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So there's Ponch, BitPriest and possibly Ghost - is anybody else interested?

Remember the deadline is the 8th December not 30th November.

[0]

We've now got a winner!

The Truth of the Matter by Perspicacity1
0 votes
Spaceman in Space by ThreeOhFour
7 votes
Errand by Radiant
16 votes


Congratulations Radiant, and thanks again to all three entrants!

There's a couple more days left to vote - a tie needs to be broken!

It starts with the meeting of two failures.

So like, you begin with a compound of two synonyms of failure? Only obvious one is defeat. Or it could mean a failure in the sense of 'engine failure' but that's unlikely.

Yet I'm thinking the answer is actually physically inside the riddle? 'Meeting' 'about (around)' 'ending' are all sort of prepositional in this context.

Do novels based on movies/games count?

I guess so! The rules only require it to be a published novel. But the game would obviously have to be based on the written rendition rather than the original movie/game.

[Topic: 'Novel']

Topic: 'Novel'

As it is national novel writing month, the task for November is to make a game based on any novel/story of your choice.

But it must:

(a) be a published novel, and
(b) at least loosely stay true to the novel. In other words, the plot can be simplified, abridged, characters added/removed etc - but generally it should follow the novel's story-line.

Have fun guys!



Ending 8th December



What is MAGS?

MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, or provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favorite" 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.

You may get help for the competition, although you must end up doing something yourself. You should however be warned that it proves difficult to organize a big team within thirty days. You are not allowed to use material already created before this competition. Your game must be completely new! Music and sound is an exception; you can use free material that is available to the public, if you wish. Modules and templates are also allowed. Please do not enter the competition with a rushed entry (a game created last minute). Sure, you can make a game and rush it - but don't do this just to win by default.

Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualise your game following the month's criteria (see top). Second, create your game fueled only by coffee. Third, finally, and most importantly, post your game here, including:

âœ" A working download link.
âœ" The title of your game.
âœ" A suitable screenshot.

At the end of the month, the all-important voting will begin! This period usually lasts fifteen days. Should you win, along with announcing the next month's rules, your name and game will be immortalised in the MAGS Archive. Yet hopefully, at the end of the month, the accomplishment of finishing a game will be your greatest prize. For more information please visit the Official MAGS website.

Thanks everybody. I'm glad it hasn't been a hat trick of zero entries!

For voting please visit the MAGS site or make your choice right here:

The Truth of the Matter by Perspicacity1
Spaceman in Space by ThreeOhFour
Errand by Radiant

Please vote only once and be sure to have played all games before sending your voice! Good luck to all participants.

Thanks 304 and Perspicacity! Just waiting for Radiant who has a couple more days to do stuff before the deadline.

Also what- it's November already?! I didn't start the new month AGAIN!

To any mod reading: is it possible to turn on that feature where a thread gets posted at the date and time you enter? I've seen it on a few forums. Not sure if SMF supports that kind of thing, but it would help me a lot! And lots of other people too I imagine.

Thanks for posting Stupot, NaNoWriMo is just what I need at the mo, and I would have completely forgotten about it otherwise. Never entered before but I've signed up and will try my hardest to reach 50 K. Probably going for an action-adventure - fun to write and takes the pressure off thinking up a half-decent plot!

I conducted a quick opinion poll posing the question "who doesn't care that DBoyWheeler has a new avatar?"

Talking of little things you notice if your eyes are open: watch out for the laid-back bandits somewhere in Eastmarch. You lol.

Like Oblivion, Skyrim is still way too easy for grinding levels. For light/heavy armour, you just find a couple of mudcrabs and stand there taking the hits (there's a cave in Oblivion where some goblins are keeping about five rats as pets - keep the block button held down and you're good to go). You can get to 100 Conjuration very fast too: equip the conjure sword spell in both hands, cast it, sheath the swords, then repeat as necessary It a cheat's way of levelling but it's Bethesda's fault for making it too easy and tempting. Having said that, combat skills are still relatively tough to level, because you need to find enemies and available xp is more 'finite' in the sense that you can't practice anywhere at any time. I sort of omit archery from this - you've practically reached level 100 when you're level 85. Read the skill books for 5 levels, pay a trainer for the next 5, and go to Angi's Camp to achieve the final 5. The latter seems way too generous for what you actually have to do. But they probably counted on people not being so forward-thinking and shrewd when they go to read skill books or train with Angi.

Conjuration is one of my favourite skills because along with a human follower and dog, you can also have two permanent atronachs which will only disappear when they die. Although I've found that frost and storm atronachs tend to get stuck in doorways. This is different to humanoid followers who seem to stand in doorways just when you don't want them to. I know what CW means, I think their speed must be static unlike yours because they take ages to catch up - or is your speed also static? I never seemed to be able to keep up with elk but now I can outpace them (not when I'm not sprinting obviously). Normal walking speed also seems to get faster when you choose to raise stamina after levelling up, or is it just me?

Incidentally, does anybody else find that the dogs bark too much, to the point where you constantly notice it? I found the dog in Meeko's shack but told him to beat it after a while cos he's always yapping behind me.

I've never liked Oblivion's introduction to the Fast Travel. It makes it feel like I've skipped out on all the dangers or exploring by just pressing a button and I am instantly hours away from where I was. I've always liked that Morrowind had the walkers that would take you to the nearest towns, or the person in the Mage's guild that could teleport you.

I've started playing through Skyrim a second time and haven't used fast-travel at all. It's more rewarding to walk from A to B as you discover loads of places on the way and also level up faster. I do use the carriages though... even though it is still fast travel, it feels less cheaty, because you have to get to a major city to use them in the first place and your destinations are limited to the big cities. Using them feels 'legit' somehow because if you really did live in Skyrim, you would be able to hire them.

