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The 168 HoV Taxday Compo results! Displaying 1-20 of 30 total.
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mcgrue
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Here are the judges decisions for the compo. Each column lists which place each judge ranked each entry at, the total is the combined score, and the final standings go from the lowest total to the highest total.
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Hahn
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Miko
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Grue
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Total
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athoCreft's
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6
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6
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5
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17
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A Tropical Adventure
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2
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4
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1
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7
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Balls of Steel
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8
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8
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8
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24
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| Journey to Black Mountain |
3
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3
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3
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9
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| Leo the Merman |
4
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5
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6
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15
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| Phoenix Flame |
1
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1
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2
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4
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| Sullied Chronicles |
7
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7
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7
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21
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Zonker's
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5
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2
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4
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11
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Which makes the final standings:
1st place: Phoenix Flame by Rysen
2nd place: A Tropical Adventure! by ~Ratgash and Immortalowl
3rd place: Journey To Black Mountain by Kildorf and tulokyn
4th place: Zonker's 2004.04.11 168 HoV enrtry
by zonker666
5th place: Leo The Merman by rpgking and Troupe
6th place: (atho)Creft's April 11, 2004 HoV Entry
by athocreft
7th place: Sullied Chronicles by El Desconocido
8th place: Balls of Steel? by [reed]
The individual judges rulings will be in the talkback shortly.
Remember that each judge created their own criteria based on 100
points, and then gave rulings against that criteria. This was to
maintain internal consistancy (oft times in the past, one judge would
set the grading schema for all, and it'd be defined vaugely, causing
confusion).
Please discuss below. Anyone competing in this competition has
earned an avatar. And, in addition, since we all were so pleased
with the turnout for this competition, 2nd and 3rd place winners get to
have their sully characters play a slightly expanded role, and anyone
who didn't qualify for a prize can, if they'd like, create a
Sully-style character of themselves to be added into the final
game. The 1st-3rd prize winners will be contacted by me via email
about their prizes.
Great job all, and I hope you all participate in the next HoV!
Posted on 2004-04-18 06:16:05
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el_desconocido
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If this can't be deleted, please ignore it. Or call me a dork for screwing up the threads flow, at your discretion.
Mah!
Posted on 2004-04-18 06:28:14 (last edited on 2004-04-18 06:54:27)
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hahn
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-=HAHN's COMPO SCALES OF JUDGMENT=-
INNOVATION
0 Remake or tribute game
10 Genre game. Derivation immediately clear
20 Interesting twist on a genre. Includes fresh elements
30 Breaking new ground in game design.
POLISH
0 Little or no interface. Minimal graphics.
10 Competent use of old art. Presentation unremarkable.
20 Slick use of graphics and sound. Plays smoothly.
30 Immersive, professional presentation
GAMEPLAY
0 Non-interactive or deterministic execution
10 Interaction, but contrived and clumsy
20 Decent response. Controls unobtrusive
30 Fun, satisfying, addictive
PIZAZZ
0 The above scores accurately summarize the product
10 Judge's discretion--special fondness
-=Hahn's Judgments=-
Creft's Demo
INNOVATION: 7
The setting suggested here is immediately familiar. Not enough content to extrapolate further.
POLISH: 9
No title screen or sound effects. Familiar tiles and music. Speech portraits okay.
GAMEPLAY: 10
Walking and examining. No outstanding bugs.
PIZAZZ: 0
OVerall, competent and unremarkable. I would be eager to see more content.
TOTAL: 26
Tropical Adventure
INNOVATION: 15
Fun fetch quest with some unique character-like beings.
POLISH: 23
Slick intro, excellent tiles and music
GAMEPLAY: 14
Nice set of puzzles without requiring all of them to be solved. Simple.
PIZAZZ: 5
All of the elements create a consistent mood, like taking a vacation
TOTAL: 57
Balls of Steel
INNOVATION: 1
It's not what I was expecting, I grant.
POLISH: 1
It's in English...
GAMEPLAY: 1
The Enter key works...
PIZAZZ: 0
Looking forward to seeing more!
TOTAL: 3
Journey to Black Mountain
INNOVATION: 10
Familiar setting, story
POLISH: 16
Sprites are consistent, music is appropriate
GAMEPLAY: 12
Challenges seem more like unnecessary delays than fun, but they work.
PIZAZZ: 5
The story is cute and self-contained. Likeable characters.
TOTAL: 43
Leo the Merman
INNOVATION: 15
Fun setting, unique protagonist.
POLISH: 14
Graphics and music are pleasing. Would like to see more.
GAMEPLAY: 8
The doors work.
PIZAZZ: 5
I have a soft spot for innuendo.
TOTAL: 42
Phoenix Flame
INNOVATION: 18
Separation of fighting and magic duties is cute. Familiar setting and story.
