Competition Genre Suggestions...

[savage]

Hi all,
As there seems to be some interest in holding a competition this year, Ian and I have been racking out brains to come up with some suggestions for an interesting competition. The list we have so far is :

Cut Scene engine - Thats right basically a story telling engine that is typically used to push the story along. Think Machinima, but could be 2D or 3D. Maybe picking your favourite movie scene and re-creating it with computer graphics and code. NO pre-rendered stuff, it must all be scripted and real-time.

A game that can be controlled by someone with disabilities. EG, controlled by 1 key press, voice recognition, webcam interaction etc.

A maze based game.

A sport based game (arcade or manager/statistical style) as it is the Olympics this year.

An educational game.

Something similar to this java based game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocode I'm quite interested in this as you compile your own tank and let it do battle against others.

Multiplayer collaboration game : (2 or more players on the same pc of connected via the internet). This would in some way be going back to our competition roots and was the very first competition called Dog Fight that PGD held

If you have any other competition suggestions, this is the thread to post it in.

[technomage]

Dom

Cut Scene Engine is an interesting concept, if you decided on this I think it would be nice to have at least 2 categories best 2D and best 3D. I think if I did a cut scene it would be this one from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cEbQKTYeDis&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cEbQKTYeDis&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

one of my favourite scenes ever, specifically the bit where the sun hits the map room.


The Olympics theme is nice too, there are plenty of sports events to choose from, that kind of game brings back memories of Daley Thomsons Decathlon (http://www.flatbatteries.dsl.pipex.com/games/daley.htm)
where you hammered your kewyboard with all your might.

Multiplayer collaboration would be nice, but it doesn't have to be realtime it could be turn based, by e-mail

Dean

[chronozphere]

Nice suggestions :)

I also have an idea.

Take a retro-game concept like pong, pacman, space invaders, tetris whatsoever... and make something new out of it. You could change lots of stuff while still keeping some concepts/graphics that characterize some famous retro game. You could even combine 2 retro games.

I know this is starting to look like another multiplexity kinda compo, but i like the idea.
(Crashblock is an example of a game that would fit in this compo, i guess :D )

We could also make fantasy-games. Games that a minimal ammount of things that we know of in this "real world". This compo might result in some funny series of cool, and weird games with a high "never seen before" factor. You could make an unrealistic world where gravity points up, or you could make some kind of puzzle games like chess, or some psychedelic racegame (that also use a minimum of real world items).

Just a few idea's... hope you like'em. ;)

[Robert Kosek]

I'd suggest a turn-based strategy game. But it looks like you've got enough to choose from already.

[3_of_8]

What about something stealthy? Or a strategy game? Or a RPG? Maybe online?

[jasonf]

I quite like the cut scene idea, It'd make for great YouTube movies too.. but I do think, there'll be a lot of work for anyone wanting to do it. Lots of art assets to create, lots of animation and a ton of scripting.

[Robert Kosek]

I quite like the cut scene idea, It'd make for great YouTube movies too.. but I do think, there'll be a lot of work for anyone wanting to do it. Lots of art assets to create, lots of animation and a ton of scripting.Heh, yeah, that disqualifies ~80% of us right up front.

[chronozphere]

Heh, yeah, that disqualifies ~80% of us right up front.


I second that. If that is the theme for this compo, i guess i could not join then. I'm absolutely not experienced with art, 3d models, animation etc... and i don't think i have time to learn that stuff, and make something satisfactory. :?

My power and skill is pure coding, so i need some challenging project where i can put my "real" skillaz to the test :D

[Mirage]

* gameplay: physics-based, AI-based, music-based, etc.
* High-speed (any sense) game
* just a game :)

[LP]

Why not just making a Pascal Games Festival? That is, any game can participate that was released between dates X and Y, written in Pascal. You can qualify sections such as graphics, originality, completeness, sounds, etc. This will hopefully let everyone participate without any major restrictions.

[paul_nicholls]

Why not just making a Pascal Games Festival? That is, any game can participate that was released between dates X and Y, written in Pascal. You can qualify sections such as graphics, originality, completeness, sounds, etc. This will hopefully let everyone participate without any major restrictions.

