OHR News: December 2008

In this section, you'll find the latest game releases, contest announcements, and information regarding the OHR engine. If you have any news to submit, send it to paulclementharrington@gmail.com!

Latest releases:

Yo Ghost the Beggining by Lord Fyroa
Surlaw Armageddon (11/2008 Release) by Surlaw

Contest News

The Epic Marathon Contest continues. Vote! Participate! Stop disappointing Pepsi Ranger, he's more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Some Words from the Community

Every month, we'll spotlight some comments from the readers regarding the previous month's issues. Here's what our readers have to say about Volume 20.

"I don't remember Antagonist being so bad battle-wise but I do agree with the sentiments of the rest of the review (right down to the game crashing and not really being motivated to start it up again.)

I haven't said it yet, but I've really liked the Covered with Dust articles. I also enjoyed reading the history of the Epic Marathon.
" -Calehay

"Great issue this month. We have a virus warning. An HQ3 limited release. And some of the best last minute HamsterSpeak articles ever. I stayed up long past my capacity to keep awake last night reading it. Very entertaining. ... I thought the Epic Marathon retrospective was worth the wait. Excellent article (and I'm glad it left out the screenshots--they would've detracted from the story). Uncommon, I appreciate you including your own history with the contest. You delivered far more than what I expected from the article. I think I'm gonna add 10 points to your overall score this year just for writing it (just remind me I said that come May)." -Pepsi Ranger

"TQ is an odd choice for a Monsterology. I haven't played the game in awhile, but I think I'd agree with the review: the game has probably dated itself. I felt like the review focused too little on the one aspect that actually mattered: the battles. They were really only discussed in depth in one paragraph." -Adam Perry

Good news! We are now offering specific questions for readers to respond to. That's right, you don't need to come up with your own ideas at all! Answers will be posted in next month's issue.

This month's responses:

• What feature of the new engine update are you most excited about?

"I'm really happy about all the new text box updates. I think it makes dialogue much more edit-friendly. I'm also finding it easier to breathe now that we have extended NPC slots and items. Thank you, James. Thank you. No, really, thank you." -Pepsi Ranger

From CWD3: "If you disagree with the list, or if you think your game should've been considered, feel free to shake things up a bit in the Issue 20 discussion thread by casting your own list of favorites by order and voicing your opinion on which games you'd like to see go up against BlackJack OHR in future competitions."

"Doesn't Ysoft know that dealer has to hit on anything sixteen and under and stay from seventeen on? I mean, blackjack only has maybe three rules, missing one of them kind of breaks the game." -Kingston C. Rockwell

• This issue saw a fond reminiscense of the Epic Marathon Contest. What OHR contest do you have the fondest memories of, and, to connect this with Covered With Dust, which contest games do you think deserve more attention than they got?

"I still have fond memories of the 2001 48 Hour Contest. I remember thinking the old review blitz on OHR Monthly for that contest was incredibly sparse on detail. I wouldn't mind seeing those games reviewed again under the current bar.

The only other contest I joined and actually finished something for was the 2004 Human Day, and I don't remember any of the other titles off hand (though I think Gilbert's Robot game might have been one of them).

I could probably name some contests that deserved far less attention, though. Anyone remember that contest that required Chaos Nyte to make a "Generic RPG?" Was that really a contest? Seemed more like a reality show. So weird.

And what about the 47-minute contest? Did those games ever step into the light?" -Pepsi Ranger

"
Maybe because it was my first year in the community, 2001 has a lot of fond memories for me, that 48 hour contest especially. I mean, it was the first collab I'd done with Grief, it was the contest that gave us I Made Dis, Never Go West, The King's Basement, Seizure Inducer, Tightfloss Maiden, Scars Of Glory and The Last Job. A lot of those games shaped the way I looked at the OHR and the variety of things it could do.
I remember this game A Troll's Coup D'Etat from that contest that was pretty cool, but it's been so long. I might should try it out these days if it's on O:OHR." -
Kingston C. Rockwell

And now, questions! As usual, respond by e-mail or by posting on the forums for a chance to see your response in next month's issue.

• The Walthros Mercenaries commentary talks about "lost" projects. Why not share your own "lost project" story? Everyone's bound to have one!

• What can I do to make you write for HamsterSpeak?

Night of 10,000 Bullets is an extremely untraditional OHR title. What are some of your top non-traditional OHR games?