Community Voting

Contests 4K Game Competition - 2010
#21

No. If that were the case, having just one question and a drop-down box of all the games would have sufficed, where it asked “Which game should win?”. I can’t imagine that working well.

At least now you have a chance of voting for five games that you think deserve to win, or more if you spread out your points.

Having maximum 5 points for each game enforces people to take a look at more than just one game, and having just 25 total points allows people to finish after voting for just 5 games.

edit: I just ran a quick check on the poll data, and 33 out of 34 games have been given points so far. That means only one game has yet to receive points. Pretty good considering the booths have only been open for a couple of days. I think when the results are published then people will appreciate how well this works and reflects on the best games.

#22

What about this system: You can rate any number of games from 0 to 5 points but you’re not forced to rate all the games. You could also require to vote for at least x games.

#23

And you have to vote for odd numbered games with even number of points and even numbered games with odd number, whereas you cannot vote for more than even number of timer for even numbered games and odd number of times for odd numbered games :slight_smile: (sorry for the sarcasm hehe)

Nah, I think simplicity is the best. ;D

#24

I’d like to vote, but I’m having problems logging in to java4k.com.

I’ve probably forgotten my username & password, but I just get a blank page when I try. :frowning:

#25

You should not get a blank page.

Log-in should work, I tested it right now both in FF and IE.

#26

Aha. Firefox remembers my login :smiley: (I’ve since switched to Opera.)

#27

[quote]Having maximum 5 points for each game enforces people to take a look at more than just one game, and having just 25 total points allows people to finish after voting for just 5 games.
[/quote]
I like the voting system. The problem is, just like you say, to get people to try the games.

I just realized that the name and picture of the game are very important for the community voting. All games that have black background on the screenshot have fewer hits that the other games. For an example, ‘EPIC INFERNO’ was submitted 10 days after my submission (Geometry4k) but it has more hits. It must be because the picture looks better than mine and the name is much better (except for the caps ;)).

So Appel, is it ok if i change the game name to ‘Perfect Geometry’ and the image to some lightly dressed girl?

#28

[quote]and the image to some lightly dressed girl?
[/quote]
;D

The way you pitch something in life always has a big impact on the interest of people. This is embarrassing IMHO but it’s a chore you can’t afford to ignore. And yes, even the name of the game has a high importance. I’d even say even the way you present the game in the short description.

#29

[quote]‘EPIC INFERNO’ was submitted 10 days after my submission (Geometry4k) but it has more hits
[/quote]
There’s also the originality factor I guess. Epic Inferno has this “never seen before” factor that can raise interest.

#30

Yes i know but i tend to forget it because i’m not that good at design :slight_smile:
I guess the title of my entry next year will be one of ‘Zombie Strippers 4k’, ‘Natal 4k’ or ‘EPIC Burning Bug Assassin 4000 Pro’…

#31

Strip Poker 4K :smiley:

#32

That would be both disturbing and awesome at the same time! :smiley:

#33

Yeah, but think of all the webcam shots of defeated players. Doesn’t bare thinking about :wink:

#34

Ok, I’ve done my voting but I feel unsatisfied…
I’ve played all the games and I’d have liked to have have given each one a 1-5 rating, but I only had 25 stars to give - I’m lazy so I just gave 5 each to my favourite 5 games. It’s a shame really, I’d have liked to have shown some appreciation to every entrant, even if it was only 1 star, that still feels better than nothing.
I think the final results will tend to favour the high-end games for this reason - it’s too much like hard work to share out the marks!
Would it be possible to allow a 1-5 rating for every game next year?

#35

I feel the same, a 1-5 rating for each might allow my vote to reflect more how I feel. As it stands, I didn’t award any 5 pointers to anyone as it just used up too many points. I could barely even spare a point for my own game :’(

Also, is there a reason we can’t change the vote after entering it? It takes a while to go through all the games, so I ended up keeping a spreadsheet of all the scores then entering them in when done. This took a couple of evenings, and there were still a couple of games that i didn’t really spend much time on as they just didn’t grab me straight away.

#36

I spent four lunchtimes going through the games and storing notes and approximate scores. Then I went back through my notes, listed the games in order, and worked on cut-off points which I felt reflected my opinions fairly and didn’t go over 25. If it didn’t grab me within a couple of minutes then it didn’t get points because a minigame should be something you can enjoy immediately.

I think I’ll follow Dzzd in posting my allocation. Note that I deliberately chose not to vote for my own game, because I don’t feel right doing that.

4 points
Kuest - 4K
Burning Man
GTA4K

All three are good fun and have some replayability. I don’t think I can pick an overall winner between them.

3 points
4 Freedom – technically impressive, but jolly hard (and I think mainly because of the control scheme)
TrickShot – good fun, just needs a quick reset so I get to be doing something for more than 10% of the time I spend playing

2 points
Driver4K – fun, controls a bit irritating

1 point
Falcon4k – technically good but the perspective makes it very hard to play
Cap4Hold – interesting idea. Crashed with AIOOBE
Don’t Reach The Square – nice effects, not much depth
Little Worlds4k – not much depth, but interesting enough that I played until I finished it
Greedy Snakes 4k – nice twist

#37

Just tried 4 different games and non of them worked with the same class not found exception. What ever happed to providing a normal jar rather than a pack200 as per the applet sun standards.

#38

[quote]Just tried 4 different games and non of them worked with the same class not found exception. What ever happed to providing a normal jar rather than a pack200 as per the applet sun standards.
[/quote]
Its a shame really, doesnt do much for the overall perception of Java Applets. For me the games have all failed due to ClassNotFound on 3 seperate PC’s (all with JRE1.5, but without JDK’s, coincidence?).

Just realized, it was you that started the below thread, but I guess its still relevant as the issue is not yet resolved…
http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php/topic,21771.0.html

#39

I can see the point of not following this advice right now ??? using PACK2000 to show to the public on J4K is just adding incompatibilities where there is already too much… what the benefit ? sure you wont pay more for the 3 bytes overflow on network bandwith

#40

So many games, so few points!

Here’s where my points went.

5 points
Burning Man - Unusual, original, and has some great levels. I’d be interested to see this as a full (>4k) game.

4 points
Virus - A surprisingly relaxing war game.
VVVV - Unbelievably sadistic. I worry for the sanity of anyone who tries to complete it.

3 points
GTA - I like running over pedestrians. Does that make me a bad person?
Bug War - Overcomplicated but engrossing.

2 points
BoxBot - Maybe not technically impressive, but it felt like a complete game.
Falcon - Felt more solid than a lot of Zaxxon clones I’ve played in the past.

1 point
Greedy Snakes - Simple but pleasant. The enemy snake is a surprisingly good competitor.
Assassins - Hardly any gameplay, but I really, really liked the graphics.