Sonic Hacking Contest 2016 - THE RESULTS

THE RESULTS!​

Now, before we get onto the results, we know that many of us this year can agree on one thing – this contest was not as good as previous years. It is not something that the judges are pleased about, not to mention other issues that have cropped up including the site going down repeatedly.

Not every hack was bad this year, and the ones that have won trophies this year can easily show that, as well as a few that missed out this year. But overall, many have felt that this year, most people did not bring their A game to the contest, most people half assed a bunch of entries and eventually pissed off pretty much everyone who went near those entries. This is not the fault of the judges, but the people who are submitting this content to us.

We accept that changes must be made for next year and trust me, we've already talked about what to do for 2017, and we will continue to do so for as long as needed until we are satisfied to announce a much improved Hacking Contest for 2017 – the 15th Anniversary. Many entries that were in this year, or even stuff along the lines of entries like some submitted, won't even be allowed for next year. But for now, here are the results of the Sonic Hacking Contest 2016:

Hidden Palace Trophy
1st Place
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto

Wood Zone trophy
2nd Place
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic 2 ReMastered by MrCat (very split decision with this trophy)

Dust Hill Trophy
3rd Place
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub

Green Hill Trophy
Entry (or specific level of an entry if non-applicable) that plays most like a Sonic game.
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub

Windy Valley Trophy
Best art in an entry submitted.
Pantufa the Cat - Extended Edition by VAdaPEGA
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic Halloween by CamManS5

D.A. Garden Trophy
Best music in an entry submitted.
NULL VOTE – NO TROPHY AWARDED
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team, Knuckles Emerald Hunt by MainMemory

Lava Reef Trophy
Best level layout in an entry submitted.
Pepsi in Sonic 1 by Unlimited Trees

Genocide City Trophy
Most difficult entry (or specific level of an entry if non-applicable) submitted.
Tails Adventures for Über Players by Bakayote

Wing Fortress Trophy
Best cutscene in an entry submitted.
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team

Azure Lake Trophy
Best multiplayer entry submitted.
Sonic Bash! v2 by redhotsonic
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Chaotix Edition by Jdpense

Generations Trophy
Best 3D Sonic game modification submitted.
Eggmanland for Sonic Generations by NeKit
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Beta Windy Valley (Sonic Lost World) by SonicOtakuSNG; SADX Character Select Mod by MainMemory & SonicFreak94

11000101 Trophy
Best technical / proof of concept entry submitted.
Sonic Pocket Winter by ValleyBell
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Sonic 4 in 1 by Natsumi; Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team; Eggmanland for Sonic Generations by NeKit

Fang Trophy
Best new enemy / badnik in an entry submitted.
NULL VOTE – NO TROPHY AWARDED
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Pepsi in Sonic 1 by Unlimited Trees; Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto

Eggman Trophy
Best new boss or miniboss in an entry submitted.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto
HONOURABLE MENTION: Doctor Robotnik's Plan B (REV01) by Painto

Spindash Trophy
Best new ability in an entry submitted.
Sonic Pocket Winter by ValleyBell
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Pikachu the Mouse by Team Overload; Sonic & Ashuro by Ashuro

Carnival Night Trophy
Most innovative game play feature in an entry submitted.
NULL VOTE – NO TROPHY AWARDED

Casinopolis Trophy
Most entertaining / fun hack submitted.
The Radikal Ralakimus Hack Pack (WOW!) - Volume 1 by Ralakimus & Bakayote
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic Halloween by CamManS5

Emerald Trophy
Best Special Stage in an entry submitted.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto


Robotnik's Revenge Trophy
Best fresh concept using existing concepts as the backbone in an entry submitted.
Sonic 1: Reverse Curse by Campbellsonic

Polygon Jim Trophy
Most unique entry submitted.
The Radikal Ralakimus Hack Pack (WOW!) - Volume 1 by Ralakimus & Bakayote
HONOURABLE MENTION: Lose Tails or Else by GT Koopa


Tails Trophy
Most improved entry from last year's contest.
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub


Newtrogic High Trophy
Voted best entry of the contest by the Media team.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto

Big the Cat Trophy
Worst entry overall in the contest.
Roya Rockwood's Sonic Mega Collection by Royameadow
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Unlimited Trees by Unlimited Trees; Blue Potato the McDonalds by Blue Potato; Blue Knuckles in Sonic 3 by Blind_Jack; White Sonic in SK (Sonic 3 Part 2) by joshwoakes; Sonic XE by Team XE; Team Overload (all those underwhelming entries were overkill)


Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Voted best entry submitted overall.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto


Windy Valley Community Trophy
Voted best art entry submitted.
Pantufa the Cat - Extended Edition by VAdaPEGA


