Castle Paradox

khfan15 · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 26

I want to do a Top 30 poll for the next HamsterSpeak issue, since we haven't had one in a while (And someone posted looking for one a few weeks ago)

Please read the rules, especially rules 8 & 9, as I've added a few things that might be of interest.

Additionally, this poll's BONUS QUESTION will be: Who do you think are the five most 'prolific' OHR users? Which users make the most enjoyable games, have the biggest influence on the community, etc? (To be fair, don't include yourself on this one)

Rules:
1. Vote for your five-ten favorite OHR games/movies/whatever. Lowest number = highest on your favorite list.
2. You may vote for your own game(s). The choice is yours, but bear in mind that if nobody else votes for your game, it will not make the list.
3. You may not vote for unreleased games. Demos are fine, though.
4. You may not vote twice. Happy

5. You must be an active member of the community in order to vote. In other words, if you just registered and voted your vote will be ignored. This is done to prevent rigging.
6. Type out the entire name, just in case I don't know what the acronym is.
7. Airship 2600 is banned from this list. Sorry, it's just too good. Additionally, any other vaporware games shouldn't be voted for.
8. You are not required to give any reason for your votes, but you can include a short few sentences. The best ones will be posted on the list as flavor text. (Naturally, don't write any if you don't want yourself to be quoted)
9. Wanna go really out of the way? Include some (small) fanart of one or two of the games in your vote! I'll be sure to include anything worthy. Again, don't post anything you don't want used in the magazine.

Some general guidelines:
1. No one cares what you vote for, so don't feel compelled to vote 'in the community's eyes' or for games that you think are good but don't actually like. I want this list to reflect the personal preferences of real OHR users; i.e. I want it to be largely subjective.
2. If you want to vote in private, PM me with your votes and I promise not to reveal them to anyone.

How scoring works:
Your number 1 choice gets the most points. The higher the number, the fewer the points. In addition, the number of users who actually voted for the game is taken into account.

I'll post an example vote soon.

Deadline: Let's make it the 25th. August 25th.
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khfan15 · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 26

Games:
1. OHR House Series
2. Thanksgiving Quest
3. Walthrus: Return of the Crystals
4. Arfenhouse 3
5. Sword of Jade
6. Walthros
7. OMFG TIZ ROXORZ
8. Super Concentration Headache Master Pro
9. I Made Dis Anthology
10. Don't Push the Button

Authors:
1. PHC - set a new standard for the complete OHR RPG initially, moved on to tear Walthros alive and made some innovative side projects. Possibly the most influential OHR user, and his games are totally my style.
2. Shadowiii - While I'm not the hugest fan of his games, his contest output has been impressive without any inconsistency, and his games are highly accessible to those new to the engine. Makes some of the best uses of plotscripting the OHR has seen.
3. Gilbert - Fabled pioneer of the joke game. His work is often under appreciated for what it really stands for. He's the Tarantino of the OHR Community, making concept games without much regard for their end quality.
4. James Paige - Created the archetype for OHR games. Still really the only one to get OHR battles just right.
5. Moogle1 - Sheep Rancher, OHRRPGCE Tactics, SCHMP... need I go on? He does stuff with this engine that I never believed to be possible. Similar to Gilbert, but his games are more technical marvels than concept pieces.

Other games I considered:
Powerstick Man
Bastard.GUNS Transylvania
Bliss
Fantasy Under A Blue Moon X V4
The Fox and the Eight-Six
Lolsidothaldremobine
Monterey Penguin
Moon Pie: Crumbling Dreams
Mormon Mission
The Myth of Sisyphus
Pitch Black
Put on Shoes: Limited Edition Box Set
Wandering Hamster
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Moogle1 · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:52 pm Post subject:

1. Sword of Jade
2. Darkmoor Dungeon
3. Thanksgiving Quest
4. Trailblazers
5. Bastard.GUNS Transylvania
6. Super Walrus Chef
7. SCH Battle Warrior
8. Vikings of Midgard

