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  • 1st PGD Challenge: Scoring Begins

    Hello all! Judging from all the quiet, it would seem that a lot of members are hoping that the scores will be posted any moment now. Well we aren't that fast, but rest assured that the scoring of the 1st PGD Challenge Mini Game Developers Competition has begun and we are going through them as this news post is being typed up. We hope to be done by month's end or shortly after that if it takes.

    In the meantime; Here is a little bit on how the scoring will work. As stated in the previously posted rules announcement, each game will be scored on 5 categories. One score from each judge from 0 to 10 for each of the 5 categories. The calculation for your rating to a score value is as such:

    10 (rating) x 10 = 100 (points)

    So... a rating of 5 would bring your 50 points and a rating of 1 would give you 10 points so on. This is done for all 5 categories for each judge for a total of 10 ratings to be scored.

    From here the ratings are scored and added up and is then added to along with your bonus points scored for unused buttons. Each unused button will give you an additional 50 points to add to your Total Score.

    Ratings Score + ( Unused Buttons x 50 ) = Total Score

    So this is how your end score values are calculated.


    The 5 categories are as follows:

    • Graphics & Audio
    • Ease of Control
    • Stability & Bug-Free
    • Innovation & Creativity
    • Fun Factor


    Graphics & Audio is obviously how nice the graphics and audio is in the game. Does it have music that fits the game, are the graphics polished and look nice and so on. We look for nice graphics (2D or 3D), sound effects and music here.

    Ease of Control is all about how well the players of the game can control the player portion of the game. Are there glitches in the controls or does it allow for a nice control experience of the game. We are looking for a good game controller experience.

    Stability & Bug-Free will reflect how well your game code performs on the platform chosen. Does it crash or will it have all kinds of glitches and bugs in the game mechanics or any other aspect of the game it's self. We are looking for any bugs in the game and stability only, not missing features.

    Innovation & Creativity is how creative your game is and how much new innovation you've put into it. Did you make something new and neat that's different from whats out there or did you stick with the tried and true game mechanics. We are looking for the new and different here.

    Fun Factor is all about us and how much fun we had playing your game overall. Not all games are made overly equal, some things are fun and can be played over and over and some games are just not as interesting as the rest. We determine how much fun we had playing your game and rate it according to our 'fun feel' for the game.


    So while you wait for the fate of the 11 submitted game entries, you at least have a little bit of an idea of the process that each will be going through. Again, good luck and thank you to everyone who submitted your game entry into the competition. Keep posting and feel free to keep working on your creations even past this mini competition.
    Comments 25 Comments
    1. paul_nicholls's Avatar
      paul_nicholls -
      Thanks for the update Jason
      I knew it would take a week or two at a minimum to play and judge the games - much more than the 2009 competition! lol

      cheers,
      Paul
    1. Winwardo's Avatar
      Winwardo -
      Great to hear an update of what's going on and how you're scoring
      I'm slightly more excited for the results of this contest than for my AS level results
    1. Stoney's Avatar
      Stoney -
      Hey guys, scoring has been going great so far, but there are still a bunch of games left to judge.
      Just a quick note for future competitions and challenges: Please keep in mind that not everyone has a QWERTY keyboard layout. We crazy germans for example use a QWERTZ one: http://www.itwissen.info/bilder/qwer...urbelegung.png

      Therefore guys like me may need to do some finger acrobatics if you used the Z key for example.

      Also I have heard that some people use DVORAK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KB...tes_Dvorak.svg
    1. jxs's Avatar
      jxs -
      Some crazy germans among the crazy germans prefer QWERTY keyboards, though (using shortcuts for umlauts)
    1. WILL's Avatar
      WILL -
      I think I'll have to ask for keyboard layout on systems for judges in the future. Having a judge with a layout other than QWERTY will almost immediately require re-assignable button/key schemes.
    1. WILL's Avatar
      WILL -
      Also, I'm toying with the idea of dropping the bonus value of the unused buttons. 50 is way too high I'm finding. I'm considering making it 20 instead unless anyone really objects to this. It's still signifigant, but it doesn't elevate your game to the top for using only 1 button while not doing as well in most areas of the scoring categories.

      Would this be a major problem for anyone competing if I changed the value of the per unused button bonus from 50 down to 20?
    1. Daikrys's Avatar
      Daikrys -
      hmm since i take this as a "make a good game with less buttons as possible" it would hit me hard :>

      but i dont care if you drop it to 20 cause some real nice games would have a score that doesnt match there awesomeness

      it would be better if unused buttons score higher in the categorie Ease of Control instead of all other categories
    1. pstudio's Avatar
      pstudio -
      Of course I don't have an entry in this competetion and the competetion was just for fun, but I'll still say that it is problematic to change the scoring rules after the compo has ended.
      Some people designed their games with that bonus in mind. Basically it sounds like there are games getting a higher score that you feel don't deserve that score. I get that, but if this is a problem it's really something you should have discovered before the compo ended, so people had a change to focus on other parts of the game than trying to figure out how they could minimize the button count.

      But again, I'm not in the compo so it doesn't matter to me what you choose to do. Just thought I would share view on this issue
    1. Traveler's Avatar
      Traveler -
      Let's consider the math behind this:
      Game A uses 4 buttons and scores 6.5 in each category by both judges. That's 65*5*2+(4*50) = 850
      Game B uses 8 buttons but scores 8.0 in each category by both judges. That's 80*5*2+0 = 800

      The proposal is:
      Game A uses 4 buttons and scores 6.5 in each category by both judges. That's 65*5*2+(4*20) = 730
      Game B uses 8 buttons but scores 8.0 in each category by both judges. That's 80*5*2+0 = 800

      Yes, some people may have designed their game with the bonus in mind. But I'm sure there are also those who just wanted to create a game and didn't even consider the implications of the 200 extra points. As it is now with only four buttons you can score quite low in all categories but still rank higher than someone who has used 8 buttons and has a high score in all categories.

