JGO Comp 2009

[dishmoth]

Just to throw out a random thought...

How about following up an idea from the tail end of this thread?  Namely, use the competition to find a prototype for a new community project.

Probably not a practical idea, but I figured it was worth mentioning.

Simon

[Eli Delventhal]

Well, why not? Perhaps the winning project can become a prototype, or whichever project the community agrees upon liking the most. Once the contest is over we should definitely start a conversation about that.

[RandyBollocks]

I'm join compotetion of games building!

Crazy hazey.... 

-rbo

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

[Eli Delventhal]

So, I haven't gotten any PMs about potential prize contributions. Are people still interested in helping?

[Eli Delventhal]

Thanks to Cas for contributing some more prizes!

All entrants now receive Ultratron and the winner gets Titan Attacks and Droid Assault!

[bobjob]

Thanks to Cas for contributing some more prizes!

All entrants now receive Ultratron and the winner gets Titan Attacks and Droid Assault!

very cool.

would be nice if the organises decided on a theme a while before the compition. as last time the sprite sheet seemed a bit last minute.
Im happy to work on resources, such as: basic models(for 3D) and a sprite sheet(for 2D) relating to the theme, if given enough time to work on them.

[rdcarvallo]

i'm already waiting for the compo...
 

[Alan_W]

I'm looking forward to it too and have been looking at my previous code wondering what could be reused (which very much depends on the theme).  Most of it's 3D related, apart from a space invaders game.   Been thinking about themes: so many possibilities...
Alan

[rdcarvallo]

I'm looking forward to it too and have been looking at my previous code wondering what could be reused (which very much depends on the theme).  Most of it's 3D related, apart from a space invaders game.   Been thinking about themes: so many possibilities...
Alan

Good idea, however almost all my code is 4k and j2me. so not many options for me.

[stained]

Teams allowed?

Kev

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

[Eli Delventhal]

Teams allowed?

Kev

Absolutely - why not?

[rdcarvallo]

kev, cas y and markus are not allowed to team!!!
 


[size=8pt]Edit: oops, spanish "y" becomes english "and"...[/size]

[Eli Delventhal]

kev, cas y markus are not allowed to team!!!
 

Heh heh. You'll just have to team up with every other person in JGO.

[pjt33]

kev, cas y and markus are not allowed to team!!!
 


[size=8pt]Edit: oops, spanish "y" becomes english "and"...[/size]

Looks like a Greek "y" to me...


Apologies to all the non-Spanish speakers who don't get it.

[Eli Delventhal]

Markus has been awesome enough to donate 100 euros to the cause, which he will probably win back for himself, anyway. He also giving the top 3 winners a free copy of Minecraft. Thanks, Markus!

That brings the prize total now up to $250. Anyone else want to donate to the cause?

Eli

[Alan_W]

Just got off work (half day fridays).  20:00GMT is 21:00BST here in the UK (Just double checked).  Currently trying to decide whether to model duke in blender or just paint him in paint shop pro (version 8 - before corel bought it and repositioned it as a photo retoucher).  I did find a lightwave model, but the bones didn't appear to import into blender.  On the whole, I can probably paint duke (in line with theme) faster than I can model him - that would still need the skin painting - Ok convinced myself - paint shop pro it is (probably).

Later then, Alan

[Eli Delventhal]

The contest starts in 4.5 hours! Who's ready? 

[rdcarvallo]

At 20:00 GMT, it'll be 16:00 here in Chle...
I'll be at work...  So my first line of code / bit of artwork will be done in the office.

[steveyO]

Cool.. I make that 10pm Spanish time, which is approx the time I usually start coding...
If can think of a game based on the chosen theme am in...(And thats a big if with my limited creative imagination, may have to ask my son for inspiration!)..

[Eli Delventhal]

The theme is bending! Good luck!

[dertom]

Oh no....I just saw that the compo is this weekend! Arrghh... now it's too late.
Sry for asking for the compo and then not atking part...but there is no time...hmm!
Ok..I can have a look maybe I can blend something....

[kevglass]

Too late?! Nevar!

Kev

[dertom]

Hehe...well! Actuallly I just started!

[h3ckboy]

for the poll fo the final product(or as final as possible). can we onyl vote once or is it jsut we liked it or not?

[Eli Delventhal]

for the poll fo the final product(or as final as possible). can we onyl vote once or is it jsut we liked it or not?

Just whether you liked it or not - you can vote in each poll only once.

[dishmoth]

I'm lumping all of my comments together because I'm too lazy to write separate posts, and because it adds a bit of context to why my votes went where they did.

Thumbs Up to...

Cat On A Wire / Orangy Tang
Great stuff!  I'd never have guessed it was written in such a short time.  (Minor quibble: having to press "space + down" to drop is a hassle, "down" on its own should be enough.)

