The Best Worst Comp Ever

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clcman
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

We have another early entry! Spongesonic IN COURT and Trybien present... Turnabout Turnabout!

That is such a great name. I give it 17.5/10.

For anyone else thinking about doing something, you have until the end of the day Sunday (so, really Monday morning)! Remember: the worst that can happen is that you failed at being bad!
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
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clcman
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

(Hopefully) Legal Double Post:
We have another entry: we were laughing at oranges by enigma!

For everyone else in the terrible case business, you still have a day and a half to show your stuff!
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
Trybien
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Trybien »

Four entries is not a bad turnout (assuming there weren't any last minute entries). Good luck everyone! I'm excited to see the results of all of our hard work!
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

OH MY GOD WE'RE BACK!!!!

So, to review, we have a total of four entries:
Professor Layton and the Heavenly Scheme (Feat. Phoenix Wright) by AceJakkidFan
Turnabout in Payne and Suffering by DarthWiader
Turnabout Turnabout by Spongesonic IN COURT and Trybien
we were laughing at oranges by enigma

I had brilliantly planned it so that I could do judging last week and then the fact that I have minimal free time this week wouldn't be that big of a deal, but, well, the website exploded, so I'll see what I can do. All a part of being the greatest worst comp of all time.

I suppose I should also go look for Mr. Insane. He's bound to be around here somewhere...
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Enthalpy »

Even technical difficulties are theme relevant. I'm impressed.

Good luck to the entrants.
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Trybien »

Ouch, well, at least we are back. I was half concerned that one of our entries was so atrocious that it caused the site to implode.

Good luck finding Mr. Insane and getting everything judged. It wouldn't be The Best Worst Comp Ever if the reviews and award ceremony was not terribly rushed and slap-dashed. Either way, what happened happened, and now you have to suffer through the garbage you so kindly asked for. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And thanks Enth. :chew:
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Enthalpy »

Any luck hunting down your co-host?
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

Essentially non-spoiler review: (It's one of those "you can't describe it without ruining it, but can't tell people if they'd like it without describing it" situations.)
Spoiler : Turnabout in Payne and Suffering by DarthWiader :
Yes, the ending was quite payneful. The only fancase that has ever made me cry. (Only half kidding.)

Turnabout in Payne and Suffering is, on the surface, a pretty average AAO case. Nothing particularly special compared to any other "canon prosecutor is a defense attorney now" case. Then it goes utterly off the rails. Twice. The most obvious comparison is The Normal Turnabout, in that it's a pretty meh case until the ending punches you in the face.

Summary: Winston Payne, having ceased to be a prosecutor for unspecified reasons, takes on his first case as a defense attorney, defending his brother Gaspen from accusations of committing the perfectly understandable crime of beating the snot out of Larry Butz. But is that all that's going on here? Can Winston Payne find (and handle) the truth? And what's with all the cell phones?

Concept: The basic premise (Winston Payne being a defense attorney) is pretty standard, and most of the case is fairly average. The plot twists, on the other hand, are definitely unique, and generally crazy and ridiculous. The second one could maybe work in a serious (if likely artsy/pretentious) case where it wasn't Winston Payne ranting about cell phones, but the first one could never be used with a straight face. And it isn't.
Imagination: I've seen "normal case with ridiculous plot twist" done before, but the nice thing about it is, you never see it coming. Both twists are quite unexpected and absurd.
Presentation: Probably the case's biggest strength. All the art, sprites and music are solid, if maybe not the most astonishing. Good excuses to use rarely-used sprites. Also, a full-on, well-arted Thought Route segment. Puzzles generally average with one or two exceptions (including a testimony resolved in the co-counsel conversation).
Theme Relevance: Most of the case is "bad" in the sense that it is so generic that it's arguably boring, save for the amusing inherent lameness of 90% of the cast. Then you get to the twists, one of which is so ludicrously absurd that it's amazing, and the other one of which comes off as trying too hard to be shocking or edgy. In short, the Relevance hangs pretty hard on the twists in order to get its quality badness, but they generally deliver.

Conclusion: The Normal Turnabout staring Winston Payne. Twice. Mixed with the film [REDACTED FOR ULTRA SPOILERS]. Worth a quick playthrough. Maybe a second one with the plot twists in mind, but probably not a third.
Now, on to Turnabout Turnabout by Spongesonic IN COURT and Trybien!
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
Trybien
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Trybien »

Oh god, Sponge and I are next on the chopping block. We hope you have fun, clc! (Also, it looks like your review for Jakkid's entry is gone.)
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

Trybien wrote:(Also, it looks like your review for Jakkid's entry is gone.)
Yes, I seem to have somehow overwritten/deleted that review because of a vast conspiracy against me supernatural interferance humorous incompetence non-humourous incompetence a total freak accident that was utterly outside of my control. I don't seem to have a copy of that specific part of the review lying around, so I'll need to put it back together from memory, which I'll do as soon as I can.

