Castle Paradox

[Pepsi Ranger]

The end is coming...

...of the hunt for Bob's shooter, that is.

Buford formulated his theory of who did it and why, but he still needs your theories to back up his case. And this is your last chance to help. He needs your theories established by 6am EST Wednesday morning (August 1).

Again, they can be made as OHR games, OHR movies, other-game-engine games, point-and-click games, flash movies, word documents, comics, whatever--just have them uploaded by the time mentioned above.

Just like the other Epic Marathons in the past, you'll have a week after the submission period to revise your projects (fixing bugs, adding last minute jokes, etc.). Evaluations will start on the 8th.

This is it, guys. If Bob is to have justice, this is the time to help. You'll be helping Bob, you'll be helping Moogle1 (with his Release Your Game contest), and you'll be helping yourself to a spot on the Hamster Republic if your theory is convincing enough. The clues are at your fingertips. Some of your peers have the answers. If justice is to be served, act now.

Or forever hold your peace.
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Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2

[Bob the Hamster]

Bob seems to be recovering well. He is completely stable, and his fur has even re-grown in the place where the doctors had to shave him when they were removing the bullet.

When I sit there in the hospital room and look at him, I could almost imagine that he is just sleeping peacefully, and not in a coma. It breaks my heart not knowing if he can even hear me or not.

I am keeping hope alive that the results of the Epic Marathon contest will snap him out of it. Maybe that is just the thing he is waiting for to pull him out of that endless ethereal dream and back into the real world.

[Shadowiii]

I am afraid I won't be finished in time. However, I'll still post my unfinished abomination to the game list if you all so desire.
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But enough talk, have at you!

[Uncommon]

I finally had an idea for what to do in the form of a short story, but if it's due in six hours, I'll prolly just make an outline and write the story itself in the revision week.
Is this acceptable?

[Moogle1]

I throw my hat into the ring, even though it's an extremely feeble attempt.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Uncommon]

OUTLINE
~ Soliloquy visits the Surlaw Bar For Squid and Walrus, where he has an appointed meeting with down-on-his-luck Hamsterspeak journo Kingston C. Rockwell. Rockwell's been investigating the Bob The Hamster shooting, but with a crippling writer's block preventing him from putting together the clues he's amassed and a workload he's been having trouble with over the last few months, hires the private-eye to crack the case, hoping that having a big story to break will help him overcome his current condition.
~ During their conversation, Soliloquy asks Rockwell about OHR House 2. Rockwell reveals that the whole murder mystery was faked when the ratings sunk and that Gilbert Smith, RubberbandIV and Adolf Hitler were still very publicly alive and well. Rockwell's own participation on the show was not only to fill out the cast, but also to ensure that things stayed interesting, to prevent things like the seventh week of the first season, where the housemates sat around and watched TV the whole time. The second season's fourth week, however, was completely unstaged, with the exception of Rockwell's own highly contrived "loss of national identity".

~ Our hero calls his secretary, Darlene, back in the city to check the Hamster Republic's residential records agaist the evidence folder provided by Rockwell. The only one who fits the right criteria is a man named Lazlo Ingred.

~ Soliloquy visits Ingred's house at the outskirts of Paradox City, where he finds Ingred to be a rather cartoonish red manfish. After briefly interviewing him, our hero finds that Ingred, who recently returned to HR from Germany, was the hero in one of James' early games, and was slated to be his original mascot, thus having the motive, but lacking the means and the nerve to commit such an act. As they talk, Soliloquy sees Ingred's portrait over the fireplace, underneath it carrying the inscription "HERR INGRED". Realizing he's wasted his time, he leaves.

~ Soliloquy meets Rockwell in the Paradox City Square, underneath the statue of Bob the Hamster, and discusses his findings so far. Being that the clues thus far haven't added up, he inquires on the origins of the clues themselves. Being that the cluehunters were set on their path by Pepsi Ranger and an until then unknown Officer Buford, whom Rockwell expressed distrust in earlier, Solioquy meets with Buford to find he is none other than Powerstick Man in disguise.

~ With sufficient doubt in their minds, Soliloquy and Rockwell find parallels between the current situation and the faked OHR House 2 murders two years ago and, with the latter's press credentials, go to Bob's hospital room, deep within the Castle Paradox. While the nurses are busy elsewhere, Soliloquy pulls the life support to find an irate Bob yelling at him to plug it back in. Bob, tired of having to fake a coma for two months and honored by Rockwell's recent retrospective on Wandering Hamster, the only actual review of the game on record, spills the story that the whole shooting was fabricated to inspire the citizens of Paradox City out of the lethargy that's plagued them for years. Bob didn't count on them actually making him go through with the fake coma, and all the time he's spent lying in bed has gotten him a little skeptical of the plan.
~ As Bob feeds the details into Rockwell's tape recorder, James Paige, Pepsi Ranger and a squad of Castle Paradox Security Officers burst through the door and take Soliloquy and Rockwell away.

~ After being sentenced to lifetime banishment from Paradox City, Soliloquy closes the case, says his goodbyes and catches the nearest bus to his own city. Rockwell is left with his story, but must make the decision of whether to write it or not, as fighting that same lethargy is the very mission Hamsterspeak Magazine was created to fulfill.

END

To cover my ass as a justincase, it's also on the gamelist.

[Pepsi Ranger]

Shadowiii, Moogle1, and Uncommon,

You're free to revise your works (or extend them if you feel so inclined) until August 8th. Sorry it took so long to tell you. I'll give you until the 10th if you've been waiting for my response to get the revisions started.

JSH357 (khfan15),

I'm enlisting OHR House 2 into the competition, so you're officially a contestant, whether you want to be or not.

To Everyone Else,

If you tried guessing the mystery through the clues given, you'll be on the points system. I think Dried Throne and TwinHamster are the only other people to try, so they'll be eligible for points.

Good luck to the contestants.
_________________
Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2

[Uncommon]

Forget that outline, the full story is here!
It wasn't quite as stylish as I wanted to write it, but it get the point across.

[Shadowiii]

http://castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=860

Unfinished demo. Contains an opening movie and a small area which would have led to future dates.

Also in the file (the first few hundred text boxes) are a phoenix wright style trial that would have taken place after all the dates and evidence collection. When referencing evidence pictures, it is the ones Buford found on the Soapbox forum. It also contains who I believe shot Bob.

The game isn't finished, so I'm pretty sure I either am disqualified or lose a buttload of points. But whatever...feel free to check it out. All the male characters in the main room have text boxes.

Oh yes, runs on nightly version.
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But enough talk, have at you!

[Uncommon]

If you make Feather angsty I swear to god it won't end well for you.
Also, what's the deal with the wallmap already being there if there aren't any tiles?

[Shadowiii]

Feather wasn't going to be angsty.

What is this wallmap madness of which you speak.

Also Feather is by far the worst NPC and was due for a redraw. She looks fat and not very good.
_________________
But enough talk, have at you!

[Uncommon]

There are blocked and overhead tiles even though the entire floor is just black. The first one would seem to be the space where the desk will eventually be. Either way, it's confusing and annoying.

[Moogle1]

Shadow please finish this game.

I get a script error (missing script 12) and no maptiles when I'm finally able to walk around.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Shadowiii]

The hell? Are you running it on nightly? It runs perfectly on my computer.

And if enough people want me to finish it (for reals, don't just say you do) then I guess I can take a writing break and finish the stupid thing.
_________________
But enough talk, have at you!

[Uncommon]

Oh, right. My nightly's three months old.