Heart of the OHR Contest

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Note: Post was slightly edited for the Castle Paradox posting. Leaving the original up here for posterity.

Thanks, Hachi. I'm glad I gave you a chance to vote. If your post had screenshots, you'd have an automatic Hamsterspeak feature here. Excellent minireviews.

I want to say thanks to everyone who voted, and special thanks to everyone who posted comments behind their scores. I personally took something away about game design from these posts (like, there was a time in my life when I made mod levels for Duke Nukem 3D and actually designed my levels to expand beyond the playing field--as in, show a portion of the inaccessible world as part of the level design--but for some reason I don't do that with my RPGs, and I really need to start doing that, and Hachi's comments about Okedoke's cave walls reminded me of that). I suppose one could say that this contest was partially created to relive and/or rebuild the past. And we could definitely say that it was created to give the engine some purpose in 2010. But it also had the latent effect of community support for each game, which I sort of felt had been diminishing over the years. Thankfully, the community element was just as responsive this month as it had been in the early days of the engine. And I'm careful to say this because support seems to fly a little higher during contests, and despite the throwback nature of the Heart of the OHR, it's still a contest. But feedback is just as important to game design as the actual designing, and it takes a team to do that. I wish we were more active in constructive feedback for noncontest games (there is usually one or two helpful players out there per game, but typically no more than that), but I appreciate that most of us went above and beyond for the games in this contest. Again, I think several comments posted in this thread touched on some important elements in game design that I personally would like to employ in my own nonHotOHR games. So, yes, I'm quite happy with the community response to the contest games this year.

In short, this was a success, and I thank you all.

As a side note: One thing we have today that we didn't have in the early decade (or, if we did, it wasn't being used) is real-time feedback, and Hachi in particular did an excellent job with it. Most things in life, especially in technology, eventually evolve into something better, and there does come a point when we have to bid farewell to the old days to embrace the new. For example, Blockbuster Video did not embrace the new when Netflix in its startup days offered to sell itself to the corporate video rental giant, and the corporate giant was like "Screw off, no one's gonna use a mailing service for their rentals--and digital downloads--ha! Getting into your car twice a week to spend six bucks on a rental and two bucks on the late fee is where it's at, baby!" And, of course, Netflix is huge today and Blockbuster is closing stores thanks to its Chapter 11. The illustration proves that yes, we are not living in 2002 anymore, and that there comes a point when even forum feedback can evolve into something better if we give it a chance. For anyone who signs on with #slimesalad in IRC (Esper), you have a better chance at discussing your game in full. And if you're really lucky, you might even get to witness a livestream of your game being played...in REAL TIME. Perhaps if more people create livestreams of their playing experience, then forum feedback will default to the permanent record of a user's experience. The Youtube Let's Plays are also good, but I have to admit that the livestream was the best form that I've seen. If you haven't caught that wave, sign in at #slimesalad in IRC and join the fun. It's the future of OHR reviews. So, I just wanted to put that information out there for anyone who's interested in stronger feedback.

So that's it. Voting's closed, and I thank everyone who found the time to share his scores. Results will be given to Surlaw later tonight and hopefully posted in Hamsterspeak #45 tomorrow.

Now, start working on your new masterpieces, or finish the ones you've started. Heart of the OHR 2012 will be here before any of us know it.
Last edited by Pepsi Ranger on Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

So I failed pretty badly at finishing feature requests before the deadline, so It looks like I owe some people bug bounties now :)

If I owe you a bounty, as indicated by the <a href="http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce ... artBugs</a> wiki page, you can e-mail me or PM me with how you want to be payed. Either your mailing address for a check, or your e-mail address for a paypal, or your favorite charity for me to donate in your name, whatever.

Fear not, noble contestants, your feature requests still will be fulfilled, just not as fast as I had promised. :)
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Post by msw188 »

Hey everyone, sorry about the serious delay in responding; I've been away from internet for a few days now. I was hoping to get at least one more game finished by the end of the month, but it wasn't happening. I should have more time in January, and I still plan on writing a review of every one of these games for Hamsterspeak, although it might take me all year.

Apparently the post I wanted to reply to is so far back it doesn't show up in the Topic Review while posting; I can't remember who it was, but someone mentioned that they died in Tales 2 in the FIRST random battle...? I'm sorry, but that has me utterly blown away. I can't imagine how this could have occurred with anything other than sitting and holding down the space bar. Where did it happen? What were the enemies involved? I'd very much like to know.

A couple people mentioned that there isn't much direction in the game. I disagree; I am certain that there is always at least one person in every town explaining clearly where the player should go. Someone did say, though, that they did not feel the game was trying very hard to tell the player where to go, and this I could probably agree with. Is it a bad thing to set up information in such a way that the player must be the one seeking it out?

