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THREE GUYS WALK INTO HEAVEN
[IMGZOOM]http://i63.tinypic.com/14v2rnn.png[/IMGZOOM]

Literally a "joke game" I made for the 2016 November MAGS, the theme of which was "Afterlife"...

This is a joke a dude from Nepal I used to work with told me around 20 years ago, and I have never heard it before or since, so hopefully you haven't heard it either...

Its complicated structure challenges me to retell it every now and then as a test of my mind as I grow older...

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And don't forget to play all the MAGS games this (and every) month and rate, comment, and vote on them...This helps keep our lovely AGS community warm and fuzzy!!!

This might be just spam and everyone might already know about this, I which case I'm a huge dummy but:

playdosgamesonline.com

I only just found this site yesterday and it lets you play any of 3800+ old DOS games on your browser without any need for downloading the game or emulators...

I just played Cruise For A Corpse, Oregon Trail, Sam And Max, and Nuclear War, all in my browser!

And there are so many more I must search out and play again!

Sorry again to those probably most of you who already know about this or similar sites but I had no idea, and so at least someone else on here maybe didn't as well...

Now I head back out on the Oregon Trail... (Perhaps Mandle, Andrea, Mark, Ali and Cat won't die this time... )

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm stuck right at the start of the game

I've just entered the library and been dropped off by my manager, but I don't know what to do next.

I tried leaving the library but the game won't let me do that.

Now all I have left is two unlockable boxes that I don't have keys for...

HELP!!!

Here's a short video showing off the Diagon Alley room we build for the students at our school's 2016 Harry Potter themed Halloween party:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhQ92tbvUrg

That's me narrating and doing the crappy camera-work. Apologies also for video quality and low-light issues: I didn't have a very good camera on hand...

Oh, and here's the video from last year's Star Wars Death Star room:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvcjSvf0LN4

[HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO AGS!!!]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO AGS!!!

Here's a retake on a classic jumpscare game that fits this spooky season here in 2016 I felt (and perhaps for more reasons than the obvious Halloween one) :



CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

So...to start off: this is very embarrassing...

I've been bashing my head up against the simple problem of how to change the volume setting of two looping sound effects in a project...

No matter what I wiki, google, or whatever I still only get no results, or I get Null-pointer errors...

(An extra frustration point is that actually had it working, until I imported the second sound effect, and then everything went to hell, even if I reverted to the original code by taking out the new stuff with //comments)

I CANNOT understand how the sound channels work!

Could some kind person please give me a quick "DUMMIES" guide that I can understand?

I know I'm going to get bashed for not providing examples of code etc...

But I have been through countless posts of people who could not understand the AGS system of simply changing the volume of one sound effect (I've gotten around this in the past by just installing several of the same effect with different starting volumes... horrible, I know)

Can anyone explain how the whole shebang works?

I'm at a loss...And I have tried!

This is about my MAGS entry "Predators Prey For Plants"

There were issues for some users where the game crashed on initial loading...

I'm assuming that this is because the game forces the load of a save game file as its interactive title screen on startup...

Here is the code where the game defines where the save game goes:

Code: ags

function game_start() 
{
  Game.SetSaveGameDirectory("Saved Maps");

Here is the code for loading the save game:

Code: ags

function room_Load()
{
 if (Game.GetSaveSlotDescription(998) != null){RestoreGameSlot(998);}
 aTo_love_again.Play(eAudioPriorityVeryHigh, eRepeat);
}

The only other thing I changed was the options in "Saved Games" in "General Settings":

Enhanced save games: False
Save game file extension:
Save games folder name:
Save screenshots in save games: False

The game saves the save game in a folder called "Saved Maps" in the actual game folder instead of in a folder in "My Documents" or whatever...

This seems to work fine for most users but there is the odd case where it crashes on initial loading...

Does anyone more tech-savvy than myself know why this might be happening? (Khris?)

Do I need to perhaps enter "Saved Maps" in the General Settings field of: Save games folder name? (This is the name of the folder in the game folder that holds the saved games)

Or do I need a complete file extension (no idea how to type that)

I also remember reading something about a "." being possibly needed in the Game Start function above to make the path "generic" or something, but in that thread the issue was never resolved so I stayed away from that...

It's very difficult to change the code and test it myself, as every computer I have run the game on: It works fine!

So...I'm turning on the big "K" spotlight on the clouds:

KHRRIIIIIIISSSSSSS!!!!

[ALL]

OH MY GOD!!!

I just got finished watching the full show today and there is nothing else I can think about!

(No Spoilers, just a side comment)

Spoiler

The show is 40 episodes long and it IS confirmed that that is IT! It's over...Story arc start to finish is done...No hanging around for years outstaying your welcome while you have nothing new to add like some other shows...cough...Simpsons...cough...

[close]

So, I was compelled to make a rather late-to-the-party-I'm-sure thread about it...

THIS is the perfect show for exactly our breed of mystery-loving adventure gamers:

You can pause the show at pretty much any point and "hover over every hotspot" in every gorgeous background and find all the clues you need to try to figure out the grand mystery behind it, OR you can just go with the flow and wait until the show answers ALL THE QUESTIONS!!!

