AGS Bake Sale: Return of the Jedi

May the fifth be with you?

Yeah...no, not a good one. But the new AGS bakesale seems yummy, and that's a pun intended. With creators Ponch, Radiant, Tzachs and Baron. So, who gets the money? The AGS Server does. So it's money for the community and you get to play games. I'm not very good when it comes to promoting things I like, so I will just copy Ghost's beautiful handwriting from his web, and pretend I wrote it.

I do have to say that I love finding excuses to use the downtime label on this very blog, so, without further irrelevant stuff, Ghost's writeup on the AGS BakeSale II

2034 AC 2 by Ponch
Some time ago Ponch made a fun little "Canada after the Apocalypse" game starring brave, cute and dangerously media-aware Mountaineer Paige. AC 2 seems to be a follow-up and once more features Paige, Canada and a load of fourth-wall shattering lines.

BEER! by Radiant (of Crystal Shard)
A mixture of minigames and that bubbly stuff called "liquid bread" here in Germany. From the description it sounds like a tongue-in-cheek WarioWare "microgames" affair. We all know Radiant for coming up with highly creative coding and this title may have quite a few surprises in store.

Blue Lobe Inc by Baron
Described as "game, visual novel, and interactive comic" BlueLobe is a fundraiser indy game about... some guys launching an indie game company. If the concept doesn't hook you, it's also fully voiced and it has trendy cartoon speech bubbles.

That Damn Dog by tzachs (of Parking Goat)
In a "playable sitcom", one frustrated man faces one annoying dog. May or may not have a laugh track!

So there they are, four games ready to be yours. The minimum amount you have to pay is 1 dollar, which covers the transaction costs. But the sky is the limit- if you're feeling generous or just think the forum bill could use some of your money, just give what you like.

A little extra is the "bonus content"- if you pay over the (regularly calculated) average you'll get some goodies from the authors, mostly art, wallpapers, soundtracks and whatever they saw fit to put into the mystery bonus bundle.


So check out the site:

http://bluecupbakesale.com/

How I found AGS and why I am still using it: Part II - Oldschool Wolf

One of the most promising newbies that have emerged and bloomed this year, shares his story.



The year was 2008, I don't recall how I stumbled across AGS, I remember being amazed that I could make my own games so easily. I had a bit of an advantage because I knew the basics of programming from when I attended Sixth form. Rather than working on the actual course work in class I'd make simple games in Visual Basic.

My first AGS project would involve a photograph of a Wolf's head, and EGO. The background was a stock Windows XP desktop photograph, the only item to pick up was the good old big blue cup.
Of course it was garbage, I'd never dream of submitting it for the masses, but I learned stuff! 

My second project would involve 2 playable characters named Fresco and Hogg, two badly animated jumbles of vectors made in a cracked version of Anime Studio Pro. I didn't get very far, just two men that shuffled/stumbled across the screen like drunken pensioners. This project never saw the light of day, but I learned stuff! 2009 I would join the forum. I might have asked a question or two, I did not participate in the community side of things. Looking back I don't think I really knew much about it, I didn't make the effort to find out.

My third project was about an Alien that crash lands on a strange world.



I got a bit further with this one, this was the first project I would show to the community. This was the first game that showed promise, the animation and character design was better than my previous effort. Although I learned stuff, for whatever reason this project was never finished. When I discovered Game Maker, I dropped off the face of the AGS forum. I had a lot of fun with Game Maker, I still do. But I could never complete a project, I must have started and abandoned a hundred projects! But damn it, I learned stuff!

Mid 2012: A bit disallusioned with myself for not being able to finish a project, I stumble across some old AGS project files. I laugh, I ponder... I check the AGS website. I discover that there's been new versions since I last checked, I find a little community project known as Reality on the Norm.

Jan 2013 I finish and release my first game RON: Reality Check. The buzz I got was amazing, a combination of nervousness, elation, and pride. It didn't make any big waves but people seemed to enjoy it. Ponch sent me an encouraging PM to me about how he enjoyed the game, this message was the reason I started fully participating in the AGS community. I've been a member of a few forums, but I found the AGS community forums to be the most welcoming, interesting, and fun to hang around. I may not post as much as other people, I only have a few hundred posts, but I do read almost everything that other people submit.

