comp03.
Well, it’s nearing the end, so I might as well say something about it.
Personally, I wasn’t much of a fan of this theme. It was a lot more specific than the last two competitions were. While the last two were mostly interpreted as themes of environment or setting, this one gave us a gameplay theme, and hardly anybody interpreted that theme beyond just “two characters work together to reach the goal.”
With that said, I do have to mention that some people thought very well outside of the box. If you haven’t heard me talking about them already in the past couple of blogs, here’s a list of the games in comp03 that I think are among the best and most original. (Keep in mind I haven’t, nor do I intend to play every game in the competition so far, so there may be and probably are others that are great too.) (No particular order.)
Drop In the Bucket by KC LC
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/show/50070
I’ve gotta say, this is one of the most original games I’ve seen in the competition, and easily one of my favorites. Simple, stylish and challenging. My only real complaint is that it could’ve done with more sounds and maybe some music. But I’ve always been a fan of KC LC’s games, and this is some of her best work.
Crimson Steel by whgoss
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/show/48912
Awesome, awesome game. Great for any fans of shoot-em-up’s. It’s got great graphics, but the game isn’t just eye candy, it’s a blast to play as well. This game didn’t interpret the theme very far, but it still provides some excellent dogfighting action and a high level of polish. Excellent work.
Jumper 3 by Matt Thorson
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/show/49558
Yes, I’m feeding the hype, I don’t care. Unlike Jumper 1 and 2, I believe this game deserves every bit of attention it gets, simply because it’s very well-made. I was never a huge fan of Jumper before this, but I am fan of this game. The graphics are cleaner, the difficulty curve is a lot more defined, and the overall sense of polish is leaps and bounds beyond YMM’s previous work. Easily his best creation. Although I doubt that he made it specifically for this competition, it fits in with the theme nicely, but puts a different spin on it.
Agalag by SoulRed12
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/show/49533
Reversals are always fun. Agalag (a reverse of Galaga, ironically, because the game feels more like a reversal of Space Invaders) is a game in which you command a horde of alien spaceships to attack the human ship that’s coming to destroy them all. Agalag offers a fun, unqiue concept and seamless execution. Although it can be insanely hard at times, I still played through a decent bulk of it. It’s one of few GM games that I’ve kept on my hard drive and played after the first time I downloaded it.
That’s about it. Now, there have been a handful of other competition entries that I played and enjoyed, and I’m sure there are others that I haven’t played that I would enjoy as well, but these are the four that really stood out to me. I hope they get the recognition they deserve.
Love Always,
Daniel Baker
