Summer 2009 Dualstream Day of Zeux Judging Sheets:Terryn

Terryn's DoZ Scores, Summer 2009

Topics: Paranoia (Abstract) & News Reporters (Concrete) Judging Standard: MZX 2.82b stable (Win 32 platform)

(Scores attempted to be consistent and relative, but I'm not making any promises.)

To explain the WACKY scoring changes per game, I've written up a small guide on our system and placed it right below this line! How convenient!

Games choosing the THEME-HEAVY scoring are scored as follows:

Theme - 100/400 (How appropriately it sticks to the above topic. Novel applications of the theme are especially welcome here; cloying, ham-fisted application of it is not.)
Gameplay - 90/400 (What the game expects the player to do, how novel/fun/considerate it is for the player, and how little the player futilely struggles with the game.)
Graphics - 70/400 (The difference between eye-gouging and eye-popping.)
Technique - 60/400 (How painless it is for the player to play through the game (disregarding obvious gameplay decisions such as difficulty), and the technical prowess shown in the code.)
Story - 50/400 (Whether your grasp of English, your grasp of flow, and your grasp of creativity align. If this cannot be arranged, partial credit is better than none.)
Sound - 30/400 (With the beeping and the blooping and the chiptunes and the borrowed game music and all of that.)

Games choosing the THEME-LITE scoring are scored as follows:

Gameplay - 120/400 (This is the core of the game; it is the interactive part of a game and hence the most likely thing to make or break a game for a player.)
Graphics - 90/400 (How pleasing the game is to the eye. No accounting for tastes, though some works seem better to everyone overall than others.)
Technique - 80/400 (The complexity of the code involved, and whether said code actually works most of the time. Efficiency counts in the extreme cases where it's relevant.)
Story - 50/400 (Whether the words arranged therein form coherent sentences, and even better, coherent plot threads.)
Sound - 40/400 (The ears' domain; whether sound effects and music are not only good, but well-suited for the game.)
Theme - 20/400 (Whether you actually paid attention and bothered haphazardly grafting the right conceptual fragments to your glitzy engine. 5 points average or less and your game is outright rejected.)

Without further delay, my scoring for this DoZ's games begins!

[10037] "Automobile * Conspiracy" (greasemonkey) -PARANOIA/HEAVY-

Theme - 84/100

The application of the theme was consistent, strong, and in a routine fashion. You're unjustifiably paranoid about your car, which drives the entire game.

Gameplay - 50/90

As far as DoZ games go, this game is pretty standard. The game's mostly dialog, with a few gameplay elements tossed in, and is complete. It's also pretty short.
The first part of the game involves wandering around, a later section is a short and an overly short-and-simple one-hit-kill sidescroller. Okay filler, but nothing to write home about.

Graphics - 48/70

Appealing-yet-simple. It's mostly 1x1 charwork, with large buildings and with attention paid to terrain. Unfortunately, ye olde black backgrounds start popping up prominently later.
The opening was nice-looking. Reminded me of Skyroads and old computer demos.

Technique - 34/60

Basic, competent stuff. A custom dialog engine, a sidescroller, line calculation, and a nice little char randomizer.
Two points off for misaligned board linking. One point off for the old title speed / save file load issue. The latter's pretty much a technicality, as one really shouldn't need to play something this short and easy in multiple sessions.

Story - 33/50

Your car's missing, so you're on an adventure to get it back! You know that the perpetrators were really after YOU, though, so watch your back!

Sound - 21/30

Decent choices for music, some of it made by the author. The only real distracting tune was the endless road one, as it's a lot louder than the others. The sound effects are Zeux standard.

Overall: 270/400

Very nice recovery. Well done.