POLISH: 22
Excellent music, consistent graphics. Would like to see more sound effects.
GAMEPLAY: 20
Functional battles and magic. Simplicity appropriate for short adventure.
PIZAZZ: 8
Focused. Accomplishes its objectives. Impressive and surprising.
TOTAL: 68
Sullied Chronicles
INNOVATION: 3
Borrowed maps. More of a technical showcase than game.
POLISH: 8
No introduction. Not much additional audiovisual content.
GAMEPLAY: 8
Again, more demo than game.
PIZAZZ: 0
Left me a little confused.
TOTAL: 19
Zonker's Entry
INNOVATION: 15
Props to all VERGE sidescrollers.
POLISH: 10
Would like to see intro, more music.
GAMEPLAY: 10
No real combat, though the yo-yo weapon is cute. Jumping/clipping need to be cleaned up.
PIZAZZ: 2
Definitely the product of some effort.
TOTAL: 37
Posted on 2004-04-18 06:31:56 (last edited on 2004-04-18 06:46:33)
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miko
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...
Not as long as I'd intended, but
I'm up against a deadline! If you want more, let me know, and I'll add
more. I omitted a lot of negatives, as I'm prone to do. I thought it
might be meeeeean to point out obstruction issues and the like. =( I
included the math so that you could see how I reached my totals, but you don't
have to share those numbers if you don't like! =D
VERGE 3 Contest
17 April 2004
A Tropical
Adventure - 65
Report Card:
The Design: 6x3= 18
The Execution:
7.5x3= 22.5
The Experience: 6.5x3= 19.5
The Prejudice: 5
The
Explanation:
There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this game.
Visually, I found it very striking The illustrated introductory sequence
with its transparencies was absolutely gorgeously ethereal, and the Trefus
Island map was a joy to explore. The tile animations were lovely, and
every object from the clouds to the trees to the stones had real dimension to
it. I'm also particularly fond of large speech portraits.
=)
The quest itself was very reminiscent of a driftwood search sequence
from one of my favourite games of all time, but it had the added niceties of
mini-quests in order to obtain the necessary objects. Bonus points for the
cooooot blue pig retrieval mission, even if I didn't have the option of trading
the grey pig for the blue pig mid-trip! I also loved the exploration music
and the transition toward the end of the song that initially convinced me I had
unknowingly passed into a new area. Very nice, very appropriate for the
environment and the pace of the game.
Additionally, the demo had an
ending, always nice, and talking marine life, which should be some kind of
law. I admit to spending waaaay too much time stomping around to the
northeast of the huge boulder, trying to visualise the tile breaks in order to
uncover the elusive buried shell, but no part of the adventure was frustrating
or even monotonous. Very enjoyable!
Balls of
Steel? - 18
Report Card:
The Design: 2x3= 6
The Execution: 2x3=
6
The Experience: 1x3= 3
The Prejudice: 3
The Explanation:
Several years ago, Vanilla Ice appeared on MTV's 25 Lamest Videos
feature where "Ice Ice Baby" was given a final mocking before being laid to
eternal rest courtesy of an enraged Vanilla Ice with a baseball bat.
=D
I'm, erm, not entirely certain what that has to do with this demo, but
there must be some connection! Oh, right! 'Shitty music'!
=D At the very least, it made me laugh, and that counts for
something! =D If only it would have had dancing garden
vegetables...
Creft - 56
Report Card:
The
Design: 6.5x3= 19.5
The Execution: 5x3= 15
The Experience: 5.5x3=
16.5
The Prejudice: 5
The Explanation:
My first thought is that I
wish it were longer. =D Graphically, I was very impressed. The
tiles, chrs, and artwork are very well-done, and I really enjoyed the use of
non-speech portrait imagery to progress the storyline. From the beginning,
we're thrown into a plot, a seemingly classic plot, but it's a compelling one,
carried by free movement interspersed with mini-cutscenesque moments. =D
The ending was adorable, but as I said, I wish it hadn't come so soon.
Very promising!
Journey to Black Mountain -
71
Report Card:
The Design: 7x3= 21
The Execution: 6.5x3=
19.5
The Experience: 7.5x3= 22.5
The Prejudice: 7
The
Explanation:
"Well, that was unpleasant!" No, it wasn't really
unpleasant at all, but that statement is burned into my retinas for all
eternity! I intend that as a compliment, as this game inspired me to draw
a map for the first time in my recollection since Phantasy Star 1! I found
it suitably challenging but not at all frustrating. I enjoyed both
mountain mazes and appreciated finer touches of the experience such as the gnome
laughter sfx, the sigils remaining activated even when the mountain was exited,
and the fact the first maze only had to be navigated once. =D
The
Phoenix is gorgeous and makes for a lovely title screen. I also enjoyed
the overall appearance of the game, as the crisp, bright character art and tiles
made a routine quest with serious stakes quirky and fanciful. I enjoyed
crossing from map to map and experiencing the way the art and music reflected
the subtle mood shift in each area. The characters themselves are uniquely
comical individuals, and it's nice to be awarded with additional snippets of
dialogue when revisiting them after accomplishing various tasks, even if Old Man
Gorg really didn't have a sekrit combination for the second barrier puzzle.
