Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

[Valkysas]

This one has been a long time coming. Back in december of 2010, two contests wrapped. "Speedy RPG", and another "anything goes" contest. The first of which had it's results posted almost immediately. However, over a year later, the results to the second had not been posted.

Why? Well, one of the games annoyed me so much that I ended up giving up on it. I tried getting back to it over and over, but it just made me too mad. eventually I just stopped thinking about it, and forgot about it.

Well, I got back to it finally. Wrote the final review, and here are the results.

I'll be updating the horribly out of date contest page this week. For now, check this thread's first four replies or the results. I'll warn you right now, some of the results are... harsh.

Now, what about the next contest?

It's a "Retro game" contest!

Using RPG Maker 1, RPG Maker 2, RPG Maker XP, RPG Maker VX, RPG Maker VX Ace, or IG Maker, your goal is to make a non-rpg game that would be at home on game consoles from ages long past. Well, we need it defined a little better than that, don't we? You need to create a game that would be at home on the NES, Master System, or any console from before their time.

RPG Maker 3 is not allowed because of it's 3D graphics. If you're using RPG Maker 2, you need to be a VFX wizard to make sure your game doesn't look 3D.

With the RPG Makers that are allowed, simple and custom graphics are going to be required (see nanobot for RPGM1 as an example)

Here's the specifics:
Pick a "target console" that your game is trying to aim for
Make a game in line with that console's abilities limitations.
These consoles had very few buttons to use. You don't have that limitation if you're using an RPGM that allows multiple buttons or keys to be used to control the game. If you want to limit yourself, that's fine. You just don't have to.
Games will be judged on visual accuracy, respect to technical limitations, creativity, and how fun the end result is.

Submissions need to be in by July 31st.

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

Fatal Furlong - RPGM1 - Created by 1ce

Fatal Furlong - 1ce

This is part of the unreleased game, "A Work in Progress". Specifically, the ending, which 1ce wanted to get out there for people to check out. This ending is dated March 2008.

The "ending" starts with your character Spazz being sent to a jungle to take out some bunnies (bunny girls), with his reward being KFC. The game has a terrible time remembering what the reward is, calling it both a "golden chicken leg" and a "golden chicken wing" in the same scene. This introduction also features one of my major pet peeves in RPGM games, two characters speaking in one dialogue box. It only happens once, but it's still annoying.

On to the jungle. This area is hideous. Trees are cut off at the top and bottom everywhere, so you'll see rows of topless trees, one tree top floating in the middle of a path. This game sucks at trees. It's another one of my major pet peeves in RPGM games. I HATE this. It's not hard to avoid, so it's a lazy mistake. You have control of very few things in this area. you get to pick a noise to make, (and then the game smashes a bunny girl with a rock), and you get to check a box to activate an event where Spazz drags the box over to a window to peek in on some bathing bunnygirls. You then get to check the door, and a battle with four bunnygirls named "Naked" starts where they run away. There hasn't been much actual gameplay up to this point, and I'm sorry to say that this scene marks the end of player input in this game/ending. Of course, it keeps going and lets you pretend to play the game from here on out.

In the actual "Fatal Furlong" game, you're playing an arcade game where you take part in a horse race. You're told to move the analog sticks or press L2 and R2. Of course, RPGM1 can't detect these buttons, so it's telling you to do something that has no impact on the game. You can sit back and not push anything. It throws out some other commands at you (like to press the nonexistant Z and R buttons) during the race, and after a moment passes, it carries out the action on it's own, because RPGM1 only knows how to check for d-pad and X button input for event activation. It's simulated gameplay, and it's a complete waste. He could have let the player actually push some buttons that matter, rather than having the player do something that doesn't have any effect on the game at all.

1ce makes a point in the introduction and ending text how much care went into this, and because of that how badly he wanted it out. Maybe that care went into the rest of the game, because as much as I hate to say it, I can't see any of it here. I see some very painfully lazy design choices, lifeless dialogue, and the player being told to pretend to play the largest portion of this rather than actually play any of it. Now, if you're thinking that this is just an ending cinema, and that I'm judging it too harshly, then I will tell you to re-read this review and try to tell me that this would somehow be a satisfying ending to any game. It would not.

Oh, and remember the golden chicken legwing reward promised earlier? Discarded for pizza.

