OHR Game of the Year 2009

[The Wobbler]

WHAT
It's that time again; the time in which we gloat about how great the games we released this year were. My count is 76 released games this year, counting updates to games from previous years, but not counting multiple releases of the same games in one year. The goal here is to highlight the absolute best of 2009, in various categories.

WHEN
Voting begins now and goes until the last week of February, if I get enough responses. I want to be able to publish the results in the March HamsterSpeak.

GAMES?
"I haven't played any of these games yet!" Well, you've got about a month and a half to play some. How do you know which ones are worth playing? That's up to these threads. Even if you're not ready to officially vote yet, discuss and nominate your favorite games of the year. Let people know what's worth checking out.

HOW
Votes can be submitted either by PM or by responding to this thread. I think that posting in the thread is good, as it will help remind people of what was fun this year, and maybe inspire people to try a few new games. I will tally votes near the end of February.

Vote for your favorite five to ten games in the Game of the Year category. Vote for your favorite two to five in the sub-categories. Your first through third place picks in the main category will receive bonus points, first getting three extra, second getting two, and third getting one extra point in the overall standings. In the sub-category votes, only your first pick will receive bonus points.

You CAN vote for your own games, but those games will not receive bonus points. Bonus points will be given to the highest ranked games in your vote that weren't made by you. When voting, specify if you worked on the game in question. Use full titles when voting. Don't have tied votes in your submission. Votes can be changed up until the deadline if you play some new games and change your mind.

WHAT ARE THEY
These are the games released/updated in 2009:

[<3] by Twin Hamster
A Shot In The Dark by Kingston C. Rockwell
A Very Funkotronic X-mas by Spoon Weaver
Adventures of Astroman by Stewie
BABIES (vs) ROBOTS!!! by Spoonweaver
Blasted Earth by Blasted Earth
Bloodlust (Complete) by Only One in All
Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu by James Paige
Buelle: The Lance's Tale, (0.5)* Tech Demo by Twin Hamster
Dawn by Blue Train
Don't Eat Soap by James Paige
Do You Want to be a Hero? by Mogri
Dragon Ball Z by Awful Waffle
Entrepreneur: The Beginning by Pepsi Ranger
Fall Be Kind by Blue Train and The Mad Cacti
Gato Sucio Special Edition by Paul Harrington
Genesis by Rebecca & Taylor Bair
Gohrillas by Mogri
House Escape by Spoon Weaver
Hydration 2: Oasis by Gizmog
Indigo by Blue Train
Kana Learning by Ysoft
KING OF GOURMET: FEAST FOR YOUR LIFE by Hachi-Roku and Gizmog
Legend of the Omni-sphere by Pastadevil
Legend of Zelda: Reptilian Warlord by Binoal
Legends Of Nedaria by NeoSpade
Light Fight by Spoonweaver
Loser Man by Spoon Weaver
Maces Wild by Rurouni Catholic
Mama by arpgme
Maze of the Red Mage by Mogri
Midorime by Buni Pickney
Moron Mission by Nathan Karr
Mr. Triangle's Maze by Red Maverick Zero
Necromancer by Deadmanintheocean
OHR House 3 Complete by JSH
OHR House Heroes: Complete by Red Maverick Zero
Okédoké! by Dark Blubber
Phantom Tactics by Mogri
Quest for the Bone by ringthehat
Qwerky Qwest by AcenMasterX
Resident Evil Infinity by Binoal
Sailor Moon: Another Dimension Version 6 by Buni Pickney
Santa Bang Bang! by rebobinar
SHiIDA by Baconlabs
Sleepover by Charbile
Slimes by Spoonweaver
somekindaninja (tech demo) by Spoonweaver
Sonic Trash by arpgme
Space InvadeOHRs by James Paige
Spooky Test by Twin Hamster
Spoonweaver by Spoonweaver
Stranded by New-Gen
Surlaw Armageddon (3/20/09 Update) by Paul Harrington
Techno Ship Funkotron by Spoonweaver
Test of Normality by Beau Rl
Tetris OHR by shakeyair
The KER-saders by Spoonweaver
The Long Journey Home by Camdog
The Pope's War on Science by Mr. 8-Bit
The Resurrection by DragonBlood
The Ritual (Spring 09 update) by Camdog
The Slime Wars by Camdog
The Wizard, The Thief, and the Lich by Momoka
The Wizard's Bomb by Camdog
Tightfloss Maiden (Update) by Pepsi Ranger
Tim-Tim "The Might Gnome" by SpoonWeaver
Timestream Saga - Arcadia Incident Report by Fenrir-Lunaris
Timpoline (Full release) by Adam Perry
Too Terrible! by Gizmog
Turkey Killer by Spoonweaver
Vampires History- War of Annihilation by Umbrella
Village People: The Videogame by Paul Harrington
Wage Slave by Gizmog
Wandering Hamster (Update) by James Paige
Wilthawiya by Gizmog

