Stonking Great Game Contest Now Live!
- Thread starter Spinwhiz
- Start date
Would it have been so hard just to allow submission of Indie games? The whole "browser-based" idea initially put me off, and then "created in Flash" just strangled the last bit of excitement out of the idea.
This seems interesting - even if it is just for portfolio & glory, people have developed entire operating systems and graphics engines for free so getting publicity for it seems pretty good actually.
One question: Do we get to decide what the game is about or does it have to be about Yahtzee and using the assets provided? Are you expecting a million Trilby clones?
One question: Do we get to decide what the game is about or does it have to be about Yahtzee and using the assets provided? Are you expecting a million Trilby clones?
This seems like kind of an odd mix of mediums. A game about a game reviewer (and possibly his pet Imp)? I'm totally stumped. Needless to say, I won't be entering. Among other things I have no Flash programming skills whatsoever.
I did download the resource pack just to see what was in it, though, and was rather disappointed to discover that all the graphics were raster rather than vector. Um, you guys do realize that Flash uses vector graphics, right? And that if any characters were perfect for translating into vector graphics it's the fellows from Zero Punctuation.
On another note: The people complaining about "their" intellectual property rights being taken away (i.e. those of the other people who actually enter) are making a way bigger deal of this than it is. This is essentially a glorified fan art contest. Frankly, if you honestly think you're being cheated out of potential fame and fortune here, you've got a bit of an ego problem. I'd love to hear what Yahtzee would have to say about that; he LOVES ripping apart people with swelled heads.
But more importantly, if the game you're planning is generic enough that you could replace the ZP characters with original ones and it would still make sense, it might still be a good game, but it won't be a great ZP game. It'll just be a generic game with ZP characters in (to paraphrase Yahtzee's Left 4 Dead review). So really, you would be better off just ignoring the contest, using your own characters, and putting it on Newgrounds or whatever, because it would be a better game without the unnecessary use of ZP characters. Like all those licensed Monopoly versions that are all just the same damn game with different skins.
I did download the resource pack just to see what was in it, though, and was rather disappointed to discover that all the graphics were raster rather than vector. Um, you guys do realize that Flash uses vector graphics, right? And that if any characters were perfect for translating into vector graphics it's the fellows from Zero Punctuation.
On another note: The people complaining about "their" intellectual property rights being taken away (i.e. those of the other people who actually enter) are making a way bigger deal of this than it is. This is essentially a glorified fan art contest. Frankly, if you honestly think you're being cheated out of potential fame and fortune here, you've got a bit of an ego problem. I'd love to hear what Yahtzee would have to say about that; he LOVES ripping apart people with swelled heads.
But more importantly, if the game you're planning is generic enough that you could replace the ZP characters with original ones and it would still make sense, it might still be a good game, but it won't be a great ZP game. It'll just be a generic game with ZP characters in (to paraphrase Yahtzee's Left 4 Dead review). So really, you would be better off just ignoring the contest, using your own characters, and putting it on Newgrounds or whatever, because it would be a better game without the unnecessary use of ZP characters. Like all those licensed Monopoly versions that are all just the same damn game with different skins.
Although I would rather make a Windows executable for this contest the browser based requirement makes sense. It is the one of the few formats that is cross compatible with PC, Mac, and Linux. Despite the PC's much larger install base the escapist probably doesn't want to discriminate against the Mac and Linux minorities.MasterOfHisOwnDomain said:
Agreed, getting judges to install executables would be very difficult - although it's a shame it has to be Flash. Java (Not JavaScript mind) is totally free and much more flexible and powerful than Flash, and just like Flash can be played in your browser... never mind. The trick is to not have too much stuff that could collide with each other floating around because Flash algorithms are SLOW.hamster mk 4 said:
It definitely looks like they've made some changes to try to be way more reasonable and are working towards just the sort of license that I'd be perfectly fine with. The updated bit although a little unclearly worded, definitely says that they you still get to own your work, but that you grant them the right to put it up on their web site or do most anything else they want with it. Those are terms I consider reasonable.axcho said:I totally agree with this sentiment. However...
I think they just changed this, actually.
"Except for Contestant Materials, (defined below) all games submitted to The Escapist become property of The Escapist, including any intellectual property rights in Escapist materials or derivations thereof. The Escapist reserves all rights, including intellectual property rights to publication, re-publication and distribution. However, contestant shall own all intellectual property rights in any art, design, or source code, that is not based on or derived from The Escapist's existing intellectual property ("Contestant Materials") and Contestant hereby grants The Escapist a royalty-free, non-exclusive license to any Contestant Materials as they are incorporated into any entry for the purpose of publication, re-publication and distribution of the entry."
