We have our winners ;D
Very impressed with the creativity of the entries. Well done indeed to everyone that took part :D
The top three winners are :
(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/images/fl1.png) | (https://www.syntaxbomb.com/GameComps/009/StevieG-Gunstar.png) | 1st place winner :
Title : Gunstar
Author : STEVIE G
Link : https://stevieg.itch.io/gunstar?secret=qpSAuh6TnXfdOw94mJ0e6czB9k
Vote points : 1st = 8 | 2nd = 2 | 3rd = 2 ( Total = 950 ) |
(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/images/fl2.png) | (https://www.syntaxbomb.com/GameComps/009/BasicBoy-Tyoob.png) | 2nd place winner :
Title : Tyoob
Author : BasicBoy
Link : https://www.syntaxbomb.com/index.php/topic,6107.msg30995.html#msg30995
Vote points : 1st = 2 | 2nd = 5 | 3rd = 3 ( Total = 525 ) |
(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/images/fl3.png) | (https://www.syntaxbomb.com/GameComps/009/iWasAdam-HoneyThings.png) | 3rd place winner :
Title : Honey Things
Author : iWasAdam
Link : https://adamstrange.itch.io/honeythings
Vote points : 1st = 2 | 2nd = 5 | 3rd = 2 ( Total = 500 ) |
How was the scoring done :1st place awarded 100 points
2nd place awarded 50 points
3rd place awarded 25 points
Complete voting breakdown :(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/GameComps/009/votes-mix-it-up.png)
(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/GameComps/009/votes-mix-it-up-chart.png)
Winners, PM me your PayPal address and I'll magic over your winnings :)Comments about the games ( if sent ) :Xerra Comments :Endless Horde I already wrote a bit about. As well as being impressed that Matty took a crack at probably the hardest category, the game reminded me of Bards Tale 3 a bit, which I have fond memories of. I think, with some more time, this could be a great game. I always judge our compo games as work-in-progress because it's pretty hard to get a game done in the time limits.
Wildest West is a bit busted but, for me, it's trying something different and you can tell 3dz had his heart in it from his many posts. It could use a lot more work but then so could all our games and it's got its own unique charm that endears me to it.
Tyoob. Basicboy jumping in at the last minute and stealing the show again. I find it cool that he's using BBC basic for all these games he turns out and this one is very clever with it's simulated 3d. Very tempest like - which I've been playing a fair bit of recently as Jeff Minter finally released his version. So, yeah, my favourite game of the compo.
Gunstar is a good little game but I just didn't get into it enough to make me vote for it. Technically very good but I played it for 10 games and each time it was game over I wouldn't get that feeling that I really wanted to have another go. I would say that I loved the duck shooting bit, though.
As for Honey things, if I could I would probably vote Adam first every time, just because he always come up with something completely left-field and does great stuff with it. Again, a really technically good game, but it's not the kind of game I would ever normally play and I didn't get that feeling from it.
3DzForMe Comments :Gunstar – This game has playability all over it, graphics and physics to die for and is akin to the fun I had playing old Defender 2d style 35 years ago in my chippie in the village – the old centre of the social universe.
Tyoob – The playability and fun of this from the outset has me grabbed – I'm more a shooter / driver / instant gratification kinda guy so this is right up my street. The controls are easy to grasp and it defo makes you come back for more.
Creepy Crawlies – I love the graphics and the whole centipede vibe. The only thing that bumped this to No.2 for me was I'd to scrabble around for what the controls were, once I found them I just felt it moved left and right too fast to be able to control where it stopped accurately. All the graphics and everything made this a hard choice to drop to 3 from 2.
STEVIE G Comments :
Creepie Crawlies feedbackCool Music and decent gameplay.
GFX were inconsistent with a mix of hi and low res sprites
The Laydybird thing was a bugger!
Endless Horde feedbackDecent concept and pretty good execution
Shame it was missing sound fx or music as they would have really added something.
