Summer 2009 Dualstream Day of Zeux Judging Sheets:Wervyn
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/= General Overview ===========================================================
As DoZ's go, I thought this one turned out pretty well. The decision to |
split up the scoresheets seems to have been a moderate success, and I was |
pleased with the number of entries that really took to the themes this year. |
Though it appears that it may take another round of it before people realize |
that it's not only safe, but often PREFERABLE to pick the theme heavy sheet. |
Now, I did pick a couple of topics that I thought would be really easy to do |
theme-centric games with. I get the feeling, from the spread, that Paranoia |
was actually TOO good, compared to News Reporters, although I hope few to |
none were under the impression that the latter would have been difficult to |
use, there's so much you can do with it after all. I suppose it's impossible |
to put all complaints to rest, but for the most part I got the impression |
that these topics were well received, and I hope future hosts take my |
thought process into account. That is come up with two or three good and |
varied game ideas for each theme that would qualify for high theme scores. |
We had 12 entries all told this time. One of them, #13967 by logicow, was |
disqualified on two counts, first for failing to adequately follow the theme |
while using the Lite scoresheet, and second for being impossible to run in |
the official competition version of MZX. We also had one entry penalized |
30% for late submission, #52370 by mzxrules, which seems to have been a case |
of "woke up late" more than "struggling to finish in time". We also had a |
couple of clearly unfinished entries, and then eight entries in a tight |
range from moderately good to very good, making this one of the highest |
average quality DoZs I can remember. Last winter was also quite good, so I |
say, keep up the excellent work guys. I'm already looking forward to the |
next one, if this trend keeps up. |
And now for the games. |
==============================================================================/
/ HEAVY \
[ 10037 ] = Automobile Conspiracy ======================= PARANOIA == [263/400]
THEME - 71/100 [ 71/100]
Greaser's got the right idea here. It's not exactly a novel interpretation |
of the theme, but it's pulled off well and there are a number of little |
details that bring it home. First, I liked the graphical touch of the |
terrain randomizer, it made the whole outside area feel fractured and a |
little tweaked. There were also some excellent musical choices to drive |
home the humorous take on paranoia. The thought bubble mechanic was a good |
idea for getting us into the character's head (though it could have seen |
even more use than it did). And I really liked how the character basically |
overrode everyone else's dialogue, which emphasized the extreme introversion |
that is typical of paranoids. So in short, good job, and a well picked |
scoresheet. |
GAMEPLAY - 51/90 [ 50/ 90]
A game that essentially involves walking from one place to another while |
touching things and watching the occasional cutscene can't be said to have |
much gameplay. Which isn't to say it isn't enjoyable, just that that's not |
where the points are coming from. The addition of an actiony section does |
provide a brief diversion, and this is pulled off pretty well, though it is |
a bit short. And of course, that's about the size of the game, too. So all |
in all I'd say it's about average for a DoZ. |
GRAPHICS - 49/70 [ 49/ 70]
They've got a certain charm to them, to be sure. Basic, but competent, |
these are very solid graphics that use MZX effectively and pleasingly. Minor |
niggling detractors: Some of the color choices on the city screens seem like |
they could have blended better, like fields of brown and cyan and purple, |
were those supposed to be separate buildings? The proportions seem off, such |
that the player seems really tiny compared to the width of the streets (NO, |
PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME SMALLER!). And overall there's a sense that it just |
doesn't have the detail that really amazing games do. But it is pretty good. |
TECHNIQUE - 38/60 [ 38/ 60]
Pretty basic stuff here. We've got a simple but effective message box |
engine, a simple but effective sidescroller, and I guess the line-of-sight |
engine and bullet trajectories were reasonably clever. But mostly what we've |
got here is simple and effective MZXing, which is good. Minor niggle, there |
was a board misalignment in the city, and having the default "you are out of |
ammo!" SFX and message pop up always grates on me in a custom weapon engine. |
STORY - 32/50 [ 32/ 50]
Basic, rather nonsensical, but extra points for humor and delivery. I |
don't know how high I can really rate this, since it was mostly a loosely |
connected series of amusing jokes about a rabidly paranoid guy, but it |
started, did something, and ended, and had fun doing it. |
SOUND - 23/30 [ 23/ 30]
I've already said that I thought the music did a good job conveying the |
whacked out take on the theme, so it's no surprise that I thought it did a |
good job enhancing the game. Pleasant to listen to, hit the right cues, so |
overall very solid here. Could have used a few more sound effects in key |
locations, like getting hit by the car. |
TOTAL - 264/400 [264/400]
Overall this is a very solid entry that doesn't get bogged down in the |
details and just uses MZX for what it's GOOD at. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 13697 ] = Revenge of the Toaster ====================== PARANOIA == [ DQ/400]
GAMEPLAY - 37/120 [ 37/120]
Back in the early 1980s Atari released such hits as Asteroids and was |
hailed for it. Three decades later, we tend to expect a little more than |
shooting tiny triangles at bigger triangles. Major gaffe number one: I have |
about a dozen weapons and most of them just suck. Generally, the area effect |
or spam weapons were the only ones worth anything. Major gaffe number two: |
The game naturally suggests positional controls, which is to say, up and |
down move forward and back, while left and right turn. Instead, it has |
absolute controls, where arrows correspond to directions. This is confusing, |
clumsy, and generally makes for a poor gameplay experience. Major gaffe |
number three: Game speed is too slow. After playing around for a bit with |
different weapons I determined that my "toaster" was perfectly capable of |
moving quickly when using weapons like "dash tackle" (mostly useless since |
you tend to get hurt in the process). So the fact that I move at a snails |
pace most of the time is a game balance problem, not the speed of my |
computer; everything animates smoothly. |
GRAPHICS - 27/90 [ 27/ 90]
If ever there were a clearer example of the difference between graphics |
and art, it still couldn't be much better than this. "Graphics" as a DoZ |
category means how appealing the game look and how well the visuals |
