The Littlest Game contest

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:42 pm

You'd think that, but people have been big babies over "no ripped graphics" and "no plotscripting" limitations in the recent past.

The lack of sound limits is essential to my plan so please don't change that Brother Mog. Also my game will not be retro at all somehow.

Post by **Mogri** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:50 pm

I considered a no-graphics, audio-only CYOA that would have you press a button at the appropriate time to make a choice. Even if you had incredible writing, the interface would make it kind of a pain to play.

Color depth, rank IV: You get one color.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:56 pm

That's exactly what I've got in mind and I think the interface and explanation I've worked up for it is really good. I'll say no more!!

Post by **Mogri** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 10:04 pm

ADDITIONAL CLARIFICATION

Area
Any sort of scrolling or camera-panning disqualifies you for Rank III, even if the map itself does not move.

Resolution
As noted above, the game area cannot exceed 6400 total pixels for rank III.

Controls
Using a mouse or other peripheral disqualifies you for rank III.

Color depth
At rank I, you can palette-swap freely. You may not palette-swap at rank III. The challenge only applies to the actual play area, and engine-provided fading (such as for doors and battles) does not break this challenge.

Graphics
If you are using an increased pixel size (for a low-res look), then you can substitute the actual graphic types accordingly, as long as everything would have fit into your challenge restriction at the normal resolution. Note that the engine does not support a low-res font; a blown-up font will not count against your graphic limits.

If you are wondering if your idea meets a certain challenge, please ask. You don't want to find out after you make your game that you aren't getting the points you thought you would.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 2:24 am

This is an awesome idea for a contest and come January I'm totally in.

shakeyair · Post by **shakeyair** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:33 am

Border graphic fonts okay? I'm assuming we don't actually have to fit text onto the playing area, but it seemed a little more legit this way.

Wondering if I ought to bring it down to 2 colors?

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:41 am

it could only help.

Post by **Mogri** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:34 am

shakeyair wrote:I'm assuming we don't actually have to fit text onto the playing area, but it seemed a little more legit this way.

You do indeed need to fit all of your game into the area allotted for it. You may use a static border, but if any game elements spill over -- including HUD, text, etc. -- it will count against you.

shakeyair · Post by **shakeyair** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:09 am

Mogri wrote: You do indeed need to fit all of your game into the area allotted for it. You may use a static border, but if any game elements spill over -- including HUD, text, etc. -- it will count against you.

Ooh. If anyone else needs a custom text engine and cannot figure it out from the survival horror tech demo i recently uploaded, let me know. I recently just adapted the text engine to work in this project, so I am pretty aware of what you need to do to make it work 'out-of-context.' It isn't terribly difficult. If I have time I'll upload a game where all it is is a custom textbox engine, but no promises.

Does the border need to be static? Mine, as planned, is going to change somewhat. It is not going to have any effect on gameplay. Is that okay or would I be counted off for it? If you need more details I can PM you exactly what I had planned, but I'd rather not reveal it to everyone.

Post by **Mogri** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 4:56 pm

Your border does not need to be fully static, but it should be ignorant of the game state. If you have specific questions, you can ask them here or PM me.

Willy Elektrix · Post by **Willy Elektrix** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:46 pm

I am using square playing area with borders. However, the player's score displays in the bottom left corner of this bordered area because I am using the "show value" command. Will I penalized for this?

Likewise, some of my text boxes overlap the borders of the square. This is because the default text box size is as long as the screen. Will I be penalized for this as well?

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:53 pm

Code: Select all

show value where I want it, val, begin
 $0=""
 append number&#40;0, val&#41;
 show string at&#40;0, 60, 140&#41;
end

Post by **Mogri** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:01 am

Willy Elektrix wrote:I am using square playing area with borders. However, the player's score displays in the bottom left corner of this bordered area because I am using the "show value" command. Will I penalized for this?

Use James's script. Change the numbers to show it somewhere else.

Likewise, some of my text boxes overlap the borders of the square. This is because the default text box size is as long as the screen. Will I be penalized for this as well?

If your text fits in the game area, you will not be penalized. Alternatively, bug James to whip up a script to resize the text box

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:39 am

If you are using a current nightly build, TMC made some changes to the text box slices to make them easier to resize.

I haven't tested this code, but I thing something like this will work:

Code: Select all

script, shrink text box, box id, begin
  variable&#40;sl&#41;
  show text box&#40;box id&#41;
  sl &#58;= lookup slice&#40;sl&#58;textbox box&#41;
  set slice width&#40;sl, 100&#41;
  set slice x&#40;sl, 110&#41;
end

You will have to play with that to get the size right, but I think the basic idea is correct. (If it doesn't work at all, let me know!)

Willy Elektrix · Post by **Willy Elektrix** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 2:29 am

Bob the Hamster wrote:

Code: Select all

show value where I want it, val, begin
 $0=""
 append number&#40;0, val&#41;
 show string at&#40;0, 60, 140&#41;
end

Thanks for this. I used this script to make the score display in a very clever way. I'm pleased.

Slime Salad

The Littlest Game contest

Re: The Littlest Game contest