I love this idea :)

cheers,
Paul

[arthurprs]

Why not just making a Pascal Games Festival? That is, any game can participate that was released between dates X and Y, written in Pascal. You can qualify sections such as graphics, originality, completeness, sounds, etc. This will hopefully let everyone participate without any major restrictions.

I love this idea :)

cheers,
Paul

me2

[3_of_8]

That's an interesting alternative... But I think I'd prefer having a certain topic, but not a too restrictive one. Cut scene engine, for example, wouldn't even allow us to make a game, just a cutscene, which would, as mentioned by some others, make it impossible to participate for all those who are not into graphics that much. Last year's topic, multiplexity, was great, of course. Interesting, but hardly restrictive.

[Chobley]

Why not just making a Pascal Games Festival? That is, any game can participate that was released between dates X and Y, written in Pascal. You can qualify sections such as graphics, originality, completeness, sounds, etc. This will hopefully let everyone participate without any major restrictions.

I love this idea :)

cheers,
Paul

me2

This does seem a great idea...then beginners like me can enter...

[chronozphere]

@Lifepower: i also like that idea, but i'm not giving up thinking of a good compo theme ;)

Another idea:

Making a game with as less code as possible, but still with cool gameplay. This would be a nice coding challenge. You have to carefully think out your design, and efficiently use modules to minimize the ammount of code. Ofcourse, the engine you are using isn't taken into account.

In such a compo, everyone must show their sources to the judges, who check the ammount of lines used (empty lines do not count). Extra points are awarded to those who use a minimal ammount of code while having interesting gameplay, cool graphical effects etc. One of the judges could write a simple tool that count's the lines of a list of files, and assigns points according to the ammount of lines counted. This app should be open-source, so everyone exactly know's how it works, and cheating is no option.

You could also set a maximum ammount of lines e.g 2500 or 4000 (blank's not taken into account). If someone exceeds this limit, no extra points are awarded for line count.

I know this idea should be carefully thought out, but it allows all kinds of games etc, so
everyone should have a chance.

Hope you like this idea. :)

[technomage]

Here's a thought for the cut scene idea (or any other idea for that matter), why not team up with an art related forum such as http://www.threedy.com/ and run a joint compo, developers from this forum could team up with artists from the other forums to compete. Additional categories would need to be added so that Artists would have a goal to work to as well as developers (artists probably won't be interested in winning a Chrome license for example but might be interested in a photoshop or Xara license).

As with the 2007 compo idea's would be posted so developers or artists could recruit people to help with entries.

This could of course open a can of worms because people would be working with people they don't know and what happens if your artist or developer pulls out half way through.

But it might help introduce artists to this forum for future projects :)

[3_of_8]

Why not just making a Pascal Games Festival? That is, any game can participate that was released between dates X and Y, written in Pascal.

Hey, wait a second... Does that mean that we're not gonna code anything new at all? If it does, I strongly disagree. I'd really like to code something new for this competition.

[chronozphere]

@ 3_of_8: i guess you could use such a compa as an oppurtunity to continue working on some old lost project, or improving a finished one. :) I guess you could also start a new project (Date Y sould be in the future then).

[LP]

Hey, wait a second... Does that mean that we're not gonna code anything new at all? If it does, I strongly disagree. I'd really like to code something new for this competition.
Not necessarily, it depends on the dates and how wiling you are. Of course, if you don't want to code anything and just pull out some old code - this is okay. In fact, you could've done this in all previous compos as well. However, the rest of people who have tight schedule might still be able to participate.

Previously there were discussions of showing off Pascal projects to the world. Running a Festival might be one way of doing it. ;)

[dmantione]

[list]Cut Scene engine - Thats right basically a story telling engine that is typically used to push the story along. Think Machinima, but could be 2D or 3D. Maybe picking your favourite movie scene and re-creating it with computer graphics and code. NO pre-rendered stuff, it must all be scripted and real-time.

A game that can be controlled by someone with disabilities. EG, controlled by 1 key press, voice recognition, webcam interaction etc.

A maze based game.

A sport based game (arcade or manager/statistical style) as it is the Olympics this year.

An educational game.


