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No worries, @Duglis314 

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You pick up the Pen and the Screwdriver from the right upper drawer, then use the screwdriver on the left upper drawer. There's your bang bang.

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About the story...

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Years ago I saw images of "real" angels, and I was fascinated by the idea of them being so terrifying, and thought those things would be great for a horror story. I think this plotline is a little bit confusing, because I juggled several "fears" I tried to convey: Fear of Infinity, Fear of Deep Space, and Fear of Humanity Being Alone. I tried to cram everything into this story at the cost of focus and clarity.

And yes, in this case God is evil and manipulative. Chris is a theist and his father an atheist and they their scuffles about this topic. I was going on the lines that his father wanted to show that we are alone in the universe and wanted to prove it to Chris, but accidentally uncovers the monstrous angels and their hiding place with the help of Teleforce. God does not like this at all, and for the first time decides to reveal himself. As I'm writing this, it all sounds crazy! But I thought it was a fun idea.

And about the bugs etc. I don't like to give any kind of excuses, as I just need to do better. But I will say that with every MAGS game I got a little bit overwhelmed, so in many cases I just cut corners or forgot to focus on the little details like hotspot names etc. In this game I focused more on the art and trying some new things, and the story got neglected. I wrote actual dialogue and descriptions about 60-70% on the last day from the top of my head. I know, I have a serious procrastination and time management condition

Btw, I haven't read the bible. I plan to, as I think it might be the greatest horror book ever

Thanks again for commenting and giving feedback @heltenjon !

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There are already a bunch of great-looking games, and I would get my ass handed to me in this company. The Gods of Youtube shorts and long snacks got my soul, so I have to bow out. Sorry and thanks for the extension, @Stupot

Like @WHAM, I too had a game based in Finland. It is set in Midsummer, and around the spells we have here in the hopes of seeing a vision for a new spouse. Hopefully, I get this polished and done later.

Anyway, congratulations to all, who released a game. Good job!

I've learned that what I love about game development, is procrastinating.

Did you say Wednesday is the last day, @Stupot?

Thanks for taking the time to play it through and giving me feedback!

I think I need to clarify a couple of things though. One thing is that you don't need to do the sequence in exact order. I just gave one sequence to keep it simple. Overall, I'll polish these later when I'm done with all the MAGS competitions.

Spoiler

I have to say, it is REALLY buggy. It's like the Apollo 13 startup sequence. You have to do things in the absolutely correct order or it won't work. Even after starting the machine and looking through the telescope, when clicking the red X nothing happened. Only after leaving the telescope and looking through it again, I saw the creature.

You can enter the code or do the knob thing first if you like, there's no order. Of course, you have to turn the wheel first and then turn the switch, which will turn the beam on. Not able to click when the X appears is a new bug, because I didn't experience it and @sthomannch didn't report it. But I'll look into it.

Most hotspots are missing a label.

Yeah, my bad

Also there is the bug with the broken walking view (blue cup) and a telephone appears for every interaction.

Annoingly that telephone appeared in the "fixed" version, because I was trying to get a smoother animation with the phone.

I had no clue what was going on in the game. It was lacking a proper introduction (only read here in this thread afterwards that the PC's dad has died and you take care of what is left) I also didn't understand the end.

True, the story is a little bit muddy here and there, and the father's death is implied during the call. The father investigated aliens and wanted to contact them by building a machine for that purpose. The voice on the phone is not Christopher's father, it's God, who lures Chris to use the machine to unleash a powerful angel (This angel is based on Seraphim and how it is really described in the Bible). So... yeah I really should work the story

The graphics are very good, I like the style, the color change in the end adds to the atmosphere. I hope you will have some time to work more on the game, because it seems to be very interesting.

I really tried to focus more on the art department, so I think it affected the other areas negatively. I'm glad that at least the art had some merit this time comparing to my other games, so thanks!

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Ah, now I see I misunderstood you @cat. I re-read the earlier responses from you and @sthomannch, and I need to clarify the process.

Spoiler

The bookshelf is just a world-building tool, only to clarify the story. You don't need it to solve the puzzles.

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This is the whole puzzle sequence (If someone else is also interested):

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Pick up the tools from the Drawer->
Open Floorboard with the Hammer, get Notes of Abraham Bell->
Right Click/Look at the Notes in the inventory 3 times and get the code 369->
Enter the Code to the Tesla Machine ->
Use Pliers to the Right Knob, get the Knob and place it on Left Empty Slot->
Turn the Left Knob, pull the Wheel to set up the Teleforce and then pull the Switch to activate it->
After some dialogue you can search the sky->
Rest should come together by itself

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Thanks for the review! I plan to polish all my MAGS games later, and then add them to the database.

