Gameathon 2009

Post by **Mogri** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:06 pm

Gameathon is back for 2009! No signups are necessary unless you'd like to judge. You can both judge and enter; see below for details.

Previous Gameathon thread

What is Eligible

Any game uploaded to Castle Paradox or Slime Salad between February 1 and March 15 (inclusive) is an entry in the contest. There are no signups; every entry will be judged. The contest ends at 12:00am PST March 16.

While the contest is called "Gameathon," it is not restricted to games. Non-games like OHR House are also considered for entry.

Winning the Contest

Every game you upload will be judged by the entire panel of judges. They will award you points:

0 points: The game has little merit.
1 point: The game is okay.
2 points: The game is good or enjoyable. (Re-releases may not earn two points.)

Judges are encouraged not to be stingy with the zero and two point categories. A game doesn't have to be great to get two points; it doesn't have to be abominable to be worth zero points.

Judges will keep track of points given to each game and will PM me their score sheets at the end of the contest. I will give the score breakdowns for all of the games. Each judge will also award any ONE game an additional 2 points at the end of the contest as Best of Show.

A game's score is the combined point total from all judges. An author's final score is the combined score of all of the games he helped create. The author with the highest score wins.

Judges

There is currently no judge panel. Sign up here to be a judge!

Judges are required to play at least the first ten minutes of any entry before judging it. A judge may not award his own game Best of Show. If a judge gives his own game a higher score than any other judge, that score is reduced to the highest score given by any other judge. Judges are expected to play all entries.

A game's score is the sum of all judges' scores. (If for some reason a judge is unable to play a given game, his vote will be the average of all other judges' votes for that game.)

Bonus Points

Similar to the design missions from the Epic Marathon contest, bonus points add 1 point to your overall score. You can score only one bonus point per entry and you can only score on each rule once.

1. Featuring as an important character any three of the following: a pirate, a ninja, a robot, a zombie, a vampire, or a cowboy. (You must have three different characters -- three zombies or one zombie-cowboy-ninja doesn't count.)
2. Using the default battle engine to do something other than an RPG battle. (I will be fairly liberal with this one. Be creative!)
3. Including an original composition as one of the game's songs. (This should be composed by someone credited as an author for the game, but it doesn't have to be a new song made just for the game.)
4. Scripting a new engine for the game. (This could make the game a sidescroller, for example, or just give it a new battle engine. This counts even if you didn't write the script.)
5. Creating a game without any traditional fantasy elements. (This includes swords, crystals, dragons, magic, etc.)
6. Making character stats influence gameplay out of battle. (For example, using Agility to determine if you can pick an NPC's pocket.)
7. Replacing experience and levels with a different method of stat growth. (Any method of stat growth besides the default is acceptable.)
8. Qualifying for at least three other tiebreaker points in a single entry. (You still only receive one tiebreaker point for the entry.)
Extra Bonus: If an author scores all 8 other bonus points, he receives additional bonus points equal to the number of Gameathon judges. (Note that you would need to release at least 8 games -- one for each bonus point -- to qualify for this extra bonus.)

I will be judging the bonus points. I plan on being lenient on most of these so as to allow for creativity. You may include in your game's readme which tiebreakers you feel your game qualifies to earn, but be aware that my decision is final.

An author's entries will be awarded the highest number of bonus points possible for that author. This means, for example, that if two authors collaborate on a game, they could each receive a different bonus point for that game.

Each rule is worth one point, even though some rules are harder to achieve than others. A game that earned zero points from all judges may still receive a bonus point.

Mazin · Post by **Mazin** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:17 am

Hooray! I'd like to be a judge again this round.

Twinconclusive · Post by **Twinconclusive** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:34 pm

1. Featuring as an important character any three of the following: a pirate, a ninja, a robot, a zombie, a vampire, or a cowboy. (You must have two different characters -- two zombies or one zombie-cowboy doesn't count.)

6. Making character stats influence gameplay out of battle. (For example, using Agility to determine if you can pick an NPC's pocket.)

7. Replacing experience and levels with a different method of stat growth. (Any method of stat growth besides the default is acceptable.)

My current project is using these, and only these.

Post by **Mogri** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:29 pm

It sounds amazing

Mystic · Post by **Mystic** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:10 pm

Is there some sort of minimum time of gameplay?

Not that I would try to circumvent making a good game or anything, but I'm actually considering trying to get every bonus point. Some games may end up being a bit on the short side, and more like mini games.

Additionally, there aren't any sort of rules on sharing graphics/music/etc. in between games or anything, are there? I'm pretty bad at graphics, so when I end up with something that I like, I'll probably end up using it a lot, especially with how many simultaneous projects this may end up including.

Post by **Mogri** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:09 am

The only rules are the ones stated, though you're likely to get voted down if the judges think you're wasting their time.

You may be overestimating the value of bonus points. Supposing there are five judges (which is a likely number), a single game can score up to ten points, 11 with a bonus point, and 21 if it's unanimously voted best of show. In contrast, the maximum number of bonus points available in that case would be 13. So, bonus points notwithstanding, you're probably better off releasing high-quality games than a high quantity of games.

Mystic · Post by **Mystic** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:10 pm

Perhaps over estimating the value of bonus points in trying to win, but viewing them as a set of conditions to restrict (+add creativity) game design, well, I like them.

Each game I make would be quality controlled of course, I wouldn't release something I wouldn't play myself or something I wouldn't want others to play.

Plus, you are asking for it by including that extra bonus, I saw that as some sort of personal challenge.

Post by **Mogri** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:02 pm

GAME ON

I'll start things off right with an update to Super Concentration Headache Battle Warrior. It will also be available in the February edition of Hamsterspeak (coming out tomorrow, probably).

Have fun and remember to make games!

(Note to judges: If you volunteered to judge, you're a judge. I'll PM everyone soon.)

Post by **Mogri** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:46 pm

Judge List
Mariel
Mazin (CP: Iblis)
TMC
maybe me?

It's not too late to decide you want to judge! I'd like to have at least five judges.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 9:06 pm

I posted it on castle paradox but sometimes 1 forum just isn't enough!:

Ok I'll judge

plus I need to work off my slimebuck debt

<------

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:41 am

so... am I a judge? If so how do I sumbit my votes? slimesalad message to you?

Post by **Mogri** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:55 am

I haven't sent out the judge messages yet, but I think you're a judge.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:08 am

o i c

Post by **Mogri** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:45 am

Big fat reminder: You've got a week to release everything. Do it.

Post by **Mogri** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:42 pm

To make things easiest on the judges, please just apply the 0-2 scale for all games. I'll apply the caps as necessary.

The 0-2 scale is discretionary, but it should be pretty intuitive: 0 is for games that were a waste of your time, 2 is for games you enjoyed, and 1 is somewhere in between.

Remember that you're only required to play each game for 10 minutes. If you want to play it longer, by all means go ahead, but remember that judging doesn't have to be a time-consuming process. I'd like to have all the votes by the end of the month.

Here is I think a full release list from the beginning of the contest until now. I forget if the deadline was the beginning of today or the end of today, but if it was the former, I'll give everyone a day's grace period.

Slime Salad
Super Concentration Headache Battle Warrior by me (R)
Galaxy Arms by Chenzi (R)
OHR House Heroes - Week Six by RMZ (R)
Test of Normality by beau_rl (New)
The KER-saders by Spoonweaver (New)
The Long Journey Home by Camdog (New)
OHR House 3 - On the Plantation by JSH (R)
The Wizard's Bomb by Camdog (New)
The Ritual by Camdog (R)
Tim-Tim "The Mighty Gnome" by Spoonweaver (New)
Spoonweaver by Spoonweaver (New)
Timpoline by me (R)

Castle Paradox (omitting duplicates)
Midorime by Buni Pickney (New)
The Quest for the Bone by ringthehat (New)
Tightfloss Maiden by Pepsi Ranger (R)
Olmin's Game by the_dude257 (New)

Unfortunately, CP doesn't have a way to see all games that were uploaded since a certain date, so I'm not sure if there were any re-releases exclusive to CP. It would help if IM could confirm this list.