Amiga Game Development Contest

[Ian]

Thought everyone use the new post link at the to these days their are far too many sections for people to scroll through.

Sure creating a new thread is different, but I think it's ok here bearing in mind there will be a sub domain on the abime network for it too that could have a link direct to this section.

Rck is the design expert though so see what he says when he's back online. Ultimately I don't think it matters interested parties will find it easy enough.

[E-Penguin]

http://GameDevCompAmi.ga now points to this sub-forum

[idrougge]

Why should you be required to submit the game on disk images?

[E-Penguin]

You're not? The last version of the draft rules we got to also allowed HD images in any standard archive format.

[idrougge]

Sorry, I just read the first ten drafts.

[ReadOnlyCat]

First of all, this is a great idea, I am looking forward to participate.

A few points:

Originally Posted by E-Penguin

You're not? The last version of the draft rules we got to also allowed HD images in any standard archive format.

This can be easily solved by posting the latest versions of the rules on the first post of the thread.

Originally Posted by Shatterhand

Regarding rule 5, I must admit even though I proposed it the other way first, I prefer Ian's suggestion to "judge the game as a whole", instead of grading in different aspects.

If this is still up for discussion, I would recommend using a weighted multi component grading system because this helps define precisely which factors should be taken into account to determine what constitutes a good game for this contest.

For example, if the contest decides that "gameplay" is twice as important as "technique", and that "audio" is 1.5 more important than "graphics", then this would be reflected in the weight of each component.

An arbitrary example of a weighting set:
gameplay=5, audio-fx=3, audio-music=3, graphics=2, technical=1.

Absent such a mechanism, each judge is free to decide what makes each game great based on their own rules, rather than the contest's rules. Even though gameplay might be judged more important, a judge could decide to only judge the games on their technical merits. With a multi-component grading system and all component scores public, judges are incentivized to stay reasonable when giving scores for each component.
They could technically cheat by grading gameplay super high for a game which is very technical but not fun at all but the contrast with other scores for that component would be visible for all to see, thus calling the judge's objectivity into question.

Note that in sports where human judges are involved, the highest and lowest scores of each component are usually discarded to avoid over-enthusiastic or under-enthusiastic scores which do not reflect the majority consensus.
A similar system could be used here. This way, if a judge voluntarily "cheats" as I described in the previous paragraph, their cheating score would automatically be discarded.
Obviously, for this to work, at least 5 judges are required so that at least three values remain for scoring.

Regarding other aspects:

• There should probably be a requirement that the game must run on actual hardware, not just emulation.
  This may seem like nitpicking but imagine that someone develops only on emulator and that the game does not run on hardware and is judged buggy by all judges this would render all their coding efforts useless.
  By making it a rule that the game is tested on actual hardware, at least everyone knows what to expect.

[MickGyver]

Any more news about the contest? Did the idea just die?

[Ian]

I asked the same thing of shatterhand a week or so ago. It's not dead. He mentioned previously he would be busy until September but hoped to find he time to sort this in-between.

Unfortunately that hasn't proven to be the case so September it is.

My advice if you are itching to get started, post in the entry thread and crack on.

[arcanist]

Is there a cut-off date for declaring entries or is it right up until the deadline?

I've started working on a game for this contest but sometimes work gets busy and I can't be 100% sure it'll be done in time. I'd like to get to about 75% complete and then make a post to be sure I can find the time to finish it.

[E-Penguin]

I don't think there's a cut off, but it would be interesting to see the development of the game and how it progresses, even if it's not actually finished by the end.

[Ian]

Just pop it in the entry thread, 6 months is not a long time, I doubt any game will be 100% finished in that time frame.

Everything will be judged on it's merit, regardless of completion. It will also be good for you to post the progress you are making much like mcgeezer is doing at the moment.

[alexh]

Just a thought, the unreleased Team17 game Witchwood for DOS exists as a tech demo :

http://m.vk.com/doc-62542735_437603041

If you're looking for some gfx for your game dev entry (and it is allowed under the rules) there might be something suitable for ripping?

[Retrofan]

Hi:
Sorry to ask: Is this a games development contest developed under the support of EAB?

If it's something related (and extremely sorry to say) it has no visible information anywhere including this forum. It has been hard to get to this invisible thread.

What do I think?
That it would be SO GREAT to have a Games Contest with somekind of support from EAB that it Should have some attention from the moderators and some VISIBLE place in the forum at least. I mean that it also should be announced somewhere else.

Just my thoughts.

[DamienD]

Personally, I totally agree with you Retrofan

...a month or so ago when this area was created I did suggest that instead of being under the Coders sub-section (where let's be honest, really only coders visit); it be moved to it's own section called "EAB GameDev Competition" or something similar.

Unfortunately no one else agreed and hence why it is where it is today...

[spud]

Why not a sticky thread in the News section advertising the competition?

[DamienD]

That will work for now

Done, see here: EAB GameDev Competition

...hopefully this gives the competition more exposure and is easier to find for all.

[softiron]

Evenin'
Found this thread recently and I read that a game entering competition does not have to be started from scratch during compo time. We have a project called Open Fire going on for last 2 years or so. Still in development... Was first shown to public on RKLE game dev compo last year as "in development". Now... does a production this old and already presented to the public still qualifies for this Compo?

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by softiron

We have a project called Open Fire going on for last 2 years or so. Still in development... Was first shown to public on RKLE game dev compo last year as "in development". Now... does a production this old and already presented to the public still qualifies for this Compo?

My personal opinion on this is likely a no.

I’ll let the mods clarify though as the rules were set out beforehand and i’m pretty sure this was covered as disqualification.

[softiron]

the category was "preview"
see it [ Show youtube player ], starting 43:47 or last "official" update from March 2018 [ Show youtube player ]
We'd appreciate info if we can join or not

[mcgeezer]

I don’t actually mind as long as the judges take into account the historical dev time.