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dislekcia
28-05-2008, 11:30 PM
Comp 18 Results

Awesome free art rocks. I do believe that anyone who thinks otherwise needs their heads examined... The chance to sit down and play with an idea that looks good from the word go is rare in game development. Unfortunately many initial entries to the competition didn't get finished due to interference from the dreaded realm in which horrid things like work and school live, so we've got fewer complete games to review than normal.

Also I'd just like to point out that every game entered had a readme.txt or some sort of clearly indicated help, even the first-time entrants! Let's hear it for professionalism, well done!

REVIEWS:

Pea My Love (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=5117) - Bonezmann
Pun-based titles are always better than non-pun-based games! Bonezmann's first foray into competition territory has produced a solid little puzzle game of the "mirrored controls" variety. Spotting this sort of gameplay within these graphics took some creativity, which is also evident in the later puzzle layouts... For some reason I really enjoyed the first platform-style level, hopping up to meet at the top of the screen just seemed right. All it needed was cheesy sound effects to go with it! Despite none of the levels feeling particularly hard or confusing, I suspect Bonezmann will be able to up the difficulty as people play if he keeps working at it.

Pea Power (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=5014) - Cloud_Ratha
Cerebral platformers have attained some rather lofty heights of head-scratching impossibility. Pea Power uses classic thinking-man's-platforming tropes like pushable/stackable boxes and different movement mediums to present 5 puzzles for you to solve. The little touches like the Pea's eyes and the spaced-out expression while on ladders (as if to say "I am sooo high right now!") are classic. That Pea just looks so friggin happy! I'd like to see more puzzles for this game as it's got a lot of potential, there are also some tweaks I'd suggest to the various graphics for the different types of blocks to make them more apparent. A very solid first entry into the competitions, well done!

Pea Adventures (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=4468) - Edg3
Any time that you can describe a game as "Sort of like reverse Lemmings" it's a very, very good thing... Your job, as a really large pea, is to try to safeguard smaller green peas from blue peas (which feel very like zombies, as they infect normal small green peas, making them blue too). To do this, you eat pies - Yes! Peas eating pies! - to fill up a nutrient bar which allows you to go into nasty red death mode. In this mode you kill blue peas when you touch them, instead of dying instantly. The mechanic is very enjoyable and the platform movement is very slick, all the game needs is a little more indication of what you're trying to do and possibly a way to influence either green peas or your environment (like placing a temporary block at the cost of half your nutrient bar, for instance) as I often found myself wishing that my peas would jump to safety in one direction instead of certain death in the other ;). Little touches like the sound cues when blues are on the rampage, the way your pea rolls around and can climb walls - coupled with a random level generator (I dare you to play on 9) and the slick as silk menu, show that Edg3 is learning his craft very well indeed!

Box Rush (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=5078) - Evil_Toaster
It takes a special kind of crazy to look at Lost Garden's free graphics and see a tower defense game lurking in them. Clearly Evil_Toaster has in his possession dangerously unstable amounts of loony, judging by the names of the heroes that you can upgrade towers with... That's right, heroes. Apparently the whole game was a "weekend" effort which resulted in a mildly-unbalanced TD game in which you shoot incoming clods of earth with gems. It works very well and quickly gave rise to some user-generated challenges, like trying to finish the game using only two towers in total :)

Suro Suro - Happy Fun Time Love Island (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=4465) - Fengol
While clearly not finished, this early-stage god-game concept clearly shows off the possibilities for Danc's tileset. It just screams to be polished up and finished off. Plus the name is just too awesome!

Space Billiards (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=4558) - Gazza_N
Gazza got excited by the Space Cute set and began working on the features laid out in the initial design spec for the game idea on Lost Garden. Unfortunately after getting his spherical collision physics going, things back in dread RL got too hectic and Gazza had to pull out of the competition. It's a shame, this could have been the basis for a fun game. The physics is definitely solid, especially at high speeds - which is traditionally where the problems start appearing. I do believe this is also Gazza's first foray into using Game Maker... So how was it? ;)

Hanging Gardens (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=4497) - Thaumaturge
Inspired by god-game mechanic ideas from the Lost Garden site, but eschewing the provided graphics for his own 3D look and feel, Thaumaturge wasn't able to take his vision past the toy stage. It's fun to mess around with terrain height and add water to see what happens and it definitely looks good, but there's if only he'd managed to get enough time to give the game a goal or two.


RESULTS:

I think this competition shows that graphics have very little to do with good, solid inspiration for gameplay. People came up with very different game ideas with the same graphics and others had similar gameplay ideas with vastly different graphics. Hmmm. That bears thinking about... We did get some really cool puzzly platformers out of it though!

First place: Pea Adventures - Edg3
Wins a copy of TuDee Level Editor (http://gojoentertainment.com/tudee.html), courtesy Diorgo Jonkers!
You honestly feel bad when you realise that a damned blue pea has gotten into your little safe-haven for the greens, meaning you'll have to ruthlessly slaughter them all over again.

