Summer 2005 Dualstream Day of Zeux Judging Sheets:RoSS
------------------------------------------
Name: Dualstream Day of Zeux - Summer 2005
Themes: "Growth" and "Space Exploration"
Host: Insidious and box43.net
Judge: RoSS
Entries: 20
------------------------------------------
The scoring system:
Gameplay - 75/400
Seems pretty basic, right? If a game is not fun,
it's very difficult, if not nearly impossible for it to
be wholly enjoyable, therefore it is weighted highest.
Graphics - 60/400
If a game does not look good, or even acceptable,
it is much more difficult for someone to be willing to
get all the way through it, and therefore truly enjoy it.
Innovation - 45/400
Aren't games always more fun if they do something
different? MZX is good in that there is plenty of stuff
still undone, so it is not overly difficult to make
somebody say "Wow, I've never seen this before in MZX."
Extra kudos if I haven't seen it ever before in anything.
Plot - 40/400
Plot is good. Always. In certain games, it is what
drives the player to keep playing, in other games, it
simply makes the game that much better. I personally
believe that every game should have a plot, regardless
of game type. Of course, a puzzle or vertical shooter
would need less of a plot and that will be taken in
consideration, but it will still not receive top marks.
Music/Sound - 35/400
Music is there to set the tone and bring you
into a game. Sound effects heighten the atmosphere
and really bring you into a game. If the music and/or
sound effects are bad or inappropriate, you will be
deducted points. If you have neither, you will be
rewarded 2 points, and if you have one, you will
receive 1 point for the missing one. Unlistenable
music or sound effects, however, will receive a 0.
I use 30/35 for music and 5/35 for sound effects.
Theme - 30/400
This one should be pretty obvious. The entire
point of this competition is to make a game using a
specific theme, and you can get up to 30 points for
doing so. I will not award 30 points to anybody who
uses the theme, however, I will consider how well you
used the theme in your game.
Discretion - 15/400
The "common sense" category. Did the creator
fail to play test the game enough or at all? Is there
a lot of stuff that would make the player not want
to play but wouldn't fall into the other categories
(like superfluous vulgar language or situations)?
All of these offenses will come out of this category.
*****************************************************
Scores:
5364 - "Galaxy Slime" (DQ'd)
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 20/75
Simply not a very fun game. The controls feel
jerky, the levels are mediocre, the difficulty is too
high and many bugs prevent the game from running
smoothly. It is very easy to get hit in this game,
and with only 8 health and no lives (due to a bug),
I had to hack the global robot just to play through,
and even then there were fatal problems with the game
that even an hp hack couldn't fix: in level one, if
you don't move to the left of the slimes, you will
get permanently stuck, and in level 2, the boss is
either way to hard to hit or impossible to hit,
furthermore there is a bug which makes it go about
twice as fast going left to right than right to left.
The scenes might actually be working, if I didn't
use testing from another part of the game to play
through. The last battle is like a bad boss battle
of an old MZX game, with the boss appearing
randomly in too large of a field shooting builtins
at the player. I wish I could give this a higher
score, as it seems a decent amount of effort was put
into it, but there is just too much wrong with the
game for me to give it any higher of a score.
Graphics - 25/60
The graphics never struck me as "ugly"
although I can't say I liked much of it. The
default charset is used often with minor changes
for (e.g.) the player's ship and ships' eyeballs.
The colors are not badly used, even though they
are the default palette, but they're not well
used by any means either. All I can say is they're
mediocre with a slight slant toward bad, so 25
seemed fair.
Innovation - 15/45
Another mediocre aspect of a mediocre game.
Nothing particularly innovative about it. I've seen
vertical shooters before, I've seen stuff like
having to go through specific numbered gates before,
I've seen very similar bosses before; nothing in this
game stands out as something new. I gave the few points
I did for the slime in level one and the plotline.
Plot - 15/40
The plot, as well as being hard to follow,
was mostly uninteresting and very cliché. The plot did
not seem to follow what was happening (e.g. if he was
exploring, why was he blowing everything up and not
examining anything), but at least it was there and it
kept the story going.
Music/Sound - 16/35
The music is probably my "favorite" part of this
game, setting some sort of tone, although not very well.
The only reason for this "high" of a score is because
the tunes aren't that bad.
Theme - 20/30
It's not really "space exploration" so much as
"going through space and blowing stuff up" but oh well.
Nothing new or creative done with the theme here, but
it is there-ish so it deserves the points I gave it.
Discretion - 0/15
dozgoshi.mzx and the bugs make it =(
Total - 111/300
"Mediocre"
6170 - "A Space Exploration Game of Some Sort"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 5/75
You move and you shoot; nothing else. I'll put as
much energy into these comments as you did into making a
game.
Graphics - 5/60
Pixel-by-pixel movement done well, but considering
there's NO OTHER graphics it's nothing special.
Innovation - 20/45
Pixel-by-pixel movement seems to be the rage
now-a-days, and these fully rotatable ships are pretty neat,
but that's about it, fella.
Plot - 1/40
There's text, I guess.
Music/Sound - 2/35
Nothing here.
Theme - 2/30
It's in space... no exploration, though.
Discretion - 0/15
Oops! DoZ is not a graphical demo competition.
