Gauging interest: Creative-Collaborative-Cooperative Game-Making Competition

[なべ 184]

Everybody's good at something, so first and foremost I want to make it clear that this thread is for anyone and everyone. I am hoping to see as many people as possible interested in participating in this event, and/or in helping develop it. And these two interests aren't exclusive; someone can develop the contest and participate in it. I plan to participate in it myself when it gets underway. I am really excited about this idea, and I hope you will be too.

The Proposal

I'm proposing a friendly competition. In this competition, you get randomly assigned to a team of a number of people, and your team's goal is to spend a week collaborating to create a game. The goal of the competition isn't to win, although naturally there is an overall winner. The competition's real purpose is as follows:

• to foster new relationships between yourself and a number of people you haven't met prior
  
• to gain new practical experience working and cooperating with other people in a team environment
  
• to flex your creative muscle in whatever way(s) you're best at
  
• to learn from the other members of your team and benefit yourself professionally
  
• to be a part of a finished project that you're (hopefully) proud of
  

In short, this competition would be about creativity, collaboration, and cooperation. It's about the beginning of new relationships, and the start of something that can be built on in the future, based on something concrete (a game).

Qualifications for Entry

That's the trick: anyone can enter. Games can be built by people with any skill set, whether they're professional or amateur. The goal of this competition is to best use the skill sets of your assigned team to make a game -- any skill is an asset, from programming to poetry.

Not everyone is a programmer, but we live in the days of easy and accessible development tools. Here are a few examples of ways to make a game:

• A programming language, or Flash, or Game Maker, etc.
  
• A text-based game
  
• An online game -- for example, a website with interconnected links
  
• A social game -- for example, the Ben series of Majora's Mask videos on Youtube, or a roleplay
  
• A physical game -- board games, card games, puzzles etc. that don't require any tech savvy to create
  

The definition here is open-ended, and as such any skill set can be used towards finishing the task of making your team's game. What's important is the collaboration and cooperation of team members to focus these skill sets into tasks towards creating a final product.

How to Contribute and How to Enter

I don't know when this will take place, and I don't know where it will be hosted. Before that becomes clear, I need other people to let me know they're interested in developing this competition. I'll be circulating it to other websites as well, and everyone who's interested will work in a team of our own to fill out the details of this competition. In a sense, this process will mimic the competition itself! I'm really hoping to find people interested in codeveloping this competition.

If you have any interest in this competition, whether it's participating in it or helping to develop it, or both, you can email me (gdwtaylor at gmail), or private message me here, or message me on a number of social programs. You'll be informed of how to contribute and enter the competition when various stages get underway.

When the time comes to actually enter the competition, you'll give a username. You'll also be asked to talk about yourself when you join; at the very least you'll need to fill out your skill set, but you're also welcome to say a piece about yourself, about your interests, and welcome yourself into the fold. Don't sell yourself short. I don't know what the end result will be, but I'm hoping for this to be a strong social experience.

The Next Step

As the competition draws closer to beginning, each person will be randomly assigned to a team with several other people. Some care will be taken to ensure that each team has a wide skill set, but overall the selection process will be random, and it's very likely that you'll be assigned people you've never met before. Team names will be randomly assigned names from a themed list -- for example movie directors, animals, colours, foods. The team will have a grace period to meet up and get to know one another, and to discuss your skill sets and assign roles as you like.

The First Week

When the competition begins, each team will have a week to fulfill all competition requirements. These include the following equally important things:

• Creating a design document that outlines the team's plans, and adding to it (not editing) as plans shift or change. This will serve as a presentation of the project when it's all said and done, but it can also serve as an important guide for the team during the competition.
  
• Creating some sort of final product, a game of some nature. Any elements of the game will be a result of the team's skill set.
  
• Journaling the team's progress in some way. This could simply be public records of communication between you and your team (within a forum or otherwise), or blog posts, or a history within your design document itself.
  

The Second Week

When each team is done, they'll have some kind of final product to present over this second week. Ideally, this will include a finished game, but the idea process is just as important.

Judging will be very loose, and peer evaluation will play a large factor, since this is a friendly competition. Elements of a game (gameplay, plot, art, music, or anything else that each team accomplishes with their skill set) will be taken into consideration in tandem with the skill sets that each team represents, and people will give praise as well as constructive criticism. Since it is a competition about creativity, originality in concept or execution will be a factor as well. Several awards will be given out based on positive peer evaluation, including an overall award, best in categories, and awards for effective or inspiring collaboration.

Again, private message me, or send emails to gdwtaylor/gmail. Or, let me know about your interest here in this thread!

[Chase 390]

I'm interested. I'm fairly capable of developing a good script with narration and dialogue. Just don't ask me to draw.

[Princess Valhalla Hawkwind 39]

I'm interested. Not really sure what my skills are atm but lol, I'll get back to you on that.

[なべ 184]

You don't have to fill in a skill set now, I'm just gauging interest.

[pheonix561 2080]

I've tried talking to T1g and Saha about making a game before. I need to learn to use photoshop to make gifs first, though. And I'm studying Milkytracker to make 8bit tunes until I can get a better grasp on how this logic pro program works. I'm interested, yeah.

[Chimetals 344]

i can draw, but i dont have time atm, so trying to draw a crapton of sprites in a week wouldnt work....knowing my luck, itd be the week of finals or something. i also have no patience for working in the 8-bit sprite look....you know, the little blocky kind? i also have no idea how to do a gif :<

i worked on a game project last year, though, but i was the artist, not the programmer...my involvement in the game was "what do you want drawn, and how big do you want the image?". it was really fun though, even though i was just listening in to the troubleshooting.

guy1: "ok, ive got the hp damage/recovery system set up, so hitting this key simulates damage, and this key simulates a potion. the damage works--" *hits key* "--but the recovery--" *hits other key* *hp bar launches off the screen*

group: what is this i dont even

(later on, the problem was discovered, and had something to do with dividing by zero.)

so although i dont have the time, id recommend this to anyone on the fence about it....this kind of thing really is fun, even if you dont understand a word of anything not in your department of work.

[なべ 184]

Mm, I'd recommend to anyone that they should join. Working in a team of people you don't know is challenging, but super-rewarding, and hey, you'll meet new people.

Anyway, obviously this would be scheduled in a time where people aren't likely to have something like finals to do. It certainly won't be this year.

[Teto 2609]

If you're looking for any reply at all, I'll be one to say I would not be very interested in joining in on this. I can contribute ideas, I feel like I'd be okay with that, but not interested in committing myself to anything like this.

Not sure if me saying no helps with you gauging interest at all but yeah.

[なべ 184]

Mm, no's are helpful too.

In general you're just not interested?

[Teto 2609]

Pretty much. If I didn't have to commit to the project, I'd be happy to casually throw in suggestions. Just don't want to feel like I have to. If you get that.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

I've tried talking to T1g and Saha about making a game before. I need to learn to use photoshop to make gifs first, though.

You don't need to use photoshop to make gifs. :< There are a large amount of other programs, my favorite being Blumentals Easy Gif. But that's twenty dollars.

Coincidentally, I'm working on an ASCII based game for my computer science class. But I'm going it alone lol so it doesn't count.

[なべ 184]

But does the concept interest you?

[pheonix561 2080]

I'm well aware that you don't need photoshop for gifs. However, it's a program that I'm going to need to familiarize myself with, it's a program I own, and I'm picking up a tablet over christmas break anyways, so I might as well.

The concept interests me, but I can't do it before break. It would have to be when I have the time to devote myself to completing a project in under a week.

[Aethix 129]

I am sort of interested. I can program in C++, and I'm learning how to draw.

[なべ 184]

The concept interests me, but I can't do it before break. It would have to be when I have the time to devote myself to completing a project in under a week.

Next summer would be the earliest that this will happen.