I strongly disagree with these. They are genres, not themes. The previous PGD annuals set a theme which had to be present in the game, but left the genre open. I.e. during the big boss we saw 2D-shoot ' em ups, first persion shooters, real time strategy and more. Last year we say platformers, tactical games etc.

Ending up with about 15 maze games or about 15 sports games or about 15 educational games would be boring.

Some suggestions for more "PGD anual style" themes:

- The mad scientist. Design a game that involves research. During game play the player has to invest in research, which causes upgrades to become available.
- The businessman. Like "The mad scientist", but with money.
- The pirate: Design a game about pirates, treasures, etc.
- History themes: Roman age, medieval age, colonial period, first/second world war, cold war
- Scene mania. Design a game that involves multiple scenes, like going from one room to another, or going from a safe place to a dangerous place. The atmosphere in the game should change as smoothly as possible. I.e. a musical bridge will score better than stopping music and starting a new song.
war.
- The intelligent machine: Human and computer both play the same game and start with equal resources. AI will of course an important part of your score.

[dmantione]

Here's a thought for the cut scene idea (or any other idea for that matter), why not team up with an art related forum such as http://www.threedy.com/ and run a joint compo, developers from this forum could team up with artists from the other forums to compete. Additional categories would need to be added so that Artists would have a goal to work to as well as developers (artists probably won't be interested in winning a Chrome license for example but might be interested in a photoshop or Xara license).

As with the 2007 compo idea's would be posted so developers or artists could recruit people to help with entries.

This could of course open a can of worms because people would be working with people they don't know and what happens if your artist or developer pulls out half way through.

But it might help introduce artists to this forum for future projects :)

I like this idea. Yes, it would have to managed well to prevent unfinished games, but those happen anyway. From previous years it seems only about 1/4 of all games is finished.

[ianatwork]

[list]Cut Scene engine - Thats right basically a story telling engine that is typically used to push the story along. Think Machinima, but could be 2D or 3D. Maybe picking your favourite movie scene and re-creating it with computer graphics and code. NO pre-rendered stuff, it must all be scripted and real-time.

A game that can be controlled by someone with disabilities. EG, controlled by 1 key press, voice recognition, webcam interaction etc.

A maze based game.

A sport based game (arcade or manager/statistical style) as it is the Olympics this year.

An educational game.


I strongly disagree with these. They are genres, not themes.

OK I can see your point but you need to look at these in a different way.

A sports based game, this could be a made up sport or futuristic one. You're right in that all the entries would be sports based but there is no need to expect all the entries to be football games etc

A maze based game, OK so may be you'd expect all the entries to be pacman clones but what's to stop you having a first person shooter in a labyrinth. What about a "first out of the maze" driving game where you can drop road blocks to change the maze and hinder others ?

A game for someone with disabilities. This could be any type of game you just need to control it in a different way. If someone has limited movement or some other impartment, why should they be denied the fun of playing the games we do.

An educational game, again this could be almost any type of game. You would just need to implement some form of learning. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of a stealth shooter style of game. At various points you have to hack into a computer. You actually have to write some "Pascal" code in the game to complete a task. See how you are teaching someone Pascal and they are playing a game. OK so its not going to be used in schools but I'm just trying to get across that you need to think outside of the box.

[jasonf]

Did anyone ever play that game when they were kids where you get a piece of paper and fold it into a zig zag shape with about 3 or 4 folds.. then one person draws the head, another draws the body and someone else eventually draws the feet.. in the end you get this mad looking person. the key being that none of the other people knew what the other drawings looked like, they just had the guidelines for the next part to go from.

I've seen this done with stories too, different people have a chapter to write using only the character's basic information for guidelines.

This sort of thing would be great as a competition where there was one standard engine to use and different people were working on different parts of the game, but in secret.

Everyone just uses placeholder graphics, which are of the same size as the main char.

The level designer doesn't know what the final textures will look like

No-one knows what the music will be

The sound effects could be anything.

Perhaps this sort of competition should be for multiple forums, some sort of inter-community project.

it would make some really mad games though and might accidentally make a classic.

You could get some mad Physics based platform game featuring pandas shooting bananas at skate punks in a post apocalyptic jellybean factory to the tune of ride of the Valkyries..