Fuelled by encouragement, in quick succession I would release parts 2 and 3 of the Reality Check series. I'll admit I found the buzz that builds up close to a project release, addictive. After three projects I'd shot my load. They were short games, but they still took a lot of work. I'd make a few sprites, do a couple of projects outside of AGS. But I wouldn't finish anything! I would long for that buzz again! Then I met Adeel, he'd gave me some positive comments. I offered to help him with a project which became the MAGS August 2013 winner (we were the only entrants though ) The game had it's flaws, but I'll admit working on a project with someone else was a fun experience. I went back to being disillusioned and unmotivated to do any game development. I took a step back from AGS, I have a son that will be two years old in a few months. I have priorities.

Recently I've started working on a RON RPG, It may not amount to anything, but I'm taking it slow, enjoying myself. I currently do not have Adventure Game Studio installed on my computer, but I'm still hanging around for the community, and one day I'm sure I'll have another point and click adventure in me!

Deck the Barn Runner with BETRAYAL

Its finally happened, the cow has flipped and gone to the dark side. The new Barn Runner game is made with (cover your ears, kiddies) GameMaker and not AGS.

In other game release news: GO GREY!

'Pooky!

I see dead blogs! They don't know they're dead. They're everywhere!

If you want to dress up as your AGS role model (like the guy on the right) for evil pagan festivals that's fine. Or you may prefer to write a scary story and submit it to the writing contest!

It's the bundle time of the year.

Well, let's face it, we all secretly adore that trend that took over the forums during 2010. A random combination of words, approved by ddq, and created by Snake was taken over by Ben304 and into a game, that created a RON-like universe.

So Ponch, a mastermind behind bundles (or so I keep hearing), has decided to force me to finish my paper and also has forced two other forumites to make a 3-game bundle.

The Oceanhumble Dennisbundle

GET IT BY CLICKING ON THE RED

First up, Ghost serves up a peek into Dennis' childhood:

1. THE SHINDIG OF DENNIS

Then Ponch kills some time with Ray in The City:

2. A TASTE OF MAN CAKE

And finally Ben304 takes us to strange new places:

3. LOL, OCEANSPIRIT DENNIS

AGS Bake Sale: Let's Play

I've been absent for a longer while, and some news apparent piled up. I hope the apology is accepted with a list of links leading to all the let's plays done by WHAM and the author of the games. Having watched several of them, I suggest you do so.

Zombie Attack (With Commentary By ShiverMeSideways)

Indiana Rodent (With Commentary By Radiant)

9 Months In (With Commentary By Tzachs and Noavana)

Falling Skywards (With Commentary By Ben 304)

The Rail (With Commentary By Technocrat)

BCPI: In Search Of The Sweets Tin (With Commentary By Grundislav)

RAM Ghost (With Commentary By Ghost)

Escape The Barn (With Commentary By Cat)

Barn Runner (With Commentary By Ponch)

In case the let's plays got you somewhat pumped feel free to pump yourself by donating some buckazoids to purchase the bundle. Go here and live a wonderful life. Also the wonderful soundtrack of Falling Skywards, is here.

YOU MAY SUPPORT QPTAIN_NEMO

Competition is teh over. Results.

The competition for winning a copy of Earl Bobby, is done. So according to the majestic, Peder Johnsen, all 3 of you have won a copy. Tube, Tabata and Ponch. You will receive a pm by some unknown stranger.

Check your AGS forums PMs, I guess.

Interview BakeSale: Tenacious Stu

Tonight with us, a perhaps less known forumite, yet a very active one. Tenacious Stu, ladies and gentlemen.
His game, Entrapment , also previewed in the AdventureX, happens to be part of this bake sale.