<=D
I ~really~ enjoyed playing this, and I found the music pleasant as
well. It's a complete game, which is satisfying in itself, and although
there's nothing additional that might be uncovered on a replay, I wouldn't mind
running through it again a few times, especially now that I have this spiffy,
hand-drawn map...
Leo the Merman - 60
Report Card:
The Design: 6x3= 18
The Execution: 6x3= 18
The Experience: 6x3=
18
The Prejudice: 6
The Explanation:
I loved every line of
dialogue in this sassy demo. =D Not only that, but the graphics are
nothing short of gorgeous. The underwater effect is lovely, but I'm
particularly fond of the tiles and the dreamy, pastel, tripping-on-seaweed
environment they create. Speech portraits are another plus for me, and I
love the snarky conversations, love the quirky music, love the overall
mood. There's an initial quest established, but it's not to be. It's
so, so unfortunate this was cut short because what does exist really is polished
up nicely.
Phoenix Flame - 83
Report Card:
The Design: 8x3= 24
The Execution: 8x3= 24
The Experience: 8.5x3=
25.5
The Prejudice: 9.5
The Explanation:
Fire creatures in frozen
mountains!!! <=D As ridiculous as it may sound, this demo made me
cry. Cry in a good way, I mean. It was that SONG, harp.it.
Curse its black heart.
I loved, loved, loved Tass' narratives to that
song. What moves me most in any game are the characters, their
story. I can forgive many things if I can be moved to care about the
characters and events in the game, and that was done so well here and from the
very beginning, demonstrated in the protagonist's internal as well as external
struggles.
Yes, external struggles! There is a battle system, and I
enjoyed it! It's also the ~only~ battle system in the competition.
=D Okay, there's a buggy flame attack, but those few HP are unimportant in
the grand scheme as far as I'm concerned. There were simple,
navigation-friendly menus within and without combat, HP, MP, levelling, and all
of those good things that not only give you a sense of accomplishment but make
every experience different, giving the demo replay value.
Artwork may
have been ripped, but the game is gorgeous regardless, nice and solid. The
graphics are weighty and really suit the mood, and have I mentioned the music
lately? The Tass and Enjo conversations were engaging, revealing, and just
nice character interaction. "Less talky, more runny, please!"
I
found the game challenging in the best sense. Moving straight through it,
I had difficulty maintaining healthy amounts of HP and MP. Very
challenging. Taking the time to wander around MP restoratives and level up
negated the challenge. It's a nice combination of both. I died a few
times in the mountains but defeated the final boss with single digit HP to
spare. A final boss. An ending. So nice. =)
Also,
this is a minor thing, but I really appreciated the double-tile-wide pathways
and entrances in several locations. It eases movement so nicely!
Finally, I'm not much for negativity; I would rather accentuate the positive,
but I can't help but remark that some of the narrative sequences, specifically
the ones relating the past, would have slain me had they had
illustrations. =D
I really liked that harp.it song, by the
way.
Sullied Chronicles - 54
Report Card:
The
Design: 5.5x3= 16.5
The Execution: 5x3= 15
The Experience: 5.5x3=
16.5
The Prejudice: 6
The Explanation:
<=D Humour!
Nostalgia! While it may not have originality on its side, it's certainly
amusing. "Go away, or I'll pop you!" is my new favourite saying. Ask
Grue. Although most of this is recycled, the tile work and chrs are as
sweet as ever and haven't gotten old for me yet. The working party
following exchange was too, too, funny, and I found the Spanish verb
conjugations particularly useful today, but that's another story. I did
crash after having some fun with the Great Tree, but I can't say I wasn't
warned. =D
Zonker - 72
Report Card:
The
Design: 7x3= 21
The Execution: 7x3= 21
The Experience: 7.5x3= 22.5
The
Prejudice: 7.5
The Explanation:
This demo has the distinction of
being the only non-RPG submission to not feature Vanilla Ice music. I was
so, so impressed by this game. My favourite game of all time is a
side-scrolling RPG, so perhaps I have a weakness for them. =) This
one is gorgeous. I admit to wanting to tear out my hair trying to reach
certain areas on account of losing my gamepad and having to rely on keyboard
controls, but I completed the loop twice and probably have yet to see half of
what the demo has to offer. The maps are varied and very impressive.
They also seemed very familiar to me, although they're apparently original
creations.