I would have liked for it to be clear what action I was taking as sometimes moved instead of attacking, maybe something to highlight which hex your cursor is on before you click the mouse.
There was no feedback when party members died
Party member should stand out more from the horde.
The game started slowly which is good but it soon was overwhelming.
TyoobExcellent music, decent sound fx and gfx and all round good fun.
Needs a full screen option - doesn't do it justice playing in a small window!
I found level 1 pretty easy, including the boss but level 2 was too hard for me.
Honey ThingsGreat pixel art - would have likes to see more animation on the main character though.
Music was not bad.
Nice integration of the gfx and sound options on the main menu.
It wasn't clear to me what I was doing and why I was dying so a bit of a tutorial level would have been good.
I used just the arrow keys - were there more keys I wasn't aware of?
In full screen it would have been good to make use of the screen space ... bigger levels maybe.
No option to quit from main menu so had to shutdown from taskmgr.
Wild WestI played the halloween version so not sure if this was the correct one.
There was no clear indication of how to start and what the controls were so almost gave up until I spotted them on a rotating cube.
Graphics were too small to see what was going on - full screen option?
All my shots went diagonally up so no way of hitting the enemy player. I probably did something wrong?
The "Earthquake" was hilarious ;D
iWasAdam Comments :creepy crawlies - not the best graphics and sounds are all a bit random (not well matched), but definately the most engaging
gunstar - Brilliant graphics and sound, but I felt a bit let down by the gameplay. I'll explain this a bit more: It made me think of Time Pilot and particularly Time Pilot 84. So I went back to both and had a real blast. Time Pilot 84 is tight and just brilliant to play the design on locations changed - I felt that Gunstar should have been more like this: very tight game play, varied backgrounds and better choice of colors.
tyoob - A good effort here, a sort of 'cute' Tempest. But similar to Gunstar, it would have been better to go back to tempest and see what made it tick and try to bring some of this into things. But a great entry
Wildest west - great to see how it all progressed. Maybe a 2d version would have been a better option and given you more time to focus of the game play a bit?
Endless hoard - Definately the best entry from Matty. game play was a bit loose in that it is not clear what is really going on, but I liked the look of things. The hex map was handled very well :)
Congratz to all who participated. I must say, every single entry was very cool. Well done all round
Well done all! Congrats to the winners!
This was a really good competition. Great entries.
Congrats to the winners!
Nicely done everyone's :)
Really well done everyone, feedback for the other two games I didn't provide feedback on in the competition:
Honey Things: The attention to detail with the graphics and how they were animated were shear genius.
The time and effort to produce this game is worthy of a small team of people, not just one person,
really well done I was adam. As a younger guy this game would have been right up my street - however I'm all about the instant gratification these days - shooters and driving games really.
Endless Hoarde: The graphics in this game really intrigued me, however the game suffered
the same problem as mine - it wasn't immediatley apparent how to start it - in fact,
I could not start the game - sorry.
Regarding the wildest west, it was '1' to start a 1 player game, '2' for a 2 player. Oh, and w to aim for player 1 and o to aim for player 2. And yep, theres defo some bugs left, I should've left it at 2D - was far too ambitious for the timeframe I'd to code it from scratch. Thanks for the feedback all :D :D
Well done everyone. I love it at this stage when the voting's been done and you can just think that you've turned another game out of the door after all those years of half-finished games that never got finished.
I think, prior to participating in these competitions, the last time I finished a game was in 2015. And, prior to that, probably around 2001, although, in my defence, I was more of an application programmer for a while during those years.
Since last year I've put out 5 games, so this competition has had nothing but a positive effect on my productivity that I hope will long continue.
Well done to everyone who entered the competition - just a shame we didn't have more entries, like in the last one. It's great fun finally finishing your game then getting a chance to play all the games everyone else has come up with. As soon as I saw the standard of Tyoob, Gunstar and Honey Things I knew that my game would only be able to really compete on being a pretty easy to pick-up-and-play casual game.
