Messages

This is looking better and better! Looking forward to seeing things move around in this Rik City. 

The download link to the demo doesn't work anymore. It would be cool if you updated it, or if you don't want it there anymore, edit the post with a strikethrough like this to show it's removed. (I hope it's available...)

Just to be clear, will this game be eligible for the AGS Awards as it is, or does the author have to make a new entry in the database to get the correct "time stamp" in order to be so?

An expansion or maybe more games set in the same world would be just what the players ordered. 

Thanks for a great game! It looks good, but even more important is that it gives the impression that our protagonist is just starting to learn about the possibilities and hardships of magic.

I liked that there were few locations, but a lot of back and forth between them as the status changed. In that regard the game design reminded me a bit of The Telwynium games. I also liked how the doctor was always available and ready to help, which lifted the atmosphere a lot compared to if the apprentice had been alone. Good choice!

I doubt I'll have time for participating this month, but here's an idea for free for those good with animation: You, the archvillain, have the hero captive. You need to build a death trap he won't escape from while you talk about your diabolical plans. Of course, the hero can escape from almost anything. 

Well heck.  You’d think that’d be obvious to try…but I sure didn’t.  😆

The in-game hints are

Spoiler

the description of the flowers, and that when you try to pick one, the game tells you something like that they are of more use where they are.

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Very cool animation!

[Cutman:]

A great month with three really entertaining and totally different games! Hats off and applause all around!

Cutman:

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Very innovative, and good use of a time restraint. Gave me retro feelings back to boxing games I've played, but it was cool to see it from another angle. The boxing match animations and all the other 'filler' stuff makes it atmospheric and a real treat.

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State of Mind:

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Totally feel-good game with the trademark Slasher humour. I enjoyed it a lot, and it hits the spot with the theme recommendation. As usual, I keep wondering how he made a game out of a plot like this. Great stuff.

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Potion Master

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Oh my. The world this is set in feels so alive! Kastchey's mix of detailed portraits and blurrier pixel art for the main game play is a real treat for the eye. Basically, you're sold when you see the first screen shot. The story is built around herb collection and recipes, and it could have been dull, but it is not. The recipes and the dialogue hint of a world beyond the game and makes it seem much more than it is. Like Shadow1000, I liked the variation of puzzle types, and I felt all the puzzles were a part of the story in a natural manner. And it was a challenge, too. The game is "boldly untested" and sports some bugs, like the owl getting his eyes back and Markus stating that he's in the mountains when he's not, but it wasn't enough to take away my enjoyment.

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My vote:

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All three games are good and could have been winners, but when they turn up in the same month, I have to pick one. Potion Master takes it for me, with its complex world and varied puzzles.

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I am willing to buy adventure games for four years straight and only play these types of games for four years straight and want more...more...more...more...more....more!! I am like 'cookie monster', I just cannot have enough of it man...I cannot!

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/allgames/
https://archive.org/details/adventuregamestudio

Hello!
I'm looking for a game but can't remember it's name, it's an AGS game.
You are a detective, you start in the lobby of a building, where there was a murder, you can talk to some of the residents that are in there. You then move to the apartment and then to the bedroom where the murder victim is kinda nailed to the wall or something like that. Another detective, I think its a woman, is in the bedroom too.

You are talking about Abscission. Thread here. Demo on Itch here. The game is still in production, updated devlog not long ago, and it's looking good.

The graphics are ok for the moment. I don't have have seen many because i died quickly without saving. I'm too lazy to restart all for now.

So my pro-tip is : save often because it seems you die often (the death was deserved btw, never touch all you see in this kind of old-school game).

Yep. Save often! There are some puzzles later on you probably will have to solve through trial and error, dying a lot in the process. There are lots of cool death animations and messages.

[is]

This looks amazing! Am I blind or is the download link missing?

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2436-a-son-of-xenon-space-quest-prequel-full-version-2022-/

Play it - it is amazing!

