WiggiWorld Competition

Today is the final day of the Wiggi World competition. I'm extrememly pleased with the quality of some of the games that have been submitted, and I'm grateful to everyone who took the time to make something.

For those wondering the "official" deadline is 12:00 AM pacific time, which is 3:00 AM EST. Submissions that come in after that will not be eligible for the contest.

On one hand, I'll be very relieved that this competition is over because I've been stressing to keep track of all the entries and make sure that they'll work in our arcade. On the other hand, I'm DREADING having to judge these submissions. Especially in the last week, a lot of GREAT games have come in, and it's gonna be hard saying x game is better than y. I mean, how can you say that art is better or worse than gameplay? Not to mention that we need to factor in the appropriateness of the game for kids and evaluate how well the concept meshes with Wiggi World's mission to teach kids values and internet safety.

To try and avoid my personal bias (which tends toward good art :P), I'll be writing up an evaluation form for each of our judges which range from kids in our target age-range, business men, artists, programmers, and just plain gamers, where they rate each game based on certain categories, then I'll compile the scores and divvy up the prizes.

I really hope that no one is too upset with the results. Everyone can take comfort that they are contributing to something that is actually trying to make a difference for good in the world. I personally wouldn't be involved if I didn't really believe that.

Comments

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TomFulp 2007-08-10 14:12:20

If the search is any indication, there were at least 43 entries into the contest! I just put two new ones up on the front page - I still need to put together a collection page for all these! It's good to see the contest has been a success!

BoMToons 2007-08-10 14:12:20

Yeah, I've got 43 on my current list. It's been a great success. Thanks for supporting it!

Cheektoghetto 2007-08-10 14:32:31

I honestly think that art should be one of the biggest if not THE biggest factor in the judging. Here is why:

When I was about, oh say 12, I used to go on Neopets. One of the biggest MMO sites, and it's similar in certain aspects to WiggiWorld. I would play these game and think wow, because the art was somehow simple yet good, it wasn't shaded completey or detailed massively, but it was genuinely very good art. Kids aren't looking for addictive games or amazingly detailed ones. They're looking for art thats simple yet good and easy to pick up gameplay.

Those are just my rantings and thoughts. And wow 43 entries, when I saw this I did not expect this much feedback.

kojama 2007-08-10 15:07:13

Tis is like a cool contest......my question is will wiggi world help teach kida about the dangers of porn?

Nqkoi1 2007-08-10 15:26:06

i enjoed wiggi walk and super wiggi ball the best

gankro 2007-08-10 17:02:00

I was shocked at the lazy programming of some of these games... it honeslty hurt me as a programmer... peronaly art doesnt sway my vote too much... I tryed to focus highly on the internet concept and safety when on it... but some of these games just didn't seem to make sense with the theme... click on the colored kittys and puppys? Oh and sorry for having to send you an updated version bomToons!

bukKkk 2007-08-10 17:52:38

I fear I'll burst with excitement about what the result of the contest will look like. This could really be judged so many completely differnet ways that I'm lost without any kind of estimation.
I also expect the judgement to be one or more days behind, but that's very understandable. Maybe I'm even lucky and wrong ^_^

I had great fun with making and checking out games so far. Plus this entire kids thing is something i take personal and work related interest in. So hooray, has been a great time. Best of luck with digging through all the submissions. And best of luck to all the contestants.

Luis 2007-08-10 21:52:14

looks like i have a few hours to start somethin. oink oink

BoMToons 2007-08-10 21:52:14

I get it, pigs are stereotypically gluttonous, so you're drawing a parrallel between entering a contest to win $ and over-eating...

Pigs really have a bad rep...they're actually some of the cleanest animals in nature. :P

jogo52793 2007-08-11 09:53:50

Why do you have business men, artists, programmers, and gamers judging it? Since the games are for the kids, shouldn't the kids decide which games they like?

That's just my opinion :)

BoMToons 2007-08-11 09:53:50

cuz there are many things we care about in the games that kids may not notice/value, it's kinda like giving a kid a plate full of candy and veggies and asking them which they prefer...

Coolio-Niato 2007-08-11 20:07:48

Good Luck judging! Just to go against what Cheektoghetto said, I like how you aren't trying to focus on art here. Kids, although very keen to that, also get bored VERY easily when it comes to games. If the game is no fun, no one will play it. That is the exact downfall for some games on neopets.

Also many don't seem to realise just how good these kids are at playing games. They're making them as if its for people who never touched a computer before. "PRESS THE SPACE BAR, THE BIG BUTTON ON YOUR KEYBOARD". When I was 7 i was already playing Pokemon and Adventures of BuzzLightyear on my n64. People don't seem to realise these kids are growing with a computer in front of their hands, and they already know how to use it well (besides typing :P)

Well GL BoMToons!

BoMToons 2007-08-11 20:07:48

I agree, little kids blow me away with their tech-savviness...we didn't get a NES until I was like 10 and I was so un-coordinated trying to play it, but kids today are a whole different ball of wax...