21 Days Later: Carlosvision

The Concept

Since 1998, the Editor-in-Chief of iDevGames, Carlos Camacho, has been tirelessly promoting gaming on the Macintosh platform, as well through building a strong community of indie Mac game developers. He now invites the community to show appreciation for these efforts by re-creating any game from the list below. The titles below represent his favorite 8-bit classic games from the ’80s, which he often finds himself yearning to play.

  • Arkanoid
  • Berzerk
  • Centipede
  • Donkey Kong Jr.
  • Earl Weaver Baseball
  • Empire Deluxe (turn-based strategic global-domination wargame)
  • Galaga or Galaxian
  • Joust
  • Jungle Hunt or Pitfall
  • Gauntlet
  • Gyruss
  • Lemmings
  • Miner 2049er
  • Missile Command
  • Moon Patrol
  • Mr. Do
  • Phoenix
  • Omega Race (by Midway)
  • Robotron: 2084
  • Zaxxon

Schedule

  • Start: June 11, 2006 (11:59 PM GMT)
  • Application Deadline: June 25, 2006 (11:59 PM GMT)
  • Game Entry Deadline: July 2, 2006 (11:59 PM GMT)

How games are scored

The judge (iDevGames’ Editor-in-Chief, Carlos Camacho) will assign 1-10 to each game, in the following categories:

  • I enjoyed playing this game.
  • This game was presented professionally.
  • This game surpassed the original.

A score of 10 represents strong agreement with the statement, while a score of 1 conveys strong disagreement. These three scores are then added together to determine the game’s overall score. The games with the three highest overall scores win.

Winners

1st: Artack

Stephen Johnson & Kemal Zhang
8, 7, 6 = 21 total
Comment: This game reminded me of its original the most. The idea to use hand-drawn graphics is great. I’d like to see a “game pack” of classics using this approach. With this style of graphics/design, there are many polish elements that could be added in the future as well.

2nd: Miner 2049er

Alex Diener
7, 8, 5 = 20 total
Comment: This game, while reminding me of 2049er used a nice original design (original to me), and for that, I give it kudos. I love platform games that don’t require me to scroll at mad speeds (e.g. Sonic). I could see Alex turning this into a 3D game for uDevGames.

3rd: StarKnight

Joseph Duchesne
6, 8, 5 = 19 total
Comment: StarKnight had some nice polish, and I give credit for the in-game tutorials. It also had that “old-school” look which I like. However, I felt the entry was simply a game, and didn’t use enough elements from one particular game in my list.

Insection

John Carlyle
11 total
Comment: On the downside, this game felt incomplete. On the upside, I think the idea of bugs/mosquitos very good. The “backyard” has tons of possible enemies for a Joust-based game. Some elements that were missing though were “eggs” and platforms, and the lava. I think “water” could have replaced the lava, and perhaps a fish to replace the hand. I hope someone picks up on the idea from this game an introduces more bugs!

MoonRider

Jennifer Czeck 6 total
Comment: I use to love Moon Rover so I was very eager to play this game. I know Jonathan Czeck has/is working on such games for some time, so I expected some simple side-scroller. So I admit the text approach caught me off guard.

I’d like to thank all the developers who entered, and I hope you all gained something from participating in this mini-contest. I will contact the sponsor about the prizes, so check your emails (directed at the winners). The special prize will be handed to Joseph Duchesne (please send me your shipping address). I feel Joseph, as a young developer has shown a grear deal of maturity in our community, and has continues to progress as a developer. I hope with some 3D models, he can start to explore 3D-based games in the near future (time to buy Unity?)