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View Full Version : 2006 PGD Annual: Competition Question about stage 3 goals



AthenaOfDelphi
25-02-2006, 04:41 PM
Hi all,

I have a couple of questions for the competition managers and judges...

They relate to two goals.

The first is about enemies. The goals for stage 3 state that we have to have pickup items and weapons. Does this mean we are expected to be able to kill our basic enemies? Or is it sufficient to have them and be able to pick up weapons but not use them yet?

The second is about the level exit. What constitutes a level exit? Like Jeremy, we are making an RPG style game, so my interpretation is that a level exit is a jump from one map to another? Can you clarify whether this is acceptable for this goal.

aidave
28-02-2006, 01:23 AM
yeah the "level exit" is confusing.
since we only are to make one level, what can we exit to? another level?... but there is only one level ... lol

someone said earlier it would be enough to just put a "you completed the level" sign for the user, or bring up a "game menu". of course game menu isnt till stage 5.

right now when the player completes the level, i put "SUCCESS!! You win this level" up on the screen. I hope that qualifies!!!

Traveler
28-02-2006, 08:47 AM
I assume a 'succes' or 'well done' message at the end is sufficient for stage 3. Beware, I'm no admin and haven't made the rules of course, but the way I see it, an exit is simply a way to end your level. Ie, you have a beginning, the game and an ending. In other words no ongoing stuff.

AthenaOfDelphi
28-02-2006, 09:10 AM
Its this 'on-going stuff' that is the problem. In your stereotypical RPG, you don't have levels as such, so I'm guessing something as simple as 'Area Completed' will do.

I saw Will's post about this topic and figure we'll be ok providing we tell the user they have completed the area, before they go onto the next. But I'd still like official clarification that what we have planned is acceptable, so I'll explain how its going to work....

You start on planet X... you complete certain tasks, when they are all complete, you blast off, effectively completing the planet. At which point, context switches and instead of being a character running round, you are a spaceship flying round. Goto the next planet, complete the tasks there and so on until you reach the end of the game. You will have missions in the space zones too.

Judges and rule makers.... in this scenario, for the level exit criteria, is it sufficient to simply present the user with a message 'Planet Completed'?

Sorry for dragging this point out a little, but I'm sure we're not alone in wanting to be absolutely sure we don't blow points because of a simple misunderstanding of the rules.

aidave
28-02-2006, 04:06 PM
what if the level is too hard for the judges?
they may never see the exit! hehe

jdarling
28-02-2006, 04:06 PM
Its this 'on-going stuff' that is the problem. In your stereotypical RPG, you don't have levels as such, so I'm guessing something as simple as 'Area Completed' will do.

I saw Will's post about this topic and figure we'll be ok providing we tell the user they have completed the area, before they go onto the next. But I'd still like official clarification that what we have planned is acceptable, so I'll explain how its going to work....

You start on planet X... you complete certain tasks, when they are all complete, you blast off, effectively completing the planet. At which point, context switches and instead of being a character running round, you are a spaceship flying round. Goto the next planet, complete the tasks there and so on until you reach the end of the game. You will have missions in the space zones too.

Judges and rule makers.... in this scenario, for the level exit criteria, is it sufficient to simply present the user with a message 'Planet Completed'?

Sorry for dragging this point out a little, but I'm sure we're not alone in wanting to be absolutely sure we don't blow points because of a simple misunderstanding of the rules.

I sure hope thats enough, as in my game you simply get a "Quest Completed" message and then have to return to the normal map and find the next quest on the list of things to do (of course you could always complete them out of sequence or even finish w/o completing all of them).

AthenaOfDelphi
28-02-2006, 04:10 PM
what if the level is too hard for the judges?
they may never see the exit! hehe

LOL :lol: :lol:

That is very true... will have to get Spirit on the case with some EVIL maps :twisted:

jdarling
28-02-2006, 07:02 PM
what if the level is too hard for the judges?
they may never see the exit! hehe

LOL :lol: :lol:

That is very true... will have to get Spirit on the case with some EVIL maps :twisted:

I've included cheat codes for just this reason. That and the included game editor lets you modify the scripts used to run the game, so they could also make life a bit easier from inside the editor if they are too lost :).

WILL
01-03-2006, 04:21 AM
The first is about enemies. The goals for stage 3 state that we have to have pickup items and weapons. Does this mean we are expected to be able to kill our basic enemies? Or is it sufficient to have them and be able to pick up weapons but not use them yet?

Because I did not specify that you have to be able to kill them, I'd say that it's not so much of a requirement. But you should obviously have them show up or act as enemies would. Unless you have the main character as some kind of evil hell spawn and the enemies are cute widdle bunny wabbits. :P


The second is about the level exit. What constitutes a level exit? Like Jeremy, we are making an RPG style game, so my interpretation is that a level exit is a jump from one map to another? Can you clarify whether this is acceptable for this goal.

I had answered this one before in much more detail than I will here, but simply put you games are ment to be level-ized, which means that you make them into levels weither you have a big map or several. So an exit would be finishing one area or 'stage/level' part and moving on to another and/or finishing the game, etc...

Here's the other thread post: Clicky! (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19877#19877)

WILL
01-03-2006, 04:28 AM
Heres a helpful tip; if you want to make sure that the judges find whatever feature is required by the goals, dispite the difficulty of it, include a small developers readme/notes (text/doc) file that will either point them in the right direction or just plain out fess-up and tell them that it's not there.

This would be of great help to the judges trying to find competed and missing goals in each entry. And I'll ask that each judge looks for this text file and read it if available.