2006 Special Awards

Though Game Tunnel has a very extensive set of awards, there are always some games that deserve special recognition, but don't fit into any of our categories.

For those games we have the special awards! Highlighting specific achievements and the people's choice, the 2006 Special awards gives you a little bit of everything.

Webgame of the Year - Dodge that Anvil!

Developer: Rabidlab		Players: 1
Website
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP, 64 MB RAM, Direct X 7.0 (Open GL)

Dodge that Anvil! is a bizarre game. After all, how many other games can state that the goal of the game is to just do what the title of the game says to do? And why on earth is it raining anvils?

Upon winning the award for best Web Browser game at the IGF, Jake Grandchamp, the developer took the stage and said something to the effect of: "When I set out to make Dodge that Anvil!, it was my goal to make the best anvil dodging simulation game ever made. This award tells me I'm on the right track."

With a statement like that you can only like what Rabidlab is doing. The online game is really just a demo, but it is a lot of fun. Trying to save all of bunnydom by quickly pulling carrots out of the ground (while dodging anvils of course) is not something you get to do everyday. The nicely done cartoon-style graphics make the game visually entertaining as you take your bunny through a variety of interesting and distinctive worlds.

Technical Excellence - Minions of Mirth

Developer: Prairie Games		Players: MMORPG
Website
System Requirements: Windows XP, 800mhz, 256mb RAM, 64mb Video Card -OR- Macintosh OSX (10.4+), G4/G5/Intel Processor, 256 MB RAM, 64mb Video Card

Minions of Mirth is a single player and massively multiplayer RPG which also supports player hosted worlds and modding. It was written by a single programmer over 11 months using the Torque Game Engine from GarageGames. When considering what Prairie Games has done to solve the technical challenges presented by Minions of Mirth, you can't be anything but impressed.

When we started considering our award for Technical Excellence, Minions of Mirth was at the top of the page, but we wondered if the award shouldn't be called the Technical Feat award as that title does a better job of summing up what Minions of Mirth has accomplished.

For starters, the game is a MMORPG. While it seems most game developers dream of their own MMORPG, few ever succeed in finishing one. Even fewer succeed in making enough money to survive. Minions of Mirth has succeeded on both accounts. Although they scraped by financially to make it happen, they didn't let that get in the way of their dream of excellence for the game.

Minions of Mirth was simultaneously launched on both Windows XP and Mac OSX. This meant that the game was written to be cross-platform making it all the more technically challenging. The simple solution, of course, would be to just choose Windows and be done with it, but Prairie Games wasn't about to sacrifice the vision they had for a cross-platform launch.

The most daunting task for any MMO is having enough servers to run the game. Prairie Games didn't have hundreds of thousands or even thousands of dollars for servers. Using an evolving approach to maintain their own server farm, Prairie Games has managed to meet the ever increasing size of their community (with over 30,000 registered players currently) while staying financially solvent.

Prairie Games has created a game that features offline single player, multiplayer with modded community servers, and MMORPG play on their own hosted servers with no monthly fee. To make it all work, they moved to a tiny North Dakota town (the equivalent of a really big garage), putting their lives and financial fortunes into making their dream game a reality. It is a technical feat of no small significance and we were proud to present Minions of Mirth with our Game of the Year Award for Technical Excellence.

Arkanoid/Kid's Game of the Year - Fizzball

Developer: Grubby Games		Players: 1
Website	Download		Purchase
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP, Mac OS X or Linux, 400MHz CPU, 128MB RAM

You know what most people get really tired of in brick-breaking games? Bricks.

Seriously! How many bricks do you need to break before they are all broken for good? BreakQuest, from a couple of years ago, really did a good job of creating so much variety in the levels that they didn't feel like the same brick-breaking monotony that we'd played 42 million times before. Now Fizzball has come along and done away with the bricks altogether. Really! You don't have to break a single one...and you even get achievements if you don't!

