OMG in the News

[Carlos Camacho]

Anyone want to give me the gist of this page's mention of OMG?
http://macnytt.se/news/9323

[Michi]

Anyone want to give me the gist of this page's mention of OMG?
http://macnytt.se/news/9323

Here's a quick, completely unauthorized, translation:

Voting in the "OMG Cup" commences today
MacNytt (MacNews) checks out this year's entries (updated)

The game developer community iDevGames usually holds an annual game programming contest named uDevGame. This year there's also a different(?) competition named OMG Cup, where "OMG" stands for "Original Mac Games". It seems like OMG Cup replaces uDevGame this year, but is in essence the same thing; the same arrangers and the same prizes.

Today, the first of December, the voting period starts, during which anyone can download and try out the competing entries, and then score them to select the worthiest winner.

2004 was a miserable year for uDevGame, with hardly any interesting games to vote for, even if Kill Dr. Coté (now known as Kill Monty), the winner of the contest, wasn't all that bad. This year, however, I'm happy to write that there are plenty of promising games among the entries!

I was about to write a little about the highlights, but I didn't have time to test them all before my computer broke down. Now I'm going to spend the night getting it back in order. The rest of you can always check the entries in the meantime =)

Update:
The computer runs and these games are worthy of a download and closer look:

N-Ball
Bounce about on sticks with a ball. Has to be played. Will absolutely win something. Throw in a catchy dance/techno-soundtrack and this is complete.

Tracktor Beam
(Whose beautiful icon illustrates this article.) Small but pretty arcade game where you fly a spaceship and transport boxes from point A to point B. (Antimatter is another entry using almost the same idea, but that one was neither as fun nor as good looking.)

And Round Again
For everyone missing the old classic Pipe Dreams. Here the goal isn't to build a way for water, however, but to create closed pipe-circuits.

Zomb
RPG-ish game where you kill zombies. Reminds a lot of World to Conquer from uDG 2003, both in looks and with the nice music.

Illuminations
Crystal Quest meets Kill Monty. Fantastically nice effects, but you tire pretty quickly since it is too easy and too confused.

Pakimono
Too sick not to be mentioned. Japanese tourists try to take photos of the famous mermaid statue in Copenhagen, and your mission is to run naked over a highway and throw yourself in the way of the picture. The more of the sight you block with yourself, the higher your score.

Some semi-interesting games:
Gooey is the puzzler which exclusively uses Aqua dialog components, N0x35C49E is a space shooter with ASCII-graphics only, and Nanobot has nothing to do with the fantastic uDG-winner Kiki the Nanobot.

There was also this comment by, I presume, the author of the article:

(Sorry for the bad quality of this article. I had only typed half of it and had to finish it on a computer with the world's noisiest CRT monitor, porridge in the keyboard, and at the same time as I was reinstalling my system. But it's cool, I'm tough.)

[Carlos Camacho]

Thanks for the translation!

>2004 was a miserable year for uDevGame,
OUCH!

[Carlos Camacho]

Here's another "ouch"
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000867070397/
"Mac" "Gaming"...

Now if that isn't an oxymoron then I dunno what is...lol

That said, I tried three of the OMG games, and they... um... suck. I weep the loss of Halo more today than ever...
Yikes!

[Malarkey]

You know, for the people that say that the OMG games suck or whatever, I'd like to see them make a better game in 6 weeks.

[ThemsAllTook]

Notice how Jago is the only person in those comments who is saying stupid things about games on the Mac. Everyone else is defending the platform and making rational, logical arguments. Don't let one really noisy idiot drown out the quieter, more intelligent folks. :)

The person who wrote the first article seems to have terrible taste in games. 2004 was a bad year for uDevGames? Where did that come from? The games in 2004 were absolutely amazing. Very high quality all around. Also, he doesn't even mention Outnumbered in his list of good/interesting OMG entries...

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Oh, come now. We all know there are no games, let alone apps for the Mac. :p

As for his opinion of uDev '04, maybe they just weren't his style of games. Really, only KDC stands out in my mind...and that Qix thing no human can pronounce.

[MattDiamond]

Also, he doesn't even mention Outnumbered in his list of good/interesting OMG entries...

And he doesn't mention MY game either. That clinches it! :-)

Seriously though, I was also taken aback by the comment "I tried 3 OMG games and they sucked" and pining for "lost Halo" in the same sentence. Some people sure have high expectations for free indie-developed contest entries. No big deal except then they shoot their mouth off in public.

[AGhost]

Nanobot has nothing to do with the fantastic uDG-winner Kiki the Nanobot.

Only mention I get is negative! :cry:

AGhost

P.S. On the same note, should I change the name of my game in order to prevent confusion?

