It's very pleasing to have been a part of one of the best 24HoZZTs to date (and arguably the best, with the great entries received!). Thanks to those who entered, finished, and judged, and congrats on a job well-done! And, now... here're the results. 1st Place - Lord of the Blue Owls Name: ZZBlue Title: death-wise Scores: 9.5, 8, 7.5, 9 Average: 8.5 Comments: "Holy shit. The colors, the storyline, the visuals... this game sucks the player right into a different dimension, in the same way that some credit Zelda 64 for being the best game ever made (can't say I agree with that one, but, hey). One of the best 24HoZZT games to date... but no game is perfect, of course." "I think I now know what happened to Jake Walker after he left the Deadly Sins. HE DIED. DAMN YOU, BLUE, YOU KILLED GOD DAMN JAKE WALKER! HOW COULD YOU?! Then you turned poor Jake Walker into a CHICK! Anyway, the game is a neat little inventory puzzle game that doesn't try to be overly complicated, and the plot is pretty good too EVEN IF I *HAVE* TO OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT BLUE KILLED WALKER DAMMIT. The art is pretty too!" "excellent; another inventory engine, i see :P" 2nd Place - Two Wild And Craaaazy Dudes Name: Kev Vance/Lipid Title: Ray of H.O.P.E. Scores: 8.5, 9, 8, 7 Average: 8.125 Comments: "Good ol' fashioned ZZT fun. Gets tedious towards the end, but still pretty colorful and enjoyable, as the gameplay is well balanced (monsters placed nicely, as well as gems and ammo)." "Nothing like a game that kicks it old school. First, THE MUSIC KICKS ASS. I have to commend Lipid for making such a nice soundtrack. Next, you have to remember who's reviewing this game: Mike Renner, "old school ZZTer" extraordinaire. I can appreciate fancy engines, but Kevin Vance did a good job of combining neat engines (the catapult thing is awesome) with some nice shooting action. Finally, the enemies that aren't prefab are very well programmed and I commend Vance once again for such a good job. All in all, while the game doesn't have the greatest graphics in the world, it has an awesome aura of gameplay that deserves the score it gets from me. Thank you, drive through." "awesome; impressive programming; overall, great" 3rd Place - Three guys similar to the gang from "Half-Baked" Name: AKNeutron, AKMisteroo, AKElectron Title: Rob Tropicana in: Rob Tropicana's Really Big Hope Quest Scores: 8, 9, 7, 6 Average: 7.5 Comments: "Eh... the use of color is outstanding, but the constant "hope" plugs and instadeaths are quite annoying." "AHH! RETURN OF AKWARE! Well, I'm a big fan of AKWare, so this HAS to be good, right? The graphics are wonderful, even better than Herc's entry. The gameplay is a neat combination of random engines, lots of blood, and lots of shooting, ALL OF WHICH MIKE RENNER ENJOYS. The only thing that turns me off from the game would be all of the ways to die, but oh well. It's a neat game anyway." "ah, yes. standard (?) ak perfection." 4th Place - Tie! Name: Leamas Title: Cursed Cammy Scores: 9, 8, 6, 6 Average: 7.25 Comments: "The lack of a formal ending is somewhat annoying, but the graphics are very well-made and and the plot's laugh-out-loud worthy at some points... enough to get this game a 9/10." "Now I'm back to the epic adventures again. The game is quite fun if you get around some of the bugs that the game has. They all seem to be easy to bypass, but it's kind of annoying to have a game that you can't get through without zapping. But there's a lesson to be taught in this game by Leamas: DON'T KICK GOD DAMN SQUIRRELS. I couldn't have said it better myself." "heh. silly." Name: Wayward Title: A World of Joy Scores: 7.5, 6, 8, 7.5 Average: 7.25 Comments: "It's obvious that we play most Wayward games for their "dad beats me three-times-a-day" storylines and not the "I-made-this-in-first-grade-art-class" graphics, and this is no exception. Way should consider medication, though." "A bit of a tragic story that Wayward had to share with us. The game itself featured little-to-no gameplay whatsoever and the graphics weren't anything to be all YAY about. Wayward's primary strength is his ability to write, and he does it well here. However, due to the length and such of this, I can't really give it a high score in good conscience, as there are games with better quality out there in this competition." "excellent." 