Messages

Thanks for the comments ladies.

I’m hoping for an extra day. I still have one more story to read and haven’t had a moment to myself to think about votes/feedback. I should be able to tomorrow though.

What is the goal. Is it anything in particular?

The goal is to make a game by the end of the month, however big or small, using AGS. Every month has a different theme or topic that can be interpreted as broadly as you wish.

If you haven’t made a game yet, MAGS is a great way to get started.

Anyone else got any ideas percolating?

[Gifting Spirit]

Thanks to everyone for your entries. They all look fantastic.
It's now time to play the games and vote for your favourite one.

Vote using the poll above.

	Gifting Spirit by Pax Amino
	Santa Clause in A Flight to Remember by OneDollar
	Knorrig the Gifted Troublemaker by Pogwizd
	A caixa by Cassiebsg

Thanks again to everyone who made something, even if you weren't able to finish it by the deadline. Your participation really means a lot.

[Topic: Get the pictureChosen by Heltonjon and Stupot]

Topic: Get the picture
Chosen by Heltonjon and Stupot

	Little Leonardo by Racoon
	Signal Loss by Brewton
	Get the Picture by Pajama Sam

Interpret the phrase “get the picture”, how ever you like. Taking that perfectly-timed photo, understanding something, stealing a famous painting, getting a photo message on social media, paparazzi…

Best of luck.


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 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. 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.

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 walkcycles 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.
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It’s going to be a couple of days before I’m able to find time to rig up the voting, so if anyone needs an extra day or two, that’s fine.

Look out for January’s topic, coming soon.

Merry Christmas everybody. Love to you all.

Found myself listening to The Slits earlier.

https://youtu.be/pSq3-lE377Q

Dear Y---,

  It has been a long time since our last interaction. I'm sure you can understand
  my reluctance to pursue contact considering how things were left between us.

  It is not that I do not think about you. In fact, it has become something of a
  game I play with myself to try not to think about you. The only rule is that
  whenever I hear your name, or see your photo in the newspaper, I lose the game.
  I play the game every day and have never won. In fact, as the holiday approaches
  it has become even harder to play, as I'm sure you will appreciate.

  That Christmas night, your iconic black mini-dress and beehive haircut against
  the white of the falling snow, I knew I was in love. Of course, I knew who you
  were, I just didn't believe it. No entourage, no paparazzi, just Y---, in all
  your beauty, collapsed, alone on a park bench in the dead of winter. I knew I
  had to help.

  We returned to my flat. I undressed you and washed the vomit out of your hair
  and your clothes, do you remember? One cup of coffee later, you were almost
  human again. I wished I had thought to decorate but I hadn't been expecting
  company. I hoped you didn't mind.

  You did look ever-so grateful, but you hadn't yet spoken. And then you
  silently nodded at my coffee table and I saw the headline on my Sun: "Heartless
  B**** Ruins Christmas for 2000 fans". I'd read it. You had cancelled your
  Christmas show due to "ill health" but were then spotted shopping with friends.
  No longer England's darling of pop. Where were your friends now? They had all of
  them fled your side when they saw those headlines. Even that boyfriend of yours
  was nowhere to be seen - doubtless off somewhere buried in a different kind of
  snow.

  But now... I was your friend. I guess I was a shoulder to cry on. But I wanted
  to give you more.

  I knew just the thing. I turned on the TV for you; some Christmas special or
  another. I went into the kitchen, picked up the biggest knife I could find and
  began to dig it into my chest, tearing through flesh and sawing through bone.
  Thankfully, I'm a slight fellow and there isn't much meat in my chest. After a
  while, I was able to reach into my ribcage with my fingers and pull out my
  still-beating heart. Unfortunately, I had nothing with which to wrap it, but I
  found that one of my arteries made for a handy ribbon and so I tied it as best I
  could. It was a little clumsy, I'll admit, but as last-minute Christmas gifts
  go, it wasn't bad.

  When I went back into the living room to give you the present, you screamed in
  delight, do you remember? Oh, it was such a beautiful moment. Then, it all went
  kind of blank and I guess you let yourself out because that was the last time I
  saw you.

