SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

General Category => Game Coding Competitions => Topic started by: Xerra on October 31, 2018, 17:11:00

Title: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on October 31, 2018, 17:11:00
So when's this going to be announced and start? I'm sure everyone fancies knocking out a Xmas game before the end of the year, right? :-)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Qube on October 31, 2018, 17:42:55
I was thinking about another comp before Christmas but I think we'd get during December an influx of "too busy and can't complete it" posts :P
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on October 31, 2018, 18:29:59
Be interesting to see if anyone else fancies jumping in again so quickly after the last one. Unfortunately, to use the Xmas theme, then it would really have to start within a week or so to have enough time to get it done with a six week deadline. Unless anyone fancies deadline day being Xmas day and coding up until midnight to submit their game in time :-)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Grisu on October 31, 2018, 21:10:30
Quote from: Qube on October 31, 2018, 17:42:55
I was thinking about another comp before Christmas but I think we'd get during December an influx of "too busy and can't complete it" posts :P

I would like to sponser a XMas / New Year competition. But I'm unsure, if there would be enough interest, as it would be BMX only with restrictions.

In short: I would like to add more Spectrum Analysers to my unknown internet radio app = Pocket Radio Player. So instead of hiring a coder, a competition would be an alternative.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: BasicBoy on October 31, 2018, 21:17:06
Quote from: Grisu on October 31, 2018, 21:10:30
as it would be BMX only with restrictions.

  :(
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Grisu on October 31, 2018, 21:28:31
Quote from: BasicBoy on October 31, 2018, 21:17:06
  :(

Sorry that I'm an old dinosaur. I was a moderator for the original Blitzcoder.com forum. I don't have the free time to port my app to other languages / mobile platforms. So every help is welcome.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: RemiD on October 31, 2018, 22:51:30
recently, i reminded us about how "hijacking" a thread is not cool.

but here Grisu demonstrates what "piggybacking" is. :)) (will he succeed ? follow the next chapters to know...)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: round157 on November 01, 2018, 00:58:44
An excellent theme can make a lot of people join the competition. Need other themes suggestions?

1. Make a game about numbers or letters.

2. Make a game about 2019.

3. Make a game about SyntaxBomb Forum.

4. Make a game about colours.

Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Derron on November 01, 2018, 06:13:06
5. Fireworks (7 days more to code than for xmas ;-)
6. "Changes" (new years eve)
7. Frost / Snow / Winter (time till ~end of january, so "mid-winter" in northern hemisphere)
8. Code (we are a coder's forum - so why not have something "strange" keyword-like)


@ bmx
You can surely create a new thread about it - but I would not "piggyback" on the "official" compo. You could also allow other languages by exposing the canvas via "hooks/pixmap/texture" to DLL/a-files. Also you could expose stuff to LUA, means people could code in LUA. LUA + "own language wich creates a shared library" should be enough to allow various programmers to do their job. Then add compatibility to all the winamp-visualizers and there you go....

bye
Ron
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: BasicBoy on November 01, 2018, 06:45:04
Quote from: Derron on November 01, 2018, 06:13:06
5. Fireworks (7 days more to code than for xmas ;-)
6. "Changes" (new years eve)
7. Frost / Snow / Winter (time till ~end of january, so "mid-winter" in northern hemisphere)
8. Code (we are a coder's forum - so why not have something "strange" keyword-like)

Option 7  :D


Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: therevills on November 01, 2018, 08:13:26
Quote from: Derron on November 01, 2018, 06:13:06
7. Frost / Snow / Winter (time till ~end of january, so "mid-winter" in northern hemisphere)

7a. Sun / Heat / Summer (time till ~end of January, so "mid-summer" in southern hemisphere)  8)

(It reached 35C today!)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Derron on November 01, 2018, 12:06:50
7b "Winter at the beach" (whatever that means for games)
7c "Santa's Summer" (eg. Santa in a classic sommer olympics game ;-))
7d Summer + Winter (RTS: golden sun boys vs cool chicks, Jump'n'run with 2 theme worlds...)

