. * SPRING 2003 24 HOURS OF ZZT RESULTS * . topic: "music" - brought to you by Herc and z2 - (text file written on sunday April 27) Note from the host (Hercules): ------------------------------ It's a shame we only received 5 entries in the end, which is a new low in 24hoz history. It might have been the topic, Easter or the fact that I haven't been very active community-wise lately, but I'm still disappointed. Knightt is hosting another Spring 2003 24hoz this weekend, the topic being "adversity". I hope he gets more entries, for the sake of the community. Anyway, I'd like to thank the five people who did send something in. Also, thanks go out to the judges (Funk, craNKGod and Nadir). Without further ado, I bring you the results! ==================================================== 1st place -- Oof, with "Cypress Hill Eats the Flute" ==================================================== * Scores: 7 | 7.5 | 10 | 8 * Average: 8,125 * Comments: "Strange, somewhat random and disturbing, but interesting. Oof uses some nice, dark graphics and strange dialogue to keep you going. Other than that, there were a lot of boards that had hardly anything there. Best game of this 24hoz, although that doesn't say much. It's not as good as some of Oof's previous 24hoz work, though (Red Isle, for example)." --Herc "Quest for the insert amusing play on title here please, more like. The plot is hardly ground-breaking (steal some music and shoot things!) and the dialogue was a bit self-consciously "kooky", but it did make me smile quite a bit. The graphics were quite good, and the large amounts of black actually made it seem pleasently otherworldly, though I expected them to be distracting. I rather liked it, though it would have benefitted from a bit more gameplay." --Funk "For a 24HoZ game, this has happy graphics! It also has a decent plot, and the dialogue was wacky enough to want to see again.. no ZZT music.. and shooting orchestra members really made me smile! Good enough to make into a full ZZT game." --craNKGod "I rather like the skewed writing style Oof uses. It's odd, in a good way! Great graphics, excellent programming, decent prose. And the characters are mice! The Nadir is all like yay." --Nadir ====================================== 2nd place -- Zepher, with "Music City" ====================================== * Scores: 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 * Average: 6 * Comments: "A tad bit short, but it's pretty playable nonetheless. Could've used some more fancy graphics, but the ending definitely surprised me: good twist of things. Overall, a nice entry, especially seeing as this is the first thing I've ever seen from this guy." --Herc "Repetitive noise city, more like. Obviously music wasn't Zepher's thing, so instead he went in for a soundless game - and with a good reason. I really kind of liked this; it was a bit difficult, but there's something viscerally enjoyable about shooting dogs. In real life too! It won't win awards for original gameplay, and the enemies were far too basic (they all just #seek player until you die), but I still found it oddly fun. Graphics were very simple and a quite ugly in places (never ever use the random fill feature!), but not grotesque. The use of solids for grass made some of the board links a bit dodgy, too. The plot was thin, but the revelation about your character and why he hates living in music city at the end was actually quite clever, and it had probably the most unconventional happy ending ever. Good, basic fun." --Funk "'El stove thingo' made me smile! But the MASSES OF GUARD DOGS didn't." --craNKGod "Good title screen music/animation, young mutant! I particularly like the overhead suburb screen graphically, but standards drop thereafter, unfortunately. Having the lead character be deaf was a nice idea, but a lot more could have been done with it. Overall this is the best so far, though that's not saying a whole lot!" --Nadir ======================================= 3rd place -- Dr. Dos, with "Wavelength" ======================================= * Scores: 4 | 3 | 7.5 | 5 * Average: 4,875 * Comments: "Nice idea. I actually think the engine is pretty neat, but it needs some major improvments. The game's hardly playable the way it is, which makes it less than enjoyable." --Herc "As for the game... you have to shoot little green blobs that are falling down the screen in order to play a song, or something. Except the little object you're controlling moves too slow to complete even the first level. And considering that these levels are pre-programmed, that's unforgivable. The learning curve is more like a big brick wall that the player slams into repeatedly. The programming is solid, although having to restart every time is a pain, especially since the incorrect filename means that you have to reload the world every time. There's a good engine in here, but it strongly needs refining before it becomes a remotely enjoyable game. Nice concept, shame about the execution." --Funk "Very nice concept (any concept that didn't need ZZT music is a good one), but the little WAVELENGTH GRABBER THING didn't move fast enough. Overall, though, it made me smile." --craNKGod "Yay, something that isn't awful! Wait, wait... maybe I'm just stupid, but I can't work out how to operate this. Nice programming though. I think! "DON'T LET THIS AFFECT YOUR JUDGING!" it says. Okay, I won't. This gets a higher score than the first two, but only because they were slovenly works." --Nadir ========================================= 4th place -- Shujj, with "Quest for Music ========================================= * Scores: 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 3 * Average: 1,375 * Comments: "Very poor story. The game seems to suffer from some fatal error, as you cannot complete it. The constant use of capital letters is rather annoying. Nice try, but alas..." --Herc "Quest for the mute key, more like. Well actually, I liked the computer sounds at the start, but the rest of the tunes left a little something to be desired. You are Sonny Bonds, the cop from Police Quest. Having travelled back in time (or something), you find yourself on a mission to find the "song of life" to save the life of the 'king' of Rome's daughter. Shujj's mum helped with the plot. Aww, cute. The dialogue is too fast (use some /i commands next time), there is too much space on the screen at any one time, and there are lots of bugs (many of the houses lack doors, and some objects don't respond to being touched). Basically, you can't complete it. Shujj needs to spend more time playtesting his next game, I think." --Funk "I wish there were such generous rich women in my hometown! And I'm sympathetic to ALL CAPS. But the music at the beginning and on the menu board made me cry." --craNKGod "What is this noise my computer is making. Hold on, I think I got mugged at light speed by a 'theif'. And then I found a torch! And now I'm looking for a k**. Wow, the MUSIC OF LIFE sure is slow! THE KING LITTLE WELL" --Nadir ========================================= Disqualified -- Develin, with "Music Fun" ========================================= * Reason for DQ: violation of the "Do not use pre-made ZZT stuff and do not rip stuff from other ZZT games" rule * Scores: 1.5 | 1 | 2.5 | 2 * Average: 1,75 * Comments: "Music, indeed. Stolen music, though. I don't really see how this is a game either, even if it was rushed." --Herc "Uhm, well it lives up to the first part of its name, anyway. The actual "game" involves touching some objects to make them die, then watching a very basic #change animation, then listening. I don't want to accuse Develin of stealing music from other games, but I'm going to anyway. A Mission Impossible theme in ZZT? I think I've seen that before... Apparently the first game was eaten up by an error, so I guess he didn't have must time to make this. Still, I'd rather Develin put all his efforts into making one cohesive but small story than a bunch of tiny mini-non-games." --Funk "I suppose it's sad that your original work was lost.. these things happen. Unfortunately, we can't rate potential. That makes me cry." --craNKGod "The spelling is horrible and I've heard at least some of this music elsewhere. Several times. And invisible block animations aren't new anymore, bad boy! If this hasn't been disqualified already it should be =(" --Nadir