Summer 2012 Dualstream Day of Zeux Scoresheet:Insidious

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JUDGING SCORES

SCORE SUMMARY (in order of effective rank)

Title Topic Scoresheet Theme Gameplay Graphics Technique Story Sound Total
80483 - DUI 20XX Alternate History Theme-Heavy 65/100 85/90 57/70 58/60 35/50 25/30 325/400
49932 - Thanatos Insignia 2 Individuality Theme-Lite 8/20 118/120 70/90 55/80 23/50 40/40 314/400
20027 - Wild Fire Alternate History Theme-Lite 14/20 90/120 55/90 55/80 12/50 35/40 261/400
74770 - Ununhexium Individuality Theme-Lite 5/20 63/120 60/90 57/80 25/50 25/40 235/400
74588 - Spirit Quest Individuality Theme-Lite 15/20 70/120 58/90 30/80 30/50 20/40 223/400
83889 - weltschmerz Individuality Theme-Lite 45/100 5/90 35/70 15/60 20/50 12/30 132/400
30154 - President Skeleton Alternate History Theme-Lite 7/20 15/120 43/90 5/80 26/50 12/40 109/400
24966 - Hipster Quest Individuality Theme-Heavy 60/100 1/90 8/70 10/60 1/50 4/30 084/400
69245 - Final Kamikaze Alternate History Theme-Lite 5/20 10/120 2/90 2/80 8/50 0/40 027/400
82246 - Whale Guts Alternate History Theme-Lite 2/20 5/120 2/90 5/80 0/50 10/40 024/400
85538 - KEN Individuality Theme-Heavy 10/100 1/90 0/90 0/60 2/50 5/30 018/400


20027 - Wild Fire - Theme Light - Alternate History

This is quite a fun but deeply flawed game. I enjoyed the hell out of it, but was also very frustrated by the game's unforgiving difficulty and lack of save feature or a judging 'skip level' feature to make judging the game easier. The quota system seems pointless and only seems to add a level of further unnecessary difficulty. However, the game itself is still quite fun.

Theme: 14/20

The game takes place in an alternate history world war II where Japan has used advanced technology to insert itself into the western front. Thats certainly good enough for a pass, though I'd like to have seen more of this put into the game itself, thus why the score isn't higher (maybe little rising sun flags on the mechs? I dont know, just an idea).

Gameplay: 90/120

This game takes shots out of its gameplay score for two reasons. Technical difficulties (which I'll go into in the Technique section) leading to slow framerate and thus sluggish controls leading to frustrating gameplay, and general way-too-high difficulty level. Also, I consider the removal of the ability to save, without providing a substitute such as an automatic save between the two levels, to have been a very poor choice. Those things are responsible for taking 30 points out of the score of a game that I otherwise found quite enjoyable, and a great example of how a side scrolling shooter can be done properly in MZX. I'd like to see a tweaked, re-released version of this down the road some day.

Graphics: 55/90

The graphics were interesting but fairly standard fare, and don't score lower than this because they are used quite well, and provide great feedback into the gameplay itself. You quickly learn what an enemy does based on its shape and how much damage it can take based on its color, and thats something more games should take into account, how graphics can feed the gameplay. Unfortunately, the graphics themselves, especially the backgrounds, are nothing to write home about. Also, the pallete choices strike me as a little harsh on the eyes.

Technique: 55/80

A few big chunks are taken out of the technique score for the fact that, on my very recently built system, the game moves along in a somewhat slow and noticably blocky manner, with the controls feeling noticably sluggish. Also, the game contained a potentially game breaking bug that was not fixed before release, and unfortunately I can't give any technique points back for a fix posted after release (though the fix did enable me to complete the game).

Story: 12/50

The story here is noticably thin on the ground, consisting of only a paragraph of intro text and a simple blurb of ending dialogue. The scenario presented, one of Japan invading Western Europe in the days of World War II, is quite interesting, but should have been expanded on further if more points were desired here.

Sound: 35/40

The music and sound effects were great and fit in perfectly with the game. My only complaint regarding them is that destroying an enemy should have more 'punch' and thus feel more rewarding, but thats something to think of for next time!

Total: 261/400

Overall, I really did enjoy this game, even if the scores might seem to point otherwise. Unfortunately, the game was released with a number of major flaws that didn't do it well when push came to shove. And while I didn't take points off for the fact the game was released with its gameplay on one board and no way for the judges to save or skip a level should they want to replay a later level, it makes it easier on the judges and I'd really appreciate it if people using a 'one board game' layout would consider this in future!