6th Place - Tie! Name: Zanno Title: (None) Scores: 6, 8.5, 5.5, 8.5 Average: 7.125 Comments: "Mmm. The story is quite entertaining, and the game overall seems to play well... if you decided to take a little longer then the 12 hours or so you used, it could've been much, much better." "Thank god for someone who knows what gameplay is about. Zanno has a rather decent story to go along with this game, which I can appreciate very much so as long as I get some action out of it, and dammit, Zanno brings the pain. The gameplay in this is very fluid and easy to get used to, with all of the hacking and slashing going on. So yeah, I enjoyed it very much so. Kind of like blood, except without the metallic taste to it, and... uhm, I'll shut up now." "interesting plot, i guess." Name: Iiesashima Title: (... Whatever it says here.) Scores: 8.5, 7.5, 6.5, 6 Average: 7.125 Comments: "... Damn. Great art, and a pretty amusing storyline, for a cinema game. Great job, m' lady." "Now here's a cinema done correctly. The art was pretty and I followed the story pretty well. It wasn't wordy in the very least, and I like that very much so since I'm a dumb bastard. Plus, the game transported me to the next area on its own which is an aspect of cinema games that I kind of wish would transpire more often(I should shoot myself for not trying it with NE or WTH). The "battle" at the end was not difficult, though the little timers kept going after the game ended, and this was about the only bug I could really find with it. A good effort from Iiesashima." "great graphics; still, not on topic a whole lot. nice job." 8th Place - Tie! Name: Hercules Title: Maynard & Fritz Scores: 7, 6.5, 6.5, 7 Average: 6.75 Comments: "Easily the best graphics of the day, though the gameplay doesn't quite match it. This game was made in 4-5 hours, however, so he should be given a special award based on that alone. Not quite your typical Herc game, looking at the text." "Upon opening the very file for this particular entry, I knew exactly what to expect. Nice, pretty looking graphics. But here's a first: Herc made a comedy-related entry. He knew exactly who to play to for a review. Chuck and Tseng are in the committee... I'LL PUT IN A BOOKER T REFERENCE! SPINAROONI! However, Hercules' lack of time has forced him to not spend that much time on it aside from the graphics, and after a few easy puzzles, the game's length hinders the overall effect, and despite the chuckle I got from the Mr. T/Booker T fight, I can't give this thing any more than an average score." "happy little game, but kinda short. :\" Name: NMZMaster Title: Stone of Hope Scores: 8, 6.5, 6.5, 6 Average: 6.75 Comments: "Fine length, really sweet and fitting visuals, a neat plot for 24 hours, and just an overall pleasure to play... the only problem are the houses midway through the game (with the #endgames... they just seem to be useless and somewhat annoying). Making this one a full game wouldn't be a bad idea." "This is one of the more awkward and confusing games I've ever played, mostly because of the incomprehensible situations. There are quite a few noticable bugs around here, mostly from the four houses where you have to try and get a password. Among them are two error bugs and a misplaced passage. I get around this and move on in the game and I find the stupid Stone of Hope thingie. So I get the wizard and I say one insignificant comment and suddenly I'm in a FIGHT TO THE DEATH. What the hell? I guess wizards take things a little too personally or something." "nice job." Name: dark_visions/ParasiteZZT Title: The White Castle Avenger Scores: 8.5, 7.5, 5, 6 Average: 6.75 Comments: "Very humorous, and the graphics are dark and mysterious... yet fitting. The surprise entry of the day." "A nice little bit of gameplay here, it has a few puzzles and shooting sequences which is nice. However, the story of the game is very awkward, but I think I've gotten used to awkwardness at this point. The game can't decide whether to be comedic (the entire McDonalds/White Castle thing) or serious(the ending). My score is based on the great graphics and gameplay, but I had to dock them for the non-continuity of the plot." "... yeah." 11th Place Name: Flimsy Parkins Title: At least we have - Hope Scores: 6, 9.5, 5.5, 5.5 Average: 6.625 Comments: "The judge scene is hilarious, and the graphics of the "trash" part rock... and then it all goes downhill. It seems as though this game was thrown together out of boredom beyond that point, and it overall feels more like a chore than a game." "This is the funniest stuff ever. I started playing this and DID NOT STOP LAUGHING. It seemed awfully long for a 24HoZZT entry, but I enjoyed it very much so to the point where I have to give this the full monty. The game is funny as hell, it plays well, it only had one noticable bug that's easilly dealt with, and Flimsy deserves to have a hat made out of money for making this. Or something." "... uh-huh... sure.". 