D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Voted best music entry submitted.
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team


Lava Reef Community Trophy
Voted best level layout entry submitted.
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC'16 pre-final) by Team Painto


11000101 Community Trophy
Voted best technical entry submitted.
Sonic Pocket Winter by ValleyBell

Big the Cat Community Trophy
Voted worst entry submitted overall.
Roya Rockwood's Sonic Mega Collection by Royameadow


We would also like to give some recognition to the following hacks:
Sonic 2 ReMastered by MrCat – If we had the 8-bit Trophy this year (it will likely be back next year), this would have won it.
Sonic & Ashuro by Ashuro – You have so much potential, come back next year because this hack could win good by then. If we had a trophy to award to the hack with the most potential, it's this hack.

Scrap Brain Zone Act 1 Mini Contest
Competition to work on a SBZ1 level layout from scratch.
JOINT WINNERS: Natsumi and MegaGWolf


We would like to thank everyone who took part by submitting, the judges, those that streamed during the week, the rest of the media panel and anyone else I've forgotten about. This honestly was a very difficult contest to judge this year, especially with the quality of entries this year, to a point where quite a lot of the judges ended up being completely stressed out by the end of this.

Let's emphasise this for next year – QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY! We want to have a great contest enjoyable by everyone, not one that just depresses people in the end. With the quality control we intend to implement, I don't see over 50 hacks being submitted next year, but if what we get is a reduced amount of submissions that are very pleasing, then that would be great.

Don't go all over the place with future entries, some advice to give would be to focus on one zone first, do everything you possibly can with it, and move onto the next zone if you have the time to do so. Remember, hacks like Sonic Boom and Sonic – The Next Level only contained just one zone in their submissions, and they won big.

All hacks will receive evaluation pages from judges very shortly – due to the issues faced this week we are running a little behind and we hope to have them available to the public by the end of next week. But that's not the only thing getting evaluation, we want YOU to evaluate the contest and the Contest Week, to let us know what should be done for the 2017 Contest. Please submit this form by the end of Sunday 20th November.

!!! A QUICK REMINDER FROM AYLA !!!

All trophy winners please contact Ayla (NOT Spanner) for your prize!! It was not very well conveyed that there REALLY, REALLY ARE PRIZES THIS YEAR!!! It's not just a plant! I have around 62 keys for Steam games to give away. Some highlights are "South Park and the Stick of Truth", "Civilisation V", "Mafia 2", and "Wastelands 2". I also have indie games that are less processor hungry and should run on any Windows PC. Here is the prize link:

http://tinyurl.com/ju5t2hl

Rules & Conditions: I will need to get prizes handed out to HPZ, WZ, and DHZ winners before I can promise games to the rest of the trophy winners!! If you won more than one trophy, you do not get more than one prize. If you have multiple people in your team, then each team member will need to contact me. I will also need to verify that you are in that team. This is for major contributions only. If you only contributed "one song" or "beta tested" the game, you don't get a prize. Sorry! Prizes are available for winners picked by judges, medial panel (newtrogic high trophy), and community. If you do not want a prize, do not contact me. It's that simple. Prizes are able to be claimed until 21.12.2016 (Yule Day) as 2017 contest rules are expected to be posted the week following Yule. Remaining prizes will be added to next year's prize collection. New prizes to replace the claimed ones will be purchased for next year. Big the Cat trophy winner also receives a game, so please still contact me, Royameadow! Yes, I'm serious.

That's all for now. After this long week, it's time to celebrate.
​

 

I'm so happy and I've never expected winning such amount of trophies, if ever any. Thanks to anyone for playing and for support and also congratulations to other winners, we all did it really good! See you next year, I guess.

Lazy copypaste is lazy.

 

You are number one, Painto!

Anyhow, as a whole, I actually ended up feeling positive about this year! The entries overall were meh, but I truly feel as if this year was probably the best in terms of execution. Everything felt well prepared, and it was all around much more professional than other years in my opinion.
Judges and contest staff, thank you. I heard you guys say on the streams how tired you were, and I just want you guys to know that your hard work does not go unappreciated here in the community.

 

This makes me to remember 2013. When I joined with the very broken demo of my hack with the purpose of gain the Genocide City Trophy. And even with bugs and glitches everywhere, and even with a very unfinished demo of my game which lots of levels/acts and even lots of special stages and menus being cut from it, I acquired the trophy. This made me to feel unsatisfied with the product I had, so with the trophy I also acquired more motivation to give my hack a continuation to make it decent in the end. I gave it a purpose right now, so that I could improve it to the next years. And if it's not done in 2017, I'll wait until the SHC 2018. Because I have the SHC as a true motivation for me to never to shutdown my projects and to make them organizately, until the end, giving my best to them, until I finish it one day soon. This was a lesson I taken from the Hacking Contest 2013 and that I carry with me since then.