24966 - Hipster Quest - Theme Heavy? - Individuality? (Theme not indicated, scoresheet not indicated. Assumed.)

This game is... unique. It seems to be reaching for a theme of "Commodore 64 game programmed while high on acid". Its not, however, really much of a game. The objective is to merely flail around waiting for the condition that allows you to change boards to trigger. That seems to be about it.

Theme: 60/100

The game incorporates throughout its various random dialogue and symbolism a theme of people attempt to be "indivdual" by conforming to a specific standard, specifically making a commentary on the hipster community that has arisen in the past 15 or so years. You're frequently the only recognizable object on the board, so the "indidivduality" is felt throughout the entirety of the gameplay. Also, the game has a very unique visual style which also stresses the individuality of its author. Overall, I think this 'game' used the theme relatively well.

Gameplay: 1/90

Unfortunately, the gameplay consists entirely of, as I said earlier, running around helplessly searching for how to make the game progress so that you can finally finish it. One board proudly proclaims "You are having fun". I was not. This is barely a game, and definitely doesn't deserve any more than a token point in this category.

Graphics: 8/70

What's there is fairly simple, but this gets a few points for its very convincing reproduction of the Commodore 64 aesthetic, especially in the 'loading screen' intro.

Technique: 10/60

Nothing used here is particularly impressive... EXCEPT for the intro sequence consisting of a very convincing reproduction of the effect of loading a Commodore 64 game off of tape. A very annoying reproduction, but a very convincing one. That took a fair amount of code to pull off, thus the points given here.

Story: 1/50

As far as I can tell, there is none. This would be excusable if the game also had gameplay. There's none of that either.

Sound: 4/30

Consists of random "Commodore 64 having a seizure" glitch sounds, including a very loud and annoying simulation of the sound of loading a program onto the C64 from tape. Quite authentic, but it gave me a major headache.

Total: 84/400

An amazingly high score for a game with absolutely no real gameplay, that seems to be designed primarily to frustrate you. I commend the author on their masterful (mis)use of the Theme Heavy scoresheet here.


30154 - President Skeleton - Theme Light - Alternate History

This appears to be this DoZ's obligatory joke game. However, I consider it a fairly well executed one, if only for the amount of time and effort put into the cutscenes before the actual rather paltry 'game' itself.

Scores and Explanation:

Theme: 7/20

The game quite clearly takes place in an alternate history where america had a presidential election in 2012 that consisted of a contest between a robot and an evil skeleton. Thats about all that can be said. The gameplay itself didn't particularly reference this other than the boss fight at the very end, thus the somewhat low score, but it certainly deserves a pass on theme.

Gameplay: 15/120

This is where the game suffers the most. While I do appreciate the sort of reference to the mid-90s style guilty pleasure MZX games like VIOLENCE or ARENA with the random badguy shooting and the completely blank except for a few unhidden robots boss board, it doesn't make for particularly engaging, interesting, or even long lasting gameplay. There are a number of seemingly deliberate annoyances put in as well, for example the fact that whenever you touch the sides of the first board, you are greeted with a long diatribe about how horrible goop is.

Graphics: 43/90

This is a hard category to score for this game. The cutscenes are beautifully rendered mostly-static images which prevent the game from sliding down further on the graphics score. However, the graphics during the actual gameplay are barely modified default MZX, with no attention paid to composition, pallete, etc. Basically, the only reason this isn't a 1/90 is due to the cutscenes.

Technique: 5/80

Very little within this game required any skill at all to program. The intro cinematic is simply displaying static scenes and waiting for space to be pressed, the 'random generation' engine just randomly places objects all over the board (admittedly avoiding placing them in the goop) without really generating anything else (such as level layout, different enemies, etc). Unhidden board bots on the boss board also take this down a few pegs, as does the overreliance on [ text boxes.

Story: 26/50

Well, the story is actually, while short, quite amusing and interesting. A robot is running for president against an incumbent skeleton, and the skeleton decides to take matters into his own hands because he's losing. Thats... Really all that can be said. The story is definitely where I found the most amusement in this game, and in fact I was chuckling all the way through because of it.

