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[moboid]

As far as the five minute time limit goes, a minor question: Is it okay for the ending to go over by some tiny amount of time once the player has already "won"?

Or - to get really exotic - what if I treat the ending sequence as a title screen, so once they've reached the ending, they can walk away and a new player can walk up and press A to skip the remaining bits of the ending and begin a new game?

Your points are interesting (not minor) however it's not really possible for us to speculatively approve specific exceptions.  The spirit is to encourage players to pass the game controller to other players, if that helps.  Skippable intros/outros are a good idea in general.

[Kaelan]

Your points are interesting (not minor) however it's not really possible for us to speculatively approve specific exceptions.  The spirit is to encourage players to pass the game controller to other players, if that helps.  Skippable intros/outros are a good idea in general.

Thanks for the feedback. Would it be okay to bind a button on the controller for skipping the intro/outro? They're both interactive, so I can't use the A button. I don't want someone to be forced to sit through the outro because the previous player walked away.

I'm going to assume that it's not an option, though, and just try and detect an 'idle' player (i.e. no input in over a minute); hopefully that will be enough.

[PlayMeTape]

I'm pumped! No more swine flu for me! But I'm starting to make a lot of nasty solutions to my problems now that there's not that much time left. I guess I don't have much choice.

It's just that I implemented an entire new game mode the other day (which I really like) but cosmetically there's some issues with it even though purely from a gameplay standpoint it WORKS (allthough not in an entirely ideal fashion). I can't decide whether to cut it or keep it...

[GOZU]

Ok I'm getting close to finishing my submission but I have 2 questions.

1) On the submission form you state that you want "3 Screenshots of the game, in TGA format" and I was just wondering, what program do you need to save images in that format? I just have a really old version of Corel PhotoPaint which doesn't support that format so I was wondering what my options are?

2) Where's a good place to host the game? I don't have my own webspace and would ideally like somewhere reliable and stable if the game needs to be accessible until late February. Will we be fudged if for whatever reason the hosting goes down or will you contact developers so they can host the files again?

[MisterMo]

Any clue when (and how) we hear about the results? If my game gets selected, I need to haggle for time off with the boss, book flights, etc. Just want to have an idea of how quickly I'll need to scramble to get all that done.

Mo

PS: wheee, first post!

[agj]

I have a bit of a problem. The game I'm making does not restart; players are supposed to build on what the previous player accomplished. This is why I have a hard time adhering to the five minutes rule. Three ways to tackle the problem:

1. Right now, I have it so that every time a player crosses a screen (an undertaking that could take anywhere from less than one minute to 10 minutes, depending on their skill), they are reminded to let others play. Not instructed to do so at that point, but just reminded, so that when someone's been taking too long, anyone can feel entitled to ask the player for the controller.

2. I could make it so that after five minutes, the game pauses and a pop-up asks the player to pass the controller to the next person, but this becomes a problem when one player plays for fewer than those five minutes, and leaves the next player with less time to play.

3. One way to solve that is to allow for a second button to stop the game, so that when a player gets bored, they can press it and pass the controller.

So: which of these options is the most acceptable?

[Bennett]

I would like it if, once you make your selections, you could put up a page with pics and descriptions of all the entries. Would that take an unreasonably long time?

[moboid]

Would it be okay to bind a button on the controller for skipping the intro/outro? They're both interactive, so I can't use the A button. I don't want someone to be forced to sit through the outro because the previous player walked away.

I'm going to assume that it's not an option, though, and just try and detect an 'idle' player (i.e. no input in over a minute); hopefully that will be enough.

Only the A button.  I'm sure you can find a creative solution!  My recommendation is get it done ASAP, then playtest and get feedback.  Give yourself enough time to implement a plan B or C.

[moboid]

Ok I'm getting close to finishing my submission but I have 2 questions.

1) On the submission form you state that you want "3 Screenshots of the game, in TGA format" I just have a really old version of Corel PhotoPaint which doesn't support that format so I was wondering what my options are?

2) Where's a good place to host the game?

We specified TGA primarily because it's lossless.  If you can't do TGAs but could do BMPs I suppose that could be ok too.

There are plenty of reliable free hosting sites, I'd say ask people here what they are using.  Mediafire comes to mind but I'm sure there are others.

