One Week Hack (Phase 3)

[zephyrtronium]

After over fourteen months without a new contest, the time now has come.

The One Week Hack Contest
In case the name doesn't make it obvious, this contest challenges participants to create an original minihack in one week. The idea is to get something playable and "done," not something perfect.

This contest will be divided into three phases, each lasting one week:
Phase 1: Theme Voting
To help prevent cheating, ten themes have been chosen. Each entry must in some way relate to each of the top three themes, as determined by voting. Each user may vote three times.

Phase 2: Creation and Entries
The themes are Puzzle, Escape, and Ascent! Entries may be submitted as they are completed, but will not be accepted if submitted too late. Submission posts should follow this format (all BBCode tags preserved):

Code Select Expand


[game tag, e.g. SM] Hack Title
Short description
[spoiler]
Long description, perhaps giving some storyline, or maybe explaining your inspiration for the hack. This may be omitted.
Themes:
[list]
[*]Theme 1 - Explain in what way your hack pertains to the theme.
[*]Theme 2 - Explain in what way your hack pertains to the theme.
[*]Theme 3 - Explain in what way your hack pertains to the theme.
[/list]
Credits:
[list]
[*]List all those whose resources you have used, or who helped out in some way, etc. Make sure to credit yourself.
[/list]
[/spoiler]
If there are any special instructions for playing your hack, such as a particular type of file to which the patch should be applied (headered or unheadered for SM; same idea for others), explain them here.

Make sure to attach an IPS patch to the post.

Phase 3: Judging
All eligible entries will be evaluated by the judges based upon creativity, playability, aesthetics, and adherence to themes. After one week, the winners will be announced. Prizes are TBD.


Additional rules:

• The thread will not be updated until after the theme voting results are made available (7 days or 168 hours or 10080 minutes or 604800 seconds after the time of this post); work may begin as soon as the poll is closed.
  
• Should there be a tie between more than three of the themes, any combination of the winners may be used. Make sure to list which ones you selected in your description.
  
• Publicly available resources may be used no matter when they were created, but the judges reserve the right to disqualify particular resources. (Basically, you can't start your hack now and release it publicly five minutes before voting closes and claim it's a public resource.)
  
• Any submission which does not properly accredit at least all direct contributions may be disqualified immediately.
  
• Try to have direct relations to the themes. Indirect things like "relates to descent and therefore relates to ascent in that descent is the opposite of ascent" are technically legal, but may lose some points.
  

[Quietus]

Are we here to discuss our choices, or simply to submit? (If the latter, then feel free to remove this, and make it clear in the OP!) :^_^:

[zephyrtronium]

Feel free to discuss anything related to the contest. I might even accept suggestions for more themes if any particularly good ones are mentioned. (If so, people would be allowed to change their votes.)

[Blarget2]

Contrast should be added. like something happy to sad. light to dark. calm to creepy.... or vice versa.

[FullOfFail]

Deep [Within] the belly of the beast, you may find [Puzzles] and [Alternative] routes.

[Lunaria]

Several of these themes are very lousy ("One" what is that even supposed to mean? Lack of context very much.) if you ask me, but whatever, I am game. I'll make something stupid and silly just for the sake of, as long as we don't start the actual hacking until after Yule.

[Qactis]

One beam, one secondary powerup, one climate, one enemy type, one boss, one mission. One is [one of] the hack categories I'd like to see someone try actually. That, Within, and Magnitude

[MetroidMst]

Magnitude was one of the ones I voted for, because it'd fit the other two categories I picked well.

[Charmander106]

These are my votes:

[spoiler]Escape, Dreams, and Puzzles.[/spoiler]

I thought that these three were the most interesting to see in this contest.

[personitis]

Ocean, Ascent, Magnitude.

I picked what sounded good in my ear, not worrying about any ideas or themes I have between all of them. I'd rather not have any idea of my hack until the actual categories are selected and the hacking begins.

[herald83]

Within, Ascent, Alternatives.

This sounds like fun!  Hopefully I'll have enough time to work on something, but I'm definitely looking forward to what comes out of this!

[zephyrtronium]

Several of these themes are very lousy ("One" what is that even supposed to mean? Lack of context very much.) if you ask me, but whatever, I am game. I'll make something stupid and silly just for the sake of, as long as we don't start the actual hacking until after Yule.

The themes are intended to be vague and open to many interpretations. The point is for each hacker to create something unique. And hacking begins as soon as the poll closes, which is about two days from now. (Yeah, I really picked a bad time to start it, and I probably should have made voting shorter, too, but oh well.)

[Quietus]

Ocean, ascent, and puzzle for me.

Ocean because I'd love to see it done well.  We often see water areas in hacks, but I don't recall an entire hack with a watery theme.
Ascent because it sounded like the difficulty should progress with the hack.
Puzzle because of, um, puzzles. :O_o:

[MetroidMst]

No one seems to have thought up the same things I did... This is disconcerting.

[FullOfFail]

Ocean because I'd love to see it done well. We often see water areas in hacks, but I don't recall an entire hack with a watery theme.

I could work with a oceanic setting.

I have a few concepts that I could dive into.
But I'll keep them to myself, I don't want to go in depth.

[Quietus]

I don't want to go in depth.

Wouldn't that be kinda the point? :heheh:

[Qactis]

I don't want to go in depth.

Wouldn't that be kinda the point? :heheh:

I have a few concepts that I could dive into.

