Winter 08 game contest - SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE, WINNER IS DECIDED

[Rael0505]

Alright guys, I have our three entries and the judging will begin. I spent a long time trying to find other entries because I was convinced there were more, but I had the only three entries all along. Better late then never. Here are the entries:

Blue Frenzy

Sparkster

http://www.darconet.com/SFGHQ%20Contest/sparkster.rar

Amesuki

Hyper Aero Flight Vehicles

http://www.darconet.com/SFGHQ%20Contest/HYPER-AERO-FLIGHT-VEHICLE_demo.rar

Huepow00

Sonic Puzz

http://www.darconet.com/SFGHQ%20Contest/Sonic_PUZZ.zip

Thanks to Wesker for rehosting them. Some of the links died.

The judges are:

Rael0505

Wesker

ssbfalcon

LarkSS

The judging system is as follows:

Gameplay

Graphics

Music and Sound

Presentation

Originality

The judges are to give a score between 1 and 5 to each category for the three games. The game that has the most points added up from all of the categories from each of the judges will be the winner. The judges are to post their reviews of the games in this thread.

There is no due date for the judging. I have contacted the judges and they will review the games on their own time.

[LarkSS]

===Sparkster===

Gameplay - 4

Graphics - 5

Music and Sound - 3

Presentation - 5

Originality - 3

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This game gave me a bit of nostalgia even though I only played Rocket Knight once in the past. The gameplay proved pretty fun and interesting and the graphics really shined and didn't deviate from the style of the game itself. I enjoyed playing this and only wish the demo had at least included the boss. Though the saving feature was interesting, it caused the replay value of the game to dither and make it not as much as a challenge as the first time, which I don't think is good since you're getting better this time around. The game's presentation was great though; I especially loved the cutscene with the falling spike wall.

===HyperAeroFlightVehicle===

Gameplay - 5

Graphics - 4

Music and Sound - 2

Presentation - 4

Originality - 4

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I have to say, this game was really interesting. I was surprised when I realized weapons could be leveled up, and it's an interesting feature to allow you the ability to rotate right and left. Even the bosses had a nice introduction included making the game feel pretty genuine. I still haven't managed to defeat the second boss since I can't figure out how to avoid the yellow attack, but you can rest assured I'll be playing it until I do. If this game underwent some bug fixes and the additions of features stated after encountering a game over, I bet this would be an instant classic.

===SonicPuzz===

Gameplay - 4

Graphics - 4

Music and Sound - 3

Presentation - 4

Originality - 4

---

Now this is an interesting little gem. When I first saw this was done in RPGMaker, I started to grow biased, but knew that I shouldn't since I'm supposed to be judging equally. After playing though, I saw that wasn't a problem since this game really showed that RPGMaker can make pretty interesting games just the same. The objective of the game was original; collect rings and guide a 'magic ball' towards the goal. It made me think of soccer in a way but with a twist. I liked the challenge the further puzzles brought and the special stage could be pretty cool with some improvements. I might play this later on just to see how fast I can beat the puzzles again.

[DimensionWarped]

Isn't it a little early for an 08 Winter contest to be in the process of judgement?

[Rael0505]

See this.

[DimensionWarped]

Oh. I see. I'm stupid for forgetting that Winter 08 also includes Winter 07.

[ssbfalcon]

Sorry guys for being like what? a month late? Long boring story that would only be interesting to fans of documentaries...

Sonic Puzz

Gameplay - 4

Graphics - 4

Music and Sound - 4

Presentation 4

Originality - 5

_________________

I really liked this game. It's a game that could expand to be a tough but rewarding puzzle game. However what was shown made it easy to wonder what more challenging stuff was comming later on in the game, and made what I played feel more like a tutorial...

Sparkster

Gameplay - 5

Graphics - 5

Music and Sound - 4

Presntation - 4

Originality - 4

__________________-

This was a fun game to play. It made me think back to Jazz Jackrabbit for some reason as that was the last platformer I played that made me feel this way... What I mean is that it was unique, fun, and the feel, pacing, and abilities were great...

Hyper Aero Flight Vehicle (of Doom, Impending... Comeon... That would have been a great title...)

Gameplay - 5

Graphics - 3

Music and Sound - 3

Presentation - 4

Originality - 3

___________________

Flight game? What more could you add? What? A mix between Gunstar Heroes and Silver Surfer (+1 rep for the first to get what I mean...) A slightly challenging game, but beatable... In fact, it's addicting...

[wesker]

HYPER-AERO-FLIGHT-VEHICLES!!

