OMG predictions?

[dfmoore]

Anyone want to (objectively) venture who they think will have made the top six? (It isn't for another few days that we'll find out, right?) :D

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

My top 6 picks (no particular order):

Tracktor Beam
Astro Chimp
N Ball
Escort Wing
Outnumbered
Illuminations

These aren't neccessarily my favorites, just what I expect to make the top 6.

[Nick]

Here's my list (no real order amongst themselves):

Illuminations
N-Ball
Pakimono
Tracktor Beam
Virus Out
N0x35C49E


I suppose I liked N0x35C49E and Illuminations mainly on graphics though both have very nice gameplay. The others are definitely all based on their interesting or innovative gameplay (is innovative the right word when describing a game where the point is to jump in front of Japanese turists while nude?). :lol:

Edit: Since I was posting while Daniel was and therefore couldn't read his post, I suppose I'll add that these are games that I really liked so it's more of a my top 6 games I'd like to see go on than an honest prediction. It is interesting that we both chose Illuminations, N-Ball, and Tracktor Beam. Perhaps those ones will do really well in the contest.

[OneSadCookie]

I don't think there's going to be a lot of variation here :)

My pick for top 6 (again, not necessarily my personal favorites, and in no particular order) is

* Outnumbered ( natch ;) )
* Illuminations
* Pakimono
* N-Ball
* Tracktor Beam
* Escort Wing

[Skorche]

My favorites:
* Tracktor Beam (great idea, wish I had made a game like this ;) )
* N Ball (just plain addicting)
* Escort Wing (personal favorite)
* Antimatter (can you blame me?)
* Space Wizard (great classic retro action)
* Chemical Bonds (fun puzzle game)

Who I think will win:
* Escort Wing
* Tracktor Beam
* N Ball
* Chemical Bonds
* Virus Out
* Illuminations

[Shunter]

Escort Wing
N Ball
Virus Out
N0x35C49E
Pakimono
Illuminations

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Space Wizard (great classic retro action)


Ditto on that. He just needs to tweak the difficulty somewhat. I hope he keeps working on it.

[ThemsAllTook]

Has no one here played Pawns!?

In no particular order:


Pawns
Tracktor Beam
N-Ball
Outnumbered
Zomb
And Round Again

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Has no one here played Pawns!?

I have and I like it a lot, but I don't think it will make the top 6. :(

[Najdorf]

my favourites in decreasing positions:

1) Space Wizard: I managed almost to kill the boss, then it crashed :-( other than that great game, hard but not impossible if you insist, learn the tricks and proceed carefully.

2) Tracktor beam, very catchy dynamics and great graphics

3) Escort Wing, really cool, though not as fast and furious as I would like, sometimes slowish.

4) Outnumbered: Ok, it's not as fun as quake but it's pretty playable. Maybe with mouse control it could get better

5) N0x35C49E, very fun idea and good game

6) Illuminations and Igor tie out this one

I think overvalued:

-Pakimono: ok, the idea is cool, but this is not much of a game...

-AstroChimp! Bah, this one went painfully slow and I dont like this kind of games.

Didnt try Zomb though, cant risk to get stuck in a rpg...

Some games I just didn't get'em in 3 minutes and I gave up (i.e. all the puzzle ones :p)

[MattDiamond]

Has no one here played Pawns!?
I have and I like it a lot, but I don't think it will make the top 6. :(
:cry: I appreciate the nice comments though.

The ones I think *should* win:
Traktor Beam
Illuminations
Pawns
And Round Again
N-Ball
Space Wizard

Other favorites of mine: N0x35C49E, Escort Wing, Chemical Bonds, Retrovirus. And I loved Virus Out's idea and execution, but wanted more gameplay from it than was there yet...

The ones I think will actually win:
Traktor Beam
Illuminations
N-Ball
Escort Wing
Outnumbered
Pakimono

Good luck to everyone...

[KiroNeem]

Ditto on that. He just needs to tweak the difficulty somewhat. I hope he keeps working on it.

I hope I get the chance to for the contest ^^
I have a whole list of things I would like to change, especially with the feedback I was given.

[aaronsullivan]

I wish I had more time to give to each of these games and I really like so many, that I don't think I can predict winners. Here's some comments on what others have said though:

Zomb is addictive fun. It won't take more than an hour of your time probably. It's only a limited number of battles, but the zombie factor and the fight for the use of the npc's keeps it interesting. I keep playing to try and keep everyone alive, but I haven't been able to do it yet.

Pawns is an excellent idea, but I want the control to feel less clunky somehow.

Don't underestimate the draw of a fully 3D game featuring a naked guy and tourists. (It really needs to show you the snapshots afterwards, though.) This was done in one weekend, so there is a lot of room to grow for this game.

I was psyched about Space Wizard until I realized the developer was already done with it and didn't seem to care about it anymore. <sigh> As it is, it still needs lots of work.

Space Barrage 2 was going to be my favorite, but, alas, I could not fit it in time-wise.

