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Announcing: The Audience Prize


Comments (57) | Views (5,920)

Casual Gameplay game design competition guiAs you may have already guessed, scoring this competition is proving very difficult due to the quantity of quality titles submitted. Although I had hoped to have winners announced on Monday, we are taking an extra day (or two) to make sure that all entries into the competition have been thoroughly played, examined and scored fairly.

When we announced the competition earlier this month, we promised that there were additional prizes to be announced, and we were not kidding. In addition to the two (2) Flash 8 Professional licenses and the black Nintendo DS up for grabs, everyone who entered the competition will be receiving an exclusive, limited-edition JIG Casual Gameplay Competition T-Shirt! =)

But wait, that's not all.

Today we are proud to announce the Audience Prize, to be awarded to the game designer of the competition entry that receives the most votes from the JIG community.

This award will be a cash prize of at least $201.15 USD(!)

I say "at least" because we want to give everyone the opportunity to contribute to the prize, if you so choose, by donating $1.00 USD when making your vote. (Sorry, only those making a donation will be allowed to vote. Offer void where prohibited.)

No one is obligated to vote, and all we are asking for is a single dollar from each of you. All proceeds* will go directly into the Audience Prize money that I am personally starting off at $100. Of course you may donate more than a dollar when you vote, though your vote will still count as only one (1) no matter how much you contribute. We will be monitoring the incoming donations to keep this blog entry updated with the current total for a full disclosure. (*Your donation less any fees PayPal deducts prior to our receiving it. PayPal takes $0.33 cents on a one-dollar donation.) Deadline to vote is this Friday, September 1, 2006 at 11:59 PM (GMT-4:00).

To vote, simply use the PayPal ("Vote") link next to the game icon you wish to vote for. Thank you kindly for your patience, and for your anticipated contributions of support for this very talented group of Flash game developers. =)

Update (09/02/06 12:00 AM): Voting had ended! And the winner is...

Anders Gustafsson will receive $201.15!! Congratulations, Anders! And cheers to everyone that voted! =)

(Looking for the competition entries that used to be here? They have been moved to the Game Design Competition #1 announcement page for easy access via the Favorites feature.)

57 Comments

Pay to vote? Democracy died suddenly.

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I would vote, but I don't have a paypal account. :[

So, I can only hope the game I would have voted for wins.
^^ good luck to all games!

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Jay, PayPal money tranfer form did not let me change the ammount of donation. Is it okay if I send more through your 'Support JIG' page? If and when I do that, I will send an email to you.

I asked this in here because I wanted to notify all other voters who want to donate more than 1 USD.

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Silly jay, Clack has 2 C's

thanks!

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Not only not I not have paypal, but I do not have a dollar. =( Besides, with so many good games, I couldn't decide. Good luck everyone who entered.

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Oooh!
now I wish I had entered my entry (that I deemd unfit for human use)
I'd have got a shiny new JIG shirt that i'd have worn with pride...
ah well, as I said, there's always next time (I hope).

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Cheers, breach. Fixed. (sorry 'bout that. It was 5 in the morning when I finished up this entry!)

rob - it was the best way I could think of that prevents ballot stuffing. Complain if you must, it's only a dollar for gosh sakes.

Amor Lassie - darn it. I'll fix it right away. cheers!

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Arrg. Difficult choice.

There were a number of very good games whose quality especially was really phenomenal.. but whose puzzles stumped me!

Quadra 42, for instance. Couldn't figure it out. Tonypa's puzzle #2. I figured out the rules, at least, to puzzle #1.

Gear Puzzle was very pretty and very neat, reminding me of a game/toy I played on experimentalgameplay, something to do with a power company.

Submachine Zero and Cyberpunk both seemed very interesting, and I played each for a bit before.. I gave up. That said, cyberpunk nearly got my vote merely for having a very cool emulation of a shell prompt as part of it.

In the end though, I voted not only for the game I enjoyed the most, but for the game I felt had the most potential. The game that I'd really, really like to see expanded on.

Gateway had numerous mechanics in it which were obviously well-fleshed and could be used in future stage creation. The inventory, item combination, floor stepping, teleporty doors, and such.