Authors:
1. Surlaw (PHC). Other than Walthros, I haven't played a single game of his I didn't like. More relevantly, he's responsible for the only consistent magazine in OHR history. ("Reasonably Septaweekly" indeed.)
2. RMZ. When I think of prolific, I think of me. But I can't vote for myself, and RMZ has put out nearly as many games, most of them pretty decent. He's a good guy to work with, too.
3. Gilbert, largely for the reasons mentioned above. Airship 2600 turned the community around completely and the rest of his games are just as innovative. The Bastard.GUNS series I think is partly responsible for some of the battles in Darkmoor Dungeon. He's remembered for joke games (Bandit Revolver) but I don't think that should be the case.
4. JSH, who is responsible for the popularization of both the joke game and the OHR movie. While Gilbert's classic I Made Dis falls into both categories to an extent and predates the OMG TIZ ROXORZ games, JSH did more for these genres than anyone else, which is probably why Thanksgiving Quest was erroneously called a joke game.
5. Retrogamer would rank higher except he's never really been that big a part of the community. Every single game he's released, though, has been in the top 5% of all OHR games. Those who have been around long enough remember that he made Scars of Glory in 48 hours. He's also responsible for Siv (Journey of an Egg), Trailblazers, and a handful of other gems. Too bad he never finished any of his games. He also didn't release Megalomania for last year's Gameathon, which is the best OHR game you won't play.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

Iblis · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject:

Games:

01 - Sword of Jade - Possibly the only OHR game to really make me feel something important.
02 - OHR House (series) - Great characters, it's a lot of fun to watch them interact.
03 - Super Walrus Chef - The gameplay is not good (has potential though), but best comedy dialogue in any OHR game? Probably so.
04 - Thanksgiving Quest - Though some parts are too difficult or too easy, it's a really well-made strategic RPG.
05 - Walthrus: Return of the Crystals - Still hilarious after so much time, one of the funniest OHR games ever made.
06 - Halloween Quest - It's technically flawed in a number of ways, but I just have fun playing it. The mood was great and the graphical style was perfect for it.
07 - Super Concentration Headache Master Pro - I still like it better than Battle Warrior, possibly cause I was a lot better at this one! Anyway, a really innovative idea and it was a lot of fun. I never got any headache from it though.
08 - Walthros - One of the first complete OHR RPGs that I actually played through all the way. I can't help but love the world of this game, it's so different.

(editted to lump OHR House 1 and 2 together)

Authors:
01 - Moogle1 - A pioneer in using plotscripting and even the default battle engine in new and innovative ways.
02 - JSH - The most notable OHR movie director, easily. Also pretty notable as a game designer as well, certainly for TQ at least.
03 - Surlaw - Like the rest of you, Surlaw came to my mind first and I was about to list him first, but I think he's had a lot more influence on the community than he's had on the games we make. Even most intentionally terrible games are still made from the Arfenhouse mold (gets 'humor' from bad graphics and bad spelling/grammar) rather than the Walthrus mold (gets humor from bad/random graphics and actually funny dialogue), even if the latter is superior in all respects. Still, Walthros was an important game and I think since then he's had a big impact on the community's sense of humor. Plus Hamsterspeak should count for something.
04 - Fenrir Lunaris - He doesn't release new games that often, but whenever he does release something people pay attention. Also as he runs the Terrible Game Contest he definitely has some influence on the games being released. FFH isn't that great but it deserves some points as the most popular OHR game ever by a wide margin.
05 - RMZ - He's made a lot of games and written a lot of reviews. The process seems to have slowed a bit (though maybe not, with OHR World and all) but it seemed like for a while it was like a constant stream of games flying onto the list. Also, without Halloween Quest would we have had a Thanksgiving Quest?
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khfan15 · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 26

Just replying to say... wow, these are some nice comments on the game designers already. Iblis has the monopoly on game comments, but for how long? Let's keep this up, everyone!
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Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

I haven't been playing very many OHR games since I got home, but based on past experiences (and those I replayed), here goes.

