JGO Comp 2008

[Eli Delventhal]

[size=20pt]The contest has officially ended.[/size]

Come be a part of the JGO Comp 2008, a Java game competition that will take place from August 22nd - August 26th. Programmers get exactly 3.5 days (84 hours) to complete their projects. Projects follow a theme that is provided upon the start, and also must use a sprite sheet that will also be provided. Please visit the site below for more details and also to vote for themes. The theme that accumulates the most votes by the start of the contest period will be used for the competition!



http://www.otcsw.com/contest.php

This is meant to be a fun friendly competition to challenge our brains to come up with unique games and results. Please tell all your developer friends so we can have a decent showing of people!

I've put in a little plug for the Java Game Tome there as well - hopefully all games from this contest end up there. Questions? Comments? Let me know...

The sprite sheet:


The first theme:
Apocalypse

The second theme:
White Picket Fence

Good luck!

[Scarzzurs]

Sounds really great. I'll try to join if possible. :-)

Should i read the following as i can't use my own game engine?:

# Submissions cannot be worked on until the start date of Friday, August 22, at 5:00 PM GMT, and must be submitted by the end date of Tuesday, August 26, at 5:00 AM GMT.

While it probably seems like a fair rule, it's almost certain i won't join with such restriction. One of the major reasons for me to use java is the reuseable code i produce, such as my game engine. I'll be looking forward to contest in either case :-)

- Scarzzurs

[CaptainJester]

You should probably add JInput to the list of allowed libraries.  Most people that use JOGL and JOAL also use JInput.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Eli Delventhal]

Well, why not use code you've already written. It's not like there's a bit prize or anything. 

I'll also add JInput. I was thinking about Slick, but decided that it probably had too much functionality to be totally fair. Think I should just allow that as well?

[kevglass]

Can't see why you're limiting the libraries in use. Use anything would make it far easier to have fun - after all, we're just talking about fun here right?

Kev

[benny!]

@Demonpants:

First, thanks for your effort and work to set up a little competition.
Although my time is very limited and I do not know if I manage to
enter - I like competition a lot in general.

About the libraries I totally agree with kevglass. There is no need
to exclude certain libraries in my eyes. From my experience I can say
that competitions like this works best when you just limit them to a
certain theme and that's all. Ok, in this special case it is ok to limit
it to the java language - but I would not limit the use of libraries.

It exaclty like you say - why re-invent the wheel over and over again.
Libraries provide a set of (mostly) well tested basic functionalities.
Why not start coding on basis of that to create something new ?

Anyway ... looking forward to see the entires ... thanks again for
putting so much work into it!

[oNyx]

The color scheme of that site is so bad it almost gave me a seizure.

[Orangy Tang]

Any libraries really should be allowable. You want people to code games, not tech demos or libraries from scratch.

Particularly you want the barrier to entry to be as low as possible so you get as many people taking part as possible (particularly as this is new and therefore doesn't have a bunch of regulars). Every time you add restrictions or disallow people to not use their favorite API you turn someone away. Similarly these kind of things are also great for giving people a chance to experiment with a new API (like me using the Slick Inkscape loader in LD12).

Basically, since there's no actual prizes up for grabs you can afford to be slack and forgiving with the rules. Let people use what they want and give people some leeway and it'll be more fun for everyone involved.

[kevglass]

Bring on the games!

Kev

[Eli Delventhal]

All suggestions noted. I tuned down the red in the color scheme a bit, and all libraries are now allowed. Also I put a place that tells you how many votes have so far been cast.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Addictman]

I voted Theivery, as I'm dying to write a game revolving around typos! 

[noblemaster]

I've put in a little plug for the Java Game Tome there as well - hopefully all games from this contest end up there. Questions? Comments? Let me know...

That's very cool 

Let me add a link back to your competition later today! If it's not too complicated, I could probably implement something (maybe a special dropdown) for you game competition? Let me know if you had anything in mind?

[Eli Delventhal]

I voted Theivery, as I'm dying to write a game revolving around typos! 

Auch, I always make that mistake. I before E except after C... thanks for the notice, I corrected it.

That's very cool 

Let me add a link back to your competition later today! If it's not too complicated, I could probably implement something (maybe a special dropdown) for you game competition? Let me know if you had anything in mind?

If you've got the time, sure! It would also be awesome if you could give me a snippet of PHP that I could plug into the site in order to directly link to some limited information about the submitted games, or something like that. I pretty much want people to have to go to Tome to submit their products, but also have all game information clearly in one place. If I could pull some XML from the Tome or something that would be super, but even if I just have a link to specific part of the Tome that has only contest games that would be just fine.

[noblemaster]

If you've got the time, sure! It would also be awesome if you could give me a snippet of PHP that I could plug into the site in order to directly link to some limited information about the submitted games, or something like that. I pretty much want people to have to go to Tome to submit their products, but also have all game information clearly in one place. If I could pull some XML from the Tome or something that would be super, but even if I just have a link to specific part of the Tome that has only contest games that would be just fine.

Sounds good! Let me see what I can come up with 

[Eli Delventhal]

64 votes is good - I was a little worried only like 5 people would vote for themes. Also, I made a quick script to tell me if there is any one option overwhelmingly higher voted than any others, and apparently there is a 12-vote difference last time I checked. So we will probably have a surefire winner. 

[SwampChicken]

Personally, i'd like to see JGO run at least 1 comp that allows NO libraries (use the JDK only), and then have all the source of the entries visible after the comp has ended.

JGO can simply run separate slick/jogl/etc comps later on leaving entrants to choose...(and keep interest up throughout the year instead of just once a year)

[Eli Delventhal]

Personally, i'd like to see JGO run at least 1 comp that allows NO libraries (use the JDK only), and then have all the source of the entries visible after the comp has ended.