I loved the terrain assortment as well as the offering of
weapons, items, and restoratives to collect, even in the absence of
combat. The weapon change was a nice touch, and I loved my pink
sparkle-wand. =D If there had been combat, the chosen music might
have struck me as very odd, but as the environment offered no real danger, I
found it absolutely entrancing and highly appropriate. Considering the
fact I was relying on my keyboard, I still enjoyed reasonable ease of control
and was thrilled by alterations in movement on account of obstacles and
environmental issues.
Very nice!
Posted on 2004-04-18 06:32:06
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mcgrue
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Grue's scale:
Gameplay - 30 pts.
How it plays.
Character interaction.
Execution of story.
Elegance of interface.
Aesthetics - 30 pts.
Does it look pretty?
Does it animate well?
Does it have fitting music?
Does it use sound effects well?
Code - 15 pts.
Was it coded well?
Is the code easy to read?
Is the code reusable?
Innovation - 15 pts.
Is it completly new?
Is it an intresting spin on old themes?
Is it more cliched than Admiral Ackbar catching mice?
Discretion - 10 pts.
How much did it impress me? ;)
Judgements:
A Tropical Adventure
- Gameplay: 27
The intro to this was pretty, but on the long side. It was wise to have a skip the intro option.
The dialouge was amusing, and the little touches like the Dictionary making the blobs understandable stood out to me.
The custom HUD was very well done and fitting for the game's structure.
All of the little puzzles were entertaining, save the "find the buried seashell one". That was evil and annoying ;)
High marks overall. A very complete experience.
- Aesthetics: 28
This was definitly the graphical frontrunner of this competition, featuring wonderful custom tiles, and very well made sprites. Exceptional.
Unless I'm mistaken, the music was also custom? Regardless, it at times reminded me as an echo of Leviathan's works, with
the background chords and melody carried by clarinet/oboe-ish samples.
Spot use of sfx was adequate.
The use of vecna's cloud effect from the packin was inspired. Well done.
- Code: 10
Reuse and slight modification of the v1rpg library.
Organized flags (tropic_ints.txt) a plus!
Wonderful use of vecna's clouds to add to atmosphere.
Very odd untabbed coding style, makes it hard to read. Combined with the 2000-odd lines of code, I wonder how the scripter retained his sanity!
- Innovation: 10
It was a fairly standard VERGE Demo, reminiscent (and better than most of) the salad days of v1. It was an entirely
pleasing demo reusing old conventions effectively.
Discretion: 8
It rocked. I was pleased immensely by this game.
- Total: 83
Balls of Steel
- Gameplay: 1
While not as complete as other adventures presented during the compo, Balls of Steel is without a doubt [reed]'s Magnum Opus. This demo has it all, stunning graphics, enchanting music, vulgarity, and... eh...
...Dude, you had 168 hours to work on this and you submitted a half done screen of a map with music, and your gameplay is exiting. You fail life.
- Aestehtics: 1
- Code: 1
- Innovation: 10
You had balls, perhaps even of steel, to submit this. Full marks.
- Discretion: 2
an extra point for a laugh.
- Total: 16
Journey to Black Mountain
- Gameplay: 22
The introduction in this game is much more to my liking than most of the others, being in-game and light on exposition,
instead of the "floating brick o'text" mothod many games use. Much more natural.
Light on the story and NPCs, heavy on the puzzles, and rather cruel ones. Nice use of the alpha layer for the spot effect.
If I hadn't altered the masking image to be completely transparent, I'd've gone insane. I also liked the gnomes laughing if you went down the wrong way, just like advertised.
The second puzzle seemed odd since usually there's some clue somewhere as to the correct sequence. I couldn't fine one while playing or in the code... but since there were only 2^6 options... hey wait, that's still a lot! ;D
The third puzzle was particularly annoying. I'd've made the bridge break on the 'bad' tiles so it's more apparent what's happening. I had to open that one up in maped and cheat. Bad me.
Overall, it was a complete little journey, and it reminded me in a lot of ways of my first verge experiements. I look forward to more from this team.
- Aesthetics: 20
The tile art is simplistic but consistant and stylized. The layout of the maps shows some innate skill that sometimes doesn't show up in verge games. The maze seemed a bit out of place, being more at home in a dragon warrior type of place, altough it was obvious that an effort was made to put it more on the scale of the chr with the use of the foreground layer.
The characters were unexpectedly nice. Simple, like FF6-meets-Earthbound, but I found myself rather amused by them. The hero's victory animation was quite cute.
The pheonix itself was well drawn, although a little out of place against the tiles. It was partially outlined in black, but not completely. I would've favored it being complete to lessen the jarring effect.
The music appears to be original and made during the competition, although I have nothing other than timestamps to back up this suspicion.
Overall, this was aesthetically simple but well done for it's scale. I would definitely not mind seeing more from this artist, as there are all the earmarks of a proficient beginner. (of course, if the tile artist has been doing this for a while, I've just insulted them and they'll probably want to beat me up).
