2011 In Review 10: Dungeon quest

[Gizmog]

Joining in late 2010, Nickismo was known mostly for his penguin avatar. In his somewhat rare posts he teased two possible projects; an untitled zombie game in which the player would take control of a police officer investigating the apparent resurrection of a slain criminal and "Pixel Quest" which asked the player to guide the hero, presumably a pixel, to victory at the center of a square. Which one would he ultimately go with? February brought our answer: Neither of the above!

Nickismo's debut "Dungeon Quest" does borrow elements of Pixel Quest: your character is on the small side and for two whole maps, he navigates a maze to find a hole leading to the next area. The first level features a white maze surrounded by grass and mountains . The second level is a darker version of the first, with the added intrigue of slime monsters. I salute the author for using touch-npcs in a way that doesn't end with you pinned in a corner and forced to restart. This would add an interesting wrinkle to things if only the slimes would seriously fight back. Instead they only annoy you on your way to the hole that would lead to the third level... had it ever been made.

It's one of the most common newbie mistakes. You get so enthused at having made something, anything, that you release it looking for praise. "Dungeon Quest" would be deserving of that praise if Nickismo had finished a few more levels. As released, "DQ" is a wholly unremarkable work that makes you think "Yeah, that could eventually be pretty okay" and then go back to whatever you were doing. I can't help but wonder if the author had taken a few more weeks to add a few more levels, some polish, and maybe come up with a better name that he would've received that praise and been motivated to build this game into something to treasure.

Instead, Nickismo never posted again. His game would go unnoticed till April when Willy Electrix summed things up nicely for HamsterSpeak by saying "Here’s hoping that Nickismo gets cracking and spins a proper game out of this. Sign me up for 99 mammoth missions of sprawling mazes of deadly monsters."

Here's still hoping.

Score: 3/10

2011 Score (Per Feb 08): 57/100

Part of Gomey's 2011 Year In Review
Previous Next