The AGS Team Challenge 2004 is under way!
The teams are as follows.
Names underlined denote team captains.
TEAM 1: Creative Minds
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/teamchlogo.gif)
Member Writer/Designer ------- Vel
Member Scripter-------------------Redwall
Member Musician------------------Petteri
Member Artist----------------------Alpha
Member Artist----------------------InCreator
Member Extra----------------------Pixelcat
TEAM 2: The Big Eye Team
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/teambigeye.gif)
Member Writer/Designer--------ScottDoom
Member Scripter-------------------Sinitrena
Member Musician------------------Iqu
Member Artist----------------------Fawfulhasfury
Member Artist----------------------Eggie
TEAM 3: Team Tiger
(http://www.miez.nl/tmp/teamtiger.gif)
Member Writer/Designer--------Babloyi
Member Scripter------------------Tanker
Member Musician-----------------Peter Thomas
Member Artist---------------------Evil
Member Artist---------------------Miez
TEAM 4: Cold Shoulder
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/bearlogo.png)
Member Writer/Designer-------Lazy Z
Member Scripter-----------------Zor
Member Musician----------------Eldkatt
Member Artist--------------------osc
Member Artist--------------------TikiTikiMan
TEAM 5: Fatal Error
(http://minimi.spijbelaars.com/bluecup.gif)
Member Scripter-----------------Ginny
Member Musician----------------Minimi
Member Artist--------------------LostTraveller
Member Artist--------------------Daz
Member Writer/Designer-------Bassfisherman
TEAM 6: Epileptic Fish
(http://www.agagames.com/scotch/efish.gif)
Member Writer/Designer------Dave Gilbert
Member Scripter----------------YOke
Member Musician---------------BeserkerTails
Member Artist-------------------scotch
Member Artist-------------------Dart
TEAM 7: Team Awesome
(http://www.lumpcity.co.uk/lgm/temp/logo1.png)
Member Writer/Designer-----LGM
Member Scripter---------------Releasethefrogs
Member Musician--------------Eigen
Extra Member------------------Alky
Member Artist------------------custard
Member Artist------------------Donny Brook
Agenda
The competition spans over five weeks, and a link to the game must be handed in before 12:00 greenwich time on August 14:th, to
petter_andail@hotmail.com
subject "AGS team challenge"
* Within three days, each team should have responded to this thread, presenting a team captain and a team name. A contact email address must be enclosed.
This is obligatory.
A mascot or some sort of symbol/picture is optional, but recommendable.
* Two weeks from now, each team should be able to show one screenshot, and a short "blurb", or plot outline. These items will be presented on a Screen 7 website (hosted by Mods)
This makes:
July 7:th----------------Project officially starts
July 10:th--------------Deadline for team name and captain (failure to this leads to disqualification)
July 14:th------------------Obligatory status report, see post below
July 21:st--------------Deadline for presenting plot outline and one screenshot (optional, but failure will result in heavy point reduction in the jury's decisions)
August 7:th ------------Deadline for final status report.
August 14:th-----------Deadline for handing in the games to petter_andail@hotmail.com. No games delivered after this date will take part in the competition
General rules
There are no restrictions in terms of resolution, game-length or other technical details. The plot should follow the designated theme, or suffer point reduction.
All teams must see to it that their projects are kept secret, so that the risk of plagiarizing is minimized. A forum with passwords is preferable.
Team members should respect the short time period, and keep updated and in contact with their captains. If a team member fails to show up, the team captain can apply for exclusion (PM me), and if the team reaches three members or less, a stand-in might be available. This can also be the case if a team member misbehaves or fails to cooperate.
In order to exlude a member, there must be obvious reasons for this, and not just a general disliking. This is after all an exercise in cooperation.
Vacancies will be announced in this thread. Teams cannot request particular people for stand-ins.
No team must at no circumstances use outside assistance in their projects. This also goes for templates and plugins. Everything must be made from scratch by the team-members. Certain standard elements, such as the default font, may be used.
