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Why aren't you in the finals? (venting thread)

nilstastic
Explorer
So, why aren't you in the finals right now? Unfair screening process? Bugs? Bad luck? Or simply the fact that THE WORLD IS NOT READY FOR A JUMPING GAME. Let's vent here!

First reaction.
My first reaction when not reaching the finals was the classic "screw you guys, I'm going home". I put a whole months work into this, working after the kids got to bed until I was to tired to think. All this felt like wasted time, my heart sunk and the motivation for doing anything VR related just went out the window.

Then I stared at the ceiling for a bit.

Then I mustered up some courage and when I went though the list if found a lot of entries missing that I was sure to reach the finals, and I realized that i was not alone, and that made things a bit better.

The worst part
The wort part for me is that I really like my game, I've spent hours making the boss fight feel just right (for me), inventing lasers and modeling rockets - and It feels kind of sad not many people will be able to experience my vision of the best (and only) jumping game in the world.

But I do also realize that my game is special to me. As the creator I know every part of it, get nostalgic when moving through certain parts of it ("oh, the cold I had when i modeled that laser"). I am sure that everyone that made a game in the jam is connected to their game in a similar way. But that does not make me feel better, just more logical.

End game - what to do next
So, What to do. The screening jury has failed to realize that my game is awesome. Carmack will never be be able to tell me all the mistakes i made in it, and Palmer will never be featured in a stupid .gif jumping like the madman he truly is.

What to do..

Well, I got 25 videos of coworkers playing my game, and I got the exact reaction i was hoping for when they were playing (laughter). I've also gotten some great feedback from the community, and a few good review as well. And I really like my game, not because of nostalgia but because I like jumping, and I like lasers. But then again, Oculus does not like my game, or at least not in the way it needs to be liked. It might be the jumping, it might be the execution. The fact remains the same.

So, should I be a reasonable man and stop here.

Hell no!
I did not quit during the jam, and letting the anti-jumping lobby win is not an option! I'm going to finish the game, and I'll put it in the store where it belongs, judges be damned!

So, save up you dollars kids. Because this fall there will be a jumping game in the store, and it will be AWESOME.

// nils
53 REPLIES 53

Thoth_The3x
Explorer
I enjoyed Kangaroo Dash, that's a shame!

I almost tripped in real life on the laser crossing, but I had a good time. Definitely polish it and put it on the store, it's a great casual game, especially something I could see a lot of kids liking 😄

Nilspferd
Honored Guest
So for our part, we should have focussed more on the description, screenshots and include the suggested headlines in our description (Mechanics, Innovation and Controls - nearly all selected entries have that headlines in their description). I always try to build games that are self-explanatory so we just put one sentence in the controls part. The other parts we mixed completly into one section, wich was a big mistake I guess.

Agua
Honored Guest
...

Seradin
Protege
There are so many great submissions that didn't make the cut 😕 i wish that they could have increased the number that went on to finals. I hope that you don't give up because of this and that you finish up that game and put it on your store! I know i'd buy it 🙂
Artist at Dual Reality Games working oncolbypwahl.com

MoleVR
Honored Guest
Agreed!

When I Knew our game wasn't in the finalist,I felt really sad.I eagerly wanted to know why,what's wrong,which parts of our game were not good,was it the controls,the game design,or just we hadn't put these headlines in our description?
I want to have some respond from the judges,and hope that will direct me in VR game developing in the future.

The I carefully reviewed all the games in the finalist,I felt been totally cheated.Frankly,every game in the finalist has its own features.But there're few games,I can not understand why they could make the cut.Like the Blind Swordsman,with no images at all,just total black!And you can not move at all!I know that it used the Oculus Audio SDK to track the source of sound,then What?Abandon all the display function of Gear VR?Do you really think this is a good idea to increase players' sense of immersive?

This jam,I consider,should be a guide to developers,to share the great ideas of VR,to find the promising field of VR,to figure out what are the best ways to make VR contents.It shouldn't be judged in such a fairness way!

tlkall
Honored Guest
There was nothing wrong with blind swordsman.. It was the only game made for the visually impaired.

The silly one was Crime Watch. You can get into the finalist having a great but non-working innovation as mentioned by the description. But I'd have to admit it has amazing graphics and a probably interesting story line.

Red riding seems the most polished game my money is on that one being a winner.

"nilstastic" wrote:
So, save up you dollars kids. Because this fall there will be a jumping game in the store, and it will be AWESOME.


I'm going to make game free.

Jose
Heroic Explorer
My entry wasn't accepted into the finals because it emanates dangerously high levels of innovation, and the Jam Masters feel threatened by it.

Just kidding.

It's because it's literally a bunch of cubes with the default Unity skybox and 2 3D text objects. It would be a crime against humanity if my entry made it to the finals.

I think I spent less than 3 hours on it, most of it was troubleshooting a few hours before the deadline.

My minimum goal was to make it past milestone 4. Which I did. So in my own mind, I'm a winner! 😄

Time to celebrate! *wears VR Jam 2013 t-shirt like a hat*

spinaljack
Protege
"nilstastic" wrote:

So, save up you dollars kids. Because this fall there will be a jumping game in the store, and it will be AWESOME.

// nils


Hah, this FALL, classic XD

I can just see all the youtube videos of kids smashing things in VR like they did with the wii mote controllers.

I felt for sure this time you would get through.

creat326
Protege
Yep, the criteria on the email was "scoring them based on promise and innovation" and 20% entries making the cut!

During the past week I've downloaded, played, commented and voted around 100 different contestants.
Several other games I've tested that are wayyy better than some in that list. And I don't mean a slight improvement/matter of taste/opinion. I mean pretty cool games that I clearly know those guys put their time and heart out to achieve in 30 days.

That, just does not feel right. And then add to it that the judges do not even play the game, so it is all based on the description and videos! What can be worse selection criteria than that on a Jam where you are trying your best to get a working version by the deadline?

So yeah, first time I feel unmotivated and sadden after a jam and I see no way to get the funds to continue development on my case. Just very disappointed at the whole experience after 30 days busting our behind doing work non-stop.
Dogfight Elite now available for Oculus https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3881629141886138/