An early prototype of Entrapment

GO TO THE GAME TOPIC

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

I've been a member of the Adventure Game Studio forums since 2007. Although I don’t really post much, I check them often. I had been preparing Entrapment for release, when the AGS Bake Sale was announced. I think it was originally around 12 games by 12 prominent AGS members (The Bakers Dozen), but as soon as it was announced a lot of AGS game-makers wanted to get involved, myself included. I though about holding back from offering Entrapment for fears of the Bake Sale becoming overwhelmed with games, but I was encouraged to include it and I’m glad I did. The original plan was to raise money for new servers for the forums as they unfortunately experience a little downtime, but when the plan changed to give the money raised to charity, I was all the more keen to be involved. I was given the opportunity to have a game bundled with the games of people that I deeply respect and admire and that have been a real inspiration to me as an adventure game maker. I simply couldn’t miss this chance to be involved.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

The idea for Entrapment came to me in 2010 when I had to come up with and make a game for my final project at University when I was studying Computer Game Design. I wanted to create a short game, which took place in a confined environment. I chose to set it in a hotel room and the aim of the game was to escape. It was the story that I spent most of my time thinking about. I’m a big fan of Crime/Thriller/Drama films and you can see a lot from some of my favourite films in the game. Sin City, Fight Club a Saw are just some of the films that inspired the story for this game.

The story centers on Sam Drake who one day received a letter in the mail. All the letter says is “I will frame you for murder”. At first he thinks nothing of it, just some kids playing a prank. But, shortly afterwards he wakes up in a daze, in a strange motel, with memory-loss from the night before. He looks around and is shaken to see the corpse of a young female on the floor of the room.

Luckily, he leaves the motel and escapes the police and hopes that the killer will leave him alone after his failed attempt. However, it happens again and again, in different hotels, with different girls until this time it won’t be so easy to escape.

Play as Sam Drake as he attempts to escape the Hotel Dent and find out who is trying to frame him for these murders. The gameplay is point and click with a few puzzles and complex narrative. It will fill 40 minutes of your life with thrilling adventure. One of the best things about the game is the music. It’s a chilling sound track by composer Brian Carnrike and I’m extremely pleased with his work.

The game looks a little better now

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I’m 22 and from a town called Hull in Yorkshire, England.

My first console was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which my parents boughr from my Brother-In-Law. All he had was ‘boring’ sports games, so I went to the game shop and bought Super Mario All Stars with my pocket money. After I booted up the game and started playing Super Mario Bros I instantly fell in love with computer games and thought to myself “This is it, this is what I want to do with my life”. A little sad, I know, but it’s ture.

Since then I’ve been designing games, from little daft drawings as a kid, to detailed Game Design Documents as I got older. When I was around 17 I discovered Adventure Game Studio and I spent a few months creating a game called. ‘The Advnetures of Turquoise Macdonanld’, the game was even worse than the title. I had a gap from AGS after that and got back into it when I went back to University and began playing games made with the AGS for research. I played the Chzo Mythos by Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw which is a fantastic series and anything bu Ben “304” Chandler is brilliant (Go and play his Bake Sale game, Falling Skywards) and after playing a few shorter games made with AGS, I realized that an adventure game didn’t have to have an epic length tobe enjoyable, which is when I decided to make Entrapment.

Interview BakeSale: Bill Garrett

Tonight, we feature poc301 or Bill Garrett. You must of course be aware that lately the articles quality has increased. And I'm still writing the same crap.

GO TO THE GAME TOPIC

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

It was Neil, my artist's suggestion. He saw the thread on it and pitched the idea that we do a game for the sale. We had just finished Murran 3 and had only begun some very early work on Murran 4, so it was the perfect time to begin. We weren't stopping any real momentum on a current game.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

Abner the Amazing is about a boistrous, obnoxious and self aggrandizing warrior who is thrust into a devilish task. It seems some nefarious person or persons stole all the color from the world. Abner must discover who stole the colors, where they took them, why they took them, and then get them back. Along his quest he meets a thief and a mage who join him in his quest. The three characters are playable by switching between them at any time. Each has his own special ability they can perform. The game uses a 2-click interface, looking and using (which includes talking, special abilities, or manipulating items). The real goal for the game should have been to get through it without wanting to stab a screwdriver through your computer monitor into Abner to keep him from talking about how amazing he is the entire time.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I'm in my early 30s, work in the IT industry, live in Maryland, USA and am married. Neil, the character artist and musician for the game is a professional art teacher living in West Virginia, USA. He is around the same age as me, and we've both been playing games since the early 80s when we were young children. I discovered the Sierra and then Lucasarts games, and fell in love with the adventure genre. I found the AGS engine in 2004 or so, and have been tinkering ever since. My first game was Murran Chronicles 1, which came out in 2009. It was more a learning experience than anything else really. Episode 2 came out a few months later, and was a bit more developed, complex, or what have you. Murran 3 took a lot longer to make, and this was where Neil came on board. His character art with my more careful scripting, background art and just overall better attention to detail made the game over 2 years in development, but it came out right before the Bake Sale. I guess it boils down to Neil and I getting into game making because we're both big fans of the genre and are a bit creative at heart. I think if you asked anyone who makes games, those would be big reasons for them to do so.