Yet I still want a competition with some "non arcade" games - people here like it and have more experience with it than me, so I never have a chance to reach #1 ;-)
Simulation games, maybe even some "sports game" (am not a friend of it too, but same chances for all of us ...haha).
One could even make the compo "short time framed" if you plan to have the compo behave as a "olympic compo game collection" thing. So all contestants just code a single sports variant (of course multiple "sub variants" are allowed - bob tournament for single, double, ... teams).
That way we had a similar "theme" but with different "results" (some may want a "funny" sports competition, others add blood and gore by cheating alien sportsman ...). We could even add some "fun sports" (santa sleigh bob racing, elfen-glacier-cross-bow-matches, ...). Limiting on a specific "sport" allows to stay in the time frame. Of course it would be cool if there was some kind of "common accessible" highscore/profile system (that way people play all games with the same "player"). This part is absolutely optional as it required either a webservice+API or a DLL (as we talk about windows).




bye
Ron
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: RemiD on November 01, 2018, 13:51:08
@those living in the south hemisphere>>
how do you explain to kids that santa is going to deliver gifts using his sleigh, if there is no snow on the ground ? is it a flying sleigh ? like an overboard ?  :))
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Derron on November 01, 2018, 14:21:59
His sleigh can fly ... the same way he can move through chimneys with a belly wider than mine - and this also to homes with no chimney at all.

Now explain what's the difference to "Saint Niklaas" (Nikolaus, Knecht Ruprecht, ...) and "Santa". Then tell them that only in USA (or similar countries) that dude is eating cookies and milk. And hey - in Germany he comes on 24th of December ("Heiligabend" - christmas eve), not the day after.



bye
Ron
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 01, 2018, 18:10:54
Bugger. I had a rough idea in my head about Santa delivering gifts from his sleigh, kinda like the old arcade game, Scramble.... Might need a rethink now, lol.

Although I am kinda wondering how a game themed around winter and Xmas suddenly turned into a summer spent in Ibiza all of a sudden :-)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: BasicBoy on November 01, 2018, 20:25:47
Quote from: Xerra on November 01, 2018, 18:10:54
Bugger. I had a rough idea in my head about Santa delivering gifts from his sleigh [...]

Ah! I don't know if you've seen this already, but I made a start on something like that last Xmas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5M1aDCvckQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5M1aDCvckQ)


I'm a bit gutted I didn't get it finished in time for the deadline (my energy levels were low!).


BasicBoy.
--
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Qube on November 01, 2018, 22:37:19
Page two and still no consensus on a theme or time scale? :P - Guess I'll have to make something up :)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: DaiHard on November 02, 2018, 09:41:55
An adaptation of Derron's "change"?

"Ends and Beginnings" - for New Year

Scope for things based on Ragnarok/Gotterdammerung/Lord of the Rings/Fin de Siecle/Green man legends, but also for a circular maze, or something reentrant, or just the new year!

D
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: 3DzForMe on November 02, 2018, 12:51:23
How about a game based around the 12 days of Christmas....

....and a partridge in a pear tree

Or my favourite...

FIVE Go......old rings
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: BasicBoy on November 02, 2018, 13:16:39
How about something relating to Nuclear War?  :o

Not terribly Christmassy or New Year-y, I admit  :P

How about:

- Fairies and Angels (with optional Reindeer)
- Evil Snowmen (or Snowpeople)
- Post-Apocalyptic City
- Iceworld (kind of similar to one of Derron's suggestions)


BasicBoy.
--
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: TomToad on November 02, 2018, 14:12:17
Quote from: BasicBoy on November 02, 2018, 13:16:39
How about something relating to Nuclear War?  :o

Not terribly Christmassy or New Year-y, I admit  :P
https://youtu.be/t039p6xqutU
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 02, 2018, 21:45:45
Something that puts people out of their comfort zone. Instead of an arcade style game, let's see who makes the most interesting adventure game for example.

Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Steve Elliott on November 02, 2018, 21:50:40
Quote
let's see who makes the most interesting adventure game for example.

Well now we're talking, I do love arcade-style games, but the adventure game is sadly under produced these days.  Only NA producing quality in this genre.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 02, 2018, 22:05:54
Quote from: Steve Elliott on November 02, 2018, 21:50:40
Quote
let's see who makes the most interesting adventure game for example.

Well now we're talking, I do love arcade-style games, but the adventure game is sadly under produced these days.  Only NA producing quality in this genre.

I think I'd find this hugely challenging. I played a lot of the Scott Adams ones as a teenager and loved them. But I've never written a proper one before and I reckon a competition like this would give me the impetus to do it. Make it so graphics are allowed for a scene if you want to use it as a lot of our guys are quite artistic and this could encourage them to be quite creative. The core game should be typed commands to play, though, as all the best adventures were. Have a two word parser unless people wanted to get clever and actually do what infocom did and create parsers that could understand entire sentences :-)
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Qube on November 02, 2018, 22:19:16
Adventure games are not just text adventure games and a lot of people would class a game where you go on a journey / quest of some kind to be an adventure game. I think some games that are classed as an adventure game could also be classed as an RPG game.