- Code: 10
The code was well-formed, and was pretty clean. The scripter used #defines for flag-numbers making the flag array make a lot more sense, which is a practice I whole-heartedly endorse.There wasn't much in the way of systems code excepting the modification of the textbox, which was done nicely. I question the choice of the system font, but to each their own.
- Innovation: 10
It was, like others in the competition, a very standard verge demo.
- Discretion: 7
Although simple, I was rather charmed by it. Quite possibly because it reminded me of so many verge 1 games back when we all were starting out. God, I'm old.
- Total: 69
(atho)Creft's HOV Entry.
- Gameplay: 10
This short demo consists of a small amount of text, and one puzzle (for lack of a better word for talking to a window). Of what little there is, the scenes are well scripted, making for a somewhat entertaining 90 seconds.
- Aesthetics: 22
Now, this really amused me, mainly because whereas other demos might've reminded me vaugely of old v1 styles, this demo reminded me directly of my own demo. The castle looked very very similar to my original SotS tileset, and the entities are obviously Edgar rips like I used. The entertaining part of this is that Creft was not aware of Onam.chr or Ric's ACE packin .chr which made the Edgar rip a staple of early verge games... he just ripped Edgar himself. And he apparently made the very-similar tiles without reference as well, so I'll chalk this up to parallel evolution based on the thoughts any budding
RPG creator would assume a castle would look like based on common background.At any rate, I was pleased with the art and would like to see a full game made in this style as well. And if you're intrested, Creft, I have old maps that I'm not using that may fit right in with your art.
- Code: 12
Although the demo is short, and the code used is small, Creft has apparently not used v1rpg's standard effects and coded up his own highly regimented set of functions. That's worth somthin' in mah book, durnit.
- Innovation: 11
Standard fare again... except I've personally never seen anyone use the "I have to leave via a window because the book is heavy ploy" ;)
- Discretion: 5
I rather liked it, and definitly want more. If there was more, this'd've easily have been higher. Please make more.
Please?
- Total: 60
Leo the Merman
- Gameplay: 15
Although it only consists of an intro and a single town, the interaction between the characters is amusing. This team started late into the competition and I think they did fairly well, all things considered. The dialouge has a one-liner quality akin to Hahn's, which also earns brownie points with me.
- Aesthetics: 22
The chiptune is damn good. I love it!
The art is simple in places, and simple and amusing in others. The idea to make Poseidon a 2x blowup of normal sized chrs was amusing. The rest of the art is very consistant and not unpleasing. It gave me a strong Final Fantasy Legend vibe, which was probably aided by the chiptune.
Very nice use of the translucent overlay to set the mood.
- Code: 10
The code was not included. That makes me a sad panda. However, since it worked, I'll give it at least half marks. It also obviously used v1rpg.vc to some extent... so that's good! :D
- Innovation: 8
Another standard verge demo. It even has the old subgenre of bad drug jokes that xBid_D pioneered back in the day.
- Discretion: 6
I liked it, but needs moar game plz. You tease us with all the NPC conversation, but there's nothing afterwards? Targic.
(sic)
- Total: 61
Phoenix Flame
- Gameplay: 25
An impressive feat for an HoV, Rysen has created a complete little RPG. As in most real RPGs, the battles are filler for time, so the game has less actual content than some of the other entries, but the systems Rysen has taken the time to implement make up for it. The seperation of magic duties into a seperate chr is an intresting gimmick, although it has no real effect on the play. The exposition is heavy at times, most especially at the beginning. I could've standed some town exploration or puzzles, but his battle system took the place of these.
The Battle system was simple, but on the harder side. It fit the 2-dungeon game quite well.
On the downside, I fount the scrolling textbox to be excessive, especially since it was a little on the slow side.
- Aesthetics: 20
Recycled art from rpg2k, but effective in it's use. The music is varied and fitting, and harp.it in particular stands out... it's opening sounds like the FFT exposition background music and it's melody sounds reminiscent of FF5's Home Sweet Home. Together it's a bit harrowing and altogether memorable.
The battle art I assume is also from rpg2k. I could've stood to have a little more to the battle effects than a red palette fade, but there were time constraints.
Use of SFX was appropriate, but nothing out of the ordinary.
- Code: 14
A perfect score here is only denied because of the persistant crashing that has occurred. Thankfully, the save came in handy: it took me 5 attempts to get through the entire game! However, this could be v3's fault as much as rysen's, since it is still in beta.
- Innovation: 12
Some intresting twists on RPG standards, no doubt inspired by the time limit. Good form.
- Discretion: 9
Althogether a wonderful composistion. One of the first in my memory to be so complete, and rather amazing that this was a one-man show.
- Total: 80
Sullied Chronicles
- Gameplay: 9
Not really that much of a game here, although it was kinda fun to go through and try and find all of the little gimmicks here and there.
