Gp2x Community Game Contest!

[Dzz]

I don't think finding 15 judges would be THAT hard, at least not if not everyone is thinking about submitting a game..

Myself, I'd join if I'm not going to submit a game, which I currently don't know if I'm going to, because I have no idea if I would be able to get the required motivation and knowledge needed for the job.. :/

Figure that evaluating a game and writing a review is at least half an hour per program, probably closer to an hour if the game is at all complex or good. So that's 8-15 hours of time commitment plus the initial triage time needed to select the 15 finalists (that will vary on the number of entries). It's not an overwhelming amount of work but it may be more than well-meaning volunteers are expecting.

I'm just suggesting that the procedure for dealing with lack of judges, dropout judges, and judges who submit incomplete results be documented as part of the rules.

The good news about all this is that the SECOND gp2x game contest will be a piece of cake to set up!

 

[Magnulus]

The good news about all this is that the SECOND gp2x game contest will be a piece of cake to set up!

Yeah, I've been thinking the same exact thing. "I can't wait 'till the next contest!" ^_^

 

[PSyMastR]

Hey, Magnus, Im here, I only have internet at night for the next week or 2, so just email me anything you need updated on the site, and use the PM's as i cant Install AIM/MSN (for now, I gotta get my laptop working on the intenet here).

 

[X-Code]

* cough

Bump


Errr, how is this going? :lol: ( needed some excuse to bring it back up <_< )

 

[Magnulus]

It's going quite fine, thank you. ^_^
Psy will most probably put the run-through of the judging on the site pretty soonish.

In the mean-time, if you want to become a judge, here's a detailed description (with sample) of how the submitted review should be:

A review should start with a brief description of the game's premise and the gameplay. A few sentences long, nothing more.

You then give a one-to-five score as well as a short (a few sentences) review to each of the following categories:
Gameplay
Originality/ Innovation
Use of Graphics
Use of Sound

Keep in mind that The "Use of" categories are not for choosing the game with the most eye and ear candy. You should judge a game's graphics by how well they accent the gameplay. Vib Ribbon for the psx is by no means a technically or visually impressive game, but the graphics suit the gameplay perfectly.

After going through each of these categories, you give an overall score to the game and give a brief (but not as brief as the categories) run-down of the plusses and minuses of the game and a final verdict of what you think of the game as a whole.

The actual reviews in the competition will not feature the 1-5 scoring. This is just for application purposes. In the competition, judges will rank the games in each of the categories, and the final score WILL, in fact, be an average of the final score in all the categories.

Send your applications to gp2xgamecon[at]gmail[dot]com

Sample: Nethack. (Reviewed here as if Dzz's port was the original game. You may do the same for your application. You can also review PC games or other console games.)

intro:
You are another in a long line of heroes sent by your respective deity to seek the amulet of Yendor in the Dungeons of Doom. In this rogue-like RPG, you have to fight your way through the levels of the dungeon, retrieve the amulet, and escape. The game is based around being very open-ended, in that there is a wide range of things that you can do and that can happen to you. Random events and randomly generated dungeons are the main feature of this game.

Gameplay: 3/5
There are a massive amount of things you can do in this game, which means there's a lot to take care of, which can be debilitating for some. The sheer amount of different effects different things have on eachother and random events also mean that you are going to die. A lot. When you can't load a game after you've died, this can be quite the bother. Luckily, the game is very replayable due to the randomness of the game.

Originality/ Innovation: 4/5
The creators of the game seem intent on bringing tabletop roleplaying to the computer while retaining the freedom you have with a human gamemaster. Alongside ADOM and Angband, Nethack remains one of the most open-ended games on the "market", not even rivalled by the famous Elder Scrolls series. In this respect, the gameplay is very original indeed.

Use of Graphics: 4/5
The game comes with a set of ten different tilesets, enough to satisfy most tastes. There are realistic-looking tiles and cartoony tiles. There are even ascii tiles that herald back to the old days when text-only was the way to play all rogue-likes. Personally, I've fallen for the cartoony 32x32 tiles as they give me a clear idea of what I'm looking at rather than the realistic ones that tend to look muddled when not zoomed in completely.

Use of Sound: 1/5
There is no sound in this game, which is a shame. I would have liked the option to have some ambient sounds and some short effects like the twang of a bowstring, the wail of a dying goblin, and other such things that help you immerse in the game. The game is fully playable without sound, but it would be a welcome addition.

