Messages

Hey, this is a quite good little game! The author is underselling it a bit, I think. There are about ten locations and not so few puzzles, either.

I particularly liked

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making Charon lunch and fooling Mr. Strawberries.

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[Max Fury]

Max Fury - this looks great, and the setting and puzzles are indeed interesting. I feel the many verbs may have made the project a little too ambitious for a MAGS entry, as it left several areas essentially unfinished or confusing. Given another month this would be a very polished title.

It is absolutely right, i am a ambitious man, and creating a game in the "Thimbleweed Park" style, takes a lot of time. But now i have a month or me, perhaps i can do it better and i will (most likely) use Max Fury this time, since he is animated and ready to throw into a game! Did you ever manage to finish the game or was it too farfedged of a solution? I can PM you it if you want too.

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I have to admit I didn't. I can't seem to interact at all with the 'view' (I can't even 'look' at it - no message comes up). It looks like something took that cord and went crashing through the window. Also, what is the black hole above the bed?

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Forget about the view - it's not implemented.
Black hole:

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There's a piece of the cord dangling there. You have to throw it out in order to pull it loose and into the room. After that, it's just a sort of skyview you don't have to interact with, but it has a role in the ending animation.

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As I give these hints, take into consideration that while I have finished the game, I have only gotten three of the four achievements.

Ironically enough the other game i played was also potentially a bit hurting to me. Since it's a little recognition factor in the son looking for father deal. However i did get stuck. I don't know if it was a bug or anything, but really i do believe i clicked around on everything, and nothing worked. After i've unlocked a certain thing took out a certain thing. Please let me know, or hint me what i'm supposed to do.

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Here's a hint: there is one area of the father's portrait that you need to examine; however, this area does not have a hotspot (i.e. no text comes up when you mouse over it)

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Or perhaps:

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Have you noticed that after reading the letter, you can push the symbols on the box? The letter should give you clues to the code.

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If I don't get anything done for this I will just make a game in 3 hours at the last moment where you have to play the chords for "Hello darkness my old friend" (or whatever the title of the song is) Guitar Hero style.

Now I want you to take those three hours at the beginning of the month instead. I think we need AGS Guitar Hero. 

[My Father's Secret]

Here are my thoughts about the entries this month:

My Father's Secret by Jack Putter:

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What a great game! I really like the 3d video gameplay, and even though I can see there was planned more, there are still good puzzles and a compelling story and atmosphere. Technically brilliant, yet never at the expense of story.

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The Spider's Web by Slasher:

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Probably one of Slasher's best short games! Fun play on the tropes of the genre. The story makes use of cliches without becoming one, while serious enough, there's always a raised eyebrow to make me smirk. I liked that the investigation part was so open, and that there were multiple paths in the caves. I hope this isn't the last case we see this detective, sorry, this dick, in. 

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Max Fury by Olleh19:

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Despite some bugs at deadline, this game shines, too. It's a really good first game effort. The intro is very impressive, and the gameplay is short, but rewarding. Okay, so there is some juvenile humour and sexual innuendo and more than a few laughs at a certain president's expense, but if that doesn't bother you, this is a fine one-room game. Unfortunately, the title character never made it into the game, but I hope he will turn up in a later case.

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DAGGERHELL by Mandle:

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I think I may have spent more time playing this that Mandle spent making it. But "enough already", I just wanted to beat every game before commenting.  This is like one of those VIC20 games, so it's very simple in premise and not meant as a serious contender to winning the contest. Even so, it's charming and quite addictive. I'm impressed that Mandle could make it in only five hours.

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I voted for:

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This was really hard. I think that both The Spider's Web and My Father's Secret are exceptional mags games and would be worthy winners. While My Father's Secret probably had the greatest Wow-effect on me, I ended up voting for The Spider's Web, because that's the the longest game with a lot of dialogue and clues, which I love. But it was close, and I suspect I may have voted for Jack Putter's game if he had found the time to put in all the stuff he had planned.

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Also... the item selection seems a tad dominated by Lucas Arts games. How about a little Sierra love?? Maybe add in the astro-chicken from Space Quest 3 (the greatest adventure game of all time)? Just a thought

Yes, this was my point in the "analysis", too, that I thought it was mostly Lucas Arts dominated. Just had to confirm that the items were what I thought. You have to choose what you like the best, of course, and I'm a Lucas buff myself. I'd liked something from Simon the Sorceror, but you've already got a hat on the table.

So, the items on the table are allusions to games, I gather. The map and doubloons must be Monkey Island, the Blue Cup the AGS community, the purple tentacle is DOTT, and perhaps the statue-thing is that object from Fate of Atlantis? But what games do the crystals and the hat signify? (Or the pencil?) They all look very nice.

I guess if you want more objects, one ought to consider which more games you would like to hint at. Creamy's suggestion, the oil lamp, would make me think about Zork, for instance. Something from Sierra? Gabriel Knight's journal?

Those of you having to throw in the towel with unfinished projects: why not roll these projects over to next month? Tying a cloak and dagger into a ‘darkness’ wouldn’t be the biggest stretch.