Gameplay- While it plays like a space shooter, the weapons upgrade system is different. From the get go you get a choice of 4 wepaons. Some which can later be used to help in certain situations, instead of the usual picking up of power ups for a stronger or different weapon. Your current weapons get upgraded to a stronger variety through kills which raises your level bar. 4

Graphics- Everything is where it should be and it keeps it old skool. 5

Music And Sound- The music fits this game perfectly as well as the SFX, although I wish the music changed for the presentation of the boss as well as for the boss'. 4

Presentation- Get's across what it is and is but together very well, the only drawback being that there are absolutely no instructions, not in the game or the ever elusive "README!". 4

Originality- For a space shooter it's got original aspects in it's use of weapon upgrade system and boss'. 4

Overall- Besides some of the bugs (Such as the your weapon not doing anything if you're too far off the screen and the fist boss' attack spheres being invulnerable after he dies) this game flows very well and makes good use of it's features. Certain parts of the game need certain weapons and the boss' make good use of the ability to turn your spaceship around. 21/25

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Sonic Puzz

Gameplay- Gameplay is pretty straight forward and fun. I can see this game having a ridiculous amount of levels and getting very hard. 5

Graphics- Everything fit but a bit too much grass for my blood, although I can imagine as levels progress you'd be treated to different themes from the sonic series. 4

Music And Sound- Nothing original, but all the music fit nicely. 4

Presentation- Everything is put together well, telling you exactly what you need to do as well as proper titles, credits. 5

Originality- Reminds me of those old "Push box to the X" games when you get to the ball, but adding the Ring collection added the right amount of Sonic flair. 4

Overall- A fun game to play with a lot of potential. You could take note from previous styles of this gameplay to get a huge amount of ideas for puzzles making it very easy for this game to get to the 100+ level count. The special stage was a nice touch although slightly buggy. 22/25

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Sparkster

Gameplay- This was really fun to play. I don't think I every played Rocket Knight but it worked well. 5

Graphics- All the graphics looked like the belonged and were used perfectly. 5

Music And Sound- All the music and sounds fit this well however the song playing didn't last very long and soon became an annoying loop. 3

Presentation- The supplied Readme told me everything I needed to know, although I regard the Readme file as being the lazy game makers route to explaining the game and what needs to be done. There wasn't a title screen/credits and the cut scene was a nice touch, but was a slow burn when I found out that i'd be trapped on a screen with no boss or ending. 3

Originality- This all seemed original to me, but then again I never played what this is based off of. 4

Overall- Lot's of room for improvement, proper gem placement and level design will make or break this game so a lot of attention should be paid to those departments. 20/25

[Huepow00]

CURRENT SCORES

(1 Judge Remains!!!)

===Sparkster===

Gameplay - 4,5,5

14

Graphics - 5,5,5

15

Music and Sound - 3,4,3

10

Presentation - 5,4,3

12

Originality - 3,4,4

11

TOTAL :62

===HyperAeroFlightVehicle ===

Gameplay - 5,5,4

14

Graphics - 4,3,5

12

Music and Sound - 2,3,4

9

Presentation - 4,4,4

12

Originality - 4,3,4

11

TOTAL :58

===SonicPuzz===

Gameplay - 4,4,5

13

Graphics - 4,4,4

12

Music and Sound - 3,4,4

11

Presentation - 4,4,5

13

Originality - 4,5,4

13

TOTAL :62

[Huepow00]

XD

Will this ever find closure?

[Rael0505]

Alright, this contest is finally receiving closure.

I'd like to apologize for this enormous delay. I used to believe that there were several entries. Back when Worm's topic was active, many people claimed that they were going to participate. I was very worried when Worm wasn't making any progress with the entries after the due date. A month had passed and still no progress. To me, this was the first contest that didn't fall through since SAGE, so I became angry and took over the contest myself.

But the problem was that I didn't have the big list of entries that I thought I would. I had three - the three that were posted in the topic. I made a thread announcing that I needed people to send me the rest, and even sent out private messages to every user who posted in Worm's original thread. Another month had passed and it finally hit me - those were the only three entries. Everyone else who claimed to be able to get something done didn't pull through. Suddenly the contest seemed less important, it was no longer the big event that people finally took part in. But still, I gathered these judges and gave them the instructions.

I was just about ready to end the contest, but there was a tie and I would need to act as a judge. I was lazy, and put it off telling myself that I was too busy. But after a while, I realized that I was using that as an excuse because I was embarrassed for my actions toward Worm, which may have even driven him out of SFGHQ altogether. I just finished sending him an apology email.

Now I'm finishing this at 6 AM. I told myself I'm not sleeping until this contest sees closure.

tldr - I freaked out over the contest and took over but then acted like a hypocrite and neglected it in the same way. I'm finishing this now.