To Hachi, I am about 90% certain that choosing the "unfinished" items in battle will have no negative effects - no effect at all actually, which is what would happen anyway. They are unfinished only in the sense that I haven't gone through and named their attacks yet. As far as I can tell there are no actual bugs in the game, although the absolutely atrocious revival cost could practically be called a bug. But I'm really glad you liked the little bits of world lore. If you didn't notice, this exists in the naming of towns as well: "-pol" is a castle or capital of men (Astipol, Anapol, others later in the game), while "-gel" is a city or capital of elves (El Zenigel, Quinigel).
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Hachi
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Post by Hachi »

msw188 wrote:To Hachi, I am about 90% certain that choosing the "unfinished" items in battle will have no negative effects - no effect at all actually, which is what would happen anyway.
That's alright, I never tried using them, the "unfinished" attacks that is.

duhh edit: yeah I guess I said that already didn't I

and no, I missed that naming convention! will read more studiously
Last edited by Hachi on Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Baconlabs
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Post by Baconlabs »

did you all play barnabus's tribute game yet
because you should

the apophenia spoof has helicopter sounds that pan left and right through the speakers depending on which way you're going and it's awesome and I'm not even sure why you'd read this if you're not barnabus aaaaa
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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Yeah, I just got the trophies for everything except for the Chronoboy Adventure tribute. I'm guessing you have to play it at a specific time of day, but I'm cycling through my computer clock, and still can't find the right time to play it.

Sneaky, Barnabus. Sneaky.

P.S. If you play Skyfall more than once, you'll get a slightly different "result."

I can't tell if Vikings of Midgard was left out, or if it's a secret unlock. If only I could figure out how to make Chronoboy work (if it's even supposed to work, and not just a commentary on its bugginess) I might know the answer.

Love this tribute, though. I don't think the Heart of the OHR can become more complete than this.

EDIT: Never mind. I don't know what I did, but I just got Chronoboy's tribute to start. I guess if you keep the game running long enough...

EDIT 2: Never mind again. Barnabus, you are sneaky. Vikings...

Heart of the OHR Tribute = Best tribute game ever.
Last edited by Pepsi Ranger on Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Baconlabs
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Post by Baconlabs »

Aaaagh now I realize that I'm missing something! There does seem to be a few empty slots in the... trophy interface, or whatever it is.
I tried playing the Chronoboy one every minute from 5:55 AM to 6 AM, hoping that would constitute "the coming of dawn."
Fiddling with my computer clock didn't help either, even when I restarted.

Barnabus why must you be so mysteeerious
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Post by JSH357 »

Barnabus, another amazing game. I still haven't figured out Skyfall or Chronoboy Adventures.

EDIT: Just finished "Vikings," game of the year all years.
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Post by guo »

Congratulations to the winners, sorry I didn't get a chance to vote, I've been in sunny Onekaka for the past week or so. Here's to some stiff competition in 2012!
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Post by Baconlabs »

If anyone manages to fully complete and document the tribute game, please post a walkthrough, it is sitting here on my desktop driving me crazy

On the Eternity Fragment segment, by buying/selling Sugar between two islands, I worked up $200 and gave it to the blue guy, triggering a secret ending, but it didn't unlock anything on the menu.
I've still got mysteries about Skyfall, Chronoboy, and Vikings (still missing from the menu) to solve.

EDIT: Ah. After reading the below, I feel like that's everything. I couldn't "play" the last one, per se, but it's there. And now I'm going to rip off your style of spoilers, aaand
There's an invisible button in the bottom-right that plays a hidden song. Sounds like a medley from Final Fantasy 6.
Last edited by Baconlabs on Wed Jan 05, 2011 3:51 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Newbie Newtype »

Spoilers don't highlight if you want to figure everything out on your own:

You can just sell the boat to get $200.

You need to be up at 4:00 AM to play Chronoboy.

Skyfall gives you the white tile icon when you click it.

There is a hidden game after you unlock everything.


Also, I do spoilers CORRECTLY!
Last edited by Newbie Newtype on Wed Jan 05, 2011 3:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Spoonweaver »

So, hows about those HotOHR T-shirts!
Seventhly, as an added bonus to the contestants, all entrants will receive a T-shirt, courtesy of Inferior Minion, with the Heart of the OHR, Castle Paradox, Slime Salad, and HamsterSpeak logos branded on the fabric. This way you can celebrate the return of the RPG, and become a walking advertisement!
Last edited by Spoonweaver on Wed Jan 05, 2011 6:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Spoon (and everyone),

Inferior Minion messaged me about the shirts today. Every contestant and team participant (including Newbie and VampiDucki) should have gotten a message from him by now. If you haven't heard from him, let me know, and I'll make sure he knows you're still waiting for his e-mail.

Thanks again for everyone's participation.

I am now open for some suggestions on how to make this better for the 2012 contest. All areas of discussion are welcome. Anything noted here I'll consider.
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Post by Baconlabs »

Pepsi Ranger wrote:Inferior Minion e-mail
And just as I was about to renounce email as obsolete


Kidding, I just haven't checked it in a long time. Okay, so let's check it down and WHERE DOES ALL THIS SPAM EVEN COME FROM ANYWAY oh wait there it is. Turns out he messaged me on Castle Paradox about it and I never noticed.
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Post by The Wobbler »

Pepsi Ranger wrote:I am now open for some suggestions on how to make this better for the 2012 contest. All areas of discussion are welcome. Anything noted here I'll consider.
Separate voting categories for Best New Game and Best Updated Game, since there seemed to be a large split in who voted for what.
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