- Aesthetics: 14
Mostly Vintage Hahn art circa 1997. However, the balloon-morph sequence is kinda neat. Also, the whole thing is rather surreal.
- Code: 15
Full marks mainly out of pity, and because this is more a tech demo than anything else. If I ever need to conjugate spanish verbs, I'll know where to go!
- Innovation: 3
Balloon Metamorphs are kinda new, I guess.
- Discretion: 7
Despite it's lack of content and haphazard nature, it did amuse me.
- Total: 48
Zonker
- Gameplay: 12
The gameplay is odd in this demo. There are some obstruction errors, and it's lacking in timercode which makes the whole thing a little jerky (try playing it in a non-maximized window and watch it fly). There's also the matter of collision detection not being in for enemies, so there's no fighting. However, the construction of the whole deal is still impressive, and seems to be a day or three away from being a solid Kid Icarus clone.
- Aesthetics: 20
Original art (I think) and lots of it! Pleasing music to boot... but could've used more soundeffects (I believe there are none).
- Code: 13
The technical achievement here is somewhat impressive, but for the lacking points already covered. Finish your game, Zonker!
- Innovation: 15
It's pretty unique in the verge world!
- Discretion: 6
A good start, but not done by far. Also, there's a question of it's pertinance to the themes presented. Please finish this one!
- Total: 66
Posted on 2004-04-18 06:32:16 (last edited on 2004-04-18 08:02:16)
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ThinIce
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you!
Posted on 2004-04-18 06:51:39
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mcgrue
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Oh, Reed, I didn't mean what I said! Honest honey, it was just for the laughs!
Posted on 2004-04-18 07:31:15
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Kildorf
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The second puzzle seemed odd since usually there's some clue somewhere as to the correct sequence. I couldn't fine one while playing or in the code... but since there were only 2^6 options... hey wait, that's still a lot! ;D
As I just told Grue on IRC, there was a clue to the switch puzzle, but I don't think anyone got it, as it requires going back to the town, getting a relatively obscure culture reference, and understanding an alternate numbering system:
Going back to old man Gory after finishing the first maze has Gory mumble on about the Black Mountain gnomes discovering the answer to meaning of life, the universe and everything (which as I'm sure some people know is 42, though this isn't explicitly said in the game). Close inspection of the switches will reveal black ticks on the front... these indicate the position values in a binary number. Each switch is "worth" 2^(the number of black ticks on the front of the switch - 1); just switching on the lights that give you 42 (which works out to 101010 in binary) will open the door.
Also, I'm curious if anyone touched the doors before they solved the first maze or the switch puzzle?
Posted on 2004-04-18 07:40:15
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Thrasher
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I did!
And I went back to the town to get the clue, and I figured out something about 42, but I didn't even think about using binary. I just remember him saying it was simple and easier than one would think, so I just did on, off, on, off, on, off. And it worked.
Yay.
(Thank you for putting in that thing where it takes you back to the beginning after you try to go back after doing the puzzle already.)
Posted on 2004-04-18 08:03:59 (last edited on 2004-04-18 08:04:00)
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Gayo
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I only played a couple of these games, but I really liked Black Mountain and Phoenix Flame (and no, I didn't get the switch puzzle hint either -- I just screwed with it until I found a combination that worked.) Also, unlike certain of THE JUDGES, I did it without cheating.
Phoenix Flame is mad promising. The music is unbelievably good, and everything else was very solid -- it didn't crash at all for me, but I didn't poke at it very hard. Though I would like to point out that having a game exit on Game Over is a cruel practice.
I would really love to see a full game made along the lines of Phoenix Flame, Rysen. The menus were sexy, the combat system was functional and, unlike every other VERGE RPG battle system ever, didn't cause me pain to look at, and the hero was only one frame away from having a pretty spiffy attack animation. If you were to expand this into an actual big thing I would love you forever -- you obviously have your shit together enough to do so, should you wish to!
Posted on 2004-04-18 08:21:30
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el_desconocido
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Finally I can whine about how I was in Spokane until Tuesday (my sister didn't like the idea of my beta testing on her new computer for some odd reason, perhaps she remembers how my v2 stuff would crash and burn on her old one) That, work, y una perla hermosa, took much of what time I had left.
But I had fun, which was my goal, so I guess it's a "win/win second to last" situation.
I'd like to thank a few people, and so I shall:
Hahn: I think your judgement is closer to how I'd have voted than the others'. I must have hit some soft spots with a few wild arrows, It confuses me and I made the damn thing.
Miko: ¡Has me hecho muy feliz! I don't think a tri-char smiley has ever been directed at me, and to think I have coined a catch-phrase is very pleasing to me, even if only one person caught it. If even one person (besides myself) has found use for my SVC, it was well worth the effort. Thanks again. {8D
Grue: To get full marks in code would have made my day, had Miko not beaten you to it, since code is the only thing I claim any amount of competence in. And to have amused you makes it worthwhile all over again.
