2006 PGD Annual 'The Big Boss' Competition [Archive]

WILL

09-01-2006, 05:11 PM

New Competitions Section

Well after a full night of starting at countless lines of scripting, I managed to complete the new competition section of the site! :)

And with it, I am proud to announce the theme of the 2006 PGD Annual Competitions to be 'The Big Boss'. This year we will be focusing on the creation of the coolest, toughest and most evil bosses you can make put in your games.

Register Now!

So gather your team leaders and registering now, because the 2006 PGD Annual 'The Big Boss' Competition is now officially registering those entrants that will compete.

Release of Deadlines and Goals

Next week on the 15th I'll release the stage deadlines and goals with their point values. There will be a brief planning period which will help those that got wind of the competition late, and to allow teams to organize based on the new deadlines and the goals for each.

Prize Announcement

Thanks to our very generous sponsors, we have managed to do better last years prize payout which has come to around $4,500 USD worth in prizes.

This year's competition is sponsored by: 3Impact.com, Borland, Delgine 3D Tools, Firelight Studios, Lazy Dog Software, Savage Software Solutions, Spiral Graphics and the PGD Team it's self.

Click HERE for further information and to register for the 2006 PGD Annual 'The Big Boss' Competition! (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php)

Please note that this year, ALL competitors MUST register to compete! We will not be accepting emailed requests to join the competition or as a means to submit your deadline entry.

The Rules:

REGISTRATION: All competitors must register to compete. We will nee your full name, email address and mailing address to be able to contact you and send you any prizes that you win. You may register as a team or as an individual. We will ask the team leaders how they want their prizes split in the case of teams\' winnings. All this information will be kept private and will not be used for anything other than this competition!

PASCAL: All entries must be made using Pascal, Object Pascal or any of the Pascal-based languages available. The most popular of these compiler aned IDE tools are Delphi, Kylix, Free Pascal, Lazarus and Dev-Pascal.
GENRE: Pick and game genre you wish. Either 2D or 3D graphics is fine. Just make sure whatever game you create is organized into LEVELS and has BOSSES your player(s) go(es) up against. All else is open for your creativity.

PLATFORM: The only platforms we will be accepting games for this year will be Win32 and Linux. We were unable to provide a MacOS X system this year.

OPEN SOURCE: This year we are letting the competitiors choose to include source or not. This will allow the games created in this competition and their engines to be used for commercial use afterwards. The option is yours, but you don't have to include it to compete this year.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: You will have to design to the judges hardware specs. If they cannot run it, then they cannot score or check it. See below for judges hardware and operating system specs.

To be sure that your game will run on the judges hardware by the next deadline, make sure you submit early enough to make the nessissary changes to meet it with a working copy, as you will not be able to make any changes for that submission after the deadline.

STAGES: This year we will be breaking the competition into several stages. Each stage will have a set deadline. Each stage you will be given a set number of development goals to complete which will each be worth a set amount of points.

If you have any number of incomplete goals, you may still continue until the end!

SCORING FOR GOALS: The first stage (the planning stage) will not be scored. Each stage after will be scored as FULL points or NO points for completed and incompeted goals. If a goal is partially completed, it will be scored as incomplete and awarded NO points.

FINAL SCORING: After all the stages are complete and the final submissions are uploaded the judges will then begin awarding each entry with scores for each of # categories; graphics, sound & music, sability & lack of bugs and fun factor.

SUBMISSIONS: You must submit a working executable on or before each stage deadline to show your completed goals. If no entry has been submitted by the deadline all goals for that stage will be considered incomplete and NO points will be awarded.

Each submission will be either a single archive, compressed with a common format(Zip, RAR or GZip), that contains the executable and ALL other required game data and library files that are CLEANLY organized within OR a single installer that will both install and uninstall cleanly.

The easier it is to setup and run you game on any Linux or Windows system, the happier the judges will be about trying your entry!

The Stages:

Stage 1 (1 week): Jan 15th - Jan 21st

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

Stage 2 (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.

Stage 3 (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.

Stage 4 (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.

Stage 5 (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.

Stage 6 (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.

JSoftware

09-01-2006, 05:33 PM

Awesome! Nice prices! :D

Isn't registration open yet?

Traveler

09-01-2006, 08:44 PM

Isn't registration open yet?
Well I suppose we haven't started yet.

I do wonder why game details have been revealed. I asume this is enough to get people started. Or am I mistaken?

Seconded on the cool prizes tho.

edit: doh,.. just noticed the big fat register now text. :cyclops:

Balaras

09-01-2006, 08:46 PM

Ohhh. Excellent theme methinks.

FNX

09-01-2006, 09:08 PM

Ohhh. Excellent theme methinks.

I do agree!!!!

I do wonder why game details have been revealed.

I don't think it will change something as we are already at 9/01 but i think
it's useful to help people start thinking about their projects. I'm
brainstorming since i've seen the post!! Hope to find a nice theme to get
into the compo!

WILL

10-01-2006, 01:23 AM

The idea behind giving the 'partial' description, NOT the full description is to help you guys get registered and setup and planning your development plans durring the first stage where you will 'plan' everything out with your other team members(or yourself in the case of a individual competitor).

Best to register BEFORE or up until the 15th. If you don't register, you are not competing. We won't track you down by email like last year. :)

BUT keep an eye on the details page for an added section that tells you your deadlines and the goals you must complete. This will be important in the process of getting 1/5 of your total possible scores.

So don't say I didn't warn ya! ;)

FNX

10-01-2006, 01:57 AM

Ok to register before 15th but if this is the correct link I only see an empty
blue bar... :?

http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php?p=register&c=1

Am I wrong? :oops:

10-01-2006, 02:41 AM

For further information please go to the new competitions section located here to see full rules and to register for the competition.
I had really hard time finding the ]
Ok to register before 15th but if this is the correct link I only see an empty
blue bar... :?[/quote]
I see the same thing. Perhaps the registration page is not up yet.

WILL

10-01-2006, 02:46 AM

Ok to register before 15th but if this is the correct ]http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php?p=register&c=1[/url]

Am I wrong? :oops:

Darn... it shouldn't be doing that... :?

It's supposed to be up...

Sorry guys, I fixed it. I'm also having internet issues so thats why the delay. :roll:

You should all now be able to register! ;)

cairnswm

10-01-2006, 05:03 AM

Thanks everyone who has put in the effort to get the contest going.

I've registered myself as a team entry but I might be forming a team. Will there be any way of editing the team details later?

WILL

10-01-2006, 07:44 AM

Well unfortunately I had to sort of rush the section out the door to get it out on time for people to register. Some parts of the script still need to be completed, but everything will be ready by the time the first deadline comes around to scoring.

We have 2 judges so far. Dominique Louis and Dean Ellis will both be judging and the 3rd has yet to be announced. Judging will not take place until the end of the competition, until then e will be simply awarding points for achieving the goals set in the deadlines.

I'd also like to point out that both Dom and I wanted to encourage professional development with Pascal, and both agreed that with sending the top prize winner to the IGF was the best way we could have done it. The exposure to all the publishers and media would be incredible. And it would be the best chance of getting a publishing deal on your game and it's engine.

This hopes to be an exciting race for all involved. And I hope everyone at least enjoys the experience and the friendly competition.

Traveler

10-01-2006, 08:40 AM

Best to register BEFORE or up until the 15th. I

Does this mean a team/person cannot register after the 15th?
Is there a final registration date, like with the GDNet 4e4 compo?

WILL

10-01-2006, 08:51 AM

Well in the spirit of being open to everyone and trying to be a friendly about participating as possible, we will not turn away people that want to compete after the 15th, but iwould be best to start from that date to complete the goals we have set.

However anyone that does want to compete late may do so, but will have to receive 0 points for goals missed AND have to catch up to where they will be able to complete goals on set deadlines. The 'Time Management' portion of the competition is only 1/5 of the total score, but it can make all the difference for the 1st place race and a shot at the IGF. :)

WILL

10-01-2006, 03:51 PM

Another thing I'd like to note is that we'd appreciate you using your REAL email address without any 'spam reduction' measures, as this will only hinder us from contacting you properly. We will not give out or use your competition registered email addresses for anything other than keep in touch with you about the competition. Read; your email address used to register will not be viewed or seen by anyone other than the competition co-ordinators.

Also, you will use your own email address to login to your team's page where you may submit your entry for the next deadline. It may be useful to only register those in your team that you want to make the submissions or have agreed to split prizes with. Then again, name recodnition is always nice and fair too. ;)

Right now, what information you register with cannot be altered, but that will change eventually when I can find the time to write the script (note: this system is new and many parts of it will need to be handled manually for a while)

NecroDOME

11-01-2006, 10:36 AM

Cool, im gonna register right away!

[edit]
Registerd :)

The first deadline is in about 11 days to upload an image?

ps: In the links section theres a link to www.NecroSOFT.nl, it has changed to http://necrosoft.gamesfm.nl due some problems!

marmin

11-01-2006, 04:34 PM

I'm currently brainstorming, i still have 4 days to go to decide if I'm going to join the competition.. I have the skills, but I just want my game to be original. If I join, you'll hear from me. 8)

About the process: do we need to supply an executable or package every week or so?

WILL

11-01-2006, 10:49 PM

About the process: do we need to supply an executable or package every week or so?

SUBMISSIONS: You must submit a working executable on or before each stage deadline to show your completed goals. If no entry has been submitted by the deadline all goals for that stage will be considered incomplete and NO points will be awarded.

Each submission will be either a single archive, compressed with a common format(Zip, RAR or GZip), that contains the executable and ALL other required game data and library files that are CLEANLY organized within OR a single installer that will both install and uninstall cleanly.

The easier it is to setup and run you game on any Linux or Windows system, the happier the judges will be about trying your entry!

Now that doesn't mean nessissarily that you'll have a deadline every week, but by each Deadline, you'll have to make a submission. Read over the rules carefully. ;)

Stoney

12-01-2006, 06:41 PM

Yeeha, I'm registered! :D
I have thousands of ideas in my mind, just a problem to pick one out of these. :wink:
One question: Will there be a filesize limit for the entries like in the last year?

tux

12-01-2006, 10:08 PM

just signed up for the comp.

but im a little consirned about dean's specs, and not knowing savage's 3d card.

will we be marked down on graphics if the judge's machines dont support the features we added (like shaders etc)

WILL

13-01-2006, 01:10 AM

I will be updating the judges information as we get it. Unfortunately not all the judges are super rich and the machines they use are their own personal hardware. Be assured that the judges will take this into account!

