2nd PGD Challenge Questions!

[SilverWarior]

It can be only one route, but this way you lose bonus points. You get bonus points if player can travel back and forth between places.

[WILL]

I have no problem with this but must the journey force to elect the route? I mean, it's mandatory to offer more than one way to the player to select the one he wants? Or can it be only one route?

You do not have to allow for route/location selection, but as SilverWarior states, this limits your ability to take the bonus for allowing players to revisit locations within the same playthrough.

That said, design is up to you. If you feel that your game should have level/route/location selection then by all means add it if you are able, but if you are sure that it shouldn't have it then stick with your guns. Mind you, if you do have time for a story driven game in only 4 weeks plus a weekend then you and I should be working on a project together.

[Jimmy Valavanis]

In my game there are the following locations: Desert, oasis and the inside of a pyramid. Are they 3 different locations or just one? (ie Egypt)
Also there is an island and a shipwreck in deep water near the island (the player actually dives to the shipwreck). Are they 2 different locations or just one?
Does it have to be necessary for the player to be able to revisit all the different places to gain the bonus points or just a couple of them?
My question is about the necessity for completing the game to revisit, not the ability to revisit.

Example:

The player is in place A. He must bring the item T from place B in place A. He travels to place B, obtain the item T and bring it back to place A. Then he can procced to place C. He is able to choose to revisit place B but it's meaningless.

[WILL]

Good questions Jimmy.

The theme of this challenge is travel hence I believe that unless you have to "travel" to that extra part of your world, it would be the same. Also it was specified that each location should have their own visual look and feel. So there should be some effort to give each location it's own distinct look visually.

How close is the desert, oasis and pyramid from each other? How much swimming (distance) do you have to do to get to the underwater shipwreck? Based on these things, it's up to the judges to determine how many actual locations you have in the game.

If for example you have to auto-travel a long way to the island from the desert then the oasis is just on the horizon and the pyramid is right beside it then I'd say that those would definitely not count as separate locations in my books, just make-up a more complex single location. The spirit of the challenge is for the teams/individuals to make 3 separate areas or locations/regions or levels in your game that players travel to/from.

I would make it feel like you are in a totally different "location" by stylising each spot you want ot be considered a location. From there it's up to the judges to tell you how many locations you ended up making from intention or not. Just be sure to make at least an obvious 3 locations or you might "fail" the actual "challenge" part.

Now as to the revisiting, it doesn't matter if there is a point to revisiting those places again, as long as you can in the same play-through. That said, if you can figure out a point to going back as well then you may score better on the innovation or fun factor score categories... There is some balance to consider in your design.

[Jimmy Valavanis]

OK, thanks, I've got it!

[Ingemar]

Speaking of the locations, what is a significantly different location?

"Each new location must have a different visual theme and it must be obvious that you are in a new location."

My "locations" are all pretty similar, every "location" is really just a flat piece of ground with some buildings on it. The number if buildings and their looks will be different (at least a little) for all "locations" and you can do somewhat different things in each.

That way, I hope that I can fulfill the demand somewhat. I guess the "different visual theme" is a relative thing, you can't really define what "different" means more than that it clearly can't be identical.

[Ingemar]

What is the deadline? I mean, I work on swedish time, so do I have to midnight, or before, or after?

[User137]

Maybe the local time counts. Otherwise maybe when last timezone turns into monday at midnight, i hope. 5pm on sunday here.

PS. So far there are only 4 entries uploaded to FTP. More is coming?

[SilverWarior]

Unfortunatly there will be no my entry there. Still to much work to be done. You can check more information about it here: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com...hallenge-entry

[WILL]

The deadline is basically "your" local midnight. I tend to leave the FTP on for a wee bit after the last midnight of the 29th, just to be sure everyone gets a chance to upload.

Also, even if you entry is not finished, it's always nice to upload something. Having a bunch of entries half finished is much better than having absolutely nothing uploaded. And it doesn't look at bad. So please upload what you've done even if it's not finished. It shows that there was interest instead of nothing in it's place in the showcase after.