That's kind of against the rules.

Oh sorry ~ yeah that makes sense.

But there's been a couple of MAGS where the theme has been to complete unfinished projects.

Ok, I suspect flag thing deals with:

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left and right rope, but even after connect flag, clicking left rope to set 2 on left rope and 5 on right rope or visa versa, flag isn't in right height. Is there something I am missing?

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You are close.

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The two numbers must be aligned - in the same height. You probably have one high up and the other further down on the screen. There is a way to manipulate this so that the numbers are closer or further apart. This is probably the most difficult puzzle in the game, but if I remember correctly, there are more in-game hints if you're stuck.

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I will not withdraw i just need confirmation that i can upload the game like in 15 minutes or something, just adding ending screens... I didn't touch a single thing other then that, i respect the rules. I have no more time to work on the game for this contest. It is what it is, and the animations failed me.

:Edit: Well this sucks, i can't upload the game to the AGS games feature.  Is firefox as a browser a known "bugger"? I guess i have to try another..

Olleh19, just ask Stupot for a short extension. If you're basically finished, but have troubles uploading your game, he'll probably allow it. The more entries, the better.

You need to upload the game to a site (like itch.io or Google Disk or some other upload/download site), then provide the link in the form on this site. This site doesn't hold the games. Does that help any? If you have trouble with the form, you can post the link in this thread and sort out the AGS database form later.

There another confusion toward lock dragon gate:

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Hint indicates dates on tombstones but I see written are years. One of contains full last year of death and remaining two them few digits are missing. Is there some reference to code found after getting flag, like left arrow to 2, right arrow to 5 and flag? It so then I fail to see what.

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As you may see kids will be confuse.

These are late additions to make the game a little more challenging. There are a couple of puzzles near the end with more parent-mode difficulty level.
Dragon gate:

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Try to manipulate the tombstones to get the full code.

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The tombstone with the dragon on it!

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Rub the moss covering the date.

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After getting flag:

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The left arrow to 2 etc. are hints for a later puzzle, but my daughter and I first suspected that they were hints for the dragon gate, just like you.

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Mandle, my wife hates you.  Hours wasted. High score 11.  Is the game open-ended, or is there an end at 66, as you tease?

Edit: There is a message at level 66! (But then you may play on if you want to.)

I got stuck here:

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I've got the screwdriver, card with sewing holes, food stamps and shopping list. I can tell I need to steal the light switch from the old lady,(...)

What should I do here?

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You need to time it right!

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Also, there is a 'room' that can be seen to the far right of ego's home (with mom). Is this accessible? It's confusing because ego walks through some black 'walls' but not this one.

Nope. It's the comrade next door.

Is the music original? It is really excellent!

It is, isn't it! It's Eric Matyas's piece. In my opinion it fits the game so perfectly, it's a mystery it's not composed specifically with this setting in mind.

It seems his handle here was Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

Downloaded. Looking forward to playing this. It looks great!

Thank you for the opportunity to translate the game. It has ignited a new interest for me and I am working on new translations with the MMM games too

Gretchen (gspit1124) 

I hoped someone would start on the MMM games. That's wonderful news!

Thanks to you, Gretchen. Without you this wouldn't have been possible. It's a pleasure to work with you. She's wonderful, boys! 

If you edit your entry, you can probably properly credit her with the translation, which in turn may give her more assignments. 

I also made other observation:

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About branch for getting hair pin, according to hint it seem to indicate branch should near overpass (where I got bananas I think) but isn't here or no hotspot

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Can you explain that?

You are looking in the wrong place. Read the spoiler if you don't want to search for it yourself. 

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The overpass is the gate-like structure just south of Abbey's platform/east of the cemetery entrance.

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Thanks for the comments, heltenjon and FormosaFalanster.

The (not?) obvious way to follow up this great title probably would be to make "Interlude and/or Postlude to an adventure". I think the idea of making a game out of the preparations is very good, making the game stand on its own quite nicely.

That actually would be rather unique, to make a game or series of short games that revolve around a big adventure, but only depict the preludes, interludes and postludes of that adventure. So that the actual adventure takes place somewhere in the background and the "filler" or slice of life content is pushed forward. Like camping and cooking food in the evening, gathering supplies between trips or recruiting new companions.

I've always liked this kind of story when it pops up in tv series or comic books. There it usually involves talking and character development/motivation while the action is somewhere else. (And there're always some reader/viewer who comments on the lack of action, so clearly this is not everyone's cup of tea.) But I've never seen a game series about it, only small joke games.

Anyway, while this sounds awesome, the houses are usually in pretty bad condition; you'd probably have to invest tens of thousands of euros first (and lots of time!) in order to make them livable again.

Luckily, this can be done with imaginary money, of which I imagine we have plenty.

I tried the demo and had great fun. The sense of humour is spot on, and the early scumm-style graphics works great. Quite good puzzles in the demo, too. The game doesn't take itself too seriously. Looking forward to further progress here!

There's currently a Black Story-type riddle over in the riddle thread, for those not reading that.