If you can support features that will require better hardware, I'd say go for it!

BUT you have to keep this in mind:

The best way to impliment high-end features is to not have the game or gmaeplay require it. Think of it as extra eye candy and your ok. Always set the defaults to the lowest possible 'safe' settings with your targeted minimum hardware in mind and add helpful autodetection features that will tell your game/player which features may or may not be there to use. However do not rely on the autodetection exclusively as it may be wrong in some cases. Instead have it, but allow for manual correction everywhere.

Stoney: I will get back to you on the filesize limit.

JSoftware

13-01-2006, 06:30 AM

Just a bit clarification about 3d cards to awoid me having an WNR entry once again this year :wink:

Edit: Thanks for that :wink:

Still awaiting data from Savage :wink:

technomage

13-01-2006, 08:08 AM

I've posted the GLInfo2.exe report of both my Desktopand Laptop graphics cards for you to look at , it should give you all the information you need

Desktop (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/files/201/GF4.htm)
Laptop (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/files/201/Laptop.htm)

Hope this helps

Dean

savage

13-01-2006, 05:23 PM

Hi Guys,
My GeForce 3 packed up after the last competition so I hope this year your entries won't fry my GPU :).

I need to buy a new motherboard, CPU and GPU combination and I won't be able to buy them until Saturday the 21st so my Desktop specs won't be know until then. I will post my laptop specs this week-end, actually they are the same as last year's ( if anyone remembers what that was ).

So if anyone here knows a good and not overly expensive motherboard, CPU and GPU combination that will work as soon as I build the system, please let me know either via this thread (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/viewtopic.php?p=18440#18440) or PM me ASAP.

marmin

13-01-2006, 05:49 PM

FNX

13-01-2006, 06:24 PM

I am just wondering.. let's say a developer has already finished a game , how can we be sure that all games are 0% ready? Is this a matter of trust? a finished game would have a tremendous advantage and there is no way it can be verified.

Well this happen everywhere everytime. I think it's up to people
intelligence only. Would it be fun to join a compo without challenge? I hope
no... The only think are prizes.. mmmm... Admins, tell us your strategy :)

About 0% i don't agree because everyone, and me also, have it's own
lib/functions/utils/framework to start from. I won't rewrite already done
code to setup things or handle input.. but i suppose this is an obvious
point :)

13-01-2006, 06:59 PM

I am just wondering.. let's say a developer has already finished a game , how can we be sure that all games are 0% ready?
Well, he will have to work hard to undo most of the stuff he made, to reduce the game to the state of 10% ready, in order to satisfy the requirements of the first stage. Otherwise, it'll be very obvious, isn't it? :D

XProger

13-01-2006, 07:02 PM

How I can change structure of my team after registration? :)

WILL

13-01-2006, 08:29 PM

Anyone that wants to change their registered info AFTER they have registered for the competition, please PM or email me. I can make the changes manually. Due to some hardware issues I have been sorting out lately I was unable to complete some of the scripting yet.

As for 0% completed starts. Well I think Lifepower said it best. Although we can never be 100% sure that fair play is adheired to with everyone, it is incredibly difficult to fake a development process. The judges will be checking throughout the competition at each stage to see how it's coming. So they'll know just by having a decent memory. ;)

JSoftware

13-01-2006, 09:30 PM

i think it should be rather easy to check if somebody is posting an already made game. I can't imagine that a programmer will not write large pieces of code over a few times. So i agree with Lifepower :roll:

jdarling

14-01-2006, 02:51 PM

jdarling

14-01-2006, 02:56 PM

Just registered, and now I'm lost. It says I have 11 days to the first deadline, but I can't find the posting of what the first deadline is :). Sorry if this is answered some place and I missed it, but can anyone enlighten me.

- Jeremy

Traveler

14-01-2006, 04:59 PM

I believe WILL is going to make the final details known by tomorrow (jan 15th)

technomage

14-01-2006, 05:04 PM

Just before this all gets started. I just want to say good luck to everyone who is taking part, I'm looking forward to seeing all your entires :D

Neoff

14-01-2006, 06:40 PM

gl =)

14-01-2006, 06:46 PM

I'm not going to participate (sorry, no time) but I'll say this...

gl hf! :)

WILL

14-01-2006, 07:08 PM

WILL

14-01-2006, 07:27 PM

You know I should have probably added this before, but if you use an inappropreate team name or don't fill in min. REAL first, last names and email address, I'll just delete your account. If noone in the team provides the proper information I'll delete the team.

It's a hard line, but I think I made the instruction clear enough. :?

ALSO at least one person has to provide a mailing address.

NC\'s Dimensions one of you guys need to give me a mailing address(via PM or email) where you'll receive your prizes or I'll have to delete your team.

STROB, youguys did not give me a proper mailing address, I need one or I cannot keep your team's account.

All private information is kept confidential and NOTHING private from our database will be released to the public. This includes email addresses and mailing addresses. You will only be identified by your full name and collective team name.

If your account doesn't work, needs changes or you have any kind of quesitons please contact me and ask, I'll be more than happy to help you.

tux

14-01-2006, 07:41 PM

Will, when i login all i see is a blue bar. is that normal?

14-01-2006, 07:59 PM

A small note. The following line is very hard to read (when displayed on gray background):

All private information is kept confidential and NOTHING private from our database will be released to the public. This includes email addresses and mailing addresses. You will only be identified by your full name and collective team name.

XProger

15-01-2006, 12:00 AM

ПОЕХАЛИ! ;)

gl!

savage

15-01-2006, 01:56 PM

Good Luck everyone!!

michalis

15-01-2006, 01:59 PM

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

15-01-2006, 04:02 PM

Good luck to everyone taking part in the competition :-)

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

16-01-2006, 02:17 AM

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

16-01-2006, 02:41 AM

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 (http://www.blender3d.org/). 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

16-01-2006, 03:46 AM

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

16-01-2006, 04:32 AM

Paulius

16-01-2006, 08:08 AM

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

Traveler

16-01-2006, 10:23 AM

I guess it officially now. The competition has started. :D

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

FNX

16-01-2006, 10:38 AM

Hi, happy compo to everyone! :D

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

{MSX}

16-01-2006, 10:41 AM

eheh i'm in too.. :P
btw how many partecipants are there, will ?

to tell my opinion on some posts:

About using a game engine: we are all using our libraries and engines. Some are more flexible and need some work, others just ready to use.. I don't matter if you have already a working code base.
About incentive to open source: well i think it's not a bad idea. If one releases his code he helps the community better, so he should have maybe a little reward. Very little maybe, no need to give huge scoring.
Btw, any extra scoring for cross platform entries ? :P (hint, hint) :)
About game editors: i don't know, i don't plan to develop one for this game, but i'll use editors i've already made (part of my framework) and external programs (blender, gimp, etc)..

NecroDOME

16-01-2006, 11:21 AM

Basic map editor for Necro3D:

http://necrodome.homeftp.net/Projects/App_Necro3D/Editor.jpg

tux

16-01-2006, 12:25 PM

just checking...

so we get points for each feature on the list we implement ON TOP OF the graphics, sound, playablity etc judges points?

XProger

16-01-2006, 01:05 PM

artifex team

Programming Language:
Borland Delphi 7: Enterprise

Game Engine:
WinAPI + OpenGL + WinSock + DSound

Level/Model Editors:
VLC + OpenGL

Shirson

16-01-2006, 01:40 PM

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?
Yes. I'm use Visio :) Visio very flexible and, with macros, in Visio possible create and events, and enemies (i mean level design), and scripts.
But... if for complite the stage needs self-programmed editor, i have no choose - i forced to create level editor.

P.S. Will buy additional 10 hours in day :D

jdarling

16-01-2006, 02:46 PM

Reading my PM's I didn't get anything (actually my box never shows any messages). Reading the notes you had below though I know my idea won't fit. Now it will be a rush to figure something else out, at least your giving minimal planning time :).

Anyone that wants to change their registered info AFTER they have registered for the competition, please PM or email me. I can make the changes manually. Due to some hardware issues I have been sorting out lately I was unable to complete some of the scripting yet.

As for 0% completed starts. Well I think Lifepower said it best. Although we can never be 100% sure that fair play is adheired to with everyone, it is incredibly difficult to fake a development process. The judges will be checking throughout the competition at each stage to see how it's coming. So they'll know just by having a decent memory. ;)

I sent you a PM about project questions 3 days ago, any answer on if the project would be valid or not for the compo?

Thanks,
- Jeremy
Did you check your PMs? I sent you a message about it the other day, I'm sure of it.

Twistofchaos

16-01-2006, 02:57 PM

Hi,

I'm going to register. (sorry for noticing this late it started. :shock: )

However, at the country-selection i can't find "Netherlands" only "Netherlands antilles". I'll fill in that, hope that someone can make that into "Netherlands".

Hmm...don't know if i'll (be able to) work by the scedule and according to all the deadlines, (I'm a hack-job type of coder, finish the thing in two days or don't do anything for months, don't plan, just tend to see what comes out. chill. 8) ) but i'll try. I'll be competing purely for fun though.

Goodluck to everyone.

BlueCat

16-01-2006, 03:01 PM

Reading my PM's I didn't get anything (actually my box never shows any messages).

Something strange is going on with the menu image, if you use this url it should work provided you have logged in:

http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/privmsg.php

HTH :)

Traveler

16-01-2006, 04:32 PM

Twistofchaos, I had to look for it as well, but it's 'The Netherlands'

michalis

17-01-2006, 08:23 AM

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.

But I would like to use Blender to design everything 3D, this includes creating objects and enemies and placing them on my level. Well, I'm doing some special hacks in my code to interpret some VRML nodes in a special way, but that's all.

Creating my own tool just to duplicate something that is already available as part of Blender would not be sensible...

savage

17-01-2006, 08:47 AM

Using Blender should be fine as long as the vast majority of your game code is Pascal, rather than other language based scripts.

nepro

17-01-2006, 02:34 PM

we must submit something in this first stage, like a document or something like that?

the stages is a good idea, help to maintain a discipline. I hope finish something this year... :?