Interview BakeSale: Tzachs Shabtay

Tonight, we feature none other than Tzachs. A fantastic guy runner up for last years OROW with Office Shenanigans, went to Mittens with his lovely fiancee Noa, and know made a game, along with his fiancee doing the character art and gameboy doing the background art.

GO TO THE GAME TOPIC

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

Well, I was minding my own business, reading through the forums and engaging
in pleasant discussions. And then the forums went down...

A few days later I heard scratching noises from outside my apartment. I opened the door and saw a small envelope. Inside it there was only a picture of a cow's silhouette.

Yada yada yada, and then I was recruited for the Bake Sale!

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).


I have a bunch of ideas just sitting and waiting to be created. This game wasn't one of them. The thing is, I felt that what my previous games lacked the most was a compelling atmosphere. So I wanted a game which gave me the option to practice on that.At the same time I was also watching the "Extra Credits" game design shows
(which if you haven't seen, I recommend it!), and there was an episode there mentioning how few games actually had a complete woman character, that wasn't just your stereotypical princess in distress, badass Angelina
Jolie, or just a dumb blond. That inspired me to have a female heroine which has some complexity in her.
Then I thought, there are a few female characters in games, but there are even fewer pregnant females in games, and zero pregnant females in prison. Bingo! That's my game, a pregnant female, an atmospheric prison,
and let's toss in murder, because that's always fun.The basic story was created around that. Then I saw on the forums that gameboy (which I loved his artwork, just take a look at his upcoming game Roadworks)
was offering his help, and I snatched him quickly before anyone else would. My extremely talented fiancee Noa volunteered to provide the character art, and that's how work on the game started.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I think I first wanted to create games when my parents got me my first computer. I was maybe 6 years old at the time, and it came with three games in wonderful CGA graphics. It had Digger, Space Invaders and a third game which I don't remember its name, it was about a bartender serving drinks to people. I remember thinking that there are so many other games that can be created, and my mind was set.A few years later, I learned some QBasic and after I got acquainted with the adventure games format (by playing Leisure Suit Larry secretly with
my friends because we heard that there was some pixelated goodness inside it), I wrote some text adventures, which basically were my first games ever.

As a teenager I wanted to make a graphic adventure game, and I vaguely remember being at my aunt's house (she had internet!) and seeing a somewhat old version of an adventure game engine (I think it was AGS, but who knows), I tried to use it a bit, but it was complicated and I didn't pursue it further. Later on I studied computers in the university, went to army, finished it after 3 exhausting years, started working in software, and left my game creation desires neglected in the corner of the room.

Two years after that, my company went out of business, and while I was searching for a new job, I had two months with some time on my hands, I decided to try again to create an adventure game, found AGS and the rest is history.

Oh, and then the forums went down. ;)

AGS BAKE SALE HAS STARTED!

Announcing:

The Official Bake Sale Bundle Website
( www . AGSBakeSale . com )

The Bake Sale is up. Go ahead, bring some good karma to yourself.

Interview BakeSale: Ghost

Tonight, we feature none other than Ghost. We usually feature his articles, as they are ever-interesting, but tonight we thought, we'd give some webspace to the man himself, as he deserves it. The famous author of Once Upon A Crime, is also part of this Bake Sale.

GO TO THE GAME TOPIC

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

I got a PM from Ponch asking if I would be interested in joining a fundraising project to benefit AGS, and I couldn't say no. For two reasons: First, he referred to that future group as AGS superstars. Everybody wants to be a superstar. And second, I'm a forum member since 2003, and have used AGS for a very long time without ever paying for it. So it sounded like a great way to do what I like (making games) and doing some good at the same time. And seriously, there has never been anything like that; it's always thrilling to be part of something new!

