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48 hour challenge #3?

Submitted by Kezza on

The summer holidays are nigh and i've been unable to take part in the previous two 48 hour comps...

who's up for a 3rd?

Submitted by Kane on Sat, 13/11/04 - 12:24 AM Permalink

im definately up for a third...

maybe i can try my hand at DirectX this time...[:D]

Submitted by Priddo on Sat, 13/11/04 - 9:40 AM Permalink

I'd join in if i had the time! (which is likely i would)

Submitted by Kezza on Sun, 14/11/04 - 4:22 AM Permalink

Okay so... should we have a theme? and if so, any suggestions?

Submitted by souri on Mon, 15/11/04 - 7:19 AM Permalink

I'm not sure if the discussions about the last programmer challenge problems have been resolved. You guys wanted a stock set of graphic content to work with, and how'd we go about getting that available.

Submitted by Kezza on Mon, 15/11/04 - 8:40 AM Permalink

I'm against having a public "stock content" thing... I don't think all the games sharing the same graphics is a good thing. The programmer art in the first challenge was not a major issue.

Perhaps an alternative is to have artists involved in the challenge and they're allowed to work before the deadline. So in this way, perhaps we might allow all audio/visual game assets to be constructed ahead of time, but no code is made till the clock starts?

Submitted by Kezza on Tue, 16/11/04 - 6:53 AM Permalink

Well... considering the happening right now is Halo 2 and Half Life 2, sci-fi sequels are the flavor of the month.
that in mind how about the theme "Screw it!! Let's make something Medieval!"

Submitted by palantir on Tue, 16/11/04 - 7:27 AM Permalink

Hehehe..
Except EverQuest 2 and World of Warcraft are both out this month, both fantasy, and both have the potential to seriously compete with Halo 2 and Half Life 2?
So you need to avoid both sci-fi and fantasy if you want to do something different.

How about a puzzle game?

Submitted by Kezza on Tue, 16/11/04 - 8:45 AM Permalink

Hmm, puzzle games are good... but limiting all the games to one genre might discourage people from entering.
Maybe we need a sort of vauge theme like the artist challenges are given.

OR we could make the theme "blatant rippoffs of current games" [:D]

Submitted by Soul on Tue, 16/11/04 - 11:24 AM Permalink

Is there any chance we can have more than 48 hours?? Something like a week would be nice, and would (probably) result in more polished entries.

When you consider that the last modeller challenge went for about 2 months, while we have to design a game, code it, test it and create the art & sound content in only 48 hours!! It's a tight squeeze for even the most mighty of caffeine-powered code monkeys.

Submitted by Kezza on Wed, 17/11/04 - 2:11 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Soul

Is there any chance we can have more than 48 hours?? Something like a week would be nice, and would (probably) result in more polished entries.

When you consider that the last modeller challenge went for about 2 months, while we have to design a game, code it, test it and create the art & sound content in only 48 hours!! It's a tight squeeze for even the most mighty of caffeine-powered code monkeys.

Well.. i'd like to see more pollished entries too, but I have 2 other projects to finish over the next 3 months and at this rate I couldn't enter if the compo was much longer than 2 days.

Submitted by Kane on Wed, 17/11/04 - 3:18 AM Permalink

it may be too hard to do in 48 hours, but what about a sports theme?

Submitted by Kezza on Wed, 17/11/04 - 3:32 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Kane

it may be too hard to do in 48 hours, but what about a sports theme?

hmm, that could be good
writes down idea: kung fu soccer madness, platform game

Submitted by palantir on Wed, 17/11/04 - 6:19 AM Permalink

If the comp was a week long (or more), couldn?t people who only have one weekend to spare still enter? Previous modelling challenges have been 2 months long, and while most people take all the available time, some people get their entry done in just a couple of days.

Theoretically, the programming challenge could be a couple of weeks long, but those psyched for a 48-hour challenge could just do a 48-hour caffeine induced marathon?

Wouldn?t the end result be more polished entries, and more challengers competing?

Of course I?m just sticking my nose in where it doesn?t belong because I have no intention of entering (certainly not in a 48 hour challenge anyway), but it just seems logical to me to have it over a few weeks.

Going back to the idea of having a set of graphics to work with, what if we have a couple of weeks prior to the challenge of artists submitting art based on the theme, then programmers could use whatever they want from the archive. Maybe afterwards the artists could make specific pieces on request, based on what pieces the programmers want to use?

quote:Originally posted by Kezza

Perhaps an alternative is to have artists involved in the challenge and they're allowed to work before the deadline. So in this way, perhaps we might allow all audio/visual game assets to be constructed ahead of time, but no code is made till the clock starts?

This sounds like a good idea.
However it's achieved, it would be cool to somehow have a challenge involving both artists and programmers.

