24hoz Results: Here's the scores that some 50-odd people have been waiting over a month for. Now get a life, all of you. Team Mists of time Won the Game and Engine contests, so they will get two spots on the next judging panel (1 host and 1 judge). WINNERS: Game 1st Place (next Host): Team Mists of Time (1 Member) Game 2nd Place (Judge): Jotz Art (Judge): PlastikFish Engine (Judge): Team Mists of Time (1 Member) Junk: (Judge): Mr_Alert SCORES: Here's the format for the contest results: ------------------- [Game Name] Author Theta14: comments (Score) WCB: comments (Score) Herc: comments (Score) ZZBlue: comments (Score) Average Score: Place #: (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) Without further delay, here are the contest scores: ====================== Main Game Contest: (Topic: Mystery) ====================== ------------------- [The Player's 24hoZZT] Nanobot & Bigge - Team Mists of Time Theta14: Probably one of the best games in the contest. Graphics could improve. (7.0) WCB: A great original idea, but the Librarian was bugged. After fixing that, though, it was fine - I liked the Hideo Kojima-style #endgame as well. (8.0) Herc: Surprising! Lenghty, graphical, original and fun enough. Good work! (8.0) ZZBlue: The concept seemed pretty cool at first, but all in all, nothing really jumped out at me. Graphics were so-so. The whole thing was kind of buggy. Not bad, but not great. (6.5) Average Score: 7.375 Place #: 1st Place ------------------- [Mystery of Red Mansion] Jotz Theta14: Has a few of the ZZT archetypes (Stupid plots, Everybody owns a gun, etc.) but is otherwise just plain average. Unfortunately, "average" could just about win this contest (7.0) WCB: This game is of decent length, and there are some cleverly programmed bits to it... I didn't like the instant deaths, though, and I couldn't get past the paintings puzzle. There was a bug that caused repeating text near the end, but it didn't affect the game. Other than that, it was fine. (7.0) Herc: A decent entry; it's not very original, but it works fine with the topic. Otherwise quite basic. (6.5) ZZBlue: As much as I hate to admit it, I really liked this. The puzzles were kind of simple, but well-executed. The graphics were nothing special, but not too bad. My only problems with it were the haywire plot and one little annoying bug during the 'master' scene. All in all, not half bad. (7.0) Average Score: 6.875 Place #: 2nd Place ------------------- [Question Mark] Bocco Theta14: Hard to follow, but fairly good. Try to avoid the use of scrolls. Graphics are decent (6.9) WCB: A 'mystery' in that it's a mystery what the plot of the game is at first. I enjoyed it, though, it reminded me of "Jacob's Ladder", with the shifting between realities. (8.0) Herc: Another good and surprising entry! A horribly confusing, yet highly interesting story. (7.5) ZZBlue: I don't get it. At all. Is there some kind of point to this? (5.0) Average Score: 6.85 Place #: 3rd Place ------------------- [Y] SaxxonPike Theta14: Pretty good, except for a few annoyances. The RPG battle should have more player control, and should be much quicker. The Mystery went away far too quickly (6.5) WCB: After a sudden start, it was excellent up until the end, where the 'automated' RPG battle was very slow. (7.0) Herc: Started out good, but the plot development wasn't that great. The RPG battle was corny indeed. Overall, not a bad game, though. (7.0) ZZBlue: The plot was hard-to-follow and overly cliched. The RPG battle was absolutely stupid. It served no point and didn't fit at all. The most frustrating thing was that after three minutes of sitting and watching the screen, I still lost. That was just stupid, and I deducted heavily for it. (5.5) Average Score: 6.5 Place #: 4th Place ------------------- [ARTificIAL] PlastikFish Theta14: Wow. It looked like it could win, but then I got the standard "ran out of time" ending. (6.2) WCB: This is another game which could have been good