These are the categories:

Best Game of 2009: The overall best games. Vote for five to ten games.

Best Graphics: Best style, best pixelation, etc. Whatever made your eyes weep with joy. Vote for two to five games.

Best Design: This can be Plotscripting, map design, battle systems, or any other technical game aspects. Vote for two to five games.

Best Writing: Story, dialogue, world creation. Vote for two to five games.

Most Ridiculous: What games baffled your mind this year? The reasons don't matter. It could be an astonishingly confusing game, a shockingly funny one, whatever. Some sort of wild card category or something.

Most Anticipated 2010: What games would you most like to see updated this year, and which announced games are you most excited about? You'll have to do the digging on your own for this one, because we get dozens of proposed games that never come out and finding/listing them all would take forever.

Let's do this. Start discussing some highlights of 2009 and we can get moving. When voting, feel free to comment on the games you chose. Your comments may be used in the results article!

[JSH357]

Best Game
1. Sleepover by Charbile
One of the boldest, most creative games on the engine. It dares to not be in any genre, dares to question the validity of its own creation, and dares to make obscure ancient community references. Unlike any other OHR game you will ever play.

2. Slimes by Spoonweaver
The first puzzle game on the OHR I feel comfortable saying stands on its own and has good level design. Slimes is cute, effective, and the puzzles have multiple solutions, which is great. Better than Lemmings, if you ask me.

3. Dragon Ball Z by Awful Waffle
While it's a short demo and sketchy in many respects, this is a noble attempt at making a great fangame that ties in with the canon while still feeling original. The styles system could be interesting if the game were ever completed, and the music from the show is placed well. I'm more interested in seeing this game expanded than anything else on the engine right now, and I never thought I would say that about a fangame.

4. OHR House 3 Complete by JSH
I had so much fun making this, in spite of some heartache.

5. Tetris OHR by shakeyair
An impressive, bogglingly pretty Tetris game. It's a little rough around the edges (of the screen, literally) but who cares? The title screen alone makes this title worth checking out.

6. Wilthawiya by Gizmog
Sure, it's a one-note joke game, but something about Wilthawiya is surreal beyond my comprehension. I think Meatballsub's review of it last HamsterSpeak hit the nail on the head--this is an eerie, cyclical look at the mundanities of life.

7. Village People: The Videogame by Paul Harrington
A game I'm patiently waiting for the full release of. Great style, open-ended gameplay, true to its theme down to the core.

8. Surlaw Armageddon (3/20/09 Update) by Paul Harrington
While it isn't Surlaw's best game, it's nonetheless another interesting one, and feels more like playing a sequel to Walthros than anything else he's made. In fact, that's probably the best thing about it--I have the same feeling of "what's going to happen to these characters next?" that I did in Walthros, and I hope it continues well.

9. Stranded by New-Gen
An overlooked game, I think. It's flawed, and the graphics outweigh other aspects, but New-Gen had a great idea here. We don't see too many adventure games on the OHR, and a survival adventure game could really be something nice to play. The atmosphere is awesome, but the controls need work.

