03-24-2006, 02:19 PM
Ok, I want so say few more things because the last time when I was online was the first time I've heard about the new Qlympics and couldn't compose my thoughts on it properly.
I apologize if some of my ideas are already incorporated into the rules of the new Qlympics. This was written offline.
First of all, I want to point out again that it will be a big mistake to leave out the QBasic games from 2003. Why? Since 2002 not a single QBasic awards event was held in the community and 2003 is the best year in the QBasic game development from 2003 till today. Simply, it will be an injustice and will force the awards moderators to nominate few QBasic classic again just to fill out some imagined awards nominees quota.
This brings me to the idea of awarding the old QBasic classics again. I'm against this ESPECIALLY if all the community members will vote. I know that a notable amount of people who rarely play QBasic games will reflex-vote for the classics while completely ignoring the games that should be evaluated. This will be fair only if you install few special categories for these games(like Qlympics History Awards or something like that) separated from other categories.
Anyway, if you include year 2003 in the awards the competition will be very tough and there will be plenty of "award-worthy" games for all the categories.
As I promised I've checked QBasic Games Directory for the games released in and after 2003 and these are the games I believe that should be nominated:
In The Nocturne, 2003
A RPG by DarkDread
Download: http://darkdreams.rpgdx.net/downloads.html
MUX, 2003
A FPS by Pieslice Productions
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/raview68.shtml
Robot Robbery, 2003
A platform game by KeiProductions
Download: http://www.kentauri.digitalblackie.com/a...bbery.html
Spy For Hire, 2003
A puzzle/action game by SBM Productions and El Cheapo studios
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/ruview29.shtml
Squealer TNT, 2003
An action game by Marcus Kasumba(Piptol)
Download: http://piptol.qbasicnews.com/files.htm
StarQuest v.1.1, 2003
A strategy/action game by Jace Masula
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/roview11.shtml
TerraScape - Breakdown Velocity, 2003/2004
A 3D flight/action game by Pieslice Productions
Download: http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/expr...terrascape
Total Destruction Demo, 2003
A playable demo of a space shooter by Turbo Fx
Download: http://qbnz.com/pages/downloads/action/index.html
ZeroG, 2003
A 3D space ship racing game by syn9
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/raview70.shtml
Frantic Journey Demo, 2003
A playable demo of a space shooter by Relsoft and Adigun Azikiwe Polack
Download: http://dhost.hopto.org/aapproj/fj/fj(download).html
Mini Space Empires, 2003
A space strategy game by Murat Elic
Download: http://fileanchor.com/22579-d
Rocket Fuel Mayhem, 2003
A space ship duel game by Lachie Dazdarian
Download: http://kentauri.digitalblackie.com
Ball Blazing Fantasy, 2003
An action game by Lachie Dazdarian
Download: http://kentauri.digitalblackie.com
Detective Academy, 2003/2004
A puzzle game by Lachie Dazdarian
Download: http://kentauri.digitalblackie.com
Astral Worlds, 2004
A RPG/RPG maker by KDAG
Download: http://www.kentauri.digitalblackie.com/a...orlds.html
CODELINK, 2004
A "hacking" game by Jace Masula
Download: http://qb45.think-new.com/projects.php
Contact, 2004
A FPS by Wallace Software
Download: http://www.freewebs.com/wallacesoftware/contact.htm
Dies Irae Remake, 2004
A RPG by Jonathan Edwards(I Am Har Har Har)
Download:
http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/expr...ng_a_story
Direct link: http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/expr...Remake.zip
Nietzsche Special Edition, 2004
A RPG by SJ Zero
Download: http://oma.qbxl.net/nietzsche/index.html
AsciiQuest Editor, 2005
ASCII RPG maker by Jace Masula
Download: http://qb45.think-new.com/asciiquest.php
Blubber Dragon ver.2.04, 2005
An action game by Draco RedScale
Download 1: http://www.qb45.com
Download 2: http://www.petesqbsite.com/downloads/arcade.shtml
Tetris 2, 2005
ASCII Tetris game by Timothy Peters
Download: http://www.ascii-world.com/gamesmain.html
Twigz Engine(plus a demo), 2004
A point&click adventure maker by Shattered Realm Productions
Download: http://shatteredrealmproductions.com/Twi...m#Download
23 products. A lot. Of course, some 10-11 games could be cut out and don't have a lot of chances but I personally want to point them out. I didn't list all games released since 2003 like Pixel Snake Gem Hunt! or Capt'n Squiddy's Bootleg PUSH-PUSH(a sokoban game done in OHRRPGCE) but nobody is stopping you from nominating them.
