Winter 2011 Dualstream Day of Zeux Scoresheet: Terryn

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Terryn's DoZ Scores, New Year 2011

-Topics: Violence (Abstract) & Espionage (Concrete(?))-

-Judging Standard: MZX 2.83 stable (Win 32 platform)-

(Scores attempted to be consistent and relative, but I'm not making any promises, especially not for this DoZ. ffffff. And I'm probably going to be a good deal under the minimum content guidelines too. OH WELL)


To explain the WACKY scoring changes per game, I've written up a small guide on our system a long time ago and recycled it right below this line! How convenient!

Games choosing the THEME-HEAVY scoring are scored as follows:

Theme- 100/400 (How appropriately it sticks to the above topic. Novel applications of the theme are especially welcome here; cloying, ham-fisted application of it is not.)
Gameplay- 90/400 (What the game expects the player to do, how novel/fun/considerate it is for the player, and how little the player futilely struggles with the game.)
Graphics- 70/400 (The difference between eye-gouging and eye-popping.)
Technique- 60/400 (How painless it is for the player to play through the game (disregarding obvious gameplay decisions such as difficulty), and the technical prowess shown in the code.)
Story- 50/400 (Whether your grasp of English, your grasp of flow, and your grasp of creativity align. If this cannot be arranged, partial credit is better than none.)
Sound- 30/400 (With the beeping and the blooping and the chiptunes and the helium-infused Japanese vocals and all of that.)

Games choosing the THEME-LITE scoring are scored as follows:

Gameplay- 120/400 (This is the core of the game; it is the interactive part of a game and hence the most likely thing to make or break a game for a player.)
Graphics- 90/400 (How pleasing the game is to the eye. No accounting for tastes, though some works seem better to everyone overall than others.)
Technique- 80/400 (The complexity of the code involved, and whether said code actually works most of the time. Efficiency counts in the extreme cases where it's relevant.)
Story- 50/400 (Whether the words arranged therein form coherent sentences, and even better, coherent plot threads.)
Sound- 40/400 (The ears' domain; whether sound effects and music are not only good, but well-suited for the game.)
Theme- 20/400 (Whether you actually paid attention and bothered haphazardly grafting the right conceptual fragments to your glitzy engine. 5 points average or less and your game is outright rejected.)

Without further delay, my scoring for this DoZ's games begins!


[-1] "All That Violence" (THDPro) -VIOLENCE/HEAVY-

ThDPro tries his hand at the DoZ again, and while nowhere near a sterling effort, his entry is complete and playable.

Theme- 75/100

  • Easily where the plurality of the points come, even if simply through the nature of the given scoresheet. Though it's technically more about blood, the game ends up tying its gameplay and premise heavily into violence. It's a simple, rote application.

Gameplay- 35/90

  • There are some okay ideas here. A bloodlust meter requiring proximity to blood, blood overheal restoring health, and mouse aiming aren't inherently bad ideas. Hell, a much stronger game could wring a good deal of life out of creating healing waypoints based on your opponents' deaths. I just wish that the execution were better. The amusing thing, and the main problem, really, is that this game that's centered on violence doesn't really require much killing to complete. The first two screens can be passed by pretty quickly, especially the first, and if you know what you're doing, you can deal with the last screen with only moderate fuss. The three provided weapons, while a good, basic variety, are clunky and a bit of a pain to use effectively, as the mouse-based aiming is not as precise as one would want.

Graphics- 28/70

  • They're on the unappealing side, but not too bad, really. Outside of the status bar, nothing actually hurts playability. Just don't expect much. There is a grass randomization engine, which helps a bit.

Technique- 24/60

  • Hmm, well. The game CAN be played start to finish, but it's in dire need of two things: 1) bug-testing; 2) polishing. Text messages can easily be broken out of by attacking; in fact, it's almost natural to assume that's the preferred action as the plane level starts, given that the area starts with the game listing controls. Doing so causes all of the plane inhabitants in coach to stay where they are as you wander around, stabbing them in the face as others blithely ignore you. It's the bystander effect, done over and over again!
  • The game itself, however, is so clunky. It relies solely on WASD for movement (I use the mouse left-handed, so I prefer arrow movement when and where I can get it) and mouse control for aiming. Unfortunately, the aiming for both player and enemy alike is imprecise; shooting an RPG at an enemy standing completely still, with the cursor directly on top of it, can still miss. You can even ignore small numbers of enemies while standing still in blood, since they miss a good deal and never bother to close the gap. Enemies can stop moving entirely once you're out of range. The status bar is jittery, old-school overlay.

