OK, here are my votes so far:
The DQ club: PeteAndWally: Overworld changing
Shoelace: Dungeon graphics, mechanics, Death Knights
Scootoloo: Using a non-standard tileset.
OK, now for the fun stuff (if you're looking for more full reviews read the threads)
BigJoe:
Difficulty: 95/100 (may be too hard, might need to be toned down for the final version, but I enjoyed it a bit. 15 games)
NES Authenticity: 95/100 (probably towed the line the best out of all the quests for this and balancing new stuff)
Fun Factor: 70/100 (had frustrating points, I can see why some people didn't like it, but this is following NES rules here. He did the best he could)
Overall: 86.67/100
MischaPetya:
Difficulty: 98/100 (VERY hard, 5 games on a 2nd run)
NES Authenticity: 85/100 (didn't follow enemy groups)
Fun Factor: 80/100
Overall: 86.67/100
Chris Miller:
Difficulty: 80/100. (Level 9 was perfect for me, though the Wizzrobes might need a new color, 3 gamesr)
NES authenticity: 90/100 (broke enemy groups)
Fun Factor: 70/100
Overall: 80/100
HeroOfFire
Difficulty: 50/100 (harder than 2nd, but still subpar 3 games)
NES Authenticity: 95/100
Fun Factor: 80/100
Overall Score: 73/100
Love For Fire
Difficulty: 99/100 (balance is solid, five games)
NES authenticity: 25/100 (had some weird mechanics)
Fun Factor 90/100 (was a very fun quest despite its flaws)
Overall: 71.3/100
Imzogelmo:
Difficulty: 98/100 (balanced, 13 games)
NES authenticity: 10/100(Mirror Shield, Conveyor Belts)
Fun Factor: 95/100 (good creativity)
Overall: 67.6/100
Nethis:
Difficulty: 30/100 (1 game)
NES Authenticity: 99/100 (very accurate)
Fun Factor: 50/100 (needed more creativity)
Overall: 59.67/100
CJC:
Difficulty: 93/100 (kinda hard-ish, 18 games)
Fun Factor: 85/100 (had frustrating spots, but easily the most creative quest of the bunch)
NES authenticity: 0/100 (you know why)
Overall: 59.3/100
dcsyxx:
Difficulty: 0/100 (Very Easy, possibly runnable early, 3 games)
NES authenticity: 99/100 (easily the most accurate)
Fun Factor: 50/100
Overall: 46.67/100
BTJCraft:
Difficulty: 0/100 (easier than the 1st quest, attempted to run it midway through)
NES Authenticity: 50/100 (Octorocks On Crack)
Fun Factor: 50/100 (barely any use of the enemy editor)
Overall: 33.3/100
(more coming soon, Gleeok orders me to bed)
And now, for the DNF club (which will be 0/100 because I picked them up and couldn't finish them. Some say this might be cruel, but it's your responsibility as a quest designer to playtest your quest and make sure they can be finished. All of these I played had major issues leading to incompletes)
Sylph: Had a bug in the Stalfos room in Level 1 where it respawned over the river and I couldn't get the key to advance without serious resetting. Because this is Level 1, this will frustrate the player and lead to them getting angry. Person also never showed up on the boards after it was reported.
ZCFan: I might be a bit biased on the mark here, but I didn't like Level 9 on the first screen and the corner swords. Also, there were mazes out of place and it was one hell of a frustrating experience. I generally did not like this one at all. Needs cleaning up.
QuestWizard88: You had the classic problem of making the beginning levels too insanely hard that no one could pass them. You've won before, you should know better than this. With the expectations of you winning before, this is totally unacceptable. Even I toned down from my usual difficulty for this contest.
I abstain from Travster's because he changed his quest entirely, but his first effort (and the hard one from what I heard) were not too good.
I'm also going to make some final comments:
I truly appreciate the work you guys put in. Game Development is not easy, it takes years of practice. While some are creative heads, people have to understand in a job you are handed a script and you pretty much need to follow it. There was leeway here, but the script basically was "Create something Zelda 1 style that could play on the NES." While some liberties were taken, the NES respect had to be followed. Hell, I even had to make some major changes to fit this. I know several PureZC people don't like this and some other people don't, but that's the way game development is. The boss told you to make a Zelda 1 style game, if you didn't, then you most likely won't be featured.
On that note, some people had some really fun quests. Love For Fire, Imzogelmo, CJC, Shoelace, I'd definitely give second looks to and maybe if they don't win deserve to have a proper development cycle and expanded. You may not win due to authenticity, but it was an enjoyable piece of work, and in some players' eyes, that might be a winning factor.
I apologize for somewhat harsh grading at times, but it had to be done. I might sound like the bad college professor here on that, if I come across like that, take it up with me on PM. It's no slight against you.
Last, but not least, if you had a bad effort, I could go into failed projects and failed efforts of my own. The fact you completed a quest puts you at a large advantage over many aspiring people. If I were you, I'd dust yourself off, hold your head high, don't get overconfident, and either edit your work with a new tileset and development cycle, or if you're totally not happy, use it as a learning experience on your next project. I guarantee you that you'll do better the second time around.
Good luck everyone.
-James
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