The feel of the show is Twin Peaks meets Lost meets X-Files, but has learned its lessons (especially from the latter two) and actually HAS a cohesive mystery that MAKES SENSE and will deliver on ALL THE ANSWERS...

Also: Totally charming characters, amazing comedy, and extreme "I-Can't-Believe-Disney-Let-Them-Do-That" moments don't hurt either.

The show ran on a pretty much random schedule as well: They did not have to stick to an episode-a-week framework while making it: At some points new episodes did not come out for a month or two following the last, but this was not from Beavis And Butthead or Ren And Stimpy style laziness: Whenever that new episode came out, it was AMAZING and you can see where the extra time and money was spent...

Anyways, I'm still coming down off the high from watching the last episode...And feel really pumped and, at the same time, sad and alone that the ride is over, kind of like having been on an awesome roller-coaster all on my own with nobody to talk to about it afterwards...

So I went and watched the Nostalgia Critic's vlog on the last three episodes (which are all to-be-continued structure with a total running time of 90 minutes or so...a movie right there in itself) and here is a comment I left on their channel:

(MAJOR SPOILER ALERT also OUT-OF-CONTEXT ALERT):

Spoiler

I really don't understand how Rob, who is usually so insightful about subtle points in storytelling and visual presentation, says that he could never take Bill Cipher seriously as an intimidating character until he got a Sauron eye and grew spider legs.

For me, Bill Cipher has always been one of the most disturbing characters I have seen in fiction since Bob in Twin Peaks...

And the main reasons are BECAUSE he was drawn so cutely, and his voice was always so quirky (until it goes into full-on Satan-mode suddenly and for a split second mostly)

He is a Chaos-God (as one of the Mad Max gang says)

The scariest thing about him is his sheer randomness, and the way he has no concept of what normal reality is or why anyone would even begin to consider why the mundane is better than what he has to offer: A completely new version of reality from moment to moment where the context of the previous moment has nothing to do with what happens next. That is a fun world for all in his eye...And a great parody of humanity craving entertainment for the exact same reasons...

He is hiding the true cosmic insanity of what he really is behind the comical visage of his looks and his voice. But it leaks through now and then, until he is actually pushed to show his true colours, at first only briefly, but then goes full-on Iron-Giant-In-"Gun"-Mode , and we see what he really is behind the facade...

I would rate Bill Cipher as a Lovecraftian Elder One of the very worst level: Azathoth, for being a swirling vortex of random actions with no feedback-loop from the consequences, meets Nyarlathotep for his conscious ability to scheme and plan in the long-term (A trillion years I believe Bill mentioned)

Deer teeth and a head that can only scream are two very well-placed early examples of his disconnect with what humans would really want from reality, and what they would expect from him as acceptable gifts.

Maybe it's just me, but Rob not feeling the vibe that the writers were gradually building with Bill and not feeling he was especially scary until he physically turned into the monster that was constantly hinted at hiding behind his simple facade...

Rob...go back to sweater town for penance!!! Doug was right!!!

(I'm joking of course...I just felt like writing an essay on Bill Cipher, as I just watched the last episode today, and attacking Rob is my obvious way of getting comments...)

[close]

It's mostly what I felt about the main bad-guy character, and how awesome what they did with him was...I haven't been this excited about a villain character since Bob in Twin Peaks...

So...the point of this thread is that I really want to:

(A) Introduce the show to people who haven't seen it before as I feel that anyone who loves adventure games and mystery stories will have a life-enriching time with it...

(B) Talk with current fans about it (But please use hide tags for spoilers as this show has an incredible mystery that should not be spoiled for anyone)

After just finishing the show I don't think I can get to sleep tonight, and when I do:

Spoiler

"Well hello there Mandle, I'm Bill Cipher: Here's a daisy-chain of post-surgery appendixes as a gift for summoning me..."

      ^
~/@\~
    [[]]
     | |

[close]

One of the true greats is gone...

I grew up with Gene Wilder from watching "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory" many times as a kid, and then getting into his work with Mel Brooks and with Richard Pryor as I got older.

He was also one of my mum's favorites and so his movies were some of the rare common ground where we could both watch and laugh at the same movies together in my teenage years.

It would be nice to think he is now somewhere in a world of pure imagination.

[DBoyWheeler:]

Throughout history there have been many mysterious cases of large groups of people, entire towns, or even entire civilizations suddenly and mysteriously vanishing.

This is the theme of this FWC! 



Any story that includes the theme of a large group of people suddenly disappearing is acceptable. The story can be an after-the-fact investigation, or it can be about the incident as the events unfold, or can even be told from the point of view of the character(s) or force causing the disappearance, or some other fourth or fifth thing.

What's a "large group"? Well...A story about 3 friends getting lost and vanishing in the woods is not acceptable, but a story about an entire cub scout group of like 30 is...Common sense rules I guess...

The contest is now closed, and voting is open:

The entries are:

DBoyWheeler:
FULL ENTRY HERE:

Spoiler

A mild storm dropped rain at a camp, with one person within his tent.  But all the other tents were empty.  The young man, wearing hiking attire, had put his hat down to scratch at his black hair.  His pale gray eyes, open with concern of his missing comrades, looked on as he opened up a book he retrieved from his backpackâ€"this book happened to be his journal.