Add to that the mood and art.. simple, dark, eerie.. and I'll admit I tingled a bit when I saw 'peeper' the first time. None of the sound overdone.. just enough. It was very immersive.

And if I'm not mistaken, the loading screen before new rooms hints that the framework he built underneath the game is wholly capable of introducing new rooms.

Kudos

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Ok, so I have issues.. I've narrowed it down to maybe four or five..

If I stick a US dollar (or more since it's not weighted) in the kitty for each of the ones I can't choose between, they count as votes, and the eventual winner takes all? (I hope I never meet these developers because I'd turn into a gushing fangirl for sure... [*cringe*])

Just checking to make sure all my votes are valid ;o)

(For goodness' sake, I'm a Gemini, you didn't really expect a concrete decision did you? ;o) )

To the masters who entered: may it be on your conscience if I failed my Java exam today because I was lured in by your games. ;o)

Cheers and beers!
Sarah

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Sarah - all of your votes, if for different games, will indeed count, I promise you. =)

And that's a wonderful idea for anyone else that can't decide.

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Adobe is a huge company... why the heck didn't they pay for the prize??

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Adobe was very kind to donate 2 Flash 8 licenses. I am grateful for what they have contributed to this competition.

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Fairygdmther August 29, 2006 11:10 AM

Jay, what a wonderful assortment of games! Many of them were not my usual preference, but in all fairness I played each of them, only hoping that we would be able to vote for our choice.

I truly enjoyed about half of them, like submachine 0 and wired, and houses and liquid colors, but for me the most original, simple to follow, and best looking without a lot of flashiness, was Gateway. Kudos to Anders Gustafsson for a delightful game!

FGM

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Andy from Encino August 29, 2006 11:10 AM

Congratulations to Jay and to all the entrants for creating a very innovative competition. I enjoyed playing all the games, but "Sigil of Binding" has my vote!

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heh,
finaly completed personal universe, It would get my vote if I had a paypal account, and, er, any money...

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Thank you Sarah for the wonderful idea and thank you Jay for letting us to vote more than one game if we can't decide which one is the best. Now I can give one vote for each of those four that I have rated in my comments.

My personal order is however:

1. 'Personal Universe' for most promising game concept.
2. 'Gateway' for fresh, lovely and fun ambiance.
3. Third place shared between 'Houses' and 'The Alchemist's Apprentice', which both have great replay value.

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I want my vote to go to Gateway definitely. Many other games came close to it, but it is the game I would anticipate a sequel or expansion to the most. I don't have a paypal account right now, so I will try to get one and vote. It's only a dollar, but hopefully setting up paypal isn't too complicated a procedure.

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Damir,
Even If you don't win, more levels would be great!
Its just such an awesme idea!

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Two things:

  • You do NOT need a PayPal account to donate, you may use a credit card instead.

  • If you do plan to vote for more than one game, there is an area to write your comments when making your payment. You can use that to indicate which games you are voting on, therefore consider making only one lump-sum payment. PayPal will take less of your donation that way. Example: PayPal takes $0.33 on a $1.00 donation; but takes only $0.45 on a $5.00 donation.

cheers! =)

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If neither Gateway nor Personal Universe win, it will be a travesty.

I didn't get far in Personal Universe, but it's a great idea.

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Thanks for allowing us to vote on more than one. I can't do it *right now* (class in 5 mins) but there were several that I wanted to see do well and choosing between them seems a bit of a travesty considering how nicely they were done (even if I didn't finish them all).

P.S.: What happens to the money donated towards the runner-ups?

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> What happens to the money donated towards the runner-ups?

A good question Ben.

While the terms that I have written above indicate that all money donated to the Audience Prize will go to the author of the game(s) that receives the most votes, my original thought was to have percentages of the total awarded to the top three (or more?) games. (For example: 65%, 25%, 10%)

Not knowing the kind of response we would see from the donate-to-vote model, I decided to keep it simple with only a single prize to be awarded. Depending on how well this one goes, we may wish to re-evaluate that decision for the next competition.

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Jay,

"(For example: 75%, 35%, 10%)"

Excellent ! Does that mean that you'll add an extra 20% of your very own bucks to the price ?

