64Digits Completition SIGNUP

Posted by Castypher on May 3, 2013, 12:18 p.m.

It's time to stop waiting around. This will overlap with the Game-a-Phone contest, so set aside some time for that. For those whose school or plans will conflict with the time frame, contact me so we can work something out.

Starting on Friday, May 10th at 11:00 GMT, you will have two months to select and finish one game. The Completition will end on Friday, July 12th at 11:00 GMT.

This is not a competition against others so much as it is against yourself, though I do recommend using others as a frame of reference when determining your progress. In order to be declared a winner, your game must be complete by your own standards, and must have a substantial level of polish. Your final performance will be measured based on the game you post in this entry list.

Please note I am leaving an additional month open after the chosen ending date. This month may or may not be used as an extension for those who have proven that they are consistently making progress on larger games, or if enough people request it. This isn't a strict competition by any means, it's a motivating factor for those of you with unfinished games to work with others to finish them.

Rules

1. You MUST follow the entry guidelines in order to be considered a valid participant. Your entry MUST be approved (or at least not denied) in order to participate.

2. You MUST follow the submission guidelines at the end of the competition to be considered as a winner.

3. You MUST state your entry within the first month of the competition.

4. You MUST post on the progress check blogs released every weekend. By neglecting this rule three times in a row, you are subjecting yourself to public humiliation.

5. You MUST NOT submit any game that I or any of my appointed judges deem inappropriate. This includes pornography, tasteless and pointless controversial themes, and anything that could be deemed illegal. Some themes are subjective and if used within reason, will be allowed. IE - artful nudity versus outright pornographic content.

6. You MUST submit a completed game at the end of the competition. Incomplete games will not be accepted. Additionally, games which have not received any polish effort will not be included in the bundle.

7. You MAY team up with another user or help users on their projects.

8. All content in your finished game MUST be original, or you MUST have permission to use it in a commercial product.

9. In addition to rule 4, you MUST provide detailed feedback or publicity on others' entries, either through recorded playthroughs, fully-fledged reviews, or a rating system. Selfish entrants who neglect everyone but themselves will be disqualified. You won't be expected to review everyone, but you will be expected to give back what you receive.

FAQ

This list will be filled as time passes and questions come up.

So how do I enter?

Follow the submission guidelines below. Use the other submissions as a template to get started.

I don't have any past games. Can I start a new one?

Yes, but in doing so, you're greatly reducing your chances of finishing. In order to get the boost you need, it's recommended to use a game that you entered for a competition or otherwise made public, unless you're confident in your development abilities and have too much time on your hands.

What if I don't want my game to be in the bundle?

Seeing as that's half the point of this competition, I wouldn't advise that, but if you see yourself making changes later or just feel it's not up to your standards by the end, you can simply contact me to opt out of the bundle.

What happens when the deadline comes up?

During the week before the deadline, submissions will be open and all entrants will be required to submit their game by the deadline (with a little leniency). The game should be in a functional state by this point, and will be judged as to whether or not it is complete. Games that pass this test will have an additional month to focus on bugtesting and polishing.

I've finished my game early. Now what?

Are you sure your game doesn't need any more changes? Are you sure it's entirely bug-free and polished to professional standards? If so, consider the following options:

- Think again. Get people to test and criticize your game. Aim for at least five people. You may find that you have a lot more work to do on things you didn't expect.

- Help another entrant with his game. Unselfish entrants who both complete a game and support others will receive recognition.

- Are you especially confident your game will do well? Consider making a trailer for your game.

- If you have done or don't feel like doing any of the above, then just enjoy your time off.

Bundle Specifications

Please note that these specifications will change as I work with third parties to organize a 64Digits bundle. If you don't want your finished product to appear in the bundle, please contact me. However, I do recommend it as the point of this prize is to give developers a jumpstart on publicity.

1. If using Game Maker, your finished game CANNOT use the default GM icon, splash logo, or loading screen, in order to be eligible for the bundle.

2. If using Game Maker, I think it's fair to say that for professional reasons, you should not be using any free version.

