Micro Madness 2014 / [MM2014 Final] FK+Coastermind vs. inthemanual vs. Stoksy

By this point I think it's fairly obvious that all three entries are incredibly good and FK's and itm's entries are very close in quality, so I'll comment on what made the distinction for me. Time Traveler and Cavumus were both brilliant fantastical ideas that made smart use of the space. The difference for me was made in Cavumus feeling slightly more robust and well-defined. The area beneath was a little glitchy, but the river rapids was done well and the elevator area had a certain architectural charm. Time Traveler had slightly more skillfully executed architecture in my opinion, but on the hole felt a little... unclear? Not broken up, because that's obvious, but it wasn't really clear what was supposed to represent a movement in time, or place or what. It was just so far into fantasy I don't know what interpretation to attach to anything except "that's pretty".

 

So, my ultimate vote goes to inthemanual, for consistently great and original ideas mixed with solid mechanics and a pleasant style. Congrats to all three four producing entries in the final of such a stacked competition, though. This was an epic series of rounds and I'd like to do some kind of recap/rating/look-back in the near future, if I can find the time and patience.

It's hard to believe that the flickering that my map had was not as much of a factor as it was. I thought that might bring me down significantly.

Voting Closed
 
1st Place: inthemanual with 33 points
 

2nd Place: Stoksy with 7 points

 

3rd Place: FK+Coastermind with 6 points
 
Congratulations to inthemanual, champion of Micro Madness 2014!

Congratulations to inthemanual, champion of Micro Madness 2014!

 

 

great match too all .

Congrats! There were some amazing micros released during this competition... thanks to the moderators for well... moderating it and everyone that participated. It was a lot of fun.

 

And ITM, holy shit dude. You blew our minds on multiple occasions during this contest. A well deserved win.

Mala, cBass, Phatage, 5Dave, Kumba, (...), inthemanual. Yes, you're on this list now. You're the only survivor of an RCT massacre, and that's definitely not because of weak opposition. You've done really well, as did many many people, and MM once again showed to be a great contest for upcoming parkmakers Camcorder22 is no longer the default example of taking an opportunity now... Same goes for you, Stoksy. You've been around for a quite along time now, but you were always flying under the radar. I think both of you surpassed all expectations! We already knew what FK was capable of, and he didn't disappoint either. Congratulations all of you, but most of all you, inthemanual!

(I wanted to do some reviews before voting, but obviously I'm too late. My vote wouldn't have made a difference, but I still owe the three of you a review!)

can't believe you did it, and by such a margin too! 

And to think I was afraid of getting past rounds 1 and 2...

 

This contest has really surprised me. I didn't expect to grow as much as I did. I didn't expect Earl Grey to take NE by storm as it did. I was surprised that Oasis made it through wildcard, and that Sacrifice tied with 5dave. those two entries were my weakest of the contest by far, and I was nervous about submitting them, because I knew that. Hopefully, my work has surprised some of you as well.

Thanks everyone for the votes, the comments and critique. Thanks to Liam and Louis for running this contest. Thanks to everyone who participated for motivating me, and for putting up some marvelous entries to compete against.

I may be the first solo contest winner without an accolade...

YAY, WE HAVE A WINNER FROM REDDIT

In all seriousness, congratulations ITM! All those parks were wonderful.

Congratulations itm! Imagine how significantly less you would have improved if you just stayed on reddit!

This was pretty awesome to watch.

 

FK - I was disappointed by your entry. While everything was nice, it seemed way too generic. IMO, you went backwards in this with your entries getting less impressive as you went. The casino was the best and I loved the back story in everything you did.

 

Stoksy - Sorry, I know nothing about Dr. Who. I did like the bottom area for its look, but sadly any clever references were lost on me.

 

ITM - Best quality of the entries, so you got my vote. I loved the broken down train... with me dangling from it.

 

If only I had more time I could have won this... I'll take ITM on for the title of best micro maker any day

If only I had more time I could have won this... I'll take ITM on for the title of best micro maker any day

 

 

I already beat you once, I could easily do it again.

Yeah, like I went all-out for R1... I made that in 3 days.

 

That could be a good 1 on 1 tho. Kumba vs. ITM in a clash of the Micro Madness champs!

Isn't three days a pretty normal time (even a bit long) to spend on a micro?

depends on how much you play faas, i usually play in short intervals lately. i spend slightly over a week on my round 2 entry with a bit more than 20 hours spend on it

So playing more than two hours a day on average are 'short' intervals?

thinking back now it was more close to 2 weeks, probably 12 days. and i didn't have anything else to do as there was no school and all my friends were on vacation (why must my parents always choose to go in the last few weeks :/). so i'd say it's short considering i'm usually awake for 14 hours a day in summer

Cavumus and Earl Grey both took about the full 2 weeks. Some days I'd only play an hour, others I'd play 5+, but I was building on them both almost every day. Oasis took a a full 12 hour day, and Sacrifice was about 5 days of the same amount of daily work as the other two.

I can never bring myself to play more than five hours of RCT a week. And I can never really build more than two hours in a row. But I admire the dedication. 

I really enjoy just creating something. It doesn't have to be realistic or fantasy or anything, I just like putting my ideas down into a medium, and I enjoy RCT because it paints the picture I have in my head without me having to learn to be an artist. I don't need to be a painter or a writer to share my ideas with you guys, I can just build it in RCT. And I love doing that. Perhaps I spend a bit too much time on it, and take myself out of the real world a bit too much, but so what? I enjoy it.