MAGS July “Masquerade” (Result)

[Stupot]

Do we have a theme for August?

Not yet sorry. I’m still waiting, if I don’t get hear anything soon I’ll set one myself.

As for July, let’s keep it open for a few more days to let everyone finish.

New deadline August 5th

[Kastchey]

Oh. Nice! I might be able to get mine to a playable level. It will still most likely run on placeholder graphics but better this than no release.

[glurex]

Glad to see so much activity this last days! For a moment I was afraid I had submitted a weird theme. I have played the game of lapsking and hopefully now I'll waiting for the Kastchey one 

[Kastchey]

Yep, doing what I can to finish! I've caught a nasty cold (not covid, luckily) which doesn't make things easier, but I'm still having a lot of fun writing this one.

Here's a teaser screenshot. All graphics except the 6 finished portraits are placeholders. I don't know if I will get enough time to replace them with real graphics since coding alone is taking a while, but we'll see.

[heltenjon]

I'm not sure I will make it even with the extended deadline. I've tried coding a bit in the hotel room after the others have gotten to sleep, so I've got the guesswork part of the game up and running (currently being tested by my kids), but there are still some things left in the second part. Of course, it looks absolutely amateurish compared to the other entries, so I doubt it has anything to say in the long run, but I'm having fun putting it together.  Tomorrow I have a long drive across the country to get home, and I don't know if I'll get anything much done then.

Kastchey - looking good! I have no experience in the card game, but it looks like I'll get some soon.

[Kastchey]

Thanks, heltenjon! Fingers crossed for your entry, even if it's unlikely that you will finish.

On my part, the coding is almost done (1,300 lines and counting), hoping to finish that part tonight. If that happens, I may be able to add some real graphics instead of the placeholders tomorrow.

[Kastchey]

So I didn't manage to do nearly as much as I wanted, there were more bugs to kill than I had anticipated and the fever isn't helping. But it'd be a shame not to give lapsking any competition at all, so I will release a version before midnight UK time. Worst case, it will be early alpha quality ;=]

[Kastchey]

Here it is! Please treat as an early alpha. I didn't manage to add all the features that would allow to play the game properly. It is possible to finish the game, though only one of the two endings can currently be triggered and if the key NPC dies before it does, there will be a dead end. Sorry :< There should be no more dead ends or endless loops, preventing the game from being finished.

AGS WEREWOLF
(working title)

Download here

A game inspired by the memorable forum Werewolf sessions and some games based on a similar concept, like Among Us or Slaughter Horse.

Story:
You awaken from your slumber, as you always do when your arch-nemesis awakens. You have been chasing it for eons of the multiverse's history and defeated it countless times, only to find it regenerated and replanted within yet another living, mortal being. You do not know if there is an end to the chase, but you do know that when you awaken, you must act.
This time however, you feel powerless. How long did you hibernate this time? Has the sleep, or perhaps the countless battles started taking their toll on you? Has the Seed located your resting place for the first time and subdued you when you were asleep? You want to know, but you have no time for questions. Using what is left of your powers, you need to influence and inspire the residents of the nearby settlement and use them to eliminate the threat. You sense a group of particularly strong-willed individuals, maybe a dozen, who need but a gentle nudge to push them to action. You don't know their exact identities, but you hope to discover more in the process. With a heavy heart, you concentrate and establish a telepathic connection with the first one, knowing you cannot save them all but hoping to help spare at least a few.

How to play:
In a group of 20 NPC of unknown role and alignment, 12 are your allies, 6 will work against you and 2 will neither help nor harm you.

The gameplay is divided into 4 phases: Evening (when you assign the tasks to the roles of your choice), Night (when the outcome of the assigned tasks is calculated), Morning (when the results are revealed and reports of your allies, if any, are delivered to you to help you figure out who is who) and Day (when you get to execute an NPC of your choice).

When assigning the tasks, you assign them to roles, not specific NPC (since you do not know who is who). The results will usually give you a hint regarding the identity of the NPC involved in the events of a given night.