Finished it! It was a bit tricky because some actions seem to block progress, but I am not sure what. Anyway, after restarting and going straight through the story, I could complete the game. I enjoyed it. Nice graphics, short but consistent game play, definitely worth playing!

I'm sure I forgot to explore every option, so there definitely could be some dead ends. I have probably 1-2 MAGS games in me, and after that I will polish these titles further and enter them into the database. You can get extremely blind to your own work, so I thank you for taking the time to play and give feedback!

@cat

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Hmm... this is strange. If you managed to get the Teleforce up and running, there definitely should be a hotspot in the sky after that. I had several puzzle ideas, but I didn't manage to do any of them, so I tried to make this hotspot a simple thing. The cursor should change into a big red X on the hotspot. Of course there could be some weird bug that went under my radar. I try to look into it!

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Hi Repi!
The shape shifting is not a show-stopper, just say it is an Easteregg. I wanted to download the new version but need to log in?
Anyway, nice graphics, looking forward to continue playing with the new version

Thanks, @sthomannch! I struggled with the art, so I appreciate the compliment.

This is starting look very unprofessional, but I forgot to change the link accessible to all. But it is now.

I look forward to see, what you think, when you get the end. It's a short game, don't worry

The Astral Chapel 2.0 (Fixed A Couple of Bugs)


I forbid you to look at the bad phone animation. The character positioning was a stupid decision

Just downloaded and started it. Nice night sky. Not sure if I found a bug

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after entering the code, moving the wheel and switch and placing the knob, the orb lit up twice, no nothing happens. But I am probably missing something else

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Damn, I thought I fixed it, but I did it now. Link above. I also fixed the original post link.

But what was really funny was the shape shifting of Christopher when I reloaded an earlier save game.

Seems I cannot embed pictures with the img tag, so I just offer you this link

https://mega.nz/file/1T51AJKZ#FTfUaVZSFGjjt1kwrwf82KgRGE6d8WI-NyIeE0NZCRY

  Yeah, I had that too! I just don't know what triggered it, and it only came up once. If somebody knows, HELP!

The Astral Chapel

Christopher's father dies and he decides to clean up his laboratory. Meanwhile, he finds his father's notes, strange machinery, and research papers, and gets a mysterious call. Things start to unravel... maybe in cosmic proportions.


Beware bugs, typos, and other annoying things. It should be playable, though.

Even though this is my theme, I'm going to be evil and participate  

I can assure you I don't have any advantage, as I haven't done anything except having a small idea, which sparked the theme.

My game would be based around Finnish midsummer magic and incantations, thus the name Midsummer Spells. It's a dark comedy/satire, and horror about Finnish summer and relationships.

Awesome, thank you!

2 day extension, @Stupot?

Well, I probably can't refuse as I offered an example like Detective Di investigating in Ancient China. So this is fine by me at least.

And as a Finn, it would be interesting to see how your tyranny would play out in your game 

I'm almost done, and I might be able to finish this tomorrow. I could use an extension for a day or two.

Damn, that was a really good feedback @OneDollar, thank you! Those vanishing objects did some funky things in my functions, and created some minor headaches, especially with that mirror. I keep coding and hunting feedback, and hopefully I can create smoother gaming experiences in the future.

Btw thank you all, who voted for me!

[The Year of MAGS]

Thank you, @Stupot, and @heltenjon for the reviews!

Heltenjon summarized my game perfectly. This game was my attempt to see an episode I always wanted to see, and which to me was an obvious choice: Rod Serling himself as the protagonist. I struggled to come up with the story, but this "Frame" theme really sparked the inspiration. I dived deep into the metaplot, as I integrated it basically into everything including the "puzzles", but also wanted to keep the story somewhat universal too. And hopefully somewhat fun or suspenseful.
 
A couple of embarrassing bugs sneaked in, as @WHAM and heltenjon pointed out, so the staff will be stripped of their Christmas bonuses.

The Year of MAGS

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I initially wanted to put my vote on this for the idea alone. Very creative, but in the end, it's not a fully explored idea. I immediately started thinking hybrid of an app and game, where you could integrate it into the real world. Perhaps within the AGS engine?

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The Expedition

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I voted The Expedition purely for the fun factor. The expectation to go on an adventure is there right from the beginning. Setting up dangers, suspense, gathering stuff, and team etc. And Sally, she could be developed into a great, sassy character. "Well shit" caught me off guard. The potential is there.

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This is my work-in-progress art style, no code or writing. I'm still thinking about the general mood and style, so it's missing details, some objects, a spark in the night, a shadow hiding a secret...

But it has a phone.

After getting my ball rolling with April's "FRAME" theme, I thought I'd give this one a shot too.

I'm working on a horror game called Fingerprint of God. It's about a man, a lab, and a mystery that shouldn't be solved. Especially not by him.

I'd say more, but honestly, some things are better left unsaid.

Maybe I'll just phone this in.