The one person wrote in his journal:

"Greetings, to whom it may concern.

"My name is Richter.  I am the sole person remaining of my spelunking groupâ€"originally a group of twenty.

"We had just discovered a new cave that opened up shortly after a small 3.5 earthquake.  It opened up in the mountains a few miles from my hometown.

"Curious, we all went to enter the cavern.  It only went in about thirty-five feet, before finding a strange mural on a wall.  It looked like a painting of an ancient island city over a large sea.

"We set up camp for the night to see more of the mural the next day.  But when I awoke, I saw the camp was empty, except for myself.  All the equipment and food was here, and the tents were still intact, but except for me, the camp was deserted.

"I went back into the cave, and saw the mural.  I was startled to see the mural show the city occupied--was the mural smudged at first, thus preventing us to see the people in the mural earlier?  Or perhaps... no, I must be going mad to even THINK that possibility!

"I have returned to camp safely, wondering why I am currently here, and not with my colleagues.  Are my companions playing a trick on me, or is there something sinister afoot?  I do not know.

"Finding my camp's contact radio, I signaled for help to come.  Perhaps they can help find out what became of my party.  Heaven willing, I will awaken the next day still here.  I must find out what in blazes is going on!  I am writing this page here in the event fate decrees otherwise, and this journal becomes the sole remaining witness of the events that occurred here."

After he finished writing, Richter put his journal away, said a silent prayer, and went to sleep in his sleeping bag, albeit a very light sleep.

[close]

Stupot+:
FULL ENTRY HERE:

Spoiler

And there they were.
Gone.

[close]

Blondbraid:
FULL ENTRY HERE:

Spoiler

Hello there good folks!
I have great interest in life, a field which I have dedicated much of my time and and research,
and multiple long time first hand experiences I'll have you know.

Oral fungus and algae infections!
I have even prepared a slide show with full-color images for you!
Just wait right there and I'll get the diapositives set up!



Wait, where did everyone go?

[close]

Sinetrena:
FULL ENTRY HERE:

Spoiler

Ruins

On the ruins of former demonstrations of power
bloom buds of roses, of lilies, of pinks
and take back what was once human's tower
for the wolf, the fox and the lynx.
Mortar crumbles to dust that the wind blows away
into times long forgotten and gone.
And what was once built to last and to stay
is now the playing ground for a fawn.
The asphalt is broken by powerful roots,
a garbage pile home for daffodils.
This highway is now a garden of fruits
and former houses are nothing but hills.

Out of the ruins of former symbols of might,
that are now fallen into despair,
soar twittering larks into the light
and on the ground dances a bear.
Former cities are now forests and fields.
Sunken ships became coral reefs.
They tried all, weapons and shields
and for a while there were fallen leaves.
But then, this was the new world to follow:
Moles peep out behind rusty bikes.
Behind the butchers, pigs now wallow.
And the sea takes dying dykes.

And the ruin of this that came before
was not an earthquake, was not storm and flood.
The owners themselves, they opened the door
with their words, their hatred, their wars and blood.
Now nothing is left of what once was all
but the ground on which new occupants walk.
Gone is all that once stood tall,
gone their hope that was nothing but talk.
Death takes life and life takes death.
Iron chains become twines of flowers.
What is the end for one is the other's first breath -
through eons, through years, through hours.

[close]

Baron:
FULL ENTRY HERE:

Spoiler

Barnetville Tennessee, 1915

   The throng of angry men and hysterical women chorused like an un-oiled steam engine, at times rumbling threateningly and then screeching alarmingly, all the while casting noxious vapours about the air of the hall.  Wooden benches creaked under the weight of burly miners now standing on them, and objects were now beginning to fly towards the stack of crates that served as a podium.  The director of the mine wisely left the stage, sensing that the runaway pressure in the boiler was about to blow.

   But then, remarkably, a man no one had ever seen before replaced him.  He radiated an authoritative calmness that made the fretful mine director look like a chastened school boy.  His immaculate suit made him seem more official than the local reverend.  He stood such a contrast to the raging and ragged crowd that their ferment cooled instantly like vapour in a condenser, and the resulting vacuum pulled them gently back to their starting points like so many pistons in their cylinders.  They stared at him, awestruck that such a man existed at all in the world, let alone in their miserable corner of it.

   â€œLadies and gentlemen,” the man spoke clearly and concisely, “I am Joseph Austin Holmes, Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Mines.  I and my team have handled dozens of mine disasters: we are the experts, and your loved ones' best hope for survival.  According to our information an uncontrolled blast occurred at 0600 hours at the Boswell mine-head, leading to a shaft-collapse and fire, resulting in 22 men and boys unaccounted for.  To further dampen hopes, the primary pumps were damaged in the explosion, resulting in a water-table creep of approximately four feet per hour, which will flood out any remaining air-pockets in roughly 26 hours.  I want to assure you that the best mechanics, engineers, and firemen in the country will be working on restoring the shafts and pumps for that entire time, but I want to soberly caution everyone in this room that the chances of survival are remote and declining by the minute.  Besides asphyxiation from coal-gas and the threat of drowning, there is a very real possibility that an underground fire could smoulder and grow, precluding any rescue or recovery efforts for decades.  In addition, the threat of successive explosions is ever present, so I want to caution members of the community to remain outside the perimeter that my team is setting up even as we speak.  The best thing you can do for your loved-ones right now is to stay out of our way, and pray.”