:p

[zephyrtronium]

I'm a dick so I added a new requirement six hours before voting closes. :huzzah:

[MetroidMst]

I can't imagine that really affects anyone too much Zeph.

[zephyrtronium]

It was just something to throw people off a bit.

Also:

Code Select Expand

<squishy_ichigo> what exactly does 'custom graphics' mean zephyrtronium?
<squishy_ichigo> and what about palettes?
<zephyrtronium> palettes are not graphics
<StreamingHackzer> does that including building new tiles out of already existing GFX?
<zephyrtronium> tile tables are not graphics
<HackingXVIII> So basically
<HackingXVIII> Do not click Graphics > Import
<zephyrtronium> i guess
<zephyrtronium> though this is not strictly an sm contest


Also, starts in ten minutes.

[zephyrtronium]

Screw it, this extra rule is more trouble than it's worth. Consider it revoked, but with bonus points for anyone who still uses vanilla gfx.

[Charmander106]

Could you combine more than 3 themes in your hack or would that be breaking the rules. :/

[Zhs2]

EDIT: I realize that my reply wasn't helpful at all. You could, but they wouldn't count.

[MetroidMst]

[SM] So Little Time

There isn't much time to make a hack in a week, hence the name. There were to be some other things added but just didn't make the deadline. The hack itself is a maze. If you have played Blitz, you will understand. Rooms are not connected to the room you think they should be. There are tough bosses you might run into on accident, though you have to defeat them all eventually. (SEIZURE WARNING FOR LAST SECTION)

[spoiler=Stuffs]The fun part. Basically, Samus is on a training mission. Thrown into the great unknown and her goal is to escape the clutches of the mind altering Bubble Realm. To do this requires skill, and finding hidden items to advance. But can she remember how to get back to earlier rooms? Then on top of that, there are four main sections she must navigate. Either she defeats the menacing Bubble Realm, or she becomes a Bubble Realm Relic.
Inspiration was pretty normal. Two of the themes fit right in at the start, and the third one has a definition that also fits very well. Another thing is, I love bubbles. So I made everything out of bubbles. In different colors. Plus, I wanted to expand what Blitz had done. I thought that was a cool hack and I went with the idea of a maze of rooms, and then took it further. This is not an easy hack. You will get lost. Items are hidden pretty well. %100 should be the maximum, but getting that would be an amazing feat. So yeah, bubbles, maze, a week, my ideas, kind of difficult. Those would describe the hack pretty well.

THEMES:

• PUZZLE: This is easy. The game is a maze. Finding the combination to get you to the next section is a puzzle in itself. Then when you get there... Do you have the required items to pass?
• ESCAPE: You will want to escape this Bubble Realm. This will be reinforced when you get to seizure-land. Some of the bosses may cause you to want to escape their lairs too.
• ASCENT: This was harder for me at first, but there is one definition that fits in well. "A movement or return toward a source or beginning." With that definition this was infinitely easier. This fits because you will in all likelihood make many movements, or returns toward the "beginning," or a room you have previously visited.

CREDITS

• Those who contributed towards the HEX Tweaks page on the main site. I made a number of adjustments that wouldn't have been possible without you guys. And Scyzer for her ending totals ASM which hopefully allows the3 player to truly collect %100 if they so desire. Especially Grime, ProjectXVIII, and the others who put up with my banter in IRC, and for encouraging me to make this hack better than their hacks could ever be. :P
• Myself, since you told me to credit myself.

[/spoiler]
UNHEADERED.

EDIT: Would help if I supplied the patch wouldn't it?

[begrimed]

[SM] Rise
Work your way up to the end of the game and find any items you can to help you along the way. Somewhat non-linear item order, with noob to pro-level players considered. This is a contest version of the hack, meaning later on I will release a much more polished version of Rise that includes areas past Maridia (going in reverse order). Spore Spawn won't be the final boss for the full version, and the general difficulty will be notched down a good bit.
[spoiler]
Walljumping and mid-air morphing are NOT required to finish this hack. None of the advanced techniques are - but they'll certainly help you beat the game faster.  Frozen enemies as platforms is a large element in this hack, and I tweaked the vulnerabilities to keep you from accidentally killing them and having to re-enter the room. However, most enemies are weak to bombs, so if you need to kill something for a bit of health in a pinch, the option is always there. Enemies do low damage, BUT, I was unable to find some of the damage values for Ridley, Botwoon and Crocomire, so BE CAREFUL when you fight those bosses. Use a savestate if you need to. This will be fixed in the full release. The hell run and gravity suitless underwater shaft climbs are optional ventures for more experienced players.
Themes:

• Ascent - progression is handled almost entirely through vertical climbs or descent.
  
• Escape - I haven't fully implemented this aspect yet (namely an actual escape/timer sequence), but flying enemies chasing you will be a recurring theme later on. In the first room, there is a metroid pursuing you through most of the trip upward.
  
• Puzzle - kinda goes without saying, but sometimes you have to do a bit of thinking to keep working your way upward, or find the item(s) needed.
  

Credits:
The usual suspects. Black Falcon for his chain block PLM, Sadiztyk fish for quick item pick-up and pose table ASM (Kejardon as well), DSO, DChronos, squishy_ichigo for teaching me stuff over time that went into this hack, Jathys for making SMILE, and you for playing it.
[/spoiler]
UNHEADERED
This version 0.01 is the 'contest version' and will be obsoleted when the full game is finished later on, so don't please redistribute this patch outside of this forum or IRC for right now.

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