[Winner Announced] Coloring Ball: when you least expect it...

[AnasAbdin]

Out there in deep space, nothing is predictable. While playing a very long chess game with your computer, your scanner indicates a weird object approaching in -safe- speed. As this object approaches you, it gives you the creeps, goose bumps, makes you speechless for a while. Never expected to be out there. The object differs from one to another, it should be something very personal to you, with a very personal and scary -perhaps childhood- memory attached to it. It cannot be a living organism though.

The object is limited by this shape:
                                                                     

Rotate it or fill it, but make it an AGS usable sprite. Back it up with a freaky creepy story. Make the hair on the back of our necks stand.

Trophies: [my own astronaut's helmet with a golden/silver/bronze fish]

           
Good luck, have more than an entry, I'm greedy.
Voting begins on the 28th of Jan 2012

[Chicky]

It was just a mining ship, we were never trained for a contact situation. Many of my friends died that day, few of us survived. The oxygen masks were understocked, the crew unprepared, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here.

I still remember her dead eyes gazing at me, from behind that mask. Shards of green like tears upon her cheek.

That was a lifetime ago, thousands of lightyears from here. It can't be real.

How long have I been out here alone?

---

Jesus, that took longer to write than the sprite took to draw 

[AnasAbdin]

Jesus, that took longer to write than the sprite took to draw 

it took me a nano second to melt in front of the beauty of the sprite and the story

[Darius Poyer]

    ~A ship in space~

I don't have a story to go with this, But I do have a fear. I'm terrified of the ocean, the feeling of not knowing what could be below you in deep water. I am also afraid of space for the same reason, but in space it's worse. So a ship in space.

[Adrian]

Clark Tennant watched the computer execute its final move on the display of the virtual chess board: lost again! For eighteen years he had been trying to beat that machine and never won a single game. „Why am I doing this?“, he asked himself while recapitulating the last moves he did before losing his second bishop and by this losing every hope to win. He knew why. It was because of the fear he had since he was a little boy and his father showed him the endless emptyness of space from inside the ship's panorama deck. From that moment on Clark had the feeling of being lost forever. Playing endless chess games against the computer whithout having a chance to win at least made him feel less lonely.
The buzzing sound from the computer terminal finally brought him back to reality. He turned to the display and read the flashing words „approaching object“. Focussing the laser periscope he saw a small something floating in space, no indication of life or drive mechanisms, but definitely artificial. He instructed the computer to render a high definition picture of the object and returned back to his thoughts. He was born on this ship. His father was a distributer for spices from GJ 1214b, 42 light years away from earth. But it took him so long to get there and back again, that he was afraid his son would never see anything else but this ship and the stars around. So he made a decision: spending months on calculating a new route to GJ 1214b he finally found a track that would lead them along a row of high gravity stars which could accelerate the ship above light speed and shorten the journey down to only 25 years. After twelve years Clark's father died and Clark himself was now the one to bring the ship to GJ 1214b.
Again the bleeping noise pulled him out of his memories. The picture of the unknown object was completed. Clark faced the monitor and was struck for a second. That little thing out there, the first object made by some sort of intelligent creatures he had seen for years, turned out to be the first interplanetary signboard at the outer rim of the solar system, placed there by his ancestors hundreds of years ago. Only seconds later he became aware of what had happened. The gravity of the solar path to GJ 1214b accelerated the ship above light speed just as his father had predicted, but what he didn't think of was that by this the space around the ship was marginally bent into an angle which the computer couldn't recognize. 25 years they were traveling a closed curve!
Clark sat down and closed his eyes: he was back at earth!

x2

[AnasAbdin]

@Darius Poyer: lovely entry, but everything you do is already lovely and your phobia is very accepted  :o

@Adrian: I forgot about the competition while reading your great story! It is well written and your sprite is funny! Good use of the little red arrow 

[mukk]

I got a little carried away with the story while drawing. Actually I like it more than the sprite...which doesn't make much sense without the story

uh...and...1st competition, have mercy 
____

"Your turn, kiddo."
My father's voice echoed through the ship. Well, not exactly my father's. Minutes before his death he feeded the board computer with his memory engrams. So I wouldn't go crazy. Alone. On this ship.
"No need to rush, old man."
I had nothing but time. 30 years the ship were on its mission. 25 of them I've been alone. Damn SZCRAs.
Slowly I moved the King, glancing to the mechanical arm controlled by my father's ghost or whatever you want to call it. I set the figure down. The little metal finger twitched. Damn.
"Got you again, kiddo!"
"You sure you're using just the assigned RAM? I'm gonna see it if you cheat again, dad."
I've gotten real good in the last years. Usually I would win one in a hundred games on this setting. I was due since 243.
"Nope, just what you gave me. It's time for recalibrations, you know."
"One more game, old man. I have a good feeling."
We had to change course every now and then. The SZCRAs were on our back and the last fight exhausted our hydrogen. I had enough water for two weeks more but the weapons wouldn't function without a heavy supply. So we were on our way to an ice meteorite on a seemingly random course.
"Suit yourself. Your last good feeling was 50 games ago and that sure was a good one."
Good feeling. The last time I had really one of those was back on earth, when I bought Granny her first cat. Grandpa died a few weeks before and i thought it a good idea. Two weeks later she had 20 of them. Like those cat ladys we used to laugh about. I still can't sleep because of that one cat. I placed the figures.
"You start, and don't forget, the first pawn decides everything. But who am I telling that, eh?"
Who indeed. My grandmother was a legend, you know. She invented a brilliant AI and the basics to space travel I use today. But after her husband died, she was pretty beaten. Somehow the cats gave her hope again...but not a good kind of hope. More like crazy. She went from cat lady to mad scientist in rapid speed. She found a way to prolong live. It didn't work with everyone. Well, at first it did. But after a year or so half the population of earth (everyone wants a longer life) turned into a sort of zombie. My granny cracked about that. She was determined to correct her mistake and designed a robot army. Well, they helped. The zombies were beaten and the earth more spacey. And my granny was done. She shut her cats and herself out from everybody. Until she died. Until almost everyone died. To the day of the SZCRAs.
I opened with a scotch game and, to show a little halfhearted humor, I took a sip from a bottle of whiskey I have never far from me. Water is rare out here. Luckily whiskey isn't. I brought plenty.
"Ha, the first time this week you made the joke, boy! You in a good mood?"
"As I said, I have a feeling..."
And then I saw it. First a flash. Then the portal opened. The SZCRAs found us. Somehow, I was glad it was over.
As my thoughts finished and I settled for a last sip of whiskey, I heard my father say "Check mate, kiddo."



     
Space-Zombie Cat-Robot Automaton (definitly no living organism)
attacking out of the portal  8)

[Armageddon]

    ~A ship in space~

I don't have a story to go with this, But I do have a fear. I'm terrified of the ocean, the feeling of not knowing what could be below you in deep water. I am also afraid of space for the same reason, but in space it's worse. So a ship in space.

I'm afraid of the ocean too.

[AnasAbdin]

@mukk: welcome aboard the competitions threads! This is my first coloring ball after winning the previous (first entry for me) as well! I wish you the best.

I scrolled down your post making sure I don't see the sprite until I finish reading your story! At first I thought that SZCRA was a Hungarian inside joke! That was brilliant! Don't you worry about your cat being close to a living organism, I love pushing the limits and maneuvering around the rules...

I'm really happy with the sprites layered over a space background  8)

[Kimbra]

When I was young, my mom was so good in making me afraid of stuff. "Kimbo don't touch this..." "No Kimbo DON'T drink that!..." The items I was banned to be near grew in my mind along with me.

"I hate this game." I said to myself and quit BattleChess3129^TM. I got on the treadmill to exercise a little but a flashing red button went off. Yep. It's the local radar trying to tell me something. A message: "Unidentified Object Approaching". As I looked into the monitor, everything came to me like a flashback. It was everything mom used to ban me from interacting with.


an Electrical plug, a Hammer, a cleaver, 'keep away from children' products... and poop! All piled up together and staring at me.

[AnasAbdin]

an Electrical plug, a Hammer, a cleaver, 'keep away from children' products... and poop! All piled up together and staring at me.

:o Poop!!!!! LOL! don't touch that! didn't you learn to use a stick??

[Tabata]

One day I was cruisin' through space without a specific goal when I got an audio-transmittion tellin' me:

“Welcome, dear space adventurer!

Searchin' for some fun?
Lean back and enjoy the ride!”

Listening to this lasted long enough for to hook my ship.
It changed direction until my new destination appeared on screen,
followed by an other audio-transmittion:

“Come in and find out!”

                               x 2


There was nothing I could do now - just face it!
... during my ship was drawn slowly into the mouth of what ever it was -  like becoming a ghost train ...

                 

I never found out, what really happened in there ... simply woke up the next day in my ship, which was drifting in space as if it all had been a dream ... but my hair became grey overnight.

Note:
Remember those ghost trains in amusementparks (like in Delaware St. John's Seacliff Tragedy)?  It's meant to be something like this, but floating around in space   

[AnasAbdin]

@Tabata: I must admit I was running out of patience waiting for your entry  and yes you never fail to amaze me! That's so creative, VERY unexpected and scary  :o

come on AGSers... voting is getting closer!

[Tabata]

      -   I wasn't even sure by myself to “deliver” something this time because of missing an idea that fits in the theme until the weekend and since there are done nice entries with good ideas already, it did not bother me that much.

But to become greedy might be something like a “profession-disease"  -  Welcome to the club, Anas

     *            Come on members!                    *          *          *                           We all want to see more!               *          *          *                   Activate your phantasy and your pc and go, go, go for it    ...        *   *

[AnasAbdin]

When I see the sprites in this coloring ball, I can't stop being dazzled and surprised by the work of the human mind! These are the super entries for this coloring ball:

1.
Chicky's Broken Oxygen Mask with the emotional heart aching story

2.
Darius Poyer's Ship in Space and his two phobias

3.
Adrian's Interplanetary Signboard and the brilliant story behind it


4.
mukk's first competition entry: Space-Zombie Cat-Robot Automaton and the awesome story that could make a great Sci Fi AGS game introduction

5.
Kimbra's Electrical plug, Hammer, cleaver, 'keep away from children' products... and poop! All piled up with a childhood fear story

6.
Tabata's Ghost Train Entrance and the scary scenario from outer space


Vote by selecting the number next to the sprite you favor, remember it's one vote only.

[Tabata]

I would like to see all of them  floating around in space with such a lot of unexpected surprises

There are several ideas I like, but Darius' is the one, that is really well done and the most eyecatching for me
(even if it is colored outside the given shape ).

So my vote goes to Number 2

[TomatoesInTheHead]

Number 6, I really like the idea of a big ghost train cave entrance head floating in space, and the expression on its face is pretty.. expressive

[ZapZap]

I vote for 2, though I also liked 1 and 5...

[Adrian]

My vote goes to Number 1. And thanks to AnasAbdin for being a great host!  

[PassionatePatty]

No. 1 Broken Oxygen Mask