Also note that artwork or music created prior to the time of this competition may not be used. Hypothetically, a team member can have made an entire game based on mystery, but never released it, but still no material from this game may be used in the new one.
Team functions
* A team member is allowed to take part in work in other areas than the one they signed up for.
* No team member has formally more power in the designing of the game - regardless of area - except for the team captain. The other members' functions should be established within each team.
* Formally, the team captain can make unilateral decisions, and can assign tasks to other members. This is
to save time, and make sure the captain can eventually - if needed - force certain assignments to be carried out. This function should be used with care, considering the team spirit.
* The team captain is elected by voting. No initial team position is favourable when electing the captain.
It is recommended that the voting is carried out immediately and without campaigning too much.
Documentation
Along with the finished game, a document must be attached with proper credits, details regarding number of locations, characters, inventory items and maximum amount of points (if featured).
Judging
After August 14:th, the games will be tried and evaluated by a jury. The jury is elected by me, and will be secret, so that no kind of lobbying can occur. Games delivered later than this deadline will not participate in the competition, but might still get an honourable mention on Screen 7.
The jury will look at and award:
* The plot in relation to the subject; Mystery
* The overall plot and playability
* Graphics/music
* Technical features
Disqualification can be imposed for the following reasons:
§1. Exceeding obligatory deadlines, or failure in following vital instructions.
§2. Less than three active teammembers credited in the final documentation. This being a competition in cooperation, at least three members must take part in the creation to count as a team.
§3. Including material in the game that is not originally created by a team member.
§4. Any sort of sabotage towards other teams.
§5. Plagiarism.
There is yet no deadline for the jury's final decision.
Note!
Only reply to this thread if directly instructed to. Use the chat thread to discuss rules or team issues.
Finally, remember that time is your worst enemy right now. I can't enough stress the importance of getting started ASAP!
For this reason, bear in mind that your team captain will have to make many unilateral decisions to speed up the process.
Special thanks to Vel, for his great initiative to commence this project, and to Scotch, for taking care of the team drawing.
All teams are registered, and I hope you're progressing fine.
Please note!
On July 14:th, you must hand in a status report to this thread. This is obligatory!
This report shall contain:
* Game title
* Progression statistics
Plot %
Programming %
Graphics %
Music %
* A short summary of how the team cooperates, if someone is missing, if you have run into any unusual obstacles, etc.
I'm perfectly aware of the early date for such a report, and that you might not have progressed at all in some areas. I just want to make sure you're not falling behind, or that your team have ground to a halt.
Game Title - Switched (not 100% sure at the moment)
Progression Statistics
Plot 45% (this is including Puzzles, Dialogs, etc..)
Programming 10%
Graphics 15%
Music 0%
The cooperation between most of the members has been good so far. Ginny, Minimi, and Daz, have talked online on IRC/MSN, everyday, discussing the game's contents and making progress.
Lost Traveler has also worked hard and kept us updated from the moment he joined the team as a replacement for Bluke. Bass Fisherman has been online less and hasn't updated much on our forums, We hope he doesn't disappear aswell.
Ginny has been doing work on the script, and story/plot. Minimi worked on cutscenes and background art. Daz made the maincharacter, and some sketches. LostTraveler made some other characters. Bassfisherman would do puzzles, but we haven't heard much from him, as said.
Unusual Obstacles : Ginny's pc is crashed, she needs to reinstall. Some teammembers didn't show up, so the positions of members have been mixed through eachother.
Game title: The Despicable Dr. Zoidenburg
Progress
Art-16%
music-0%
plot-40%
coding-10%
Our team is working very hard, we were going to have TikkiTikkiMan as team captain for two weeks as i was away, but thats now been cancelled. The whole team has been on IRC and we have a forum setup for game discussion, which is hidden and password protected when needed.