Next time I reckon I'll go for something a bit harder as I always felt it was a bit of a safe choice.
Congrats to all for entering the competition.
Congrats to the winners for even gaining one of the 3 top ranks.
Next compo will probably be harder - with Grandfather Qube and Render Quarter Master Ron joining the compo ship again ;D.
@ my first place - Honey Quest
I voted for Adams game as it seemed to have (sfx, gfx, gamelogic wise) most efforts put in. I was to give up a lot of times in some levels until I finally found out how to approach strawberries, cake monster ...
So understanding how enemies "act" was kind of the puzzle. What put me off a bit was the idea of having to loose "lives" to solve a puzzle (see cake boss). You normally would not try it as it is against your "experience" ("survive" vs "sacrificing live").
Still it is the one I played the most intense and which looked like a almost complete game (think level hub could be improved - and as Stevie wrote, animation of the main character - as this one is the one you see on each screen).
Think the game could be improved a little - make optional "tutorial levels" for the ones requiring it hardly. Also some more level restrictions ("finish others first") could help. I did not finish the game (albeit thanks to ".ini" you could cheat some lives I assume) so dunno if you can "win" but I think so. You might consider selling it somehow then - I think there are some users lurking around here who would be glad to help you in polishing the game until it could be tried to get sold for a little money.
@ the winner - Gunstar
Nifty entry of Stevie - as always. Physics ("bounce/repell") were a cool addition. While it looked nice as his prior entries did, the visual appearance is known now so it does not create "over-excitement" anymore (except when looking for the little details he added here and there). It is like... like a sequel of a blockbuster movie. You know the looks but enjoy the new story (here: gameplay). I really hope Stevie invents/experiments with his visual presentation meanwhile to surprise me (and maybe others?) with the look of his next hit. I am pretty sure he could if he wanted - trust your skills and experiment!.
Aside of that I think it is a worthy 1st place (albeit not my favorite). Good job.
bye
Ron
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you can just think that you've turned another game out of the door after all those years of half-finished games that never got finished.
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Since last year I've put out 5 games, so this competition has had nothing but a positive effect on my productivity that I hope will long continue.
very true, congrats to you (and to all participants)
...mysql error : part of message not found.. ;D
@me takes a bow... I thank you!
Seriously, congrats to all who came along for the ride, finished something or not. There is always something to learn from both your own project and others. particularly when the criticism and suggestions come in (always welcomed).
From my own perspective I tried something a little different, both in approach and style, some things worked and others didn't. My main thought is how impressed I am by Stevie G's Menu system (it's really a work of genius), and in some way the further you stray from old paths, the more difficult things can get!
I definitely should learn to take my own advice with KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). and not keep piling things on top of other things each with new styles and operations.
OK. Let's bring this to a close with a call out to the winners and other entrants: How about a nice piece of writng for the xmas magazine on your entry, what went right, what went wrong. how you did stuff, why do you do things what were your inspirations, etc. Would fill up lots of pages and give everyone something to read on xmas... :)
Quote.
OK. Let's bring this to a close with a call out to the winners and other entrants: How about a nice piece of writng for the xmas magazine on your entry, what went right, what went wrong. how you did stuff, why do you do things what were your inspirations, etc. Would fill up lots of pages and give everyone something to read on xmas... :)
I'm in, if only to list the bugs I need to squish, I'm sure some of them were breeding the closer I got to the deadline. Introducing the floods was a step too far, and they seem to have leaked into reality.....
Well done all and thanks for the votes! ;D Big pat on the back for finishing something in 8 weeks - no mean feat. :o
I have a few ideas to expand on the Gunstar concept with more gameplay elements and more variation. We'll see how that pans out.