So out of all the themes discussed are most happy with doing an adventure game?
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 02, 2018, 23:39:35
Quote from: Qube on November 02, 2018, 22:19:16
Adventure games are not just text adventure games and a lot of people would class a game where you go on a journey / quest of some kind to be an adventure game. I think some games that are classed as an adventure game could also be classed as an RPG game.

So out of all the themes discussed are most happy with doing an adventure game?

I'm definitely up for it. Got an idea forming in my head already that I'm writing down to see if it's do-able. I'm going to assume that there's going to be a theme to work with as well though?

Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Qube on November 03, 2018, 02:51:52
Quote from: Xerra on November 02, 2018, 23:39:35I'm definitely up for it. Got an idea forming in my head already that I'm writing down to see if it's do-able. I'm going to assume that there's going to be a theme to work with as well though?
There has to be a theme, it's the law :P - Lets see what members think about the general idea of an adventure game and we'll go from there :)

You, yes you! the one who's reading this post. Let us know your thoughts ;D
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: BasicBoy on November 03, 2018, 03:35:49
Personally I'm not really into text adventures (only ever played one a bit - 'Sphinx Adventure' back in the 80s! [its author would go on to lead the design team for Acorn's first 32-bit OS]). Putting aside my artistic shortcomings, I wouldn't mind having a crack at a graphical adventure game/RPG. Maybe a fully 3D effort? Or would something along the lines of 'Citadel' or 'Palace Of Magic' on the old BBC Micro be permissible?

Citadel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW7QM_d-0a4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW7QM_d-0a4)

Anyway, whatever the rules and parameters of the contest turn out to be, I'll probably be up for it.  :D
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: round157 on November 03, 2018, 04:24:33
Hi,

Adventure game may be too boring. I guess that some members may decide not to join the contest.

If there is a poll function in this forum, members can easily vote among several themes. A popular theme can quickly be decided

at last.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: TomToad on November 03, 2018, 06:36:03
Maybe instead of Adventure as a genre, we could use Adventure as a theme.  So if you want to make it a text adventure, go ahead.  A Zelda or Final Fantasy type game, go ahead.  You just need to send the character on an adventure of some kind, a quest, save the princess, save the world, etc...  A lot of different genres could easily fit this theme.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Derron on November 03, 2018, 07:27:37
If you make a theme/restriction too "wide", then people end up doing more arcade games ("The adventure of Pac - the Man!").

Call it "text or Point-and-Click"-adventure to avoid the arcadesque games or "other genres".

Adventures need way more time than simple arcade games as in a good looking (click and point) adventure you need multiple scenes which need to get painted/rendered while in arcade games you can reuse much stuff/many elements.

Making an "adventureous" RPG would at least allow some kind of "tilebased game" (Zelda and the likes) but I assume this is not what the original request aimed for.


@ text based adventure
Nope, English isn't my mother tongue and this is true for some others among us too - we would create less "exciting to read" stuff.
Also I think it was another similar restriction than retro - if people like Matty enjoy to draw (or my person - to render) then we would be artificially limited in what we "can" just to make games more comparable. We could not improve our bad story telling with some nice GFX.


@ point and click adventure
To make stuff "doable in time" the game compo would require to have a limit of "screens". So tell a _short_ story, in up to 4 game screens/locations or so. That way the project might become swallowable/doable. It also requires to tell a precise little story.
Eg. "How Santa found his key" ... you only need Santas northpole fortress appartment (living room, bathroom, bedroom, cellar or so).
Also it allows to have a game which can be finished within <30 minutes. Means we can play all entries in a short amount of time.

Yes, it means we create more kind of "tech demo" games. But it also means: you can freely extend the game later on (if you really like to do it for more players than just the 2 hands of users here - which I do for now). It also means you do not need to create savegames and other "maybe hassles". It also limits the amount of ressources/assets you need to do. It saves amount of story you need to write (you can - of course - have some more dialogues, telling stuff, or even hide "details" in certain items on the screen which the protagonist has to "look at").


Nonetheless, as already written above: doing adventures is asset-intensive (except people force the game in the tileset-engine they already made before - so they could use some lowres stuff).