Sound: 12/40

This would be a far easier category to judge for this game if it were broken into "music" and "sound effects". Fortunately for this game's score, breaking it up like that doesn't make sense. The actual music fits quite well into whats there for the game, and sounds quite good. The sound effects are the default MZX sound effects left on, which given the amount of bullets flying in the main board of the game leaves one with quite a large headache. It would be best to have just turned them off.


Total: 109/400

Overall, an impressive score for a joke game. Some time and thought was put into this, just not quite enough of it.


49932 - Thanatos Insignia 2 - Theme Light - Individuality

I very much enjoyed this game. A light arcade shooter with oddly fitting classical music, punchy sound effects, pretty good graphics, and great gameplay. If rank weighting still existed, this would be my personal pick for #1.

Scores and Explanation:

Theme: 8/20

The game ties into the theme very lightly but very effectively still. You play a girl trying to figure out her identity, and therefore her individuality. In the course of the game, you level up and are given a series of choices of where to take your character in terms of powers and the like, which also makes the character somewhat unique to your style of play, giving the gameplay in and of itself its own individuality.

Gameplay: 118/120

This game has some WONDERFUL gameplay. Very fun, very twitchy, very fast paced. I loved it, and I love how the different attacks inserted a bit of variety into it, even if I ended up using the bullet spammy ranged tap attack the most. Where this title lost a few points was near the end where the difficulty ramped up to such a level that I tended to simply run from most enemies. This may have been intended, but it started getting a little less fun at that point. Of course, that was only really the last 3 minutes or so of game, so it doesn't lose many points for that.

Graphics: 70/90

The graphics were quite simple, in terms of the enemies being single color sprites and the backgrounds being repeating patterns, but quite pleasing to the eye and very effective. I very much enjoyed in particular the pallete choices and the detail and animation on the enemy sprites. The only reason this game loses any points in this category is the graphics failed to truly "wow" me, and were certainly not top of the line. Quite nice though.

Technique: 55/80

A hard category to score for this game. The game is short and apparently unfinished, and contains at least one showstopper bug and a few mild but annoying bugs, including one I came up against where the levelup and boss text screens conflicted with one another. It loses points for the bugs and its unfinished nature, but gains quite a number for the innovative shooting engine, where the bullets "sort of" track the enemy, the very nice sword engine, and the quite impressive fray glyph. All of these, as well as the technique for building the game itself, a giant world too big to put on one board that was put on one board anyway with the help of MZMs, are quite impressive!

Story: 23/50

The story was... Thin on the ground here. Mostly a few blurbs in the intro and ending about how the main character doesn't know who they are and in the end about how individuality doesn't truly exist. The boss text was generally apropos of nothing and quite confusing. Points given for having a story, but taken away for it not making much sense and being very iffy.

Sound: 40/40

I loved the sound in this game. Point blank, the music fit AMAZINGLY well for its genre and the sound effects were wonderful and had just the right amount of punch to really give the game a great feel. I am amazed at how well done the sound was.

Total: 300/400

I loved this game, I just absolutely loved it. A few flaws kept it from being a perfect score but I absolutely adored this game!


69245 - Final Kamikaze - Theme Light - Alternate History

This game was... a mess. Very much default MZX, very buggy and glitchy (you can't move right more than once while firing! wtf is that), very ugly, nigh unplayable, and full of overplayed final fantasy music and no sound effects.

Theme: 5/20

This game gets a bare pass on theme for making the 'alternate history' bit clear at the very very end. If you didn't beat the game, it would not have made any sense as to how this game was on the theme at all.

Gameplay: 10/120

The gameplay is stuttery, BKZX-ish, and just generally not fun at all. I did not have fun playing this game, just did not have any enjoyment.

Graphics: 2/90

Maybe 2 char edits made, if that. Very bog standard default MZX graphics, and not used well at all besides.

Technique: 2/80

No real technique was used here. This is a very simple, early 90s style MZX action game, using the player and robots checking for shot.

Story: 8/50

The story was... Beyond lame and made no sense.

Sound: 0/40

If I could give this negative points I would. Final fantasy music does not fit an action game, and I've heard it way way way too much. And there were no sound effects. So yeah, no thanks.

Total: 27/400

Dear lord, was this a BKZX game? A joke game? What?


74588 - Spirit Quest - Theme Light - Individuality

Oh dear, if the last game was a mess, this game is an unfortunate disaster. A good game with okay graphics and alright gameplay, murdered by bug after bug after bug after bug. More on these in the Technique section.

