One Room, One Week Competition - WINNER: AUTOMATION BY MR COLOSSAL

AGA · Tue 05/04/2005 03:01:48

Most ATC teams fail, for one reason or another. Two months is a long time to hold a hastily assembled team together and a 20+ room game is always a lot of work. Many people have expressed an interest in something smaller scale, so we've decided to run a one room game competition that will last just one week. Hopefully the limited scope will allow more entries to be finished. We'd like as wide participation in this as possible, so the rules are intentionally lax.

Rules are as follows:

Entries must -
   have just one playable room/location.
   be adventure games.

They may -
   use content from any source, including pre-made.
   have cut scenes, menus or limited controlled sequences outside the main room.

You should work alone, but if you need help with an area of the game (art, music...) you can find one other person to work with.

Some examples of "one room games" that would be allowed are 6 Day Assassin and Little Jonny Evil.

Entries will be submitted anonymously. When a game is completed, its creator must contact me by PM with a download link (or to organise some other way of my receiving the game files). I will then temporarily host the game on my own site, and announce the game's release on the forums. This is to guarantee each game is voted on due to its own merit, not simply because of the names attached. Because of this, game entries can not include the game creator's name or company name anywhere. All names will be disclosed once voting has ended.

The winner will be decided by public vote once the competition ends. There will be 5 categories: graphics, music/sound, scripting, writing/concept, puzzles. Each category will be scored out of 5. Voters will be expected to have played, and to vote on, at least half of all games entered. However, of course, playing them all is preferable.

The competition will start in 2 days' time [Thursday April 7 2005], to give people a chance to read this announcement. You should not start making your game until then. Even if you think you have no chance of winning, you're encouraged to enter - it's as much a forum activity as a contest.

Absolutely no information about your game should be shared with anyone until the competition and voting has ended. Please reply to this post if you intend to take part, but don't give any idea of what your game will be about.

Note: I did not come up with the idea for this contest, I simply volunteered to act as its public representative.

ADDITIONAL CLARIFICATION:

By a room, we mean one crm file (to do with what you see fit). If you want to use other rooms for effects such as time passing, changes in the style of the room, minigames such as the sniper mode in 6DA etc, that's fine.

Just be creative, think small, and confine it to one physical, walkable-aroundable room/location.

Voting is now open here. You will need to be registered and signed in at these forums to vote. Obviously you can only vote once. It is hoped that you will have played, and will vote for, all the games. If you're completely stuck in one of the entries, there is a walkthrough pack available here. Voting will last until around the middle of next week.

MrColossal · Tue 05/04/2005 03:14:54

I, Eric Feurstein, being of sound mind, enter.

KANDYMAN-IAC · Tue 05/04/2005 03:22:35

Can I enter "Little Jonny Evil"?

scotch · Tue 05/04/2005 03:32:42

No you can't.

I'll enter too.

En garde! · Tue 05/04/2005 04:09:38

I'm going to regret this... but count me in.

KANDYMAN-IAC · Tue 05/04/2005 04:25:22

what if I redraw little jonny so he is wearing a hat... then can i enter it??

AGA · Tue 05/04/2005 04:26:44

The rules say you can re-use art from anywhere. However, I doubt people would vote favourably towards an almost-unchanged re-release of an older game...

Redwall · Tue 05/04/2005 04:40:07

Doesn't this have more in common with MAGS than ATC?

Disco · Tue 05/04/2005 05:07:24

* Disco assumes a Macauly Culkin-like semblance

I'll give it a whirl

Kweepa · Tue 05/04/2005 05:09:12

I'm in.
Sounds like fun! (Hah!)

KANDYMAN, just exactly how anonymous do you think you'll be if you enter Little Johnny Evil?

Steve

Peter Thomas · Tue 05/04/2005 05:10:12

QuoteDoesn't this have more in common with MAGS than ATC?

That's probably a good thing. Actually, if/when there is another ATC, I think it would be much more popular if it was presented as an 'extended' mags, rather than yet another ATC, which - at least for the moment - might hold some less happy memories for some...

Anyway, not sure if this is the right place to say it, but if someone is looking for a musician, I'll be more than happy to lend my services...

Vel · Tue 05/04/2005 09:35:42

Heh, I've been looking forward to this, and now, as it turns out, Ill be away when it starts...
Good luck to all the participants.

SSH · Tue 05/04/2005 10:01:46

I'll try and have a go, but we'll see how it goes!

He-Man · Tue 05/04/2005 10:54:20

I think I'll join in.
Just one question (maybe a silly question in some people's eyes):
Would it be ok to divide the one room into two different screens, so that you're able to have all four wall visible at some point in the game?
Like this:

the nummers represent the different walls in the room...

Just my five million cents

CodeJunkie · Tue 05/04/2005 11:22:41

Funny, I started making a game like this about a week ago. I can't enter that, can I? Anyway, I should have a beta up on the dev board in a week or so.

Barbarian · Tue 05/04/2005 11:50:24

Hmmm, it seems interesting. Okay, count me in too.

I'm not like "100 % sure" I'll have the time to dedicate to it to make a decent entry, but at least I'll give it a try.

FrogMarch · Tue 05/04/2005 12:08:53

Hey, count me in too (as long as I get the time, that is).

Is our one room allowed to be a scrolling room? Not sure if I'll even do that, but just thought it was a worth while question to ask. Don't shoot me.

Also, as we're allowed to have one person helping us, would we be allowed to essentially 'team-up' with another person, without anyone else knowing, to make our game?

Oh wait, I just re-read the first post. Dang.

Still, could one person do all the art and music, and the other do story and scripting, for example?

AnInterestedParty · Tue 05/04/2005 13:55:53

When you say one room... what exactly do you mean?

Are we limited to the AGS definition of a room? Or do you mean a room in the sense of a physical place, which technically could use several rooms as defined by the engine to show changes to the environment as the player acts on it while still maintaining a static viewpoint over one area?

FrogMarch · Tue 05/04/2005 14:20:08

Quote from: AnInterestedParty on Tue 05/04/2005 13:55:53

Are we limited to the AGS definition of a room?

I'm pretty sure that they mean just one literal room, but that the game may include other 'rooms' that you can use for cutscenes, sending NPCs and the like. At least, that is what the original post suggests to me.

AnInterestedParty · Tue 05/04/2005 14:26:28

Quote from: FrogMarch on Tue 05/04/2005 14:20:08
Quote from: AnInterestedParty on Tue 05/04/2005 13:55:53

Are we limited to the AGS definition of a room?

I'm pretty sure that they mean just one literal room, but that the game may include other 'rooms' that you can use for cutscenes, sending NPCs and the like. At least, that is what the original post suggests to me.

Okay... will have to rethink my original concept maybe... hmm...