Fizzball pays obvious homage to Katamari Damacy in the way it is played. Professor Fizzwizzle, fresh off a Top 10 Game of the Year appearance in last year's awards, takes to the tracks in this game with a rocket-powered contraption that has a rounded barrier that will bounce a bubble (aka your ball). The thing that really makes the game different is that instead of trying to break things you try to save them in your bubble. Players must first start out with the smaller animals on the board, and as more of them are collected, the ball becomes larger and can then pick up the larger animals. By the time you have completed the level, your bubble is huge and full of all the animals on the board. The graphics of each of the animals twisting and twirling inside the ball is something to see in and of itself.

Players progress through the levels by collecting all the animals on a given level. You don't even have to break a single box (aka 'the bricks') on the board to pass the board (though notably in most cases you will, you just don't have to). Achievements can be won by succeeding in different ways, such as simply passing multiple levels or collecting the chicken before you collect its egg.

Like last years Professor Fizzwizzle, the game has an up-beat sense of humor that makes it fun to play even when things aren't exactly going your way. Hitting the animals, for example, when they are too small to be collected into your ball will always cause a reaction, from the hopping of a frog to the um 'spraying' of a skunk.

In the end, it's not just another breakout; you don't trade hitting that last stupid brick for catching that last stupid animal. Fizzball is a much more engrossing game than any other breakout we've played. The progression of the game feels very much like the quest it is designed to be, moving players from island to island looking to collect all of the many different animals in the game. Each animal you collect is kept in your sanctuary, which is maintained by the money you earn while playing the different levels. Adding to the fun is the challenge of getting combos by carefully using the 'fan' that will blow the bubble upwards instead of letting it hit the paddle. And to top it off, there are bonus levels to keep things interesting.

Good games can typically be identified by the quality of the content. Sure you've probably played games that were long or had quests or bonus levels before. It is that rare game where you enjoy each of these aspects without reserve which really stands out of the pack and Fizzball certainly stands out! It was the clear winner of our 2006 Arkanoid Game of the Year award as well as the Kid's Game of the Year award for fun that all ages can enjoy!

Freeware Game of the Year - The Blob

Developer: Banana Games		Players: 1
Website
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, 800MHz CPU, 128MB RAM

The Blob really only has one major flaw, it feels unfinished. The game seems to go on forever without save points or changes in what the player is trying to do. There aren't deeply thought-out multileveled goals, there is just simplicity and the fun that goes with it.

Of course, the reason The Blob walks away with our Freeware Game of the Year award is due to its simplicity and fun.

It takes the Katamari Damacy concept to the streets, and paints them as it goes, literally.

In The Blob, you roll over unsuspecting citizens and acquire their color. Everything you bump into after your personal meeting changes to the color of your blob. The game has a huge city for rolling around in that is full of landmarks modeled and located just as they are in an actual Dutch city. Painting different locations different colors by sucking up people of every color, and sometimes even mixing them, is really a lot of fun! The game boasts fantastic visuals to go along with the fun sounds of people trying to get out of the way of a huge color ball that rolls over trees and cars as it goes. It is chock full of paint-splashing fun.

Player's Choice Award - Steam Brigade

Developer: Pedestrian Entertainment		Players: 1-2
Website	Download		Purchase
System Requirements: Win 2000/XP, 1Ghz CPU, 32 MB Video Card

After walking away with our Game of the Year award for Graphics, Steam Brigade clearly was just warming up the engine.

The Player's Choice award goes to the game that has the most votes from the community. Each year the number of people casting votes, as well as the number of quality games, has increased and the award has become a bit harder to win.

Steam Brigade has mobilized their way to a great victory for this visually stunning strategy game.

The game has beautiful levels that feature layer upon layer of artistry. Each layer builds on the last, creating a game that looks like a painting in motion as players move back and forth across the screen. Trees with wispy leaves sit in the foreground as mountains and hills move in the background peeking through the trees. It is the type of stuff that you would watch a 'making of' documentary of, if one were available, and enjoy every minute of it.

While the levels stand out as being high quality, they are only a piece of the artistry in the game. In-between several of the levels are drawings and illustrations that carry the story along and create depth in the titles that only strong visuals can do. Each carries the same strong stylistic interpretation of the Steam Brigade world and brings the story to life before your eyes. It's a world that clearly many have enjoyed and their voice has been heard! Steam Brigade is our 2006 Player's Choice Award winner!

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By: Russell Carroll
Posted: Thursday December 28, 2006