Anyone Willing To Have A Game Contest?

[Maruno]

You make some good points too.

As I understand from a fancy diagram on RPG Maker's website, people can save just the game data and not the material data, which would mean it's much easier to see whether someone is trying to sneak in some custom sprites. I don't really know about this, though, as I haven't looked into it.

Failing that, either get the judges to check the game data to make sure there's nothing extra lurking in there (as you suggest with sending the unencrypted projects), or just trust that everyone is honest.

 

[Glitchfinder]

You make some good points too.

As I understand from a fancy diagram on RPG Maker's website, people can save just the game data and not the material data, which would mean it's much easier to see whether someone is trying to sneak in some custom sprites. I don't really know about this, though, as I haven't looked into it.

Failing that, either get the judges to check the game data to make sure there's nothing extra lurking in there (as you suggest with sending the unencrypted projects), or just trust that everyone is honest.

Well, even if someone encrypted the project, I could decrypt it easily. Enterbrain's so-called "encryption" is a joke. Not to mention the fact that the actual key is "DEADCAFE". Anyway, it would be interesting to see what happens if we hold a contest here.

 

[davidthefat]

I just don't like the RTP idea, obviously the rules will allow any language and software. Having a RPG Maker specific resources are just nor fair and does not allow the devs show off their creativity. I think thats just a logical fallacy to do that. The point of the competition is to promote creativity and individualism in the community, having a resource package is just the antithesis of the purpose

 

[nmorr]

I'm with Maruno, let's have a game contest.

 

[Maruno]

I'm with Maruno, let's have a game contest.

I said I'd be interested only if it was a fair contest. Since davidthefat said what he did, I'm not.

I think "anything goes" is actually unfair, to an extent. It intimidates everyone, and many potential entrants would be put off by the prospect of other entrants churning out custom tilesets and gaining points just because they used a more complicated game engine. It's unfair to those who don't have great skills, but who still want to join in (and I know there are a lot of those people around). Just having a time limit wouldn't counter this unfairness, and as far as I can see, a time limit is the only rule to davidthefat's contest.

The contest should encourage the makers to improve their game-making skills, and to show off their flexibility. This means focussing on the basics, and seeing what people can do with them. If the contest is just a free-for-all thing, then why not just make the time limit infinity and have a forum section dedicated to it? Oh, wait...

No, I think there need to be limits here, which would serve two purposes:

• Encourage the maximum number of people to take part (i.e. don't put the newbies off entering). It gives the newbies less to worry about, and therefore they'll be more inclined to accept the challenge.
• Give everyone an equal footing. A 100m sprint involves each runner covering the same distance in the same environment, with only their training and abilities to set them apart. Not only is a sprint involving Olympic athletes against <people who can't run fast> unfair, it's boring.

The contest is supposed to be fun. People are supposed to enjoy making their little games. By giving them restrictions they wouldn't normally have or choose to follow (e.g. using X game engine), it separates them from the game and allows them to stand back and have fun with it. It won't be their be-all and end-all, because they didn't choose to do it with their preferred resources, so this makes it a bit of fun. If they want to develop the game further afterwards, so be it, but this contest isn't about giving people huge projects to turn into their life's work.

I've said all this before, so just read my posts above for more points. I'm not saying davidthefat's vision is wrong, I'm saying it's not suitable for this forum.

 

[davidthefat]

The contest should encourage the makers to improve their game-making skills, and to show off their flexibility. This means focussing on the basics, and seeing what people can do with them. If the contest is just a free-for-all thing, then why not just make the time limit infinity and have a forum section dedicated to it? Oh, wait...
.

This is where you are wrong, its obviously that this is a totally biased community (RPG Maker and The starter kit) I want to move away from that but not restricting it to specific languages. Sure might not be "fair" but as far as I can see, all the games that are even close to be being or done are made in RPG Maker with the Starter kit. Don't take this the wrong way, but I think people all have a pretty equal grounding here... As far as I could see and very tiny percentage of the community actually made their game from scratch, I want more people to be less dependant on the kit and try it them selves...

 

[Maruno]

A noble sentiment (and one I agree with), but do you think people will suddenly break away from RPG Maker XP and learn something completely different, just for this contest? Quite probably not. But the problem of allowing any engine is the sheer variety of games that can be made - restrict the options, and it becomes easier to compare and judge, as well as provide additional competition in the form of contestants trying to second-guess what the others will do (your vision may have an RPG pitted against a pinball game - how can those be compared?). It also means that almost all the games will appeal to those who like one of them, so there's a greater likelihood of people trying them all out. I just don't think you'll achieve that grand goal of yours through this contest.

As you said, most people here know how to work RPG Maker XP (and they already have it). Or rather, they know the basics from having used Essentials. Amongst other things, this contest can help broaden people's horizons by showing them exactly what RPG Maker XP can do. Do this, and the quality of games will increase as people use more tricks to improve them.

Obviously we disagree here. Why don't we see what other people think?

 

[lx_theo]

I agree with Maruno. Its impractical to try to get people away from Xp and the the starter kit. Its like saying to trying to convince people to use laptops to print out whatever when you have a computer lab set up 10 feet away. It has its upsides for using the laptop, but you still have the already set up and connected computer available for use.