The Daily Click Christmas Competition
Well, it's been about two months since the competition ended! We'd like to thank everyone who entered, but sadly there can only be one winner. Actually, there are three winners, but only one person gets the main prize, generously donated by Clickteam to be a copy of Multimedia Fusion 2 Developer. The secondary prizes are a choice of one of two books - both written by Jason Darby.

Quick message from Andy:
"We had some interesting entries this year and I went into some lengthy descriptions on how I think games should be improved. Wherever I left criticism I have tried to explain why and give examples of how to improve the games. Please take what I have written into account when making a game. I may have started to go overboard in some cases when I really felt that the creator wasn't sure what he was doing but I definitely did not intend to hurt any feelings. I only wish to aid in the future creation of better games, and this sometimes may come with a harsh reality."

In fact this can be said for all the judges - we apologise if you don't like any comments but these are our collective opinions which have been based on hours of scrutiny and entry study. But anyway... enough of all that, on with the results!

Below you'll find a list of all the games in order of points. As you may or may not know, three judges collaborated together to give their votes and opinions on all the competition entrants, based on certain criteria. Feel free to debate the results, but they will not be changed! Once again though, thanks to everyone who took part in this competition, and thanks once again to Clickteam for their generous prize donation.

1st Place (254/300) Ever Eternal Winter World
2nd Place (223/300) SantaSatnas
3rd Place (218/300) Cavern Tale
4th Place (215/300) Downhill Jam Buttocks
5th Place (213/300) Gappy 2
6th Place (201/300) Paczka
7th Place (200/300) Santa Dog
8th Place (199/300) Project Armored Recon
9th Place (152/300) St. Global Warming
10th Place (151/300) Mercenaries
11th Place (134/300) Jesus Hat
12th Place (111/300) FreeRider
13th Place (21/300) Desktop Turd

Overall Game-Making Comments:

  • Ensure that your game menus are fast. The player should be able to get into playing the game quickly. This means if you have transitions they should be fast (less than a second) or used sparingly. If you have an introduction for your game such as the name of the group who made it, then this should DEFINITELY be skippable upon pressing a key.

  • Ensure your game has a point to it, and is actually fun. Make sure that it's not just an engine. Games SHOULD BE FUN. They are games! If you don't have fun playing it, then why do you think other people will find it fun? Your idea of fun may also be biased, as you made the game. Get some honest opinions from people who you don't know that well, random clickers, forums etc. (I know this was a competition however, so maybe not forums this time around.)

  • Take out anything that is pointless. It is possible to add things into your game that will ultimately DETRACT from your game.

  • Try to make your game work in unison. That is... make sure your game remains consistent in the use of graphical styles, fonts used, musical appropriateness, menu styles etc. People who are good at web design and graphics will most likely be good at this too.