Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
9th May, 2010 at 03:48:17 -
-MacAdaM- has joined Team 4 since they didn't actually have a dedicated artist. I hope that's okay with the other teams, since this is more about making games than anything else
I'd like to participate in something like this. If only there were another version of this competition for people with no free time. A deadline set around May 2011 would be nice!
Anyway, good luck to all teams! I wonder if pairs would have worked better than teams of 3+, but we shall see. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all produce.
//
Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
10th May, 2010 at 10:04:10 -
At first I wanted pairs, but there were only 3 artists to 6 coders. So that's why I had to come up with this arrangement. Having multiple coders isn't a bad thing though, I'm sure we'll see some cool games soon
As for a long deadline, yes it would be cool to see what the teams could come up with, given more time, but that's also the reason a lot of games don't get finished. Think of this as a 'testing ground'. If the teams make a great game then I'm sure they will continue to stay as a team and produce even more games over a longer time frame.
Ah, darn, just wrote a long post and the browser crashed. Just a few tips..
First, elect a leader, preferably a lead game designer. One bad leader is better than two good ones. The rest of you would still give ideas and suggestions, but the leader would make the final decisions. I see many of you have already done this. Just make it kinda official
Also, you should remember that democracy is the fairest style, but it's one of the slowest. Someone may have to take the reins and make decisions on other people's behalf.
Seems like many of you still aren't sure what to work on. What I'd suggest is just to write down what you like about each idea. Write on paper or text document or whatever. Just make sure it doesn't limit the flow of your thoughts.
You'll find some ideas that you are actually excited with. Just cut your list down to those. Share it with your teammates and see what they think too.. if everyone is tossing in ideas, it's most likely a good idea.
While you're looking for ideas, draw some block diagrams of how you expect to code your game. Link the blocks to each other indicating the major coding points and how they depend on each other. E.g. for a platform, it'd be simple, with a platform engine, controls, special effects, enemies, maybe an online high score system. Something like RPGs and strategy would be much more complicated.
Don't worry about details for now, but you can build them in more detail later. Think of it as an event group. It doesn't have to be a flowchart
One major advantage to doing this is seeing how much complexity you're going to need. If you have no idea how to link the blocks now, you're not likely to know later on when you're deeper into programming it. It should be fairly easy to you, just to make sure that you're not coding something more complex than you can handle.
The other advantage is that you can clearly split it up into different parts. Since most teams have at least two coders, that should help a lot. You should have a clearer idea of how to get the two parts to communicate with each other from the block diagram.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
12th May, 2010 at 09:56:06 -
Matt Boothman - You're doublely welcome. It looks good when you make it into a logo like that
I've talked to a few of the teams and I'm pleased to hear that everyone is making surprisingly quick progress. There are some really interesting games underway and I can't wait to see some functional builds and artwork.
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