1. Wandering Hamster - It's still my favorite OHR game, even though the damn thing hasn't been updated since before I left.
2. Locked - I really really like this game. It should be higher up, now that I think about it. I'd love to play more games like this.
3. Bliss - Still really like this game. I wish someone would make a full length game with this dynamic a battle system.
4. Thanksgiving Quest - Same as above. It would be neat to see a non-community based game with as much depth as this game offered (to be honest, I'm pretty damn sick of community members in games)
5. Walthrus : ROTC - I actually played through this the other day. It wasn't as funny as I remembered, but it was still pretty damn funny.
6. Pitch Black - This is the favorite of all my games. Before everything I made got complicated and irritating. Mr. B and I need to remake it.
7. I Made Dis Anthology - Another game I've replayed recently. Funny as hell.
8. Super Concentration Headache etc etc (the first one) - Closest thing to Wario Ware on the OHR. Which reminds me, why hasn't anyone made that yet?
9. Ends of the Earth 2 - Yeah, it's old, unbalanced, and has ripped graphics. I still really like it, and it was the first "serious" OHR game I played and beat.
10. Powerstick Man - Some of the best writing on the OHR. Would like an update, but Pepsi is old and could die any moment.

Authors:
1 - Moogle1 - He's still making games, even after a two year break. Gotta give him props for that. His games are always innovating and fun, though I really don't think I've enjoyed any of them as much as SCHMP. Now where the hell is Scary Game 3?
2 - Surlaw - I haven't seen any games out by him recently, but he definatly has a lot under his belt. I eagerly look forward to his next "serious" game. Then again, Super Walrus Chef was quite good. I wonder why I didn't put it on my top ten. Whatever.
3 - AdrianX - Despite all the flack he seems to get, he still keeps chugging along making games. That takes a lot of determination, and I respect that a lot.
4 - JSH - OHR-House is quite funny. He certainly has a way of playing characters off each other to generate some great humor. I'd love to see a more serious game by him, but that's completely up to him anyway.
5 - Fenrir-Lunaris - He's finally making something that he can release. Hooray for Vikings. Though I think you should seriously send your stuff into Nintendo or something. You have a talent, and more of the world needs to experience it then us nerdy OHRers.

That seems about right. Good to see the Top 30 again.
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The Wobbler · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Posts: 2221

Fenrir-Lunaris · **WUT** Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 1747

PHC, perhaps reviews could be done of the winners of this contest (in descending order) at some point. It would certainly provide a log of future articles for the magazine. #1 will probably already be done, but the runners up are anyone's guess at this point.

My list is pretty much also a listing of what I think have been some of the most influential games on the OHRRPGCE. Perhaps someone should further develop an article interviewing several authors on this point? Whatever, I need to play more games.

Games:

01 - Sword of Jade - If there's a game that stands out as the best "Traditional Epic" OHRRPGCE game, this is it. Fantasy, romance, betrayal, revenge, triumph; this game seems written like an operatic epic, or at least a professionally made video game. It's pretty much the best game that never got a download link on CP's gamelist, and also the death knell for much of the OHR community.
02 - Arfenhouse 3 - I should consider the original Arfenhouse trilogy as a single entry given the shortness of the previous two. The movies are more hilarious, but for the longest time these games had the greater impact on the community than many other games. I really shouldn't say I'm amused by these, but given their impact and the fact that I've played them more times than other OHR games should say something about them.
03 - OHR House Duology - Both OHR Houses are extensions of the same game in my mind, simply split across different files. These games brought the community together every episode to vote, and seemed to understand the soul of what makes us OHRers.
04 - Wandering Hamster - Everyone has played this, and generally has awesome things to say about it. If there's any downside, its that it's incomplere! Bob needs to wake up from his coma so he can go wandering again!
05 - Final Fantasy H - This game set the standard for future OHRRPGCE "epic" games when it was released. It still is. It also has the highest download count, and has consistently placed in prior OHR contests. Neither mediocre nor great, it is THE Average.
06 - Boundless Ocean - THIS is a work of ART. Orchard pretty much took what the OHRRPGCE's 16bit pallete can do, and produced a truly beautiful game. In a community with good games with sub-par graphics, this is a true gem. Atmospheric and surreal landscapes. I'm ashamed I haven't completed it, but I'm addicted.
07 - Walthrus Return of the Crystals - I'm ashamed I never finished the first Walthros (I intend to). This is pretty much the new Arfenhouse, hilarious and not meant to be taken seriously.
08 - Halloween Quest - RMZ created something special here, and found his niche. Cartoony, riddled with cameo appearances, and reasonably fun to play. If the spelling were a bit better, it'd rank much higher.
09 - Super Concentration Headache Battle Warrior - Genius.
10 - BLB - Vulpes is a filthy whore, and I am a terrible person because of it. But Furries seem to like it, and since a lot of our lurkers come from their particular part of the internet.....