FNX

17-01-2006, 03:07 PM

we must submit something in this first stage, like a document or something like that?

Interesting question. I was wondering the same, but on the detail page
there is no goal specified so I think we don't have to. Please correct me
if I'm wrong!

the stages is a good idea, help to maintain a discipline. I hope finish something this year...

The stages is a so so idea for me because maybe I plan my work in a
different way compared to deadlines requests. Also it's hard to say if
I can finish or not things, because everything depend on how much time
I have from real job. I usually code 2 weeks full time or none at all,
depending on inspiration and time :)

Anyway it will be a new challenge so I'll do my best :)

savage

18-01-2006, 01:36 PM

I just checked the DB and there are currently 71 registered developers for the competition. I did not bother finding out out how many of these developers are part of a team, but that is a hell of a lot more developers than last year!

marmin

18-01-2006, 02:36 PM

71 competitors...!

That is very encouraging for the Pascal Development Scene, indeed.

Not all participants will make a final product, (my game will most likely not be finished because I need a much larger time space cuz i develop currently on my own, but I do try to get something out of it) but if I compare it.. heck, to a C++ competition: I'm really proud to be a Pascal developer. The future is bright.

Keep on going, whoever wins, let's make this language a Winner! :D I wish anyone good luck!

FNX

18-01-2006, 03:16 PM

I'm really proud to be a Pascal developer

WE ALL ARE :)

(or anyone isn't???? :twisted: )

M109uk

18-01-2006, 09:45 PM

Im proud to be a delphi developer too, used to use C for embedded programming and hated it, now use pascal :)

technomage

19-01-2006, 12:21 AM

71 registered developers....wow.. :!: :!:

I'd better set some more time aside for testing the entries :D

Traveler

19-01-2006, 08:55 AM

There are two days left to the first deadline. I am a bit worried though, as WILL has not replied to any of our questions. In fact, I haven't seen him online at all the last few days.

Most important question IMO, that has been asked and should be answered before the 21st: What do we have to submit for the first stage?
Is this the name of the game (final or working title), design document etc or even more?

cairnswm

19-01-2006, 09:20 AM

Based on my understanding of the rules there is no deliverable from stage 1. The points are only calculated on stages 2 to 5.

However, If you have done a design doc it should be uploaded as this will no doubt add to the 'Most on time' category at the end. (There are no points being allocated to what is delivered in stage 1).

We almost have our design doc done. We are finishing up with some pencil sketches of what we want the game to look and feel like.

savage

19-01-2006, 09:28 AM

Though no points are allocated for stage one I would encourage those taking part to think about uploading some kind of document or outline for your own planning and sanity.

This will also help us test the uploading scripts that WILL is working on :).

Btw, someone asked about file sizes for final submissions. WILL and I discussed it and think that a 20MB ( zip, tar, rar etc ) should be the maximum uploaded file size.

cairnswm

20-01-2006, 05:45 AM

I've uploaded our design doc - can someone tell me if it loaded successfully :)

Balaras

20-01-2006, 10:29 AM

savage

20-01-2006, 10:52 AM

I've uploaded our design doc - can someone tell me if it loaded successfully :)

It certainly looks like it has been uploaded successfully.

savage

20-01-2006, 10:55 AM

Where did you upload? When I log in on the competitions page all I get is an empty page :?:

Is my team (as in me, I sent a PM to WILL about adding a member) registered at all?
Something I missed ?

/Balaras

Hi Balaras, can you PM me the email address you used when registering, that way I can check the DB.

savage

20-01-2006, 11:00 AM

Btw,
we are now over the 90+ registered competitors. Again this does not take into account that some of these people will be part of teams.

cairnswm

20-01-2006, 11:03 AM

Thanks Savage.

Will we be able to see our own files and the files of the other entrants or will it only be available to the Judges?

Must we use the same file name for each upload? - To overwrite the exiting files.

savage

20-01-2006, 11:07 AM

Will we be able to see our own files and the files of the other entrants or will it only be available to the Judges?

I think all entries that are uploaded will only be viewable by the judges, in the name of fairness. Of course this does not stop anyone posting their development progress on their own sites, if they so desire.

Must we use the same file name for each upload? - To overwrite the exiting files.

I will have to defer this question to WILL as he wrote the scripts. He should hopefully be back this week-end.

WILL

21-01-2006, 12:58 AM

Most important question IMO, that has been asked and should be answered before the 21st: What do we have to submit for the first stage?
Is this the name of the game (final or working title), design document etc or even more?
Short answer, nothing! :) You just have the week to plan get a head start, gather your ideas. Nothing is required to be submitted durring the first week. Just plan your development to match up with the goals and their deadlines.

BTW, I've been away at sea all week. And will be away as of Monday for another 2 weeks. If you need a quick answer during that time, ask savage. He and I both are the organizers this year (I was just my turn to make the rules) so he can help you just as well as I can. ;)

Will we be able to see our own files and the files of the other entrants or will it only be available to the Judges?

After the stage is passed, the scores(0 until marked by the judge that checks it.) and the final submitted file for that stage will be available to download and see. Once the stage is passed, you cannot change that entry.

Must we use the same file name for each upload? - To overwrite the exiting files.

Well, if you change the name of the files you upload, the older file will remain and the new one will replace the older record, but upload a new file. Only the new file will be seen. It's prefered that you keep the same filename to help us reduce the extra maintence required to clean up the aftermath. :)

After the deadline is passed, be sure to know that though you'll see 0, 0, 0, 0, etc as your scores... this WILL CHANGE, as it just means that your entry has not been marked yet. Give the judges a week or so to mark them befor you start the panic attacks. ;)

Traveler

21-01-2006, 11:04 AM

Great!

Have a good trip WILL :)

WILL

22-01-2006, 04:42 AM

Just an update, currently we have exactly 65 teams with 93 registered competitors. Which blows away the official number of teams we had last year.

Also, I should note that since the official competition page was released, I have updated the page with newer prizes details, including the addition of Winsoft's PocketStudio 2.1 and Objects 2005 release to the 2nd place prize winnings.

On another note: I had to delete 3 teams due to improper or false contact information. This zero-tollorance policy is for the benifit of the competition and it's competitors. If you do not provide a unique and proper email address for each team member and at least one mailing address for your team, you're competitor registration or team entry will be deleted without warning.

Traveler

22-01-2006, 12:27 PM

The judges have their work cut out for them :)
If i'm not mistaken the number of registered participants is around the same number as GDNet's 4e4 competition. Thats not bad!!!

Anyway, now that the 2nd stage has commenced, could you, WILL or savage explain a bit more what is defined as a basic playable game engine?
For example, I'm planning for this stage to have finished something that's able to produce:
- a logo at startup,
- a loading bar,
- a very basic menu (with start/end),
- a playing field in the form of a isometric map,
- a character, probably walking around aimlessly, but could also be doing nothing, staring a bit in the air or something.
- Mayby, if I have enough time, I'll put in some rain or a campfire to show off effects.
Would this be okay for a basic playable engine?

While writing my question for the requirements for the editor, I realized that the list of functions needed for a basic editor, is actually a fair representation of a basic editor, so I'm not going to ask about that.
However, something did occur to me, how do you WILL & savage know what is a fair representation for a editor (or game for that matter), if you dont know what the end result is going to be?

In my case a basic editor should be able to perform these functions.
- creating a landscape using tiles
- placing objects on the landscape (like for example trees, rocks, buildings)
- placing the karakters for the player to use
- placing points for enemies to start
- loading map
- saving map

But this might not be the case for game X. Since you dont know what my game is about, nor about game X, (Say for example game X is a spaceshooter) it would be quite difficult to judge what is a good basic editor or an incomplete basic editor, unless the requirements are very low.

Any thoughts on this?

Btw, I also noticed, since rules say we dont have to submit sourcecode, what is to prevent someone from using other languages?

WILL

22-01-2006, 02:22 PM

Well the goals aren't meant to be so harrsh. ;)

All we want is a basic level editor that modifies the levels in the very basic engine that works. Having an engine that you can move your character around, controls and has a fleshed out first map is good enough. It does not have to be complete, just the basics working.

ZordanX

22-01-2006, 05:32 PM

Have I can upload my basic engine ???

Sorry. My english - shit !

WILL

22-01-2006, 05:51 PM

Use the Team Page area to upload your submissions. :) There is no other method available to make submissions.

For further clairification please re-read the rules (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php?p=details&c=1).

ZordanX

23-01-2006, 05:14 AM

Ohhhh sorry...
I would upload 4 archives:
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 ...
Goal #4 (5 Points) - Include a basic documentation of user controls.
or can upload one archive with it's all ?
Can I show list with all teams ?

pstudio

23-01-2006, 11:50 AM

This is probably a stupid question but...

Just to be sure, the basic documentation is just some text-file?
It doesn't have to be a part of the program?

Traveler

23-01-2006, 11:52 AM

A text file is probably okay, though I'm planning on using a html file instead.

savage

23-01-2006, 12:36 PM

This is probably a stupid question but...

There are not stupid quetions on PGD. We are all here to learn.

Just to be sure, the basic documentation is just some text-file?
It doesn't have to be a part of the program?

Yep text file, word anything of that ilke.

savage

23-01-2006, 12:55 PM

FNX

23-01-2006, 01:32 PM

Just another couple of questions about the level editor.

As I said some weeks ago, I'll probably using Tilestudio or even
notepad to edit my level config file, mainly because I don't feel the need
to write a level editor that already exists, focusing my attention on the
game itself.

Question 1:
What would happen in that case? I cannot send you the tilestudio.exe file
or the notepad.exe file I suppose...

Question 2:
If that is my intention, not to code a level editor but use another one
because my game doesn't need anything custom, will i lose points?
I think yes because it would be not fare to others who will code their own
one, but that means that I (or anyone else) should think and write their
own game with the use of a custom level editor..

I hope it's clear enough. I'll not cry if I won't get any point out of that,
I'm into the compo just for fun, but what is PGD politics about that?

Thanx in advance :)

savage

23-01-2006, 02:27 PM

FNX

23-01-2006, 03:01 PM

Thanx savage,
it was as it supposed to be and I agree with that :)

Unfortunately I won't have time to do it, my game will be very very
simple, I'll try to finish the compo with a nearly complete game more than
respecting the deadlines.