Oh my word, this is too long (sorry!)... :P
Firstly, congrats to everyone who participated in this compo, and especially well done to STEVIE G whose game, Gunstar, I felt quite certain (from early on) would end up winning the top spot. A very impressive piece of work overall, especially considering the short time frame in which it was created. It's the game I most enjoyed playing, and I appreciated the relatively gentle learning curve. I found the control system to be intuitive (at least after a few minutes of initial play) and well implemented. Gameplay-wise, no issues that I could pin down (although perhaps that might change after a bit more play). Silky-smooth scrolling and pleasant retro-style chunky graphics, tasteful use of colour (rather like Stevie's other excellent game, Vanarchy), good music and balanced sound effects, this clever, pro-level effort is one I would be happy to pay for (which I actually intend to do!). I reckon Stevie's Gunstar sets the bar for SB code-a-game competitions higher than ever.
Congrats to iWasAdam for his excellent entry, Honey Things, which -- much to my genuine surprise -- I just about pipped to 2nd place! Admittedly, this is not my "kind of game" (probably because it involves having to use one's grey matter a bit, which I'm not er... used to). I'm a simple soul: if I play a computer game (which to be honest is quite seldom), I mostly prefer shoot-'em-ups and brain-dead simple platformers (Chuckie Egg!); rarely any kind of puzzle game which requires some degree of concentration. But I appreciated a number of things about Honey Things: slick and well made; really excellent graphics (ohhh what I'd give to have Adam's pixel art skills!), and the music (composed by Adam) and sound effects which amplified the game's humour. I personally didn't get very far with this game (after maybe around 2 hours of play in total), but I'm putting that mostly down to it not being the kind of game I'm usually into. There's no doubt it's a quality effort, and I voted this game for 2nd place.
Creepy Crawlies by Xerra. This was, for me, a fun one to play, and it's the kind of fairly mindless (with a twist or two) shooter that I'm into. I found, for the most part, that I could just basically sit in the centre and shoot away and score very highly! Graphically, well, it's rather inconsistent - a bit of a hodgepodge there, but that wasn't a distraction as far as the gameplay's concerned. Maybe that scrolling grid was a bit superfluous? Creepy Crawlies is a fun and humourous spin on the old classic Centipede. Good effort Xerra, I voted it as 3rd place.
Endless Horde by Matty. I really wanted to get into this game, but this genre is just not my thing. I did not get far at all with it (I did much better in one of Matty's excellent previous games 'Star Scavengers'). Although I had some difficulty engaging with this game, I liked the graphics (which are very much Matty's style), and the simple, unobtrusive soundtrack is atmospheric and quite in keeping with this genre & concept.
Wild West by 3DzForMe. I realise that 3DzForMe is (obviously) fond of 3D graphics! But this game could surely have been just as much a pure, sprite-based 2D game without the evident hassles of making it 3D almost just for the apparent sake of it? :) And it wouldn't be a lesser game because of it. I do appreciate that a lot of work went into this and I'm glad it made the deadline. I know pretty much what the author was trying to achieve here, but I think it would have been a much better game if the 3D idea was knocked on the head (for this particular game) and kept things entirely 2D, concentrating on gameplay, graphics and AI. The music (3DzForMe strumming his guitar I think!) and the er... 'peculiar' earthquake effect and speech "Earthquake!" lent the game a lighthearted, comical feel. I look forward to seeing better efforts (no doubt 3D ones) from him in the future!
Summary of my votes:
1st: 'Gunstar' by STEVIE G
2nd: 'Honey Things' by iWasAdam
3rd: 'Creepy Crawlies' by Xerra
Again, well done to all who participated, and thanks to those who for voted for (and kindly provided feedback for) my game, Tyoob.
Incidentally, Tyoob will almost certainly be coming to Linux, Raspberry Pi and MacOS very shortly. Possibly a matter of days.