12th Place Name: WiL Title: The Hopeless Man Scores: 6.5, 6.5, 5.5, 7.5 Average: 6.5 Comments: "A lot of effort was put into it, and the music adds a nice touch, but the fun factor's kinda low." "I chose WiL/Clifton/God Damn Schitzo's game to be the last game I played. I had an ever-building sense of dread going into this, and my fears were confirmed with Tony did the one thing I was afraid he'd do. He used a random dungeon engine. I hate random dungeon engines. And while the game's plot was nice, EVERYONE KNOWS HOW MUCH I HATE THOSE DAMN THINGS. So I gave it the best score I could under the circumstances." "I like the singalong; but from there, it was downhill" 13th Place Name: Starbux/Nuero Title: The Prophecy Scores: 7, 6.5, 5, 6 Average: 6.125 Comments: "Slow cinemas and a thrown-together ending harm the game's score (a few less /i's and 3-4 more boards and you get an 8), but the graphics and storyline are very well-done." "I'm sort of turned off by the slowness of the cinemas. Note to Nuero and Starbux: THERE SHOULDN'T BE THAT MANY /i COMMANDS. Anyway, the game is just like most of the other 24HoZZT entries: You wander around, learn stuff, find out the world ends, and then we all wake up. So it's sort of boring to me, sorry, Mike Renner likes to shoot things. So let him shoot things. :-) Outside of that, the graphics were really quite nice and the plot was okay as well. Thus, 6.5 is good to go." "nice, but did that have to do with hope?" 14th Place - Tie! Name: DarkShadow Title: Final Cry Scores: 7, 5, 6, 5.5 Average: 5.875 Comments: "Somewhat short, and the ending's pretty abrupt, but this is overall a good, fun action/shooter. The storyline isn't exactly complex, but, at the same time, it isn't bad, and is written well enough to help this game get a better than average score." "Well, there's a sign that you're pretty screwed for a 24HoZZT when you spend more of your time working up a little plot for the game and not enough time working on the gameplay. The entire gameplay of this entry is just to sit around and shoot stuff, but UNLIKE CERTAIN OTHER ENTRIES THAT I SHOULDN'T MENTION, there aren't an overabundance of objects that would ruin the sit/shoot gameplay. The game ended rather abruptly as well, and I wonder if it was because the author ran out of time while he was thinking up his elaborate plot. Most of his score will be on the plot, but the gameplay was way too easy and I breezed through the entire thing rather quickly." "nice graphics; seemed like you just copied a board over and over" Name: Ultima Title: Jump-Ship Scores: 6.5, 5.5, 3.5, 8 Average: 5.875 Comments: "A good attempt, but a little too typical and boring... nice art, though." "Another puzzle entry with a TIME LIMIT? I guess Draco put it best: OHH DEAR. I have a bunch of miffs for this game. For starters, some of the puzzles really make sense. The entire gameplay of the game revolves around your race of time, but the result is mediocre at best and Ultima spells about as well as Evan Levine on weed. ...not that anyone would get that, of course." "offtopic. sorry." 16th Place - Tie! Name: dexter/lemmer/skullie Title: Chicken v2.0.5.4.82.40preb4 Scores: 3.5, 8, 4, 7.5 Average: 5.75 Comments: "Funny, but... yeah." "What I needed at about this time of my reviewing(I'm reviewing in alphabetaical order, after all) was something decidedly fucked up. I got it right here. First of all, Lemmer makes a nice little parody of engines by making one that doesn't work. I figure that's the intention. So after I zapped it, I laughed at the bit he did with the head in the toilet. Lemmer's done, so I go to Dexter, and I laugh hysterically at the "World's Biggest Cockscuker" board, mostly because he didn't include me, but he included the OTHER judges. Thanks, Dexter! Big points(this is not sarcastic in the least)! Finally, Skullie's entry features a guy getting killed via popcorn through skull. Um, I guess that's it. All I can say is that this is one fucked up entry and I enjoyed it very much so." "i hate you all. so much." Name: Athena-X Title: Digicharat miniture Autumn Special Scores: 4, 8, 3, 8 Average: 5.75 Comments: "The artwork's nice, but... that's about it, to make a long story short. Good for a first attempt, however." "The