Overall (not an average): 4/5
Nethack is a weird and wonderful game with many merits. The random aspects and the plethora of different items and their effects will keep you coming back again and again and again every time you die. The fact that there is so much you can do is helped by the clever and very usable menu system, which makes the game surprisingly well-played on a handhheld system. The lack of sound, though not a major point, is a missing piece of the puzzle though, and the open-ended nature of the game leads me to think of a whole bunch of other actions and events that should have been implemented.
Overall, a great game that keeps me coming back for more.

 

[AcidiC]

Have we a deadline for judge applications? I've got a few things to sort out.

 

[Magnulus]

Have we a deadline for judge applications? I've got a few things to sort out.

How about end of august?

 

[AcidiC]

Have we a deadline for judge applications? I've got a few things to sort out.

How about end of august?

Sure, thanks for fast reply

 

[Magnulus]

Fast like Lightning. Hoo! Cha!

 

[X-Code]

People seem to be quite tight when the time for contributions finally arrives :huh: , this competition could spur a whole load of new projects if people bothered to donate a little. It doesn't have to be much, anything over €1 ( euro ) will help ( try to make it more than 1 euro for christs sake :lol: )...

I know that some people have donated, I've donated something like €100 this month to various devs and to the contest, and I'm not rich, I do think that others can donate, even if it is only 2 or 3 euros... By supporting this competition and the devs, you support the community that in turn supports you and creates the games that you play, so think about it.

Right, enough said, I needed to bump this topic anyway :lol:

I don't know if I'll be able to be a judge yet or not, it depends on how much work gets done on T.I.M. - The Imploding Mutant over the next month B)

 

[Dzz]

People seem to be quite tight when the time for contributions finally arrives

We'll see. The time for contributions has not arrived yet, the rules aren't even finalized. We're nearing the end of the "discussion and rule finalization" stage. Although I admire the enthusiasm of people who have contributed so far, I do not even consider the contest officially announced yet and will not do so until a final rule set is in place.

After that I assume the organizers will push a bit for donations from both individuals and companies (at least I thought that was the plan).

 

[Magnulus]

Yeah, I'm not too worried. When I checked yesterday, we were up to 90 euros in donations, and like Dzz said, the rules aren't even finalized yet. We could go completely bonkers tomorrow and change everything around and turn them upside down! "All your games are belong to us!" We won't do that, of course. For one thing, I'd be shunned from the community if I did that. For another, I'm simply not a dick.

I was thinking of just compiling the whole site into a post for "final approval", but I think it's easier if you just go to the website to check on things there. The only things the website doesn't have yet are these two posts:
Concerning Judging and
Concerning Judge Applications.

Outside of these two posts, the subject of judges quitting or disappearing or just not signing up at all has been raised, and this is the official standing at the moment:

If a jury member decides to quit, s/he is free to do so, but will be asked to kindly NOT expose anything that hasn't been made public yet, like for example publicly discussing the games that look to be winning among the jury. We don't have the time, money or energy to set down an NDA nor to back it up should you violate it, so we'll simply have to rely on the honesty of our judges.

If a judge quits midway in reviewing the games (for example having ranked graphics and gameplay but not originality and sound), all rankings made by this judge will be removed from the competition and will not be taken into consideration in the final tally of the scores.

If the total amount of judges is less than five (5), the judges will meet online as a live panel, discussing their way to the winners in a web conference (or several conferences, if need be.)*. We will try our best to gain a larger panel of judges than this, though.

*This is an ineffectual manner of judging for bigger online juries, but for a small one, web conferencing should work fine.

So that's what we have so far. The site, the two posts, and this update right here. Remember that after midnight on monday (GMT -5), we will not consider any further requests for changes in the rules, so if you have anything to say, speak up. If the need arises, we will use the first of august to properly discuss any suggestions that may come through in the last few hours of monday, but we are shooting to make the final announcement on tuesday morning if nothing groundbreaking arises on monday.

I, like Dzz, do not consider the competition officially announced yet either. Note that I have not posted anything in the News section. The plan was to not make any announcements before the rules were set in stone, at which point we would also start sending out e-mails to retailers and other companies that might be interested in helping us. Yeah, we'll send e-mails to Craig and ED as well, but also other companies.