Story- 18/50

  • While nowhere near inspiring or noteworthy, the story's a tolerable setup for the gameplay. You must be in constant contact with blood, or else you start wasting away. This leads to you violently killing several people to stay alive.

Sound- 4/30

  • Music is nonexistent. Sounds suffice, but are generic and a bit loud/harsh.

Overall: 184/400

  • Keep on keeping on. Once enough experience in making a game under strict timelines is obtained, you could do a whole lot better. Hell, if just gameplay / technique becomes tight enough, people'd willingly let bad aesthetics slide, for reasons right or wrong (!graphics).


[0] "VIOLENCE MAKES YOU STUPID" (greasemonkey) -VIOLENCE/LITE-

Kuddy GreaseMonkey gets the special honors of submitting this season's joke game, since old-sckool was oddly not up to the task this time.

Gameplay- 24/120

  • Most of it's a joke game. You know the drill by now! Huge fields of enemies and pointless wandering through ugly lines of solids, but this time with tons of forest tiles!
  • At the end, there's an apology and a variant on the simple cat/chicken/feed/boat puzzle, only with GHOST/SPIDER/BOTTLE MIMIC/BOAT. You can only take one item at a time, but bottle mimics eat spiders, and spiders... eat ghost. It's a nice diversion but nowhere near redeeming.

Graphics- 18/90

  • Deliberately bad, until the end, where it turns on the generic yet pleasing random terrain and stops being a bad bkzx game.

Technique- 18/80

  • Very little to speak of, really, save for the decent effects for the title screen. Absolutely no technique is part and parcel for most MZX joke games, and the last segment didn't really require much. There was the appearance of a decent message system, for one glimmering moment.

Story- 3/50

  • It starts out as a typo-laden bkzx-ish pointless game, and then uses some kind of cop-scientist self-aware excuse plot to transport the setting from knowingly bad game to "therapy rooms". Only one exists, though, as the author ran out of time and submitted as-is.

Sound- 7/40

  • Most of what's here is annoying on purpose, but the end segment has a mildly entertaining tune. Featuring the unexpected return of the Poop Road>:( painfully loud drill sound!

Theme- 5/20

  • It does the absolute minimum to avoid disqualification, and that's because I'm feeling both generous and extremely unwilling to DQ a game in a DoZ with only six entries. Oh uh, MZX's dying :q

Overall: 75/400

  • Well, I guess someone had to submit something like this. I was thinking mzxrules, but I guess it was your turn. OH WELL


[pi] "Demons, Demons Everywhere" (Baby Bonnie Hood) -VIOLENCE/HEAVY-

Here, we have another old-school tinged entry, this one a basic arena shooter that ends only when you're dead. Just like olden days!

Theme- 70/100

  • Things are going to... violent. *sunglas* Well, okay, an arena shooter is pretty inherently violent, but the game doesn't do much beyond what's required to set up a thorough application of theme.

Gameplay- 50/90

  • Shoot. Fight. Die. You're given 32767 bullets, put in an open arena, and three different enemies spawn in, letting loose volleys of spitfire/lazerwalls/explosion beams. Kill an enemy, they drop a health-giving heart. Try to get the best score!
  • Maybe I'm jaded, but I felt like a lot more could be done here, even given a simple skill set. While it's not exactly hard to mess up an MZX arena shooter, it's also not all that hard to improve what's here. Simple additions such as varying weapons, more minor automatic health boosts on kills and/or making health pickups not obscure shots, or even a basic GUI would have helped a good deal.

Graphics- 32/70

  • Serviceable. Plenty of reds, as can be expected, and demonic smileys. There's just very little artwork to show here.

Technique- 25/60

  • There's nothing at all noteworthy about the game's code, but that's partly a good thing, as there were no noteworthy bugs to worry about. I have to dock several points for not including a status bar/HUD, though. That's almost unconscionable in this day and age.

Story- 17/50

  • You are in Hell but AT LEAST YOU HAVE A GUN! At least this story offers no hope of full redemption, in this iteration.

Sound- 12/30

  • It's all from Doom! Well, the Doom engine, anyhow. The music is E1M1, and most of the sounds are lifted from Doom, the rest from Heretic.