Second place: Box Rush - Evil_Toaster
Also wins a copy of TuDee Level Editor (http://gojoentertainment.com/tudee.html), courtesy Diorgo Jonkers, but this isn't a first-place copy, it's for second!
I must have played this about 30 times. In a row...

Third place: Pea Power - Cloud_Ratha
Pea Power won out over Pea My Love thanks to having slightly better puzzle design and the happiest pea ever. It was close though!

...

I do believe that congratulations are in order, especially to the new entrants that managed to produce some very cool stuff in the month they had to work on their games. Could the first and second place winners please PM me their email addresses and full names so that I can pass those on to Diorgo for your prizes? Is everyone ready for next month, we're going to take apart one of the key elements in games these days!

-D

Cloud_Ratha
28-05-2008, 11:39 PM
\o/ so stoked! thanks guys :D

Thaumaturge
28-05-2008, 11:52 PM
Very well done, all, and in particular to you, Edg3, Evil_Toaster (as always, it seems ;)) and Cloud_Ratha, to whom congratulations go too!

Dislekcia, many thanks for holding the competition (and all of the others). ^_^ I was unconvinced by the concept at first, but it did turn out to be a good one, I believe.

I'm interested to find out what the next competition will be, although I'm undecided, at the moment, as to whether I'll be taking part.

Hmm... Two god-games, both of which were left incomplete. The curse of the god-game? Dun dun DUNN! ;P

Tr00jg
29-05-2008, 12:10 AM
Is everyone ready for next month, we're going to take apart one of the key elements in games these days!

-D

First of congrats guys!

And yay! Holidays start next month. I've been wanting to get some game dev on and I've been seriously missing these game.dev comps.

Cloud_Ratha
29-05-2008, 12:34 AM
Im so keen to have more time dedicated to making games... cant wait for the next Comp!

Im down like a clown

Gazza_N
29-05-2008, 07:50 AM
Congrats to everyone on da podium, and well done to all the newcomers who put something together! A growing community is a happy community. ;)


I do believe this is also Gazza's first foray into using Game Maker... So how was it?
Needs salt. Yup. Perhaps a tiny hint of garlic too. :P

Bonezmann
29-05-2008, 09:19 AM
Third place: Pea Power - Cloud_Ratha
Pea Power won out over Pea My Love thanks to having slightly better puzzle design and the happiest pea ever. It was close though!

Congratulations Clou_Ratha, next time I'll be on that list...;)

Congrats to the rest too, it's good to know that my first game was "4th" :)

UntouchableOne
29-05-2008, 12:55 PM
Congrats to all the entrants especially the winners. It's great what you guys have done with the art and adapted it uniquly. Hopefully if I have time, I'll be working on something for the next comp...well done once again.

Insomniac
29-05-2008, 01:15 PM
Congrats to the winners!

I look forward to finding out what the key element will be, hopefully I'll have time for the next comp :)

Fengol
29-05-2008, 02:45 PM
Unfortunately I just lost steam on my project and then got involved in another. Congratulations to all the winners!

Squid
29-05-2008, 02:52 PM
Well done to the winners. Well deserved I might add.

edg3
30-05-2008, 02:28 PM
Congrats Evil_Toaster and Cloud_Ratha!

I enjoyed all the entries this competition, and cant wait for the next one.

I cant take all credit for my game though, ShadowMaster did that masterful menu and I sacrificed my friend for the sounds :) (ShadowMaster also helped with one or two of the other scripts)

Now that Computer Olympiad round 2 is over, I'll be doing touch ups and final changes to Pea Adventures to make it my first 100% complete game :)

dislekcia
31-05-2008, 03:18 AM
I cant take all credit for my game though, ShadowMaster did that masterful menu and I sacrificed my friend for the sounds :) (ShadowMaster also helped with one or two of the other scripts)

It's cool that you were working with a bit of a team there, that's really valuable experience :)


Now that Computer Olympiad round 2 is over, I'll be doing touch ups and final changes to Pea Adventures to make it my first 100% complete game :)

And that's even better to hear! Really looking forward to you polishing this like crazy. It'll be a good game to do that with.

-D

edg3
01-06-2008, 08:20 AM
I felt quite bad when I couldnt finish the visual effects and other such things to complete the effect and feel of the game, so hopefully by the end of this week I will have finished at the latest :)

ShadowMaster
02-06-2008, 06:46 AM
Congrats to all the winners.

Only thing that's sad is that we didn't finish the intro. It was fun recording the voice over. :) So even if it never gets done I'm content.

Evil_Toaster
02-06-2008, 08:51 AM
Yay, level editorness! (Thanks Diorgo) :)

Congrats to the other winners.

BlackHawk
03-06-2008, 01:16 PM
Congrats to the winners! Some lovely little games, these!

Dipso
07-06-2008, 11:41 AM
Congratulations and well done to the winners!!!