*    *   *   *   *

   Slowly, sadly, almost wordlessly the crowd dissipated, trudging meekly back to their homes and hovels.  Soon the hall was empty except for a single, lonely woman.  She was Dorothy “Dot” Maybell, one-hundred-and-eight years old as far as anyone could reckon, which apparently wasn't very well in this hillbilly mining town.  Her husband had died of the miner's lung some forty-odd years ago, leaving her to keep bar in the local saloon to feed the family.  Not a respectable career for a family lady, but Dot Maybell never was much for niceties when her family was in trouble.  Now she had two sons and a grandson down that godforsaken pit, and nothing but a bunch of fine-spoken suits to help them out of their impossible predicament.  Now was not a time for niceties.

     No, now was a time for someone who would suffer no nonsense to take charge of the situation, and Dot Maybell had a firm impression that that person was her.  There hadn't been a bar-fight in her saloon since 1875, and she kept an old Colt revolver fastened to her garter and a pair of throwing knives in her nickers to keep it that way.  And between her family and her patrons she had heard enough about coal-mining over the years to know the business inside and out.   Maybe even enough to impress the suits in charge, if they ever bothered to listen to a meek old grandmother, which was unlikely.  But then, she wasn't very likely to listen to them either.

*   *   *   *   *

   â€œI need a full report and I need it two minutes ago,” Joseph Austin Holmes barked to a subordinate as he and a coterie of G-men entered the perimeter.

   â€œWe can't get a clean reading with the spectrometer, sir,” a young man in a suit named Williams replied.  “There seems to be some sort of magnetic interference, possibly originating in the lower strata of rocks.  In fact, about all we have to go on is seismic readings that led us here in the first place.”

   Holmes detected a hint of scepticism in his subordinate's voice, but ignored it.  “Calhoun, is this site secured?”

   â€œYes sir!”

   â€œAre you certain you've located and secured every possible access point, including air-shafts and abandoned works?

   â€œEr, probably sir!”  The man named Calhoun gestured to an even more minor subordinate who was wrestling with several dozen crinkled maps trying to escape in the early evening breeze.  “This whole mountain is like a brick of Swiss cheese, sir.”

   â€œI want this site secured!” Holmes snapped.  “Do you understand me?  Requisition men from the Cumberland office if you need to.  No one gets in or out without my say so.”

   â€œYes sir!”

   â€œBattison, Williams, Brown, and Schuster, you're with me,” Holmes continued, donning a trench coat.  “Johnson and his boys are on standby in case we need back-up.  Farmingham coordinates communications here at the mine head.  Anyone else belongs to Calhoun.  Are there any questions?”  Men suited up and grabbed their kit.  “Good.  Let's go!”
   
*   *   *   *   *

   The rhythmic dripping of water from the mine ceiling and the erratic static from the spectometer were the only sounds in the crypt-like caverns beneath the surface.  Williams led the way with the antenna thrust ahead of him and the rest of the heavy mechanism on his back.  Following was Holmes with a flashlight over his shoulder, and then Brown with his pistol drawn, then Schuster with the maps.  Battison brought up the rear with the telephone wire spool.

   â€œThis is worse than Nevada,” Brown whined.

   â€œCan it, kid,” Schuster muttered.  “Besides, nowhere's worse than Nevada!”

   Holmes tapped Williams on the shoulder, but the scientist shook his head.

   â€œMaybe it was just a blip?” Battison wondered aloud.

   â€œOr maybe we're too late,” Holmes shot back.  They rounded the corner, where the tunnel ended in yet another cave in.  “Can we tell how thick it is?”

   Williams brought another device out of a holster on his pack and and placed the cup end against the debris and the other end into his ear.  He counted quietly to himself, then replied: “About twenty feet.”

   â€œToo far to dig in time,” Holmes muttered, beckoning for a map from Schuster.  “Is there a way around?”

   â€œNothing on the mine specs, sir, but common practice in this type of pit suggests there should be an air shaft somewhere around here.”

   â€œLet's head that way.  Battison: send word to the surface that tunnel B is clear.”

   â€œYes sir!”

*   *   *   *   *

   Dot Maybell slid the dressing trunk to the side in the back room of the saloon, and then lifted the trap door to the cellar.  Her boys still snuck off work sometimes mid-shift and took the secret tunnel to the saloon for a nice lunch above ground.  Only a few of the oldtimers who were around when it was dug knew about it, and Dot had used her throwing knives once or twice to keep it that way.  The mine bosses had no idea it existed, but then they had a hard time telling their own assholes from a mine-shaft.  That meant the fancy G-men had no idea either.  Even her own boys didn't know all the old shafts and crosses, cut back in her husband's day more than fifty years ago.  And that meant that there was a chance, slim as the glimmer of light up a narrow air-shaft, but a chance nonetheless that she could circumvent the collapse and get to her boys.  Dot grabbed the rusty old safety lamp from the wall and quickly ducked through the dwarf-sized door into the bowels of the earth.

