The Deep Blue Contest!

[Jiffy]

Hello Metconst! It's time for the first hacking contest of 2019. Introducing...

Deep Blue Contest!

"Pirates are red,
Levels are blue
Play my hack,
and Escape Too!"



This contest is about utilising blue, without including the typical ice or phazon. This means you're going to have to get creative with what you put in your hack. This can be the colour blue, or anything involving blue. For example, it could be the IBM supercomputer that was the first to beat Kasparov at chess, or it could be to do with the deep blue sea. Your imagination has no limits.

However, the rules have limits. The rules are:

• The hack must be beatable, from START to FINISH. The start must be from starting the game from new game (looking at you, Mentlegen) and finish through the ending sequence and credits.
• The hack must have a minimum of 10 rooms and a maximum of 30 rooms. This time we want quality, not quantity.
• Utility rooms (save, recharge, map) and other rooms (boss rooms, elevator rooms and others) do not count towards these totals. (However that doesn't mean you can just cram refills in every room!)
• Hacks of any game are allowed, however fangames are not allowed.

Your hack will be judged by the POST HACK committee this time, and there will also be a public vote held. The hacks will gain points from the following:

• Quality of Blue - 10 points - How well is the idea of Blue utilised? How much Blue is there?
• Gameplay - 10 points - Does the hack play well and is it entirely bug-free? I hope so.
• Aesthetics - 10 points - Does the hack look good? Has it used good tilesets?
• Public Voting - 1 vote counts for 1 point. Make sure your hack is good for the players!

You have until April 1st to submit your hack (March 31st is the last day of submissions before closing.)

Go go go!

Update: The hacks have now been posted. You can discuss any of the hacks in this thread. This current thread will be reserved for committee votes and final announcements.
You can access the hacks here:

• Super Metroid: Bluestar by MetroidNerd#9001 (v1.1)
• Super Metroid Exertion by Mentlegen (v1.1)
• No Safe Harbour by Moehr
• So Little Piracy by Mccad00 and MetroidMst
• Metroid: The Blue Plague by nodever2

[MetroidNerd#9001]

I present, Super Metroid: Bluestar! The Space Pirates have gone on a frenzy, painting entire worlds blue. After Samus' planet was attacked, and she was scarred by the power of their blue, Samus ventures to Zebes to rid the galaxy of the scourge of the Space Pirates and their evil leader, Blaid. This hack serves as a demo for my current project, which I hope to release sometime this year.

Screenshots:
[spoiler] [/spoiler]

With thanks to everyone on the MetConst Discord who helped me with the palettes, especially Mentlegen for the suit palette, and Smiley for an enemy vulnerability hex-tweak. Also credit to squishy_ichigo's End Game BTS, his timer change hex-tweak, and Scyzer's Item Percentage Fix.

[Mentlegen]

SUPER METROID EXERTION


The Space Pirates, lead by Phantoon, have stolen lithium technology from a group of ill fated researchers and have begun to conduct research on the minor planet Titanion. Samus must put an end to their progress by destroying the entire planet and all research on it, and also recover the stolen prototype enhancements to her suit.

Samus, be careful! The space pirates have installed a series of security gates and deadly lithium force fields to prevent bounty hunters like you from foiling their plans!
Samus, beware of the space pirates' super-heated labs!



A whole new blue experience awaits you with Super Metroid Exertion
Featuring:
Custom music
Two Entirely New Suits
And a whole lot of blue
plus several other minor gameplay enhancements
_{There is also an Escape Two joke lmao}

Bug fixes (1.1):
Fixed permastucks regarding PB blocks.
Fixed permastucks involving an elevator door without an elevator
NOTE: COLLECTING GRAVITY SUIT WILL CRASH SNES CLASSIC MINI
Bug fixes (1.2):
Nerfed Black Space Pirate health. They now die in two hits.
Fixed a few tiling errors
fixed a few state changes
tuned down a fog elevator palette
several escape sequence tweaks
FEATURE
All suits now have their own palette on the pause screen when active

Samus, Do you accept this mission?

[Moehr]

Contest entry: No Safe Harbor

Screenshots:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

In between missions, Samus encounters a Pirate team who have raided a Federation freighter. She intercepts the vessel and damages it enough to make it attempt a landing on Karybdas, a nearby water-world.

