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My initial project grew out of control and I couldn't come anywhere near finishing it, so I put together this entry in 5 hours from start to finish at the last moment:

DAGGERHELL



https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2474-daggerhell/

A game made in 5 hours for the Sept 2020 MAGS, Cloak And Dagger Theme.
Just keep running right while avoiding the cursed daggers of death.
Every now and then you might find a magic cloak. It may save you one time from a stabbing.
Things get harder the further you progress.
Can you make it to room 66?

The theme for this round is "Ongoing But Incomplete".

Stories can be about anything as long as there is some main element of something started but not yet finished. Not something abandoned, but something that is currently still being worked on but is not yet complete.

Be it a novel, a construction, a piece of music, or even something like a marriage, or sessions of therapy...

Also, for this round if it's allowed, I would like to do the voting differently. I'm not a huge fan of voting for things like "Favorite Character" or "Best Use Of The Theme" etc, as people can probably tell by my own voting... ahem... record...

I would prefer if votes were just cast for "Favorite", "Second Favorite", "Third Favorite" etc. (adjusted depending on how many entries we get)

Of course, people are then free to write their own categories of why they made those choices including character development, plot, theme usage, etc.

Entries open until Thursday, September 10th.

Okay, this is just the best movie I have seen in the last year.

There are so many reasons why.

It has rocketed into my top 5 best mystery movie list which I thought was pretty invulnerable.

Now it goes:

1: Deathtrap
2: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (either version, but the Swedish version one millimeter higher)
3: Knives Out
4: Murder On The Orient Express (the original film)
5: Sleuth (the original film)

(Clue has been pushed back to 6th place, sorry Tim Curry)

Knives Out is a perfectly plotted mystery movie. There are no plotholes or flaws in character motivation. There are no silly tricks. All the cards are laid out on the table but it still takes at least a second viewing to understand what all the cards mean. Greatest fun I've had watching a movie in a long time.

Now for some spoiler talk:

Spoiler

After rewatching the movie three times I believe that the father had always planned to die that night.

He was the writer of murder mysteries and it was his 85th birthday and, as he was already receiving morphine injections every night to sleep we can assume he was a hospice patient. Nurses don't give daily morphine injections to somebody who is going to get better. He cut off every one of his bloodsucking family (and even admitted he was to some extent partially to blame for their flaws), and he insisted the nurse and he play the game of Go as their tradition went, for the last time from his perspective.

He wasn't surprised when he thought he was poisoned. I'm thinking he just thought "Oh, this is how it comes then?"

He knew one or more of the family would try to kill him that night, but he knew that the nurse was the only innocent person he could trust.

But the hint that makes me think this the most is that he left the letter to his daughter about her husband's affair. He told the husband that either he had to tell her or he, her father, would.

But he left a letter that only she would know how to read.

If he expected to be alive the next day he would have just told her himself in person. No need for the letter.

He definitely knew that he wasn't going to survive the night.

[close]

[Tremors]

A partner thread to my "Good Movies You Hate" thread.

This one is where everyone gets to talk about movies that should have been terrible, for whatever reason(s), but turned out to be great, for whatever reason(s).

Once again, this is not a thread to post stuff like "Are you KIDDING me?! That movie SUCKED!!!" in response to someone else's post.

It's just a place to bring up those very rare instances when a movie should have failed but somehow managed to pull it off, and then some (in your opinion)!

Please try to mention why the movie should have bombed and also what you feel are the contributing factors for its unexpected awesomeness, if possible.

Let's try to steer away from the "So bad it's good" kind of movies in this thread as those are a different genre all to themselves.

Also the "bad on purpose" kind of awesome movies like "Killer Tomatoes" etc. don't really belong in this thread.

I will start with:

Tremors

A movie about two good-ole-boys whose town is suddenly under attack by giant burrowing creatures from deep underground for no good reason.

The premise of this movie sounds like the absolute worst schlock from a terrible '50s movie made to just feed drive-ins their monster-movie-of-the-week and then be quickly forgotten.

But Tremors was a huge hit when it came out and has stood the test of time, becoming a movie revered by many, and is often mentioned in "Best Movies Of The '80s" compilations.

