Sumea Team Challenge?

Submitted by Kezza on
Forum
General Chat

Just an idea... a artist + programmer team based challenge.

It's going to be the end of year break soon... which means alot of the students and even some of the working among us will have more time on their hands than usual.

I haven't though much about it, but having a group of small teams going for it would be damn fun... possibly making small interactive demos or mini-games would be feesable?

Regardless... if you want to get the programmers doing something here, you gotta catch them early when they even might have some time free [:D]

Submitted by Blitz on Fri, 03/10/03 - 6:15 AMPermalink

Sounds fun. Still might have difficulty with ground rules for the programming, but perhaps if the challenge is simple enough then it will be as easy as "start from scratch" same as the artists?
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Stu on Fri, 03/10/03 - 6:24 AMPermalink

Sounds pretty fun. Could also be a good way for some of us unemployed/students to get some good stuff for a portfolio.

Stu

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 03/10/03 - 6:32 AMPermalink

start from scratch might not work with programming... not unless alot of time was set aside before hand as "pre-programming"
maybe having the teams form, then a general version of the goal is released (so the programmers can develop their stuffs) so when the full goal is released then the artists and programmers have material to work with.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 03/10/03 - 10:37 AMPermalink

I love the idea of mini games. Nothing too complicated, and a big emphasis on gameplay and fun. Maybe we'll see some really ingenious game ideas as well [:)]

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 03/10/03 - 10:50 AMPermalink

the problem is, do we allow for premade engines? which could unbalance things alot...
or do we give a starting period with a vague project description, so that everyone can make mini-engines for their games before the full challenge details are released?

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 03/10/03 - 1:12 PMPermalink

What about games for mobile phones?

or for the GBA maybe, they require little programming, some art etc

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 03/10/03 - 7:48 PMPermalink

Hmm, I'd prefer just to go with pc.
I don't know how many people have experience in programming on those platforms, it could be too restrictive... also some of us don't have the hardware for it.

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 03/10/03 - 9:16 PMPermalink

That's what emulators are for, I wasn't expecting people to have all sorts of mobile phones...

Heck even I don't have a mobile, but I have still programmed stuff for it.

I just think it'll be a nice even level playing field if we are all to start from scratch to make a game in teams...

Submitted by CombatWombat on Fri, 03/10/03 - 10:15 PMPermalink

Two quick ideas to throw into the mix:

* make it a comp rule that you need to use a specific engine/lib (eg crystalspace) or choose one of several options
* look at making a "sumea comp engine" - there would be 1-2 independent code integrators, who come up with a spec
for the module interfaces (eg audio library subsystem, graphics subsystem, scripting system) - then each team
is assigned one of these modules, and is rated by judges on how well they implemented their module. This would
probably have to be done as a separate comp though (or maybe do this bit as a collaborative exercise first)

Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 04/10/03 - 8:22 AMPermalink

People seem to have alot of ideas about how we could do this, which is a good thing (I get afraid when people agree with me).
The problem is, no matter how we try and level the playing field... there's always going to be people at a disadvantage, from lack of experience with paticular harware or software... or the amount and reusability of pre-prepared code they have.

Here's my proposal
- Teams would consist of two to four people, no more than two programmers to a team (this is just cause I expect we're going to have a programmer shortage)

- The actual competition topic won't be decided until 3 weeks into the competition... only a vauge set of limitations and gidelines will exist till then (which will be true for the rest of the competition as well). This gives teams time to do their pre-development work (make a small engine, rough ideas, designing an art style and generic resources like fonts & lovely high-res crate textures [:D] )

- The competition would run for three months.

- Judging would be done by a selected impartial group who did not take part in the competition.

Posted by Kezza on
Forum
General Chat

Just an idea... a artist + programmer team based challenge.

It's going to be the end of year break soon... which means alot of the students and even some of the working among us will have more time on their hands than usual.

I haven't though much about it, but having a group of small teams going for it would be damn fun... possibly making small interactive demos or mini-games would be feesable?

Regardless... if you want to get the programmers doing something here, you gotta catch them early when they even might have some time free [:D]

Submitted by Blitz on Fri, 03/10/03 - 6:15 AMPermalink

Sounds fun. Still might have difficulty with ground rules for the programming, but perhaps if the challenge is simple enough then it will be as easy as "start from scratch" same as the artists?
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Stu on Fri, 03/10/03 - 6:24 AMPermalink

Sounds pretty fun. Could also be a good way for some of us unemployed/students to get some good stuff for a portfolio.

Stu

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 03/10/03 - 6:32 AMPermalink

start from scratch might not work with programming... not unless alot of time was set aside before hand as "pre-programming"
maybe having the teams form, then a general version of the goal is released (so the programmers can develop their stuffs) so when the full goal is released then the artists and programmers have material to work with.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 03/10/03 - 10:37 AMPermalink

I love the idea of mini games. Nothing too complicated, and a big emphasis on gameplay and fun. Maybe we'll see some really ingenious game ideas as well [:)]

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 03/10/03 - 10:50 AMPermalink

the problem is, do we allow for premade engines? which could unbalance things alot...
or do we give a starting period with a vague project description, so that everyone can make mini-engines for their games before the full challenge details are released?

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 03/10/03 - 1:12 PMPermalink

What about games for mobile phones?

or for the GBA maybe, they require little programming, some art etc

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 03/10/03 - 7:48 PMPermalink

Hmm, I'd prefer just to go with pc.
I don't know how many people have experience in programming on those platforms, it could be too restrictive... also some of us don't have the hardware for it.

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 03/10/03 - 9:16 PMPermalink

That's what emulators are for, I wasn't expecting people to have all sorts of mobile phones...

Heck even I don't have a mobile, but I have still programmed stuff for it.

I just think it'll be a nice even level playing field if we are all to start from scratch to make a game in teams...

Submitted by CombatWombat on Fri, 03/10/03 - 10:15 PMPermalink

Two quick ideas to throw into the mix:

* make it a comp rule that you need to use a specific engine/lib (eg crystalspace) or choose one of several options
* look at making a "sumea comp engine" - there would be 1-2 independent code integrators, who come up with a spec
for the module interfaces (eg audio library subsystem, graphics subsystem, scripting system) - then each team
is assigned one of these modules, and is rated by judges on how well they implemented their module. This would
probably have to be done as a separate comp though (or maybe do this bit as a collaborative exercise first)

Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 04/10/03 - 8:22 AMPermalink

People seem to have alot of ideas about how we could do this, which is a good thing (I get afraid when people agree with me).
The problem is, no matter how we try and level the playing field... there's always going to be people at a disadvantage, from lack of experience with paticular harware or software... or the amount and reusability of pre-prepared code they have.

Here's my proposal
- Teams would consist of two to four people, no more than two programmers to a team (this is just cause I expect we're going to have a programmer shortage)

- The actual competition topic won't be decided until 3 weeks into the competition... only a vauge set of limitations and gidelines will exist till then (which will be true for the rest of the competition as well). This gives teams time to do their pre-development work (make a small engine, rough ideas, designing an art style and generic resources like fonts & lovely high-res crate textures [:D] )

- The competition would run for three months.

- Judging would be done by a selected impartial group who did not take part in the competition.