2006 PGD Annual 'The Big Boss' Competition

[savage]

Good Luck everyone!!

[michalis]

I didn't make it into 2005 Dogfight competition, and I was waiting for 2006 competition announcement eagerly. Great theme, I'm definitely thinking of joining the fun !

1. One question : It was already mentioned that obviously you cannot join the competition if you already have a finished game of matching kind (since the competition is about making the game within the specified time frame). On the other hand, it's obvious that we're allowed to use some of our own codebase in our game.

Now, my problem is that I already have a working VRML + OpenGL + OpenAL ObjectPascal engine (see my WWW page if anyone is interested), with octree, collision detection etc. It's open source, and I'm working on it heavily (planning to move development to sourceforge this year). There are many things that still need to be added, but basically this is already a working game engine... Of course I would like to use it for my competition entry. Is it acceptable ?

I mean, looking at outlined stages, I have already a lot of the work done for Stage 2 ("Get A Working Game Engine") and Stage 3 ("Improve Your Game Engine"). Is it fair for me to join the competition using my engine ?

(Well, it's open-source so anyone else is also welcome to take and use my engine... But I'm not sure does it make chances equal

2. The only thing that got me a little disappointed about 2006 competition details is that you don't require the game to be open-source. I mean, I *liked very much* the fact that 2005 competition required everyone to publish their sources.

Any chances of at least giving some "bonus points" for people kind enough to show their sources ?

[AthenaOfDelphi]

[size=18px]Good luck to everyone taking part in the competition[/size] :-)

Just to chip in on michalis's closing comment about bonus points for those who open the source to their competition entries... I don't agree at all, there should be no incentives to provide the source code.

Some people taking part are possibly trying to make a living developing games (certainly, I'd like to be in a position to quit my day job and make games full time). Giving the source code away could effectively rule out any chance they had of making money from their efforts and as such, it should be entirely up to the project team.

The competition should have no bonuses for those who do. To give bonuses to those entries that open their source would be unfair to those of us who may wish to keep our source closed for commercial reasons.

Just my two penneth.

[WILL]

ok ladies and gents, the deadlines and goals are now released!

Good luck everyone, I know we are in for some great games this year.

Here they are, just in case you are having problems with viewing the details page.

<h3>The Stages:</h3>

<u>Stage 1</u> (1 week): Jan 15th - Jan 21st

Planning stage! Plan your game, your engine, level editor and your initial project deadlines, resources, etc...

<u>Stage 2</u> (3 weeks): Jan 22nd - Feb 11th

Goal #1 (5 Points) - Make a basic playable game engine.
Goal #2 (5 Points) - Make a basic level editor.
Goal #3 (5 Points) - Create a simple level with editor to test (and show off) the engine features.
Goal #4 (5 Points) - Include a basic documentation of user controls.

<u>Stage 3</u> (3 weeks): Feb 12th - Mar 4th

Goal #1 (5 Points) - Add basic enemies to game engine.
Goal #2 (5 Points) - Add player pick-up items/weapons to engine.
Goal #3 (5 Points) - Design a better level to test out new features.
Goal #4 (5 Points) - Provide an \'exit\' for the level.

<u>Stage 4</u> (3 weeks): Mar 5th - Mar 25th


Goal #1 (10 Points) - Add a boss to your level that you fight to finish the level.
Goal #2 (10 Points) - Basic \'game over\' death sequence. Player must be able to die.

<u>Stage 5</u> (3 weeks): Mar 26th - Apr 15th

Goal #1 (10 Points) - Engine must allow you to play more than one level per play. Design a minimum of 2 levels to be played by optional selection or in sequence.
Goal #2 (10 Points) - Add basic menus, game options and settings.

<u>Stage 6</u> (3 weeks): Apr 16th - May 7th

The last run for it!

Add to your game any way you like,the final result must have:

Goal #1 (2.5 Points) - Create a min. of 3 playable levels.
Goal #2 (2.5 Points) - Add game music and sound effects.
Goal #3 (2.5 Points) - Have a game splash screen showing your game\'s title.
Goal #4 (2.5 Points) - Add an in-game list of credits listing all involved of it\'s development.
Goal #5 (2.5 Points) - Have a minimum of 2 mini-bosses you must fight in the game.
Goal #6 (2.5 Points) - Have a minimum of at least 1 kind of enemy per level.
Goal #7 (2.5 Points) - Add an ending sequence of some kind.
Goal #8 (2.5 Points) - Add and design The Big Boss at the end of your game that is tougher than the mini-bosses.

[michalis]

Goal #2 (5 Points) - Make a basic level editor.

What if I consider some external program to be my level editor ?

For example, for me, the level editor (and monster editor, and everything 3D...) is Blender. I export to VRML from Blender, then usually process it with some sed and emacs-lisp scripts, but basically 95% of a work on a level would be working in Blender.

[Shirson]

What if I consider some external program to be my level editor ?

Yeah, good question.
I'm use Visio with my macros, for export Visio-data into special format.

[WILL]

Hmm... well sure I guess to make your 3D virtual world you'd need a 3D app to design it, but what aout scripted objects, enemies and your boss and other in-level events. You're gonna need something to design those, right?

That tool/app is what it refers to.

[Paulius]

How strict are the deadlines? Like say GUI in stage 5, can it be done before, can in change in the next phase?

[Traveler]

I guess it officially now. The competition has started.

I was wondering, what do you define as a basic level editor and game engine.

[FNX]

Hi, happy compo to everyone!

About me, I'm going to use Tilestudio as engine so I have the same
problem about the level editor deadline. What about that?

Thanx