I remember renting this movie from the local video store on VHS along with a bunch of crap that we quickly forgot as soon as we watched it, but then my flat-mates and I watched Tremors, and it was a life-changing experience. Here was a B-Movie flick that was low budget, had a ridiculous plot, and was set almost completely in one or two locations, but was as captivating a watch as a multi-million-dollar movie like Die Hard.

This movie spawned a slew of sequels (none of which I have seen) and also an avalanche of imitators.

But what made it work so damn well?

For me, it's about a three-way-tie:

(1) The ridiculous premise was treated with complete respect by the film-makers. The audience can quickly understand the rules that the characters must follow to survive against the creatures and these rules are never compromised in any bullshit ways for the sake of the plot needing them to be broken for the movie to continue. The audience knows that when the little girl is bouncing around on the pogo-stick that the creatures will be coming. We understand how clever the characters are when they pole-vault from rock to rock.

(2) The chemistry between the two main characters. We not only believe that they are best friends, but we can feel a depth to their relationship going back years before the story started. This is, of course, because of the great writing and the fact that Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward are great actors and perfectly cast. And yes, Michael Gross comes back in the third act to carry the movie with a Rambo-esque performance nobody expected from the dad from Family Ties, granted.

(3) The inventive and varied ways in which the monsters, and other plot points, are used, especially on the low budget. When they lead the "Graboid", as I believe they became known as, into the buried concrete wall it's a moment of great imagination from the writers on how to reveal to the audience what the creatures look like and also what their instincts and weaknesses are. When they uncover the weird rectangular object in the dirt and then clear away more dirt and realize it's a car's headlight, it's an easy, low-budget shot but carries a great weight as the audience "builds" the rest of the car buried under the ground in their minds without them having to actually bury a whole car. And the panning shot of Michael Gross opening fire on the Graboid breaking through his bunker wall with the seamless quick-pan from live on-camera actor to miniature set with an animatronic monster breaking through the wall still looks tons better than most CGI effects I've seen. There are entire film class lectures possible based on just that one shot.

These are the main reasons I would boil down to why the movie worked so well. Lightning in a bottle, as the phrase goes (which is why I've never watched the sequels).

But I also want to talk about the fact that nobody knew about this movie when it came out.

The studio just pushed a little bit of money their way in the hopes of getting a monster movie that would return a reasonable profit and didn't give two shits about it after that.

They made little attempt to advertise it. I never saw a trailer for it even though I was a regular movie-goer and major VHS renter.

Even the movie poster was churned out just before the film was released and just look at it:



The studio just told the artist "Ah, whatever. Just have a monster coming up from under the ground. It's just a crappy movie anyway." and the artist just chose a random image of a "scary" monster and pasted it in. It's not even the monsters that appear in the movie FFS!!! And look at how tiny the actors are! They plastered "Kevin Bacon" across the top in the hope that his popularity would be enough. Poor Burt Ward.

I actually love it that such a great and memorable film had such a flop-inducing release and such incredibly bad poster art.

I love everything about this movie.

Anyway... anyone else got one?

[Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.]

Lately I have detected an interesting category for movies that I have seen, and could recognize as genuinely good movies, but that I absolutely could not stand or even outright hated.

If anyone else has had similar experiences then please post the movies' name(s) and your reason for your reaction (if possible).

Please try to avoid posts like "NO WAY! That movie is a masterpiece!" in response to someone else's opinion. This thread is not intended to start arguments.

Think of this as more of a place to vent your feelings that would be unpopular anywhere else.

I will start with:

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

I love Terry Gilliam movies. I think the man is a genius. I think this movie is expertly crafted, and has amazing acting, outstanding camerawork, and everything else one would expect from a Terry Gilliam movie.

I understand the concepts of Gonzo Journalism and Stream Of Consciousness writing.

But, oh my GOD! I just found this movie grating on my nerves and that feeling increasing exponentially per gorgeous onscreen minute.

The characters were screechy and made me want to tear out the last bit of hair I have left.

I knew the movie was going to wander as aimlessly as the drugged-out characters so that was also annoying on a surface level, but I have read (and watched) The Naked Lunch and read On The Road, without that being a major issue.

I think I just found the entire thing so self-indulgent on the part of the characters, the actors, and the director that I just stopped caring about anything and turned the movie off at the bathroom scene with no regret.