:)

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LOL! (oops. fixed.) =D

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Welp, Gateway has my vote, with Submachine Zero being a close second. I have seen comments suggesting that both have a slightly unfair advantage due to the fact that they are derived from other projects, and/or were not created for this contest alone. This may be true, but it doesn't matter to me because I simply had the most fun playing them.

Many people seem to really like personal universe, but for me, it was too dense and demanding for a "casual" game. Just my opinion.

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I thought the three that really stood out above the rest were Gateway, Sigil of Binding, and Clack with honorable mentions to thief, submachine, weight, alchemist, and cyberpunk. I'm impressed with the quality, as there were only two or three out of the over 20 submissions that didn't interest me.

And in regards to the future reward allocation...maybe have it be that the $100 is split up among top 3 vote getters according to whatever formula as a bonus, but the $1 votes could go directly to the ones we're voting for as a way of thanking them.

I think it'd let more of the designers be rewarded for their efforts, as even if a particular game isn't the collective public's cup of tea, it might still cater to a niche, and getting a couple bucks out of it might be nice.

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Thanks for your comments, onyxw, about the reward allocation. I like your approach, as I would like very much to be able to reward each and every designer.

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How often do you plan on doing a competition like this, Jay? This has perked my interest in toying around with flash again... Now I just have to figure out where my installation disc ran off to, since I've had to replace my laptop.

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alrighty, a chance to donate!! Not using paypal though...

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Hmmm, guess not right now... How long will we be able to vote/donate?

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Keith - I hope to be able to offer more than one per year.

Imok20 - this Friday, just before midnight.

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i cant find the recipe for pants and ball-_-'

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if you can help for ball plz post ur spoiler

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AleX:

It says for the ball it needs something ROUND, SHINY, and PLASTIC

So, let's see... (4) gun powder, (3) silly putty, and (4) glue will work nicely. Oh wait, that shouldn't work. (But it does.)

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Jay,

You probably could've used the free version (or pay only $20 for the professional) of Survey Monkey. It tracks IP addresses on survey takers and you can set it to only allow a person to vote once.

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lolll its strange but its working:P loll wheres the round and shiny:P thx

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I need help with gateway, I'm stuck at the hexagon, even a push in the right direction would be nice.

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Rye

Count the number of light flashes.

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Daniel - Thanks for that tip; however, I can write my own survey that limits responses by IP. The problem with that method is that it's very easy for one computer to appear as coming from many different IPs by going through proxy servers. And I prefer the donation solution since it collects more money for the prize than I can afford to offer myself. ;)

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Unfortunately, I have neither paypal nor a credit card, or else I'd vote for Gateway.

Still, I enjoyed playing the games that were submitted and I'd be glad to see the creators getting their fair share of the donations.

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I haven't voted officially (yet), but here is how I feel about all of the games submitted. (Jay, if I do end up sending money, I will post again to let you know how to split it.

Each game will recieve 2 grades: one for following the contest specifications (point/click, puzzle, simplicity), and one for quality of gameplay. THe gameplay grade carries a higher weight.

Warning, these reviews might contain

I tried to put all the reviews behind a spoiler,

but the preview looked weird

so I'm warning you now instead

Puzzle 1 - At first a bit confusing about what exactly needed to be done. I wasn't sure whether the goal was to get all the colors lit or unlit or the shapes on the inner loop or the outer loop or what. However, I soon figured it out and I must say this was a very good implementation of the "Lights"-type puzzles, which I normally find too difficult to keep track of as far as what lights control what. Puzzle 1 took the focus off memorization and placed it on forethought and strategy.
Technical: A
Gameplay: B

Puzzle 2 - Like most people, this one stumped me. I was through after about 5 minutes of getting nowhere. Then thanks to a hint in the comments, I found myself stuck halfway through it, again ready to give up. But when I finally did solve the #@%$@ thing, I saw what a great puzzle this actually was. It has a simple design and also a simple solution, but the latter is fiendishly well-hidden. My only complaint is that I didn't understand immediately the significance of the numbers -- that you could delete them and enter your own. Otherwise, a high-quality game.
Technical: A-
Gameplay: A

