
THE RESULTS!
Now, before we get onto the results, we know that many of us this year can agree on one thing – this contest was not as good as previous years. It is not something that the judges are pleased about, not to mention other issues that have cropped up including the site going down repeatedly.
Not every hack was bad this year, and the ones that have won trophies this year can easily show that, as well as a few that missed out this year. But overall, many have felt that this year, most people did not bring their A game to the contest, most people half assed a bunch of entries and eventually pissed off pretty much everyone who went near those entries. This is not the fault of the judges, but the people who are submitting this content to us.
We accept that changes must be made for next year and trust me, we've already talked about what to do for 2017, and we will continue to do so for as long as needed until we are satisfied to announce a much improved Hacking Contest for 2017 – the 15th Anniversary. Many entries that were in this year, or even stuff along the lines of entries like some submitted, won't even be allowed for next year. But for now, here are the results of the Sonic Hacking Contest 2016:
Hidden Palace Trophy
1st Place
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
Wood Zone trophy
2nd Place
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic 2 ReMastered by MrCat (very split decision with this trophy)
Dust Hill Trophy
3rd Place
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub
Green Hill Trophy
Entry (or specific level of an entry if non-applicable) that plays most like a Sonic game.
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub
Windy Valley Trophy
Best art in an entry submitted.
Pantufa the Cat - Extended Edition by VAdaPEGA
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic Halloween by CamManS5
D.A. Garden Trophy
Best music in an entry submitted.
NULL VOTE – NO TROPHY AWARDED
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team, Knuckles Emerald Hunt by MainMemory
Lava Reef Trophy
Best level layout in an entry submitted.
Pepsi in Sonic 1 by Unlimited Trees
Genocide City Trophy
Most difficult entry (or specific level of an entry if non-applicable) submitted.
Tails Adventures for Über Players by Bakayote
Wing Fortress Trophy
Best cutscene in an entry submitted.
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team
Azure Lake Trophy
Best multiplayer entry submitted.
Sonic Bash! v2 by redhotsonic
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Chaotix Edition by Jdpense
Generations Trophy
Best 3D Sonic game modification submitted.
Eggmanland for Sonic Generations by NeKit
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Beta Windy Valley (Sonic Lost World) by SonicOtakuSNG; SADX Character Select Mod by MainMemory & SonicFreak94
11000101 Trophy
Best technical / proof of concept entry submitted.
Sonic Pocket Winter by ValleyBell
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Sonic 4 in 1 by Natsumi; Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team; Eggmanland for Sonic Generations by NeKit
Fang Trophy
Best new enemy / badnik in an entry submitted.
NULL VOTE – NO TROPHY AWARDED
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Pepsi in Sonic 1 by Unlimited Trees; Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
Eggman Trophy
Best new boss or miniboss in an entry submitted.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
HONOURABLE MENTION: Doctor Robotnik's Plan B (REV01) by Painto
Spindash Trophy
Best new ability in an entry submitted.
Sonic Pocket Winter by ValleyBell
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Pikachu the Mouse by Team Overload; Sonic & Ashuro by Ashuro
Carnival Night Trophy
Most innovative game play feature in an entry submitted.
NULL VOTE – NO TROPHY AWARDED
Casinopolis Trophy
Most entertaining / fun hack submitted.
The Radikal Ralakimus Hack Pack (WOW!) - Volume 1 by Ralakimus & Bakayote
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic Halloween by CamManS5
Emerald Trophy
Best Special Stage in an entry submitted.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
Robotnik's Revenge Trophy
Best fresh concept using existing concepts as the backbone in an entry submitted.
Sonic 1: Reverse Curse by Campbellsonic
Polygon Jim Trophy
Most unique entry submitted.
The Radikal Ralakimus Hack Pack (WOW!) - Volume 1 by Ralakimus & Bakayote
HONOURABLE MENTION: Lose Tails or Else by GT Koopa
Tails Trophy
Most improved entry from last year's contest.
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub
Newtrogic High Trophy
Voted best entry of the contest by the Media team.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
Big the Cat Trophy
Worst entry overall in the contest.