Overall: 206/400

  • theire are with too much aaaaaaaaaargh


[7865] "Anger Is An Energy" (Kom/hayashi) -VIOLENCE/HEAVY-

Kom, DoZ workhorse, and hayashi, recidivist MZXer, team up to make a very short yet satisfying action game.

Theme- 88/100

  • Probably the best implementation of theme in this DoZ. While violence does not equal anger (heard of brooding?), the game goads players to blitz through as violently and quickly as possible through its design.

Gameplay- 71/90

  • Anger levels help improve fire rate and allow the player to break down barriers containing (mostly) optional goods. Getting hurt, killing, and drinking anger tonics increase anger, which ticks down as time passes. Anger levels are only REALLY necessary to maintain enough energy to break necessary barriers, though; this can create unwinnable states if you're not careful. The game's too short for unwinnable states to be much of a burden, but the problem's still there.
  • The rest of the gameplay is decent run and gun shooting, with four firearms to choose from and a clip/reloading system. They all sensibly fire in a hitscan manner rather than MZX traditional projectiles. Ammo and health pickups are among the previously-mentioned tonics, and keycards push a linear progression through the one level. Enemy placement is interesting, considering the lowest enemies' statuses as mild rage boosters once a decent weapon is acquired; most enemies are out in the open at first, but soon several rooms appear with barriers and loads of weak scientists behind them.
  • Great touch in having the rifle start with 7 of 8 bullets loaded, by the way. I enjoy little things like that.

Graphics- 54/70

  • They're basic 1x1 smiley graphics, for the most part, but they're still pulled off well enough. They're just nowhere near ambitious, save for mild cinematic flourishes.

Technique- 47/60

  • While the game works with 1x1, it has dependable custom weapon and status bar engines. It's nothing fancy, but it works.
  • One of the lines of dialogue is impossible to trigger, though, due to a missing label. That's about the only thing considered a bug.

Story- 36/50

  • Scientists in 80s Britain have discovered that anger is an energy (Title shout out!) and conduct experiments on its concentrated form. The game takes place as the player character, a test subject, rages after taking the tonic and kills his instructor, with the new-found objective to simply leave alive.
  • The apparent spur-of-the-moment mood toggle helped here a good deal. While the addition of non-gameplay options is usually at least a nominal plus, no matter how mild they are, this minor change actually adds a good deal of flavor to the game. The "sensible" side seemed a touch too straight-laced, while the "silly" side was pleasantly light-hearted. Sure, it did straddle the border of mildly obnoxious a time or two, but I think it was generally handled well. I am disappointed that the same concern wasn't given to the memos, which err on the side of (really) dry but contain one goofy in-joke. Plenty of missed opportunities there. WITH THIS NEWFOUND RAGEOHOL, THE IRON LADY'S GOIN' STRAIGHT TO STEEL! OH YEAH

Sound- 22/30

  • Decent music selection (the "sensible" anger music fit that theme better than the "silly" anger music did its own, in my opinion). The sounds were okay, with the pain sound being below the baseline, but the others being serviceable.

Overall: 318/400

  • While it suffers for its brevity, this game was a highly enjoyable experience. Well done, you two.


[47238] "Mission: Most Likely Horribly Incomplete" (mzxrules) -ESPIONAGE/LITE-

Two out of nine ain't....ha..b...okay, I can't type that without feeling like I have to whip my fingers in pure shame and contrition. In short, old-sckool's pretty much delivered what you'd expect, again, but at least the product's a _little_ better this time around.

Gameplay- 43/120

  • Basic jumper engine, WASD shooting, non-orthogonal enemy fire. One sparse level. I at least appreciate putting in a brief invulnerability period, but it makes firing mostly pointless, given the high health you have.

Graphics- 35/90

  • Smileys, black space, boxes. Whoopee.

Technique- 35/80

  • Hey, it's a multi-line * status bar readout. In case unfamiliarity is becoming too much for you, here's an old friend: CPU abuse! oh hey i wasn't expecting you, gee, thanks for the heads up well yes I have room but HEY don't eat that I kind of need that, bro!
  • I had to play it in the editor, due to the player not spawning in the right place when playing normally. Also, did you intend on each building linking to the wrong thing as a joke? I'm assuming not, but whatever.

