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If you can’t think of a puzzle that works, maybe you don’t need one. Perhaps it would be more exciting as an arcadey or dexterity event, such trying to swim to an opening in the castle wall while being chased by a crocodile, or carefully chiseling away at a piece of wall without making too much noise and waking up the guards.

Entrants can and are encouraged to vote. Whether you vote for yourself or an opponent is really a matter for you. I personally think it’s a bit unseemly to vote for oneself but it’s not against the rules. Then again, you could argue that if you genuinely think yours is the best, why do yourself a disservice? With any luck enough people will vote to give a true idea of the general consensus.

[Distance No Object]

Two games this month, thanks to Slasher and KyriakosCH.

Please vote using the poll at the top of the page.

Distance No Object
by Slasher
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2457-distance-no-object


This is the Way
by KyriakosCH
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2460-this-is-the-way/

There are two games in the previous months thread, so a contest is actually needed this time!

I'm on it. Got a lot on my plate at the minute and trying to find bits of time to do this. Should be ready soon.

Done

[A Prelude to an Adventure]

The winner of MAGS August is:

A Prelude to an Adventure by Hobo.

Well done, sir.

	Stuck on You by Slasher
	The White Elephant by milkanannan
	A Prelude to an Adventure by Hobo

Topic: White elephant.
Deadline: August 31st

White elephant: a possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of.

You may use previous graphics to create your game.



What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the rules set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you have bad art skills, use it as a chance to do some graphic work. If you're sub-standard at coding, use it as a chance to give scripting a go. Ultimately, people will vote for the most enjoyable entry.

Rules
Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualize your game following the month's criteria (see above). Second, create your game fuelled only by coffee. Finally, post your game in this thread, including:

* A working download link
* The title of your game
* A suitable in-game screenshot

At the end of the month, voting will begin, usually lasting for fourteen days, and the winner chooses the next month's theme.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove has something you can use.
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks for the entries, guys.

I’ll set up the voting tomorrow but Get playing :-)

Also, look out for the new topic tomorrow.

This game looks good. Well done for getting it made.

I watched that film using a VPN.
It was Munchhausen by proxy.

(Mandle has already endured this joke but I couldn’t resist it).

[The Room]

It's almost cliche to post this, but The Room really was awesome. My wife and I were in tears because it was so bad/good. Clips from the movie in the below spoiler if anyone wants a walk down memory lane 

Spoiler

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

[close]

I've yet to see this and I fear I missed the zeitgeist to fully appreciate the so-bad-it's-goodness of it. Part of the appeal seemed to be groups of friends endlessly quoting it to each other. If I suddenly watch it and start quoting it to my friends who have seen it, it wouldn't be the same.


As for bad films I love? I can't think of an example that I think really matches the title. But the closest thing that comes to mind is Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. My friend and I watched this over and over again as kids and it remains one of my favourite films of all time. In the hands of anyone else this film would have been utter toilet, but it's just so bloody fun.

But the reason I don't think this film falls quite into the category in the title is that pretty much everyone loves this film. It's not that I like it despite it being bad. It's actually a genuinely good movie. The low budget and questionable acting are features, rather than bugs, of this film.

A recent example of this is Ad Astra. Great effects, some solid acting by a great cast, an incredibly simple and attractive premise. Absolutely mind-numbingly dull as hell. Easily the most boring film I’ve seen at the cinema.

As for classics that I hate... hmmm I can’t actually think of any examples at the moment. I’m sure I’ll think of something though,  because I hate people who seem to like everything that you’re supposed to like.

I have a suspicion that if I went back and watched some stuff I haven’t seen since I was a kid, I might not like them so much... Like E.T or something.

We’re only half way through the month. Plenty of time to make a small game. 

I think it’s possible that both meanings will exist and we will just have to do a bit of work based on context. Like if I started talking about “20’s gangsters”, you’ll probably know that I was referring to a prohibition-era, Irish- and Italian-American criminal gangs. The things we’ll be referencing after the 2020’s will be very different (global nuclear warfare, the Great Population Decimation, The Trump Empire, you know, the nostalgic stuff).

Yeah as the others have said, you do not need an apostrophe in your given sentence. An apostrophe is only used with an ‘s’ when something is missing Due to two words being combined, or to mark possession.
The pizza is cold. > The pizza’s cold. (Contraction)
The pizza has been eaten. -> The pizza’s been eaten.(Contraction)
The base of the pizza is burnt. -> The pizza’s base is burnt.(Possessive)

In your sentence, the -s simply means ‘more than one’ and does not need an apostrophe.

Yeah, I get these sometimes. It’s almost like some kind of giant build up of static electricity in your brain suddenly releasing all at once, there’s a screech followed by a literal zzzzap! And I usually experience some kind of vision. Like once I flashed back to being in a mosh-pit at a punk festival and a heavy dude’s flailing fist smacking me square in the face at the exact moment I’m jolted awake in this electric zzzap!

I’ve also experienced the twisting faces and the sleep paralysis. Both scary but also sort of intriguing, like my mind sort of wants them to continue even though I’m genuinely scared. I once had sleep paralysis so the point that I was screaming but this dense layer of unconsciousness was blocking the action from being realised. I eventually kind of pushed through the fog into reality and woke up literally screaming.

Well, you haven’t revealed how much or little work you did in those two days. It might be negligible. Or you might have done more work than someone who can only put in 20 minutes a night for the whole month. The topic reveal is essentially the starting gun. We often allow extensions but I’ve never granted a head-start (or been asked for one).

I think the game I was working on for June can fit in this - can I enter it when it is ready?

While I would encourage anything to get as many entries as possible, using a game that you have been working on in the previous month isn’t really in the spirit of MAGS.