complement the action, NOT how many polygons you can push in a second. So |
basically, this game looks like monochrome, pixelated shit. And if that |
weren't bad enough, you have issues like shearing between the two triangles |
forming each wall, and general graphical junk showing up in odd places. |
TECHNIQUE - 59/80 [ 59/ 80]
Failing to produce a game that runs in the official version of MZX would |
be a major technical issue all its own, but since we decided that you'll be |
disqualified for that instead, it's not being factored into the technical |
score. So, this is the game's strongest category, and one of the few good |
things about it. Where good in this case amounts to "well I guess that's |
kinda cool". Largely useless, and inefficiently implemented (hence a number |
of other problems for people with slow computers), but kinda cool. Of |
course, it could have used, say, real collision detection, or more than two |
colors. But oh well. |
STORY - 8/50 [ 8/ 50]
Small points for making an attempt to be entertaining. Nothing else |
though, the game started and ended with an engine, and everything else was |
just an afterthought. Too bad it didn't pay off like, say, Cheese's |
Adventure this time. |
SOUND - 26/40 [ 26/ 40]
Generally pleasant music, if not particularly relevant, with a few plinks |
and ploops for sound effects. Of course, it's hard to say what sort of music |
would have been relevant here. But really, Logicow just decided he'd rip the |
soundtrack from Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure and hope it seemed |
somewhat appropriate to the game. So, something or other, I guess. |
THEME - 1/20 [ 1/ 20]
I award you one pity point! This is for making some oblique comments in |
the pre-level text that might or might not have had something to do with |
paranoia. Since the level text had nothing to do with anything, this isn't |
of much benefit. You're still disqualified for it. The funny thing is the |
whole toaster concept basically came about from Logicow soliciting #mzx for |
ideas on what his game should be about. And as poor a job he did of |
implementing THAT as a theme, he still did a better job of it than |
implementing the REAL theme. |
TOTAL - 158/400 DISQUALIFIED [ DQ/400]
To logicow's credit, he did take a step outside his comfort zone, however |
small, and produced something he knew would probably not win many accolades |
instead of gaming the scoresheet per usual, in order to pursue an |
interesting technical challenge. Now, why he felt he needed a DoZ to do |
this, instead of just producing a polygon blitter on his own time, we may |
never know. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 35285 ] = Paranoid Heavens ============================ PARANOIA == [243/400]
GAMEPLAY - 71/120 [ 71/120]
There's actually a reasonable amount of good and varied gameplay here, for |
as unassuming as the game looks to start out. You've got your basic MZX |
run-and-gun (and take notes guys, this is a successful formula, it's what |
MZX is best at doing), combined with an RPG. The RPG aspect is probably a |
bit too ambitious, and evidently Goshi didn't have time to do nearly as much |
as he hoped, but it's a good start. The addition of a paranoia mechanic |
which (I assume) calculated based on how much you talk to people, is an |
interesting idea, although I'm not sure how much it really enhances the |
game. Maybe drawn out a bit more and we'd see this really start to come into |
play. There are also some interesting (if absurdly difficult) bosses in the |
traditional MZX style, which may or may not be unbeatable (they could just |
be really hard). Technically this game is unfinished, but it doesn't FEEL |
like a typical unfinished game, just one that stopped well short of a |
conclusion. One complaint: unskippable pauses and player locks when talking |
to people slow the game down unnecessarily. I can read faster than that. |
GRAPHICS - 55/90 [ 55/ 90]
Props to Goshi for these, or at the very least I appreciated the |
minimalist style, it really set quite a mood for the game. Of course beyond |
that there's a lot of work that could have been done to make it better, such |
as varying the characters used for water and other terrain, not resorting to |
stick figures for some of the NPCs (especially odd when plenty of of other |
NPC art WAS done), or making more use of color for dramatic offsets. But the |
bare linework creates this "world-as-a-sketch" feel, which at the very least |
is interesting, and the flashes of red, while not as fully realized as I |
think they could have been, were a good start. |
TECHNIQUE - 44/80 [ 44/ 80]
So I guess, average level of MZX programming skill displayed here. There |
are some decently complicated bosses (although you can see the duplicate |
self seams, Goshi's doing this the old fashioned way), a few custom engines |
as well as custom enemies, and it's generally polished so far as there's |
game to play. There are a few bugs, like the game just locking up after |
attempting to talk to a few adventurers, and that old nemesis the "You are |
out of ammo" line; is setting "bimesg" to 0 so hard? And it may just be me, |
but I got the impression that both my own shots to enemies, and enemies |
shots to me, weren't doing damage a lot of the time. Not in a way that |
severely hindered gameplay (in fact not getting hurt when you should would |
make the game easier), but there were a lot of times, especially around |
explosions, where it felt like I ought to have taken damage but didn't, and |
I don't remember such a thing ever being mentioned as a game mechanic. |
STORY - 31/50 [ 31/ 50]
Kind of average, and it doesn't help that it's rather unfinished. It |
seemed to be your basic run-and-gun kill the evil magician and his minions |
deal (with exorcist powers, always cool). But it's not much more fully |
fleshed than that. Looking at some of the later boss text, it seems like |
your exorcist buddy/mentor does a double-cross and you have to fight him, |
which is a fun (if cliche) twist. To it's credit, the game drives things |
along quite well before it runs into a wall and the content stops. |
SOUND - 26/40 [ 26/ 40]
I thought the main theme for the first level was pretty catchy, though of |
course that's pretty much the only music we get to hear in the game proper. |
Goshi packaged a lot of other music, including several level themes, and |
some good boss music, and I can see it all being at least suitable, but you |
don't really get points for just sending me a soundtrack. In fact, I've |
taken off a couple points for discretion, since you basically included 20 MB |
of music and used almost none of it in the actual game Bandwidth isn't free |
you know! Just cheap. The majority of the negative on this score comes from |
a lack of sound effects, though, game really needed them. |
THEME - 16/20 [ 16/ 20]
This was a pretty good usage of the theme, in my opinion. Not as solid as, |
say, Lancer's game, but there were a lot of good tie ins and Goshi clearly |
took the effort to think about how Paranoia might work as a gameplay |
