Heart of the OHR Contest 2016

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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Foxley
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Post by Foxley »

Now that I've rescoped things for this contest and trimmed down my Trello boards, I'm actually doing pretty good to be on schedule for August 1st. 95% of the text has been edited and inserted into text boxes, only need a handful of additional map graphics and NPC walkabouts that really need to be done. Main things that need doing are battle backdrops and scripts, as well as music.

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Pepsi Ranger
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RedMaverickZero wrote:Is there any chance we could extend the deadline by a couple of weeks maybe? I'm working insanely hard to get my finished game ready in time for this contest and I'm kind of worried I won't have enough time.
I've already answered this question through e-mail, but I want to go ahead and address it for anyone else who may be in the same situation and thinks they may need an extension.

Anyone who's been here long enough knows that I care more about the quality of the contest entries (and the contest itself) than the arbitrary dates I set for closing the window. Although I prefer to keep my deadlines in place, I'm also empathetic to the circumstances that can prevent deadlines from being met. This is why Heart of the OHR (and Epic Marathon before it) is notorious for its extensions.

As I told RMZ privately, I don't want to make a decision about deadline extensions just yet. I'd rather see what the need is as we get closer to the end. Part of this reasoning is to curb the likelihood of deadline abuse occurring. What tends to happen is that I make a decision to extend the deadline about a month in advance, and suddenly half of the potential contestants use that as an excuse to slack off, and when the new deadline approaches, they are in the same exact place or even further behind than where they would've been at the first deadline, had I just kept it as is.

Obviously, I don't want to do that. So, at this time, July 31st remains the fixed deadline for the initial upload. However, if there's a real need for an extension, I'll consider implementing it during the last week of July.

If I do extend it, it will be for an additional month. But only a month. And only if it's proven necessary.

That will be my official ruling on this for now.

That said, I don't want people refusing to participate because they need a couple more weeks to finish, so an extension is very possible. But let's make sure we actually need it. Productivity surges do happen on occasion, and it may be that July 31st provides just enough time to reach the end. Then the extension is no longer necessary, and now we have 2-4 weeks of filler.

You guys are welcome to debate this if you'd like. I am curious what the state of affairs is on your games. How likely are you to finish by the first deadline?
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Gizmog
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Post by Gizmog »

I'm unlikely to get anything done no matter what the deadline and I hope that you will ignore any and all requests for an extension. Why? Because every god damn contest has one and it sets a bad precedent. People can't make the deadline because the lack discipline.. they get an extension. Next time rolls around, same story.

Slam the door in their face so hard they remember the shame and let it motivate 'em next time. There's been ample time. Everyone knew the contest was coming up for like two years now, time can't possibly be an actual argument.
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Post by Taco Bot »

I agree with Gizmog. Give me two inches of wiggle room and I'll slime out. I have enough content done to enter, but I absolutely deplore my story and want to rewrite it from scratch. So I'll use the next month to try to do that, but if that doesn't pan out, there's always the version that's my second best.

But hey, second best is better than nothing, and if I can pump out a game, I expect every one of you to be able to.
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Foxley
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Post by Foxley »

Somewhat likely, now that I've postponed a whole town+dungeon area. If I hadn't done that, it would have been impossible by July 31st. I may have to cut some corners but that's fine, I'll fill in the details when I come up with a more complete demo for general release sometime in Fall.

Personally I think that you should hold a vote shortly before the scheduled end of the contest to ask everyone if they feel that they've gotten their project together well enough to represent the creative ideas and work that they've put into it. If it's heavily skewed towards people needing more time, do it. If not, don't. That way nobody will be able to count on having extra time and subconsciously using it as a justification to slack off, since they won't know how other people will vote.
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Post by Ichiro »

I just have enough for exposition. I haven't even made the first "dungeon" yet.
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Post by Idontknow »

I'm about one cut scene away from finishing the game demo I planned on releasing for the contest. It's pretty unpolished and there are a lot of things that need to be touched up (mostly a bunch of butt ugly graphics, map weirdness and odd quirks caused by me entering attack and/or shop data in wrong), but after I finish that final cut scene it would be playable from start to finish, albeit a bit janky and probably unbalanced.

Overall I'm pretty sure I could get my entry done by July 31. If there was an extension I'd likely improve a few more graphics and add an extra cutscene+boss that the demo wasn't supposed to reach, so I'm not fully opposed to one happening.
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guo
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Post by guo »

I vote no extension, hard.
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Post by BMR »

I'm going to vote against an extension as well, although the fact that I'm not entering this year may invalidate my vote somewhat. But Giz is right, the contest has been two years coming, should have been plenty of time to get something together.
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Post by Feenicks »

kylekrack wrote:Fingers crossed.
Nice, but it's phoenix; my username's mispelled.

Anyway, I think I've finally stopped starting and stopping these project ideas, so hopefully I can throw something together in this last month.
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The theme is monster girl-related, obviously
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Gizmog
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Post by Gizmog »

I also vote that HOTOHR should leave the European Union. #AllTheCoolKidsAreDoingIt
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Post by Mogri »

But what will happen to the value of the Slimebuck???
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BMR
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Post by BMR »

No! My slime retirement fund!
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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Foxley wrote:Personally I think that you should hold a vote shortly before the scheduled end of the contest to ask everyone if they feel that they've gotten their project together well enough to represent the creative ideas and work that they've put into it. If it's heavily skewed towards people needing more time, do it. If not, don't. That way nobody will be able to count on having extra time and subconsciously using it as a justification to slack off, since they won't know how other people will vote.
I tend to do this anyway. As I said in the last post, I care more about the quality of the games (and let's be honest, the submission of the games) than sticking to a hard deadline. If the majority need it, I'll likely bend it.

But I really don't want to for the same reasons that Giz, BMR, and others opposed give. I don't like giving anyone any incentive to slack off. I'm all for needed breaks. But not for procrastination, distraction, or feature-creeping (all of the things I'm at risk of falling into myself). I do feel like deadline extensions support the above, so I'm always hesitant.

I guess the main reason why I'd still consider it is because I know what it's like to bust my butt on a project and still miss getting in everything I want, including an ending, because my ideas were just a little too big for the given deadline, and that's one of the main reasons why I don't enter contests anymore. So, when someone who's definitely NOT procrastinating is asking for an extension because he knows he needs seven weeks to finish, not five, I want to at least consider it.

But I won't make this decision before the last week of July. I just wanted to get some feedback on the topic to weigh in my considerations. Thanks for adding in your input, guys.
Gizmog wrote:I also vote that HOTOHR should leave the European Union. #AllTheCoolKidsAreDoingIt
The negotiations for our exit are already in place. We're just waiting for our representative to put down his Steam controller and sign the papers.
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Post by Taco Bot »

#CULateOHR
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