We recently relaxed the rules to allow the use of pre-made assets (sprites, music, snippets of code maybe) but the idea is to make a game, from scratch, within the calendar month.

[The Wad]

I tried setting up a mob story and for the second time in a row, the AI Got me running away from an FBI agent.

I present: The Wad

(I edited the arrows a bit to  make it clearer which we’re my bits and which were the AI’s.)


Act I - “The Kid”

Spoiler

>You are Tony. You are a member of a notorious mob family out of Sicily. You are in a room with two other men, Frankie, a young loudmouth, and Andy, your boss.<
“Alright, listen up," Andy says.

> You listen, intently.<
"The head of the Mostro family has been arrested by the FBI. Now, they're going to hold an election, and our man's not in the running. We need to fix this.

> You say "Whaddya want I should do, boss?"<
"That's the spirit, kid. Frankie, show him what we're talking about."
Frankie pulls out a wad of cash and sets it on the table.
"See that man?"
"Yeah,"

> You reach for the wad of cash.<
Frankie slaps your hand. "Don't be a fool, kid. It's marked."
"So?"
"So, you'd turn it in."
"I wouldn't!" you protest.
Frankie and Andy both look at you, then at each other.
"Alright," says Andy, "If you think you can pull it off."
Frankie nods.

> You say "You can trust me, guys. I'm family."<
"Alright, kid. If you're sure."
Frankie nods. "Your funeral."
You take the wad of cash.
Frankie's right. It's marked.

> You put the cash in your holdall. A cheap, slightly bartered, fake-leather, bag. You turn and walk towards the exit.<
You walk out the door, leaving your companions behind.
You walk down the street, carrying your bag of ill-gotten gains. Suddenly, a man in a suit appears.

[close]

Act II - “The Suit”

Spoiler

> You say "Excuse me."<
The man pulls a gun and points it at you. "Stay right there, criminal scum," he says, "The FBI has been looking for you."
You put your hands up.

>Frankie and Andy come out of the restaurant and they are already shooting at the agent. You duck, keeping hold of the bag of money.<
You manage to avoid the bullets, and make a break for it, running down an alleyway.
The man chases you for a bit, before giving up. You manage to get away.

>You seem to be safe. For now. Your mobile phone rings.<

It's your boss.
"Hello?" you say.
"Where are you?"
"I... I'm not sure.

> You say "I'm gonna get out of town for a couple of days, Andy. I’ve still got the cash. Don’t worry, I’m gonna stash it."
"Where are you?"
"I'm not sure."
"Stay put, I'll pick you up."
You see a car pull up. Your boss is in the passenger seat. He beckons to you.

> You think you've been set up. You were always supposed to take the money. Now Andy seems to wanna keep you close. Fuck it. You run.<
You sprint away from the car, down the alleyway. You hear the car door open, and you break into a nearby building. You find yourself in some kind of office. You quickly find a hiding spot.

>It's only then that you realise the money is not just marked. It’s being used to track you in real time. You open a window and throw the bag of money into the river below.<
You can see a bridge and the money is going to land on one of the walkways.
The police are still looking for you. There are sirens outside.

Also, you're hungry.

[close]

Act III - “The Meat”

Spoiler

> You hang tight. No one will find you here. But you gotta get some food in you. So you decide to order a pizza on Uber Eats.<
You call the number. You're starving, so you order the "Meat" pizza, which has pepperoni, spicy salami, and chicken on it.

> You wait in your hiding spot for the pizza delivery.<
Soon enough, there's a knock at the door.
"Pizza!" you hear someone shout.
You peek out of the window and see a car in the parking lot.

> You recognize the voice.<
You open the door. It's not the pizza guy. It's the FBI agent. You shut the door, but it's too late. The agent has seen you. He bursts in and points his gun at you.

The pizza guy comes in behind the agent. He drops the pizza.<
The box hits the floor. You can only see the delivery box. It's not a normal pizza delivery box. There's something hidden inside it. Something that glows...
You look at the agent.

> You say "DUCK!"<
You knock the agent's gun to the side as you duck. The gun fires, hitting the delivery guy in the chest. The guy crumples.
You and the agent struggle for the gun.

> You in the struggle, you kick the pizza box to one side, revealing...<
...a briefcase.
You were hiding a briefcase full of money. The agent and you stop fighting to look at it.
"It's beautiful," you say.
"I want it,"

> You say "You can have the briefcase if you let me go."<
The FBI agent stops fighting you and points his gun at your head.
"Sorry, kid," he says, "but I'm gonna be the one to take down this organization. Goodbye."

> You close your eyes.<
The gun fires. You die

[close]

Epilogue

Spoiler

>On the day of your funeral...<
...in a town in Texas, your briefcase turns up. It's full of cash. The police wonder how it got there and where the owner is. They wonder if you were a criminal or a hero.

[close]

It’s a trick of how you parse the question. You’re fooled into reading “he weighs 100 pounds” and then thinking you have to do the maths on that number. But nope, “he weighs 100 pounds plus half his weight” <â€"â€"- that IS his weight. Now you can do the maths.

I just had a little play around with it and... boy does this AI need therapy.

I started with a custom story and tried to set my character as a comedian struggling to write jokes for an upcoming gig. The AI played along at first and I got stuck on a bit of a loop of it just telling me a bunch of light-bulb jokes.

But then I managed to break out of it by saying ‘close notebook’ and It tried to get me to go to the office where it turned out there was a message for me saying the police were coming to arrest me...

Then things too a very dark turn.

I hid in the stationary cupboard and was told that I spend the rest of my life behind bars and repeatedly sodomized. This was hilarious and I cackled out loud on the train.

But I typed ‘you decide enough is enough and get revenge’. It then went on to describe the worst killing spree you can imagine. Not for the faint-hearted.