10. KING OF GOURMET: FEAST FOR YOUR LIFE by Hachi-Roku and Gizmog
This game scores big on concept alone, like many others this year. It's not the greatest thing ever, but it's definitely amusing and can actually require strategy to complete.

Best Graphics
1. Tetris OHR by shakeyair
Beautiful. I think this is actually the best-looking Tetris game I've played.

2. Genesis by Rebecca & Taylor Bair

3. Sleepover by Charbile
How Charbile kept this all straight in his head is beyond me.

4. OHR House 3 Complete by JSH
RMZ and Wiz did awesome work on the tiles; I am really grateful to both of them for it.

5. [<3] by Twin Hamster
The graphics are potentially good completely by accident.


Best Design
1. Slimes by Spoonweaver
Clever level design, great ideas in general. It could still use some polish, but the game is so simple at heart that it works the way it is.

2. Wilthawiya by Gizmog
Perfect execution; this game will get the exact reaction out of you that it intended.

3. Sleepover by Charbile

4. OHR House 3 Complete by JSH

5. Too Terrible! by Gizmog
Just the idea of a game so bad it wasn't good enough to release makes me giggle. I'm surprised nobody has ever tried it before.

Best Writing
1. KING OF GOURMET: FEAST FOR YOUR LIFE by Hachi-Roku and Gizmog
Just the right amount of history gags, food humor and Metal Gear Solid references.

2. Village People: The Videogame by Paul Harrington
The characterization of everything in this game is incredible.

3. A Shot In The Dark by Kingston C. Rockwell
Not his best game, but it'll have you reading every word, that's for sure.

4. OHR House 3 Complete by JSH
I can't NOT vote for it; I spent more time on this script than all of my term papers combined for my English degree.

5. Sleepover by Charbile
The writing is so sinister yet tongue-in-cheek. More tolerable than Sword of Jade, certainly.

Most Ridiculous
1. Wilthawiya by Gizmog
So utterly bizarre that the concept works perfectly.

2. Sleepover by Charbile
Just play it.

3. Kana Learning by Ysoft
This game is completely ludicrous, and I plan on writing an article explaining why I think so. In short: Why on earth did Ysoft bother making this? You tell me.

4. OHR House 3 Complete by JSH
Yeah! It's ridiculous all right!

5. [<3] by Twin Hamster
There are no words.

[Pepsi Ranger]

Was DON'T EAT SOAP!!! too good to make the list?

[shakeyair]

best music?

[JSH357]

Could we also have a "most anticipated 2010" category? Just a suggestion.

[The Wobbler]

Was DON'T EAT SOAP!!! too good to make the list?

Fixed, I'm not sure how that one got lost. If anyone else notices any missing entries let me know.

best music?

You can probably count the number of games on this list with original music on one hand, so I don't really want to have a best music category. A separate best song poll would make more sense, since we could link to exact pieces to show off.

Could we also have a "most anticipated 2010" category? Just a suggestion.

Sure, but I'm not listing every proposed game idea people have posted. I'll update the first post shortly.

I'm looking forward to an explanation of why you thought highly of Wilthawiya.

[Spoonweaver]

Best Game of 2009:
1. Slimes! by Spoon Weaver
2. Hydration 2: Oasis by Gizmog
3. Phantom Tactics by Mogri
4. Don't Eat Soap by James Paige
5. Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu by James Paige
6. The Slime Wars by Camdog
7. Tim-Tim "The Mighty Gnome" by Spoon Weaver
8. Okédoké! by Dark Blubber
9. Timestream Saga - Arcadia Incident Report by Fenrir-Lunaris
10. The Wizard, The Thief, and the Lich by Momoka

Best Graphics:
1. Genesis by Rebecca & Taylor Bair
2. Stranded by New-Gen

Best Design:
1. Slimes! by Spoon Weaver
2. Phantom Tactics by Mogri

Best Writing:
1. A Shot In The Dark by Kingston C. Rockwell
2. Tightfloss Maiden (Update) by Pepsi Ranger