with more time. As it is, it ends very suddenly at what looks like is going to be the start of a good game... there was a bug just before leaving the bedroom, though. (6.0) Herc: Well-written along with moody, fitting graphics. It's a shame it's unfinished. (6.0) ZZBlue: Really interesting story. Why didn't you complete it? I dug the whole graphic style. The 'waking up' board had two minor bugs, but other than that, it played smoothly. Too short, however. (6.5) Average Score: 6.175 Place #: 5th Place ------------------- [Manhunter] Snorby Theta14: The shooting engine was decent, but the rest of the game was ruined by a lack of time. (5.7) WCB: Shame about this game, it looked like it could have been good if you'd had more time. The sniper engine was good, as was the questioning section at the end - including the names of the judges in one of the questions was, er, different. (6.0) Herc: A good idea and a pretty nice sniper engine. It's too bad KMart screwed you over... this could've been a lot better if it was complete. :/ (6.0) ZZBlue: Hard to follow and way too short. That's all I really have to say. (5.0) Average Score: 5.675 Place #: 6th Place ------------------- [Glork] Viovis Theta14: Typical Viovis stuff. I shall give it a score of PI. (3.14) WCB: I wasn't sure what kind of game this was meant to be... perhaps that's the 'mystery'. As you all know, I don't go in for sex jokes, but I wasn't really offended by this... maybe I've become immune. Shame about the lions board, and it not continuing after that. (5.0) Herc: Haha, oh my. Viovis goes dirty! Absolutely crazy, but it was off-topic and short. (4.5) ZZBlue: No. No. No. No. No. (5.0) Average Score: 4.41 Place #: 7th Place ------------------- [Children of the Warp] Boris Da Trege Theta14: Some of the objects were buggy (ie: the cans) and the graphics wern't that great. (4.0) WCB: I found this game very difficult to follow - the intro was good but it sort of fell apart after that. I wasn't really sure what I was meant to be doing. (5.0) Herc: Started out fine, but all the mysterious things were quickly revealed. Graphics are okay, but it's buggy and way too short. (3.8) ZZBlue: Where do I begin? Atrocious graphics, frequent stupid spelling and grammar errors, lack of a coherent plot, and to top it all off, the game doesn't even work! I'm being generous with a three. (3.0) Average Score: 3.95 Place #: 8th Place ------------------- [The murder: the best game for ZZT!11] ??? - Disqualified Theta14: This junk entry came too early. You also need to put your name in the game. (DQ) WCB: Isn't this exactly the same as your junk entry, with the word 'pirate' changed to 'murder'? I don't know why I'm asking - it IS. I'll have to give it the same score, then. (0.0) Herc: This should be disqualified -- it's obvious junk, submitted in the wrong category. (DQ) ZZBlue: (ZZBlue did not score this one) Average Score: DQ Place #: 9th Place ------------------------ ======================== Art Entries: (Topics: Autumn, Vehicle, Superhero) ======================== ------------------------ PlastikFish: Autumn: Theta14: Nice and abstract, but not distinctly Autumn (7.3) WCB: A bit bleak for autumn, isn't it? A good, moody picture, but more 'winter' than autumn. (8.0) Herc: Looks good, but it doesn't quite remind me of autumn (7.0) ZZBlue: Kind of bland, but I like what I see, overall. (6.0) Average: 7.075 Vehicle: Theta14: A cross between a Formula-1 racer and a Tank. Average (7.0) WCB: Nice enough, but as you said in the text, no inspiration. Grey is used again here, but it's appropriate. (7.0) Herc: A rather basic vehicle/artwork, but not bad. (6.8) ZZBlue: Terrible. There's just nothing there. Boo. (4.0) Average: 6.2 SuperHero(ine): Theta14: The absolute best of the superhero entries (8.5) WCB: Again, there's good shading here, though you seem to use grey a lot. Some colour would have been nice. (8.0) Herc: Hooray! This is just about the only bit of artwork in this 24hoz I