ZX Online Awards 2022 - Results
Event Dates
The event was held from January 4 to January 22, 2022. All ZX Spectrum games released in 2021 were eligible to participate.
Voting has been open from February 3 to February 17, 2022.
Aims and Ideas of the Event
- To give ZX Spectrum fans an opportunity to evaluate all games which were released in 2021, including those which did not become widely known for one reason or another
- Identify hidden features of games (“diamonds”) that are difficult or impossible to identify when voting by an average score
- Allow authors to get massive feedback on their products
- Increase the popularity of authors and their products among retro platform fans
Voting and results calculation
Game authors provided brief information about the games they would like to submit for the contest. ALL 33 games submitted were accepted since pre-filtering the games would be contrary to the idea of the contest. The authors also provided (for the period of the contest) a full version of their games to run in an online emulator with a blocked download option.
The games were put up in blocks of three each day of voting so that players had a chance to examine each game in detail. It was possible to play either in the online emulator or by downloading the game from its official page. After reviewing, each user had to post scores based on various criteria.
The contest jury used a special algorithm to determine the winners in each category. Additionally, four special nominations were introduced.
Awards
The winners of the games, who took 1,2,3, or 4 places in any of the categories were awarded ZX Online Award diplomas in electronic form. The winners of 1st, 2nd, and special nominations received small money awards.
We thanks to
Our partners:
- Evgeny Sukhomlin (aka Sinc LAIR) and his channel Sinc LAIR, covered the games and participated in the organization of the contest.
- Black Cat / ERA CG and his channel Videogames Sematary, who streamed all the games in new blocks every day.
- Nikolai Zapolnov (Drunk Fly), provided invaluable technical assistance in preparing the software tools.
- Sanchez Crew, all the members of which took part in preparing and running the contest.
- Mikhail Sudakov and Идеальный Пиксель (“The Perfect Pixel”) website for informational support.
All the authors who sent their games for public viewing.
And of course, the players, ZX Spectrum fans who spent some time to load, play, and leave their opinions on the games.
Thank you, friends!
Winners of the ZX Online Awards 2022
Nomination: Best Graphics
#1 Shovel Adventure
#2 Duck Tales - Webby to the Rescue
#3 TokiMal
#4 The Doom of the Pond
#5 S.O.L.O.
Nomination: Best Animation
#1 Nothing
#2 Metamorphosis
#3 TokiMal
#4 Shovel Adventure
#5 Duck Tales - Webby to the Rescue
Nomination: Best Music
#1 Astro Phobos
#2 S.O.L.O.
#3 Shovel Adventure
#4 The Humans
#5 Dark Transit II
Nomination: Best Sound Effects
#1 Space Racing
#2 Shovel Adventure
#3 Astro Phobos
#4 Dark Transit II
#5 TokiMal
Nomination: Best Storyline
#1 The Doom of the Pond
#2 Organic Matter
#3 Italia 1944
#4 The Swarm is Coming...
#5 Virgil's Purgatory
Nomination: Best Humor
#1 Organic Matter
#2 Virgil's Purgatory
#3 Nothing
#4 The Humans
#5 Shovel Adventure
Nomination: Most Addictive Game
#1 Cyclus
#2 Tardigrade
#3 The Swarm is Coming...
#4 Organic Matter
#5 Duck Tales - Webby to the Rescue
Nomination: Most Novelty Game
#1 Tardigrade
#2 Italia 1944
#3 Organic Matter
#4 Nothing
#5 Metamorphosis
Special Awards
Nomination: Best Casual Game
AntEater
Nomination: Best Well-polished Classics
Project: RE.VE.LA.TION
Nomination: Best Mechanics-Rich Game
The Swarm is Coming...
Nomination: Best Text Adventure Game
El experimento
Finally, in case you’re wondering, here’s how the games are ranked in order of their average scores. We’re not awarding games by this criterion this year, but we will consider it as a possible nomination for future contests.
Average game scores (in descending order)
| # | Game Title |
|---|---|
| #1 | Nothing |
| #2 | Shovel Adventure |
| #3 | TokiMal |
| #4 | Cyclus |
| #5 | Metamorphosis |
| #6 | The Swarm is Coming... |
| #7 | Duck Tales - Webby to the Rescue |
| #8 | S.O.L.O. |
| #9 | Virgil's Purgatory |
| #10 | Italia 1944 |
| #11 | Astro Phobos |
| #12 | Space Racing |
| #13 | The Doom of the Pond |
| #14 | Hallowed Knight |
| #15 | Black Sea |
| #16 | The Humans |
| #17 | Tardigrade |
| #18 | Organic Matter |
| #19 | Paleto Jones |
| #20 | Dark Transit II |
| #21 | AntEater |
| #22 | TJ's Cavern Capers 128 |
| #23 | Project: RE.VE.LA.TION |
| #24 | Yopparai Sarariiman!! |
| #25 | Forward to the Past |
| #26 | Connect4 |
| #27 | Mega Manic Mulholland |
| #28 | Dark Transit |
| #29 | El experimento |
| #30 | Farila y los duendes del frío |
| #31 | The Typing of the Spec |
| #32 | 10 Miglia |
| #33 | Hard As Nailz |
