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[MORT: Manageably OK Response Team]

For your consideration:
MORT: Manageably OK Response Team

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2764-mort-manageably-ok-response-team/
https://rootbound.itch.io/mort-manageably-ok-response-team

A short single-player split-screen point-and-click that uses platformer mechanics, originally made for MAGS. Control two different characters as they solve logical puzzles and try to arrive at the same place from opposite directions.

Please consider for:
-Best Gameplay
-Best Programming

[For Your Consideration]

For Your Consideration
My Siblings, the Stones

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2739-my-siblings-the-stones/

https://rootbound.itch.io/my-siblings-the-stones

An atmospheric, short-to-medium length, story-focused, character-driven fantasy adventure game, following a dropout mage as she becomes entangled in solving a village's problems in order to find her way home. Bit by bit she uncovers the culture, history, and motivations that led to the current crisis, which become crucial to finding a solution.

Please consider for:
-Best Freeware Game
-Best Writing
-Best Character (Roselle)
-Best Character (the Monk)
-Best Character (the Troll)

Looks like the results are in! Thanks for the votes that came my way, I really appreciate it.  And congratulations to @Babar and @jfrisby for a well deserved win and a REALLY memorable game. Looking forward to whatever is next from @jwalt too. I'm thrilled to have been a contender this time around.

Sorry if it's weird to return to this a month later. I participated in a poetry reading group yesterday, and the discussions were very good, and it inspired me to share here a more detailed breakdown of the rhyme (and slant rhyme) structure of my poem, since I worked hard on it. Feel free to ignore if you're not interested. 

Spoiler

For definitions of slant rhyme terms, see here.

Nocturne

The dilated pupils of foxes, owls, coyotes scenting prey,     A
glow like shimmering green-yellow suns in the black,     B
their shine reflecting mere fractions     B (assonance, consonance)
of what their eyes trap,  B (assonance)
the ricocheted photons evincing night-     D
vision so sharp it can scoff at surplus light,     D (true rhyme)
can spurn as needless the wasted bright     D (true rhyme)
of day.    A (true rhyme)

Meanwhile, we who love sun must     E
make our eyes sore     F
to see colors or movements amidst     E (slant rhyme: consonance)
the darkness, stretching out     G
hands to scout     G (true rhyme)
hazards, our need for the shown     H
leaving us breathless as fish on the shore,     F (true rhyme)
unarmored skin displayed     A (assonance)
to the wide open mouth     G (assonance)
of a realm not our own.     H (true rhyme)

Spoiler

A possible interpretation here is that the more ordered rhyme scheme of the first stanza mirrors how nocturnal animals navigate darkness more skillfully, whereas the more disordered (but still fully present) rhyme scheme of the second stanza mirrors the more chaotic interaction humans have with night.

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@Danvzare thanks for such a detailed answer! Really useful things to think about. I think it clears up a lot for me.

But with that definition in my mind, I can safely say that The Witness seems similar on the surface, but is quite clearly distinct from "adventure games". Fulfilling only a small part of the definition. Having discovery and even some exploration, but missing the involvement of the player.

I'm usually a bit of a lurker in these conversations but I'd love to hear more detail about "missing the involvement of the player." As an amateur game designer I'm always looking to strengthen my understanding of what makes games fun or not fun (or whatever it is that makes "the witness" different), particularly when it comes to story and to puzzle solving.

My votes

Spoiler

Concept:
-jFrisby 2
-cat 1

Playability:
-Framganga Games 2
-jFrisby 1

Artistic Execution:
-Creamy 2
-jFrisby 1

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Had a long car drive and brought an electic mix of CDs with me.

Anais Mitchell really is a genius at lyrics. This album gets better each time I listen.

Same with this album. Whenever Kings of Convenience feature Feist, it's an amazing song:

And this was a bit of a wild card. I hadn't listened to this album in probably twelve years or more, and actually couldn't remember what it sounded like. It didn't disappoint though, and reminded me why I got it in the first place:

And of course, there's a reasons the classics are classics:

[BOTOS DO DIABO]

Babar & I present...
BOTOS DO DIABO
A fever dream horror somewhere in the Amazon...