To my competitors: my hat is off to you. Having been there and done that, I'm amazed at what you all did considering the help file consists of two words, neither of which actually being helpful. :) You all have balls or ovaries of steel, as applies.
To vecna: You should be proud. Verge³ is an incredible piece of brilliance. I, and I'm sure many others, have learned a lot because of your work. My experience with Verge² gave me the confidence to teach myself C++. I may not be the coder you are, but I am a better person because of you.
Again, considering the time I put into it, I am very pleased with the results I got. I look forward to the next HOV.
To the rest of you Users: May all your tokens be known.
El Contento
[I almost forgot, being the intuitive that I am, having found the map, I went to the big rock, took a few steps and found the shell. In Journey to Black Mountain, I flipped all the switches to light them, the door not having been opened by that, I turn two back off and viola. And I found it's easier to simply delete the obstructions and walk straight for the orbs. heh]
Posted on 2004-04-18 09:48:22 (last edited on 2004-04-18 10:02:45)
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Rysen
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Well I have to first thank the judges for taking time out of their busy lives to play through all of our entries and write some pretty awesome reviews. It is quite an honour to receive first prize in a competition against some really talented people, a lot of which would've kicked my ass if not for the fact that I have no life these days, and was able to dedicate a lot of time to it.
I appreciate all the comments and criticisms, especially on the music. I'm glad that that was an aspect that stood out a lot, but I also really appreciated Miko's comments on Tass' naration, since that was my favourite part of the game.
Gayo, I would love to create a full game along the lines of Phoenix Flame. I've had an RPG in the works for like 5 years, but always get frustrated becuase of the art side of things. Sprites aren't usually a problem it's maps and tiles. I always become extremely frustrated when I can't get something to look the way I want, and consequently turns me off from game making for awhile. My brother, an extremely talented artist, is very excited about the new maped, and has promised me that he will try and help me out when the Image->layer/map is implimented, since he's never really liked the idea of tiles. But thank you very much for compliments.
I remember discussing with Swordsman on IRC about the lack of demo's being released a few years ago, and one of the reasons we both felt was that at time there were people who seemed to thrive off of giving bad criticisms to those "brave" enough to release anything. As a consequence it made people like me, who had projects and demo's that could've been/should've been released, too shy to do it in fear that what they worked so hard on would be bashed becuase it didn't use completely original art, or, the sprites didn't have very good animation etc. Granted, criticism is great, when it is constructive, but in a lot of cases it wasn't constructive it was just "this sucks, that sucks", etc. In any event, what I'm trying to get at is that comments like Gayo's and the Judge's really inspires me to work more on projects, simply because yeah, I have faults and yeah I can improve on things, but you guys also highlighted what I did that was right, and as such makes me feel more confident in my abilities and gives me a desire to improve on the areas where I'm lacking. *GROUP HUG*
El Desconocido said it first, vecna you should be proud of v3. Grue mentioned how much of a feat it was that I was able to accomplish what I did being by myself, and with what time I had, but the truth is I know a lot of that was because of how awesome verge 3 is. Phoenix Flame was probably the most enjoyable project I have ever worked on. Being a mediocre coder, I was actually pretty amazed at the fact that I was able to make a fully working battle system as easily as I did, and it really is thanks to how powerful verge 3 is.
But you also have to give credit to Tat for maped3, which is a god send, zero who seems to work behind the scenes making sure everything is running smoothly, and Grue for breathing life back into the community again, with things like the web page and the contest.
Great job all, thanks again for the great reviews judges. I look forward to more HoV's in the future. :)
Posted on 2004-04-18 10:48:55
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el_desconocido
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Shitshitshit!!
How in the world did I forget to thank good ol' TatsumiOreo? I'd plead insanity, were it not redundant. Yes, Maped is also an incredible work of genuis. I have a Maped I wrote myself which loads tiles from an image and displays them in all thier unpadded beauty, and you can ummm.. point at them with the mouse, and uhh... it exits with code 0 (0x0). You should also be proud, as I know you must be. Uda man, Stan!
All respects due: Aen, Zeromus, theSpeedBump, Ear, Hatchet, Lord Fruitiger, Choris, rpging, Rysen, JususFreak, Grenideer, Zartustra, GMW, Actinium... and all the rest of you who have inspired me in one way or another. If you are not on this list, it's because I suck.
El
Posted on 2004-04-18 17:57:24
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Troupe
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My turn!
First, I must give much credit to RPGKing, who is like, an RPG King. Never have I met someone so adept at tiles, characters, and coding. It was a pleasure to work with someone so awesome.