I doubt I will ever attempt a rewatch.

Anyone else got any movies they knew were good, or even great, but just couldn't stand for whatever reason(s)?

[>]

https://play.aidungeon.io/

I'm pretty sure some people know about this amazing experience, but for those who don't, here it is, including one example of how I managed to complete my assigned quest in the most insane way possible:

Spoiler

You are Inventor, a noble living in the kingdom of Larion. You have a pouch of gold and a small dagger. You are awakened by one of your servants who tells you that your keep is under attack. You look out the window and see a large group of goblins.
You grab your dagger and head to the roof to defend yourself.

> You invent a time machine and then travel to the 20th century and bring back an atomic bomb.
You look out the window and see that the goblins have grown to about fifty. They wield crossbows, hand axes, flintlocks, and a few early muskets.

> You go in your time machine to the 20th century.
You go through time to the year 2016. You're surprised to find that the 20th century has vastly different technology than the 18th century.

> You get hold of an atomic bomb.
You walk around the streets of 2016 New York City looking for a potential seller of weapons. You see a store selling chemistry supplies. You enter the store.

> You ask for an atomic bomb.
The owner looks at you and snorts.
"No, thanks," he says. "We don't deal in those kinds of explosives."
You leave the store and wander around the streets. You see the U.S. military passing out food and supplies to the poor. You approach a group handing out free food.
You hand over the name "Anton".

> You explain to the military that you are from the 18th century and need an atomic bomb.
You explain who you are and that the historical record was destroyed during your time.
The soldier looks at you funny.
"You're kidding me," he says. "You're not who you say you are."
You show him the Inventor's Certificate.
"Oh, OK," he says. "We'll have to call in our nuclear expert. Hold on."
A few minutes later, a nuclear expert arrives. He is wearing a gas mask and a full suit. He looks at the back of your Inventor's Certificate and nods.
"Yes, this is genuine," he says. "I'll need to take you into the vault."
You follow the nuclear expert into a small room. He unlocks a vault and opens it. Inside are hundreds of vials of different chemicals.
"We're a chemists, not a weapons shop," the nuclear expert says. "These are valium, brocolise, and codeine. Those are just some of our stock."

> You ask the nuclear expert how to make an atomic bomb.
The nuclear expert tells you to mix these chemicals together in this order and a good explosion will result.
"Be careful with those," he says.
You mix the chemicals in the correct order and a small explosion occurs. Nothing happens.
"Keep mixing," the nuclear expert says. "An explosion is supposed to happen."
You mix the chemicals a few more times and nothing happens.
"You must have the ingredients wrong," the nuclear expert says. "Let me try."
The nuclear expert mixes the ingredients in the correct order and a small explosion occurs.
"Yup, that's what I was talking about," he says.

> You ask to visit the President Of The United States.
You are taken into a small room. The door is locked and you are told not to open it. After a few minutes, the door opens and a man with a security detail enters.
"I'm here to see the president of the United States," you say.
"The president? But you don't look like you're qualified."
You show him your ID. The security detail looks angry.
"Hey! I'm a presidential guard! Only the president can allow people in this room!"
You show him your ID again. He blinks and then looks angry.
"Oh, OK," he says. "I'm just doing my job."
The door is shut and locked. You wait for a few minutes and then try to open the door. It is unlocked and you enter into a small room.

> You examine the room.
The room is small and decorated with a luxurious feel. A large chair sits in the middle of the room and there are two sofas off to the side. In the corner of the room is a small bar.

> You mix yourself a martini from the bar.
You grab a small glass vial from the bar and quickly fill the glass with martini shaker. You down the drink quickly and immediately feel the effects.

> You make and drink another martini.
You quickly mix another drink and down it. You feel a little dizzy.
The door to the room opens and a man in a dark suit walks in.

> You make a martini and give it to the man in the dark suit.
The man looks at the glass.
"Not bad," he says.
You quickly make another drink and hand it to him.

> You keep drinking martinis with the man.
You quickly make another drink and down it before he can say anything. You feel very relaxed and warm.
"So, what's your name?" the man asks.
"Lilith," you slur.

