Messages

Congratulations, Bazza.
I look forward to your next theme.

[The Boat]

I've read through the stories and chosen my favourites.

Here's a bit of Feedback:
@Sinitrena - My favourite of yours was The Boat. The descriptions of the waves crashing around the boat really brought me there more than any of the other stories, and the reveal was great. Earth was an interesting idea, but I felt like something was missing from the ending. Maybe that was the point, to create a sense of bleakness, but I was waiting from earth to hit them or something. One, Two, Three had some nice descriptions, too, but it was hard for me to create an image of what she was doing until it was spelled out at the end. The Dragonfight Saga similarly had me having to do a lot of guesswork. This is probably more on me, but it wasn't until part 3 that I sort of got the idea that they were friends. I didn't really get what they meant by "again?", nor the relevance of the horse running away, but I enjoyed the stories none-the-less.

@Baron You Think That's Messed was a fun exercise in summarizing a well-known epic fantasy saga in a different voice and style. But it was just that, a summary of plot points. I much preferred your poem The Slope. I enjoyed the rhymes and the message itself really hit home. It's a reminder to sometimes pull my finger out and put in the hard work.

@Mandle I know your stories are non-entries, but here are a few thoughts: All different styles and formats. I think I most enjoyed The Cure, though I question whether anyone would still be writing anything down while that door is about to come of its hinges. Also, I enjoyed the surprise ending of Dragonchase, but the clue was in the title all along.

[Darkness and Denim]

There's still time to vote for your favourite MAGS game of 2022.

You're encouraged to try to play most, if not all, of the games if you can before voting. However, if that's difficult for any reason, there's also the option to watch a video. I've managed to source/make videos for most of the games. I'm working on getting the missing ones up in the next couple of days.

To watch a video just hit 🎬 below each game title in the table above.

Update: For whatever reason, Darkness and Denim won't record properly with the screen-capture software I use. It just records a black screen. I think it's related to the version of AGS Ponch used for the game. If anyone else wants to have a go, that would be great.

Spoiler

Look around outside, at all possible things that can be interacted with. Can you mislead/distract the shopper? Do you find something when you interact with areas on the screen?

[close]

Spoiler

Try to mislead him by turning the signs.

[close]

Spoiler

When he is on the wrong path and figures out he is wrong, you have to distract him.

[close]

Spoiler

Throw a stone in the lake.

[close]

Spoiler

Once he is in the front, you have to distract him even more. What does he want?

[close]

Thanks cat. That was just what I needed.

Stupot

Spoiler

Check the toilet in the bathroom !

[close]

Thanks. That did the trick.

Welcome Alagolafre.
All the best with your project.

I've found myself stuck. Any hints would be gratefully received.

Spoiler

I have the antenna with the thread around it, but need to find some kind of adhesive.
I have the bowl with the sugar and starch, but need to find something spicy.
I haven't worked out what to do with the shopper yet.

[close]

@Bulbapuck

Sorry, call me a moron but...

Spoiler

Where's the soap?

[close]

I've scanned every pixel.

Stupot,

Spoiler

You need the vase from the back of the hall
and use it on the wet tiles and you will also need the soap

[close]

Thanks Ian,

Spoiler

I could have sworn I had tried picking up the vase, but I guess not.

[close]

How in the world can I

Spoiler

wet the sponge? The only water I can remember seeing is the dripping tiles in the basement but trying to use the sponge on them tells me it won't get wet.

[close]

Edit: Nevermind, got it.

Spoiler

I'm also trying to wet the sponge. Neither of the two taps in the house are giving me water and it says they must be closed at the main valve, but I can't find the main valve.

Or is there another way to wet the sponge using the dripping water?

[close]

Last few days to vote, folks

Congratulations to the nominees.