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Only mention I get is negative! :cry:
AGhost
P.S. On the same note, should I change the name of my game in order to prevent confusion?

Not at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to work on my new game BugThugees...

[OneSadCookie]

And he doesn't mention MY game either. That clinches it! :-)

For the record, ThemsAllTook had nothing to do with Outnumbered. Now, I certainly felt miffed not to get a mention, but I don't think other people should get put down for feeling the same ;)

[MattDiamond]

For the record, ThemsAllTook had nothing to do with Outnumbered. Now, I certainly felt miffed not to get a mention, but I don't think other people should get put down for feeling the same ;)

Oops! I knew very well that ThemsAllTook was not talking about his own game, but I see now that my wording made it seem like I was making a pointed comment about him.
I was just making a joke at my own expense. Apologies to anyone who thought otherwise.

[Bachus]

Notice how Jago is the only person in those comments who is saying stupid things about games on the Mac. Everyone else is defending the platform and making rational, logical arguments. Don't let one really noisy idiot drown out the quieter, more intelligent folks. :)

The person who wrote the first article seems to have terrible taste in games. 2004 was a bad year for uDevGames? Where did that come from? The games in 2004 were absolutely amazing. Very high quality all around. Also, he doesn't even mention Outnumbered in his list of good/interesting OMG entries...

He mentioned Illuminations. He clearly has very good taste in games. :)

EDIT: Oh, and another mention (http://www.tigsource.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=302).

"You may recall that the OMG (Original Mac Games) Cup is a competition to "encourage unique Mac game development." Entrants were given only six weeks to create fun games for the Mac. Well, the deadline for entries is now over and public judging has begun.

And what that means is 36 free Mac games for you to play.

Honestly, most of the games don't look or sound all that great. Except for Pakimono, which has you running naked in front of Japanese tourists' cameras as they try to take photos in Copenhagen."

[Carlos Camacho]

>That Pakimono game almost makes me wish I had a mac.
from http://www.tigsource.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=302.
Cool.

>I'd like to see them make a better game in 6 weeks.
Yes, many people often miss that part. They think Halo grows on trees or on store shelves.

[Najdorf]

N-Ball
Bounce about on sticks with a ball. Has to be played. Will absolutely win something. Throw in a catchy dance/techno-soundtrack and this is complete.


'nuff said :wow: (sends the 1000$ check to sweeden... :ninja:)

[MattDiamond]

He mentioned Illuminations. He clearly has very good taste in games. :)

EDIT: Oh, and another mention (http://www.tigsource.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=302).

"You may recall that the OMG (Original Mac Games) Cup is a competition to "encourage unique Mac game development." Entrants were given only six weeks to create fun games for the Mac. Well, the deadline for entries is now over and public judging has begun.

And what that means is 36 free Mac games for you to play.

Honestly, most of the games don't look or sound all that great. Except for Pakimono, which has you running naked in front of Japanese tourists' cameras as they try to take photos in Copenhagen."

There seems to be a disconnect between what people are looking for (graphics, sound) and the voting criteria (gameplay.) It's perfectly legit for the quality of the graphics, sound, and polish to affect how gameplay is perceived by the player. I expect that to some extent, but I wonder to what extent the general public are judging gameplay at all?

Ah well, good to see publicity for the contest. Even mixed reviews will get us more players if the words "free" and "games" are mentioned.

[BeyondCloister]

There seems to be a disconnect between what people are looking for (graphics, sound) and the voting criteria (gameplay.)

Maybe we could just forget public voting in future events due to this very point?

How about only allowing entrants to vote as hopefully the will understand the concept?

Working to one spec to find out that is not the spec the customer is expecting is very annoying.

[MattDiamond]

Maybe we could just forget public voting in future events due to this very point?

How about only allowing entrants to vote as hopefully the will understand the concept?

Working to one spec to find out that is not the spec the customer is expecting is very annoying.

Yes. Or, to go the other way, since polish and razmatazz are important to most game players, maybe we are spitting in the wind if we try to run a contest where those aren't a primary judging criteria.

[BeyondCloister]

Yes. Or, to go the other way, since polish and razmatazz are important to most game players, maybe we are spitting in the wind if we try to run a contest where those aren't a primary judging criteria.

Being forced to pander to the shallow masses would be such a shame.

The contest is about coming up with Original Mac Games and it is the game play that makes the games original.

[JonTrainer]

One thing I would suggest, is to change the term "Vote" to "Rate".

I find that I'm having to explain to people that they should rate every game they play as opposed to only voting for their favorite game.

