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Contest: ROM hacking contest?

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Kyoko1

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    • 63
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    11
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    • Seen Feb 27, 2014
    Yo, dear romhackers on the Pokécommunity!

    As you know, there is a HOTM and HOTY.
    I've only seen this "awards" so far, but no actual hacking contest.
    My idea was hosting a hacking contest, where a team of 2-3 people
    build a short hack with 1-2 cities (contest should take only max. 2 months).
    (teams of 2-3 post and register in a kind of "register" thread)

    The advantages is 1) for sure having fun while doing this and these hacks
    could be (after the contest) done further to release a nice playable beta.
    Secondly, the users get known to each other and its fun to fight as a team of 2 or 3
    against others in romhacking. And of course, we learn all from each other at such a contest!

    I considered also a voting system which has a total points to reach for each area.

    ~Mapping [max 10 pts]
    ~Spriting [max 10 pts]
    ~Scripting [max 10 pts]
    ~Music hacking [max 15 pts]
    ~ASM [max 15 pts]

    ASM and music hacking have, of course, more points because they are harder and
    they are considered as the "real hacking".
    And for each MAJOR bug there's some points loss at the total score.

    The finished .ips will be either sent to me or to a co-host, because I may want to
    take part by myself ;)

    This thread was done fast, I will give details later, however.
    Answer some questions below please :)


    • What do you think, as normal user, about this?
    • Would you take part?
    • Do you see any disadvantages?
    • Would you prefer a jury or a public vote?
      (public vote would be sending me or my co-host a PM with the points for each hack)
    • Do the mods have no problem in me hosting the contest?
    Thanks for reading and I hope I can one time host such an interesting contest!
     
    If we had an issue with this contest, we would not have approved the thread.:) I like the idea.

    Just another idea:
    -There should also be a tiny bug counter that doesn't detract from your score, but if two hacks are tied, or really close, it can come down to how meticulous the hacker was with making sure there weren't any oddities like walking under a chair.

    This could be fun and it would be a great way to showcase a beginning hack and get people interested.
     
    I like this idea and it would nice to see how people would go through with this. Maybe I glanced too much over the post so there won't be any award at all? This is strictly for fun right?
     
    I don't like the ASM part though. Not everyone knows how to ASM hack (actually, only a few actually do). I think if there was ASM hacking, voters I guess could throw in a few extra points, but it shouldn't be considered a huge part of the voting process or else whoever knows how to do it will just make their hack a huge ASM hack and rake in a million points O_o.
     
    You are right, CrystalStatic.
    I must change the point-system, because I find, like you, that this contest
    should be a fun contest, for every normal user having a chance to win.
    Or at least, I should implement an "extra point" which has 5 points max. and
    is for special things like ASM, music, or other nice stuff.

    Okay.. I think if we optimize the concept with every suggestion of users who post
    here, we will be fine and everyone is happy when we are actually having that contest ;)

    @lepug
    We could make something like a banner for the winners and our famebtches :3
    I would actually give everyone, who participated, a banner.
     
    I think that maybe judging should be based on separate categories instead of having them all grouped together. That way it's more fair to people who aren't skilled in certain parts of the contest (for example very few people here can compose music and write ASM). A jury would also be much better in my opinion. They'd have a lot more knowledge about creating hacks and would likely be less biased.
     
    Okay crunch.
    Could you probably list the separate categories up for me?

    About the jury: I'm not sure about this one, though.
    Its for sure better for the contest itself, as its guaranteed that the hacks
    actually get tested and voted, but I'm not sure whether the participant likes it that way..

    I must open a poll, more or less. Hmm how to do it in this forum?
     
    Well I was thinking we could maybe use categories similar to yours with some modifications:

    • Mapping & Environments
    • Design & Creativity
    • Scripting & Code
    • Others (Music, ASM, etc)
    And those could possibly be broken up into even smaller categories, for example mapping & Environments could be:

    • Playability
    • Aesthetics
    • Design\Layout
    Points would be awarded for those 3, combined and the highest score could win the Mapping & Environment category.
     
    What do you think about implementing a kind of fun factor?
     
    That could be good as well, but it wouldn't be as easy to judge.

    • Gameplay and Polish?
     
    Polish could be misunderstood hahaha :'D (Especially for me, as bad english speaker)

    Gameplay is a good idea and should, imo, be on the main categories!
    The only problem is that you cant really have subcategories on Gameplay.

    What about this, then?


    • Gameplay & Playability
    • Mapping & Environments
    • Design & Creativity
    • Scripting & Code
    • Others (Music, ASM, etc)
    With playability we actually have "bugs" included.
    Could be easy this way for the judges.
     
