Blitzs to p10 gamr creators

Caught sight of a recent post regarding the No. 1 blitz game maker, how about a top 10, with justification as to why. Gotta confess, I don't have a top 10 as yet, but whats everyone elses opinion ? (I' ll post my top 10 in the near future).

to p10 ?? ohh aliright top 10. jeez my keyboard dyfunctioa is gettin worse.... msu be the lubrication I'd in the pub this savvy.

You mean a top 10 of people who actually finish their games? I hope we can get to 10 =]

My real name is Sid Meier (honest)

Gfk must be near the top of the charts, then.

@Wiebo, you haven't been on these forums long then ? Anyhoo, Imeant games that are worth playing be they finished or be they WIP (;-)

Awright, top 4 (6 to go, initial 4 up for re categorisation on finding the others):-

1: http://www.joystickjohnny.com/ : very re-playable, ordering my full copy soon - it (unsurpisingly) works with a joypad.

2: http://www.greyaliengames.com/easterbonus.phpn : reason: easter bonus - nice graphics and music, play again and again.

3: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=71059 Very appealing neon style graphics, very visually appealing and brilliant tank/projectile physics

4: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=70719
I like cannon fodder and this is cannon fodder esque.

5: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=71891#804067
The new worms game. Brilliant fun, the most I've ever played a wip game.

6: http://www.blitzbasic.com/gallery/view_pic.php?id=1658 my son likes this, i do too.... 'groovy' .

7: http://www.blitzbasic.com/gallery/view_pic.php?id=1659 looks very impressive, I'm a Never Winter Nights fan, been playing fable on my xbox and this looks very similar. Nice eye candy.

3 to go.... gotta be manyanna.

if you wanna know: i finishes some stupid games, but they were too bad... i wasnt good back there

I think you mean MadJack's Tank Universal?


It looks great, but I thought you wanted the top 10 game creators. It's not even at playable demo stage, let alone finished. Surely the main qualification of a top ten creator would be finishing at least one game? Quality over quantity, sure, but I don't think you can call someone a top ten game developer until they've finished developing at least one game.

Anthony Flack would have to be in there for me, because Platypus has been successful on a variety of platforms.

The guy who created the Magic Knight remake ( was it Knight Tyme or Stormbringer? I always get the titles confused. ) I think it was Rockford who wrote it anyway. Awesome conversion of an amazing game anyway.

And what about The Caffeine Kid? He did some very cool remakes too. I think people underestimate remakes. They may be easier in terms of not needing a design document, but I also think it's much harder to stick religiously to the way a game works when it might not be immediately apparent how it does work.

Let me re-iterate, I'm sorry I've been editing my posts a little , this top ten (so far) is games I've had the fortune to play that are either finished, WIP AND good to play - or look bloody good, i.e. the reason for the incorporation of the fable esque game.

I am in the final machinations of finishing an educational app and have a good understanding of the amount of polish required to produce a stable, playable, appealing (or not he he he) product. Even a simple educational app takes a gargantuan amount of effort to produce a stable, pleasing product - never mind the almost insurmountable challenge of 3D production. I consider my self a purrfectionist, and the stuff on my top 10 (so far) is there because mainly:-

1. they're good fun to play
2. they look like they've got potential, everyone on these forums knows the effort required to 'complete', but a little encouragement goes a long way.

Can
I just clarify, I have not done a sweep of all the talent on these forums, this is just my small opinion of the small slice of talent I've had the benfit of touching upon on these forums.

If anyone has the time to post their top 10 with justification as to why, charge on. Thw whole community will benfefit.

Excuse my typos, I've gotta go and watch a film with the missus. {;-)

Measuring success by actually finishing a game is assinine. Finishing a game is a good thing, but if you look at the amound of garbageware out there....you get what I mean. It's all about finishing a quality game, not just finishing a game.

Whereas measuring the quality of a game that isn't finished and hasn't been released is the model of common sense?

