Winter 2010 Dualstream Day of Zeux Scoresheet:astral
First off, I'd like to congratulate everybody who made it from concept to
finished product in the alotted time. I understand how tough it can be working
under intense deadlines, I'm an overworked IT Consultant with too many job
responsibilities. With that said, I can't help but feel that this entire
competition was awash with apathy. Nobody particularly dedicated to their teams,
or publishing a complete game, and people even going so far as to be elitist
about their team selections, unwilling to work with each other or even enter
if they weren't guaranteed a spot on a (typically) winning team. That isn't
what these types of contests are generally about, and it's sad to see such a
low point. Hopefully the next DoZ will be somewhat more fruitful, when people
have a bit more luxury time to compete with.
I noted to myself as I played these games, that there was a lot of
emphasis on technical prowess. The DoZ has always been a place to showcase
technique, this isn't a bad thing and it definitely shouldn't change. However,
I'd be willing to say the contest would benefit more from complete games than
moderately interesting tech demos. There were things implemented this DoZ that
just couldn't be fit into the time frame, in fact I'd say time management was a
major factor in the overall dull quality of each and every game.
With these things in mind as you read my scores, note that I also
took the entire week to play the games several times on their own, with
time in between each separate game ranging from one to five hours. I did this
so that I would be able to judge each individual game on their own merits
instead of constantly comparing each game to the last. This gives every
team and author a fair shot at being the best of the DoZ, from the ground
up. I judged how I believe is fair, and you'll find that I didn't give specific
notes on each category because I don't feel like that's a fair representation
of the judging procedure I used. Instead, I wrote a short paragraph for each game
detailing how I felt about it, and listed scores afterward, with a total out
of the 400 points at the bottom.
I was not very nice.
-David "astral" Cravens
-decravens@gmail.com
11617 is awful. There is no game to it, just a pixel perfect platform engine with really annoying jumping. The only thing that could really get me to spend more than 30 minutes with it would be a salary to waste my time like that. There's literally no attachment to the them whatsoever, hardly any guidance in the gameplay. The graphics are terrible, nondescript and nonexistant. Technique-wise, this has been done in a previous DoZ. What did the author think? Copying a winning game feature for feature is the way to win the contest? No story, no sound. There's really no way this can avoid being DQ'd, it's barely even a game.
Theme - 0/100
Gameplay - 0/90
Graphics - 0/70
Technique - 0/60
Story - 0/50
Sound - 15/30 (no sound is better than shitty sound.)
15/400
13210 is adorable. The author certainly went for "blaxploitation" with this entry, and the result is a charming throwback, a retro piece almost. The gameplay is nearly non-existant, wander around a tiny maze, get to the exit, win the game. The graphics on the title screen are great but the in game stuff is hard to make out, the walls are pretty ugly and the pseudo 3d engine sucks. The music is pretty funny and it fits, but all the sound effects are shitty. The plot of the game is probably the best feature, it's a comedy, a parody, and definitely campy but not so much that you can't enjoy the idea. I'd like to see the author take this character somewhere else. As far as attachment to the theme goes, the antogonists are non-existant (in the game anyway) aliens. The player is completely alone throughout the 10 minutes of game that's there, and at the end you get a quick sendoff for the gameover screen.
Theme - 65/100
Gameplay - 12/90
Graphics - 33/70
Technique - 16/60
Story - 0/50
Sound - 17/30
143/400
18030 is a pretty run of the mill inventory game. The display of the inventory is relatively nifty, always there on the screen. The plot's nearly non existant and certainly doesn't make much sense at all. You pretty much sit around reading newspaper clippings (that you have no motivation to read sans "touch everything" since you're judging the game) and then get shot up by machine guns or come up with a clever way around them. There are tons of empty lockers and what I found to be a completely useless item. I tried a couple times and ended up with the same ending, walk outside and get shot fucked up, so I assume the game ends there and it's done. There really isn't anything here that hasn't already been done, and with a lot more pizazz. To top it all off, any character edits are completely modest and most screens are gigantic seas of black. There's very little sound, but what's there fits and certainly doesn't detract from the experience.
Theme - 17/100
Gameplay - 30/90
Graphics - 24/70
Technique - 13/60
Story - 21/50
Sound - 21/30
126/400
Celestial Altar, 30641, is pretty well rounded for a 24 hour entry. The first things you notice about the game are the sound and visuals, these two together are the second biggest draw of the game. The title screen is amazing, the screen transitions are great and fluid, and the artwork isn't terrible, though often it borders on being a gigantic blurry mess. The core gameplay mechanic involves the theme, not exactly creative but not awful either. Being a choose your own adventure visual novel-esque work, the story is the main draw. A little hackneyed at times, it never drains on you too much sans the eye fatigue you get from the double-wide SMZX font. The battle mode tends to err on the side of bland enough to enjoy thoughtlessly, which isn't necessarily a detraction since the game isn't completely combat focused. The page numbers are a nice touch, undoubtably used for the author to keep track of the game's branches, but making them available allows you to make mental notes of your favorite parts, or choices you'd do differently next time. Overally, this game is one of the most solid entries in the DoZ if a little boring at times.