Authors:
01 - Fyrewulff - He actually finished a game, which is something few of us actually manage to do. Jade pretty much lived up to all the hype that was said about it, and everyone who badmouthed him vanished overnight. You either love him or hate him, and he's perhaps the most polarizing member of the community there is. But he DID something, and he gave a lot of people a reason to keep making games. Even if that reason was to put him down.
02 - James Paige - You're going to think of James in the community no matter what. He started this madness anyway, and he's become a heck of a lot more active recently. Maybe this is indicative of something he's working on?
03 - Red Maverick Zero - The sheer number of games this guy has created, released, and completed is staggering. He's like the Capcom of OHR, given the number of sequels, spinoffs, and side projects this guy has churned out. I won't say everything he's done is good, but he's EXTREMELY active in the community, participates in pretty much every contest, and has a fairly decent reputation. Note that he's never picked a fight with anyone. He's also got a fairly unique art style, which many people would consider a plus for working with an engine that encourages such a thing. If more of our newcomers and newbies turned out like him, the OHR community would be AWESOME. And you know it too.
04 - Surlaw - Surlaw is pretty much the leader of the current OHR community "elite". If you don't believe there's such a thing, you're probably one of them. He's been around a long time, is fairly active, leads his own consistent magazine, and for the most part is well motivated towards reviving interest in the community. He's also a fairly good game designer too, and has a number of well respected titles under his belt.
05 - Inferior Minion - Say what you want, but he's paid for the server space that hosts most of our OHRRPGCE games for the last few years, and this definitely counts as something that would get you noticed in the community. He's not without controversy either, which I think is partly the reason he stays out of the community politics these days. He's still around in the background though, working on site things, performing maintenance, fiddling with the OHRRPGCE code, whatever strikes his fancy. And for the most part, he's a pretty decent guy to bounce some ideas for game design off of, though he's a fairly busy guy trying to balance his professional and personal life.

Aethereal · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:44 pm Post subject:

1. Wandering Hamster
2. Wingedmene: Part One
3. Walthros
4. Time Flies
5. Arfenhouse 3
6. Sword of Jade
7. Origin
8. Cult
9. Missing
10. Lolsidothaldremobine
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Moogle1 · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:00 pm Post subject:

Aeth, I'm curious if you've played anything that was made in the past five years. Happy

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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

Aethereal · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject:

No, not really. I didn't want to even bother voting because I've played almost no OHR games in the past long while, but I was asked to anyway.
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TwinHamster · Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:27 am Post subject:

Games:

Gamakers*:

*that have had an impact on me over the years :3

Uncommon · Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:28 am Post subject:

GAMES
01. Super Headache Battle Warrior ~ I love battles that are actually fun.
02. I Made Dis Anthology ~ An absolute classic. What makes this work aside from it's sense of humor is its marvelous aesthetic sensibility. It will never be boring, it simply refuses.
03. Spellshard: Black Crown of Horgoth ~ This game is so pure I cannot even tell you. It captures all the experience of an oldschool Final Fantasy. It's one of the few straight-up RPGs I can stand anymore.
04. Fox and the Eight-Six ~ Yes, it's essentially one long fetch quest, but it's got hella heart.
05. Mazes Of Persistence ~ Listen, this game is perfect. It did everything it set out to achieve. I wouldn't change a single thing about it, it's my best game.
06. Burgertory 100% ~ Not only a complete lack of a fourth wall, but a hero who actually resists the player! Maybe it's mostly just a concept game, but it's a great concept.
07. OHR House 1, 2 ~ Oh I don't think I have much to say that hasn't been already. It was fun to work on.
08. Surlaw Armageddon ~ One of the most surreal games the OHR has seen, it's a huge shame it was only ten minutes.
09. Myth of Sisyphus ~ I'll admit it, I love concept games. They're usually a lot more entertaining than goddamn epics. And this one, it's perfect.
10. Blanetech Internet Optimizer ~ I have always voted for this, I probably always will. It's one of the earliest joke games, and quite a one, too.

AUTHORS
1. Gilbert ~ He's got a lot of fun little games on his belt, he basically inspired the whole genre of the short concept game.
2. Surlaw ~ One of the best comedy writers in the community. No one has his distinctly surreal sense of humor.
3. Friend ~ I'm surprised no one's mentioned him yet. He always puts a lot of work into his games, and the ones he makes are no less than four star quality, if not better. Another one of those authors that pushes the genre barrier, in story and in gameplay.
4. Moogle1 ~ There have been challengers, but Moogle1 is still the damn best plotscripter ever to grace us with his glory.
5. RM Sephy/Rimudora ~ Sephy is a comedy Midas. Everything he touches turns to comedy gold. All the little games he's released have been some of my very favorites. He is never boring.

If I could do six, I'd put Pepsi Ranger. With games like Powerstick Man and At the Risk of Manipulation, the 20+ VERY LONG, very thought out reviews he's done, and the Epic Marathon, the community owes a lot to him. He's a right dude.

RedMaverickZero · Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:14 am Post subject:

1. Walthros
2. OHR House (1, and 2)
3. Scare Spree
4. Vikings of Midgard
5. Wandering Hamster
6. Trailblazers
7. Halloween Quest
8. Gato Succio : The Quest for Color
9. OHR-Date
10. OHRadius

It was actually kinda tough thinking of games I've enjoyed the most in the past 5 or so years, ha. But the list pretty much sums up the games I felt have held the more memorable, while some short, experiences.

Authors:
1: Shadowiii- For a long time in the community, I had considered him my rival, cause we would both enter the same contest, and have the same restrictions and everything, but yet he always seemed to pull out ahead of me in the end. I think, if not for him, I never would have strived to make some of the better games that I have made. For a long time, Shadowiii made a lot of great games, and I think one of the community's biggest drops was when he left for his mission.

2: Fenrir-Lunaris- Kind of the same thing with Shadowiii, but more graphical than anything else. I never tried to make a better game than him, but I would look at his art, and try to look at his technique to make it better to my own. However, Fenrir hasn't made too many games, but the fact that he's so devoted to his projects is astounding. And when we get updates and stuff, you can tell that he really worked incredibly hard on them, dispite their spaced out releases, ha.

3: JSH- His first impression has changed in my eyes quite a bit. He's not nearly as arrogant as before, and he has a lot of really good creative ideas that I saw in OHR House. He has the character development stuff down to an art.

4. Moogle1- Late 2006 was when I first started working with the guy. And I must say, he has impressed me quite a lot. His ideas set no boundaries, and his imagination really adds a ton of personality to every project he works on. Scare Spree still impresses me to this day, and that was the first thing I worked on with him.

5. Surlaw - I've enjoyed seeing the Walthros sequels spin off, because each one gathers a new bizzare sense of humor. It sucks that the Walthros sequel is so far behind, because that was definitely still to this day, my favorite OHR game.
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The Wobbler · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Posts: 2221