Messages

[Duzz]

Voting over! Here are the results:

The Unicated by Duzz
7 vote(s)
Outrage Dreamer Roads 4 (iii) by Poncho
4 vote(s)
Indiana Rodent by Radiant
2 vote(s)



Congratulations Duzz! You'll be receiving a PM shortly.

Cheers all, that was a good round. Now get working for MAGS September!

[ATELIER]

Wow. Some REALLY good entries this month. I wish I had participated.

It was hard to choose, but my vote goes to Stu ATELIER.

(Edited so someone doesn't throw themselves off a bridge or something  : )

Haha voh, please count Ponch's vote as Stu

I would also hypothetically vote for Stu.

Atelier.


(Yep I do this every round but I will probably kill myself if I don't win this time).

Looking for play-testers for Text Quest. Specifically I need feedback on the character creation system - you will not need to play the whole game PM me.

Object[1] has no image as default (image = 0).

[and]

I figured it out! To use the search feature you need a premium account.

It's only $5 a month and you get the link to delete your account, promotion to moderator, as well as access to the secret sub-forums naturally.  So just PM me all your bank details, and I'll set you up with premium so you don't have to There are lots of fraudsters out there on the internet but believe me, your cold hard cash is safe with me.

[Topic: 'Broomsticks and Boomsticks']

Topic: 'Broomsticks and Boomsticks'

This month's guidelines were set by Ghost:

Make a game set in a world where magic and technology exist - be it a classic steampunk
universe, our world after some strange event that "created" magic, or whatever you can
think of. Magic, technology (or a combination thereof) must feature in the plot, but feel
free to treat them as rivals, allies or just two different means to achieve a goal.

Ideas to help you:

• An assasin is sent out to kill a hight-ranking mage when his technical equipment fails.
• A wizard falls in love with a tinkerer.
• A boy finds out he's good at technology but can also do magic.
• Gandalf and the Terminator fight for domination of a post-nuclear wasteland.



Note: wow, it's now been a year since I took over hostship?
So in honour of your glorious leader you must dedicate your game to me (or suffer a -5 vote penalty). That's only fair, right?

Ending 30/9/11



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. For more information visit the Official MAGS website.

Ahem, I uh, didn't finish anything. *runs*

Ok, no worries

Then without further ado...

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

The Unicated by Duzz
Outrage Dreamer Roads 4 (iii) by Ponch
Indiana Rodent by Radiant

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

Cheers all.

Assassin's Creed, that's an example of a mainstream franchise that's pushing it too hard. The original game was revolutionary down to its awesome parkour sim Assassin's Creed II was just as good. Then you have Brotherhood and more recently Revelations... there hasn't even been an AC III yet. And now an AC movie!? They're squeezing every single $ out of a game that did reasonably well. They get more shallow story-lines each time and just rehash the game mechanics with some multiplayer elements thrown in for the sake of it.

Another thing I noticed is they get more namby-pamby as you go along, to the point where it almost insults your intelligence. For example, you've been climbing for a while, Ezio slips, and a cutscene shows some column fall into place. He actually tells you the column is a shortcut up, as if you didn't figure that out. The combat system absolutely SUCKS now. You can take down a whole load of guards with your hooded assassin dudes with one button press.

... I will NOT be getting Revelations, or any other AC game, until they put some life back into it and come up with another setting!

The majority find multiplayer fun and e-sports are huge now but for me, I'm not too keen on it. People expect some form of multi-player in games now - it's the industry standard. If it's single-player only the dev is nuts (exceptions for Elder Scrolls series ) because people play to socialise.

To be honest when I choose games I don't discriminate between them as 'mainstream' or 'not mainstream' anyway. I play the prior more because by nature they get my attention more but I certainly wouldn't be put off just because something is/isn't mainstream.

[2nd October]

Ok, everybody hereby has until the 2nd October to finish up!

I suppose you meant september?

Haha it just gets worse! What is wrong with me??!?!

Nice one Ponch. And yes, new deadline is 3rd September!

Would everybody be ok for me to start the new one while you guys finish up?

I have a serious complaint. The yellow is not yellow and the orange is not orange. Apart from that this is me -> 

Hello everybody, I'm here to bring news of a MEGA update in the first post.

I really should get this finished. It's so close!

Listen to this joker.

[2012]

Haha woops! But you guys could have had until August 2nd 2012!

[2nd October]

Ok, everybody hereby has until the 2nd October to finish up!

Cool Duzz! Now then, Ponch, Armageddon, Radiant, how's it going for a deadline tomorrow?

Indeed. What an odd sense of humour.

[looters]

Aside from that, I'm astounded how anybody can actually defend them. Oh they are such poor souls. Their lives are so oppressive, so hard, in comparison to people dying from starvation and disease in Kenyan refugee camps. It's not fair how they're given the chance at a free education.

