Description

Results are in!

1st Place: Will You Ever Return? by jackspinoza
2nd Place: Wine & Roses by Craze
3rd Place: Dead Moon Night by Fomar0153 and Indra

Judges' comments forthcoming.



First and foremost, thanks to Archeia_Nessiah for the wonderful event page CSS!

October's already here! It sure did sneak up on us like a creepy crawly black widow spider, fangs poised for a nasty, venomous bite! Like all arachnaphobes, we sprang to our feet, panicked, and tripped over the night stand decided that we're overdue for another month-long game development contest!

The Theme? Anything related to Halloween! Horror, trick-or-treating, zombie attacks, ghosts...it's your call!

This is a very broad theme: as long as the game is in the spirit of Halloween, you'll be fine. Feel free to ask if you don't think your game applies to the theme. You may use any game development engine. Additional rules are listed below.

The deadline is 12pm UTC on Halloween4pm UTC on November 3rd. A panel of judges will play each game and rank the top three entries. Users may vote for their favorite game once the contest is over; voting will be handled through this page. Results will be announced via podcast. It's the All Hallows' Event...or, I guess you could say, the Nightmare Before Halloween!


Step 1: Sign up for the contest in the "Registration" section below this event description. You can enter this event solo or as a team. Additionally, you may submit as many games or join as many teams as you'd like.
Step 2: Create your game page. Normal submission rules apply.
Step 3: Post your download to the game page once it's approved.
Step 4: Submit your game download to the contest by using the commands on the upper-right corner of this page.



Winner: Patron Spirit of Halloween Achievement (worth 100 makerscore), an LP from one of the judges, a review from one of the judges, and a free copy of RPG Maker VX Ace.
2nd place: Ragdoll Love Interest Achievement (worth 75 makerscore), an LP from one of the judges, and a review from one of the judges.
3rd place: Duckbilled Evil Scientist Achievement (worth 60 makerscore) and a review from one of the judges.
Voters' choice: Two-Faced Mayor Achievement (worth 100 makerscore).
Participation (including judges): Sadistic Sack's Shadow Achievement (worth 50 makerscore).

(Feel free to nag the judges until you get your review.)


  • The game must be related to Halloween. Unsure if you game meets the theme? Just ask!
  • You may use any game development engine.
  • Only completed games are allowed! No demos!
  • Preexisting resources may be used, but no games that were started before the beginning of the event are allowed.
  • No late submissions; the deadline is strictly 12pm UTC on Halloween (October 31, 2012). Exceptions may be made if judges find a game-breaking bug.
  • There is no limit on team size; you may also work alone.
  • You may submit as many games and join as many teams as you'd like.
  • Judges' entries will not be ranked, but they will still quality for the voters' choice achievement.
  • All necessary files must be included in the download.
  • Only one VX Ace copy is available - please take this into account if you're on a team.
  • If the winner does not want VX Ace, s/he will pass it to the 2nd place winner, and so on, until we find a person who wants it.
  • All of RMN's normal policies apply.
  • If you have any questions, ask in the comments section or PM Deckiller.

Details

Achievements

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for All Hallows' Event.

Teams Members Entry Votes
Mario's Mansion II
  • 1
Spirit Yumm
  • 1
Forest Map Madness
  • 3
She Who Likes Achievements
  • 0
Bludgeon of Inspiration
  • 0
Blue Pumpkin Games
  • 3
Demented Jester
  • 1
candies omg candies everywhere
  • 1
Resident Evil
  • 1
Wine & Roses
  • 5
dragons_fire games
  • 2
Haunted House Here, Ha Ha
  • 1
Team Me
  • 3
Purplex
  • 0
Jack Spinoza
  • 3
NecromireGames
  • 0
Flying Jester
  • 2
Slenderman's Army
  • 0
The Horrorterrors of Candy Cane Mountain: A Choose Your Own Adventure
Headless Eldritch Horror with a Sphincter for a Face with a Walker
Crayons and Papers
Arguably the perfect man
Will probably finish something this time
(Trick || Treat)
Let's Carve a Gourd
Samhain Sassy Soiree
Just in case I do anything
jomarcenter games
Onward! Defrosted Tuna Team
Xp hunters
ok
Wolfpack
Lord of CC will CC you... TO DEATH
Nobody
Just Jude
Team Of One
Generic horror game.
Spooky Specters
It's Acezon
Arachnaphobia
Deadly Dimention
Lucifer's Worshipper
Demonfly Studios
1 Person, 1 Game, 1 Month
Night Of The Terror
Evil Pyro: Killing by Mario Game
Memoirs of a Grimoire
Bump in the Night
Haunted Moors
Cthulhu Rises Over The City of Arkham
Insideous Horrors
Gold Team
Blue Rooms
moga
Home Alone
Mansion of Doom

