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edit: for IRC help, join IRC, annouce theme, live happily thereafter

Oh well, you convinced me

And, please, post if you're interested in taking place in this activity. Just to see the possible turnout...

...and overall interest.

There will be trophies this time, I promise!

[It's 2010 and Hourgaming is back!What's an hourgame competition?]

!Hourgame saturday!

I, as a host of this new competition, won't be original and just cite the rules given before:

It's 2010 and Hourgaming is back!

What's an hourgame competition?
The purpose of Hourgame Saturday is, to encourage the amateur game-making, or to put it bluntly, to make you tear your ass off your chair and finally make something.
In this activity your task is to make an AGS game within a strict and a very short deadline (i.e. one hour).

When will it take place?
This hourgame session will take place on Feb 13, 2010, Saturday (what a coincidence!). It will start at 19:00GMT and participants will have an hour to make their games + 15 minutes to beta test / upload (i.e. deadline is 20:15GMT).
The time has been tested by several competitions already, so I think, it is generally suitable. If not, see below.

How do I participate?
A theme is set by the previous week's winner and by the contest's host in event of his/her absence. It will be annouced on IRC* and here.

Additional infos
- While it is not forbidden for the theme-setters to participate in the activity, their games cannot be voted for (to prevent accusations of cheating and to discourage regular participation).
- Instead, theme-setters are encouraged to draw trophies for the contest's winners.
- Making your game from scratch is strongly encouraged, though it is not forbidden to use music or artwork from public sources if you are allowed to (e.g. using public domain music tracks in your game is OK, but not really necessary). It is also possible to use a pre-existent AGS template for your game (e.g. that Verb-Coin GUI template).
- You cannot use the stuff you've made earlier, because this competition is about making something new.

Uploading:
Suggested hosts to upload your entry to are:
- TerranRich's ShutUpload
- http://www.mediafire.com/
- http://www.sendspace.com/
- http://www.rapidshare.com/
- Or your own place.

Voting:
Just tell us your favourite game (and possibly a couple of less favourite ones), and hopefully someone will do the counting.

Important: please post here if you'd like to join but the timeline is not ok for you! Slight changes are always possible!

* Is there anybody willing to help me announce the theme in IRC?

Yay!

Somehow I feel there wasn't much interest in this very competition...
But, still, OK - we're going to have the new one! This weekend, I suppose.
Wait for announcement!

So, if Tzachs is making something... I hope, me too At least, there're two of us
I can't promise anything though, but the plot is already worked out and designed - all the work now for backgrounds, characters etc. etc.

If mine gets the vote for we could have triple-hosting action :O!

Yes, that would be nice!

Why don't you vote yourself, btw?

Well, it seems the next hosts of the Hourgame Saturday will be me with Magma42?

Great work, what can you add to this?

A bit trivial in the message, though (strongly reminds of Matrix), but still very consistent.
This duet, I'm sure, will make perfect projects (waiting for Winter's Shadow!)

Great artwok, as always.
And also, good scripting. The interface, which became standard for Ben's games, found it's final perfection in this game: inventory panel easing up and down, overhotspot labels fading in and out - everything looks very good.

[Magma42]

Magma42 - The Letter S
Quite enjoyable thing, which featured the biggest reference to the topic of the competition
I liked the fact, that there were some interactions and item-related puzzles.
And, of course, the Shoe of Mass Destruction made me laugh (especially, the line "That's why there's no more world to the left", not exactly cited).

Obi - The Ess Game
Unfortunately, can't say much about this one apart from that the main character was the letter S itself.
I suppose, though, that the message of the game was carried by the spoken text, but I couldn't make it out... May be, it's just me.

Domithan - Domithan Quest
This one also had item-related puzzles (one, actually)... and some nice humour ("Generic House" was good).
And also there was a disclaimer, with which I do not fully agree Believe me, I've seen much worse games than you think yours is

And concluding that... I vote for Magma 42.

Some more facts about "Mon(e)y Rule$$":
- The music for this game was made by the friend of mine during the same hour.
- The only thing that was made beforehand is the company logo (I think, it's quite clear ).

It's out!
Check it please :-)

http://files.mail.ru/D6PB7E

But I want to add some music... Is it okay to update the link 5 minutes later?

Edit: Ah... It will take some to upload.. It seems, I've broken all the rules possible
Edit2: Oh... Now, I hope, it will work.
Edit3: Host is Russian - please download "Mon(e)y Rule$$" - e missing, it is made for sense

Okay, so we'll be the first ones to try

I wanted to clarify just one thing: is it the strict rule, that only one person should work on the game?
I mean, will the game qualify if e.g. one person makes all the graphics and coding, and the other thinks on the story&puzzles? (in fact, the whole bunch of AGS-related work will be still upon one person)

Oh, what a pity - such a good theme for MAGS ended up with just one entry... Very good one, indeed, btw

So, congratulations to discordance. We're waiting for the next month's theme (at least, I - because I eagerly want to participate in MAGS ).

[H&T]

Much feedback on the very first day of release - including the H&T section - is a good appreciation of your game by itself
Very good and brainstorming game, Domithan, I must say. That's really the game when you feel you achieve something when solving each next riddle.

Didn't play Doors mentioned meanwhile, but in me Cryptic evokes the feeling close to playing the 11th Hour

[2 Snake:]

2 Snake:
Answers, as far as I understood, may contain more than one word...

And following the Bulbapuck's reply: yes, you're overemphasizing the text of the "riddle"

Spoiler

Remember the gates to Moria and Gandalf trying to guess the riddle written on them: Say friend and enter...

[close]

Well, as far as I understand (if the problem is really such an easy one   ), your inventory graphics are bigger than inventory slots.
Try to specify the dimensions in Inventory Window properties corresponding to the sprites' size.

If it doesn't work, the problem is somewhat deeper then...

Congratulations, Jim! Well, the best work wins again  
Though, as it's seen from the votes - the winner was quite obvious (Oddysseus posed the only tough competition though   )

Looking forward for the next topic for the BBlitz...

[Reed's background]

Well, what I have to say about these...

I'd nominate Jakerpot for idea and design too, but still I think it's just a sketch, which needs to be worked upon before being implemented into a real game.

So, my vote goes for Reed's background. This b&w style really appeals to me, as it manages to keep all the details needed while being very simple. Also, it can be used in a game - this alien can be regarded as a model for a PC, and it looks OK.

*pity, but Oddysseus has put himself out of the competition - his background is just a good match for default Roger sprite    Moreover, it has some nice humour within*

Edit: I suppose, that I should eventually fill in the categories:

Idea: Jakerpot
Atmosphere: Jim Reed
Design: Jakerpot
Composition: Jim Reed
Functionality: Jim Reed
Technique: Jim Reed

...It was a ghost ship, lonely floating through the sky!



Not just an ordinary derelict ship - ghosts, you see, tend to keep up with the pace of technology too!