FAQ

What's it all about?

Maniac Mansion Mania is a fan-adventure series which is about bringing Maniac Mansion to an extended live and adding to the adventurous world. The series is designed as an episodic format so that every developer can contribute her or his own story to the universe of Maniac Mansion. And it is all free! All games and resources can be downloaded by everyone. Whether you want to just play a nice adventure-game or make your own one, you are welcome here. If you want to make your own game, you have a great many resources here to draw from. Everything from previous games is free to use, such as graphics, music and characters, most of them already uploaded to our database. This is a great way to start as a newbie in game making as it saves you a big amount of time.

In terms of creativity you are free to do anything you like, but to become part of the legacy of Maniac Mansion Mania there are the Golden Rules to be followed:

If any of these rules is broken, the episode can't be published as an official Maniac Mansion Mania episode. Nonetheless there are exceptions. In specials, like Halloween Episodes, there are special rules, e.g. main characters can die. But these don't count as regular episodes and are published in extra sections of the site. 

Furthermore, Maniac Mansion Mania is a free fan project and has no financial or profitable purpose. Therefore there must not be any profit gained by providing your game, may that be through commercials, paid downloads or any other form. If the episode is not free, it can not be part of Maniac Mansion Mania.
And last but not least, we do not support any radical views, questionable politics, harassment of minorities or any such thing and will not publish your episode here if it contains any of this in an inappropriate manner.
Back to the fun part:

How do I create an episode?

In the Ressources section are a number of starter-packs to begin with, most of them are for the (recommended) AGS engine, but also for others like Visionaire or PaC-DK. In any of these starter-packs are the main characters of Maniac Mansion, as well as various sound effects, MIDI tracks, and background graphics. If you need ideas or help with the story or riddles, check with the forums. There are many fun plots floating around which never made it into a game.

I'm having trouble creating my own episode / dealing with AGS. What do I do?

The starter-packs contain basic elements (such as the complete SCUMM-GUI) and functions which make it easy to build upon. Nonetheless, you have to learn at least some scripting commands. At the moment, the tutorials provided by us are only available in German, but feel free to ask your questions in the forum's international section. A great place to learn about AGS is the official site and it's forums ( http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/ ). Tutorials and help can be found there easily, but don't forget to check back with us

I have finished my episode. Now what?

BETATESTS:
The importance of this can't be overstated. Do not rush anything, take a few weeks, look for reliable people and let them test your game in and out. It is good to do this with friends, as you can easily check in on them, but don't underestimate an experienced view on your game. There are a lot of people here who gladly help you to check for bugs and errors. And they might even know what to do about them the moment they spot one. New suggestions about the story or the riddles might improve your game considerably. Don't think of your game as finished until everything checks out.

Open a thread in MMM-Forum:
If your episode is bug-free and ready to be released, open a new thread in the forums. Make it a poll with points from 1 to 5 and look for the correct count of your episode to include in the title.

Please post in the thread:
-an in-game screenshot of 320x200 pixels resolution
-a brief description of the plot
-a link to the download of your episode

If you want to provide new background images, characters and sounds for the database:
Include your links to the files. For new characters and rooms, an export/template from AGS (right-click on them in the editor) and a brief description is appreciated.


What's up with these Edgars and what do they mean?

The Edgar Awards are awarded afther the completion of any season (10 episodes). There are three bronze, one silver and one golden Edgar. The winner gets an original Maniac Mansion Mania mousepad, which is in no way meant to get you to make a new episode, no sir. :-)


MOUSEPADS: donated and designed by MisterL




To the Edgar Awards

I would like to create a Maniac Mansion Comic, are there guidlines?

Yes, the comic can not be wider than 600 pixels, otherwise it wont fit with the layout of the homepage.
Also please keep an eye on the file size: A 32-bits PNG file is five times bigger than the same file saved as a JPG with 80% quality. So please make it as small as possible.
You can post it here -> http://www.maniac-mansion-mania.de/forum/index.php?topic=326.0 
where a mod will take care of and probably upload it.

I would like to link to your site.

And we like you to do so. :-)

Please link to http://www.maniac-mansion-mania.com/ and use the banner above (designed by MisterL)