Is this the Worst Comp Ever or what?
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
Trybien
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Trybien »

Wow, AAO went down again during this competition. Are we going to have to start a counter?

Edit: Scratch that, three times.
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

Trybien wrote:Wow, AAO went down again during this competition. Are we going to have to start a counter?

Edit: Scratch that, three times.
Four, now, actually.

Non-spoiler review:
Spoiler : Turnabout Turnabout by Trybien and Spongesonic IN COURT :
Turnabout Turnabout is a halfway decent (if intentionally illogical) case where everything you do has the chance to result in a bizarre and ridiculous alternate ending, from being sentenced to death for contempt of court to being chased by assassins to discovering that the entire trial is a hallucination. Can the player's sanity hold together long enough to find the truth?

Summary: Maya has been murdered, come back as a ghost, and been arrested for her own murder. Phoenix is, of course, on the case, but this trial will prove more difficult than normal. The slightest wrong step will result in Maya's conviction, Phoenix's death in a bizarre and unexpected manner, and probably other weirdness as well. Seriously, the ending where the court got hit by an asteroid was arguably the MOST logical.

Concept: The basic premise is that the defendant is accused of killing herself. An accusation she refutes, because she is present as a ghost. This was never going to be a "good" case. The excessive number of endings would also be unwise for conventional cases. The core logic of the true path is also full of obviously terrible ideas executed gloriously.
Imagination: There are 19 endings, almost all of which involve characters (mainly Phoenix) dying in bizarre ways. There are a lot of different and ludicrous results. Over time, they seemed to run a little low on ideas, but plenty of imagination was used, and you'll never quite see things coming.
Presentation: Art and music are fine, nothing special. Puzzles are usually basic, but a few are brilliant. Nonsensical, but brilliant. Each cross-examination has two Present options, one of which leads to an alternate ending, so that took some thought on the developer's part. What I mainly want to note here is the level of programming involved. Not only does the case have multiple divergence points (which automatically redirect back to where you were when you were done), but at the end it has a section that counts the endings you have gotten, gives you hints about the ones you don't have yet and teleports you to different parts of the case, all while keeping your evidence and profiles correct. I did not encounter a single glitch or error throughout all of this, and that's impressive.
Theme Relevance: Character motivations fluctuate wildly and the various endings are utterly contradictory (a character has an allergy in one, for example, that he lacks in another). Even the path to the True Ending features utterly moronic logic and the amusing but stupid concept of Schrodinger's Evidence. The Judge never talks but other characters act like he did. Phoenix and Maya think that Pearl is Trucy for some reason. There is a piece of evidence, written by the victim, that says "I killed myself. I wasn't coerced to write this letter. The serial killer who shoots people with knives has nothing to do with this. My name is Maya Fey.". The prosecution considers that to be valid evidence. Case is bad. And I love it.

Conclusion: The Stanley Parable meets Phoenix Wright: Ace Idiot. Play it with the ending guide/walkthrough, intentionally penalize yourself to death every chance you get and don't use saves (as you need all of the endings).
Now, it's time for we were laughing at oranges by enigma. Then I can spend two weeks failing to put together an awards ceremony.
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
Trybien
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by Trybien »

Oh wow, the site survived long enough for this review to get up. I look forward to Sponge and I being able to release the trial publicly and discussing some of our design choices (don't want to do too much here since I personally think the trial should stand on it's own during judging without us "trying to make a case" for it.) Considering we beat that garbage fire out in 2 weeks, I am glad to see that you had fun.
Spoiler : Slight Review Response With Slightly More Spoilers :
Reading through your SoC was great fun seeing all the jokes you made from it. I will say I am surprised certain aspects of the case not being mentioned (like each of the ending names being poorly done references to other works). I'm curious if there were other things you noticed/found funny that you didn't write down or if some things just didn't work for you, but maybe we can discuss the deeper analysis of Turnabout Turnabout after the competition is over.

Also, For the record, the programming behind the multiple endings was entirely Sponge, so he deserves all the credit on that part.
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by clcman »

Trybien wrote:Oh wow, the site survived long enough for this review to get up. I look forward to Sponge and I being able to release the trial publicly and discussing some of our design choices (don't want to do too much here since I personally think the trial should stand on it's own during judging without us "trying to make a case" for it.) Considering we beat that garbage fire out in 2 weeks, I am glad to see that you had fun.
Spoiler : Slight Review Response With Slightly More Spoilers :
Reading through your SoC was great fun seeing all the jokes you made from it. I will say I am surprised certain aspects of the case not being mentioned (like each of the ending names being poorly done references to other works). I'm curious if there were other things you noticed/found funny that you didn't write down or if some things just didn't work for you, but maybe we can discuss the deeper analysis of Turnabout Turnabout after the competition is over.

