Is everybody ready for a new PGD Challenge?

[WILL]

So is everybody ready for another exciting PGD Challenge? Is it too soon after the Ludum Dare 22? Is your rig not setup yet? Too close to Christmas; Latest gift going to take over instead? Is this actually the perfect time while you have some time off?

Sadly I am not going to do another PGD Annual like I mentioned for November, there just wasn't enough time to organize it. Further to that the use of the brand "Annual" doesn't fit as it's not possible to run a yearly competition like that with full sponsorship and a only one guy organizing things. Such an endeavor is the task for a small team at least.

Maybe sometime in the future I'll get a small group together to organize a prize winning compo, but for now we have the PGD Challenge. :)

Same idea as before only I'm giving a full month for this one since it is close to Christmas and I know what a new game as a gift would mean for your free time. ;) Also with the theme that I have already picked out, I feel it's the right amount of time to get the game mechanics right. What's the theme? You'll have to wait and see. :D

I'm hoping for a late December or early January start. Is this too soon? Or is it the perfect time? I'd like to hear from you all.

[Daikrys]

for me the perfect time would be after 27. of december
but since i take some days to think through my idea it wouldnt even hurt if you start it this week :)

[WILL]

It won't be this week. It'll be after xmas. :)

[Ñuño Martínez]

Not the best time for me but I'll join and try it again.

[Traveler]

Like I said in a different thread, I probably wont be participating. I already have a project I'm working and I do not have time to add another.

[Stoney]

I would like to participate in the PGD Challenge.
End of December/Early January seems, but January is already kinda full for me with Global Game Jam and some work-related stuff.

But my track record of actually finishing a game isn't too good those days.

[AirPas]

i think its ok .and i predict good news will appear in the next year about delphi and PGD

but any idea about the theme ?

[WILL]

Oh I know exactly what the theme is, but I'm not telling until the start announcement. ;)

Good things are happening for Object Pascal as a whole. New compilers to work on the new platforms and existing ones we've been asking for for ages. Libraries and API are getting better. New game engines are popping up all over too. This old girl ain't gone on us yet boys and girls. ;)

[SilverWarior]

It isn't the best time for me. I was hopping to finish one off my projects (program suited for making continuous graphics), but since development almost halted on it I'm afraid that it will take too much time for me to finish it so don't wait for me. I will try to finish it til next PGD competition.
Anayway ff the teme would seem sutiable for me I'll definitly join up.

[WILL]

I think the theme will be approachable by most. It might take some creative thinking, but it doesn't require the most polished graphics or advanced techniques. However if you can do that, that's great. :)

Unlike the gigantic PGD Annuals we did, the PGD Challenge is meant to be a much smaller task or "challenge" where even a partially completed game has a chance to stand out. And fun too. Not that the big compos weren't, but these you can start em and leave em if you don't want to stick it out with a long project.

[paul_nicholls]

Not sure if I will join this time. Since I have gotten the Pascal Gamer Magazine article out of the way, I really really really should concentrate on The Probe again for a while since I have gotten it to a much better point now (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/showthread.php?5877-The-Probe&p=80051&viewfull=1#post80051)...and I want to fix it up more :)

[WILL]

Well it's coming boys and girls! :) (Well mostly boys I guess...)

In 2 weeks we are going to start the next PGD Challenge with a brand new theme. As promised it will be simple, yet fun for creating ideas for. The development period will last about 3 weeks, plus a weekend to wrap things up. All are welcome to participate.

We have 2 judges for this one and we will have their specs by the time the big starting day announcement will be posted.

Start spreading the word and getting all your Pascal programming buddies involved. Last year we ran the first and it was really successful and I hope to repeat the same. All those that said they wouldn't want to miss another competition this is it. Entries don't have to be fully complete or polished to commercial standard, just playable and follow the theme. Scoring will be just the same as the first and bonus points will be included for those willing to do a little extra. Unlike last time however, they will not tip the scales as much as they did last time. We've learned our lesson. ;) But they will give a few extra points to reward the extra effort.