Its not assinine to say you have to have actualy finished/created a Game to be a "Game creator"

Top 10 programers would be a different list, which wouldnt require you to have finished anything

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is pretty neat too.

So if you've finished a game that sucked (like PONG or Space Invaders) and your next game is gonna be awesome (like Lemmings or Elite) then you're better than the guy who just went straight for the gold. An interesting metric.

1) John Pickford. No contest. Wetrix, Sticky Balls, Naked War? Can't beat that.
2) Michael Reitzenstein. Juno Nemesis, Inca Quest? Absolutely.
3) Anthony Flack. Yes I realize Platypus was one of the first games developed in Blitz Basic. Yes it's still awesome.
4) Marco Incitti. Because GridWars is awesome, and Bizzare Creations are a bunch of wimpy, cry baby, one trick pussies.
5) Grey Alien. Well like Match-3 games or not, he does do them well.
6) MadJack. Tank Universal. How long was it in the making? I think it shows. Good show.
7) GFK. For Hole-in-one. Best. Golf. Game. Ever.
8) Ben Gillbanks. Rocket Boards. Best. Racing. Game. Ever.
9) Indiepath. GEOM. Great game if you like puzzlers, totally frustrating too.
10) Rob Farley. Sphere Racer and Jump Around. Yes sir.

Warpy, JP, Antony Flack, Mark1nc, Yan, Matt Sephton, PRJ and GfK?

Why would the first person be better?
They would just both be eligable for the competition? I think you must have missread it. As long as you have created/written something then you are eligable, if the second person has finished thier game.
Someone like say Noel, who in his own words want to write Middleware and not games, would simply not be elagable for "Best Game creator" (Unless he has written a game in which case he is)

Edit: Maybe you didnt missread it, and what you ment was that someone who has half written a Game that "looks ok at the momenet" should be concidered. In which case I simply dont agree with you. You win an Oscar for finished Films.

I think we should start a casting show for game creators. With tears and all. <:-.

I made top10!

Actually, although I've released Tank Universal, I've reverted to thinking of it as unfinished due to the amount of work I'm putting in to upgrading the game.

Is that TU2 MadJack or just an update?

An update in the form of a skirmish mode, new levels, powerups , a new mode of playing (control points) + some balancing tweaks.

wow, I gotta say thanks to people that acknowledged my games output :-) Hopefully my next game (due *really* soon) now will help cement my place.

FD's list has some great entries and I wholeheartedly agree. There may be others missing too of course like:

http://www.anawiki.com/
http://www.intermediaware.com/

to name just a couple that spring instantly to mind.

I would definitely put Wiebo in the top ten. He has made 3 great versions of "Thrust" (including "Deluxe" and "Xtreme"), a geometry wars type game "Grid Assault", and "Zone Patrol".

Flameducks list isn't far off what I would say in no particular order.

Sure, but it's only a top 10, right? You have to draw the line somewhere.

While we're at it, honorable mention to dan_upright for fixing "Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines", which Troika didn't seem too bothered about.

I'd like to point out that I didn't really write jump around, everyone on the forum did.

Thanks anyway!

8: Gfk for Buzzword, a very polished looking product

9 & 10 .... later (;-)

if Fredborg made games, he'd be in my top 3 choices, just like Tom, John J.

9: John Pickford, NAKED War: http://www.naked-war.com/ Please note this list isn't exhaustive, only one spot left to fill:

10: Wiebo: http://wiebo.wordpress.com/my-pc-games/ Thrust Extreme, I can recall playing thrust on maybe... a BBC B - or was it something else ? T can't recall, but the neon effects within extreme's cool.

This is a good thread to search for candidates: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=69886

There's also http://www.master-of-defense.com/, that's pretty neat and has done well (I believe)

Also the Wonderland games are neat.

http://www.sos-software.co.uk has made some neat games like Rockfall.

One of the first Blitz games I played was Retrosphere: http://www.boiledsweets.com/RetroSphere/index.php

Ovine by Design has made some really great remakes including Paradroid more recently. http://www.ovine.net/

MDickie has made tons of games too of course :-)

Ah not forgetting Love Chess.