JGO can simply run separate slick/jogl/etc comps later on leaving entrants to choose...(and keep interest up throughout the year instead of just once a year)

Well, we can have another one after this one. It makes sense to allow all the libraries for this contest, then next time we can restrict it. That way we hopefully generate a few regulars for the more restrictive contests.

[Simeon]

But it's not really a competition now is it? It's basically: make a game with a specified theme in a limited amount of time. If you can re-use old code, the person with the best idea might not win if he's up against well-executed but less good ideas by people who already have a game engine they can re-use.

Edit: the rules don't mention winning.. so I guess it's a themed game creation 'activity'?

[Orangy Tang]

The way the Ludum Dare competitions work is to usually have several catergories for voting (like "gameplay", "graphics", "polish", etc.) and have awards for the best in each category as well as an overall winner.

Regardless it usually doesn't matter how good your libraries and base code are, the best libraries in the world won't make your game magically look good, play well and be polished.

[Eli Delventhal]

Yeah, it was just oversight not mentioning the prizes. I was thinking of doing it based off Ludum Dare with a lot of different awards, but we will probably have around (I'm guessing) 10 entrants, so that sort of limits the possibilities.

We could have just a few, like:
• Best overall game.
• Best use of the sprite sheet.
• Most original use of the theme.

Or we can do all sorts of themes to the point that basically everybody gets an award. Could be more fun that way?

[Scarzzurs]

3 awards would probably be good if you are aiming for 10 contestants. Otherwise it will look horrible when one of the games win all awards, hehe XD

Since you are using theme and sprite sheet, an award for those two together or individualy, like you suggested would probably be a good idea :-)

I'm starting to get excited about the theme and sprite sheet :-)

- Scarzzurs

[Eli Delventhal]

Me too, hopefully things go well. I really want it to be right now rather than next week. 

[Eli Delventhal]

Okay, I have added another section to the website that uses kingsachi's very quickly (and wonderfully) created Java Game Tome API. All games entered into the contest will be entered into the Tome as part of a specific category meant for the contest. Then, using the API, I can call up some information about the entries and link to them.

http://otcsw.com/contestEntrants.php

Right now I'm just using everything that is on the Tome for testing purposes, because obviously there are no contest entries yet.

If anyone wants to volunteer to make it prettier, I'm all for that. I will probably do so on my own at some point (obviously I really slapped it together and did a pretty shitty job ).

[Eli Delventhal]

We now have 100 votes, and one fourth of them are for a single theme, which has 2.5 times as many votes as the next highest voted choice.

Looks like it's decided unless 5 more people vote and they all choose only the second place choice.

I wonder which one it is!

Also, make sure to get ready because the contest starts this friday!

[Eli Delventhal]

I've decided that there will be two themes for the contest. The second theme will be randomly selected.

The reason for this is that I have looked at the voting results and the most popular choice is rather... unimaginative. Not that it won't inspire plenty, but I think it would go better coupled with one of the more random themes in terms of making some really interesting results.

Without further ado, the first theme is...
[size=15pt]Apocalypse[/size] with 26 votes.

The second theme will be revealed on the contest start date. What will it be? An apocalypse white picket fence? An apocalypse zebra? Apocalyptic bad breath?

Also, I have decided on five total awards, which of course was inspired by the Olympics:

• Overall Gold Medalist
• Overall Silver Medalist
• Overall Bronze Medalist
• Best Use of the Themes and Sprite Sheet
• Most Themes Used Successfully

Obviously the first three awards are simply determined by the scores given to them. Whoever has the highest, second highest, and third highest total rating will be given the award. Because we're using the Java Game Tome as the means for voting on the games, we will also have to weigh in number of votes. A game with just 1 ten obviously doesn't beat a game with 7 nines.

The last two awards should be fairly clear. There will be a separate voting section on the contest website for each, and they will be determined purely by number of votes. The first, best use of themes and sprite sheet, is very obvious. Whoever best incorporated the provided theme words and sprite sheet into their game wins. This means most naturally included as well as the most intelligent and creative use of them.

Finally, most themes used is just that: whoever used more of the 15 possible themes in their game wins. I added on the important disclaimer word successfully, however, which is important to note. There will be a JGO topic started where we can decide whether an inclusion of a theme counts. For example, if someone just has zebra print on the wall somewhere, that won't count. However, if the main character is a zebra, that would be different. Obviously this is subjective, but hopefully this award will get some amusing and interesting results.

[bobjob]

I think Apocalypse might have been chosen so much because it was first on the list, and i for one clicked on in hopes of seeing a demo sprite.

[Eli Delventhal]

I think Apocalypse might have been chosen so much because it was first on the list, and i for one clicked on in hopes of seeing a demo sprite.

Yeah I was thinking that might be the case. I'll probably release the sprite sheet on Thursday, then the second theme on startup time.

I haven't chosen the sprite sheet yet, I plan on just finding a random one on Google.

[moogie]

Unfortunetly i have comitments this weekend so i am unableto participate... I look forward to the next comp.

It will be interesting to see what entries will be

[Eli Delventhal]

Just so you guys know -

I've scheduled a phone interview with a company at the exact moment I was supposed to start the competition, so I'm going to have the theme up a little bit early if anyone wants to get a jump on things.

moogie, you could still work on Monday and Tuesday, no? I just want to see as many entries as possible, even if they're tiny.

[noblemaster]

A reminder: when you submit your game to the Java Game Tome, please select "JGO Comp 2008" in the "Topic" dropdown list! The game will still show up normally in the Java Game Tome, but it will also allow Demonpants to know which games belong to the competition.