The plan is for competition start to kick-off on the 30th of March which is a Friday. You will then have 3 weeks and a weekend to finish your game entries.

It's going to be fun. There is lots of possibilities from the theme I've picked and I hope you will have fun with it. :)

Also I'm planning on adding a new potential platform thanks to the release of Smart Mobile Studio and the availability of HTML5 and JavaScript in most current day browsers. How these will be submitted will need to be figured out exactly, but we plan to have the final word on that before the start date of the challenge.

[arthurprs]

I'm absent for a long time, but I was wondering if it's a good idea... Let's get a good theme and open the competiton to everybody: Html5, C++, Lua, C# and all

[Eric]

The plan is for competition start to kick-off on the 30th of March which is a Friday. You will then have 3 weeks and a weekend to finish your game entries.
Great! I'll try to find time to enter (esp. if HTML5 is allowed and there is no need for a complete entry ;))

[SilverWarior]

Let's get a good theme and open the competiton to everybody: Html5, C++, Lua, C# and all

Personally I don't agree with this idea. We are Pascal Game comunity so our job is to promote Pascal and not other programing languages. Html5 is an exception becouse Smart Mobile Studio is capable of converting Pascal language directly into Html5. This means that the game will be made in Pascal in the first place.
Anywhay if you perfer other programing language for game develpment there are several other competitions throughout the year wich alows participation for all programing languages.
Let's face it there are many more games made in other programing language than in Pascal. So if we won't continue promoting Pascal Game development it will most likely come to the point where pascal would be used only for buisniess applications. Infact several years ago pepole have already been talking about pascal just as an programing language for buisniess application development. And without PGD and similar other comunities it would stay the same.

[WILL]

These are things people have been foolishly saying about Pascal for years. I bare them no significance. Pascal game programming is a staple that will remain for years. We would just all like it to grow more over time of course. :)

I think this can and will happen through education, exposure and great development tools for the many advanced Pascal languages that are out there now.

And since this is a competition for Pascal programmers/developers this should help cover the exposure part pretty well and maybe/hopefully the education part in the spirit of sharing source and/or techniques used in making your games.

I'm sure I don't need to say that a Pascal-based language is a must for this competition. ;) Though the end result can be Java byte-code or HTML5/JavaScript as long as the tools that allow you to generate the game in these interpreted platforms are used. Namely Smart Mobile Studio (aka Object Pascal for JavaScript) and Oxygene for Java.

I've also informed Dr. Norman Morrison and his students from his school program and some of them should be interested in taking part as well. Fresh minds with new ideas.

I'm hoping to do these mini competition more frequently too.

[WILL]

Great! I'll try to find time to enter (esp. if HTML5 is allowed and there is no need for a complete entry ;))

I should note that you SHOULD be starting a new game project for your entry as that is the spirit of this competition. It doesn't mean you have to start everything from scratch, but your game project should start at the beginning of the start date and not simply be a re-purposed old project of yours.

Transfering or reusing some older, proven code from other projects is of course ok.

[code_glitch]

Just give me a time and date. My codebase is finally looking up once I fix up a few issues with the current game 'kernel' I'm kicking. I'm retracting from a compiled game to more of a execution shell that runs scripts that constitute the game itself. The twist behind this, is that the scripts are self modifying (unique gameplay anybody? :)). Not to mention, that for 'updates' to a game, its only a case of patching the game files, not a new installation XD. Its still VERY experimental, and I might put up some screenshots of the proof of concept prototype later on my blog if there is any interest.

[paul_nicholls]

Just give me a time and date. My codebase is finally looking up once I fix up a few issues with the current game 'kernel' I'm kicking. I'm retracting from a compiled game to more of a execution shell that runs scripts that constitute the game itself. The twist behind this, is that the scripts are self modifying (unique gameplay anybody? :)). Not to mention, that for 'updates' to a game, its only a case of patching the game files, not a new installation XD. Its still VERY experimental, and I might put up some screenshots of the proof of concept prototype later on my blog if there is any interest.

Hmm...all that sounds rather interesting...self-modifying scripts? Neat!