Example: If I'm going to code a little tile based game I won't spend the
very few time i have in coding Tilestudio, but I'll write an XML wrapper
to load map details written by hands. That is far quicker for this purpose.

Time is my enemy :(

Happy compo to everyone! ;)

aidave

23-01-2006, 09:31 PM

hi all!!

for our game we want to make the level editor as part of the game engine.
ie. you can run the engine in a "play" mode or an "edit" mode.

is that ok with the rules?

cheers
dave

michalis

23-01-2006, 10:14 PM

The aim of the competition is to encourage developers to go through the development life cycle required in creating a first generation game ( ie. The Big Boss v1.0 not The Return/Revenge of the Big Boss ) from scratch, so as such, in most cases if the idea was original enough you probably would need to write your own level editor.

Sure there may be exceptions to this, but I hope you get the general idea. A simple level editor is better than no level editor. So no points will be allocated if no level editor is submitted.

I would say that any serious 3D game (whether version 1st-very-alpha or version 10th-after-years-of-hard-development) is going in the right direction by using external editor to create 3d objects and levels. In the case of advanced projects the external editor is probably heavily customized for private needs, and/or the resulting objects are heavily post-processed (maybe by some mini-editor). But, in any case, it's always a good practice to use already existing tools... "Standing on the shoulders of giants".

For 2D games the situation is different, since they often have their unique concept of how "level' is organized, and writing editor for 2D level is simpler (especially when you have to be able to render this level anyway in the game). So I would say that for 2D game it's probably sensible to make your own level editor.

In other words, I disagree with you when it comes to 3D games... "None editor" (i.e. "using external editor") is actually better than "some simple editor developed on your own". For 3D games learning to use external editor is a better idea than doing your own thing.

Like FNX, I will not cry if I will lose some points because I use external editor, and I will take part in the compo and use Blender anyway :) But I want just to say that encouraging people to develop their own tools instead of using already available tools doesn't seem like a good idea...

Maybe it could be balanced by giving some points for "intergrating your engine with external editor" ? I.e. if I use external editor, I would get points for learning how to read objects created by this editor ? Just an idea.

aidave

24-01-2006, 03:38 AM

Interesting, although I'm still a little confused. We are definitely going to use external tools to create models and terrain, but I dont think this is what is meant by a level editor.

Do we have to create and submit two separate projects with exe's: one a game, and one a level editor?

I personally dont mind either way but, just want clarification.

cheers
crab people!

Shirson

24-01-2006, 04:30 AM

Do we have to create and submit two separate projects with exe's: one a game, and one a level editor?

Goal #1 - Make a basic playable game engine.
Goal #2 - Make a basic level editor.
Two separate project, or one project with two functions (integrated level editor).

P.S. I making two separate programs.

ZordanX

24-01-2006, 05:06 AM

savage thanks !

Imp5

24-01-2006, 03:41 PM

My game has no level editor. But I use an automatic level generation. Automatically generated level is already included into the first demo. Will judges score level generation as a level editor?
:roll:

Traveler

24-01-2006, 04:12 PM

Can't speak for the judges of course, but I'd say you're fine.

It's not a bad idea btw... I wonder if I can make my levels automatically generated. :think:

savage

24-01-2006, 11:03 PM

LEVEL EDITOR CLARIFICATION :
For those who needed clarification about level editors...
After discussing it with Dean AKA technomage, if you supply a home grown level editor it will be marked accordingly ( does the job, ease of use, some documentation etc ).

If you don't submit a level editor you should provide instructions on how you define levels using the tools you use in simple terms i.e don't try to write a 3D studio max handbook, but write enough to allow someone to create a level in the editor of your choice and how to get it into the game. That way people who choose to define levels in Milkshape/Notepad etc can just provide documents on what to name objects to get the game to process them as items etc. Built-In editors are also fine as long as you tell us exactly how to get them started.

I hope this clarifies things a bit better.

FNX

25-01-2006, 01:29 AM

It is very very clear now :) Thanx a lot savage!

I think the clarification on these points was necessary because of the
large number of ways someone can do a level editor, as you could see in
5 posts we had:

Tilestudio/Notepad
3d programs (Blender, MS3D, other)
Built in editor
Random generator

But now I have no more dubts, and so I hope the other guys here :)

Let's code!

michalis

25-01-2006, 01:35 AM

LEVEL EDITOR CLARIFICATION :
[...]

Thanks, this makes the situation clear !

aidave

25-01-2006, 01:54 AM

Thanks for the clarification Savage

I'll go with a built-in level editor!

cheers
dave

Paulius

25-01-2006, 07:45 AM

After discussing it with Dean AKA technomage, if you supply a home grown level editor it will be marked accordingly ( does the job, ease of use, some documentation etc ).I thought deadlines were evaluated for making it in time or not, creating a proper editor with ease of use in mind for the first deadline is not worth 5 points when something like stability is 100

SCORING FOR GOALS: The first stage (the planning stage) will not be scored. Each stage after will be scored as FULL points or NO points for completed and incompeted goals. If a goal is partially completed, it will be scored as incomplete and awarded NO points.
FULL points or NO points for completed and incompeted goals
edit: added the quote

WILL

04-02-2006, 12:33 AM

Nitrogen

04-02-2006, 03:20 PM

Sorry to break the current debate, but I still cant seem to log into the competition site..

It just shows a thin grey bar with no text...
This is what the HTML looks like for that page:

<table class="forumline" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="95%">
<tbody><tr>
<td class="panelline3"><table width="100%">
<tbody><tr><td></td><td width="216"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>

</tr>
</tbody></table>

As you can see it's just an empty table... I did manage to log in once or twice but nothing recently..

Traveler

04-02-2006, 05:14 PM

Tried it too,.. but I'm having the same problem.

AthenaOfDelphi

04-02-2006, 05:51 PM

Are you guys logging in with your normal username as opposed to the email address you used to sign up to the competition?

The reason I ask is because I've had that kind of thing happen and I think that its because I logged into the competition area with my normal username.

michalis

04-02-2006, 05:57 PM

I looked at specification of judge LifePower's machine, and I noticed that there's no Linux...

While I want to provide both Win32 and Linux versions of my game (actually I'll provide FreeBSD too), I would be glad to treat Linux version as "the reference implementation".

But looking at judges machines, there are 4 machines with Windows and only 1 with Linux... I wonder what will happen if I will provide only Linux binaries, no Windows ? Will my entry be accepted at all ? And tested only on 1 machine ?

04-02-2006, 06:25 PM

I looked at specification of judge LifePower's machine, and I noticed that there's no Linux...
I already told Savage that I will be running Mandriva Linux 2006 (PowerPack) on both machines, but I guess he didn't update the information yet. ;)

Traveler

05-02-2006, 11:12 AM

WILL

05-02-2006, 09:13 PM

Cancel my last post. It appears I used an incorrect username/password combo. Tried again just now and I got the correct page. Apparently there is no 'you've entered a wrong username/password ' -text or something.

I'd have to assume that this is the case with most who are loggin in incorrectly.

As you may or may not notice. When registering it asks for an email address (CASE SENSATIVE and used as your LOGIN NAME) and password (also CASE SENSITIVE) for each team member registered. If you type this in wrong, you'll not login properly. So whoever registers your personal login, make sure that he gets the case right on the password and email address.

As for Lifepower's specs, I'll be updating these myself soon.

Nitrogen

06-02-2006, 03:01 PM

Ok, all is well. I updated my details. Thanks.

jdarling

06-02-2006, 10:51 PM

If we have a major re-vamp planned as a stage of our development will it be counted against us? For example, my current setup is that the Sprite, Map, Level, Object, and Scripting is all in seperate executables. In the end I plan on rolling them all into one editor (Map/Level Editor). While I have already started rolling them up, I'm not sure I'll be done by the Feb 11th deadline. So if I send in multiple EXE's that later are a single EXE that may or may not use the same file formats (but offers imports of the older formats) will I be penelized?

WILL

08-02-2006, 02:36 AM

As long as you complete the GOAL before or on the date of the DEADLINE DATE, you get the points. Period.

Whatever you do after is up to you. Provided you meet the goals for the next deadline, you'll get those points for those goals. Need not worry about all else. It's all on you and your team to Manage Your Time Effectively to meet the stage goals...

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 05:34 AM

08-02-2006, 06:02 AM

Hi, I'm trying to submit our team's entry and I'm getting the following error. I've tried this several

"Couldn't Upload Your File"

The zip file I'm submitting has 5 files in it and is 16.1MB.

How do I upload my project?
I think there are file size limitations in PHP configuration and 16 Mb seems to be way above that. I'd say some FTP access is needed. ;)

WILL

08-02-2006, 08:23 AM

I've been told about one other case of this. However I have also seen successful attempts. So I know it does work, but not in all cases.

So.. tell me what is the exact filename of the file AND filesize.

I'd recommend trying to stick with web-safe filenames. Other than that I don't know what else to suggest right now, except maybe try to uploading a smaller test file.

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 08:51 AM

Hi,

I've sent you a PM with the name and size. This last time I'd renamed it to a lowercase 8.3 format file name and still didn't go.

Thanks

Hiney

08-02-2006, 09:20 AM

Will,

can we just supply a text file with a link to our private web pages ???

p

WILL

08-02-2006, 09:31 AM

Hi,

I've sent you a PM with the name and size. This last time I'd renamed it to a lowercase 8.3 format file name and still didn't go.

Thanks

The file is there. The filesize of what was uploaded is 1496 k.

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 09:47 AM

I'll try again now. I've tried from two different networks/pc's already so I don't think it's a pc issue.

savage

08-02-2006, 10:16 AM

In theory it should accept file sizes as big as 52.5MB, though the maximum accepted for the competition is 20MB. Actually I just tested this via the webmail ( which is php ) feature and it uploaded a 35MB file without any problems.

Are you sure you are not having problems with your ISP?

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 10:39 AM

fairly sure as I've used two different isp's.

BTW it failed again. Is there another method I can use to get it to you?

savage

08-02-2006, 11:07 AM

I think I may have found the problem. It seems the normal webspace area has an upload limit of 2MB, while the webmail area allows up to 52.5MB. I have just made a change to the htaccess file to allow 20MB uploads.