Most Ridiculous:
1. Sleepover by Charbile
2. The Pope's War on Science by Mr. 8-Bit

Most Anticipated 2010:
1. Blu Eternal by Vampi Duck
2. Some kinda Superhero game by Twinconclusive

[The Wobbler]

I'm not going to post my votes yet, but I am going to give comment on a bunch of games that I liked last year, hopefully to give people that haven't played them an idea on what to check out. Everyone else is welcome to do the same. I still haven't played everything (I really need to play Slimes), but here's what I've liked in 2009 so far:

[<3] by Twin Hamster - Pretty much an OHR-styled Katamari game, only somehow even more crazy, which is really an accomplishment. I've been a little afraid of TwinHamster since playing this.

A Shot In The Dark by Kingston C. Rockwell - Not really a "game," but very well written and very funny.

Bloodlust (Complete) by Only One in All - I haven't played the complete version yet, but previous versions of this game were pretty great as far as horror games go. Some of it is a little too over the top grotesque, but the engine's solid and the atmosphere's great.

Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu by James Paige - I'm not a fan of rogue-likes, but this game is extremely polished and well worth checking out.

Don't Eat Soap by James Paige - A Bubble Bobble tribute that's a better sequel than any of the official Bubble Bobble sequels. One of my favorite games of the year.

Do You Want to be a Hero? by Mogri - Great writing, fun sense of humor, unique, strategic battle system. Gets a little too frustrating towards the end, but it's a great time and I'm looking forward to an expanded version.

Entrepreneur: The Beginning by Pepsi Ranger - Overwhelming and unfriendly at first, this game actually has a ton of depth and it's amazing that it all runs as well as it does. The amount of content is kind of staggering, especially considering that it's a contest game.

Light Fight by Spoonweaver - A very well designed, simple beat em up game. I'd love to see this expanded this year.

Maze of the Red Mage by Mogri - A rogue-like that isn't time consuming or demanding. This game suited my play style much more than Baconthulu, and I'm a big fan of the descriptions of objects/enemies here.

Mr. Triangle's Maze by Red Maverick Zero - This is RMZ's best game. A lot of the stages are really clever, and it's a lot of fun to solve. Some of the stages require a bit too much precision, but I was still able to get to the end.

Okédoké! by Dark Blubber - I have a lot of little issues with this game, but there's no denying that it's huge, has a great visual style, and a ton of content.

Phantom Tactics by Mogri - A well made Shining Force style game. The story's weak and forgettable, but the gameplay is solid. I want to see more of this, but I don't want Moogle distracted from Do You Want to be a Hero? yet.

Sleepover by Charbile - God damn ridiculous in the best way possible. This is a hell of a strange journey. No real way to classify it beyond that.

Space InvadeOHRs by James Paige - Yeah, I'm a Space Invaders junkie, so of course I'm going to praise a faithful OHR port. I'd like to see this expanded. Recent sequels like Space Invaders Revoluton and Space Invaders Exteme have shown that there's plenty you can add to the old game to make it fresh.

Surlaw Armageddon (3/20/09 Update) by Paul Harrington - I'd hoped I'd be way further along in development of this game by now. Unfortunately I've stalled, but I think what's there is decent, if you're not opposed to long, wordy cutscenes.

The Long Journey Home by Camdog - A unique space exploration game, likely to kill you dozens of times. There's really nothing else on the OHR like this one.

The Slime Wars by Camdog - Great, timing-based arcade style game. Would be fun to play in an actual arcade.

The Wizard's Bomb by Camdog - A short-form RPG on a time limit, part of the inspiration for Do You Want to be a Hero?. I prefer Moogle's game, but this one's got a lot going for it too, and is solidly designed.

Tightfloss Maiden (Update) by Pepsi Ranger - I like that this game ends at a reasonable (but still unfinished) part of the story, rather than leaving you hanging. Like Entrepreneur, this game's pretty intimidating at first, with the gigantic maze environment you're thrown into shortly after the game starts. This is my favorite of PR's games.

