[Spanner]

After many months of working on the hacks, submitting the entries, having them judged by our own judging team and for the first time, the public, it is now time for the results of the 2011 Hacking Contest!

If you didn't notice already, there was a small turnout this year, and only a few stood out enough to be recognised with a trophy. You'll notice this in the results. Thanks go to our judging team consisting of myself, Cinossu, Dude, MarkeyJester, Mercury and Shadow Fire for this year's set of results. Enjoy!

Hidden Palace Trophy - 1st Place
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

The S Factor is one of those hacks which people like to check out, like Sonic Megamix, Sonic 2 Retro Remix, Sonic Boom and a whole load of others. Whilst the hack is based on Sonic 1, it can be beyond that with new artwork, new levels, a custom music soundtrack and a lot more. Whilst this hack is still in progress, look forward to what will happen in the future.

Wood Zone Trophy - 2nd Place
Sonic VR by ColinC10

ColinC10, who annually submits a brand new piece of work to the Hacking Contest, entered Sonic VR. Up to 40 challenge levels ranging from easy to difficult in a virtual reality setting with PCM-played music from Anamanaguchi. If you haven't played this yet, what rock were you hiding in?

Dust Hill Trophy - 3rd Place
Sonic 2 Heroes by Flamewing

Just a few changes can make a hack extraordinary, like Sonic 2 Heroes. Team-based gameplay based on Sonic Heroes in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all at the same time. Palette and VRAM restrictions are overcome with what was previously an idea of what people wanted in a hack - team based gameplay. Now it is here. Enjoy it.

Green Hill Trophy - Hack that plays most like a Sonic game
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Whilst it plays like a Sonic game, it's not just simple changes, there's brand new levels for you to play. It follows the same structure though, getting rings, hitting enemies and running to the end of the level.

Windy Valley Trophy - Best Art
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

From levels such as Arid Temple to Chaotic Streets, you'll love the art direction in The S Factor. Various artists including Jayextee and MarkeyJester have chipped in with their share of the work in this hack, making it look good. It's not always fun to see the same content over and over again, but you won't in this hack.

D.A. Garden Trophy - Best Music
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Aquaslash & Pals brings you a soundtrack that you'll enjoy listening to. It's not just imports from other games or ports from another Sonic game, most of the content is custom-made, with some remixes.

HONOURABLE MENTION - 30 Day Project: Revisited by PsychoSk8r


Palmtree Panic Trophy - Best Layouts
Untitled Sonic 2 Hack by D.A. Garden

D.A. Garden brought a few submissions this year to the table. As well as his involvement with The S Factor, he has made hacks of his own based on Sonic 2 and Sonic 3K. He does great layouts, so why not check out this hack if you haven't already?

Genocide City Trophy - Most Difficult Hack
Sonic 1 Lunacy by The Masochistic Maniacs (Destructiox, SonicVaan, MarkeyJester, Selbi, Spanner)

If there's one hack that always gets submitted just to win a particular trophy (which isn't Sonic and Friends as the Shadow Trophy was retired this year), it's Sonic 1 Lunacy. Many difficulty modes are on offer in this hack, along with a few special features. The team are keeping things under wraps as always, but when the time is ready, maybe something might be shown.

11000101 Trophy - Best Technical Hack
Sonic 2 Heroes by Flamewing

Flamewing's recreations of team-based gameplay in this hack has been enough for him to win this hack. Enough said. =P

Knuckles Trophy - Best New Character
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals - Sonia the Hedgehog

Sonia from Sonic Underground has a variety of new features, including a twirl move which can actually destroy spikes like Metal Sonic from Sonic CD. Just like the rest of this hack, the artwork for the characters are really good!

Fang Trophy - Best new/modified enemies in a hack submitted
Sonic ERaZor by Selbi

We can remember Sonic ERaZor as "that most fucked up hack" from 2010 but this year saw its release and you will have probably played this hack by now. Selbi's badnik modifications fit in with the "fucked up" theme, if you like explosions and fast attacks, you'll like the badniks in this hack, particularly the fish and the Crabmeat.

Eggman Trophy - Best new bosses/minibosses in a hack submitted
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals - Team Metallix

In one of the levels of this hack, you'll face three brand new enemies consisting of A.N.N., Metal Knuckles and Metal Sonic. All will be worth fighting against, when The S Factor is released. You might want to know that some of our judges had a preference for Metal Knuckles.

Spindash Trophy - Best New Ability
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals - Silver's Telekinesis

But what about the other character in this hack? Silver stands out with his powerful telekinesis abilities which can manipulate objects like some parts of a badnik, along with being able to float as an after-jump move.

Carnival Night Trophy - Most Innovative Feature
Sonic 2 Heroes by Flamewing - 3 Players at Once

It's the power of teamwork that makes this hack stand out from others. Even the Special Stages have all three characters in play.

Emerald Trophy - Best Special Stage
Sonic ERaZor by Selbi

There may be only one Special Stage in ERaZor, but it's not your average Sonic 1 Special Stage. You might need to re-try this a lot, but there are checkpoints to reach the goal of getting all the Chaos Emeralds for this game.

