IC Forum Archive

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Super Game Bakedown
IT'S COMING
JANUARY 2007

I sort of did this unofficially last year, and this time I want to make it bigger and more official. The idea is basically the same as NaNoWriMo - to start coding a game at midnight on Jan 1 and have it complete by midnight on Jan 31. That gives me and any others interested in participating about six weeks to plan your projects.

There are a couple rules and other details that still need hammering out:
-Group projects? I'm leaning towards allowing them, if just because not all the ambitious coders out there are also skilled artists and musicians. Solo projects are still encouraged and applauded, though.
-Code reuse is a tricky one. If I were to follow NaNo's lead, I'd ban this completely, but on the other hand, every game I've made in the past 2 years has used the same base code. I think I'm going to go with a general ruling that you can use code written before January, but you can't write code specifically for this purpose. Still open to loopholes here and there, but who are you cheating, really, other than yourself?
-"Complete game" is not as easy to quantify as "complete novel." I can't require a minimum of 50,000 lines of code or some such nonsense, so this is pretty much left subjective. The game is done when you feel that it is done enough to release into the wild without feeling like a loser.
-The name "NaViGaWriMo" sucks. It's too long, too clunky, too blatantly derivative of NaNoWriMo, and too hard to remember. I really need to think of a new name. Any suggestions?
-I want to make a website for it this year. I know very little about making websites, but if nobody else is interested in doing that, then I guess I will.

All right, enough rambling. Who wants to be in on this besides me?

oligophagy · Posts: 110

Word. But I doubtless wouldn't without sleek web pages for the affixing of camaraderie and screenshots. Something more than just a wiki and a phpbb forum. Less scattered bones, more skeleton.

Also, less base code? Fresh starts are instructive (not poking fun, but yours could be more . . . elegant; the decade old glAux dependency plucked, for one) and add to the accomplishment. Making a game in a month from whatever isn't quite the same crazy as writing a novel in a month. Probably people are doing it all the time! Flash games certainly abound. "From scratch" is more in bringing the thrill of impossible odds.

TO SURMISE: I totally need this.

internisus · Posts: 961

I'd like to hear approval of using game making platforms.

Other than that caveat, I love the idea, and I could see it becoming unexpectedly popular like NaNoWriMo did. In fact, I was thinking along this very line a little while ago, not recalling that you did it last year.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Yes, Game Maker and the like are go. The more people that can participate in this, the better.

And yes, fresh starts are instructive and nice, but should we necessarily make them mandatory? Depending on what kind of game you're making, and what kind of games you've made in the past, it could potentially lead to a lot of wheel-reinventing. Then again, maybe that'd be a good thing...

Mr. Business · Posts: 1530

Well, the way that I see it, it does level the playing field in terms of the extent of one's potential ambition.

Also, have there been any suggestions for the renaming effort?

oligophagy · Posts: 110

professor_scissors wrote:

Depending on what kind of game you're making, and what kind of games you've made in the past, it could potentially lead to a lot of wheel-reinventing.

If you've done something so much that you can't learn much from doing it again, maybe you should do something else? Experimentation is part the point, right?

Also, Game Bake is a dumb name, but it is stuck in my head.

vision · Posts: 472

Mr. Business wrote:

Also, have there been any suggestions for the renaming effort?

another god · Posts: 1629

This is a good idea. I'd be willing to help write a website. I can't do much PHP (although I'm learning!), but I am handy with HTML and aesthetics, so!

By the way, I was planning on teaching people how to use Fusion to make a game, but my project got expanded, and it's also not my property to hand out to people other than the people that are paying me to make it, so! I'm willing to still help people make neat games with Fusion if anyone is interested. I have games that I was making for the purpose of dissection and analysis if anyone's interested.

Hey hey, anyone interested?

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Another God, you are now the official Game Bake Website Man. Until we come up with a better name.

BEIGE · Posts: 208

I'd like to work with someone on this.

mechanori · Posts: 623

I should have some time by January.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Okay, we've been rambling in IRC and came up with these:

Game Bake
Game Bakedown (The Bakedown) ("Bakedown" is a fun word to say)
Super Game Turbo
Turbo Game Dash
Clay
Devolution
A Month In Which Several People Will Agree To Create A Piece of Electronic Entertainment, Colloquially Known As A Video Game

Dammit, this is hard.

EDIT:
GoGame
Game Game Go
Gameflow
goNADS

Ionustron · Posts: 47

I'm in.

Hot Stott Bot · Posts: 2097

~~Game Bakedown.~~

~~Seriously.~~

~~Call it that.~~

No, no, no...

Videogame Bakedown!

Or maybe...

The Videogame Bakedown!

ReroRero · Posts: 2148

Bakeoff I think is the correct term.

professor_scissors wrote:

Yes, Game Maker and the like are go. The more people that can participate in this, the better.

Does this include ZZT and/or Megazeux?

Hot Stott Bot · Posts: 2097

ReroRero wrote:

Bakeoff I think is the correct term.

