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savage
18-03-2005, 10:39 PM
As some people were unable to finish their entries in time, I thought I would hold a poll to get an idea what others think would be enough time to complete a competition game project. Keep in mind that it can't be too short so that the entrant can't finish, or too long so that competitors lose interest in the idea totally.

tux
18-03-2005, 10:54 PM
i think an extra month would have given more entries time to finish

Huehnerschaender
18-03-2005, 11:12 PM
I think the deadline was ok. The only problem was that things happened which couldn't be foreseen. An additional month could have saved my $%A§ ....

Eriken
18-03-2005, 11:22 PM
I'd say 2 1/2 aint bad..

You'd probably always get an amount of people not finishing projects. It's a matter of what people want to do, and how much features they put into a game. Some over do it, some think they have it under control and start programming abit late :roll: Some gets a doze of reality where other things are more important :)

These things will probably occur even if you add a few months, so I don't think it makes a difference. An example, the Remakes 2004 compo was for 3 months, 322 people expressed an interest to enter, and only 76 completed a game. Not really good numbers, but it's apparently a common problem.

It's down to better planning, and organizing instead of more time I guess.

And then again, that's just my 2 cents.
_____
Eriken

Legolas
18-03-2005, 11:28 PM
Why not 2 categories like "finished" and "unfinished"? :lol:

Sly
19-03-2005, 03:57 AM
Ludum Dare is running this weekend and they have two, or is it three, days. :)

The length of the contest should be dependent on the topic of the contest. For example, a single player game would have a shorter deadline than a multiplayer game.

WILL
19-03-2005, 07:41 AM
Sly: So would that make an RPG contest 1 year? :lol:

I think that the deadline wasn't too bad really. It's just that so many people here either are not super experienced at doing programming competitions (time management) OR something happened and they couldn't work on them anymore.

BUT I think that the main thing is that word of the competition got out there late. And was not as well advertized in the begging(or before-hand) than after it started and well into the first month. It's understandable though why some of this happened, it is the first competition and with that the administration of it had to go through a bit of a learning curve.

I think that the response and turnout for the next one will be much bigger and of course better organized given the possitive experience we have gotten by this one. I am quite pleased at how things turned out and I htink that Dom (aka savage) did a great job here.

Huehnerschaender
19-03-2005, 09:26 AM
I think the announcement of the prices should come at the same time as the start of the contest. This way the entrants can start as soon as they hear of the contest, without waiting some weeks to decide if it's worth it for them.
I saw many people getting really hot to make a game after savage announced the first price (Delphi 2005). But at that moment there were already some weeks gone...

Traveler
19-03-2005, 12:03 PM
I don't think the prices were the problem. Afterall most people (me included) claimed prices were not important and that even without prices they were going to join in. Besides, getting prices is not an easy task. Many of the manufacturers don't want to join or want something in return.

IMO the length of the contest wasn't all that bad either. It's like savage says, too short aint good, but too long isn't good either.
The only thing I'd like to see changed (if we're ever going to do this again) it would be to not keeping it a surprise.

savage
20-03-2005, 04:28 PM
Traveller, I don't know any competitions where they tell you what the subject/theme will be before the competition starts.
Please name any that you know of.

WILL
20-03-2005, 04:43 PM
I do agree that the theme, prizes, etc should not be announced until the official openning of the contest, but you have to admit that this time around, understandibly due to the fact that we are doing this for the first time as a site, not widely recodnized by the larger programming community at the stage that we were at then, it did take us a little while to get the word out about the contest on other sites and advertize it around the net.

And though I would not phrase it as a supprise, I think that we could definitely give a little net-wide heads up when the next competition will be so we can get more eyes on earlier in the game. I think that that will help us next time around.

If you guys can correct me; I don't think I saw anyone post news on GameDev.net's news page about the contest? I think we should make sure we capture that medium for next timefor sure. It's read more frequently than their forums I think.

savage
20-03-2005, 05:06 PM
I personally submitted a news item to GameDev.net, but it never appeared. Whether I did something wrong or that they decided not to publish it, I have no idea.

We will definately let them know about the contest results, so that should prepare everyone for next time.

Also, I definately think we should tell visitors to our site that a competition is coming up, but not what the competition will be about.

cairnswm
20-03-2005, 06:50 PM
I think the perfect amount of time for a contest is 1 month. I use about that much time to work on my entry and physically I couldn't do more.

I work 10 hours a day - spend 3 hours with family, sleep 6 - leaving 3 per day for the contest and relaxing - I cant manage more than a month of spending those 3 hours everyday on my entry :)

Contests that are 2 or 3 days are fine in that they test what you know - longer contests allow you to learn while you do your entry. I built a wonderful framework in my game and it will manage changes with hardly a blink. (I am busy adding computer AI as my son keeps asking me to play - and 10 games a day is a bit much) :)

cairnswm
20-03-2005, 06:52 PM
PS. Ludum Dare 48hour contest is on 15,16,17 April.

(I have already put in leave for the 17th....)

Traveler
20-03-2005, 07:38 PM
Traveller, I don't know any competitions where they tell you what the subject/theme will be before the competition starts.
Please name any that you know of.

I'm not saying we should give all details, but merely some sort of indication that a competition is scheduled at (insert date & time).

savage
20-03-2005, 08:03 PM
I'm not saying we should give all details, but merely some sort of indication that a competition is scheduled at (insert date & time).

Ah ok, we are on the same wave length then. I totally agree. That was my nuuubie mistake on this contest.