*   *   *   *   *

   There was an audible change to the pitch of the static from William's spectrometer, and Holmes ordered the suited procession to stop.  “We have something.  Relay our current location to the surface.”

   â€œWe're in uncharted tunnels now,” Schuster revealed.

   â€œDamn it, man!  Then give them our approximate location.  And get Johnson's team down in the hole.  They can follow our wire if things get-”

   Williams raised his hand, slowly moving his antenna back and forth.  The static faded in and out, replaced momentarily by a definite hum.

   â€œHoly shit,” Brown muttered, cocking his gun.

   â€œYou know you can't shoot that thing down here with all the coal-gas, right?” Schuster pointed out.

   â€œHoly sh-”

   â€œWhatever it is, it's moving,” Williams said, waving his antenna and squinting at the dials in the dim light.

   â€œWhere?  How far?” Holmes demanded.

   â€œOn approximately a parallel course.  Maybe forty feet through the rock.  There must be another tunnel.”

   Joseph Austin Holmes considered his options.  “All right.  Williams and I proceed with Battison, while Brown and Schuster backtrack.  I want this wall scoured for any kind of a link, no matter how small.  If you find anything one man stands guard and the other reports to Johnson.  Go!"

*   *   *   *   *

   The phone rang at the surface coordination centre and Farmingham picked it up.

   â€œSlow down, Johnson,” he said irritably.  “I can't make you out.  There's a lot of static on the line.  What?  Brown?  Shoved up Schuster's what?!?  Good god!  I'm sending Calhoun with the medic.  I said I'm sending -hello?  Hello?”

   Farmingham barked an order to a subordinate and then got back on the phone.  No answer from Johnson's team.  Next he tried Holmes.  The silence between the rings stretched out to a sickening length.  He was about to hang up when suddenly the call went through.

   â€œHello?” an old woman's voice answered

   Farmingham almost fell off his stool.  “Who is this?” he asked, confused.  He frantically waved down another subordinate and hurriedly scratched out a note reading “Code 9!”

   â€œThis is Dorothy Ann Maybell, and who might you be?”

   â€œThis is agent Farmingham with the Paranorm- er, the U.S. Bureau of Mines.  May I speak with agent Holmes please?

   â€œIs that the fancy boss man?” the old lady asked.

   â€œYes, ma'am.”  Farmingham spun his fingers in the air at the panting Calhoun to signal him that they had to go into containment mode.

   â€œHe and his friend with the electric flute walked into the brilliant light in the main gallery,” the old woman told him.

   â€œElectric flute?” Farmingham prodded.  “You mean Williams and his spectrometer?”

   â€œA lovely instrument,” the old lady prattled on.  “Like a song out of a dream.”

   â€œWhat about Battison?  He'd be the fellow attached to the phone you're speaking on.

   â€œOh, there's not much left of him,” the woman said nonchalantly.

   â€œWhat happened?  Did you see the bogey, ma'am?”

   â€œSaw it?  I stabbed the SOB right in the, well, it's hard to explain really.  It's kind of halfway between it's ninth tentacle and it's spider ass.  Whining like a gelded bull now.  Any way,  can't talk now as I'm off to kingdom come to save my boys.  Keep your G-men out of my bar or there'll be hell to pay!  Ta!”

   With that the line went dead. 

   Farmingham rubbed his temples soothingly.  This evening was going to generate a whole shit ton of paperwork.

[close]

Remember to vote in all categories:

Best Character: Your favorite character.
Best Setting: The world-building you enjoyed the most.
Best Plot: Pacing, story-arc, and non-put-downability of the work.
Best Writing: Elegant use of language.
Best Editing: For works that have been properly pruned to avoid rambling and just tell the damn story.
Best Mystery: For the story that really made you want to keep reading to find out what the frick happened/was happening that could make all those people just vanish...Of course an actual resolution is usually part of a great mystery story.

Good luck to all participants!


TROPHIES:

1ST PLACE:

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/TvqURMV.gif[/imgzoom]

2ND PLACE:

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/L44CKI7.gif[/imgzoom]

3RD PLACE:

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/PQLs9Qr.gif[/imgzoom]


Thanks so much to CaeserCub for creating these!!!

[PREDATORS PREY FOR PLANTS]

PREDATORS PREY FOR PLANTS

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME

Extra Screenie:

Spoiler

[close]

G'day,

This game was created by Ross Kevin Moffat (AKA Mandle) for the July 2016 Monthly Adventure Game Studio (MAGS) contest.

The game is a simple simulation of the predators/prey/plants relationship.

At the moment there is no way to either "win" or "lose"...It's basically just a sandbox where you can explore the various interactions of wild animal and plant populations.

Observing the fluctuations of the different populations should give you some first-hand experience with the concepts of dwindling resources, boom-and-bust in plant and animal populations, and even extinction in extreme cases.

