Suggestions for competitions and activities

[cat]

Oh well, then maybe the links can be of some inspiration.

[dactylopus]

I like some of the ideas here:

Are we gonna have a new Background Blitz anytime soon?

I do enjoy those, so I'd love to see it again.

Lastly, I'd love to see OROW come back.  Maybe some time this summer would be good?

I second that, July would be perfect for me

Very late, but I really want the OROW competition to stay alive as well. I could host one next summer maybe? Or someone else if they feel inclined. I really enjoyed hosting OROW 9 and wouldn't at all mind doing it again. I think it has to be summer though which makes my timing for coming back to these parts of the internet pretty bad.

BTW: Is OROW 9 the latest one? That was 3 years ago now Time flies.

Yes, I believe OROW 9 was the most recent.  There always seems to be a sizable gap between these competitions.

I'd love to see OROW again.  It's tough, because I have limited time and would only be able to give about 3 days to the project, but I've always enjoyed the competition either way.

Summer seems far away, maybe having a competition in winter would be good?  And maybe we could have a TWOR (Two Weeks One Room) or something like that?  Just a suggestion for those lacking time.

I'd like to start a competition for "box art cover"...

I like the idea of the Box Art Competition...

Maybe going with a theme like most of the other competitions would be better than a specific game. Or maybe something like the game pitches.

This is a good suggestion.  I think that the competition will draw more participants this way, and people can be more free to create anything.  Like a Game Pitch Competition, but instead of using words to pitch the game, you simply use a single image of the front of the box.  No words aside from the title.  So, like a Box Pitch Competition.

Or everyone should be free to choose any game from the archive that they did not create.  This makes it less redundant, adds freedom, and encourages people to go looking through the archive for the game they choose.

Both ideas could work.  2 Box Art Contests...

There has already been a box art illustration workshop:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48770.0 and
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48852.0

Would be nice to have another one.

Don't forget the Monster Workshop:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48324.0

I'd be open to more Workshops.  They are fun, and they motivate me to actually work.  I need all the motivation these days.



And finally, here's another suggestion I'd like to throw out there.  I know it's a long shot, but it could be great:

How about a collective project?  Like Draculator II: Byte of the Draculator...

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=44731.0
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1491/

Of course, there would have to be a project lead, someone who has the time and patience to put all of the pieces together.  If I had the time, I'd volunteer, but I do not.  I'd gladly participate, though.  I think many would.

So how about it?

[TheFrighter]

I like the idea of the Box Art Competition...

Ehm, actually i've already started, Dactylopus!

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=56429.0

_

[VampireWombat]

How about a collective project?  Like Draculator II: Byte of the Draculator...

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=44731.0
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1491/

Of course, there would have to be a project lead, someone who has the time and patience to put all of the pieces together.  If I had the time, I'd volunteer, but I do not.  I'd gladly participate, though.  I think many would.

So how about it?

I like this idea. Shame it's a bit late for a Halloween game.
And there doesn't necessarily need to be a single project leader if the files were shared properly. It would still require cooperation and coordination, of course.

[imsomnia212]

How about a collective project?  Like Draculator II: Byte of the Draculator...

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=44731.0
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1491/

Of course, there would have to be a project lead, someone who has the time and patience to put all of the pieces together.  If I had the time, I'd volunteer, but I do not.  I'd gladly participate, though.  I think many would.

So how about it?

I really like this idea, maybe it can be done a little bit short, assign small random groups of the people that participate (2 or 3 people per group) and make some collaborative games like a mags

[dactylopus]

I like the idea of the Box Art Competition...

Ehm, actually i've already started, Dactylopus!

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=56429.0

_

I see, but I've gone on to suggest alternatives that I think will make the competition better (in my opinion).  Primarily, removing the game selection and allowing people to either choose for themselves or make up a game on their own.

I really like this idea, maybe it can be done a little bit short, assign small random groups of the people that participate (2 or 3 people per group) and make some collaborative games like a mags

That could be one way to accomplish it.  Teams could take on rooms or areas of the game together creating the characters, sprites, and backgrounds.

[artium]

Two competition suggestions that I want to suggest:

1. Font design competition. The competition will have a theme of the game. For example "horror game set during the Napoleonic era" and the designers will have to try to make  the font fit the theme. The results of such competition could live on and be used by the community.

