is a GiP thread.  You can expect a fully playable downloadable game likely for some time in June, with it being finished by the end of May.  2010.  Possibly video/previews/teasers during the month.

And...yeah.  That's all for now.  More updates soon.

UPDATES:
5/5/10 - Edited the screenshots, as one was from a 'later point' in the game, and revealed elements that were unnecessary to reveal.  Instead, put up an image from earlier in the game.

5/15/10 - Figured I'd provide an update here, so that there are no misconceptions about the game, and provide everyone with the most up to date information as I can.  First off, the 'early June' date will be for a full fledged demo version.  Not the final full game.  More details on the final full game either closer to the demo release or shortly afterwards.  Since I have a deadline of the 31st of May to get the 'demo' done, I will do my best to pull together a video teaser or the like by then so people can get better impressions.  Sorry this isn't much of an update, but more within/over the next 2 weeks.

Better late than never...

And yes, it's still on this week, with myself as host.

The usual info:
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The purpose of Hourgame Saturday is, to encourage the amateur game-making, or to put it bluntly, to make you tear your ass off your chair and finally make something.
In this activity your task is to make an AGS game within a strict and a very short deadline (i.e. one hour).

Timeline:
The event will be taking place takes place Saturday, starting at 7:30 pm GMT (2:30PM EST, etc. etc.), when the theme is revealed on the IRC and in this thread. The participants then have one hour to make their entries and 15 more minutes for uploading. In brief: the deadline for entries is 8:45 pm.
Then the voting takes place till the Monday Morning.

Basic rules:
- Participants should join IRC for rules and updates, but stickam/tokbox is fine as long as there's someone to relay the information. (crap, I hadn't noticed this rule!)
- The theme is set by the previous week's winner and by the contest's host in event of his/her absence.
- While it is not forbidden for the theme-setters to participate in the activity, their games cannot be voted for (to prevent accusations of cheating and to discourage regular participation).
- Instead, theme-setters are encouraged to draw trophies for the contest's winners.
- Making your game from scratch is strongly encouraged, though it is not forbidden to use music or artwork from public sources if you are allowed to (e.g. using public domain music tracks in your game is OK, but not really necessary). It is also possible to use a pre-existent AGS template for your game (e.g. that Verb-Coin GUI template).
- You cannot use the stuff you've made earlier, because this competition is about making something new.

Uploading:
Suggested hosts to upload your entry to are:
- http://www.mediafire.com/
- http://www.sendspace.com/
- http://www.rapidshare.com/
- Or your own place.

Voting:
Just tell us your favourite game (and possibly a couple of less favourite ones), and hopefully someone will do the counting.

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Sorry about the delayed notice on this, but it is the 'hour game', and it's basically run at the same time every week...so...yeah.

That said, going to start it (as it says in the post) 30 minutes later than usual.  This is to accomodate the slightly short notice and to allow a few folks from the IRC who expressed interest to join in.

Regardless, information will be available in the IRC channel, and I'll be posting the theme at 7:30PM GMT in this thread, as well as changing the thread title to accomodate that.

Look forward to seeing folks there!

[ISOLATION]

"Solitude vivifies; Isolation kills."
-Joseph Roux (French artist, 1725-1793)


Figured I'd been lurking the forums long enough, and have been working on this quite a while, so, here goes...:

Presenting (as you've already guessed by the title of the thread), ISOLATION.

Inspired primarily by the eloquent writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Isolation tells the tale of a young 'freelancer', a near future jack-of-all-trades for hire, who finds herself on Miskatonic Station - a university funded space station housing one of the largest libraries in the known galaxy.   Is she there merely to read a few books?  To study?  Maybe it's just a simple vacation.  Or perhaps she's a hired assassin?  The choice is entirely up to you.

Some Screenshots:


-If you've been through one psychological evaluation in a white padded room, you've been through a few thousand...


-Hallways, hallways, hallways.  No matter how many you walk through, they all look incredibly similar...


-Of tutorials and cheery young girls...

Development log:
9/2/09 - Initial announcement, and two screenshots posted.  Whee.  Working on refining the dialogue system.
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*EDIT*
Nothing worthy of a bump yet, but...
9/7/09 - most of the dialogue system is in place, intro bits are about halfway done as well as an special animation.  Unfortunately, due to the content, nothing that can be shown.  Decided to split the entire story into releasable chapters to make them more manageable, considering their scope, with chapter one so far on track.

Beyond that, more to share/update with soon.  
No specific completion/release date yet since I'm of the camp of 'it's done when it's done' - which is also why I didn't post random completion percentages.

10/18/09 - ironed out some of the interface appearance

4/6/10 - figured an update was overdue.  Added a new screenshot from the optional tutorial area, didn't update synopsis or game info accordingly.  Game is coming along.  More surprise info as time permits.