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

:cry: I appreciate the nice comments though.


You always make innovative stuff. I just know these things go to the flashy.

Whatever happens, you're Matt Diamond. The Matt Diamond.

[dfmoore]

I just know these things go to the flashy.

Yeah, I mean, i'm one for space fighters and puzzle games, but I thought th' point of this was ORIGINAL mac games, and some of the well polished games, while fun to play, don't bring anything new to the table. They just rehash an idea with a new GUI and maybe some new music.

I mean, more power to them to get published or a tshirt. But I was looking forward to a few more innovative works...
(though there certainly are some, and I'm sure you know who you are!)

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Originality is kind of meaningless. Nobody creates in a vaccuum. Everything really has been done.

[BeyondCloister]

Originality is kind of meaningless. Nobody creates in a vaccuum. Everything really has been done.

However it is possible to have an original take on an old idea or to combine completely separate old ideas in a new way.

Space Invaders would not be an original idea, but how about if the roles were reversed? The player controls the invaders and has to ensure that a certain percentage of the fleet survive each stage.

Instead of a FPS where you go around killing everything that moves you play the part of the poor cleaner who has to go around and make sure everything is spotless for the next visitor. You would also need to get all the ID tags of the dead and return them to their families or risk being sued ;)

One last idea to throw out there before I go. Instead of a simple Thrust type of remake why not play the part of space pirates attempting to intercept and steal the cargo being thrusted about?

Maybe we could have a 'Turn an Idea on Its Head' contest based along these lines.

[MattDiamond]

Pawns is an excellent idea, but I want the control to feel less clunky somehow.

I assume you mean the multiple clicks needed to place or move arrows. If you have any specific comments feel free to add them to this thread:
http://www.idevgames.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10905
I added keyboard shortcuts recently, but some trial and error will be needed to find a better overall scheme and I didn't have time during the contest.


You always make innovative stuff. I just know these things go to the flashy.
Whatever happens, you're Matt Diamond. The Matt Diamond.

(tests ego with tire pressure gauge) Careful, don't want to overinflate that sucker! :)

[cgoran]

I find this one tough to call, as there are so many great ideas, hell games period.
I was really impressed with the number and quality of the games.

I find it too difficult to predict the outcome, and I would hate to impugn the work of others. Think about what you all accomplished in a month, amazing.

You're all winers as far as I'm concerned.

Cheers,
Charles

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Space Barrage 2 was going to be my favorite, but, alas, I could not fit it in time-wise.

Drat. I loved the first one. :\

[Malarkey]

Space Barrage 2 was going to be my favorite, but, alas, I could not fit it in time-wise.

NO!!!!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Malarkey]

However it is possible to have an original take on an old idea or to combine completely separate old ideas in a new way.


I played a flash game a while back where it was a vertical shooter but you were controlling the fortress and defenses in an attempt to kill the lone ship making its way to the boss. Didn't quite work in my opinion but an interesting idea, nonetheless.


Maybe we could have a 'Turn an Idea on Its Head' contest based along these lines.

Heh. That would be kinda of cool. I think it would be hard to make the game fun, though. However I won't mind if someone can prove me wrong. :D

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

However it is possible to have an original take on an old idea or to combine completely separate old ideas in a new way.

More often than not we get Tetrises where pieces move sideways...or breakout in a circle. Not really revolutionary, is it?

IMHO, my favorite twist was Dungeon Keeper which I hope they open source some day (or someone clones it on the Mac.)

I think its fair to say most of us end up starting with: "Man, I should make a game like [x], but with [y]."

[Malarkey]

Yay! Someone actually liked Chemical Bonds! Well, my girlfriend likes it so really, that's all I need (and she drew the sexy scientist for me too). :) But seriously, my original intent was to take Chiral and add some twists to it but time constraints prevented me from doing anything really different. I have a couple ideas I'm going to put in once I come back to working on it, though, so though project is not dead yet.

As for some of my favorites:
I liked Pawns, And Round Again, and Traktor Beam a lot (especially the look and feel of Traktor Beam).

Grobbler's Quest was a lot of fun; it reminded me a lot of those old British games for the Commodore 64.

MacBornes was great because now I can practice without losing to my girlfriend all the time.

Pakimono was a good concept but just needed better execution.

Illuminations was pretty fun but it just needed more gameplay to it.

There were some other ones that I liked too but these were the ones that stood out.

[whogben]

I thought th' point of this was ORIGINAL mac games

Thats the name of the contest...but the sole voting criteria was gameplay.

[Najdorf]

I thought it was ORIGINAL MAC games, games that run natively on the mac and are not "ported"

[dfmoore]

I thought it was ORIGINAL MAC games, games that run natively on the mac and are not "ported"
Thats a good point too. well, we get to figure it all out tomorrow.