I know you are probably getting very sick of attempting to upload your file, but once we have this sorted it will benefit everyone. Best to iron out these issues now rather than later.

So please could you try and upload your file again and let us know if it works this time.

Thanks.

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 11:11 AM

Glad to help if it works, it's on the way again.

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 11:19 AM

That seems to have worked. It's just come back to the submit an entry screen. Can you please confirm that's there?

Thanks

savage

08-02-2006, 11:36 AM

That seems to have worked. It's just come back to the submit an entry screen. Can you please confirm that's there?

There is a file there with a size of 16490K which I assume is yours.

Thanks for your patience and helping us sort this out.
I also appologise for casting dispersions on your ISP :D.

Zenophran

08-02-2006, 11:39 AM

No worries, I was casting dispersions when their DNS was out the other night :roll:

Thanks for sorting this out so quickly.

WILL

09-02-2006, 05:50 AM

Deleted team 'Hex[man]' due to insufficient required registration data.. You are welcome to re-register, but be warned that failing to provide a real first and last name, email address will disqualify competitors registration AND if there is not at least one mailing address given to mail the prizes to, the team account will be deleted.

Take care in registering your team or the same amount of care will be taken towards your registration records.

aidave

10-02-2006, 08:37 PM

Hi

We completed our second stage, how do we upload it?
When I log in it shows a blank page, I cant find any upload button.

Traveler

14-02-2006, 09:07 AM

If you get a blank page, it most likely means that you've used an incorrect password/username combination.

Traveler

14-02-2006, 09:15 AM

Btw, perhaps its an idea to have a list with all uploaded files and competitor names so we can confirm the files actually did upload.

savage

14-02-2006, 10:13 AM

I'm quite snowed under with the competition ( sending stuff out to the judges ) and also work and family life at the moment, so the best I can offer is that I will try and put something together this week-end.

savage

14-02-2006, 01:41 PM

Btw, perhaps its an idea to have a list with all uploaded files and competitor names so we can confirm the files actually did upload.

As it happens, I managed to find some time during my lunch hour to compile a list of teams that we have submissions for. Please refer to my latest news post for the full list. I did not have time to include file sizes, but if your name is up there ( which it is in Traveler's case ) then you can assume that your zip/rar file was uploded correctly. I will send a note to the judges to let me know if there are any corrupt archives.

aidave

16-02-2006, 10:06 PM

savage

16-02-2006, 10:17 PM

stage 3 clarification..

I am curious on what these two goals require:

Goal 2: Add player pick-up item/weapons

Do we have to be able to "grab and drop" items like aiplanet, or is it "run over inventory" like quake. is it good enough to walk on top of an item/weapon, and then you get it? Or does it have to appear in your hand etc.

My take on it would be the way quake or other platform type games implement it, but feel free to be inventive.

Goal 4: Provide an 'exit' for the level.

What does "the" mean? hehe just kiddin. :) no really, what does "exit" mean? Does the level have to disappear when you go the exit, game quits to desktop. etc.

I would think this means some way of finishing the level and having either a "congratulations you won" or "you lost, try again" type scenario.

If anyone else has a different take on these points I'd like to hear about it.

Traveler

16-02-2006, 11:09 PM

I think pick-up item/weapons should be read as (pickup) items or weapons. Like items as in a adventure game, or weapons in,.. well take your pick there...

I wouldn't be surprised if both types should be used in some way. So in the case of a fps the gun should actually be used to shoot something.

In my case I already have a crude menu system working, so I'll just simply provide a way to have an exit to the menu, after the level has been lost or won, using goals:
1) Add basic enemies to game engine and kill them using
2) the weapons added to the engine.

aidave

16-02-2006, 11:44 PM

k

makes sense to me!
the exit-to-menu system is a good idea.
:right:

btw: when i use Mozilla Firefox i get a blank team page. i had to use Internet Explorer to submit our entry earlier

savage

22-02-2006, 01:31 PM

I hope some if not all of you are keeping some kind of informal development diary as it would be great to read some kind of Post Mortem about your projects after the competition is over.

aidave

25-02-2006, 04:16 PM

can someone please post the rules/stages/etc
in a thread on here
because the competition page is crashed

savage

25-02-2006, 04:31 PM

I think WILL is working on competition section. At least I hope it's him that crashed the old DB.

Here are the rules...

The Rules:

REGISTRATION: All competitors must register to compete. We will nee your full name, email address and mailing address to be able to contact you and send you any prizes that you win. You may register as a team or as an individual. We will ask the team leaders how they want their prizes split in the case of teams\' winnings. All this information will be kept private and will not be used for anything other than this competition!

PASCAL: All entries must be made using Pascal, Object Pascal or any of the Pascal-based languages available. The most popular of these compiler aned IDE tools are Delphi, Kylix, Free Pascal, Lazarus and Dev-Pascal.
GENRE: Pick and game genre you wish. Either 2D or 3D graphics is fine. Just make sure whatever game you create is organized into LEVELS and has BOSSES your player(s) go(es) up against. All else is open for your creativity.

PLATFORM: The only platforms we will be accepting games for this year will be Win32 and Linux. We were unable to provide a MacOS X system this year.

OPEN SOURCE: This year we are letting the competitiors choose to include source or not. This will allow the games created in this competition and their engines to be used for commercial use afterwards. The option is yours, but you don't have to include it to compete this year.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: You will have to design to the judges hardware specs. If they cannot run it, then they cannot score or check it. See below for judges hardware and operating system specs.

To be sure that your game will run on the judges hardware by the next deadline, make sure you submit early enough to make the nessissary changes to meet it with a working copy, as you will not be able to make any changes for that submission after the deadline.

STAGES: This year we will be breaking the competition into several stages. Each stage will have a set deadline. Each stage you will be given a set number of development goals to complete which will each be worth a set amount of points.

If you have any number of incomplete goals, you may still continue until the end!

SCORING FOR GOALS: The first stage <small>(the planning stage)</small> will not be scored. Each stage after will be scored as FULL points or NO points for completed and incompeted goals. If a goal is partially completed, it will be scored as incomplete and awarded NO points.

FINAL SCORING: After all the stages are complete and the final submissions are uploaded the judges will then begin awarding each entry with scores for each of # categories; graphics, sound & music, sability & lack of bugs and fun factor.

SUBMISSIONS: You must submit a working executable on or before each stage deadline to show your completed goals. If no entry has been submitted by the deadline all goals for that stage will be considered incomplete and NO points will be awarded.

Each submission will be either a single archive, compressed with a common format(Zip, RAR or GZip), that contains the executable and ALL other required game data and library files that are CLEANLY organized within OR a single installer that will both install and uninstall cleanly.

The easier it is to setup and run you game on any Linux or Windows system, the happier the judges will be about trying your entry!

The Stages:

Stage 1 (1 week): Jan 15th - Jan 21st

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

Stage 2 (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.

Stage 3 (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.

Stage 4 (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.

Stage 5 (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.

Stage 6 (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.

Traveler

25-02-2006, 04:35 PM

Best to remove the entire link for the moment as currently the info behind the link is not something you want visitors to see.

tux

25-02-2006, 06:53 PM

Goal #2 (5 Points) - Add player pick-up items/weapons to engine.

is that, add pick up items OR weapons? or both?

aidave

26-02-2006, 02:10 AM

thanks!! please also that important info on the first page of this thread !
or a new thread!

cheers
dave

ps. tux check the other threads for more answer to your Q
(the answer is or i think, not and) weapons yea for items maybe they mean pickup a health bonus etc 8)

savage

26-02-2006, 12:56 PM

I've added the rules to WILL's original post on this thread.

WILL

27-02-2006, 04:48 AM

Goal #2 (5 Points) - Add player pick-up items/weapons to engine.

is that, add pick up items OR weapons? or both?

Forgive my short-hand. I have fixed the description on the competitions page to read as follows. ie. something the player will pick-up as an item for use or add to it's arsinal. Power-up, weapon, special item, etc...

Goal #2 (5 Points) - Add player pick-up items and/or weapons to engine.

As you have all now figured out, I'm back. ;) And since being back I have been working vigorusly with savage to fix the site. The Competition page is now back up and working. The old scripts have been upgraded and are now being tested for bugs and hick-ups. These temporary forums will stay up until we are 100% sure that there are no lingering problems with the upgraded scripts. Until then continue to use the competition section as you have till now, everything works fine.

Also, I have updated the competition Details page with; Eric's system specs, a clearer description of the score calculation and any other small inconsistancies. Be make sure you check it out: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php?p=details&c=1

Keep on codin' boys and gals... all is well at PGD. :D

jdarling

27-02-2006, 02:13 PM

Hey Will, glad to see your back, and hope you enjoyed your time away :). Didn't notice anything really new on the page you posted, but then I just took a quite glance at it. Whats your take on some of the questions that have been floating around the NG's about the compo? FEX: "Provide an 'exit' for the level. " what constitutes an Exit, "Design a minimum of 2 levels to be played by optional selection or in sequence. " does simply opening up a previously locked section on a level that leads into another level fulfill this requirement, and one I thought of last night; Even thought the player sees the game as level orientiated (meaning that htey have to move from one section to another by unlocking new sections, in my editor you edit the entire game as one large world (found this to be easier and allow for viewing of multiple places at one time) instead of a seperate file and graphical section for each level, is this ok, or do I have to physically make it so that the editor can edit "levels" as though they are seperate entities?

WILL

28-02-2006, 05:50 AM

Thanks! :) It's nice to finally be back.

FEX: "Provide an 'exit' for the level. " what constitutes an Exit

Consider it a way of getting out or finishing a level or stage in your game, even if it's just the one.

"Design a minimum of 2 levels to be played by optional selection or in sequence. " does simply opening up a previously locked section on a level that leads into another level fulfill this requirement

well that would be a combination of 'optional selection' AND 'sequence'. And by the book it's 'legal' as far as the rules are concerned.

Even thought the player sees the game as level orientiated (meaning that htey have to move from one section to another by unlocking new sections, in my editor you edit the entire game as one large world (found this to be easier and allow for viewing of multiple places at one time) instead of a seperate file and graphical section for each level, is this ok, or do I have to physically make it so that the editor can edit "levels" as though they are seperate entities?