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy - New Concept based on Existing Concepts
Sonic 2 Heroes by Flamewing

What can be said other than THE POWER OF TEAMWORK!

Crystal Meth Trophy - Most Replayable Hack
Sonic VR by ColinC10

Challenges. Hard challenges. That is all. Also, I missed this trophy on the podcast, sorry!

Casinopolis Trophy - Most Entertaining/Fun Hack
Sonic VR by ColinC10

Forty challenges await you in this year's submission from Colin. How long will it take for you to complete them all - if you can do that.

Vector Trophy - Most Humourous Hack
Yeth by Banoon

If you wanted a hack that could make you laugh, make you smile and make you happy, try out Banoon's hack at some point. From the character to the badniks, it's a fun time for all the family!

HONOURABLE MENTION - Chip McCallihan in Sonic 1 by MainMemory

WTF?! Trophy - Most Unique Hacks Submitted
Sonic the Ghosthog by Hanoch AND Sonic 1 Misadventure by Arctic Leopard

Two hacks are getting this trophy this year. Hanoch's submission turns Sonic into a ghost once hurt, making the level feel like you're using noclip on the objects around you, whilst Sonic 1 Misadventure is unique in its very own way from gameplay to design. No doubt you'll be looking forward to how this hack progresses.

Twinkle Park Trophy - Best 3D Hack
Mushroom Zone by Dude

He brought us Sonic RDX last year, this year he brought Mushroom Zone - a brand new level for Sonic Adventure DX that uses the Windy Valley level slot. Give it a try!

Crystal Egg Trophy - Best 8-Bit Hack
Sonic Chaotic by Ravenfreak

To be fair, this was the only 8-bit submission on offer this year, but Ravenfreak has a good interest in the Master System and Game Gear games. Looking forward to further work.

Christmas Present Trophy - The hack that nobody saw coming
Sonic VR by ColinC10

There's no way you can say that this trophy allocation is a mistake. Every year, Colin brings us something new to the table. We've had Robotnik's Revenge, Sonic 3&K: The Challenges, Sonic 1 and 2 and now we have this. If you haven't yet, play this hack damn it!

Tails Trophy - Best Improved Hack from Last Year
Sonic ERaZor by Selbi

Last year, he brought us a hack to hate. Now it's complete, a few things have changed, it's worth spending some time to play this submission.

OH GOD WHY Trophy - Why was this submitted?
Sonic 1 Reinvented by Watsonman

Hey, when you submit something, don't just show off some palette edits with programming additions and changes you made using a program which can do things for you. If you want to implement features, spend the time to put them in yourself.

Big Trophy - Worst Hack
Latios in Sonic 3 & Knuckles by Scott4

Scott4 brought us a Sonic 3K hack, but it's pretty much annoying and attrocious at the same time. If you like finding a Giant Ring every few chunks, going through repetitive Special Stages and burning your eyes with rape flavour palettes, try this hack, but it would be better if you didn't. Seriously.

COMMUNITY TROPHY WINNERS - VOTED BY THE PUBLIC

Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Sonic VR by ColinC10

Big Community Trophy
Red the Hedgehog by Dandaman

Palmtree Panic Community Trophy
Sonic VR by ColinC10

Windy Valley Community Trophy
30 Day Project: Revisited by PsychoSk8r

D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Sonic ERaZor by Selbi (HONOURABLE MENTION – 30 Day Project: Revisited by PsychoSk8r)

11000101 Community Trophy
Sonic VR by ColinC10 (HONOURABLE MENTION – Sonic 2 Heroes by Flamewing)

Congratulations to all of this year's winners of the Hacking Contest! There are no special prizes for the winners, although maybe Dude might do what he did last year and make signature trophies for all the winners. We did a podcast on SAGE to announce the results which will be available to download at a later time.

For anyone asking, there will be a 2012 Hacking Contest, and information regarding this contest will be made available in the upcoming months.

That's all for the 2011 Hacking Contest, so thanks for taking part!

This post has been edited by SOTI: 05 November 2011 - 03:41 PM

[ColinC10]

SOTI, on 24 September 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy - New Concept based on Existing Concepts
Sonic 2 Heroes by Flamewing

NOOOO! That's MY trophy!

Seriously though, well done to all who entered. The turnout may have been lower, but the work put into it by the judges and organisers made it the most professionally-run contest so far. Looking forward to next year already!

[Selbi]

4 Trophies, way more than I expected. Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the community section! But wait, I can't take the praise for that, because I did none of the music myself. So at this point, I'd like to give very special thanks to 3 awesome persons:

• DalekSam
  
• SOTI
  
• Eduardo Knuckles

Your great contribution of SMPS music to my hack helped me a lot at that certain part of hacking I have absolutely no knowledge in. So thank you guys. =)



But I'm going a little too off-topic here. Congratulations to all the other winners, and especially Aquaslash & and pals for the great hack we know as The S Factor. I am really looking forward to see a release of this.

Also congratulations to ColinC10 with Sonic VR. You've once again proven that anything you touch automatically turns into gold. I am already excited about what you will do for 2012.


