Game in a Day 2018

Page: 1 2 3 4
Event Sep 14 2018, 10:01 pm
to Sep 15 2018, 9:59 pm ID:2396020
 
Sep 1 2018, 4:01 pm (Edited on Sep 14 2018, 10:15 pm)
The race is on!

See this post for announcement of the theme, prizes, and rules.


[The original event announcement post follows]:
Ahoy Folks! It's September, so time to start thinking Game in a Day! If you're new to BYOND, GiaD is an event we've been holding for twelve years now, ever since 2006. The idea is that we release a theme, and then you have one day to make and submit a game. Then we judge the games, and whoever made the best game with the best use of the theme wins! It's a great experience, a lot of fun, and we sometimes end up with really good games that devs expand and maintain for years. So if that sounds fun to you, stop reading here and we'll see you on the 15th!

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Okay, are they gone? If you've done a GiaD before, then you know things don't always work out like that. First, it's 2 days instead of 1. No matter how we try to pick the themes, nobody ever likes them. Most of the time you don't finish your game and it's frustrating as fuck. And then there's the judging, which can sometimes take six months or more.

This year I have some ideas for how to address these problems, and I want to run the GiaD differently. However, I also recognize that the GiaD, with all of its flaws, has become a tradition, and I don't want to take away anyone's tradition. So I'm here to get your feedback:

1) Would you have a problem participating if the event was 24hrs long, starting at midnight UTC-7? (Pacific Daylight Time / BYOND's time zone). What country are you participating from?

2) Do you like the themes? Would the disappearance of themes be a reason you wouldn't participate?

3) Do you primarily take part in contests for the cash prizes? I'm broke, and I've seen in the past that offering cash makes people dream up really big games that they can't finish. Bigger Stakes -> Less Submissions.

4) What changes would you like to see?

Let me know what you think, and especially let me know if that date conflicts with school events or a national holiday I've forgotten about. Otherwise, see you on the 15th!

invisible counter gif
Sep 1 2018, 5:51 pm
1) I love themes. People are just being whiny and uncreative. Taking out themes removes a lot of the design challenge and makes it easier for people to cheat.

2) I would not have problems with participating in a strict 24 hr event.

3) I love cash prizes and whatnot, and I am down to pitch in.

4) Not sure. Weekends seem to be the best time for these.
Sep 1 2018, 6:15 pm
Do we know if anyone has actually cheated on a GiaD? Has this ever been worthwhile concern?
(What I have planned instead of themes would be equally effective at preventing cheating, so no worries here either way.)
Sep 1 2018, 6:54 pm
There was that one time; someone accused D4RK3 of cheating and disqualified him from the competition. It was hilarious. I think two GiADs were held that year.
Sep 2 2018, 12:43 am
This sounds fun, I might participate this year.

I'm from the USA, so central time/eastern time works best for me.

I typically enjoy game jams that either give you a couple of themes to choose from or don't use themes at all.

The weekend works just fine :3
Sep 3 2018, 2:30 am
Do we know if anyone has actually cheated on a GiaD?

Allegedy.

http://www.byond.com/ forum/?post=1344190&page=6#comment6090872
Sep 9 2018, 7:04 pm
Yut Put wrote:
i won't participate this year if there's no cash prize, so good luck everyone

I was thinking of putting forward about $50. It's what I can afford (still got it in my paypal from the RPI contest), and it's not big enough to make people go crazy. Something about that $100 number that makes people bite off more than they can chew.

If someone wants to pitch in and pledge other prizes to 2nd or 3rd place, or memberships, etc., let me know. Here's my pledge to you: Judging results will be released on 9/29/2018. I wanted to make damn sure we wouldn't have a repeat of previous years, so I got two other testers and we picked a date/time to meet IN PERSON, play the games, and select winners.

I'll post tomorrow with the full "rules" for the event, and the offer of $50 to the winner.
Sep 9 2018, 7:11 pm
I'll pledge $50 (30 to second place, 20 to last?) probably if at least 5 people join
Sep 10 2018, 8:07 pm (Edited on Sep 10 2018, 8:45 pm)
Less than a week left until the GiaD, and I can't wait to release this year's theme!

---- Rules for a Good GiaD ----

Time Frame: The theme will be released 12:01am Saturday the 15th, US EASTERN TIME. (I'll be waking up at 5am that day. Sorry, no way I'm staying up until 3am.) You'll have until 11:59pm US PACIFIC TIME to make a game. That's 27 hours. Not 24, but we're getting better.

Submissions: All participants must send an email to [email protected] before the deadline, including:
* The key of the submitting participant.
* The project source, as an attachment or download url.
* The HUB entry, if applicable.
* Special build info, if necessary (BYOND version / Beta?)

The Game: Games must be made the day of the event. Preexisting libraries, frameworks, and resources can be used - and are encouraged - so long as you make something new with those pieces. Participants can work in teams and publish a game under a team name/key, but an individual must submit the game under their key, and any prizes will be awarded in whole to that individual. Each individual can only submit 1 game.

Non-BYOND games: Non-BYOND developers are encouraged to take part in the event, explore the theme with us, and submit a game, but cannot win first place.

Judging: There will be no complex point systems or rubrics. Games will be judged primarily on Use of Theme, Fun, Execution, and Vision (game design, unique mechanics, etc). In general, focus on making a good game. Good games stand out, and you don't need a rubric to notice them.

Prizes: $50 will be awarded via paypal to first place. Other prizes may be awarded to other participants at the discretion of the prize sponsor. Super Saiyan X has pledged another $50 total to other participants.

