Messages

If it's the will of the people then ok.

But still, the point I was getting at was that working on something for "quite a while" doesn't mean it is close to completion. I mean, 5% of scripting, no music or sounds, no dialogues, and still lacking imported characters doesn't sound like it's got an inordinate head start from people just joining. We can also trust Bogdan on that otherwise he wouldn't have been truthful enough to ask in the first place. I reckon a game with those completion statistics would be undistinguishable from another entry at the end of the month.

But yes, all backgrounds finished definitely changes that, as well as a convenient theme (which may/may not be relevant, because all entries would have similar themes anyway; apart from providing a 'get-in' clause). Primarily I just didn't want anybody to miss out. In future though I will definitely be less slack on that rule.

(Btw, I plan to enter a shitty 5 minute game into every MAGS that doesn't get entries from now on, please start polishing my trophies whoever's responsible.)

Woo!

I am sorry I never really ought to cause this unexpected commotion.
I won't compete in MAGS with this game. Besides, It will just make me more time to polish it and finish it.

I'll look out for it in Completed Games

Hi
I was wondering if you could answer my question.
So, I am working on this game for quite a while.
I have finished all the backgrounds and maybe 5-10% of scripting.
But I have still a lot of work to do in the game (there are no dialogues, few more character have to be imported, there is no music, nor sounds, ...).
Since I read from your(Atelier's) post that "...game must be completely new!".
Does this mean that I can't enter MAGS if I finish it on time? Because I think it would not be fair from my side to enter the competition with a game that I was working on for a long time. By the way I forgot the mention the most important thing, and why I am so interested in joining this MAGS - my game is about ghost hunting AND there is a pub as one of few locations you can visit and gather a lot of information about ghosts and the haunted area.

Thanks in forward.

It's fine Because I know from experience that time working on a game ≠ relative effort on the game. It might be true in your case I'm not sure, but it's not true that a game that has spent longer 'in the making' has actually had that much time solely dedicated to it. The only real way to guage it is by hours worked exclusively on the game. But even then that doesn't factor in the productivity of the hour.

Ah, I'll stop rambling. Until I receive a poison pen letter written in blood, it's ok to enter and good luck

[icey]

Sorry about that spud (and welcome back), I have loads of exams next week so I don't have much free time

The new topic is here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=45081.0

It's a great theme, I look forward to everybody's entries

I also declare icey the winner of December! And unfortunately icey, you have only won twice in a row, making you a bare minimum grand-slammer

[Topic: 'The Pub']

Topic: 'The Pub'

This month's guidelines were set by icey:

Create a game featuring a pub, bar, or club in some way. The pub could be a visited location in the game, but if it's not, reference to the pub and it's importance in the plot/action of the game is sufficient.

Ideas to help you:

• The player meets a shady pub-lurker in the corner, who has a nefarious proposition for them.
• A ghost-hunter is called in to investigate a haunted pub.
• A pub bet is taken to the next level...
• An elderly couple save up enough to become proprietors of their dream pub.



Ending 31/1/12



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:

✓ A working download link.
✓ The title of your game.
✓ 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.

Show your enthousiasm please!

Yay! Another Spontaneous TV Digest! I'm glad the second Holmes film coincides too. I will be watching both TV and cinema screen... eagerly.

[1 day]

Yeah I agree this theme is cursed, even though it's so awesome. I don't think it was a good idea of mine to run it again, but maybe we might all meet it again in 2012 (providing some unforeseen crisis happens when we have no guidelines, which incidentally is what's happening right now)

If nobody can enter within 1 day, icey wins and becomes one of the illustrious grand-slam winners, with two wins in a row! Also icey what is your entry actually called?

I've been promising a questionnaire on MAGS for ages and will try my hardest to post it to gen gen. There have been some exciting and eventually palpable developments regarding MAGS' 2012 "renaissance", which I may or may not be required to keep secret (No seriously, I have no idea whether it's hush-hush ).

We've also got Maggies '11 sometime in the next couple of weeks so have a good year and party on.

Happy New Year everybody I would like to petition the City of London Council or whoever it is to choose some classical pieces to accompany the fireworks instead of that horrible mechanically-made 'popular music'. I think Elgar's Salut d'Amour would make an excellent complimentary auditory reinforcement with the crimson and violet pyrotechnics.

Cool. But it sounds more French to me.

[the]

When all the dictators are dead and democracy is free from the influence of international conglomerates, then we can start worrying about facebook.

As far as I can tell Facebook is an international conglomerate. Or as close to one as possible - it might even be one of the biggest single companies! So much power, in terms of personal data and money, is very dangerous, particularly so when combined. As the second most visited daily website, after Google of course, their status is utterly unique. The next social networking site is Twitter right down at tenth most visited.