Your ultimate goal is to get the main antagonist, the Seed of Darkess, executed or killed. The Seed is somewhere among the 20 and it defends itself well, so getting it killed will not be easy. Use your team's powers wisely.

Role descriptions:
Friendly:
Lifesaver: led by immense worry about others, this role will go check on someone when they have a bad feeling about them. If their target is attacked the same night, they will use the opportunity to save them from death.
Watcher: under the circumstances, this role feels anxious and suspicious about others. It will take just a subtle push to send them spying on another council member. They will spend a sleepless night watching their target’s place and taking note of anyone entering or leaving.
Truthseeker: this role has been pushed to the limits of desperate courage. They will break into their target’s house searching for any kind of evidence that would incriminate or exculpate them.
Desperado: this role is constantly on edge, expecting assailants in every corner. When agitated, they won’t turn an eye - armed with their best weapon, they will attack anyone who attempts to enter. They will kill every single role who visits them that night, including friendly or neutral characters.
Psychic: their sixth sense stirred by the presence of the Seed and the Eliminator, they get a premonition when they are the target of a hostile role. If activated, they will avoid death. If not activated, they will die but report the identity of the assailant.
Inquisitor: confident and determined to help the cause, they will interrogate the role they find particularly suspicious, holding them back for the given night. The inquisitor will report their assessment of the target's affiliation (council/cult/neutrals).
Whistleblower: this role is a born leader and has high persuasion skills. They will rally the crowd against their target, getting them lynched in the process.
Impostor: bold and confident in their skill in deception, this role will infiltrate the cult hideout and observe their target all night, discovering their role in the process. They will also spot up to 2 other evil roles. If they survive the night, they will report the exact role of the target and the alignment of 0-2 other evil players. They have a chance of getting killed while spying.
Hedonist: this role deals with the trauma by seeking comfort in the company, or arms, of others. When trembling under the burden of each night’s grim discovery, they will seek out others in hope of forgetting everything, effectively blocking their target's role for the given night.
Hostile:
Eliminator: this role has been driven completely mad by the traumatic events of late… or have they? A victim or a psychopathic opportunist, they are on a crusade against everyone and everything. They will kill a random role each night, no matter their allegiance.
Seed of Darkness: this role is the incarnation of the arch-nemesis of the player character. They require the blood of at least half of the NPC to awaken. Before the awakening, they will keep a low profile to avoid detection. After that they will convert every role that targets them, including the Eliminator. No one can resist the influence of the Seed.
Tender: this role’s sole purpose is to guard the Seed until it awakens. When that happens, the Tender is usually consumed by the Seed. Tender will kill anyone who approaches the Seed in its dormant phase.
Fanatic: this role is tasked with ensuring that enough sacrifices will be done and the Seed awakens as quickly as possible. But even with the Seed awoken, the Fanatic feels it is their sacred duty to kill anyone who does not succumb, so they will continue until either they or their opponents are dead.
Converter: this persuasive, cunning individual is devoted to the cult as much as the others, but prefers persuasion over violence. Each night, they will head out to try and talk their target into joining the cult.
Neutral:
Bystander: this role doesn’t have any character traits that would push them to action during the night, they just want everything to be over. If an innocent Bystander is executed by the player, a council member may leave or commit suicide.
Gnostic: they know it all, but they won’t admit it in fear of getting harmed or killed in the process. If Gnostic is executed by the player, they will reveal the priority order of the roles to the cult before they die (making Fanatic’s attacks more precise and better targeted). If they are executed by the cult, they will reveal the identities of all major cultist roles still alive, except the Seed.

Currently implemented:
* Roles assignment
* Phases switching (fully manual for now)
* Targeting
* Task outcome
* One of tTwo endings
* A few sample death descriptions
* Execution GUI

Not implemented yet:
* Executions Now fixed!
* Daily reports
* Notes
* Event journal
* Proper intro
* Title screen

Download here

I will edit this post shortly to explain the rules, as I didn't manage to add any explanations in-game. Done

Edit: Mandle brought to my attention that I had posted the project file instead of the compiled game. While most of the people here would handle that no problem, I didn't exactly mean to open source the game

Here's the updated version changelog (v1.21):
* Compiled version instead of open source,
* Fixed the execution GUI to prevent a dead end and enable the proper game ending,
* Fixed a bug where the ending would not trigger,
* Disabled debug messages during Eliminator's action result calculation,
* Placeholder portraits are still placeholders, but are now labeled with NPC's real names to allow the player to distinguish them,
* Fixed a bug that would cause an endless loop if the friendly characters were outnumbered.