[unknown]

Woohoo! My game's semi-interesting! :\

Being forced to pander to the shallow masses would be such a shame.
Thats what was best about this contest I think it was taken from another viewpoint than most, and a more important one, if I cant say that. How ever good graphics/polish a game has doesn't make you play it for days and days (with the exception of Dead or Alive beach volleyball :p).
Im pretty sure most people will understand the meaning of gameplay, but for sure some people will just vote 10 for the game they thought was coolest, which is why im glad its a two stage voting proccess.

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Being forced to pander to the shallow masses would be such a shame.

You mean: the same shallow masses you'd be trying to make your game appeal to if you were selling it?

[BeyondCloister]

You mean: the same shallow masses you'd be trying to make your game appeal to if you were selling it?

My entry for this contest was designed to have original game. It is not aimed at the mainstream gamer. I made a game I would like to play and possibly buy myself.

[OneSadCookie]

Then I don't think you should be expecting to win a public vote ;)

I thought it worked quite well for this competition -- to do well in the public vote you'll have to have good graphics and sound and acceptable gameplay, and to do well in the judges' vote you'll have to have good gameplay, which leads to a balanced overall vote...

It's just a pity that the contest page is naïve enough to suggest that only gameplay matters ;)

[Taxxodium]

It's just a pity that the contest page is naïve enough to suggest that only gameplay matters ;)

Yeah, I would've thought you could vote for several categories. Oh well, maybe next contest.

[Najdorf]

I would have wrote some thing like "from 1 to 10 how much did you enjoy the game?" In the end that's what really matters. Though gameplay is a closely related concept, also graphics and music can make you enjoy a game, depending on what the gamer looks for.

[Carlos Camacho]

I've fixed the spelling of "Public" (thanks Teresa!) and while inside the voting system, I altered the text to read:

"The OMG (Original Mac Games) Cup is a new game programming contest established by iDevGames, in connection with Freeverse Software, to encourage unique Mac game development. The challenge of the contest is to create innovative Mac OS X games that emphasize engaging gameplay―in only six weeks! You may rate games between December 1, 2005 12:01am GMT and December 15, 2005 11:59pm GMT. Before rating any game be sure to download and play the game. Your honest vote is appreciated."

I little better IMHO.

I would also have changed the text above the pop-up but I need to get back to work. (The way the system works, I actually need to change VERY extrants text, rather than just once... a bit of a pain..)

[kelvin]

Also, he doesn't even mention Outnumbered in his list of good/interesting OMG entries...
"good/interesting"? There's your problem right there. Outnumbered was neither.

I was extremely lucky in that I clicked Escort Wing (http://www.idevgames.com/contest/downloads/details.php?file=26) first. All other entries I've tried since pale in comparison.

[MattDiamond]

"good/interesting"? There's your problem right there. Outnumbered was neither.

I was extremely lucky in that I clicked Escort Wing (http://www.idevgames.com/contest/downloads/details.php?file=26) first. All other entries I've tried since pale in comparison.

So maybe we should just give up on having a public vote, or judges, and just let Kelvin pick the winner.

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

So maybe we should just give up on having a public vote, or judges, and just let Kelvin pick the winner.

I, for one, recommend the eerily accurate Magic Ball.

Maybe we should have some 10 year olds decide...

[dfmoore]

I hate to admit it, but it IS awefully hard to arrive at a functional implementation of an interesting concept (beyond match the color / make the pattern) in this time period. I for one had to set aside half of the original idea for a later date and while I think what I came up with can be interesting, I think that with the full idea, it could have been much better. I think that's the fun of these games- imagining the other half that isn't there yet, but you know how it'd fit in. Some games like And Around again are addicting puzzles that'll keep me going for a few weeks (mostly because it's so well polished and playable!) while some games don't really hint at where the polish leaves off- you get a "oh, thats neat, but is that all?" feeling. No possible growth except the one level.

As for outnumbered, I think it's a technical achievement and should be certainly regarded as much. I'm either really bad at it, or I'm not getting the gist, because I can't really live beyond a minute or two unless I sit headfirst in some of the debris while other bugs splatter themselves trying to get to me. Maybe i'm just not much for flying shooters. But it certainly looks nice and I think OSC + Nick should be proud of their entry.

[OneSadCookie]

Maybe we should have some 10 year olds decide...

I thought that's what we were doing...

OSC + Nick

OSC & who?

Neil Carter did the art, Jesus De Meyer did the music and some sound effects, and Jed Soane did the rest of the sound effects.

[Carlos Camacho]

Maybe we should have some 10 year olds decide...
That reminds me of that story I saw online once. They had a bunch of young kids review the games "we" grew up with -- they were unmerciful. (sp?)

Actually, my wife JUST GOT A JOB (do I sound happy?!?!?) but if not for that, SHE would be the best judge as she cares little for eye-candy (proven by the fact she loves Snood.)