Submitted by Barry Dahlberg on Wed, 17/11/04 - 8:51 PM Permalink

Perhaps the question that we should be looking at is what exactly the competition is to be judged on. Having artists working with purely a coding competition could actually distract people from the technical challenges which should be our focus IMHO.

The modelling challenges are being used to improve peoples skills and get them some exposure to the industry, can we somehow use a programming challenge in the same way?

Submitted by Kezza on Wed, 17/11/04 - 9:05 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Barry Dahlberg

Perhaps the question that we should be looking at is what exactly the competition is to be judged on. Having artists working with purely a coding competition could actually distract people from the technical challenges which should be our focus IMHO.

The modelling challenges are being used to improve peoples skills and get them some exposure to the industry, can we somehow use a programming challenge in the same way?

Hmm, we'd have to be careful not to turn it into a tech demo challenge. [:D]

I didn't pay close attention to the second competition, however i don't think that quality of artwork was a huge factor in the marking of the first challenge.
Although the winner wasn't the one with the most complex gameplay, but it was the one that seemed most "finished".

Submitted by Barry Dahlberg on Wed, 17/11/04 - 11:00 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Kezza
Hmm, we'd have to be careful not to turn it into a tech demo challenge. [:D]

What is the aim of the challenge then? Perhaps people see this as more of a game production challenge, trying to get something complete rather than technically impressive?

Submitted by Kezza on Thu, 18/11/04 - 2:16 AM Permalink

I think it's an effort to try and make a game that's as enjoyable as possible under heavy time constraints.
After all, the judging is done by the votes of all sumeans by simply listing their preferences.

Submitted by Maitrek on Fri, 19/11/04 - 12:15 AM Permalink

So it's a game development challenge then, not a programming challenge?

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 19/11/04 - 4:21 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

So it's a game development challenge then, not a programming challenge?

i guess it always has been one [:D]

Submitted by Kane on Fri, 19/11/04 - 5:10 AM Permalink

ok, now that that is sorted out, should we start pondering themes?

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 19/11/04 - 7:01 AM Permalink

yes we should.
How about using "speed" as a theme?

Submitted by Kane on Fri, 19/11/04 - 10:41 PM Permalink

speed as in fastness...interesting

what made you think of that? that could be interestiung to see what people come up with...

Submitted by Maitrek on Sat, 20/11/04 - 12:22 AM Permalink

Nah speed as in amphetamines. Could make up lots of fun games oriented around that...from truck driving to being a bikie gang :D

If it's a game development challenge then I dunno if I CBFed - all the art/design/ideas stuff is too much of a pain in the ass to accomplish in such a small time frame - I'd never be totally satisfied with it!

Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 20/11/04 - 1:41 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

Nah speed as in amphetamines. Could make up lots of fun games oriented around that...from truck driving to being a bikie gang :D

If it's a game development challenge then I dunno if I CBFed - all the art/design/ideas stuff is too much of a pain in the ass to accomplish in such a small time frame - I'd never be totally satisfied with it!

well you see, ideas/design/music has always been done before the compo... that's why we called it a programming competition before, because the main work was always coding the game.

As for the art, this time round we may also let that be done ahead as well.

Submitted by MattD on Sat, 20/11/04 - 9:08 PM Permalink

depending on the date, im in :D

did any of you guys do the ludumdare competitions? might be worthwhile checking out how they do it, and what rules they used.

Matt D

Submitted by Mdobele on Sun, 21/11/04 - 4:16 AM Permalink

I would actualy enter this one if it was over a week or two period. Also are we allowed to use Graphics Engines like OGRE or use DirectX?

Submitted by MattD on Tue, 30/11/04 - 11:59 PM Permalink

hmm not a lot of movement here is there ;)

so whats the consensus? 48hr comp? longer comp? a less comp structure but more of a all in "lets just write a game by a date and see what everyone else did" type of thing?

all it needs is a decision really. maybe a quick poll? technology is another biting point, with a small number of entrants its not like you can have a hardcore and open leauge (as was touted with LD last time). maybe using the rules from the last comp (anything with a binary) could work. although it rules MDIP v2 stuff out :P

ideas?

Matt D

Submitted by Kane on Wed, 01/12/04 - 12:52 AM Permalink

maybe, instead of running for 48 hours, have it over a couple of days or so...[;)]

I think it would be cool to just keep the 48 hour deadline. Its just enough time to make something interesting...

Submitted by Kezza on Thu, 02/12/04 - 7:13 AM Permalink

I think we'll get more people if we do it after christmas. Alot of people are probably just ending or have just ended crunch time and probably want a bit of a break.

Submitted by Priddo on Sat, 04/12/04 - 12:52 AM Permalink

i'd have to agree with that actually. Why not do it in January?