Also Gabriel has a good selection at: http://www.glimmergames.com/

And who's that guy that made the Robocop 2D games, the Ghostbusters remake and that drunk teenager in a mine game? classic :-)

No, no, no, no, NO!!!

I insist that you all go back and edit your lists to put Warpy at the top. The guys game ideas are just pure genius. http://www.somethingorotherwhatever.com/

yeah I gotta agree, he's pretty inventive.

no 10: SOS software: http://www.sos-software.co.uk/games/reflexive/warChess/scr2.html

A very eye candy esque game of chess.

you already had a no. 10 ;-)

aaah Just you wait guys.. just yoouuuuu wait :D

working hard to have some techdemo to show you for my second game. All about reaching that top 10

While I realize it may have been said in jest, I don't think that should be your motivation. :o>

:D No, I definitely hope it's not.

I've played too few Blitz games to actually put up a fair list. I'll go through some of the games you've mentioned above.

Warpy's page reminds me of my blitz stuff folder on my hard drive. Loads of ideas that've had a little time put into each of them, but nothing anywhere near finished. A lot of good ideas there though warpy.

You and Gabriel both have serious reading comprehension skills. I never said anything remotely close to what either of you responded to.

What I said was releasing 10 crappy games that don't sell shouldn't get you on the top game maker list. Releasing one game that sells 10k plus units should though. It's all about quality. Hope you both get it now lol. I personally would rather release nothing, than release a mediocre game. I haven't seen anything released from either of you so I'm assuming you both have the same ambition as me; to release something you're proud of. Until then, you just keep coding.


Case in point: that game by Xylvan. While it is commendable that he finished his game (in his own mind at least), and he does deserve credit for that, the game shouldn't land him in the top game-maker list.

And the last try...It's not a measure of quantity, it's a measure of quality. GA puts out quality. MDickie puts out quantity. I don't know how else to explain it to you both.

I agree that a number of Blitz coders have come up with good high quality games and are enjoying success as indie developers, but trying to organize them into some kind of `who is better than who` list is not only never going to be agreed to by everyone, but is also really an attack on other individuals who are almost certainly going to be excluded from the list.

There are a lot of people out there right now who either recognize that this list is more to do with hero worship that they don't need, or that it's a way of saying that they are not good enough. Do we really need to get into this?

It's all very well recognizing or observing what others have been doing and perhaps being inspired by that on an individual basis, but then trying to turn it into a competition pits us *all* against each other, whether we are on the list or not. We don't need to be dividing the community this way.

We are all trying to give our opinion about who we think is the best or who deserves to be in the list and on what terms, but by the time we've gotten into this kind of evaluation of each other we've already judged others to be not worthy. We wont ever be able to agree to who is most deserving or for what reason, so it really only inspires additional division between us.

I agree. This post should be deleted.

Of course we're not all going to agree. There would be no point in posting it if we all agreed. It's fun to see what games other people like that I don't and what games I like and others don't. It'd be a bloody boring world if we all agreed on everything and moreover, we'd never develop as people without people disagreeing. It's entirely possible that I might have new appreciation for a game I never tried or didn't like from a thread like this. And that's a good thing.


Pfft, if people are so sensitive that they're going to get into a hissy fit because they haven't finished a game, or because their games aren't making many top ten lists, they need to grow a thicker skin or just not read threads like this.


I don't agree with your premise that praising one person is an insult to everyone you don't praise. If we're never going to be able to praise anyone's work ever for fear of making someone else cry, we may as well close the user creations forum completely, which would be very depressing. About the only enjoyment I get on this forum these days is checking out new releases like Paolo's FPS and LDraven's RPG's.

EDIT: Ironically, I just noticed that you were the one who started a very similar thread about which Blitz games we were playing.


No, I just want to keep making enough money from my games that I don't have to get a real job. So far so good.

AngelDaniel: Hmm, I see where you are coming from but I feel that's a negative viewpoint.