[aaronsullivan]

Despite some of the ideas in these games being used in other places or variations having been done before, I'd say the selection of games in this contest are, overall, "FRESH." In other words, there aren't a lot of currently marketed games that are like them. At the very least, most have a twist of some kind on a traditional genre. I'm impressed.

As for Space Barrage 2... It could be that I'm picking away at in my spare time. :D

[Carlos Camacho]

Results are in:
http://www.idevgames.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11127

MANY MANY thanks to my auditors (you know who you are!)

[PowerMacX]

Congratulations! :D Many of my favorites made it! :) (Not all though :cry: )

@Carlos: Would it be possible to have the full score list posted, perhaps here in the forums?

[unknown]

Congrats people!
I would be really interested in the number of votes as well as the average for all the entries, please make this possible :)

[willThimbleby]

It is there under a tab in the xls file. I've graphed the results of the top ten games those that are interested:

http://will.thimbleby.net/downloads/top10votes.pdf

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

(tests ego with tire pressure gauge) Careful, don't want to overinflate that sucker! :)

According to the finalist results, The Matt Diamond is now free to inflate his ego as much as he likes. :p

I'm delighted to be wrong on this one. The crowd has better taste than I thought.

MacBornes is a complete surprise, eh?

[MattDiamond]

MacBornes is a complete surprise, eh?

Yes, that snuck up on me too. I tend to underestimate the appeal of classic card games, maybe. Freeverse themselves are testimony to the popularity of casual games... I have to admit though that this is one of only 3 games I didn't actually play. I've played two other Mille Bourne implementation on Macs over the years, including an entry in uDG 2002, so I kept putting this one off.

Other random thoughts:

Some great games didn't make the cut. I hope that players in future who try the top 6 games go on to try the next 6 as well. The downloads page is down now, but I hope that a new one goes up before interest in the contest wanes.

If Outnumbered had been entered into a regular uDG contest with multiple categories, rather than this gameplay-only contest, I feel sure it would have won something.

The vote distribution is... interesting. I got far fewer total votes than the other entries. Perhaps the premise put people off- it looked too cerebral, maybe? The word "chess" scared them off? But thankfully for me I didn't get punished for it in the score- perhaps the description was specific enough to attract mainly people who like puzzle games and would give it a fair shake. Makes me wonder if any of the judges will be allergic to puzzle games.

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

As for Space Barrage 2... It could be that I'm picking away at in my spare time. :D

Its not nice to tease me, Aaron. :mad:

[PowerMacX]

It is there under a tab in the xls file. I've graphed the results of the top ten games those that are interested:

http://will.thimbleby.net/downloads/top10votes.pdf

Which xls file? Or was this only sent to entrants?

Anyway, that list of charts shows interesting information, would it be possible to have the overall # of votes histogram? I wonder if it would be bell-shaped (normal/t distribution) or multi-modal, which would indicate that people tend to vote mostly games that they strongly like/dislike.

How about the standard deviation in score for each game? Correlation between total number of votes and average score per game?

Yes, I find all that info interesting ;)

[Carlos Camacho]

>The downloads page is down now
???????????????????????
http://www.idevgames.com/contest/downloads/

Please note that I disabled "Zomb" from the list because ALL email to the dev informing him that his link is down has gone on deaf ears.

>Or was this only sent to entrants?
I've sent an XLS file to all devs. I got a notice from one dev's mail server saying "We think your xls/zip file is a virus and spit in your general direction."

Also, one winner is MIA and all his email addresses are not working. I'm afraid one of you have did a "Leon" on him. (Considering he isn't a kid, or a woman, I suppose he would be fair game under the rules of a cleaner. ;) )

How about the standard deviation in score for each game? Correlation between total number of votes and average score per game?
Yes, I find all that info interesting
Once again I am reminded why I only minored in CS and decided against majoring in it. :p

[Najdorf]

Distributions are hmm... very interesting.

I still wonder why Space Wizard didn't make it. Probably just because of hosting issues (free hosting things that make you wait for the download). Or maybe because of the scary "breasted bird-man with a d**k" in the titles screen. Anyway it's a pity.

[willThimbleby]

There are not many significant results I can find. The standard deviation is fairly variable and not consistent, though it tends to increase with the number of 10s scored. Four of the top six games remain if votes of 10 are discounted, Illuminations and Zomb squeeze in at 5 and 6 replacing MacBornes and Pakimono. Which shows that the voting is fairly consistent and good.

People seem to vote more for games they like: http://will.thimbleby.net/downloads/numberofvotes.pdf

[socksy]

Though I don't have a recent enough version of excel to open the xls file, I can upload the first page stuff retrieved with Apple Works.

See here (http://www.zen22638.zen.co.uk/ben/results.pdf) for the order of wins and averages. See here (http://www.zen22638.zen.co.uk/ben/results.html) to see the votes (basically Ed's html page saved).

[dfmoore]

I still wonder why Space Wizard didn't make it.
I was disapointed by that as well. Thats the problem with having so many good concepts going against each other!

Out of curiousity, which dev is missing in action?