The whole team have been working very well helping each other out and giving idea's for art and story ect. We have now decided on all the main game elements, GUI style, colour depth ect. And everyone is happy with this choice.
overall, we're all working hard together to ultimatly acomplish a very high standard game , well done Cold Shoulder. :)
Game Title: Two of a Kind
Plot: 95%
Art: 15%
Music: 10%
Programming: 40% - that might seem high, but there's only because there's a complicated GUI involved which has taken a lot of programming.Ã, So to break it down, I'd say the GUI is about 80% done, while the non-GUI stuff is 10% done.
We are all working together smashingly.Ã, Every day I get suggestions on how to make the game come alive.Ã, BerserkerTails came up with a very innovative music idea that I continue to get giddy about.Ã, Yoke continues to amaze me with his mighty GUI innovations.Ã, Dart's backgrounds are excellent, and she's drawing them so fast that you'd think she was being held at gunpoint.Ã, Scotch is hard at work animating the characters and shading Dart's backgrounds, making them look even better.
The only setback is that I'm worried that the game might be too ambitious for such a short time-frame, but the team is eager and ready for the challenge.Ã, When I voiced this concern, the response was a unanimous: "Don't worry.Ã, We'll just have to work harder."Ã, I couldn't ask for a better team.
Game title: The Hamlet
Plot: 65% - Only the dialogues and some puzzles are missing, everything else is planned
Art: 15%
Music: 10%
Programming: 25% - For the very same reason as Dave - the game involves an advanced GUI which works perfectly now.
Our team is co-operating wonderfully. I have finished the preliminary design document which includes everything except the dialogues and some of the puzzles, which I am working on presently. The artist are working amazingly well - Alpha is working on backgrounds, InCreator on animations and pixelcat on close-ups.
As for music, Petteri has already finished the main theme, and is working on intro music at the moment. The game will feature a digital music pack, which will be recorded by me. Petteri and I have worked together before, so we really know what we're doing. Till the next report!
TITLE: Who murdered my Wife?
Plot: 20%
Programming: 10%
Graphics: 15%
Music: 10%
Eggie: Team captain for some reason, hangs around and tries to find random things to do.
ScottDoom: Creator, Writer, Designer, approves all the artwork ansd music and even gets dirty with the pixels occasionally.
Iqu: Music and an almost nazi-like determination to erradicate clichés from the plot. He's also been really helpful in finding loads of
handy reference material and done a bit of spriting on the side.
Fawful: Arteesteec director, basically he draws designs in hi-res then we work as a team to try and translate his vision to the
screen.
Sinitrena: Scripter and additional plot-coming-with-inator and, it would seem, graphic designer.
No huge problems yet, thing's arn't coming along immensly quickly but I have confidence we'll soon get into the swing of things.
Title: Room 13 (Working Title)
Progress:
Plot %17.342
Programming %7.549
Graphics %15.903
Music % 20.334
We are working together very well. We have a problem with showing up in the channel and being together all at the same time. Story has been kind of lagging behind due to 3 years of writer's block that cannot be unblocked. But progress is being made nontheless. Donny Brock is a kickin' character artist, but we don't know if he can animate yet. We're getting there slowly and surely.
Game title: Death of a Medic
Progression statistics:
PlotÃ, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, 80%
Programming 2%Ã,Â
GraphicsÃ, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, 2%
MusicÃ, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, Ã, 5%
We are all working together reasonably well. Our only problem is that due to conflicting time zones, we have yet to have a meeting where all of us are present at the same time. Right now Evil is away, and will be back on the 17th I believe. I had let the team fall behind a bit, unfortunately, with providing my plot a bit late, which accounts for a larger % for plot than anything else, but now that work has started, it is going ok.