BROWN pixels are DIRT: All animals and plants CAN spread into DIRT areas.
BLUE pixels are WATER: All animals and plants CANNOT spread into WATER areas.
GREEN pixels are PLANTS: PREY need PLANTS to survive and spread. PREDATORS can also spread into PLANT areas.
YELLOW pixels are PREY: Herbivores...PREDATORS need PREY to survive and spread.
RED pixels are PREDATORS: Carnivores...Top of the food chain but will soon die without herbivores to prey on.

The panel controls are:

S or f5 to open the Save Map window.
L,R, or f7 to open the Load Map window.
Q,Ctrl-Q, or ESC to open the Quit Game (or continue) window.

The in-game controls are:

Left Mouse Click to draw on the map.
Right Mouse Click to change the draw cursor's colour.
Scroll Wheel Up/Down to change cursor size from 1-10 pixels.

The TITLE SCREEN at the start of the game is an actively running map. To change to a different map and start playing it you will need to either delete the TITLE SCREEN map bit by bit (yawn) or hit L or f7 to open the Load Map Screen where you will find a few sample maps as well as an ALL BROWN map, an ALL GREEN map, and an ALL BLUE map to start drawing on.

IMPORTANT: NEVER, EVER DELETE THE AGSSAVE.998 FROM THE SAVED MAPS FOLDER!!! THIS IS THE TITLE SCREEN AND IF YOU DELETE IT THE GAME WILL HAVE NO TITLE SCREEN ON START-UP AND MAY CRASH!!!

The game cannot be paused while running and you can draw on the screen at any time regardless of the scanning progression of the calculations.

You can pause the game if you need to step away from it for a moment by opening the save game, load game, or quit/confirm window, and then hitting the CANCEL or PLAY button when you are ready to continue.

If you leave the game running it will run forever. You can come back an hour, day, week, month, or year later and it will still be running your map.

As this game was made fast and rough in only a few sittings it is lacking many features that one would probably expect, such as population counters, graphs of growth and decline, etc etc. but even in this crude state I feel it could be useful in a classroom situation where cycles of boom-and-bust in nature, and/or extinction are being studied, or even just for your own personal study of such.

The game is 100% FREEWARE and was created on the also free ADVENTURE GAME STUDIO engine, which was created by Chris Jones.

I, Ross Kevin Moffat (AKA Mandle), give full permission to you to freely (but only for free) redistribute this game as you see fit.

I hope you have a fun, interesting, and/or learning experience.

Cheers!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME

EDIT:

The issues with the crash on loading for some users seems to have been fixed thanks to Crimson Wizard's deep knowledge of the engine and CaptainD's ability to crash the game on loading no matter what, and yet not want to give up on it, and test it until it worked finally...

If the normal donwload version does not work for anyone then please try the mirror link, which is the original version...

Any feedback from either version concerning fun had, or issues experienced, is appreciated...

I haven't actually played the game myself but I've watched the full playthrough by Jacksepticeye on youtube.

I posted a comment after the final video but it does a have a few minor spoilers so:

Slight Spoiler Alert:

Spoiler

It looks like to me that a bunch of indie developers got together and said to each other:

"Let's just devote the next 2-3 years of our lives to making the best game possible so far without any language whatsoever to tell the story:

Let's just do the entire thing with the visuals, the gameplay, and the sounds..."

There are advantages in doing so:

One advantage is that you do not have to include any voice acting, and then the spawned advantage from that is that you have no headaches about translating the game into every other language on the planet...

Another advantage is that you do not need any other clumsy text subtitle interface for the hard-of-hearing or deaf players....

(AND the game even actually HAS visual clues for such aurally disadvantaged players when the "PULSE" sequence of puzzles comes up, where you can see the flash, and then the pulse rippling the air in the far background, and then arriving and blowing stuff up...So the devs even thought of that aspect when making their game...)

The disadvantages in creating a game with none of the usual voiced exposition:

It's incredibly hard to tell an interactive story in a game without an exposition narrator and any speech from the player character or NPCs...

The feedback from the game to the player must be INCREDIBLE: And Jack mentioned this when he said the chicks following you at the start prepares you for the later following mechanic...

BUT: In this game it never felt forced...There was no "obvious" tutorial...

Every mechanic in the game was introduced at a kindergarten level the first time it appeared and then just ramped up and up to harder levels later on...

The game feedback-to-player logic-loop in this game is a masterpiece that NEEDS to be studied at the college level...

Just watch how fast Jack knows what to do in most cases, even cold-playing this game...

That's a tribute to the wisdom of the devs of this game, and they could for sure take a lot of Triple-A devs back to school in many regards...

BEST GAME I'VE SEEN IN A VERY LONG TIME!!!

And one of the best Jack series I've enjoyed ("Papers Please" would have to be number one)

Cheers!

[close]

I don't want to go into the further details of why this game was AWESOME, because it might spoil it for you guys...

But, despite what I just said, I'll just say:

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT:

Spoiler

David vs Goliath story but David becomes Goliath!!!

[close]

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE FIRST EPISODE OF JACK'S PLAYTHROUGH

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE GAME'S PAGE ON STEAM

I wouldn't make a seemingly spam thread like this unless I was honestly excited about the game and what it means to the indie community, especially the adventure game community!

