Christmas 2006 Dualstream Day of Zeux Judging Sheets:Wervyn
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[[Unfortunately, Wervyn never completed his commentary in his judging sheet. Here is what he finished.]]
01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 So it's another six months and another DoZ. I have to admit, I've been getting a little antsy to compete again, seeing as it has been two years now. But under the circumstances, with the new rules changes being largely proposed by me, I felt I'd be remiss if I didn’t judge this time, in order to better explain the purpose behind them. Someone's going to have to count up the number of DoZs I've judged at this point, because I’m sure I've lost track by now. But it seems very likely that I've got the current record for most DoZs judged. Anyway, before I get down to the nitty-gritty of the actual scores, I'd like to once again go over the scoreset and explain what my personal criteria are for judging each category. Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we? ## SCORING RUBRIC ############################################################## ==== THEME ========================================== [100/400] // [20/400] ==== | WHAT IT IS: For the general topic, theme is going to carry a lot of your | | score. Based on my own ideas of what would make for an interesting basis | | for competition, I wanted to see a DoZ that was not just about making | | best game, but making the best THEMED game. So under the general topic | | the theme should be a prevalent element in as much of the game as | | possible, including gameplay as well as story, and also the atmospheric | | aspects of the game. | | However, early on it became clear that not everyone wanted a competition | | like this, some people just want a DoZ where they can show off what they | | can do with Megazeux. So for the specific topic, theme is there to give | | you a springboard for game ideas, to encourage some sense of unified | | purpose across the entries, and as a token measure against people taking | | an early start. Here, theme should take the backseat to producing the | | best GAMEPLAY possible. | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: For the specific topic, I'm grading based on a very | | simplified scale with five ranks. Basically, excellent use of theme (on | | the level of what I’d expect out of a good general topic game) will net | | you a full 20 points. Good incorporation (e.g. you made it the central | | element of the story in a way that worked) is worth 15. Mediocre theme | | usage, where the theme is mentioned but not really tied in well, earns | | 10 points. And if the best you can do is a robot that says "this is a | | game about Flight!", you'll get a 5. If for some reason, you can't even | | pull that off, and your game has nothing to do with the theme whatsoever | | as far as I can tell, you'll get a 0 and be disqualified. Because come | | on, guys, it's a matter of respect. It is not THAT hard to do simple | | theme incorporation. | | Now, for the general topic, things are a little more complicated. Well, | | okay, they're a lot more complicated. Here, it's not sufficient to just | | write a good story on the theme and slap it on your game. The gameplay | | itself must be reinforcing the theme as well. My general breakdown for | | this is going to be 50% devoted to use of the theme in story, 30% to its | | use in gameplay, and 20% to other atmospherics (graphics and sound). Now | | I know a lot of you are wondering, "how am I supposed to use the theme | | in the gameplay, or anything else?" Well, there are two basic tactics | | you can use. | | First, design your game with a unification of purpose in mind for each | | element. All of you have played games where the actions you perform, | | gameplay-wise, have almost nothing to do with the story. I'd probably | | use random battles in RPGs as an example of this, and I think this is | | the reason why I didn't like RPGs for a long time: here's this epic sort | | of story going on, but in the interim you're traversing the world-map | | and fighting off a host of bizarre creatures that 90% of the time don't | | seem to have any correlation to what's actually going on in the game. | | Obviously this is to give the player something to do, and it's a staple | | of RPGs, but more often than not this sort of thing is a distraction | | from the thrust of the main story. Contrast this with a game like Thief | | (definitely a favorite of mine), where everything you do in the game | | enhances the overall atmosphere and character emersion, while advancing | | the story at the same time. So if your gameplay (and graphics and sound) | | are working in conjunction with your story rather than against it, then | | your story will be able to carry more of the theme score. | | The second tactic you can take is to actually design your gameplay to | | incorporate the theme elements. Clearly what you can do with this will | | depend on the theme itself, so let me detail specifically the sorts of | | things I was thinking of when I came up with the memory theme: | | - Searching for a lost object | | - Emphasis on remembering previous events/information to progress | | - Maze-based gameplay, requiring the player to keep a map in their head | | - Any of a number of memory-based games (eponymous "Memory", Simon) | | - Hacking computer memory as a gameplay concept | | - Use of nostalgia in atmospheric elements | | Memory, in particular, I chose and then lobbied for with the rest of the | | judges because to me, it seemed like an easy theme to come up with ideas | | for use in gameplay, and even in music or graphics. A consistent use of | | a particular musical theme, or a recurring graphical element, would make | | good use of the memory theme, for instance. | | Finally, just to offer an example of what would constitute really good | | use of the memory theme, consider inmate's Forrester. If it were a DoZ | | game this time around, Forrester would probably rank around a 92 or so | | in the theme category for me. It has a storyline that incorporates | | memory in a central way, and its interpretation of the theme is also | | extremely unique. The gameplay ties into the story and reinforces its | | progression very well, and I particularly liked the puzzle where you had | | to remember the wall blocking the path in order to make it disappear. | | The graphics also tied into this, with a few notable recurring elements | | like the UFO, and the title musical theme had a wonderfully mournful | | nostalgia about it. Finally, the game being in itself a throwback to | | SuperZZT gives it some extra bonus points. Certainly, no game submitted | | in this DoZ connected to the theme as well as Forrester did. | | Wow, sorry about that! I promise the rest won't be as long, but theme is | | new this year, so I had a lot to say about it. | | | ==== GAMEPLAY ======================================= [90/400] // [120/400] ==== | WHAT IT IS: | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: | | | ==== TECHNIQUE ======================================= [60/400] // [80/400] ==== | WHAT IT IS: | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: | | | ==== GRAPHICS ======================================== [70/400] // [90/400] ==== | WHAT IT IS: | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: | | | ==== STORY =========================================== [50/400] // [50/400] ==== | WHAT IT IS: | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: | | | ==== SOUND =========================================== [30/400] // [40/400] ==== | WHAT IT IS: | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: | | | ==== INNOVATION/ORIGINALITY VS. DISCRETION ===================================== | WHAT IT IS: | | WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: | | | ================================================================================ ## INDIVIDUAL SCORESHEETS ###################################################### == 00525 = Aviation Aspiration ============================ FLIGHT = [203/400] = = GAMEPLAY: 42/120 42/120 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 30/80 30/ 80 = | | = GRAPHICS: 41/90 41/ 90 = | | = STORY: 41/50 41/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 31/40 31/ 40 = | | = THEME: 18/20 18/ 20 = | | = TOTAL: 203/400 203/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 05389 = The THING What Came From BENEATH =============== MEMORY = [231/400] = = THEME: 62/100 62/100 = | | = GAMEPLAY: 53/90 53/ 90 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 23/60 23/ 60 = | | = GRAPHICS: 48/70 48/ 70 = | | = STORY: 39/50 39/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 6/30 6/ 30 = | | = TOTAL: 231/400 231/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 12984 = Irreplaceable Memory =========================== MEMORY = [266/400] = = THEME: 67/100 67/100 = | First the good news: The beginnings of the story that I saw were very | | tightly centered on the theme. While not necessarily the most unique | | interpretation, it was definitely a very solid one. The gray tinting of the | | artwork leading into the memory was a good choice, and I particularly liked | | the graphical interpretation of "shattered memories". That's really where | | you should have stopped, though, right at "these memories would all have | | hints and clues that I could use to determine their context." Build the game | | around that, and it would have been golden; as it is, there's a pretty | | severe disconnect to me between what I saw in the introduction, all about | | memory, and what I actually got to play. It's entirely probable that with | | more game and more interspersed story the connection would have been better | | and brought out the theme more, but as it is the story felt like an excuse | | to make an engine you had already really decided on in advance. | | | = GAMEPLAY: 28/90 28/ 90 = | Boy howdy let me tell you, I was so excited when I opened up MZX and this | | was the first game I saw, because it looks SO pretty (more on that shortly). | | So I was sitting there, looking at pictures, and text, and more pictures, | | and more pictures, and more text... Then it was Act I, finally time to start | | the game! Except no, more pictures, and more text. And a horrid thought | | struck me: this is all there IS! Lancer spent all his time thinking like | | Logicow in order to beat him that he'd forgotten to actually make a GAME! | | Of course, after several minutes I was eventually proven wrong, and there | | is actually half of a level included. But what that really is is a nice game | | prototype, showcasing various ideas to be incorporated into some future | | game. I could never escape the feeling that what I was really playing was a | | test board. There's no balance, since it's far to easy to win and basically | | impossible to die, and while there are lots of neat features like elemental | | spells and defense, none of them seem to have any real practical use within | | the progression of this one level. In short, neat ideas that needed a base. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 57/60 57/ 60 = | Here's a real shining point for the game, the engine work that went into | | it. That's really what I'm seeing here most of all, "Lancer's Tech Demo". | | And I really can't fault him on that. We have a dynamic content management | | system that forms the core of the game, something that can be easily used | | to add levels, graphics, story, and whatever else, in sequence. This is a | | very sophisticated concept that I would love to see more of in the future, | | since clearly what was on Lancer's mind was designing a framework that would | | make it as easy as possible to rapidly develop the game after it was done. | | Unfortunately, content is always the killer in large-scale productions. What | | you really needed here was a team to help you develop levels, artwork, and | | finish the story. | | I'd also like to give props to some excellent gameplay engines, even if | | they didn't come together into a finished game. With some tweaking and some | | parceling of skills over the course of an actual game, the basic framework | | here could really turn into something great. Excellent work. | | | = GRAPHICS: 54/70 54/ 70 = | From the very beginning, this is a visually very impressive game. Though | | the artwork is externally created, this definitely shows the value of that | | sort of external conversion tool. There's also a high level of detail in the | | game sprites, with no graphical bugs that I could see. Most of my complaint, | | then, is that nothing really seems to be tying the graphics together, and | | especially in the game itself, no real cues to tell me where the hell I'm | | actually supposed to be. The monsters are just random sprites, as far as I | | can tell, and the room is just a bunch of random grey walls and blue floor. | | Added to this are the full-screen message boxes, and while that font is very | | pretty, sure, you also have me looking at a bland gradient full of text for | | more than half the game. | | | = STORY: 36/50 36/ 50 = | As I said before, this isn't really a truely groundbreaking story to me, | | at least for what I saw of it. It's a solid one, though, with room for lots | | of twists and turns and things to make it interesting. The discretionary | | deduction here isn't because your game was almost entirely story, then. It's | | because you really only wrote the first part of it. Promise or not, what's | | here simply isn't enough to really carry the plot, and most importantly I | | never really have a chance to connect with either of the characters. Without | | resolution, I can't really grade it higher. | | | = SOUND: 24/30 24/ 30 = | The music selection was generally quite good, and effective at carrying | | the tone. I liked the opening piece in particular, and the general quality | | of the pieces chosen is high. The "something is wrong" piece (with the red | | text) felt a little jarring and out of place, which I guess was the point, | | but it didn't seem to fit quite as well, structurally, with the other two. | | And Naomi's theme (for lack of a better name) was nice, but it doesn't loop | | very well, just sort of starts over. As for the game sounds, these too are | | a little jarring, making the game feel more arcade-ish than the story would | | imply. But they're effective. | | | = TOTAL: 266/400 266/400 = | Reflecting back on this, I feel sure Lancer is lamenting spending so much | | time writing content engines and not enough actually writing a game. He told | | me going in that his idea was to think like Logicow in order to beat him. | | Unfortunately it seems he forgot that the reason so many of us dislike | | Logicow is that he spends most of his time making pretty things and fails to | | deliver an actual game. So maybe this result isn't so surprising. | | | | "Ah, fina-- no, no, just more text." | ================================================================================ == 21079 - Fuzzy Loses His Memory ========================= MEMORY = [168/400] = = THEME: 47/100 47/100 = | The main thrust of the theme connection here seems to be "you've lost your | | stuff and your memory and have o get it back." Which would be a great tie-in | | if the story were better, or the gameplay a little bit more on theme. As it | | is, the actual follow up is "hey, look at my crappy sidescroller!" That is | | to say this, while not a minimal effort to follow the theme, is certainly | | not a strong one. | | | = GAMEPLAY: 43/90 43/ 90 = | As another entry in the time-honored "sidescroller with a gimmick" | | category, Fuzzy is, predictably, achingly mediocre and frought with | | frustrating gameplay. I'm sure at the time, a game concept where you have to | | press a cumbersome combination of keys in order to make most of the jumps | | seemed like a great idea. It is, however, not. Now, this was a complete | | game, which automatically puts it ahead of, say, Lancer's game. But damn if | | it isn't a trial to play through. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 19/60 19/ 60 = | "I made a sidescroller!" Actually sorry, "we made a sidescroller!" Wow, | | guys. That's not something you see every DoZ. Now it's obviously better than | | a game with nothing to recommend it but moving from board to board and | | :touching things. But...it's a sidescorller. | | | = GRAPHICS: 28/70 28/ 70 = | I see here the minimum effort necessary to create a game that looks like | | some time was spent on it. Some token char edits and paletting for the | | levels, but ultimately it comes out bland and unimpressive. It's pretty much | | just a mess of colored blocks. | | | = STORY: 21/50 21/ 50 = | Alien loses his memory, and proceeds through the FOREST level, the CAVE | | level, and the VOLCANO level (among others, at least there wasn't an | | UNDERWATER level) to retrieve it. Also he is a rock star. There's some | | attempt at coherence and plot here, but mostly it falls flat. | | | = SOUND: 10/30 10/ 30 = | The music is also very bland, not really inspiring the levels at all. And | | points off for level three, because my God, that is possibly the most | | irritating music ever. Seriously, burping? What were you guys thinking? | | Also, needs more sound effects. | | | = TOTAL: 168/400 168/400 = | Wouldn't be a DoZ these days without a platformer, would it. You guys are | | just fulfilling your civic duty! Seriously, I'm not going to say anything | | like "why did you even bother at all," since I don't believe that either. | | But still, were you really expecting better? | | | | "Is it just me or does Fuzzy resemble Jar-Jar Binks?" | ================================================================================ == 32427 = Dislocated Memories ============================ MEMORY = [253/400] = = THEME: 78/100 78/100 = | This is certainly an interesting take on the theme, I'll grant that. | | Unlike, say, Memory Leak, it doesn't really strike a chord with me though, | | doesn't feel as solid. It's a neat concept, sure, but it doesn't really | | scream "this is a game about Memory" to me. It makes up for that though by | | really tying the gameplay to the story, which strengthens the theme. And the | | final boss battle made good use of the memory motif. I'm glad at least | | someone seemed to get the idea behind story-gameplay marriage. | | | = GAMEPLAY: 56/90 56/ 90 = | Above average, but still suffering from both a lack of difficulty in the | | puzzles and too much arbitrary difficulty in the fights, particularly the | | ones where the refresh on your gun is slower than the enemy's. Difficult I | | suppose isn't really the word, it's just tedious. And you don't want tedious | | gameplay. There's a lot of stuff in thegame, some of it intereating, but | | most of it gets in the way of itself in its design. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 20/60 20/ 60 = | Let's see, what am I really looking at, here. Boss design? Most of those | | weren't very good, and having the multiple enemies in the chapel fight be | | able to kill each other is an amateur mistake (though convenient in this | | case). And that side scrolling segment was awful. Points because you spent | | time actually coding, not because you did anything interesting or well. | | | = GRAPHICS: 41/70 41/ 70 = | These graphics are in constant conflict with themselves. There are | | elements in almost every scene that are done well, which are counterpointed | | by things that are just ugly or garrish. And generally it gets worse the | | farther through the game you get. As I said, I really liked the graphical | | motif for the final fight, but there's just too much wrong here to be more | | than slightly above average. | | | = STORY: 36/50 36/ 50 = | I actually liked what you wer developing here, story wise. There was an | | edge of mystery to it, and some dry humor. Then I got to the final | | exposition fest and it was a bit of a let down. "I develped this technology | | so that I could kill people I hate." Lame. Still, this was more thought out | | than a lot of the rest. | | | = SOUND: 22/30 22/ 30 = | the music was nice and varied, and I liked the organ joke, but nothing | | really stood out as impressive here. The sound effects were pretty stock | | stuff, and served more as embellishment on the game than really a part of | | it. Over all, this makes the sound pretty average, too. | | | = TOTAL: 253/400 253/400 = | This is a pretty solid B-rate DoZ game, better than being on the C-list | | anyway. Clear effort was spent, but there's still a way to go before it's up | | there with the high rollers. Still, up until the end, the plot made me | | smile. | | | | "Then there was Shelly, that bitch-whore." | ================================================================================ == 34239 = Fritz Blitz ==================================== FLIGHT = [294/400] = = GAMEPLAY: 95/120 95/120 = | Logicow certainly knew where his points were coming from this competition. | | Minor quibbles aside, this is a complete, varied, and all around fun to play | | five-minute shooter. I've heard people say this was too easy, or that it | | wasn't really bullet hell. Well I suck at shooters, so this is just about | | right for me; I can at least win on easy. But while it was varied, in terms | | of enemy types and bosses, it does feel like there's a lot of room for | | improvement here, whether by adding different weapons, or more levels, or | | something to really make it unique. Because ultimately things get repetitive | | by the end. To really make that gameplay score soar, this needed some more | | oomph. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 56/80 56/ 80 = | The engines displayed here are solid, but I gotta be honest, I don't | | believe Logicow spent more than 12 hours making this. What's going on here | | is pretty basic, boiling down essentially to a BMP renderer and a basic | | shooter engine. As already noted, the shooter has very little complexity, | | certainly nothing I haven't seen before in MZX, and the BMP loader is a | | relatively simple tool that could be written in an hour, and probably less | | given Logicow's familiarity with the concept. That's secondary, though, to | | the fact that dynamically loading the map doesn't even make sense in this | | case, it's needlessly slow and is effectively trying to show off a concept | | that ceased to impress me more than a year ago. The maps should have been | | pre-loaded. Logicow's prediliction for dynamically generated content is | | actually a design flaw, here. | | | = GRAPHICS: 70/90 70/ 90 = | The best word to describe the graphics here is "effective". And possibly | | "cute". They carry the motif of a retro-arcade shooter quite well, and they | | aren't all that bad to look at. But they're still 4bpp half-char graphics, | | and that can only get you so much. Going that route, an extension to 32 | | colors under SMZX mode (or more, depending on graphical tricks) would have | | been a better call. It feels like more could have been done with this than | | was. On the plus side, there were no entirely blank screens with voiceacting | | this time around... | | | = STORY: 18/50 18/ 50 = | Cute, but very slap-dash, and lacking any sort of internal consistency. It | | was amusing, I guess, But it definitely could have been more than it was. As | | it was, it was really just a backdrop for a zany sort of shooter across | | lots of different themed terrain. Which is fine, but not the way to win | | points in this category. | | | = SOUND: 35/40 35/ 40 = | The key thing about the sound here is appropriateness. The sound effects | | in particular were pretty much perfect for the arcade shooter mood, and the | | decision to use older, chippier sounding tracks as background enhanced the | | retro feel of the game greatly. The music, for the most part, contributed to | | the atmosphere of each level as well, so if I have any complaints here, it's | | that I didn't personally like some of the tracks. | | | = THEME: 20/20 20/ 20 = | Paradoxically, Logicow's game is one of the few this competition that | | really seemed to get my idea for theme--something that is present in both | | the gameplay and the story. I suppose we could be accused of playing the | | theme right into his hands, since a shooter is such an obvious choice for | | Flight, and because of things like that it's also much easier to closely | | follow than something like Memory (hence, why Flight is a better specific | | topic than a general one). But regardless of all that, this is definitely | | the game that best captured "Flight" for me. | | | = TOTAL: 294/400 294/400 = | In the end what I see here is essentially a "surefire win" sort of game, | | marrying a solid gameplay concept with some snazz and panache to achieve a | | good standing score. Which is fine, I guess the results are good enough, | | but somehow I don't see this game sticking in my memory for very long after | | the DoZ. There's just not enough in it that's really groundbreaking or new. | | | | "Press 'X' to activate the hidden 'Apollyon' mode!" | ================================================================================ == 48625 = Team 48625! (Hello Kitty Jumper) =============== FLIGHT = [199/400] = = GAMEPLAY: 54/120 54/120 = | Definitely entertaining, but lacking in length or any sort of difficulty | | at all. This is essentially a relaxing way to kill some time. Fun enough, I | | guess, and notably bug free, but not really much of a game. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 32/80 32/ 80 = | It's an SMZX platformer except you can fly! There's some sprite stuff | | being done here, but honestly this sort of thing isn't that impressive or | | difficult anymore. pyro took this DoZ mostly as an excuse to play around | | making a fun engine, that's all. | | | = GRAPHICS: 64/90 64/ 90 = | Pretty and cute, and definitely better than that mess that was the pirates | | vs. ninjas game. The title screen, throwback that it is, could use some work | | to be graphically pleasing. And possibly some more variety in the level | | graphics might help. Still, good enough. | | | = STORY: 11/50 11/ 50 = | Heh! | | | = SOUND: 26/40 26/ 40 = | I'm torn between wanting to hate you or kiss you. Internet memes ahoy! | | Still, that Leekspin song is actually pretty catchy, and appropriateness | | aside (and what WOULD have been appropriate anyway?), it certainly was wacky | | fun. Cute sounds, too. | | | = THEME: 12/20 12/ 20 = | This is Hello Kitty and she can FLY! Gameplay wise this is pretty good, I | | guess. Story wise is a complete WTF