I'm just gonna jump into these critiques of the winning and honorable mention Wiggi World games:

1. $4,000 - Stigg's Veggie Matic ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392545 ): This game was very polished in all respects, good menus and graphics, good voice-acting, and very addicting, fun, varied, and balanced gameplay. Plus it won some bonus points for having a wacky, semi-educational storyline that kids loved. The concept wasn't anything too new, but the execution more than made up for it. Everyone who played this one had a rocking good time and came away with a giant smile on his or her face. An additional note is that this game had some of the most organized and efficient code out of all the contest entrants.

2. $1,750 - Bushy's Cleanup Crusade ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
391805 ): The gameplay concept of this game is what made it really shine, it's very megaman, puzzle-solving-through-unique-tools-es que. It had good instructions, and sufficient graphics to make it engrossing, along with lots of varied levels and entertaining puzzles to solve. It had educational and values-based concepts woven in and featured a really interesting character. It's real shining point was its novel-ness though.

3. $750 - Wiggi Dance Academy ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392457 ): This one screamed "polish" with excellent character models that took the Wiggies to a new level as well as well-done menus, animation, and voice-acting. The tutorial is straight out of a console game. The game-play concept itself was really fun, but the reason it didn't take #1 is because some of the timing feels off, I was able to beat "hard" but couldn't beat "easy" even after trying 6 or 7 times. It also didn't have quite the depth that some of the other games had either...but definitely the best graphics IMO of the competition.

4. $500 - Adventures of Pop-Up Blocker Man ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392262 ): This one is another one with outstanding graphics and animation. Really simple and fun to play, with some variety of gameplay to spice things up like the different power-ups. One of the really good things is that it addresses an internet safety issue (malicious pop-ups) in a fun and engaging way. The kids really got a kick out of this one.

5. $500 - Wiggi Walk ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392563 ): The mechanics and coding of this game are near flawless, the only thing really missing was some more depth to the levels and more levels, and some uniqueness to the traditional platformer-type game. High kudos though, for addressing the "personal information divulsion" issue and doing it with good info and effectiveness. I just wanted more at the end of this one.

6. $500 - Wiggi Fire Mission ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
389337 ): This game takes a familiar premise (mouse avoider games) and breathes some new life into it. There are lots of nice touches like the moving fire that helped make it engaging, plus there are a ton of levels which kept everyone interested for quite a while. Some lacking parts were character and environment animation.

7. $500 - Galactic Mediator ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392616 ): This was also a very novel idea, and had some really interesting and fun gameplay mechanics like latching onto planets with a tractor beam and dragging them to other planets to solve their disputes. It did a good job of meshing fun arcade-style gameplay, with a more quiz-style question and answer genre. The downfall though, was a lack of animated parts, and a learning curve that tended to eliminate 90% of players from completing the game. It did score well however because of its fulfillment of many of Wiggi Worlds values-based goals.

Front Page Bonuses:

$100 - Wiggi World Rescue (AKA: Fire Stomp) ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392572 ): This game had a great and unique premise, that was fun to play around with for a while, but the difficulty escalated a little too fast, and there wasn't a lot of variety in the gameplay once you got used to the concept.

$100 - Wiggi Recycle ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392460 ): This was a really cool idea for a puzzle game, something that I haven't seen before. There was obviously a very intelligent mind behind the idea. I did however feel like the graphics were a bit lacking, menus and instructions were sparse, and the gameplay environment felt cluttered and messy. Also, the first iteration was a bit slow, and once you got used to the fresh ways to play, it didn't have a lot of variety to keep you interested.

$100 - Wiggi Rescue ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
387531 ): This one has a simple concept, but somehow you tend to just keep playing it until it gets too fast. Sometimes these simple ideas are the most addicting, and the gameplay in this one had just enough variety, like edge grabbing, and the rockets to keep you pasted to the screen. It did lack a bit in art and animation, and also didn't have much of an educational application that we were looking for.

$100 - Stigg's Veggie-Matic: (See above)

$100 - Wiggi Walk: (See above)

Honorable Mentions:

Cryptic Cave ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392496 ): If I had my way, this one would have won. I loved the concept, it was so fresh, and so truly educational without stealing the fun factor. It really takes a good mind to meld math and videogames in a way that doesn't feel contrived, and this succeeds very well.

Wiggi Jump ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
390046 ): This one really appealed to kids, but its simplicity, lack of a truly educational premise, and a few graphical things kept it from hitting top 7 IMO. It's another one that is simple, mindless, entertainment that makes for an addicting web-game.

Super Wiggi Ball ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
390111 ): I was sad to see that this one didn't score better in our judging. It was actually a very vast and complete game, but I think the gameplay learning curve and some graphical touches held it back.

Wiggi Woods ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
389384 ): This is another one I was impressed with, but didn't end up scoring well. It's a fun game. Very polished with lots of levels, but it was missing that certain something to set it apart as more than just a maze game.

Bacteria Bash ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
390924 ): Great fun little arcade game, I think some of the gameplay mechanics and some graphical things kept this from scoring higher.

Gunther Wiggi ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392627 ): Wow, some of the concepts pulled off in this game rival fancy pants man, the real downfall was in-efficient coding because it lagged like a mutha making anything past the 1st level almost un-playable, also the graphics while not terrible, didn't seem to fit the Wiggi World style very well, they were a little raw rather than feeling polished.

Joey's Day out ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392634 ): This one was a favorite with the kid judges, they really liked the feeling of going out and completing missions and getting the instant gratification/fulfillment that comes with that. I think it suffered with the adult judges because the gameplay seemed a bit mundane, and the graphics were slightly below par.

Wiggi Rush ( http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
392278 ) I didn't like this one too much, it seemed quickly thrown together to me and the engine was a little kludgy, but it played well with lots of the other judges so it ends up in honorable mentions too.

Wiggi Who? (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view /392354) This was a really interesting idea, and it's a lot of fun for the kids. It came up short in the graphics department though, and the replayability is lacking since it's the same process of elimination over and over again and the "computer" always plays the same. Overall it was a solid game, but just didn't have that certain uniqueness (in the gameplay or art departments) nor the fun-factor to put it up in the winners list.

That's it! I hope no one was too disappointed with the results, we really did try to be fair based on the rules we laid out at the beginning of the contest.

I put together this page just because I know in contests that I've entered, I always want to see some in-depth feedback and the reasoning behind the judges' decisions, and I rarely get that, so I thought I'd try to give that to the people who were kind enough to participate in this contest.

We're currently getting all these games ready for the arcade in Wiggi World, where you're all invited to come and see your game in lights when the arcade launches September 1st. Once again, thanks to EVERYONE who took part in the contest!

Anyone in the top 7 or with a front page bonus, send me a PM with your name, address (city, state, country, zip, etc), same for anyone you're splitting money with, and instructions on the amount to send to each of you.