Here's a condensed alphabetical list of all the nominated games:

Beat the Buzzer
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Castle Dornstein - DEMO
Challenge of the Tentacle
Clotilde Soffritti in: Never Double Park your Spaceship
Don't Give Up the Cat
Highland Spirit
Menial; a Utopian Bagel Simulator (demo)
Mr. Tijerakis
Nightmare Frames
Perfect Tides
Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die!
Signal & Echo: Iris is Missing (demo)
Snow Problem
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon - Full Version (2022)
SPHONX
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
The Witch's Lullaby
There's Something in the Pipes
Where Did the Humans Go?
Zid Journey (demo)

That David Wolfe has been putting out nonsense since the early days of Facebook. He's one of the pioneers of chucking out absolute bollocks that he probably doesn't even agree with just to get people to interact with it. Nowadays, that's just what everybody does. It's exhausting to scroll through the teams of absolute bollocks. Obviously staged pranks; magic tricks where you can clearly see what they did; deliberately bad parenting advice; deliberately disgusting food recipes, which invariably include some unhygienic element; deliberately terrible craft ideas, with obligatory disregard to taste as well as safety; and the purposefully melodramatic videos of people reacting to all of the above.

These are bad on purpose because they know more people will comment about how bad they are, and it's the number comments that matter to them, not a sense of pride in their own work.

I grind my own gears for allowing myself to see this shit.

Faceplant

No-one was home, but James locked the bathroom door through tears and washed his face. This time they'd thrown him face first into a pile of fertiliser for the hell of it. He rinsed and noticed a tuft of fluff on the space above his top lip. His first moustache? Running his mum's leg razor over the fluff, and still half crying, and still stinking of shit, he celebrated this milestone inwardly.

But it seemed he had missed a patch. He applied foam, shaved and rinsed. The patch was gone at first but it quickly returned, faster and thicker than before. This was not right.

James dropped the razor and started desperately yanking at the tendrils now sprouting from all over his panic-stricken face. But he couldn't keep up as a thorny tangle of vines and nettles wrapped themselves around James's head and squeezed.

True, and after playing for a while you quickly get a feel for what consonant clusters are possible.

I sometimes will choose a word that could eliminate multiple clusters in one turn. For example let's say I have _ _ A _ _.  I might try "shack" because not only does it eliminate ck at the end, but also sh (which is common at the beginning and end of words, as well as within). Plus using the S can eliminate all of the many clusters which use that letter.

As for today's puzzle:

Wordle 626 6/6*
⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩
⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩
⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩
⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

The AGS Facebook page is being inundated with spam posts about Fake celebrity deaths.

[Uplifting]

This month's theme is:Uplifting
Theme set by: Stupot

The winner is Elevation by Rootbound. Well done.

	The Gift by 4KbShort
	Elevation by RootBound

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to lift off! We're here to announce the most uplifting MAGS contest of the year, so pack your bags, grab your metaphors and similes, and get ready to take flight on the wings of creativity. This time, we're not just aiming high, we're reaching for the stars, and we won't stop until we've crafted the most uplifting games the universe has ever seen. So whether you're as light as a feather, as strong as an ox, or just love puns about helium, this is the contest for you. We're looking for games that will lift our spirits, tickle our funny bones, and leave us feeling like we're floating on cloud nine. So what are you waiting for? Let's soar together and create some truly uplifting games!

^{(Description powered by ChatGPT - I asked it to include metaphors and similes. I think it's actually taking the piss 🤦)}

This is looking great. Keep them screenshots coming x

Thanks for your comments Mandle.

Here's a little bit of brief feedback from me:

Baron

Spoiler

Your story was charming and humorous and reminded me of my own childhood searching for Christmas pressies with my sisters. My interpretation is that the magazines actually did belong to the dad, not the mum, but the kids didn't really understand what that would imply.

[close]

Mandle

Spoiler

I enjoyed your anthology structure and the two inner stories were good but I wanted more from the wrap-around story. I could definitely envisage this as a larger work with 10 or so stories, with more space between them to develop the wrap-around characters.

[close]

[Police Quest 4 SCI(ish) Demo]

Time to vote for your favourite demo:


(Vote using the poll above)

	Police Quest 4 SCI(ish) Demo by GOC Games
	Splendor Solis (demo) by tbook