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

Originally Posted by Carlos Camacho

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...

[MattDiamond]

Originally Posted by ThemsAllTook

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!

AGhost

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

[Leisure Suit Lurie]

Originally Posted by AGhost

Only mention I get is negative!
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]

Originally Posted by MattDiamond

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]

Originally Posted by OneSadCookie

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]

Originally Posted by 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...

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

EDIT: Oh, and another mention.

"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."

[MattDiamond]

Originally Posted by Bachus

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

EDIT: Oh, and another mention.

"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]

Originally Posted by MattDiamond

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.

[kelvin]

Originally Posted by ThemsAllTook

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 first. All other entries I've tried since pale in comparison.