3. You must show a decent level of professionalism in your game if you want it to be a part of the bundle. This means, aside from polish, typographical errors and bugs must be ironed out.

4. Your game must have a preview image or cover art. The latter is highly recommended.

5. Your game must have a gameplay video or trailer. If you can't do this yourself, ask someone to help you.

6. You are not allowed to release your game as freeware before or throughout the bundle duration.

7. You are asked not to release your game as freeware for two weeks to a month after the bundle is over.

I will add more to this list as I figure things out.

Prizes

- Every entrant that completes their game will receive a badge.

- Every entrant that significantly helps another entrant will receive recognition.

- Every entrant that completes their game and shows a substantial level of polish will have their game included in the 64Digits game bundle at the end of the competition.

- We will organize playthroughs for every finished entry.

If anyone would like to donate prizes toward a specific cause, please contact me.

Suggested Course of Action

Two months isn't a long time, and as the deadline looms overhead, you'll probably get pretty stressed. This section has some pointers for making it through and finishing your game.

- Plot out in a sensible way how you're going to go about this. DO NOT make a day-by-day analysis as things happen and plans change. Rather, set goals for the week. This will be covered in the weekly progress checks.

- Focus on completing the game before anything else. Don't add new features if you have a broken game.

- Focus on polishing when the game is complete. Make it look nice. Presentation often goes a lot further than sheer level of content.

- Be creative in your progress checks and posts about your game. Generate some interest and ask for feedback. This will help motivate you to keep working.

List of Participants

Entrants

Kilin with The Twilight Realm

Cesque with Firebug

CyrusRoberto with JTMK

Daggerhog with Magical Castle

Rolf_Soldaat with Undead Rampage

SpectreNectar with N0tt3r's Journal

MMORPGguy with No Future

Taizen Chisou with Lunacy Star

Mega with Hunter

Pirate-rob with The Journey of a Blob

Charlie Carlo with Credence Filter

Toast with Celeste

SteveKB with Project Blue

Purianite with Kizuna

eagly with Frank

JuurianChi with WileyGear

hel with ?

Support

Iasper for music

Entry Guidelines

In order to properly sign up, you will need to follow these guidelines.

1. State the name of the game you are entering with.

2. Link to a demo, video, or screenshot of the game in action.

3. Describe in a short paragraph what you plan to accomplish over the next two months.

4. State the approximate percentage of completion the game is already in.

5. State where the game came from (whether it was a competition entry and what competition it was for, whether it was announced on 64Digits and a link to the first or last time it was mentioned, or whether you'll be entering to collaborate or start a new game).

If you're stuck on what game to enter, I highly recommend following this list from the top down.

- Enter a game that you submitted in a previous competition. Not only do you have much more of an attention advantage, but your game will already have significant progress, making your job easier.

- Enter a game that you mentioned, in detail or in passing, on 64Digits or another site. This gives you the benefit of having people know about your game, rather than having to generate interest with no product.

- Enter an obscure game that is significantly developed. Your current progress on it will make finishing it easier.

- Collaborate with another entrant. You will need their permission, and if the game is theirs alone, you will need to adhere to their wishes.

- Start a new game just for the sake of completing. This game will likely be short and simple, but I'm not going to deny people entry just because they don't have a game to show.

As stated by another user, this might be the hardest competition for some of you, which is why I'm integrating everyone by forcing progress checks.

If you have any questions or concerns, leave a post or PM me.

Treat your game as if you were going to sell it, because that's exactly what we intend to do. Again, if you wish to opt out of the bundle, let me know.

ENTRY IS NOW OPEN.

Off-topic comments will be deleted.

Comments

Castypher 11 years, 5 months ago

I'll start the show.

I will be entering:

The Twilight Realm, my RPG4D competition entry.

Game Page

Aside from general polish and debugging, I plan to address many players' concerns about the game being imbalanced or too difficult. I will also be adding a few removed stages, adding new class moves, and modifying the bosses to be more consistent and unique. I plan to incorporate a party system as was cut out during the competition, add more characters for it, and offer a more intuitive design so players don't get confused.

