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dislekcia
04-04-2008, 02:24 AM
Comp 18: Lost Garden

There is a blog. A really, really good blog. A blog about game design, art, usability and style. This blog is called Lost Garden (http://www.lostgarden.com) by an excruciatingly talented guy who goes by Danc.

Lost Garden (http://www.lostgarden.com) regularly has prototyping sessions in which tons of free art is given out along with a game concept for people to mess around with. Danc, being as fabulously awesome as he is, gives you all the art to make the game!

http://lostgarden.com/uploaded_images/SpaceCute-Mockup-794215.jpg

So. I reckon it's time that I set you goons loose on Danc's prototype challenges... Sit down, take a look through all the challenges, have a brainstorming session and lets see what you come up with!

SpaceCute:
SpaceCute: Prototyping Challenge (http://lostgarden.com/2007/03/spacecute-prototyping-challenge.html)
SpaceCute: First round of prototypes and new graphics (http://lostgarden.com/2007/04/spacecute-prototyping-challenge-combat.html)

CuteGod:
CuteGod: A prototyping challenge (http://lostgarden.com/2007/05/cutegod-prototyping-challenge.html)

Play With Your Peas:
Play With Your Peas: A game prototyping challenge (http://lostgarden.com/2008/02/play-with-your-peas-game-prototyping.html)

And remember, if you feel inspired to make something with those graphics beyond the prototype ideas, GO FOR IT!

Prizes!

Diorgo Jonkers, one of the bright sparks at Luma (http://www.luma.co.za) (sorry, couldn't resist) has given us 3 copies of his commercial 2D level editing tool to give away for this competition!

Information about TuDee (http://www.gojoentertainment.com/tudee.html)
TuDee Demo download (http://www.clickapps.com/download.htm?pvid=19707)

Thanks Diorgo! :)

Rules:
Competition starts on April 4th, 04-04-2008.
Deadline for entries is May 5th, 05-05-2008.
The use of copyrighted material will not be tolerated. Do not steal! The Lost Garden graphics are not copyrighted, but it would be good form to credit Danc.
Use whichever language, tool or development system you are comfortable in. Downloading and using Game Maker is recommended for beginners and for prototyping.
Ask for help when you get stuck.
Pick a Lost Garden (http://www.lostgarden.com) prototype challenge, have some ideas and go from there. Yes, you can cross pollinate graphics and even add your own.
Your game must contain all files needed for it to run and should not require other bulky systems to be downloaded or installed, exceptions are browser plugins like Flash and self-contained dlls distributed with the game).
Your final entry must include a readme.txt that EXPLAINS THE CONTROLS, RULES and any other information you want to get across to your users.
Competition is open to entry for South African citizens, current residents of South Africa and South African passport holders.
The judges' decision is final and no negotiation will be entered into. All risk or liability in case of copyright infringement or other legal issue resides with the entrant, Game.Dev and NAG take no responsibility for entered games.

Entering:
To enter the competition, start a thread titled "18: NameOfYourChosenPrototype - YourSubtitleIdea" and post your design ideas and game releases there. As you release files, edit your first post to point to the most recent versions available.

Other people WILL reply to your post with their feedback and ideas, hopefully Danc himself will get involved. Please report any offensive comments to me for moderation. Consider releasing your source code, it helps us pinpoint problems that you might be having and benefits the community as a whole.

You may enter multiple games if you wish and can handle the workload.

Advice:
Brainstorming is going to be key here. Take some time to really read through the prototype ideas on Lost Garden (http://www.lostgarden.com) (listed up top, srsly) carefully and take some time to stew on those ideas... Chances are you'll come up with something worth testing.

Once you hit that area, do as the challenge says: Prototype! Don't try to make a complete game from the get go, build a prototype to test how well the idea works. Post those prototypes and let them evolve via feedback, you'll get some great games that way.

...

Good luck and enjoy the competition. Without the burden of having to build your own graphics, you should have TONS of games by the end of the month :)

-D

Thaumaturge
04-04-2008, 04:04 AM
An interesting idea...