> You tell the man that you are from a fantasy universe where goblins are attacking your castle and that you need an atomic bomb to fend them off.
The man is quiet for a moment.
"I'm actually from a country that's being attacked by goblins right now," the man says. "We need every nuclear weapon we can get."
You nod slowly.

> You "Could you lend me one of yours? I could then go back in time and wipe out the goblins before they ever attacked your country."
The man laughs.
"I'm sorry, but no," he says. "Even if I could, I wouldn't."
You nod slowly.

> You take the man back in time to your castle and show him the goblin hordes attacking it.
You take the man back to your castle where goblins are swarming over the walls and attempting to break down the door. The man draws his pistol and fires at the goblins.
"We need more men!" he shouts.

> You "Now do you believe me?!"
The man sighs and looks around.
"I'll help you get rid of the goblins, but we're going to have to be quick," he says.
You nod.

> You ask the man again to give you an atomic bomb.
The man shakes his head.
"It's not as simple as that," he says.
You sigh and grab a few goblins, tossing them over the walls.
"Here, use these," you say.
The man stares at the goblins for a moment and then runs away, screaming.

> You use time machine to go into the future of the year 4000.
You look around and see the desert of the year 4000. Buildings covered in vines and trees made of bones stand out among the endless dunes. You walk forward, heading towards the city.

> You search the city for a weapon capable of defeating the goblin hordes.
You walk through the city, calling out, "Weapons lab! Weapons lab!"
You find the weapons lab and enter. The lab is a huge warehouse-like building. Inside, you find hundreds of pieces of weaponry.

> You take a huge laser Gatling-gun from the warehouse.
You grab the laser gun, pulling it from its mounting. You turn and head outside, running down the road.
"Weapons lab! Weapons lab!" you shout.
No response. The building is gone.

> You use the time machine to take yourself and the laser Gatling-gun back to the moment the goblins first started attacking your castle.
You step back, taking the gun in both hands and aiming it. You fire, and the gun makes a low, rumbling noise. Light bursts from the end of the gun, blue and white. It burns a hole through your thumb and the gun bucks in your hands, sending you onto your butt. You let out a yell of pain and the gun goes off again, blowing a hole in one of the goblins. It burns a black char into the side of its face, but it keeps coming. You grab it with your uninjured hand and pull the trigger again, blowing out the goblin's knee. You yell and pull the trigger again, blowing out its chest. It collapses to the ground, smoke rising from it.
The gun makes a terrifying, powerful noise that fills you with fear.

> You unleash the power of the gun on all of the goblins while screaming insanely.
The gun kicks and bucks in your hands. Goblins fall from the force of the bullets you're firing, blood bursting out of their bodies. More goblins charge forward, only to be blown apart by your bullets. You pull the trigger again and again and again, the gun roaring as you fire. A bullet tears into your shoulder and you yell in pain, but keep on shooting.
"You have to use silver bullets," a man says. "The gun is loaded with it, I have more here."
The man pulls a handful of silver bullets from his pocket and tosses them to you. You grab them and quickly load the gun, firing at the goblins. A silver bullet flies through the air and catches one in the eye. It falls to the ground, dead. You fire another silver bullet and it catches another in the chest. The gun roars as you pump it, silver bullets flying through the air.

> You continue firing the gun until all the goblins are dead and your castle is safe once again.
You walk outside, the gun clenched tightly in your hands. All the goblins are dead. You walk up to the man and hand him the gun. He takes it and grins.
"Well done," he says.

[close]

And that's how I ridiculously completed the quest I was given in a fantasy world to defend my castle from goblin hordes.

Every one of the lines that starts with the > prompt is my actual line I typed into the game to do my next action, and be sure to include the stuff like "firing the gun while screaming insanely" because the A.I. GameMaster gets more creative with the descriptions the more that you do.

I'll also mention that, for example, I could have just asked the Weapon Shop's owner out for dinner instead, gone on a date with them, learnt their name and backstory, fallen in love with them, had sex (which can go to any pornographic level you wish, or so I've heard) gotten married and raised a family, gotten a job at their Weapons Shop etc. instead of going back home though time to finish my "quest".

The game will respond to ANY input you put into it and take the story in that direction. I could have just as easily tried to defend my castle in a traditional fantasy setting way by ordering my men to pour flaming oil over the walls onto the attacking horde or whatever and the game would have taken the story in that direction instead.

