Messages

[February]

Huge thanks to everyone who entered MAGS in 2024.

@4KbShort
@Babar
@Blondbraid
@cat
@ddavey1983
@GooseKult
@jfrisby
@jwalt
@Kastchey
@Mandle
@newwaveburritos
@OneDollar
@pell
@Perpetuall
@Ponch
@Radiant
@RootBound
@VampireWombat
@WHAM
(Let me know if I've missed anyone who should be on the list)

Every entry mattered and we had some great contests.

Month with most entries:
February (Theme: Into the Woods) with five games.

Videos
We know some people have busy lives, so there is also the option to watch some of the games instead, by clicking on the clapperboard (🎬). Please use sparingly and play the game yourself before voting, if possible.

Thanks to WHAM for the videos. I was hoping not to rely solely on WHAM's videos, as he provides his own commentary and opinion, so if anyone has made their own videos of any of the entries, or is willing to make one or two in the name of balance, they would be very welcome.

[32 entries]

I know this is far too late to ask this, but since cat mentioned it, I figured I might throw it out there:

Could we have all the MAGS games that came out this year included?

(totally understand that this is an unreasonable request!)

It's more of a best-of-the-best contest. Some great games have missed out on MAGGIES simply because they didn't win their month, but that's just the way of things.

If my counting is correct, there were 32 entries this year a definite improvement over 2023's 25. Asking everyone to play all those (alongside the AGS Awards nominees) is not really realistic. And on top of that, with so few voters the results would be even more thinly-spread.

My idea: have a classic Sierra menu bar, but you cannot use the walk / hand / eye icons because you're missing those body parts. You need to find them before the interface fully works.

But I don't have time this month so if anyone wants to take my idea, they're welcome to.

This could be interesting. I'm really struggling to come up with an idea for this.

Are we allowed to use assets i.e. game dev market for our projects? Like the ones in the humble bundles? (Music/sprites/sounds)? Or only free ones?

I think it has to be content that's freely available to everyone, but I'll have to go find where I read that. Of course, Stupot may clarify.

It used to be no pre-existing assets at all (besides music), but was changed at one point (competitions started to say "Pre-existing assets are allowed", but I wasn't sure if it was meant to be just free assets or not. I messaged Stupot to get a clarification on it.

I've replied to Kara's PM, but reading these posts, I may have slightly misunderstood the question.

Yes, pre-existing assets are allowed, and as far as I am aware, we've never discussed whether that applies only to free assets. From my point of view, if they come from a set that you have paid for, I don't think that is an issue (anyone feel free to chime in if you disagree). As cat said above, the important thing is that you make it clear what assets you have used, so that you cannot be accused to passing them off as your own.

Congratulations to all the nominees.

Parallel to the AGS Awards, we also have MAGGIES. For anyone who doesn't know, this is the vote for the winner-of-winners of MAGS, our monthly forum-based game jam.

Voting for MAGGIES is now OPEN, so please head to the thread, play the games (they're all fairly short) and vote for your top three:

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/adventure-related-talk-chat/maggies-2024-play-the-games/

[deadline is TBC]

Voting for MAGGIES 2024 is now open!

VOTE HERE

The deadline is TBC but I recommend getting your votes in as early as you can.

Thanks in advance. Last year we only had 11 voters. I'd love to increase that number. If we can get 20, I'd be over the moon, but every vote will help to make this a better contest.

Let me know if there are any issues.

[Bière Américaine]

IT'S VOTIN' TIME!
Please vote for your favourite entry using the poll above

	Bière Américaine by Ponch
	Skrexeval's Quest by Emma Gundersen
	Artifact by Kara Jo Kalinowski and pell
	One Million Years Dungeon by Falsely

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

I'm also working on something, and I'm going to Break Some Rules by releasing it after the deadline! So there 

(seriously though, is it ok to ask for an extension until this Sunday?)

The rules are there ain't no rules... Well, that's technically a rule, of sorts. But yes, another day or so is fine with me.

[Becalmed]

MAGGIES 2024

The winning game is:
Becalmed by GOC Games[/b]


Of course, you are urged to try to have played most, if not all of the games before casting your votes, but we know some people have busy lives, so there is also the option to watch some of the games instead, by clicking on the clapperboard (🎬). Please use sparingly and play the game yourself if possible. Thanks to WHAM for the videos.