  You have no idea how excited I was when I woke up on Boxing Day. I couldn't wait
  to see you again. I just had a quick tidy up. There was still some blood on the
  floor but that's how you know you've had a good Christmas.

  I have to be honest, a naive part of me thought you might be in the door at any
  moment with a thank-you gift for me, or perhaps some breakfast, though I wasn't
  particularly hungry, truth-be-told.

  I waited a while and you didn't return. I'm sure you had your reasons, but you
  must understand how confusing that was for me. I ran the previous evening
  through in my mind. Was it the decorations? I knew I should have put up a tree
  or something. Was it the TV? Those sitcoms aren't everyone's cup of tea, but
  that's no reason to ghost someone. Was it the way I wrapped my present? I want
  you to know, Y---, that it isn't easy to tie a nice bow with those things. It
  was the best I could do with what I had.

  Then, I saw you. Your face appeared on the TV, which had not been switched off
  since the previous night. You were on the news. I turned up the volume with a
  schoolboy excitement.

  "...gave the organ to the officer, who then..."

  Well. That was all I heard, and all I really needed to hear. I wasn't planning
  to spell out to you why this upset me, but as I write this it occurs to me that
  you have no consideration for anyone but yourself, so perhaps an explanation is
  in order. Last Christmas, Y---, I gave you my heart. And the very next day, what
  did you do? You gave it away, didn't you? Just like that, to some stupid
  policeman?

  I apologise. I promised to approach the writing of this letter with more calm
  and composure, but as you can probably tell, it is still a little raw. Perhaps I
  should not have undertaken to write this letter after all.

  The headline on that newspaper changed that Boxing Day morning:
  "Heartless B**** Ruins Christmas for 2001 Fans". I'm looking at it now, just as
  I do every day. I'm never going to win that game, am I?

  Yours, regretfully,
  G---


Footnote:

Spoiler

Last Christmas,
I gave you my heart.
But the very next day,
You gave it away.

(by our very own WHAM)

[close]

Wow. This looks right up my alley. All the best. Please keep us up to date.

And there we have it. Our first entry. Thank you Pax Animo. It looks like a look of fun.

Yeah I’m also not very fond of Elon Musk. He’s certainly an interesting character but there’s something disconcerting about the number of people who swear by his every word. Most of what he comes out with is like Peter Molyneux on steroids (and LSD).

Incredible response guys. Thank you.

I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Those who can’t enter this month, it would be great if you consider joining in for January. I may even “leak” the topic a few days early to give everyone a head start.

[5 votes]

The votes are in.

Crain and Company (Sinitrena1)  5 votes
Flora’s Dance (Sinitrena2)  7 votes
Green Sneakers (Mandle)  7 votes
Partners in Crime (Baron)  11 votes

So the winner is Baron! Well done, sir.

I’m clicking but it says it was removed.

How’s everyone doing? Any progress to share?

I honestly couldn't put a name to any of his songs either, but I know I've heard them. It's like... they're okay, but they're not most-downloaded-on-Spotify okay, or most-viewed-on-YouTube okay. They're just like acceptable-pub-act-when-the-T-Rex-Tribute-act-wasn't-available okay.

And the way he keeps popping up in films and TV shows is just cringe. He really should learn to say no. He's only in [the God-awful] Red Notice (referencing his own appearance in Game of Thrones, no less) because Netflix made that film with with an AI algorithm and his name was inevitably spat out. I genuinely watched that scene through my fingers and realised maybe 7 minutes later that the cringe was still locked on my face. In fact, I'm doing it again as I type this.

Sorry, I said no elaboration needed. Whoops.

[edit: also... I keep getting told by Japanese people that I look like Ed Sheeran and I really don't. For a start, he's better looking than me.

I’m currently halfway through the entire series having never really sat down and watched it before. I’m very much enjoying it. I can’t get a sense of whether or not it was particularly popular in the UK at the time. It was definitely on, and I know many people liked it, but I’m guessing it got so overshadowed by Friends that it never really became that much of a phenomenon.

Ed Sheeran

People who leave me in anticipation for the elaboration of their statement. 

No elaboration necessary. Ed Sheeran grinds my gears.

Ed Sheeran