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 03, 2018, 09:28:11
Quote from: BasicBoy on November 03, 2018, 03:35:49
Personally I'm not really into text adventures (only ever played one a bit - 'Sphinx Adventure' back in the 80s! [its author would go on to lead the design team for Acorn's first 32-bit OS]). Putting aside my artistic shortcomings, I wouldn't mind having a crack at a graphical adventure game/RPG. Maybe a fully 3D effort? Or would something along the lines of 'Citadel' or 'Palace Of Magic' on the old BBC Micro be permissible?

Holy crap, I remember the Sphinx adventure on the BBC model B. My mother and a lot of her friends used to play that every Friday evening for a few months back in the early 80's. I wasn't usually allowed to sit in as their language could be rather colorful while they were trying to crack it, but I did get to sit in a couple of times when I was on my best <cough> behaviour. Seem to remember a puzzle that had them stumped for weeks involving a bear standing in their way on a path which was eventually cracked by the simplest of solutions and hearing the lot of them yelling and cheering for ages about it.

An adventure doesn't appeal to everyone but, like Qube says, it's a pretty varied category and you have a lot of scope to take it into different directions. It doesn't have to be a text adventure - I'm just leaning to doing that myself. I do think it should have a Xmas/New year theme though - and be limited to a small amount of gameplay because we don't have much time to do it for the end of the year.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Steve Elliott on November 03, 2018, 22:01:04
Nobody said an adventure game should be a text only adventure game!  I mentioned NA and the quality adventure games he's producing.  They have great graphics and humour and are far from a text only adventure.  Nothing against text adventures though, I grew up with them and your imagination fills in the gaps on each and every descriptive piece of text - like a novel.  Adventure is a great theme, the finer details just need to be worked out.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Qube on November 03, 2018, 22:54:07
We could have a 7 week comp ending before Christmas by a couple of days. The comp being simply "Create a Christmas themed adventure game." - Lots of scope in an adventure game.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: RemiD on November 04, 2018, 14:55:51
i will participate only if there is enough days to finish something worth it, and if the genre (gameplay) of the game is not too restrictive...
for example, personally, i don't like point and click adventure games, with prerendered screens and manually made story / dialogues / enigmas...

but i like text adventure games similar to "you are the hero" gamebooks (like "lone wolf"), so why not...
see :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gamebooks
https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Books
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 04, 2018, 19:33:59
If we're going to run it then it will need to kick off soon. We only have six weeks until Xmas now as it is <shudder>
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: STEVIE G on November 04, 2018, 19:35:31
I'll probably give it a bash.   Grew up on Twin Kingdom Valley on the Beeb but text adventures don't appeal these days so I won't be going down that route.

A graphic adventure might be possible if it was a very short adventure.  ;D
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Derron on November 04, 2018, 20:42:13
Quote from: STEVIE G on November 04, 2018, 19:35:31
A graphic adventure might be possible if it was a very short adventure.  ;D

I would almost bet it would be an adVANture :-)


bye
Ron
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: STEVIE G on November 04, 2018, 21:10:11
Quote from: Derron on November 04, 2018, 20:42:13
Quote from: STEVIE G on November 04, 2018, 19:35:31
A graphic adventure might be possible if it was a very short adventure.  ;D

I would almost bet it would be an adVANture :-)


bye
Ron

How much?  :P

I did consider making a Van-Tastic Trilogy - just not for this new comp.   ;D
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: RemiD on November 04, 2018, 22:25:49
what do you mean by "graphic adventure" game ? maniac mansion ? monkey island ?
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Matty on November 04, 2018, 22:28:36
Graphic Adventures I enjoyed as a kid:







Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: RemiD on November 04, 2018, 22:31:56
i know a few games which are considered "adventure games" but are also considered rpg or action or plateform games... (neuromancer, dreamweb, final fantasy, tomb raider, rayman, zelda...)

so a better question would be : what would the gameplay consist in ? find an item and bring it to place to unlock a passage ? solve enigmas ? control the character with point and click ?
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: STEVIE G on November 04, 2018, 22:32:39
Quote from: RemiD on November 04, 2018, 22:25:49
what do you mean by "graphic adventure" game ? maniac mansion ? monkey island ?

Yes.
Title: Re: Xmas theme for competition 7?
Post by: Xerra on November 04, 2018, 22:49:51
Quote from: STEVIE G on November 04, 2018, 21:10:11
I did consider making a Van-Tastic Trilogy - just not for this new comp.   ;D

No way! Unfair adVANtage. Referee!!!!!!