Total - 33/300
"A turning space ship"
9801 - "A Sad Game"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 35/75
What an odd, odd game. It's very linear, which isn't
necessarily a bad thing, but it is frustrating. First of all,
the wait times in just about any conversation are way too
long and bored me quickly. Furthermore, the fire takes so
much of your health so quickly, that if you don't save often
enough, you're mincemeat. Furthermore, I found it difficult
to find where I needed to go to proceed. With all that having
been said, it wasn't a bad game, per se, the bit of variation
between figuring out where you needed to go and running from
fire and beating that racing guy to the finish line was nice.
None of the elements were particularly fun, but at least
there we multiple tasks.
Graphics - 15/60
Egad. Many bad decisions here. The shaking ship thing
just gave me a slight headache. The normal charset is used,
and when it is not, the character is badly drawn. The colors
are annoying, especially when the creator(s) attempt to do
whatever trippy/horror thing they were trying to do. This
game was not unwatchable, but almost bordered it a couple of
times.
Innovation - 15/45
A really standard walk-around-and-get-to-the-next-
place game. A couple points for trying to be trippy/horrory,
but nothing new or particular exciting about it, sorry.
Plot - 15/40
I like in medias res as a general rule, but this one
didn't seem to catch my attention well enough, probably because
the little plot there was in the beginning was hidden between
exceptionally long wait times. Furthermore, the plot never
really developed, nothing was ever explained and nothing
really happened. The attempts at humor mostly failed on me
and the weird trippy/horror "twist" to the game did not seem
to work.
Music/Sound - 11/35
The music was Earthbound's. Now, Earthbound's music
was awesome for Earthbound, but it doesn't fit this game at
all. A couple points for the music being alright to listen
to, but it actually took me away from the game because I kept
thinking about Earthbound, not the game. There were no sound
effects.
Theme - 17/30
It was in space and there was some exploration involved,
although I would hardly call it "space exploration but whatever,
the theme was there, but simply not well used enough to warrant
any more points.
Discretion - 7/15
Between a bug that occurs when you try to re-enter the
cafeteria, a loss of continuity with the "oops wrong board" joke,
and overall sense of not-great decision making, I can't honestly
give this entry any more points here.
Total - 115/300
"Dude I'm tripping in space"
19962 - "Cheese's Adventure"
Theme - Growth
Gameplay - 65/75
Wow, now this is a game right here. The first really
quality entry in this DoZ I've played. The levels are generally
pretty well put together, with different stat strategies for each,
there's many of them, and there's a comfortable level of
difficulty over the entire thing, gradually getting more and more
difficult. The pixel-by-pixel engine works pretty smoothly, only
allowing little bugs here and there, but the majority of the bugs
seem to be in the placement routines, not necessarily the pixel-
by-pixel engine. The bosses provided the most challenge, although
they seemed a bit unbalanced (the two-part boss was much easier
than the boss previous to it). Overall, a very solid and complete
game.
Graphics - 50/60
Another shining point of the game. The pixel-by-pixel
generally works well, except for the fact that since it's MZX,
the background color of the moving object sometimes imposes
itself on the background. The graphics themselves, whether
they be the in-game animations or the made-from-solids
pictures, nearly all look really good. The game manages to keep
your attention with the graphics. Another solid element of this
game.
Innovation - 40/45
The first true pixel-by-pixel full game in MZX, as well as
a creative map system that, although has been done before, has
been done well for this game. I really like the stats that
you have to change to beat different levels. This was a really
different game than I have played in MZX before.
Plot - 10/40
Ehhh... the game is really weak here, but I bet the other
categories will pick up the slack. There's an introduction and
then you just start playing the game, killing lots of other
beings because it's a kill-or-be-killed world even though it seems
the other beings aren't trying to hurt you unless you mess with
them, and then you fight some boss battles culminating with a
different boss who just sorta comes out of nowhere. Oh well.
Music/Sound - 19/35
The music makes me feel like I'm playing a puzzle game,
although this is sort of a puzzle game, but regardless, the
music does feel out of place in this game. Not a bad selection
of songs though, and they do keep my auditory nerves happily
occupied throughout the game with the wide selection, but
again, not really tone-setting. The sound effects are short
and sweet... good enough to know that you've done something,
but short enough that you don't get tired of it.
Theme - 27/30
The theme is well-used here, with an rpg-style growth,
but also a physical growth (as your character changes with
your level, or simply by pressing 1 2 or 3). The theme is
the point of the game, which is always a good idea, but it
just didn't wow me enough theme-wise to give it full marks.
Discretion - 10/15
There were a couple of bugs; in the first tree level, falling
doesn't kill you, in the two-part boss battle, one guy would
eventually go under the battleground if you continued to
replay enough. Also, the bosses felt a little unbalanced.
Total - 221/300
"Wow"
21986 - "Agent Ballpark"
Theme - Growth
Gameplay - 15/75
Aww, man, I was REALLY looking forward to a complete
or near-complete game. Unfortunately, there's only one level
and I could barely call the level complete (you can't kill
the one enemy there is). Otherwise the game engine works
pretty well, except for minor non-gameplay bugs. I like the
idea of jumping everywhere, and the fatness thing would've
added some variation to the gameplay... if there had been
gameplay. Sorry, guys, I don't think I can fairly give you
any more than a 15 for what's here.
Graphics - 43/60
The graphics are very good, especially for mode 0.
