Game Challenges?

[pseudobot]

Would anyone here be interested in monthly game challenges on this site?
Like such things as "Make a SHMUP" and have certain things that have to be added in the game, such as scrolling terrain or radar maps/etc.
I know that this isn't a very great example...but at least you get the point.

One thing I noticed about such challenges is that more new members get encouraged to start learning harder/more, more new (and old) members get involved with the community (FK), and that great games come out of these competitions.

(if you want a site that has such competitions, you could look at www.gamedev.net)

So, do you fellow Flashers agree? Should we have such challenges on this site?

[Squize]

That's a good idea.

I think you may have to limit it to 24/48 hours games though, anything more than that and you won't get any take up.

Squize.

[TOdorus]

24/48 hours for a beginner, or for a professional? I really like the idea though!

[0vidiu]

48h max I think I like the idea

[PhobiK]

That would be great. There were some competitions like that, The 48hr competitions I remember. Making something like that again would be very cool

[WesIsGood]

I absolutely love the idea. We need to do that.

[Squize]

Yeah the 48hr comps were great ( I retired undefeated ).

Also with this it wouldn't need to be a game. Just something like "Best bullet-hell pattern" in 24hrs would be good.

One issue with the old 48hr comps was that no matter when the date was set there was always quite a few people who had something on. With this being a monthly thing, it doesn't really matter. Sure some people will miss some they really want to go for, but on balance more people will be able to get involved in the longer term.

Could I suggest anyone interested who missed them, have a quick read up of the old 48hr comps, as Beatcow did the best job ever in running them and nailed everything.

Squize.

[ImprisonedPride]

Yeah the 48hr comps were great ( I retired undefeated ).

Also with this it wouldn't need to be a game. Just something like "Best bullet-hell pattern" in 24hrs would be good.

One issue with the old 48hr comps was that no matter when the date was set there was always quite a few people who had something on. With this being a monthly thing, it doesn't really matter. Sure some people will miss some they really want to go for, but on balance more people will be able to get involved in the longer term.

Could I suggest anyone interested who missed them, have a quick read up of the old 48hr comps, as Beatcow did the best job ever in running them and nailed everything.

Squize.

http://board.flashkit.com/board/sear...archid=1009843

[WesIsGood]

I am very very interested in this idea. If there's interest, I could set up a website to handle everything. Unless people would prefer to just do it all directly through the forums. I think it would be really cool if we could get some actual money prizes together for this somehow. Any ideas about how that would happen? With so much flash game talent on this board I would think that there must be some way to make some money with these competitions, and then use that money to finance the prizes. There would obviously also need to be a way to get a good voting system in place.

Ideas? Opinions? Interested in something like this? Or would it be better to just keep it as casual as possible, no prizes or organization.

[WesIsGood]

Competition is a great motivator for getting games done quickly/efficiently

[Squize]

Nice offer Wes, but I think it's better just sticking with it here rather than taking it slightly off-site.

I know it sounds silly but it just adds a layer of complication / effort to it which turns a lot of people off ( Honestly, there have been loads of little side-sites for and by FK members and they all die off pretty soon, even the really good ones ).

Perhaps we ( GamingYourWay ) can offer up a little something as a prize ? I'll chat to Olli when he's back from holiday see what we've got in the funds.

Squize.

[renderhjs]

I wouldn´t mind doing competitions for the sake of sharing. For example having competitions for solving things in different ways- once all submissions are send finalists could be discussed like how they did it pros/ cons,... That way its more of a share for everyone - as in the end anyone else would be able to see the technique or sources.

its its more game related (art & code) restrictions would be nice - so that even one has already a previos code base he/she would have to come up with new ideas instead of just recycling.
Examples could be for example
- displaying at least 20 enemies
- not to use hittest
- use only bitmap Data
- maximum resolution of x,y,...
- use a given tileset
- use a given XML file

this would give people more equal conditions, just my cents.

[WesIsGood]

Yeah Squize I definitely understand. That's why I was hesitant to begin with, I know that when people have a community that they like to work in, having a bunch of little offshoots never really accomplishes much.<p>

render, I think I would like it if the results of the competitions would be useful things. ie: completed games, or at least beginnings of games that you might want to finish later. Looking at it that way, it is counterproductive to limit previous code base etc. I think that the main goals of the contests should be 1) fun competition, 2) motivate people to get nice little games/projects started/finished

Do other people agree with this?

[renderhjs]

well I agree on that- little completed games. My main thought (even though it was not that clear) - was that with a any- goal it would run to free. Having sometimes some restrictions can be a good orientation on what to focus or do next.

[WesIsGood]

Yes. I think we agree.

[rachil0]

Great idea I think a "game-in-a-weekend" contest would be perfect. Announce the games sometime on Friday, turn them in sometime on Sunday.

I think sharing the source codes / fla's would be a good learning experience too.

[UnknownGuy]

I think it is an interesting idea too.

I think it would also be cool if we had some starting art assets, so some of us don't have to use programmer art. (Note: That would require someone to actually make the assets..., and is just a thought, not sure of it myself... )

[ImprisonedPride]

I could easily write this on and place it on my website with voting and the works... In spite of what Squize said, my site isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and I could link it in the Knowledgebase/my sig... if you all want.

[Captain_404]

First off, I like the idea, I might even come out of my extended lurking session to participate! (I took the effort to make this post, so why not?)

Secondly, I for one, will offer up my love and devotion as a prize for the compo if anyone is interested.


But this would be a neat way for code newbies to brush up on their AS skills by learning from the pros. I think once the compo finishes all projects should go open source so the compo is more about sharing code coding practices than winning.


Also, this could be a really cool idea for a website all its own. Has anyone seen this? I think a site based around this idea but with more emphasis towards situations that appear in games would be neat.

[WesIsGood]

I don't think there should be shared art assets just so programmers can avoid having to make any. After all, that is what we programmers need the most practice at. We already know that we can code, so where's the challenge in that? (unless it's just like one piece of art that we're expected to incorporate somehow. but even then, I think it should be just a suggestion. if for example it's a picture of a duck, we should be able to recreate the picture in whichever style is best for the game.)

As for open source code/flas, I thought about suggesting that at first, but I am hesitant. Ideally I would want people to come away from these contests with a little game that they could use to submit to game sites, etc. While open source code / sharing should certainly be encouraged, I don't know if I would make it mandatory.

As for restrictions each contest, I think there should be enough restriction so that everybody has a starting point for their game, but not too much so that every game ends up being similar. I think the largest restriction that we need to remember is going to be the 48 hour time limit.