I also believe it was the removal of being able to sell whatever I had stolen to any merchant (except to the person I stole from) that makes exploring houses much less interesting. Morrowind had that right. I understand why they removed it, but I don't like that they did. Needing a fence to sell my goods, or that one crooked merchant, doesn't exactly make it worth my while. Like, how do they even know something was stolen anyway? If I'm a thief I want to sell to whomever I please.

There is a perk to sell stolen items to any merchant, but you need 90 Speech and you must have invested in them. But even so, the requirements seem a bit excessive.

I agree about the loading screens, although not because they take too long (the wait isn't really noticeable when you install Skyrim on Xbox). Towns like Falkreath are already free to walk right into, so it's annoying they don't have them for bigger places like Whiterun and for houses. Still I guess when TES VI comes out on next-gen consoles, there will be more capacity to do stuff like that.

I preferred Oblivion's environment to Skyrim's, even though Cyrodiil was admittedly plain, and had much less variety than Skyrim. (Note: it's ironic that the plane of Oblivion was also Hell to play through). I preferred Cyrodiil because the topography made the land much more open to explore. You didn't have to keep finding ways up cliffs and being funneled into places where you are supposed to go. I know Skyrim was obviously designed to be mountainous, and there are still lots of flatlands, but every time I play, without fail I end up doing the classic 'jump side to side up a mountain' routine to get to the other side.

The Shivering Isles was a great expansion and the scenery was quite different from Cyrodiil. The underground tree root cave things and sunken forts like Xeddefen were great fun to explore. I really hope they release something similar which is completely different to the land of Skyrim, just to get away from all that darn snow and real-life-history Nordic stuff. Apparently though the next DLC take you to Solstheim, which was in Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion, which isn't too different from Skyrim. But there probably will be something with the atmosphere of the Shivering Isles in the future, especially as it's been confirmed that Bethesda are producing DLC like they did for Fallout 3 - lots of small DLC rather than a few substantial ones.

Also, about the consuming food/drink idea, I've had that thought too before. Bread, cabbages, tomatoes, etc, are all really useless, especially when you are at a decent level and eating these recovers about one pixel of health. It would be much better for these to have a constant practical use, and if you are too hungry/thirsty your max stamina is depleted or something. Sleeping in a bed is now completely redundant in Skyrim, now that health regenerates on its own.

Spoiler?

Spoiler

It's literally a wait function after you become a werewolf, as you don't get the well-rested charm.

[close]

Alongside going for long periods of time without food/drink, it would also be good if players get fatigued by spending too long without sleep. Essentially this is the Hardcore mode added to Fallout New Vegas, which I used on the second play-through, and it's so much more fun than playing without it. I might even suggest that going too long without food, drink, or rest could kill the player but something so drastic probably wouldn't make it into the game without being optional. However, the sleeping requirement was sort of stupid in FNV because (a) you still hardly ever need to sleep to stay alive and (b) in real life you can probably lie down anywhere to get some sleep, rather than being forced to find a dirty pre-war mattress to catch some winks.

This seems like an appropriate place to say this. Fallout 4 using the Creation Engine will be the best game ever made, if they don't develop something better by 2025. The atmosphere of Fallout beats Elder Scrolls hands-down, even though the flaws in Fallout are a whole different kettle of fish.

Don't forget the deadline is the 5th Nov. So this is the sort of half-way reminder.

Awesome Ben, what a great way to spend time off!

Anybody else thinking of entering?

I vote that Ponch should be sent to the abattoir unless he starts a new round soon.

[Topic: 'Bullshit']

Topic: 'Bullshit'

This month's guidelines were set by Cleanic:

Now that I have got your attention, here are the rules. Make a game where a character is lying/lies about something important (or about everything).

Ideas to help you:

• You lie to someone and you have to win their trust back.
• You're a spy and you have to make a captured person tell you something.
• You lie about something stupid but it ends up becoming huge.
• The main character is a politician.



Ending 5th November



What is MAGS?

MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, or provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favorite" 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.

You may get help for the competition, although you must end up doing something yourself. You should however be warned that it proves difficult to organize a big team within thirty days. You are not allowed to use material already created before this competition. Your game must be completely new! Music and sound is an exception; you can use free material that is available to the public, if you wish. Modules and templates are also allowed. Please do not enter the competition with a rushed entry (a game created last minute). Sure, you can make a game and rush it - but don't do this just to win by default.

Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualise your game following the month's criteria (see top). Second, create your game fueled only by coffee. Third, finally, and most importantly, post your game here, including:

âœ" A working download link.
âœ" The title of your game.
âœ" A suitable screenshot.

At the end of the month, the all-important voting will begin! This period usually lasts fifteen days. Should you win, along with announcing the next month's rules, your name and game will be immortalised in the MAGS Archive. Yet hopefully, at the end of the month, the accomplishment of finishing a game will be your greatest prize. For more information please visit the Official MAGS website.

The shop layout is impossible. All the shops have to be really narrow. You need to think about how much area each shop would take up (change the width of the spaces between doors).
Also, I've never seen a shopping centre without any shop windows. After all a window display is the main thing attracting customers. Of course you would have to draw some objects in the window but at the moment it looks like a prison.
I'm guessing the up and down arrow is for a lift? In which case the doors don't match up between levels.
What is the thing in the floor?

To be honest I'd completely redraw it taking inspiration from actual shopping centres.

ddq to be fair the server is actually pretty decently put together but I wasn't sure what I had to do so left.

That's what I was wondering. But I googled Penitentiary7991 and found it: play.penitentiary7991.me.uk