BasicBoy
--
http://www.proggies.uk
Well said, I agree on all counts! :D
Quote
How about a nice piece of writng for the xmas magazine on your entry, what went right, what went wrong. how you did stuff, why do you do things what were your inspirations, etc. Would fill up lots of pages and give everyone something to read on xmas... :)
Judging by that lengthy post, BasicBoy would make a great contribution. ;)
QuoteFirstly, congrats to everyone who participated in this compo, and especially well done to STEVIE G whose game, Gunstar, I felt quite certain (from early on) would end up winning the top spot. A very impressive piece of work overall, especially considering the short time frame in which it was created. It's the game I most enjoyed playing, and I appreciated the relatively gentle learning curve. I found the control system to be intuitive (at least after a few minutes of initial play) and well implemented. Gameplay-wise, no issues that I could pin down (although perhaps that might change after a bit more play). Silky-smooth scrolling and pleasant retro-style chunky graphics, tasteful use of colour (rather like Stevie's other excellent game, Vanarchy), good music and balanced sound effects, this clever, pro-level effort is one I would be happy to pay for (which I actually intend to do!). I reckon Stevie's Gunstar sets the bar for SB code-a-game competitions higher than ever.
Wow - thanks V much. I really enjoyed making this one and I hope it showed. Feedback like this makes all those hours worthwhile ;D
QuoteBut this game could surely have been just as much a pure, sprite-based 2D game without the evident hassles of making it 3D almost just for the apparent sake of it? And it wouldn't be a lesser game because of it. I do appreciate that a lot of work went into this and I'm glad it made the deadline. I know pretty much what the author was trying to achieve here, but I think it would have been a much better game if the 3D idea was knocked on the head (for this particular game) and kept things entirely 2D, concentrating on gameplay, graphics and AI. The music (3DzForMe strumming his guitar I think!) and the er... 'peculiar' earthquake
firstly, thanks for the heart felt feedback - it was my son on guitar - I'm by no means that accomplished - I can knock out the chords for the house of the rising sun but that's about it!
To your point about the 3D, I appreciate my game is pretty much in prototype land - given another 10 days of coding time (excusing work, family life, laundry and blah) that kinda equates to a month - I reckon I'd have realised my goal of taking Boot Hill right into 3D land - which is pretty much what StevieG managed to do with Gunstar (defo Defender 2D style re-worked into 3D with style).
The flood element quite simply wouldn't have worked well in 2D - I'm not saying it worked well in my version of the 3D - I'd so many ideas - just nowhere near enuf time for implementation.
Thing is - I loved even getting it to this stage, even though I burned some serious coding time getting it this far ;)
Revorting to 2D would've seen my gameplay increase ten fold - seeing as I was even fighting with getting the 3D cameras to bend to my will in the end. I'll aspire to StevieG's level of 3D aplomb - although I'm about 8 years behind on the drag curve ;)
Qube, thanks again for another inspiring competition which really got the creative juices going. Happy coding folks ;)
QuoteQube, thanks again for another inspiring competition which really got the creative juices going. Happy coding folks ;)
I enjoy the comps myself as it's great to see what people come up with :D - Hopefully I'll get a chance to enter the next one as I really wanted to enter this one but just didn't have any free time to do anything properly :(
Sorry for the delay... Will be sending the winnings tonight :)
Done! - All winnings sent via PayPal 8) - Well done to all the winners and great work to all that entered the comp :D
Quote from: Qube on November 09, 2019, 03:48:11
We have our winners ;D
2nd place winner :
Title : Tyoob
Author : BasicBoy
Link : https://www.syntaxbomb.com/index.php/topic,6107.msg30995.html#msg30995
Vote points : 1st = 2 | 2nd = 5 | 3rd = 3 ( Total = 525 )
I'm very late to the party, sorry, but since I don't think anybody else has mentioned it you might like to know that
Tyoob is now available to play
in a browser. It requires a desktop browser (e.g. Brave, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera or Vivaldi, but
not IE or Safari) and a pretty fast machine for good results. Try it here (https://www.tinyurl.com/tyoob).