[Spanner]

After a week of playing the hacks, watching hacks be played and voting for the trophies, this year's Sonic Hacking Contest has now come to an end. Now for the stuff everyone has been waiting for - the results!

Judged Trophies

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

Wood Zone Trophy - 2nd Place
Sonic Generations - Unleashed Project by Dario FF, Chimera, TwilightZoney, etc

Dust Hill Trophy - 3rd Place
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

Green Hill Trophy - Level that plays most like a Sonic Hack
Sonic 3: D.A. Garden Edition by D.A. Garden

Windy Valley Trophy - Hack with the best level art
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

D.A Garden Trophy - Hack with the best music
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Lava Reef Trophy - Best level layouts in a hack
Sonic 3: D.A. Garden Edition by D.A. Garden

Genocide City Trophy - Most difficult Sonic hack
Sonic 1: The Harder Levels by The Harder Levels Project

Generations Trophy - Best Sonic Generations (or 3D) Entry
Sonic Generations - Unleashed Project by Dario FF, Chimera, TwilightZoney, etc

11000101 Trophy - Best technical / proof of contest hack submitted
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Network by Morph

Fang Trophy - Best new enemy submitted in a hack
An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack by Cinossu

Eggman Trophy - Best new boss or mini boss submitted in a hack
Sonic Winter Adventures by vladikcomper

Spin Dash Trophy - Best new ability in a hack submitted
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Carnival Night Trophy - Most innovative game play in a hack submitted
Sonic Classic Heroes - Rise of the Chaotix by flamewing

Emerald Trophy - Best special stage in a hack submitted
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy - Best new concept in a hack using existing concepts as a backbone for a hack
Sonic the Hedgehog Never Stop Running by Cinossu

Casinopolis Trophy - Most entertaining / fun hack submitted
Sonic Classic Heroes - Rise of the Chaotix by flamewing

Polygon Jim Trophy - Most unique hack submitted
An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack by Cinossu

Tails Trophy - Most improved hack from last year's contest
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

Community Trophies

Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Sonic Generations - Unleashed Project by Dario FF, Chimera, TwilightZoney, etc

Windy Valley Community Trophy
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Sonic Winter Adventures by vladikcomper

Lava Reef Community Trophy
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

11000101 Community Trophy
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Network by Morph

Polygon Jim Community Trophy
An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack by Cinossu

----

Thank you to everyone for taking part in this year's contest - definitely one of the best we've had for quite a while to be honest. I would like to thank our judges who worked hard on getting these entries judged as quickly as possible - Cinossu, D.A. Garden, MegaGWolf, Mercury, Shadow Fire and SuperEgg along with myself. It is also thanks to Cinossu for providing the website used for the contest along with the graphics made for this event. Thanks to MegaGWolf and SomecallmeJohnny for their streams, they were very popular and it's something we'll definitely have to return for next year's contest. Also thanks to DalekSam, Donnie, Dude, Erika, GeneHF, MarkeyJester, Reverie, SeanieB along with many others for their help and support to keep the contest week running as smoothly as possible. I'd also like to thank Ayla for helping get this contest set up, unfortunately personal issues had prevented her from being able to participate in the contest but I'm sure she will be happy to see that the contest went well even without her being around.

And now this year's contest has officially come to a close. We'll be reviewing this year's contest to see what worked and if anything needs to be changed for our next contest, you'll see a thread about that near the end of this year. Thanks for participating!

[Cinossu]

http://shc.sonicresearch.org/results
For those of you who won, have some banner art proclaiming your fame! :D Congratulations to all of you.

[redhotsonic]

Well, here's my review on the contest this year.


First of all, what a turnout! There was some great hacks out there, and became one of the toughest competitions to date. Congratulations to the ones who won trophies this year, and I think all the results were almost right (no one is ever going to agree 100%).


As for the contest, it went really well. There were podcasts and lots of information almost everyday. The podcasts itself seemed a lot more professional than last years and there weren't so much joking around. And a streaming session from MegaGWolf and SomeCallMeJohnny was an nice addition. And I think Josh also helped out with streaming some hacks. It was very nice to tune into something visual. There was plenty of entertainment and information this year which would be welcome again. Okay, there was one or two hiccups, but you know the saying, "Nothing ever goes according to plan". And the way Spanner handled things was professional. He was always there to give us a daily update and to make sure everyone was in the clear about things. And Cinossu, hats off to you sir for making the site. Can I shake your hand? It was very well made and a huge improvement over last years. It flowed really well, simple and easy to understand, designed well, it seems you thought of everything. Except for the servers going down for a day, but you're not to blame for that. Thank goodness SSRG was around to help, hey?


It seemed that you really took our notes down from last year and improved on it. That being said, it seems there was one important thing you ignored from what we all suggested last year; the results show. Whilst it was definitely more professional, you took too long. Last year, you took ages going through one trophy to another. It seems you ignored our suggestion and went the complete opposite direction and took even longer than last year. You were on the Sfactor subject for almost 30 minutes before moving onto another trophy. Halfway through the results show, I switched off, because it got boring. It was a nice idea to visually show the hack that won this and that trophy, but it wasn't necessary. We've seen the streams already, and we can play the hack for ourselves again to see why they won this particular trophy. I'm not saying you shouldn't chat about it, but I think 2-3 minutes is plenty of time to say why you think this hack won this trophy, then move onto another.


Anyway, that's my review. It really brought a lot of the community together, and was an exciting week. I'm already looking forward to next year's contest.

[Ell678]

Metal Sonic Hyperdrive definitly deserved the most improved hack award. And third place. Such a massive improvement over the last version.