Bend Hero / kevglass
Original idea, superb presentation.  The only bad thing is the title.  (Two comments on the gameplay.  First, it's not obvious that you can bend the wires as often as you like and so correct any cock-ups you make at the corners.  Second, the game punishes more than it rewards.  In particular, you play to the end of a level, then get told how badly you did.  How about giving out some bonus points for making a particularly precise bend, or a small fireworks display for reaching a corner?)

Bunnies in the Clouds / SimonH
It took me a while to figure out what was going on since the game doesn't really give any feedback when a bunny misses the target.  But when the tower starts to grow it all just feels so nice!


Thumbs Down to...

Duke Ben Dover - Kick Ass / steveyO
Amusing and nicely presented.  But too shallow to make my thumbs change direction.

Bending Techniques / me
I got stuck early on, so I may have missed some good stuff on later levels.  From what I saw it's a decent idea, but one that's probably too ambitious for the time available.

Rocky - the illegal pool jumper / dertom
Impressed by the model animation.  Not so impressed by the game.  Sorry.

Steel Mill Duke / Alan_W
I'm afraid that a glitch in the game's time-keeping made this unplayable for me.  It took over two-and-a-half minutes for the first shape to emerge from the mill, which is a long time to be sat waiting to press a key!  It looked like it might be an okay game if I could play it, so sorry for marking it down on a technicality.

Good work everyone!  Same time next year, eh?
Simon

[SimonH]

I'm lumping all of my comments together because I'm too lazy to write separate posts, and because it adds a bit of context to why my votes went where they did.

Good idea! I'll do the same, but with marking;

Bend Hero / kevglass
4/5 - Superb coding & presentation but (to me) limited gameplay - I've worked in factories - you want me to do this for no pay??!!!
Extra credit for applet & the android port.

Cat On A Wire / Orangy Tang
3/5 - Brilliant technical/art work, but I never really understood why I was playing it (just to kill birds?) I hate the concept - in the UK some garden birds have been reduced by up to 70% by domestic cats. If the concept had been reversed & a bird drove cats off then this would've got 5/5! (actually the sounds were very harsh - 4/5)
Lose credit for jnlp/download.

Bending Techniques / me
3/5 - lots of solid work here but I got the 'I can't be bothered to work this out' feeling quite quickly. Too ambitious in too short a timescale.
Extra credit for applet, but lose for long load time.

Bunnies in the Clouds / SimonH
10/5 - Neither original nor technically remarkable... but it does feel good! That music is nice.
(One of the very few games I've worked on where I enjoyed testing more than codng!)
Extra credit for applet.

Duke Ben Dover - Kick Ass / steveyO
2/5 - Cute & cheeky idea, well implemented, but I didn't really feel that I could kick Duke's ass as hard as I wanted to, and I didn't really want to...
Extra credit for applet.

Rocky - the illegal pool jumper / dertom
1/5 - no gameplay at all for me...  I was impressed with the technical stuff but I thought 'Right, done that' after the first go.
Extra credit for applet, but lost for security popup.

Steel Mill Duke / Alan_W
1/5 - Solid code, but the gameplay's way too slow. I got bored even before the first piece was made, & then the second piece was the same shape... again, I don't want to be reminded of factory work!
Lose credit for jnlp.

Despite the gameplay issues, the technical standard has been very high indeed. JGO shows flying colours once again - well done everyone!

[Alan_W]

I'm afraid that a glitch in the game's time-keeping made this unplayable for me.  It took over two-and-a-half minutes for the first shape to emerge from the mill, which is a long time to be sat waiting to press a key!  It looked like it might be an okay game if I could play it, so sorry for marking it down on a technicality.

Ahhh. Riven said something similar about the steel not coming off the mill.  2.5 minutes for the 4 squares of the first widget is over 30 seconds per square. Ouch! 

[CherrySlug]

Cat On A Wire / Orangy Tang
3/5 - Brilliant technical/art work, but I never really understood why I was playing it (just to kill birds?) I hate the concept - in the UK some garden birds have been reduced by up to 70% by domestic cats. If the concept had been reversed & a bird drove cats off then this would've got 5/5! (actually the sounds were very harsh - 4/5)
Lose credit for jnlp/download.

If we had reversed it people would not make the assumption to attack the cats, instead they would probably try avoiding them, its a universally understood premise, cats eat birds and birds are stupid. If anything you should be happy that we made this game easy enough for a cat to play, and get all its frustration out on it. Also there is nothing stopping you from just hanging out with the birds or chasing them, YOU made that decision!

[SimonH]

If we had reversed it people would not make the assumption to attack the cats, instead they would probably try avoiding them, its a universally understood premise, cats eat birds and birds are stupid. If anything you should be happy that we made this game easy enough for a cat to play, and get all its frustration out on it. Also there is nothing stopping you from just hanging out with the birds or chasing them, YOU made that decision!

Hey, I hope I wasn't being too serious! I just meant that despite the excellent artwork and coding I felt I needed something more to draw me into playing the game for any length of time...
Re concept; its also a universally understood premise that cats eat mice - so how come Jerry always beats Tom?
I wonder how popular those cartoons would have been if Tom had just caught Jerry and eaten him!