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

RAM Ghost is a "casual simulation" where there are tiny ghosts living in our computers. The player adopts such a ghost, builds it a house and interact with it in several ways. RAM Ghost is heavily inspired by "Little Computer People", which had a very similar premise, and there's a generous helping of "Tamagotchi", too.

So RAM Ghost is a homage to these simple fishtank games. I wanted to see if AGS was up to it, and it defenitely is. The ghost's "personality" is randomly generated, and the house comes with a large set of furniture and decoration, too, so there's a lot of things to try out. You can set your own goals- do you want to build a beautiful house? You can do that. Do you just want to see what happens when you stuff your ghost with cheap foodf? You can do that too. There's a small story, too... but I'll leave that for players to discover

RAM Ghost is my first AGS project that isn't even remotely a classic adventure. I was curious to see if the old toolkit would be up to the task, and yes, it is. I had to learn a couple of new tricks, though- the game relies on a lot of data being saved in a way that isn't covered by the build-in commands, for example. It was always interesting to create workarounds for that, but also quite a challenge.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I'm your average 36-year old German, slightly-older-than-average video game fan. The first game I played was PacMan on the Atari, and that was pretty amazing back then. My computer days started with a 086 PC, and somewhat later I upgraded to a 486 33DX- that was bleeding edge hi-tech stuff back in the days, capable of running Windows 3.1! We would sit at it all night puzzling over Lemmings and playing Wishbringer and Zork (and later Monkey Island).

Back then it was pretty much impossible to "make your own games" without learning a programming language; there were few toolkits around. So we started to dabble in Basic and later Turbo Pascal, and a friend helped me getting a simple parser together that powered one very silly text adventure. But I never really got the hang of it, and simply enjoyed PLAYING my games. Adventures and CRPG initially, and later a craze for jump-and-runs and shooters started.

And all of a sudden games came with editors, actual map editors! You could make your own stuff! Amazing! And then the internet evolved from an elite network for a chosen few to something everyone could jump right in, and... well, the exiting times started, and all of a sudden these "game creators" popped up like mushrooms after the rain.I tested several of these game makers, from the (now infamous) Klik'n'Play, RPG Maker and what-have-you. But either they were very limited in terms of genre and customization, or they were overly complicated, or both. I'm basically a storyteller, and the genre that would suit me best would have been adventure games, but apparently the only thing that could make decent ones was Inform. And Inform was basically a programming language in disguise.

But the urge to make a game grew. There is something deeply satisfying in having a video game react to you. I like "fishtank" games where you can just sit back and watch stuff happening for a while- the original "Settlers", "Creatures", "Sims" and "Viva Pinata", for example. And adding a narrative to that and create a world, a story, something for a player to discover- I wanted to do that. And then I found AGS. At that time it was at version 2.5something, but it was already very awesome- it was completely customizeable, it was charmingly simple to use. I started dabbling and never stopped.

Adventure games really turned out to be "my genre" when it came to game-making. I still haven't made very many, but I'm enjoying it a lot. I've also finally managed to get the hang of C# and hope to make a neat little RogueLike some day. Apart from that it's safe to mention that I'm a considerably skilled cook, and I once won the "German Moorhuhn Masters". Yes, I am that old.

Interview BakeSale: Ponch

Tonight with us we feature one of the key factors to the AGS Bake Sale. A man whose games are masterpieces only to the lucky devils that gave them that chance. No, it's not Ron Gilbert. It's a bigger man. PONCH. Famous for his fantastic series, Barn Runner, now brings a new installment under the wings of the bake sale. This time is for the kids.

GO TO THE GAME TOPIC

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

I joined up when I asked myself "Ponch, do you think it would be a good idea to have a bake sale? You should totally do that." It found it hard to disagree with such a well-reasoned argument and thus I joined the bake sale.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

I've made over a dozen Barn Runner games. So I asked myself "What harm could come from one more?" As before, I couldn't say no to such a pretty face.