Anyone who donates more than 500 EUR gets a nice banner (size as of yet not decided. Will come back to you on that.) on the top of the thankyou list, so there's a chance of cheap advertising there for anyone willing to shell out a "few" moneys extra.

 

[Dzz]

Magnulus, you're doing a great job with this. If you end up collecting everything you've got now and putting it on the site as the rule set, it's just about perfect in my opinion.

Is there a limit on the number of entries per individual? I put a limit on that for my demo competition just to keep people from making a bunch of nuisance entries but in retrospect it probably wasn't necessary.

Plus if there are limits then I won't be able to win ALL the prize money!

 

[Magnulus]

Magnulus, you're doing a great job with this. If you end up collecting everything you've got now and putting it on the site as the rule set, it's just about perfect in my opinion.

Is there a limit on the number of entries per individual? I put a limit on that for my demo competition just to keep people from making a bunch of nuisance entries but in retrospect it probably wasn't necessary.

Plus if there are limits then I won't be able to win ALL the prize money!

Heh. Oh yeah! I meant to mention that at some point, but I forgot!

I think X-Code said something along the lines of "you can submit several games but are only eligible for one cash prize." which I think is a fair rule, though I can very clearly see how some people (greedy, filthy, disgusting people! ^_^) might not like it. So that's another rule up for discussion.

I'll propose three alternatives right now and you can discuss which one seems the best.

Alternative 1:
You can enter as many games as you like, and they will all be eligible for cash prizes. If you enter three games and they are all ranked in the top three, you take all the prizes. (unless you wish to give up the prize money to lower-ranking games from other developers. The prizes will then slip down to the entries ranked right below yours.)

Alternative 2:
You can only enter one game to the contest.

Alternative 3:
You can enter as many games as you like, but you are only eligible to win one cash prize. If two of your entries are in the top three, you will recieve the prize for the highest-ranking of your winning entries, and the entry ranked below your lowest-ranking winning entry will recieve that prize instead.

My views:
alt 1: I'm leaning towards this one. I mean, if you've managed to be involved in three games that are all good enough to win the whole contest, I guess you deserve all that money.
alt 2: I don't like that very much. I mean, what sets the norm for what "you" are entering? If you've been credited with adding some graphics, is that counted as entering? And if you say "You can only be the team leader of one entry" then you can easily circumvent that rule by the same team of three people entering three games with a different "lead designer" in each game.
alt 3: Same trouble as alt 2, really... Wouldn't it be shitty if some completely different team you worked with didn't get their just rewards just because you had your hands in another game?

All in all, I'm for No.1.

 

[Wite_Noiz]

I'm sure you've already thought of it (with your "500 EUR" comment), but are you going to make the list of donators more promenant?
I was at a site (I forgot where) that had a random list (in the left of your site, for instance) with, for example, 10 names for the 100+ category, 5 for 50+ and 2 for less than 50.

Just a silly thought - I'd like to see my name up there when I donate

 

[Dzz]

I'll propose three alternatives right now and you can discuss which one seems the best.

I know this isn't helpful but I'm indifferent to what choice is made; there are good points for each choice. Perhaps others following this thread have a preference.

 

[Wite_Noiz]

I'll propose three alternatives right now and you can discuss which one seems the best.

I know this isn't helpful but I'm indifferent to what choice is made; there are good points for each choice. Perhaps others following this thread have a preference.

In the interest of fairness, I think 3.
Although it's unlikely someone will have more than one game to enter, I don't see any point in limiting them.

 

[Magnulus]

I was at a site (I forgot where) that had a random list (in the left of your site, for instance) with, for example, 10 names for the 100+ category, 5 for 50+ and 2 for less than 50.

That sounds like a wonderful idea! I'll pitch it to Psy.

 

[Megagun]

Alternative 1 sounds best to me. Why? Same reasons as Mag put up there a page back...

 

[Magnulus]

In the interest of fairness, I think 3.
Although it's unlikely someone will have more than one game to enter, I don't see any point in limiting them.

So if we go for 3, and both Li'l Trooper and Platoons are entered and Li'l Trooper comes first and Platoons second... Then it's fair that you won't be seeing any of that prize money? ^_^

See, in alt 1, both Daid and you guys would get to reap the rewards of the contest, while in alt 3, only me and Daid would get the money. I'd probably feel bad and split it with you anyway, but that's beside the point!

(I have no delusions of grandieur, I was just making a specific example.)