Story- 12/50

  • There's a spy agency. It's pretty rough on its employees, and you are one of them! You must pick up blueprints and dry cleaning. And then, it all falls apart in an obviously rushed ending.

Sound- 5/40

  • None.

Theme- 7/20

  • For a game that's nominally about espionage and spying, there's absolutely none of that in here. The gameplay consists of you barreling through an area with everyone instantly shooting at you. So, although the game tries to make the story themed on espionage, it boils down to brute force/evasive maneuvers.

Overall: 137/400

  • This is improvement?? I guess it is! It's like comparing Sodom to Pompeii, but hey, you've got to take any positives you can get.


[98485] "Thanatos Insignia" (Lancer/Lachesis/CJA) -VIOLENCE/LITE-

  • Yes, this game was lengthy. Yes, this game was polished. You hit most of the right notes, as expected. ~HOWEVER~ (cliffhanger)

Gameplay- 100/120

  • As expected, solid gameplay. Your weapon auto-aims to some degree, depending on the direction you wish to fire. Your weaponry changes depending on your distance from the closest approximate enemy; you can upgrade your weapon power by picking up XP in set locations, and activate a brief powered-up mode by killing enough enemies / picking up loose soul fragments.
  • I just wish that it provided slightly more variety. It's not WEAK gameplay, by any means, or even iffy. It's just that not only does it ring more familiar than I want it to, even though it has several new touches, but it also shows some forms of minor stagnation. Levels are mostly linear, projectiles mostly range from energy balls to more energy balls to energy balls that produce more energy balls, and the difficulty curve felt mostly flat.

Graphics- 77/90

  • Not bad at all. Typical smart color choices, but the enemy design is stronger than usual in many cases (I assume that this is Lachesis's influence). Random creatures turn into, well, discernible random creatures. Environments, for the most part, look pretty good.
  • Man, what was up with the bosses... the DISCO FLOORS and that one boss for level 4 (presumably razer?) hit Drelick-style chords, like repressed (original) Kikan memories. This is neither a GOOD nor a BAD thing, just something worth mentioning.

Technique- 73/80

  • By now, you should know what to expect from a Lancer game. Large enemies, several weapons with varying modes of fire, and loads of enemy projectiles firing away with very few hitches. No bugs can be found, as far as I could tell.
  • Minor enemy bullets often pass through the player character. I'm about 3/4 sure this is intentional, though, as certain enemy groupings / bad luck can cause large floods of minor particles to require a poke and wait strategy otherwise, and as major bullets take plenty off as it is.

Story- 21/50

  • The story tries to make general sense, and honestly, I'm a bit too tired and unmotivated to try to find a weak rationale for why the story would have much to do with the gameplay, so I won't. REGARDLESS, there's very little inherent tie between the game and its given plot. There are... words... and they... form sentences with vague connections to other sentences later on... but they never really form anything really coherent or compelling. Given a different gameplay implementation, it could have worked a bit better, but it fails to help here.
  • "Even as I look back further and further, it seems as though I always end up in a loop." Well, yes, this is a lancer game, after all.

Sound- 30/40

  • Sounds were acceptable placeholders, while half of the music seems calculated to deliberately annoy. Japanese vocal songs ahoy.
  • _purin purin_
  • PURIN PURIN PURIN PURIN-PURIN *PURIN*-

Theme- 14/20

  • Handled mildly below average standards. Violence does factor into gameplay and storyline, but the storyline's a mess and the gameplay doesn't exactly handle violence in a novel or thorough way. I do admit that it's satisfying getting up close and blasting huge enemies far away, though.

Overall: 315/400

NOT MY WINNER THIS TIME, BUT ONLY BY THE MOST THREADBARE OF MARGINS


----Final Rankings----

  1. Anger Is An Energy (318/400)
  2. Thanatos Insignia (315/400)
  3. Demons, Demons Everywhere (206/400)
  4. All That Violence (184/400)
  5. Mission: Most Likely Horribly Incomplete (137/400)
  6. VIOLENCE MAKES YOU STUPID (075/400)

Well, I'm glad this is over. Extremely low turnout, but there's nothing really, truly execrable this time. Hopefully this was just a fluke due to uncertainty, bad start time/date, and other assorted issues rather than general malaise. Oh well, I still have hope. Maybe. I guess?

~Terryn, casting a gaze ever futer-bound.