Bluuurb:
Plot outline: Private Investigator, Norman Daniels moves to the city of New Packard with his wife to escape the tedium of the country. On his first night staying at this city his wife is murdered for unknown reasons. You see, Norman Daniels is a sleepwalker, and after locking himself out of his home after a failed quest to buy a drink he ends up sleeping on the doorstep. Norman demands that he be the one to take on the case as he attempts to find out what he missed that night
Screenshot (work in progress)
(http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v318/EggHeadCheesyBird/screenshot.jpg)
The Despicable Dr. Zoidenburg
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/screenshot0rz.png)
scrolling background
Urban legends speak of an abandoned hospital... And the mad genius that resides there...
The rumors of his twisted experiments have reached every citizen of the nearby city, yet none has been brave enough to enter the hospital and confront the mad doctor.
Now fate wills it so that two young people will venture inside...
What atrocities will they witness? And how will this affect everyone's lives? Or afterlives, for that matter.
Will Doctor Zoidenburg finally accomplish his atrocious plot? Or will the young adventurers succeed in foiling his plans? Time, as they say, will tell...
Okay, I'm just posting this one for Team 1 since Vel seems to be having some problems with his computer. So here goes...
Creative Minds presents...
The Hamlet
(http://koti.mbnet.fi/petteri-/thehamlet_screenie.png)
A man (our main character) receives a letter from his old friend, who is inviting the main character to spend few days at his ranch. The man thinks it's a good idea, so he gets into his car and starts his journey.
Later, when he finally arrives the ranch, he finds out that his friend actually isn't there. Something mysterious is going on... What happened?
Epileptic Fish presents...
Two of a Kind
(http://www.davelgil.com/ags//team6.png)
The world of “Two of a Kind†is superficially similar to our own, but with one key difference.Ã, Everyone is born with a special magical knack or ability, making life a bit complicated but definitely more interesting.
This game centers around Tim and Tiffany Walters, a pair of fraternal twins who go together like oil and water.Ã, He is devoted to rock music, while she is devoted to her many stuffed toys.Ã, She thinks the world is filled with happiness and rainbows, while he believes the world is a giant ball of misery.Ã, Like everyone else in this world, they were born with special powers.Ã, Tim can levitate, while Tiffany can talk to animals.Ã, Plus, being twins, they can communicate telepathically with each other.Ã, Although an unlikely pair, their unique bond has inspired them to form a private detective agency.Ã, Their current case is to locate a mysterious crystal stolen from a local museum.
Features:
Ã, Ã, - Two playable characters
Ã, Ã, - A unique music system (dubbed “TwinTracksâ€)
Ã, Ã, - Over 15 locations
Ã, Ã, - Over 10 characters
Ã, Ã, - Alternate solutions to puzzles
Team Awesome Presents..
Room 13
(http://www.btinternet.com/~ctswin/screeny2.PNG)
Set in a 1970's run-down hotel in the middle of the desert, Room 13 is about a one night's stay gone wrong.
You first play as sort of a paranormal explorer. It's not an official job, it's more like a hobby. You enter the hotel, which has been closed since the late 1970's. Soon, you uncover answers to the mystery you've been searching for: What happened to the guests on the last running night of the hotel??
With over 30 minutes of gameplay, you will discover just what happened by exploring the many rooms of the hotel. You will be guided by miraculous visions brought on by spirits. Soon enough, the mystery will be unveiled.
Features:
-Two playable characters
-Music!
-More than 1 room!
-More than 1 character!
-Some puzzles!
- CUTSCENES!
TEAM: FATAL ERROR
ok the reason i am posting this instead of Ginny is because she has disapeared soo here goes
name: File Trap
Story
the plot is that an immagrant from Holland decides to go to America for a new life, he is carrying all his immagration papers and other important documents in a suit case, he keeps this close to him at all times. All of his other bags are in safe keeping for now. He is travelling with his sister/friend who is much more layed back than him, when he goes to hand in all his documents he finds he has the wrong suit case and his is full of government documents which contain Government papers/blackmail papers/secret files.
You go to find out what they are and to get your papers back.
not 100% sure if that is final
screenie: sorry no GUI atm Ginny has it and i have no way of getting. sorry
(http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v284/ragingmonkey/bagageinroom.png)
-Daz
Death of a medic
blurb
The game is set in a post-catastrophic Earth, where few cities still remain, disconnected and far away from each other. The story takes place in one of these cities.