Are you lost?
[spoiler]Get off the freighter with any amount of items.
[spoiler]You will need to either clear all enemies in Command 01, or defeat the possessed Pipe within Aft Hold 18 first; either will permit you to take off from the Freighter upon re-entering your ship.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

Item Percentage is 100% unless I done goofed. How to get it:
[spoiler]You start with a battery, grapple beam and screw attack. There are 5 more batteries, 7 energy tanks, 10 Azure Lance Ammo cannisters, and 9 Fuel Cells, as well as Speed Booster, High Jump Boots and Charge Beam. Note - you get credit for Azure Lance ammo found as well as ammo not fired, 1% each. Fuel Cells only earn credit upon being placed on one of the Freighter's weak points.[/spoiler]

Can I save the animals?
[spoiler]unless I done goofed, yes. Once you get the fuel cells, you can return to the brig to release your Etecoon ally.[/spoiler]

What about the damned water?
[spoiler]Shoot the pumps to temporarily lower the level. It will start rising again eventually!
[spoiler]Each time you shoot a pump, the water level will rise faster once the pumps fail again.
[spoiler]This means eventually you are doomed.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

Can I save?
[spoiler]Pretty sure once you regain access to the ship all should be well.
[spoiler]But saving also saves the current speed and level of the flooding too ;D[/spoiler][/spoiler]

Why do my weapons suck?
[spoiler]Batteries increase range of the grapple beam. Additionally, the reserves you store in them are expended to increase beam firepower temporarily.
[spoiler]Also, once you get charge beam, an extended charge will fire a wave-beam style X-factor SBA, at a slight premium over the normal battery damage boost cost in reserve energy.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

Good luck! Once you get the hang of it, it should take less than 30 minutes. It is beatable in under 15, game time.

[mccad]

SO LITTLE PIRACY



SPACE BILLY MAYES HERE, WITH THE TOP ROMHACK OF THE CENTURY! INTRODUCING SO LITTLE PIRACY! THE ONLY HACK WHERE YOU CAN FIND THE KEY TO SUCCESS AND GET RICH QUICK! NO DOWN-PAYMENTS, NO HIDDEN FEES, AND ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED!
1 OUT OF 14 DENTISTS RECOMMEND!

"I tried so little piracy, and it fixed my irritable bowel syndrome within minutes! Now I just puke instead!" - MetroidMST


10/10 - IGN "This hack made me $800,000 in only one review"                                            9/10 - Gamespot "Easily the most impressive hack of all time. A little bit too blue.                                            31/32 - Kotaku "At least it's better than our website"
Credits:
Mccad00      - ASM, graphics, music, and level design
MetroidMST  - Level design and bosses
Mentlegen    - Music
Amoeba       - Being a SMART guy

[nodever2]

METROID: THE BLUE PLAGUE

By Nodever2

Explore an asteroid on a crash course with Earth, and find a way to destroy it.
This asteroid has a dark past, however, and you will soon find that you are not alone... can you survive on it long enough to find its weak point and save our precious blue planet?

"Samus! We need you to take that asteroid out, no matter the cost. I've been informed that some nasty biological experiments were being held there, and some of the creatures on that planet have been infected with some of the leftover bioweapon... The only area we have intel on is the laboratory. It's map data been loaded into your system already. Find the reactor room, destroy it, and get the hell out of there. Good luck... And don't get infected, okay?"

[spoiler=CREDITS]CREDITS - PATCHES:
Door Cap Speedups from Project Base by Begrimed
Yellow Gate Fix by JAM
20 Tilesets Repoint by DSO
GBA Styled CRE by Crys
Chain Blocks by Black Falcon
Erodia Tileset by Cloud15
Blackout Speedups by Kazuto
Morph Lock by Cardweaver, Squishy, and InsomniaDx
Flexglow by Black Falcon
Map Fix by Scyzer
Map Patch by DC
Samus Graphics Redesign by Physix
PB Reveal Tiles by Black Falcon
Respin by Scyzer and Kejardon
Missile Station Enhancer by MoogleEmperor
Messenger PLM by JAM
Draygon Escape Timer by FullOfFail, Jathys, Mon732, Scyzer, and PJBoy
Expanded Title by PHOSPHODiTYL
Escape Timer Main ASM by PHOSPHODiTYL
Techno Tileset from Black Falcon's Random GFX Collection
Endingtotals by Scyzer

