04/04/2005

VICTORY!

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

We won!!!

Earlier tonight was the award ceremony for the RetroRedux game jam competition, and the our game, entitled Bull Run!, won the award for Best Visual Design! It was given the nod for its superb animation and color palette.

It goes without saying that such recognition is a true honor, especially from such esteemed peers. All the effort and energy that was poured into the project by every person on the team was completely validated, and the simple fact is that everyone seemed to genuinely enjoy the game: the judges, members of the press, and even the other participants.

Every person was highly complimentary, with my favorite comment coming from Eric Zimmerman, who noted that the game “felt like an Activision title” in terms of visual and aural polish. Wow!

Again, you’ll be able to read my full account of the event in Gamasutra very soon (which as you might guess already has a happy ending!), but in the meantime, make sure to check out this Wednesday’s edition of the New York Times. There should be a piece on the event in the Arts and Leisure section. Plus, keep an eye out on MTV for myself and the rest as well.

You simply can’t believe how elated I am. The development process was not at all pretty; its had its highs, and some very lows to be honest. But the bottom line is in less than one single day, a living, breathing game was created, and one that’s pretty darn neat. Everyone on the team truly earned that award.

Speaking off, here’s a pic of the glorious (and playable) trophy…

… Apparently, the joysticks were purchased off of eBay, and they really work!

And for those interested, you can play the game here. It’s a self-executable file which can run on any PC without the need of an emulator (sorry Mac users).

Real quick, here’s what you need to know:

- You move with the left and right arrow keys.
- To score points, you must gore people by positioning yourself right behind them and pressing the action button (the space bar). Timing is key; if you do it too late, or if you’re not directly behind them, they’ll just leap out of the way.
- Goring people will earn you points; each level has a point criteria which must be met to advance to the next level.
- Avoid obstacles in the way. Run into them too many times and its game over!

And once again, remember, this game took just 24 hours to make!

  • http://www.sporktnaia.com/ ApM

    Ahhh, so the contest was actually about building a prototype Windows game that LOOKED like a 2600 game! Now things are starting to make sense. For a minute I was extremely confused, as literally there’s no way you could make a game with those graphics for the 2600.

    Well, in any case, congratulations! The visual design is indeed excellent.

  • Job

    I calf in Spain
    I bull in France!
    I collect points

    Viva en France

    This idea screams TJ Griggs so much…
    Brilliantly executed.
    I love it!

  • http://the-inbetween.com nowak

    I like how you can keep hitting the mangled body for extra points. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

  • https://www.fort90.com Matt

    It?s not a bug, it?s a feature!

    Damn straight. :)

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