MAGS February: "Fictional Spirituality" (Winner Announced)

[Atelier]

I mean the scenario where an entry wins, because it has more authors which all vote for it, is probably just theoretical. I wouldn't encourage/discourage voting for yourself (there is no problem with the system as-is). It's up to the individual to decide whether they're "in it to win it", or (in most cases) whether their purpose is finishing a game, as Hana and JuaniT pointed out. This is apart from it being impossible to enforce any rule. Also, simply discouraging voting for yourself could mean less honest people have an advantage over more conscionable entrants, who would have voted for themselves otherwise; whereas if everybody has the discretion to vote for yourself, there is no problem.

[Janos Biro]

You are right. We agree.

[Seven]

Even though I pretty much finished my game, I decided I'm not going to enter it after all. It is not up to my standards and I feel like I would have to apologize for it if I were to enter it. I don't want to be thought of as someone who makes crappy games. I'm going to try for a better game next month, one that I will not feel so ashamed of entering. Hopefully everyone else finishes theirs. I look forward to playing the games and voting for a winner.

[Billbis]

Hey, Seven, I respect your decision, but it makes me sad.
I think most of us feel the same about what we are making: obviously what we make is far from what we have idealize. My last month was full of discouraging moments when I realized that my wonderful scenario was crap, that I won't have time to make any talking animations, that the animations I have made are poor 2 frame walk-cycles, that my game probably won't be proofreading (and god know that it needs some!), that the supposed-to-be-very-profound dialogs I wrote are ridiculous two sentences long, etc.
IMHO, it is not the creator that have to judge its games, but the public. And to that, we have to release our games! Furthermore, nobody will judge you because your first game isn't as good as expected, it is the contrary: people in these forums respect the ones that make game in just one month, no matter how crappy and buggy they are. So I think you should release your entry anyway.


"Please, Seven, release your game!"

[Myinah]

Seven, that's a real shame. You can always update it after MAGs. Consider it as an alpha release. It would be a shame to have worked hard to the point of completion and then not release it. No one releases a perfect MAGs game. People know that you have only had a month, and probably not had the ability to work on it full time so no one is expecting perfection.

I really hope you release it, because the spirit of MAGs is to have fun and release a game. Billbis is right in saying only the public can judge,and it's all one big learning curve. Worst case scenario, it is a bit rubbish. In reality, what does it matter? You had fun and learned something. But odds are people will really enjoy it and you are depriving us all of a trip to fun city!

[ArgyBoi]

Even though I pretty much finished my game, I decided I'm not going to enter it after all. It is not up to my standards and I feel like I would have to apologize for it if I were to enter it. I don't want to be thought of as someone who makes crappy games. I'm going to try for a better game next month, one that I will not feel so ashamed of entering. Hopefully everyone else finishes theirs. I look forward to playing the games and voting for a winner.

I'd like to quote Daniel Johnston: Don't be scared, don't be shy, you'll never know until you try, buddy!
Seriously, if you finished it, release it. People's comments will encourage you to make a better game the next time

[jannar85]

Well.. I can't join this month either.. sorry.
Looking forward to the other entries

[Seven]

I appreciate the encouragement but it fails on too many levels, particularly the story since I did not even bother to write a script for the game. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to do with ags and I didn't want to write a script that went way over my head. At least now I have a better idea and so next time I can prepare a script and have a story ready before I start making the game.

Another reason is because of the graphics. Not only were the backgrounds made in five minutes or less but the characters I used are not completely original as required by the rules, I borrowed some of the character graphics from another software but I did not realize this was against the rules until much later when I read through the rules again.

But even though I won't be entering this month, I still consider what I did a success and not a waste of time. I know how to use ags way better than I did at the beginning of the month and I think I'll be ready to make a much better game for next months competition.

[Atelier]

I'll be ready to make a much better game for next months competition.

I look forward to it

Ok guys, just two days (including today) to finish and post your entries!

[ArgyBoi]

Last stretch, guys!
I'm doing some testing playthroughs and the English translation it's in the proofreading fase (the game will be available in English and Spanish).
So almost done!
Good luck to all of you!

[Dmitry Stefantsov]

Hey, guys! I haven't updated anything lately, but the game is going to be finished this day

[ArgyBoi]

Done!

Symbiosis

Plot
A man wakes up in a strange dream, where he's going to discover a very old secret about the origin of the human race.
* Available in English and Spanish.
* 320x200 32-bits resolution.

Download

[Seven]

Nice entry JuaniT! The music was simple but effective as was the character animations. I loved the painted backgrounds. The puzzles were easy but fun. And the story was very interesting. This is going to be a very hard entry to beat.

[ArgyBoi]

@Seven Thank you for your kind words

I received some feedback on the walking speed so I just updated the link with a new version to fix that.

[Janos Biro]

Just played Symbiosis. Here is what I think (spoil alert):

Spoiler

It has so much to do with the modern spirituality! I've meet some people who would identify with it so much. For example, I have met a group of vegans who "evolved" to fruitarianism, and their motto was "Man's function on earth (or the meaning of life) is to spread seeds". They would love the fire making puzzle and the mushroom theory. What you have here fits exactly in the competition theme. The only thing that could be better is the sprite walk cycle, I think.

[close]

Congratulations for this nice game.

[Billbis]

Lema Sabachthani

You have been sentence to death.
But what you had done had to be done.



Left click: interact. Right click: look at. Space bar: show interactive areas. Any key: skip cutscene.

Download from the database (~8Mo)

Warning, contain one relatively violent sequence.
I will made a post-MAGS version with a few supplemental animations, so if you found any mistakes, bug, typos, etc. please, PM them to me.

Thanks:
SpriteFont plugin by Calin Leafshade
FichierParametres module by Kitai
Beta test: Valoulef and Atavismus
English proofreading: Straydogstrut
Sintony font by Eduardo Tunni
Piano by Pidem
Sound effects from Freesound.org (see SoundLicences.txt file)

Now, I'm gonna play JuaniT entry !

[ArgyBoi]

Stuff

I just finished your game. Very nice! "Lema Sabachthani" comes from the Bible, right? ("My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?").
I like your graphics style, very clean an sharp (a nice contrast with my entry). The piano music suits the game very well.
Congratulations!

Edited by mod: Removed unnecessary quoting of previous post.

[Seven]

@Seven Thank you for your kind words

I received some feedback on the walking speed so I just updated the link with a new version to fix that.

Personally I was not bothered by nor did I notice problems with the walking speed. I thought the walking animation could have used a little more work but the speed of the character seemed fine to me.

Billbis, that was a really good game. I enjoyed the multiple paths but it didn't really seem to make a difference whether you decided to take the sword or not unless there is an actual way to avoid killing the roman?

Between the two games though I have to say I liked Symbiosis slightly better. It drew me in more with it's atmosphere and story, and its puzzles were better.

[Atelier]

Awesome

Besides Dmitry, I think we're waiting on jannar85, TGames, and HanaIndiana - anybody know whether they're still running the race?

[HanaIndiana]

Posted just under the wire!

The 4th Wall
Warning: Contains many violent scenes.
If an adventure game character literally has a spiritual journey, then the player is God. The 4th Wall is broken.

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/c8VZ2oe.png[/imgzoom]

Download link: The 4th Wall