Game contest!!

[hallsofvallhalla]

So Callan really got me thinking about some of us needing to just throw some games together for fun. Get some Mojo moving again. I thought about this some and have decided on a little contest.

Contest starts today! Dec 29th 2010 and ends January 14th 2011. That's a little over 2 weeks.

I have created a Contest Category so we can post about the game or at least an start an entry topic. You can use it to update your progress or just use it for your entry but you must start a post about your game there as an entry before January 10th.

Rules
1. Game must be a new game, not one you are currently working on. It can be a idea or design you already had planned as long as you have not broke ground on the development yet.
2. Media can be any type of game. Browser based or EXE.
3. Game does not have to be 100% completed by the deadline but will be considered the final product when judged.
4. Your entry will be your own work
5. One entry per person
6. Games can be of any genre and subject.
7. You must host the game/download until at least January 20th. This will give the judges plenty of time to test the game.
8. You can take fragments from other games you have worked on or any of the tutorial series games to help speed along the process but this should be code fragments only. Not the entire game. An example would be taking a existing chat system that you
may use for all your games and putting it in this game. A bad (wrong)example would be taking a game you already built and changing graphics and adding a few extra features.
9. With that said you may use any of my tutorial series as a base.

All scoring will be done by the public. Anyone can sign up to be a Judge and I will make the appropriate category for sign ups bu must have at least 10 posts on the forums. Hopefully we can get about 10-20 judges and I am sure I can get some guest judges

Scoring
Scoring will be simple. Anyone can judge and vote as long as they have at least 10 posts here on the forums. Basically I will create a topic here called Votes. In a post you must vote for your favorite and comment/praise/critique at least 1 more entry. You cannot vote for your own game. The game with the most votes after time alloted for playing wins. Simple as that.

Prizes?
Well to be honest this is more about completing a game and having fun but I did just win a $20 TheGameCreator store certificate that I thought I needed but was wrong, so I will repackage that. Hell I will even throw in another $20 prize to be determined. You will get a forum badge and title as well.
I am also going to start a top 100 web game section of this site for people to vote on games and such. Your game will get extra votes or stay at top for a certain number of days as a prize as well.

If anyone wants to donate a prize please feel free.

These rules/prizes are subject to change.

Remember in the words of Callan, Do not go big. This is meant to be a simple game just for fun. Just have fun and no entry will be to small. Even a tic tac toe game is acceptable.

[Sakar]

Sounds great halls! I love competitions like these, they always help me get started again.

Also I'd be willing to donate a prize: Any game on Steam $10 or less

[hallsofvallhalla]

Sweet thanks!

[Jackolantern]

Sounds good! As for another perk to win, can we give a custom forum title and maybe a custom name color to contest winners for recognition?

[hallsofvallhalla]

yep already have that in there

You will get a forum badge and title as well.

[Jackolantern]

Doh! Somehow missed that. Cool, though

[Callan S.]

Cool to see, Halls!

I just wonder about the scoring system - as it basically encourages going big to get higher scores. The thing about a small design (like tic tac toe or even hello world + number increment) being accepted is that then the designer might add more to those not because they feel they have to (or worse, feel they need to), but simply because it's fun for them to add more.

I think perhaps if someone wants to decline being scored, they can say that and judges just talk about the game rather than rating it. You could still have forum badges for those games (probably disqualified for the monetary prize though), and also it's a prize to have some people look at your game and talk about it, of course!

I'm probably going to submit something that'd would be around the 1's - I'd rather decline to be scored, because otherwise I'd be put off from entering for knowing the scores I'd get. I don't want to think about scores really, just whatever seems fun to code in

Also I imagine judges can enter too, they just can't judge their own game.

Wish me luck, I'm off to code tic tac toe...or who knows, perhaps it'll grow into something more. Just depends on what's fun

[rockinliam]

If only i had an idea.

[Jackolantern]

If only i had an idea.

Make a single-player remake of Pipedreams on the NES. It is fairly straight-forward, fun, lends itself well to a cell-based layout with click-to-interact controls, has little art asset requirements and logic that is doable in Javascript.

EDIT: I think single-player is going to definitely be the way to go for this competition. 2 weeks just isn't long enough for the balancing, security and debugging of even a small online game.

[Callan S.]

I don't think you need to work on security - the game only has to go on till jan 20th, then you can pull it. And in terms of balancing, well, that's kinda going for big. Feel free to be imbalanced (IEEEEEE*wilhelm scream*, heresy!). But by the very same token it doesn't have to be multiplayer, so cool.