Your brother has just been murdered. The police, in conjunction with the AHSOL (Agency for Human Security, Observation and Location) Super Computer deduces that it was the work of a gang member. Realising the incompetence of the police force, you take it upon yourself to find the killer and avenge your brother's death.
screenie
coming soon... It has to be uploaded to the net by our resident artists. Once it is online I will post it
ho ho ho, I hope that you're all doing well on your projects, considering the time is drawing near for your presentations.
On August 7:th I want you to hand in a final status report, including:
* Progression in all areas, in percent
* Any obstacles that may have arisen lately
* An evaluation of the team work so far, and if your project is likely do be finished in time.
You do not have to give away how big the game will be, or any additional screenshots.
Remember that you only have two weeks more to go, and I will be pretty strict with the dead-line.
Again, you seem to be doing just fine, and I'm sure the outcome will completely sweep the community!
Eggie's on vacation, so I post this:
Team: The big eye team
Game titel: Who murdered my wife?
Story: 80%
Music: 90%
Art: 50%
Scripting: 35%
We started slow, than we worked a bit faster and now it's slow again. Eggie is on vacation in chicago, ScottDoom was on vacation and Sinitrena's computer crashed one and a half week ago. There is still a lot of work to do. In the last week we didn't made much process and it seems that all team members have other things to do at the moment. I know that there is just one week left to finish the game and we will try it, of coures, but I fear - because of the vacations and the crashed computer and the team members having other things to do - that we maybe don't finish the game in time.
As you can see, the music is nearly finished and the story can be finished in time (there is just the end left to write), but the art is the problem of our game. I try to script without some backgrounds and sprites at the moment but I'm really not sure if we will be able to finish it in time. The GUI system and the intro are finished and so are a few puzzles but all the interaction things aren't.
Title: Two of a Kind
Team: Epileptic Fish
Art: 80%
Music: 50%
Scripting: 80%
Story: 100%
I continue to be impressed daily by the hard work and dedication that the team is exhibiting. Progress has been forging on strong since the project started, and even my stint at Mittens didn't hinder everyone. During my Absense, Yoke took the reins and did a great job.
We are all working like mad to meet the deadline. Some features had to be removed because we were a bit ambitious. But once the competition is over, we fully plan on remaking the game with better graphics and perhaps some new puzzles.
Vel is on vacation for the rest of the competition.
Creative Minds (Team 1) - The Hamlet
Plot: 100%
Programming: 40%
Graphics: 45%
Music: 50%
As stated, Vel is on vacation for the rest of the competition. He completed the final design document and all dialogues before he left, however. The rest of us are working on our respective areas and discussing each others' work. Progress was slow but has accelerated recently and is still gaining speed. Right now the major thing left is background art, but that is coming along. I believe we will finish on time, but it'll probably be tight.
Damn forgetfullness.
Final Status Report for File Trap:
* Progression in all areas, in percent
Ã, Ã, Ã, Story/Plot/etc - 80%
Ã, Ã, Ã, Art/animation - 60%
Ã, Ã, Ã, Music/sounds - 90%
Ã, Ã, Ã, Programming - 50%
* Any obstacles that may have arisen lately
Mainly real life butting into our plans. We got a puppy, which I do not regret for 1 second, he is wonderful, and about the same time my windows installation CD-ROM went FUBAR until I got a new one in 10 days :P. Minimi went on vacation this week, and I'm going to camp this morning for 5 days.
* An evaluation of the team work so far, and if your project is likely do be finished in time
The team work has become a bit slower near the end, and we have attempted to shorten our idea somewhat, but because I'll be gone for the next 5 days, I'm afraid we won't finish the game. I'd still like to say that we enjoyed this competition very much and hopefully next time arpund will be more productive in my case.
