Schnatterplatsch said:
I don't think it's going to work out, but maybe that's a lesson that has to be learnt the hard way. And I cannot see how it's supposed to "bring the communities together". Via PC builds? That cannot be the sense of a handheld competition. And crossdeveloping between 320x240(4:3) and 800x480(5:3) is a pain especially when you want to target your game to the pandora and your content is resolution specific. Saying "you have to build for wiz/caanoo/dingoo as well or you won't get vooootes
" is unfair imo.
And there are enough people who would just vote down othe platforms entries for fun. And even despite that there are probably more user of platform A than of platform B what will lead to unfair results as well.
EDIT: Take google translator and read a little in the spanish forums. It's terrible.
EDIT2: Same goes of course for some pandora guys. There has been to much fighting in the past I think a good amount of people will use this as a possiblility to continue this fight.
The communities should remember that is not about single persons you like or dislike, but about a common hobby, I guess we will see how voting goes eventually, but I don't think it is going to be a community thing, which is one step in the right direction.
Cross developing between two different resolutions CAN be a pain, it all depends on how you plan it. If you start your game with the intention of bringing it to multiple platforms you can work around that, especially as the you can apply Scale2x to 320x240 to get the Pandora's resolution (with black bars, sure).
Saying you have to target as many platforms as possible is not rude when it has been clear from the start of the competition (check the rules) as you can plan with that - in fact it adds an extra challenge to create a flexible game. If you start with the Pandora in mind and try to downscale it afterwards, that is a pain allright, but that's just how you planned.
To even out the different size of user bases you can always supply a PC build - I know that is not ideal, but by doing that you can ensure that everyone can play your game. Of course Caanoo games using the G-Sensor are out, but well they would only work on the Caanoo anyway.
I have read through the GP32Spain forums and I have yet to find a single "terrible" thing, the contest announcement had a positive response, one commented on Rainy Day (a Pandora exclusive title) in a very positive way, the other entries also got some good comments.
Skylarc had a very positive response in the Caanoo section.
The Pandora section also seemed quiet overall, there was the usual Craig and production managing bashing, but that is to be expected (and perfectly understandable imo).
I agree that there have been differences between the GPH community and the Pandora folks.
But to me it always seemed like single persons trying to make a mess or flaming, not the whole communities.
I also think graphics will also make a big difference, which is a shame, but sadly something you can see getting way too much attention in the whole gaming community.
Still if I just recall the Pandora platformer comeptition it was not the entry with the best graphics winning (there was a 3D game on the third place, well it probably depends on how you define good graphics) - it was the most complete and overall best game, plain and simple and how it is supposed to be.
I might stand corrected when the voting phase is over, but so far I think you guys might be seeing non-existent ghosts and community feuds which have died down long ago, I can't see many reasons for that negative way of thinking.