Yay. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.128927?page=5#2803403]
Any thoughts on my blog post about Zero Punctuation Interactive [http://evolutionlive.blogspot.com/2009/08/zero-punctuation-interactive.html]?
However, farther down, it still says "Entrants surrender copyright and all interests therein of their submissions to Themis Group, Inc. with the understanding that the materials may be used for promotional purposes." So the terms, as written right now, have contradictions between the "some extra guidelines" part and the "legal stuff" part. So I'm going to go ahead and view this as a good faith effort to make the terms more reasonable and start work with the assumption that this sort of thing will have been fully revised before submission time and that by that point the spirit of the new guidelines will have prevailed. If it hasn't been, then I'll simply rebrand the game, change the images, and use it elsewhere.
Can we recreate ZP epps? How about cutting, splicing, or isolating the Audio from the asset pack?Spinwhiz said:
*Edit* i.e. pulling out comments for a Yatzee character to use during play
I get it! This in an theEscapistMagazinez competition and such we're given allowance to use tehEscapist'z ZP media, not Yatzee's ZP media. Escapist did the intro, Escapist did the music, Escapist did the promos, Escapist dids teh thumbnails. Jolly good then =D
P.S. I would still like to know if recreating portions of the show fall under Fair Use (in your works with Yatzee as well as legally) and are usable in the game.
P.S. I would still like to know if recreating portions of the show fall under Fair Use (in your works with Yatzee as well as legally) and are usable in the game.
Cool, I always wanted to make a half decent browser game but was held back by poor graphical capabilities. Oh, and laziness. At least now I've been given some graphics to work with so that solves half the problem. I will be attempting this but I am only a novice in game development so I will almost certainly be beaten by someone who is actually good. Luckily I already have some experience in Flash so I can get started right away.
Oh, Oh, Oh... I've got another one. Can we post our games on the Escapist forums for feed back from the community, maybe after the competition?
Used to know a bare minimum of actionscript (basic buttons pretty much), figured I'd give learning the complexities of it a go. I was starting to learn Python recently, but I figure since this has come up, it'll be more enjoyable to make actionscript/Flash my learning project for the coming weeks.
Question though: does the actionscript used have to be a particular version? I know AS3 is currently in use, but I only have the means to create in AS 2.0. Will this be fine?
And this may be my lack of expertise on the subject, but is the source code exportable as a whole in some way using Flash? Past experience for me has had code scattered across various movie clips/buttons/frames and I'm a little confused about that.
Question though: does the actionscript used have to be a particular version? I know AS3 is currently in use, but I only have the means to create in AS 2.0. Will this be fine?
And this may be my lack of expertise on the subject, but is the source code exportable as a whole in some way using Flash? Past experience for me has had code scattered across various movie clips/buttons/frames and I'm a little confused about that.
It is 100% up to you what version of Actionscript you use. The Flash player is still compatible with both. If you do not care about which to use, then I would HIGHLY recommend AS3.Kilobyte said:
Regarding the source code. Just zip the whole thing (.fla, .as, .xml and so on) in a .rar file and send it.
Again, regarding the source-code. Have you thought about the possibility that people will just cut out the dangerous code before sending it?
On a personnel note: Am I the only one who was slightly dissapointed that the 2 week deadline got extended by 2 months? Or maybe I am just sour that people now have time to learn the language, which gives me less chance to have the hat-man rain on my parade.
Ironically, I am working on a AS3 tutorial, with the target audience being the average Joe. If it gets done within a reasonable time for it to be usefull, I will be sure to share it.
If anyone knows how to make a game but is stumped on ideas me and my friend have some good ideas you could use.
Brief game suggestion, while I work on my own in the background.
Hmm... obviously as its being reviewed by Yahtzee it should be:
A liner sandbox game with strict binary morality of good and evil, no grey, with a sidekick heroine straight out of jrpg and the entire game interspersed with FPS shooter scenes where the bad guys are invisible and quick time events. Every save point, and it must have save points, is before a long, and of course unskipable, cinematic scene and the lead character should die if he cuts himself shaving.
And set it in silent hill so he forces himself to play all the way through.
Hmm... obviously as its being reviewed by Yahtzee it should be:
A liner sandbox game with strict binary morality of good and evil, no grey, with a sidekick heroine straight out of jrpg and the entire game interspersed with FPS shooter scenes where the bad guys are invisible and quick time events. Every save point, and it must have save points, is before a long, and of course unskipable, cinematic scene and the lead character should die if he cuts himself shaving.
And set it in silent hill so he forces himself to play all the way through.
