Next compo ideas

[Ziz]

There were plans for official competition three or four times per year...

I don't think a new competition will happen before the release of the Pyra.

 

[iprice]

It would be great if there would be a competition to say a fond farewell to the Pandora. A Pyra for as a prize would be awesome.

It would be great to have a raffle for a Pyra too - something that all forum members could participate in, whether they were coders or not, Each could buy a ticket for a few Euros which goes to Ed to pay for the Pyra. The tickets are then drawn live. Or something. This could be run across several Open Source/retro sites etc.

 

[Ziz]

It would be great if there would be a competition to say a fond farewell to the Pandora. A Pyra for as a prize would be awesome.

Uh, I would do a lot for Hase for this price!

It would be great to have a raffle for a Pyra too - something that all forum members could participate in, whether they were coders or not, Each could buy a ticket for a few Euros which goes to Ed to pay for the Pyra. The tickets are then drawn live. Or something. This could be run across several Open Source/retro sites etc.

A Pyra tombola? Neat idea!

 

[elw3]

There were plans for official competition three or four times per year...

I don't think a new competition will happen before the release of the Pyra.

Official? This is a community, any of us can scream "Competition time!". 

Its not that we need allowance to plan something. 

Yes of course if just any of us does so we wont get that many participants and crappy prices, but at least we have _something_ then. 

 

[mjohansson]

Im totally up for it! A Pandora celebration before Pyra comes out.

 

[Ziz]

There were plans for official competition three or four times per year...

I don't think a new competition will happen before the release of the Pyra.

Official? This is a community, any of us can scream "Competition time!". Its not that we need allowance to plan something. 

Yes of course if just any of us does so we wont get that many participants and crappy prices, but at least we have _something_ then.

Obviously I meant competitions held by ED.

 

[pmprog]

I might have something for this next compo I'll keep it as a surprise for now though, just in case

 

[KickAss]

Pandora Safe Box TM is ready to be released.

Will this next compo happen soonish, or what?

 

[mjohansson]

What would the prices be and how many are interested?

Im interested and can contribute 10 euros.

 

[FBnil]

I can contribute too, provided there is a bank account (dont have paypal)

 

[Nabz_32x]

would also contribute 10€

 

[comradekingu]

How about instead of pooling up money, we just throw money at the participants we deem worthy?

If i see a good idea, that will be the incentive to chip in, and also to present good ideas. If they are on the table early on we can team up and have community backing in terms of manpower.

That is also a way to fund something if you think about it.

Finishing something gets easier, and finished projects are easier to support monetarily, because you know what you get.

It would be fun to make something, if someone is in need of the funding im happy to give too. Pyra development is a worthy cause to give to if the money itself isnt so important for whoever makes things.

 

[mjohansson]

I don't think its a question of funding the production, but just something exciting like a carrot and an event. Funding the development of something big and serious would probably be expensive not to mention people can't free up endless amount of time anyway, I doubt anyone would quit they're job to make a single commercial Pandora project.

I think when Pyra comes out we should have a running 3 competitions a year, one competition every 4 months, constantly running excitement and people might get better or work on a single project for 2 or more competitions to redo or improve it and will have a worth to participants in terms of getting better and building up a library of code possibly. I don't know, I sucked to much in the first competition and dint achieve anything and I missed the others, please let there be another one when I can finally participate!!

 

[pmprog]

I think when Pyra comes out we should have a running 3 competitions a year, one competition every 4 months

Too frequent IMO. Unless you get a *massive* influx of active developers. I don't think you'd need more than twice a year, and it'd probably suit just being annual.Also, if you have compos too often, that will detriment "standard" releases, as people will start waiting for the compos, rather than releasing when their product is ready.

 

[_jr_]

IMO competitions are good at getting people to start interesting projects, but no incentive at all for polishing the result. I did like the crap game competition very much, because it was more about 'interesting' ideas without the intention of creating a finished product (might not have been appropriate material for the repo, though).


Therefore I think in addition to regular (annual sounds about right) competitions to get things kickstarted, there should be a way to reward 'aftermarket' support (fixes, updates, firmware, C4A infrastructure). Something like an annual 'Oscar' ceremony with community donated prices.


Speaking of competitions, I do miss _wb_. I hope he is doing well.

 

[mjohansson]

So is there gonna be something happening any time now? Wouldn't the Pyra be released before end of this year? If Pyra comes out soon an annual competition would surely be for that one... Cmon guys lets have one more for the Panda! I have started working on a game now, its gonna be kick-ass! End of March or End of April, is that to soon? Is anyone interested at all?

 

[ekianjo]

So is there gonna be something happening any time now? Wouldn't the Pyra be released before end of this year? If Pyra comes out soon an annual competition would surely be for that one... Cmon guys lets have one more for the Panda! I have started working on a game now, its gonna be kick-ass! End of March or End of April, is that to soon? Is anyone interested at all?

What can you tell us about your game? Any teaser ?

 

[mjohansson]

Its like the Atari Jaguar version of Alien vs Predator, very boxy and simplistic, but Ill mix in some classic Amiga Alien Breed so you can find credits and buy weapons and ammo and stuff, and you'll move from section to section, and one section consists of a large open world like in AvP with multiple floors. And I hope to make it multiplayer with up to 3 people in cooperative play, find the source of the alien infistation and move deeper and deeper down in the complex and blow up each section.

I havent coded net play before so it remains to be seen how it works out, everything else is stuff I have already done before so it will be quick and easy for me.

 

[iprice]

there are couple of gems which would not have been rewarded (see DraStic, Aquaventure and others)

The source code for AquaVenture was included in the .PND. However as it was coded in GLBasic it might not be as accessible as other sources. It can be viewed with NotePad (and probably other text readers) though

I'm not pro open-source, but if the competition requirements state this, than that is what competitors must abide by.

Like foxblock I too was hoping for judges' feedback for my entry in the competitions and I really welcomed it for AquaVenture from ekianjo (which was NOT startedd prior to the comp ) when he did the entry round-ups, so I hope the next competition does indeed provide this.

Indeed prizes are not important but it is important that the whole community can enjoy the competition - either by entering, playing the end results or contributing in some other way - providing media assets, feedback, levels etc.

Limiting the number of categories forces similar but different entries to fight against each other in an unfair competition - eg you wouldn't put a sprinter and a long distance runner into the same race, despite the fact that they are both runners. However, having separate categories for every eventuality could potentially make every entry a winner. Working out the middle ground and what would be fair for each entry is the hard part. As for categories; with so many games having fingers in multiple pies now, making them (genre) specific could have entries appeating in more than one category

Perhaps using a "theme" for contests (especially for games) could reduce the number of categories and ensure that everyone is playing on a more even playing field?

Competitions need to be held infrequently enough to ensure that they promote interest - too often and nobody cares.

[EDIT] Oooops! Responded to things mentioned a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away!)

 

[comradekingu]

I was blown away by some of the tracks in http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/17354-music-makers-share-your-music/

An idea manifested, music compo for default entries in the /music folder for the pyra.

Bonus for making it in a program that can be included by default, ready with project-file and corresponding music.

I think that would be a nice way of handing the torch over to the pyra from the pandora.

An opportunity to reach into more areas of community involvement.