The second issue I want to comment is community voting. I'm highly against it because of two things. First is cheating. You can never exclude it and some people simply need professional help when it comes to this. Second is objectiveness. I know how people tend to vote in such polls. And the way the latest "What is the best QBasic game developer of all time?" poll is developing convinced me in this even more. People are simply lazy. They vote by default for 2-3 games they have played and ignore the rest. They don't give the less known and less advertised the appropriate attention.
The best way is, if you ask me, to pick a jury consisted of respectable members from the community who didn't released anything in QBasic since 2003 or their entry didn't get nominated. People who administrate(d) QBasic sites and were/are very active in the community. My suggestions: Pete Berg, Na_th_an, MystikShadows, Nekrophidius, Zap and Sumo Jo. Sorry if somone feels left out but you get my point about what kind of profile of people I'm talking about. Some of you might argue why Nek but if I'm sure in anything about him is that he won't be an asshole when voting though I personally doubt his taste(no offense).
If community voting is chosen I fear the awards will turn into bollocks. Even with the jury I fear that some members of it won't do the job right and evaluate properly all the best games from the list. If they don't know which those are they probably shouldn't be in the jury. But overall I believe a selected jury will make a better choice than the community.
My two cents.
If some official community nominees form will be constructed I want to nominate all the games from this list and I ask you Pete to put them in the "awards evaluation box". I don't know when I'll be online again and if I'll be able to nominate them.
Also, if QBasic Games Directory appears online you'll notice that DarkPhear was archived as a game from 2003 which is of course incorrect( check http://209.120.136.195/game.php?id=3239 ). It was an honest mistake since in the documentation and in the game there is nothing about the release date/year while the last date of modification of all the game's files is 28.10.2003. Weird.
I apologize if some of my ideas are already incorporated into the rules of the new Qlympics. This was written offline.
First of all, I want to point out again that it will be a big mistake to leave out the QBasic games from 2003. Why? Since 2002 not a single QBasic awards event was held in the community and 2003 is the best year in the QBasic game development from 2003 till today. Simply, it will be an injustice and will force the awards moderators to nominate few QBasic classic again just to fill out some imagined awards nominees quota.
This brings me to the idea of awarding the old QBasic classics again. I'm against this ESPECIALLY if all the community members will vote. I know that a notable amount of people who rarely play QBasic games will reflex-vote for the classics while completely ignoring the games that should be evaluated. This will be fair only if you install few special categories for these games(like Qlympics History Awards or something like that) separated from other categories.
Anyway, if you include year 2003 in the awards the competition will be very tough and there will be plenty of "award-worthy" games for all the categories.
