Messages

[What is MAGS?]

What is MAGS?
MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to use AGS to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner.

For more information please visit the Official MAGS Website

Why should I enter MAGS?
We're not here to tell you that you should enter MAGS, but merely allow it as a creative opportunity to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and generally as a good kick-start for the new comers (a.k.a n00bies).

MAGS is the perfect opportunity to make a game, and the wonderful prize is to announce the next month's rules, and all competitors get the game placed on the MAGS website.

MAGS is meant to be fun and is aimed at everyone, despite their skill. If you have poor art skills work on graphics, and vice-versa, as the voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, you may get help for the competiton, but should try not get anyone else to do any part of the game for you.

You are not allowed to (re)use material that you already created before this competition, you game must be completely new!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This month Sinitreana's guidelines take us to a very special place where great stories are waiting to be discovered:

Topic: Circus

1. the main character must be someone from a circus (a clown, a juggler, a wire dancer, …)
2. at least one room must be a circus location (the circus arena, a caravan, …)
3. at least three of the following items must be used as inventory items:
- juggling clubs
- a diabolo
- cigarboxes
- juggling torches
- a unicycle
- stilts
- a devilstick
- an artistic ladder
- clown shoes
- a hat

There are no other restrictions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All entries need to be in by August 25th.

Please post a download link of your game entry to this thread, best with a screenshot. Thanks and good luck.

So a number of day for voting passed by and the winner is selected.
We finally come to the end of this month's MAGS competition and here we go:

The winner this time is Sinitrena with her mystery game "Emerald Eyes".
Congratulations. Also many thanks to FSi for entering the contest.

Let's see if next month we face some more entries...

I love to try Mon Cul but can't download the game. Sigh....is there a solution? A new host maybe?

I just put it on my server so you can download it here. This is a temporary location only and will be deleted right after the voting.

No more entries even after some hours of extension. So here we go, this time with a 1-on-1 contest...
For voting please visit the MAGS site or make your choice right here:

Mon Cul by FSi
Emerald Eyes by Sinitrena

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

For the time of voting now you're invited to post your opinion about all entries: Pros and cons of the games. What did you like, what not. In this case it's interesting how you compare the games - if this is possible at all.

Hey Sinitrena - that's timing :-) At this moment I wanted to post this:
A long time without any new posts in this thread. So let me remind you of the deadline. Please submit your entries within the next 36 hours from now (see timestamp of this message). Then the voting will begin.

So let's finally come to the end of this special MAGS competition.
First of all many thanks to all participants: All entries are very exciting and offer the whole range of adventure experiences going from weird to serious - in the best sense

The MAGS competition is tough this month

True words.. Not easy to decide which's you favourite game I quess. Now after a really long time of voting - almost one week is also special for MAGS - the winner is selected. More than 50 votes were submitted this time, a big number compared to the usual contests.

So what's it all about? How did the community decide? Which game received most votes and who will get the unique MAGS anniversary CD?

Who is on top? Russell Stone, Godfrey or the Mittens crew?

The winner is "The Shivah" by Dave Gilbert. Congratulations and again also many thanks to the other game creators for these excellent entries. I hope we meet again in one of the next MAGS competitions

JetXL won the MAGS competition in May, so he's the "previous" winner - just as usual. We only made a hop over the anniversary contest.

Having looked around this thread and the MAGS site (which still has the previosu months rules, btw) I can't see when voting ENDs...?

There's no announcement when the voting is over - there never was. It usually ends after 3-5 days.

By the way - the MAGS site settings are okay: It already shows the new rules of July! That's part of the overlap I spoke about here.

Do the victim's last words have to be just 'emerald' or can that just be the last word, as in 'hide the emerald'?

From my point of view it should just be "Emerald". Else it wouldn't be that cryptic anymore...

Can we make the whole thing black and white, or noir? I think I might enter this.

Yes, that's possible.

Okay. Three entries in the end. Not really the number that I hoped for in this anniversary contest and I awaited some more entries rushing in during the last few hours. But okay: Three is not bad and all entries look very promising. So it will be hard to make a choice. Let's start the voting now:

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

The Shivah by Dave Gilbert
The Netherworld by Zor and Bartimaeus
Infinite Monkeys by Radiant

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

For the time of voting now you're invited to post your opinion about all entries: Pros and cons of the games. What did you like, what not. In this case it's interesting how you compare the games - if this is possible at all.

[What is MAGS?]

What is MAGS?
MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to use AGS to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner.

For more information please visit the Official MAGS Website

Why should I enter MAGS?
We're not here to tell you that you should enter MAGS, but merely allow it as a creative opportunity to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and generally as a good kick-start for the new comers (a.k.a n00bies).

MAGS is the perfect opportunity to make a game, and the wonderful prize is to announce the next month's rules, and all competitors get the game placed on the MAGS website.

MAGS is meant to be fun and is aimed at everyone, despite their skill. If you have poor art skills work on graphics, and vice-versa, as the voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, you may get help for the competiton, but should try not get anyone else to do any part of the game for you.

You are not allowed to (re)use material that you already created before this competition, you game must be completely new!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At first sight this month's guidelines, set by JetXL, seem to be very strict but they offer countless ways on how your game idea may develop:

Topic: Emerald

1. The intro should be black & white. (Whether this is a dream sequence or not, or only b&w in the intro is up to the maker)
2. The intro displays a murder. (This can be comedic or not)
3. The murder victim last words or message has to be "Emerald".
4. The murder weapon must later be an inventory item in the game.
5. The maker has to explain why the victim's last words or message was "Emerald" within the story.
6: The main character must have an addiction. (Can be candy, cocaine or otherwise)

Sounds very cineastic you say? A déjà -vu? Maybe Give it a try but it has to be a game, not a movie. There are no other restrictions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All entries need to be in by July 26th.