Posts

I don't agree with the result. <_<
Wait, seriously?
Um, where's Jack's Eve on that list, because that game was a lot better than Will You Ever Return? Hell, what about Slenderman's Army? Or Festival of Souls? Or Not a Chance of a Ghost?
I mean, I agree with the other two winners completely, but Will You Ever Return is not a better game than either of them, even.

Are the judges trying to be hip and choose artsy or something? I'd love to see their comments on this.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I definitely respect the judges for having the cajones to pick a less conventional entry, though I can't say I'd pick that one myself. I'll be curious to see how they came to this decision! I liked W/R and DMN so it's nice to see that they placed!

Thanks to all the participants and to the judges for taking the time to play all these entries!
Wow, I'm really honoured to have placed let alone to have won and my sentiments are sincerely similar to the above comments (@Liberty and Archeia_Nessiah). I can't believe it! I know that WYER? isn't everyone's cup of tea and that is all I can say in my defense. Thank you so much to Deckiller and everyone involved in this competition for giving me the incentive to start developing games of my own.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
You're welcome! Best of luck with whatever games you decide to make!
Yo, I'm happy for you, man and I agree that it definitely wouldn't have been one of my own top picks and I'm definitely surprised it came first, but that's not saying I didn't enjoy the game myself. I thought it was pretty cool for what it was, just... not a first placer. No offence meant or anything. >.<;
That said, I rather enjoyed it and wish you best of luck developing more games. I hope you listen to the podcast when the part with your game comes out, so you can hear what I had to say about it. It was mainly positive. ^.^
Until the judges' comments are given, I don't think there's any base to questioning the results.

Perhaps the choice of an 'artsy'er game was because the rest of the games were very similar and did not stand out because of it? I wasn't able to play the RPG Maker games, so I have no idea.

Congrats, jackspinoza!
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Awww yeah. Congrats jack, and thanks to the judges. <3
I have to have opinions on the games too? I basically just wrote one-liners for the games to remind me if they were decent or not. (so there are a couple of games where my comments amount to "meh") There's one game where my comment was "THIS GAME IS FUCKING AWESOME" (yes it was all caps). That game also turned out to be the winner of the competition.

Overall though I have to admit that I was somewhat pleasantly surprised. (except for the part where games didn't follow the rules which I have already whined about too much) There weren't very many games that made me want to kill myself, instead most games were at the very least somewhat pleasant.

For me the standout game was "Will you ever return?" though, there was no game that even got close. And yes, it might have something to do with the graphics in the end (as someone suggested). Playing games that all look similar gets old quickly and the vastly different style in WYER? at first took me aback but then I was really into it.

Similarly I really liked The Unwelcome Guest (even though my mouse wheel is wonky so it made it a pain in the ass to play) because it was a break from the superficial sameyness of some of the games.
...you were judge and you only wrote one liners? Dude. >.<;

So, other judges want to talk about what they thought or did they half-ass the feedback too?
author=Liberty
...you were judge and you only wrote one liners? Dude. >.<;

I take my cue from reality TV judges. I look at something and say "next". I personally don't think it is half-assed at all. After all I only need to make a shortlist of favourites, then compare said shortlist to the other judges' shortlists (who, incidentally, wrote much more detailed stuff.) then look back if there was something I missed if they had something I didn't on my shortlist.