      I believe that the endscore should reflect the game. In the end people should be able to say, yes that game rightfully won this competition. Not because it uses less buttons than an other game, but because it is better and more fun to play.
    1. Daikrys's Avatar
      Daikrys -
      its true but easy said a game with more buttons might always be more fun

      in my game i was thinking about a second button that slow you a bit so you can handle the jumps much better, but in mind that i havent much time and also get the bonus i quit making this feature in the first version and focus on other stuff

      but the truth is i only want a score cause i cant wait and Will asked if someone have a major problem with that
      as in games, just think about the nerf clearly (please no blizzard balancing) and then make the adjustments

      for me, when i loose to someone cause of this nerf but im only 20-30points behind im still happy cause i do somehting awesome with only one button :>
      if i loose with 300points difference i go and flame Will like a forum troll
    1. Jimmy Valavanis's Avatar
      Jimmy Valavanis -
      Changing the scoring "algorythm" after the end of the competition would not be fair for people who tried to use less buttons to gain the bonus points, considering that possibly they limited the functionality and the gameplay of their entries to gain them. Someone who used more buttons already knew that will have this disadvantage in scoring, but using more buttons could make better gameplay and gain points from other categories.
    1. Ingemar's Avatar
      Ingemar -
      Quote Originally Posted by WILL View Post
      Also, I'm toying with the idea of dropping the bonus value of the unused buttons. 50 is way too high I'm finding. I'm considering making it 20 instead unless anyone really objects to this. It's still signifigant, but it doesn't elevate your game to the top for using only 1 button while not doing as well in most areas of the scoring categories.

      Would this be a major problem for anyone competing if I changed the value of the per unused button bonus from 50 down to 20?
      I have another suggestion: Appoint one "simple controller" winner and one "best game" winner, one with full bonus (or even more), the other with no bonus at all (or the lower scale). Then both ends win! (You can tune the bonuses to minimize the overlap.) Who will actually get a price is another matter, but then at least you can give credits to both priorities. This would, most importantly, mean that nobody is pushed from winner/high ranking to totally unranked by a scoring change, it would get recognition even if it doesn't win a price.

      That said, I think everybody who managed to make a working submission deserves something. Actually, if I was judge, I would try to make one thing: One short sentence about each game pointing out something that was good. There is always something that is the best feature with the game. I know, that would be even more work but it would be valuable.
    1. WILL's Avatar
      WILL -
      Well I guess I got the answer that I was looking for.

      I'm going to leave it as is, as published. It's true that the bonus may have been set too high. I should have calculated out how much it was actually worth before hand, but as these things go it's a learning experience for myself and I'll consider this next time before I go adding bonuses to scoring schemes.

      I agree that it's not really fair to change it after the fact so it'll remain as published. Thanks for your input guys!
    1. SuperMaximo93's Avatar
      SuperMaximo93 -
      Quote Originally Posted by Ingemar View Post
      I have another suggestion: Appoint one "simple controller" winner and one "best game" winner, one with full bonus (or even more), the other with no bonus at all (or the lower scale). Then both ends win! (You can tune the bonuses to minimize the overlap.) Who will actually get a price is another matter, but then at least you can give credits to both priorities. This would, most importantly, mean that nobody is pushed from winner/high ranking to totally unranked by a scoring change, it would get recognition even if it doesn't win a price.
      I think this is a good idea. If the judges did do this I think the prizes should go to the 'simple controller' category though, as published.
    1. Ingemar's Avatar
      Ingemar -
      Speaking of the future of each game (as mentioned at the end of the main text above), I now am trying to get myself started on the second game development competition this summer, the uDevGames competition. That is a Mac only competition, so Linux/Windows developers will need to port parts of any existing code base to enter. (Not so hard if you use OpenGL.) I won't enter with the same game, but I will certainly use some of my code base. Right now I try to decode whether to use my 2D library or the 3D routines I have used here.

      Any news from the judges? All games seem to run as they should, I hope?
    1. Ingemar's Avatar
      Ingemar -
      So what do we do while patiently waiting for scores? Discuss our respective version 2's?
    1. Daikrys's Avatar
      Daikrys -
      *throws in the Jeopardy Theme Song*
    1. WILL's Avatar
      WILL -
      Scoring for my part has finally hit full swing. I should expect to be done tonight. Stoney has just a few more left for himself to finish off. He hopes to finish them this weekend too.

      In the meantime, if you are all interested, why not write a mini postmortem for your game entries? Typically they are written under 3 headings; What was Bad, What was Good and a Conclusion. Optional introduction as well. I'd love to post a section on the 1st PGD Challenge in the next issue of Pascal Gamer Magazine, so if posting a little something about your game entry and gain a wee bit of infamy interests you, why not write up a small 200-400 word summary about the PGD Challenge and your entry and either PM me or email it to contact@pascalgamer.com?
    1. Traveler's Avatar
      Traveler -
      Great! I'm very much looking forward to the results.

      I did have plans for a post mortem, so I'll see what I can do. Not sure if I can keep it with in the 200-400 range though. Might be more if that's alright. When is the next issue due?
    1. Ingemar's Avatar
      Ingemar -
      I wrote a brief portmortem in the forum in the past, but I can write a lot more. Keeping it under 400 words would be brief though.

      There's really only one thing that bothers me... I have had no confirmation if my game runs anywhere else. Like, on the judge's Macs.