though. | | | = TOTAL: 199/400 199/400 = | And amusing and cute waste of time. Cute is definitely the operative word | | here. Because come on, how can you hate Hello Kitty? You can't, that's what. | | | | "Clearly this is a case of irrational exuberance." | ================================================================================ == 51976 = Team 51976 Game (Fungahhh and lemmer) ========== MEMORY = [ 87/400] = = THEME: 29/100 29/100 = | | = GAMEPLAY: 12/90 12/ 90 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 6/60 6/ 60 = | | = GRAPHICS: 10/70 10/ 70 = | | = STORY: 16/50 16/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 14/30 14/ 30 = | | = TOTAL: 87/400 87/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 65131 = Witch Switch =================================== FLIGHT = [179/400] = = GAMEPLAY: 49/120 49/120 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 29/80 29/ 80 = | | = GRAPHICS: 38/90 38/ 90 = | | = STORY: 22/50 22/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 24/40 24/ 40 = | | = THEME: 17/20 17/ 20 = | | = TOTAL: 179/400 179/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 77665 = Relapse ======================================== MEMORY = [176/400] = = THEME: 69/100 69/100 = | | = GAMEPLAY: 24/90 24/ 90 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 10/60 10/ 60 = | | = GRAPHICS: 32/70 32/ 70 = | | = STORY: 33/50 33/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 8/30 8/ 30 = | | = TOTAL: 176/400 176/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 83038 = Bionic Commando ================================ FLIGHT = [194/400] = = GAMEPLAY: 49/120 49/120 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 38/80 38/ 80 = | | = GRAPHICS: 55/90 55/ 90 = | | = STORY: 17/50 17/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 21/40 21/ 40 = | | = THEME: 14/20 14/ 20 = | | = TOTAL: 194/400 194/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 86715 = Untitled (Irritating Lava Pingpong Maze) ======= MEMORY = [ 51/400] = = THEME: 10/100 10/100 = | | = GAMEPLAY: 18/90 18/ 90 = | | = TECHNIQUE: 4/60 4/ 60 = | | = GRAPHICS: 8/70 8/ 70 = | | = STORY: 8/50 8/ 50 = | | = SOUND: 3/30 3/ 30 = | | = TOTAL: 51/400 51/400 = | | ================================================================================ == 90100 = The Red Giant ================================== FLIGHT = [296/400] = = GAMEPLAY: 88/120 88/120 = | So first off, this game has one of the most intuitively designed user | | interfaces I've ever seen in a non-standard MZX game. Maybe this comes from | | growing up playing adventure games, but even though I was given almost no | | instructions, I never had any problems at all figuring out what I was | | supposed to do. So mad props for that. The well designed interface and the | | variety of different things to do made this rather short game entertaining | | the whole way through. The biggest gameplay issue was, of course, path- | | finding, which was quirky at best and ended up sending me backwards, or | | warping me into a completely different room at its buggiest. But it was far | | from game breaking, and I'm so impressed by how solid everything else is | | that it all evens out. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 69/80 69/ 80 = | Adventure games have been attempted in the past, and I remember...was it | | wildweasel? working on a SCUMMZX engine, but this is probably the first time | | I've seen someone pull off an entirely mouse-driven adventure game engine | | and have it work so well. It's not so much a matter of difficulty, as all | | of the engines being used here are pretty easy to understand, but they're so | | effectively used together that the result is just as impressive as any tech | | demo. I was particularly fond of the drag and drop inventory. And of course, | | as previously noted, some better path-finding algorithms would have improved | | the movement engine a bunch. | | | = GRAPHICS: 78/90 78/ 90 = | These graphics impress me notably because Galladin clearly sat down in MZX | | and worked them out by hand. And for that, they're exceptionally good. Okay, | | the character models are a little wonky, but they're very well drawn, and | | planned very well to cast them colorfully in normal MZX graphics. There's a | | lot of attention to detail in the level graphics as well, and no graphical | | glitches, so I can almost forgive the use of black as a predominant color. | | Almost. Nothing's perfect, I guess. Also, the transition from dirt cave to | | metal facility was a bit abrupt, don't you think? | | | = STORY: 23/50 23/ 50 = | Yeah, this dialogue isn't winning any awards. The narrative here is | | serviceable, but not exceptionally well planned. Part of this is really the | | fault of DoZ time constraints forcing a short game, but if it were really | | that easy to destroy the Mother Brain (heh...), wouldn't someone have done | | it already? Anyway, the plot is generally disconnected and full of holes, | | and I formed very little attachment to any of the characters. | | | = SOUND: 32/40 32/ 40 = | I really liked the music chosen here, it managed to set a very effective | | mood for the game. Sounds were also effectively used, if a little sparsely. | | I liked the satisfying *thok* of moving inventory items around, but this | | really could have used more sounds, particularly