As always, let me know if there are any issues.
January

Trippy
Apfelmännchen
by cat
February

Into the Woods
Brian Eggs is Lost in the Woods
by OneDollar
March

Cut it in Half
Breakfast Requiem
by Babar and jfrisby
April

Finish Your MAGS Game
In Our Midst
by OneDollar
🎬 Watch
May

Sing a Song of Sixpence
Mathilde's Dream
by Speksteen
🎬 Watch
June

Tourist Attraction
The Zoo
by 4KbShort
🎬 Watch
June

Tourist Attraction
The Stew of Las Moras
by Babar and jfrisby
🎬 Watch
July

Nature
Becalmed
by GOC Games
🎬 Watch
August
Time Warp
No Entries
September

Alien
Abducted Intelligence
by Babar and jfrisby
🎬 Watch
October

Finish Your MAGS Game
The Sphinx of Time
by Babar and jfrisby
🎬 Watch
November

Body of Water
Botos do Diabo
by Babar and jfrisby
🎬 Watch
December

Diverse Perspectives
A Place of Significance
by WHAM
VOTE HERE

[Misplaced Body Part]

2025 - THE YEAR OF MAGS!

Theme: Misplaced Body Part
Set by: WHAM

VOTING IS OPEN

Please vote using the poll above.

	Limblob by Soulstuff
	Finding Balzac by pell
	MAGSMan by Kara Jo Kalinowski

Your game must include a missing, misplaced or otherwise out-of-position body part in some way, for example, as a gameplay mechanic or story element.
Did the museum security guard misplace the jar containing the mummified intestines of an ancient mummy? Did the player character lose their head, quite literally, and now needs to find a way to recover it? See what you can come up with, and have fun!





What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for all AGS users. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the guidelines 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 and more. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you want to improve you 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, and the winner chooses the next month's theme.

Remember that this is a challenge to see what you can do in a month, so any tinkering you do after that, including fixing minor glitches, is against the spirit of the competition. The exception to this is that you may go in and fix major, game-breaking bugs only during voting. We want you to have a game that voters can actually play and that runs on their machines.

So to reiterate, during the voting period fixing major, game-breaking bugs is okay, fixing minor glitches or making cosmetic changes is cheating.

Tips
Here are some ways to make sure you have a game to submit at the end of the month:
* Make a tiny game. Plan small, then cut it in half. Find shortcuts (e.g. if making walk-cycles is time-consuming, make the characters static or have it in the first person).
* Plan to have your game playable and submittable with a week to spare. This way you have a week to fix bugs, add some flourishes and maybe even get someone to test it.
* Plan to submit it a day or so early. This way, if there are any technical issues with uploading, they can be sorted out in time.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove has something you can use.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Need a bit of help with music?  Check out Eric Matyas' huge stock of free music resources.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well done to WHAM.

Congratulations. You can set the theme for February.

Cheers to everyone who took part.

Thanks @jfrisby. I think I've already mined WHAM's playlist for relevant videos but I'm still after some of the others.

Glad to see an entry. Nothing from me I'm afraid. Just no time to sit and type anything up. The one day I did have a bit of laptop time, I had a great idea, but I wasn't able to mould it into anything submittable.

I just wonder who is the person that finds a background and types an inspirational message on it so everyone else can just click share with your friends.  The unsung hallmark heroes of the internet.

Theyre the dumbest inspirational-sounding but completely empty nonsense that anyone could fart out, but people share them as if they are the most meaningful thing they've read all year.

Yeah, I've always had a problem with that too. Sure, any story can be categorised as one of N, but it's meaningless. It's just one of things repeated in writing advice that everyone has already heard a million times but people keep saying anyway, as if they have some special knowledge.

[Now voting]

Now voting. Please vote using the poll above.


A Place of Significance by WHAM


Mystery Mansion Mayhem by VampireWombat


Mazzled! by Pell


Sorry for the delay in getting the poll up. Please let me know if I've missed anything.

Citizen Kane?

Mate, you keep getting more wrong with each edit.

It is just a fun(?) feature of a hobbyist website. No one said anything about professional journalism.

Sorry, Stupot. I didn't know it's for fun. That's why I asked my game to be deleted cause I didn't make them merely as fun or a hobby.

That wasn't to imply that the people who do it don't take it seriously or try their best to give fair scores within the criteria. Just that it's a feature of the community effort, nothing more high brow than that.

Mate, you keep getting more wrong with each edit.

It is just a fun(?) feature of a hobbyist website. No one said anything about professional journalism.

Why has this become a debate on the definition of the word 'panel'? It's just a word somebody chose to describe the group of blue-cup reviewers and this is is the first time I've seen anyone challenge that description.

They could have easily gone with 'jury', 'board', or 'committee'. And all of those could also be interpreted as a group of people all playing through a game and then discussing it at length and giving it a score everyone agrees with.

I know that in an ideal world that is exactly what the AGS Panel would love to be able to do, but they also have real lives, and everything that entails. So, usually one person plays the game, they inform the rest of the panel of their verdict and invite agreement or disagreement from any other members who may have played the game. Also if another panel member plays a game at a later point and totally disagrees with the current blue-cup rating, they can (and it has happened) challenge the score and then the panel can discuss it and, if agreed, change it.

So there is a panel/board/committee-esque approach to the blue cup ratings, moreso than you have been led to believe in this thread, but yes, it is usually one member who gives the initial rating.

Any early interest? Let's see if we can start the year off with a bang.