Spoiler

well the leg scene was genuinely horrifying. Good job making the game playable and intuitive throughout the strangeness.

Spoiler

I have a bit of a science-fiction brain, so I have a hypothesis that maybe explains all of this (in a forced and totally unnecessary way. The game works better as a fever dream without explanation).

Spoiler

The character is "unstuck in time" in the vein of Slaughterhouse-five. Once he gets to the end of his life, he starts traveling through time backwards. He wrote the note warning himself to watch his legs, and he wrote the note from his lover because he knew he would never die before ever reaching home, and wanted to release himself from longing for her, despite the pain it would cause. He took the baby from the raft because he knew that traveling forward in time would not save the baby either, so he carries the baby with him now, traveling further into the past, and when he gets far enough in time before the flood that the baby will have a chance to grow up, he will release it back into the regular time stream. The baby then grows up and becomes him.

...As I said, the game is better without anything like this. 

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So there's a new version of my entry uploaded because I found a bug that freezes the game instead of displaying the high score list. It's fixed now. You'll need to complete a playthrough before the update will go into your save games, though. Or you can delete your saves (which will clear the high score list). Everything else is the same, no changes to gameplay or anything else.

So there's a new version uploaded (same download link) because I found a bug that freezes the game instead of displaying the high score list. It's fixed now. You'll need to complete a playthrough before the update will go into your save games, though. Or you can delete your saves (which will clear the high score list).

There's also the option to upload it to itch, but not available for the public. You may then issue keys for testers other than yourself, if needed.

I've done this in the past, but that seems to be what flagged my games as suspicious on itch, so I've been trying to avoid it. It's also nice not to have to upload a new version every time I fix a bug.

@eri0o this is awesome! I was planning to release a web version of my current game but wanted to find a way to test it without having to upload it to itch yet. This is working perfectly so far.

For those who may not have time to play very much, here's a full playthrough with me adding a new score to my high score list at the end.

@jwalt, I just played your entry. It was fun, and I really like the animation! Would love to see more in this vein with the pre-rendered assets.

@heltenjon thanks for playing! I thought about splitting the high score list exactly as you suggest, but I figured people would probably pick a preferred mode and stick with it. Maybe I was mistaken.

As for being an abuse of the adventure game engine, how dare you!    Though if you look at my track record I have probably made more non-adventure games than adventure games with AGS.

Weirdly, this is the simplest game I've ever made. The whole thing is like 1000 lines of code combined.

As I wrote in the completed games thread, it seems I uploaded an older build of the game by accident. If you downloaded it (it seems not many people did yet), please replace it with the new version. Same download link. I feel very silly.

WELL, it seems I uploaded an older build of the game by accident. If you downloaded it (it seems not many people did yet), please redownload from the same link and replace it with the new version. I feel very silly.

[BAD TO THE CORAL:]

BAD TO THE CORAL: The most relaxed you'll ever be while frantically trying to stop environmental destruction.

A classic fast-paced arcade-style game with calming sound effects. This is my MAGS entry for November 2024, theme "Body of Water."

Uses the Tween module by @edmundito
Huge thanks to @Nahuel for testing

Protect a delicate coral reef from an endless cascade of garbage. Gain reef health by letting red algae accumulate and by stemming the flow of trash for extended periods. Get extra points with combos. How long can you keep the reef alive?

AGS DATABASE LINK: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2803-bad-to-the-coral/

OFFICIAL PAGE: https://rootbound.itch.io/bad-to-the-coral

[BAD TO THE CORAL:]

BAD TO THE CORAL: The most relaxed you'll ever be while frantically trying to stop environmental destruction.

A classic fast-paced arcade-style game with calming sound effects.

Protect a delicate coral reef from an endless cascade of garbage. Gain reef health by letting red algae accumulate and by stemming the flow of trash for extended periods. Get extra points with combos. How long can you keep the reef alive?

AGS DATABASE LINK: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2803-bad-to-the-coral/

OFFICIAL PAGE: https://rootbound.itch.io/bad-to-the-coral




Uses the Tween module by @edmundito
Huge thanks to @Nahuel for testing.