Theme - 20/20
Gameplay - 68/120
Graphics - 57/90
Technique - 48/80
Story - 38/50
Sound - 38/40
269/400
Duck Rescue comes across as a little silly and simple, but 34477 is a solid contender considering the rest of the turnout of the DoZ. Themewise it fits in exactly like it's supposed to, assuming the theme is aliens. Isolation works pretty well too. I never got a point where the theme was pointed out, so I don't know exactly which to grade it on. Since it's most obviously aliens, I'll just go with the specific sheet. The gameplay is incredibly simple, jump, shoot, run. There's very little indication of what to do besides the fact that the screen scrolls left, stops when there's enemies, the green bar shrinks when you get hit, the fire bar shrinks when you shoot. The implications of this is that the interface to the game feels unfinished, even though there's a lot of polish everywhere else. There's a few different types of enemies, and timing your shots is somewhat important, but beyond that there's not much to playing the game. The sound is downright annoying. It irked me to no end. The technique is definitely stunning, it's clear that everything in the game was converted for use in megazeux and there's a lot of detail in the art. It's a shame the game couldn't have been a bit longer, really. The story's really slotted in, but without using any words it still manages to tell a tale. That's worth a few points in its own right, having the story entirely implied but still coming away with an understsanding of what just happened is fairly difficult. Again. The music. Oh god. The music. Make it stop.
Theme - 16/20
Gameplay - 66/120
Graphics - 77/90
Technique - 59/80
Story - 22/50
Sound - 0/40
240/400
Where to begin. 36306 is easily the best entry in the DoZ. The plot is right out of an old science fiction anthology, I feel like it's familiar but the execution is definitely different enough for me to enjoy it. The gameplay is pretty much run and gun with find the flotsam string alongs, the break in sessions are entirely triggered by the notes. Power up locations appear to be static, and finding the notes in different order can lead to confusion as to where the break-in is happening, but that's probably intended more than anything. The music is fantastic, it fits perfectly. There's not much else to be said except that every selection works exactly like it's supposed to, and proper credit was given at the end. The theme is clung to pretty strongly, it's a core mechanic of the game, and it's a core feature of the story. The story woven for you is interesting, and the plot twist at the end is M. Night Shamalamadingdong in a nutshell. Playing this game after some of the other garbage heaps made me feel a lot better about the competition this time as a whole. Again, the game's application of the theme deserves a lot of merit here, because there are several levels of isolation the main character is suffering through, and you can only grasp the whole situation after it's over. Visually, there's not a lot going on, but it isn't stark raving hideous. Since the gameplay was so simply, a larger player character and enemies would've been nice. If this author had written the game and picked the sound, and Duck Rescue's author coded it and painted the art, it would probably be a shoe in for first place.
Theme - 100/100
Gameplay - 33/90
Graphics - 22/70
Technique - 12/60
Story - 50/50
Sound - 28/30
245/400
47527 tries to be a 2.5d inventory puzzle game. What it ends up being is slow, frustrating, and fraught with logical silliness. The theme is there, isolation, though the game doesn't really go anywhere with it. The gameplay is a pain in the ass. Having both Use and Apply is unintuitive. In fact, that entire menu is. Given the small number of items and large number of screen real estate available, there were other options here. The sound is alright, not spectacular but not offputting. There really wasn't much of a story, understandably because the author self-admittedly didn't finish the game. Technique-wise there are some interesting bits, there aren't many games like this so in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king, so to speak. The game isn't ugly, but it isn't detailed and pretty either. The graphics are functional. The animations are another story. The author seemed to c-walking in mind. The player moves too slow, but the input responds too quickly if you speed up MZX.
Theme - 30/100
Gameplay - 23/90
Graphics - 33/70
Technique - 28/60
Story - 3/50
Sound - 15/30
132/400
I'm going to be frank about 49781. I hated this game. There was nothing pleasant about it, except for maybe the graphics. The sounds were all recycled and annoying and the music was repetitive and irksome, the textboxes were frustratingly slow and you could interrupt them and move to other screens. The text needed to be proofread, the story didn't make any sense, the first weapon is painfully difficult to use and the others are just boring. The maps are huge and empty, the enemies are boring and repetitive. I'd say at least it's more fun than shooting built-ins, but it really just wasn't. The only thing it did well was cling to the theme with an iron grip.
