PC Game Jam 3: Mythic Encounters

[TBM_Christopher]

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.

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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.

• 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*

If an assigned Pokemon has multiple formes, you may pick and choose as you see fit. I opted not to include the 6th generation legendary Pokemon which have yet to be revealed officially.

* - (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.

The Judges

• 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

I don't know if I'll be actively recruiting judges this time. Drop me a message and I'll let you know where I stand on volunteer judges.

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)
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• 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)
  

* - Opted in for potential 6th Generation assignment

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.

 

[Zeak6464]

Sign-up : Zeak6464

 

[Lusus]

I can try to make something if i can get some last week school stuff out of the way.

 

[Starrcasm]

You know what, I'll sign up for this--seems like a fun challenge! :D

 

[Badhaas]

Great to see another jam! And again an interesting idea with lots of potential.

I'd like to sign up, though I can't guarantee I'll get something finished due to other plans this weekend. I would like to ask when exactly the deadline is, as I'm in the European time zone.

nvm this (I might opt for including 6th gen, though I'll have to do a few quick tests)
EDIT: I'm afraid I have to opt out of the 6th gen legendaries. I did some quick tests and ran into a few issues, fixing these would take to much time away from actually doing the rest for the jam.

 

[Zygarde718]

Oh, wow! This looks really fun! XD
I'd like to try! ^^ The nineteenth is my last day of school this year, so I will miss the first day, but as far as I know, I'll be free after that, and I will hopefully be able to remember to make something. Don't know how much I'd be able to get done, though - I'm not THAT advanced a game developer. (Still, this one's topic is something I really enjoy, so I will definitely want to at least try to make something cool!)

 

[Derxwna Kapsyla]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'd like to try and do something for this, but I don't know how busy I'll be this upcoming week. I guess the worst that happens is I just can't do it, but...

 

[TBM_Christopher]

Great to see another jam! And again an interesting idea with lots of potential.

I'd like to sign up, though I can't guarantee I'll get something finished due to other plans this weekend. I would like to ask when exactly the deadline is, as I'm in the European time zone.

(ps. impeding edit as I'm checking for 6th gen)

It'd be awesome to have you again. As far as I'm aware, the deadline would be at 6 AM Tuesday your time.

 

[Badhaas]

It'd be awesome to have you again. As far as I'm aware, the deadline would be at 6 AM Tuesday your time.

Ok, Thanks, I'll keep that as the deadline (although I hope to be asleep at 6am ;p).

Also, I won't be doing sixth gen as I ran into a few issues during some quick tests. (I also edited my previous post, practically saying the same). nvm this

 

[Radical Raptr]

This is looking to be a very good contest! I wish we could have roped in a few more lurkers or other participants that aren't so active here, but the turnout is very nice! I can't wait to see what you guys create! We're coming down to the wire, if you're not signed up yet there's still time!

 

[Maruno]

Also, I won't be doing sixth gen as I ran into a few issues during some quick tests. (I also edited my previous post, practically saying the same).

Issues with adding a Pokémon? No one said anything about using the Gen 6 add-on pack, you know; the only requirement in this respect is that you use the Pokémon you're given.

 

[Badhaas]

Issues with adding a Pokémon? No one said anything about using the Gen 6 add-on pack, you know; the only requirement in this respect is that you use the Pokémon you're given.

The original post mentions that 6th gen Pokémon won't be included as they aren't in essentials, yet if we were willing they could be added to the list randomly selected from. It seemed fun to me to add them in if it wouldn't require to much work to merge scripts, yet when doing a quick test there were some errors with custom scripts (not with adding Pokémon). Thus I'll just follow the original rules set out, without opting for the 6th gen legendaries being added to the list randomly selected from. Sorry if this caused any confusion (including the posts being edited and all).

 

[TBM_Christopher]

The original post mentions that 6th gen Pokémon won't be included as they aren't in essentials, yet if we were willing they could be added to the list randomly selected from. It seemed fun to me to add them in if it wouldn't require to much work to merge scripts, yet when doing a quick test there were some errors with custom scripts (not with adding Pokémon). Thus I'll just follow the original rules set out, without opting for the 6th gen legendaries being added to the list randomly selected from. Sorry if this caused any confusion (including the posts being edited and all).

So just to clarify, are you opting in for 6th generation legendaries or no? :P Just making sure I'm clear on it before sending anything out.

For anyone else still on the fence about participating, there are 6 hours left for on-time assignment!

 

[TBM_Christopher]

Hey everyone! Thanks for your participation in PC Game Jam 3. As follows are the assigned Legendary Pokemon for your entries:

• Zeak6464 - Palkia
  
• Quilva - Arceus
  
• Italianspy - Rayquaza
  
• Starrmyt - Keldeo
  
• Badhaas - Suicune
  
• Zygarde718 - Cresselia
  
• Derxwna Kapsyla - Virizion

From now, you have 96 hours to complete your entries.

Here are some general tips that I've given in previous game jams: Don't push yourself on art or polish if you think you need to spend more time elsewhere, be sure to test your entry before sending it my way(though don't be afraid to send something early just in case, so that I can check for issues with submissions). I'll be around as much as I can this weekend to help you guys if you need it for whatever reason.

When you've completed your game, use a service like https://mega.co.nz to upload your completed version and send me a link before midnight(CST) on Monday. Good luck!!

If you're interested in participating competitively still, please drop a post in the thread and I'll assign you a legendary Pokemon as soon as I can! Otherwise, feel free to pick your own and make a noncompetitive entry for the live stream!

 

[Radical Raptr]

I'll be around as often as I can as well, if for some reason you can't get a hold of Chris try getting in contact with me, surely between the two of us we can help you out!

 

[aquakip]

So is it too late to sign up? Because this seems super fun!

 

[Radical Raptr]

^ Aquakip It's not too late, you're just a few hours short from everyone else, but you still have time!

You'll be assigned Jirachi

 

[TBM_Christopher]

So is it too late to sign up? Because this seems super fun!

Hey aquakip, sorry I didn't get back to you immediately; I spent most of yesterday pretty sick. As Radical Raptr said, you've still got plenty of time! (actually, you've still got about 60 hours at present, so only a little less than the first game jam, if you didn't start already) I've edited the front post to include you in the participants list.

And I was asked this a little while ago, so I'll clarify: it's perfectly fine for you to incorporate your entries into any of your larger projects after the game jam is done, but make sure that we can start your entry at the relevant point(whether this means including a save file for a test copy of your full game so that I'm at the expected progress when starting your entry or just having the standalone game start there, I'll leave up to you)!

 

[Zygarde718]

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 team is another story altogether, but make sure that the player can understand what's going on. The encounter can take place either as a heist of a building, an infiltration of the team's main center of operations, a small branch base, or any other situation involving your evil team of choice.

This text seems to imply that there is an antagonistic team involved, but there isn't any other mention of that in the post, and the two sentences appear to be directly copied from the last Game Jam. Do we need to include an antagonistic team in addition to the Legendary, or was that a mistake? ^^
(I'm guessing it was a mistake, but one can never be too sure, and I don't want to be disqualified for assuming such and not including one. XD)

 

[Radical Raptr]

An antagonist team does not have to come up at all if it doesn't apply to your story. Feel free to add one though! You could have the encounter with the legendary be the final battle between the antagonistic team like in Diamond and Pearl, but make sure whatever it is you do is centered around the legendary!