Theme: 15/20

Spirit Quest was a game that was entirely about a war between 'spirits' who wanted to take people's individuality and the right to defend that individuality. I think this game would have done well if Theme Heavy had been chosen as a scoresheet, personally. Odd scoresheet choice here.

Gameplay: 70/120

A good gameplay concept but unfortunately ruined by many bugs and odd game design choices such as the fact you actually have to spend quite a large portion of the beginning of the game running away from monsters in order to get your speed up enough to have any chance whatsoever at defeating the bosses, and none of the other stats seem to matter at all.

Graphics: 58/90

The graphics are quite nice for what they are but fairly simple and rather repetitive. Pallete choice was not great, sometimes it was hard to tell enemies from background, etc. Certain things such as the house just look... Off, somehow. The spirits look like tornados.

Technique: 30/80

I'm sorry, but this game was so buggy that even with MULTIPLE fixes posted on the boards, I had to test and use the debug menu in order to get past BOARD3. The game has no indication as to why you can't equip a weapon if you try to equip it under the required strength stat, multiple times the game would freeze during text for seemingly no reason, and if your speed is above that of the monster, it never gets a turn. If your speed is sufficiently below that of the monster, YOU never get a turn. This may be considered a game mechanic but I consider it a fairly hefty bug.

Story: 30/50

Despite quite a few spelling/grammar stumbles, I rather liked the story that was here. It was relatively fleshed out and you can tell there was some time and thought put into it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Sound: 20/40

This game scores right in the middle for sound because the sound effects were fine, and the music used was really good but tended to be on relatively short loops that render it tedious after too long of playing the same level, something that will be done due to grinding. A hard problem to avoid.

Total: 223/400

Oh, I am so sad to be giving this game such a low score, and I really hope the remade version is going to be much better, because it had so very much potential. Unfortunately due to bugs that potential fell flat on its face. Sorry.


74770 - Ununhexium - Theme Light - Individuality

An interesting little game with pretty neat graphics and a lot of game mechanics I've never seen in Megazeux before. Quite a nice entry, if unfortunately rather short and simple.

Theme: 5/20

Highlighting words in blue to make it really obvious you're trying to get a higher theme score by humor value alone doesn't work with me. :P However, this was clearly made during the competition so it does not get a DQ-worthy score, thats all I can really give it.

Gameplay: 63/120

Quite a fun little game, I thought it required a surprising amount of strategy to defeat, finding the green bricks before you find the red so that you can collect a lot at once and then speed off to the green before you die, resetting your radiation score. The skeletons were not very much of a hindrance, but the game seemed more about fighting the environment than anything else. It would make more sense if you could not shoot through walls and therefore the game lost a few points for that. Other than that, I liked it!

Graphics: 60/90

I really liked the styling on the environment and the backgrounds, I enjoyed the limited viewport. In general I thought this game had a really interesting if minimalistic style to it.

Technique: 57/80

A lot of the engines used here are rather interesting and well done. The game runs smooth and has at least a few fairly new ideas for a megazeux game, such as the fact its somewhat turn-based.

Story: 25/50

A game that would have been best with no plot at all, given a very very shaky one. Ehhh...

Sound: 25/40

Some nice blippy sound effects and a really soothing and fitting (very cave-feeling) music track that unfortunately does get a little repetitive through the course of the game give this a middle-high score.

Total: 235/400

I'd call this game the competition's underdog. Yes, in the end the game was fairly simple and, once you got the strategy down, easy to beat. However, it had a great style going for it and was really fun to play, with some great graphics given the game's focus on single characters.


80483 - DUI 20XX - Theme Heavy - Alternate History

Oh man, a good racing game in Megazeux? This is awesome!

Theme: 65/100

An alternate history where Hitler is in space in the 21st century and prohibition is in effect in 1918. Quite thoroughly implied throughout the dialogue and story scenes, though perhaps not as much in the gameplay (Other than perhaps the fact that these cars move MUCH faster than anything that should be around in 1918). Quite a fun game!

Gameplay: 85/90

Whopper of points here for being the most faithful, most fun, and overall best racing game I've ever seen in Megazeux. The physics were great, the general feel of it was just the right mix of in control and yet out of control. Very arcadey, very fun. Lost a few points because the track designs can be confusing at times, but once you get the hang of it its fun all the way down.

Graphics: 57/70

Quite a lot of very charming character edits which get across what they're supposed to be very effectively in a very small size. Backgrounds can get slightly monotonous but thats somewhat unavoidable in a racing game and dealt with as well as it could have been really. Overall a wonderful job on the graphics.

