Let's play judge! Top picks for the IGMC.

[dinkledaberry]

Jury and executioner optional.
So with the people's choice voting ending today I figure we can take this time to talk about our favorite games from the contest and the ones we had the most fun with!
Which games that you played do you feel deserve the top places?

Here are my votes-
Grand Prize: Unraveled-This is one of the only games that gave me a personal emotional response. I don't know if it was the music, the graphics, the setting or what but I got that same feeling I felt when I played "To The Moon" all those years ago. It's a well-executed premise that's bittersweet and I love the imagination at play here. There's a few kinks left to work out but when this game is fully released in August. With the inclusion of a few added elements it will certainly have my full, undivided attention.

1st Place (RPG): Goblin Noir-Reminds me of Phoenix Wright for all the right reasons. Sheila Stix is a well-fleshed character I was tempted to put it in "Non-RPG" because let's be honest, but I figured I'd go with whatever the game makers clarified it as.
2nd Place (RPG): Sunken Spire-How the crap was this all made in just a month? It's really amazing work. I love the puzzles, the characters and the battle system. Ooze had so many useful forms and there was a a lot of strategy at hand to use. Pretty much a full game for free. Can't beat that!
3rd Place (RPG): Last Word-I feel this is the one of the first games I've played that does battle systems with talking right. It feels remarkably unique and just feels right. A very nice twist on the ol' RPS system. The characters are all archetypes but serve their roles well! The story is easy to follow and well developed, but my favorite thing about this game is its uniqueness.

1st Place (Non-RPG): Oneshot-Just barely beat out by Unraveled for the Grand Prize to me. This game is unique in all the right ways. It uses elements I've never seen done before in a game and its choices have actual weight to them since you only get "one shot". I'm not going to spoil anything, just go play the game for yourself when you have free time.
2nd Place (Non-RPG): Teardrop Distance-Man I love the feel of this game's world. The battles are great for only having a month to work with and the voice acting is surprisingly well-done. And while it's not an RPG Maker game I really don't care because it's the right kind of fun.
3rd Place (Non-RPG): Little Briar Rose-So good to see a workable and well-done adventure game using the VX Ace engine. The custom artwork is amazing and the puzzles hearken back to the days of old-school adventure games. It doesn't do anything unique among the genre but it still stands well on its own.

Honorable mentions:

Panorama-This game surprised me. The twist in story is well done. Especially with English as a second language. I would love to see this game expanded upon to fix a few things because it could exceptional.

Trapped-Survival RPG with entirely custom graphics. And the guy has all of his work in youtube videos! It's really inspiring to see what a pixel artist can do when allowed to just go hog-wild. Check it out!

The Heart Pumps Clay-Nice to play a game with a battle system that actually involves strategy. Each battle feels more like a puzzle in a way and I like that. 

Oh! Ko!-For a first game this is freaking adorable. Simplistic in a lot of places, but the story is sweet and the robot is awesome. The art is really well done.

Aesparia The Fallen-I would love to see this game maker release a full 20+ hour RPG. This plays like a great prologue more than anything, but I love the battles and story.

It Lurks!-Another prologue game but I really dug the atmosphere and feel of the game. Felt like Resident Hill the RPG. Would play again. Of the developer continues the story, I am there.

So what are your picks?

 

[kartersaint]

Unfortunately the version of Goblin Noir on the contest entry is totally broken. 

If the broken game is eligible to win a prize, then.. you know... there might be many arguments about this. 

But without that fact, the game is, of course, one of best games in this contest.

 

[B.Ultimus]

Thanks for the Honorable Mention!  If I got you interested to play a full game, I feel like I've done my job here

 

[GIRakaCHEEZER]

1st Place (Non-RPG): Oneshot-Just barely beat out by Unraveled for the Grand Prize to me. This game is unique in all the right ways. It uses elements I've never seen done before in a game and its choices have actual weight to them since you only get "one shot". I'm not going to spoil anything, just go play the game for yourself when you have free time.

Oneshot is in the RPG category, not the non-RPG category. It even says so right on its submission page.

 

[Sailerius]

It's also disqualified for using RM2k3.

 

[GIRakaCHEEZER]

It's also disqualified for using RM2k3.

I've been looking through the guidelines/rules sections, and I can't find anything that specifically says not to use RM2k3. Can someone point me in the right direction to see what I'm missing, maybe...?

 

[dinkledaberry]

Unfortunately the version of Goblin Noir on the contest entry is totally broken. 

If the broken game is eligible to win a prize, then.. you know... there might be many arguments about this. 

But without that fact, the game is, of course, one of best games in this contest.

True. I just really love the game.

Thanks for the Honorable Mention!  If I got you interested to play a full game, I feel like I've done my job here

No problems! I liked what you had. 

Oneshot is in the RPG category, not the non-RPG category. It even says so right on its submission page.

