Next compo ideas


^ Okay, upon further reflection, that sounds a bit silly...but I do like the "bonus" for open-sourcing your work....unless that's already a precondition of the Compo(s)...I'm not sure, because I haven't paid that much attention to them before (no Pandora to test/play them on).   ;)  

I am interested now though...and will be from here on out.

 
 
Another idea, which might have been mentioned before:

Winners and participators of the competition could get a corresponding forum badge (like "Rebirth Compo - Winner Original Games Category" or "2013 Compo - Participant" along with a fancy icon).

It's pretty useless and only to show-off, but it's another incentive and honestly every participant has reason to show-off since he actually got something done.

At the same time seeing a badge reminds people of the past compos and give them some lasting attention (clicking on the badges could send users to the result thread of that compo for example).
 
On PixelJoint, which I used to visit often, there used to be compos, they would be themed, and you'd get a little "medal" graphic each time you competed - or gold/silver/bronze if you were ranked in the top three. I like that idea

I also think themes would be good. Ie, you could have a "Maths" theme, but you could enter a game, or a utility. A "NES" theme could be an emulator, or a remake of a NES game, or just something that looks NES-y. Might get a bit difficult after a while, but who knows.
 
oooh, I like the idea of being awarded cute little medals on our forum tag!
 
I think the last compo was great because it allowed basically anything to be entered. I'm afraid that there are not enough people who can code or port stuff to make a themed compo work. The categories last time worked quite well in my opinion. In the end I find it more important to have a category that fits the entry well, rather than having original software separated from ported software. It is probably sufficient to just mark more clearly if something is an original entry, I think there are enough people who care and take this into account when voting.

2 compos per year should be enough. A forum-batch for every contestant and special medals for the first three in each category (unless there are not enough entries) is a great idea! To me this would be worth more than a prize as well I guess. It's always nice to get something in addition of course, but it doesn't have to be expensive.

How about T-Shirts?
 
... more important to have a category that fits the entry well, rather than having original software separated from ported software.
It is probably sufficient to just mark more clearly if something is an original entry, I think there are enough people who care and take this into account when voting.
I disagree. A ported piece of software may have taken years and a hundred coders, artists and musicians to create originally and may be a well loved piece of software whereas an original game created specially for the competition is produced by either a small team or an individual in just a few weeks and have no following at all. The graphics, gameplay and sfx etc. of an original game will more than likely compare poorly with a ported game. How can you then fairly judge the two? Remember the voter is probably not voting for the port (which may or may not have taken a lot of time to do), but the game itself - it's impossible not to.

I do however agree that the last competition worked well on the whole.
 
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Probably there is no perfect solution to this. When I was writing I was thinking of _wb_'s example of shrinking the "categories-tree" down, where in the end a small calender might compete against an emulator just because both are original entries that did not have enough original entries in their proper category. In such a case the calender would be better off in an overall "applications" category. This is why I think it might be more important to be categorized in the correct theme. In an ideal case one would do both for sure, but if there are not enough entries I'd rather mix original/ported and keep games, emulators and software separated.
 
So maybe the tree should split at the top level between Games, Emulators, and Applications. Then each of these 3 branches split in two (Original / Port). Then further subcategories to distinguish genres etc. (although those will rarely be relevant, they'll end up being merged almost certainly).

Anyway, it should be more clearly indicated what is a port and what is not. E.g. in the previous compo it was not so clear in the Applications category what was original and what was ported. In the case of ports it would also be helpful to have a short explanation of what were the major hurdles (if any) and what where the main Pandora-specific tweaks (if any). It's also probably best to give the "professional" jury more weight to judge ports.
 
Ideas?
What we can need for the Pandora ;)

Dreamcast Emulator(maybe lxdream with gui)
A logocal Thinkgame like klik klak..
A newer Android Version...
ReactOS Arm :)
Wine via Qemu User Emulation....
A finished OpenGL Wrapper :)
VMGL for giving Qemu Guests OpenGL abilitys...
A perfect working dev SD Image for the Pandora...
A weather App :D
Navit in newer Version..
And and and,when i have more Ideas will i Post them here :)
 
Another point: I'm currently making a new game, and I'm hesitant to release it already because maybe I should wait for the next compo...

Maybe others feel the same way.

This means that projects are released later than they would be if there were no compos at all. That feels a bit counterproductive.

One way to solve this, is to allow already released software to enter the compo. The only condition would be that it was released (or had significant improvements) between compo N-1 and compo N. That way it becomes more of a regular "community award" than a real competition, although of course you are still free to release your entry just before the deadline to get some kind of surprise effect.
 
I don't see a reason to hold back on a release for that reason..    If it came to that you could always do what you did with microbes and create a new and improved competition version.

- Neelix
 
no, sometimes games just are done - no new work to do, maybe just some bugs...
 
Another point: I'm currently making a new game, and I'm hesitant to release it already because maybe I should wait for the next compo...

Maybe others feel the same way.
I wasn't sure what to do with The Tournament Hub; and maybe if we were a bit closer to a compo being announced I might have held off. However, TTH would have really put me in an odd spot - as it doesn't launch all games as people are expecting (currently), but this isn't directly an issue with TTH.
Anyway, the point is, I just released it anyway. Maybe by the time a compo has been announced I could add some really nice spit and polish; or alternatively push on with another little project.

I get your point though, unless you're ptitSeb, knocking out PNDs left, right and centre; you'll probably want to reserve your latest and greatest if there's a chance of winnning a compo.

The only thing I can suggest is: When do *you* want to release it?
 
I've put a lot of effort in integrated comp4all support in OpenTyrian and still plan on more game balance changes, I was hoping to enter that work in the compo.
 
Hey man, no offence, but you seem to be missing the point of this thread. ;)

It's to collect ideas on organizing the next compo (rules, judging, categories, prizes, timespan, etc.), not ideas for projects - I am pretty sure every developer has a few project ideas on his mind.

People in here are trying to improve the compo environment or at least talk about what they think went right and what went wrong with the last competitions.
 
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I'm still in favor of the bi-annual compo idea.   January 1st - June 30th.....and.....July 1st - December 31st.  A clear cut timetable that people can plan for...and they can roll over their unfinished work(s) to the next compo if they so desire.  No pressure.  I understand what _wb_ is saying about not wanting to release a game if he thinks that a new compo could be right around the corner.  I also LOVE what pmprog said about that and his release of TTH anyway.  Maybe a set schedule for compos would help to alleviate some problems.  I'm in awe of you devs/coders...one day I'll join the ranks....til' then, I'm just one small voice saying THANK YOU ALL for your hard work and desire to help this community with your talents.
 
We need another Crapgame competition for this christmas time. Who is in? 
 
It's probably a bit late for a Christmas crap game compo, but if there's something organised for early next year I'd like to participate again. I really enjoyed the last one. :)

It would be nice if there was another big compo too...
 
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