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[Highland Spirit]

The winner of MAGGIES 2022 is......

Highland Spirit by GOC Games (aka ddavey1983)

Well done Davey. It is a fantastic game, and everyone should play it.

Runners up were:

2nd: The Potion Master by Kastchey and CaptainD
3rd: Saturday is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos


Thank you to everyone who made a game for MAGS in 2022. And thank you to everyone who played the games and voted, rated, commented, and otherwise got involved. You all rock.


Now it's time to decide the best of the best. The cream of the crop. The cherry on top, the icing on the cake, the toad in the hole... Now I'm just hungry.

It's time to cast your mind back to 2022 and vote for your favourite games among the winning MAGS monthly entries. There are 13 entries to choose from (as we had two winners in December's contest).

Voting is simple. Just choose your best three games in no particular order. The game with the most tallied votes will be the winner.

A few requests before we proceed.

1) Please try to have played as many of the games as possible (preferably all of them). If you really don't have time to play every game, some of them have videos you can watch instead (🎬)
2) Only one submission per person.
3) Please vote for games based on their own merits (visual, enjoyment, puzzles etc.). Don't just vote for your friend or fellow countryman's games.
4) You do NOT have to be logged into a Google account but you will be asked for your AGS forum name for verification purposes.


Click here to vote

The winner will be announced as part of the forthcoming AGS Awards ceremony.

Now, here are the games.
As always. Please let me know if I've missed anything.

	January Under the Sea Signal Lost by Brewton 🎬		February About Time Saturday is the Loneliest Night of the Week by newwaveburritos 🎬
	March The Fool Trickers by Elvis Tanner 🎬		April Globetrotting Unlicensed to Kill by GOC Games 🎬
	May Museum Another Museum by glurex 🎬		June Flight Flash McCoy by GOC Games 🎬
	July Masquerade The Will by lapsking 🎬		August Healing The Potion Master by Kastchey and CaptainD 🎬
	September Sometimes Evil Wins Siren by GOC Games 🎬		October Modern-Day Mythology Darkness and Denim by Ponch No video
	November Ghosts Highland Spirit by GOC Games 🎬		December One Big Room Alien Prison Escape by Bulbapuck 🎬
			December One Big Room Santa Quest by GOC Games 🎬

The result was tied. 4 votes a piece. Well done to both entrants, Bulbapuck and ddavey1983.

You'll both be contacted soon about coming up with a theme for February.

Thanks to everyone who participated in creating, playing and voting (and rating and commenting ).

> Well, if it's fancy where we're heading, put on the top hat and dance through the doorway Fred Astaire style to get a laugh from our sister.

+1

I have noticed that the link to the German forum on the Adventure-Treff site is outdated. Instead of https://www.adventure-treff.de/forum/viewforum.php?f=7 it is now simply https://www.adventure-treff.de/forum/7.

@ponitclickaddict , is it you, perhaps?

Ahh, mystery solved. The timings of their posts here correlates with their Youtube videos. Must be them.

[Highland Spirit]

I was searching for videos of MAGS winners to include with the details of the forthcoming MAGGIES award and I came across this YouTube account which must be one of you guys. Thanks to you, I have a video for Highland Spirit.

And thanks to Future Vintage Gaming I have a few more.

I noticed you have also played my Hen-Man: Origins. I am sorry for your loss of that five minutes 

Wordle 578 6/6*

🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Spoiler

ABOUT
PHASE
CHAIN
CHALK
CHARM
CHARD

[close]

I have never heard of this thing.

> Examine the black ashtray more closely under the torchlight.

(I'm suspicious as to why it's so clean and polished. Could it have been used as a weapon?)

How's it looking? Anyone got anything to declare?

You don't have to leave a comment

But please do consider leaving a comment, if you have time. It gives the developer a warm fuzzy feeling and encourages them to make more games.

We need some more votes, guys. There are still a good few days left.

[Alien Prison Escape]

Apologies for the delay folks.
It's time to vote for your favorite among the two entries for MAGS December.

Please vote using the poll above:

	Alien Prison Escape by Bulbapuck
	Santa Quest by GOC Games

I'll mention here that the voting for MAGGIES 2022^* will be held alongside the AGS Awards process as usual, and the winner will be announced as part of the Awards ceremony.

Expect a separate thread towards the end of this month, once December's winner is known.
^*What is MAGGIES? - Good question. It is the annual contest to choose the best of the best MAGS game from among the winning monthly entries. It is traditionally held separately from, but in tandem with, the AGS Awards.

Also in favour of 'torch', there is the issue that the invention and clever (or otherwise) naming of the Fleshlight, which has made the word 'flashlight' that much less attractive.

Last call for entries.

> Try looking behind the mirror if it's not screwed to the wall. If it is, use the multi tool to unscrew it.

[The Sea]

Theme: The Sea
Chosen by: ddavey1983
Deadline: January 31st

Calling all salty seadogs. This month your game must feature the briny deep, the great grey widow-maker.

The sea or ocean could be the setting, it could be an integral part of the plot, or it could just be in the background but it must be there somehow.





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.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Great to see a couple of entries already. If anyone else happens to be working on one, I should mention I'm away and probably won't be able to sort out the voting for a couple of days, so feel free to enjoy your New Year's Eve

"Torch" isn't such a dumb word. It may be an electric hand held lamp but it is a direct descendent of the old flame on a stick. Presumably when the light bulb was invented it wasn't long before somebody stuck one to a stick and used it in the same way they had previously been using a flame. They probably called it 'an electric torch' for a while to distinguish it from the flame version, but eventually the word 'electric' was dropped as they became ubiquitous.

I enjoyed Glass Onion too. A lot of the background stuff about Bangladesh etc. went a bit too quickly and quietly for me to process so I never would have had a shot at guessing all the motives and timelines. I almost wish it had been a book so that I might have had good go. But the solution ended up being quite satisfying and I'm looking forward to watching it again to catch more clues.

I did go back and rewatch the scene Snarky referred to and it is quite amazing. They pull off a moonwalking bear in a basketball game trick right in front of our eyes. I wonder how many people actually caught that.