really like. Original, shady and well-drawn! (8.5) ZZBlue: Pretty pretty pretty! That's all I can say, really. (8.5) Average: 8.375 Overall Average Score: 7.22 (1st Place) ------------------------- Nanobot & Biggie - Team Mists of Time: Autumn: Theta14: You need to separate the background from the foreground, especially with the kite. More blending would help too. (6.1) WCB: A nice attempt at a country scene, but some of it was a bit difficult to make out. I wasn't really sure what the 'hands' at the bottom right were meant to be, but maybe that's just me being incompetent. (6.0) Herc:Nice try, but it isn't really a clear picture. Quite messy. (6.0) ZZBlue: It took me a while to get the first picture. I don't know. Too much of a color clash, if you ask me. (5.0) Average: 5.775 Vehicle: Theta14: The vehicle is well shaded, but plain. Add more detail next time. (7.2) WCB: Good shading here, and an original idea as well. (8.0) Herc:An okay picture, but the vehicle itself isn't very detailed. (6.8) ZZBlue: The second picture is unimaginative and boring. (4.0) Average: 6.5 SuperHero(ine): Theta14: The girl was drawn well, but you need to keep that style for the rest of the picture, for it to look good. (6.5) WCB: A sort of 'cel-shaded' look, if you'd allow me to jump on the bandwagon for a minute. The only bad thing here was that the figure on the right wasn't as well done as the rest of it. (7.0) Herc: Kind of odd people, but the idea isn't bad. (6.5) ZZBlue: The third is also fundamentally lacking. And... uh... "boum"? (5.0) Average: 6.25 Overall Average Score: 6.175 (2nd Place) -------------------------- TTTPPP: Autumn: Theta14: Hard to see at first, but really good. A darker background would have been better (White and light blue don't blend well). (8.0) WCB: The background was a little bright, but the shading on the leaf is excellent. Original idea. (9.0) Herc: Some nice colors, but... it's lacking in other parts. (5.0) ZZBlue: I can't tell what this is supposed to be. The blending is just plain off. (4.5) Average: 6.625 Vehicle: Theta14: YAY. I could start singing the song now, but I won't. It follows the shadeless style of the movie. Unfortunately, this looks rather poor in ZZT. (7.0) WCB: I've had nightmares about that film. <¦-) It's recognisable as the yellow submarine, certainly. I don't know what it is about it, but it just seems a bit 'plain'... (7.0) Herc: Heh, a Beatles machine? Funny, but not very graphical. (4.5) ZZBlue: The only real gem of this entry. We really do al live in a yellow submarine, you know. (6.0) Average: 6.125 SuperHero(ine): Theta14: Really hard to figure out. Just a bit too abstract. (6.3) WCB:I didn't really like the face, but the rest of it is OK. It's difficult to tell where the background ends, though. (6.0) Herc: I kinda dig this one, even though it's not the best of art. (6.0) ZZBlue: Again, I just don't see it. (3.0) Average: 5.325 Overall Average Score: 6.025 (3rd Place) -------------------------- ========================== Engine Entries: (Topics: Platformer, Race, Inventory) ========================== -------------------------- Nanobot and Biggie - Team Mists of Time: Platformer: Theta14: Pretty nice. You can pick up objects, climb ladders, and shoot. My main complaint is that the graphics are a bit too bland. (7.5) WCB: Very well programmed, brought me back to Jason Jupiter (which no one will have heard of, never mind). It seemed unresponsive, though. (7.0) Herc: Good jumping engine and overall well-playable engine. (7.5) ZZBlue: Uh. Pretty much an exact replica of EVERY zzt sidescrolling engine EVER, right down to the unresponsive jump command. I like the red platform bit, but it got too annoying very very quickly. (5.0) Average: 6.75 Race: Theta14: Original idea for a race. Hmm... must stare at screen to run - ARRR! I blinked. (8.0) WCB: An... er... original idea. The player doesn't really have to do anything much, but it's a good engine for generating the apples. (8.0) Herc: Simple, but a very interesting way to comply with the topic. Fun, too! (8.0) ZZBlue: Again, jumping proved excessivley difficult, and the apples didn't always seem to sync right. (6.0) Average: 7.5 Inventory: Theta14: Pretty good, but there needs to be labels for the objects in your inventory. It's easy to loose track of what you have. Nice job of using 0 flags. (7.5) WCB: Excellent again. The only thing missing was a way to 'look at' items that you have in your inventory, as the icons can be confusing at times with so many slots. (9.0) Herc: Haven't seen this before, but it wasn't the clearest of inventory engines. But hey, it works. (7.0) ZZBlue: Ooh. No flags, eh? What happens when your game takes up more than one board? The status bar at the bottom seems pointless. I didn't even notice it until I had finished the puzzle. (5.0) Average: 7.125 Overall Average Score: 7.13 (1st Place) -------------------------- PlastikFish: Platformer: Theta14: Heehee. Rocket packs are fun. Being able to take more than one hit would have been nice. (7.8) WCB: I wasn't amused by all the instant deaths, but the engine itself seems to be able to cope with a lot of different situations. (7.0) Herc: Nice jetpack engine. =) Engine itself works pretty well, too. (8.0) ZZBlue: Ugh. Controls were kind of buggy and annoying. (6.0) Average: 7.2 Race: Theta14: Decent. Having more than two lanes would have really helped. You could have added a score counter to give a point in going on. (6.5) WCB: Sort of like one of those old 'Game and Watch' games - more than two lanes would have been nice. (6.0) Herc: Not very original... it's a tad on the simple side. (6.5) ZZBlue: Wow, that's a lot of empty space on the board! This engine is waaay too simple, and not very innovative or interesting. (4.5) Average: 5.875 Inventory: Theta14: Typical +i inventory engine. It could have been so much better. (7.0) WCB: I wouldn't say it was 'way too easy', it took me a while to work out what to do. It's fairly simple, though, with just the standard '+i' idea. (8.0) Herc: The engine isn't very original, but it's nicely integrated into the game. (6.5) ZZBlue: Took me quite some time to get the hang of it. Pretty nice, if not standard engine. Still, it worked properly and there was a FISHY in it, too! I give it sixty gold stars. (6.5) Average: 7.0 Overall Average Score: 6.69 (2nd Place) -------------------------- ========================== Junk Entries: (Topic: Pirates) ========================== -------------------------- [Pirate Land] Mr_Alert Theta14: ARRRR. I must registARRR as soon as I can! (.1) WCB: I don't know what it is about the first board, but it doesn't look as bad as it should... Still, you fixed that with the endless stars boss, and the corridor which crashes the game. It was locked as well - only one other entry thought of that. (1.0) Herc: Ow, ow, OW. RED ALERT! (.1) ZZBlue: I'll level with you. I did not play this game. I have no intention of doing so. Have a lovely day. (N/A) Average Score: .4 (1st) -------------------------- [PIRATOS!!!!!!1 OF DEATH~!] PlastikFish Theta14: Prominent useage of yellow and flashing water... my eyes... (.5) WCB: The spelling errors made it more irritating rather than badly programmed (although there's plenty of that as well). There's a barely recognisable plot to it, terrible though it is. (3.0) Herc: Laughed my @$$ off to this one. Geurt & Pollie. GABBER!!!! EN SPEEDMETAL GAAN GOED SAMEN :D (.7) ZZBlue: You must've actually ATTEMPTED to make that bad. You failed at doing so. But, since I picked you to win in the first two categories, you get my vote once more. If you were my son, then nobody would think anything of it. (0.0) Average Score: 1.05 (2nd) -------------------------- [Pirate - the best game for ZZt!!1111] Unknown Theta14: A direct rip of your main game entry. This is nearly rock bottom. (.2) WCB: I started up the game, went through to the second board and died thanks to the thoughtless (thoughtful in