But, I decided to invent a time-machine to take me to the future and bring back a weapon to defeat the goblins instead. And had few drinks along the way.

Don't worry though, it's not just a "make-your-own-story" wank: you can fail the game and die. And you can end it there, or you can even type "Enter the afterlife" or "Go to hell" after death and continue your adventure there, and even get back to life to revenge your killer.

What an incredible experience this game is. You can choose to play by the rules of the setting for a "fair" round, or just do what I did above.

It's a lot like a "lucid dreaming" experience if you want to go that way. You can just grow wings and fly off into the sky if you want to, or you can play it out realistically.

The A.I. that manages the game is actually scary. I have asked characters in my party if they have ever considered that we might all just be characters in a computer game and they responded. I then told them that I was the player character and they were just the NPCs in the game and they got bummed out.

Give it a try. It's awesome!!!

https://play.aidungeon.io/

(I wonder whatever happened to that government M.I.B. guy I pulled back in time with me and then just abandoned to fight the goblins when I skipped forward to the year 4000. Hope he was okay.)

[CASE #64]

CASE #64

Justice Killer

Week One

The NYPD receive a letter:

Hello,

I am about to commit a series of murders upon those most deserving of such a fate:

The corrupt scum that feed upon the good people of our city.

This week I will strike down my first victim and this hint should help you identify this kill as one of mine, if you can figure out the code.

Yours Sincerely,
Justice Killer.

M P R D P W J L O K J S J Y N M U J Q H S B L D R H J M C J U B Y Z G D X O F Q W L G I J W B J A

Included in the letter is a map of New York City:



There are so many murders committed in New York over the course of a week, and so many of the victims matching the description of "corrupt", that it would be impossible to ascribe any particular victim's death to this fledgling serial-killer without first figuring out their hint.

Are you up to the job, Detective?

I didn't know what other part of the forums to place this as it is a technical question/suggestion but I was wondering if it could be possible at all to code a mod or something that allowed you to open the same AGS game in two different windows and both would play out the same from the user input in only one of the windows.

The reason I wonder this is because it would be an incredibly valuable tool for checking translations. One window could run the English translation and the other could run the original language (or whatever)...

This way, a quality checker could easily see both versions side-by-side and check for context errors etc. in real time.

(I guess a more slap-shot way to do so would be to have every character say the lines in the first language and the second in a single game window, either at the same time or one after the other, but this could get very messy I'd imagine, and dialog windows would have major problems.)

Anyway, just an idea I'm throwing out if anyone knows if it is even possible and/or is interested in giving it a try.

Just binge-watched yesterday and today.

40% loved it.
40% hated it.
20% WTF?! I can't even...

Watchmen is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it at the time it came out during the '80s and it perfectly captured the social feel and political paranoia of that era. As well as just being a kickass story with some of the coolest characters ever put to paper.

I liked the movie, but it mostly just felt like a watered-down version of reading the comic, pretty much shot for shot.

That's why my reaction to the TV show surprised me so much. Of course, it is a different story by a different writer. But I have never felt so strongly both ways at the same time about a story property I was emotionally invested in.

For some examples, I'm still a little bit miffed that we never got the Luke/Han reunion in the new Star Wars movies, but they were pretty bad overall so I don't really care.

The new Twin Peaks series had me annoyed at first but then it grew on me and I ended up loving it.

But this Watchmen series: I'm so thrown off-balance with the stuff I either loved or hated or just-found-incomprehensible story decisions that I'm still reeling from the experience.

One moment it was brilliant, the next it was so heavy-handed I was rolling my eyes. Then it turned into a Monty Python skit and I was WTF? but then that story bit turned into something amazing, and then there was another ridiculous fan-service scene that made me pop my middle finger at the screen, and then something brilliant happened again.

I'm so confused.

So, what did others think?

For about the past five days or so the connection to this website has been pretty choppy.

Anyone know why?

PLEASE CLICK THE "CC" BUTTON IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE VIDEO FOR SUBTITLES AS THE AUDIO IS NOT GREAT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbCtgEMEcKo

Last weekend, in my hometown of Newcastle, Australia, I found a place on a mangrove-swamp island on an estuary that I never knew existed: An abandoned WW2 radar installation...