Completion: 75%

Cesque 11 years, 5 months ago

Alright!

Unless something changes, my idea is to develop Firebug, my "Non-violence" jam project, into a fully fledged game. I got rid of the game page, but a demo is available here,

My plans: Keep the same basic idea, but polish the engine and redo the graphics in higher resolution. Add a lot of originally intended content (fire hoses, fire axes, retractable ladders, etc.). Add proper sound effects and music. Add level selection, maybe with short level intro/outro cutscenes.

(maybe I'll change the title out of my paranoia over copyright issues if this ends up in a bundle, though I like the current one)

Competion: Technically 100%, perhaps around 30% in comparison to the original idea - but the original idea will be expanded on as well (different graphics, etc.).

Quote:
By neglecting this rule three times in a row, you are subjecting yourself to public humiliation.

:<

Quote:
Aside from general polish and debugging, I plan to address many players' concerns about the game being imbalanced or too difficult.

:>

Iasper 11 years, 5 months ago

I feel as if 11 May is too early (and 12 July as an ending date is too). I really hope I have the time for this although I have school and finals until the end of June so I'm not sure. If I do have the time to actually finish this though (preferably with that month of extension), I'll enter with this:

1. Ogres and Elves

2.

Awful, I know

3. First of all, a complete rewrite as well as taking into account critique (which I listed in this blog). Since I should have time besides this, I want to redo everything in 3D using polygonal models, although this is pretty much only possible if I find a texturer and a modeler. If I have time after that, I plan on adding additional features which affect gameplay in a minor way, although this isn't completely necessary since I could as well release additional content using DLC stuff.

4. Seeing I'm restarting from scratch (some of the graphics asides), 0%.

5. Originally for F4D. It'd be awesome if someone could help me on this on any field, but preferably spriting/texturing and possibly modeling.

You know what, nevermind. I'll help out people that need help with music.

Kunedon 11 years, 5 months ago

I've decided to enter:

Magical Castle

It's an entirely new game that's been sitting around in my projects folder for some time, even after figuring out the main concept. Essentially I'm going to work on everything for this.

All of the progress it's ever seen. Will change the screen resolution to my new standard of 480x480.

I may also throw together a short little ditty for the in-game music.

Completion: 2%

Castypher 11 years, 5 months ago

Iasper, I didn't want to extend the start date too far because when I've seen that done in the past, you actually see a bunch of people dropping out. However, since this isn't a competition, the end date is pretty flexible. I only chose the two month period to satisfy the median, though three months may be needed for those of us who have a lot of work to do.

I wouldn't worry too much.

Quietus 11 years, 5 months ago

i have no idea which game i want to finish so i plan to finish everything.

Completion: .3% amount of alcohol

seriously though idk. my platformer uses a character spritesheet RC gave me from YYG (bleh), so i'm gonna wanna hack into an older game for original graphics if i can. if that doesn't work, i'll just fall back on the space shooter game. but yeah i'll see what i can do, heh.

Toast 11 years, 5 months ago

I do need to finish things but exams. I have a whole module

that

I

didn't

go to class for

Rolf_Soldaat 11 years, 5 months ago

I am going attempt to (re)make Undead Rampage

link

Plan: basically start from scratch, building on the original idea while cutting down the design to a more attainable level.

completion: 1% The game is 5 years old, an I've long since lost the source.

Castypher 11 years, 5 months ago

Cesque, you still need to tear apart my game. Your feedback was what I was looking forward to most and since I'm making a list of known issues right now (it's fucking huge), I need to add your fucking huge list too.

Just a reminder for the entrants. For your own sake, please be realistic with the expectations you impose upon yourself. If anything, shoot lower than you're capable of, because life is a bitch sometimes.

sirxemic 11 years, 5 months ago

ROLF :D

Why aren't you on IRC anymore :(

Also, in. Not sure about the game yet, but I've got things. Oh who am I kidding? I just said it because off-topic comments would be deleted :(