Tim-Tim "The Might Gnome" by SpoonWeaver - There are some bad design choices here and there, but this is overall the best platformer released on the OHR this year.

Timpoline (Full release) by Adam Perry - Frustrating, addictive. Moogle makes great puzzle games, and this one's no exception. It probably is a bit too difficult at times, but it kept me coming back.

Village People: The Videogame by Paul Harrington - I really wanted to be done making this game by the end of 2009 too. There's only an hour or two of content here, depending on how much you like to explore and read, but I hope I did a decent job creating the world.

Wandering Hamster (Update) by James Paige - I haven't played the update yet, but it's Wandering Hamster.

[RMZ]

Here are my votes for the categories.

Game of the Year
1. Okedoke
2. Baconthulu
3. Mr.Triangle's Maze
4. Phantom Tactics
5. Villiage People

Best Graphics
1. Vikings of Midgard
2. Phantom Tactics
3. OHR House: Heroes Season 1
4. Okedoke
5. Don't Eat Soap

Best Writing
1. Villiage People
2. Wandering Hamster
3. OHR House 3 : Complete
4. OHR House: Heroes Season 1
5. Okedoke

Best Design
1. Phantom Tactics
2. Mr.Triangle's Maze
3. Baconthulu
4. Don't Eat Soap
5. Entreprenuer's Quest

Most Ridiculous
1. <3
2. Baconthulu
3. Okedoke
4. Wandering Hamster
5. Vikings of Midgard

Most Anticipated for 2010
1. Okedoke - this is one of the best NEW games to come from someone besides the "regulars" in the community, in my opinion. It feels like an old school RPG, and it's very addictive. I'd love to see it 100% and play it fresh again.

2. Mr.Triangle's Maze - I'm excited that this game is back in business. What a hiatus!

3. Wandering Hamster - We can dream for another update, right?

4. Phantom Tactics - The story needs to be fleshed out, and presuming that gets fixed, I'm definitely excited about seeing it updated.

5. Blu Eternal - Vampiducki and I have been working hard on making the story as epic and grand as it needs to be for his amazing graphics and custom menu, and custom battle engine. A demo might be a long shot for 2010 though based on what's on the list to do just to release it.

[The Wobbler]

I just took a quick look, and I don't think there was a Vikings update in 2009. I think the last one was right at the beginning of this year, and the one before was right at the end of 2008. Fenrir, can you confirm?

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

Technically?

I *DID* release a small bug-fixed version sometime in the summer to address some of the wallmap issues people had been complaining about. If you count that as a release?

I wouldn't. As fun as it would be to see the game in the rankings for '09 (and '08, and '07), I'd rather see some other game be best of '09.

2010's a different story.

[RMZ]

I only voted for it in that category as a joke, if I need to pick another 5th one, I certainly can.

[Mogri]

You voted for it in two categories.

[The Wobbler]

Just a reminder for everyone that hasn't voted. We've received very few so far (4 total I believe)

[The Wobbler]

My votes. I will add comments later. I had a lot of trouble deciding on my top ten this year, there were a ton of good games released.

Best Game of 2009:
1. Don't Eat Soap
2. Sleepover
3. Village People (mine)
4. Mr. Triangle's Maze
5. Slimes
6. The Slime Wars
7. Do You Want to be a Hero?
8. Maze of the Red Mage
9. Tightfloss Maiden
10. Entrepreneur: The Beginning

Best Graphics:
1. Don't Eat Soap
2. Okedoke
3. Bloodlust
4. Village People (mine)
5. Phantom Tactics

Best Design:
1. Don't Eat Soap
2. Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu
3. Mr. Triangle's Maze
4. Slimes
5. The Slime Wars

Best Writing:
1. Village People (mine)
2. A Shot in the Dark
3. Do You Want to be a Hero?
4. Maze of the Red Mage
5. Tightfloss Maiden

Most Ridiculous:
1. Sleepover
2. [<3]
3. Village People (mine)
4. A Shot in the Dark
5. Do You Want to be a Hero?