ambient atmosphere. Still, | | fairly good stuff. | | | = THEME: 6/20 6/ 20 = | Yeowch, good thing you went for the specific theme, right? I mean, I guess | | the story had something to do with a living asteroid flying around space or | | something, but that's a REAL stretch. Honestly, the only reason I'm not | | disqualifying this is because the main storyline had to do with escaping, | | which is a synonym for flight (as in fleeing), which is an interpretation of | | the theme that I really wanted to see someone use. And you were the only one | | that did. And I'm pretty sure you did so accidentally. | | | = TOTAL: 296/400 296/400 = | Playing this game was like discovering that unopened Christmas present | | fell behind the couch. You were a little disappointed before because you | | didn't get what you really wanted, and then low and behold, it's a Red Rider | | BB-gun with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time! Anyway, | | this was a really pleasant surprise, easily my favorite of the DoZ, for all | | its shortcomings. | | | | "Great!! You fulfiled your mission. It will revive pece in space." | ================================================================================ == 99115 = Memory Leak =========================== (-15%) = MEMORY = [231/340] = = THEME: 75/100 75/100 = | Memory Leak stands out for having an interpretation of the memory theme | | that is both very unique and very solid, which is just the sort of thing I | | was hoping someone would do. Riding almost exclusively on the plot to carry | | this score, the game would probably have been successful if the gameplay had | | actually come together. Particularly with what looked like heavy elements of | | maze mapping in the two dungeon levels, and with its major musical piece | | setting the mood for the story very well. However, ultimately the gameplay | | was a mess, and very loosely tied in, so those two things are the major | | points it has going for it, apart from the story and its originality bonus. | | Magical yo-yos just don't scream "Memory" to me, no matter what sort of | | conceit is used to tie it to the plot. | | | = GAMEPLAY: 32/90 32/ 90 = | Here's where everything fell apart. Well, where a lot of things fell apart | | anyway. I think that even if all the game flow issues had been worked out, | | pausing action for dialogue, putting exits and enemies in the dungeons, so | | many fundamental issues exist with the game design that would have sunk this | | score anyway. The dungeons, for instance, absolutely MUST have something to | | do in them beyond mindlessly wandering around and killing things, searching | | for the goal. And unless I miss my mark, while a really neat engine existed | | to generate the dungeons randomly, not a single thought was given to how to | | populate them with interesting puzzles. The biggest issue, though, was that | | the levels simply weren't designed with pixel-perfect movement in mind, a | | miscommunication in the team I imagine. Aimless wandering can only be made | | more tedious by having to continually line up perfectly just to go through a | | door. | | | = TECHNIQUE: 53/60 53/ 60 = | There are a few interesting concepts here that are actually pulled off | | quite well, as far as I can see. We have an excellent pixel movement engine | | WITH a very unique sort of weapon attached. There's also an effective random | | dungeon generator that creates a complete, interconnected level with unique | | rooms. Never mind that it only populates them semi-intelligently, there's | | still clearly some thought to design there. One complaint I'd raise is that | | the movement and weapon engines occasionally run slow on my computer, | | especially in the presence of multiple enemies. Granted, she's a little gray | | around the ears, but I still maintain that I should be able to run MZX on a | | five-year-old computer without problems. Particularly given that this sort | | of thing, done in a different language, would work perfectly fine. Still, | | that's a minor complaint at most. | | | = GRAPHICS: 51/70 51/ 70 = | It's no secret that Quasar is my favorite MZX artist ever, and so it comes | | as no surprise to me that I like the basic level art displayed here. Though | | it could have used more of that electric cyan color as a highlight... I'll | | assume Exo was in charge of character design, since he's historically done | | that, and those came out nicely, at least the ones I could see. That's the | | problem, though, there were so many graphical glitchs and gaffes that what | | could have been near perfect sank around 15 points. Character sets fail to | | load, most of the enemies are just placeholder boxes, and I noticed some | | anomalies when I moved towards the north exit of a board in a dungeon. | | I wonder if this was simply a matter of too much to do and not enough time | | to fix it all... | | | = STORY: 48/50 48/ 50 = | Wow, my head hurts. In the good way, mind you. And here's a tip for anyone | | competing in future DoZs: if you write a complete story, make sure it gets | | included with your game somehow. I at least will be sure to read it. This | | story, too, was in place throughout the game if only you could have gotten | | from one place to another, and I have no problems with its method of | | delivery in that respect. And the concept