I vote Creamy as well! Care to share the background story to that hole? I'm curious! 

Notice the phone cord going into the hole? I believe this is the work of...The Anticommunicator!

At least I don't want to be a laughing stock.
To be honest, recently, my game has been mocked by many people on real-time streaming broadcasts

I'm sorry to hear that. That can't be fun, and you don't deserve it.
Without knowing the streams you're talking about, I would guess they're the kind that habitually makes fun of the games they play, so you probably shouldn't take it too personally.

I second that. Focus on us who like your games, not those who miss the point. Of course, if I had your talents, I would probably make a short animation of streamers making fun of Gigant, followed by the monster appearing and taking their heads off. Then the likes explode upwards, or maybe the thumbs up sign is replaced by a lobstrosity claw. 

In regard to what you are asking about your games, I see Snarky's points, but don't personally agree. For me, the selling points are indeed the contraption puzzles and the Korean setting, along with the monsters and QTE. Horror is often combined with humour in movies, but it may be wise to make up one's mind if the horror is going to be tongue-in-cheek or not. Snarky may well have a point about how to reach a wider audience, but I genuinely like the way you construct puzzles. (Perhaps the best were in Contact.) They may break immersion, though. In real life, noone would make a code for a door and leave deliberate clues close by as to what the code could be. (Despite all Escape Rooms in existence being made like that...)

But perhaps you could do both? Try your hand at some shorts more in the direction of traditional point and click if that's what you desire, and only do the QTE when you do monster games? Ultimately, you're the one deciding what you want to make.

Getting feedback early on is probably a good idea, if not always possible. My own betatesting for Gigant was mostly limited to finding bugs, pointing out logical flaws, misspellings, lacking or misleading text when interacting with something. Anything to do with puzzle construction or storytelling would probably have to come earlier.

Story: One could argue that the characters are too one-dimensional, all good or all evil. You could go for more depth here. However, I also feel this is a sort of trope in the South Korean movies or series I've seen, and also many Japanese ones, where the characters are stylized like larger-than-life or exaggerated in their behaviour. Squid Game comes to mind. So there is a tradition for telling stories and painting characters that way. (The same could be said about some western genres, like war movies or westerns.)

QTE: I like these. As an experiment for variation, is it possible to code it with multiple clickable areas at the same time? Then it could be used for choosing different actions, not simply to duck in time. Perhaps like a combat system. Having the possibility for turning the QTEs off or adjusting their speed is a good idea for including more players.

>take infinity gauntlet

(disregard if it breaks the game/doesn't exist in game universe)

>Inventory

if possible:
>Inventory, examine me, search room and take everything.

Congratulations, Lapsking! Well deserved!

Solved it when playtesting the updated version.

I needed another item.

Spoiler

There is something in the dumpster, and in order to get it, you have to time it right.

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Sort of roundabout, but what if you create a character cFridge and give that character the chicken, then phrase it that the object chicken is visible if cFridge has the chicken inventory item?
I'm sure there are more elegant solutions, but that logic should work, at least.

That's good to know, i can't remember where i read that all objects share the same ID globally throughout rooms. (or maybe i just misunderstood it at that time)

To clarify, they do share same numeric IDs (these are just array indexes), but only one in the current room is affected at a time.

Does that mean that you affect all with the same numeric ID if you change it in a dialogue? (If dialogues take place "outside" all rooms, that is?)

You may also find some useful tips in the end of this thread: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=58748.msg636631093#msg636631093

[Flight from the Robots Chapter 2]

I've started playing the games, at least the AGS ones.

Fernewelten's Flight from the Robots Chapter 2 I've already commented in its own thread. Good game.

I played Honza's The Witch's Lullaby, the overall winner of the Jam. This is an amazing short/medium game. The graphics, story, music, story and characters are all top notch. I also think this one has the best pixel hunt mechanic I've ever seen. Highly recommended!