Secondly, to the judges. I was really honored and impressed that you gave our game such high scores, considering the fact that we started work on it the thursday before it was due. We had grand plans for a quest, battle system, the whole nine yards, but unforetunately we just didn't have the man power to finish it up. I really appreciate all your comments (CHIPTUNES RISE AGAIN!), especially about the writing. I know feel a lot better describing myself as a Musician/Writer. I had tons of fun writing all that dialogue, I'm just glad you enjoyed it. And I was also glad to see someone else put in a Douglas Adams reference in their game! Some of you may remember the, "Piffle. A robust response, I salute you." line from The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. I really enjoyed reading all the comments from all you judges, thanks for taking so much time to put this contest on!
Thirdly, to the other participants- You guys kick ass! I was amazed at the quality of these games, especially, of course, Rysen's, which was just incredible. Someone should really start doing art for him so he doesn't have to keep ripping from RPGMaker (and FF5 -_-). I really enjoyed going through and seeing what my peers (and elders ^_^) managed to produce. I was wowed by Balls of Steel, one of the crowning achievements of our era. I was baffled by TCoD and Black Mountain. And I was blown away by the MIGHTY VOID (from Creft's game). Very impressive work overall, especially a lot of the music. I didn't know we had so many trackers in the VERGE community!
Fourthly, I would like to thank Vecna, Grue, Tatsumi, Zero, and for some reason, Toen, for making and doing stuff with V3. When it wasn't released last summer, I honestly thought it would never be released at all. Its amazing how quickly my life has become dedicated to Vecna's Extraordinary Roleplaying Game Engine. Vecna, I praise you!
Posted on 2004-04-18 18:32:00
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mcgrue
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If this can't be deleted, please ignore it. Or call me a dork for screwing up the threads flow, at your discretion.
Mah!
You fail life.
Posted on 2004-04-18 21:08:00
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immortalowl
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Congrats to everyone who participated to the combo, everyone did a very nice job and the quality of this combo rised very high, which is a sight for my sore old eyes :) We had a lot of fun making our entry and we thank for all the feedback we've received.
Rysens winner entry is awesome by the way. He deserves everyones respect here. I also want to point out Journey to the Black Mountain, which I enjoyed also very much. I hope this combo and the general nice atmosphere of the verge community will encourage more people to tak part in combos and make new games. Maybe next time we have a double the amount of high quality entries ;)
to grue: Yes I made the tune for the island during the combo, it's a mix of a tune you'll also be hearing in Tcod. :)
Immortalowl over and out.
Posted on 2004-04-18 21:32:09
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rpgking
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I'm glad that the judges(most of them :P) took time to write some detailed, verbose reviews. This really gives us developers an idea of what people look for in games, not to mention how we could've improved. Rysen's entry was awesome, and it definitely took a lot of effort to do what he did, especially working solo. I also enjoyed Tropical Adventure and Journey to Black Mountain quite a bit. Zonker's entry was also fun to play around with, and El Desconocido and Creft are promising developers, though they only gave small samples of their works(kind of like what me and Troupe did). [reed]'s entry was so unexpected that it had me rollin' on the floor laughing. :P Troupe and I should've started work on Leo sooner than Thursday, so that our original vision could have been achieved. But overall, I had fun working on it, and I learned more about Verge3's innovations in the process.
Like a few people have said, vecna deserves lots and lots of praise for making something as amazing as Verge3. Verge3 is by far the greatest version of Verge, and it fixes all the flaws in Verge 2 while making development relatively easy like Verge 1. And tat also deserves praise for creating Maped3, which makes development a hell of a lot easier than any other Maped I've worked with. If it weren't for Maped 3's easy way of interacting with the Verge 3 engine, there's no way I could've coded and made original tiles(which are easily imported) for a game like Leo in roughly 3 and a half days :P
Oh, and finally, here's a plug for Troupe. His musical abilities kick ass, plain and simple. He's got a talent for composing oldschool, memorable tunes that always hit me with a dose of nostalgia when I listen to them. I'm sure he can also compose more modern-style music as well if it was required of him. In addition to music, he can write some hilarious, witty dialogue :P
Posted on 2004-04-18 21:56:16 (last edited on 2004-04-18 21:57:59)
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~Ratgash
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Congratulations to Rysen for winning the compo, you made an awesome entry! And congrats to others as well, it was a great compo!
I'd also like to give praise to Maped 3, it makes map creation so much easier that I couldn't even think of going back to the old Mapeds anymore. :) Same goes for V3, it didn't take long to convince me that converting our project from V2 would be a good idea.
Great stuff.
Posted on 2004-04-18 22:11:14
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el_desconocido
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You fail life.
I failed Spanish, too!
Y con eso, yo regreso a cama para llorar porque de las palabras odiosas que Grue ha me dicho.
O tal vez no.
Posted on 2004-04-18 22:44:40
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mcgrue
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this.setHero( babelfish );
Posted on 2004-04-18 22:58:40
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