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Four long days of game desvelopment are finally over. All four teams completed their projects – although to get DungeonQuest presentable, Nitschke and Rienaecker were working right up to the reception.
Today the games will be revealed to the public. After a few rounds of questions and answers with the press, the participants will have a brief chance to enjoy San Francisco prior to returning to their respective homes.
Hit the jump for final impressions and links to the games.
DungeonQuest
The overambitious Nitschke project suffered from its rapid development time. The game is more technical demo than playable title. The graphics are mighty impressive for a four-day project and are probably worth checking out for would-be XNA developers, but DungeonQuest is unfortunately not much fun to play. A true hack and slash, DungeonQuest requires little skill beyond projectile attack dodging and mad flailing.
Damage Control
Rechristened Damage Control, Josh Butterworth’s game turned out well considering his limited game-making experience. But it suffers from punishing difficulty. Single player is both boring and impossible – the game doesn't adjust enemy density. Despite its flaws, it holds up for a few rounds of four-person multiplayer. The daunting task of protecting the giant NeoGAF orb is bearable when there are players to cover each flank.
Simian Escape
Jonathon Stevens’ and Patrick Glanville’s Simian Escape is a fun speed-run style romp. Racing through a cave painting and beaning big cats with rocks to rack up a high score is rather satisfying. And the game's depleting stamina, which requires players to collect fruit, adds some much needed challenge to this obstacle course. Stevens says Simian was such a hit that they were approached by folks interested in distributing it on Xbox Live Arcade.
AbduX
AbduX is also a rather fun romp. The game offers a solid challenge – abducting humans as they roam around the map – and some interesting uses of voice recognition. But what really makes the game shine is its PaintShop aesthetic and girlish screams. It certainly makes the game look childish, but it lends some much needed personality.
Of note: These games were all built in the XNA framework. In order to play them you’ll need a Windows PC with XNA Game Studio Express and Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition installed. It’s sort of a pain, but the XNA Challenge games are great examples of what XNA is capable of.
