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Welcome to the Heart of the OHR’s 2010 contest page series. On the next five pages you’ll find curated information, as well as access to original information for everything having to do with the inaugural Heart of the OHR contest. These pages will modify original content layouts to make the best use of this format, but all relevant information can be read or accessed through this page series. For the sake of preservation, along with curated content, this page series will provide links to forum threads and articles related to this contest for anyone who wants to relive contest history.
Formatting Note: To prevent text clutter, I’m using yellow pop-up buttons to contain extra information about contest rules, prizes, and time periods, as well as definitions for the “achievements” each game received. Likewise, I’m using red buttons to link to the original sources of this information in case you want to read everything about it or experience what contestants of that time period experienced. All links are active as of this writing, but links are known to go dead over time. If you encounter a broken link while viewing these pages, please send me a message letting me know. Be sure to mention which contest year you’re viewing and which button leads to a broken link. Thank you.
Format Notes
Long before this site existed, I had to communicate contest rules and results through message boards and magazines, each subject to the standards and formats of their hosts. I’d post either plain text or a generic Microsoft Word document with a rough table designed to communicate layout without having any real control over the final presentation. In 2010, that was an OHR community norm, and many like me who hosted a contest or presented results without owning their own website or blog had the same limitations.
But now that I can customize the look however I want, I figured it’s time to adopt an official standard for the Heart of the OHR’s announcements and results. The designs for the following page series represent that standard.
I’ve done my best to make these pages exciting, but do note that I don’t want to make them crazy or resource intensive. So, I’ve decided to limit how much content I share about each game. To keep things simple and authentic, each game will reuse its original screenshot for the results section, and only through exceptional cases will I add more. That said, unlike the original articles where I first posted the results, you can click on each screenshot to enlarge it.
Also, this page series will defer certain content to other pages to streamline the current theme. In other words, this page series will cover rules and results but not statistics. For statistics, I recommend checking out the official Heart of the OHR statistics page.
This page series may also present content that either stirred up interest or paid homage to the contest. This can include videos, teases, or exclusive games. In some cases, these elements were not part of the original announcements.
Finally, please be aware that I will not post links to any of these games simply because I want to respect the right of each author to display his or her game in the spaces or forums he chooses. That said, most games can still be found on the Slime Salad game list, and links posted in the original contest thread may still be active. But given the decisions of each author, some games may no longer be available, and it is not up to me to make them available. Please understand, and thank you for understanding.
Additional Note: These contest pages were originally designed to contain all relevant content on a single page per contest year, but thanks to intensive page resources crushing delivery speed (in one case making it impossible to load the page without suffering a timeout error), I had to spread content across multiple pages to make viewing more manageable. Hopefully this change to a page series will improve your reading experience, as well as offer you more breakpoints to continue where you left off should you need a rest. And thanks again for reading. I’ve put an unreasonable amount of time into building these archives, time I could’ve spent writing books, so thank you for taking the time to revisit history.
The following content represents the original article announcing the 2010 contest results, first published in HamsterSpeak #45. But if you’d like to learn more about the conditions leading to these results, please click on the respective pop-up buttons explaining each contest component so you know what guidelines each contestant was expected to follow.
2010 Contest Rules
The following is the original rule set this contest was founded on. Future contests would adopt or modify these rules, but this is the set that started it all.
Rules:
- Must be an RPG. We can debate what defines an RPG for this contest if you want, but in the end, it has to be an RPG.
- NonRPGs not permitted. (See Above)
- Joke games not permitted (though funny ones are okay).
- Special scripting is okay (as long as it doesn’t turn the RPG into a nonRPG).
- Game must have at least 30 minutes of playtime with a good chunk of that devoted to story (in other words, 30 minutes without level grinding).
- Updates to previous RPGs permitted.
- Updates to previous RPGs need at least 30 minutes of new content to be eligible. Changing a textbox to an old two-hour game and re-releasing it doesn’t make it eligible.
- Fan games and parodies discouraged, but not forbidden. Original stories preferred.
2010 Contest Window
Release Dates:
Unlike traditional contests, “Heart of the OHR” will not require a start time or an end time per se. Rather, this will adopt the “release window” technique made popular with Game-a-thon, in that any RPG released within the window is eligible (provided it meets the above standards).
Window begins July 1st and ends November 30th.
2010 Contest Prizes
Prizes:
Because RPGs are harder to come by these days (especially in contests), I thought it’s only fair to combat the odds with prizes that don’t suck. Therefore, James and Surlaw have both agreed to give special bonuses to entrants and the winner.
Just by entering a game into the contest, the contestant will get to choose a bugfix or feature request to be put on the December 1st bug ransom. The winner will get to choose a second bug or feature request to be implemented ASAP (pending feasibility). Because the window is so large, James agreed that no request is unreasonable at this time.
Here’s how it works:
During the month of June, you may post your bugfix or feature request here so that James can start working toward implementing it. You may only choose one, so pick wisely. Once you choose your request, you are then expected to release a quality RPG (fitting the above standards) by November 30th to receive your entry prize. The prize, of course, is a ransom for the bug or feature request you posted here if it’s not implemented by December 1st. If your bug is not fixed by the deadline, then you get whatever James decides to pay for ransoms (I think it’s $10, but he’ll have to verify this). And that’s just for entering the contest! The winner will get to request a second bugfix or feature once the votes are in.
The winner will also get a HamsterSpeak cover devoted to his winning entry or the game of his choice for the January 2011 issue. Artist is unknown at this point, but we’ll happily take volunteers. I’d also, if possible, like to offer the winner a second piece of artwork about his game for the magazine, but only if a second artist volunteers.
Thirdly, if Moogle agrees (and this is currently unverified, so it may not happen), I’d like the winner to receive either slime bucks or an increase to the stat of his or her choice for the Slime Salad Arena.
Fourthly, if Moogle agrees (and this is also currently unverified), I’d like the winning game to be featured for Slime Salad’s game of the month (pending author’s acceptance) for January or February 2011.
Fifthly, if I’m not broke by then, the winner will receive some extra cash as a cherry on top. I’ll determine the amount by then, not now.
Sixthly, anyone out there can add to the prize pot if he or she has something to offer, so feel free to help make this into a treasure trove of winnings if you want to, and if you have the resources for it.
So, as you can see, it would be crazy not to join and make something for the Heart of the OHR Contest, so take the chance. Nominating a bugfix or feature request confirms your intention to join. Just remember that there will be no ransom paid on unresolved bugs if you drop out. So make something and stick with it. Don’t procrastinate, either. Games that don’t meet the above standards will also forfeit the ransom.
2010 Contest Tips
Tips:
Release the best game you’re capable of making. The community doesn’t want to see or play throwaway titles anymore. Do your best to make a quality game. While you shouldn’t be intimidated by this, you still need to be aware that games like Wandering Hamster and Vikings of Midgard are just as capable of making an appearance during the contest window as any game, so make it your best if you want the winning prizes.
Heart of the OHR Contest Results
2010 Edition
From July 1, 2010 to November 30, 2010, the OHR community was given the opportunity to relive the days when random battles were accepted and game design was about visiting towns and crawling through dungeons, and get rewarded for the throwback design. The contest, called Heart of the OHR, had a simple rule: make or finish a traditional OHRRPG.
Twelve people rose to the challenge. Four brought us updates to games we’ve played at some point in the past; eight brought us brand new entries. All of them helped 2010 go out with a bang.
But in the end, only one of those twelve could reign supreme, and the other eleven had to fight for second place.
Here is the story of that battle for the Heart of the OHR:
Please note that rankings are listed from worst to best, and based on average votes, not rosters or quantities of total players. For this reason, abstained votes did not count against games, but in many ways helped their averages.
Voting Standards
The following is an excerpt from the original announcement thread informing voters how I expected them to vote. Until Heart of the OHR, the average OHR contest required voters to rank their favorites from 1–10, giving scoring priority to the higher ranked items. This usually involved a Top 3, Top 5, or Top 10 vote, depending on the size of the contest, or an “include all” in the case where each voter couldn’t vote until they played all the games. But this often left the worst games unranked or with a huge disparity from the more popular entries.
Heart of the OHR didn’t want to leave anyone out in the cold, nor did it expect all voters to play every game. So, it adopted a scoring system based on average ratings to decide the difference between winners and losers. Of course, this system had its own flaws, and I’d spent the next ten years trying to perfect it. But this is how the scoring system began.
Here’s a clip from the original thread. I’ve also placed a link to the entire message if you want to see the whole story, including how I expected voters to treat rereleased games.
Remember, we will not be voting in the usual Top 10 rankings that we’re used to doing in contests, but rather scoring each game on a scale from 1–10. Scores for each game will then be averaged by number of voters for that game.
For example, if Ignatious the Happy Walrus Who Sat Upon His Enemies and Smote Them earned scores from five voters at 3, 5, 6, 4, and 7 respectively, the average score would be 25 points / 5 voters or 5.0 points for the game. Conversely, if only three people vote, and those scores are 6, 4, and 7, then the average score comes out to 17/3, or 5.6—a higher average than if it had five voters.
So, as you can see, the fewer votes a game receives, the higher its grade point average may be, and the more likely it could climb the ranks, so it pays to vote, for the game that only gets one vote, a 10, can easily win the contest. Do you want that single vote to sway the results? No. So do your part and vote. You don’t have to vote for every game, but for every game you don’t vote on, the more likely you’ll inadvertently send it to the top. And something tells me that Ignatious the Happy Walrus should not outrank the gems that made this contest, so be sure to vote.
You can view the entire “How to Vote” message here.
Note: I modified the scoring system in 2014 to include what I called “the 2/3rds rule,” which I’ll explain in greater detail on the 2014 contest page. Bear in mind that if you check out the statistics page, realize that games in 2010 and 2012 may end up with different scores and rankings under this rule than they do here.
