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Today is the final day!  If you are working on a sprite for the contest, please post it today.  The competition closes and voting begins tomorrow!

Moving through the woods back to camp, you begin to feel weary.  You long to return to the tent, and the comfort of your sleeping bag.  Just the thought of it warms you.  But then you are startled by a loud, resonant voice.  Whipping around, you see nobody.

Before you can process the words, you set off in a sprint through the mists, but you are tripped up a few steps later by the root of a large tree.  Did it move?  Yes, you think.  It had to have moved.  With growing panic, you quickly pick yourself up and stumble off towards your camp, looking over your shoulder to make sure the tree isn't following you.  It's not, but does look like it's waving goodbye.

Thanks for the entry, Sinitrena!  So much fun!

You think you hear a murmur behind the bushes and follow the sound.  As you come around to the other side you can clearly see that you've interrupted some sort of intimate encounter between woodland creatures.  The deer just stares at you as if caught in headlights, and you realize you've been pointing your flashlight at its face.  Lowering the light, you think you hear the rabbit make a snide remark under his breath.

You want to respond, but you've already been rude by intruding on them.  And there's that shuffling sound again!  It sounded like it was back towards your camp.

Two things have become obvious to you here.  First, these creatures do not appear to be the source of the sound that brought you out into the night.  Second, you've overstayed your welcome.  You step back around the bushes and try to retrace your steps through the misty night to the tent.

Nice entry, Cassiebsg!  So sorry to interrupt!

[@dactylopus]

Amazing description, thank you so much @dactylopus. I hope we can see a lot more entries for this jam. I am interested to see what everyone else is working on.

Thanks, I hope we see more too!

There's still one week left to participate.  Did I make this one too long?  Maybe.  Or maybe we'll get some great sprites in the 11th hour!

That was funny!  Thanks for sharing.

I do laugh, it's instinctual.  I do find the whooping and hollering can sometimes be distracting and can break immersion, but a bit of laughing and cheering can be nice.

I cackle at dark humour and black comedy.  I was definitely laughing during Joker.  His own attempt at stand-up made ma laugh at the awkwardness and absurdity, but that's just the most obvious example and I can't remember too much either.

My wife doesn't laugh as much as I do, but will cry at anything!

Afghan Whigs - Honky's Ladder

So sorry to hear that.  All the best to you and your loved ones.

My family lost my father's father and mother's mother last year (not related to Covid).  Around my father's 70th birthday this year, it was certainly on my mind.  Not sure how I would deal with that, but hopefully I've got more time to figure that out.

Moving carefully through the darkness, your foot kicks something hard.  You look down and see a flash of light reflect off of the metallic surface of the object.  As you bend over to pick it up, you realize it's heavier than you expected.  It's a sword wrapped in foliage, and even by dim moonlight you can tell it's in fairly good condition.  How did it get here?  Thinking back to the note you just found, you worry less about the sword's origin and find comfort in the protection of a weapon.

The wind is blowing through the mists.  Moving still deeper into the woods you hear a flapping sound.  You follow it to find a small blue notebook in the grass, pages fluttering like leaves in the wind.  You pick it up and take a look at the cover, which reads "AGS."  Is that a monogram, or maybe initials from the title?  Archibald Geneva Sarsaparilla?  Artemis Goes South?  Nothing is making any sense.

The wind starts to die down, and you hear it again, that shuffling sound!  Determined to discover it's source, you press on.

These are some great entries, thanks for participating!

Pax Animo, I'd agree with Cassiebsg's assessments.  It was a really cool piece of art, but more fitting a Background Blitz.  Definitely enter one of those, too!  And you've still got time to come up with a sprite for this competition!

You see something flutter by in the wind and instinctively grab for it.  It's a piece of paper, and there appears to be writing on it.  Holding the page up to the moonlight, you read its chilling message.  Where did this not come from?  How long has it been here?  You've got more questions than answers.  Still afraid, you step deeper into the misty woods.

Nice entry, thanks Mandle!  I hope cat finds the time to participate again!

Current track...

Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear

[The Mysterious Woods]

The Mysterious Woods

I've been watching Over the Garden Wall, which is perfect for this time of year.  It inspired me to think of other, similar media, which in turn seemed like a great concept for a Sprite Jam.

It's autumn.  Days are shorter and colder.  Nights are longer and full of mystery.

You and your best friend have come out to the woods for some camping, cocoa, and s'mores.  After an evening of laughter, after your friend has fallen asleep, you think you hear a shuffling outside the tent that doesn't sound like the wind.  You pause, hold your breath.  You were alone out here, what could that have been?  Time passes, but you hear nothing more.

