Sonic Hacking Contest 2016: THE RESULTS

Its nice to see Lose Tails Or Else got some recognition, but honestly it lacked the polish I was going to give it, such as a results screen for example. It all comes down to no real free time and bad luck on my end.

 

I'm so happy and I've never expected winning such amount of trophies, if ever any. Thanks to anyone for playing and for support and also congratulations to other winners, we all did it really good! See you next year, I guess.

 

Wow... Is that how you get a Hidden Palace trophy? You set Sonic 1 on fire and add new bosses and... WALLAH! The entries pissed me off this year too but were you guys THAT pissed off that you wanted to see Sonic 1 burn so you'd award top prize to whoever did it? I'm not trying to take away from Painto's work but this was not top tier material. Even 2nd/3rd place deserved to be bumped up in trophies. I guess even the judging this year was shit too because one hack I won't bother rementioning that was deserving of a trophy only got an honorable mention. This is a joke.

 

I must admit, I was expecting Virtual Adventure to get first place.

But either way, congratulation Tean Painto~

 

If by being a really fun hack then yes, it is.

To be honest, I was expecting Scorched Quest to win. Not many of the other entries I felt deserved it as much. I can say one thing, I was really not expecting 3rd place, ha

 

Welp, looks like the contest is over. This year was fine, but with the quality of the hacks, it's just... eh. So, I created a review of (almost) all of the hacks. Some of the hacks I didn't review because either I can play them, or I just didn't feel like it (White Sonic lel)

But before I do that, let me just say that it's nice that I won a trophy, but I just need to ask why? I'm glad I won a trophy, I really am, I'm just confused why my hack got chosen out of all the better hacks in the contest. Personally, Scorched Quest has better layouts. The layouts in my hack, I only put effort into 4 of them, being NGHZ, DPZ, PCZ, and CCLZ. CMZ and LZ were pretty much jokes. And even then, the ones I did put effort in weren't all that great to be honest. Look, I accept the judges choices, and I'm glad that people actually thought my thing was somewhat good enough to be the best in the contest, it just confuses me. Oh well.

Oh, and Knucklez, though Virtual Adventure was good, Scorched Quest was still better. The game was longer, had (less cheap) better bosses, and the layouts were just more fun. Also, the whole Emerald Hunting thing is fine, except that the layouts encourage you to go fast, and a lot of people usually forgot about the whole emerald thing. It wasn't until people realized the level loops (which took a few of the streamers awhile to realize) that they noticed that shit was going up.

Anyways, it's time for the reviews themselves. Note that this is my opinion, so if something offends you (or you think my opinion is terrible), I don't care.

Spoiler

Blue Potato the Mcdonalds by Blue Potato
-Unfunny joke hack
-Bad palettes
-Horrible attempt at changing sonic's sprites
-hmm sounds familer...
Over all this is just a really shitty wannabe Sonic in Paynt. Except the palettes don't I AM AN UNFUNNY SHITSTAIN my eyes. There are level layout edits, and a few slight changes, but most of it is minor stuff and it doesn't really matter. What I want to know is how this got in the contest in the first place. It clearly says in the rules "No joke hacks allowed", and this is a poor attempt at being a joke hack (this is even below Sonic in Paynt), so how did this get in? This confuses me.

Doctor Robotnik's Plan B by Painto
-great remix of E.G.G.M.A.N
-pretty alright bosses
-fuck the starlight boss to hell and back
Anyways, it's a great boss hack, loved the bosses (except a few such as yOU STARLIGHT ZONE), especially the spring yard boss. Kinda disapointed by the GHZ boss since it's just the original except modified.

Lose Tails or Else by GT Koopa
-The great sequel to Keep Tails or Else
-Great challenge even though I got to MZ2 on my first try and beat it in Endless Mode
-why does everyone else suck at this game except me
-great practice for speedrunners where they need to get as far as way from tails as fast as possible.
Anyways, this is a pretty nice challenge hack, though it can be beaten very quickly. Would have liked the endless mode to actually be endless (as in, you get infinite lives).

Pantufa the Cat - Extended Edition by the great, the awesome, the beautiful VAdaPEGA
-Beautiful art (as always with VAda)
-great music (especially the hidden songs)
-Really short sadly
-that pepsiman thing makes me sad
-that bingo easter egg though
Anyways, I absolutely love this hack, but as I said, it's really short (unless you waste your time playing through the original Sonic 1 levels again). I really need that music though. I love it and I want an mp3 of it to be on my music folder <3

Pepsi in Sonic 1 by that loser in Limbo at SSRG
-Unfunny meme hack
-Uses excuses to get him out of problems
-Just an overall shit hack, worst one in the contest in fact
This hack should have never been created, in fact the CREATOR should have never been created. This is just an insult to everything. And the creator wants to get out of Limbo. HA.