The Rich Dame Who Cut The Cheese is a standard whodunnit which was originally going to take place after the events of The Forever Friday. But since that story is still ongoing, I tweaked it a bit to take place shortly after Christmas Soup instead. This gave me the opportunity to work Mayor DuChamp into a game again. She's one of those characters I like to write for, but rarely find a place for when I make a new game. Also, I was able to introduce several new characters into the Barn Runner world, as well as showing established characters in new ways. I hope people like playing it even half as much as I enjoyed making it.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I'm just a goofball living in Texas who wanted a forum that didn't crash every time CJ forgot to turn the hand crank that powers the server. When that idea didn't work out, I spend several days pulling my hair out and getting a head start on an early grave until we decided that Child's Play was the way to go.

I've been making games since I learned how to in the pages of RUN magazine. I have a tiny replica of Micheal Keaton's Batmobile on top of my DVD player and my favorite cheese is cheddar. I'm still not over the heartbreak that was Galactica: 1980. Chris Eccleston is my favorite Doctor. I made an omelet for breakfast. It had mushrooms in it. I like cows.

Interview BakeSale: Grundislav

Today we feature Grundislav, the creator of Ben Jordan: Paranormal Stud Series, and of course the ultra-spicy Backdoor Man. He joined the bake sale with his controversial game, about an Australian Tycoon (or so I've been informed), Ben Chandler, Paranormal Investigator - In Search of the Sweets Tin.

GO TO THE TOPIC OF THE GAME
Thanks to Edmundito for spoting a mistake with the link.

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

Ponch and Ben304 both asked me. By "asked" I of course mean they offered me women, wine, and questionable naughty favors. How could I resist?

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

My game is about loss, betrayal, friendship, and sheep wrestling. It is also a silly comedy full of dumb in-jokes that few will understand, but hopefully will make everyone laugh. The concept was suggested to me by everyone's favorite wood elf, CalinLeafshade, who said I should make a game called "Ben Chandler Paranormal Investigator." Since the real Ben Chandler has a sweets tin which he holds very dear, it seemed only natural to make this the MacGuffin of my silly game.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I am Grundislav. Hello. I have made several games over the years, but quite frankly, they all pale in comparison to this latest masterpiece. In fact, I feel I may never be able to make anything as good as this again and will probably retire from game-making altogether. Sorry, folks!*

*this is not true...OR IS IT?

Interview BakeSale: Radiant

Today we feature nobody short of famous and incredible, Radiant, the creator of the Tale of Two Kingdoms. He has too joined the bake sale with his game Indiana Rodent: Raiders of the Lost Cheese. A platforming game with amazingly fluent controls.

GET THE ONE-LEVEL DEMO

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

As soon as the first announcement was made, I thought that designing a game for charity would be a great idea; so I contacted the organizer (Ponch) and volunteered.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

My game is a platform game, because I like trying unusual things in AGS, such as using real-time character movement or in this case using it for a whole other genre of gaming. I've had the idea of doing this for over a year; back in August I first found the time to actually do it. The basic coding took about a week; refining it, designing more levels, and tweaking the difficulty level took some more time.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I'm from the Netherlands, and have been designing games since I was twelve. Admittedly the first few weren't so good, but when I was a student I managed to get my first real game picked up and released by a commercial studio. I've since turned to freeware instead, because I prefer making games as a hobby than as a job.

Bake Sale Games Announced

From the executive cow producer of the Bake Sale:

That's right! Against all odds, we, the unbearably sexy members of the mysterious Baker's Dozen, have delivered the thirteen morsels of gaming goodness we pledged to deliver (plus one more, because thirteen is unlucky).

There will be more info on the 20th day of January.

List of games follows:

9 Months In
by Tzachs, Noavana, and gameboy

Abner The Amazing
by poc301 and LocutusOfBored

Barn Runner: The Rich Dame Who Cut The Cheese
by Ponch

Ben Chandler, Paranormal Investigator - In Search Of The Sweets Tin
by Grundislav

Entrapment
by Tenacious Stu

Escape The Barn
by Cat

Falling Skyward
by ThreeOhFour

Fragment
by Kaputtnik and ThreeOhFour

Indiana Rodent and the Raiders Of The Lost Cheese
by Radiant

The Rail
by Technocrat

RAM Ghost
by Ghost

Red Volition
by Hofmeier

Retina
by Dualnames

Zombie Attack
by ShiverMeSideways

AGS BakeSale: 5 Days To Go

Announcing:

The Official Bake Sale Bundle Website
( www . AGSBakeSale . com )


Tell your friends, spread the word, let the world know the Bake Sale is on its way!!