Posted by Kezza on

The summer holidays are nigh and i've been unable to take part in the previous two 48 hour comps...

who's up for a 3rd?


Submitted by Kane on Sat, 13/11/04 - 12:24 AM Permalink

im definately up for a third...

maybe i can try my hand at DirectX this time...[:D]

Submitted by Priddo on Sat, 13/11/04 - 9:40 AM Permalink

I'd join in if i had the time! (which is likely i would)

Submitted by Kezza on Sun, 14/11/04 - 4:22 AM Permalink

Okay so... should we have a theme? and if so, any suggestions?

Submitted by souri on Mon, 15/11/04 - 7:19 AM Permalink

I'm not sure if the discussions about the last programmer challenge problems have been resolved. You guys wanted a stock set of graphic content to work with, and how'd we go about getting that available.

Submitted by Kezza on Mon, 15/11/04 - 8:40 AM Permalink

I'm against having a public "stock content" thing... I don't think all the games sharing the same graphics is a good thing. The programmer art in the first challenge was not a major issue.

Perhaps an alternative is to have artists involved in the challenge and they're allowed to work before the deadline. So in this way, perhaps we might allow all audio/visual game assets to be constructed ahead of time, but no code is made till the clock starts?

Submitted by Kezza on Tue, 16/11/04 - 6:53 AM Permalink

Well... considering the happening right now is Halo 2 and Half Life 2, sci-fi sequels are the flavor of the month.
that in mind how about the theme "Screw it!! Let's make something Medieval!"

Submitted by palantir on Tue, 16/11/04 - 7:27 AM Permalink

Hehehe..
Except EverQuest 2 and World of Warcraft are both out this month, both fantasy, and both have the potential to seriously compete with Halo 2 and Half Life 2?
So you need to avoid both sci-fi and fantasy if you want to do something different.

How about a puzzle game?

Submitted by Kezza on Tue, 16/11/04 - 8:45 AM Permalink

Hmm, puzzle games are good... but limiting all the games to one genre might discourage people from entering.
Maybe we need a sort of vauge theme like the artist challenges are given.

OR we could make the theme "blatant rippoffs of current games" [:D]

Submitted by Soul on Tue, 16/11/04 - 11:24 AM Permalink

Is there any chance we can have more than 48 hours?? Something like a week would be nice, and would (probably) result in more polished entries.

When you consider that the last modeller challenge went for about 2 months, while we have to design a game, code it, test it and create the art & sound content in only 48 hours!! It's a tight squeeze for even the most mighty of caffeine-powered code monkeys.

Submitted by Kezza on Wed, 17/11/04 - 2:11 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Soul

Is there any chance we can have more than 48 hours?? Something like a week would be nice, and would (probably) result in more polished entries.

When you consider that the last modeller challenge went for about 2 months, while we have to design a game, code it, test it and create the art & sound content in only 48 hours!! It's a tight squeeze for even the most mighty of caffeine-powered code monkeys.

Well.. i'd like to see more pollished entries too, but I have 2 other projects to finish over the next 3 months and at this rate I couldn't enter if the compo was much longer than 2 days.

Submitted by Kane on Wed, 17/11/04 - 3:18 AM Permalink

it may be too hard to do in 48 hours, but what about a sports theme?

Submitted by Kezza on Wed, 17/11/04 - 3:32 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Kane

it may be too hard to do in 48 hours, but what about a sports theme?

hmm, that could be good
writes down idea: kung fu soccer madness, platform game

Submitted by palantir on Wed, 17/11/04 - 6:19 AM Permalink

If the comp was a week long (or more), couldn?t people who only have one weekend to spare still enter? Previous modelling challenges have been 2 months long, and while most people take all the available time, some people get their entry done in just a couple of days.

Theoretically, the programming challenge could be a couple of weeks long, but those psyched for a 48-hour challenge could just do a 48-hour caffeine induced marathon?

Wouldn?t the end result be more polished entries, and more challengers competing?

Of course I?m just sticking my nose in where it doesn?t belong because I have no intention of entering (certainly not in a 48 hour challenge anyway), but it just seems logical to me to have it over a few weeks.

Going back to the idea of having a set of graphics to work with, what if we have a couple of weeks prior to the challenge of artists submitting art based on the theme, then programmers could use whatever they want from the archive. Maybe afterwards the artists could make specific pieces on request, based on what pieces the programmers want to use?

quote:Originally posted by Kezza

Perhaps an alternative is to have artists involved in the challenge and they're allowed to work before the deadline. So in this way, perhaps we might allow all audio/visual game assets to be constructed ahead of time, but no code is made till the clock starts?

This sounds like a good idea.
However it's achieved, it would be cool to somehow have a challenge involving both artists and programmers.

Submitted by Barry Dahlberg on Wed, 17/11/04 - 8:51 PM Permalink

Perhaps the question that we should be looking at is what exactly the competition is to be judged on. Having artists working with purely a coding competition could actually distract people from the technical challenges which should be our focus IMHO.

The modelling challenges are being used to improve peoples skills and get them some exposure to the industry, can we somehow use a programming challenge in the same way?

Submitted by Kezza on Wed, 17/11/04 - 9:05 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Barry Dahlberg

Perhaps the question that we should be looking at is what exactly the competition is to be judged on. Having artists working with purely a coding competition could actually distract people from the technical challenges which should be our focus IMHO.

The modelling challenges are being used to improve peoples skills and get them some exposure to the industry, can we somehow use a programming challenge in the same way?

Hmm, we'd have to be careful not to turn it into a tech demo challenge. [:D]

I didn't pay close attention to the second competition, however i don't think that quality of artwork was a huge factor in the marking of the first challenge.
Although the winner wasn't the one with the most complex gameplay, but it was the one that seemed most "finished".

Submitted by Barry Dahlberg on Wed, 17/11/04 - 11:00 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Kezza
Hmm, we'd have to be careful not to turn it into a tech demo challenge. [:D]

What is the aim of the challenge then? Perhaps people see this as more of a game production challenge, trying to get something complete rather than technically impressive?

Submitted by Kezza on Thu, 18/11/04 - 2:16 AM Permalink

I think it's an effort to try and make a game that's as enjoyable as possible under heavy time constraints.
After all, the judging is done by the votes of all sumeans by simply listing their preferences.

Submitted by Maitrek on Fri, 19/11/04 - 12:15 AM Permalink

So it's a game development challenge then, not a programming challenge?

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 19/11/04 - 4:21 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

So it's a game development challenge then, not a programming challenge?

i guess it always has been one [:D]

Submitted by Kane on Fri, 19/11/04 - 5:10 AM Permalink

ok, now that that is sorted out, should we start pondering themes?

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 19/11/04 - 7:01 AM Permalink

yes we should.
How about using "speed" as a theme?

Submitted by Kane on Fri, 19/11/04 - 10:41 PM Permalink

speed as in fastness...interesting

what made you think of that? that could be interestiung to see what people come up with...

Submitted by Maitrek on Sat, 20/11/04 - 12:22 AM Permalink

Nah speed as in amphetamines. Could make up lots of fun games oriented around that...from truck driving to being a bikie gang :D

If it's a game development challenge then I dunno if I CBFed - all the art/design/ideas stuff is too much of a pain in the ass to accomplish in such a small time frame - I'd never be totally satisfied with it!

Submitted by Kezza on Sat, 20/11/04 - 1:41 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

Nah speed as in amphetamines. Could make up lots of fun games oriented around that...from truck driving to being a bikie gang :D

If it's a game development challenge then I dunno if I CBFed - all the art/design/ideas stuff is too much of a pain in the ass to accomplish in such a small time frame - I'd never be totally satisfied with it!

well you see, ideas/design/music has always been done before the compo... that's why we called it a programming competition before, because the main work was always coding the game.

As for the art, this time round we may also let that be done ahead as well.

Submitted by MattD on Sat, 20/11/04 - 9:08 PM Permalink

depending on the date, im in :D

did any of you guys do the ludumdare competitions? might be worthwhile checking out how they do it, and what rules they used.

Matt D

Submitted by Mdobele on Sun, 21/11/04 - 4:16 AM Permalink

I would actualy enter this one if it was over a week or two period. Also are we allowed to use Graphics Engines like OGRE or use DirectX?

Submitted by MattD on Tue, 30/11/04 - 11:59 PM Permalink

hmm not a lot of movement here is there ;)

so whats the consensus? 48hr comp? longer comp? a less comp structure but more of a all in "lets just write a game by a date and see what everyone else did" type of thing?

all it needs is a decision really. maybe a quick poll? technology is another biting point, with a small number of entrants its not like you can have a hardcore and open leauge (as was touted with LD last time). maybe using the rules from the last comp (anything with a binary) could work. although it rules MDIP v2 stuff out :P

ideas?

Matt D

Submitted by Kane on Wed, 01/12/04 - 12:52 AM Permalink

maybe, instead of running for 48 hours, have it over a couple of days or so...[;)]

I think it would be cool to just keep the 48 hour deadline. Its just enough time to make something interesting...

Submitted by Kezza on Thu, 02/12/04 - 7:13 AM Permalink

I think we'll get more people if we do it after christmas. Alot of people are probably just ending or have just ended crunch time and probably want a bit of a break.

Submitted by Priddo on Sat, 04/12/04 - 12:52 AM Permalink

i'd have to agree with that actually. Why not do it in January?