SCORE: *** SPOILERS ***
3 skateboarding crawfish out of a possible 10
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

Shawnopoly (Demo) - RPGM2 - Created by Shawn Forbes

It's Monopoly for RPGM2. Pretty familiar, yeah? While this is supposed to be a two player game, I was unable to obtain a second player, so I played against myself. First off, it's pretty well put together. Board is replicated well, you get animated chance, community chest, and go to jail sequences, which are nice. There's different options to modify how the game plays, and a save option. save option is pretty integral, because a game of Monopoly can go on for what seems like an eternity. No one's ever going to finish it in one sitting. So, that's what works. Being a demo, not everything is going to work correctly yet, like, say... the board itself. Key tiles like Go, community chest, chance, jail, free parking, they all work. Property tiles, not so much. I played for about 45 minutes, and during that time my two players had only triggered the option to buy about 5 properties combined. Selecting "buy" on a property tile had no effect, ever. the option either came up immediately, or not at all. I cut my play time off at 45 minutes because of this. I really didn't want to go on for days or weeks trying to see if more tiles would eventually trigger, allowing me to finish a game. So this really isn't playable yet, but it does show a heck of a lot of promise.

SCORE: *** SPOILERS ***
7 banshee parakeets out of a possible 10.
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

Dragonslayer - RPGM3 - Created by Dark Sentry

Dragons are attacking the land, and so a dragon warrior's training school has opened, called Villa Maria Academy, to train people so that they can fight the dragons. You are Marrakesh, a new student at this academy. The academy takes up Chapter 1 of this game, and lasts for 15 days. Each day, you can do one action. Attend a class, study a subject in the library, or drink the day away in the bar. So you'll get up, run across the academy grounds, check to see what class is being taught today, if you don't like it, go to the library and see what books are available that day to study. whatever your decision, the lesson or studying is over in a flash, and you run back to your dormitory and sleep. Then you do it again. and again. and again. It's a tedious mess that takes forever. Nothing engaging happens. Nothing remotely interesting happens. You are literally running back and forth across the academy grounds over and over. I wanted to quit. I DID quit. I came back to it, and started over again because I lost my old save file. Because I had to get this contest done and over with. When I finished the 15th day of classes, I looked at the game's clock. 1:17. An hour and seventeen minutes of painful, aggrevating constant running across the academy. But it was done! I could finally move on! I buy some healing items with what little money I have, save, and leave.

I was told I needed to get to a town that was in trouble, and that I needed to find some... thing... to power a place call telepathia, or something. Get out into the world, and... it's a maze. Ever play Mr. Oak? Thats what I was looking at. Sinkhole forest, the game calls it. big forested area with giant mountains and pits everywhere, leaving small, winding paths that cross each other at random all across the landscape. There's no landmarks. You will get lost. I wandered this area for a half hour. I found the thing I was told I had to find to power the place by accident. Then I got in a battle. Finally! Something interesting? A snake and a tree man. I fought them. I got NOTHING in return. No gold, no experience points. But I lost HP, which was... nice? There's no point to the battles. There's no reward. There's nothing to gain from them, aside from an antidote that I later got from a spider, who poisoned me in battle. Anyways, that's done, I got my thing. Time to find the, oh. wait. more battles came. some I couldnt escape from, which just led to me losing more HP. I had to waste two of my healing item uses on battles that offered no reward, and existed only as a distraction to artificially lengthen the game.

35 minutes later, I find the teleplace. Still level 1, still only 18 gold, basic equipment, no special skills, 6 healing item uses left. Oh yeah. I'm ready. I head inside. Big empty place with winding halls. no sense of direction. No enemies. Just walking. wandering around aimlessly, I find my way to the third floor, and a boss fight!

Level 1, 6 healing item uses, basic equipment, no special skills. Boss fight. ****. Yes. He killed me. I am shocked.

So, I load up from where I last saved, right before I left the academy. I leave again, and I start looking for the thing again. Where was it? Over here? no. Over there? no, over there just turned into the place I was just at... sacred tree? Where did... where am I? Walking more. more battles that I cant always escape from. I'm completely lost. I have half my healing item uses gone, and I haven't found the thing. I keep walking past the academy. game clock says 2:23. Even if I FIND the thing, I don't have anywhere near as many healing item uses as I did the first time I fought the boss. I don't stand a chance. The game still hasn't given me any exp to level up with, or gold to more items or equipment with. If I could just get some rewards from battle, this wouldn't be bad at all, but I'm not. Every battle I can't escape from only drains my HP and wastes my healing items with no return. That's it. I'm done. I turn the game off, and hope that given the "anything goes" theme of the contest, that this was an intentionally bad game.