Well the theme of the competition is Levels, Stages, Goals and of course The Big Bad Boss at the end. ;) So in this spirit, designing a level or levels requires that you 'Level-ize' you big world map if you choose to do it that way. You can have chossen areas within the big map or just reload it with new baddies or other such scenarios. The idea is that you make the game segmented into LEVELS. How you do that is all up to you.

We're not trying to 'teach you all how to suck eggs'. The idea is to work with the spirit of the theme and make it work in your design. The rest is all up to how creative you can be.

Up until the end of the last stage, all you have to do is meet the goal criteria to get 'Time Management' points, but at the same time at the end, you will be scored for Innovation & Fun, Game Stability and of course Graphics and Music & Sound. Take this into consideration as you get closer to your end goal. Hence the competition's 'dual' theme project/design management.

tux

01-03-2006, 07:06 PM

can someone check that stage 3 submited ok. i didnt get a "everything worked" message

TortureTank.zip - 7585KB

Huehnerschaender

01-03-2006, 07:32 PM

Wow, well done. You are quite in time! I hope I get my level exit working today.

And of course, I cannot say if your upload worked. Even if I would like to take a look at it 8)

tux

01-03-2006, 07:33 PM

Wow, well done. You are quite in time!

not as much polish as your entry, but if i have time i might upload a newer version later tonight

Traveler

01-03-2006, 07:39 PM

Speaking of submitting, could you WILL or savage add a GMT (or other) deadline time limit?

Huehnerschaender

01-03-2006, 08:10 PM

not as much polish as your entry, but if i have time i might upload a newer version later tonight

I haven't seen a requirement in the rules that your game has to be polished in stage 3. So you can lean back and enjoy.... I have still to work on one stage 3 goal.

savage

01-03-2006, 08:22 PM

can someone check that stage 3 submited ok. i didnt get a "everything worked" message

TortureTank.zip - 7585KB

What team are you and Maarten registered as again?

tux

01-03-2006, 08:32 PM

Those 2 guys

:D

savage

01-03-2006, 10:08 PM

Yes Team 23 has the following file information - t23_2006_03_04.zip 7584 k

Remember you can keep submitting files up to the deadline. It will simply overwrite the previously timestamped file for that team.

savage

01-03-2006, 10:15 PM

Speaking of submitting, could you WILL or savage add a GMT (or other) deadline time limit?

The deadline will be the equivalent of Midnight of the 4th by American West coast time. Which should be around GMT 7:00 am on Sunday the 5th.

Traveler

01-03-2006, 11:05 PM

7:00 am on Saturday the 5th?!

I think you mean Sunday the 5th

Huehnerschaender

02-03-2006, 12:26 AM

Yippie... I'm ready for stage 3!

Every goal is in the game. Now I will upload for my "betatesters" and hopefully tomorrow I can submit my entry for stage 3.

Uh boy, I'm done!

Greetings,

Dirk

savage

02-03-2006, 07:57 AM

I think you mean Sunday the 5th

Isn't that what I said :whistle:

And there you have it folks, the Big Brother future that awaits us, but that's a topic for another thread.

Huehnerschaender

02-03-2006, 10:03 AM

It seems that my entry is running on different machines without problems. So today evening it's upload time :twisted:

I have a question concerning further uploads:

Do we have to include the actual version of the Leveleditor every time we upload? Or is this not important for further stages?

Greetings,
Dirk

jdarling

02-03-2006, 02:02 PM

I'd say that if your Level editor changed then you would have to upload it again. As an example mine has went a complete re-birth due to modifications to fit into the rules as I understand them now.

48 hours and counting and I'm still going to be walking a wire as I only get 24 of them due to a trip I have to be on that won't have I-Net access :( . On the positive side, I have almost all of the support stuff for Stage 3 complete. Now I just have to implement it and show it working in the engine itself. I may have to cheat a bit and write it in the scripting engine if time gets tight (its faster to do it in there then in the hard code).

WILL

03-03-2006, 02:56 AM

Hey Tux, we got it "7584 k".

can someone check that stage 3 submited ok. i didnt get a "everything worked" message

TortureTank.zip - 7585KB

WILL

03-03-2006, 03:13 AM

Something that has happened at the end of the last stage that I see starting to happen for the 3rd stage is that some teams are submitting a txt or html file with a link to the submission.

This will leave you with ZERO points for that stage. You have to UPLOAD your entry or it will not count.

As stated in the rules:
SUBMISSIONS: You must submit a working executable on or before each stage deadline to show your completed goals. If no entry has been submitted by the deadline all goals for that stage will be considered incomplete and NO points will be awarded.

This means that you must SUBMIT your actual ENTRY!

Jedi

03-03-2006, 04:38 PM

Can somebody check my stage 3 entry?

Team: BruteForce
Filename: game_stage3.zip (3.622.791 bytes)

Thx!

jdarling

03-03-2006, 06:40 PM

Please double check the Eon Clash's stage 3 entry made it up. It came back to a black screen when I uploaded.

jdarling

03-03-2006, 08:19 PM

I just noticed that some of the teams have points posted beside there names and others don't. Has judging of Stage 2 completed, and if so will someone tell those of us that got in an entry why we didn't get any points? This actually goes for each stage as it goes along. If a team that put up an entry gets no points, will they be notified as to why not?

PS: I'm going to try and post up my stage 3 entry again. The frist time I just got back a blank screen, as stated above.

- Jeremy

aidave

03-03-2006, 08:52 PM

the Team Page is blank and there is no links or buttons to submit anything...
not in Firefox or Internet Explorer
ive check on 2 computers too

:?

aidave

03-03-2006, 09:05 PM

*blip*

jdarling

03-03-2006, 09:12 PM

It does that if you enter the wrong e-mail address or password or if your not registered. I've made the mistake a few times of entering the wrong address. Go back and try other passwords and e-mails.

aidave

03-03-2006, 09:20 PM

hey u are right!
there was no "password incorrect" so i thot i was in. duh

thanks jd!

8)

ps. can u cool mods verify the upload/zip integrity?
we worked very hard this round, need our minds at ease :wink:

WILL

03-03-2006, 09:45 PM

Can somebody check my stage 3 entry?

Team: BruteForce
Filename: game_stage3.zip (3.622.791 bytes)

Thx!

We got your entry "3537 k"! ;)

Please double check the Eon Clash's stage 3 entry made it up. It came back to a black screen when I uploaded.

We got it! "4276 k"

WILL

03-03-2006, 09:48 PM

jdarling

03-03-2006, 09:56 PM

Right now some of the competition scripts are not so dumby-proof (pardon the term), it doesn't make very forgiving corrections or notifications for even the simplest of mistakes.

I will improve upon this eventually. Right now the things I need to work on are the things you cannot see. :)

Work with it though, it does work and we are getting your submissions. Just be sure to actually upload them to our servers. ;)

Are you trying to say that we shouldn't trust the numbers we see on the results page, or just in general if things go bad try it again :) . Thanks for the double check, the size sounds about right.

WILL

04-03-2006, 12:09 AM

Well, if you get a properly loaded page then all should be considered well.

The blank page should only really happen if you entry the wrong information in. It's all case sensative of course! And some people confuse their username and team name with their email address (the thing they should be using instead), plus forgetting passwords, and of course the fact that their team leader and not those team members did the registering and forgot the capitalization of the passwords.

Common problems like these.

Uploads work. If you have a doubt, just upload again. It won't leave junk unless you change the extension.

If ever in doubt, ask! We will always try to answer your inquiry, provided you give us enough information.

ALSO, if you upload your game demo, then you upload a txt file after it will show your txt file as your 'official' entry rather than you game entry. Not what you want.

Another problem is that some teams don't put in the name of their game, instead they up stage X or whatever they feel is relivent to them, this isn't so great as on the results page you'll see Stage 3 instead of their game name... We'd prefer that you Type in nicely the proper title of your game. Take some pride in your work and make it show up in the competition nicely...

Teams that have not provided proper Game Names:

- 53km games[mirg.ru]
- animozita
- BruteForce
- Shirson

I'd like to ask that those teams who have submitted entries, but have not provided proper names for their games, either reply here, send me a PM or email me a proper name. Or they can re-upload and enter a proper name at that time.

jdarling

04-03-2006, 12:25 AM

How about those of us that entered (for me at least) "The Chronicles of Faelen - Stage 3(b)". I was trying to give myself a bit more on the what version I uploaded thing :) . BTW: You still haven't said if the points on the screen are accurate yet :) .

WILL

04-03-2006, 12:33 AM

How about those of us that entered (for me at least) "The Chronicles of Faelen - Stage 3(b)". I was trying to give myself a bit more on the what version I uploaded thing :) .

Thats fine. It just helps to have a name. Have a look at the results page (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php?p=results&c=1) and determine how you want your entry to look on this page.

BTW: You still haven't said if the points on the screen are accurate yet :) .

Officially; until they are all scored, ignore what is there. But we are in the process of gathering the scores as I type.

jdarling

04-03-2006, 01:57 AM

Well, my entry is titled: "The Chronicles of Faelen" w/o the quotes of course :) . Sorry for asking and prolly sounding nuts, its been a bad week thus far :P seems that Mr. Murphy likes my name quite a bit.

Zenophran

04-03-2006, 06:29 AM

Hi,

Just thought I'd better ask if my upload was successful as I'm uploading it from a PC I wouldn't normally use (and not sure I can trust...)

Hopefully there'll be an upload for Leadline Software: draconia_milestone3.zip (3,796,052 bytes)

It's an update to what I'd originally submitted.

Thanks

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 07:59 AM

Hi there,

would be nice if you could check my upload, too.

registered as Huehnerschaender
entry title: Tanx
file: TanxStg3.zip (8.260.427 Bytes)

Greetings,

Dirk

savage

04-03-2006, 08:16 AM

We have a zip file with an on disk size of 8066 k

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 08:34 AM

My windows explorer shows 8067, but I guess its ok.

WILL

04-03-2006, 08:38 AM

Just finished updating the submission records. All 2nd Stage entries should be shown now.

Both Draconia(3707 k) and Tanx(8066 k) have successfully uploaded.

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 08:49 AM

The appearance of the results page didn't change.

only the first 6 entry got points, the others show ??? at entry name (including mine) and 0/20 points.