following review will be done in the same vein as Igsel's entry. OH MY GOD NYO. OH MY FUCKING GOD NYU. THIS ENTRY VERY SCARY NYU. GRAPHICS PURDY NYO. GAME FUNNY GEMA. EIGHT GIVEN NYO. This game needs not a paragraph to describe how messed up it is nyu. So there nyo." "totally off-topic. and, uh, yeah." 18th Place Name: Teacon7 Title: The Thief Scores: 7.5, 5, 7.1, 3 Average: 5.65 Comments: "A very good Adventure/RPG with a nice storyline and well-made graphics... but there're simply WAY too many bugs. This could've made the Top 3, if the errors were fixed." "Attention to all 24HoZZT peoples: Save on the CORRECT board. It will do you well. As it stands, the game is rather unplayable due to Teacon's inability to link some of the boards. The graphics were really pretty in some aspects, but the problems with the gameplay really hindered my enjoyment, and as such, it gets an average score out of me. Maybe next time, Teacon. :-/" "wrong board; runtime error; otherwise, really great." 19th Place Name: apage43 Title: Operation Grub Hope Scores: 3.5, 7, 4, 8 Average: 5.625 Comments: "An interesting idea, and i like the graphics, but the game's simply too repetitive to receive a higher score." "A cute, creative little game. A bit buggy at times and a bit confusing as well, but otherwise it was fairly neat. Some of the other judges might take a bit of offense at the whole Afghanistan bit, but I find most Taliban jokes funny nowadays since I'm a sick bastard or something. The art was especially pretty, especially the little bit where the USA soldier chops off the head of the Taliban thing." "not really on topic; buggy; silly" Name: Smiley16 Title: Senkyora Scores: 6.5, 5, 5, 6 Average: 5.625 Comments: "Very sweet graphics... but the bugs ruined it." "I remember Smiley16 when he was just a little Smiley13. His affinity for names with an apostrophe in them has yet to leave him, as they're in full effect for this game. Unfortunately for Smiley, the game doesn't quite have the same charm as the last 24HoZZT game I played of him(the one that netted him second place). The gameplay is awkward with all of the character switching and it really doesn't seem to work at all. At least I commend Fernando for coming up with REALLY FUCKING WEIRD MADE UP WORDS. He does a better job than Jay-Z." "I'm go'ing t'o s'mack yo'u; confusing as always." 21st Place Name: zorkboy/rygar Title: Lost in Boston Scores: 7.5, 4, 5.5, 3.5 Average: 5 Comments: "A very well-done plot, with suitable graphics. My only major gripes with the game are that it's too short, and the end seems to put in the topic rather unsmoothly (as if it was put in just to have it fit into the contest). Overall, though, a solid effort." "A note to the programmers of this game: Too many objects spoil the broth. In this case, the stupid little battle with the cop in front of the gate has a bug involving bullets and the amount of objects on the board. Secondly, the game is way too short. It seemed to be something good, but it ended abruptly and rather pointlessly. The ending itself wasn't even drawn, it was given a little text message in the "THE END" screen. Add that to the bullet/object bug and I wasn't real impressed. Meow to you, Captain Toothbrush." "on topic, but poorly designed" 22nd Place Name: Scribbit/Goldenhog/ry0suke Title: JERRY BUDRO MCBROWN'S BIG MOVE! Scores: 6, 7, 5.2, 1.5 Average: 4.925 Comments: "Somewhat short, but it has its ups, as well as its downs. The... uh... obscene humor was pretty amusing at first, but in the long run, this game feels too forced yet half-assed to be one of the contest's best. More interaction would've helped out." "You know a game is crazy when the first two lines are "My name is Jerry Budro McBrown. I have a leaky anus." From beginning to end, this game made me question all that is life. I wonder why some people were cursed with a leaky anus, or why these leaky anus people were being put down by the MAN. In the end, I have developed a new philosophy: WHATEVER DRUGS SCRIBBIT WAS TAKING WHEN HE MADE THIS GAME, *I WANT SOME*!!!!" "mm-hmm. Right." 