Sigil of Binding: Another well-executed yet simple puzzle. After a couple of false starts where I thought the goal was to turn the whole board dark, I found myself drawn in, though I found the last levels to be pretty challenging to figure out on the first go-round as the game requires.
Technical: A
Gameplay: B+

Submachine Zero: Not exactly an escape-the-room game, but similar enough in gameplay to qualify as one. This one was pretty straightforward as ETRs go, crossing over the line into being too easy. I only ran into one difficulty, and that was how to get past the spears on the right. But the interface was very well-designed and it had quality graphics.
Technical: A
Gameplay: C

Gear puzzle: I've done lots of these puzzles before, and the only really new thing offered in Gear Puzzle was the range of sizes of gears available. It could have been more of a puzzle if the pegs onto which the gears were placed were not a continuous grid, but had gaps where no gears could be placed. Also, the exact peg on which you needed to place a gear was not very intuitive. The story was helpful and gave the player a purpose to finishing.
Technical: B
Gameplay: D

Free the Bird: Not too much to say about this one, except that I should have figured out the answer on my own. I had one of those "Of course!" moments when I read the solution in the comments. Like Puzzle 2, once I solved it, my opinion went way up. The sound effects did get irritating after a while though. Overall, a simple game with a well-designed interface and a "good" solution.
Technical: A
Gameplay: B

The Alchemist's Apprentice: Now, I understand that the simplicity requirement of the contest would call for a one-off puzzle, but I think in this case that levels would really help make this a quality game. The sheer number of ingredients and recipes was a bit overwhelming. It would have been better to start with a few ingredients and gradually add them as the player began to work out how to use them. This way, the focus of the game would be on strategizing how to use the ingredients at hand to make all the recipes -- sure there are a dozen ways to make a shrimp cocktail, but which one leaves you the ingredients you need to make your other recipes? I like the idea a lot, and I think this concept can easily be worked into a level-based strategy game, but as implemented lost all challenege once you figured out the trick.
Technical: B+
Gameplay: C-

Jewel Drop: This one infuriated me at first: I had no trouble picking out the notes of the chord, but it always told me I was wrong! Once I figured out that order made a difference, I found that I wasn't very good at predicting the color that would result and I ended up just guessing methodically. Once you have mastered this, there's really not a whole lot to the game. However, the chords were a pleasant touch and the interface superb.
Technical: A
Gameplay: D

Quadra Pair: I'm still not sure what the object of this game is. Maybe if I solve it, I'll appreciate it more, but as it is I can only praise the graphics.
Technical: A
Gameplay: D if some random pattern is the goal. B-C if it makes some sort of sense.

Liquid Colors: This is my favorite gameplay mechanism of the entire contest. However, I feel that the puzzles presented were repetetive and underutilized the freeform capability of being able to make and delete walls at will. I see the possibility for some really great puzzle action, including a gallery of user-designed levels. The graphics are serviceable but could use a little polishing.
Technical: A-
Gameplay: B (A+ for originality, C for implementation)

Keys: This game just didn't excite me. The concept is nothing new, and the only twist here is utilizing a piano keyboard for input. One improvement might be to have the correct combination of keys play out a common tune or arpeggio. Or, overlap the combinations to allow for the possibility of unlocking them all with one giant sequence of notes. (for example, to open Red, play BGADC, to open green play DCEFA, to open red and green play BGADCEFA). Keys did follow the contest rules very well, it just wasn't an interesting game for me.
Technical: A
Gameplay: D-

Thief: Simple yet tricky, short yet involved, Thief makes a good case for one of the top spots in the contest. The unfolding story is what really makes this game work. It's the glue that ties the various puzzles together. One might argue that the goal was to design a game with a single puzzle mechanism rather than a series of different puzzles, but the puzzles in Thief are each a little too easy to stand on their own. It's also refreshing to play a series of puzzles rather than a single, more difficult puzzle. My only complaint is that the behavior of the number puzzles seemed inconsistent. Perhaps I just never figured out the pattern, as it was fairly easy to solve the puzzles by repetition.
Technical: A-
Gameplay: A-