[paul_nicholls]

You could get some mad Physics based platform game featuring pandas shooting bananas at skate punks in a post apocalyptic jellybean factory to the tune of ride of the Valkyries..

LOL!!!!

I can picture it now...

cheers,
Paul

[3_of_8]

:lol:

Project title: Bananas NOW!

[ianatwork]

One of the problems with this years competition is the shortage of time available to the PGD team to organise it. I've offered my services to Savage to help it happen but my day job restricts what I can do.


Did anyone ever play that game when they were kids where you get a piece of paper and fold it into a zig zag shape with about 3 or 4 folds.. then one person draws the head, another draws the body and someone else eventually draws the feet.. in the end you get this mad looking person. the key being that none of the other people knew what the other drawings looked like, they just had the guidelines for the next part to go from

Your concept certainly sounds interesting but has the potential to be difficult to implement. From personal experience it's difficult to find people willing to produce graphics etc. Creating a set of rules for such a game would also be tricky and time consuming.

The different competition ideas shown at the beginning of this thread were devised to allow programmers to get back to basics and concentrate on coding rather than spending a lot of time producing very graphically intensive games.

If someone wants to write a game featuring "pandas shooting bananas at skate punks in a post apocalyptic jellybean factory" then I'm sure it could be designed around one of the suggested topics.

There's lots of good ideas appearing and there certainly seems to be plenty of people that want to take part in a competition.

Can we have some feedback on the originally suggested topics such as any that you really don't like and the ones you don't mind. Maybe we can then narrow the options (and add some of the ones mentioned by the forum members) and then put them to a vote.

[Huehnerschaender]

Some of the suggested things would force people to team up with unknown people... mostly artists. I don't like to be forced into such situatons. There is always the problem of being dependand from this person you don't know. He can suddenly vanish (ask WILL and he can tell you tons of storys about this) or lose interest.

If someone WANTS to team up, there ya go, but please do not force people.

I don't like the cutscene suggestion. I don't think it is of much interest to most of us. No game mechanics, way too much graphical dependancy. This one would fit in a artists/scripters forum, but not in the game development forum. Cutscenes can raise the games value, but they do not make a game.

All other suggestions are ok to me. I really would love to see some people here coding sports games. I can't remember a single sportsgame here on the forums. Would be funny I think. Think about Yeti sports, Viking sports (throwing pigs etc). We could make a lot of funny stuff with this theme :)

Greetings,
Dirk

[ianatwork]

Think about Yeti sports, Viking sports (throwing pigs etc). We could make a lot of funny stuff with this theme :)

Very good, that made me laugh out loud (good job I'm not at work). This is an excellent example which shows the unexpected ideas that can come out. :)

[cronodragon]

I'd like a contest that involves procedural texture generation, in order to get rid of assets :D But that's just my preference.

[Mirage]

I'd like a contest that involves procedural texture generation, in order to get rid of assets :D But that's just my preference.

Programmer's art competition! :)

[chronozphere]

Sounds interesting. :) But are we talking about making games or making procedural art only?

I would rather like a GAME programming compo, i guess :?

[ianatwork]

I would rather like a GAME programming compo, i guess :?

Which of the original suggestions do you like ?

[ianatwork]

Personally I'm rubbish at 2D graphics and have no reason to believe that I'd be any better at 3D models and textures. From some of the comments on this thread I don't seem to be alone. I think that it would be best to concentrate on ideas that are programmatically challenging and don't have to be graphically amazing. Please understand that there is nothing to stop someone from having great graphics in their game if they have the skills or support from others. What I don't think is a good idea is to have a competition that puts the emphasis on graphics.

Some of the ideas are very interesting so maybe they could be used in mini-competitions later on in the year.

[chronozphere]

The "PGD Game festival" idea sound good to me :razz:

The sportsgames idea also sounds nice, but i can't think of a good game-idea that can keep me motivated for several months :?

Since we are all coders, i would suggest my own "minimal code, maximal functionality" compo-idea.
The advantage is, that any game can be made. The disadvantage is that its hard to properly judge functionality compared to code length, especially when different kind of games are involved.