Technique: 58/60

A small bug prevents you from restarting the level properly unless fixed (using a fix marked in the DoZ fixes thread which unfortunately I can't count in its favor here). Also, some amusing though not point-losing use of mass 'change' statements to fix a level design issue on track 3. Other than that, the engine and the programming is superb here, the physics feels as real as its probably ever going to be in Megazeux, the effects are wonderful, in general some really ace level programming on this game, in my opinion.

Story: 35/50

The story to this game is... Short, simple, but really funny at times and well executed. Basically, you are a citizen of a moon colony run by Space Hitler in 20XX. The Moon Colony has no alcohol. You time travel back to 1918 and hit up some mobsters for alcohol, and it gets weirder from there. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Sound: 25/30

Oh man, brilliant use of music from OutRun to give a racing game that wonderful fast paced feel. No real sound effects but I don't think they were particularly needed for this sort of game (I tend to find the engine/brake noise some racing games use annoying). Just a wonderful, very apropos soundtrack.

Total: 325/400

This game forced me to reevaluate who I thought was going to be the winner of this competition. An amazingly fun romp through a genre MZX has touched but rarely in the past.


82246 - Whale Guts/FFFFFFF/Argrablehuble - Theme Light - Alternate History

Uhh... What? A slider puzzle and an apology that the game didn't get finished, apparently...

Theme: 2/20

Nothing to do with alternate history other than a rather silly mention of the game being lost in one.

Gameplay: 5/120

I hate slider puzzles, and these weren't particularly fun slider puzzles either, especially considering the very first one lacks any real pattern to help you remember how it went together in the first place.

Graphics: 2/90

Aaaand almost all your graphics are stolen from outside sources. Except for a single unfinished board that does nothing but looks... vaguely interesting. Yeah, no, that reeks of lack of creativity.

Technique: 5/80

Err, I suppose uhh... nice use of copy block for the slider puzzle? Except I could have probably thrown that together in 5 minutes...

Story: 0/50

Papa Rufus,

Sound: 10/40

Some okay music for the slider puzzle I guess.

Total: 24/400

I'd like a few minutes of my life back please.


83889 - weltschmerz - Theme Heavy - Individuality

Oh man, this game had so much potential if it hadn't ended about 10 minutes in. I mean, the story was a little too dense for me, but it was interesting and the themes it was invoking were great, and then right when we were going to learn just how our would be terrorist protagonist wound up here... It ends.

Theme: 45/100

What was there was an exploration of people who are desperate to retain their individuality under an oppressive government, a very good concept that seemed like it was heading for something awesome. However, since it was incomplete we didn't really get to see the player showing much individuality, other than being nameable by you.

Gameplay: 5/90

There was very little in the way of gameplay there. However, what was there was interesting in its almost metal-gear-solid esque stealth gameplay combined with classic MZX adventure game style.

Graphics: 35/70

This game's saving grace. The graphics were quite good, especially the really fast scrolling background as you hopped from car to car on the train. Some of it was fairly simple however.

Technique: 15/60

The scrolling engine for the train-roof scene is kind of neat, as is the box-pulling scene. Everything else is kind of meh though.

Story: 20/50

A game with the potential for a wonderful story that lost nearly 30 points from me for ending it right when it started to get vaguely interesting. Sorry, thats just a giant tease right there.

Sound: 12/30

The music was pretty good and fit well with the game, but nothing stellar.

Total: 117/400

85538 - KEN - Theme Heavy - Individuality

Uh.. huh. An odd little game about a boy who wants to go on a journey of self discovery to prove his individuality, who then... fails to exit his front door. This is... odd, to say the least.

Theme: 10/100

I suppose the premise of the game was the individuality of this boy but it was so short the theme wasn't realized at all really, except for in a very token sense.

Gameplay: 1/90

Touching things. They respond exceedingly slowly. Thats about it.

Graphics: 0/70

Worse than default MZX graphics, its poorly used default ASCII with horrible color choices. Yay.

Technique: 0/60

Nothing interesting here roboticswise and really anything done roboticswise that isn't "my first robot" was broken anyway.

Story: 2/50

Well, points for trying I suppose, but the story pretty much ends at "My siblings are more awesome than me. I must make myself more awesome somehow."

Sound: 5/30

A single annoying mod.

Total: 18/400

Dear lord that was horrifying.