Right. But if you look in the actual description he clarifies it as a "Puzzle/Adventure" game. So I went with that. Goblin Noir labeled itself as a RPG/Visual Novel deal. Technically I don't even think Oneshot is eligible since it was made using 2003 but you know, it's still a masterpiece.

I've been looking through the guidelines/rules sections, and I can't find anything that specifically says not to use RM2k3. Can someone point me in the right direction to see what I'm missing, maybe...?

I remember there was a question asking about it when the contest first started in the comments. This was over a month ago now so it's hard to track down, but it was pretty much confirmed 2000 and 2003 were off the table if I recall.

 

[Clord]

The Clans - Cursed Souls made a nice underdog it seems. Considering it doesn't make to lists when people mention games of this contest and yet gets downloaded so much.


Not that I'm sulking.

 

[EternalShadow]

Getting a taste of how hard the prize-awarding process is, are we?

 

[Sailerius]

I've been looking through the guidelines/rules sections, and I can't find anything that specifically says not to use RM2k3. Can someone point me in the right direction to see what I'm missing, maybe...?

From the rules:

You must have the right to use all assets, tools, and anything else involved in the creation of the game, such as the engine/software, visual resources, music, and so forth. 

There is no legal English version of RM2k3.

 

[GIRakaCHEEZER]

There is no legal English version of RM2k3.

I guess this just shows how little I know about Rpg Maker in general. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[dinkledaberry]

Getting a taste of how hard the prize-awarding process is, are we?

Seriously. And this is just for fun. Haha.

 

The Clans - Cursed Souls made a nice underdog it seems. Considering it doesn't make to lists when people mention games of this contest and yet gets downloaded so much.

Not that I'm sulking.

It's in my list of games to play. I've just been so busy. Looks promising though.

 

[TungerMan]

 

Getting a taste of how hard the prize-awarding process is, are we? 

I imagine it's much, much harder for actual judges. We have the option to play whatever games that will grab our attention, and then pick our favorites. Matter of fact, I haven't even played enough games to make my own list.

 

[Cinnamon]

waaaaaaah o_o

My first reaction to the thread:

"Wait my game isn't there... T_T"

Then I looked up at "GRAND PRIZE" and I was all waaaaah o_o

On a more properly written note: thank you, good sir. <3

From the rules:

There is no legal English version of RM2k3.

I don't think that disqualifies One Shot. It could've been made in the legal Japanese version? Realistically it probably wasn't, but is there really a way to check?

As for my winners... Ugh it's really hard. Obviously I won't include my own game. I could name the games I don't think should win, but that would make me sound very negative, wouldn't it?

My favorite games are Panorama, Perspective, D is for Dungeon, Sunken Spire and Beyond Reality. However Sunken Spire uses a lot of old scripts, graphics and systems that were basically copy & pasted from the prequels, which is why the developer had enough time to make it so long. D is for Dungeon is awesome but I can't judge it because it's not entirely my thing. Panorama, Perspective and Beyond Reality all three were kinda buggy and incomplete? But still awesome.

As for One Shot... If it does win I really hope it's not because the developer knows how to pull up the Windows user account name and create pop-ups.

Teardrop Distance - This one doesn't even run for me and when I asked the developer for help I got a snappy reply along the lines of "well it's not my fault your Java scripts are corrupted", even though half of their comments section is about it.

Argh I hate this topic. xD If it were up to me the winners would be the unique, charming, glitchy games... But I have a feeling they're going to pick the most commercial looking ones.

 

Oneshot is in the RPG category, not the non-RPG category. It even says so right on its submission page.

 

Whaaat? How is One Shot an RPG. :/ It shouldn't be competing against games like D is for Dungeon and Unraveled.

edit: OH I FORGOT TRAPPED. TRAPPED is AWESOME! That game should win something, too.

 

[Sailerius]

I don't think that disqualifies One Shot. It could've been made in the legal Japanese version? Realistically it probably wasn't, but is there really a way to check?

You can tell by looking at the dll.

 

[Cinnamon]

You can tell by looking at the dll.

What *.dll file?

 

[Ultim]

Playing judge...Ummm....K...

ULTIM1337GRANDPRIZE WINNER is... : ME !!! YAY no really...It's The Vendor.

ULTIM1337 NON-RPG ENTRIES :

1- The Farming One

2- Unraveled

3- Oh! Ko!

ULTIM1337 RPG ENTRIES :

1-Sunken Spire

2-D is for Dungeon

3- None.

ULTIM1337 I-DON'T-LIKE GAMES :

1-Disaster at Aero VI

That's all.(Sorry if too rude to MobiusXVI...But that's my opinion)

 

[EternalShadow]

Beyond Reality was buggy? o_0

 

[Ultim]

@hotfirelegend : No.

 

[Cinnamon]

Unraveled is an RPG, but thank you. :')

Beyond Reality wasn't buggy, but just felt incomplete a bit. I dunno. Like unpolished. Maybe buggy was a bad way to describe it. I left a more detailed review in your thread weeks ago.