23rd Place Name: minDKontrol Title: Hope Scores: 6.5, 5.5, 4, 2.5 Average: 4.625 Comments: "While the game is respectable overall, the twisting hallways and general no-frills gameplay made this feel kinda... eh. He says it's his first game, though, and for one, it's quite impressive, as the darkish coloring and atmosphere seem to fit in nicely." "Just what I need to make my life joy, another Afghanistan entry. For the most part, it's standard infiltration, and if any of the guards touch you, the US is all OHH DEAR at you just before it gets annihilated. There isn't really anything clever about the game, per se, because it basically plays off American hatred for the Talibain. The graphics were kind of nice, but not great, and the plot was all BLAH. I feel the score I gave it was the best it should get." "that didn't have to do with "hope..."" 24th Place Name: La Roache Title: Acequia Scores: 6, 6, 4, 1.5 Average: 4.375 Comments: "A very nice plot and overall fun experience... until the board linkage errors. I would've accepted your bug fix, but I felt that that would've been unfair to the other contestants, as time was up. Somewhat short, but pretty entertaining." "Roche, you saved it on the title screen. I don't deduct for this, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Anyway, your entry has many annoying qualities about it that I feel I need to discuss. For starters, a large majority of the board links go to the elevator board. I have no idea if this was intentional considering the fact that it occured on more than one board, but it was annoying, and I might have to send you a message on zzt.org's message boards soon so I can explain the fine qualities of CORRECT BOARD LINKAGE. The plot was nice, but a bit cliched. You know, WORLD GETS DESTROYED, YOU EXPLORE IT WHILE QUESTIONING YOUR VERY EXISTENCE type of stuff. The graphics were very nice, but other than that, the board linkage problem really killed the game for me." "save on the right board; a little too buggy" 25th Place Name: dave2 Title: there is no hope Scores: 2, 3, 2, 1 Average: 2 Commnets: "Ehhhh. The idea is nice, but the game's simply WAY too short. Also, the topic feels forced, and not too creatively. You're a good programmer, though... you just need to put more time in." "I started the game. Thirty seconds later(ignoring the fact that all of the passages on the first board except one link to Dave2's toolkit), I finished the game. The graphics and the concept were there, but everything else? Very lost so. Hope is apparently in drugs, so obviously the United States government has outlawed hope. News at eleven." "passage problem? too buggy to continue playing :(" 26th Place Name: Dr. Dos Title: Final Dream Scores: 2, 1.5, 3, 1 Average: 1.875 Comments: "... You can do better." "First of all, I really must give a lesson in SAVING ON THE CORRECT SCREEN to all of you damn 24HoZZT participants. Secondly, WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS? It was like a really crappy puzzle thing with a bunch of hideous desert boards that caused my eyes to reach up at my eyelids and shut them closed. The entire concept of a inventory puzzle game is to LET THE PLAYER FIND THE OBJECTS. You don't just hide a knife in an obscure place (like in the wreckage of what I guess is a UFO) to piss people (this judge, for example) off, you hide a knife where you can find it. Furthermore, your use of passwords was completely annoying because most of the passwords you use can only be seen once when you want to give a hint. Please, God, Dr. Dos, tell me that it was just the lack of time that hindered your abilities to make a decent game." "save on the right board; ... right" 27th Place Name: Tyrant Title: The Pain of the Glamor Scores: 0, 2.5, 3, 0.5 Average: 1.5 Comments: "... Uh." "You know, I don't think getting raped is a very good thing, Tyrant. Especially since the majority of the people that would play your game are male. Oh well, I don't know what else to say. Your raping does not a 24HoZZT make, so the score I give you is all YAY and stuff. Or something." "uhh... how about effort?" 28th Place Name: Sephiroth_X Title: Hope Scores: 3, 2, 0, 0 Average: 1.25 Comments: "Seph is somewhat new to the community, and for someone who is, the game surely isn't horrible... however, it's far too short, while the cinemas are far too long. Work on improving your graphics and balance out your gameplay, Seph, and you could be pretty decent." "Begging your pardon, sir, but what the hell was that? You saved it on the wrong board, which made me think at first that it was a joke entry. So I edited it and saved it right where it was supposed to be, and then I found out that your entry was a really bad cinema game. Not good. Furthermore, you gave an OPTION to skip the cinemas and when I wanted to, the game was all "TOO BAD!!!". I guess all I'm trying to say is: DON'T EAT BACON, IT IS FULL OF GREASE." "you had inspiration for a red dot? gw."