mechanic and not just a story mechanic. Some of what's missing here, in |
fact, is a really direct connection in the STORY to the theme, though it's |
quite possible that would have come around if it had had time to continue, |
what with double-crosses and demon possessions and all. Still, I give the |
game credit for making me jumpy when I was playing it, especially with the |
sudden red flashes when you kill an enemy. I'm not sure if Goshi was |
intentionally trying to make the player leery by doing that, but it worked |
on me. And I know I was generally nervous about making a mistake by talking |
to someone and making a wrong decision (which, hey, there actually IS an |
instant kill in one place). |
Your scaled score if you had picked the Heavy scoresheet: approximately |
257/400. Whoops. |
TOTAL - 243/400 [243/400]
So I actually did like this game quite a bit, and was a little |
disappointed that it ended up unfinished. But like I said, it's not for lack |
of content; the game had about as much as a standard DoZ entry does, and I |
have to think that Goshi probably would have used his time better to just |
focus on building the first level of the game, and THEN worry about coding |
two more bosses that never get used. I'm pretty sure this could have gotten |
a quick slapdash connection to the final boss room and still looked pretty |
decent. |
==============================================================================/
/ HEAVY \
[ 40125 ] = News First! =========================== NEWS REPORTERS == [268/400]
THEME - 87/100 [ 87/100]
Well I've got to give credit for taking the theme and running with it. In |
fact, if I'm reserving any points here, it's really just because I would |
have liked even more stuff to do in the news studio, than just making |
choices a la visual novel. Musical selection was good. Graphics were |
serviceable, not impressive perhaps but they got the atmosphere and the idea |
across, and that's what matters here. And the whole game and story concept |
was just a really clever way to handle the theme. I am glad that at least |
one person realized that the concrete topic could be used with this |
scoresheet to great effect. |
GAMEPLAY - 47/90 [ 47/ 90]
The gameplay here essentially amounts to a series of multiple choice |
questions (like a visual novel!), and it is unfortunately rather short. But |
it makes up for that in being both very entertaining (if your gameplay is |
designed around telling a story, then your story helps carry your gameplay), |
and providing a decent amount of replayability just to see all the different |
branches. And so it seems to me that it all evens out in the end, and is |
perhaps even slightly above average. |
GRAPHICS - 32/70 [ 32/ 70]
They're functional, I suppose. Rather blocky, and the people (especially |
after the gunman shows up) are a bit malformed, but they at least get the |
job done. In particular, it felt like there was too much black, and not |
enough attention to detail in the backgrounds. This happens a lot with more |
amateur MZX art, with people attempting to pack detail beyond their skill |
level into props and character art, and not paying enough attention to the |
scene that everything is set in. (Though of course it's all in how you do |
things; Goshi, as mentioned, managed to use "lots of black" as a perfectly |
valid artistic direction.) |
TECHNIQUE - 33/60 [ 33/ 60]
There's not a whole lot of happening that needs to happen for this game, |
and it happens in probably the simplest way possible. Weasel links a bunch |
of boards together with teleports and has the story branch by moving between |
them. On the other hand there's nothing really wrong with doing it this way, |
and the game has so few moving parts and is so well organized that it'd be |
shocking if there were bugs. So that places the technique score solidly in |
the middle: you knew what you were doing, you just didn't do anything |
particularly exciting. |
STORY - 45/50 [ 45/ 50]
It was nothing if not entertaining, that's for sure. This was a very well |
written piece of second-person narrative, with plenty of great humor to keep |
me engaged, and enough interest to make me want to play through the game |
several times just so that I could read all of it. Now of course, the game |
is pretty much nothing BUT narrative with some visuals, but that's okay for |
the type of game it was. |
SOUND - 24/30 [ 24/ 30]
Some good choices for music here. I especially liked the title screen |
piece, it really set the tone for the game, and is a good example of using |
mimetic cues in graphics and sound to enhance the theme. Other than that |
nothing really leaped out at me, the main game theme was fine but not |
particularly noteworthy, and the sound cues for ratings were effective at |
getting the point across. |
TOTAL - 268/400 [268/400]
Nice work with the scoresheet selection, weasel picked up close to 26 |
points that he otherwise wouldn't have had. This certainly isn't my favorite |
entry this DoZ, but considering the turnout this time that's mostly because |
it's a quality piece of work amidst a lot of other quality pieces of work. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 41817 ] = Reconquista+Escalation ====================== PARANOIA == [323/400]
GAMEPLAY - 83/120 [ 83/120]
Well, no one will ever be able to say this game is too short. On the other |
hand, one could certainly say it's too long, which I think may be a first |
for the DoZ; this literally took me hours to finish playing, and since it |
was as well put together as it was I wanted to give it the full go. As a |
result I was honestly a bit less enthused about this score by the end of the |
game than my first impression led me to believe. However, this is still a |
really impressive game, with the main portion invoking the addictive |
qualities of Meritous and its massive, sprawling maze of rooms, mixed with |
some clever weapon engines. The weapon dynamic in particular I really liked, |
since it changes the rules a bit and makes the game more about positioning |
and cover than covering the room with bullets and hoping the enemies don't |
randomly dodge. And the blood vision concept, if a little shaky at first, |
turned out to be an effective mechanic for adding a little flavor midway |
through the game. Or, should have been midway through; that fifth level was |
more than a bit too much and was about as long as the other four levels |
combined. |
As for the Escalation section of the game, this was more laid back, and |
possibly a bit too easy, but it was a nice change of pace and it really |
helps Lancer's score that he had the insight to break up the action, rather |
than the game being nothing but an endless dungeon crawl. In the absence of |
more powerups (positive feedback loops are always a good thing), varying the |
gameplay is probably the next best thing for getting people to play to the |
next level. |
GRAPHICS - 69/90 [ 69/ 90]
Lancer's a master of making the most of what he's got, graphic skill wise. |
And his skills are not something to scoff at, just that there are plenty of |