I do have a question: Are we required to use the gameplay concepts given there, entire? I've admittedly only had a quick look at the prototype specifications that you linked to, but they all seem... well, rather complete. There's room for addition to them, but it looks as though the base gameplay concept is given in each case.

You mention brainstorming... does that mean that we may simply use the given ideas as starting points, and develop something completely different in the end, albeit with a traceable line of logic and inspiration from one (or more) to the other?

Heh, as to producing multiple prototypes, I suspect that, without finally learning the use of GameMaker, or returning to one of the adventure game packages that I have lying around, I'm unlikely to produce more than one concept such as the above-listed, especially with other projects taking up time. ^^;

01DT!m3r
04-04-2008, 07:13 AM
I dont want to sound horrible but this competition doesnt give much room for freedom as the prototypes give you everything you have to do . So everyones games will be the same . Another thing i noticed is that none of the games are noob friendly .

cairnswm
04-04-2008, 07:24 AM
And remember, if you feel inspired to make something with those graphics beyond the prototype ideas, GO FOR IT!


Seems to say make any game using those graphics :)

cairnswm
04-04-2008, 07:27 AM
Can we make deadline for entries after the 1st-4th May long weekend?

edg3
04-04-2008, 07:56 AM
And can we use any of the sprites and concepts from the site? (or just the ones you have mentioned?)
EDIT: doesnt make a difference to me now that Ive started... :P

I am definitely entering this one

Gazza_N
04-04-2008, 08:05 AM
I dont want to sound horrible but this competition doesnt give much room for freedom as the prototypes give you everything you have to do . So everyones games will be the same . Another thing i noticed is that none of the games are noob friendly .

Not necessarily. The idea, from what I understand it, is to take a prototype, build it, and then add in whatever awesome you (or others) can think of to make things interesting. There's plenty of room to play around in those prototypes.

Besides:

And remember, if you feel inspired to make something with those graphics beyond the prototype ideas, GO FOR IT!

I already have cool ideas to make SpaceCute more fun, and it's a great excuse to implement the orbital physics system I've been messing around with for Rockets!. :P

Fengol
04-04-2008, 08:14 AM
@01DT!m3r: I don't believe they're restrictive at all, nor are they noob adverse. For an example, the idea I had when I first all the CuteGod graphics and read the detail was to make a Cupid game where you must help the little guys and girls meet so that they can fall in love (they pray for the person they want to meet); show me that in the proto-type? Take your time and let yourself stew on the design and graphics for a while.

In other news the transparent glass cursors from Play With Your Peas cursors are TOTALLY made of win. I'll post a sample of how to get it right with GameMaker shortly (i.e. using sprite_set_alpha_from_sprite)

Fengol
04-04-2008, 08:40 AM
@Dislekcia: Oh, and you forgot to mention to post on GGE

01DT!m3r
04-04-2008, 09:30 AM
@gazza and fengol : okay i see . I was just a bit confuse (In future i will ask before i do that again) just to make sure . Does the comp go like this :Take one of the prototype ideas and expand on it ?

|-|1Pp13
04-04-2008, 10:59 AM
Firstly- Sticky please, i panicked that id missed something when i saw all the 18: .... :p

Awsome idea, do we have to use at least some of the graphics provided or can it just be based on the gameplay

Since its holidays i might actually be able to enter a full game this time :p

dislekcia
04-04-2008, 11:12 AM
Can we make deadline for entries after the 1st-4th May long weekend?

Very good idea, changed the deadline :)


@gazza and fengol : okay i see . I was just a bit confuse (In future i will ask before i do that again) just to make sure . Does the comp go like this :Take one of the prototype ideas and expand on it ?