I for one was extremely flattered to see my name mentioned a few times here and in simlar threads. It was a surprise as I know there are so many great Blitz programmers/games out there, but it made me feel good about my work being recognised (really good actually considering I was a nobody 2 years ago).

If I wasn't mentioned, I might have felt a teeny pang (that would have been my childish/jealous ego side), but at the end of the say I'd have gone "So what? I'll just have to try harder". Winners don't sulk about not being on some abitraryly decided list, they just keep on moving forward no matter what.

I think that it's great that forum members are saying "Hey this other Blitz stuff by these people is GREAT" instead of "Hey this blitz stuff is crap" and slagging people off. I encourage more positive threads.

I totally disagree with that statement...

So you don't want to make a game you're proud of. Interesting metric!

I encourage honesty. It's the only way to genuinely improve.

whoops, two No 10s. Oh well, its now a top 11.

All this thread is about is a small proportion of the exceptional quality games I've had the fortune to stumble over.

It is not intended for this to be the definitive top 10, just my musings.

If anyone feels left out they need a thicker skin, or find a different hobby. This thread is about making (albeit a small proportion) of blitz users get some well deserved kudos. Bye for now, BP.

GA is absolutely correct. Of experience the year I've been part of the Blitz community I would say that it could use some positive feedback. Avoiding telling someone that he/she is good just because it can hurt someone else is a very strange (and boring) approach.

I'm sure everyone in here would have a different Top 10 if we tried to write one due to experience, time spent in here, taste, own talent etc etc... Giving people an extra pad on the shoulder should really be encouraged.

If people get annoyed becasue they maybe haven't finished anything but know that they are great Blitzers, well make more Top 10's then. Make a Top10 Best Helpers, or Top10 Blitz Experts or even Top10 Funniest Communitymember .. suggesting to lock these threads are just keeping the community dull, low and grey.
What do I know, maybe you all wind up in a positive Top10 list just because of being helpful and nice in here.

Blitzplotter, your method of choosing these top 10 is just ridiculous. There are so many potential games that you didn't even evaluate. This list is absolute rubbish.

I didn't say I didn't want to, I said it wasn't my ambition, since I achieved it several years ago. Having achieved that ambition, I had to create new ones. Making enough money to keep making games is one of them. The others would be clues about the nature of my current project and the time isn't right for that.


See? Wasn't that fun? Well I enjoyed it anyway.

@ Chroma: Its still my current top 10/11 for the moment. Ho hum. You can't please everyone all of the time. Oh, I don't think my methods is ridic, then again I wouldn't would I ? {;-). Lighten up, and change your catapult games text for a link, then you might scrape the top 20. (joke).

Creating games that people buy kind of makes you proud as well ;) right? Stop throwing sand, play nice in the box :)

OT as it still touches an interesting question. I cannot say that I'm at the moment creating games that I personally would like to play.
I am an FPS and big fat epic games-lover myself. Still I know my limits and I rather create games I know I can finish, do it good and eventually sell than never finish a game and still work as a teacher.

Prostitution? ... sure, why not. most works involves it in one way or another, and I love every minute of it.

Yep, I bought B3D, have played with it & I'd love to create a 3D world of the likes of:-



However, I've limitations on my time( maybe ability?) So I stick to trying to accomplish a finished product. It'd never make my top 10(on this thread).... But you never know it might make a more specific top 10.

@AJirenius, are you primary or high school teacher ? If primary would you like to beta test some primary oriented software?

Regards, BP.

What you on about! I think it's an excellent list ;)

@Stevie, how's it going then ? Stick me on your alpha/beta tester list. to quote my son[8], I quote 'you're on the list due to the fact you can pull the characters about, and you can interact like you have really good fun with them'

regards, BP.

Slowly but surely progressing. E-mail me.