SCORE: *** SPOILERS ***
0 teacups out of a possible 10.
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

Results are posted, and the winner is in.

*** SPOILERS ***
Shawn Forbes wins the "2010 Anything Goes" contest!
*** END SPOILERS ***


Now, what about the next contest?

It's a "Retro game" contest!

Using RPG Maker 1, RPG Maker 2, RPG Maker XP, RPG Maker VX, RPG Maker VX Ace, or IG Maker, your goal is to make a non-rpg game that would be at home on game consoles from ages long past. Well, we need it defined a little better than that, don't we? You need to create a game that would be at home on the NES, Master System, or any console from before their time.

RPG Maker 3 is not allowed because of it's 3D graphics. If you're using RPG Maker 2, you need to be a VFX wizard to make sure your game doesn't look 3D.

With the RPG Makers that are allowed, simple and custom graphics are going to be required (see nanobot for RPGM1 as an example)

Here's the specifics:
Pick a "target console" that your game is trying to aim for
Make a game in line with that console's abilities limitations.
Games will be judged on visual accuracy, respect to technical limitations, creativity, and how fun the end result is.

Submissions need to be in by July 31st.

[Nova]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

A single question, good sir. (I know these obvious questions are a bother, but I don't want to be at the deadline and have been denied because I screwed up or whatever.)

Anyways, my question...

When you say custom graphics are required, does that mean all character sprites used have to be custom made and original? (Sounds like a pain, but, I can deal...)

[Duel]

Re: Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

Sweet, I had a game that I worked on that would totally fit into this contest.

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

A single question, good sir. (I know these obvious questions are a bother, but I don't want to be at the deadline and have been denied because I screwed up or whatever.)

Anyways, my question...

When you say custom graphics are required, does that mean all character sprites used have to be custom made and original? (Sounds like a pain, but, I can deal...)

I don't think any default graphics for any of the RPGMs meet the criteria of this contest. I can look past some things (some of the simpler tiles in RPGM1 that don't have a lot of detail would be okay, as would the ropes and ladder graphics)

[Nova]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

Something like this is what I was thinking of, like an old puzzler title. That's why I'm wondering about other graphics, like basic object models like ropes, fire, lilypad etc.

Most of the graphics on RPGM1 are pretty similar to NES, albeit slightly more advanced. (If that's the right word...)



*Edit: Plus, using custom graphics for every object just seems like a hassle and a lot of work on RPGM1 when most of the game's models
are just slightly better than the NES.

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest cesults, and next contest announced.

Just make sure the grahics you use aren't TOO much better than what the NES uses. Use your own judgement, but take a "better safe than sorry" approach.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

The "make it look as retro as possible" rule doesn't sound very fun if you're on anything but a PC RPG Maker.

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

Again, I cite Nanobot for RPGM1 as an example of a game that fits this theme perfectly.

I will be taking into account the technical limitations of the software, and all of the limitations of custom art with RPGM1 for entries using it.

[Wavelength]

Re: Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

Great to see these contest results finally up!! I enjoyed reading the reviews (and had to stifle a lot of laughter when I read the "discarded for pizza" line at my cube).

Big congrats to Shawn, and to... well, no, I guess really only congrats to Shawn. The other two games got smacked down hard - which is a little sad because they both sounded like they had some really cool ideas in them.

The Retro Contest sounds interesting. I've got an idea in mind, and I hope I don't run out of time with a July deadline. It's going to be kind of bizarre doing my best to lower the quality of the graphics that I use, rather than making it as beautiful or evocative as possible, as I've tried to do with my other games, but I'm looking forward to it.

Is there any prize involved for the Retro Contest?

[Valkysas]

Re: Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

Prize is determined by the turnout. Super low turnout with only like three entries? small prize, or possibly none depending on the quality of the entries. Big turnout with like, 10 entries? Really awesome prize.

I don't want to risk having to give a really awesome prize to the only game that enters, and have it turn out to not actually be any good.

[Wavelength]

Re: Anything Goes contest results, and next contest announced.

Geez, now I can't get this game idea out of my head.

I'll do my best to make the game. If it's coming along well, I'll start posting some info in my Game Forum.

Cool contest idea.