Pavilion Contest: Something New

[Wavelength]

The newest Pavilion Contest is one that everyone can participate in, and if you aren't a seasoned pro with the software... all the better!

In the Something New contest, you have four months and your choice of RPG Maker XP or RPG Maker VX to make a short, sweet game with a real "wow" factor. How you do that is entirely up to you.

You can get a free, fully functional trial of either program here. (Be aware that the trial lasts 30 days, so if you know you're not going to purchase it, plan ahead so you can make the most of your trial period.)

Dive into uncharted territory, try something you've never tried before, and see what you're capable of!

The contest begins on July 31st, and ends on December 1st, 2011.

I will give a full review to each game and score it based on five criteria (see "Scoring" below), with the most weight on fun and originality. The contestant with the highest-scoring game takes home the prizes!

See the full thread for more detail about submissions, scoring, and content.

Have fun, play hard, and make something great.


Scoring
Each game will be scored on a 150-point scale:
Fun: 50 points
Originality: 40 points
Playability: 30 points
Aesthetics: 20 points
Technical: 10 points


Prizes
The winner will receive their choice of the following:

• A fully paid, licensed version of RPG Maker VX (value: $60)
  
• A fully paid, licensed version of RPG Maker XP (value: $30), plus a $25 gift card to any venue of your choice
• A $50 gift card to any venue of your choice

In the unlikely event that the winner scores a perfect 150 out of 150, the prize will be doubled!

Additionally, the top three finishers will receive a Trophy or Badge on the Pavilion, as soon as we implement the system for it here.

In the case there are fewer than four entrants, the prize will be linked directly to the quality of the winning game.

[Wavelength]

Additional Contest Details

Additional Contest Details:

Scoring
Each game will be scored on a 150-point scale:

Fun: 50 points
Simply put, is your game fun to play? Is each moment worth playing? I'm looking for exciting, deep, and most of all enjoyable gameplay. If you're using a battle system, have you made it fun and interesting? If your game has a story or characters, are they interesting and likeable?

Originality: 40 points
To score high here, your game should not only be different than most games out there, but it also needs to be different from any games you've released in the past, on any RPG Maker platform. Pushing the limits of the software will earn you lots of points here, so long as it adds to your game. Note: third-party scripts will not be judged for quality.

Playability: 30 points
Playability describes whether the game is smooth and user-friendly. If you include battles, are they balanced? If there's a lot of information for the player to keep track of, how accessible is that information? Is the control scheme natural or clunky?

Aesthetics: 20 points
Judging the visuals and music, as well as the overall artistic direction and ability to create a mood. This area is intentionally worth relatively few points, so you don't need to spend tons of time creating custom graphics and such. Note: third-party graphics/sound will not be judged for quality.

Technical: 10 points
Spelling and grammar, minor bugs, quality of in-game directions, and so on. Game-breaking bugs will cause additional penalties elsewhere.


Prizes
The winner will receive their choice of the following:

• A fully paid, licensed version of RPG Maker VX (value: $60)
  
• A fully paid, licensed version of RPG Maker XP (value: $30), plus a $25 gift card to any venue of your choice
• A $50 gift card to any venue of your choice

In the unlikely event that the winner scores a perfect 150 out of 150, the prize will be doubled! You can have any two of the above, or you can double up on any single item (and take, for example, two $50 gift cards).

Additionally, the top three finishers will receive a Trophy or Badge on the Pavilion, as soon as we implement the system for it here.

In the case there are fewer than four entrants, the prize will be linked directly to the quality of the winning game.


Worked with XP/VX in the Past?
If you've already released a game using either of these programs, you're welcome to enter this contest - but your entry needs to be significantly different from anything you've released in the past. This is the "Something New" contest, after all!


Submitting your Game
Packaging your game so others can play it is easy - there should be a "Compress Game Data" option on the file menu. It will produce an Application file; that is what I will need to play your game. It's completely up to you whether to encrypt your game, and it's also your choice whether or not to include the RTP in the file (unless you are using a custom RTP, in which case you must include it).

If your game is 10MB or less, you can email it to me at Blueshift14@yahoo.com - please title your email "Pavilion Contest Entry" or something similar. Private Message me here just to make sure I don't miss it. (It's possible this method will work up to 25MB so feel free to give it a try if your game is less than that size.)

If your game is bigger than that, you'll need to use an online file sharing service. Wikipedia's partial list of online services can be found here. As many sites, such as Google docs, only accept certain file types, it might be smart to make your file into a .zip and post it that way. Please choose a hosting service with a reasonably high bandwidth limit and make sure it won't infect computers that visit the service. Additionally, Private Message me with the link to your game.

In your Private Message or email, make sure to include a description of any third-party scripts, graphics, music, or other resources you used, as well as any other special instructions you feel I should know when I play your game.


Will my game automatically be Publicly Available?
If you don't want other people to download your game just yet, I'll respect that; simply let me know in your submission email/PM, and neither the game nor the link to the download will be shared.

Unless you request otherwise, I will post the link to your game in the review, and if your game is small enough we will host it on the Pavilion.


Multiple Entries
You can submit up to three games for this Contest. Your highest-scoring game will be used in the Rankings; your other games will not be used in the Rankings but will still be given a full review.


Length
Your game may be any length, but if it is longer than three hours, I will only score it on what I see during that time. Every moment needs to count!


