TBM_Christopher
Semi-pro Game Dev
- 448
- Posts
- 14
- Years
- Age 30
- Lincoln, NE
- Seen Apr 12, 2018
Hey everyone, it's been a while - For those of you who don't know what this thread's about, a game jam is an event where participants have a limited timeframe to make a small game. While the typical Pokemon fangame doesn't really lend itself well to that, you can take a vertical slice of the typical Pokemon game and make a standalone game from it. For example, the first game jam I hosted here involved the participants creating a single gym challenge, and the second a villain encounter. The event is a great exercise in the indie development community on working with constraints, a chance to test your own limits when it comes to building a game in a limited timeframe, and above all a fun competition in a board where people are all otherwise involved in isolated projects.
This game jam's focus is on encounters with legendary Pokemon, from Dialga's domain atop Temporal Tower to the island grotto that Mew occasionally appears on, to the active volcano where Team Magma is attempting to resuscitate Groudon.
Unlike the last game jam, this one is going to once again go for a four-day weekend, starting Friday, June 19th and ending Monday the 22nd. The reasoning for this is that the extended length of the game jam last year made for vastly different degrees of completion for its participants based on their day-to-day schedules during the week-long timeframe, coupled with the fact that I was out of town at several points during the week of the jam. That, coupled with school obligations which sucked away at all of my free time, I was unable to complete judging, so now this jam I intend to remain grounded in the limits of what I can evaluate. If all you can spring for is a day's worth of participation, fret not; as with the previous game jam, overall polish won't be the sole focus of judging.
What goes into an entry is relatively simple - Each contestant will be randomly assigned a Legendary Pokemon 1 hour before the game jam begins. Contestants must make a multi-level "dungeon", meaning that the legendary Pokemon's lair must be multiple maps, and not a single one. The legendary Pokemon in question does not necessarily have to be capturable or even battleable, but you must make it clear that you're conforming to the theme while doing so. Whether or not the player's character is aware of the legendary Pokemon is another story altogether, but make sure that the player can understand what's going on. The encounter can take place in whatever location you deem relevant, whether that environment is an urban one, a cave, an artificial structure (ancient or modern), out whatever else you come up with, provided it's relevant to your entry's story.
Legendary Pokemon
What legendary Pokemon are going to be present? Well, here's a list of legendary Pokemon which could be assigned (For time and convenience, I am going to opt not to include any Pokemon beyond #649, as Essentials does not include 6th generation Pokemon at present. If you're willing to implement the relevant Legendary, drop me a PM and I'll add the 6th generation legendaries to the list when randomly selecting yours.
* - (Can only be assigned if the participant has opted to allow 6th generation legendary Pokemon)
Judging
Storyline - What's going on? Are the players invested in the adventure as it unfolds?
Setting - Where is the player? If there is a puzzle in the adventure, how engaging is it?
Challenge - Same criteria as the previous game jams; does it feel satisfying to win, or is the adventure just a cakewalk?
Mapping - This primarily lends itself to a mix of the previous three categories. How do your map layouts lend themselves to the game you've made? Does the player grumble about expansive hallways or bland, uniform rooms? Or does the map itself hint at the story you're telling?
Rules
The Participants
(When the jam begins, this will also be a place to refer to which Pokemon has been assigned to you, as well as a status on whether your entry has been received)
Sign up by posting in the thread, and I'll add you to the list of participants. If you're not interested in producing a competitive entry, feel free to sign up anyways and your entry can be placed in the gallery with the others!
I intend to stream all entries I can on Twitch(competitve and noncompetitive) and keep a live 'scoreboard' of my judgements as I complete the games.
Unlike the last game jam, this one is going to once again go for a four-day weekend, starting Friday, June 19th and ending Monday the 22nd. The reasoning for this is that the extended length of the game jam last year made for vastly different degrees of completion for its participants based on their day-to-day schedules during the week-long timeframe, coupled with the fact that I was out of town at several points during the week of the jam. That, coupled with school obligations which sucked away at all of my free time, I was unable to complete judging, so now this jam I intend to remain grounded in the limits of what I can evaluate. If all you can spring for is a day's worth of participation, fret not; as with the previous game jam, overall polish won't be the sole focus of judging.
What goes into an entry is relatively simple - Each contestant will be randomly assigned a Legendary Pokemon 1 hour before the game jam begins. Contestants must make a multi-level "dungeon", meaning that the legendary Pokemon's lair must be multiple maps, and not a single one. The legendary Pokemon in question does not necessarily have to be capturable or even battleable, but you must make it clear that you're conforming to the theme while doing so. Whether or not the player's character is aware of the legendary Pokemon is another story altogether, but make sure that the player can understand what's going on. The encounter can take place in whatever location you deem relevant, whether that environment is an urban one, a cave, an artificial structure (ancient or modern), out whatever else you come up with, provided it's relevant to your entry's story.