was so interesting that I, a story | | lover, have to give it full marks. The niggling details are simply a number | | of misspellings and minor grammar tweaks. Proofread your text! | | | = SOUND: 13/30 13/ 30 = | I will say again that the one song in the game set the opening mood very | | well. Melancholic and slightly monotonous, it gave credence to Sipher's | | dilemma. However, it was pretty much the only music in the game. There was a | | title screen piece, and I think one other for a cinematic that I could never | | get to, and that was it. No sounds, either, which was very noticably lacking | | given the engines and the style. That yo-yo definitely needs some audio. | | | = TOTAL: 272/400 272/400 = | I actually remember Exo shopping this basic engine concept to me a year | | ago, as an idea for a well planned DoZ game. As it turns out, or so I hear, | | he basically pulled it off the idea heap last minute when they all decided | | to DoZ fairly late. The pixel-movement definitely works better with the | | concept than the original tile based engine would have. Now if the level | | design had accomodated the engine, or there'd been more interesting stuff to | | do in the game, or if a number of other things had gone differently for the | | better...well maybe I'd be playing a better game right now. | | | | "Wake up Sipher, the Matrix has you." | ================================================================================ #### SCORE SUMMARY ############################################################# ==== MEMORY ==================================================================== 1. -- 12984 - Irreplaceable Memory --------------------------------- [266/400] | 2. -- 32427 - Dislocated Memories ---------------------------------- [253/400] | 3. -- 99115 - Memory Leak --------------------------------- (-15%) - [231/340] | 4. -- 05389 - The THING What Came From BENEATH --------------------- [231/400] | 5. -- 77665 - Relapse ---------------------------------------------- [176/400] | 6. -- 21079 - Fuzzy Loses His Memory ------------------------------- [168/400] | 7. -- 51976 - Team 51976 Game (Fungahhh and lemmer) ---------------- [ 87/400] | 8. -- 86715 - Untitled (Irritating Lava Pingpong Maze) ------------- [ 51/400] | ==== FLIGHT ==================================================================== 1. -- 90100 - The Red Giant ---------------------------------------- [296/400] | 2. -- 34239 - Fritz Blitz ------------------------------------------ [294/400] | 3. -- 00525 - Aviation Aspiration ---------------------------------- [203/400] | 4. -- 48625 - Team 48625! (Hello Kitty Jumper) --------------------- [199/400] | 5. -- 83038 - Bionic Commando -------------------------------------- [194/400] | 6. -- 65131 - Witch Switch ----------------------------------------- [179/400] | ==== COMBINED ================================================================== 1. -- 90100 - The Red Giant ------------------------------- FLIGHT - [296/400] | 2. -- 34239 - Fritz Blitz --------------------------------- FLIGHT - [294/400] | 3. -- 12984 - Irreplaceable Memory ------------------------ MEMORY - [266/400] | 4. -- 32427 - Dislocated Memories ------------------------- MEMORY - [253/400] | 5. -- 99115 - Memory Leak ------------------------ (-15%) - MEMORY - [231/340] | 6. -- 05389 - The THING What Came From BENEATH ------------ MEMORY - [231/400] | 7. -- 00525 - Aviation Aspiration ------------------------- FLIGHT - [203/400] | 8. -- 48625 - Team 48625! (Hello Kitty Jumper) ------------ FLIGHT - [199/400] | 9. -- 83038 - Bionic Commando ----------------------------- FLIGHT - [194/400] | 10. - 65131 - Witch Switch -------------------------------- FLIGHT - [179/400] | 11. - 77665 - Relapse ------------------------------------- MEMORY - [176/400] | 12. - 21079 - Fuzzy Loses His Memory ---------------------- MEMORY - [168/400] | 13. - 51976 - Team 51976 Game (Fungahhh and lemmer) ------- MEMORY - [ 87/400] | 14. - 86715 - Untitled (Irritating Lava Pingpong Maze) ---- MEMORY - [ 51/400] | ================================================================================ #### QUICK REFERENCE ########################################################### +-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | GAME# | TOP | THM | GMP | TCH | GFX | STO | SFX | TTL | PEN | RNK | +-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | 00525 | FLT | 18 | 42 | 30 | 41 | 41 | 31 | 203 | --- | 7 | | 05389 | MEM | 62 | 53 | 23 | 48 | 39 | 6 | 231 | --- | 6 | | 12984 | MEM | 67 | 28 | 57 | 54 | 36 | 24 | 266 | --- | 3 | | 21079 | MEM | 47 | 43 | 19 | 28 | 21 | 10 | 168 | --- | 12 | | 32427 | MEM | 28 | 56 | 20 | 41 | 36 | 22 | 253 | --- | 4 | | 34239 | FLT | 20 | 95 | 56 | 70 | 18 | 35 | 294 | --- | 2 | | 48625 | FLT | 12 | 54 | 32 | 64 | 11 | 26 | 199 | --- | 8 | | 51976 | MEM | 29 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 14 | 87 | --- | 13 | | 65131 | FLT | 17 | 49 | 29 | 38 | 22 | 24 | 179 | --- | 10 | | 77665 | MEM | 69 | 24 | 10 | 32 | 33 | 8 | 176 | --- | 11 | | 83038 | FLT | 14 | 49 | 38 | 55 | 17 | 21 | 194 | --- | 9 | | 86715 | MEM | 10 | 18 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 51 | --- | 14 | | 90100 | FLT | 6 | 88 | 69 | 78 | 23 | 32 | 296 | --- | 1 | | 99115 | MEM | 75 | 32 | 53 | 51 | 48 | 13 | 272 |231.2| 5 | +-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+