It's basically a concrete bunker about 40 meters long with a watchtower on one end. Quite imposing and, sitting in the middle of swamplands, I thought it would be the perfect setting for a little horror movie.

On Monday I met up with my long-time friend Maggie and she mentioned there was a contest for short films that somehow had a connection to the land around the Newcastle area.

I mentioned the bunker and she made me promise we would go there and make a film.

So, I wrote a brief script that night and today we went out there and filmed our 7-minute(?) masterpiece.

My wife was our cameraman. Filming took about a total of 2 hours, including the main scenes, and intro scenery shots.

The music has been supplied by the awesome ManicMatt.

Editing starts tomorrow and hopefully we will have a finished film to send off to the contest before I leave to go back to Japan next Wednesday.

Don't expect too much but I think it should be and entertaining 7 minutes(?) and totally not just time you will never get back.

I will keep you posted here and soon you will be able to enjoy our short film:

"The Hog Keeper"

[This game is the very bare-bones version of a project that will outgrow its humble MAGS roots, hopefully.Players can ignore most of the characters' stats for now, except for the all-important HPS of each. The other stats are signs of game play yet to come...You play a group of small mammals running for their lives to escape the horror of the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs.Watch your food levels, dodge the meteors, and gather food every now and then in the rare surviving grasslands areas... But watch out for lurking snakes!DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SURVIVE THE ERA?!]

THE ERA-GONE TRAIL


This game is the very bare-bones version of a project that will outgrow its humble MAGS roots, hopefully.

Players can ignore most of the characters' stats for now, except for the all-important HPS of each.

The other stats are signs of game play yet to come...

You play a group of small mammals running for their lives to escape the horror of the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs.

Watch your food levels, dodge the meteors, and gather food every now and then in the rare surviving grasslands areas... But watch out for lurking snakes!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SURVIVE THE ERA?!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME

[A suburb for people who stub their cigarettes out in plates of food:]

Dante described the main 9 circles of Hell for the worst sinners but there must be some outer suburbs for lesser, but still unforgivable, offences.

Let's define them here along with optional suitable punishment(s).

So, kind of like a streamlined "What Grinds My Gears" with the added satisfaction of devising your own tortures for the offenders if you so wish.

I'll start with two of my own:

A suburb for people who stub their cigarettes out in plates of food:
Punishment: An eternity of eating every one of those leftovers over and over, including the cigarette stubs and ash.

A suburb for people who wait until the movie is partway through before trying to open their crinkly snack bags in the dark:
Punishment: An eternity of listening to a demon tell the story of "The Password To Get Out Of Hell", which is two hours long, but every time the demon reaches the end of the story and tells the password the offender has a crisps bag rustled right in their ear and cannot hear it.

[I can't complete the "countdown"]

Firstly, I'd just like to ask people to not post hints to the game just yet.

I will be working on a gentle hint system here over the next few days:

Here's the first nudge:

I can't complete the "countdown"

Slight Hint:

Spoiler

There is a pattern to the eye bleeps that represents a countdown from ten.

[close]

Bigger Hint:

Spoiler

Try writing down the numbers from ten downwards and then matching number of eye bleeps next to them.

[close]

Even Bigger Hint:

Spoiler

There are many different ways to write down numbers.

[close]

Total Giveaway Hint:

Spoiler

Try writing the numbers down as words.

[close]

The hidden section below concerns the next puzzle after the countdown has been completed:

Spoiler

I don't know what to input into the readouts:

Slight Hint:

Spoiler

Listen to the phrase the villain repeats over and over.

[close]

Bigger Hint:

Spoiler

Try to input the phrase the villain repeats with only the four available letters.

[close]

Even Bigger Hint:

Spoiler

There can be many different ways to spell out spoken words.

[close]

Total Giveaway Hint:

Spoiler

Each word in the respelling of "SO YOU KNEW" is three letters long and can be spelled with only the letters "NSEW". The middle word is probably the hardest but there is a way.