CREDITS - TOOLS:
HxD by Maël Hörz
jSM by Ostehovel
Lunar Address by FuSoYa's Niche
Lunar IPS by FuSoYa's Niche
Projectiler by Black Flacon
SMILE by Jathys
SMILE RF by Scyzer
SnesGFX by Vitor Vilela
Tile Molester by SnowBro
Tile Layer Pro by SnowBro
Xkas GUI by Noobish Noobsicle
Xkas by byuu[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Item Totals]Max item percent should be ~112%
More detailed info coming soon[/spoiler]

As always, any feedback is much appreciated! I hope you all enjoy  :^_^:

[spoiler=Post Edit History, for clarity]4-1-2019 @ 12:11 AM EST: Updated the credits section for clarity on BF's Random GFX collection that was used[/spoiler]

[Jordan5]

All SM hacks? Are we all finally realising the superiority of 16 bits? :nod:

There have been a lot of detailed reviews already so I will keep my thoughts brief. It's worth noting that I didn't finish No Safe Harbour, so apologies if anything sounds a little harsh, but the experience wasn't for me (watching is still fun though).

[spoiler=Bluestar]
- Why all the grey doors behind you?
- Super linear
- Hardest enemy was the giant sidehopper (randomly placed)
- Did you run out of time?
+ Good room design
+ Lots of blue
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Exertion]
- Started off like a half hack
- Plenty of rooms were near identical to original
- Couple permastucks
- Map is pretty janky
+ Got a lot better a few areas in
+ Gate system is always nice
+ Excellent attention to detail when it comes to blue stuff
+ Very good size
+ Lots of fun
+ Nice music
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=No Safe Harbour]
- Minimal explanation
- Corrupted tiles everywhere?
- Only a single music track
+ Very interesting concept
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=The Blue Plague]
+ Excellent Earth BG
+ Fun Exploration (seemed kinda non linear, at least in places)
+ Decent Size
+ Good escape
- Tiling could use some work
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=So Little Privacy]
+ Great Blue-ness
+ Interesting Story
+ Good size with plenty of backtracking and secrets
+ Some good music (credits especially)
+ Altering the statue to work with keys was interesting (resprite was a little broken)
- Full damage spikes with no suits and 99 energy (really?)
- Wildly varying difficulties and punishments for some areas
- Only money counted as items in the end
[/spoiler]


And with that, the scores!

[spoiler=The Scores on the Doors]

Code Select Expand


Bluestar - MetroidNerd:
  Quality of Blue: 9/10
  Gameplay:        5/10
  Aesthetics:      7/10
  Total:           21/30

Exertion - Mentlegen:
  Quality of Blue: 9/10
  Gameplay:        9/10
  Aesthetics:      8/10
  Total:           26/30

No Safe Harbour - Moehr:
  Quality of Blue: 8/10
  Gameplay:        6/10
  Aesthetics:      3/10
  Total:           17/30

So Little Piracy - Mccad00 & Mst:
  Quality of Blue: 8/10
  Gameplay:        6/10
  Aesthetics:      8/10
  Total:           22/30

The Blue Plague - Nodever2:
  Quality of Blue: 8/10
  Gameplay:        9/10
  Aesthetics:      7/10
  Total:           24/30


[/spoiler]

[OneOf99]

Super Metroid: Bluestar
[spoiler]-Quality of Blue: 9/10
   Very very blue. The blue in this hack is impossible to miss. What more is there to be said?
-Gameplay: 7/10
   It was alright but nothing to write home about. The hack is extremely linear with very few side paths. This is clearly by design, but since there are no save rooms it seems the difficulty had to be lessened which means there is not much excitement. Good idea, mediocre execution. Not bad by any means though.
-Aesthetics: 7/10
   It's the standard tilesets with a blue coloring. They look nice for their color but other than that nothing exceptional.[/spoiler]