If anyone here plays this game in the future or has already played this incredible game please leave comments!

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD]

COLUMBUS LANDER

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

This is my MAGS entry for June 2016, in which the theme was "Neglected Historical Eras".

My entry is basically the classic old game "Lunar Lander", but turned on its side and where, instead of landing on the moon, you must try to guide Columbus along the historically accurate routes of his four voyages to The New World (plus one bonus fictional fifth voyage at the end.)

Use the WASD keys or arrow keys to maneuver the ship:

* W or Up Arrow increases northward thrust/decreases southward thrust.
* S or Down Arrow increases southward thrust/decreases northward thrust.
* D or Right Arrow increases eastward thrust
* A and Left Arrow do nothing (westward thrust is the natural force of the wind...Think gravity in Lunar Lander, but instead of pulling you down it pulls you west)

Aim the ship to navigate each waypoint along the voyage (the white arrow markers) until an arrow appears on the far right border indicating that you can return to port in Spain, where a reward and a shop to spend it in awaits you.

At the end of every completed voyage you receive $1000 which you can spend on:

* Supplies: This is basically a time limit for each voyage. If Supplies run out you die at sea. The Supplies bar is at the top of the screen.
* Morale: This is basically your fuel which is consumed slightly by thrusting north or south, or consumed greatly by thrusting east. You also lose Morale each time you crash into land. If Morale runs out you die at sea. The Morale bar is at the bottom of the screen.
* Tacking: This is a bonus to your eastward thrust. You get faster eastward movement per Morale(fuel) used but fine control of the ship may suffer.
* Steering: This is a bonus to your northward/southward thrust. You can move faster up and down but fine control of the ship will definitely suffer.

You game is autosaved every time you complete a voyage and return to the shop, and can be restarted from the title menu screen by clicking on Load Game. The game will restart in the shop before any spending choices were made, meaning you can try out different buying strategies if things did not go as planned the last time around.



Game Features:

* Challenging gameplay
* Voice acting by the awesome CaptainD
* Salt air on your skin and the wind in your face
* Educational historically accurate four voyages of Columbus
* Fictional fifth voyage as the end-game bonus
* A promise from myself that a more polished version is coming soon

So...YAAAAAAR, ME HEARTIES!!! SWAB THE DECKS, RAISE THE TILLER, AND DOWNLOAD THE GAME (PLEASE? Erm...YARRRR?)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

And please try to support the AGS community by VOTING IN THE MAGS THREAD HERE after you have tried this game, and all the other games on offer...

[<<]

<< Mythological Creatures  >>

The theme is MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES, meaning you can do any kind of creature from ancient mythology, or just something random from your own imagination of course...and here are the shapes:

                    

Of course, it's fine if you just create the obvious creatures from these shapes: But also by rotating/flipping the shapes you may be able to come up with something surprising.

The border-lines may be recolored. You may use as many colors as you like.

You may enter as many times as you like, and may use any or all of the available shapes at will.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE:

Seeing as mythological creatures are usually a mashup of two or more known creatures:

Let's go a step beyond the norm with this round of Coloring Ball and allow mashups of mashups:

You can also paste two or more of the shapes together (rotated and/or flipped at will) to create a new shape as shown in this Mermaid/Griffin combo:



Just try to stay true to the original drawable areas by deleting the lines that cross over when the two (or more) shapes are combined and keeping the drawable areas intact...

Also, please use only complete shapes: No fair just cutting out the wings from the griffin to put on the minotaur.

No, you must overlap the entire shapes.

There is no limit to the number of shapes you can mash together nor is there a limit on the dimensions of your final image...But let's try not to get ridiculous (or maybe DO get ridiculous...whichever is the most fun!)

The time limit will be until the end of June...so...

GET KRAKEN!!!


Entries are now closed and voting is open!

VOTING TILL JULY 12th:

You may now vote for the entries that you like 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best.
These are the four candidates (Thanks for participating and good luck!):

Mouth for war [imgzoom]http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q492/Alcotrash_79/30iyhqs.png[/imgzoom]

AnasAbdin [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/BzmKIZR.png[/imgzoom]

Blondbraid [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/ZBxIf0S.png[/imgzoom]

Creamy [imgzoom]http://creamy.r.c.f.unblog.fr/files/2016/06/sirene-3.png[/imgzoom]

Just about turning new year where I am so Happy New Year to all!!!

2016!!! YAAAAAAY!!!

[A THREE-HEADED MONKEY:]

*******************

* POST THE PIC GAME *

*******************

A forums game I stole from an old game site I used to frequent which I remember being quite fun and popular...

The rules are simple:

Post a picture of whatever the person before you requested, provided that they were also able to post a picture of what was requested before their post, and so on and so on...

(comical interpretations are not only welcome but advised)

For example:

A THREE-HEADED MONKEY:

I've always wondered what happened:

Most Online Ever: 559 (15 Jan 2012, 02:01)

Was there some huge event that started at 02:00? Oh...was it the first LIVE AGS Awards?

Anybody remember?