[Mr Lange]

Congrats to the contest winners. These were some amazing hacks for sure. I'm not done playing some of these and I know I'll find myself playing them again many times in the future.

I'd like to address this as it has always bothered me about the hacking contest. I don't know why this is done and this is probably a radical suggestion as it looks like things have always been this way, but can we do away with the private submissions? Those entries were nothing but a huge tease and seeing them win some of these contest positions is that much worse. I'd rather not even know they exist than have them paraded about as "these hacks look really good but you don't get to play them". If Sonic 3 DA Garden was good enough to win in this contest, it must be good enough for the rest of us to play.

[DalekSam]

The whole issue first came up with Sonic Boom winning the HPZ trophy a few years ago. It had *nothing* public until the demo was released later. Thankfully the fully private entries are gone now, but partial private means that people can get feedback on their hack without having to release it. Media is shown to appease the public but not a playable game; I think this is a fair medium as DA Garden has been working on this for a very long time now and he's still not happy with it being public yet. People hack these games for themselves above the general public, too, and if something isn't ready for it, it just isn't ready. That's my view, anyway, and I know the fully private entries are gone to prevent another case of Sonic Boom happening.

[Mr Lange]

I can understand that, but these hacks, in a public contest, are occupying spots that no one else is going to be able to appreciate. It seems to me there should be a "with private entries" results and "only public entries" results, or a separate contest altogether for only private entries.

This post has been edited by Mr Lange: 19 August 2013 - 10:33 AM

[KingofHarts]

Hands down the best Contest to be around for. I wasn't around for 2009 or earlier, but considering from 2010-present... this year was awesome. Please keep it up.

Also workshops such as the one DalekSam did are a great addition... please have more.

Finally, the Daily mini-contests are a nice idea on paper, but I don't think you're gonna get turnouts for that. I was kinda pumped for it... then looked at the contest stips, what you had to do, and the like... and just thought: there is no way I can get that done in a day. Theoretically it is very possible, and easy to do... but most people probably couldn't be arsed.... I know I fell into the latter on that one.

That said, I wouldn't scrap the concept... but I'd certainly take it back to the drawing board... it could make for a great addition for next year's contest if executed right.

This post has been edited by KingofHarts: 19 August 2013 - 10:54 AM

[DalekSam]

Mr Lange, on 19 August 2013 - 10:33 AM, said:

I can understand that, but these hacks, in a public contest, are occupying spots that no one else is going to be able to appreciate. It seems to me there should be a "with private entries" results and "only public entries" results, or a separate contest altogether for only private entries.

That's the idea behind the community trophies. S3 DA Garden edition was the only partial private entry to win a trophy from the judges themselves (which surprised even me); all the others were public and had further enforcement from the public voting. Personally, I think having the two contests is a good idea. Private entries not ready for full public consumption can get the feedback they want in the hacking contest whereas the public ones can get even more exposure and the possibility of a shiny thing to stick in their signature. It's a double edged sword and personally I think what we have now is the perfect ideal for private entries. Again, be thankful there's no fully private entries any more.

[Spanner]

Only one partial private entry won a trophy (or two) and you could see media, screenshots, etc. In fact, in the results stream MegaGWolf even played some of it after getting permission to do so.

I can see why there are people who don't like the entries you can't download but it's only a small amount that is partial private. We don't want to exclude people from entering in the contest, after all the main part of the contest is where the judges look at the hacks and allocate trophies to them. The Community Trophies are only an added extra and there's only six trophies there, not everything.

This post has been edited by Spanner: 19 August 2013 - 11:06 AM

[Dark Sonic]

Ell678, on 19 August 2013 - 08:10 AM, said:

Metal Sonic Hyperdrive definitly deserved the most improved hack award. And third place. Such a massive improvement over the last version.

Agreed. That hack was a mess in 2012 but it was actually really fun this year.

[pablodrago]

Congratulations to all the winners, also I apologize for all the problems, I didn't know no one has a copy of SADX 2004 sorry about that.

[Eduardo Knuckles]

Mr Lange, on 19 August 2013 - 09:50 AM, said:

can we do away with the private submissions? Those entries were nothing but a huge tease and seeing them win some of these contest positions is that much worse. I'd rather not even know they exist than have them paraded about as "these hacks look really good but you don't get to play them". If Sonic 3 DA Garden was good enough to win in this contest, it must be good enough for the rest of us to play.

Indeed. Private submissions are kinda weird since the public can't play them or the public can't see more than videos or pictures. It would be fun if we could play all of the submitted hacks. So the people could use this as base for a better public analysis.

EDIT Thanks everyone who helped S1HL to gain the Genocide City of the year. Thanks everyone, and, congratulations to all the others who won trophies in this Contest. All the hacks were quite enjoyable and fun, I did love how this year's contest was simple and dynamic at the same time.

This post has been edited by Eduardo Knuckles: 19 August 2013 - 12:18 PM

[Strife]

I agree, private submissions being eligible seems a little weird; Like a film that hasn't been released yet winning an academy award. That being said, I'm not particularly savvy with the way these contests work since this is the first one I've attended.

I very much enjoyed some of the stuff that was on display here. Cinnosu's Ordinary Sonic Hack didn't disappoint (I can't wait to see what you do with Labyrinth and beyond), and I was thrilled to see a brand new level for SADX. It all kinda makes me want to try hacking for once. I probably won't since I have too many other things going on, but it's nice to daydream about.

This post has been edited by Strife: 19 August 2013 - 12:26 PM

[Spanner]

Here is the live results video if anyone wants to look at it: