At the end of the IGF competition I was a little upset to see a list of finalists and nothing else. The remaining entries were left to assume that their game clearly sucked since the only measurement given was pass (accepted as a finalist) or fail (told how much cooler the other guys game was).
I recently received an email that had a handful of comments from the judges and it was a welcome event, even if a little behind the time. This is a good start and I would encourage more of this in future IGF competitions. I know it’s tough to get back to some 200+ entries but I can’t imagine a single person who would not want to hear about their strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of their peers. As critical as these comments might be 
they were not unexpected. I knew when I made Zombpocalypse that it wasn’t going to be the most innovative and thought provoking game of the year it’s a zombie shoot-em-up for cryin’ out loud! Sadly I only had two anonymous comments but it’s better than zero.
Honestly, deep down, I did not expect to actually be accepted into the finalist list. IGF tends to lean towards games that focus on the things that I typically care little about. I still don’t know how a game like YHTBTR could have possibly made it but I try not to question it too much or I might start to cook up conspiracy theories and question the validity of the competition.
Sadly, I kind burned a lot of money on this game so I won’t be attending GDC this year. GDC prices have gotten ridiculous over the years. I’m finding it harder to justify $2k+ on a couple of days where I only get to attend a handful of talks. I also can’t help but feel that I’m paying for a load of services and summits that I could do without. I might look around for a cheaper alternative; any suggestions?
Zombpocalypse scored best in: Technical
And scored worst in: Innovation
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The game felt more like a tech demo than a real game. The biggest problem with it was, that (gameplay wise), it’s all been done before, with higher production values. The feel of the game was a bit off, shooting and moving didn’t feel as rewarding as they could have been. Also the difficulty curve didn’t work all that well. Finding and killing the last zombie in a level was frustrating and boring. Technically it was impressive and the splat effect was cool.
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Technically very impressive, if a bit disorienting when you get hit too much – a fun zombie-smashing time!
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