Messages

People who think that just because something is designed or marketed for a certain purpose, you only use that thing for that purpose. No where is this more apparent than Japan (don't get me started on umbrellas - yes, there is a tiny drop of rain and yes, umbrellas are for rain, but you don't all have to all open your massive two-man umbrellas in an already crowded street just to get from the station to the coffee shop 10 metres away!!!).

What's ground my gears today was going into the drugstore and seeing the totally empty handsoap shelf and then looking at the perfectly healthily-stocked shelf next to it on which is an abundance of body soap.

IT'S THE SAME STUFF!!! If people are so desperate, why isn't the other soap also sold out? Just buy the body soap and fill up a hand-soap dispenser with it.  I promise you won't go to hell for it. That's exactly what I'll do if I can't get hold of any more hand soap when we run out. Now again, I'm sure the chemical make-up of body soap is slightly different from actual hand soap and it's not exactly the same stuff, but basically the main difference is the noun on the bottle. It's not going to burn your hands off.

1 of them is close: 7 Miles = 11.265408 Kilometers

Is that your official guess. If not:

Spoiler

MILES

[close]

YOINK! 

Voting is now open. Please vote using the poll above.

	Frozen Kingdom by Slasher
	The Frozen Shore by JackPutter
	Unfreeze by TheManInBoots, PlayPretend and Cassiebsg

Thanks to everyone who had a go. We were staring down the barrel of a two single-entry months in a row but JackPutter and ManInBoots and co came out of the woodwork to give Slasher a run for his money.

VampireWombat, Sorry you couldn't get something finished by this point. If you are able to enter finish something, say, within the next little bit of time, I might, shall we say, "accidentally" slip it to the bottom of the voting list.

As always, please let me know asap if I've missed anything or anyone.

I'm about to close things down. Is that last Google link the final entry? This is the only window of opportunity I've got. Do you have a screenshot I can use for the voting post?

Basically If I haven’t officially closed the entries then I’m not going to deny a game. You basically have until I can get to a computer and have ten minutes to myself.

[Death Defying]

Topic: Death Defying
Set by: Slasher

Voting is open. Please vote using the poll above.

	Sandi Knievel: Stunt Rider by Slasher
	Brothers and Wreckers â€" Episode 7 by Creamy
	BARN RUNNER: PUCKER FACTOR by Ponch
	The Mind by HanaIndiana
	Whack-A-Soul by PlayPretend
	Dangerous Derek's Livestream by JackPutter
	FATMAN-The Survival tale of Jim Woods by TheManInBoots

Anything to do with death defying which could be a daredevil of some type who enjoys the thrill of dancing with the grim reaper.
Maybe you are a rock climber or someone who loves walking up buildings or bull riding or perhaps a stunt driver.  You decide.

You may use any graphics available to create your game within a month... Get creating....



Deadline: March 31st

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.

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.

Spoiler

SEVEN

[close]

@TheManInBoots - Yep. You have two extra days :-) Let’s just day 2020 is a leap-leap-leap year.

@JackPutter - Welcome to the boards and congratulations on you first release.

Spoiler

TAPIR

(The first letter of each of the capital cities of each of the states Stupot discovered in the code.)

[close]

Damn, I even thought about this and did the research but decide that...

Spoiler

RIPAT is not a word haha

[close]

Well done Mandle.

Spoiler

You are right about the states, but the backwards part was just to make it less obvious. See Mandle's post.

[close]

Spoiler

STATE

[close]

In case you missed it you only have until the end of Saturday to vote.

On the right tracks, both of you...

Spoiler

Stupot, I wondered why you had translated into French for a second. Of course it's not a coincidence... [é used to be es in French] But it needs to be more specific - Mandle is right too.

[close]

Spoiler

My thinking was that it’s STATE but backwards. Because if you write the clue backwards you get VAINRIGAKS, which his made up of 5 US state codes (Virginia, Indiana, Rhode Island, Georgia, Kansas).

[close]

Is it:

Spoiler

ETATS

[close]

Last year’s ceremony was a fantastic show. For many reasons

I still don’t get the Putin reference though :-(

+7 is the international telephone prefix of the Russian Federation. I did not dare to dial it though, as what if it REALLY were Putin's telephone number?!