Pikachu the Mouse by Trinitronity (no I'm not crediting "Team Overload". Most of the hacks in that team don't even belong there)
-Horrifying artwork
-Bleh level desgin
-The generic "oh look spindash and air dash" stuff
-C is the only button to jump
There's really nothing to say. The levels are just bleh, the art is bleh, pretty much everything is bleh. I just don't like it.

Socket the Hedgeduck by GenesisDoes
-Glitches and slowdown up the ass
-Some minor problems (in one of the bonus stages, the "ACT" text changes to "FG/BG" after a few seconds)
-Bad collision (see elbow slopes)
-Ear bleeding music (looking at you, Not Green Hill Zone Act 2)
It's a port of the levels from Socket to Sonic 1's engine. It's a great concept, but boy does he fail at actually recreating the game. Not only do the levels not work with the Sonic 1 engine, but there are a couple VRAM errors (see signposts) which are just very jarring, and the music really needs to be fixed, because it's either loud or a bad port.

Sonic 1 Warped World by Team Overload (the one entry that belongs on this team)
-Bleh level design
-Bleh art
-Great music (especially the UnderTale music)
-it has green hills zone music so i automatically love it
It has Green Hills Zone/You Can Do Anything's music, need I say more?

Sonic 1: Mania Edition by Barak Obama
-Ok art recreations, though it could still get some fixes (looking at you, look up sprites)
-Shit music by LordXernom. Sorry, but you just aren't good at making music at all. Seriously. Go take some classes or something.
-a nice attempt at recreating the level layouts from Mania
I think it's an ok recreation (though I'm probably only saying this because Barak is my friend) but I think it could probably get a bit more polishing, especially on the music side.

Sonic 1: Sonic CD Edition by Animenoobster
>be me
>Be playing through Green Hill recolored Act 3
>S tube
>accidently jumps inside tube
>gets stuck in the end of the tube, not being able to get out
>be forced to reset
That is all

Sonic 1 Back to South Island by Original The Name 16
-generic blue hill (have we not learned from Sonic Project 255?)
-Shit layouts (yes i say layouts because that's all this is)
-What's with that background, lel
It's basically another noob hack, don't bother.

Sonic 1 NAC Tiny Version by one of my least favorite hackers, Joshwoakes
-REALLY terrible layouts
-why is there contra syndrome in act 2
-hard as balls boss fight
I can't say I was disapointed with this, considering it's Joshwoakes. It's just... bad. I don't even need to describe it. I'm just... ugh..

Sonic 1: Reverse Curse by Campbellsonic
-It's OH NO THE RED RINGS except not as evil. Need I say more?

Sonic 2 REmastered by the sexy Mr.Cat (anyone who does good art is sexy to me)
-great art (need I say more?)
-pretty eh level layouts
-it has green hills zone music so once again it's good
It's a hack of Sonic 2 8 bit with great art and level changes. Nothing to big, but I would to like to see more levels + better layouts.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles: Chaotix Edtion by Jdpense
-Can't play it because 1) not having anyone to play with and 2) the 1p + CPU thing not working.
The only reason I put this here is to ask this: HOW did they get that palette working?? First they got 2 characters with different colors, then you have the HUD with a different palette, and it just really confuses me. Just... ugh...

Sonic Chaos Quest v2.0 by Narcologer
-Mod gen sprites, that is all.

Sonic Frenzy by SteamPoweredPixel
-The first level has great art (they actually took the time to finish most of the GHZ tiles! I'm so proud!)
-The level layouts are pretty ok, but not too amazing
-The Not Marble Zone art is pretty flat and boring.
-I fell through the floor when playing, and I gave up.
Anyways, it's a good beginner hack (at least I think this guy is a new guy, don't know). It could use some work, but it's pretty great so far.

Sonic Halloween by the great CamManS5
-More beautiful art
-I love the reference to Sonic Heroes in the Not Spring Yard Zone.
-Good music
It's a art/palette swap of Sonic 1, but with some extra stuff and music. I think this deserves new layouts, though seeing as it already has great gimmicks (spring yard zone). I really see potiental in this and I hope we see it again.

Sonic Next Genesis by ProjectMF (guess what MF stands for ;D)
-Bleh layouts
-almost as broken as Sonic 06 itself (ironic seeing as this is trying to copy 06)
There's nothing else I can really say about this.