[close]

[close]

[You are crossing a Washington D.C. road when a truck pulls away revealing something shocking.This game is not meant to be easy. Only a very few will probably have the patience to complete it.The game starts and ends suddenly as I wanted it to feel like you are abruptly thrown into a situation and then right back out of it.You can click to skip a bunch of diaglog and/or cutscenes by clicking the mouse to cut to the chase, but I would advise you to listen to and watch everything all the way through at least once.There is no save game function or checkpoints system at this time but once you know how to solve a puzzle it is pretty easy to repeat the solution within a few seconds.I will be making a Tips And Hints thread of my own for the game so I would appreciate it if noone else does so for now.Controls: Mouse only + ESC to hard-quit from the game.DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SAVE WASHINGTON?!]

STRAWMAN  BOMBING  DISPOSAL


You are crossing a Washington D.C. road when a truck pulls away revealing something shocking.

This game is not meant to be easy. Only a very few will probably have the patience to complete it.

The game starts and ends suddenly as I wanted it to feel like you are abruptly thrown into a situation and then right back out of it.

You can click to skip a bunch of diaglog and/or cutscenes by clicking the mouse to cut to the chase, but I would advise you to listen to and watch everything all the way through at least once.

There is no save game function or checkpoints system at this time but once you know how to solve a puzzle it is pretty easy to repeat the solution within a few seconds.

I will be making a Tips And Hints thread of my own for the game so I would appreciate it if noone else does so for now.

Controls: Mouse only + ESC to hard-quit from the game.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SAVE WASHINGTON?!

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[29/33]

I just tried the Online Mensa Trial Test and it's great fun!

It's like a whole full-length adventure game's content of logic puzzles condensed down into the 20 minutes you are supposed to time yourself with to find out your chances of passing the actual real Mensa test.

I got a score of 29/33 which rated me with an "excellent" chance on the actual Mensa test. Bit of a bummer though because I actually thought I had them all right.

I went over the time limit of 20 minutes by about 7 minutes as I was more interested in solving the puzzles than finding out if I had a shot at Mensa or not. I hate puzzles of these sort with time limits in games.

If anyone else gives it a try and wants to post results here that might be fun, or just have fun with the puzzles... They are really good and most could be straight out of an adventure game if dressed up with some pretty graphics.

I'm creating a roleplaying-based forums game here as an alternative to the werewolves game format which concentrates more on some pretty hardcore psychological warfare and is not to everyone's tastes.

The game will still be competetive in nature, in that a winner (or winners) will be declared at the end.

But it will not involve any elimination of players.

The murdered person is an NPC.

The murderer is a player but cannot murder anyone else during the game. Their aim instead will be to try to cover their tracks as best as possible to confuse the other players and prevent themself being fingered as the guilty party at the end of the game.

Each player will choose or be assigned a character whose role they play. Each character will have a background story and possibly some information and/or skills that other characters do not possess.

The game will have an environment of several rooms, with player actions possible in each room such as "Search for clues" in the case of the good players or "Conceal evidence" in the case of the murderer.

But the possible actions will not be limited to the bare-bones mechanics of the game. In fact, some important steps in discovering more about the crime will involve "thinking outside the box" actions. So basically anything a player tries will receive feedback from the GM (me).

The players themselves can decide whether to team up with others to cover more ground or go it alone, or a bit of both.

I already have the story written out as I had developed it for a game I never (yet) got around to finishing.

And it's a pretty spicey one I feel.

For now I want to start with sign-ups.

This particular story needs 8 players to fill all the roles.

I will be giving the first player to sign up the first choice at the character list. The second player gets second choice, and so on.

The character list, including a brief description of the roles but not, of course, giving away secrets, will be made available after I have 8 sign-ups.

This should be fun without stress!

I just found out about this mind-blowing website today and plugged in my short-story entry in the FWC round of "Beautiful Brevity" to see if the library already contained it.

AND IT DID!!!

It already mathematically pre-existed in the library before I even wrote it on page 221 of Volume 25 (named: "mvsrimwrar") in Shelf #3 on Wall #3 in the Hexagon room called:

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

Now, you could think that the room name is just a coded version of my story, being actually longer than the story is.

But that's not how the library works.

It can handle searches up to 3200 characters and calculates every single possible combination of the 26 letters of the alphabet plus commas, fullstops, and spaces contained within 3200 characters.

So literally (hehe) anything that can be written within these 3200 characters must appear in the library.

This means that every single thing that has ever been written or said (in English) must be contained within the library's set of data.

Which means that every book by, let's say, Stephen King, is contained within the library, fragmented into 3200 character-long sections, granted, and each 3200 character sections would have to be found in different volumes.

But, this also means that every book that Stephen King never wrote, and yet written in his distinct style, is also hidden somewhere within the library.

And, this also means that every version of every book Stephen King wrote, or did not get around to writing (yet), also exists within the library, except with a single typo... and also versions exist with 2 typos... and also with the main character's name switched consistantly to a different name... or a name with one single typo in it once... or twice... or...

BOOM! MIND BLOWN!

Somewhere in this library are versions of the Twilight Saga that are actually good. Or Harry Potter books that end where Voldermort wins...

Actually, just go ahead and rewrite the ending to Harry Potter (up to 3200 characters), and search that, and you will find the exact book and page(s) in the library that your version already exists on, written purely by mathematics and pre-existing as a result of the way our universe works since the big-bang happened.

Of course, the same effect happens if you assign the numbers of Pi to letters, but it's not as searchable as The Library Of Babel. You can only go a few billion numbers into Pi on the websites that I know of and can only find very brief phrases like your name.

Have a browse of the library if interested. It's awesome and disturbing!

[COULD BE SOME SPOILERS BELOW FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN ALL THESE MOVIES!]

COULD BE SOME SPOILERS BELOW FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN ALL THESE MOVIES!

Yeah, I watched the latest Tomb Raider movie along with the original Raiders movie today and noticed something very interesting, for me at least:

Firstly:

I had a great time with the new Tomb Raider movie: It totally felt like the games and you could really tell when Lara was going through a tutorial level at the start (the boxing-ring intro and the bicycle delivery fox-hunt race)...Although she seems to use what she learned from the boxing tute much more often than what she learned from the cycling tute...

I also liked the new spin of eliminating the expected supernatural elements and replacing them with real-world reasons and motivations...

But, that aside, for the adventure gamer within me this is why I really wanted to say something about these different movie series:

The major thing I noticed, after watching both movies, was the streamlining of puzzles in the new Tomb Raider vs the way puzzles were handled in the Indiana Jones movies:

In the Indy movies the movie makers really make sure that the audience understands exactly how every single puzzle is solved:

In Raiders: You see the exact step-by-step process Indy goes through to find the location of the Well Of Souls...

And you understand why the Nazis fail because of lack of information.

A better example is actually in The Last Crusade concerning the Grail Diary entries about solving the 3 challenges once approaching the final chamber of the Grail.

This is something they mirrored in the new Tomb Raider movie and, well...

In the new Tomb Raider we have an almost identical conceit in that the main character is following the journal of their parent and using it to figure out how to solve the puzzles in the tomb.

But, here's where I felt a big disconnect between classic (Indy) storytelling and modern (New Tomb Raider) storytelling styles:

Lara solves the puzzles by using her father's journal but we (or at least I) never actually see the page entry or the particular reasoning behind her solutions. The audience just has to kind of trust that Lara has read that shit and knows what she is doing.

She just climbs up the vault door and turns the wheels in a way that is a lot like what she did with the karakuri puzzle tube she opened earlier, but we, the audience either have to pause the video about a hundred times to understand how the symbols link up (I guess they do) or just trust Lara that she knows her shit.

It's a lot like the difference in adventure games where the player must either write down the combination lock number to manually input later or the game just assumes the character has remembered it and then you can open the lock by just clicking on it.

I'm not really sure which way is better for everyone but, for me, I prefer the Indy movies where I can understand the puzzles and how they were solved instead of just trusting in the character's ability to solve them.

This post of mine may be a very wise insight on post-storytelling-storytelling or some such rubbish or it might just be actual rubbish...

What do you think about these two approaches to characters dealing with puzzles in movies and, more importantly, in games?

[lit]

If someone was to release a commercial game called 'Lost Episode Of The Twilit Zone #1: The Monsters Arrive In Nod River" including a redone montage of the opening credits but with the words changed just enough and a good Rod Serling impersonator under a slightly different name doing the narrative:

Would this fall under the protection of fair use/parody or could it get slammed with a C&D?