Messages

Yeah, a few things:

Can I interpert zombies in any way I want?
Can I interpert blood in any way I want?
Do you mean a famous movie star or just a character who's job is playing in movies (sorta what Damien asked)?

Hey, those are real great Nostradamus
When I think of names for a game, they usually just come to me when desiging the story, sometimes playing with puns, or using something that isnt main in the game- thats is, I dont like naming a game for what it is, the name should create interest and should make sense mostly after the game. For example, Grim Fandango has a good name, and TLJ didnt (IMO).
A name with a subliminal message may be interesting aswell.

As for your game, I think the best person to think up a name is you, just do some brainstorming, but if you want my opinion, I like Nostradamus' names (the second one in particular ), and maybe "The (no) gift season".. hmm, not too good

edit: That was quie a ramble for so little to say, just some naming theory I guess.

Welcome and good luck!

Hmm, well the rules are pretty much the opposite of all my game ideas and visions, so I think this is a good month to make a short game just for fun, with no deep story..
Actually, I dont quite see any variations on story in these rules, though I could if I tried.. Anyway, Im entering with a small games, stay tuned for more

Hee hee, lol DG.

Trumgottist: I agree (havnt played toonstrcuk though) that if a game is in a "lose the game" situation it should allow (to some extent) continuation. Of course this can be taken too far, for example if dying in a game brings you to heaven and you have to ressurect your body, now that's just taking too far .
I recently decided to use AGS and this community for testing out things, though, so making a very short but full of freedom game would make a nice experimnent

I have some more to say on this subject, but tommorow, good night my lab-rats

Oh man, I have a lot to say, but it's so much that I cant type it all at once. And I have to go to sleep..

I'll add to this tommorow, when I become un-lazy:

Atmosphere makes games unique, stylish, and intereting, but most of all it makes them immersive. If a game catches your interest with anything, be it characters, dialogs, story, puzzles, graphics, music, and such, you will most likely be pulled into the game. Usually, when playing most amateur games, I feel very distant from the chracters and the story, because I know at all times that it's just a game. If the game manages to do something surprising to pull me into it (or draws me into the story by creating interest and suspense), I suddenly forget that I am playing a game, and feel that I am indeed experiencing a story.
An example i cant seem to stop bringing up is TK's Mags game, which is, mostly just an average game. The graphics aren't great, the story is simple (as it often is in MAGS games) and the first puzzle isnt very interesting. I didnt expect a mags game to be better, as mine are usually worse, so I played through as always, with the intent to to just 'finish it'. Then, i reached the last puzzle, which (see spoiler below) totally blew me away:

Spoiler

I use the mixture on the dragon, and expect nothing more than to win the game at that. This is not the case. Accompanied by great, tension inducing music, an arcade sequence begins, and I am blown away. I die immedeatly, and then I reload, more ready for it....

[close]

I feel more immersed in the game, which has become much more fun in a mere second. I forget about the artificial way I felt for it, and enjoy it much more.
This simple addition would not surprise me in a commercial game, but in an amateur mags game, I didnt expect it at all.
One problem though, is that I hadnt saved when i reached that part of the game, and had to replay, which is fine since the game is short, but would have bothered me a lot if it were long. This problem of not expecting to have to save may be solved in time by better games. Of course, atmosphere doesnt mean having to save, and I rambled quite a bit just now, but I think games should just make the effort to add something that grabs the player by the nose and makes him/her feel more connected to the game.
Things like a surprising twist in the story for example..

Well, this wasn't exactly about atmosphere, it was about the reason for having atmosphere. I did mention that the music that accompanied the game helped greatly in creating atmosphere. The music itself wasnt an amazing piece, instead it worked for the pupose it was made for: creating suspene. The rest of the tunes in the game created some atmosphere too.

The music in Apprentice fit very well with the mood of the game, causing the player to feel "inside" the game world.
I don't quite agree with your distinction of art styles, that is, serious and cartoony (or humorous). I'll elaborate later.

Wow, I went on much more than I expected, I have a comment to practically everything you said in your post

To be continued...

Woo, that was fun. I dont think there was enough time for applause though. People cant type anything interesting or significant in such a short time between announcing the winner and the 2 secons of applausee .
Too bad many people missed their winning, but anyway, it was really fun and excited, and now I'm exhausted . Too bad Grr and TUM didnt win anything

Also, conratulations to everyone, to CJ, and thanks to DG for organising!

Also, one more thing Id like to note is that people can accidentally click on the save button or load button when they didne wat to.. you wouldnt want that, trust me A delete save slot (in multi saves) is also a nice addition to the GUI.

Oh and there can be an infinite number of saves a person wants, so a 10 minimum even if you have screen names (might be a good idea for another reason too, which is spoiling. especcially with screenshots in saves).

All the games were great entries, Congratz Magnus
I hope to see good rules next month

I can understand how he accidentally voted, as I almost did that once too, and Ive been meaning to mention it- having links with the name of the game give the impression that they link to info or to a download, so maybe more care should be used for direct forum voting. In any case, the games were all fun

I always named my saves (no score, I dont care about score one bit), and when I was too lazy id bang on the keyboard. In AGS games I usually call The save "Game" or "Play" or something like that, and I do the same in other games for playthrough saves, its only the particular saves I wanted to keep that I named

I have this odd paranoia that if I dont save often, I will have trouble, caused not by the fear of dying or screwing up (though that too, despite the fact that I played LucasArts mostly) but by not wanting the game to crash, as I tend to Alt+Tab sloghtly more often than is normal.