The title looks like a lot of work was put into it (although
that work really should've been distributed amongst the game,
but whatever). The mission briefing also had some funny and
nice graphics, although these are clearly imported in with
Charcon or the like. The in-game graphics are also impressive,
with the main character's avatar changing as he gets fatter,
and the one enemy walking around, and the background/level
graphics. It's all quite nice. HOWEVER, since there isn't a
whole lot of it, and there's some graphical glitches for
the player, it has to stay in a respectable but low range. If
there were another level or two, this probably would've jumped
up much higher.
Innovation - 30/45
Not the most innovative game, but I really like the
way it was innovative. The fat engine was a really fun idea
that could've been really good, but that's about all that's
innovative here.
Plot - 20/40
Again, another element to which I wish I could give a
lot more points, but alas, the game only has a title, an intro
and one playable level (with another level looking like it was
on its way). I thought the game was really funny and had a lot
of promise, but unfortunately, nothing ever developed and so
the plot portion is a bit of a dud.
Music/Sound - 18/35
The title music really sets a comical mood and goes
along with the title itself. Unfortunately, there's only one
other song, and that's the first level's song, which is pretty
sub par in my opinion and sounds like it deserves to be in
Merrymore. This is really another element that would've been
a lot higher if there had simply been more of it. I like the
sounds, though.
Theme - 25/30
I really, really like where it took the theme; I didn't
expect anybody to do something like this, and I think they pulled
it off very, very well. The game, plot- and gameplay-wise was
all about getting fatter, and therefore growth, so it receives
high marks here.
Discretion - 5/15
Besides some charset and graphical glitches (like at the end of the
intro and the main character screwing up), most of the points were
taken off for lacking good judgment in balancing your work on the
game... too much graphical showing-off and not enough meat and
potatoes, guys.
Total - 156/300
"Wow, this is going to be a grea-- =("
31340 - "React"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 45/75
A very long DoZ game, which is a refreshing change. It is
basically just a traditional MZX shoot-em-up, but IMO, a pretty
decent one. There is character growth, too, you level up and get
more HP, but to be honest, I never really needed much HP because
the game, on the whole, was pretty easy, as long as you saved
often enough. It was, to some extent, a bit of an adventure game
too, as you needed to find out how to continue in the game, but
all of that was usually quite easy. The game features a variety
of weapons, all essentially the same, but with different levels
of damage and (only at the end) slightly different abilities. There
were some bugs (especially one right near the end that prevented
me from legitimately finishing it), but overall everything worked
decently enough.
Graphics - 20/60
The graphics in this game were not very good. Almost
completely (if not completely-- I can't remember exactly) the
default charset. Although it is the default charset, which I've seen
used very well before, it still looks very lackluster, almost
newbie-ish. The palette was also default, which tends to look ugly
and overdone. It's simply not that pleasing on the eyes, especially
when used like this. However, I almost always recognized what the
graphics were representing, so they worked well enough in that
regard. Overall, sub par but livable graphics.
Innovation - 10/45
Not too much innovation here... multiple ends are nice, but
have been done a bunch; multiple weapons are nice, but these are
really all the same; puzzles are nice, but nothing really new here;
overworld maps are nice, but again, nothing new. I gave it 10 points
because I liked the way it dealt with the old-school shooter genre.
Plot - 27/40
I liked the plot, for the most part. It was hard to follow
at times, and the vast number of spelling errors (and inconsistency
with spelling) really dragged the game down. The plot twist surprised
me a little, but nothing that wowed me. The plot did seem mostly to
develop and conclude, so I can't fault it there. Overall, I like the
ideas used in the story.
Music/Sound - 15/35
Music seems to be a bit lackluster in this DoZ so far. Some of
the song selections do seem to fit the mood, but some of them don't
work at all. Mix that with the fact that none of the music was
particularly good or memorable, and you get a mediocre score.
Theme - 21/30
This game did not do anything special or creative with the
theme, but the theme was definitely there, in both the growth on the
planet and (possibly an unintentional connection) the growth of your
character, who gains levels and therefore HP very fast.
Discretion - 9/15
Some bugs, including one fatal one that prevented me from
finishing the game and some text-box ones as well as the great
number of spelling problems throughout this game hurt this category.
Overall, pretty decent decision-making.
Total - 147/300
"A damn decent newbie game"
31711 - "Final Frontier"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 35/75
The author seemed to go for a weird D&D/FPS style of the
classic shoot-em-up. The original space battle was confusing, and
once you understood it, much more difficult to fight than just head
straight to your destination, and with no reward for doing the
former. Then you landed, did some really basic adventure exploring
where you got several items including a flashlight which seemed to
do absolutely nada. The fights are frustrating because it is easy to
get hurt, but there's plenty (if not too many) supplies around to
counter this... sorta. It's still annoying though. Then the first
boss was exceptionally easy and the second (i.e. last) boss was way,
way too difficult, with almost 7x the health of the first boss and
the power almost to instantly kill you, especially if you're moving
when he does his move. However, I do like the variety of weapons
and the secrets here and there, so the score is bumped up slightly.
Graphics - 25/60
The graphics, overall, were decent, with slight
modifications to the default character set and palette. Certain
effects, like the waking up scene I thought were pretty neat, but
the rest of the graphics were pretty mediocre They did do the
trick and I could always tell what everything was trying to be and
the author did manage to make some pretty decent-looking stuff out
of the default charset, so it wasn't too bad. There were a number of
graphical glitches that really seemed to hinder this game, however,
so I have to take points off there.
Innovation - 28/45
Mixing an RPG, an FPS and a shoot-em-up is a pretty neat idea,
even if it wasn't treated as well as it could've been (I'm looking at
you, battles). The spaceship battle, albeit not very fun, was somewhat
innovative and therefore deserves some points. Overall, it feels a bit
more innovative than some of the similar games I've played so far.
Plot - 25/40
It was there, it kept me playing, and it was alright. I do
have to say, though, it ended in a very rushed and almost nonsensical
way. Nothing particularly interesting here, just a traditional guy-
trying-to-take-over-the-universe-by-summoning-a-monster-from-another-
dimension sort of game without any twists or anything to wow me.
Music/Sound - 20/35
This seems to be the DoZ of the mediocre music so far. The
pieces all sort of set a tone, but aren't very quality and I doubt
they are specifically made for this game. The four-or-so songs that
are used are at least used in a balanced manner. The sound effects
are good enough for the game.
Theme - 20/30
It is exploration, and it is space-- sorta...-- but it doesn't
really feel like it's space exploration. Furthermore, the theme isn't
particularly used well, in my opinion. Had the topic been different,
the planet could've easily been Earth in slightly different
circumstances. But! The theme is there so it deserves points.
Discretion - 10/15
Overall, good decision-making, but the battle engine and
graphical glitches do not make me very happy. Still, only one noticeable
bug and few spelling errors.
Total - 163/300
"So many genres, so little time."
37052 - "Growth and Consolidation"
Theme - Growth
Gameplay - 40/75
I really like this game in theory: you grow plants, buy land,
build up an empire and earn lots of money. However, the game does drop
the ball a little too much in the fact that the game becomes annoyingly
repetitive, just doing the same clicks over and over again for 20 or
so seasons, if I recall correctly. It felt a little too micro-manage-y.
I would've preferred hiring men to do the work for me, but having more
fields to put plants on and stuff. I never had any natural disasters
happen to me, but maybe I just got lucky? Regardless, I didn't take off
any points because that would be more of a lie in the instructions.
Speaking of which, I found the game very hard to get into because I felt
the instructions were lacking. Overall, I think the game was a good idea,
but a bad implementation.
Graphics - 15/60
Lots of built-in stuff, including [ text-boxes and * messages,
as well as colors and basically everything but a couple characters
including the plant stages and holes and the mouse. Overall, not very
pretty, although the graphics sorta do their job. The plants were hard
to click on because they were 1x1. The buildings were actually painful
to look at, and everything was just way too clashy.
Innovation - 32/45
There haven't been a lot of good business sim games made for MZX
quite yet, and this one is pretty decent. I don't usually like the genre,
but I enjoyed this game, so it did something with the genre that I liked.
Using factories to make jam and the R&D to help profit (although my two
R&D's, piping $200 a season seemed to help little) and having to buy land
are all good ideas. Nice work in terms of bringing a Harvesty Moon-y game
to MZX.
Plot - 10/40
If Harvest Moon can have a plot, then so can you. There's very,
very little here, and little worth talking about. The instructions
tended to confuse, but I liked the ending, so 10 seemed fair.
Music/Sound - 18/35
The four songs in the game are all pretty bad. None of them really
put me in the mood to play but the glass.xm, which is still not a great
song, but good enough for a farmy-type game. I preferred to keep it silent.
The sound effects were decent, and only there to tell you how your plants
were doing, but they were successful.
Theme - 25/30
I like where the author took this game with the theme. It is both
the growth of the plants and the business. The game in regards to the theme
is something different and original and fun and a nice twist on the "growth"
theme, were it seems a lot of the better games are presiding. Nice job.
Discretion - 8/15
It took Zaph and I some talking to figure out how to play this
game, which is probably a result of confusing directions, and I've had to
explain it to other people, so it's not just a limited problem. Furthermore,
I often found it difficult to successfully click on the plants every time
and had to do long clicks. Furthermore, the game seemed to go way to fast
for me to manage any more than a few plants at a time on the recommended
speed, so I had to slow it down further.
Total - 148/300
"Fun but repetitive once you finally get the hang of it"
39201 - "Space Kung Fu"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 65/75
I really, really enjoyed this game. A lot. I am not usually a big
fan of the puzzle genre, but this game mixed puzzle with action very well.
Basically, you get three guys with whom you have to switch around; they each
have their own special moves which are used for destroying stuff like robots
and solving each level. Each level feels well-designed and makes the player
think, as well as evolve. Throughout the game, I started noticing different
ways to kill robots, like destroying the camera that controls them or forcing
them right in front of a laser, both of which the game requires you do later.
My only real complaint about the gameplay is the small number of levels. 7 is
good, but I didn't want it to end.
Graphics - 40/60
The game is not the most beautiful thing ever made for MZX, but it
does seem to work nicely. Between the supposedly Chinese characters (I can't
read Mandarin so I'll never know), the 1x2 character models and the level
graphics, the entire thing just works for a very "Kung Fu in Space" theme
for which it's going. I wish the ground and wall textures could've been a
little better worked-on, but they aren't ugly enough for me to complain.
Also, more graphics would've been nice, considering the small amount that is
used in the game. There were also some minor graphical bugs, like putting
spaces where a floor should've been after a move.
Innovation - 35/45
For a MZX game, Space Kung Fu seems very original to me. There aren't
a lot of great puzzle games for MZX, and nothing like this as far as I'm
aware. The voice acting is the longest I've seen in MZX yet, albeit a pretty
bad monologue. The puzzle-action was interesting and new.