2. A puzzle/mini game only competition. We have game pitch, art and writing competitions.  Why not have a competition that would encourage exploration of different puzzle mechanics in an isolated environment.

[Sinitrena]

Not a suggestion for a new competition, more a question about old ones. Sprite Jam and Colouring Ball (Last Ones) had been a staple for a fairly long time in the forums and they died at around the same time (christmas 2019). Should they maybe be reactivated? Do people miss them?

[Cassiebsg]

I do, but there's really no point in reactivating them if only 1 or 2 people participate...
I fell like the BG Blitz is going the same way.  Are these signs of forum "dying"?

[Slasher]

MAG's was almost going the same way but it picked up I'm glad to say....

I think it's a combination of things that stop some people..

Maybe its waves of constant up and downs...

[Sinitrena]

Slasher ninja'd me. This is an answer to Cassiebsg



But neither Colouring Ball nor Sprite Jam were even close to dead before they just stopped.

Going back through the last 10 contests for both gives these numbers of entries (not entrants, sometimes someone posted more than one entry):

Colouring Ball: 4, 2, 9, 18, 5, 4, 8, 13, 7, 28
Sprite Jam: 0, 4, 4, 7, 0, 4, 4, 4, 15, 5

That looks pretty good.

As for Background Blitz, the numbers are:

0 (yet), 5, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 7, 8, 8

That seems fairly constant as well. (Granted, I looked at the number of entries and you're talking about people participating, but I don't think that makes much of a difference.)

I don't think any of these numbers show that the forums themselves have less people around (or are "dying"). It's just the normal fluctuation we always have.

The FWC always has even fewer entries, but some regulars who enter nearly every time or come back at least semi-regular and so we managed to keep it alive with often just two entries.


While I'm on the topic, I really think we should have a Music Competition again as well. The Competition Forum, in a way, shows diefferent aspects of game design and music is a large part of this. But at the same time I would argue that the Music Competition really did not have enough entries / regulars the last time it was active, so maybe there's really not enough interest in that one.

[heltenjon]

How about making a "rate some games" competition? It could be free form or steered towards a theme...I tried to suggest to people to play and rate dog or cat games in another thread, but I guess making it a competition where you feel like part of a team would perhaps be more motivating. One could assign more points to rating previously unrated games, bonus points for playing and rating long games or whatever is necessary to get in those votes in the right places. If using a theme, the host could provide a list of games, or the players could play and rate any game that fits a given description. I guess a mod would have to be judge to be able to see how many votes was actually cast, or it could be done based on an honour system where the participants post their opinions on the games (hopefully leading to discussion).

* Title of activity - Play and rate. (Or any good title, really.)
* A thorough description of its concept and purpose (educational or entertaining?) - Concept above. Purpose - to get the games in the database proper player ratings. Other than that, mostly entertaining, though constructive criticism could be educational, too.
* Periodicity (how long each round will be and how often it will occur) - No idea. A month?
* Type of competition: Will there be a winner, who will elect the winner (if there is a vote, how long will voting go on) - This would depend on the form chosen. Probably a team would be set as winners.
* Thread administrator: Will the activity/competition be maintained by the winner of the previous round, or by the same person every time? - Don't know.

[Sinitrena]

That's not going to work. People arround here really seem to loath all kind of voting (hyperbole, but still). It's even difficult to get people who enter a contest to vote in this specific contest, so I really doubt all that many people would show up for this.

[Sledgy]

ComCom (Commercial Competition). Sponsor says the topic of the competition, and agsers must make AGS-game on this topic in a month. Sponsor will choose winner.

Prize: 20$.

[eri0o]

A MAGS but you need to pick a fortnight writing previous entry in a range of dates as the initial material to use in your game.

Alternatively, Demoscene like AGS game under certain limits (game plays itself? Size limit in kb for it's .ags file?) has to be developed in arbitrary time span.

[FormosaFalanster]

Why is there not an AGS award for Best First Game?

I'm not only saying this because it's the only one I could reasonably compete so far, I think it would be a great boost for people who got started, raise visibility and encourage them.

[the_schut]

The competitions rules may should state how to proceed in case a competition is running past it's supposed end date (like current Background Blitz!) or has not been re-iterated yet (like current Sprite JAM).
Also if we could have a RELEASE SOMETHING! 2021 in upcoming September.