Ahh. I wondered if it was because Putin in an anagram of input, which is a relevant word, coincidentally.

The candidate list would probably need to be fully moderated

I think this is a good idea for all categories anyway. It would require some effort on someone’s part to trawl the list and select the games that are valid in each category. But it would be worth it for the voter not to have to face that same block of 100+ titles for every category knowing that most of them aren’t valid.

Nice one. I still don’t get the Putin reference though :-(

[Saturday February 29th]

Thanks to anyone who has voted so far.

Voting will remain open for one more week.
You have until the end of Saturday February 29th.

As a bonus, we have one more surprise Interview for you. From Reiter, about his game Escape Literature

No. 1: Why, all of it, truth be told. I think that the simplicity of AGS is its chief beauty; it is quite possible for an amateur to string something entertaining together. Not to mention, I could likely have done the same on my oven. With no facilities or skill to make my own music, however, I had very much help from Mr. Eric Matyas of Soundimage.org. It is a vast library of music, and with some patience, it is possible to find something that will fit quite splendidly.

No. 2: Well, the theme was 'magic', which is a vast topic with endless possibilities. For a beginner, it was a very generous topic to approach. I am also quite fond of the idea of a spell-book gaining self-awareness, as well as the troubles and risks of magic artefacts and their containment. All of that could be neatly contained in a tidy, combination 'alchemy' inventory puzzle system, that complements the point & click gameplay. To me, it is important to find and stick to scenarios where the practicalities and vagaries of point & click adventure gameplay is not a hinderance, but an asset. I am still quite intrigued by the possibilities of the adventures of a rogue spell-book. It gives me an idea for future projects.

No. 3: I am still quite proud of having made my own little video game, and having released it, and it being good enough to gain a little award, too. Finishing games is the difficult part, but it is very reassuring that you can, in fact, do it. Making, finishing and releasing games makes you an official and bona fide creator, and that is a very reassuring feeling. 'Escape Literature' is the littlest trifle of a game, but I jolly well made it and released it.

No. 4: Since it was a very simple beginner's project, at a puny resolution and only a handful of rooms, it proved quite simple to make. Learning the basic scripting was rather fiddly, for someone who does not have the 'head' for proper coding and scripting. It is a mark of AGS as a robust, simple and useful program, when even I can use it. Further, art assets are quite difficult, and animation is excrutiatingly so. Having the main character be a floating book relieved me of a lot of animation difficulties. I will no doubt learn more of it in the future, but it took quite a few hours, slaving over a red-hot Windows Paint, to slap together such a relatively Spartan title as 'Escape Literature'. I know now, however, to better manage that time.

No. 5: I would have liked it to be longer, with more puzzles and Sierra-esque deaths, to discourage brute force puzzle solving. Sound effects and more detail would have been splendid, too. Further, I would have liked to explore the mystical aspects of the scenario a bit more. There is a lot of fascinating themes there that went unexplored for want of time. I also wanted to include a boss-battle, of sorts, and I would have made a better fictional alphabet and given it more meaning. As it stands, I simply used the Dwemeric alphabet from the 'Elder Scrolls', and wrote various Lorem Ipsums with it. It would have been fun to use it in the puzzle design, rather than 'merely' set dressing. All of which are relegated to my ever expanding archive labelled 'Next Time'.

As for final words, well, I must say that gaining a very pleasing deal of recognition for my very first publicly released project is terribly reassuring. With my health returned, I feel quite ready to make more games in the future. I know now that I can. AGS is a magnificent little program, and the AGS community is a fantastic place to be. Thank you all for playing. There will be more.


Thanks Reiter. Glad you were able to answer the questions. I look forward to your next entry :-)

Well done to the nominees. Shame there was a little bit of foul play.

I've whipped up a little spreadsheet for myself to keep track of my votes. Feel free to copy it for your own use if you think it'll help.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IIaJusV4VC9FU4VSiMbw9UhJyKQN3tQLNLC0aiFSRV8/edit?usp=sharing

Damn is that still going? I started playing that 10 years ago. Do they keep adding new content?