[13657] "Revenge of the Toaster" (LogiCow) -PARANOIA/LITE- [DQed]

Gameplay - 73/120

Ehn, it's not bad. It cribs from ancient momentum games, Gauntlet, and probably a few other sources. Your spaceship can have three weapons attached, and must destroy every enemy in the level. This includes simple touch-of-death ships, spawns, and ships that stand still and fire, as well as one level with a gigantic mothership.
It's not all that good, either. Though the weapon variety is nice, many of the weapons are weak and you'll be using the strong ones a lot. Level design is uninspired, at best. There's NO indication on when you can use any of the weapons again, as some require downtime. Controlling the ship is an acquired skill.

Graphics - 53/90

Acquired taste. Everything's hideously blocky and the color scheme is monochromatic, but it's a stylistic choice. It's not actually ugly, but it probably suffers a good deal for the decision.

Technique - 60/80

The DoZ is often a hotbed of innovation and grandstanding. This game is probably one of the better examples of this in a long while. The game uses polygons to represent characters and projectiles, and has some rotation, zoom and flip effects. It'd be laudable...
...if the game didn't outright murder every processor costing under $100. Wow. I could run it okay, but MZXer machines are typically not gamer machines. Know your audience.

Story - 5/50

Hello, you are SPACE TOASTER and this is your game. Are you SPACE TOASTER? We're not sure! Enjoy!

Sound - 19/40

Apparently the music's from Henry Hatsworth? Whatever, it's ill-fitting, though acceptable in quality. The sounds are basic blips, which (unlike the music) actually helps create some cohesiveness.

Theme - 1/20

I'm pretty PARANOID that Logi's going to yell at me about this score! ...OR AM I? OH GOD!

Overall: 211/400

Honestly, he did try something different this time. He could have rode that pixel-perfect engine for the billionth time just to be spiteful, a la the END OF THE WORLD entry he did, but he didn't. That said, the way he treated the theme (i.e. almost not at all) was remarkably cavalier, at best, and ultimately earned him a DQ. Disappointing.

[35285] "Paranoia Heavens" (Goshi) -PARANOIA/LITE-

Gameplay - 71/120

MZX adventure, with some sparse MZX shooting thrown in. There's a paranoia system that affects various things such as your firing rate, trap disarming success, and enemy actions, but the game's too incomplete for it to have a strong effect on the game. There was obviously a plan, but it fell far short.
Speaking of which, there are isolated boss chambers viewable upon loading the editor.

Graphics - 40/90

Slightly below average. Sure, there's tons of space everywhere and the enemies look indistinct, but it's got a cohesive style. This saves it from an outright savaging.

Technique - 36/80

Some thought was put into the game's paranoia system, but the game itself has a good deal of bugs, including a classic lockplayer bug, a classic not enough money bug, and dialog choices sometimes not implemented. The game wasn't a paragon of technicality to begin with, either.

Story - 22/50

Incompleteness, again, hurts this score. What's there was sparse, though there's lines of dialogue scattered about. Unfortunately, a good deal of typos.

Sound - 24/40

Decent choice of music. No digitized sound, though.

Theme - 13/20

Acceptable adherence to theme, mostly through gameplay elements.

Overall: 206/400

I actually would like to see this completed. Shame it didn't get done during the actual DoZ.

[40125] "NewsFirst!" (WildWeasel) -NEWS REPORTERS/HEAVY-

Theme - 93/100

Pretty much screams "NEWS REPORTING". The game actually has you reporting news! As a news reporter! What more do you want?

Gameplay - 60/90

It's a choose-your-own-adventure game in MZX form. Pick from one of up to four options and read. Decent format for a DoZ game.
However, it's way, way too short.

Graphics - 38/70

Almost straight down the middle. Graphics are utilitarian, but with very little detail. Nothing's outright awful-looking or distracting.

Technique - 35/60

The game works without bugs, but is of a dead-simple design.

Story - 42/50

The writing's generally amusing stuff. It's your first day as a reporter, and you're trying to do a good job despite your dislike for your co-workers. The scenarios are pretty amusing and topical, like having to choose the correct pronunciation for a bank robber's tricky last name. Again, though, not too much is here, though there's a decent amount of endings.

Sound - 23/30

~~The Final Countdown~~ Take on Me! Is it an MZX cliché yet? The rest of the music is perfectly fitting, and there are (loud) sound effects for when ratings change.

Overall: 291/400

I'd love to see you make another MZX game in this vein. Great work.

[41817] "RECONQUISTA†ESCALATION" (Lancer-X) -PARANOIA/LITE-

Gameplay - 91/120

The game is split into two different game modes. The first is Reconquista, which is somewhat standard MZX fare. Gameplay centers on shooting enemies (auto-targeted based on the closest enemy) with three different weapons (depending on how far you've progressed), and ultimately finding the NPC. At the end of #2, you're told about an ability to see "potential" threats, which deepens the gameplay further. Weapon unlocks, enemy strength, and level length expand at a good pace, with one large exception I'll note later.
The second is Escalation, which is a turn-based strategy game. You have a limited amount of energy, and can either move or shoot in a desired direction (a swipe three chars long extending for five spaces in the given direction). Doing anything uses energy, and enemies can hurt you and take away energy as well. Energy is scattered throughout the board, and enemies come from the margins in large quantities. Thankfully, they're all one-hit and only damage by touch. Overall, an easy section.
The game is 98% Reconquista, 2% Escalation. This isn't due to the brevity (though a factor) of the Escalation sections, but the length of the Reconquista sections. Reconquista #1-#4 are at perfect lengths, each introducing a new element to gameplay while giving just enough time to prevent them from becoming stale. #5, though? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHGKL! #5. THIS level's huge, and contains more than one gigantic dead-end taking forever to traverse in themselves, all the while not being difficult enough to break any monotony (despite its introducing subliminal enemies in corridors instead of just rooms). I could feel my eyes trying to cross themselves in rebellion when I had to dive several floors backwards to get back to unexplored areas, sick of it all. The relief found in finally fighting enemies again is not enough to offset this. Thankfully, after meeting the angel, the teacher's close by and not at the beginning. For about a minute I had a feeling that the game really was that sadistic.
Was the ability to file multiple weapons at the same time intended? =D

Graphics - 67/90

Not bad at all. Smart palette choices and unassuming environments mesh with simplistic enemies and basic-looking projectiles. Plenty of gloss is thrown onto the text-oriented opening segments.

Technique - 66/80

Most of it's used on the Reconquista levels, as the Escalation levels are pretty unassuming. The game has a base file nearly a megabyte in size from which it takes things as simple as the script to the level layouts. Several repeating parts (corners, halls, room portions with desks, room portions without, etc) are C+Ped together to make levels, and there's the now-familiar lines of projectiles. The auto-aiming engine isn't bad either, though it can get a bit visually distracting. The blood vision engine is nice, especially in that you can still see normal enemies if they appear in the uncovered lines, and similarly with the blood flashes in normal vision.
There are a few, decent-sized quibbles. Reconquista #3 had cut-off portions of room templates visible, Reconquista #5 started occasionally crippling MZX's speed when projectiles flew, at least two of the rooms aren't linked properly leading to "ERR: INVALID JUMP" and an awkward invisible period until you enter another door (I'm assuming these are the jumps to nowhere lancer mentions, so make that total five?), and a heart spawned on a desk (though the walkover area).

Story - 43/50

Typical Lancer-X storyline with typical Lancer-X flow. In short, an interesting plot with several reveals and a good dose of pretension plays out gradually and indirectly. In this case, he was nice enough to explain everything in stark detail in an included readme file. Multiple endings.

Sound - 32/40

Decent selection of music, acceptable sounds. The only problem with the music is how long you'll be hearing two of the songs, though that's not really the fault of the song selection.

Theme - 17/20

Above-average implementation of the theme. Though I felt that the first immediate tie-in was a bit heavy-handed ("His eyes were paranoid." isn't a screaming, all-caps beacon, it's still fairly direct), it's not harmed by it, and the blood vision is a nice implementation that is a good take on the "other world" gameplay routine.

Overall: 316/400

Extreme length plus an extreme conclusion! (!randbash) It's certainly a memorable game, but who's going to finish it?

[52370] "Night's Journey" (mzxrules) -PARANOIA/LITE- [30% grace penalty]

Gameplay - 44/120

There's the beginnings of some gameplay here, with an interesting weapons engine and some sidescrolling action. Unfortunately, there's very little gameplay on display here, as the game's unfinished.

Graphics - 49/90

Although there's a lot of black background, there's also some decent multi-char art for pretty much everything that isn't terrain. There's also a short opening picture. Text title screen.

Technique - 52/80

Sprites, sidescrolling and interesting weapons put this above the default DoZ game, especially due to it working fairly well.

Story - 18/50

Your character is trapped in a dream world. Very little is said about it, and even less as soon as the opening finishes.

Sound - 5/40

No sound is netter than bad sound. This game has no sound.

Theme - 6/20

About as much theme here as can be gotten away with. The player's trapped in a dream world and paranoid about his surroundings; at least, that's what the sparse amounts of text imply.

Overall: 174/400 [pre-penalty]

Looks like a string of bad luck. I wonder what the problem is, considering your games used to be solid (if unspectacular).

[52517] "RISA" (Lachesis) -PARANOIA/LITE-

Gameplay - 66/120

Unbalanced. The game's a sidescroller, with various weapons at your disposal, but you probably won't use them. Enemies are easily avoidable, and levels are solved mostly by holding right and jumping at the right times. (Some parts of the game, with long stretches of falling platforms, even encourages this.) The game also runs really, REALLY fast. It's not oh-crap-where's-moslo-damnit fast, but pretty inappropriately speedy. The game's also short, and none of the planned bosses (a perfect opportunity to be forced to use those weapons) made it in the game.

Graphics - 58/90

The parts that actually had completed graphics (the cinematic screens, the first level) were done competently. Enemies looked interesting, but not ludicrous, and the weapons were decent. Unfortunately, graphics for levels 2 and three aren't done, leaving only the functional white platforms and enemy characters.

Technique - 49/80

Some nice weapons engines and basic sprite use. Nothing spectacular, but showing at least some effort.
Unfortunate glitch involving only one of the four endings being attainable.

Story - 36/50

There's considerable exposition, explaining Risa's background and why she'd do the things displayed in the game. Although the opening text is fairly austere in the very beginning, I kept bracing for a "YOU BAKA!" moment a la SD:BoI once it got into the brother-sister conversation, but thankfully the conversation never regresses into that. The game provides a bit of text between levels, mostly setting up the weapon you'll get next time as well as the ending's text.
All in all, though the writing was technically fair, the basic plot seemed a bit far-fetched. Wishing stones, mere miles away? And you were a recluse all of this time! What a coincidence! The non-existent danger level of the enemies raises the question: why wasn't it done earlier? Maybe that'd be less of an issue if the game had significantly more difficulty, but the first point at minimum stands.

Sound - 29/40

No sound. Music was self-made and decent, except for the first level's tune. Text sequences lacked music completely.

Theme - 11/20

Some light tie-in to the theme. Paranoia is why Risa's never left her (assumedly giant and sulf-sustaining) house, as her mother told you to trust no one but themselves.

Overall: 249/400

This probably required the least work to make a real game. Some graphics for the second and third levels, as well as a severe strengthening of enemy patterns would be the bare minimum needed. Hope your post-DoZ rewrite of the game works well.

[89341] "California Rookie" (nooodl) -NEWS REPORTERS/LITE-

Gameplay - 57/120

It's basic exploration gameplay. Go to various places, touch things, read the descriptions, repeat until you finish the game. However, it's not fully playable out of the box.

Graphics - 49/90

Decent. They're typical, competent DoZ graphics; some traits include 1x1 characters, large fields of color and square buildings. They're thankfully not an eyesore.

Technique - 30/80

Un-ambitious gameplay suffers from being really buggy. Broken fades, unfinished robots, the ability to leave the player permanently trapped in the university, and a weird issue in the intro where space can force dialog to jump to a certain line (as if the author was deciding to let space advance text but later changed his mind, and forgot about the space code) mar this category.

Story - 25/50

There isn't much story, per se. There's smatterings of text through the game, mostly attached either to items that directly affect progress in the game, or to things in your office. What's there is enough to provide a basic backbone for the game.

Sound - 30/40

Chippy! Nice selection of tunes, though it suffers from having too many. Some tunes only show up for a few seconds. Sounds are nonexistent.

Theme - 12/20

You are a news reporter, out to ensure job security by researching three stories. This falls more under the realm of "journalist", but it's a minor difference.

Overall: 203/400

ohhhh man, what a travesty. If only he'd picked the heavy scoresheet, he'd have placed far better.

[90622] "ACHTUNG!!" (maxim) -PARANOIA/LITE-

Gameplay - 107/120

BLAM BLAM BLAM. He's actually getting a bit better at this! Despite being completely consistent! It's maxim's normal MO: frantic, colorful action with loads of nifty weapons and hordes of enemies, but this time he actually managed to add some powerups. There's a speed booster, a shot speed booster, and a shield that takes a hit of damage for you. It still surprises me that maxim can provide enough variety to his weapons between games, yet still be in a very tight and consistent style.
Large enemies can get stuck on terrain, leaving to easy picking off. Level 9 is especially bad about this. Most of the enemies in the game are 1x1, though, and mostly don't suffer from this.

Graphics - 66/90

They do the job. They're vivid explosions of color and bizarre sketches of weird creatures (are those people inside gigantic, green teeth costumes?). Some of them are fairly large, around six chars or so. The backgrounds are a lot less exciting, being mainly neon blorbs of color, but they fit the setting and don't hurt the graphical score.

Technique - 65/80

Ridiculously busy as usual, and mercifully bugless as far as I can tell.

Story - 19/50

Nothing special or elaborate, but it does the job well for a SUPER ACTION GAME like this. You're convinced of a demon invasion, but everyone thinks you're paranoid for even considering demons a threat, so you take matters into your own hands to try to save your hide.

Sound - 33/40

Excellent sounds, though they overpower the music. Speaking of which, the music's pretty decent, done in that Adlib style of which maxim's fond, and there's enough variety to last through the entire game. The first levels' tune is actually outright catchy.

Theme - 8/20

The theme's been phoned in to fit the action trappings, again, but it's appropriate this time. Decent use.

Overall: 298/400

"Always the bridesmaid, never the bride." maxim's games are still a consistent highlight of the DoZs, even though none of them have yet won.

[92782] "Jack Flaps" (Kom/Malwyn/CJA) -NEWS REPORTERS/LITE-

Gameplay - 41/120

The first part is simply dragging papers to an area, then dragging a stamp over it, and then dragging the paper to a different area. Repeat. or not, as you don't have to actually do this to progress to the next area. Speaking of which, it's yet another avoid-the-obstacles game. Again. How many of these have we had, now? Even in DoZs? Escape from Belsen, from over TEN YEARS AGO, anyone? Rush? ...okay, enough complaining, anyway... the game ends there, whether you win or lose, due to its incompleteness. TEAMWORK!

Graphics - 52/90

What's there was decent, but there was little actually there. A desk close-up, player graphics, and a respectable-looking road with cones on a city backdrop.

Technique - 43/80

Basic mouse control moving large objects. Short multi-char minigame. Not super-exciting stuff, but it works.

Story - 16/50

You're a reporter. You stamp papers. You drive to the middle of nowhere (somewhat aptly, a totally blank board) in search for a story. That's it.

Sound - 17/40

There was one song. It fit the game's atmosphere well enough. There were also sound effects for moving and stamping paper. Not a lot!

Theme - 12/20

Standard, if uninspired, usage of the theme. Obviously light usage, considering how incomplete the entry is.

Overall: 181/400

Probably would have been nice if the team was willing to DoZ this time. Oh, well!

[98505] "UNTITLED, UNFINISHED" (Insidious) -PARANOIA/LITE-

Gameplay - 28/120

There's an awkward text advance engine (move to advance dialog), MZX shooting with limited ammo and mindless enemies, and almost no game.

Graphics - 19/90

Lots of blue and black, looking very incomplete and barebones. Smileys. Text title.

Technique - 12/80

MZX default stuff is prevalent, and there's a movement-advanced text engine. The player's in the wrong spot if you play the game normally; boards aren't linked properly, either. Generally messy.

Story - 17/50

There's some rudiments here about scientists and a robot becoming self-aware, but it's given very little development.

Sound - 4/40

MZX default.

Theme - 15/20

It does adhere to the theme, though in a fairly conventional fashion.

Overall: 95/400

whoops. It definitely fits its title.

[98991] "Welty Wickleson: Harbinger of Truth" (Quasar/Tixus) -PARANOIA/HEAVY-

Theme - 95/100

OH ROONEY. While this game doesn't attack paranoia in any especially novel sense, it's done masterfully. Paranoia permeates the game entirely, as you set out to enlighten everyone on your wild conspiracy theories.

Gameplay - 51/90

The gameplay is mostly a vector for the dialog. That said, the gameplay is entertaining. Welty has to walk up to people and convince them of the "truth" without being seen and caught by authority figures (and presumably being bugged and catalogued!! ...or just thrown off of the premises).

Graphics - 54/70

While not exactly stunning, environments look nice. Unfortunately, there's an abundance of free space that would be less prominent if everything weren't 1x1. Also, due to the mundane choices of environments, nothing really stands out. I'm trying hard to sound like I'm not slagging the art, because I'm really not. It's good stuff with smart patterning decisions. It's just not notable.
I appreciated the economical use of a large face close-up. That was pretty well-done for a DoZ.

Technique - 26/60

Dead simple stuff. No fancy sprite or projectile engines, just classic MZX custom textboxes. They mostly work.
Unfortunately, a fair bit was broken or sub-optimal in minor ways. Music could be cut short after returning to a board after losing a life, or the authority figures placed themselves in different locations after their hunt ended on the most difficult board of the game. You could also talk to someone right as you're caught. The space bar message advance is super-sensitive. None of these things are really big, but they're enough to knock the already humble technique score below average.

Story - 44/50

Absolutely, gobsmackingly hilarious. Well, moreso at first. The whole super-paranoid gag doesn't really last all that long. As the game is pretty much carried by the writing, it's fortunate that it's strong writing. The last "enlightenment" on Welty's list is pretty wonderful.
Points off for a text dump ending. I would have enjoyed an actual implementation of AEROSOL CANNON gameplay, but alas.

Sound - 22/30

Excellent application of music, especially the first level's tune. I can't think of anything better than over-exuberant trumpets and ska beats mocking well-worn tunes as you run along trying to convince people that butter is margarine.
Whoops, missing a mod. checkres next time, people. Speaking of missing things, sound effects were very sparse, and most actions had no sound at all.

Overall: 292/400

I appreciated the little things, like adding a game over screen that no one will ever see in real play =D

Final Rankings

#1: RECONQUISTA†ESCALATION (316/400)
#2: ACHTUNG!! (298/400)
#3: Welty Wickleson: Harbinger of Truth (292/400)
#4: NewsFirst! (291/400)
#5: Automobile * Conspiracy (270/400)
#6: RISA (249/400)
#X: Revenge of the Toaster (211/400)
#7: California Rookie (203/400)
#8: Paranoia Heavens (202/400)
#9: Jack Flaps (181/400)
#A: Night's Journey (174/400)
#B: UNTITLED, UNFINISHED (95/400)

Despite all indications, this turned out to be a good DoZ. Entry quality was pretty decent, on average. Of course we can't go without at least one fracas (hi, logi!) but still, cheers to besting my low expectations.