As I promised I've checked QBasic Games Directory for the games released in and after 2003 and these are the games I believe that should be nominated:
In The Nocturne, 2003
A RPG by DarkDread
Download: http://darkdreams.rpgdx.net/downloads.html
MUX, 2003
A FPS by Pieslice Productions
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/raview68.shtml
Robot Robbery, 2003
A platform game by KeiProductions
Download: http://www.kentauri.digitalblackie.com/a...bbery.html
Spy For Hire, 2003
A puzzle/action game by SBM Productions and El Cheapo studios
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/ruview29.shtml
Squealer TNT, 2003
An action game by Marcus Kasumba(Piptol)
Download: http://piptol.qbasicnews.com/files.htm
StarQuest v.1.1, 2003
A strategy/action game by Jace Masula
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/roview11.shtml
TerraScape - Breakdown Velocity, 2003/2004
A 3D flight/action game by Pieslice Productions
Download: http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/expr...terrascape
Total Destruction Demo, 2003
A playable demo of a space shooter by Turbo Fx
Download: http://qbnz.com/pages/downloads/action/index.html
ZeroG, 2003
A 3D space ship racing game by syn9
Download: http://www.vplanetmag.com/raview70.shtml
Frantic Journey Demo, 2003
A playable demo of a space shooter by Relsoft and Adigun Azikiwe Polack
Download: http://dhost.hopto.org/aapproj/fj/fj(download).html
Mini Space Empires, 2003
A space strategy game by Murat Elic
Download: http://fileanchor.com/22579-d
Rocket Fuel Mayhem, 2003
A space ship duel game by Lachie Dazdarian
Download: http://kentauri.digitalblackie.com
Ball Blazing Fantasy, 2003
An action game by Lachie Dazdarian
Download: http://kentauri.digitalblackie.com
Detective Academy, 2003/2004
A puzzle game by Lachie Dazdarian
Download: http://kentauri.digitalblackie.com
Astral Worlds, 2004
A RPG/RPG maker by KDAG
Download: http://www.kentauri.digitalblackie.com/a...orlds.html
CODELINK, 2004
A "hacking" game by Jace Masula
Download: http://qb45.think-new.com/projects.php
Contact, 2004
A FPS by Wallace Software
Download: http://www.freewebs.com/wallacesoftware/contact.htm
Dies Irae Remake, 2004
A RPG by Jonathan Edwards(I Am Har Har Har)
Download:
http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/expr...ng_a_story
Direct link: http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/expr...Remake.zip
Nietzsche Special Edition, 2004
A RPG by SJ Zero
Download: http://oma.qbxl.net/nietzsche/index.html
AsciiQuest Editor, 2005
ASCII RPG maker by Jace Masula
Download: http://qb45.think-new.com/asciiquest.php
Blubber Dragon ver.2.04, 2005
An action game by Draco RedScale
Download 1: http://www.qb45.com
Download 2: http://www.petesqbsite.com/downloads/arcade.shtml
Tetris 2, 2005
ASCII Tetris game by Timothy Peters
Download: http://www.ascii-world.com/gamesmain.html
Twigz Engine(plus a demo), 2004
A point&click adventure maker by Shattered Realm Productions
Download: http://shatteredrealmproductions.com/Twi...m#Download
23 products. A lot. Of course, some 10-11 games could be cut out and don't have a lot of chances but I personally want to point them out. I didn't list all games released since 2003 like Pixel Snake Gem Hunt! or Capt'n Squiddy's Bootleg PUSH-PUSH(a sokoban game done in OHRRPGCE) but nobody is stopping you from nominating them.
The second issue I want to comment is community voting. I'm highly against it because of two things. First is cheating. You can never exclude it and some people simply need professional help when it comes to this. Second is objectiveness. I know how people tend to vote in such polls. And the way the latest "What is the best QBasic game developer of all time?" poll is developing convinced me in this even more. People are simply lazy. They vote by default for 2-3 games they have played and ignore the rest. They don't give the less known and less advertised the appropriate attention.
The best way is, if you ask me, to pick a jury consisted of respectable members from the community who didn't released anything in QBasic since 2003 or their entry didn't get nominated. People who administrate(d) QBasic sites and were/are very active in the community. My suggestions: Pete Berg, Na_th_an, MystikShadows, Nekrophidius, Zap and Sumo Jo. Sorry if somone feels left out but you get my point about what kind of profile of people I'm talking about. Some of you might argue why Nek but if I'm sure in anything about him is that he won't be an asshole when voting though I personally doubt his taste(no offense).
If community voting is chosen I fear the awards will turn into bollocks. Even with the jury I fear that some members of it won't do the job right and evaluate properly all the best games from the list. If they don't know which those are they probably shouldn't be in the jury. But overall I believe a selected jury will make a better choice than the community.
My two cents.
If some official community nominees form will be constructed I want to nominate all the games from this list and I ask you Pete to put them in the "awards evaluation box". I don't know when I'll be online again and if I'll be able to nominate them.
Also, if QBasic Games Directory appears online you'll notice that DarkPhear was archived as a game from 2003 which is of course incorrect( check http://209.120.136.195/game.php?id=3239 ). It was an honest mistake since in the documentation and in the game there is nothing about the release date/year while the last date of modification of all the game's files is 28.10.2003. Weird.