better character artists out there. Instead, Lancer makes very effective use |
of color and form, as well as a formidable technical skill, to produce |
flashy visuals like his trademark title screen, and pleasing (if drab, for |
mood's sake) level design. I'm also quite impressed with the art design of |
the blood vision, which affects both the second sight itself and provides |
visual cues of your health as you take damage. This is very smart work, both |
in form and in function. Minor quibble: there were some interesting |
instances of hallway garbage appearing at the edge of the screen, which I |
sort of wondered might not be there to emphasize the increasingly fractured |
mood, but ultimately this didn't get used in enough places or varied ways |
for me to think it was anything but a graphical glitch. |
TECHNIQUE - 72/80 [ 72/ 80]
There's a lot to choose from here, from an engine that can handle hundreds |
of enemies and projectiles (on two separate layers at the same time, though |
admittedly that's not too hard to manage), a neat weapons engine, a well |
designed secondary game, and then all the neat little graphical tricks |
Lancer always likes to pull out for his games. I did notice a very few cases |
of unlinked or missing doors (INVALID JUMP), and I think I'd have been even |
more impressed with a script generated level (which might have fixed those), |
but for the most part the game was flawlessly put together. Impressive work. |
STORY - 43/50 [ 43/ 50]
Lancer has basically admitted that the story here is a pseudo-deep tale |
that draws most of its intrigue from keeping the player in the dark for most |
of the game and tantalizing him with the ultimately rather simple details. |
But for all that, it's certainly not a bad story, and points for delivery; |
other judges may disagree, but I eat that sort of story delivery for |
breakfast and like it. And Lancer knows it, and he did it this way on |
purpose. |
SOUND - 36/40 [ 36/ 40]
The music for this game is just really well picked out and fits |
beautifully for the most part. The biggest issue, I think, is that you end |
up listening to it for so long because of the length of the levels, and so |
it starts to become monotonous after awhile. But apart from that, I'd really |
like to draw special attention to the timing of various pieces, particularly |
the opening sequence (absolutely brilliant), and the soft piano piece that |
follows each Escalation section. Lancer was clearly paying attention when he |
timed those scenes. Other than that, sound effects are well chosen and |
weapon sounds are nice and weighty. |
THEME - 20/20 [ 20/ 20]
Now here's where I got confused, because when I started playing this game |
and saw how effectively it was using the theme, I thought "aha, Lancer gets |
it, I'm so glad he and other people are realizing how EASY Paranoia is to |
use as a theme." (Totally on purpose by the way, I wanted something that |
would play very well with the theme heavy scoresheet.) But then I |
discovered that he'd elected for the Lite sheet, after becoming over-anxious |
about his prospects. The thing is, this game nails the theme in almost every |
way it is POSSIBLE to nail the theme; the only thing that might have been |
better would be a more paranoia-centric soundtrack, and that's hardly saying |
the music was inappropriate. Set the story aside, that obviously got it |
right with a double dose, layering classic and novel interpretations on the |
idea of paranoia. Graphically, the game does a number of cool, theme-related |
things, like the way blood scratches on your eyes as you get hurt, or the |
fritzing TV effect of the level text which creates an uneasy feeling. The |
progressively more bizarre and twisted levels take us deeper and deeper into |
mental instability. And probably most direct of all, invisible enemies, a |
tactic that has you reflexively pressing V every time you enter a room; that |
is until they start showing up in the hallways too and then all bets are |
off. |
Which is all basically to say, Lancer picked the wrong sheet, and I hope |
this is a lesson to people in the future. You can win BIG if you're willing |
to put in the effort towards really thinking about the theme. If you're |
going to really think about the theme and then not get the bonus for it, why |
did you bother in the first place? I'd probably rate this game a 93/100 on |
the other sheet. With all the other scores scaled, that leads us to about |
335/400, as opposed to, well... |
TOTAL - 323/400 [323/400]
Okay, so it's not that much of a difference. Though on the other hand |
judges (or at least this judge) tend to rate the other categories a bit more |
generously on the other sheet when they particularly enhance the theme, it's |
sort of a combination effect. And of course, part of it comes down to, when |
you make a great game, it's just a great game, no matter which scoresheet |
you decide to use. This is definitely a great game, though, even if it is |
too long. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 52370 ] = Night's Journey ============================= PARANOIA == [114/400]
GAMEPLAY - 49/120 [ 49/120]
The game is essentially a sprite-based sidescroller engine, given that it |
wasn't really finished beyond that. So, the engine is decently fun, a little |
clunky and with some odd level design choices (such as having to jump into a |
roof in order to make a gap), but with enough variety and different |
abilities that you could sort of see where things were going. It didn't seem |
to me like the enemies did any damage beyond making you blink, and the |
addition of an instant kill spike pit below a required drop off was a bit of |
a dick move, but it's hard to tell where the engine test-bed ends and the |
actual level design begins. Ultimately the biggest problem is that there's |
just not a lot here to judge. |
GRAPHICS - 37/90 [ 37/ 90]
My first thought when the actual level started was "dear God what is that |
thing!" I felt like I should be a bit more generous though, since there is |
a lot of effort in the character art, and the level design has an aesthetic |
that seems to be coherently incoherent and theme driven in that endeavor. So |
my big "huh-wha" is that, well, it's a giant mess. I mean I understand that |
it's supposed to be a dream world, but nothing is tying it together, |
visually. You shoot giant purple blobs with angry faces and poorly defined |
boundaries, the terrain is a single meandering line of A-grade generic |
customblock, the background is just a bunch of empty space, and the |
character art is what the hell ever (and occasionally dark blue on black, |
WTF), but generally done with much more detail than anything else (mostly to |
unappealing effect). It's not that the graphics are out of place, it's that |
there isn't a place for the graphics to begin with. |
TECHNIQUE - 52/80 [ 52/ 80]
I must say, the engine is pretty solid for the most part, even though |
there are some things I might do with collision to facilitate better |
