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I think names probably do matter and can, in some circumstances, make a difference between playing and not playing a game.

One great example is Discordance's How they found silence. With all respect to Discordance, the screenshot isn't brilliant, but the title piqued my interest enough to give it a go and i'm glad I did because it's a nice little game. Without the title I might not have bothered.

Having said that, I don't know if a good title would be enough to make me buy a game and a bad title certainly wouldn't stop me from playing or buying a game I liked the look of.

So therefore I think names can help because they can catch your eye and get you interested, but ultimately it is up to the game itself to pull you in, or the screenshots and description etc. to keep you interested and consider a purchase.

This isn't really funny, but...

Everyone in the world falls into 1 of 10 categories.

Those who understand binary and those that don't.

Please point out "successes of religion". Note that in order for these to count, the success must be explicitly based on religious belief or morality. Mentioning a pastor who saved Jews from the Nazis does NOT count.

I can only really speak for the UK and Christianity, as that is what I know, but these would include the creation of schools in England (the first we have any records of came with the spread of Christianity), the provision and spread of free schooling for all, hospitals which treated those who could not pay and a massive amount of "charity" work. I suppose it depends how you measure success but that would fit my definition.

Dear Moving Thread

This morning, my daughter managed to do a poo on the floor without taking her nappy or pyjamas off. I suppose I do want her to be an early achiever but I still wasn't as appreciative as I perhaps should have been.

After cleaning it up I headed out to go to work only to find that a bird had done a very similar thing on my car, so I had to clean up more poo.

When I got to work and approached my desk I was half expecting to find more poo there, however all was clear. And then a strange thought struck me, maybe it was my turn to leave a poo somewhere? I didn't need one so it was all academic but now lunch is long past and I think nature may be calling.

What should I do MT? Help me!

Drop off the bottom of the page would you Bump thread? NEVER!

Sorry everyone for missing the end of this. I have been without any meaningful internet access until today since last Saturday so haven't been able to deal with this.

I see a new competition is up now anyway so I shall say no more except sorry!

OK, time extended to Monday 22, there's still time so get writing!

What makes a good RPG in my opinion? Bethesda.

Now one for you, why does the title to this thread contain "[ICEY]"?

Excellent, more entries, great to see.

I think that a short extension would be available if Problem or anyone else doesn't have time to finish by Friday (especially as my entry was late in the last one!)

OK, only a few days to go. Anyone else working on anything?

It would be a shame if bingonight won by default, someone step up and give him some competition!

Weather

It feels like winter will never leave these shores at the moment but, in the usual course of events, April is a notoriously changeable month in Britain and whether it's sun, rain, snow, wind, storms or whatever, each conjures up it's own emotion and feel which can be quite weird when one turns to another on the same day!

Therefore, for this competition, I want you to compose something that reflects a change in the weather.

-   Choose your two types of weather
-   Compose a theme (tune/whatever) and make it sunny, or snowy or whatever you have chosen.
-   During the piece change the theme so it ends up rainy or windy or whatever.
-   The change can be sudden or gradual, but there should be two distinct parts of the piece where the same theme/tune (or a variation of it) feels like two different types of weather.
-   If the above is too vague feel free to do the same thing for day and night.

Deadline is 19 April.

Get to it composers!

Hooray for me! Although I do feel a bit bad having won with a late entry...

Anyway, I'll get the next one up and running soon.

OK so it's late and unfinished but having been ill most of the weekend I'm just going to post it anyway.

Teh Musicz

I actually did start something for this, but haven't got very far (and it isn't very good). If possible I will try and do some more on it, or otherwise might just post it unfinished anyway by tomorrow.

Tampons?! Perhaps not.

Haemo-condensers? Intravenous Extraction System?

I'm not sure it's fair to characterise it as a reaction to Resonance winning lots of awards. I'm sure everyone here would agree it thoroughly deserved them and it is right that commercial games like that (Gemini Rue, Cat Lady, Journey Down etc.) are showcased and recognised by the community also.

I also don't think it's right to judge freeware and commercial games on the same turf. If we did so then, with respect to all concerned, there would not be many freeware games here that anyone got that excited about. For instance, I happily consider many freeware games made here as excellent, and a lot more as very good, but if I'd had to pay money for them I would likely view them differently. Only my own perspective obviously.

Furthermore, I feel that it should be the case that a commercial game is better than a freeware game, otherwise why is the creator charging/not charging for it?

Personally I would like to see the honours shared and both types of game rewarded in separate categories of some kind. I'm not saying that Blackwell Epiphany or Resonance 2 etc. wouldn't deserve to clean up at a future award ceremony, but it would be nice to see non commercial games recognised alongside them in one or more specific category.

I agree with all above and I think there are now enough commercial AGS games each year to justify it.

If you've never seen "magic-eye" pictures before then it might take a little practice.

The usual practice is in 2 stages.

1. Let your eyes go "unfocused" and relaxed, so the screen is in front of you but you are not focusing on it.

2. Keep your eyes like that and start with the screen almost touching your nose (easier on a laptop obviously!). Slowly draw it away from you and hopefully the image will come into focus as your eyes adjust automatically. This will definitely take a few goes (probably quite a few if you have never "seen" one before). The trick is to keep your eyes relaxed and not mind that you look like a bit of a prat whilst doing it!

The images themselves appear like a sort of 3d hologram dropping back away from you when you can see them. The screen sort of becomes a window looking into a 3d room. That isn't a very good explanation but it's the best I can do!

Having said that, I could see the first two no problem but couldn't work out what the third one was.

I got the first two images fine, but couldn't work out what the third is one although I could see the shape more or less.

Maybe I am just lame!