EDIT: Strange coincidence that this is my 1100th post, but meh...

This post has been edited by Selbi: 24 September 2011 - 07:05 PM

[Spanner]

I should apologise that I missed out a trophy on the results show, for some reason the Crystal Meth trophy wasn't on my page, but it is now fixed.
The winner was Sonic VR.

[nineko]

SOTI, on 24 September 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

D.A. Garden Trophy - Best Music
HONOURABLE MENTION - 30 Day Project: Revisited by PsychoSk8r

Aw, so close to win my third piano music-related trophy in a row (alone or in team with someone else).

SOTI, on 24 September 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

D.A. Garden Community Trophy
(HONOURABLE MENTION – 30 Day Project: Revisited by PsychoSk8r)

Aw, so close to... wait I'm having a déjà-vu.

Congratulations to everyone who won!

[jasonchrist]

Sonia and Silver?!?! I'm gonna sound like an ignorant cunt here, but it's a terrible shame that Aquaslash and pals - who obviously have an obvious abundance of great talent didn't channel it into a game with Sonic in it rather than... those two things. No doubt it will be impressive though.

VR and S2 Heroes take it for me. Great job guys!

[Banoon]

SOTI, on 24 September 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

Vector Trophy - Most Humourous Hack
Yeth by Banoon

Suck it, nerds!

[Selbi]

I just found a neat website that lets you create simple pie charts. Just for the shit and giggles, I slammed the results into it:





I used 33 as base, because I counted the WTF!? Trophy twice due to having two winners. Here is a list with numbers of trophies won for each hack that won more than one:

Quote

The S Factor: 7
Sonic VR: 7
Sonic 2 Heroes: 4
Sonic ERaZor: 4
Others (hacks with only one trophy): 11

Now the only question, was this necessary? The answer: no, not at all.

[MainMemory]

SOTI, on 24 September 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

Vector Trophy - Most Humourous Hack
HONOURABLE MENTION - Chip McCallihan in Sonic 1 by MainMemory

I feel so honored. I'm sure the sequel won't even get an honorable mention in the next contest.

[360]

jasonchrist, on 24 September 2011 - 07:30 PM, said:

Sonia and Silver?!?! I'm gonna sound like an ignorant cunt here, but it's a terrible shame that Aquaslash and pals - who obviously have an obvious abundance of great talent didn't channel it into a game with Sonic in it rather than... those two things. No doubt it will be impressive though. VR and S2 Heroes take it for me. Great job guys!

I swear to God man you are my alter-ego. This is exactly what I was going to post. Knowing me I probably would have tried to be a little nicer about it (the part I underlined is hilarious). This thread serves as a reminder that I need to play Sonic VR. I was too busy with Sonic Axiom though I will give the hack a shot now.

Well done to everyone who entered.

This post has been edited by 360: 24 September 2011 - 08:25 PM

[Cinossu]

360, on 24 September 2011 - 08:24 PM, said:

jasonchrist, on 24 September 2011 - 07:30 PM, said:

Sonia and Silver?!?! I'm gonna sound like an ignorant cunt here, but it's a terrible shame that Aquaslash and pals - who obviously have an obvious abundance of great talent didn't channel it into a game with Sonic in it rather than... those two things. No doubt it will be impressive though. VR and S2 Heroes take it for me. Great job guys!

I swear to God man you are my alter-ego. This is exactly what I was going to post. Knowing me I probably would have tried to be a little nicer about it (the part I underlined is hilarious).

Don't knock it until you've played it, guys. Trust me, you'll be hooked quickly. Their moves just flow so very well.

[Aquaslash]

I'm still kinda shocked by the whole thing. I expected to get at least one trophy but good lord! Congrats to everyone that participated, especially Colin C10. I don't know how you do it but you make something awesome every year. Keep up the good work.

Thanks everyone for the kind words too. I gotta say, I never really expected the game to be all that popular. As for the naysayers, your opinion is important to me too, just sit tight for a while though, I'm getting something put together behind the scenes.

[SegaLoco]

Maybe next year I'll get up off my lazy coding ass and get around to doing something with Sonic CD that is noteworthy enough to enter in the hacking contest. Once I get finished with the special stage code I'll throw something together, maybe re-implement the oil slick or something.

[Destructiox]

SOTI, on 24 September 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

If there's one hack that always gets submitted just to win a particular trophy, it's Sonic 1 Lunacy.

See you next year lads.


That said, hopefully there'll be a very nice boss fight for the judges to enjoy next year.

Spoiler

Or should I say, an 'oh god please, not the face, have mercy' boss.

This post has been edited by Destructiox: 25 September 2011 - 02:15 AM

[D.A. Garden]

How did I win a trophy when I listened to the results live and I wasn't even mentioned once? Or did I just miss it? I can't explain it.

Anyway, I actually won the trophy I wanted to win. I've been trying so hard to get my layouts to work correctly (the flow, the speed/platforming ratio, the object placement of specific objects) and I feel that now I am achieving this. Thanks to all of the judges who voted for myself and I won't disappoint you all with next year's contest.

This post has been edited by D.A. Garden: 25 September 2011 - 03:04 AM