RPGDev.net brew an RPG quick contest starts tomorrow

[Crazy Tuvok]

I don't understand the point of this contest. None of the games are going to be very good, nor will it give any insight as to the talent of the partcipants (what being a week long and all), so what is the point of the whole exercise? Not being sarcastic, just wondering if there is something I missed.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

That's the thing I wanted to know, Tuvok. What exactly is the point of making an RPG in a week's time, when you really can't do much. Hell, writing a good character system on par with Avernum's, Prelude to Darkness's or Fallout's, would probably take a week to write - even longer to play test.

Even making just a town location and nothing else would be hard. It took Feargus two weeks to script and test the Boneyards in Fallout also, and that's having a design doc already made.

 

[axel]

I could do it in a week, the game would be shit but I could do it.

It's like that engineering saying "Cheap, Fast, and Good. Pick two"

I'm sure the participants will have fun though.

 

[barok]

Hi. I'm from rpg-dev.net, and i think i'll settle some of the misconcepts. Sorry for reviving an old topic... :wink:

No, we do not expect you to make a full blown rpg, lasting for hours upon hours. Just a small rpg, a.k.a mini rpg. It doesn't need ten towns, a dozen dungeons, the best cutscenes, great effects, etc. etc. We're just expecting maybe a couple towns and a two or three dungeons (or whatever you use, and just enough gameplay to keep you amused for a few hours. you think that a week-long competition is impossible? Check this out!

www.rpgdx.net/showcontests.php

If you check their competitions, you'll notice that they had two rpg compo's (though they've had more) that lasted 48 hours! That's right, just two days. Yet they have quite a few finished rpgs! Check out "...in the Nocturne" on rpgdx if you truly want to see what's possible in 48 hours... Not to mention that it's done in qbasic as well!

many people are making good progress. They spend many hours coding. (some even don't sleep!)

so, don't think it's impossible to create an rpg in a week. It is quite possible. if you can't do it, you're just not trying. besides, before the competition started, we made several polls to see what the people wanted, and they wanted a week-long comp, no shorter or longer.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Heya, Barok! Welcome to RPG Codex. Like your site, BTW.

Anyway, yeah, we basically knew it's possible, it's what comes out that's in question. If you've made a few tile engines in the past, and can whip up and editor pretty fast, you can do it in under a week. Not a real problem, especially using something like BASIC. The thing is, though, you're going to end up with fairly shallow things, I'd say, similar to the early, early Final Fantasy games. The ones where the character system was basically nothing more than a class with experience and no involvement from the player. The towns are little more than one actual NPC that gives one quest to another location, and that location leads to another town with only one actual NPC that gives one quest, and so on.

What would be more interesting, IMHO, is have a stages type contest. Give the guys a week to make a character system, for example.. Then grade that based on the design, flexibility, and so on. Then give them two weeks to make an engine, grade that based on flexibility of the engine/scripting/environmental activity/etc. During that time, they can make a town to demo what they have. Week four, give them a week to make a combat engine, grade that. Then give them two more weeks to finish up the whole thing.

So, you'd basically have six weeks worth of four contests, and a more polished end result.
.

 

[Spazmo]

Well, frankly, I think the main point of this whole affair is for the competitors to gain some valuable experience in game design and meeting a deadline, as well as hopefully having a bit of fun while they do it.

 

[barok]

Thanks Saint_Proverbius for the warm welcome. btw, rpg-dev is not mine. I'm merely the mod. Fling-Master is the administrator. but thanks anways. He's also the one who showed us at rpg-dev this site and this thread about our contest (we're also soon making a rpg magazine. If anyone wants to make articles for it, feel free.)

sorry to say, some of our members didn't think too highly of the rpg codex's members reactions to the contest (no insults, not really. not unless your members highly object to being called noob :wink: )

is this your site? it's quite nice itself. (wait, just found out your part of the editorial staff... 8) ) is it all articles, previews, interviews, reviews, editorials and news? i was looking around for some rpg's, and although i could find much of the former, i could find none of the latter.

As i was looking through the reviews, i was very impressed with the screenshots of the games. Although i could not find much, what little i could find was a nice change from the tile engines i always see on rpg-dev. no wonder the people here thought a week was outrageous: we expect tile based games dragon warrior or final fantasy style. The rpg's i see here run on much more advanced engines than that and obviously need much more work. (just did some looking around. i never noticed all the games are not freeware! that explains it)

anyways, just originally came here to finish off the little misconception about our mini-rpg contest, but ended blabbing on about this site itself... anyways, just telling you guys that we ARE expecting something along the line of ff1-ff3, dragon warrior1-2. and btw, fling-master made a mistake when he made up the rules. though the rules make it seem like as if you are not allowed to use editors due to rule one, you are allowed to use them. (a member brought this up. fling-master admitted that he made a mistake and said he would allow sprite and map editors)

 

[Greenskin13]

is this your site? it's quite nice itself. (wait, just found out your part of the editorial staff... 8) ) is it all articles, previews, interviews, reviews, editorials and news? i was looking around for some rpg's, and although i could find much of the former, i could find none of the latter.

We're mostly a band of RPG gamers who share bursts of opinions and ideals, but occasionally some people post here about RPGs they're making, and the Saint is always posting news about RPGs, some well known and some not, but this website is pretty article oriented.