Sparkster

Gameplay - 5

Graphics - 5

Music and Sound - 3

Presentation - 4

Originality - 2

Absolutely top-notch. I have only played Sparkster games briefly, but I can see that Blue Frenzy recreated the gameplay perfectly. The engine is very solid, and the controls become second nature within seconds. What really takes the cake for me is the replayability this demo offers. I remember I replayed the game several times to finally get the time bonus by beating the level in under 6700, and I spent time looking for all of the jewels as well. I wish it were longer, after the first level the part where the ground gives and the ceiling is chasing Sparkster down is just epic.

The graphics are wonderful. While a lot of the sprites are simply taken from different Sparkster games or whatever else, the custom background graphics are beautifully done.

I really enjoyed this entry, it recreates the classic Sparkster style perfectly. I'm wishing Sparkster would make a return, I now feel like going back and playing the old games.

Sonic Puzz

Gameplay - 4

Graphics - 3

Music and Sound - 3

Presentation - 3

Originality - 5

This is a great example of how a simple concept can be so much fun to play. You have some interesting ideas, I could see you expanding on this a lot more for future levels. It's a shame that this demo only features one level, I was actually very disappointed that it was so short. I enjoyed it so much that I played it a second time.

The graphics as a whole are nice, but there's an occasional meshing of different styles, such as the Sonic R emblem (is that what it is?) at the top right of the special stage or the Green Hill flowers/palmtrees. Also, in the last stage the edge of the level boundaries are simply black space, which is just ugly to look at. You should have simply surrounded the level with water, like in previous acts. But that's just nitpicking.

I would love to see this game completed. It's something that, to my knowledge, SFGHQ has not seen. Very fun game, I played through it two times (even the credits are fun!) Great job Huepow00, hope to see more of Sonic Puzz in the future.

Hyper Aero Flight Vehicles

Gameplay - 5

Graphics - 4

Music and Sound - 3

Presentation - 5

Originality - 3

This is awesome. I generally don't like SHMUPS and when the time came for me to try this out I was thinking "ugh, I'll have to stomach through this somehow" but it was actually really cool. The weapons were inventive, and the enemies were diverse enough so that the level didn't get stale. That first boss was unique, but it felt like it got old rather quickly and the battle just dragged on because the boss has too much health. If the battle's going to last that long, make it change halfway through or something.

Unfortunately, I really suck at this game, so I could never get much further than the first boss. The graphics are great, I especially love the explosions and effects. I love all of the different sounds you found for the weapons and attacks as well. Everything about this game feels professional, I'm impressed at how quickly you made this. I'll be going back and replaying this, trying to get further.

Final Results

1st Place - Sparkster - 81 points

2nd Place - Sonic Puzz - 80 points

3rd Place - Hyper Aero Flight Machine - 78 points

Congratulations Blue Frenzy, and great job to everyone else as well. This contest was really close, despite the very few entries we had.

Again, I'm sorry to everyone who participated, both to the contestants and to the judges for this horrible delay. Unfortunately, there is no prize, but I will see to it that rep points are dealt for the members who participated and the judges. I wish I had something better to give.

[Blue Frenzy]

Oh, I won something *__*. Actually I think I can do it much better, specially on music and presentation, but i was kinda lazy and just released as it was when I got tired of working on it.

Thank you so much for your votes ^^, i'll try harder for upcomming games

EDIT: Oh my 500th post is a reply to a won competition. If i say this to mom she wont believe me.

[Huepow00]

Yay, Second Place!

W00t

[LarkSS]

Congrats to all the winners. I had fun being a judge for this competition and hope that your creativity grows in the years to come.

We should have a Winter09 contest; I'd definitely participate. =>

[Rael0505]

If we do have a winter 09 contest, I'm running it by the staff first. I'll get a list of judges before the contest even begins, and I'll make sure it doesn't drag out as this one did.

[wesker]

Yeah don't let the unfourtunate event's of this contest deter you from further contests. Just learn from your mistakes, same goes to the game developers.

The requirements for this contest wasn't that hard, you didn't have to submit a masterpiece.

Congrats to all for getting something done for a change.

[Blue Frenzy]

Yeah, it'd be fun to have more contest like this. Also, we could have a section in SFGHQ for those minigames. It could attract some people.

I'd help as judgement, but i think my role suits better as developer. I'll contribute next year with something big.

[Huepow00]

http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/120/

I re-uploaded the ole' Demo1 with A Lower Filesize and new Custom Icon

-> Expect Demo02 at SAGE