All the best of luck to all teams entering!! :)
Final Status Report for The Despicable Dr. Zoidenburg :
Progression in all areas, in percent
Art/animation: 50%
Story/puzzles ect: 99%
Programming: 30%
Music/sound: 10%
Problems that have arisen
Unfortunatly our team has really been feeling the strain recently. I think because we have been working to our highest standard and have chosen quite a hard style to perfect, we have not been progressing as much as we would like. This has resulted in the unfortunate team decision that we will be pulling out of the competition. This does not mean the game will not continue its production, the game will still be finished. But it will not be in time for the deadline.
Best of luck to all the other teams, i look forward to playing the games :)
All right, it's over, folks.
Two teams made the deadline, and in the spirit of egality and brotherhood, I decided to announce both of them winners.
So the winning teams are:
Epileptic Fish
and
Creative Minds.
If more teams would have finished, I had planned a live ceremony on the irc-channel, to make the jury's decision more exciting. Now it just feels awkward to elect the better of the two.
Their games will be presented on the forums shortly.
Their reward is yet to be determined.
I think now is the time to evaluate this competition, and discuss what could be altered until next time. Obviously, two finishing teams out of seven is not a splendid record (even though their games are impressive). What can be changed?
Andail, can we wait for a day or so to polish the game? We're currently making the backgrounds prettier and adding a final puzzle that was planned but the deadline was too short for it to be implemented.
Congratulations to Epileptic fish and us!
Yeah Vel, that's a great idea. During our mad scramble to finish the game, we had to leave out the opening (Even though we drew all the pictures for it, we just didn't have time to code it).
That'd be awesome.
Damn you, Vel.. you've already won.
Don't rub the rest of the team's noses in their down falls.
..and in other news:
We may have missed the deadline, but the Big Eye team still plan to finish. If only to satisfy our own needs.
Also, Andail.
Is that a diplomatic move? or did you just forget to assemble a panel of judges?
And..
For the "What can be changed?"..
At the start of the competition, there were suggestions of an application form type thing, where people would be judged if they were competent enough to enter. Thankfully, this wasn't a problem our team faced, but I knew some people were worried that their teams were too inexperienced (or talentless) in their chosen fields to give their teams a fighting chance.
For instance, LGM as a writer? I mean, come on.. we've all read Vincent's Night..
(..and me as a Musician? All those poor people who bought my band's CD..).
Iqu, it gladdens me that you still intend to finish your game.
Yes, it was a completely diplomatic move. It's one thing electing a winner out of six-seven contestors, but out of two, the other will be a bigger loser...well you get it.
And trust me, I could have a jury assembled within the hour if it was necessary, and a darn fine one too!
Applications might not be such a bad idea. As I wasn't a part of a team, I don't know how well each member managed to pick up their burden, but I do know that some lost interest and gave in rather hastily.
One clear problem was that many teams (just like in last year's event, as well as general team projects) simply aimed too high.
A solution would be to set up more restrictions, such as number of rooms, characters and inventory items.
What is your take on this? And is application forms a good solution? Who would look at and approve on these?
Give me more opinions.
Who would look at and approve on these?
..My suggestion would be this damn fine, one hour notice jury you have hidden away.
Also, luckily or not for us, our team's problems were actual, physical, real life problems and not just a lack of enthusiasm. Not that I'm trying to excuse our inabilty to succeed, just bitter about the amount of holidays and computer crashes inflicted upon our teams by parents and/or Bill Gates.
I think more restrictions would be a good thing. Maybe especially the number of rooms, because games with more rooms tend to be longer, and thus take more time to write. And more rooms = more backgrounds to draw. I think these two things (writing & planning the game and drawing the backgrounds) are generally the most time-consuming parts of making a game.
edit: By rooms I mean room files in AGS. If someone thinks they absolutely need more than the allowed amount of rooms, they can always stretch the rules and use scrolling rooms.
Personally, I think rules similar to MAGS ones, with several key things that must be included, maybe.