Theme - 20/20
Gameplay - 11/120
Graphics - 46/90
Technique - 31/ 80
Story - 13/50
Sound - 10/40
131/400
60441 is an interesting game split into a couple very different gameplay segments. The first is a restricted viewpoint run and gun with upgrades to your weaponry and plenty of cannon fodder to destroy. The second part is a first person shooter with an antiquated control scheme. The gameplay and graphics in both sections have a lot of polish, and the sound is pretty well rounded as well. The theme is pretty much tacked on, there are a lot of other themes this game would've fit, isolation probably would've worked better but alien invaders is what they requested to be judged on. Graphically, there's not a lot to look at, but what's there is pretty, at least in the overhead portions. The generic action gameplay gets a little dull and the dialog is sparse, but it strings the game along I suppose. Going into first person mode, I understand that technically a raycaster is impressive, but there's a lot to be said for just making it fun to play and pretty to look at. The blurry 80x25 resolution is not kind to your eyes when you're trying to move around and shoot, thankfully the gun is wonderfully lenient on targeting and shooting doesn't take much effort. Finding the coins in the first section is probably the most frustrating portion of the game, seeing as you're wandering around an unnavigable clusterfuck of a sewer with random zombies appearing, and little indication of what you're actually supposed to be doing until you stumble on it. The cinemas are pretty hilarious, and the animation in them is pretty well done. Overall, a solidly packaged (if a little boring) product, it would stand reasonably well on its own outside of the DoZ.
Theme - 11/20
Gameplay - 64/120
Graphics - 36/90
Technique - 80/80
Story - 12/50
Sound - 38/40
241/400
62239 is unfinished, and it's a crying shame. There's a seed for a fantastic game right here, and unfortunately the 24 hour contest just didn't provide enough time for the author to finish. The graphics are attractive, the random generator is pretty awesome. The effects are interesting too. There's so much here that could've turned into a great game, given enough time. The theme was isolation, and technically you ARE isolated, but I can't really do much to reward ideas, just what actually ends up playable.
Theme - 1/100
Gameplay - 20/90
Graphics - 56/70
Technique - 48/60
Story - 0/50
Sound - 15/30
140/400
I couldn't really get very far here. The screen is so small, the first thing I faced clouded the entire box with fire and I couldn't do much besides die. I think these are supposed to be alien invaders. The gameplay, which consists of dying, is pretty boring but consistent. The grahpics harken back to old arcade games, and while pleasing to the eye, aren't much to look at. Everything is however very smooth, and there's a lot of technical prowess at work here. Like many other games in the DoZ, this is a person that could've benefited from a team. The only sound I heard was repetitive chip-ish music that grated my nerves.
Theme - 3/20
Gameplay - 22/120
Graphics - 32/90
Technique - 68/ 80
Story - 0/50
Sound - 15/40
140/400
Since the topic was alien invader and the game had nothing more than some beat-em-up action, I'm going to assume 70273 meant specific topic and theme-light sheet. And as far as that, sure, there were aliens and yup, they invaded. The end. Why? Oh, the game says nobody knows why except maybe they want the ship. So your job is to blow up the ship. Or something. All I did was kick the shit out of the Putty Patrol for like 20 minutes. I shot a few of them too. I'm pretty sure the author has made this game before. The backgrounds were sort of drab, but functional. The sound effects were alright, but the music was grating. It just feels like the author's heart wasn't in the contest, and the result is a mediocre distraction. I'd be mad if I put a quarter in the machine to play this, although I will say the combat mechanics are pretty solid and with a little more to do on the screen, or slightly more varied enemies, it could've been a lot more fun.
Theme - 20/20
Gameplay - 72/120
Graphics - 31/90
Technique - 26/ 80
Story - 11/50
Sound - 21/40
181/400
72165 could've been interesting, but it wasn't. The puzzle quest inspired gameplay is interesting and fun, but there's nothing to do with it. You win the board and you're done. I didn't really catch either of the themes actually in the game itself, just in a notes.txt file outside of the game, and really that just wasn't good enough.The graphics consist mainly of symbols, so there's not much to look at, and the sound is kind of lame but it's functional. There wasn't any story to speak of in the game itself.
Theme - 0/20
Gameplay - 34/120
Graphics - 21/90
Technique - 48/80
Story - 0/50
Sound - 26/40
129/400
79530. A game about killing yourself because you're lonely. Fantastic. It seems like there was more the author wanted to do, but there's so much spit and polish on what's there I can only imagine he ran out of time. If this was all that was intended, then I'd advise developing a morbid sense of humor to enjoy it, but it certainly delves deep into the isolation theme. It explores the horrible dread a rat-man feels at the realization of his own impending death while stuck in a room full of tubes and another dead rat. There's a nifty computer console to dick around with, and there's a case full of random medicines. So you mess with the dead rat and then you poison yourself. I glanced in the editor to see if there was more to do, since the game over screen hints there might be, but alas, couldn't figure anything out. The sound is well done, the graphics are sparse but attractive, the computer terminal is unique. This game gets tons of points for style, as I said, the spit and polish is evident. The author clearly cared about how dialog and the environment was presented, as well as making pretty consistent use of "enter" as the accept key. Again, I really wish there was more to do, but the tidbit that's there is reasonably interesting.
Theme - 68/100
Gameplay - 13/90
Graphics - 57/70
Technique - 22/60
Story - 22/50
Sound - 26/30
208/400