You think maybe it would be a good idea to grab your flashlight and go take a look, just to be sure.  Summoning your courage, you unzip the tent flap very slowly.  You put on your shoes and step out into the dead quiet of the night.  You turn on the flashlight, but a fog has settled and the light is useless.  You wander by moonlight for several minutes without seeing so much as a squirrel.  As you are about to turn to walk back to your camp, suddenly you see....

So for this Sprite Jam, let's see something you might find out there in The Mysterious Woods!  It can be a character, creature, object, or whatever, as long as it's a sprite!

The last day for entries will be November 13th.  Voting will then take place until November 20th.

Have fun, and good luck out there!

[dactylopus]

Congrats to dactylopus! A beautiful elegant design, details that really fit the mood and genre, and I love the animation!

Wow, thanks everyone!  First AGS competition win!    I have been working on drawing a lot more lately, and this was a nice opportunity to practice a few things.  I can definitely see room for improvement in the future, but I'm excited about the potential.

Congrats also to cat for producing such a lovely and memorable character in Fanny Flamingo.  I sure hope Cornelius can help her track down that diamond necklace!

So now I post the next Sprite Jam?  Should be fun!  I think I have a theme in mind, I'll post it up soon.  I guess the typical time frame is about 3-4 weeks?

[dactylopus]

My vote goes to dactylopus's character! I think you nailed the atmosphere!
To me, the hair and dress style feels more reminiscent of the 1920s than the '40s, but maybe she's just retro.
Anyway, all the details you put in the decorations of the dress and flowers are great! I would love to play a game with that graphic style!

Thanks for the vote and kind comments!  Yeah, I was aiming for something a bit out of time between the 20's and 40's, you picked up on it well.  I'd love to make a game with this graphic style!

[Concept:]

Concept: Reiter - I love the concept of the castle by the sea, maybe it's just my love for medieval adventure.  But Reiter's shipwreck reminds me of King's Quest 6, while at the same time evoking familiar scenes from my new home on Cape Breton Island, so that gets the vote.
Playability: Blur - I'm certainly interested in searching the remains of the shipwreck, but I can immediately imagine what I'd like to do in Blur's room.  As exciting as the castle looks, I'd like to go down the stairs and check out the dock.
Artistic Execution: Reiter - Just good pixel art.  Simple and understated colour palette.  Easy to understand.  Well done!

Both entries are great, and I debated on a couple answers.  Good job!

[dactylopus' Lily DeForest]

I asume just one vote for the favorite?
In that case, I vote for dactylopus' Lily DeForest

I like them both, but dactylopus' entry just feels like the lady stepped right out of a noir movie. I love the details on her bustier and the hair. The shadows feel a bit off, highlighting left and right but not the more prominent parts of her figure that should also be in the light (except for her handbag). But to be honest, I'm really bad with light, so don't take me too serious here. The hand holding the cigarette also feels a bit too long and too far away from her face for her to be actually able to smoke with the movement she makes, but that's nitpicking, so don't listen to me. She looks gorgous otherwise.

Thank you so much for your comments!  For the lighting, I was trying to go for something a bit more backlit, so the lighting all around was supposed to be rim lighting.  I'll have to work on that some more.  I think a more pronounced shadow on the front would have helped, but I didn't like the way it looked.  I think you're right, the proportions of the hand are probably a bit off.  The animation was a last minute add in, originally it was in the 'out' position, but I liked the idea of an animated sprite and this was 'simple' enough for a quick piece.

As for the positive comments, thank you!  Glad you liked the details on the dress.  I was going for something between a flapper and Hollywood glamour.  And of course I'm happy to hear that she fits the noir theme!

I love cat's Fanny Flamingo entry.  There's just a simple genious in having a technicolor flamingo in black & white.

For me, once I’ve told more than a few people about the game, it is jinxed.

This is true for most projects in my experience!

That video is just perfect!  I kept my entry a bit serious this time, but I love the playful take on the noir flamingo!

Great questions!  And thanks for the tips you've given here.  They definitely help.

I'm in the same boat, I've thrown too many aborted games overboard to remember.

Tips on process from successful AGS developers would help.  How do you go about it?

Collaboration could also help, but can lead to 'too many cooks' situations.  It's a matter of the right group chemistry.

I keep attributing my own failures to complete games to the fact that my game designs are too ambitious and I lack the necessary skills and time to do it all myself.  I've tried smaller projects just to complete something, but they just don't hold my interest.  So, some tips from people who routinely face and leap over these obstacles would be great.

The only thing I do that I can say is a standard in my process is to create all of the rooms and connections so I can walk the entire map, even before any art is in.  This just helps set things up so that they can be adjusted later.  I'm sure a lot of people do this.  Sometimes I just load up a bunch of art and make a map for no reason beyond walking around from room to room.  It's very satisfying.

I love the topic and have an idea. I don't know if I will finish until the deadline so maybe I will have to ask for an extension, but let's see.

I hope you find the time, I'd love you see your entry!