[Kwij]

Hello, everyone! If you're reading this, I hope it's because you have an inkling to release a game and are looking for a way to keep yourself on track, because that's what this topic is all about.

Basically, I'd like to get the site back to its roots of making games again. I thought long and hard about how to do this, and several different ideas came through my mind. In the end, though, I decided that less was more. Here's how this is going to work:

You have until February first to come up with a game that can be completed, start to finish, in five minutes.

Of course, the five minute number is kind of arbitrary, but the point is that I want a game that's complete, and short. Forget about long detailed plotlines for a minute and focus on getting a game completed for a competition. For a full list of rules, read on:

-You can use any engine to make the game.
-I'll be judging the submitted games.
-The time limit is subjective, so I'll be subjective when judging. Bottom line is, I should be able to finish this game in one sitting.
-The game must be complete...no five minute demos, please.

The winner will receive a userbar, 15,000 spire points and have their game spotlighted on the mainsite for an entire month after the contest is over.

If you have any questions or have any interest, let me know!

Good luck, everyone!

[eternal_renegade]

Actually this sounds like it could turn into a great 5-minute game monthly contest. (Not to jump to conclusions of course!)

I'll be entering this one, time to get it on the road!

[Kwij]

Excellent! Some interest! Be sure to spread the word about the contest to others, if you feel so inclined.

Depending on how this turns out, I'd have no objections to making it monthly, or bi-monthly, depending on how enthusiastic the community is about it.

[greenraven]

I'll probably give this a go once I settle down.

[Kokisho]

When you say any engine, would I be able to create a game on Flash?

Even if it was no I might still make on on RMXP XD

[Kwij]

Flash is fine, so long as you make sure I'm able to play it when you're done.

[greenraven]

Small question: Is our file host ready yet? Because ever since FileFront went corporate, I don't trust it anymore. (They delete files every other week. There's no way in hell I'm going to keep reuploading everything.)

[Kwij]

At the moment, there's still a few glitches, but the week before the contest ends It'll be fixed just for the contest. I can't promise fast uploading speeds, but I hope to promise that it will work.

[greenraven]

I am most definitely starting this thing once the weekend is over. (Too many things to do not enough hours in a day, however consecutive those days may be.)

I have just oooonnneee small little hurdle to jump over: I've got about 8 or so projects that I've started over the past few years and that are still open, including the mini-game-game, so I have to try to make this thing slightly different than all of them. Cuz recycling things is lame.


edit:

Ok, I just went and created a blank new project and jotted down a few quick notes in case I forget by the time Monday rolls around. I'm good to go.

[Kwij]

I'm glad people are starting fresh for this competition. That was what I hoped would happen. People forgetting about their big sprawling projects for a month to concentrate on releasing a short, fun game.

And as a general announcement, if anyone has friends on other sites that might be interested in this, or any of the other contests, be sure to tell them to register and enter!

[eternal_renegade]

Yeah! So far my project is coming along nicely. I am hardly using any original art, except for custom dialog boxes and text.

I have 2 out of 3 songs completed for it as well.

[greenraven]

Craaaazy idea time...

You know how big gaming sites, like oh say IGN, give two scores? One from a duly appointed IGN representative and one overall user score? Well, why not do that here?

Kwij can still be the deciding factor in what wins and what doesn't, but we can also have a public poll. I'm thinking the poll should have one single question being the game and then the individual answers are simply a number from 1 to 10. I'm guessing we should have Kwij's vote set to 50 or so points, so it should take 5 people giving full 10's to outvote him. This way he can still partake in the festivities himself without worrying about being impartial and fair. A system of checks and balances, it's how we do things in the real world, why not here? See, I learned something in school after all.


And as long as we're on the subject of polls: Our polling system only allows for a maximum of 10 questions per poll. Do you think it might be possible to tweak something somewhere and increase that number to oh say... 100 per poll? Obviously it's never going to go that high, but I'm the kind of guy that likes to know that the option is always there.


Also, I just realized there are rewards for doing this thing. We um... more or less.... still don't have a useful use for Spire Points. We had a sorta kinda useful use, but then captain crankypants decided to call them a sack of rice and throw them out to the hobos on the corner.



edity:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but adding insult to injury to our dying little hobby... I've been hearing more and more reports of people that have newer operating systems of not being able to run any RPG Maker versions earlier than RMVX. And this comes from people that used RPG Maker before, they say that after upgrading to Vista they were no longer able to run RMXP and lower. WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT OF ME MAKING THESE THINGS IF NO ONE IS GOING TO PLAY THEM?!

If I want to entertain myself I'll just keep it all in my head and save me the hassle of coding it all.

Seriously though... if I hear just one more person tell me they can't play my game... stabby stabby stab stab stab...

[eternal_renegade]

Hmm... Works on my GF's vista and on my Windows 7. Running 32-bit version

[Kwij]

Yeah, it works alright on my end, too. Quit being pessimistic and make a game!

[greenraven]

I'm trying, but the world has since decided to try my patience instead.

So far I've encountered several 'obstacles' not the least of which is all my custom text deciding to commit suicide not once, not twice, but a total of three times, forcing me to re-re-write everything from scratch.

On the bright side, I am working!

[Jek]

Im definately participating, right after I get back.
Expect my game to be as evil as Stairway to Heaven played backwards.

[Kwij]

We're nearing the halfway point, people! Keep on trucking!

And again, if you have anyone you think would be remotely interested in this, let them know so they can register.

[greenraven]

Is anyone else having a problem containing this thing to a relatively small size?

This started out as a quick 3 map game. Now those 3 maps blew the hell up into 15! And it only looks like it's going to get bigger from here on out. I need to start pruning, fast! Or this 5 minute game is going to eviscerate itself into a 500 minute game.

[RMXPokémaniac]

Sweet! Totally participating!

This will be fun.

[Jek]

Charas isnt working for me! Oh noes D:
Im going to have to make my game without it.