Cheers,

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

My entry for this contest was designed to have original game. It is not aimed at the mainstream gamer. I made a game I would like to play and possibly buy myself.

Fair enough, but "shallow masses" sounds awfully like sour grapes. Maybe if you posted links to it on some Dr. Who forums. ;)

That reminds me of that story I saw online once. They had a bunch of young kids review the games "we" grew up with -- they were unmerciful. (sp?)

Junior is awesome at telling me when something sucks. No tact whatsoever.

[BeyondCloister]

Maybe if you posted links to it on some Dr. Who forums. ;).

Never been to Edinburgh have you? ;)

[MattDiamond]

Inside Mac Games' podcast #7 has some discussion of OMG. They had a short discussion and mention a few games by name.

[socksy]

That reminds me of that story I saw online once. They had a bunch of young kids review the games "we" grew up with -- they were unmerciful. (sp?)

I saw that, 'twas on Newgrounds. I believe that they were extremely harsh though, however I don't find those games as great as you "old-timers" do. In fact, gameplay wise I would only like games like Asteroids compared to Space Invaders. And stuff.

Unmerciful sounds cool, but not as cool as Merciless :)

[dfmoore]

OSC+Neil *
Sorry about the mix up- i meant neil!

[Bachus]

Inside Mac Games' podcast #7 has some discussion of OMG. They had a short discussion and mention a few games by name.

That was a pretty fun podcast to listen to, and not only because they give props to Illuminations. They also mention (off the top of my head) Pakimono, Pawns, Escort Wing, N-Ball, and Virus Out. Plus they make fun of Tuncer the whole time, so bonus.

[timac]

Hey,

Some of the games were mentioned in a french website called jeuxmac.com :
http://news.jeuxmac.com/3029.html

For non french speakers, they give a description of several games :
BullFrog, Illuminations, Torched Turf, Igor, Light Flux, MacBornes, Retrovirus and Pawns.

[Carlos Camacho]

I'd like to mention a big thanks to diordna (and DavidH) for his good work in submitting OMG news today.

Timac, thanks for the heads up.

[MattDiamond]

Google can loosely translate for us language-impaired:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.jeuxmac.com%2F3029.h tml&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&safe=active&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

[diordna]

I submitted the press release thingy to Devmaster.net, and we are now on their front page. However, the slashdot submission was, of course, rejected.

[Taxxodium]

BullFrog, Illuminations, Torched Turf, Igor, Light Flux, MacBornes, Retrovirus and Pawns.

Wow, I was mentioned :)

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Google can loosely translate for us language-impaired:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.jeuxmac.com%2F3029.h tml&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&safe=active&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

For the truly lazy, here's Google's take:

OMG - Some free plays!
- posted by FrAiD on December 14, 2005 to 14:10 -

Whereas OriginalMacgames Contest is about to close its doors in order to return its verdict, there it is still possible to go to download the registered plays.

There is really sympathetic software, here a small description of some:

BullFrog: a small play for child (less than 10 years) in whom it will have to nourish a frog.

Illuminations: Shoot' em' really sympathetic up (from 7 to 77 years).

Torched Racing: a play not badly of the extremely simple whole but, you have an army of sheep and guns and are vis-a-vis the computer of share and others of a valley and you must destroy the enemy battery (for all ages).

Igor: A set of platforms which could be also entitled "when Quasimodo meets Sonic" (7 - 13 years).

Light Flow: A kind of Tron with 4 (all ages).

MacBornes: A set of miles terminals against the computer the whole in French and really sympathetic.

Retrovirus: A kind of puzzle rather nicely carried out and rather hooker (for all ages).

Pawns: it is necessary to bring the small pawns of failures to the house without the unpleasant malicious one not destroying them, the whole on a chess-board. The play is really pleasant.


Good to see they think I have the 7-13 year old market. :p

[Bachus]

For the truly lazy, here's Google's take:


Good to see they think I have the 7-13 year old market. :p

I liked one of the comments which questioned why you have to stop playing Illuminations when you turn 78. :)

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Retrovirus: A kind of puzzle rather nicely carried out and rather hooker (for all ages).

Hm. He played a different game than I did then. :p

[Carlos Camacho]

about to close its doors in order to return its verdict
Order in the court, order in the court, or I'll clear the court!

There is really sympathetic software
The lives of the people who spend all their free time bringing joy (games) to others may be, but surely not the games? ;)

Quasimodo meets Sonic
This week on Pay-Per View, Quasimodo Meets Sonic and all hell breaks loose!

Good stuff!

[dfmoore]

it is necessary to bring the small pawns of failures to the house without the unpleasant malicious one not destroying them

so dramatic... !