And restrictions.
I agree, but closer to the real MAGS than the current batch.
Well, in MAGS you aren't limited to a certain number of rooms (generally), people just know by now that you can't have very many to make it in a month. Maybe a restriction is neccessary in the first few, but I'd hope that after a couple tries people would realize they have to think small.
Eh, iirc, there was a MAGS where it had to take place in one room? :P
I dont think there should be more restrictions, since it would restrict the ideas mainly of the writer. I consider the application a nice way of allowing only the determined participants to compete. I also consider a theme, as was in this one, to be the best type of restriction.
I believe that the competition would turn out better every time we have one, assuming that they aren't done as far apart as the last two.Ã, The new users in the competition will learn from past ATCs, and the veterans will know exactly what they are doing.Ã, Ã, We can't expect the first few ATC's to have all teams finish, or even the majority.Ã, We need to give it time...
As for my team, we most certainly will finish the game, hopefully before the AGS Awards, and many other teams have said the same, so by no means was this ATC a waste. We (hopefully) will get more than 2 games out of it, games that would never have happened under other circumstances.
I wondered what happened to our team. I was pretty much ready with my music. After LGM decided not to write the story anymore or "leave", we had to start from scratch, with a shorter game. I even wrote new music for that game. But then none started to be in the team chat anymore and well. :-\
Hope we can finish it up too, someday.
-Eigen
Yeah, I can see how not having a dedicated team crushed almost all entries into the contest. I mean, we (Team 6) just BARELY got our game in, but we had to work on it non-stop for about three days, actually working through ther night on Friday, to hand it in.
Yeh, sorry about that Eigen.
It all fell apart, i checked with RTF and LGM had told him we were stopping, i (rather foolishly) presumed he had also told you, being team leader and all.
Where's my special thanks for inventing the ATC? ><
Only kidding...Anyway,
Finished Games listing
All games that are completed will be included on a special "AGS Team Challenge" page on the Screen 7 website, which will hopefully become a central point for downloading and playing games made for the ATC.
When your game is ready, and finished, and pollished! Please send me;
- A link to your game. A copy will be stored on the S7 server.
- A screenshot of your game, 150x94.
- Any special or general information on the game that you want included on the page/site.
If you don't do this, then I probably will - but not for another year or so. :P
Thanks!
:)
m0ds
How long did the teams have to finish? For the next competition, maybe they should have a little more time.
The application idea might work, in some form or other, to improve team strength.
I'd suggest some kind of evaluation system for the games. For example, the organizer and/or the judges would receive a full game plan from each team. This would include # of rooms, characters, etc. The judges should be people that know what is reasonable and what is not. They would evaluate the plans and the organizer would give feedback to the teams, requiring them to limit themselves if they are shooting too high. The teams would have a week to finalize their plans.
At the end of the evaluation week, everyone would hopefully have a good plan for a game that could be made in the given time frame.
I am not necessarily against restrictions, but I think this kind of system might work better.
Quote from: lightman on Wed 18/08/2004 23:53:32
I'd suggest some kind of evaluation system for the games. For example, the organizer and/or the judges would receive a full game plan from each team.
At the end of the evaluation week, everyone would hopefully have a good plan for a game that could be made in the given time frame.
I agree, an evaluation system might be a good idea. That way if a team wants to achieve more than the approximate limit, the evaluation will help determine wether or not they can manage the task.
But, weren't judges supposed to be a ecret until the end? Doesn't really allow them to do the evaluation that way. I do think they could be more involved from the start, judging goals versus achievements (it's not neccessarilly bad if you achieved less than you were hoping for, it shows that you were able to restrict yourself in order to fit the time frame. lots of good ways to look at it, not sure it's even possible to do this wrong, but it's fun to look at). Perhaps Andail (or the host if it won't be Andail) could send the evaluations to the judges and the responses back. Like an oracle :P "The force (of judgemnet) tells me you have set you're goals a bit too high.." ;)
I also like the idea of application forms, as people may sign up and then forget about it or lose their starting enthusiasm. People siging up in an area they aren't skilled in could also be prevented (though I don't know if this happened or not).