Plot - 15/40
Errr... Mmmm... hmmmm. A major weak point to this game. Sorry
author(s), your plot sucks and you're not funny. You even admit the story
sucks. The story is good enough to introduce and conclude the game, but
not good enough for me to give you any decent points for it. At least you
killed off Papa Chang, who was exceptionally annoying.
Music/Sound - 20/35
The music is really hit-or-miss for me. I really like some of the
songs, and some other ones really fail to impress. What's more interesting
in this game are the sound effects. Most notably the "Papa Chang" monologue
and some in-game sound effects. The monologue, at first, seemed like it was
going to be funny, but it got really annoying, really fast, especially when
the speech started really deviating from the text on-screen and it was
difficult to follow what was happening. The in-game sound effects were nice,
with a specific sound effect for about half-or-so of the moves.
Theme - 13/30
Well, it is in space and I guess you are exploring a space ship or
something, but this game could've easily been made for nearly any theme
with an hour's worth of change or so. The theme was not well-implemented
nor creatively used, but at least it has enough theme not to be
disqualified.
Discretion - 10/15
The monologue takes off most of the points here, with the minor
graphical glitches coming in a distant second.
Total - 198/300
"Mupp--Kung Fu Masters IN SPAAAACE"
42914 - "Secret Galaxy"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 10/75
"This game is seriously incomplete :(" is seriously the mantra of
the entire game it seems. A non-fully-working side-scroll engine with a lot
of charsets that don't seem to be loading and one part of one level and a
teensy bit of another level done. COME ON. You had _twenty four_ hours to
make a game, and this is, what? Maybe an hour's worth of work or so? Anyway,
you can sort of select a planet and sort of play half a screen of one level.
Graphics - 5/60
Ugh. The charsets are constantly screwed up. The only thing that
looks decent at all is the intro, which is still pretty ugly, and the turtle.
Innovation - 5/45
Uh, picking a planet is sorta innovative I guess =/
Plot - 10/40
Uninteresting and sometimes poorly-worded, but probably the part of
the game most complete.
Music/Sound - 20/35
I actually like the music of this game. Pretty catchy songs are the
only thing that make this game livable. Unfortunately, most of the music
in this game is not in any playable portion, so I can't really judge it.
But the music that was there was good enough.
Theme - 20/30
Yeah, it's exploring space. If there were more here, that is.
Discretion - 1/15
Put some effort into a game next time.
Total - 71/300
"This game is seriously incomplete :("
44305 - "Chronicles of a Broken Man"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 50/75
A decent, but buggy and a bit hard-to-control sidescrolling
sword engine is the meat and potatoes of this game. It is a good
idea in theory, although it can be frustrating at times. Anyway,
this is a pretty decent sidescroller with varied levels, including
a romp through an asteroid belt (and really, what decent space ship
traveling game doesn't have one), a climbing level and a difficult
boss. Between the usual gameplay and the variance, the player does
not easily get bored of playing through the levels. More than two
types of enemies would've been nice, but c'est la vie, I guess.
There were some bugs I had to get around, most notably one that ends
level 2 and one in level 3 where if a "bullet" hit me the jumping
engine would break. Overall, though, a very enjoyable game.
Graphics - 45/60
It's clear that there was a definite effort was put into
the graphics of this game. Everything from the title screen to the
final boss looked good, although some parts were better than others,
the good being, for example, level 3, and the bad being, for example,
the cinematics, which made little sense and were very confusing. (In
level 4, are those windows supposed to be like that or is it a charset
error?)
Innovation - 20/45
Not too innovative here. At the same time, it's not all same-
old-same-old. The plot was pretty creative and different and the... I
can't fully describe it, but it just felt different from a lot of the
other MZX side-scrollers. A cooler side-scrolling engine could've got
you some more points here.
Plot - 28/40
A tad bit confusing, but good overall. Sent to a planet with
a group of scientists, a pilot finds himself alone and in searching
for the rest of his crew discovers a conspiracy larger than Earth
itself. A little cliché, but I liked the twisted ending. Nothing of
particular merit, however, just a solid (albeit confusing) story.
Music/Sound - 30/35
Here's an area of particular note. I really liked the music of
this game. It seemed to fit very well and really put me in the mood to
play this game. I can't even tell whether the music was specifically
tracked for this game or just really searched-for. Either way, all the
music is quality and fits well. The sound effects are pretty good, too.
Not quite as good as the music, but works-- I can recognize exactly
what everything is.
Theme - 23/30
The basis of the plot is "Space Exploration" so the theme is
there throughout the game, but not very strongly. There is not
"Space Exploration" throughout the entire game so I did not give 30
whole marks.
Discretion - 8/15
The game has two major bugs that I had to work around, both
mentioned in the "Gameplay" section. Minor typo/grammatical stuff and
a gravity/jumping engine that could've been better are also problems.
Total - 204/300
"The cliché massive conspiracy game"
52671 - "Demon Surge"
Theme - Growth
Gameplay - 50/75
What do you get when you mix Metal Gear Solid and a Nytarian
game? Demon Surge. You have several options in this game: go through,
kill everybody (or at least enough people to get through), beat two
bosses like any normal game OR you can sneak around, wait for your
opportunity to kill people with one hit from the back, beat one or
two bosses, depending on how you choose OR you can sneak around, not
kill a soul and even avoid killing both bosses, which gives you the
best endings. The game, although fun, gets a tad repetitive, even in
its short lifespan. The majority of this game, it seems, is reading
the plot. However, the game still does manage to be very fun with
the various ways you can get through it. Boy I wish it were longer.
Graphics - 45/60
From the title screen, I was very anxious to see what the
graphics in the game would be like. The game starts out on a decent-
looking intro-to-plotline board, and then jumps into a pretty good-
looking gameplay board, with good-looking monsters, characters,
surroundings, and, of course, blood. The second plot board does not
look quite as good, an apparently quickly-made forest and prison.
Then back in the game, another really nice-looking board. The trees
are REALLY attractive, in my opinion, and the colors work very
well. The third plot board looks as iffy as the first two. The final
playable location looks alright, but not as good as the first two.
The last plot location (assuming you did not get ending C), is pretty
mediocre and looks like it was made in the last hour or so of the
competition. The point of this board is just to get the ending plot
across, anyway. The ending boards B and C contain no graphics and
the real ending contains a weird diagonalized humanoid outline.
Overall, I really liked the playable boards, the story scenes were
decent and the endings were eh.
Innovation - 30/45
MGS-type games have been done (especially in the MZXO when
the topic was "stealth") and so have multiple endings. Games where
you can choose not to kill anybody even with the clear opportunity
in front of you and are eventually rewarded for it are less common.
It would've been nice if you had provided alternative routes, like
Deus Ex or something like that, because you can basically just run
past everybody without them hurting you and that's not as fun as
just sneaking around. The plot was sort-of original, although I've
seen moderately-close variations of it before.
Plot - 35/40
What can I say? I really liked this plot. It was twisty,
kept me interested and seemed to be the focus of the game. A
classic "wake up without memories" game, you find out that you
are a demon in what seems to be a world without humans. As you
progress, you learn more and more about your true identity. Of
course, there's more going on than you realize and as you get
better and better endings, more of the plot is realized. Very
nice job!
Music/Sound - 28/35
The music is another strong point of this game. The four
songs all set the tone very well, the dreary prison, the
mysterious forest, the final battle, and (of course) the up-tempo
"oh no I've been spotted" music. The music is all pretty solid,
except for the final battle song, which I thought was just ok. The
thing that hurt this game here is again the length. There's just not
enough music (like for the story boards, ESPECIALLY for the last one,
would've been a very good idea). The sound effects are all pretty
decent, too. Nice work here.
Theme - 13/30
The theme does not feel tightly tied to this game. I mean,
it's there. Sorta. Mostly at the end. You don't really see it unless
you finish the game in a certain way, and some players might not even
play again to get the other ending therefore see the theme. Even then,
with it being just at the end, it still feels very tacked-on. As if
the creator of this game had it in his head before the DoZ started.
I sure hope it doesn't disqualify this game, however.
Discretion - 13/15
There seem to be a few minor graphical and sound glitches in
the game, but besides that, the author made a solid, well-planned
game.
Total - 214/300
"So wait, Nytar definitely wasn't in this DoZ??"
60315 - "Pressure Valve" or "Valve Pressure"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 40/75
An interesting shoot-em-up mixed with a race against the
clock. The game starts out very difficult because you do not know
where to go and must find a pressure valve quickly, and for people
like me who like to explore, it might be difficult to find that
spot on the first try. But once I got through the first part I
started to get the system down. The second part was annoying
because the boss could only be hit in the head, due to overlay or
sprite or however the author did it. The last boss did not show up
at all and it is only by luck that I managed to corner and shoot him
to death. However, the game didn't suck, per se, the traditional
shooter genre was used alright here and the added element of having
to release a valve every once in a while made it more enjoyable.
Graphics - 40/60
The title screen made me anxious to play the game. However,
the game itself was not as good as I expected. It was good, don't
get me wrong. The spaceship with the pipes and doors and all that
looked nice, but the creatures themselves (with the exception of the
plant boss) looked eh. However, there were graphical glitches pretty
prevalent in the game.
Innovation - 25/45
The pressure valve thing is a neat idea, and it really sort
of carries the game and differentiates it from the rest. However,
that's really it in terms of originality.
Plot - 10/40
You basically get an introduction and an ending, and both
of them are pretty poor. Also, typos.
Music/Sound - 23/35
The music is alright. To be honest, I don't think it set a
good constant or appropriate tone. Furthermore, the music itself
was just decent. The sound effects I like, though: the screaming
and shooting samples are good, but I don't think I noticed much
else.
Theme - 15/30
Another game where you're in space, and you're sorta
exploring, but I would hardly call it "Space Exploration." This is
neither a solid nor creative use of the topic, but it is still
there, so you get half-credit.
Discretion - 10/15
A lot of graphical glitches, and the clock is still running
during those intermission boards =( Oh yeah, and typos in the little
text there was.
Total - 163/300
"It's not so much pressure as oxygen but whatever =P"
66108 - "Super Space Adventure 3D"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 15/75
I guess it was... playable, but it wasn't fun or anything
like that. It almost seems like a joke game to me with how bad it
plays. It's a standard "adventure" game where you basically have
to figure out where to go next, and the answer is usually "look
for a door." Then there's the shooting mini-game, which is terribly
unfun and tedious. The game is short and boring. Put in a little
effort next time.
Graphics - 5/60
A particular low point of the game, the graphics are
downright ugly. The colors clash, the charedited characters look
bad and the use of the other characters is poor. BUT there were
graphics so you get points.