ATM i'm allready busy with a nice gameproject. It should be finished within 2 months? Can anyone make a guess how much time i have before the compo starts? Will it start as soon as we have a good theme, or will it take another month?

[cairnswm]

Cut Scene engine - Thats right basically a story telling engine that is typically used to push the story along. Think Machinima, but could be 2D or 3D. Maybe picking your favourite movie scene and re-creating it with computer graphics and code. NO pre-rendered stuff, it must all be scripted and real-time.

No Thanks - to me thats not game development. It might be graphic based but its not game based. I personally am not a graphics programmer.


A game that can be controlled by someone with disabilities. EG, controlled by 1 key press, voice recognition, webcam interaction etc.

No thanks - been done before as Compo - (Was remakes.org theme about 2 years ago)


A maze based game.

A sport based game (arcade or manager/statistical style) as it is the Olympics this year.

An educational game.

Yes to all of them. I would really like to do some sort of sports game as a compo.


Something similar to this java based game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocode I'm quite interested in this as you compile your own tank and let it do battle against others.

I think this has been done to death. There have been C++ robot wars, pascal, java and who knows what else. It only seems to appeal to a small group of programmers. P-Robots was done in 1988 - http://pascal.sources.ru/gamestxt/probots.htm

A slight deviation from being robots only is to do a game that can be modified through scripts, ie something extendible. The script language can be left wide open - javascript, pascal script (DWS), Lua etc. But all the game objects behaviour must be modifieable through scripts. This might spawn a new commuity developed genre of games. Personally I think this might restrict the competition to the upper range of developers though. Our compos should be open enough for beginners to compete as well.

[jasonf]

If it's sports games, why not entitle this years Compo "The Big Race"

So basically, you have to design a game where you have to come first in something. There has to be competitors following the same rules as yourself.

This opens up all manner of types of games, Driving, Dragon Racing, Sports, Maze (as long as you're competing to get to the end before someone else does)

It can be multi-player or single player. It can cover multi-stage events (like Worlds Strongest Man or similar), It can be set in any style, age or setting.

It'll also attract people via interesting YouTube vids... (Where's WILL when you need him? :roll: )

[ianatwork]

If it's sports games, why not entitle this years Compo "The Big Race"

This sounds like a good idea. As you have summarised, I'm sure that people could produce some really original themes as well as the possibility of seeing some split screens or multi-player front ends.

[Ñuño Martínez]

What about a retro-style compo? Some technical and artistical limits as 2D, 16 colors, one or two sound channels only, less than 1Mb for disk space (uncompressed executable and data), coin-up style (demo loop, 1 & 2 players mode, hi-score, ...)... You know :wink: .

[paul_nicholls]

What about a retro-style compo? Some technical and artistical limits as 2D, 16 colors, one or two sound channels only, less than 1Mb for disk space (uncompressed executable and data), coin-up style (demo loop, 1 & 2 players mode, hi-score, ...)... You know :wink: .

Hey, that sounds like a great idea! :-)
Especially with my limited programmer art graphics ability, and basically no sound experience ;-)

cheers,
Paul

[3_of_8]

Yeah, and it's gotta run on an emulated DOS machine with 10 MHz. xD

[Huehnerschaender]

Hmmm.... I am not a friend of those retro things and "lets do it as small as possible" competitions. We have 2008, so why trying to do things that run on 20 year old machines? I see no sense in this, but thats just my personal opinion :)

I like to be creative, and not only in the coding way. Doing arts is about 50% of the fun to me when making game projects.

I like the idea posted by Jason: "The big race" ....where everyone could find a game he would have fun to make.

And to be honest.... wouldn't it be great to have something you could use further after the competition? Something thats the starting point for a commercial game?
I don't think you can sell beep beep bang 16 color games :)

I know, this should just be fun etc.... but I don't like to spend my time on things I cannot use in the end. Its like writing down 1000 pages of nonsense text to throw it into the chimney in the end :)

[3_of_8]

You certainly got a point there. Although I for one won't ever sell one of my homemade games. Open Source ftw! (Or rather freeware, since my code looks like a dog's breakfast, no one with a sane mind would ever read it)

[arthurprs]

sorry for the question, but a 50% python 50% delphi game will be accepted ?