Or is this not the page you updated?

And thanks for the info @savage and WILL (upload successful)

AthenaOfDelphi

04-03-2006, 08:57 AM

Just finished updating the submission records. All 2nd Stage entries should be shown now.

Morning WILL,

Just in case our entry is missing its proper name, its 'The Outer Reaches - Rise of The Raiders'

And I hope the scores aren't finished yet.... Outer Reaches Studios... Nil Pois :?

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 09:03 AM

I am wondering what this means:

Avalanche Team - No submission uploaded... - 5 / 20 points

How can someone get 5 points without submitting something?

WILL

04-03-2006, 09:13 AM

Good point... the reason is that the record was missing. I missed one. :o

Fixed now, thanks. ;)

Athena, I made sure your entry had it's proper name AND I noticed you have not uploaded yet.

A way to tell if it's too late is to look at the results page. If it shows the Stage entries, it's too late for that Stage.

I will add a time label so you can see what date and time it is on the server.

WILL

04-03-2006, 09:17 AM

It seems that more than the above mentioned in a recent post, have failed to provide proper names to their entries.

If your entry has a "???" listed beside their entry, it would be greatly appreciated if you provided a game title or project name for your submission.

AthenaOfDelphi

04-03-2006, 09:21 AM

No stage 3 entry yet, still working :-)

But stage 2... We submitted our stage 2 entry within the extended deadline period. It was uploaded at about 9pm on the 12th. Was a single zip containing a readme, 3 executeables, a .ORG file and a .ORM file. It was 1622271 bytes, named OuterReachesStudios_Stage2.zip.

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 09:48 AM

Don't know why my entry title did not come up, but it is "Tanx".
I entered it for both stage uploads.

Greetings,
Dirk

tux

04-03-2006, 11:43 AM

weeeeee 20/20 for stage 2 :D

Traveler

04-03-2006, 12:03 PM

At the time (and still btw) I'm very unsure about a name for my game.
For this stage I'll settle for a working title, is that okay? I believe I added something like 'still unknown'. Details didn't say we have to provide a game name as a requirement for past stages.

Also what are blue entries?

Traveler

04-03-2006, 12:16 PM

jdarling

04-03-2006, 02:11 PM

Also, something I just realized. Those people that did upload somehting but are awarded with less than 20 points (especially 0) are they informed about what is not correct about their entry? I mean, it would be nice to know what to improve for the next stage for a particular goal.

I asked the same question Traveler, and I'm more then interested in why I recieved 0 points. As I read the rules I had a complete submission. I was ready for upload on the 10th but had to wait till the 11th due to the hack. Going back and checking my log files I can see that the form fields were all filled in (Game Name: "The Chronicles of Faelen" and submission stream is the proper size). Odd that only the first 7 entries on the screen are displaying points et al. The same number as yesterday morning. WILL, you sure something in the scripts isn't still messed up?

WILL

04-03-2006, 02:17 PM

We are still waiting on the scores. Don't read anything into it, until we have announced that they are updated and final.

The only updates that I did were to show all the proper entries, NOT scores. Sorry for the confusion.

savage will make the scoring completion announcement soon.

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 02:20 PM

People, take it easy. I don't believe that the result page is ok. There were 20 people/teams submitting right in time and only 7 are listed with points. Anyone who read the rules submitted as much as a "basic documentation of the controls", so nearly everyone should get as much as 5 points. There is still something wrong with the results page, but I don't think that 13 people are not able to write 5 sentences :lol:

So let's wait a while until WILL says something about it again.

Greetings,
Dirk

EDIT: WILL was a bit faster than me :lol: :lol: :lol:

jdarling

04-03-2006, 02:33 PM

Sorry I'll admit I'm very edgy today. Leaving town for a few days in about 20 mins. Haven't had hot water in 3 days (supposed to be fixed by the time I get back) and the Dr wants to put my wife on Bed Rest for the remainder of her pregnancy :shock: . Please excuse any responses from me that sound a bit um... Well like I'm the worlds largest ass hole. I'll admit that right now I am. Anyways see you all tomorow night 8)

Huehnerschaender

04-03-2006, 02:40 PM

jdarling

04-03-2006, 02:46 PM

Ehm... your post was not that "bad" as you think. We all work hard for our entrys and there was quite a confusion concerning the results page. Thats all.

I wish you, your wife and the little baby the very best! I have 2 kids myself.

Greetings and good luck with your real life problems.

This will be our 2nd child, and we are both really excited. It was just a bit of a surprise when the Dr said Bed Rest. Best of luck and livelyhood to you and yours as well.

michalis

04-03-2006, 03:52 PM

If your entry has a "???" listed beside their entry, it would be greatly appreciated if you provided a game title or project name for your submission.

There's "???" listed for my entry. When uploading I provided the title "The Castle - 0.2.0 (stage 2)" (filename was castle-0.2.0.tar.gz). So the proper name of my entry is "The Castle". When submitting stage 3 entry today I understand that I should enter just "The Castle" as entry name ?

Althogh it's a working title, I'm thinking of changing it (to something like "Castle of <something>" etc. --- no good idea yet). That's because there already are games named "Castle"...

WILL

04-03-2006, 11:43 PM

There's "???" listed for my entry. When uploading I provided the title "The Castle - 0.2.0 (stage 2)" (filename was castle-0.2.0.tar.gz). So the proper name of my entry is "The Castle". When submitting stage 3 entry today I understand that I should enter just "The Castle" as entry name ?

Althogh it's a working title, I'm thinking of changing it (to something like "Castle of <something>" etc. --- no good idea yet). That's because there already are games named "Castle"...

Whatever you name your entry, just make it look nice and clean. If it's 'The Castle', 'Castle 0.2.0' or it's 'The Castle Project', either is fine, just remember that what you put reflects how your entry is presented.

Top prize afterall is entry into the IGF and a shot at getting a publishing deal there.

AthenaOfDelphi

04-03-2006, 11:50 PM

Hi WILL or Savage,

Could you verify our stage 3 upload please. Should be a zip file called OuterReachesStudios_Stage3.zip, 1952KB in size.

Many thanks guys

michalis

05-03-2006, 12:26 AM

I also ask for confirmation that my stage 3 entry was received. Filename castle-0.3.0.tar.gz, size 5550831. (In case anyone would ask: I'm adding there all my sources, including Blender models, that's why it's so large).

WILL

05-03-2006, 12:50 AM

Don't bother telling us what the filename is as it gets changed to the archive name anyhow. ;)

Instead we would rather you give us your Team name (best case scenario) and if you like the filesize, but note they usually don't match be a k or so as the numbers get rounded off.

Outer Reaches Studios - 1951 k zip file found!
Michalis Kamburelis - 5420 k tar.gz file found!

AthenaOfDelphi

05-03-2006, 12:59 AM

Instead we would rather you give us your Team name (best case scenario) and if you like the filesize, but note they usually don't match be a k or so as the numbers get rounded off.

K, I'll try and remember that for next stage.

Outer Reaches Studios - 1951 k zip file found!

Many thanks... I can relax a little now :-D

Traveler

05-03-2006, 02:10 AM

YESS, I'm please to say I have uploaded my entry. I can now finally go to bed :D

Please confirm my entry did upload.
Team name: Traveler
Title: Village Defense
filesize : 540kb

Thank you!

WILL

05-03-2006, 03:52 AM

Traveler - 'Village Defense' - 539 k rar file found!

FNX

05-03-2006, 04:37 PM

Hi all,
sad to say but i've to drop the compo due to personal problems realted
to daytime job, i'm too in late now to finish my entry by the last
deadline. Same problem for my gfx artist. :(

I'll continue my project as a WIP but with no deadlines.

Can't wait to play all the entries anyway :) Good luck to everyone!

AthenaOfDelphi

05-03-2006, 05:22 PM

Hi FNX,

Hi all,
sad to say but i've to drop the compo due to personal problems realted
to daytime job, i'm too in late now to finish my entry by the last
deadline. Same problem for my gfx artist. :(
Sorry to hear that, I hope life sorts itself out sooner rather than later.

I'll continue my project as a WIP but with no deadlines.
Thats good to hear, I trust you'll keep us all updated on progress :-)

Take care hon

Huehnerschaender

05-03-2006, 05:44 PM

Oh! Thats really sad.
I was hoping to hold your game in my hands soon, because I really liked the theme with the big "monsters" in a city. The first thing I was thinking of when I saw your screenshot was a game called "Rampage". It's very old (C 64 I guess), but I've played it a lot.

So I really hope you finish this one. I also played your little game where you have to collect diamonds falling from above. So I know that you are able to prog nice and finished things.

Keep your work on, even if it's not for the compo anymore.

Best wishes,
Dirk

Traveler

05-03-2006, 06:01 PM

Oh no,... and it was looking soo cool!
I really do hope you're going to continue. Best of luck with your daytime job!

savage

05-03-2006, 08:15 PM

Hi All,
The first judge's scores have now been entered. Please visit the results page to see how you faired.

Traveler

05-03-2006, 08:23 PM

Al lot of 20/20's! Good job everyone!

This is a bit odd though:
Marek Mauder No submission uploaded... 20 / 20 points

Huehnerschaender

05-03-2006, 08:36 PM

Yep, congratz to everyone who scored! Now don't lean back and keep on your good work :)

I want to see many finished projects in the end.

By the way, am I right when I think that the 40 registered teams melted down to nearly 20? I don't think that the other 20 will join after stage 3. Thats really sad. I was really happy to see so many competitors.

Greetings,
Dirk

savage

05-03-2006, 09:46 PM

This is a bit odd though:
Marek Mauder No submission uploaded... 20 / 20 points

The score is correct, but the DB was not updated correctly, hence the strange message. I will try and update it in the next few days.

tux

05-03-2006, 10:23 PM

Whats supposed to happen when i click on the score? is it correct that i see the list of competitions?

also can you change the name of the old forum's cookie (or this one) because every time i look at the old pages it logs me out of the new forums and its getting anoying.

AthenaOfDelphi

05-03-2006, 10:28 PM

also can you change the name of the old forum's cookie (or this one) because every time i look at the old pages it logs me out of the new forums and its getting anoying.

