Messages

Ideally, this should go into the AGS distributable as new default template. But you are right, I'll move it to the other board.

You could also try IrfanView's color reduction.

From what I read in this thread, I suggest the following changes:

• All previously existing assets are allowed...
• ...if they were publicly available before the MAGS topic was announced
• The voting is done in three categories
  
  • Best interpretation of the theme
  • Best original assets (graphics, music, animation,...)
  • Most enjoyable game

I personally don't like RON assets, because with all their story and canon I find it rather intimidating (even if it is not required that you follow it).

This may seem like a petty suggestion but, as votes are no longer visible, I think it would be a nice courtesy from future voters to hold back on saying who they voted for, especially including a justification for why another game was a better choice. Giving and receiving critique is essential in MAGS but there is a bit of a propensity to compare and reinforce the obvious.

Oh really? When I participated in MAGS I was very eager to know what people thought about my (and other) games and why or why not they voted for it. Of course, it might be good to only state which game you have voted for when the results are revealed to avoid influencing other voters.

For me, it is a time issue. At the moment, it can be even difficult to find time to write forum posts or do moderation stuff (the awards also required lots of time). I hope one day I can enter MAGS again, but I doubt this will be soon.

I agree with others about the assets. Maybe it would be a good idea to allow existing graphics and animations just like music and sound. I would not restrict it to RON but allow any material that is publicly available. This means you cannot use stuff you made before and had lying on your disk, so everyone has the same conditions for making a game.

Truly great stories are entertaining even if you know how they will end.

True, but the experience is different. There are stories you should play/read/watch again once you've completed it, to see it again with a different point of view. However, while can be rewarding to see it when knowing the end before seeing it the first time, you'd miss out on the opportunity to experience it with a free mind and be surprised by plot twists etc.
For example, we recently re-watched the first season of Dirk Gently and it was amazing to see the details they put in for people watching it again and how well-crafted the story is. However, first time watching, it is also great to experience the same confusion and not knowing what this is about as the main characters.

I'm probably a mix of Ezra and Paula, with focus on Ezra. Usually, story is not that important for me in games. If I want story, I'd rather watch a movie (or even better, a series). I really enjoy exploration which includes great art but also the possibility to inspect and interact with the environment (including NPC). I also like puzzles that integrate well with the environment. If this is well done, they can almost replace a story.
Some of the best adventure games don't really have much story. Just think of MI: The whole story of the first act is "I want to be a pirate", with the rest being only puzzles and interactions with the location and people there. Or think of DotT, where the game is driven by puzzles that make excellent use of the weird setting and bring it to life this way.
On the other end of the spectrum there is maybe Life is Strange, which is lots of story, some exploration and only a few mediocre alibi puzzles. I enjoyed the game, but was playing together with two other people. It actually felt more like watching a movie together than playing a game.

It could be fun to analyse a few games (AGS or other) and try to see how much emphasis they put in those three aspects.

Check out this article. There's an example of Peter Chan's marker-drawn background on page 1, and they talk about the process of scanning and cleaning up the backgrounds on page 3.

And this page has a bunch of them.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

-Later games often scanned in drawings made in a variety of mediums. This includes Monkey Island 2, Day of the Tentacle, and of course Curse of Monkey Island (not sure about Sam & Max, but I would imagine it was made the same way as DOTT since it has a very similar look), and you can find samples of the original art online.

Oh really? I knew about MI2 being scanned but not DOTT. The style is completely different, I'd be interested in seeing the original art. Do you have a link?

Would it be worth creating a whole thread about freelancing and job searching/hiring in the recruitment section?

Not in the recruitment section (this has a different purpose), but feel free to create such a thread in General Discussion.

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Wow, I think the number of users is amazing! I didn't know that AGS is that popular. Thanks to all editor and engine developers for making and maintaining a tool that is used by so many people.

Contacting the 3D Volleyball studio might be a good idea. If they are happy with your work they might either give you work for other games as well or recommend you to other developers. It would also help to build up a portfolio and getting to know people in the scene.

Besides that, one of the biggest market at the moment seems to be mobile games. It might be much easier to get a job there compared to some AAA game or badly funded indie game.

Regarding your CV, you should really include your work on AGS, even if you sometimes have doubts about it:

• You did not only code, but you managed the repository with pull requests, scheduled releases, moderated the development boards and generally coordinated an open source project. Those soft skills are very important, maybe even more important than knowing a specific programming language!
• The racing game was made for MAGS which means you can work in a team towards a strict deadline

Nice! It's always great to meet fellow AGSer

Btw, I was wondering for quite some time if this is you on the avatar or some celebrity/film character I don't know - I'm glad this is sorted out now

Alles Gute, abstauber!

Actually, there was a 3-way tie before in 2015 for Best Short Game (Cornelius Cat in: The Uncontrollable Pest/Mess Goblins/The Surprisingly Short Adventure of Leopold Kettle), but it is not shown correctly in the wiki or database. I'll ask AGA to fix it.

However, you can be proud nonetheless: You made a great game that won well deserved awards!

Edit: I fixed the wiki template, now more than one winner is supported.

[Now a bit of statistics:]

Again, congratulations to all winners, nominees, and actually to anyone who released a game last year!

Sorry we had some delay with starting the ceremony, but I think it was totally worth the wait! Snarky did an amazing job including all new game resources, avatars and features. It may not look like much, but it is a huge amount of work to do. Thanks to selmiak for the great intro animations and Kastchey for the beautiful GUI and trophies. And thanks to all the game authors who provided the resources to their games.

I'm very glad that MAGGIES were part of the ceremony again this year. MAGS is so important for the community and leads to constant creation of games. Thanks to Stupot for doing a great job in running MAGS and to Mandle for being up at inconvenient times to present it.

I'm also glad that the ceremony was recorded and streamed. Some people could not attend the ceremony so it's great they can watch it now.

It is great to see so many different games receiving an award. Voters really considered each games strengths and weaknesses.

AGA will update the game database soon, I suppose. Thanks again for doing the administrative side of the awards!


Now a bit of statistics:

There were 106 games released last year
49 people nominated games
68 people voted for the awards, which is more than last year
24 games were nominated for at least one award
8 games won 17 awards in 15 categories
12 awards went to freeware games


The number of awards per game:

4 awards
Terror of the Vampire!

3 awards
Captain Disaster in: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots
I Want Out!

2 awards
Black Morph
Last & Furious

1 award
A Tale of Two Kingdoms: Deluxe Edition
Neofeud
Jorry [Demo]

[Ceremony is over!]

Ceremony is over!

Thanks for joining us!

Here are the results:

Best Programming
Last & Furious

Best Short Game
I Want Out!

Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Last & Furious

Best Demo
Jorry [Demo]

Best Voice Work
Captain Disaster in: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots

Best Music & Sound
Neofeud

Best Animation
Terror of the Vampire!

Best Character Art
Terror of the Vampire!

Best Background Art
I Want Out!

Best Puzzles
I Want Out!
Black Morph
Captain Disaster in: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots)

Best Gameplay
Black Morph

Best Character
"Captain Disaster" from Captain Disaster in: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots

Best Writing
Terror of the Vampire!

Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
Terror of the Vampire!

Best Game Created with AGS
A Tale of Two Kingdoms: Deluxe Edition

Lifetime Achievement Award
Slasher

Best Innovation Award
monkey0506
for his work to help AGS games reach the widest possible audience - through popular distribution platforms (Steam, Galaxy) as well as other operating systems (Android, Linux).

[Starting in 5 minutes!]

Starting in 5 minutes!

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