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2009 Last Stand RPG Contest Awards

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Introductory Statement by qPirateKing:

Quote from qPirateKing?

Well, it took longer than expected, and many of the contestants have probably laughed this contest off and moved on with their lives... But, I'm still happy to announce the results have finally been submitted, counted, and compiled. Without further ado, your 2009 LAST STAND RPG CHALLENGE winners!

-Top Three Contestants






-Special awards





-Judges' Picks




-Additional Information
How did we decide the winners? Open the box below to read about the methodology.


-Detailed Scoring
Curious about the actual scores and how each map ranked? Here's a spreadsheet with the scores.


-Closing Statement
I want to give a shout out to all the people who participated in this contest. There were a lot of solid maps, and anyone who submitted a map should be proud of the work they put in. To you guys in particular, I personally apologise for the long wait. No real excuses there except for being busy with graduate school. Big ups to Psionic_Storm and CecilSunkure for being responsible and putting in the time and effort playing and scoring all the maps. It's not easy, people! Seriously! Oh, and SHAME on two of the judges who signed up to judge but completely abandoned their duties. Taking 3 months to get the scores done is bad enough, but Nude and TZ didn't submit a single score. At the very least, they could have told me that they were too busy or that they didn't want to be judges anymore. Instead they just blew me off, and, I daresay, disrespected everyone who took part in this contest. Not cool guys. Not cool.

-People's Choice Overall Winner

Quote from Kaias

And congratulations to xYoshix (Fallen Memories) for People's Choice 1st Place Winner, Vrael (Tenebrous) as the 2nd Place Winner, and qPirateKing (Wonder) as the 3rd Place Winner.

People's Choice Overall Winner

How many minerals do I get?

Congratulations Vrael

Quote from Vrael

How many minerals do I get?

Like over 9000

And congratulations to xYoshix (Fallen Memories) for People's Choice 1st Place Winner, Vrael (Tenebrous) as the 2nd Place Winner, and qPirateKing (Wonder) as the 3rd Place Winner.

Vrael wins 5970- Divide by Zero error.

People's Choice Overall Winner

We should probably have the People's Choice awards edited into the OP, as well.

hurray finally!

but yeah <3's to everyone who submitted a map.

Here is a link to my personal judgments for all the maps. This includes a short analysis of each map I was able to play. Just thought some people might find it interesting, and I don't want it to go to waste:

http://www.mediafire.com/?gjlnhdyoiow

If you open it in notepad, hit format then word wrap.

Hey, someone liked my map. But he thought my bosses were poor? Awww. At least I fixed my menu area + seeing everything in my latest version (that will never come out. )

Quote from CecilSunkure?

Quote from Vrael

How many minerals do I get?

Like over 9000

OVER 9000!?

You noe what?
We should have this more often

Congrats

Quote from O)UnholyUrine

You noe what?
We should have this more often

Congrats

Agreed.

Grats everybody! I'm surprised Fallen Memories didn't get scored very highly though I thought that map was superb.

Quote from private_parts

Grats everybody! I'm surprised Fallen Memories didn't get scored very highly though I thought that map was superb.

Yeah, why did it score so low in Design?

Quote from Jack[RCDF

Quote from private_parts

Grats everybody! I'm surprised Fallen Memories didn't get scored very highly though I thought that map was superb.

Yeah, why did it score so low in Design?

I can tell you why I personally did not give it a high score for design. This map had a lot of good ideas, but they lacked cohesion and were often under-developed. For example, you know how early on there was a puzzle where you are supposed to cast the scarab spell to destroy a wall? Despite being introduced as a possible use for the spell, this is never used again in the entire map. With some exceptions, cool things like using the bomb to kill hidden lings are only used once. There's very little carry-over from puzzle to puzzle, and that just adds to the feeling that all the parts where thrown together without much thought. Furthermore, many of the puzzles don't really "fit" the map. They are simply puzzles for the sake of puzzles. Like, the power generator puzzle might be a nice puzzle, but why is there a power generator in the middle of a temple?

Oh, and how about the alchemy book? While the idea behind it was nice, it felt totally extraneous; I didn't use it a single time. In After Earth, every item and skill had a well-defined purpose and a high level of utility, so it scored relatively higher.

Other issues like extreme lag (Cecil and I both experienced it) made traveling through the forest and fighting monsters in general a huge pain. The bosses were cool, but they were not very intuitive and the map didn't offer any help. Yes, I managed to beat them, but half the time it seemed like I was doing X and spamming spells.

I would say that this map shows that Yoshi has a lot of potential as a mapper. He uses a wide range of ideas and executes them well enough. However, where this map lacks is in its focus. There are too many ideas, and none of them really build upon each other. For this kind of game, having just a few spells/items/abilities is enough. Having puzzles that require the player to use them in creative ways or in different combinations is the mark of a well-designed game.

Congrats Vraelll.

Grats to everyone who entered.

I'd just like to point out that the part where you get stuck (After the Zeus) is not a bug, but is intentional. I have spent an ample amount of time polishing the area's that are complete and didn't have time to get the final area / boss up to the polished standards of the other sections. So instead I opted to end the game there. Although, I should have added a victory trigger to eliminate some of the confusion. I planned on completing it (And I still might) so I didn't add in the victory trigger.

It's a tough game so I feel kind of bad for ending it like that and I really shouldn't of done it in such a way. Hopefully the finished product will have a more "rewarding" ending.

Where's nominated Yggdrasill?
Joke
Though I'd be interested to know how it'd be noted for the terrain (and maybe the first puzzle?). I guess I find it way too good while it, in fact, is rather repetitive or I-dunno. Though I'd like a little feedback.

<3

Not a surpise that I didn't win anything. My map doesn't really have solid gameplay and a horrible story. Hopefully I'll make something better later.

What happened to Nightfall? o_o

did build a ship workshop get FINISHED? i still want that map.