[Ñuño Martínez]

Hmmm.... I am not a friend of those retro things and "lets do it as small as possible" competitions. We have 2008, so why trying to do things that run on 20 year old machines? I see no sense in this, but thats just my personal opinion :) Well, why does people picures with oil painting? We have nice digital cameras, photorealistics renders, photo editors... :roll: But do a retro-style game was just an idea.

Another idea I had: a Reinvent compo. That is: get a classic game and reinvent it with modern graphics. Something like Tron <-> Armagetron Advanced.

[3_of_8]

The thing is: There's not too much games where that would work. In most of those games the only thing you could do is improve the graphics and the sound, which is kinda boring, I think. And there already are a lot of clones for almost every old game, which makes coding another one even less interesting. Who cares for another Super Mario clone, even if it has 3D graphics?

[De-Panther]

Sport Game would be greate!

thers lots of games and ideas u can make



hey - maybe i'll even find time to take part in this compo

[Luuk van Venrooij]

Why not just making a Pascal Games Festival? That is, any game can participate that was released between dates X and Y, written in Pascal. You can qualify sections such as graphics, originality, completeness, sounds, etc. This will hopefully let everyone participate without any major restrictions.

This would be my favorite to, I personally never participated because of the themes didn`t appeal to me.

[WILL]

You kow... if you hold off long enough to be able to organize a themed competition as part of such a festival then it might create an event with a larger scope.

In fact you could extend the length between events from yearly to every-other-year....

[NecroDOME]

This time I go with anything...

But if you want my opinion: I would like to see retro graphics in some more advanced style. Something like the uber zombie style, retro, but still cool due the glow effect :).

Edit 1:

Or an "anything forever". You can make what you want :) (however this would be hard to make deadlines, goals etc...)

Edit 2:
I am willing to go for "The Big Race". Still want to make a fatal racing-like game :)
Fatal racing rulezz!

[De-Panther]

maybe "anything forever" but the main theme would be "The Big Race"

that way people could put whatever game they want, and still they can always go for the sport theme


and between us - in any game u have competitive part
space invaders - who finish more levels... who finish levels fastest
soduko - who solve soduko fastes
etc...

[jdarling]

Been a while since I had time to check the boards (job hunting sucks). I like the "Big Race" idea as it doesn't alienate anyone, and gives quite a bit of flexibility to the designer as you could easily make a checkers race game (LOL).

Another thought would be to give a canned set of graphics (say from Lost Garden or reiner´s tilesets) and say create a game from these graphics. You can't introduce any new graphics, but you can extend from the existing ones that are given.

Anyways, can't wait to see if/what the compo is this year.

[Chobley]

Does anyone know when this competition starts and what the theme is?

Also how long it will run for?

Sorry, don't often look at these boards - so apologises if I'm missing something...

[User137]

I like the idea of media given ready. I'm a programmer, not an artist.

[chronozphere]

That's true... most of us are coders.. but i still want to make my own graphics. Being a coder is no excuse for not learning how to work with Photoshop or 3ds Max. I would like to become an all-round game-developer.

However If you can get free graphics that fit in your game, you should use them. :)

[jasonf]

The ready made media idea is great. It would make a competition similar to those found on AcidPlanet - where people have to make remixes of existing songs only in their own style. The basic samples are provided, but it's down to the artist to make it their own.

With game development, if you had a pre-defined set of graphics to use (probably best to keep it 2D to avoid scaring away those who don't do 3D (although the 3D bods could use them as textures)) then teams could set about creating their games utilizing the graphics to suit their game.

Imagine a tileset where there's a sheep sprite.
In one game, a sheep would be an ambient creature,
another a sheep may be the hero,
in another a sheep might be an item to be collected
and another may see the sheep as an invading force to be defeated.

I would suggest that if we're going to do this based on a fixed media set, make sure that the media set is modern and comprehensive enough...
The Rienor tileset has been around forever.. and there appears to have already been a challenge by Lost Garden featuring their tiles from last year. http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2007/05/cutegod_programming_challenge.html)

If a site were to make a new tileset and are interested in allowing us to get involved in a competition, then it could be the best competition we've done yet.. However, I would advise against limiting to *ONLY* using the tiles provided... using an existing media set would provide a consistent base but you don't want to hold back those with more artistic skills who want to add their own slant to things.