Interview BakeSale: Ben304

Tonight we feature the amazingly talented Ben304.

While the conspiracy theories behind the number in his nickname, grow, Ben304 has made another gem-to-be, named FALLING SKYWARDS. And along with it comes a screenie to hook you with it.


1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

Because when Ponch asked me, I was looking for a project that I could do in a few months, and it seemed something new and exciting to me as a developer, a chance to join with other developers I admire to each contribute a bit to one large project and raise some money for a good cause at the same time.

When he first mentioned it to me, it was just a couple of us talking about it, but we soon recruited more bakers for our ranks and the project really took off. Despite all the stumbles, it feels great to see all the amazing games that've been cooked up.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

The game I developed for the Bake Sale is Falling Skywards. It came about after I had played quite a bit of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, and as a fan of all the Fallout games I thought it would be nice to try and do a post-catastrophic setting that was a little more fantastical - which explains the floating pieces of land - and focus more on memories of the old world than mutants and things. During the development I played, finished and loved Bastion, and the "platforms in the air" setting is quite similar (although I started playing Bastion after I started making FS, so it wasn't really a huge inspiration), but it definitely helped me think about the idea of isolation and memories of an old world.

I don't think I could really pinpoint what the game is about if I tried, it really took life as I built it and evolved into the finished game, rather than me having a totally clear vision and putting it together according to that. Hopefully it will still be satisfying and cohesive to players. Perhaps people will think it's Lode with new graphics, haha.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I got into game design because I used to spend more time thinking about how I wish games were than I did actually playing them. Now I can't stop because my head is filled with ideas and they just keep coming. I'm a laborer, part time musician and make games with every chance I get. That's enough to keep anybody busy. (If you want to learn more about me, play Grundislav's Bake Sale game, it's 304% accurate).

<3 Ben (That probably wasn't intended to be part of the interview, but oh well)

Interview BakeSale: Technocrat

Tonight's show features an amazing man and an amazing game. I've had the luck to give it a try, and yes, it's fantastic. While many wonder where is Technobabylon's latest installment, Technocrat / James Dearden, comes with another short, but yet fast paced and enriched game.

THE RAIL

The game was originally showcased in AdventureX 2012.

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

I got in a bit late - I first saw it on the forums a few days after it had been floated, and volunteered to make something for it. In fact, it spurred me into production of a quick game for it. I now know I can finish a project like this within a one-month schedule. At first it seemed like it was getting a bit too crowded, so I pulled out voluntarily, and then after others had announced that they'd be unable to finish in time, I decided to put it back in again!

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

It's essentially the story of someone completely unqualified for the situation they're in, both in terms of what they're supposed to do and what situations arise. Essentially Viktor, the protagonist, finds his cargo train hijacked by terrorists - and if he can't find his way off, he's going to end up an unwitting suicide bomber. Much like other games I make, it's kind of a fusion of three or four separate ideas, most of which I get through seizure-induced hallucinations. I wanted to do something on a train, I love sci-fi, and the transplanetary track that it's set on gives it an uncomfortable isolation.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I've been making games since 1996 thanks to Klik and Play, but mostly ghastly and lazy attempts - "Stonehenge Racing and Gardening" and "Nancy the Happy Whore and the Pirates of the Third Reich" didn't quite take off, but in the last couple of years I've started to make things with a better approach. Ideally, I'd like to be able to start selling games, possibly even Technobabylon, but I'm seized by different urges so often, I've no idea when that'll come to pass. Probably when I don't have to worry about money!

Interview BakeSale: ShiverMeSideways

Made especially for the 2012 AGS Bake Sale!

Zombie Attack is a top-down shoot 'em up inspired by '90s video games like Doom. The player must navigate treacherous levels, kill hordes of monsters and finally, defeat Satan and stop him from taking over Earth!

And today, we have ShiverMeSideways, for a couple of questions.

