Man for real get out of here already. Maybe he actually has a good reason for disqualifying it or maybe it was just a misunderstanding on his part. Maybe you are right and he does have something against you guys or the game (hahaha OK). But at this point you guys are coming off as pretty obnoxious jerks! Yea he should have contacted you guys first, but he didn't and that's just how it is. But instead of waiting to deal with the problem (you know, through pm?) you paraded into the topic to denounce the contest and him. The guy has no hidden motives, he's the one offering up money. Your accusations are as baseless as you think his are! Maybe you guys ought to try and save face and back down until he is here to actually listen? I don't know Nackster at all but I got this feeling if he's nice enough to be handing out a good amount of his money, he's probably not to hard to actually talk to.
*gulp* Nackster... look what have you... brought upon yourself
This is the second time a controversy has happened in the_Nackster's contests. Also, I was referring to people telling him that open polling is a bad idea... and here we are. I have nothing but utmost respect for the guy for even doing and sponsoring these contests with his own money. It will be settled when he logs back on. My accusations aren't baseless. The people that made Muse even said they started making this game within the allocated contest time. If the_Nackster removed the game for violating a rule for the contest, then make it so. I am not alone in this either. 'Muse' was leading in the poll even though other games were "more qualified." That just proves that open polling doesn't work since the other games weren't winning. But that doesn't matter, because that's the nature of open poll voting.
Anyway, here's my review for all the games:
CARIUS: The Super Astronomical [And ][/And] Space Fish- It's a really short game... even shorter than 'Muse.' You're a robotic space fish eating other robotic space fish. As you gobble up more space fish, you keep getting bigger, allowing you to eat bigger space fish. Very soothing music. It's just like the
Growing Fish Game. It even has the same eating sound effect. I know people had some lag issues, but I fixed it by going into Window Mode (F4 for RPG Maker games).
I'm still amazed Carius was able to do this in RM2K3. Pretty nice game.
FARMRUSH: Terraformer- You play a spacecraft that looks like a flying saucer. Your job is to avoid enemy vehicles while shooting and watering the trees down. That's pretty good right there. The concept is that instead of destroying planets, you are saving one. That's some great sci-fi material right there that even James Cameron is beating himself up for not thinking about it first. Hyperactive music is a plus. Great job Farmrush.
ANARYU: Gravity- Gravity. Sounds like a John Mayer song... but no. It's almost like a Metroid game... girl main character, even. You can shoot diamond like objects that looks like one of the bullets from rRootage. You can do straight fire or a secondary fire that lets you control where you want it to land. When it lands on a movable object... that's right: it moves the object. You have to finish the levels as quickly as possible. There aren't that many obstacles in the game given the contest deadline. But pretty cool idea, nonetheless. Appropriate sci-fi music as well.
HIMA: Dot Plus- Your job is to hack a computer called 'The Babel' (Brad Pitts not included). The object of this puzzler is to add up the numbers on screen according to the posted target number. You can make chains of number blocks, with time permitting, allowing for bigger chains and higher scores. It reminded me of Number Tetris and another game I've played before just like this one. The game can be addicting, but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier instead of harder. Overall, a very entertaining and addictive game. Spybreak music was kind of out of place, but understandable since you are a hacker and Neo was a hacker.
PSY-WOMBATS: Terra Nova: Eyes Of The Machine- You wake up from your slumber not knowing what to do. After a bit of exploring you encounter the doctor and find out you are his creation. You can shoot enemies with your weapon. You can shoot enemies while moving and jumping. Not to mention a protective shield to cover you while roaming around Planet Corinth. There are some bugs like invalid event page errors, a pretty common error when it comes to dealing with RPG maker games. Given the contest deadline, they are understandable. Great Sci-Fi game. Pretty good choice of music as well.
AznChipmunk, YummyDrumsticks, Malad: Muse (does not involve the band) "disqualified"- A pretty nice intro. You are Selim Shirazi... or are you? The game has a pretty eerie atmosphere. To be expected for a Sci-Fi Horror game. As you wander around the game, you discover many characters you work with. You get hints of where you are based on your exploration. That's about it. Without going into details, the game ends abruptly. It leaves you wanting more. A very suspenseful build up of the story (not to mention the accompanying music) and... *bloop. This game reminds me of Neok's "Don't Go Out" for the October Halloween contest. A story based game with great premise, but short lived.
Conclusion:
If I was to choose three games that deserve the prizes, I would pick Terraformer, Gravity, and Terra Nova: Eyes of the Machine. The reason for my choices is this...
I was going to submit a game for this contest myself. I was planning on making a side story for WALL-E. I already have the custom sprites for WALL-E, EVE, M-O, and the Gophers in the game. However, all I was basically doing was copy/pasting WALL-E's obvious sci-fi reference and put it in a game already been done before. It would have ended up like a pacman game like I did for the Halloween contest and like Dragol's Chocobo game that didn't appear to be Halloween-ish. So I decided not to submit my game.
Even though Carius' and Hima's games are very well done, there's nothing sci-fi about the gameplay. The same thing can be said for all the other games, but for me Terraformer, Gravity, and Terra Nova represented sci-fi in the best way possible.
But enough of my review. It's open poll. I don't wanna argue anymore. Vote for what the contest is about: Sci-Fi.
Gravity gets my vote.
Gaming World Forums
Nov-Dec contest Poll.