Cyberpunk: Very similar in objective to Thief, but with a very different feel and a more well-developed atmosphere. With the bugs removed, this game really stands out: Outstanding implementation of a DOS prompt, little hidden bonuses (eg the pics on Fallend), spot-on graphics and unique and compelling puzzle action. Again, one could argue that these puzzles could have each made their own entry, and that is a bit more valid for these than for Thief. These puzzles were a bit more involved and could stand on their own. However, the storyline crafted by the author once again makes the overall game greater than the sum of its parts. Someone unfamiliar with DOS navigation might find the interface of Cyberpunk a little intimidating, and occasionally the proper use of commands was not very intuitive even to those who know DOS. Also, the puzzle with the hexadecimal codes was mostly guessing (going back and reading the comments, it looks like it's possible to determine how much each post adds or subtracts, but it sure wasn't obvious how to make that appear) However, these are minor drawbacks to a truly top-notch game.
Technical: A-
Gameplay: A+

Instruments: Well, the concept of this one is fairly unique, but as a whole it failed to interest me. There are many "really close" stages of this puzzle, so many that I feel like I had tried every possible combination -- when I finally won, I felt mostly relief that I didn't have to fiddle around anymore. Perhaps adjustable volume knobs would have been a better way to fine-tune the wave. Speaking of the wave, I didn't really discern any connection between the soundwave and the instrument supposedly producing it (besides the change in volume). I might have found it more interesting if the bass instruments really did have a lower frequency than the higher ones. The graphics reminded me of clip-art. Sound would have been a nice touch, but a lot more work would be needed to make this one fun for me.
Technical: A
Gameplay: F

Clack: Second only to Liquid Colors in gameplay mechanism, but far superior in execution. Easily adaptable to make different levels. I can see this one being good for user-designed levels too. Clack was fun and just frustrating enough to make it worth the effort of playing. The illumination of the circles near the cursor was a very nice touch. It would be nice if the game recognized alternate solutions to the same goal (though perhaps that would make it ridiculously easy). Also, the arrows on the numbers didn't often point in a direction that made any sense; I'd probably get rid of them.
Technical: A+
Gameplay: A

Gateway: Gateway seems to be the fan favorite here, and for good reason: It's mighty fun to play. The puzzles are fun, although they are on the easy side for the most part. The controls could use a little tweaking, especially to make it easier to walk across narrow pathways. I am guessing that the author did not design the 3D setup and movement system just for this contest, but instead created a set of puzzles using a previously made environment. More power to him if he started from scratch though! Probably more than any other submission except maybe Personal Universe, Gateway strays from the contest guidelines of simplicity. With its lengthy tutorial and multiple puzzles to solve, it certainly works better as a game on its own rather than as a subset of another game. I can't see launching into Gateway as part of a game like Myst. Thus, the technical grade (a misnomer, since the technical workings of this game are quite superb, but I can't think of a better term to describe how well a game fits into the contest guidelines) is rather low, but keep in mind that the gameplay grade has more weight. I fully expect to see an expanded version of Gateway with many more levels in the near future.
Technical: B-
Gameplay: A+

Wired: It would have been nice to have a little story to go along with this game. All I knew is that I was to get rid of all the loose ends; I'm still not sure what those danger panels are actually supposed to be. Wired uses a fairly common gameplay mechanism, but I quite like how the wires were off-centered and unsymmetric. When they connected together, it made for aesthetically pleasing curves and loops. Compared to some of the other games here, Wired does not deliver as compelling of a puzzle to solve, but it is well-made and well within the confines of the contest.
Technical: A
Gameplay: C+

Colour Connect: The strategy here isn't quite as complex as Liquid Colors or Sigil of Binding, but it will make you think and plan ahead. For those who didn't know, reloading the page yields a new puzzle to solve, so the replay value is pretty high compared to most of these puzzles. It's a distant cousin of the trace-the-figure-without-crossing-yourself brainteasers. The presentation is outstanding -- top notch graphics and a simple interface. This may be exactly the type of game Jay had in mind when he picked the contest theme. However, it's not terribly difficult after you've figured out where you need to start.
Technical: A+
Gameplay: B+