Super Metroid: Exertion
[spoiler]-Quality of Blue: 8/10
   The beginning parts of the game were quite blue, but the final area had a significantly smaller amount of blue in it.
-Gameplay: 9/10
   The physics changes were very well used, especially for the speedbooster puzzles. The world design could have been less backtracky but that problem is minute when you examine the room designs and tileset use. Also what was up with charge beam appearing in two rooms and in one of them I picked it up twice?
-Aesthetics: 8/10
   A very nice blend of custom and default tilesets that have been recolored. I did not like the palette of the pink brinstar tileset.[/spoiler]

No Safe Harbour:
[spoiler]-Quality of Blue: 9/10
   Man was this hack blue. Blue ship, blue water, blue enemies... and the azure lance was the pinnacle of blue.
-Gameplay: 5/10
   The physics were unchanged, which is a big change for the theme of the hack. The goal of the hack should have been explained either in a txt file or somewhere more clear, the first half of this hack was spent running around confused.
-Aesthetics: 6/10
   The tilesets had potential, but the backgrounds of the rooms were often messed up and/or didn't fit.[/spoiler]

So Little Piracy:
[spoiler]-Quality of Blue: 10/10
   The feeling of blue was so blue that I couldn't see anything but blue for the rest of the day after playing the hack.
-Gameplay: 6/10
   This score is essentially divided. If we are to discuss the right half of the hack, I give this a 5/5. If we are to talk about the left side, then a 1/5 is in store. The level design was atrocious in that area and crocomire's death was the only saving grace.
-Aesthetics: 10/10
   These aesthetics were amazing, mccad the mcchad pulls through once again.[/spoiler]
   
Metroid: The Blue Plague:
[spoiler]-Quality of Blue: 10/10
   The blue crystals thrown about and the relevance of the asteroid to the story really helped solidify the "blueness" of this hack.
-Gameplay: 9/10
   The world was exciting to explore, and the difference in structure of the caverns and factory was astounding. This hack was enjoyable all the way through and I found frustration in no parts.
-Aesthetics: 9/10
   I absolutely loved the tilesets, I know the hack author did not make them but their use was well done and appropriate. The planet in the distance getting closer was also a cool feature for when you progressed through the game.[/spoiler]

Scores:
[spoiler]
Bluestar: 23/30
Exertion: 25/30
No Safe Harbour: 20/30
So Little Piracy: 26/30
The Blue Plague: 28/30
[/spoiler]

[Jiffy]

Due to committee complications, I am substituting myself in as a judge. Sorry for the long delay! The results will be out soon

