Wow - this made my day!

Thank you to all the judges for the effort you put into this. I think I speak for most people here when saying that reading these reviews really means something to the developers. Having done judging once (for the 2007 compo), I appreciate all the work you've put into writing these and playing the games. Again, many thanks!

Thank you - it's cool that you made this on the train commute! Looking forward to next year's game

Aye, Dord is pretty great. My personal favorites were Wizzy 4K and Sorcerer4K, though there were quite a few really nice puzzle games as well.

Thanks dapy! Made my day.

I thought Tiny World was incredibly cool - one of the sweetest-looking 4k games I've seen. I was a bit rushed when trying the games, though I tried to give feedback to all the games. I missed a few of Apo's since there were so many, but apart from that I think I commented on each of them. Unfortunately that meant I didn't quite get a proper grasp of the gameplay for Tiny World. I wouldn't be surprised if I returned to it to get a deeper understanding of it, though. :>

Thanks appel! Results seem fair to me - I know I'm happy

One thing I noticed though: The description for my game on java4k.com is missing a bit that's included both on the game's website and the forum post (the credit to the author of the original Flywrench). I was sure I'd put it there, but I suppose I might have cut it out by accident when doing my last edit. Is it possible for me to edit that back in (and would it be OK to update the entry just to add that)?

I think ctomni231 makes a fair point. This gets my vote.

Truly, ReBirth.

I don't see why feedback would need to be anonymous, but I'm fine with either solution.

Just to be clear, I was in no way trying to complain about either of our two scoring methods - I think they're both fine. I'm just saying I'm personally glad you managed to find judges, since these results are the ones that interest me the most.

I'm happy you were able to find a full judging panel. Personally, I find the judges' results far more interesting - primarily because comments interest me more than scoring, but also because the kind of community vote we're using (with a points pool per user) favor people who advertise their games (as it's based on a total score rather than an average - correct?). I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but I personally prefer scorings where the number of voters matters less.

I'm seeing a flaw in the voting system - the games are sorted alphabetically. With a fixed pool of points go distribute, I find it very likely that games starting with numbers or an A will get significantly better scores than games later in the alphabet. I'd suggest doing such a comparison after the contest to see if this is the case. It might even be possible to calculate a curve representing this "multiplier" and normalize the results - perhaps not to use as actual results, but as interesting experiment.

For next year (and probably even for the remainder of the current year's voting), I suggest making the list sorting randomized. The best way to do this would probably be to randomize it once for each user, meaning each logged-in user will see entries in the same order each time they look at the list.

Sounds excellent! Will there also be judges? I can't recall what the original thread said... *goes to check*.

This looks absolutely amazing. One of the best-looking 4k games I've ever seen or tried, and I've tried a whole lot of them. Excellent work!

Thanks!

That's one good-looking and seriously difficult game! Cool stuff. Though I couldn't kill a single enemy in a couple of tries.

On a related note, I see on the java4k.com page that Daniel Frostberg helped design it. Tell him hello from Måns.

I've uploaded a new version to both my website and java4k.com - my intention is to call this the final version for the competition.

Any feedback is still very much appreciated, and I'd love if somebody tested it and reported any issues with it before the competition ends. Thanks for the feedback and testing so far, everyone!

For thread clarity, Appel has been in touch and has help me reset my password. Thanks

Appel,

I'm unable to login to the Java4k.com site to submit my game (I've forgotten either the username or the password, I suppose - site doesn't tell me which), and there's no "Forgot your password?" type link that I can find. Are you able to give me access to my account again somehow?

Thanks in advance,
Morre

I've now uploaded a level editor for the game, which is available via a link from the applet page (bottom right). It's the one I've used internally for, so my focus was on making it easy for me to create levels. Because of this, the interface is fairly simple (though it's all explained on the page).

@Localhorst: Thank you! I've made the game slightly easier (by changing how collision works). I'm afraid to make the game easier by slowing it down, though - even though I think it'd be more approachable, I want to keep it close to the original (which is punishingly hard, and at least as fast as this 4k version).

EDIT: The game has now been submitted to Java4k.com. I still have a tiny bit of space, so it might not be final, but it's getting closer. Still very much appreciating input and critique though!

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it's unclear for new players that green lets you bounce on walls - any ideas on how to make this more obvious?

Okay, I've uploaded a new version of the game. Currently at 3.81kB.

I've tweaked the physics a bit to make it match the original a little more closely. Note that it's still not a perfect replication of the latter's physics - the original even more sensitive than this version (though you get to play in full screen, which helps a bit). I decreased left-right sensitivity a small bit, but increased upwards and downwards forces (less air resistance, more upwards boost per flap, lower maximum upwards speed). I worry this might make it harder - I'm a bit torn between staying true to the original (which is seriously difficult) and wanting to make it accessible. Let me know what you think of the physics again, please

I've also added a couple more levels, including a final level where I allowed myself some artistic license - if you reach it, you may note it's slightly different from the others in terms of layout.

The feedback's much appreciated, everyone - keep it coming, please!

EDIT: I'd love some feedback on level order and design as well. What do you think of the order of the levels? The introduction pace for new gameplay elements? Are there any levels you don't like that I should remove in favor of new levels?

EDIT2: One more question - how's performance for everyone? Anybody seeing the game running slowly, or having drawing/buffering issues?

Flywrench4k

Happy new year, fellow JGOers! Kicking off 2013 in games, here's a first proposed final version of my Java4k entry for this year: Flywrench4k.



Play it here!

The game is a demake of indie developer messhof's excellent Flywrench, with permission from the author of the original title. I've got just over half a kilobyte of space left to play with - any suggestions are much appreciated. It is fairly likely I'll use at least some of that remaining space to add more levels.

Instructions for playing the game are available on the site.

There's also a level editor for the game - to load a level in game, press "L":

Level editor

Please don't hesitate to share any comments or critique. Thanks!

EDIT: Replaced "first version" with "proposed final version" after updating the game.

Oh. Clever... I didn't think of that

Tried it, played till level 10 or so, then I unfortunately had to run. I think it was a lot of fun though - neat concept

Have you tried using letters instead of numbers for the portals? That way you can have them closer together and not distributed over the entire length of the keyboard. Might make more sense for normal QWERTY keyboards, don't know about AZERTY and Dvorak and the like...

I agree that LWJGL should not be included in the Java4k, though I've nothing against it being used for a separate contest (I do love LWJGL).

With that said... Java4k! Yay! It's almost that time of the year - the time when show falls outside your window, jingle bells are sounding from afar, and tiny little programs crawl out from their hiding places. December, I've missed you.

I for one feel it was a well deserved victory, jimeowan

Great work, judges! Lots of games to go through - you did well!

I'm also surprised and pleased by the reviews on my entry.

@ReBirth: Difficult to say without seeing it... just how slowly are they moving? They are indeed quite slow (maybe too slow), and their speed can be increased in later levels with upgrades. However, it shouldn't be so slow that it's not playable...

The triangle is speed, which boosts worker speed by 50%, and the other one is an armor upgrade, which gives your units evasion - it was easier to implement with few bytes than unit hit points.

I've considered making the upgrades yet more expensive, considerably stronger, and making the user retain them when switching maps. Not sure yet...

Yep. Well, I used groboclown's ant tasks, but I think they're virtually the same.

StephR: The white lines were an indication of where the next artifact is - a way to help you explore the map once you've successfully uncovered the first artifact. However, I had to cut this feature in order to get it down to below 4k. Maybe I can add something similar if I find any good optimizations to do elsewhere

Wow, that's a really cool game you've got there. Great work, I love it