Houses: I think Houses will have the most vastly differing opinions out of all the games in the contest. Personally, I found the directions confusing, the silhouette misleading, and the interface annoyingly cluttered. However, people who enjoy solving Tangrams (I don't) will probably have a blast with this one. The interface is well-designed except for the clutter -- I feel there ought to be a repository space for pieces not immediately needed. The graphics are cute and fit the game well.
Technical: A
Gameplay: B- (benefit of the doubt)

Weight: What a terrible way to calibrate a scale! But seriously, I found this game to be very much guessing-based with little intuition. The physics seemed pretty wacky to me, and the interface was very very confusing. The scale readouts on the side weren't labeled, the correct move when the instructions say Calibrate Scale 2 is to click Scale 1, and the final calibration involves performing actions never before performed. In short, this game is about as much fun as, well, calibrating scales.
Technical: C
Gameplay: F

Personal Universe: Like Gateway, I see Personal Universe attaining huge success as a stand-alone game and misfitting in a compendium such as Myst. The version submitted for this contest certainly seems cramped. The driving force behind the game, I think most will agree, is unique and brilliant. Like Liquid Colors and The Alchemist's Apprentice, this game shows a world of potential as a level-based strategy game. Unlike those, however, Personal Universe does not need tweaking, just more levels. It could also use a larger tutorial - the description of the game was too long and confusing. Also, I can't quite pinpoint it, but there's a certain oomph, some je ne sais quois that I'm not feeling when I play it, like it's not quite as fun as it should be. Hmmm... I'll try to figure it out and get back to you.
Technical: B-
Gameplay: A-

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Charybdis August 30, 2006 3:16 AM

I've had about $2.50 in my Paypal account for 5 months now. What a great thing to finally spend it on ^^.

My personal Top 3:

1)Personal Universe- Just awesome. Would love to see more levels of this.
2)Houses- I thought I would finish this in about 5 minutes but it took me longer than expected. Nice rules.
3)Clack- Chain of event games <3.

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If I can work out a cost effective way of sending you a dollar from the UK, then I will!

I've enjoyed having a go at all of the games. I still don't know where to start with some of them, others are just not my bag, and some I've really enjoyed.

I have no idea about how to make games, I just like playing them so can't comment on flash, platforms and all that technical gubbins!!

1. Gateway - lovely game, nice graphics, nice actions, good puzzles (I don't like anything too taxing!). Please make this into a full sized game!
2. House - deceptively simple yet attractive and complex enough to play many times. I've only 'solved' it once and it wasn't the way indicated by the outlines. It's one of those games to play while enjoying the first coffee of the day.
Joint 3. Submachine - I'm a fan of this genre. Point and clicks are great and this was, as ever, a stylish game. A little bit too easy.
Joint 3. Thief - nicely challenging set against the humour of the cookbook. Would like to see this extended.
4. Sigil of Binding - still haven't solved this but it keeps begging me to try again.....and again!

That's my top four, for what it's worth.

At the other end of the scale, I am at a loss to know why so many people rate Personal Universe. I couldn't make much sense of it and its naive style didn't pull me in to keep trying. It reminded me of Super Serif Bros but that was *easy* to pick up though difficult to solve. Have just tried it again and no, I still don't *get* it.

Congratulations to all the entrants, and to Jay for organising the competition. This is a superb site and one I visit every day. Good stuff!

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Stormz, here's one Personal Universe spoiler for you :)
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/7647/snowplowpi0.jpg

Then I reassessed Cyberpunk and came to following conclusion:

Cyberpunk is really amazing game but for me it was just too difficult. I had to cheat and read some spoilers before I understood the reason behind some actions. The commands like 'cat' and dragging the buttons to 'nuke' servers were so illogical. Sometimes you have to use text interface and sometimes not... However, this type of game genre can have a promising future. I recommend to build up a Cyberpunk v2 where some of these files at atlantis and fallend servers could also have some meaning. Or maybe they allready did? I just didn't found them yet...

