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[William Broom]

So, the games for the competitions are meant to be started and finished within the time limit, right? So what exactly constitutes 'starting' the game? Is it alright to plan things on paper?
I'm not trying to find loopholes in the rules. I just want to be prepared because otherwise I probably won't even finish a game at all in such a short time  *puppydog eyes*

[Melly]

So, the games for the competitions are meant to be started and finished within the time limit, right? So what exactly constitutes 'starting' the game? Is it alright to plan things on paper?
I'm not trying to find loopholes in the rules. I just want to be prepared because otherwise I probably won't even finish a game at all in such a short time  *puppydog eyes*

I think it's more of a 'competition etiquette' that you start doing everything coding/art/sound at the very beginning of the compo. You can think about it, design stuff on paper, write ideas, etc, and I doubt anybody would care.

Personally, I'm planning on prototyping stuff related to the Procedural compo (to learn the ropes) soon, but when the competition starts I'll code everything from scratch again to keep it fair. I can't be sure everybody will follow that, but I'll do it anyway.

[Derek]

Planning is fine, yeah.

Even if you did some sketches or a little prep-work, no one (including meself) is going to hold it against you.  Especially if you think you need it to finish a game within the time limit.

These compos are fairly casual... I'd rather people fudge the rules a bit if it means having a finished product at the end that they can be proud of.

[William Broom]

Cool, thanks.

[handCraftedRadio]

I dont't think it would be unfair to start the main engine to a game if you have an idea, especially if you are coding it from scratch and not using any prebuilt engines. And then when the contest starts you could make the actual game part of it so you can focus on the content and not annoying engine code.

[Corpus]

I think that's fair enough. People using GameMaker have an unfair advantage, otherwise.

[PHeMoX]

Especially if you think you need it to finish a game within the time limit.

Mmmm, it's a bit difficult to predict the themes of these compos, otherwise I'd start on a game for them yesteryear to make sure I finish within the time limit. :p  :D j/k

I think it's fair enough to prototype now for near-future compos. For example I haven't quite done so much procedural yet, so it would be a wise thing to try out some things already to prepare for the compo. If only for the work flow later on. I'm pretty sure finished games and interesting game concepts is really what these compos are about anyways, right?