Please post a download link of your game entry to this thread, best with a screenshot. Thanks and good luck.

[M]

Well, no need for a big discussion:

The idea is to use AGS to create a game in under a month

And you already read:

To go in detail the end is reached in 48 hours from now (see timestamp of this posting). So game creators had the whole month - 30 days - for game creation. Much longer than for usual MAGS competitions, but it's all special this time

So now you still have 12 hours left to submit your entries (see timestamp of this posting). Good luck!

By the way:
Don't get confused by this other competition out there that's also called MAGS: The Millenium AGS contest, that is passed from one generation to the next over about 1000 years. Very exciting as the AGS engine might slightly change over this short period of time and it is expected that some participants won't remember the exact deadline in the end. So also good luck to all families and clans that take part in this challenge. I hope you make it in time ... when it's time. But that contest has nothing to do with our MAGS here which is limited to one month only!

Just to let you all know that unfortunately I'm going to have to bow out of this MAGs.

I didn't finish my game either.

Sad to see your games not being part of the competition :'( The concepts look very promising...

close off is 30 june?

Yes, it is! To go in detail the end is reached in 48 hours from now (see timestamp of this posting). So game creators had the whole month - 30 days - for game creation. Much longer than for usual MAGS competitions, but it's all special this time

By the way: Don't get confused when the next MAGS competition already starts on July 1st while this one is still in progress! In the end there will be an overlap of about one week then.

Wanna use old graphics?  Sure you can, if if you choose THIS set of guidelines.

True - this is the only exception. But it also doesn't allow all kind of old material

Hey, is it a one person per game or can it be team based?

The answer can be found in the first posting:

you may get help for the competiton, but should try not to get anyone else to do any part of the game for you.

So it's not a team challenge but you can ask others for support (like Vel for music for example). So one person should really do the main/biggest part of the game. This is how it should be.

About re-using old materials, does it mean I'm not allowed to dig my archives for the old sprites and backgrounds

You may dig your archive but you shouldn't use what you find there.

or that I need to create completely new characters and locations?

You shouldn't create a remake of an old entry. So the game and its storyline must be new. If you think of the ideas that characters and locations are based on you can use these. So you can make a new game with some references to an old game, e.g. by using the same main character name but with different sprites of course.

The ceremonies for the yearly award (favorite MAGS entry of the year). There's usually a little video to announce the winner.

It's not only the ceremonies for favorite MAGS entry of the year: There are also some very old winner announcement videos for the very first contests and some more created for monthly competitions featuring the characters Mags and Maggie (that also once were the winners in a MAGS contest)

[Oh, there's something special ...]

Oh, there's something special ...
Exactly 5 years ago, in June 2001, DGMacphee invented MAGS and started the very first monthly AGS competition.
Since its launch 55 contests followed up and about 150 games were created for these competitions.
So this month is the right time to celebrate MAGS with a very special event: The MAGS anniversary contest!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What we already know ...
MAGS is a monthly competition for all amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to use AGS to create a game in under a month, following given rules. For more information please visit the Official MAGS Website

Why should I enter MAGS?
We're not here to tell you that you should enter MAGS, but merely allow it as a creative opportunity to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and generally as a good kick-start for the new comers (a.k.a n00bies).
MAGS is the perfect opportunity to make a game, and all competitiors get the game placed on the MAGS website.
MAGS is meant to be fun and is aimed at everyone, despite their skill. If you have poor art skills work on graphics, and vice-versa, as the voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, you may get help for the competiton, but should try not get anyone else to do any part of the game for you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As this is a special competition there's also something special to the rules ...
This month you can pick any topic of the previous MAGS competitions!

You find them all in the history section of the MAGS Website (click "see guidelines" for details about each topic).
So you have the choice from 56 guidelines and I guess you all will find a topic that you like

You are not allowed to (re)use material that you already created before this competition, you game must be completely new!

A special competition, special rules and a special prize ...
This month the winner won't set the next topic, the prize this month is this unique "BigBlueCup" CD with almost all MAGS games of the last 5 years. It includes many games that are no longer available on the net and also all winning ceremonies ever made for MAGS.

And also something special about the deadline ...
This time you actually have the complete month, 30 days, to create your game! So all entries need to be in by late June 30th.


Please post a download link of your game entry to this thread, add the topic of the game (eg. 2006-05 The Journey) to your post and also publish a screenshot of the game, please.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally I want to thank the previous MAGS hosts DGMacphee and Magintz for their work and also thank all competitors of the last 5 years for wonderful games and great entertainment. Thanks!

I hope there will be a lot of entries this time. Good luck to all who join this MAGS anniversary contest!

[greatest part]

So let's close the doors for this contest now.

One entry: It has some nice effects and ideas but there's two things ...

- the travel itself (that should fill out the greatest part of your game)
- you HAVE TO involve an animal in one of the puzzles (again, if you choose an unusual setting, find a workaround)

- the travel here is more a cutscene, not the greatest part of the game
- the birds are not really involved in a puzzle

Sure we don't judge too hard here, so jet you can send in your rules (check your PM).
But there's something special: These rules won't be used next month!

In June you all will face a very different competition! Be excited!  :o