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Thanks Amor! Have at least managed to make something move........will persevere before I go back to building houses ;)

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eareynolds August 30, 2006 4:57 PM

First, I'd like to say that it's been an honour to even have my game in the presence of the other entries in this competition. I think I vastly underestimated the amount of Flash experience the average participant was going to have here, and am a bit out of my league. But oh well, it was an awesome experience, people are actually going to play my game, and I'm getting a free T-shirt, so I see no negatives.

If I had more than 53 cents in my paypal account, I'd use it to vote for Tonypa's Puzzle 1. Out of the games that actually fit what the competition was looking for, Puzzle 1 and Clack were my favorite. Clack doesn't get my vote simply because as nice as the animation was, I didn't like having to rewatch the whole thing every time I changed a setting. It was fine up until about 12, but then started to border on boring.

I think Puzzle 1 was the perfect toy. Play with it for a while to figure out what to do with it, play with it a little bit more to figure out how the controls work, then work on a strategy to actually beat the thing. That's the format I was expecting the games to take; this one matched it perfectly, and had a good degree of difficulty on each step. It was this and the immediate feedback on what your actions did instead of watching an increasingly lengthening animation that made this better than Clack for me. (In Clack's credit, though, I did watch the whole thing through to the end, because I didn't want to stop playing)

Anyway, I'd just like to thank everyone who played the games and provided feedback, my fellow competitors, and especially Jay for hosting the competition.

-EA Reynolds

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i just dont know what to do with cyber punk....i cant advance

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AleX, where are you stuck?

One of the things I liked about Cyberpunk is that the game appears to be much larger than it is. Only a few well placed commands will get you through the game, enountering a couple of devilishly challenging puzzles in the process.

A little Unix/Linux background may be helpful, but is not required since each of the commands at the shell prompt provide the details you need to use them properly.

If you think about the goal: access the overlord terminal, that should keep you moving forward.

If you indicate where you're having trouble, you might just get the help you need. =)

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How Do you do the hexagon in gate way!!!!! sooo confusing and wut do you mean by counting the lights??

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loll im stuck at the start.....

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OrionBlack September 1, 2006 7:45 PM

In Cyberpunk, I'm stuck. I'm at the beginning, and all I can do is nuke atlantis, and try to log in to atlantis, but I can't figure out the login ID and password.
I mean, this is the beginning of the game. Not a very good hooker, but the game seems intriguing.

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OrionBlack - the thing about passwords is they are always so difficult to remember ...unless they have something to do with the system you're trying to access. Sounds ridiculously simple, but it's true. When in doubt, try the usual suspects.

remember that only an admin may access atlantis

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Congratulations to the winner of the audience prize :)

I have just a question to jay:
You have announced
"This award will be a cash prize of at least $201.15 USD(!)
I say "at least" because we want to give everyone the opportunity to contribute to the prize"

Now the winner has received this "minimum" of $201.15. Where have the votes and donations to this game gone? Or have I misunderstood something? Just curious. Thanks for your answer in advance :)

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I can't get personal universe to work. The tutorials and experiment levels are fine, but when I try to do the same thing in one of the puzzle levels it never moves. I'm not sure if this is because I've made a mistake in the game (i have the blue and green things etc) or if it's just not working.

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Mystery - I am sorry for the misunderstanding. The words "at least" were to indicate that any votes (i.e. donations) made after that total was posted would be added to it thus making the total increase.

In other words, the winner of the Audience Prize would receive the total listed if no other votes/donations were received.

Since I updated the total printed above as the votes/donations were received, the total you see above does indeed include every dollar donated to the prize.

I hope that clears up any confusion you may have. If you need further evidence, read the paragraph where I mention I contributed only $100 to the prize myself. So, ask yourself, where did the other $101.15 come from then?

Reply

Hi jay,

It's okay, now I understand why it seemed strange to me, I didn't notice you updated the announcement with the new sum. Wasn't meant to be offensive, I was just wondering. Thanks for your answer :)

I hope that there will be more competitions as this is a chance for game creators to introduce their work to a bigger audience, and for the players it is interesting to try out so many new games :)

Reply

No worries, Mystery. I am glad you asked that question so I could post an answer for anyone else that may have been thinking the same thing. =)

And I am pleased you would like to see more competitions. I can say with certainty there will be more. =)

Reply

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