Sonic & Ashuro by someone who can't take criticism without throwing a fit (No I'm not gonna put the whole title of the hack in, nor am I gonna put it in all caps either. Seriously this is the only game with all caps)
-Green Hill Zone is the only level I can enjoy. It has great art, and great layouts. It contains what I heard was stolen music from Megamix though
-The rest of the game is full of shit palettes, areas that only Ashuro can past, yet those areas contain character switch monitors, turning you into sonic and getting you stuck in the area, and just bad level design.
-The music is just bleh.
-The art of the characters themselves is fine, but please for the love of SuperEgg, get rid of the mouth on Sonic. It looks ugly as hell.
It's good at the beginning, but as soon as you get past the first level it gets worse and worse. If you are bored and want to play a hack for once, I guess you can play this, but if you want a good experience, stay away from this. Oh and also get prepared to spam the air dash as Sonic.

Sonic: Scorched Quest by the beautiful Painto.
-Great level designs
-Great music + art
-Great everything
This hack is my favorite in the contest. Pretty much everything about it is perfect. I don't feel I need to say anymore, just play it yourself.

Sonic Virtual Adventure by Ladego Team (what's with this and Scorched Quest having the ":" in their title?)
-Ok level designs (though the art for GHZ kinda copies Megamix)
-Good music
-Ok art
-Fuck the emerald hunting gimmick, I forget about it sometimes and the level loops when you don't get them all. What's worse is that when you die you lose all of your emerald pieces. Why can't I just play through the game.
Anyways, it's fine, but what I find strange is that at the time of this writing, the game suddenly started getting tons of votes for the community trophies. I know the game is good, but it isn't techincal, nor does it have the best level layouts. I don't understand who is doing this (I actually do, but I'm not allowed to tell) and why they're doing this, but just why?

Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by the really hot jubbalub
-Once again, great level design and art
-Great music
Hey, I'm starting to realize a trend here... the previous few entries have been... good. Something strange... because they're good I can't say anything about them besides "Good levels and music and art". Anyways, play the past 3 games (that includes Untitled Sonic 1 Hack). They're each very great and if you don't play them I will find you and slap you for not playing good games.

Anyways, that is (almost) all of the games in this year's contest. This year was pretty disapointing, as most of the hacks were either shitty joke hacks, were good but short, or were just overall shit. I'm hoping next year will be a lot better.

Also, I probably have no say, since my hacks in this contest were also pretty shitty which I gotta admit, but bleh, I spent my time playing these hacks, I gotta say something about them.

 

I downloaded exactly zero hacks during this contest. It was already a chore to open sixty something tabs, filter out two thirds of those, and then be left to see what I was going to play first. Only then did I realize that I don't really feel any excitement anymore and decided for the contest to finish so I can now focus on stuff that is actually worth my time.

Sure as hell hope next year will bring down the number of entries down to 20 or so, knowing in advance that they deserve to be in there.

Also, did the survey.

 

You do realize that the music wasn't changed right? :v:/> I noticed your comment on his entry, but Green Hills Zone music wasn't changed at all. :P I was honestly hoping it'd win a trophy. I thought it had the best art out of all the hacks IMO. Still this year's contest was a joke. There were only a few hacks I liked, and most of them shouldn't have been entered at all. Here's hoping next year's contest will be way better. I'm going to try my best to enter something, but I'm not going to slop something together poorly and enter it like most of these people did...

 

This week was kinda busy for me so I hadn't gotten around to playing much of anything, the only ones I gave a serious playthrough were "Robotnik's Plan B" and "Back 2 the Future", which I both rather enjoyed, even though the latter was pretty buggy; I warped from the future back to the present in GHZ act 2, and ended up repeatedly spawning underneath the stage. Still, the concept was pretty interesting and I would enjoy seeing the idea fleshed out more.
Even though the contest proper is over, I'll still try to get around to playing everything eventually, though it's good to know which of these is actually going to be worth the effort. :v:

 

Well, an SADX mod got honorable mention, so that's pretty good I think.

 

I have to say this first, but the level layouts in people's hacks were generally really disappointing this year. Apart from a few entries that stood out, most were really shoddy and badly put together. I can't count the number of times I saw misplaced objects and chunks which obviously needed fixing but just.. well, weren't. I know it's a difficult task, but I will reiterate that creating a full, new layout takes time and creating a good one, even more-so. It's just that rushing a layout to get it finished is never a good idea and it's usually obvious when it's done. Also, Pepsi in Sonic 1 won the Lava Reef Zone trophy for Best level layout in an Entry Submitted? I mean, if that's correct, then fine, but I am scratching my head at this one.