I mentioned it to WILL the other day... its on the list of things to do I think. Use a different browser for the compeition pages as a temporary solution... finally I found a use for IE :-D

savage

06-03-2006, 12:03 AM

also can you change the name of the old forum's cookie (or this one) because every time i look at the old pages it logs me out of the new forums and its getting anoying.

Old Site cookie has now been changed.

savage

06-03-2006, 10:34 PM

All the judges scores have now been entered.

WILL

11-03-2006, 08:38 PM

To all members that have submitted an entry for the 2nd stage, you can now see how you did with the 2nd stage goals.

3rd stage goals pending review by the judges.

Jedi

24-03-2006, 03:29 AM

Well, another deadline. It would be nice if somebody could check my stage4 upload. :wink:

team: BruteForce
file: Beholder_St4.rar (4.957.179 bytes)

jdarling

24-03-2006, 03:19 PM

As I said in the Screenshots thread, if I dropped the item pickup and inventory stuff in our Stage 4 entry (due to optimizations that I'm working on) would that be ok? Seems Stage 4 is more about is their a boss and if so can you kill it or be killed trying to get to it or killing it :)

Huehnerschaender

25-03-2006, 10:24 AM

Could somebody please check if my entry arrived its destination?

Huehnerschaender
Tanx
Filesize: 10,8 MB (11.357.139 Bytes)

Greetings,
Dirk

Zenophran

25-03-2006, 10:25 AM

Can someone please check mine also?

Leadline Software
Draconia
Draconia_Milestone4.zip (4,151,784 bytes)

TIA

NecroDOME

25-03-2006, 12:05 PM

same 4 me plz:

Team: NecroSOFT
Entry: Scag_Stage_4.rar

Maybe a good thing to add the entry names direcly on the team-page so you can see if the upload was succes!

aidave

25-03-2006, 08:07 PM

Also verify Blocked upload please!

AthenaOfDelphi

25-03-2006, 10:45 PM

If you could also verify Outer Reaches Studios upload (approx. 2194KB - Original name 'OuterReachesStudios_Stage4.zip') we'd appreciate it :-)

michalis

25-03-2006, 11:31 PM

Another ask for confirmation. Team name "Michalis Kamburelis", title "The Castle", file size 8843618.

You really should implement some way to allow us to see what was received by the server (size of received file, md5 sum etc.), to stop these "confirmation threads" at each stage deadline :) Simply going back to the team page after successfull upload doesn't feel safe enough --- I always think that maybe there was some error, not everything was received etc. but my www browser or your www server didn't bother to report it properly.

Traveler

26-03-2006, 01:09 AM

I've uploaded mine as well: Village_defense_4.rar around 615kb

savage

27-03-2006, 11:50 AM

Hi Guys and Gals, appologies for the delay in answering, but I have been working on a deadline all week-end. I will find out if your files are there and let you know.

savage

27-03-2006, 11:56 AM

savage

27-03-2006, 12:19 PM

Uploaded files and sizes so far....

TEAM FILE SIZE
------ ------
Traveler 614 k
Outer Reaches Studios 3499 k
Michalis Kamburelis 8636 k
Stoned Code 142 k
AIR 10380 k
Leadline Software 4054 k
Huehnerschaender 11090 k
Eon Clash 7239 k
Those 2 Guys 6059 k
Marek Mauder 2094 k
CairnsGames 4352 k
BruteForce 4840 k
NecroSOFT 14684 k

Traveler

27-03-2006, 12:54 PM

Thanks savage!

I noticed Eric and Dean have began to judge stage 3 entries. Excellent! :thumbup:

NecroDOME

27-03-2006, 02:26 PM

My game has the biggest file size :P
(sorry, had to say it)

savage

27-03-2006, 09:00 PM

My game has the biggest file size :P
(sorry, had to say it)

It's not the size of your archive that matters, but how you use it :P
( it was there for the saying ).
But that's usually said by people with small archives.

NecroDOME

27-03-2006, 09:07 PM

LOL - I know, it juist need to reduce my texture sizes. on the orange enemy's I stick a texture with demensions of 512x512 and you can't even see it unless you have a verry big resolusion screen!

michalis

27-03-2006, 10:51 PM

btw, if you look at the results page @ http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/competitions.php?p=results&c=1 and look at Stage 4 results, it will tell you if a file has been accpted by the due date. If it says "No submission uploaded" then you know you upload has not been successfull.

These pages are all automated, When WILL gets back I'm sure he could add files sizes etc, to help the contestants confirm that their entry is the correct one.

This shows me whether my upload was successfull but only *after* the deadline passed, which is a little too late :) If this page is automated, then the submissions for the next stage should be just made visible before that stage completes. For example, right now I should be able to expand "Stage 5" section and see who already uploaded archives for the next stage.

savage

28-03-2006, 09:00 AM

Well hopefully when WILL gets back he will be able to add this feature in.

WILL

01-04-2006, 02:44 AM

Well hopefully when WILL gets back he will be able to add this feature in.

I am planning on it. ;)

I feel sorta bad that I could not add all of these helpful features in yet. Had I only the time... :roll:

Well, I'm in Vancouver (BC, Canada) for the weekend gonna relax this weekend, try to work on some older projects and checkout the big car show. :) Pictures may be forthcoming...

I see everyone is progressing well with their entries! Keep up the good work guys. I'm keping an eye with anticipation for those that have kept up regularly with the multi-Stage race and those that will be supprising us with last minute final deadline entries.

aidave

02-04-2006, 11:58 PM

why is there a review of one entry,
with advice on how to improve...
but the others are ignored?
seems biased

:?

Huehnerschaender

03-04-2006, 08:25 AM

You mean that he already got an idea how to satisfy the judge, while we don't?
Hmmm.... that's true. I don't think that the judges can test all games at once, but only one comment for several days could give the commented one an advantage, I agree... So hopefully the missing comments will follow soon!

Greetings,
Dirk

savage

03-04-2006, 08:54 AM

why is there a review of one entry,
with advice on how to improve...
but the others are ignored?
seems biased

:?
Could it be possible that after testing the game in question, something came up and the judge was unable to post other comments for the other entries?

aidave

06-04-2006, 01:03 AM

I think it would be most fair if all hints are submitted at the same time.

question:

is there still a 20mb file size limit?
would the final submission allow for more than 20mb?
with music and sound, im afraid our submission will be over 20mb.

cheers
dave

WILL

06-04-2006, 09:10 AM

I think it would be most fair if all hints are submitted at the same time.
I would have to agree. Once I get home and have a bit of time to get things organized. (I have been sea for 3 weeks+) I have to impliment a nice script-friendly way to incorporate it into the competition system.

is there still a 20mb file size limit?
would the final submission allow for more than 20mb?
with music and sound, im afraid our submission will be over 20mb.
The 20MB limit is a loose rule so that entries don't get overbloated too soon and we lose mass amounts of site bandwidth due to extra large file sizes.

That said we'd appreciate it if those that are considering going over 20MB do so as a last resort. I don't recall the numbers (iow ask savage), but we are limited to a number of GB per month. After that we either get charged for the excess or get disconnected (very worst case scenario).

Bandwidth is not nor has been a major issue at all so far so don't worry about that, but then again we haven't had 40+ teams submitting 20MB files to our webspace before.

If you guys need it to complete your goals and score the points, then go over 20MB, but if you can avoid it without damaging the effect of your entry, please try to keep file sizes down for bandwidth sake. Besides your user-base will love you for it too. ;)

WILL

11-04-2006, 01:20 PM

Something that I noticed in the last few deadlines. I don't know if it was oversight or on purpose, but there were entries that did not provide an executable in their archive.

Sure providing your source is great. But the competition requirements ARE that you MUST provide and executable with your entry. Failure to do so will earn you nothing and all that hard work would be wasted.

The judges cannot award you points if you do not provide an executable. It's that simple. They may try to compile it to give you tips or suggestions, sure, but that does not constitute a working exe as required by the competition rules. Don't lose points needlessly.

Even worse, at the end of the competition if your last entry didn't have an executable we will have to give you Zero for the judged categories. And we'd hate to have to do that after such a long competition.

SUBMISSIONS: You must submit a working executable on or before each stage deadline to show your completed goals. If no entry has been submitted by the deadline all goals for that stage will be considered incomplete and NO points will be awarded.

Each submission will be either a single archive, compressed with a common format(Zip, RAR or GZip), that contains the executable and ALL other required game data and library files that are CLEANLY organized within OR a single installer that will both install and uninstall cleanly.

The easier it is to setup and run you game on any Linux or Windows system, the happier the judges will be about trying your entry!

michalis

15-04-2006, 09:47 PM

I just noticed that Dean's points for stage 4 were given for my entry. Any reason why I don't have any points for "death sequence" ? It was surely implemented...

michalis

15-04-2006, 10:05 PM

After some thought, I also decided to ask again why did I get only 30/40 points for stage 2 ? No points from Eric for "Make a basic level editor" and "Create a simple level" goals, but simple level was included, and description how to create and export levels with blender was in the README file...

I don't want to sound like a whiner here, I can live without those points :), but I would just appreciate some reasoning.

WILL

15-04-2006, 11:12 PM

I will ask Dean about Stage 4.

After some thought, I also decided to ask again why did I get only 30/40 points for stage 2 ? No points from Eric for "Make a basic level editor" and "Create a simple level" goals, but simple level was included, and description how to create and export levels with blender was in the README file...

I don't want to sound like a whiner here, I can live without those points :), but I would just appreciate some reasoning.

As for Stage 2's goals:

"Make a basic level editor."

This one is simple. You did not make Blender so you don't get points for that. :) The goal was to make your own editor. Even a level constructor that took your blender-made enviroments and added in scripted or other level data into your level would have sufficed.

"Create a simple level with editor to test (and show off) the engine features.".

This one is really a follow-up to the other... if you didn't make your own level editor you can't make a level with it. I agree with most that the wording is a bit misleading, we'll have to watch for this next year, but thats what we asked for.

Don't worry about asking. Noone minds it, and if they do, they shouldn't. ;) Knowlage is power my friend. Besides if we are unclear, it's our fault. But if you dont ask, then it becomes your fault too. :)

As a side note; don't worry too much about missing a few points due to your game's development. All in all it's about 1/5th of the total score. Which can easily be made up with killer graphics and sound. :D

-- Commercial Game Industry tactic 101 :lol: