Metaverse Maker Contest 2021 Winners & Honorable Mentions (part 1 of 2)
Hello everyone!
With the conclusion of the Metaverse Maker Contest, we're excited to bring you the winners and honorable mentions this year!
But first, everyone has done an outstanding job. The level of creativity, imagination and skills you have brought in this year has made it very difficult to pick the winners (and even the honorable mentions), particularly the World: Social and World: Game categories which were very contested this year. Even among larger number of judges (Medra, Frooxius, Probable Prime, Canadian Git and Jak Wilmot) we had to use the audience vote to break a number of ties, as everyone had their own favorites.
Whether you placed or not, you should be proud of what you've made this year and what you learned by building such amazing content - those skills and experiences are something that will stay with you forever.
Also also last, but not least, huge thanks to @Medra and rest of @Creator Jam team for their hard work organizing this whole event and bringing in the community together to create some of the best content in Neos!
During my (Frooxius') own judging, I also took lots of screenshots, since I went through every single entry (as did few other judges). If you'd like to check out my gallery of over 2000 screenshots, you can see it here! https://photos.app.goo.gl/nJe5rDM6rUDwMzuy5
So without further ado, here are the winners and honorable mentions, along with a number of screenshots and videos featuring the creator's commentary and behind the scenes (spoiler alert!).
You can also read the original announcement here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/740250/view/2944778418489926498
[h2]Awards Ceremony[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]World: Misc[/h2]
[h3]1st place - Time and Gears (by Team GHJ)[/h3]
This awe inspiring world is something that should be experienced inside of VR. Combining fantasy and steampunk elements with a great sense of scale made for a very unique experience, as the environment moves and transforms around you as you progress through it.
It made us feel as if we were heading towards a grand fantasy boss battle and the only thing it was missing was some finale when you reach the end. We would love to see more environments like this in Neos, as they utilize virtual reality to create fantastic spaces that would not be possible in real life.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - Lucaedr's Lookout (by Lucaedr & Zaravi)[/h3]
If you love stargazing, this world is for you. Beautifully atmospheric and polished, it captures the atmosphere of open night sky. It not only serves as a great hangout place, but also has educational value.
Using the in-world UI, you can visualize recent satellite launches and positions in the sky. We loved this addition for its educational / data visualization aspect and we'd love to see more like this in the future, as VR can be a powerful tool for visualizing data.
[h3]3rd place - (Unofficial) Interactive Neos Tutorial (by Constant Slerps)[/h3]
The Neos community has always been very helpful to newcomers and this world is an example of that. it builds upon systems from last year's MMC to create an interactive tutorial, where a motion captured presenter walks the user through the basics of controls inside of Neos.
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
Le Petit Prince by haja - This entry recaptures the story of the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It might not be visually polished, but its interactive storytelling is quite charming and we'd love to see more of it in the future.
Drawing Four seasons JP by Team: ginjake - A world full of beautiful art for every season of the year! It features a number of beautiful drawings and a shared folder which lets you use them to decorate your own world.
MIRROR? room by rhenium - A mirror room with a twist! It's not mirror at all, but your avatar with its motions duplicated! Ever play a baseball with yourself? The only downsite is that the world can become a bit unstable with multiple users.
[h2]World: Game[/h2]
[h3]1st place - ABANDONWARE (by VR Pokefurs)[/h3]
Abandonware is one of the few experiences that made us completely forget that we were inside of Neos. It is an incredibly well polished escape room experience that could very well be a standalone indie game. Everything from level design, PS1-style visuals, lore, audio design and gameplay is exceptional, making for one of the most unique experiences in Neos to date.
We would love to see more experiences like this to be made in the future, as building games and interactive experiences like this is one of the major things we wanted to enable with Neos VR.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - BULLET BUSTER (by GONT_3 & komashiba)[/h3]
After last year's Mogu Pani, GONT_3 & komashiba came with another unique arcade experience. This game inside of a game is a classic arcade shooter, full with motion and light effects. Playing a 3D game in VR this way gives it a very unique old school feel as you fight to top the high score.
[h3]3rd place - Aerial Guardian (by rhenium)[/h3]
Aerial Guardian is one of the most ambitious games of this year. Featuring a selection of unique weapons, shopping phase, you'll fight waves of different enemies, either alone of with your friends, as they attack the city in the sky.
The game features a number of different enemies, with different attacks, strengths and weaknesses. Not only that, but it comes with a level editor, which allows you to build your own levels and easily configure the enemy waves.
We would love to see this game optimized more and perhaps add mechanisms to make each weapon a bit more engaging, as they can turn a bit monotonous after a while. Regardless it's a great experience to play with your friends!
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
GunnGame by Team: GunnOS - a fast paced shooter game that really nailed down the gameplay. It's fun and exciting to play, with a number of different weapons and dash mechanic. With some extra polish and bugfixes it could be one of the entries that people will keep revisiting whenever they're looking for a fun group game.
MMC Hide & Seek 2021 by Shorty, Vigilabo, dmx - a great game for a larger group of people, with a selection of maps with some secrets. It does what it says on the tin - people are split into two groups - hiders and seekers. Hiders must stay hidden, seekers must find everyone.
[Quest] Infiltrate The Dark Lord's Castle! by ♥️ Froppy ♥️ & toydragon - this game entry is first of its kind - an ambitious adventure game with cutscenes, secrets, two boss battles and number of unique puzzles. It has a number of glitches and some parts go on for a bit too long, but it's still an incredible achievement and hopefully first of many games of this kind!
[h2]World: Social[/h2]
[h3]1st place - Rocky Retreat (by Team VibeZ)[/h3]
Winning 1st place in the world - social category for the second time is the Team VibeZ with the Rocky Retreat. Not only is this world one of the most visually beautiful places in Neos, but also imbued with interactivity in every corner.
You can feed the fish, make a coffee, tea or eat some tasty treats. If you hold your hand, you'll have butterflies land on your finger - but don't use it to poke the carnivorous plants! In the spirit of green energy, you also have to recycle everything you use, rather than simply deleting them, adding to the world's immersion.
Compared to the last year's entry, this one is also significantly more optimized, making it much easier to hang out with a group of people and enjoy the beauty of this world.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - The Hole In The Wall (by Kulza)[/h3]
Made by just a single person, this entry showcased that you don't need an entire team to build something great. This world makes great use of scale inside of VR, creating a hangout place that's unlike any other.
Everything in this place is built around the scale - seats are deformed electric plugs, cups and tables are pieces of legos, lights are christmas lights, the TV is a phone embedded in the wall and music is provided by a giant casette player, with physical buttons and swappable tapes. We definitenly recommend checking this place out!
[h3]3rd place - Rave Cave (by Hardlight)[/h3]
Another beautiful and creative world, filled with creativity in every corner. Combining the cavern aesthethic with glowing crystals, this place features a waterslide, underwater part (with a secret area!), dance floor and social area.
A prominent feature is also the DJ balcony, which has a system for playing music and controlling/syncing a laser show on the dance floor. This has a number of options and features. The world also has interesting lore behind it, with every contributor being featured in a form of a small story.
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
Neon Den by Team: Hedgedogs - an incredibly polished hangout world. Set in a beautiful futuristic setting, it features a smart multimedia screen, adjustable lighting and colors, cozy pod with optional mirrors and baked lighting, giving it a very polished look.
The Metaverse Hotel by Team: TBA - probably the most ambitious entry, this world is brimming with content, from a number of places to check out with some interactivity, to a number of games, like paintball, bumpercars and ring punching game. Unfortunatelly its ambition has been one of its weaknesses too as a lot of parts are not quite finished or buggy, but it's still an incredibly impressive place to check out and we hope it'll get some extra polish after the MMC
Umi ga mieru Ryoakan by Team: haruru806 - if you're fond of the traditional Japanese hotels, this place if for you. It is quite cozy and nicely polished, with a number of interactive elements.
[h2]Avatar: Avatars[/h2]
[h3]1st place - Gunnbot (by Gunnar)[/h3]
Created for one of the game submissions, Gunnbot is a nice customizable avatar, allowing you to not only customize the colors, but also swap the head type. It features dash functionality as well, which is quite fun to use on its own.
Once you customize it, you can save your settings on a small memory card. When inserted into another bot (for example in the GunnGame) it'll load up your customizations, but the avatar itself can be used standalone as well.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - False Goddess (by PurpleJuice)[/h3]
Returning for the 2nd year, PurpleJuice has come up with another creative avatar this year, with perfect theme for Halloween. This avatar was made completely from scratch in the span of 1 month and features support for both eye tracking and face tracking.
However those are where its unique aspect also shows - the eye and mouth are on the hands! You can see your own facial expressions by simply looking at your palm. Other users can hear your voice coming from the hand as well. The avatar also features another unique function - you can actually see from the eye in the hand!
[h3]3rd place - leech avatar (by levia)[/h3]
This is one of the most unique, even if quite disturbing avatars we've seen. It has a very appropriate presentation, where you pull the leech out of a jar. The avatar has a unique locomotion as well, which allows you to attach to moving objects in the world and even other avatars. To make it even more disturbing, the leach will undulate and slowly engorge itself when attached. We would love to see more non-conventional thinking with avatars like this.
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
AstraVinn by HybridKyth & Ralii - another avatar made in the timespan of a single month! This world also features the whole progression, from initial sketches to the final model. If you're shopping for a new avatar base, check this one out.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/740250/view/4626878047731226655
With the conclusion of the Metaverse Maker Contest, we're excited to bring you the winners and honorable mentions this year!
But first, everyone has done an outstanding job. The level of creativity, imagination and skills you have brought in this year has made it very difficult to pick the winners (and even the honorable mentions), particularly the World: Social and World: Game categories which were very contested this year. Even among larger number of judges (Medra, Frooxius, Probable Prime, Canadian Git and Jak Wilmot) we had to use the audience vote to break a number of ties, as everyone had their own favorites.
Whether you placed or not, you should be proud of what you've made this year and what you learned by building such amazing content - those skills and experiences are something that will stay with you forever.
Also also last, but not least, huge thanks to @Medra and rest of @Creator Jam team for their hard work organizing this whole event and bringing in the community together to create some of the best content in Neos!
During my (Frooxius') own judging, I also took lots of screenshots, since I went through every single entry (as did few other judges). If you'd like to check out my gallery of over 2000 screenshots, you can see it here! https://photos.app.goo.gl/nJe5rDM6rUDwMzuy5
So without further ado, here are the winners and honorable mentions, along with a number of screenshots and videos featuring the creator's commentary and behind the scenes (spoiler alert!).
You can also read the original announcement here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/740250/view/2944778418489926498
[h2]Awards Ceremony[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]World: Misc[/h2]
[h3]1st place - Time and Gears (by Team GHJ)[/h3]
This awe inspiring world is something that should be experienced inside of VR. Combining fantasy and steampunk elements with a great sense of scale made for a very unique experience, as the environment moves and transforms around you as you progress through it.
It made us feel as if we were heading towards a grand fantasy boss battle and the only thing it was missing was some finale when you reach the end. We would love to see more environments like this in Neos, as they utilize virtual reality to create fantastic spaces that would not be possible in real life.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - Lucaedr's Lookout (by Lucaedr & Zaravi)[/h3]
If you love stargazing, this world is for you. Beautifully atmospheric and polished, it captures the atmosphere of open night sky. It not only serves as a great hangout place, but also has educational value.
Using the in-world UI, you can visualize recent satellite launches and positions in the sky. We loved this addition for its educational / data visualization aspect and we'd love to see more like this in the future, as VR can be a powerful tool for visualizing data.
[h3]3rd place - (Unofficial) Interactive Neos Tutorial (by Constant Slerps)[/h3]
The Neos community has always been very helpful to newcomers and this world is an example of that. it builds upon systems from last year's MMC to create an interactive tutorial, where a motion captured presenter walks the user through the basics of controls inside of Neos.
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
Le Petit Prince by haja - This entry recaptures the story of the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It might not be visually polished, but its interactive storytelling is quite charming and we'd love to see more of it in the future.
Drawing Four seasons JP by Team: ginjake - A world full of beautiful art for every season of the year! It features a number of beautiful drawings and a shared folder which lets you use them to decorate your own world.
MIRROR? room by rhenium - A mirror room with a twist! It's not mirror at all, but your avatar with its motions duplicated! Ever play a baseball with yourself? The only downsite is that the world can become a bit unstable with multiple users.
[h2]World: Game[/h2]
[h3]1st place - ABANDONWARE (by VR Pokefurs)[/h3]
Abandonware is one of the few experiences that made us completely forget that we were inside of Neos. It is an incredibly well polished escape room experience that could very well be a standalone indie game. Everything from level design, PS1-style visuals, lore, audio design and gameplay is exceptional, making for one of the most unique experiences in Neos to date.
We would love to see more experiences like this to be made in the future, as building games and interactive experiences like this is one of the major things we wanted to enable with Neos VR.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - BULLET BUSTER (by GONT_3 & komashiba)[/h3]
After last year's Mogu Pani, GONT_3 & komashiba came with another unique arcade experience. This game inside of a game is a classic arcade shooter, full with motion and light effects. Playing a 3D game in VR this way gives it a very unique old school feel as you fight to top the high score.
[h3]3rd place - Aerial Guardian (by rhenium)[/h3]
Aerial Guardian is one of the most ambitious games of this year. Featuring a selection of unique weapons, shopping phase, you'll fight waves of different enemies, either alone of with your friends, as they attack the city in the sky.
The game features a number of different enemies, with different attacks, strengths and weaknesses. Not only that, but it comes with a level editor, which allows you to build your own levels and easily configure the enemy waves.
We would love to see this game optimized more and perhaps add mechanisms to make each weapon a bit more engaging, as they can turn a bit monotonous after a while. Regardless it's a great experience to play with your friends!
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
GunnGame by Team: GunnOS - a fast paced shooter game that really nailed down the gameplay. It's fun and exciting to play, with a number of different weapons and dash mechanic. With some extra polish and bugfixes it could be one of the entries that people will keep revisiting whenever they're looking for a fun group game.
MMC Hide & Seek 2021 by Shorty, Vigilabo, dmx - a great game for a larger group of people, with a selection of maps with some secrets. It does what it says on the tin - people are split into two groups - hiders and seekers. Hiders must stay hidden, seekers must find everyone.
[Quest] Infiltrate The Dark Lord's Castle! by ♥️ Froppy ♥️ & toydragon - this game entry is first of its kind - an ambitious adventure game with cutscenes, secrets, two boss battles and number of unique puzzles. It has a number of glitches and some parts go on for a bit too long, but it's still an incredible achievement and hopefully first of many games of this kind!
[h2]World: Social[/h2]
[h3]1st place - Rocky Retreat (by Team VibeZ)[/h3]
Winning 1st place in the world - social category for the second time is the Team VibeZ with the Rocky Retreat. Not only is this world one of the most visually beautiful places in Neos, but also imbued with interactivity in every corner.
You can feed the fish, make a coffee, tea or eat some tasty treats. If you hold your hand, you'll have butterflies land on your finger - but don't use it to poke the carnivorous plants! In the spirit of green energy, you also have to recycle everything you use, rather than simply deleting them, adding to the world's immersion.
Compared to the last year's entry, this one is also significantly more optimized, making it much easier to hang out with a group of people and enjoy the beauty of this world.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - The Hole In The Wall (by Kulza)[/h3]
Made by just a single person, this entry showcased that you don't need an entire team to build something great. This world makes great use of scale inside of VR, creating a hangout place that's unlike any other.
Everything in this place is built around the scale - seats are deformed electric plugs, cups and tables are pieces of legos, lights are christmas lights, the TV is a phone embedded in the wall and music is provided by a giant casette player, with physical buttons and swappable tapes. We definitenly recommend checking this place out!
[h3]3rd place - Rave Cave (by Hardlight)[/h3]
Another beautiful and creative world, filled with creativity in every corner. Combining the cavern aesthethic with glowing crystals, this place features a waterslide, underwater part (with a secret area!), dance floor and social area.
A prominent feature is also the DJ balcony, which has a system for playing music and controlling/syncing a laser show on the dance floor. This has a number of options and features. The world also has interesting lore behind it, with every contributor being featured in a form of a small story.
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
Neon Den by Team: Hedgedogs - an incredibly polished hangout world. Set in a beautiful futuristic setting, it features a smart multimedia screen, adjustable lighting and colors, cozy pod with optional mirrors and baked lighting, giving it a very polished look.
The Metaverse Hotel by Team: TBA - probably the most ambitious entry, this world is brimming with content, from a number of places to check out with some interactivity, to a number of games, like paintball, bumpercars and ring punching game. Unfortunatelly its ambition has been one of its weaknesses too as a lot of parts are not quite finished or buggy, but it's still an incredibly impressive place to check out and we hope it'll get some extra polish after the MMC
Umi ga mieru Ryoakan by Team: haruru806 - if you're fond of the traditional Japanese hotels, this place if for you. It is quite cozy and nicely polished, with a number of interactive elements.
[h2]Avatar: Avatars[/h2]
[h3]1st place - Gunnbot (by Gunnar)[/h3]
Created for one of the game submissions, Gunnbot is a nice customizable avatar, allowing you to not only customize the colors, but also swap the head type. It features dash functionality as well, which is quite fun to use on its own.
Once you customize it, you can save your settings on a small memory card. When inserted into another bot (for example in the GunnGame) it'll load up your customizations, but the avatar itself can be used standalone as well.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]2nd place - False Goddess (by PurpleJuice)[/h3]
Returning for the 2nd year, PurpleJuice has come up with another creative avatar this year, with perfect theme for Halloween. This avatar was made completely from scratch in the span of 1 month and features support for both eye tracking and face tracking.
However those are where its unique aspect also shows - the eye and mouth are on the hands! You can see your own facial expressions by simply looking at your palm. Other users can hear your voice coming from the hand as well. The avatar also features another unique function - you can actually see from the eye in the hand!
[h3]3rd place - leech avatar (by levia)[/h3]
This is one of the most unique, even if quite disturbing avatars we've seen. It has a very appropriate presentation, where you pull the leech out of a jar. The avatar has a unique locomotion as well, which allows you to attach to moving objects in the world and even other avatars. To make it even more disturbing, the leach will undulate and slowly engorge itself when attached. We would love to see more non-conventional thinking with avatars like this.
[h3]Honorable mentions[/h3]
AstraVinn by HybridKyth & Ralii - another avatar made in the timespan of a single month! This world also features the whole progression, from initial sketches to the final model. If you're shopping for a new avatar base, check this one out.
Continue to part 2
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/740250/view/4626878047731226655