Roya Rockwood's Sonic Mega Collection by Royameadow
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Unlimited Trees by Unlimited Trees; Blue Potato the McDonalds by Blue Potato; Blue Knuckles in Sonic 3 by Blind_Jack; White Sonic in SK (Sonic 3 Part 2) by joshwoakes; Sonic XE by Team XE; Team Overload (all those underwhelming entries were overkill)
Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Voted best entry submitted overall.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
Windy Valley Community Trophy
Voted best art entry submitted.
Pantufa the Cat - Extended Edition by VAdaPEGA
D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Voted best music entry submitted.
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team
Lava Reef Community Trophy
Voted best level layout entry submitted.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
11000101 Community Trophy
Voted best technical entry submitted.
Sonic Pocket Winter by ValleyBell
Big the Cat Community Trophy
Voted worst entry submitted overall.
Roya Rockwood's Sonic Mega Collection by Royameadow
We would also like to give some recognition to the following hacks:
Sonic 2 ReMastered by MrCat – If we had the 8-bit Trophy this year (it will likely be back next year), this would have won it.
Sonic & Ashuro by Ashuro – You have so much potential, come back next year because this hack could win good by then. If we had a trophy to award to the hack with the most potential, it's this hack.
Scrap Brain Zone Act 1 Mini Contest
Competition to work on a SBZ1 level layout from scratch.
JOINT WINNERS: Natsumi and MegaGWolf
We would like to thank everyone who took part by submitting, the judges, those that streamed during the week, the rest of the media panel and anyone else I've forgotten about. This honestly was a very difficult contest to judge this year, especially with the quality of entries this year, to a point where quite a lot of the judges ended up being completely stressed out by the end of this.
Let's emphasise this for next year – QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY! We want to have a great contest enjoyable by everyone, not one that just depresses people in the end. With the quality control we intend to implement, I don't see over 50 hacks being submitted next year, but if what we get is a reduced amount of submissions that are very pleasing, then that would be great.
Don't go all over the place with future entries, some advice to give would be to focus on one zone first, do everything you possibly can with it, and move onto the next zone if you have the time to do so. Remember, hacks like Sonic Boom and Sonic – The Next Level only contained just one zone in their submissions, and they won big.
All hacks will receive evaluation pages from judges very shortly – due to the issues faced this week we are running a little behind and we hope to have them available to the public by the end of next week. But that's not the only thing getting evaluation, we want YOU to evaluate the contest and the Contest Week, to let us know what should be done for the 2017 Contest. Please submit this form by the end of Sunday 20th November.
!!! A QUICK REMINDER FROM AYLA !!!
All trophy winners please contact Ayla (NOT Spanner) for your prize!! It was not very well conveyed that there REALLY, REALLY ARE PRIZES THIS YEAR!!! It's not just a plant! I have around 62 keys for Steam games to give away. Some highlights are "South Park and the Stick of Truth", "Civilisation V", "Mafia 2", and "Wastelands 2". I also have indie games that are less processor hungry and should run on any Windows PC. Here is the prize link:
http://tinyurl.com/ju5t2hl
Rules & Conditions: I will need to get prizes handed out to HPZ, WZ, and DHZ winners before I can promise games to the rest of the trophy winners!! If you won more than one trophy, you do not get more than one prize. If you have multiple people in your team, then each team member will need to contact me. I will also need to verify that you are in that team. This is for major contributions only. If you only contributed "one song" or "beta tested" the game, you don't get a prize. Sorry! Prizes are available for winners picked by judges, medial panel (newtrogic high trophy), and community. If you do not want a prize, do not contact me. It's that simple. Prizes are able to be claimed until 21.12.2016 (Yule Day) as 2017 contest rules are expected to be posted the week following Yule. Remaining prizes will be added to next year's prize collection. New prizes to replace the claimed ones will be purchased for next year. Big the Cat trophy winner also receives a game, so please still contact me, Royameadow! Yes, I'm serious.
That's all for now. After this long week, it's time to celebrate.