    I don't think subcategories for gameplay would be too hard.

    • Polish
    • Balancing
    • Fun/Enjoyability
    • Bugs


    Up to you though. Even if you don't like using subcategories as an "official" way to vote, it could just be used for guidelines on voting.
     
    Im trying to find subcategories, that are easy to vote for.
    However, I think we need other users opinions to find the best middle way :)
     
    chrunch said:
    That could be good as well, but it wouldn't be as easy to judge.

    • Gameplay and Polish?
    Click to expand...
    Damn it, we would have to make a hack in Polish? I better learn that language soon!

    Anyways, this is an interesting idea but does ROM Hacking section have enough people to actually do this?
     
    For me, even 10-15 teams would be enough for a nice, little contest..
     
    EDIT: Here is what I understand so far about the categories:


    Gameplay & Playability
    - Polish
    - Balancing
    - Fun/Enjoyability
    - Bugs
    Mapping & Environments
    Design & Creativity
    Scripting & Code
    Others (Music, ASM, etc)


    Here's what I think so far:


    Gameplay & Playability
    - Difficulty Balancing (Not too easy to make it boring, but also not too hard to the point where the game becomes frustrating and not fun)
    - Comprehension [Can't think of a better name] (Player is able to figure out what to do and not get majorly lost throughout the game)
    - Bugs (These wouldn't necessarily take points off, but if the bug effects gameplay or playability, then maybe a point or two could be abducted)
    - Enjoyment (Basically, after the player finishes the game, he/she should have satisfaction for beating it and not think it was a waste of time)
    Mapping & Environments
    - Tile Errors (Self-explanatory. Shouldn't abduct points unless the error is very unappealing/very noticeable to the player)
    - Beauty/Intensity (Map is created with a lot of detail and doesn't have many dull/boring/"flat with nothing on it" areas)
    - Cohesiveness (The tiles that are used work well together, such as green scenery in a summer-themed area)
    Uniqueness & Creativity
    NOTE: This one was changed from design to uniqueness because design is kind of a duplicate of the previous category.
    - Memorable (Makes a lasting impression on the player and is a memorable experience)
    - Flavor [Not sure on sub-category's name] (Has certain aspects to the game, such as seasons, that make it's creativity level increase)
    - Specialties (This would give the hack a couple extra points if the hack has some unique aspects to it that not many other {or any other} hack(s) have)
    Scripting & Code
    - Complexity (Scripts are well-thought out and have a sort of in-depth feel to them)
    Not sure what else to put here...
    Others {These are just extra points and don't deduct}
    - Music (If the hack introduces any new music that sounds neatly inserted and good)
    - ASM (If any helpful/neat ASM hacking has been done to make the game a more enjoyable experience as a whole)
    - Extra Graphics (This covers spriting, titlescreen, tile insertion, etc. Again, it would have to look good and make the game more enjoyable in order to give points)
    NOTE: Points should not be givin out just because one of these things are done. In order for teams to get points for these extra things, the stuff added has to make the game a more enjoyable experience as a whole to the player.


    What do you guys think? Any suggestions? This is just what I thought of and I also didn't incorporate exactly how many points each category would be worth.
     
    Last edited:
    Hey Crystal, thanks for your great reply :)
    I'm sorry I'm writing back so late, I was focusing on my scripting engine.

    I really like the ideas, although..

    Difficulty Balancing
    &
    Complexity

    In my opinion, difficulty is much affected by the player's flavor, not to
    forget that its 1/4 of the mapping points..

    For the complexity thing, I think the most people believe that simplicity is the best.
    I won't make such a point though, I'd rather insert a smoothness point if you know what i mean..
     
    I do think you have a point there. I guess some of the sub-categories can be opinionated, so I guess we will have to make them work as best as we can. If you (or anyone) can think of a Scripting & Code sub-category that works, or anything else, please say so!

    Also, I think the prizes need to be rethought. A banner alone for winning the contest (or a certain place like 2nd) would definitely be cool to have, but I don't think that's really worth the effort. Maybe a mod could pitch in some ideas that are only possible through mod powers?
     
    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 :)
     
    I think this contest idea is excellent and will be pretty fun once it gets off the ground. Its sort of a reverse of what generally happens, in that hacks are being made for an award, rather than an award being made for already established hacks. People can show a lot of small-scale creativity and take risks when doing small projects like where they're not tied down to a massive project. I'd love to join once it begins in earnest.

    CrystalStatic said:
    Maybe a mod could pitch in some ideas that are only possible through mod powers?
    Click to expand...

    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.
     
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