Also, For the record, the programming behind the multiple endings was entirely Sponge, so he deserves all the credit on that part.
Providing good running gags/inside jokes is an SoCer's duty. As for things not mentioned, sometimes I leave something out if I just don't have anything good to say about it, sometimes I actually get so sucked into a thing that I forget to comment on it. I'm certainly up for discussing the thing after the comp.

Also, good job Sponge!

Non-spoiler review:
Spoiler : we were laughing at oranges by enigma :
Just kidding, it's a full-spoiler review. There is nothing actually to spoil and I highly doubt that this case will be publicly released, so yeah.

we were laughing at oranges is, uh, a thing. I think. Verily, I have looked into the abyss, it has looked back at me, said "hai boi" and I have backed away slowly while reaching for a taser.

Summary: A defense attorney named apple must solve a case (the tragic murder of waifu trucy) while dealing with the skilled prosecutor ge3rdo (and his infamous sneakyboi tactics), endless spelling errors, a lack of access to capital letters, a judge and witness whose dialogue sounds like a mix of Nietzsche, the Book of Revelation and Lovecraftian rambling thrown in a blender, and probably the impending collapse of reality itself as their tiny little pocket dimension is flushed down the drain, in what is either a clever fourth-wall-breaking meta commentary on not just the nature of case goodness and case badness but on the concept of "AAO case" itself, or a short, basic trollcase hastily thrown together at the last second and put in here to mess with me. And, yes, that was all one sentence.

Concept: WWLAO (sorry, wwlao, most of the case has no capital letters) starts off as a parody of poorly written fanfics ("apple", for example, seems to be "Apollo" horrendously misspelled) and ends up with an intentionally unsettling bunch on nonsense rambling that almost (but not quite) makes sense. Neither of these would likely make a good regular case, but there is quite a lot of potential for an amazing "bad" case in there.
Imagination: Well, there was an idea or two in there. Probably just two, honestly. The bits where it addressed me by name and interrupted its own cross-examination were somewhat pleasant (if creepy) surprises. So, basically things involving the witness khnvpl, who stole the show by having like 25% of the screentime and speaking in complete (if nonsensical) sentences.
Presentation: Eh. It's entirely stock assets. There are no puzzles and minimal interaction. The poor spelling and nonsense writing make it pretty much impossible to tell what's going on, but that all seems to be intentional, so I guess it's okay.
Theme Relevance: Well, it's bad alright. It avoids my original admonishment of "anyone can string together 10 nonsensical and unconnected frames and call it a day" because it's precisely 100 frames, so kudos there. It had the potential to parody both ultra-rookie fanfics and/or overly pretentious dribble if it did anything with either of those, which it really does not. Doesn't have quite the glorious badness I was hoping for, but proper badness comes in many shapes and sizes.

Conclusion: 30 seconds of My Immortal combined with 30 seconds of a Twilight Zone episode written by Grant Morrison. I actually would have been okay with a longer version of this actually going into some of its themes and whatnot (what if characters were aware that they are in a case, and isn't that horrifying?). The case certainly makes an impression for something so short, so there's that. If enigma releases this, you can speed through it in 2 minutes or less, so you might as well. I'm 86% sure that it has been stripped of harmful cognitohazardous memes.
Hey, I got through all of the cases in less than a month, even with the site constantly going down! Hooray for low bars!

Now, it's time to spend way too much time making an absurd awards ceremony. AWAY!!

I should probably also update Mr. Insane's status from "missing and presumed dead" to "missing and we're pretty sure he's dead."
What do REAL, NON-BRIBED people have to say about HTB!?
"This really changed the way I thought about Phoenix as a character. ...Wow." - Reecer6
"HTB! contains truths that might be hard to stomach, but had to be unveiled nonetheless." - Blackrune
"This deserves a best plot twist award." - Evo
"It changed my life, and it can change yours too. For the better, I mean." - Calvinball
"I will never look at Phoenix Wright the same way again" - PhoenixRises123
"omg best thing on aao" - AceAttorneyMaster111
DISCOVER THE TRUTH YOU NEVER KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW IN HTB! PROLOGUE AND PART 1, AVAILABLE NOW!!


"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
"For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." -H. L. Mencken
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Re: The Best Worst Comp Ever

Post by enigma »

a short, basic trollcase hastily thrown together at the last second and put in here to mess with me.
: ok_hand::ok_hand::ok_hand:
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