MAGS September “Alien” (OPEN)

[Stupot]

Theme: Alien
Set by: Ddavey1983
Deadline: September 30th



This month's theme is Alien. Whether it be little green men, flying saucers or alienation more figuratively, there must be something of the extra-terrestrial in this month's entries.



What is MAGS?
Started in 2001, MAGS is a competition for amateur adventure game makers. The idea is to create a game in under a month, following the guidelines set by the previous winner. It aims to help you work to a deadline, improve your skills, and provide a kick-start into making adventure games. Regardless of skill, MAGS is for everyone. Voting is based on "favourite" games, and not the most artistic, or the best coded. If you have bad art skills, use it as a chance to do some graphic work. If you're sub-standard at coding, use it as a chance to give scripting a go. Ultimately, people will vote for the most enjoyable entry.

Rules
Entering MAGS is simple. First, conceptualize your game following the month's criteria (see above). Second, create your game fuelled only by coffee. Finally, post your game in this thread, including:

* A working download link
* The title of your game
* A suitable in-game screenshot

At the end of the month, voting will begin, usually lasting for fourteen days, and the winner chooses the next month's theme.

Remember that this is a challenge to see what you can do in a month, so any tinkering you do after that, including fixing minor glitches, is against the spirit of the competition. The exception to this is that you may go in and fix major, game-breaking bugs only during voting. We want you to have a game that voters can actually play and that runs on their machines.

So to reiterate, during the voting period fixing major, game-breaking bugs is okay, fixing minor glitches or making cosmetic changes is cheating.

Tips
Here are some ways to make sure you have a game to submit at the end of the month:
* Make a tiny game. Plan small, then cut it in half. Find shortcuts (e.g. if making walkcycles is time-consuming, make the characters static or have it in the first person).
* Plan to have your game playable and submittable with a week to spare. This way you have a week to fix bugs, add some flourishes and maybe even get someone to test it.
* Plan to submit it a day or so early. This way, if there are any technical issues with uploading, they can be sorted out in time.

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Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove has something you can use.
Don't want to go it alone? Try the Recruitment board.
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[VampireWombat]

I needed an idea for a game to work off some of my rustiness off anyway. So I'm in. Maybe between having 2 weeks in the middle of not working on it and things I've learned since I was more active in MAGs will mean I can actually complete the game. But I'll start with a fairly simple idea and only 1 or 2 rooms just in case...

[Ponch]

Interesting theme... I may be able to put something together, but it won't be a very large game.

[Volcan]

Do we need to play as an alien or any character meets aliens?

[heltenjon]

Do we need to play as an alien or any character meets aliens?

Both interpretations should be fine. Even other uses of the word are acceptable, like "illegal aliens" or "being alienated". 

[Stupot]

How are we getting on, folks?

[VampireWombat]

How are we getting on, folks?

I haven't done anything for a couple of weeks since the deadline for Vance's yearly $10X game jam is tomorrow. I'll probably start working on the game again on Tuesday.

[Ponch]

I'm in the same boat as VW. Two rooms done, 1 NPC done. No working dialogs yet. Most everything else is placeholder The player character is still using Roger's walkcycle. Maybe 15% finished? It's not looking good... 

[jfrisby]

We went the double competition route Stupot mentioned and entered the 108 Adventure Game Challenge, and attempted to combine the themes. We submitted a version for the jam, but there's a couple dozen things to polish for MAGS  still

We'll post updated version in a couple days (hopefully).

<removing link to jam version... will upload MAGS version!>

[Stupot]

Any luck, or we need another couple more days?

[jfrisby]

We have an updated version pretty much ready to go, but...  just a few more hours

[Babar]

Cornbankle in

Abducted Intelligence


Our MAGS entry for this month. Slightly updated from the itch version jfrisby mentioned above. Hope you enjoy, and hope we see someone to have it up against!

[Stupot]

Thanks @Babar and @jfrisby.

Just one entry this time around, but it looks great and everyone should play it!

I'll be in touch about choosing a theme for November's contest.

[Babar]

Thanks stu!

It's unfortunate we were the only entry. I was hoping for a last-minute surprise from @VampireWombat

Also because the competition breeds lots of very useful feedback and reviews that we'll miss out on this time. So if you played it, we would appreciate comments!

[heltenjon]

I played Abducted Intelligence. Actually, I played both the $108 and the MAGS versions of it, and I'm happy to say that the first version is a good game on its own. While the MAGS game is more polished and improves in the details, it's still basically the same game, and I hope it does well in the dollar jam, too.
Spoiler time!

Spoiler

The joint themes of aliens and the impostor syndrome ($108) lends itself to a game where the player is abducted and experimented on, or the player infiltrating an advanced alien culture. My idea for this MAGS was the latter, so I was pleased to see you went in the opposite direction. And you tease this as the beginning of a series...cool indeed! The art and humour is in place like usual. I immediately had a smile on my face when I saw the player character in a typical pet cage with dispensers for food and "water". I don't think it was explained why the aliens used English, but it got a reaction from the protagonist. Puzzles were logical and not too difficult, given the few items available in a single location. Or perhaps I should say semi-logical or intuitive? There is a sense of not fully understanding what's going on that I shared with the character. The music was a little different from your earlier outings, and while still good, I kind of missed the silent movie piano emphasizing the moods in the game. The experience is short and in the escape the room genre, which I chalk up to the short time limit of the dollar jam.

All in all, the game was fun. Playtime 10-15 minutes, perhaps. The humour is mostly present in the absurdity of the situation, while the player plays it deadpan until his final lines in the game. I hope you really make a sequel, as I'd like to see what happens next. Also, I'm curious about the English-speaking aliens and their bio-ship. Thanks for the game!

[close]

[jfrisby]

Thanks for the detailed comments heltenjon!

Spoiler

I don't think it was explained why the aliens used English, but it got a reaction from the protagonist. Puzzles were logical and not too difficult, given the few items available in a single location. Or perhaps I should say semi-logical or intuitive? There is a sense of not fully understanding what's going on that I shared with the character.

We sort of got tied in knots trying to fit the 'least intelligent' theme and not overload the lore..  We put a couple references in, but the idea was that it's a 'distant future' human ship, that's been stolen by another alien race (or an AI?)...  and they are trying to unlock it by abducting Cornbankle..  That's pretty hard to explain

The music was a little different from your earlier outings, and while still good, I kind of missed the silent movie piano emphasizing the moods in the game.

Thanks! I feel like I'm running out of tricks with my piano skills.. but it will return! 

And you tease this as the beginning of a series...cool indeed!

In a testament to our backwards marketing skills, we've already made a sequel, Breakfast Requiem in a Cornbankle game...  and this is set sometime way before that... The timeline of events is very fuzzy, that might be many years in the future

[close]

[heltenjon]

And you tease this as the beginning of a series...cool indeed!

In a testament to our backwards marketing skills, we've already made a sequel, Breakfast Requiem in a Cornbankle game...  and this is set sometime way before that... The timeline of events is very fuzzy, that might be many years in the future

That's even better! I'm not good at remembering names, unfortunately. 

[WHAM]

I'm back at it with my usual shenanigans and have once played the sole contender this time around. You can find the video of my attempt here. While I'll happily recommend you play the game yourself, if you just can't be bothered then this might be an option for you:

Becalmed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GfOsOPfCbg

[cat]

I played Abducted Intelligence and it was short and fun. It wasn't your best game so far (which would be the stew game, but I forgot to comment there), but it was an enjoyable little game.