As for restrictions, limitations of the MAGS sort sound interesting. A limit on rooms won't really help in my opinion, it may even restrict uncomfortably. You can make a game with 40 rooms with nothing to do in some, or some of them being close-ups, and you can also make a 3 room game packed with many puzzles and twists. That's why setting such a limit can be difficult, with the exception of the one-room game, which is a challenge in itself.
I think making it a bit more MAGS-like, with the option of having obligatory inventory items or other things. The theme should be the main part of the rules though.
Naturally, rules would still be set by the organiser and/or host, so they would be reasonable and that should assure good results. Hopefully there'll be more finished games each time.
Not sure if the time limit should be a bit longer, or maybe it was just holidays interferring. Then again we had, in essence, a month and a week, and even the finishing teams seem to have finished at the last minute. Perhaps a period of a month and half to a month could help, though it's probably better to just set goals lower and thus not need more time. ;)
Andail, I remember you mentioned wanting the next competition of this sort to only take place next summer, do you still think that's best? Possibly holding it more often (maybe not as often as MAGS, like every 2nd or 3rd month) would help this competition progress and improve upon the "mistakes"(more like just improve the methods). :)
Quote from: Ginny on Thu 19/08/2004 00:21:52
But, weren't judges supposed to be a ecret until the end? Doesn't really allow them to do the evaluation that way. [...] Perhaps Andail (or the host if it won't be Andail) could send the evaluations to the judges and the responses back.
Yes, I did try to address that. I basically said the same thing here:
Quote from: lightman on Wed 18/08/2004 23:53:32the organizer would give feedback to the teams
The judges wouldn't be in direct communication. But the evaluation panel could also be an entirely different group.
Changes for the next round:
1. Longer time, let's say two months. Not more, that would make people less focused
2. An application procedure. The participants will have to send a short email, including age, previous merits, etc, and if they apply for artist/musician, they'll have to present a small work sample.
I know this is pretty harsh, but chances are one person will ruin the project for an entire team, by being completely unqualified for his duties.
3. Evaluation period; after the first week, an evaluation committee will recieve the project outlines, and give some feedback, plus decide whether it seems feasible or not.
4. More articulated restrictions, more similar to MAGS. Not necessarily amount of rooms, though.
Also, as a bonus, I will ask CJ if the members of the winning team in the future could be awarded custom titles, like "ATC winner" or something.
The amount of competitions should probably not exceed two or three per year. If we called the previous one a test round, we could start one during this autumn, one during the spring and an extra summer edition.
Lastly, I've thought of another thing... what if one of these editions was open for custom teams? Like any five people can team up and partake in the competition. I think this could result in more veterans signing up, and maybe old friends who just want to have fun.
Still, two competitions per year will have randomly selected teams, for the pedagogical value.
That's a nice idea, having for example the summer competition be for custom teams, and the two yearly ones with random teams. All those improvements sound good to me :)
Sounds great, Andail. However, can we hold one competition in winter, since there are almost a month-long holidays?
Just for these international peoples - Saying stuff with summer/winter etc doesn't mean a thing to alot of people, cos its different everywhere. Saying months would make much more sence.
Hm, Auhsor, that's a slight exaggeration...it's practically only the australians who belong to the south hemisphere here, and they're pretty used to our definitions anyway.
But sure, for the sake of clarity:
For instance, one round could be somewhere in the beginning of september, ending in november.
The other one could be in march, ending in may. The summer edition could be june to august. Something like that.
It's not really a hurry to decide those late dates anyway. But I think the beginning of september could work well, given that we've sorted out the new changes and stuff.
Well maybe a slight exaggeration, but it just makes thing alot clearer. Thanks.
I might be able to participate in the next one. I don't mind what time, I'll probably be busy anyway. But I'd still like to participate.