Not all games are created equal. Some games ARE just "meh" and there's no reason to ever go back to those. However I will write down SOMETHING for some of the games that pushed my buttons. (like, although it's not a prize, I'm probably going to do a let's play of Dead Moon Night because that game pushed so many of my buttons it's crazy!)
May I ask, did you play all the way through all of the games or stop at a certain point and say "That's enough of this one. Next!"?
Also, I'd like to see what you thought of your favourite ones at least, since they seem to be the ones you focussed on. If it's not too much to ask, of course.
I agree that it'd be nice to see whatever comments you already have on the games. If anyone here is nearly as needy as me, they'd love to hear anything about the game they made.
To be honest (and no offense intended) the graphics of WYER actually put me off playing it.

Where's Saddest Songs on that list (I was rooting for you Liberty, even though I never got to vote)? I rather thought that one was going to get in.

At any rate, congrats the winners.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I must admit, I didn't expect Will You Ever Return? to win, but there it is, in black-and-orange.
Congratulations to all Winners. Unexpected first place :) I will agree with. but congratulations just the same :)
Okay, I had a slightly different style than Shinan. I have eight pages of detailed notes on the games, which will probably be turned into several reviews at a later date. I'd also like to let everyone know that the three of us judges all came to the conclusion that Will You Ever Return took first and Wine and Roses took second independently of each other. Honestly, I think we were all surprised that we agreed on it.

There were a lot of other games that I loved. Console hunt was phenomenal to play. Resident Evil: In Primul Rand was probably one of the best-designed contest games I've ever seen--it was all content, bug-free, and seriously impressive. Festival of Souls had a good plot on it, and They Come built some really excellent atmosphere through use of lighting and monster size. I'm not usually a fan of Rhyme games, but Candy Fangs was adorable, challenging, and easy to play. Where End Times Saddest Songs managed some real poignancy, and Mario's Mansion was a great (if frustrating) platforming experience.

Will You Ever Return got off to a rough start. The first half of the intro felt like a joke game. Entertaining enough, but not the sort of thing that would place in a contest. As a result, everything after that kind of took me by surprise. Nearly all of the visuals and sound were custom. There were no bugs, no places where the game got hung up, and the world was quirky enough that even backtracking through it was fun. There were no places during gameplay where the experience seemed to drag. The central plot was flimsy, but it was really carried by the varied NPCs scattered around hell. I cared not a whit for the protagonist, but all the other clay figures bobbling about the landscape were quite charming. At no point did I feel like I was only playing the game to get through it so that I could rank it for a contest.

That's really what carried it for me. The game never dragged. With the exception of Resident Evil, everything else in the contest had little spots where they were slightly less fun to play. From start to finish, Will You Ever Return was a quirky, irreverent, custom-heavy treat.

All judging is inherently subjective. I did my best to rein that in by taking copious notes and bullet-pointing the places where I thought a game's design succeeded or failed, but I still ended up having the most fun playing Will You Ever Return. It would've felt weird to vote for a game that I didn't enjoy as much for first place.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
Okay I finished dishing out achievements. Let me know if I forgot you.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
I got all of my achievements. Thank you all ~ <3
I gathered my notes from each game and went for a top ten approach. Wine&Roses and Dead Moon Night were definitely my favorites. However, Will You Ever Return was the game that really peaked my interest. While I couldn't personally keep it has my top 1, I definitely support the game for its graphics and premise. Kumada was right when he said the game had a rough start. But after awhile of playing, WyeR starts to grow on you. The game is very memorable in its own weird way.

Other games that stood out for me were Where End Times Saddest Song for how well the maps come together, and emotional flare from the graveyard scene. Console Hunt 2 for how much it improved on its predecessor. Jack's Eve for the dialogue, theme, and ending. House of Horrors for the well executed premise of a real hunted house. And let's not forget about Not a chance of a ghost, Candy Fangs, RE Halloween, and They Come for the general gameplay and gimmicks.

I had a bit of a tough time judging The Unwelcome Guest and Mario's Mansion II, due to them being out of my element. But I will say that The Unwelcome Guest is pretty nifty once you get used to the controls, and Mario's Mansion had some great level design... when I wasn't dying in horrible, noobish ways.