gameplay. It has some interesting player weapons (though one at a time, |
please, what did you think I could dynamically create objects?) and if the |
enemies don't do anything to you when you hit them, at least you can tell |
that you hit them. The platform tool is interesting, and seems to work |
pretty well, but when you use it away from a hotspot location it still |
activates and then drops you, which seems to be a bug; it probably shouldn't |
activate at all. |
STORY - 11/50 [ 11/ 50]
Poor little Timmy is stuck in the scary nightmare world of sharp, pointy |
teeth and giant numbers! Far be it from me to discount the possibility of |
this going somewhere interesting, but the only thing here, story-wise, is a |
vaguely defined premise. Surely Old-Sckool wasn't expecting any more, here. |
SOUND - 5/40 [ 5/ 40]
No sound nor music. Although Old-Sckool did accidentally package a module |
player app that he was working on... |
THEME - 9/20 [ 9/ 20]
I can see where this was going, although I think it might have been more |
the province of a topic like Fear than of Paranoia. The disorienting and |
broken text spilled all over the game screen was one of the few good |
graphical choices made here, and does strike me as a reasonable attempt at |
the theme, even if there's nothing in the plot as given that really connects |
it. So hey, at least it isn't disqualified. |
TOTAL - 163/400 30% PENALTY [114/400]
A little more work on this might have gone a long way. After all, the |
engine was there, you could have built an entire game on that. What it |
needed was levels and some story resolution. I also have a hard time |
believing Old-Sckool ran out of time, this looks a lot more like a |
motivation thing to me, especially judging by some of the game text. But oh |
well, good effort all the same, sucks about the late penalty. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 52517 ] = Risa ======================================== PARANOIA == [254/400]
GAMEPLAY - 77/120 [ 77/120]
It's a spritescroller, and probably handled a little better than the one |
in Night's Journey. This one has some actual difficulty and a few different |
weapons to play with, all fairly entertaining. There appears to be something |
going on with weapon leveling, and they do seem to get a bit more powerful |
as you use them, although the rules governing this are a bit sketchy. The |
level design hearkens a bit to something like Megaman, especially with the |
respawning enemies. And even though it's absurdly easy to die (get to that |
in a moment), the game is fairly forgiving in that the levels are short and |
you can constantly restart at the beginning. Now, I do have a gripe with the |
way enemies push you while damaging you, making it very easy to completely |
wipe out if you time a jump wrong, or if you jump onto a platform and that |
stupid flying thing knocks you into the pit for the tenth time frghrfhr... |
Oh yeah, and bosses would have been nice. But over all this is pretty solid |
work. |
GRAPHICS - 61/90 [ 61/ 90]
They're pretty good, especially once you get to the first level proper. |
And I'll say, the fact that the second and third levels are missing graphics |
isn't as big a downside as Kuro might have thought, they still have good |
contours even if the backgrounds are decked out in black-is-the-new-black. |
The preponderance of empty space is more of a problem for the cutscenes, |
where things feel awfully sparse. And for no really good reason, either; I'm |
not sure if the three line text thing should be a gameplay or a graphics |
ding, but I know I found myself wanting to see more of the text at a time. |
Character portraits were a bit goofy, but serviceable, and I did like the |
textbox art at least. And oh yeah, back to the levels. The art here is |
simple but effective, and enemies, even if I'm not entirely sure what they |
are, don't look garish or anything like that. So, good job. |
TECHNIQUE - 59/80 [ 59/ 80]
As sidescroller engines go, this one is pretty solid. Not perfect, and I'm |
pretty sure the enemy collision thing is actually a code oversight and not |
an intentional gameplay decision. I'm also not getting the responsiveness |
out the jump that I really need, and this led to me falling off of cliffs a |
number of times. But apart from that, the engine does what it's supposed to |
and does it well, and the enemy AI works fine until it walks into a wall and |
gets stuck. I also want to give props to the cutscene engine; there's some |
debate as to whether writing an engine to handle dialogue from a file or a |
string actually saves any time. I suppose it depends on the amount of text |
you have to process in the game, and there's a fair amount here. But |
regardless, it LOOKS more impressive if you do it this way, from a coding |
standpoint, and I guess that's worth something. |
STORY - 24/50 [ 24/ 50]
Heh! So, when I have a story that makes me laugh when I think it's trying |
to make me emotionally tense or sad or surprised or whatever, I take it as a |
good sign that the story is probably not that well written. Sort of like |
when I went and saw Transformers 2 off a friend's recommendation and then |
realized "no, wait, this is just as bad as any other Michael Bay movie, I |
want my $10 back." Combined with some of the more irritating anime tropes |
("big brother!", "...", etc.), and, well...at least I got a few good groans |
out of it. And you did go to all the trouble of including multiple endings, |
which I guess is not really that much trouble, but it at least looks like a |
little extra effort. Hey, it could be much worse, you could have just not |
tried at all. Oh, and thank you very much for allowing me to skip the |
opening cutscene; this could have been a major gameplay gaffe when combined |
with the lack of ability to save. |
SOUND - 23/40 [ 23/ 40]
Can't say I'm really a fan of the tracks here. Props for using original |
work, but the music here struck me as serviceable, and not a whole lot more. |
Opening cutscene needed music. The game was also in desperate need of some |
sound effects. Swishes, twangs, thwacks, what have you; at some point I |
would really like to see someone put together a general purpose SFX pack for |
MZX, I know I have the same problem and wish I had a toolkit I could just |
pull something out of. |
THEME - 10/20 [ 10/ 20]
Delivered largely in the story, and it fits well enough. I think this |
would have tied in a bit better if it had related to the protagonist's |
motivations for the game, instead of the protagonist's crazy brother. But |
it's a decent effort, more than sufficient to give it a pass. |
TOTAL - 254/400 [254/400]
Unlike some of the other Paranoia themed games which kind of chickened out |
on the scoresheet, this one definitely knew what it was doing, and played to |
its strengths. Kuro/Koku/Lachesis turned out a solid game, despite not |
having the time to finish everything he wanted, and that's good work. One of |
the best skills to develop in the DoZ is knowing when to cut your losses and |