Also, don't just think graphics... Sound and Music would require media sets too.

[Chobley]

If you enter a competition should not everything be from the scratch up?
Surely sprites, sounds and whatever should they not be solely, and uniquely user created?

[jasonf]

It depends entirely on the scope and rules of the competition..

A competition can be about anything.. the artwork used doesn't have to be unique.. it's the game and coding which are the important things.

Some developers get put off releasing games because of their lack of graphics ability, but they are amazing coders.

Using pre-fab graphics gets around this issue by giving everyone a head start. There is still an amount of creativity required for level design and even game concept, but by removing this initial stumbling block creating good source art, a developer can get something working faster and make progress without spending ages coding a really nice engine only to have it look bad because of a lack of graphical ability.

[De-Panther]

liked the idea of already made graphics
it will give the competition unique look, and it will save some time

[technomage]

Good idea J, I like it. On of the major drawbacks on my own projects is artwork and assets.

[Chobley]

It depends entirely on the scope and rules of the competition..

A competition can be about anything.. the artwork used doesn't have to be unique.. it's the game and coding which are the important things.

Some developers get put off releasing games because of their lack of graphics ability, but they are amazing coders.

Using pre-fab graphics gets around this issue by giving everyone a head start. There is still an amount of creativity required for level design and even game concept, but by removing this initial stumbling block creating good source art, a developer can get something working faster and make progress without spending ages coding a really nice engine only to have it look bad because of a lack of graphical ability.

Thanks, did not think of that at all - you probably can tell I am only just starting...! ...And have not much of a clue!

[chronozphere]

@Jasonf: After reading your idea's i started to like the concept. I would however add my own art to my entry.

I think this compo can get really funny, as we see how we are using the graphics in completely different way's. Using a sheep sprite as an invading force is allready fun by itsself. :lol:

We have to make some rules for the media that is used. Will it be selected by one person before it all starts, or can we all contribute to the media-base. If the latter happens, i would suggest each competitor only submits a few sprites (not enough to make a whole game) and combines it with the other submitted artwork. :)

Any idea's when this compo could start? I hope not too soon (have to finish other game project first). :?

[cairnswm]

Instead of actually giving the sheep sprite why not just say the game must contain Sheep, Log and a Bird. and let people make their own sprites. Find some free graphics on the net (eg Reiners sprites) and let people use them or make their own (for the 3D users) etc.

[De-Panther]

Instead of actually giving the sheep sprite why not just say the game must contain Sheep, Log and a Bird. and let people make their own sprites. Find some free graphics on the net (eg Reiners sprites) and let people use them or make their own (for the 3D users) etc.

but the idea of already made graphic is that people won't have to worry about the graphics

and if the one who will make the graphic will make it first in 3d and than make a 2d version - it could be grate
example: make a 3d sheep and than take pictures of it for the 2d sprites


and we need a sheep in the game
after this thread - we must put a sheep in the game :D

[chronozphere]

and we need a sheep in the game
after this thread - we must put a sheep in the game :D


ABSOLUTELY!! :lol: We will make Pac-Sheep, Sheep Invaders, Sheep Nuk'em and Command and Bleat: Sheep Alert. :razz:

[cronodragon]

I'd love a Sheep of Persia :wink:

[jasonf]

Sheep Raider, Baahh Cry & Half Lamb

[FNX]

as for beat'em ups:
Sheep Fighters, Sheep Calibur...

Let's get back in topic :P

[De-Panther]

BIG LOL :D

so... when will we know the rules and dates of the competition?

I liked the idea of sports or other competitive games
Alredy made graphics
and sheep

[jdarling]

Zork, return of the Sheep king.

Do with it what you want, but I'm seeing the sheep as the thief :)

[jasonf]

So, do we have any movement on this?...

We have lots of ideas, we have a willing artist, we just need to make a decision and get cracking.

[cronodragon]

Maybe someone could create a voting thread :?