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Welcome!

I've been working on my latest game for a couple of months now and I feel it's time to post a little something here. Thus I proudly present: Menial - A Utopian Bagel Simulator!

A demo is available!
Here's a link for downloading the demo: https://wavey-games.itch.io/menial

This is a non-adventure game. I'd quickly describe Menial as a restaurant simulator and a visual novel, with some light point 'n' click puzzling in a comic pixel art style very much inspired by the NES.

More broadly Menial is a game about making bagels and living in the City State of Ineria, a fully automated utopia. You step into the shoes of Maria who's lifelong passion has been the (perhaps modest) art of making bagels. What does the following of your passion entail in a world of myriad possibilities? What pressures and attitudes must Maria endure from her surroundings? What is the utopian state of Ineria like and who lives there?

The gameplay is inspired by bartending simulators and visual novels like VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action and Coffee Talk. So you'll be making and serving bagels and meeting different characters with their own stories. After work you go home and you'll have a chance to spend money in a shop or go gambling! Currently I've made a robot race minigame where you can bet on three robots who race, but I'm hoping to make a blackjack simulator available too. The shop's been created but I need to put more items in it.  I'll also be adding into the mix some surreal minigames you can play by going to sleep while at home. I've made one dream thus far and it's quite horrific, but I don't want to spoil it.



Maria has to go through a morning routine each day, which involves light puzzling.

A shot from the Bagel Simulator 1.0 where you construct bagels for customers.

A guy talking about the world after having bagels.

A picture of Maria's recepy book.

I think a Status Report would be something along the lines of:

Graphics: 70% more or less
Story: 90% or less
Scripting: 70% more or less
Music and Sound: 33% or more

So the game is still in the very beginning of development and I'm going to take time with this project. My plan is to release a final version somewhere in early 2024. Do play the demo!

Haven't finished the game yet, but I have to say this game is incredibly well written. I'm really taken by Mara and her story. Plus there's tons of stuff to examine in each room and it's always carefully and inventively written. I find I'm looking the hell out of every room!  Soundtrack and animation is real impressive too. Excited to see it through to the end!

Lovely! Lots of impressive dialog in my opinion and while being playful it went really deep too. 

I didn't recognize the game Batman was playing but I think I saw a bunch of blue cups... It reminds me of something but it's kinda hazy.

This game made my night. Really weird and cool at the same time, teeming with references and nice little details.

Spoiler

The poem by Percy Shelley took me by suprise and it just worked so well with the opening scene art. I hadn't heard it before and I looked it up as soon as I finished playing.

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I don't know if you're gonna spend time honing this one, but I experienced a bug where there were two song playing at the end on top of each other and also

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when Nate was hanging on train I right clicked the train and Nate would stand in the air for a while saying a line of dialogue.

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[For Your Consideration]

For Your Consideration:

A little late, but still, I present: Shape Village

A game about a troubled village populated by geometric shapes and the fate of said village. A cosmic comedy with multiple outcomes.

Shape Village is a remote community of cute characters composed of basic geometry. Beyond the veil of cuteness is, however, a dysfunctional social structure of bullying, loan-sharking, crime and oligarchy. Can it be changed for the better? Or are there even more sinister evils at work behind the scenes of reality itself?





Please consider for:

• Best Game Created with AGS
  Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
  Best Writing
  Best Character (Robo)
  Best Gameplay
  Best Background Art
  Best Character Art
  Best Animation
  Best Music & Sound
  Best Programming

AGS Database: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2573-shape-village/
Download: https://wavey-games.itch.io/shape-village

Even though I like the game mechanics and have no problems playing it, I think i would have preferred visible hotspots to see what is clickable. I wasn't 100% sure that only what I could look at was interactive, and ended up walking up to objects a lot when I tried to interact with them. (That's the Sierra vs Lucasarts debate again, yeah.)

Yes! Took the time to make the GUI for this. I think the game plays better now. It was a chore to write all the descriptions for the hotspots from scratch so I'd been dragging out doing it.

Loved it! Not much I can add what hasn't been said already. I agree with the praise! I might add that the language fit the period real well and I enjoyed how you played around with the old English. I think that the story was so well written that a very difficult puzzle might have interrupted it too much, the easy puzzles paced it nicely. What luck that you came by such fitting music! The game was also just the right length for a cup of coffee. 

Yes! Happy to see that you took up playing this game too, I appreciate it, thanks!

If I still manage to make another adventure game I'm definitely learning to script that visible hotspot thing, that gives the name of the hotspot. I usually prefer it too in games.

Your theories about the story

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are correct. The Shape Monster will attack the village after ending 3 but this time with Coney by it's side, but I guess it's not strickly necessary for the universe, as Shape Monster will succeed also in ending 4 without Coney. I guess some of the endings became related to eachother this way and others exclude other endings. But these kinds of speculations are interesting so I don't really wanna step in and present some official, author certified, way of things!

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As for ending 2

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Your on the right track. It's propably just about the green puffs now. Two identical sets, hmm... 

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Spoiler

Tough luck, eh? 

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The way I see it: the story branches differently, on certain points, whether you choose to do a puzzle or not.

Spoiler

Indeed, if Coney gets arrested there's no longer need for the keys or helping Triangie in the cage.

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You villain!    No, really, thanks for playing! Are going to try and go for some of the other ones as well?

This is a good game, congratulations on releasing it!

The crashing is a bit bothersome, I tend to forget not to mix inventory items together. Also, this happened:

Spoiler

I tried to look at the antidote in the inventory and the game crashed. I think I accidentally made two antidotes.

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I've enjoyed the puzzles very much so far! And the mushrooms 

Thank you!

Shape Village is now released!

Welcome to a surreal point and click adventure in Shape Village!

Shape Village is a remote community of cute characters composed of basic geometry. Beyond the veil of cuteness is, however, a dysfunctional social structure of bullying, loan-sharking, crime and oligarchy. Can it be changed for the better? Or are there even more sinister evils at work behind the scenes of reality itself?

You enter the scene as Coney, a romantic and sensitive idler, whose daily sojourn is interrupted by a seemingly harmless error. This leads Coney to mix in events that are either disastrous or constructive to the future of the village.

You, as a player, will make choices that will dictate the path of Coney and Shape Village. That path will lead to one of four different endings in the game!

Spoiler

Will you forge abstract art for the powers that be? Will you side with an oppressed worker against creditors? Will you escape the law or surrender? How will you answer the question: 'Fuss the harbor rave itself'? Could society be improved, perhaps, through a drink? Such choices and more.

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Edit: Fixed a minor bug. It's now impossible to get infinite sheet music.

Update: Hotspot names are now displayed to lessen frustration! 

Here's a link for download: https://wavey-games.itch.io/shape-village
A link for the AGS database: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2573-shape-village

Hello there!

This is my second game now. The title is Shape Village.
Shape Village is populated by characters who are (consist of?) basic shapes. You play as Coney who is a local idler, a sensitive and romantic person. One day Coney gets involved in a series of events that will lead to different disastrous or constructive outcomes. There are four different endings to discover! Depending on choices. And in the meanwhile there is a village and it's population, with a problematic, oligarchic social structure, to get to know to.

Will you forge abstract art for a local big shot? Or perhaps side with a drunk worker against debtors? Such choices and many more!

This said, the tone of Shape Village is mostly quirky, comical and silly, but there're some heavy subjects like substance abuse and, oh dear, labor.

I began developing this game shortly after finishing my first game Fool Around. I had a many month long break from it during summer but got back to it in september. Now, I think it's nearly finished!

UPDATE 20.10: The title of the game is changed to Shape Village. It was an accident at first, because I manically drew 'Village' instead of 'Land' on the menu screen, but actually it's more accurate than Shapeland. The game is finished. I'll have someone try it before release. Oh, and the game will be using a custom font which isn't in the screenshots!

Have a look at the screenshots and feel free to comment!


Coney on the main square of Shape Village.

Outside the village at night.

In the hall of Forgys manor.

Forging a painting.

Just finished the game!

The story was very impressive and deep. The changes that occured as it progressed made a strange, a bit unreal atmosphere. The world and lore too was interesting.
I think the graphics were decent! Maybe the walking animation put me off a bit at first, because it felt clumsy, I guess, but then there were all these supporting animations like opening and closing a door, climbing a ladder and stuff like that, which gave a more polished feel.

The music and sound design were good when there were some. I only would've wished for more ambience or background music for the game, as it was terribly silent at times.

Congrats on making this game and thank you for the experience!

Thanks! Give it a go. 

Thanks for playing Kyriakos! Glad you liked it.

Hey! Sorry, I've totally missed this thread. Thanks heltenjon for messaging me.

Concerning the questions on loose ends and red herrings (a massive spoiler alert):

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From what I've gathered you've found all there is to the game!

The brandy isn't collectible.

The ghost behind the trees can't be interacted with. It's just spying on people because it's a spooky aristocrat.

The music machine in the tower has no bearing on the game, it's just for fooling around.

The observatory door can't be opened and there's nothing to the statue.

The big golden ball can't be moved.

Playing records doesn't affect progressing the game in anyway. But they can be thought of as points yeah! 

The kitchen is for fun. I was experimenting with scaling in the AGS, it's a cool feature.

Only the glowing potato can be taken from the fridge.

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Once more, thanks for playing!

Congratulations on making this game!

I took a peak while it was in dev and not shortly after I got to play it. The art and animation are beautiful. The story plays like a novel. The gameplay is nice, simple and fluid.
This game is so sophisticated in atmosphere and cultural references.

Thank you for this game! 

Great, have fun with it!