[John Nesky]

PNGs are lossless and are more widely supported and are generally better than both TGAs and BMPs. (Unless you're writing your own importer in which case BMP is a pretty simple format to use.)

[moboid]

Any clue when (and how) we hear about the results? If my game gets selected, I need to haggle for time off with the boss, book flights, etc. Just want to have an idea of how quickly I'll need to scramble to get all that done.

"As soon as we can" is the best I can give you.  The creators of the selected games that will be notified as soon as we've made all the selections, and everyone else will be notified very soon thereafter.  We're absolutely aware of the need for people to make travel plans and get time off, so we'll do our best!

[moboid]

I would like it if, once you make your selections, you could put up a page with pics and descriptions of all the entries. Would that take an unreasonably long time?

I have no idea what time length you consider unreasonable!   We will find a way to make them available (for the creators that wish to), though the presentation may take a different form this year than in years past.  (You can go to the Projects page on our blog for pics/links to most of the games from earlier Gammas.)  Typically we don't do this til after the event.

[moboid]

I have a bit of a problem. The game I'm making does not restart; players are supposed to build on what the previous player accomplished. This is why I have a hard time adhering to the five minutes rule.

So: which of these options is the most acceptable?

Again, we can't really speculatively approve rule exceptions, which all of these solutions seem to be.  I'd say you just have to do what's best for the game itself, for its creative integrity, and accept the risk that we may decide not to include it.

[benblo]

Just realized that the deadline is the same as the GlobalGameJam... silly me for not noticing earlier (I got confused when I first read the rules some weeks ago, I thought Jan 31st was just phase 1), but I think it's a shame to have indie events overlap like that. I hate to miss out on a live event because of some "virtual" deadline.
I think I'll go to the GGJ anyway and never mind if this compo is unfinished... and if Kokoromi wants to extend their deadline by a few days for GGJ attendees well that'd be grand !

[moboid]

I think I'll go to the GGJ anyway and never mind if this compo is unfinished... and if Kokoromi wants to extend their deadline by a few days for GGJ attendees well that'd be grand !

We won't be extending it. 

We gave y'all two months, after all. 

 

[luvcraft]

submission submitted! With 3 days to spare! I think this is a new record for me.

...of course, I'll spend the next 3 days thinking of things I should've added and repeatedly amending my submission up until the very last minute.

[Bennett]

submission submitted! With 3 days to spare! I think this is a new record for me.

...of course, I'll spend the next 3 days thinking of things I should've added and repeatedly amending my submission up until the very last minute.

They're already playing the submitted games... there's no guarantee they'll try your amended version.

[JamesPopStar]

This has been a wild ride every single day since the theme was revealed on December 1st.

I didn't make a thread. Normally, I maybe would have been like "Heeeey, check out this game I made!" but I kind of want it to stand for itself if the times comes. We'll see what happens.

Something that excites me about this whole thing just as much as the games themselves is the idea that the creators should be there. So, GAMMA setup is probably the closest thing to a "live performance" in the games medium, don't you think? There's a certain awesome intimacy to that.

[SpaceParanoid]

submission submitted! With 3 days to spare! I think this is a new record for me.

...of course, I'll spend the next 3 days thinking of things I should've added and repeatedly amending my submission up until the very last minute.

They're already playing the submitted games... there's no guarantee they'll try your amended version.

Really? Good thing I got mine up as soon as possible...

[Cthulhu32]

submission submitted! With 3 days to spare! I think this is a new record for me.

...of course, I'll spend the next 3 days thinking of things I should've added and repeatedly amending my submission up until the very last minute.

They're already playing the submitted games... there's no guarantee they'll try your amended version.

Really? Good thing I got mine up as soon as possible...

I think Bennett meant even if you fix up your build, its most likely the judges have already played it. But there should definitely not be a penalty for submitting the last day.

The last few days are always the most stressful though. On my game, Paul's finishing the last levels, and I'm adding the last new assets and squashing a few timing bugs. Paul's room mate didn't pay his internet bill, so we've been communicating via cell phone and internet cafes, which has been an interesting one. I'll probably make a thread on the gamma page on Sunday when we submit.