Legendary Pokemon
What legendary Pokemon are going to be present? Well, here's a list of legendary Pokemon which could be assigned (For time and convenience, I am going to opt not to include any Pokemon beyond #649, as Essentials does not include 6th generation Pokemon at present. If you're willing to implement the relevant Legendary, drop me a PM and I'll add the 6th generation legendaries to the list when randomly selecting yours.
- Articuno
- Zapdos
- Moltres
- Mewtwo
- Mew
- Entei
- Raikou
- Suicune
- Lugia
- Ho-oh
- Celebi
- Regirock
- Regice
- Registeel
- Groudon
- Kyogre
- Rayquaza
- Latios
- Latias
- Jirachi
- Deoxys
- Uxie
- Azelf
- Mesprit
- Dialga
- Palkia
- Giratina
- Heatran
- Shaymin
- Darkrai
- Cresselia
- Regigigas
- Manaphy
- Phione
- Arceus
- Victini
- Terrakion
- Virizion
- Cobalion
- Keldeo
- Zekrom
- Reshiram
- Kyurem
- Tornadus
- Thundurus
- Landorus
- Genesect
- Meloetta
- Xerneas*
- Yveltal*
- Zygarde*
- Diancie*
- Hoopa*
* - (Can only be assigned if the participant has opted to allow 6th generation legendary Pokemon)
Judging
Storyline - What's going on? Are the players invested in the adventure as it unfolds?
Setting - Where is the player? If there is a puzzle in the adventure, how engaging is it?
Challenge - Same criteria as the previous game jams; does it feel satisfying to win, or is the adventure just a cakewalk?
Mapping - This primarily lends itself to a mix of the previous three categories. How do your map layouts lend themselves to the game you've made? Does the player grumble about expansive hallways or bland, uniform rooms? Or does the map itself hint at the story you're telling?
Rules
- Participants may sign up by posting in this thread any time before Midnight (Pacific Time) on the night of Thursday, June 18th! One of the big points of any game jam is to see what you can do under time constraints anyhow, so please don't start before you've been assigned your Pokemon. You don't have to sign up to participate, but it would help me to know who all was planning on participating, as well as allow me to help out if any participant needs any assistance. You may sign up during the game jam and still be given your Pokemon, but keep in mind that it is unlikely that you'll get your assignment immediately.
- Competitve Entries MUST use at least their assigned Pokemon. Feel free to use more as your story warrants, but keep in mind that your goal is to showcase the assigned Pokemon. Noncompetitive entries may use any Legendary Pokemon or request to be given a random assignment. They may also use fanmade Pokemon as their featured Legendary Pokemon if they so choose. If you wish to add a new forme to the Pokemon that has been assigned to you, please get it cleared with myself before implementing it to make sure it does not violate the spirit of this rule(IE, making a water/flying form for Articuno as a substitute for not getting Lugia would violate the spirit of the rule, wheras making a Primal Reversion for Kyurem would arguably not)
- If you're a Judge, you cannot also be a participant in the Jam's competitive aspects. This is to prevent bias. However, if you want to make an unofficial entry which wouldn't be scored in the competition, please feel free!
- Participants are allowed to use any tilesets, engines, and official or fanmade Pokemon that they wish. Please note that no special judgement will be based on tiles, custom or no, nor upon the functionality of the engine(if you're using your own engine, please make sure it works. Framerate and minor bugs will not affect judgement but your entry should at least be playable).
- Participants may set the player's team of Pokemon to whatever they wish, provided that the story can be completed with that team. I guess here would be a good place to mention that there should also be a Pokemon Center or equivalent in your entry, in case players lose or need to heal their Pokemon.
- Participants have until Midnight on the night of Monday, June 22nd to submit their final entry to be judged. Non-competitive entries will also be accepted for this space for one week following. I will not be offering a grace period for late entries this time, unless there are only 3 or less submitted entries at the end of the jam.
- If a game is unplayable due to a glitch or consistently crashes, the participant will be given 24 hour notice to resubmit. Last game jam saw several games with stability issues. Everybody's entries were great, but please test your release build before sending it my way.
- TBM_Christopher (Formerly Java's Missingno.) - Host of the first and second jam
- Radical Raptr (Formerly Saving Raven) - First place winner of the first game jam
The Participants
(When the jam begins, this will also be a place to refer to which Pokemon has been assigned to you, as well as a status on whether your entry has been received)
- Zeak6464 - Palkia - Entry Received
- Quilva - Arceus
- Italianspy - Rayquaza
- Starrmyt - Keldeo - Entry Received (1 hour late)
- Badhaas - Suicune
- Zygarde718 - Cresselia
- Derxwna Kapsyla - Virizion
- Aquakip - Jirachi
- Sablrainy - Genesect - Entry Received (16 hours late)
Sign up by posting in the thread, and I'll add you to the list of participants. If you're not interested in producing a competitive entry, feel free to sign up anyways and your entry can be placed in the gallery with the others!
I intend to stream all entries I can on Twitch(competitve and noncompetitive) and keep a live 'scoreboard' of my judgements as I complete the games.
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