If you watch any ad-break nowadays, I guarantee at least one advert will make reference to the company's Facebook page. They're obviously not going to miss out on such a great marketing trick. Not having Facebook renders you socially retarded, for my generation at least. People have no choice but to grow up around social networking sites, constantly in the media and in casual conversation. It's permeated popular culture so much that popular culture is now effectively built around the permeation itself. This results in a relaxed attitude towards them and the copious amounts of information they give only increases the momentum of the powerhouse. People just don't see the bigger picture and realise the potential that Facebook now has. Even if they don't give it voluntarily, they're always sure to wheedle information out of you in indiscriminate ways. Only recently somebody I know was deliberating on who the father of their child was, openly on Facebook. In another case they were congratulating their mum for having an affair. This sort of thing can only come about by ignorance, personal stupidity, and too much trust in a company who doesn't give two shits about you.

Because on Facebook, individualism is dead. Eight hundred million multiplied by the amount of variables supplied equals... a lot of information. I know nobody is sitting behind a computer thousands of miles away, analysing my last status. In all probability, somebody employed by Facebook has never even seen my profile, or even knows my name, because I'm just one of eight hundred million. Complex algorithms calculate who people talk to most, not humans, and no humans are involved when you add somebody as a friend or delete somebody as a friend. But even if that is true, Facebook is still maintained, managed, and accessible by humans at the top-end, meaning all that anonymity in numbers counts for nothing, when they can still easily single you out from the mass.

I would also not like to put my trust in Mark Zuckerberg, a proven hacker. When The Harvard Crimson were going to run an article on him, he hacked into the journalists' emails using their Facebook passwords to manipulate the story. When The Social Network won a Golden Globe for Best Picture, the director David Fincher describes Zuckerberg as 'completely altruistic' which is so ironic it's not even ironic any more.

The only thing I'm worried about is where it will stop. And when it eventually does stop, what's stopping Facebook selling everybody's information as they bow out quietly?

I'm planning to write a dystopian novel, and I've thought of a good prelude. A catalogue of information is being compiled by an international corporation, which details the lives of eight hundred million people. It includes their names, genders, birthdays, where they live, where they were born, where they went to school, where they went to University, what they studied and with who, who they talk to most often, their flat mates, their favourite movie, who they're in a relationship with, who they were in a relationship with, reams of private chat logs, where they worked and when and how long, who their siblings or parents or cousins are, and in most cases, literally hundreds of photos of them at the park, or at the pub, or with their family. Indeed, so limitless is this company's information, it's not even impossible to tell exactly where these photos were taken. They may have a GPS stamp applied from the camera that took it.

With indelibility, all of this information is on this company's records; stored on hundreds of servers across the world with practically unlimited space, available for human recall at any time. And whether intentional or not, all of this data is given unconditionally by each person listed, at their complete discretion.

The way this company extracts information is through a private, personal profile, where people add the above data to share with their friends and family, who also have profiles. In the most extreme cases, people share every aspect of their lives. Others are more sparing, and may only add what they wish to before they move on, or give false information, accidentally or otherwise. Nonetheless, the net useful information retained by the company is still vast beyond comprehension.

As you may have guessed, I'm talking about Facebook, who have information on almost 1/6th of humans on the planet. They have data on at least one of the above variables, not including name, gender, and birthday. One company knows at least one thing about eight hundred million people.

I decided to 'unplug' myself as it were following their newest Timeline update. I knew it was in the pipeline long before but never realised it would turn out to be so sinister. It pretty much collates all the information they have into quite literally a timeline of your life for people to view. Obviously it starts from the date you were born (including a photo) and works up to the present. I've never seen anything so impersonal and synthetic. It's just a projection of your virtual, imitative life which lives on Facebook's servers.

And if it wasn't blatant enough, it even says on their website that Facebook encourages people to add more events to the timeline that are out of an online context. Eg, "Got engaged!" "Went on holiday to X!"

I have hardly any information on there, but some of my friends get very personal with their updates and the information they share. Surely I can't be the only one who sees what's really going on, behind all these 'improvements' hedged with claims of convenience and gimmickry, right?

I guess there's a fine line between encouraging people to vote and forcing people to vote. Forfeiting points just by not voting isn't a good idea, as people don't have to even go into the C&A forums if they don't want to.

In fact, for the biggest competition, MAGS is quite tucked away here. The best way to increase visibility (on the forums) is to have a MAGS sub-forum. This would also serve to hold the previous competitions in chronological order, with stickied rules and Hall of Fame, much like in the C&A. This would separate MAGS from the other competitions and increase visibility and ease of access for participants, and most importantly potential participants. I might also suggest this would officialise the competition by giving it its own designated space. Sane, would you have heard of MAGS much sooner if such a thing had existed?

Now I know such a thing is unlikely to happen, particularly since there have long been proponents for a AGS Development sub-forum, which is demonstrably more important. But it can't be too hard to implement and in the long run I think it would definitely pay off.

I also promised a questionnaire on this and I will soon deliver! Even if it did take a while

[Tldr]

I have a meta question... I note that the previous MAGS had only a few more voters than participants. So perhaps we should advertise the contest to get more people involved in playing the games and choosing the best one? More visibility would be nice.

This is a good suggestion.

But last round wasn't an average month, because the vote was called twice, so there's a possibility that some people (non-entrants) didn't re-vote. Usually for a round with three entries there's about 10-12 votes which isn't too bad. In August for example, there were 13 votes for 3 games, 7 for 2 in June, and 10 for 5 last month. I think when it gets to the stage were number of entries equals number of votes, that's more cause for concern.

Plus, the number of votes is reflective of theme. It was a rather esoteric month and not everybody would enjoy playing OSD games if they're not in the loop, and consequently not as many people voted.

Another factor which affects stats is whether people vote for themselves more than once (not likely I would hope). In Maggies 2010 for example somebody should have won by about twenty votes, but when I analysed it they all came from the same locality so I disqualified them, the evidence of cheating was conclusive. And sometimes anomalies can arise, like that time mode got featured on a gaming blog and got hundreds of votes

So apart from it being a non-representative month I do agree about more visibility for MAGS:

• If/when the new website goes live the MAGS pages could emigrate there, and this would boost awareness. I know magintz (?) created the original website so he would have to be consulted beforehand. For all intents and purposes there is nothing wrong with the website atm - but apart from me adding the guidelines and things, does anybody honestly visit it? I'm under the impression that people get the guidelines straight from the C&A forum and only visit it to vote. It would be a sensible move to absorb the MAGS pages into the main website. I believe they are based on the same server anyway.
• Another idea would be to add a category under the AGS Awards for Best MAGS Game. This is basically Maggies just sharing (or piggybacking) the gravity and attention of a more prestigious ceremony.

There are quite a few questions to be answered to recognise why people don't vote/enter, and if we can address these then hopefully the competition will gain a lot more interest. But the situation isn't particularly critical... I think MAGS will last as long as the AGS community here does; 24% of all games on the database are MAGS games. Bear in mind that some of the database is just half-assed 'games' like APP-Pack and the real percentage would be much higher

Tldr: I'll make a questionnaire to get info on who votes, how often, who enters, why, etc, then we can go from there.

[Icey wins!]

The votes basically stayed exactly the same, so resetting the poll had no effect anyway

The Mouse Who Overslept by Ponch
2 vote(s)
OceanSpirit Dennis LOSERS HIS VAGINITY by Ben304 and Nemo
0 vote(s)
OSD: Heroics In The Nick Of Time by Ghost
2 vote(s)
OSD Sorta 99% by icey games
4 vote(s)
Dennis Dennis Revolution by Radiant
1 vote(s)


Icey wins! Thanks everybody, and once again thanks to Ponch for covering

Oh by the way, everybody click here to see something awesome.

Hi Milos, nobody's vilifying you for being Serbian. The postulation you're being ostrocised by Western elites is simply ridiculous. I hope I speak for everybody but around here nobody cares about nationality. If you never mentioned you were from Serbia, the reactions you've received would theoretically have been identical than if you did, which you did. Actually Serbia looks like an interesting country to visit and I especially enjoyed your Eurovision entry this year.

So please don't think anybody on here is being racist. Straight away I can tell you it's absolutely nothing to do with Americans versus Outsiders. I'd say only about half of the members here are American... the forum world map thing has been broken for years... would love to get some actual statistics.

Anyway good luck with your project and all that.

Nice sprite Ghost. Anybody else interested? C'monnnnn!

so a guy locked the thread

Lol this is hilarious! I'm glad you got the problem fixed. Luckily I have never had a virus before, touch wood and all that. But what is Crimison Bath?

I'll take that as three entries already?

[Topic: 'It's Me Again']

Topic: 'It's Me Again'

This month's guidelines were set by Duzz:

The topic is not limited, but the protagonist must meet their future self at some point in the game.

Ideas to help you:

• You give yourself advice on a tough upcoming decision.
• Your future self brings news.
• You won't tell yourself whether you hooked up with the woman of your dreams!


An old man carrying his grandson, coincidentally his younger self.
And a diagram of a dinoflagellate.

Incredible deja vu! I decided in October to repeat the really good theme we had so it wouldn't go to waste. Unfortunately it coincided with the Bake Sale and everybody was too drunk on milk and cookies. And almost as if I could tell the future, here it is again! You all had two months to get ready so there's no excuses So let's end the year with an awesome round of MAGS. Yay!

And don't forget... this is your last chance to be an entrant in Maggies 2011! I'll be holding it much earlier next year in January (not March like last time). So you could be the next initiate into the exclusive Order of the Maggot.



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:

✓ A working download link.
✓ The title of your game.
✓ 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.

Sorry all for the big balls up. Now there's a bit of a problem so I'd like a consensus from all participants: 7 votes were cast for different entries before I added Ben's entry. Shall we count these as void and start again, or continue as-is?

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

The Mouse Who Overslept by Ponch
OceanSpirit Dennis LOSERS HIS VAGINITY by Ben304 and Nemo
OSD: Heroics In The Nick Of Time by Ghost
OSD Sorta 99% by icey games
Dennis Dennis Revolution by Radiant

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

-