Innovation - 5/45
Vertexy dimension with orange void and black stars? Uh, I
guess that's creative.
Plot - 7/40
It was there... Probably the "focus" of the game, although
the plot was just as =( as the rest of the game.
Music/Sound - 2/35
As promised you got two points for not having sound or music.
And no, I don't count the in-game "game over" thing to be music.
Theme - 15/30
Yeah, I guess there was space exploration... sorta. Better
than Demon Surge was with its theme.
Discretion - 7/15
Between misspellings and just a common "why didn't you put
more effort into this game" I find you guilty of bad judgment
Total - 56/300
"Is this a joke? =/"
79840 - "Blacktropix"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 10/75
Mildly enjoyable. Sorta.
Graphics - 15/60
The graphics were alright. Sorta.
Innovation - 5/45
Mildly innovative in the story. Sorta.
Plot - 5/40
Completely uninteresting Completely.
Music/Sound - 20/35
The two/three songs in this game were probably the "best"
part about the game. Sorta.
Theme - 1/30
It mentions Space Exploration as an afterthought right at
the end. Sorta.
Discretion - 1/15
Well, he didn't say who he was, but this is obviously not
a game with much thought in it.
Total - 57/300
"*&!^@%+#"
81762 - "The Gardener"
Theme - Growth
Gameplay - 30/75
For a game as simple as this, you'd think they could've
made it much longer in twenty-four hours. It's a boring, run-of-
the-mill "adventure" game; and by adventure game I mean touch
everything, then touch everything again, then keep repeating
until the game is over. Sorry guy, these games are simply not
fun with just that; games need variety and spice.
Graphics - 15/60
Not only have you not done any charediting, you did
not even use the default MZX charset-- you used the basic ascii
charset. Now, this would be cute if you were playing with ZZT,
but not MZX. Then you used the default MZX palette. Finally,
between severe empty board syndrome and your bad use of what you
DID have, I think you should work on your graphics or go back
to ZZT.
Innovation - 15/45
The enter menu was kinda nice, I guess. The "humor" added
to the game was kinda original, too, like the different types of
trees. Didn't really care for it, though.
Plot - 13/40
It was there; it wasn't like it was progressing, but
was text throughout. However, it was mostly unfunny and
uninteresting. Kept the game going, I guess.
Music/Sound - 3/35
1 point for no music. 2 points for the one sound.
Theme - 18/30
You had to grow trees in supposedly unique ways, although
it was basically all the same. Still, it was definitely in there,
but it wasn't particularly original or exciting with the topic.
Discretion - 13/15
I don't recall any typos off the top of my head, but the
two points are for just inadequate thinking-through of the game.
I know you can't do this in a DoZ, but having someone else who
doesn't know exactly where to go test your game is a good idea.
In a DoZ situation, you can't do that, so try your best to
pretend you don't know where to go and see what it's like.
Total - 107/300
"To make this game grow, you need a jack-in-the-box, a millstone,
a gallon of apple juice and ten pound-signs."
81802 - "Zt: The Dawn of Zeux"
Theme - Growth?
Gameplay - 30/75
A traditional shooter with a bit of sidescrolling, a bit
of jam buttons really quickly, and a lot of boring dialog The
vast majority of this game was dialog, and the bit that was
playable tended to be very bland. The phone number thing at the
end I could see being very annoying to someone who hadn't looked
the number up and still had it in his browser.
Graphics - 38/60
The graphics were pretty decent throughout this game,
considering the length of it: there were a lot of cutscenes,
two towns, a cave and a Mighty Bomb Jack minigame. However, the
graphic talent often seemed stretched thin due to the length.
Innovation - 15/45
Not a particularly innovative game, unless you consider
the in-your-face political propaganda in this game, which seems
to have risen to a new level this DoZ.
Plot - 10/40
There was probably more plot in this game than any other
game in the DoZ, so why would I give it such a low score? Simple.
The plot sucked. This game is nothing more than bad political
propaganda, taking potshots at right-wingers throughout the
whole game. Now, I myself am quite liberal, but I hate it when
liberals use the same methods that they complain the
conservatives are using. Quit your double-standard, and add
a plot that somebody in this world besides yourself will enjoy.
Music/Sound - 15/35
Besides the fact that most of the music in this game is
copyrighted, and, on top of that, annoying after only short
periods of time I can only give a few points for the music
portion. The sound effects however, were pretty nice overall.
Theme - 1/30
There might've been some growth somewhere in the game
... I dunno. I'd nearly eat my shoe if this game isn't DQ'd
for lack-of-topic.
Discretion - 0/15
Just about everything.
Total - 109/300
"I wish people would stop making these games."
86970 - "Shoot the Enemy and Win"
Theme - Growth
Gameplay - 1/75
Pressing right or left once in a while does not
constitute gameplay.
Graphics - 15/60
Very, very limited graphics, but at least they're char-
edited and you can usually figure out what they are.
Innovation - 35/45
I'll give you this: I've never seen a game like this before
in MZX, but that's for a reason-- I'll rant about it in plot.
Plot - 5/40
I see this as the author thinking he's very clever with his
pseudophilosophical "game." I don't mind a little bit of philosophy
in games, as long as the game is fun and the philosophy isn't being
shoved down your throat; however (probably because I'm an uncultured,
barbaric know-nothing) I found this game very stupidly philosophical
and completely unenjoyable. The game has a very loose plot of a guy
growing up being taught to shoot the enemy and win; but it turns out
in the end that he has not really grown up at all because he can't
think for himself and still acts like a child. Seriously, gimme a
break.
Music/Sound - 2/35
Music? Sound?
Theme - 10/30
The whole game is a guy growing up in a matter of a few
realtime minutes, and how he hasn't really grown up at all. I did
not particularly feel the theme in the game though, but it's there.
Discretion - 5/15
Regardless of the occasional joke entry, DoZ is a game-making
competition, not a movie-making competition.
Total - 73/300
"Lights, camera, inaction!"
98083 - "Space Invader"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 35/75
It adds a twist on the defeat-every-enemy-and-go-to-the-next-
level genre: go from planet to planet with a limited amount of fuel...
except for the fact that the fuel supply is incredibly limited and
seems to run out before you can find any planets. You basically have
to know where the planets are to find them, which does pose some sort
of a contradiction. And when you get on the planet, you only get 20
ammo, which is barely enough to do anything, so you have to keep
relanding. Furthermore, the engine doesn't always respond properly.
Some playtesting could've helped a lot of these problems.
Graphics - 20/60
The charset is edited a bit, and most of the chars that are
used in the game are the new ones, but that doesn't mean they look
very good. The graphics are mediocre throughout the entire game,
but at least everything is pretty obvious as to its identity. The
levels themselves seem to be filled with either all of one type of
ground, or have lines of another-colored running through them,
neither of which looks very pretty.
Innovation - 25/45
A pretty innovative concept, having to worry about your fuel
and your ammo and everything, but it just doesn't seem to work out
very well. The fuel goes away like that, as does the ammo, which
makes the player keep re-entering levels. Finding the planets would've
been a good idea if there had been some better way of finding them.
Plot - 5/40
There was an introduction (sorta) and a "you win" board, but
that's about it.
Music/Sound - 2/35
Music? Sound?
Theme - 20/30
It's there. Not used in any particularly innovative or
interesting way, but it's there. At least you're actually exploring
space in this one, instead of exploring IN a place not on Earth.
Discretion - 12/15
Some playtesting would've done your game good.
Total - 119/300
"I can almost see the plane-- oh wait ran out of fuel."
99086 - "Space Exploration"
Theme - Space Exploration
Gameplay - 20/75
The game is not only very boring and tedious, but long, too.
If a fun game is long, it is good; if a boring game is long, it's
bad, simple logic. An overhead "adventure" engine mixed with an
occasional poor side-scrolling engine makes this game all work and
no play. You go around trying to collect 1600 bollars, which is
apparently space currency, to buy a newer ship. The money is
obtained in various ways on various planets, but none of them seem
to be very entertaining.
Graphics - 10/60
Now, it is not a criminal offense for people to use the
default charset and palette, but this is a pretty poor job of using
them. The planet boards look just plain ugly and are filled with
nearly solid color. Especially with these colors, that's a big
no-no. The characters and robots look decent, probably the "best"
looking thing in the game along with the "the end" board.
Innovation - 15/45
Not too much innovation here; traveling from planet-to-
planet has not been very uncommon in this game, nor has finding
all of a certain item to finish the game. The yo-yoish weapon is
probably the most innovative thing about this game.
Plot - 15/40
Well, it definitely had a beginning and end, with
characters who talked to you, even though there was no plot
progression to speak of. But at least your mission seems clear
enough and you have some degree of enjoyment trying to talk
to everybody in the game.
Music/Sound - 11/35
The music in this game is not very good at all. Not only
does it not set any constant or appropriate tone, the music is
also difficult and annoying to listen to after a while, and uses
copyrighted music as the basis of one song. Did you guys even
listen to your music before-hand? Anyway, 10 for music and 1 for
sound, due to lack of any sound effects.
Theme - 20/30
The game did the same thing other games did-- explore
multiple planets in search of some specific item to win the
game-- so it's not particularly original, but the theme is there
and it's there throughout the entire game.
Discretion - 14/15
There were no obvious problems, like major typos or bugs
or anything like that, but the game really could've used a
graphical and/or gameplay touchup.
Total - 105/300
"Land, money and repeat."
Weight Ranks:
01 39201 - "Space Kung Fu" (Space Exploration)
02 19962 - "Cheese's Adventure" (Growth)
03 44305 - "Chronicles of a Broken Man" (Space Exploration)
04 52671 - "Demon Surge" (Growth)
05 31340 - "React" (Space Exploration)
06 60315 - "Valve Pressure" (Space Exploration)
07 31711 - "Final Frontier" (Space Exploration)
08 37052 - "Growth and Consolidation" (Growth)
09 21986 - "Agent Ballpark" (Growth)
10 9801 - "A Sad Game" (Space Exploration)
11 98083 - "Space Invader" (Space Exploration)
12 5364 - "Galaxy Slime" (Space Exploration)
13 42914 - "Secret Galaxy" (Space Exploration)
14 81762 - "The Gardener" (Growth)
15 99086 - "Space Exploration" (Space Exploration)
16 6170 - "A Space Exploration Game of Some Sort" (Space Exploration)
17 81802 - "Zt: The Dawn of Zeux" (Growth?)
18 86970 - "Shoot the Enemy and Win" (Growth)
19 79840 - "Blacktropix" (Space Exploration)
20 66108 - "Super Space Adventure 3D" (Space Exploration)