Contest idea...

[Czechs Mex]

Okay, clearly we've got enough contests going on already, but here's an idea I thought of that might be interesting to try out down the road.

The idea is for a "Short RPG Contest". This is a contest where you make an RPG Maker game that takes no more than 1 hour to play through from beginning to end. There's no limit on development time, and there's no minimum game length, either.

It's not an incredibly creative idea for a contest, but I think it would cause people to focus more on the quality of that single hour of gameplay, as opposed to a 20 hour epic RPGM suckfest. And that can't be a bad thing.

[DK]

Re: Contest idea...

I thought we had a short RPG contest before

[Czechs Mex]

Re: Contest idea...

That was the SPEEDY RPG contest, where development time was limited. (As far as I recall.)

Edit: Actually, you may be right, I could be thinking of a different contest. Well, I like the idea either way, dag nabit!

[Vonwert]

Re: Contest idea...

I think that would be a cool idea.

If we had it, I would send in my contest 2 game.

[Valkysas]

Re: Contest idea...

its a good idea. the speedy rpg contest limited the creation time to 15 hours. I like this variation.

[Caciss]

Re: Contest idea...

I think the hour limit, should be even lower.

[man with shell]

Re: Contest idea...

I was actually thinking that you might want to make the limit a little higher... I mean, the trouble is that an hour really isn't that long. Maybe 90 minutes, or 2 hours. That way, there's a balance between the ideals of conciseness and quality.

Well, if it's made official, I do want to make the only one major problem with it apparent... who's to judge how long the game takes to beat? The developer? Or maybe the judge? If the developer crams in 59 minutes worth of game and the judge goes to grab a soda or gets stuck somewhere, then you could be disqualified, and that would suck.

Maybe, as an alternative that notes both of my concerns, you could award bonus points for shortness. Like, if it takes 1 hour or less to beat, the maker gets their score doubled. If it's under 90 minutes, then their score is multiplied by 1.8. If it's 2 hours, then x1.5. And if it went too long, like say over 3 or 4 hours, then penalties would accrue.

Anyway, I'm all for it. It sounds like a lot of fun, especially since I don't really have the motivation to stick with one RPGM project for too long, and this way I'd be able to make something short and sweet and then move on. Plus, it doesn't need prize support for us to call it a contest, right? I mean, we could all submit for the fun of it, or the pride. Then Valk and friends wouldn't have to pay out the nose.

[Valkysas]

Re: Contest idea...

well, soon there are gonna be tiny little ads on the pavilion, which will let the pavilion pay for itself, and fund any contests we decide to have. the only contest I'm paying for out of pocket is the art contest. the rest will be paid for by the ads.

[WilliamKirk]

Re: Contest idea...

The judges would do roughly an hour, and probably accept anywhere from 45 to 75 minutes. It would be interesting to see what happens. Perhaps this could be turned into an RPGM2 movie contest, where each game is just cinematics that tell a story and range from 30 to 60 minutes or so. I think a funny movie'd be the best way to entertain in an hour. The hour's good, and it does make people focus mostly only on quality. This sounds interesting... but it should include RPGM2!!

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Contest idea...

Maybe a good way to make sure people don't take too long to get through the game would be to make it so the maker takes half the max time (hopefully, nobody would get stuck for too long), or maybe a guide for the game can be sent to the judge.

Either way, it sounds like a fun idea regardless if it becomes a contest. Maybe I'll do one for the heck of it.

Actually, maybe an easier contest would be to make a good game that didn't take up more than one memory card (maybe leaving room for one save file). Although, that would kinda leave out RPGM2-ers from the fun.

[KingSpoom]

Re: Contest idea...

Not to bump an extremely old post, but I think the idea should get out there. Verge used to run these contests all the time. What they would do was announce a contest was coming up, but not announce what it was about. The whole thing was (I think they were called the 48/72 hour contests) ... the point was that the games had to be about a certain idea. For example, one time there was a contest that had to be about alien abductions. Keeping a good hold on the topic of the game means people won't be able to start before they know what it is about. It also means that content will be closely related (ie: Easy to judge) and it's nice to see everyone's different ideas on the topic.

So, the most important thing to do would be to decide how long it takes to develop such a game, allow it to be planned for, and then come up with a good idea to create a game about. They certainly were a big hit in the verge community. Even though I don't like rpg maker 1, I'd probably try to make a game on in if I knew that for 1 week, from say june 1st - june 7th I'd be making a game. Short time periods tend to even the playing fields for some people.

[Valkysas]

Re: Contest idea...

oh, we tried something like that years ago, called it the speedy RPG contest.


it was a disaster.

[KingSpoom]

Re: Contest idea...

You want to give me the details? It must have been in the period in which I was gone (from after january 1st to... sometime much later). Would anyone be interested in such a thing if it were run now? I wouldn't want to count it out just because it has failed before...

[Valkysas]

Re: Contest idea...

it was run in late 2001, if memory serves correct.

it was a mess, only three games entered, and the judging for it ended up taking almost 3 months.

[Rodak]

Re: Contest idea...

After I complete the game on which I am working I have an idea for an "anti-game" which may give you fodder for a contest.

I want to make a cartoon.

No words, no dialogue, no use for the controller, no interaction at all. Just one giant sequence of cut scenes. Load the game and watch. Many of my favorite cartoons have no dialogue, so the idea of not using on screen messages is not anything original.

My plan is to see how long a feature I can produce. I think it is possible to make a feature length production with RPGM2. It is certainly possible to make a half hour item.

For a contest maybe ask people to make a 6 minute short.

That's the length of all the classic Bugs Bunny Cartoons, and Bugs Bunny is my hero!

It could be a visual effects extravaganza. Forget about the headaches of saving memory, blow the whole wad on lavish visuals or huge detailed buildings that always cost too much memory so we never use them. And digital images could finally be afforded without sacrificing everything else you wanted to do. You could even use the same themes you have now: Insanity and Anything Goes.

If the idea sounds crazy, consider the source! I lost my mind long ago and do not miss it a bit.

Peace.