Yes, that's the gist of it. If you get inspired to make something completely different from those graphics, do that too ;)


Firstly- Sticky please, i panicked that id missed something when i saw all the 18: .... :p

Awsome idea, do we have to use at least some of the graphics provided or can it just be based on the gameplay

Since its holidays i might actually be able to enter a full game this time :p

Stickied. Sorry about not doing that last night, my bad. And yes, you can make all your own graphics if you really want to, but I don't understand why you'd do that - especially in the prototyping phase. It'll just make life harder.

-D

01DT!m3r
04-04-2008, 11:27 AM
Awesome thanks dis

|-|1Pp13
04-04-2008, 11:37 AM
May we mix two ideas?

IE im thinking of mixing the god element of moving planets around that will effect your ships when you fire

dislekcia
04-04-2008, 12:18 PM
May we mix two ideas?

IE im thinking of mixing the god element of moving planets around that will effect your ships when you fire

Yes.

Thaumaturge
04-04-2008, 04:42 PM
And remember, if you feel inspired to make something with those graphics beyond the prototype ideas, GO FOR IT!
Seems to say make any game using those graphics

Aah, a good point - I presumably missed that. My apologies! I was, I think, a little out of it when I first read that post. ^^;

I might enter something, then - probably something along the lines of a god-game, since I have the beginnings of an idea in that direction starting to knock about in my head...

dislekcia
15-04-2008, 07:26 PM
Prizes!

Diorgo Jonkers, one of the bright sparks at Luma (sorry, couldn't resist) has given us 3 copies of his commercial 2D level editing tool to give away for this competition!

Information about TuDee (http://www.gojoentertainment.com/tudee.html)
TuDee Demo download (http://www.clickapps.com/download.htm?pvid=19707)

Thanks Diorgo! :)

-D

Gazza_N
15-04-2008, 07:58 PM
Okay, that is just too cool. :D

Cloud_Ratha
24-04-2008, 02:02 PM
Play with your peas:

Any internal logic such as the path finding system exists only to the minimum degree necessary to support the external behavior. We won't build SkyNet using these sort of AI techniques, but we can make more enjoyable games.

haha i had a good laugh... think i might try this one...

SkinkLizzard
25-04-2008, 09:04 AM
noooo whyyyy
I hate varsity at times like this
I shall try my best to get an entry in

Gazza_N
25-04-2008, 09:06 AM
Don't worry. I think most of us are going to have to pull a Nandrew this month and whip something up at the last minute. ;)

edg3
25-04-2008, 02:04 PM
Don't worry. I think most of us are going to have to pull a Nandrew this month and whip something up at the last minute. ;)
Not all of us though :P

dislekcia
25-04-2008, 03:10 PM
You'll all be getting some extra time to do that in, the long weekends are coming!

-D

Cloud_Ratha
05-05-2008, 07:50 PM
Looks like quite a few people have pulled out of competition 18?

Cloud_Ratha
13-05-2008, 11:56 PM
Just for interest sake do the results for the competition only get released at the end of the month? This was my first comp :)

dislekcia
14-05-2008, 01:03 AM
Just for interest sake do the results for the competition only get released at the end of the month? This was my first comp :)

The results get released when the judging's done... I should really get onto that, still a tad busy I'm afraid :(

-D

Cloud_Ratha
14-05-2008, 01:11 AM
Ah no worries... Iv kinda abandoned my pea game. Im super keen for the next comp!

Bonezmann
14-05-2008, 05:57 PM
Same here, I can't wait. :)

-edit- Is my game (Pea My Love) even being Judged since it came in so late?

dislekcia
14-05-2008, 11:24 PM
Is my game (Pea My Love) even being Judged since it came in so late?

Yes, it's in the list.

-D

Cloud_Ratha
14-05-2008, 11:26 PM
Yes, it's in the list.

-D

The sucky version tho ;)

Bonezmann
15-05-2008, 12:39 PM
Yes, it's in the list.

-D

Cool. :)


The sucky version tho ;)

Probably :D

dislekcia
28-05-2008, 11:32 PM
Results are finally up! (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=5537)

That took a while, although it did lead to something really cool for Comp 19 ;)

-D