I really hope the amateurs that entered this year to not to shutdown, and to try to improve as the best as they can, to realize their dreams to do their hacks as the best as the possible, always inside of the possibilities. But not just making a simple thing and done, but always putting effort on the stuff they just started a day in the past. I saw lots of hacks with true potential to conquest some trophies the next year and I really hope the best of everyone. Congratulations to all the winners and to the participants in general!

 

Painto is the new Markey Jester, congratulations.

I just hope the next SHC will be better with the overall quality of the hacks, seeing such a considerable amount of simple modifications makes me wonder why I don't submitted my untitled, unfinished hack in this year contest (just joking... I guess.).

Also, about the Mini Contest, I made a new chunk for my hack, that makes me disqualified for it? I put a considerable effort on mine, not seeing it anywhere makes a bit disappointed.

 

I lose the Big trophy. Not a BIG suprise.
However, I hope show a better tinhk for the pepole next year.

 

Since I've been following the progress of Sonic: Scorched Quest (ex Burned Edition) (kinda) and the big effort Painto have put in his hack, I can say he definitely deserved won the Hidden Place Trophy. Well done (Team) Painto!

Good work for the other winners too!

I really liked also the idea of HONORABLE MENTIONS.

 

...You *wanted* to get the Big trophy? Uh, you should *not* be wanting that. The entries for the contest are supposed to be things you're proud of that are enjoyable. If your entry happened to make it onto the mentions list for the Big trophy (or won it), you're part of why the contest was such a massive frustration for the staff. If your work is a pile of shit and you know it is, don't fucking enter it into the contest. All that does is frustrate people and bring lots of flack down on you for wasting everyone's time. We actually had gotten rid of the Big trophy and were intending to keep it that way until this year's entries persuaded us otherwise, so don't even joke about having pride in getting that. Of everything that has happened with this year's contest, the fact that the judges pretty strongly felt that the Big trophy needed to be resurrected this year because of the entry quality is rage-inducing. Get your fucking head out of your fucking ass and take some fucking pride in the work you release, especially to the fucking contest.

 

I have to agree. Most of the contest's entries were deceptions, though the potential of some of the works I seen on it. I may be going off topic here, but it's the truth that the Big Trophy isn't something that someone should be proud of receiving. So that's why I frankly think (as a suggestion) that this trophy shouldn't exist. ...or at least, not anymore.

 

It didn't for the judges. We retired the trophy for judging, and we weren't planning on bringing it back. We also were talking about removing it from the community lineup as well. It was the quality of the entries this year that convinced us to bring it back this year to make a point. We were very disappointed this year, and we decided this was something loud enough to get the point across. We want to never have to bring the trophy back again, so step the fuck up, people.

 

Keep doing the evaluation and feedback up by the way if you haven't already, we're getting plenty of good responses so far.

 

This was by far our best year as far as execution. The idea to move the judging discussion to Discord was a good one. We also decided to form a committee that was dedicated to the execution of the contest as well. You can think of that committee as being the braintrust that actually runs and organises the contest. It consisted of Spanner (the grand organiser), LazloPsylus (the troubleshooter, technical consultation), SuperEgg (PR, media relations, steak), Shannon (shit poster, judge relations, general audience consultation), and myself (the drug-addled founder and historical reference). Marc wasn't "officially" in this committee, but his work on the website, the logo, and many more things was equally as indispensable. Our decision to have a separate area to communicate directly with the media panelists, whose work this week was phenomenal and led to at least one ignored wife (sorry RHS), also led to smooth transitions between streams and easier communication in private.

This contest is now much bigger and well organised than anything I would have ever been able to pull off on my own. It's what I had been wanting in the contest from the beginning. I owe it all to the amazing people that help every year and the huge community that supports us. We're excited to move on to even bigger and better things next year!

With all that being said, I'm now looking forward to a relaxing and non-stressful next couple of weeks.

 

Painto, you're a BOSS!


next time, that trophy will be mine...

 

Honorable mentions is a good idea, yes!
And also, i almost win the Spindash Trophy!
And i making the hack with the most potential!!

I'm very happy, these results makes me want to pursue in this way. I will learn and work from the begining, take my time, and... Maybe, (because this year i will be occupied everytime), submit an entry for the SHC2017.
I hope my hack this year please you, and i will soon post a Sonic & Ashuro without bugs, many fixies ect...

I don't know if i will use Ashuro the badger, or another of my own characters for the next year, because many peoples don't like it.

