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[imgzoom]http://i63.tinypic.com/2eg79qr.jpg[/imgzoom]

And here's my entry. Could use some details and other refinements, but since I just started it yesterday morning...

I will try to start fidgeting with the engine using whatever resources I can find and once I feel comfortable enough with the tool I will try to convert a story idea I had into an interactive thing - a visual novel as you said or even a basic point and click. I am a poor artist but I may be able to do something visually interesting (I am also training on Gimp on the side).

Depending on the story, you may want to try something like the Little Critter interactive stories or something like the game Monster Loves You. It all depends on how much interactivity you want.
And graphics can be anything from something that looks like a child did it to high definition semi-realistic. Just do the best you can and don't worry about quality at first. And if it's something just for practice, you can just use sprites from other games until you're comfortable making your own.
I wish you luck.

If doing a game using characters I created for an unfinished MAGS game is okay, then I can give it a shot.

It feels like everything has been done already, and that everyone is extremely experienced and talented... I never did anything like that. My background is publishing novels and short stories but I grew frustrated by the world of literature and I wanted to try another medium to tell stories.

Eh, ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the execution of ideas that makes something worthwhile or not. As long as you don't try to outright copy something, then your personal experiences and interests will guarantee that what you do is different from what anyone else would do.
And while I have used AGS off and on for like 10 years, I guarantee my experience is low enough that it'll take me weeks to re-learn how to do anything. But as long as you actually read the information provided and maybe look into a youtube series, you should be able to figure out how to make something fairly easily.
With your background, you might even want to try something closer to a visual novel than typical point and click adventure game. That way you could focus on learning the basics before worrying about puzzles and inventory.

Hello, my name is *mumble mumble* and I'm an *mumble mumble*.
Okay, so I'm not technically a newbie, but since I disappeared for like 16 months I felt I should kind of reintroduce myself.
My previous computer died, which caused my initial disappearance. And then life just took over.
I am looking forward to being involved with contests here again and hopefully actually being able to figure out how to run AGS in Ubuntu.

Not quite sure if Gronk is his name or just the noise he makes.

With less than 2 hours to go, I honestly don't know if I'll be able to finish in time. It's borderline.

I'm still slowly working on mine. It's going to end up being more condensed than I'd have liked, but I'm going to do what I can the remaining days.

He's... not a very powerful demon.

[imgzoom]http://i65.tinypic.com/tam0c8.jpg[/imgzoom]

Just have a large image of Simon and make a game to see if you can pick his pockets without him noticing

That sounds like a joke, but I'm not completely sure. If it's not a joke, then I have absolutely no idea how to do coding for such a thing.
But I am about to work on graphics for awhile. So I should have something to show by the end of the day.

I tried this method because it seemed the simplest and most direct method I could think of for the desired effect. Using it as an object that covers the room instead of a background means that the lighting changes affects the character and other objects added after it.
But yes, it does get into coding advice.

^ Awesome

But how would one use this as a background?... Too many frames, no?

It looks like it can be done entirely by making 2 different images with the different light levels. Create an object and set clickable to off. Then create a view and use the images. Set the object to the view and then animate the object. Playing with the object animate function and the frames in the view should be able to get you the desired effect.
Adding the 2 images into the view more times can make the blinking more erratic. Like 1,2,1,2,2,1,2,1,2,1,1.

This is the script I used for testing.

function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
oBlink.SetView (3);
oBlink.Animate (0,  13,  eRepeat,  eNoBlock);
}


The two images I used in my test.
When importing make sure to use the alpha channel and change transparent color to as is.

Spoiler

[close]

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines at the least has such stuff talked about on tv and radio in the background. The overall plotline of the game may even count depending on which clan you choose (Malkavian probably the most) and which options you choose.
I haven't actually played it, but the MMO The Secrer World is all about that kind of stuff. Directly from the Steam page: "Imagine if every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend was true--a world where you align with secret societies and face the looming darkness."
I'm sure you can probably find a campaign for one of the Shadowrun games which fits.

The Edna and Harvey games may even fit. I haven't finished The Breakout yet, so I don't know how deeply it delves into things, but it at least falls under the "weird" part.
Idunno if I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream truly fits or not. I've only managed to finish with one character and it's a very dark game. Harvester might count. I've only played a few minutes, so I don't know how well anything is actually handled. But it most definitely has the weird part covered.

Even Fallout 3/New Vegas could fit depending on your perks, choices, etc.

I find the current flicker to be more annoying than anything. It's too fast. Also there should be a greater contrast when it flickers. As it is, it just seems to alternate between a black and white halo. I'd also suggest lengthening the animation to include a short period it stops flickering and to also include 2 or 3 slightly different flickering patterns.

Edit: Here's a quickly made example. I achieved the darkness using GIMP and creating a new layer that was all black, used the ellipse tool to create an oval, and used feather.

I still I have 2 weekends to work. Since I'm not struggling with my own art style like I was in the past and I should already have the knowledge for doing the majority of the stuff for the game, it shouldn't be a problem.
I did finally get around to setting up the base GUI yesterday, but I need to make it look nicer. And none of my backgrounds are finished, so all I have that I could show are images of Simon...

VampireWombat:
We've over two weeks to go... put in extra time and finish it...

Luckily I got ideas last night on how to do some of it. So I plan to at least do some rough sketch backgrounds and setup some rooms today.

My name is a horrible pun of vampire bat.

Hey gang. It's quiet in here. Any news or progress?

I still haven't finished any backgrounds or even figured out how to even make the game actually work. So... no. Not much progress at all. But I do hope to get 1 or 2 backgrounds finished today.

What if Sam and Max Hit The Road were done in the style of Paul Verhoeven
What if the Edna and Harvey games were done in the style of David Lynch.
What if Day of the Tentacle were done in the style of David Cronenberg.

I'm not too familiar with Phantasmagoria, but I am familiar with Phantasmagoria 2 and Gabriel Knight and I just re-watched Death Note last month. I kind of question why the choice of Death Note in particular, but I suppose I can kind of see it working. Of the anime I've seen/own, I'd think of Tokko or d.Gray Man over Death Note.

But how about taking it one step further and doing a graphic novel using an art style of Death Note? That would make it fit the MAGs rules and could be quite interesting.