I did have an entry in the works for the Scrap Brain Zone mini contest, but I couldn't get it done in the time frame. 4 days just wasn't enough for me, and as my free time is limited these days anyway, I was doubtful of finishing in time. I've got what I had lying around though, so if anyone is interested in what I had, drop me a message and I'll send it your way.

Overall, I was underwhelmed in general. This isn't to take away from the entries that were really good and stood out, though. Those that were great were just that, and I'm glad I got to experience them. It's just that there was more than enough entries that seemed to dissolve into 1 in my head, and I found it hard to differentiate them. I agree with the majority of the trophies though, and I'm still glad I got to enjoy (part of) this year's contest.

Again, my kudos to Painto and his team for Sonic: Scorched Quest. I really do think he deserved first place for his efforts and I really look forward to the final release. Sonic: Virtual Adventure was, in my opinion an incredibly close second place but I seemed to be that unlucky guy that had the sound driver crash almost every time I played it. It's looking great so far, but I just didn't find it as memorable as my experience with Sonic: Scorched Quest.

Finally, thanks to all of the staff, judges and media panel for all of their work, commitment and dedication to the contest. I fully appreciate it, and look forward to next year.

 

I don't exactly appreciate the insults and I'm sure the other judges don't, either.

I felt Painto's work was solid and deserving of the trophy. It's fun, quirky and has a clear theme in mind. Virtual Adventure didn't have the same appeal to me and while I can only speak for myself, I voted Remastered for the 2nd place trophy.

Everyone's got their different opinions, and that's fine, but the conclusion we came to was that Scorched Quest was the best in show. The community trophies also came to the same result, so I think that speaks for itself.

 

Wow, you know, when I saw the words 'This is a joke', I thought he was talking about his post.

 

All trophy winners please contact me (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.

 

Either you didn't play the hack, didn't see it, or lack any sense of taste in quality; the hack was far beyond "Sonic 1 on fire and add new bosses." Even that is an understatement. The level of quality the hack had from the actual palette changes to fully showcase the fiery conditions, the level effects that showcase the heat, the minibosses, the Sonic 1 SMS Bonus Stages, ect; they were well beyond what we've seen in most hacks today, much less this contest. The hack was polished, played well, used the gimmicks that already existed and added a twist to them, ect. I want to elaborate that this hack was fun to play, which is the most important. The other hacks were fun, but not as much. Sonic 2 ReMastered was pretty close in my opinion, but I felt the level layouts weren't good enough.

Sure, it wasn't MarkeyJester's "The Next Level", but to knock it as some mediocre wankjob of a hack is very much knocking on someone's hack. You clearly don't understand quality and have a fairly shit taste on what is good and what isn't. + - Looks at opinion of Into the Void, remembers you liked it, laughing at your shitty opinion.  

You know, every time I see you post, it reminds of how much of a dumb fucking cunt you are. From the first time I dealt with you back in the Sonic 1 : Into the Void Thread where I joined up with Clownacy to put you down because of how full of shit you are, and now where you not only insult my intelligence, but the reputation, intelligence, and judgement of my peers.

We don't want our judgements to be looked as the law of the Holy Tweakallah, thus nobody can disagree. However, the community seems to agree with us on most of the trophies. Also, instead of trying to sound edgy and trying to bait people, say what the hack is, otherwise you're just butthurt like TSR was about Cybernetic Outbreak not winning the HPZ last year.

I assume the post, your life, your sex life, or your Mother is what you're referring to as a joke. If it was about the contest, then you can fuck off.

 

Just curious, but if your name is Knucklez and this was a joke...


...did you chuckle?

Just wondering.

So yeah. I'd say I'm sorry that you didn't like the results, but I'm not. Contests are all opinion-based anyway -- except, unlike your opinion, our opinion (and the opinion of the community AS A WHOLE) actually matters.

 

I know I'm not much of a voice as a Trial member, who's been a Trial member for years now lol. But I figured I would voice my opinion anyway.

I watched SomeCallMeJohnny's showcases, and truthfully, I found myself skipping through so much of the videos. A lot of the submissions were.... boring. Graphics weren't as good as they could have been, and that's only one example. I believe so many of the entries had potential but just missed the mark by either a small or wide margin. I can tell a lot of people worked hard, and I totally agree with all of the trophies! But man, I could never agree more with the OP of this thread. I'm no hacker, not at all. But I saw a ton of promise. I can see a lot of these entries going from average to great next year, if the creators choose to submit them again.

I'm very happy for Team Painto, as Scorched Quest is fantastic. Thank You for all of the hard work, everybody. I know that next year can and will be even better.