Other rules may be added before the start of the event. A finalized rules list will be posted with the theme.

Note: If you're a developer who wants to make a fun game, take part in an event, and maybe win a prize, then you can stop reading here.

---- END OF RULES ----

---- START OF RANT (feel free to ignore) ----

Judging (continued): In the past we've had huge problems judging, using coming from two main areas: Either we couldn't get judges together to play multiplayer games, or we got bogged down in trying to follow a grading rubric when judging a transgressive game. The first problem has been addressed. The second one is harder.

Pretty much every year someone submits a game that includes transgressive material. You can call it "anti-social" material, if that makes more sense to you. Some people like to submit a game that _technically_ follows the rules but transgresses every community standard. They're just begging to be disqualified so they can fake outrage when it happens. If that doesn't sound like you, then great :)

Games are art, and no one wants to say "we're disqualifying all games that address human sexuality", but I've never received a submission that provided a nuanced exploration of the human condition through sexuality. If you think you can provide that, then submit your game - but if it's like previous years' submissions, you won't be winning. To be clear: don't draw crude pixel body parts and call it art.

The truth is, we generally know exactly which games deserve first place, and which games were made to give the judges a hard time. This year we call them like we see them.

So catch up on your sleep, and we'll see you on Saturday!
Sep 11 2018, 12:10 pm
Pretty much every year someone submits a game that includes transgressive material. You can call it "anti-social" material, if that makes more sense to you. Some people like to submit a game that _technically_ follows the rules but transgresses every community standard. They're just begging to be disqualified so they can fake outrage when it happens. If that doesn't sound like you, then great :)

Games are art, and no one wants to say "we're disqualifying all games that address human sexuality", but I've never received a submission that provided a nuanced exploration of the human condition through sexuality. If you think you can provide that, then submit your game - but if it's like previous years' submissions, you won't be winning. To be clear: don't draw crude pixel body parts and call it art.

This is something you think. Just not aloud for the sake of avoiding the appearance of bias in judging of titles submitted.

Judging should be based purely on quality. There is zero room in any contest for disqualifications (or for that matter, pontification) on grounds of what kinds of artistic or even political expression is preferred. Period.

If your judges can't realize that the consequence of individualistic artistic expression is that we have to tolerate the crass and offensive in order to create an environment where we have a social fabric strong enough to survive a truly transformative experience, they shouldn't be critiquing anything.

/rant

Also, I can't participate. We're going dark in prep for a major hurricane that's about to make the east coast profoundly aware of how much she loves uncontrolled fossil fuel burning. I'll see you folks on the other side.
Sep 11 2018, 12:13 pm
In response to Ter13
wasn't he basically just saying don't submit porn/hentai games?
Sep 11 2018, 1:12 pm
In response to Ter13
Ter13 wrote:
Also, I can't participate. We're going dark in prep for a major hurricane

Good point. If anyone effected by the storm needs an alternate day, let me know and we'll work on an accommodation.
Sep 11 2018, 4:12 pm
+1 Yay!
Sep 11 2018, 6:18 pm
MysteriousProgrammer wrote:
+1 Yay!
+1


Yut Put wrote:
its a much less arbitrary way to do it for these small contests

Sure, I'll try it both ways. It'll be a good experiment to see if my hypothesis holds up. If we get conflicting results for 1st - 3rd place, I'll let the other two judges decide how to move forward.

Mainly, I want people to focus on their game holistically, where theme, fun, execution, and "vision" overlap. Judging in the past has been less objective because we've had metrics that measured small disjointed parts of the game, like assigning an entry a 10 in "usability" because the game had one button that you clicked and... and that was the entire game. Really easy to use, ten points. That said, I do see how your method alleviates that issue to some extent.

(Also... why the hell isn't "holistically" spelled with a "W"?)
Sep 12 2018, 4:58 pm
(The are actually both acceptable spellings of the word.)
Sep 13 2018, 1:16 am
Not sure why my account seems to be disabled (maybe on account of not having been on this site for a while).

Darke informed me that there's a contest this weekend, and I just so happen to be free this Saturday, so I guess I'll give it a shot.

edit: side note - since I don't care about Windows anymore, I'll be developing mine exclusively using Linux-based BYOND tools and hoping that the game doesn't look/perform like poop on the webclient.
Sep 13 2018, 1:42 am
In response to MisterGoober
MisterGoober wrote:
edit: side note - since I don't care about Windows anymore, I'll be developing mine exclusively using Linux-based BYOND tools and hoping that the game doesn't look/perform like poop on the webclient.

You are a braver lad than I. Godspeed.

Sep 13 2018, 12:58 pm
1) I love themes. People are just being whiny and uncreative. Taking out themes removes a lot of the design challenge and makes it easier for people to cheat.

2) I would not have problems with participating in a strict 24 hr event.

3) I love cash prizes and whatnot, and I am down to pitch in.

4) Not sure. Weekends seem to be the best time for these.
Sep 13 2018, 9:53 pm
In response to Gooseheaded
Gooseheaded wrote:
1) I love themes. People are just being whiny and uncreative. Taking out themes removes a lot of the design challenge and makes it easier for people to cheat.

2) I would not have problems with participating in a strict 24 hr event.

3) I love cash prizes and whatnot, and I am down to pitch in.

4) Not sure. Weekends seem to be the best time for these.

but y
Sep 14 2018, 10:39 am
I'm new to GiaD. There's a part of me that fears I'm going to come up with something slightly worse than a pong game o_o
Page: 1 2 3 4