[Sinitrena]

The competitions rules may should state how to proceed in case a competition is running past it's supposed end date (like current Background Blitz!) or has not been re-iterated yet (like current Sprite JAM).

Completely agree! Too often, competitions die temporarily untill someone goes ahead and starts a new one, which technically needs special permission because the rules say last winner starts the next round. I think if there is no new competition after - let's say - 1 week or 2 after the last winner is declare (or a competition has no entries, which also often stops them), a neutral person should automatically start a new round. Ideally, that would be either the admin of the last round (probably not what people want, becuse it can easily lead to an endless circle) or a moderator (but I'm not sure Gilbert wants this responsibility).

I guess I'll offer to take this task, as I regularly check for new competitions anyway, when I update the Competition Topic Master List.

[Gilbert]

As you already noticed, there is currently no rules on this, so it is quite flexible in how to handle stuff.

Actually past experience was that, after an activity was on hold for some period (either it ended but the winner didn't return to start a new round, or the OP was AWOL without declaring a winner, or no one entered the round), usual solutions were:
1. The OP of the last round decided what to do next, usual choices were a) the OP would start a new round (usually when no one entered) or asked the runner ups to hold the next round instead
2. Someone who's interested volunteered to host a new round (especially when the activity was abandoned for a very long time)
3. The activity just... died... down (either because no one interested, or people have forgotten about it)

Either way, if anyone wants to continue with/resurrect an activity or suggest what to do next, they may just:
1. PM the moderators, or
2. Post in this very thread, or
3. Post in that particular activity's thread
When I see that I'll response ASAP. Though it'd be faster to start right away, to reduce conflicts (such as two people restarting the same activity at the same time) it would still be better to ask for confirmation first.

[RootBound]

Hey mods,

I was looking at the list of dead competitions and wondering if we could bring back a refined version of  Puzzle Time (last active 2005). Looking at the old threads, I think the rules were a bit too vague, the themes prposed were prehaps too broad, and the entries by the few consistent participants tended to be extremely long, all of which may have discouraged wider participation.

I think a narrower and clearer set of rules could make for a more accessible and productive competition.

Rules could be the following:

The host provides a fairly constrained rather than broad scenario (for example, you are in x type of room, trying to accomplish y, and have only specific  items to work with or specific npcs and environmental elements to interact with). Think of the scene from Apollo 13 where the engineers literally have to fit a square peg into a round hole using whatever random spare junk is available on the spacecraft.

Participants write entries that must include the following:
1. Use at least 3 elements from the provided list/scenario (inventory, npcs, a piece of the room like a cabinet or faucet, climb a tree, etc.).
2. Give a step-by-step walktrough of the puzzle solution.
3. Don't add illogical elements to the room. For example, if the room is a forest, collecting some leaves from the ground is an acceptable addition even if the leaves weren'tspecificallymentionedby the host--their presence is implied by the presence of trees--but adding a cave is too much. Adding a fallen tree log would be borderline.
4. Keep any dialog elements summarized rather than typing out the whole conversation (for example, "threaten the mailman", "ask the child for advice", and so on).

Voters would use the criteria of a) how logical does the puzzle seem; b) how creative or unexpected is the use of elements; c) how satisfying is the solution.

Here's is a possible example:

Scenario: you are locked in a bank vault. There are shelves with stacks of cash, a fire extinguisher on the wall, lights on the ceiling, and an electronic lock on the inside of the vault door with a keypad and an emergency speaker button that starts a video call.

Inventory: you have a fake ID badge, a garbage bag, a wrench, a pair of rubber-soled boots, a banana, a pencil, a pair of night-vision goggles, a map of the bank (contains no info about the inside of the vault, only the outside layout), a metal bucket, a bungee cord, a robber's hood mask, a bottle of very expensive brandy, and a hard hat. (List of inventory should be long long but not obviously convenient so as to allow room for creative solutions).

NPCs: if you use the emergency speaker, a security guard will answer. You have not met the security guard.

Goal: escape the vault with a large amount of cash.

Possible solutions could involve finding a way to electrocute the keypad, convincing the guard of your legitimacy using your fake badge and knowledge from the map, bribing the guard with brandy and cash, and so on.

What do you think? Should be bring back a puzzle party?