1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

I joined the Bake Sale after a few days of it being announced publicly, on October the 23rd-24th, so I wasn't one of the "originals," but I was really keen on the idea because I had been a member of the forums for years and have never done a proper game. Sure, I've made short things which could be classified, if you're really lax about the term, games, but have never contributed something worthwhile to the community. So, the prospect of actually making a game AND doing it for charity was very appealing to me.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

Zombie Attack is a top-down shoot 'em up with a retro atmosphere, mainly inspired by games of the '90s. The main story of the game is very basic: the forces of evil are taking over Earth, you need to go to hell and defeat Satan and his minions in order to save mankind. Along the way, there are 12 weapons to collect and use, ranging from standard pistol, shotgun, to chainsaw, plasma rifles and exotic weaponry. There are also a lot of special items which you can pick up and use, like the "Avarice" one, which generates money, or passive upgrades like the health bonuses. You'll travel across three locations, one for each episode, and each one has its own set of monsters and bosses. Each level has 3 bosses from which it randomnly (but based on difficulty) chooses one for you to face at the end of the level.

At the time of the start of the Bake Sale, I was really into making non-adventure games, and had been developing an RPG called AGSCrawl. I was also playing a lot a game called The Binding of Isaac by Edmund McMillen. So, I know I wanted to make a game that was relatively simple and pretty "action-y". That's the basis for everything in the game, really: simplicity. That, and all the games I used to play as a child: DOOM, Blood, ZZT, Quake, etc. In fact, Zombie Attack is an idea that's about 8 years-old if not more, back when I used to program in Turbo Pascal. At the time, I wanted to make a text-mode shooter inspired by Duke Nukem, with a versatile editor.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

Well, I'm a 20 year-old Romanian, so basically your typical child of '90s, really. When I was very little (like 1st grade or something), my older brother, who was really into programming, let me play games on an old HC 85 machine, one of those old computers you had to use tapes for and plug it into the TV. After a while, he taught me how to write small programs in basic. I naturally gravitated towards wanting to make games, but I was really sad that every time you'd turn off the machine, the program would disappear, 'cos we couldn't save. But I still loved to play the games, and to do small game mechanics each day - for example, one day I'd make a bullet flying across the screen, the next, a dude walking around, etc.

Later, my mum brought home from work a 286 PC, and there I played my first "love/obsession" games, Death Track and Golden Axe, I still hum their soundtracks and I think a lot of the fact that I need glasses at the moment is due to that Hercules monitor. My brother later upgraded it to a 386, put in a colour monitor and oh my word, Dune II, DOOM, Transport Tycoon, Sim City, Volfied, Lotus - the Ultimate Challenge, The Settlers, and, most importantly, QBasic. This was around 4th-5th grade, I think, I can't really remember. And that's when I started developing a lot of ideas for games. Soon, I'd go to a small computer class centred around Turbo Pascal and I immediately started working in that, with my brother giving me little boosts like showing me how to put in mouse control and how to use it, how to use the graphic mode and so on. It is in this period where my older ideas started to really take shape, games like Zombie Attack, Bomber Planes, Cyb City, Industrial Revelations and the like - what I did was basically to take ideas from games that I really liked and try and change them and combine them to make something that was mine.

As time went on, I got a 486, which allowed me to play FPSes like Duke Nukem, Blood, and Quake, and even a Pentium I, where I discovered the demo of StarCraft and, since the only other strategy games I'd played were Dune II and WarCraft (the first one), oh my, was my mind blown. We got internet in-between in the summer of 2006, 8th and 9th grade, and that's when I joined the forums and discovered adventure games: Monkey Island 1 and 2, Beneath a Steel Sky (my favourite), the Chzo Mythos-series, Broken Sword, Rob Blanc etc. I only really got into "modern" gaming in 2007, when my parents got me a proper computer, which today is soooo outdated, but hey, I played a lot of games on it and really got my "gamer culture" updated.

After discovering AGS, I really can't go to any other game-making utility. I've become so used to it, that anything that doesn't use its scripting syntax, or its IDE, or its general way of doing things, is completely unusable to me. That's why I prefer using an adventure game-making program to make non-adventure games. That, and the fact that I'm really not good at artwork, or puzzles, or a coherent, adventure game storyline. So, I prefer to work on designing and programming, hopefully interesting, gameplay. That, and I like to see how far I can take the engine. Lord knows, I'm not a trailblazer here, a lot of very talented AGSers have used and abused to utility to make a lot of non-adventure and interesting games, but I hope I can join their ranks!

Thank you very much!

Download DEMO from AGS games page