Scripting
RPG Maker XP and VX allow you to do almost anything you can dream of by giving you access to the code that runs the game. "Scripting" (modifying/creating code) is certainly allowed in this contest, but it is absolutely not necessary. Great games have been made on these platforms without ever touching the code.


Third-Party Scripts and Graphics
There are a lot of premade scripts out there, and you can use any of them you please in your entry. However, since it is not your original work, you need to clearly mark (in your submission) any scripts that you (or your team) did not create. The scripts will only count into the judging based on how well they fit into your game.

Likewise, RPG Maker XP and VX allow you to import graphics, animations, music, and sound effects. You may use any resource so long as doing so does not violate copyright law. However, again, please clearly mark (in your submission) any resources that you or your team did not create, so I can avoid judging their quality in the Aestheics category.

(Any graphics/music/other stuff that comes with the game, of course, is not considered third-party and you don't have to list it.)

As clarification, third-party scripts and graphics will not be judged for quality, but they will be judged on whether they enhance--or clash with--the rest of your game. If you found a way to creatively and effectively use a third-party resource, this could help your originality, fun, or aesthetics scores. If your implementation feels clumsy or the third-party item feels dissonant with the rest of your efforts, it will cost you some points. Because it's hard to tell why a given bug occurs, any bugs introduced by third-party scripts may still count against you... so playtest carefully!


Teaming Up
Feel free to team up with other people for this contest! It's up to you how to divide the workload, and how to divide the grand prize, if you win it. Trophies/badges will be awarded to all team members.

Make sure to mention all of your team members in the submission.


Late Submissions
Submissions that are just a few hours late are no problem. Submissions between December 2nd and December 8th will be accepted, but will incur a small penalty. Contact me beforehand if you think your submission will be late.

[Mcardy]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

What if I've owned XP for the past 6 years but have never actually used it to create anything? :3

[DK]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

Hmm...count me in.

Don't know if I'll be able to get a game finished during the trial period...anywhere I can read up on importing graphics into the makers?

[Dillinger]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

Color me intrigued! This may be some good inspiration for me to accomplish something! Hooray for morale boost. We'll see how far I get this time lol.

[Wavelength]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

What if I've owned XP for the past 6 years but have never actually used it to create anything? :3

You're fine. The only real requirement is to make something different than what you've released in the past.

Hmm...count me in.

Don't know if I'll be able to get a game finished during the trial period...anywhere I can read up on importing graphics into the makers?

Cool! The short answer is that you just click the "Import" button in the Material Base and select the file you want to import. I think a few different file types work; I always use PNG's.

The addendum to that is that certain resources which require multiple images, like animation graphics and terrain tilesets, require you to set up your file in "tiles" of 32x32 or another size. It will read each span of 32x32 (or whatever other size) as a separate image. It's not hard to do, especially if you have a program like Photoshop that lets you use gridlines. You can probably find the exact dimensions and requirements for each type of image on Google, and a majority of the image types really have no such restrictions.

Color me intrigued! This may be some good inspiration for me to accomplish something! Hooray for morale boost. We'll see how far I get this time lol.

Congrats on your 71st post, Mr. Level 71 thief! Hopefully the Contest will give you that extra bit of drive to see your idea through to completion. I know some of our contests have done that for me in the past.

[Mcardy]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

How are you going to count "Fun" if I make a game where the focus isn't really much on story and/or characters? I have an idea, but if you're listing "Story and Characters" in the major point category, I want a clarification before I do this...

[1ce]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

Not to be a sourpuss, but there are still no results for the last Anything goes contest back in November.

Interesting contest though.

[Wavelength]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

How are you going to count "Fun" if I make a game where the focus isn't really much on story and/or characters? I have an idea, but if you're listing "Story and Characters" in the major point category, I want a clarification before I do this...

The short answer is that you're probably OK. Don't add them for the sake of adding them.

I'll judge it by how fun the game is. So, if you don't really have a story or characters, it's the gameplay that's going to dominate how I judge you in this category. If the gameplay is superb, you'll score all 50 points.

If you have a story and characters but they suck, it's going to hurt your score, and likewise if they enhance the experience, that's going to help your score. If they are there but don't have much emphasis in your game, they probably won't have a big impact on your score either.

[Jamos]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

I do find humor in the fact that RPGM XP and VX are prizes for a RPGM XP and VX contest. A smart move to have a gift card as a choosable prize.

[Wavelength]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

I do find humor in the fact that RPGM XP and VX are prizes for a RPGM XP and VX contest. A smart move to have a gift card as a choosable prize.

When you put it that way, I almost rolled off my seat laughing! I feel like there's an "In Soviet Russia" joke to be made somewhere in there. But the point was that it's very possible the winner will have sumbitted a game using the 30-day trial, and will not have bought the game by that point. Figured that making the full version one of the prizes would be a good way to support the community.

[Nova]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

Ugh, we finally get a new contest and it's strictly VX and XP...

[Mcardy]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

I.E. The best Makers.

+ You can have a 30 day trial to whip something up. Just prepare your stuff in advance and you can get the item/weapon data done in like, a day and just work on the rest.

[Nova]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

I own XP; I just don't like using it. I prefer the console makers myself.

[Mcardy]

Re: Pavilion Contest: Something New

As long as you don't prefer RPG Maker 1, you're fine as you are being a Neanderthal.