Thats a good idea, having a word requiremetn, or just requiring a lengthier than usual preview of the game.
Maybe ask for features or progress "bars".
Short games can't write as much about the game though, expeccially without ruining the game. Anyway...

I think screenshots in the direct sense are too much, as they are 'taken' when there is a charcater, an intrface, and a background etc, inside the game. Maybe requiring some concept art or background or character. Some people delay real artwork for a late time, but they can still post the temp artwork, or make up for artwork by having a more descriptive post

Well, in longer games I often make other saves in things I want to replay (I even once encountered a glitch in GF which caused Manny to slide around as if he were on ice, but I lost that save in a reinstall. Things like scenes I want to replay many times and such are usually saved. With some games it may be an interesting touch (like TLJ did) to have multiple "users" and each one can save the game seperately (and plays it seperately). However this is of no exceptional use in AGS games. I would still make saves for interesting parts to replay if it's an interesting game.
So, if its a good game, then multiple saves
Howver this is a good idea, so a quick save key that saves to one locked slot (for game progress) and allows the others to be used for specific places.
Multi-users would have trouble with this though, and maybe this should only be used in combination with the user choice.

Also, while we're on the topic, what do you think about auto-saves? are they useful, and how should they happen, all the time saving, or saving at specific points, or specific time intervals, or allowing the user to choose where to save auotmatically or how often, or perhaps a combination of all methods? Anyway soory for this little hijack, it just occured to me.

Yeah, Minimi and Hotspot***, I wonder whats up with their games... Hotspot Hindersh sent me a short tech demo of his in the begining of the month, and Minimi posted in GiP..

*** I meant Hindersh! I cant believe I confused them lol.

Babloyi: Well if the game is smaller than 1 mb then you can upload it on Neole's free space here for a quick solution:

www.2dadventure.com/ags/upload/upload.html

As for bigger files, there are many servers:
http://geocities.yahoo.com/
www.freeservers.com
www.freewebs.com
http://www.tripod.lycos.com/

Some of these have file size limit, and some don't allow zip files and exe files, so make sure you check first.

Zipox- as I said in my edit I finished both games, but I dont remember a bottle, and I didnt need the dig food it seems, as I could pass the dog easily. I dunno maybe the game just didnt indicate that using it had some effect, cause I did use it and nothing seemed to happen.

Aye, my first Sprite Jam
I chose to give you something abstract to draw, so the topic this time is:
"What is the essence of life?"
Or rather, what represents life to you? Since this is a sprite jam backgrounds are excluded (as far as I know at least).

No size or color restrictions.
Animation is not mandatory, but a bonus (though the challenge is in part supposed to be representing life in a still picture).

P.s. There seem to be inconsistencies with the dates on Sprite Jams, so please correct me if I got the wrong date
Also, is it ok for me to draw something? Not as an entry of course.

I played it yesterday TK, and I almost finished it:

Spoiler

The last puzzle is birlliantly refreshing from conventional puzzles, truly bringing the game to life. I have still to mater avoiding the fire, but I will

[close]

Also the characters are very funny and i can tell they are distinct in personality. Animation is nice, I have still to find the eatser egg. Don't tell me though! The trees have nice sahding, and I really like the animation for Mard and for the

Spoiler

fireball

[close]

. Interface is very easy to use.

Zipox- well i dont really mind it taking long, i must've had too much pressure on my connection.
At the moment the only object I have is the initial mushroom, but anyway.

edit: ok then, finished both games now
As for yuor easter egg TK, I still can't find it.. I never was too good with finding these things. A hint maybe?

Zipox- the game felt a bit too odd with what caused victory, that is

Spoiler

I didn't seem to need any of the weapons or the dog food. I liked the animation when I used the stange device

[close]

 :o Wow, this was a big surprise.. ok then, Ill start if as soon as I can
I really liked DM's entry and JimmyShelter's most of all. This is a great honour

mr_Zipox: Forgot to mention, I downloaded your game (took me quite some time), and what Ive played so far is fun, though slightly confusing about what needs to be done, as I am slightly stuck (still I just started so we'll wait and see, heh). I like the style you used for the backgrounds, as its an original one not used often. Ill give you more feedback when I finish it.

TK: downloaded.

Wow, I almost slept through this whole thing. I anticipate your entry, TK
I've been very caught up with futuristic design ideas, staying up at night writing ideas that just wouldn't stop coming..
Well, back to earth now, sortof

Great MAD Lib
In fact I now have yet another idea for a game. Ideas are easy, I often get them spontaneously, and if I'm looking for one, it's a bit more difficult, so I just let things around me sink in. Or randomize, that's good too, for joke games. Make sure your ideas are surprising and interesting to the player, innovation and surprise are key
Over the past two years I have thought of more than 15 ideas, and detailed some quite a bit. Why haven't I made them? Well, that's err, a good question..
Baiscally what happens is I get TOO much vision and am not skilled enough to make what I want. Some games I have thought of as being 3d, some need the most amazing graphics I can imagine, and most of them are just too big and lengthy for me to handle right now.
This is a problem I'm working on right now, heh.

I'm very glad to see my own personal favorite and the game i consider to be best is so poular ---> Grim Fandango! Its beyond my verbal capability to describe this masterpiece of combined greatness. Just take every positive advective you can find and you have a description of the game I guess

Ok, I may be exagerrating, but I think thats expected with the blind love I have for this game. Also many seem to agree so

In my opinion what makes GF so good is that aside from having every aspect of adventure gaming perfected and polished, it also combines all of these aspects in the best way, to create one complete epic adventure.

Alright enough rambling about Grim's awesomness, heh.