Thank you all, thank you SSRG, merci beaucoup!

See you next year!

EDIT: Oh, and congratulations, Painto!

 

You must have to keep in account that your hack was really fun and enjoyable, even with the issues found. I'm sure your effort will be even greater in 2017. For a first time work you wasn't bad, my friend.

But, haha... Next year you'll have most of the entries of this year getting better, though you'll have a strong new rival to compete with. Don't think your life will be easy.
Thanks a lot, congratulations for the work you did as well and good luck next year!

 

Cross post from Retro:

I have to say this first, but the level layouts in people's hacks were generally really disappointing this year. Apart from a few entries that stood out, most were really shoddy and badly put together. I can't count the number of times I saw misplaced objects and chunks which obviously needed fixing but just.. well, weren't. I know it's a difficult task, but I will reiterate that creating a full, new layout takes time and creating a good one, even more-so. It's just that rushing a layout to get it finished is never a good idea and it's usually obvious when it's done. Also, Pepsi in Sonic 1 won the Lava Reef Zone trophy for Best level layout in an Entry Submitted? I mean, if that's correct, then fine, but I am scratching my head at this one.

I did have an entry in the works for the Scrap Brain Zone mini contest, but I couldn't get it done in the time frame. 4 days just wasn't enough for me, and as my free time is limited these days anyway, I was doubtful of finishing in time. I've got what I had lying around though, so if anyone is interested in what I had, drop me a message and I'll send it your way.

Overall, I was underwhelmed in general. This isn't to take away from the entries that were really good and stood out, though. Those that were great were just that, and I'm glad I got to experience them. It's just that there was more than enough entries that seemed to dissolve into 1 in my head, and I found it hard to differentiate them. I agree with the majority of the trophies though, and I'm still glad I got to enjoy (part of) this year's contest.

Again, my kudos to Painto and his team for Sonic: Scorched Quest. I really do think he deserved first place for his efforts and I really look forward to the final release. Sonic: Virtual Adventure was, in my opinion an incredibly close second place but I seemed to be that unlucky guy that had the sound driver crash almost every time I played it. It's looking great so far, but I just didn't find it as memorable as my experience with Sonic: Scorched Quest.

Finally, thanks to all of the staff, judges and media panel for all of their work, commitment and dedication to the contest. I fully appreciate it, and look forward to next year.

 

To be honest the Lava Reef Trophy was VERY SPLIT. It came to the majority vote winning, as per all trophies.

As for your intended entry, feel free to release it in the Mini Hack thread.

 

Yeah, Pepsi won Lava Reef, but there was plenty of contention internally about it. Layouts in general this year were disappointing.

 

By the way, why am i called TheCat?

 

First of all, I just want to post a reminder here:

All trophy winners please contact me (NOT Spanner) for your prize!! It was not very well conveyed that there REALLY, REALLY ARE PRIZES THIS YEAR!!! It's not just a plant! I have around 62 keys for Steam games to give away. Some highlights are "South Park and the Stick of Truth", "Civilisation V", "Mafia 2", and "Wastelands 2". I also have indie games that are less processor hungry and should run on any Windows PC. Here is the prize link:

http://tinyurl.com/ju5t2hl

Rules & Conditions: I will need to get prizes handed out to HPZ, WZ, and DHZ winners before I can promise games to the rest of the trophy winners!! If you won more than one trophy, you do not get more than one prize. If you have multiple people in your team, then each team member will need to contact me. I will also need to verify that you are in that team. This is for major contributions only. If you only contributed "one song" or "beta tested" the game, you don't get a prize. Sorry! Prizes are available for winners picked by judges, medial panel (newtrogic high trophy), and community. If you do not want a prize, do not contact me. It's that simple. Prizes are able to be claimed until 21.12.2016 (Yule Day) as 2017 contest rules are expected to be posted the week following Yule. Remaining prizes will be added to next year's prize collection. New prizes to replace the claimed ones will be purchased for next year. Big the Cat trophy winner also receives a game, so please still contact me, Royameadow! Yes, I'm serious.

Believe it or not, Pepsi did have a good layout comparatively to other hacks in the contest this year. Regardless of people's feelings about Unlimited Trees, he has talent for level design. The levels were thorough, completely changed, didn't have any cheap object placement, and progressively became more difficult as the game progressed. Yes, it was a joke hack, but for a fairly new member doing this well straight away, I was very impressed.

That being said, he did not win my vote for best level design, if I remember correctly. He only got an 8/10 when there was someone else that got a 9/10. Also, there were other people that got 8/10 on layout that he would have had to contend with on my end. Evaluations will be out next week and people can see why we voted the way we did then!