tie everything up quickly. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 89341 ] = California Rookie ===================== NEWS REPORTERS == [223/400]
GAMEPLAY - 61/120 [ 61/120]
In the vein of many story-driven games, this one pretty much has you |
navigate from place to place touching the right things until you win. |
There's something to be said for making this generally entertaining to do, |
and a lot of games do rely on this mechanic, but still, what do you expect? |
I do appreciate that there's some semblance of inductive reasoning involved |
in figuring out which things to touch (particularly, say, the Library), but |
ultimately that's largely an illusion too, and really just comes down to |
"what stands out on THIS board?" So as fetch-quest games go, this one gets |
a solid "average". |
GRAPHICS - 63/90 [ 63/ 90]
I was actually quite pleased with these, they're not superb but they're |
still good, as MZX graphics go. Good use of color and space, in the wider |
shots, and generally well planned art. The title screen was a bit meh, but |
no one really cares if you don't spend a lot of effort on those, and you |
don't REALLY even need to have one; Lancer's the only person I know who |
tries to make them really knock-out gorgeous. |
TECHNIQUE - 27/80 [ 27/ 80]
There's not a whole lot going on in the code department, and not that |
there really needs to be. The game is pretty much entirely driven on touch |
labels, counter increments, and board teleports, and so it's actually a |
little surprising that the game is as buggy as it is. First, it's impossible |
to finish the game because one piece of information doesn't increment |
correctly. Second, you can get stuck in the university because a bad |
teleport overwrites your exit. And then there are three cases of missing |
color fades, two of which prevent you from seeing the ending and the credits |
even when the other problems are fixed. I say this every time, but TEST YOUR |
GAME before you submit, bugs like this are easy to catch on a playthrough |
(especially when they prevent you from finishing the game), and trivial to |
fix. |
STORY - 35/50 [ 35/ 50]
It's pretty simple, but points for executing it well and interactively. I |
especially liked how the information for different news articles wasn't all |
contained in discrete locales. That is, you didn't get all the bank |
information just by going to the bank, and the elementary school bus crashed |
into the university. Touches like that keep the player occupied in the game |
world and make it feel just a little bit less like checking off a box on a |
list. Not that much less, I suppose, I may be giving a little too much |
credit. But ultimately what I want to say is, the story kept me engaged |
through the short duration of the game, and that's some sort of something. |
SOUND - 19/40 [ 19/ 40]
A collection of random MZX chiptunes, none of which really seem to belong |
anywhere. It feels very much to me like the game has music just as a matter |
of necessity, than that any real though went into picking it. None of it is |
terrible (though some of it is a bit grating), but it's just sort of there. |
Also, points off for whatever sound effect was playing on the first office |
board. Seemed like it was supposed to be a footstep engine, but it ended up |
just sounding like a bunch of dirty electronic thudding. |
THEME - 18/20 [ 18/ 20]
When your game and story essentially revolve around doing reporter grunt |
work to collect information for news articles, I'd say it's pretty difficult |
to get closer to the theme. Some things nooodl COULD have done: Better |
music. Seriously, it makes all the difference when the audio sets the proper |
mood. Another thing I would have liked to see is a one of those spinning |
newspaper headlines, because it's such a touchstone for the genre and it |
would have worked great as an ending sequence here. I'm actually |
disappointed no one thought to do it this time around. |
TOTAL - 223/400 [223/400]
Someone sure picked the wrong scoresheet! Maybe if I start calling them |
the Theme Sheet and the Gameplay Sheet, people will pick up on the idea. |
Although the Gameplay Sheet is really the Everything Else Sheet. In any |
case, this would have been a great opportunity to capitalize on the theme, |
especially with a general lack of gameplay, but oh well. We did explain the |
rules in advance. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 90622 ] = Achtung! ==================================== PARANOIA == [264/400]
GAMEPLAY - 93/120 [ 93/120]
Maxim is well on his way to pioneering his own genre of game: The Maxim |
Shooter. Which is basically the same sort of thing you'd find on a quarter |
sucking arcade cabinet back in the 80s. This is his smoothest yet, and I |
daresay he may have to find a new horse to ride because I'm not sure there's |
a whole lot more improvement to be done on this concept, at least |
gameplay-wise. I will say, the addition of an easy mode with infinite |
continues is a great boon to those of us who haven't grasped the strategy |
for staying alive in an bulletspam arena shooter yet. This is not my |
favorite type of game, by a long shot. But I can definitely appreciate that |
there's a lot of gameplay to be had here; lots of fun powerups, hordes of |
enemies to kill, a couple of insane bosses, and the promise that if you work |
hard enough at it, you might just be able to make it through without |
cheating, or spending your entire allowance. |
GRAPHICS - 53/90 [ 53/ 90]
As always, it's a technicolor explosion all over my screen and I think I |
may have an aneurysm. But to his credit Maxim knows exactly what sort of |
graphical style he's going for and is completely unapologetic about it. The |
most important thing here is that the graphics are properly informing the |
user of what's happening, and that they're setting the proper mood. While |
the you occasionally lose the player in all the mess that's going on, he |
usually sticks out well enough because he's a different color than anything |
else on the screen; good for you! And the spread of the weapons tends to |
provide excellent feedback on which ones to use. So while I don't think I'll |
ever consider this style pleasant to look at, I can appreciate that it |
expertly avoids the pitfalls that might come with it, and properly captures |
the classic arcade mood. |
TECHNIQUE - 70/80 [ 70/ 80]
By this time, it shouldn't be surprising that Maxim has this engine down |
pat, and part of me thinks it's time he tried something new. But for all |
that, it's a well built engine with no bugs that I can find, able to handle |
hundreds of enemies and projectiles at the same time and do it FAST. |
Combined with lots of juicy powerups and their different firing patterns, |
this is an expertly written, technically impressive piece of work. As it |
should be, given that it's the centerpiece of the game. |
STORY - 17/50 [ 17/ 50]
Who cares about story go kill some demons. In the understanding that this |
is basically a classic shmup with all the story requirements of, say, |
