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!)

JackOatley

761

June 05, 2015 02:31 PM

Aww, has it really been a year since the last one? :P

I'll join again! I do have a team but I'll have to wait for them to get back to me.

And we'll be fresh out another jam come this one... But, dat prize pool. ;)

I'll enter even if they don't though.

Team: JamCats

Members: JackOatley, +others

dmatter

4,872

June 05, 2015 03:03 PM

Slicer, I have a have a few questions to get a better handle on the new sponsors splash screen requirement if you don't mind...

Many games in past years (mine included) commit to a window resolution well before the end of the competition. I'm wondering whether the resolution of the splash screen image be defined before the competition starts? If not, will it be ok to shrink the image to fit the window, or scroll (like credits) the image if it turns out to be larger than the viewport?

I'm also curious about other technical aspects of this splashscreen which might be good to know for other contestants too. Such as: aspect ratio (or landscape vs portrait vs square), image formats (jpg/png/etc), background colour (transparent? white? black?).

How strict/loose is the requirement that it be displayed at the "start" of the game? For example, if the game has an initial startscreen with a PLAY option - should the splashscreen have appeared before reaching the startscreen or could it first appear after clicking PLAY? What if it only appeared as a credit at the end of the game instead? What if the image only shows if the users selects a SPONSORS option from the startscreen?

Oh, also, could you add me to the list of participants pretty please? (See my previous post).

David Gill :: GitHub :: twitter .

Onigiri Flash

671

June 05, 2015 08:54 PM

@slicer4ever

Hi. Just to update, I've joined team Ovensparrow.

My Music

slicer4ever

Author

6,773

June 05, 2015 10:20 PM

Aww, has it really been a year since the last one?

I'll join again! I do have a team but I'll have to wait for them to get back to me.
And we'll be fresh out another jam come this one... But, dat prize pool. ;)
I'll enter even if they don't though.

Team: JamCats
Members: JackOatley, +others

you guys did pretty solid last year, can't wait to see what comes from this year=-)

Slicer, I have a have a few questions to get a better handle on the new sponsors splash screen requirement if you don't mind...

Many games in past years (mine included) commit to a window resolution well before the end of the competition. I'm wondering whether the resolution of the splash screen image be defined before the competition starts? If not, will it be ok to shrink the image to fit the window, or scroll (like credits) the image if it turns out to be larger than the viewport?

the splashscreen is currently going to be 1280x720, expanding or shrinking to meet your resolution is perfectly fine. The splash screen may get bumped upto 1920x1080 depending on how many sponsors we may get in the coming weeks.

I'm also curious about other technical aspects of this splashscreen which might be good to know for other contestants too. Such as: aspect ratio (or landscape vs portrait vs square), image formats (jpg/png/etc), background colour (transparent? white? black?).

I'll have a basic splash screen up tomorrow night, right now it will be black, the distributed format will be png, but you are free to convert it to any format that you wish.

How strict/loose is the requirement that it be displayed at the "start" of the game? For example, if the game has an initial startscreen with a PLAY option - should the splashscreen have appeared before reaching the startscreen or could it first appear after clicking PLAY? What if it only appeared as a credit at the end of the game instead? What if the image only shows if the users selects a SPONSORS option from the startscreen?

the splash screen must appear before you reach the main menu(it may be after other splash screen(such as team name, unity/UE splash's, etc)), but it cannot be hidden in a submenu, or post-credits screen.

Oh, also, could you add me to the list of participants pretty please? (See my previous post).

I swore i added you the other day, but i must have gotten distracted before i submitted the changes, thinks for reminding me!

@slicer4ever

Hi. Just to update, I've joined team Ovensparrow.

updated, and good to hear=-)

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

theflamingskunk

1,325

June 06, 2015 06:51 AM

PM me for pesos please.

EyalD

365

June 06, 2015 11:27 AM

Cant believe its been a year already...
Its so good to see this again!
I might be competing aswell, I'm in the army this time... But might be able to compete, good luck to everybody!

Btw is XNA still on the table?

MarioLuigiMan

216

June 06, 2015 12:39 PM

@slicer4ever

Hi. Just to update, I've joined team Ovensparrow.

@slicer4ever could you please replace member ovensparrow with Onigiri Flash. So that way it is

Team: The Ovensparrow

Members: Marioluigiman, Onigiri Flash

Website: ovensparrow.github.io

Thanks in advance

Wyrframe

2,489

June 06, 2015 05:40 PM

Signup interest, checking in.

Team: Moonshot Software

Members: just Wyrframe at present

(no website/blog)

RIP GameDev.net: launched 2 unusably-broken forum engines in as many years, and now has ceased operating as a forum at all, happy to remain naught but an advertising platform with an attached social media presense, headed by a staff who by their own admission have no idea what their userbase wants or expects.Here's to the good times; shame they exist in the past.

WASDMagician

210

June 06, 2015 10:33 PM

Sign me up!

Team: Oddfellow Games

Members: WASDMagician

Elit3d

359

June 06, 2015 10:42 PM

Team: SmokeyBacon
Members: Elit3d
Website/Blog/Twitter handle: http://www.kyle-thomas.com | http://blog.kyle-thomas.com

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

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

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