AJirenius: Although I like FPS games and RPGs etc, I also wouldn't be able to make them on my own, so I make casual games. There are some casual games that I don't like but having played more and more there are some really good ones. I found my own games to be fun and addictive to play and my current game that I making for BFG is REALLY addictive and I find myself wanting to "test" it all the time :-) This must be a good sign I guess. So what am I saying? I'm sure that you can find some sort of casual game to make which you'll enjoy making and playing and which will appeal to a "paying" audience too. Good luck.

Gabriel, you have some interesting points but I don't agree with any of them.

It is very insensitive to say that individuals who may perceive and understand when they're being excluded need to get a thicker skin. Skins are generally too thick already. At the same time it's obviously up to those individuals to decide whether they want to take this as an insult or to just overlook it as something that makes no alteration to who they are.

I also did not create a premise that praising one person detracts from another person. It is perfectly fine and welcome to appreciate people for what they have done which is the one good aspect of this thread and others, but when it turns into a competition where we start to arrange people in an order then that is a form of judgement which is negative. I didn't say that we shouldn't praise people's work, but doing so in a way that pits people against each other is an issue with implications.

Also I don't see the irony of my starting a thread about games people are playing. It was not a thread intended to evaluate which games are better than others and I didn't present it as attempting to say that some people are better than others.

Grey Alien I agree that it's up to those who are not on the list to decide how they take it and it is wiser to overlook the provocation of this thread. But that doesn't mean the thread itself is not provoking them. I agree it must feel good having your ego aknowledged and set up amongst the heroes but that is actually you being selective - you would stand back and remain detached if the praise is negative or you are excluded but you will open yourself up and let others make you important and special if it's in your favor? That's inconsistent. It would be wiser instead to say that this list has no meaning at all regardless of what it says about you.

Anyway, good for you all you people who are living the life, and good for you all you people who didn't quite make it.

Okay. Let me make it clearer. In no particular order, MY top ten equally good games are.... the ones above.

To the ones that didn't make my badly researched list, well done for avoiding my inadequate scrutiny.

Enjoy life, its a one way trip (;-)

It's not insensitive, it's a fact. Insensitive would be if I didn't care. Fact means it's true whether I like it or not. You've only got to look at some of the abuse Xilvan has taken for Lights of Dreams ( much of it from people who are incapable of creating anything at all ) to see that you need one hell of a thick skin. *

I'm one of the few people to have said anything against the abuse he's taken, so to accuse me of insensitivity is to bury your head in the sand.

* And yes, I acknowledge he's thrown around plenty of his own, but probably only in retaliation to some unnecessary comments.

It already is a competition. Competition is what makes us stronger, it's our incentive to improve and our method of survival.

I don't get it. What does it matter that I acknowledge that I think Naked War is the best Blitz game so far? Does that mean the releasing a polished game like Naked War or Tank Universal is an insult to those of us who don't? I don't really see that, and I don't really see acknowledging the accomplishment as something bad.

You're right. He'll never reach top 20! :o>

No. Although personally I don't think anyone here takes arbitrary lists compiled by people on the Internets particularly seriously, and in all honesty - someone who does? Has much bigger problems than not being on my personal top 10 list of Blitz products.

Good. I don't mind at all being divided from people who find my list offensive. Also I'd like very much to be divided from people who find arbitrary sounds (like so-called profanity) offensive. While you're at it, divide me from "Republicans" as well. And Jack Thompson.

Brilliant. I'm still chuckling.

jst answer the damned question k! ;)

1] platypussy thingy
2] juno nemthingy
3] vertical scroller made ages ago..99% finished..grrr,
what was that thing called again! :/

4-10] gfk for churning the f***ers out....

Hello.

"Jes wanders on to the thread, drags it off topic for a moment, and farts loud and long just to cause maximum offense and amusement. He then pushes the thread back on topic"

Goodbye.

I don't mind being inconsistant on this one. Whenever something positive occurs in my life, I appreciate it and thank the Universe. When something less positive occurs I don't let it take hold of me but I see what there is to learn from it and move on. Pretty simple really.

I think this has slipped far enough off topic to warrant stopping...