I tell you why: Because you know SHIT about them. They all live their individual lives and you know SHIT about their lives. Don't try to pigeonhole all the looters.

Ok, don't assume I don't know about their lives, because you know jack shit about me. I couldn't say 'us' or 'our' because I'm not one of them. Either way I'm hardly socially/financially superior and I certainly didn't profess to be. To avoid generalising, I'll break down the looters some other way shall I, and then hopefully I can explain what I meant.

Each looter made an absolute willful choice to take part. I have been talking about the looters who claim they're treated unfairly by the state, not the 'lower' class as a whole. Not the old ladies and gentlemen or average law-abiding citizens living just up the road/two tower-block floors up from said looters, who lead identical lives (in financial and social senses), but clearly they are not identically moral. Just remember that not everybody in Tottenham, poor areas of Manchester, Liverpool, and other flash-points went out rioting, because that is a crucially important point.

Now, in my opinion each looter falls into at least one of these categories:

1. Showing the police they're not in charge
2. Uprising against the rich
3. Free stuff
4. A laugh/nothing else to do
5. Genuine political statement

Now, the first category is simply brought about by a lack of respect for authority, or an alternative explained in the next paragraph. If they just go out looting, because they don't respect authority and want to throw bricks at police, they are anarchists and are doing it for the adrenaline rush (and of course, those sorts of people fall into multiple of the above categories too). I can't think of anything else to say about these people. You would be crazy to deny it's a fact of life that some people really are brain-dead. This also basically sums up category 4. Look here or here - the last one makes me laugh. Another dolt blamed Tony Blair. And don't forget, over 2000 people have been arrested for involvement in these riots now. Just think of all the hundreds and hundreds of people they didn't interview, who would have made equally and indubitably more ridiculous statements. Then you will begin to understand why I generalise these looters.

Alternatively, category 1 rioters genuinely feel oppressed by the police and the repressed hostility just boiled over. Now this was quite clearly what first instigated the riots - if Mark Duggan wasn't shot I believe this would never have happened. At least, until another opportunity arose. A protest march organised by family members and members of the community went to the local police station looking for answers about his death. When they waited for 3 or 4 hours the crowd got agitated and things turned nasty and there was a face-off in the streets. Of course these people had every right to protest! But the protest turned into a riot which gave momentum to other would-be rioters and anarchists across the country, who had nothing to do with Mark Duggan!

So, the second category is a serious example of people being brought up to believe that materialism is life's only goal. Having a 'protest' against the rich and 'redistributing'* (ie stealing) the wealth would not achieve and has not achieved anything and it's a lame excuse. The third category is similar but has more to do with once-in-a-lifetime opportunism. These unprecedented riots happen and people immediately call for societal change, because sure let's blame it on society. It must be society's fault! Has nobody realised that the fundamental problem could be with people's attitudes and outlooks on life; is British society really betraying these people, or are these people instilled with distorted expectations of the state?

I referenced Kenyan refugee camps (spawned off of Somalian famines) because it was the first thing to spring to mind. It wasn't just a guilt trip, it was part of my point above. Such people would give anything to come and live in Britain (asylum seekers), because the quality of life here is almost incomparable to what they're used to. It's interchangeable with anything. More permanent slums in Mumbai, people dying in Tripoli as you read this, dozens of other humanitarian crises world-wide; and yes, I do feel lucky I don't live in those countries and have half of the problems of the people living there. I do not expect anything more from the government than what is currently given. This is why (which I mandatorily have to say: in my opinion), category 5 looters who think they go out looting for solely a political purpose are... deluded. Nobody with a true political cause would go out looting shops... it just doesn't make sense to me.

That isn't any better than saying jews are greedy or black people are inferior.

Now I'm suddenly only a post away from saying that?? It is so desperately different and I can't even see how you managed to bring race into this argument at all.

* How I heard it described in one interview with a rioter



Anyway the topic has completely changed now so I think it's about time we updated the AGS political compass

Thanks monkey

Does AGS support x.5pt size fonts?

Noo Akatosh, I've always found you funny

I'm also trying to gain weight. I'm not exactly a sumo. Got my GCSE results today... two A*s, seven As, one B and a C (guess which are Food Technology and Drama lol) I'm pleased but indifferent : I really cannot wait to go to Uni and get a job (eventually). I never really spoke about my age around here because I thought people would treat me differently.

Baron, I'm sorry to hear about your dog. Any dog who sticks by you, when you're out for the count, is a true dog Dualnames, I checked out Klaypex and Slowdive - both pretty sweet. And to everybody else, I genuinely enjoyed hearing what you had to say!

So books - any recommendations? (Babar, please don't list your collection)