Twas the night before Halloween, and four gnarly friends are spending the night together. The power goes out and the full moon shines brightly. Jock Bro stands by the window, illuminated by the light of the full moon. He begins to sparkle... sprouts hair... gets down on all fours... and lets out a blood-curdling howl! It’s the attack of the Weredude! Hyped up on sugars, the remaining hipsters spread out, attempting to build fires to burn the monster, before the Weredude gets them.

I really wanted to enjoy this game, the artwork is absolutely supburb, and the atmosphere is great, given that the topic is darkness, scoring a 4 for both categories. Unfortunately, the game came out of the oven half baked due to time constraints. The music did a nice job adding to the atmosphere in the game, and there is one sound effect I was able to find, rewarding a 3 for music and sound effects. The interface is minimalist, but I did have some functional issue with character selection, namely for late joiners, and the selector box can be drifted right off-screen while on the delivery gal, justifying 3 points.

The hub page does a nice job with its images and descriptions, but is missing hosting files (scheduled to be released at some point in the future), bringing the hub page to a 2.

Stability is questionable, as I ran into a series of runtime errors, and it wasn’t clear if the runtime errors were responsible for the lack of functionality, or if the functionality simply wasn’t in the game (such as players not being able to attack one another), reducing the stability score to 2 points. As aforementioned, no skills are in the game, and that means that players are unable to beat the game, but can explore the large map. Beyond the exploration, there is no purpose in playing again, gaining 1 point for replayability.

For completing his first Game in a Day entry, and showing interest in the continued development of his project, Flame Guardian has earned 1 BYOND Spirit point!

In total, Beware of the WEREDUDE! by Flame Guardian has scored 20 of 37 possible points!

This is a story about a hero, a saviour really, a British saviour. His quest was simple, to save the princess from certain death by the hands of the evil villain who locked her away. His training was strenuous, working out for twelve hours a day, and working in for the other twelve. His adventures would take him though the deepest valleys, and to the top of the highest mountains. He would avoid treacherous obstacles, jump to obscene heights, and do death-defying flips to reach the fair maiden. When he finally arrives, he would heroically press the big red button to open the gates and become her saviour... or not...

Well, that was an unfortunate mistake for our incompetent hero, which was the topic used by Manio to develop Saviour Or Not’s story, the game earned 3 points for theme usage. The artwork is consistent across the board, but lacks a death animation and the turfs are dense beyond their visible boarders, scoring 3 points for consistent artwork.

The instructions provide the information needed to play, but have a small glaring typo on the last word, and leave some room for improvement, bringing the score for informative instructions to a 3. The interface is minimalist, but doesn’t resize as may be expected given the ability to, and the right click verb is a deterrent, scoring 3 points. The game is mostly stable, as he explained in the instructions, measures were taken to prevent runtime errors during death. However, some runtimes still slip though, reducing the category to a 3.

The hub page contains pictures and descriptions, but is lacking hosting files, earning the game 2 points. A captivating tune is played throughout the game, but does not provide any variety or sound effects, scoring a 1. Given some of the issues presented above, along with difficulties in character control, brings in 1 point for enjoyable gameplay, and there is no advantage to playing the game more than once, netting 1 point in replayabilities name.

Manio persevered though the difficulties of making a game in a day, and managed to make his first submission, despite any production problems, scoring him 1 BYOND Spirit point!

Sum those scores together, and Saviour Or Not by Manio has a total of 21 points out of 37!

The everlasting battle between darkness and light continues in Overcome by Fat Albert. Magical orbs have been left behind by the mages of ancient battles, and after laying dormant for centuries, they have taken on their own magically liveliness, imbued by the alignment of their fallen operators. Using the power remaining inside of the orbs, the entities will summon minions to due their bidding, taking over ten sites guarded by golems, growing larger and more powerful by each successful battle, overcoming prior defeats to go down in the history books of the endless war.

Lets begin with the good: The hub page scored a 4 for having all of the necessary elements of a successful and informative hub page, including a great trailer! The artwork also scored a 4 for being consistent and well done. From what I could enjoy, the game has plenty of content to help keep players occupied, and I found what I could play to be enjoyable, but due to reasons I will expand on further down reduced the gameplay score to a 3. The interface does its job, but I ran into a few issues with text not appearing, menus distorting the screen, and then disappearing unexpectedly, earning 3 points for Intuitive interface. The game provides excellent music and sound effects, but a lack of variety in music scores 3 points in that category. The story-line is inspired by the theme Darkness, and is awarded 3 points for that usage.

Now for the bad: Instructions scored a 2. Instructions are given at the beginning of the game say what keys to use for movement, and what the goal of the game is. However, I found that after I had used all of my points, I wasn’t able to figure out how to get more, allowing me to only capture a maximum of three areas before getting stuck with no more units. This lack of information led to the game being difficult to play, and impossible to beat. To make matters worse, many times I couldn’t ever progress this far as the game appears to suffer from run away memory usage that first crashes Dream Seeker, and locks up Dream Daemon. This brings structural stability to a 1, and because these technical issues occurred nearly every game I played, it also brings replayabaility to a 1.

For his noteworthy efforts and preparations for the GiaD contest, along with his determination to show off his work with a trailer, Fat Albert gained 1 point for BYOND Spirit!

These scored added together give Overcome by Fat Albert a 25 out of 37 score!

Jack O'Lanter, created by Bandock, depicts the adventures of Jack, a man who has found himself within the lands of Hallows Forest. Throughout his voyage though the two levels, he will encounter ghastly goblins and speedy skeletons. He’ll search high and low for golden coins throughout the levels to build his score, and the grand award for when the flagpole of the final level is reached? Well... Thank you Jack! Sorry, but our pumpkin is in another castle!

Lets begin with the Hub page, which contains screenshots, hosting files, and descriptions, all necessary ingredients to score a 4 in that category! Moving into the game itself, the player is first presented with an options menu, where informative instructions are presented, netting a 4. The interface works well, giving audio feedback and rapidly responsive. The game seems to run well, without glitches or runtime errors, earning a 4 for both the former and latter categories.

The gameplay itself is rather enjoyable and challenging, but unfortunately only lasts for a short while, as the game only has two rigid Mario-styled levels, scoring a 3. As such, the usage of the topic "Halloween" is limited to being a skin-over of traditional Mario-styled gameplay, earning a 2 in that category.

Realistic replayability scores a 1, given only very limited reasons to replay the game more than once. Sound usage also scores a 1, as while there was a variety of sound effects throughout the game, there was no music to accompany the game.

Bandock has successfully earned his single BYOND Spirit point for his participation in the Developer’s Chat and his pursuit for better resources for handling interface elements!

Add up all of these scores, and Jack O’Lanter has scored 28 points out of 37. Congratulation Bandock!

To the uninitiated, Four Color Escape by Flick may appear to simply be an unfinished game of Chinese Checkers, but to those who read the rules, they will find that the game actually depicts the daily challenge of navigation for a man who suffers from severe OCD, preventing him from stepping on any floor tile that isn’t of his own skin color. Luckily for him, he awakened in a disco joint, allowing the floor colors to be changed. There are plenty of left-behind pills that will alter his skin color, expanding where he can step. Help him get to the exit, collecting as much loose change as possible before the police arrive!

Lets take our first steps on the hub page, where potential players will find detailed screenshots, accurate and convincing descriptions, downloadable hosting files, and a 4 point hub page. The theme in use was clearly 4 color challenge, which was very nicely used as a catalyst and a key decision maker in developing gameplay, scoring another 4 points. The artwork, while simple and minimalist, was successfully consistent, and true to the theme, raising the score by 4 points.

The interface was simple, telling players their score, remaining time, and map clicks. The character options interface was nicely animated and responsive. These aspects score a 4 for intuitive interface. The instructions were nicely typed out in their own browser element, complete with formatting and images, and scored a 4 as well. The game runs extremely well, but does run into a non-invasive runtime error on startup, bringing structural stability to a 3. The game is fun for the first couple of run throughs, but loses its challenge rather quickly, bringing gameplay to a 3, and replayability to a 2. However, the game contains no sounds or music, and gains no points, as would be expected.

Flick successfully completed his first Game in a Day challenge after many years of failed attempts, was a great participant in the developers chat, and has been been rewarded 1 BYOND Spirit point for his efforts!

Congratulations to Flick and his Four Color Escape for earning 29 points of out 37!

Tomb raiders Log: Day 28: Today while traversing a previously explored section of Nekheramet's tomb, the floor caved out from under me, sending me spiraling into the black abyss of the pyramid. When I came to, I found myself in a strange position. Everything had a third dimension... what happened to the top down dungeon crawler I fell out of! I grabbed my torch and began exploring the catacombs. While I stumbled around, getting use to this new body, I discovered a golden Ankh, illuminating away the darkness. Now all I have to do is find my way out of here... Wait, what is that sound... WHAT IS THAT THING AHHHH!!!

Wow, where do I begin with D4RK3 54B3R’s Game in a Day entry, Entombed! It’s wasn’t but a few years ago that a game with rendering such as this would be deemed impossible or infeasible, let alone to be developed in one day! I suppose the logical place to start would be with the instructions, which clearly define how to move and control the angle of the camera, while progressing though the game explains what your goals are. Since these work together to answer any questions I had on how to play, 4 points are awarded. The gameplay is quite invigorating, and keeps me on the tips of my toes throughout the game, and gives me a thrill around every corner that I haven’t felt in a game since the first time I played Minecraft, which is good for D4RK3 54B3R, as his theme was horror survival. Ambient background noise and terrifying sound effects certainly played a major role in the atmosphere. All of these categories nail a 4. The interface served its purpose and full screen was certainly a plus, scoring a 4.

The hub page was well made and promotes the game using images, descriptions, and graphics, along with source files so players can alter the game and experiment with his 3D engine. All of this adds up to a 4 for the hub page.

Replayability was a hard choice for this game, given that the experience is reason enough to play multiple times by itself, however, once that wears off, the game does randomize the location of the Ankh and exit round to round, but the pyramid itself remains static, along with the locations of some enemies. Total these all together, and the game scores a 3 for realistic replayability. The artwork in Entombed is excellent, but falls short in the animation department, especially during movement, scoring 3 points.

The final category is Structural stability, were I unfortunately ran into some errors regarding division by 0 and one instance where I was able to walk though a wall and roam outside of the pyramid. While those glitches are extremely understandable in developing a game with this much math and trig going on, it does score stability 2 points.

D4RK3 54B3R was a great contestant during this year’s game in a Day challenge, pushing the limits of the BYOND engine, and doing it all on Twitch, then releasing his hard work for everyone to check out and use. This has earned him 1 BYOND spirit point!

In conclusion, Entombed by D4RK3 54B3R has scored 33 out of 37 points in all dimensions!

Ever wonder what it takes to become a crappy level 5 enemy in an RPG? It’s more complex than you might realize! Goblin Bootcamp gives you a taste of the final test (Preceded by the written test and the skills portion) goblins must pass in order to qualify as being monstrous enough to get into an RPG: a battle to the death with a clearly overpowered boss (Trolls, on the other hand, have a significantly less deadly test, hence their larger population) that can only be defeated though careful movement, steadfast evasion, and grave misfortune on the boss’s part. The bands of goblins that are capable of defeating all four bosses will be sent out into the real world, and given 3 gold pieces.

What does it take to make a "perfect" Game in a Day entry according to the rubric? Play Goblin Bootcamp and find out! Let's begin on the Hub page, which contains all of the ingredients to pull in players, descriptive descriptions, pretty pictures, blue-ribbon banners, host files and a trailer for the ADD generation, scoring a 4. Upon joining the game, players are presented with a title screen where they can view the instructions, which score a 4 for depicting the controls and goal of the game. The multiplayer game itself plays very rapidly and is fun for extended periods of time, and with players facing one another, constantly building their skills, creates an environment where each battle is unique and unpredictable, giving gameplay and replayability both a 4. The theme in play is useless hero, and clearly was used to develop the useless goblin hoard heroes, capturing a 4 for theme usage.

A wide variety of music and sound effects are integrated throughout the game, benefiting both responsiveness and strategy, thus earning a 4 for sound and music. The interface is minimalist, but is very responsive and all of the elements are picked up easily, scoring another 4. The artwork is consistent across the board, just like these 4s, and the game is extremely stable, and despite hosting the game over nearly two weeks and across multiple replays, no runtimes were logged, and I observed no anomalous behavior, scoring one last 4.

Yut Put actively participated in the developers chat, and streamed his entire development on Twitch, and even made a second GiaD just for fun, gaining him 1 BYOND Spirit point!

That brings the total for Goblin Bootcamp by Yut Put to a whole 37 out of 37. Congratulations on your continued winning streak!

Dark matter and bright matter. They can’t see each other, but each one knows the other one is there. They are attracted to one another, and when they touch, the results are disastrous for the other one! Binarium by Yut Put uses this not-so-scientific concept to allow two players to use strategy to move their invisible particles across the board, aiming to touch the enemies’ particles before they can touch theirs!

Binarium was a short game created by Yut Put as a for-fun entry using the topic, Darkness, which was used to help develop the gameplay though the "unseen" battle between the white and black pieces. This creative concept earned the game a 4 for topic usage. The hub page had all of the necessary components, earning a 4.

The artwork, while extremely simplistic, served it purpose and was created consistently, adding another 4 points. The instructions, while the presentation was subpar, did the trick and explained all the necessary points, tacking on another 4. The interface was responsive and effective, using sounds to indicate a movement, and scoring a 4 in the interface department.

Structural stability is knocked down to a 3 due to an issue where the game doesn’t begin (Even with two players) under some circumstances. The game itself earns an additional 3 points for gameplay, as the concept does become stale after a few games, and replayability echoes the same score. Music and Sound take the big hit here, only gaining 1 point due to no music being utilized.

Yut Put gained a BYOND Spirit point for reasons already mentioned!

Although the game was disqualified due to Yut Put already making a submission for this years Game in a Day, Binarium has scored 32 out of 37 possible points!

Oh no! The Candymancer has been awakened! Using her evil magic to reanimate the fallen candies of Halloweens gone past will surely being an end to the world as we know it. Quickly, before she has a chance to build her army of corrupted cookies, hard candies, and mints, use your candy stopping keypad to banish her monstrosities back into oblivion. Be careful though, she has the power to unleash heroes upon you, and mess with your keypad.

Candy Caldron was my submission for the Game in a Day contest, The game begins with the narrator explaining the instructions and while it’s presentation is less than desirable, it scores a 4. The game is also rather stable, as I ran into no errors, and had no reports of any. That’s all the 4s I got.

The interface leaves much to be desired, while the stats presented along the top of the screen work effectively, the keyboard controls change throughout the game, and can only be determined by trail and error, or button mashing. No interface element gives audio feedback, and that score is reduced to a 3. Theme usage is mostly a skin over of a more traditional game, scoring a 2, and the artwork is poor and inconsistent, scoring another 2. The gameplay degenerates into frustration and button mashing, earning 1 point for gameplay, and I wouldn’t want anyone to go though that more than once, so replayability also scores a single point. The game only uses music, scoring 1 point, and there is no hub page, adding no points.

I hosted this contest and wrote up all these reviews, so I gave myself one BYOND Spirit point to make my score look not-so-bad!

While Candy Caldron was disqualified due to it’s creator being a judge, it scored 19 out of 37 possible points!

And with that, the judging section has now been finalize, and that officially rules this Game in a Day Challenge closed! A round of applause to each and every one of the contestants (If you won a prize, you will be contacted shortly) for completing such amazing games in such a short period of time!