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[Pragma]

Congrats.  This has to be the best game contest concept ever.

The gravity from this thread has sucked me out of my lurking state.  I'll be posting on the introduction forum soon enough.

A friend of mine is really big on B-movies and exploitation flicks.  He mentioned to me that the deal with B-cinema is not only the unanticipated elements of entertainment, but the explicit, over-the-top aspects as well.

Tarentino said it best during the interview stuff surrounding Grindhouse (paraphrasing here): if you have a severely limited budget for a movie, you try to put as many "exploitable elements" in as possible as to give it a draw.  Things like gore, violence, sex, nudity, monsters, creative casting etc. are all "exploitable elements".

So I think a solid B-game could easily follow the same formula.  Simply write in a few exploitables to get people to download the game, with the rest made up of cookie-cutter schlock to fill in the gaps.  For instance: "Barkley: Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden"

[Chris Whitman]

Is it all right if your core game mechanic is a bit of an inside indie-scene-complainer joke?

I mean, if you make something truly awful, but based around some concept which is exceptionally amusing, is that still considered a 'B-game?' I just want to know if I'm disqualifying myself by implementing an idea that made me laugh myself into a state of exhaustion earlier today.

[Melly]

I don't think there's anything set as far as what the heck is a B-Game. Honestly, this compo was apparently made on the fly, and it's as far as I know the very first of its kind on this side of the interwebs. There aren't even prizes yet (though, if Derek takes suggestions, a free full version of Aquaria for the winner when it's released would be kick-ass).

The way I see it, there are a couple of things a game COULD have to be considered B:

Attempting to do something over-the-top with an extremely low budget, or no budget at all. Like trying to make a game in the style of God of War with Game Maker's crude 3D capabilities and a team of one. As you can imagine, it wouldn't really work in the sense the author wanted.

A completely outrageous/controversial/downright insulting theme, the kind that can make even some hardy internet surfers shy away in horror. For a game like this you can check stuff like Dooms 4, a horror/gore/porn game made in RPGMaker (all those elements combined in the same scenes, by the way).

Just shlock for graphics and sound, with ripped code from example games for game making programs, with maybe a good idea behind it. You know, a person that has 0 experience in any area related to game creation trying to make his 'dream game', with too much ADD to be able to sit in front of the computer for more than 10 minutes. The heart may be in the right place, but everything else isn't.

Or, the most basic, a game that intends to do something, but doesn't work out that way, the players drawing attention from areas very unrelated (like it has been mentioned several times).

I'm thinking of joining. Looks like great fun, whether we win anything or not. I'd join it even if the prize was Derek's toilet seat sent to me by mail.

[Chris Whitman]

Oh, I'm not worried about prizes so much as the potential ridicule of my peers. Maybe you are not familiar with TIGSource, but over here they will steal your shoes and pelt you with rocks if you don't fit in.

In all seriousness, though, I just wanted to make sure I was sticking to the spirit of the thing, but I think it will be all right.

In other news, I think multiple entries should be all right, so long as you're not a dick about it. For example, no submitting twenty different variations on pong or something like that, no matter how funny you think you are. I would appreciate it if the specific rules for this kind of thing, along with which games are winners, would be as subjective and arbitrary as possible for maximum unfairness/hilarity.

[Monothu]

Oh, I'm not worried about prizes so much as the potential ridicule of my peers. Maybe you are not familiar with TIGSource, but over here they will steal your shoes and pelt you with rocks if you don't fit in.

And rename your topics to "Trolling is fun."

[Terry]

And rename your topics to "Trolling is fun."

...Or change your forum rank to "Indier Than Thou" and your userpips to Jesus :D

Hey, at least you've got a custom rank

I've been thinking of this B-Movie thing as kitsch gaming. It may not technically be the right approach, but it's given me some ideas that I really like. I figure most people here are going to go down the "clumsy platformer" route. Well, I intend to do the opposite

Hell, all gaming is kitsch, really, when you get right down to it.

[Alex May]

Text boxes that always seem to have one word too many, so you have to skip past to read just that one last word. In every text box.

[r0cko]

I made Pillar Killer

[Derek]

It's the spirit of the law, and not the letter!  If violent, pulp fiction type stuff is what you think a great B-game is all about, go for it!  If you want to make a game that is just a completely broken and hilariously bad and frustrating, that's also your prerogative.  And anything in between.

Actually, I'd hope to see a huge range of different ideas.  But the best ones, I think, are going to be the ones that take some theme and just run with it so far off the deep end that you can't help but be amazed and tickled by them.

But this is also totally a competition where you could enter for the heck of it.  Just because you want to throw something together or make people laugh.  I'll make sure every entry sees action.

And the compo has already gotten enough support that I'm going to make sure the prizes are good.  I'm thinking at the very least either the Grindhouse DVD and/or a Grindhouse "making of" book, plus a boxed edition of the new MDickie wrestling game.  And maybe some more surprises, if I can manage it.

I'm excited!

[Derek]

I made Pillar Killer

Ohhhhh shit.

[Martha Stewart]

Martha Stewart approves of this competition!  It's a good thing.(tm)

[Oddbob]

I made Pillar Killer

Haha, I'd forgotten about that! Man, true classic right there.

[frosty]

I wish I could enter Blondie Goes on a Date.  Maybe if I have time, I can make a sequel.


(oh, and thanks for the props, Oddball. I didn't think anyone even knew about that one. =)

[PeeJay]

Having previously authored Blitz50, I'm going to have a go at entering by knocking up another 50 games (good grief!) - Revenge of Blitz50. Timescale is going to be tight (now there's an understatement!) and coming up with 50 new ideas won't be easy (though I already have a couple), but I'll see what I can do

[raincoatduck]

After a few hours of game-making today I have created the top-down bicycle engine for the truly epic Super Missionary Trainer Simulation Plus II.  Forget the Havoc physics engine, this bike riding engine bleeds realism from every orifice.

Think Paperboy meets GTA meets Bible Adventures.

[shinygerbil]

Well I don't even know *how* to make games, but I reckon I'm gonna enter this. Game Maker Trial Version FTW :D

[skaldicpoet9]

Well I don't even know *how* to make games, but I reckon I'm gonna enter this. Game Maker Trial Version FTW :D

I am right there with you....I think I just might have to use GM...I mean this is a "B" game contest right

[ravuya]

IMNSHO, the less you know about making games, the better you will do in this contest.

GameMaker is sort of the equivalent of your parent's dusty old Super Hi-8, and the pre-made games for it are the equivalent of your sister's room with the ponies on the background. Now make up some tinfoil space helmets and get out there!

[skaldicpoet9]

IMNSHO, the less you know about making games, the better you will do in this contest.

GameMaker is sort of the equivalent of your parent's dusty old Super Hi-8, and the pre-made games for it are the equivalent of your sister's room with the ponies on the background. Now make up some tinfoil space helmets and get out there!

lol....will do, will do:) Hmm, now that you mention it....a mutant space thing that eats peoples brains game would be pretty cool....or what if you were the mutant brain eating space thing....hmmm....

[cactus]

I'm gonna try to join in on the fun. Sounds like a great theme that allows for lots of creativity. Got a pretty good concept in mind, just need to finish of all my other responsibillities first.

Will be really interesting to see everyone's entries. I hope at least some of you are going for "Awfully good" (as seen in the poster), and not just awfully awful