[spoiler=Bluestar]
Quality of Blue: 8/10
There is a lot of blue in this hack So much that my eyes bled a blue liquid for a couple of days after. I liked how most tilesets worked with Nerd's saturated blue twist, even when I thought it wouldn't from the images. Individual tiles, suit and enemies are also a good variety of blues.
Gameplay: 6/10
A little too straightforward for my liking. There was little to do, other than go from point A to point B on the map, killing a boss. There was very little deviation off the main route (if at all), but the rooms on the main route were fun to traverse. I didn't experience any bugs either, so this brings up the rating slightly.
Aesthetics: 8/10
Nerd has nailed his tiling here. I was very impressed with Nerd's use of some difficult tilesets. The rooms are compacted quite nicely, and some of his rooms have wacky effects, such as layering and glows. Overall pretty good.
Total: 22/30
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Exertion]
Quality of Blue: 7/10
Mentle's amount of blue was a lot more subtle than the other entries. Since not everything was blue, there was an odd mix between heavy saturated blue and washed-down non-blue. However, Mentle seemed to forget that blue was important later on in the hack. His hack would've been better if he carried on touching things up with blue.
Gameplay: 7/10
I loved jumping around with the extra quality of life patches Mentle supplied, as well as custom suits. However, there were a few issues with bugs and careless mistakes, but at least the hack worked this time!
Aesthetics: 7/10
Mentle has presented his rooms well, but they felt strange with some of the palettes. The rooms were laid out well, and enemies compensated the levels. Good work.
Total: 21/30
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=No Safe Harbour]
Quality of Blue: 9/10
Moehr puts a very unique spin on the theme! A sinking ship gave an objective to the hack, and Moehr left quite an impact when I played, even if things were confusing. There is a lot of blue in this hack, but not extreme ship-sinking levels.
Gameplay: 6/10
I had fun shooting pumps to lower the water. There was an alarming sense of danger as the clock ticked down. Not that I knew what it meant, at first. A lot of this hack is spent underwater, and this interrupts the flow (no pun intended) slightly, although underwater hacks may be to some people's tastes. Like other people, I was also charging around with little idea on where to go. Didn't find any game-breaking bugs, though.
Aesthetics: 5/10
Moehr's tiling is... unique. I was certain that his palettes were okay, however the combination of tiling and backgrounds made me rather disoriented at times. Some tiles are also messed up., Hopefully Moehr can use this as an opportunity to focus on making things easier on the eyes of a player.
Total: 20/30
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=So Little Piracy]
Quality of Blue: 7/10
mccad and Mst have displayed a good mix of blue and non-blue in Piracy. However, I cannot confirm I got rich quick, as the coin system was not properly utilised - it was only a pretty number on the HUD and didn't contribute to anything.
Gameplay: 6/10
mccad and Mst managed to create rooms that flowed pretty well. However, some of these rooms were not very forgiving in terms of difficulty. (You know which room I mean in particular...) Breaking the hack into two main sections felt a little discontinuous, but not too worrying. Spikes hurt. No bugs found.
Aesthetics: 8/10
mccad has drawn some brilliant tiles, and both of the hackers have used them well. Some neat effects were used to show further blue'ing, such as flashing seizures and transparency. A solid effort on their behalf.
Total: 21/30
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=The Blue Plague]
Quality of Blue: 7/10
The theme was approached using biological weapons, and Nodever has executed this well by introducing more powerful "blue" enemies. The theme continues from beginning to end, with the biological weapons to the unstable bomb, however there is little development in-between.
Gameplay: 9/10
I felt a strange satisfaction while playing this hack. The hack flowed perfectly; each room was designed with thought, and "blue" enemies were made clear right from the start. Using chain blocks is also a plus for some of the puzzles.
Aesthetics: 6/10
Some of the rooms are standard Crateria tiles, and some of the CRE-looking tiles don't seem to fit with their current structure. However, Nodever has used Black Falcon's spaceship tiles in the final area, which looks and feels a lot better than previous work. I assume this hack has been a fun learning experience for Nodever, as well as a generally good hack.
Total: 22/30
[/spoiler]

[Jiffy]

The results are in! Here are the scores repeated again, so that you can see where points are awarded.



[spoiler=The Scores On The Floorboards]Super Metroid: Bluestar by MetroidNerd#9001

Jordan5 Score: 21/30
OneOf99 Score: 23/30
Jiffy Score: 22/30
Total Judging Score: 66/90

Public Voting Bonus: 1
Total: 67



Super Metroid Exertion by Mentlegen

Jordan5 Score: 26/30
OneOf99 Score: 25/30
Jiffy Score: 21/30
Total Judging Score: 72/90

Public Voting Bonus: 6
Total: 78



No Safe Harbour by Moehr

Jordan5 Score: 17/30
OneOf99 Score: 20/30
Jiffy Score: 20/30
Total Judging Score: 57/90

Public Voting Bonus: 6
Total: 63



So Little Piracy by MetroidMst & mccad00

Jordan5 Score: 22/30
OneOf99 Score: 26/30
Jiffy Score: 21/30
Total Judging Score: 69/90

Public Voting Bonus: 2
Total: 71



The Blue Plague by Nodever2

Jordan5 Score: 24/30
OneOf99 Score: 28/30
Jiffy Score: 22/30
Total Judging Score: 74/90

Public Voting Bonus: 5
Total: 79[/spoiler]



This means...

First place goes to Nodever2, The Blue Plague, with 79 points!
Second place goes to Mentlegen, Super Metroid Exertion, with 78 points!
Third place goes to MetroidMst and mccad00, So Little Piracy, with 71 points!

Runners up are MetroidNerd#9001, Bluestar, with 67 points, and Moehr, No Safe Harbour, with 63 points!



Congratulations to all contestants. This was a VERY close contest, and I was very worried there would be a draw and I'd have to drag this out further.
Thank you for your cooperation! I'm very glad this contest worked, and we received 5 solid entries. The scores are all very close, and they are pretty high, so you should all be very proud of yourselves.

See you next mission!  :^_^: