The Week of Awesome III - The third annual unofficial gamedev.net competition! - Administration thread - GDNet Lounge

Tim · 2015-08-21T15:53:32

The Week of Awesome IIIThe third annual week of awesome is here folks! and today i've the pleasure to announce the changes that are to come for this years competition. some highlights include reorganizing all and clarification on several rules, an additional prize to post-reviewers, and sponsors will now get something for adding anything to the prize pool! for last years competition, see this thread: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/660249-the-week-of-awesome-ii-the-second-annual-unofficial-gamedev-competition/, with judges thread: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/661418-the-week-of-awesome-ii-the-judge-thread/ and the first year: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/645699-upcoming-unofficial-gamedev-competition/ Be sure to check out what prizes we have this year as well, already we have doubled the prize values from last year! with that out of the way, let's get down to business:the competition has begun!the competition is over, see the judging/afterparty thread hereDates:[spoiler]This years competition will be held from August 10th, 00:01 (EST timezone) to August 16th (23:59 EST timezone).[/spoiler]Where:[spoiler]Right here, on gamedev.net will be where the majority of the competition will be handling updating, and information handling. I'm also planning this year to periodically compile twitter posts that use the #gdnjam tags during the competition![/spoiler]Rules:[spoiler]Some minor changes have been made to the rules this year(see the bolded rules): There will be a theme The theme will be announced at midnight when the competition begins; games must incorporate the theme in some way Games must be made during the 7 day period of the competition (i.e. you can't submit a game you made previously or are making now) You may use any library, game engine, tools, art, or audio to develop the game, provided you have the appropriate license to do so (if licensing is required for what you use); note that this means you may use code, art, and audio that you or others may have made in the past (the explicit limitation is that you may not use existing game logic (i.e. you may use libraries and engines, but you still have to actually make the game during the 7 day period)) however this does not mean you can create assets specifically for your game prior to the start of the competition, this includes outsourcing work to others, or making assets for what your general idea for a game will be. the bottom line is that if the asset existed before the idea for your game, it is ok to use, but it is not to ok to create something specifically for your game before the start of the competition. You may target any platform (but at least 3 judges must play your game, so if you develop for something the judges don't have, you can't be accepted as an entry; see the supported platforms list below for what can be developed for.) People may work in teams of up to 4 people (a person may only be on one team, though), I have decided to allow for one additional person per each team. Games must work on the judges' platforms (that is, if you have a bug in your program and it works fine on your computer but not on a judge's, you must fix it for it to be judged (during the 7 day period; no work/updates/fixes may be done after the 7 days); at least 3 judges must be able to evaluate it for it to be accepted as an entry) Games must now include a sponsors splash screen at the start of the game, that either lasts for a minimum of 2 seconds, or a button is used to bypass the splash screen. Not including this splashscreen will disqualify you from entry, the final splash screen will be provided 48 hours before the end of the competition. Games will be preferably distributed as stand-alone startables(this means your game shouldn't install itself on the platform. This allows for easier access to testing, and distribution of the games in large packages. Although this doesn't mean disqualification, it will be preferred. Any online game must be provided in an offline format when submitting the game.Major highlight of changes: 4 people can be on a team, clarification on what qualify's as prior asset usage, and the addition of a splash screen at the beginning of the game.[/spoiler]Supported Platforms:[spoiler]Supported platforms that are guaranteed to be used by the at least 3 judges: Windows 7, 8 Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer Linuxplease note that this list will change, and is just a preliminary list of what is supported. all platforms supported will be finalized at least 72 hours before the competition begins.[/spoiler]Judging Criteria:[spoiler] I believe last year we struck an excellent balance for what points go to each category, as such no changes will be made to this year's competitions. However, please note that the method of being awarded participation points well be further clarified. Gameplay/fun factor: 25 pts Graphics: 20 pts (that is, does it look good, aesthetically, and do the graphics contribute to or detract from the game experience?) (note: it's not a contest of who has the most realistic graphics; rather, this category is about how well the graphics help the game express itself and create an engaging experience for the user) Theme: 20 pts (that is, how well the game incorporates the theme) Audio: 10 pts (similar to the above, but with audio) First time user experience: 10 pts (that is, is it easy to install and run and start playing?) (clarification: your game doesn't need an installer; in fact, a download-and-play (without an installing process) is probably even preferable; what I meant by "easy to install" is that it includes all the necessary dependencies (or has good instructions for obtaining/installing necessary dependencies) such that a user can easily run you game without having to fight it; you'll also want to include at least some minimal instructions or a tutorial/in-game hints/tips). Participation: 10pts(that is, you post to the relevant threads on your progress, post dev journals, and in general participate with the rest of us rather than locking yourself away until your done. you don't have to go overboard, but a post every couple days with what your doing/upto will likely net you these 10 pnts) Judges score: 5 pnts(this score is up to each individual judge, with no individual category to hold them down, overall it's up to each judge to define what criteria they will choose for this category!)Participation will change slightly, you are free to post blog updates, dev journals, and twitter updates and such, but you must drop the link into the competition thread(That is not this thread, but a thread which will be running during the competition) last year i made alot of extra effort to track down blog posts from folks you didn't post very often what they were doing(although they made posts into their own respective blogs). so please remember to post at least the links into the competition thread! also, based on what i saw from last year's competition, i've also written up few guidelines for our judges as well to follow: Remember each game is only built in the 7 days, so not all functionality may be straight forward, if you can't figure out a game, give them some leniency and contact the lead dev, this can reflect in the FTUE, or even the judge category, but should not spill into the other respective category's! I will generate the participation points i feel each team has obtained, each judge is free to figure out their own points, or simply use the numbers i distribute, expecting each judge to read through every persons dev blog, journal, and post is a daunting task, and I won't expect each judge has the time to dedicate to such a task, but you are certainly free to do so. don't normalize your results, yes this is a competition, but don't explicility boost/lower scores so that you have a linear worse->best of all the games, if we end up with ties in the prizes category's, we'll deal with how to resolve them then Please stick to whole points, and no half point system. I expect each judge to include at least 2 or 3 sentences about each game, so please remember to write down your thoughts on the games directly afterwards![/spoiler]Splashscreen:[spoiler]http://i.imgur.com/sC42nGU.pngThis splashscreen must appear before the main menu of the game is reached, please see the rules for what is expected of the splash screen![/spoiler]Prizes and sponsors:[spoiler]This year i will be putting up 600$ to the prize pool, but we are also including a reviewers prize as well to the person who takes the most time to write up reviews on all the games(or as many as they can do.) We will also be adding a sponsors splash screen for anyone who wants to contribute to the prize pool(see below for details)First place 1000$ USD 1 PC copy of GTAV 1 year license per team member for Houdini IndieSecond place 450$ USD 1 PC copy of GTAV 1 year license per team member for Houdini IndieThird place 275$ USD 1 year license per team member for Houdini IndieFourth place 175$ USDFifth place 100$ USDReviewer prize 100$ USD 1 PC copy of GTAVThe reviewer prize will be given to the person who does the best overall reviews of as many games as they possible can. I will be clear however that this will be an arbitrary decision made by me, and not by the judging panel. you must drop a link to your reviews in the judging thread to be considered for this prize, it would be best to follow the judging criteria above to have the best odds of being the winner. All participants will also receive site rep(with the winners receiving additional rep!) Please note that all cash prizes will be distributed though paypal(if you don't have paypal i'll work with you to figure something else), each winner must also claim their prizes within 30 days of the winners announcement thread. cash well attempt to be distributed to all members, however if need be the money will be given to the team leader. The copys of GTAV will be gifted through the rockstar social club, as such an account with the rockstar social club will be required to receive a copy of GTAV. The Houdini Indie linceses will be distributed by ben mears once winners are announced. They are also providing temporary licenses for the competition and to get familar with the software before hand, if you'd like one, please pm ben mears or email him at: ben@sidefx.com List of sponsors 1000$ USD - stormynature 600$ USD - slicer4ever - LiquidGames click here to find info on some of the games i've made! 300$ USD, 3 Copys of GTAV - theflamingskunk 1 year licenses for Houdini Indie, a 3D software for creating art, animation, and effects - ben mears - Houdini is a procedural approach to content creation that involves building node networks that define a “recipe” to create detailed game art that can be applied over and over. You can wrap up these networks to create custom “smart” assets that are built by artists for artists. And with recent technological advancements, these assets can be loaded into game editors such as Unity or Unreal Engine or even custom game editors using a simple API. 200$ USD - lactoseBecoming a sponsor To become a sponsor, drop a message in this thread and i will pm you, or pm me directly. Becoming a sponsor gives you a name, link and small description to add to the splash screen as well as a 64x64 logo image next to your entry. please note that if you wish to contribute with a monetary prize, i must have your contribution before the start of the competition, i also must have your final link, text, and image at least 72 hours before the end of the competition.[/spoiler]Judges:[spoiler]This year i'm aiming for 7 judges to split into 2 teams to halve the overall workload(i plan to still do all the games to add a 4th judge to all games) list of judges so far: http://www.gamedev.net/user/146744-slicer4ever/ http://www.gamedev.net/user/89462-servant-of-the-lord/ http://www.gamedev.net/user/47521-swiftcoder/ http://www.gamedev.net/user/200374-migi0027-????/ http://www.gamedev.net/user/69073-cozzie/ http://www.gamedev.net/user/203442-theflamingskunk/ http://www.gamedev.net/user/136081-nightcreature83/[/spoiler]Participating Teams: [spoiler] Team: Slaughterhouse Gaming Members: riuthamus, shadowisadog, ByteTroll, DKoding Website: http://www.riuthamus.com/ Team: New Old Things Members: endurion Website: http://www.georg-rottensteiner.de Team: BecauseNerdsCanBSexy2 Members: Alienguard, Muscat88 Website: - Team: Ovensparrow Members: MarioLuigiMan, Onigiri Flash Website: ovensparrow.github.io Team: Team YAG Members: lede, zylick, and janderson2005 Website: http://www.etekworld.com/teamyag Team: Pink Elephant Member: Markypooch Website: - Team: JamCats Members: JackOatley, Speedchuck, HayManMarc Website: - Team: dmatter Members: dmatter Website: - Team: Moonshot Software Members: Wyrframe Website: - Team: Oddfellow Games Members: WASDMagician Website: - Team: SmokeyBacon Members: Elit3d Website: http://www.kyle-thomas.com | http://blog.kyle-thomas.com Team Name: Bang Bang Attack Studios Team Members: Developer_X + wife. Website: - TeamName: Unicore Members: Orymus3 Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2070-the-week-of-awesome-iii/ Team Name : Aletheia Game Studios Members: Cefleet, Matthew P., Rebecca V., Anna F. Website: http://aletheiagamestudio.com/category/week-of-awesome-3/ Team: 581eGliese Members: Prot , topkek Website/Blog/Twitter handle: Twitter Team: StoutWalrus Members: ArThor Website: - Team: Lone Wolf Members: Mr. Lawliet Website: - Team name: aroymart Team members: aroymart Website: http://grasspunch.com/ Team name: Sjs-Studio Team members: stenol26 Website: http://sjs-studio.com/en/ Team: Thaumic Games Members: Thaumaturge Blog link: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1923-thaumaturges-journal/ Team: DifferentName Member: DifferentName Website: differentname.com Team: SpaghettiSauce Members: __Toz__ Website: - Team: SwankyPants Members: Aielemental Twitter handle: aielemental Team: mousetail Members: mousetail Website: - Team name: Melkon Members: Melkon Website: - Team: Casey Hardman Members: Casey Hardman Twitter: @Casey_Hardman Team: Flamingkiwi Members: Flamingkiwi Website: https://twitter.com/Flaming__Kiwi Team: CodeMus Members: IYP, GTE, newtechnology, iDingo Web: - Team name: Mud Pit Members: Lactose + artist Website: - Team name: gamedevis Members: AngeReveur Website: http://gamedevis.cool Team Name: Luneyco Members: Lunero and a friend Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Luneyco/968467719848587 Team Name: Arglebargle Members: Arglebargle Website: https://twitter.com/mister_Kipper Team: Great White North Productions Members: XXChester, MusicboxDancer Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/908-xxchesters-blog/ Team: Business Enterprise Members: Calinabris (Aehdan McLean) Website/Blog/Twitter handle: http://calinabris.deviantart.com/ Team Name: hu3 team Members: rodolfodth, devn00b Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2099-hu3-team-woa-iii/ , http://www.twitter.com/rodolfodth Team name: Something Fun Members: ryan20fun Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1924-ryan20funs-journal-of-rasterisation/ Team: Koding Nights Members: dkoding Web: http://www.darkdroid.com [/spoiler]People looking for teammates[spoiler]People looking for teammates, please either post what you are looking for, or what skills you have to offer! also be sure to update if you fill your position, or join a team.onigiri-flash is looking for potential teammates to tackle the WoA with!jaap85 is looking for a team to join, and has experiance in XNA and C#seraphlance is looking to join a team, he has C#, C++, python, experiance. and some modeling experiencederekl is looking to form a team, he is proficient in any language. and may have an artist friend to help.hyperfine is looking for a team to join, he is proficient with c++, SDL, QT, and pythonmelkon is looking for someone to join him, he plans to use c++ and sfml, so if you'd like to join him, send him a message!riuthamus team members are going to be busy this week, and is looking for another team to join. he is a pretty damn good artist![/spoiler]This thread is both here for asking questions, and telling us you will be competing, as we like to get an idea of how many people to expect. so please post a team name for your team, as well as your members(and be sure to drop an update to us if the team members change) please try to follow the following format for declaring your team:Team:Members: , , ,Website/Blog/Twitter handle:try to be creative folks with your name!(please remember the sites rules still apply here!)

__Toz__

320

August 09, 2015 07:51 PM

Hey guys! I've been working like a maniac getting some more features in my game library to work. Which is why I haven't been posting much. The good news however is that I'm completely prepared now. I've even made a journal:

http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2100-inside-the-blizzard/

Just like Thaumaturge and Lactose I've also made a preparation post, but since slicer requested it, I will post it in the competition thread when it is up instead of here.

slicer4ever

Author

6,773

August 09, 2015 08:08 PM

Just another question on the splash screen: Are we allowed to resize it (on the premise to keep it legible) or would it be possible to provide the splash screen in the most common sizes?

1280 x 720 is annoyingly widescreen.

resizing is perfectly fine.

Are we allowed to modify the splashscreen in any way, or is it to be used strictly as is? E.g. highlighting the current game's team with a border or other graphic.
this is perfectly acceptable. so long as the splashscreen doesn't see any major modifications which would cover up the sponsors text, you can feel free to modify it to reflect anything you'd like to add(such as highlighting your team, or placing a "press any key to continue" text onto it.)

I'm not sure as to whether you can remove the team information (which is not part of the sponsor info at the center) and redo the whole splashscreen with the same sponsor information with different fonts/color/visual direction in general though.

Resizing, and doing minor alterations to fit your game is fine, but redoing the entire splashscreen is not fine. I know it isn't the best work of art, but in general I'd like to keep it as something quickly recognizable while we are judging the games.

also, great to have you with us!

Hey guys! I've been working like a maniac getting some more features in my game library to work. Which is why I haven't been posting much. The good news however is that I'm completely prepared now. I've even made a journal:

http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2100-inside-the-blizzard/

Just like Thaumaturge and Lactose I've also made a preparation post, but since slicer requested it, I will post it in the competition thread when it is up instead of here.

Great to see! but yes be sure to drop it into the competition thread so that it adds to your participation points!

8 hours to kickoff folks!

Check out https://www.facebook.com/LiquidGames for some great games made by me on the Playstation Mobile market.

riuthamus

8,390

August 09, 2015 08:32 PM

Slicer, did you update the main thread with the link to the splash screens and this years comp thread?

slicer4ever

Author

6,773

August 09, 2015 08:44 PM

Slicer, did you update the main thread with the link to the splash screens and this years comp thread?

uh...we still have a little over 7 hours until the competition thread will be created. as for the splashscreen, it is under it's own category in the main post and can be downloaded there.

Check out https://www.facebook.com/LiquidGames for some great games made by me on the Playstation Mobile market.

riuthamus

8,390

August 09, 2015 08:51 PM

Slicer, did you update the main thread with the link to the splash screens and this years comp thread?

uh...we still have a little over 7 hours until the competition thread will be created. as for the splashscreen, it is under it's own category in the main post and can be downloaded there.

Odd, the image was not loading earlier, anyway i got it, thanks! <3

DKoding

246

August 09, 2015 09:52 PM

Hi, I have a question regarding the rules.

It says 'existing game logic' not allowed.

I have a custom made game engine that handles controller input, runs a render loop and manages game states, menu screen, loading screens, handling of loading resources, texture packing etc - I guess this is not considered 'game logic' so it is perfectly fine to use this as a basis for a game?

Gamedev journal: http://darkdroid.com

Homepage: http://www.kodingnights.com

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kodingnights

slicer4ever

Author

6,773

August 09, 2015 09:53 PM

Hi, I have a question regarding the rules.

It says 'existing game logic' not allowed.
I have a custom made game engine that handles controller input, runs a render loop and manages game states, menu screen, loading screens, handling of loading resources, texture packing etc - I guess this is not considered 'game logic' so it is perfectly fine to use this as a basis for a game?

correct.

Check out https://www.facebook.com/LiquidGames for some great games made by me on the Playstation Mobile market.

Stormynature

5,198

August 09, 2015 11:17 PM

Well I am headed off shortly to put a roof over the wood shed at my folks house, which means I won't be around for the start of the crazy. I wish all participants the best of luck and just remember to stay healthy and relatively stress free. I look forward to reading about your progression and playing your entries.