Galaga, I've tossed a few extra points back here. Maybe that doesn't buy |
much, but at least Maxim knows how the genre works: if you're going to have |
a game where a guy kills hordes of demons, you at least have a tagline on |
the front of the box how the guy is going to kill hordes of demons. And |
maybe he saves the president while he's at it. On second thought all these |
people are losers anyway, maybe I should kill them myself. |
SOUND - 25/40 [ 25/ 40]
It gets the job done, but it feels like it's missing something. The music |
is a sort of repetitive drone, which is normal for Maxim's pieces, and not |
entirely out of place in a game like this, but I think something with a bit |
more drive and rhythm to it would have served the game better. A solid, 120 |
bpm breakbeat would have done a lot more to pump the adrenaline than the |
plodding sort of selections picked out here. The sound effects, on the other |
hand, were wonderfully retro. |
THEME - 6/20 [ 6/ 20]
Paranoia is a much easier theme to design a shmup with than, say, Murder |
Mystery. I'll bet Maxim is pretty glad of the new scoresheet rule, since |
News Reporters doesn't lend itself much better, if you don't really want to |
take the time to connect it. Though it's far from impossible to do an action |
game that involves journalists; see: Dead Rising. Booyah, people who thought |
that theme was too limiting. But anyway, you kill the demons because you're |
paranoid. I'll buy that for six points. |
TOTAL - 264/400 [264/400]
I'd say Maxim has definitely found his niche. While I'd love to see him |
branch out, I do understand the hesitation to mess with a formula that |
works. Of course, he's up against a lot of good games in a lot of different |
styles, here, so to produce a DoZ winning game he may need to mix it up a |
bit in the future. But it ain't no little piece of work. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 92782 ] = Jack Flaps, News Reporter ============= NEWS REPORTERS == [182/400]
GAMEPLAY - 37/120 [ 37/120]
This game got off to a decent start but then suffered for lack of anything |
else to do. It appeared like it would have been a collection of minigames, |
but the trouble with that is you need a lot of minigames to really get |
anywhere on that angle, and two is not a lot. I suppose I can still award |
some points for what's here: a paper stamping game that makes the tedium of |
mindless paperwork just as tedious as the real thing! And then there's a |
driving game of the blandest sort. Eh. |
GRAPHICS - 59/90 [ 59/ 90]
Upper mid-tier kind of stuff, and I think I'd score this a higher if there |
were MORE. After all it seems a little unfair for a game that does a lot of |
good graphics work across the board to get the same score as a game that |
does hardly any work but does what little it has well. Still, it IS good |
stuff, so don't misunderstand. I particularly liked the design for the |
actual Jack Flaps character, and a shame that didn't see much use. But it's |
still three hours worth of graphics work or less for any competent artist. |
TECHNIQUE - 45/80 [ 45/ 80]
Some very simple minigame code, with the paper stamping being the most |
complex, but certainly not that difficult to pull off. Worked nicely though. |
On the minus side, I looked at the character animation code and said "ew, |
people are still using char edit for large scale, multicharacter |
animations?" I thought we were training people better than that. Oh, and |
message box thing, you can have a few extra for that I guess. |
STORY - 12/50 [ 12/ 50]
Well it was off to a good start, but unfinished is as unfinished does, and |
it hurts all over. And this is the sort of game where it's really important |
to HAVE some sort of story to connect it. It sets itself up for it, and so |
it lives or dies by it. Well, that's a bit dramatic, but it does lose more |
points because of it. Yes, Maxim got a better story score than you did. |
SOUND - 22/40 [ 22/ 40]
There's a module, and it's not a bad choice considering the topic, but |
it's only the one, and I sort of have to imagine what it would be like to |
have this playing for the length of a full game, since it never changes at |
all and is maybe a minute and a half long. Sound effects for the paper are |
good. But it's that whole unfinished thing again, there just isn't enough to |
go off of, here. |
THEME - 7/20 [ 7/ 20]
I see where this was going, and it's enough to win the benefit of the |
doubt, but honestly what's the difference between this and a game where the |
theme was "Office Work" or "Bureaucracy" (hey, I remember that one)? Not |
much. I imagine this would have solidified a bit more once we got to the |
game proper; maybe some good old-fashioned Film Noir sleuthing, to go by the |
music? |
TOTAL - 182/400 [182/400]
"Unfinished" is pretty much the watchword here. And I can't even say you |
would have done better to go with the other sheet instead of defaulting, |
because you wouldn't have. As I understand it, this is largely a result of |
Malwyn and CJA not showing up and Kom trying to handle the game by himself; |
although with the amount of excellent solo work turned out this time, I |
think we've proven that you don't need to have a team to do really well. |
==============================================================================/
/ LITE \
[ 98505 ] = Untitled, Unfinished ======================== PARANOIA == [ 86/400]
GAMEPLAY - 27/120 [ 27/120]
You walk around, you get some exposition dispensation, and that's pretty |
much it. Oh, and there's a section of stealth-ish gameplay, although the |
guards are mostly blind and tend to just spazz out when they actually do see |
you. I'm not sure I really follow the extreme amount of DoZ demotivation |
that leads to this scenario, where you actually do enter the DoZ, but then |
only spend about an hour working on it. |
GRAPHICS - 19/90 [ 19/ 90]
Pretty rough. About the only positive thing I can say is that there was a |
tiny bit of gradient work in the opening and the levels. Other than that, |
it's mostly just solid blocks and default smileys, and for the one level it |
looks like Insidious turned on the draw tool and just fooled around until |
he'd drawn a couple of squiggly lines from top to bottom of the screen. |
TECHNIQUE - 12/80 [ 12/ 80]
Well this is a real mess. There are a couple problems with board linkage |
going on, as the first cutscene deposits you in the middle of a wall on the |
second, and then that board isn't lined up correctly with the third. And |
since that's basically the whole game, then the whole game is pretty much |
broken. There's an unimpressive stealth engine that draws a straight line in |
front of the patrolling robot (but only when he's facing east or west), so |
you could be standing right in front of him but just slightly off to the |
side and he'd never know you were there. And that's about the size of the |
code here. |
STORY - 16/50 [ 16/ 50]
This was developing a bit better than the story for Jack Flaps, for |
example, but it may just be because it had more potential to be the kind of |
