Silent Protagonist Contest - Results!
The votes have been counted! It didn't take very long.
The winner of the Silent Protagonist Contest is...
(There would be a drumroll here but silence is more appropriate)
redink1 with Cast Awakening Part 5: Revolution
See the comments for more details.
In second place, with one vote, comes megadogV2's Silence, closely followed by Dinkgon Warrior by CocoMonkey and MsDink.
Only one voter made any comments on their choice. They shall remain not very anonymous:
For me, the start of Silence felt really special. I thought I knew what was going to happen, and then the drill happened and almost came out a bit worse. The proceeding parts were also good, and felt polished for a first-time entry, but it started feeling less special as time went on (collecting gold for the house started to feel like a chore), and it ended too soon.
It took me a few tries to get into Dinkgon Warrior (I really didn't care for the combat system at all, even playing it in 2000 mode), but once I got into it, I started having some fun. Killing enemies, running back to town, upgrading weapons. The feedback for the combat sequences wasn't great (it didn't 'feel' like combat, even turn-based old-school combat). It was like the opposite of Silence (which I loved at first, but that diminished a bit the more I played it, where Dinkgon Warrior I hated at first, and started to like it the more I played it)
But, overall, Silence fit the spirit of the contest better than Dinkgon Warrior, and that intro and the world it started to build... wow.
The winner of the Silent Protagonist Contest is...
(There would be a drumroll here but silence is more appropriate)
redink1 with Cast Awakening Part 5: Revolution
See the comments for more details.
In second place, with one vote, comes megadogV2's Silence, closely followed by Dinkgon Warrior by CocoMonkey and MsDink.
Only one voter made any comments on their choice. They shall remain not very anonymous:
For me, the start of Silence felt really special. I thought I knew what was going to happen, and then the drill happened and almost came out a bit worse. The proceeding parts were also good, and felt polished for a first-time entry, but it started feeling less special as time went on (collecting gold for the house started to feel like a chore), and it ended too soon.
It took me a few tries to get into Dinkgon Warrior (I really didn't care for the combat system at all, even playing it in 2000 mode), but once I got into it, I started having some fun. Killing enemies, running back to town, upgrading weapons. The feedback for the combat sequences wasn't great (it didn't 'feel' like combat, even turn-based old-school combat). It was like the opposite of Silence (which I loved at first, but that diminished a bit the more I played it, where Dinkgon Warrior I hated at first, and started to like it the more I played it)
But, overall, Silence fit the spirit of the contest better than Dinkgon Warrior, and that intro and the world it started to build... wow.
So I guess redink1 receives a prize he's probably already got?
Congrats Dan. I loved Revolution. It was a lot of fun, and a technical marvel. I never thought I'd see a roguelike-type game in Dink, but I always hoped I would.
Too bad I didn't enter. I actually feel like my D-Mod would've had a chance to win, especially when it came to the silent protagonist part. xD
Congratulations, Redink! Great to see you're back into creating D-Mods. Although I must say Redink winning wasn't that big of a surprise.
Congratulations, Redink! Great to see you're back into creating D-Mods. Although I must say Redink winning wasn't that big of a surprise.

Yep! Congratulations to all entrants. I'm happy to see a successful contest in my time on here.
I'm still fighting my way through Revolution and Dinkgon Warrior, after which I'll play Silence. And hopefully, I'll write at least a short review for each of them.
Too bad I didn't enter. I actually feel like my D-Mod would've had a chance to win, especially when it came to the silent protagonist part. xD
It's not too late to release that DMOD anyways, is it?

I'm still fighting my way through Revolution and Dinkgon Warrior, after which I'll play Silence. And hopefully, I'll write at least a short review for each of them.
Too bad I didn't enter. I actually feel like my D-Mod would've had a chance to win, especially when it came to the silent protagonist part. xD
It's not too late to release that DMOD anyways, is it?

Man, it's nice to know that the bits I actually liked about Silence were the bits that got it the vote. Looks like I will be reworking it after all.
Played through Silence. I agree with redink1 about the premise being quite neat, and I also liked how involved the NPCs felt, actively helping you out and showing interest in your predicament, rather than just being a bunch of commoners holed inside their houses for the hero to blaze by.
It felt like the work of a mature writer, but an amateur dmodder. (Imogen changes into Dink when pushing after loading a save, annoying screenlocks, other minor things...) Nothing highly compain-worthy, though, besides a single freeze bug.
(When you talk to the farmer and don't have enough gold)
It felt like the work of a mature writer, but an amateur dmodder. (Imogen changes into Dink when pushing after loading a save, annoying screenlocks, other minor things...) Nothing highly compain-worthy, though, besides a single freeze bug.

Still, those are things worthy of fixing. The feedback is more than appreciated.
I actually felt rather disappointed at uninvolved the librarian is, but I really just needed the library to be there, so she didn't do much.
I will release a new version soon with some of the bugs fixed, and will hopefully release another version latter with the original planned ending, rather than the cop-out last minute thing I did just to get the game under time and screen constraints.
I actually felt rather disappointed at uninvolved the librarian is, but I really just needed the library to be there, so she didn't do much.
I will release a new version soon with some of the bugs fixed, and will hopefully release another version latter with the original planned ending, rather than the cop-out last minute thing I did just to get the game under time and screen constraints.
Thanks guys! I'm glad everyone liked it. And with playing through the other entries, I think this is one of the few (maybe the only?) contests where each entry was pretty darn good.
I think this is my first contest win (the only other D-Mod contest I entered was the Alternative Hero contest, where Cycles of Evil deservedly lost to Lyna's Story). I was kind of hoping Paul would enter so I could face-off with him again, but ah well
I think this is my first contest win (the only other D-Mod contest I entered was the Alternative Hero contest, where Cycles of Evil deservedly lost to Lyna's Story). I was kind of hoping Paul would enter so I could face-off with him again, but ah well

I thought "Silence" used the theme most accurately, but what was bizarre was that the main character was able to be perfectly understood by literally every other character despite having her tongue ripped out.
There was never any ambiguity or misunderstanding encountered in any interaction, and you never had to work towards being understood in any circumstance. It was almost as if everyone was telepathic.
There was never any ambiguity or misunderstanding encountered in any interaction, and you never had to work towards being understood in any circumstance. It was almost as if everyone was telepathic.