[lapsking]

Congrats Kastchey. The story looks good, but alas too good. It's so similar to my late psychosis that I don't dare to play it now afraid of flashbacks. Will try it later when I feel safe.

[Kastchey]

Oh wow. Sorry to hear about this I hope your recovery is going well.

Definitely don't do anything that could cause an anxiety fit. The game is not very playable at this stage anyway, it's not worth it

[Mandle]

The game is not very playable at this stage anyway, it's not worth it

Please read my PM ASAP... cheers

[heltenjon]

I'm basically finished with my game...removing bugs at the moment. Will post it later today.

[Kastchey]

Awesome news, heltenjon! Looking forward to it.

[heltenjon]

My game is at https://heltenjon.itch.io/masquerade-at-the-con

I'll edit this post with database entry and screenshots in a bit. 

Edit:

Database entry: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2624-masquerade-at-the-con

      

The game is made by using free assets, including some inventory items from the AGS trove. Thanks, guys! 

In the first part, the screen is full of mystery people, and you can talk to them or examine them in order to guess who they are. After you reveal their identities, you need to help the good guys and defeat the baddies in traditional first person point and click style. Have fun!

[Kastchey]

Awesome! Congratulations

And I took the chance to fix the worst game-breaking issues to make the game somewhat playable. It's fully winnable now. There's no actual game over implemented, but you will know when it happens - simply put, everyone will be dead.

If anyone has a version earlier than 1.2 1.21 downloaded, please re-download.

Edit: Another gamebreaking bug found and eliminated. Hopefully the last major one.

[heltenjon]

I played AGS Werewolf just now and lost. I need to read up more on the roles. I also realized it's probably a good move to take notes - I didn't always remember who I was investigating and couldn't take advantage of the knowledge (not) gained by having my investigator attacked.
.
I like the concept a lot and will have some more goes. Being a board game enthusiast definitely helps. 

[Kastchey]

Haha thanks, glad you like it even though it's barely even finished

Yes, it definitely helps to take notes. My aim was to create two kinds of in-game notes, one in the form of an auto-created journal that would record the morning messages so you can go back to them at any time, and the other as a freeform text field next to every NPC, so you can take notes of your own conclusions and assumptions. But of course, because of the time constraints I had to scale down to the bare essentials.

I do plan to slowly continue working on this after MAGS though, so any thoughts and suggestions are highly appreciated!

[heltenjon]

I'm wondering how some of the roles work.

Is activating the Desperado and the Psychic a one-time move? Do they stay activated afterwards?

Does an attack/spying/persuasion attempt always succeed (if not countered)?

What is the priority of the roles? Will the Desperado kill the Hedonist or be blocked by it? And if blocked, will that mean someone else may kill the Desperado?

Does the Watcher only work when assigned to watch a council member?

Does the Whistleblower count as an attack? Meaning, will the Tender kill the Whistleblower if the Seed is targeted, and will the Seed or the Desperado kill the Whistleblower if attacked?

EDIT:

Also, are the Observer and the Investigator doubles of other roles, like the Watcher and the Inquisitor?

[lapsking]

I played your game heltonjon. It's fun but I only could guess few of them since lots of those characters are not known on the other side of planet though I'm sure there are people even on this side who can do better than me.

[heltenjon]

I played your game heltonjon. It's fun but I only could guess few of them since lots of those characters are not known on the other side of planet though I'm sure there are people even on this side who can do better than me.

Thanks for playing.  You can of course solve it by simply trying all the options, or ask for help in the hints section (or PM me). I was curious about whether the guesswork would be easy or hard. My daughter/playtester guessed them all, but she knows me very well and of course has the same cultural background.