story I'd find entertaining, that I'm giving it a few more points. It's |
still just the start of something, and needs an end or even a middle in |
order to score more. |
SOUND - 5/40 [ 5/ 40]
Nothing but the default MZX sound effects, which you can hear if you trip |
off the guards. But hey, who am I to complain, there's always that one game |
Logicow submitted a year ago if you want something REALLY terrible. |
THEME - 7/20 [ 7/ 20]
As with the previous game, I could see how this was developing into a |
paranoia related game, what with the research scientists developing some |
sort of super soldier but then being afraid (i.e. paranoid) it might turn on |
them. And note to scientists developing super soldiers that might turn on |
them: Don't. I mean it never works, it always goes wrong, why do you people |
even bother? |
TOTAL - 86/400 [ 86/400]
Paradoxically, this actually could have picked up more points on the |
Theme-Heavy sheet, even though it wasn't particularly well connected to the |
theme, just by dint of having very poor scores in all the other categories. |
While Kom's game and Old-Sckool's game were both clearly in the unfinished |
category, this is much more of an "I wanted to submit something but I didn't |
feel like DoZing" affair. And I don't really want to discourage that, since |
I like it when people compete. More just to ask, was this really all you had |
in you? |
==============================================================================/
/ HEAVY \
[ 98991 ] = Welty Wickleson, Harbinger of Truth ========= PARANOIA == [293/400]
THEME - 81/100 [ 81/100]
Playing up the more humorous side of paranoid delusion, this game does a |
very good job of staying on message, even if the message is a bit tweaked. |
Gameplay oriented around staying away from certain people because "they'll |
get you" also fits the idea pretty well, and even though it's not my first |
pick for paranoia, the first musical selection does an excellent job of |
getting across the point of "this character has several screws loose", so |
the atmosphere is carried effectively. And then of course, the story, and |
what says Paranoia like a completely crazed conspiracy theorist? Lots of |
other thing, but this is a good choice. |
GAMEPLAY - 51/90 [ 51/ 90]
Mostly revolves around stealth gameplay combined with with reaching |
multiple targets, and for just that it pulls it off alright. There are a few |
issues with getting caught and restarting, particularly noticed on the beach |
board, where enemies wouldn't properly return to their initial locations. |
Though with as difficult as the pattern was to navigate on that board, it |
may be for the best that this led to an exploit for repositioning the |
patrols out of the way. Apart from that, there wasn't a whole lot else to do |
here. |
GRAPHICS - 61/70 [ 61/ 70]
Quasar's in top form here, as we've all come to expect, with colorful and |
detailed levels and well-rendered artwork for Welty's Hunter S. |
Thompson-esque profile. There are a few indicators of rushed work here and |
there, such as visible control robots on a couple boards, but for the most |
part this is very polished, only wanting for a few more large pieces of |
inter-level artwork. |
TECHNIQUE - 35/60 [ 35/ 60]
This is basically just a stealth patrol engine, with a two-state program |
and a reset button that doesn't always go off right. Oh, and some decently |
handled message box stuff, never forget that. Handled quick and dirty with |
MZMs, but for speed and appearance that's really the best compromise. |
STORY - 42/50 [ 42/ 50]
I think this is probably some of the funniest dialogue this DoZ, for sure, |
and so this entry already has major points for story delivery. As stories |
go, this one is pretty wacky, and then takes a hard left turn into bizarre |
meta-storytelling at the end, but that's all good. It suffers a bit for |
being clearly rushed for time at the end, but I'm still chuckling at the |
dialogue with the paranoid old guy on the beach. And oh yes, "Of course, I'm |
Benjamin Franklin, biotch." Classic. |
SOUND - 23/30 [ 23/ 30]
After the first level track, which fit so well, I was ready to give this |
full marks or close to it. But then there was no sound for the second level, |
and the sound on the third level dropped out after I got pinched, and so I |
really have to wonder why the decision to go with mod * on all those boards, |
and why you couldn't dig up another SOMETHING to put in the second level. It |
kind of dampened the experience. |
TOTAL - 293/400 [293/400]
Despite any misgivings and lingering sense of incompleteness I have about |
the game, it's still a very strong entry and a good pick for the scoresheet. |
I'm glad Quasar and Tixus decided this was worth a full effort; to think, |
you were just going to do a joke game and call it a night! |
==============================================================================/
/= Score Summary ==============================================================
--- PARANOIA ------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 41817 (Lancer-X) - Reconquista+Escalation 323/400 [A/L]
2. 98991 (Tixus, Quasar84) - Welty Wickleson, Harbinger of Truth 293/400 [A/H]
3. 10037 (GreaseMonkey) - Automobile Conspiracy 264/400 [A/H]
3. 90622 (Maxim) - Achtung! 264/400 [A/L]
5. 52517 (Kuroneko) - Risa 254/400 [A/L]
6. 35285 (Goshi) - Paranoid Heavens 243/400 [A/L]
7. 52370 (Old-Sckool) - Night's Journey [-30%] 114/400 [A/L]
8. 98505 (Insidious) - Untitled, Unfinished 86/400 [A/L]
--- NEWS REPORTERS ------------------------------------------------------------
1. 40125 (WildWeasel) - News First! 268/400 [C/H]
2. 89341 (nooodl) - California Rookie 223/400 [C/L]
3. 92782 (Kom, CJA, Malwyn) - Jack Flaps, News Reporter 182/400 [C/L]
--- COMPLETE ------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 41817 (Lancer-X) - Reconquista+Escalation 323/400 [A/L]
2. 98991 (Tixus, Quasar84) - Welty Wickleson, Harbinger of Truth 293/400 [A/H]
3. 40125 (WildWeasel) - News First! 268/400 [C/H]
4. 10037 (GreaseMonkey) - Automobile Conspiracy 264/400 [A/H]
4. 90622 (Maxim) - Achtung! 264/400 [A/L]
6. 52517 (Kuroneko) - Risa 254/400 [A/L]
7. 35285 (Goshi) - Paranoid Heavens 243/400 [A/L]
8. 89341 (nooodl) - California Rookie 223/400 [C/L]
9. 92782 (Kom, CJA, Malwyn) - Jack Flaps, News Reporter 182/400 [C/L]
10. 52370 (Old-Sckool) - Night's Journey [-30%] 114/400 [A/L]
11. 98505 (Insidious) - Untitled, Unfinished 86/400 [A/L]
DQ. 13697 (logicow) - Revenge of the Toaster [DQ] 158/400 [A/L]
==============================================================================/
/= Closing Remarks ============================================================
So that was the DoZ. Congratulations to everyone who participated and |
entered a game; and I do mean everyone. There's no point in us doing this at |
all if people don't want to play. Even you, Logicow, and your silly rule |
flaunting and your leaving forever. Here's to many more great competitions |
to come. |
==============================================================================/