Quote Originally Posted by jdarling
I think a compo based upon deadlines is a good idea. Though making the deadlines a bit more loose could be achieved as such:

Stage 1 (1 week): Define project scope and future checkpoints
Stage 2 (2 weeks): as defined by team (this could be engine, or graphics, or whatever)
Stage 3 (2 weeks): show some progress
Stage 4 (2 weeks): Show an almost complete game (only needs spit and polish)
Stage 5 (1 week): Final game

Each stage entry should have a quick progress report attached with it.

This gives the best of both worlds. Deadlines that allow the team to setup goals, this is actually how it works in the real world. The client says I want to see progress every X days/weeks/months and the team produces progress reports with a Demo where applicable.
I could accept this sort of deadlines. They're more open but I would add some more weeks to it.
Quote Originally Posted by WILL
What do you guys think about doing a theme like 'AI' or 'Arcade'? Keeping it simple you have to make a came that is about or falls into the category of one of those...
I personally don't like the AI theme. Sure any computer controlled player (like pong as NecroDOME mentioned) can be called AI but I suspect that you mean something a bit more advanced. I think this would only allow a little exclusive bunch of programmers to really participate. Those who are interested in AI.
The theme should be totally open and allow any person to participate. The arcade theme sounds awesome. Anyone can join the compitition for a theme like that.