this case, though) dark board with no ammo, and star-throwing tigers. After that part there's a dreadful boss and even no end to the game once it's complete. No redeeming features whatsoever. You even forgot to put your name on it. Outstanding. (0.0) Herc: ...Ungh. Ended the pain quickly. Not very topic-compliant, though. (.2) ZZBlue: You made a few simple typos, and a little bit of the 'big empty board' syndrome, but I understand your point and I love the dancing eskimos. (6.0) Average Score: 1.6 (3rd) -------------------------- [Pirate Island] Jotz Theta14: Six boards of pure pain. Standard ZZT water is the sum of all evil. (.3) WCB: I died very quickly on the first board, as I went to get the ammo first. A #chnage error later on... creative. The !!!111 was a bit too obvious, though, and I think the glowing was a bit too clever even though it was ripped. (2.0) Herc: Close to complete junk, but not COMPLETE junk yet. ARRR MATEY (.4) ZZBlue: How do you honestly expect me to get past that many baddies without more health? I'm sorry, but your whole life is a fraud. (4.3) Average Score: 1.75 (4th) -------------------------- [Pirate! Oh no] Bocco11 Theta14: Hmm. I went from the title screen to the Code Red house, then to a junk board, and the game ended on a toolkit. Good show. (.9) WCB: Terrible start, with starting on the title screen, too many stars, and so on. Well done. Continues well, ripping boards shamelessly from other games and not bothering to modify them. The only good thing was that it used STK colours, even though they were ripped. (2.0) Herc: Heh, nice use of stolen boards. Annoying invisible mazes made me type ?Zpa. O_o (.8) ZZBlue: I love it! That part about the pirates, and then they attacked, and you know it was all like that and then it was good you win CLAPCLAP (4.0) Average Score: 1.925 (5th) -------------------------- [Spongebob Squarepants Vs> The Evil Pirates] Dr. Dos Theta14: Yes! There is ripped off material. Yet everything is still functional (ie Passages, boardlinks). Bad but not hopelessly bad. (.4) WCB: The game itself is bad enough, but the art's too good for an irredemably bad junk entry. (4.0) Herc: Stop, please? *looks hopeful* The art was too cool to be real junk, though. >:P (.4) ZZBlue: You're not a real doctor, are you? Just because you like crackers doesn't mean you can rock and roll. (4.0) Average Score: 2.2 (6th) -------------------------- [happy pirates and unhappy ducks] Nano Theta14: Definite junk. It even started on the wrong board! (.4) WCB: The title screen art was too good for a junk entry, even though STK wasn't used. It started on the wrong board, which is always nice. After the 'difficult riddle' where I was declared a 'basstart', I was trapped behind a statue object, which compelled me to turn it off instantly. (2.0) Herc: Started on the wrong board! Excellent! Long entry, too. (.3) ZZBlue: Oh boy, I bet your face is red! You saved on the wrong board. What a silly mistake to make. Fortuantely, I didn't deduct points for it. Nice game, barring of course a few simple mis-steaks. I like steak. (7.0) Average Score: 2.425 (7th) -------------------------- [Pyrytz] Manani Theta14: This has not one, but *two* ways to cause a fatal runtime error. Hooray! (.4) WCB: I'm not sure what to say about this one. When I took the first scroll, the game crashes. OK so far. I reluctantly tried the other scroll, and it worked. I then walked through the passage and my computer locked up entirely, causing me to lose a few of these reviews and some Chemistry notes. I... despise it. (0.0) Herc: Horrible, but too short to cause me the real pain. (.2) ZZBlue: Sunshine, lollipops, and puppy dogs. Thank you, and I hope you fall into a puddle of GAY MEN and then they have their respective ways with you. Drugs don't make you cool, they just make you lose the junk category of the 24hoz. (10) Average Score: 2.65 (8th) -------------------------- ========================== --------------------------