Contest: ROM hacking contest?

[LocksmithArmy]

I have been thinking of making "mini hacks" for a long time. just timple little stories played out in a town or two, not a whole 8 gym badge quest or anything. just things that could have fun mini games or silly stories... pure fun.

I think this sort of contest would really benifit projects like that (as ive seen NONE so far)

my only issue is you mentioned teams of 2-3... id do it alone ;)

I think a prize would be better fitted to the creator of the hack not the hack itself. something he could tag on any major hack he makes like "WINNER OF THE MINI HACK CONTEST" brings you "Pokemon - MAJOR HACK NAME"

HOTY goes to the hack, not the hacker... see what im sayin

I would deffinately enter, sadly Im not quite frequent here and would likely miss any announcment... (so if you remember me, pm me lol)

I dont know how you are going to finally grade these submissions. BUT instead of say, choosing a favorite or having a group of people choose a favorite, take those categories, put em on a printable document (pdf or .docx) and make the graders actually grade each category 1-5... take a total... add any + for music or ASM... remove any - for major glitches... and ties are covered by a box near the top where the players keep a tally of minor glitches (spelling errors or text run off screen or palette mismatches).

This way, nomatter how much they liked the game it may just grade poorly in certain areas. granted the enjoyability criteria will grade well but the map layout might be poor... if players just had fun and did not look at how the maps were layed out they may overlook it if they were not writing it down as it happened.

PLUS it would give a good look a how maybe map layout has little impact on the fun and enjoyment of a game, which is great research for ALL hackers.

You could have a the grade sheet downloadable, and just email it to you and you average the grades for each hack. if each hack takes no longer than 4 hours to play it shouldnt take graders but a week or 2 to handle 12-15 hacks.and if anyone can be a grader (as long as they fill out the entire sheet) they can learn about what it takes to make a good hack by forcing themselves to think about the sheet as they play...

 

[Renegade]

I don't think I have the worst contacts to the mods here, I will try what I can do ;)
However, I will tomorrow post something for Scripting & Code :)

Sounds good :) I really enjoy thinking about this, so the sooner the ideas get pumped out, the better.

The first thing that came to my mind is awarding an emblem. We can also offer a one-off custom usertitle (bolded, different colours etc) as a prize.

This is exactly what I was thinking. xD
The emblem is definitely a minor plus, and the custom user title is something I'm sure many people would strive to achieve. In addition to these things, we also have the custom banners that Kyoko mentioned earlier. I'm not sure if there should be only one winner or what, so that could be something to think about next. ;)

I do believe this contest idea is getting a really great amount of idea put into it and I really want to see this thing happen.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

The first thing that came to my mind is awarding an emblem. We can also offer a one-off custom usertitle (bolded, different colours etc) as a prize.

Do both and people will enter =D

 

[Astraea]

I will take part with my team! My team has got good and talented members but, can we do it during april, we'll be free at that time:- Me - Scripting. Ganeshwara - Mapping. Jesron Bans - OW spriting. What about my team huh..? Feared of it? Ha ha ha Good idea!

 

[Dark Shadow 6]

Great idea
Would you take part?
Hmm mybe when i find other 2 members who can help me.
Do you see any disadvantages?
Yes i see Disadvantage in ASM because ASM is very hard for new hacker like me and others. And only some people know ASM.

 

[Kyoko1]

About the ASM, we found the solution that you can gain little extra points if you
implement such stuff. I think I will do it like this:

-Thread where all people can sign in (or sign in as team)
-users have to write their best skill (mapping,scripting,whatever)
-all these users will be listed with their skills; they can PM each other for
making a team if they haven't got one.
-judges will get a pdf or doc with the categories to be judged
-they will get an xls stylesheet for writing in the points
(xls calculates all the points automatically)
-having 1-2 months for making this small hack
-then sending all the .ips to me so i can send them to the judges
-results

OR:
-letting all users vote for the best hack
-release .ips publicly on a seperate thread (anonymously; so no "fame-votes")
-results

I'm also not quite sure about if you have to make this hack after a specific theme.
Like "make a hack in a creepy style" or something.
Do you have any ideas about that one?

Thx for answering :3

 

[Dark Shadow 6]

Thread where all people can sign in (or sign in as team)
-users have to write their best skill (mapping,scripting,whatever)
-all these users will be listed with their skills; they can PM each other for
making a team if they haven't got one.
-judges will get a pdf or doc with the categories to be judged
-they will get an xls stylesheet for writing in the points
(xls calculates all the points automatically)
-having 1-2 months for making this small hack
-then sending all the .ips to me so i can send them to the judges
-results

I will also do like that.

I'm also not quite sure about if you have to make this hack after a specific theme.
Like "make a hack in a creepy style" or something.
Do you have any ideas about that one?

No i don't have any idea..

 

[LocksmithArmy]

I like judges and scoresheets... I also dont like themed hacks. Forcing the player to create based on criteria is no good. But if you were to do this contest bymonthly, perhaps you could have an "extra points if" kinda thing. Like "extra points if you have a creepy themed element (house or building maybe)" or "extra points if your game has players on a boat at some point" not something that takes up the entire game but maybe a plus 5 points for completing the task you added.

This way everyones hack could be different, and freedom is not stifled... the 12 year old girl who like butterflies and rainbows might not be so good at making a creepy hack as the 16 year old goth with chains. But she can make a haunted house im sure.

 

[Dark Shadow 6]

I like judges and scoresheets... I also dont like themed hacks. Forcing the player to create based on scoteria. But if you were to do this contest bymonthly, perhaps you could have an "extra points if" kinda thing. Like "extra points if you have a creepy themed element (house or building maybe)" or "extra points if your game has players on a boat at some point" not something that takes up the entire game but maybe a plus 5 points for completing the task you added.

This way everyones hack could be different, and freedom is not srifeled... the 12 year old girl who like butterflies and rainbows might not be so good at making a creepy hack as the 16 year old goth with chains. But she can make a haunted house im sure.

Yes your right and im taking part in this contest.. My team has 2 members, me and parth9. and im doing mapping,music inserting etc, and parth9 will do scripting.. :) and i need 1 more member who can join my team and if you want to join please pm or vm me thanks :)

 

[Astraea]

Yes your right and im taking part in this contest.. My team has 2 members, me and parth9. and im doing mapping,music inserting etc, and parth9 will do scripting.. and i need 1 more member who can join my team and if you want to join please pm or vm me thanks

Maybe you can add ansirent or tyranitar X.

 

[Dark Shadow 6]

Maybe you can add ansirent or tyranitar X.

Yes i can but i need to ask him first :)

 

[Kyoko1]

Its nice that you make the first step in actually starting the contest, but
we don't know how many will take part and if the whole planning succeeds.
You can find yourself in teams, but you shouldn't do any work until the
contest started ;)

 

[Dark Shadow 6]

Its nice that you make the first step in actually starting the contest, but
we don't know how many will take part and if the whole planning succeeds.
You can find yourself in teams, but you shouldn't do any work until the
contest started ;)

Ok bro and before contest start i will try to learn scripting to,help my,team :)

 

[LocksmithArmy]

So were dead set on the teams huh, no solo guys... I do have a ladyfriend who helps me storyboard (she is a member here) that counts as a team right lol. I could probably recruit a mapper since mapping bores me, but im far too anal to let them make all the mapping decisions. hrmm. my only other helper from time to time is a mod here... not sure if thats unfair or not lol hes an awesome hacker and an ASM hacker to boot. but weve never "worked together" its more like me begging for assistance when im stuck and him saving my arse lol.

 

[Kyoko1]

awesome hacker and an ASM hacker

karatekid ^.^

However, I never said that you MUST work in a team.
You can either work solo or in teams :)

 

[LocksmithArmy]

awesome hacker and an ASM hacker

karatekid ^.^

However, I never said that you MUST work in a team.
You can either work solo or in teams :)

Good guess, although I did not leave many options in my description now did I lol. Hes like my mentor. when ever I get stuck i go running to him like a 3rd grader runs to their teacher for math help lol.

But I prefer to work alone, although storymaking is more fun with collaboration. when it comes to working in the rom. Im not one to share lol. (its too hard to trade working roms and not know what theother person is doing)

 

[Renegade]

About the ASM, we found the solution that you can gain little extra points if you
implement such stuff. I think I will do it like this:

-Thread where all people can sign in (or sign in as team)
-users have to write their best skill (mapping,scripting,whatever)
-all these users will be listed with their skills; they can PM each other for
making a team if they haven't got one.
-judges will get a pdf or doc with the categories to be judged
-they will get an xls stylesheet for writing in the points
(xls calculates all the points automatically)
-having 1-2 months for making this small hack
-then sending all the .ips to me so i can send them to the judges
-results

OR:
-letting all users vote for the best hack
-release .ips publicly on a seperate thread (anonymously; so no "fame-votes")
-results

I'm also not quite sure about if you have to make this hack after a specific theme.
Like "make a hack in a creepy style" or something.
Do you have any ideas about that one?

Thx for answering :3

Option 1 sounds good, especially the idea that all the hacks should be distributed on a single post for no "fame-votes". I don't see anything wrong with this option so far.

Option 2 would be more public friendly, but the only problem is this: most people don't really know how much work it actually takes to create a good ROM hack, so people who don't even know how to hack would be voting. I'm not sure if this is something to be avoided or not, but I'll just leave that there.

Also, something that I haven't seen brought up yet~
Considering that there will most likely be some judges in this contest, there should be a rule for them with entering the contest. Should judges be able to enter? This could be bad for votes (if the first option is final) because the judge might pick his/her own hack to get an advantage. Although, this is avoidable just by keeping dishonest/unskilled hackers out of the judging scene.

What do you all think about this?

 

[LocksmithArmy]

I have no qualms with judges being in the contest, but they shoulnt rate their own hack... they should be trust worthy so they dont just downvote everyone but their own hack lol. but honetly its just for fun so it does not really matter to me if I win or lose.

on the random non hackers voting... people play and rathe video games all the time without knowing how to make them. I think thats an irrelevant argument. as long as the scoresheet clearly explains the elements to be scored, so players understand what ASM hacking is.

I completely agree with all hack being submitted to one person and that one person uploading them to one thread so its anonymous and no fame votes...

problem with that is... advertising... to get graders and views and people playing we need to show off our hacks, talk about them, and make threads advertising them... so players will see the contest and maybe get involved with it (or the next one) once they see that not all hacks have to be huge and take years. it wouldmbetter the community if we could advertise like this. but it would inherently tell everyone who made which hack and gain some level of fame votes... its a catch 22 I suppose...

 

[Kyoko1]

Yo moderators, close this thread.
I quit romhacking and therefore the existence of this
thread is no longer needed. Thanks and bye :)

 

[LocksmithArmy]

AWW :( well someone should take the lead on this cause its a good idea.