[~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MONSTER WANTS IN (MAGS VERSION)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~]

MONSTER WANTS IN



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~MONSTER WANTS IN (MAGS VERSION)~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the version of the game I created for the November,2015 MAGS contest.

I plan to expand the gameplay of this game, polish it further, and eventually release a complete version.

This version represents only the bare-bones gameplay which is basically just "Whack-A-Mole" at the moment.

A monster is breaking through the door from the other side. The idea is to hold the door by bracing the sections it is attacking.

Just click on the dark spots that appear on the door as fast as you can. There is no way to survive the encounter with the monster. Your goal is to outlast its onslaught for as long as possible. Your final score is how long you survived plus how many times you blocked the monster.

In the full release all this will change: You will be able to fight back against the monster and possibly even win, or maybe just outlast it until dawn when it will slink away back into the crawlspaces.

Anyways...Good luck and...

Don't lose face!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~Ross Kevin Moffat AKA Mandle~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Game Features:

* A MONSTER!!!
* Atmosphere
* WHACK-A-MOLE!!!
* Animation
* Sound Effects
* VIOLENCE!!!
* Voice acting of an excellent quality!!!

Please don't forget to vote in the 2015 NOVEMBER MAGS CONTEST if you played this game and all the other worthy entries...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

BEST EXPERIENCED IN A DARK ROOM WITH HEADPHONES AND FULL VOLUME
Headphones Disclaimer:

Spoiler

A lot of games that suggest headphones do so because there is some ridiculously loud jumpscare sound effect (mostly that same one). Not so in my game: I just found that some of the sounds were quite subtle and, to my ears at least, were much easier heard with headphones. There are a few loud noises but I avoided the usual "blow-the-player's-eardrums-out" variety.

[close]

[Player A's post:]

This is a game I invented and ran in a game forum years ago. As it was quite successful I'm resurecting it here:

The rules are simple:

Each time a new round starts I come up with a new secret rule/set of rules for that round.

Participants post some text (please limit to 2 lines max per post). The text can be anything, but actual sentences are cooler than just strings of characters.

I then give each post a number of points based on the secret rule/rules for that round.

The object is to figure out the secret rule(s) and post the correct answer first.

Please begin such solution posts with "SOLUTION:" to avoid confusion. Oh, and also please only post a single solution at a time and wait for the host's reply before posting another. Multiple solutions in a single post will be ignored.

A basic example:

Player A's post: The pope walks into a bar and orders a drink.
Host's post: 5 pts
Player B's post: I don't understand how to play this game. Can you explain again?
Host's post: 7 pts
Player C's post: SOLUTION: One point is given for each letter "a" in the post.
Host's post: Player C is correct! New round starts!

This was only a basic example for clarity. Actual rounds will get more complex than just counting up a certain letter.

Feel free to post even if there are already posts waiting on scores: I will get to them all together.

At first I think I will run the game as Host for a few rounds until everyone is up to speed and then open it up for others to host.

ROUND #1 BEGINS NOW!

The Leaderboard below shows how many times the player named has won a round:

--------LEADERBOARD-------- Stupot: 4 AnasAbdin: 2 Wyz: 1

I'm also going to try to keep track of every rule-set that has been solved so there is not a lot of repetition:

Spoiler

Round #1: One point for every two-letter word.
Round #2: One point for every letter that has a tail.
Round #3: One point for every common noun.
Round #4: One point for each "h" added to another letter if that changes its pronunciation.
Round #5: One point for every word containing three or more different vowels.
Round #6: One point for each consecutive letter in alphabetical order, spaces disregarded.
Round #7: One point for each time the last english alphabet letter in the previous non-host post appears in the post being scored.
Round #8:
Round #9:

[close]

The pope wants to hear your joke:

jokewiththepope.org.

It's a charity event run by the Vatican. You can submit your joke at the above link.

Here's the one I submitted (not my original joke but I did type the whole thing all on my own!)

Spoiler

The pope was heading out of the Vatican on his way to an important meeting. When he got to his car he asked the driver if he would let he himself, the pope, drive the car today. The driver refused at first stating that he would get fired if his superiors found out, but the pope insisted and the driver had no choice but to get in the other side and let the pope drive.

The pope immediately floored the accelerator and started driving down streets at 200km/hr. The car was soon stopped by a policeman who came up and knocked on the tinted window. When the window came down and the cop looked inside he became flustered and called the station-house on his radio.

The station chief answered and the cop told him: "I've stopped a car doing 200km/hr in city streets."
Chief: "That's great! Book the driver!"
Cop: "There's a problem. It's somebody very important."
Chief: "Even better! Make an example of them!"
Cop: "But Chief...They are really, really important..."
Chief: "Hollywood star?"
Cop: "Higher...higher..."
Chief: "Politician?"
Cop: "Hiiiiigher..."
Chief: "Obama?!"
Cop: "Even higher..."
Chief: "Well who is it, man?! Spit it out"
Cop: "I think it's God..."
Chief: "........ What do you mean you think it's God?!"
Cop: "Well who else could it be..."

Spoiler

Cop: "He's got the pope for his driver..."

[close]

[close]

If anyone submits a joke feel free to also post it in this thread for our amusement...