No!

It must be bakedown for precisely that reason!

(Someone can come up with a clever way to justify the "down" instead of "off" later... and write up a little article about it and link it on the page like, "LOL BAKEDOWN?")

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

ReroRero wrote:

professor_scissors wrote:

Yes, Game Maker and the like are go. The more people that can participate in this, the better.

Does this include ZZT and/or Megazeux?

ZZT, Megazeux, RPG Maker 95, Inform 7, Hypercard, you name it.

another god · Posts: 1629

I think anything and everything should be accepted as long as the downloads are stand alone. But that's just me.

Anyways, the Super Game Bakedown title sounds fucking rad (or any variation, really). Prof, if you can add a poll that runs for a couple days on a couple names, I can register and set up a website. I'll put down the money to set up the domain, and we'll discuss the logistics after.

Also, if we really wanna do this thing for January, we gotta get the ball moving. I'd rather push it back to February, because even by then it'll be a little crunch. But February is a short month :(

oligophagy · Posts: 110

another god wrote:

Also, if we really wanna do this thing for January, we gotta get the ball moving. I'd rather push it back to February, because even by then it'll be a little crunch. But February is a short month :(

Only, anyone in school (myself included) probably has a lot of January off. February, not so much.

Also, you are awesome for getting this website thing going!

another god · Posts: 1629

Good point. Unless someone has any significant concerns over the name Super Game Bakedown, I'm going to register it (like soon).

LegatoB · Posts: 1546

Vote Super Game Bakedown for great justice.

nothingxs · Posts: 148

If we can use Inform, I'll start writing up some form of story for this.

oligophagy · Posts: 110

Voted Super Game Bakedown with Street Fighter-esque modifiers for subsequent years.

Mr. Business · Posts: 1530

I voted for Turbo Game Dash, but really, I wanted, "A Month In Which Several People Will Agree To Create A Piece of Electronic Entertainment, Colloquially Known As A Video Game."

oligophagy · Posts: 110

The "Several People Will Agree" and "A Piece of Electronic Entertainment" are too loose. The humor of long names is their excessive formalism and precision. The "Colloquially" clause is great, though.

Mr. Business · Posts: 1530

oligophagy wrote:

The "Several People" and "Electronic Entertainment" are too loose. The humor of long names is their excessive precision.

If you're so smart, you fix it. I'm going to get toasted on mead and go to physics class.

"A Month in Which Creative Individuals Endeavour To Create Interactive Electronic Entertainment Simulacra, Colloquially Known As A Video Game."

Is that better? I'm thinking "maybe."

edit: wait, no, there's a redundant use of two forms of the word "create." Fuck it. I just wasn't made to live in the 1800s.

oligophagy · Posts: 110

I didn't say it's easy.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Another god, if Super Game Bakedown is still leading the poll in an hour or so, go ahead and start the webosite.

oligophagy · Posts: 110

Mr. Business wrote:

"A Month in Which Creative Individuals Endeavour To Create Interactive Electronic Entertainment Simulacra, Colloquially Known As A Video Game."

Is that better? I'm thinking "maybe."

Maybe put "Like Minded" in place of "Creative" and break the IEES into a couple clauses, maybe "Electronic Simulacra as that may Reciprocate and Entertain."

I dig your "u" in Endeavour. The final phrasing should totally be the Bakedown's subtitle.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

oligophagy wrote:

The final phrasing should totally be the Bakedown's subtitle.

The creator supports this notion.

another god · Posts: 1629

register get

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

It'd be nice if there was a way I could end this poll now, huh.

another god · Posts: 1629

It'd be kinda funny if a bunch of people voted and Super Game Bakedown lost.

Also, anyone good with logos? I am going to try my hand in a bit, but I'm only so-so with those.

L · Posts: 145

professor_scissors wrote:

ReroRero wrote:

professor_scissors wrote:

Yes, Game Maker and the like are go. The more people that can participate in this, the better.

Does this include ZZT and/or Megazeux?

ZZT, Megazeux, RPG Maker 95, Inform 7, Hypercard, you name it.

Zelda Classic?

(It's got scripting now!)

Mr. Mechanical · Posts: 1890

L wrote:

professor_scissors wrote:

ReroRero wrote:

professor_scissors wrote:

Yes, Game Maker and the like are go. The more people that can participate in this, the better.

Does this include ZZT and/or Megazeux?

ZZT, Megazeux, RPG Maker 95, Inform 7, Hypercard, you name it.

Zelda Classic?

(It's got scripting now!)

I might actually participate, seeing as I recently figured out that Zelda Classic runs just fine in windowed form for me.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

If it makes video games, then you can use it.

Mr. Mechanical · Posts: 1890

professor_scissors wrote:

If it makes video games, then you can use it.

But does Interactive Fiction count?

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Mr. Mechanical wrote:

professor_scissors wrote:

If it makes video games, then you can use it.

But does Interactive Fiction count?

YES. If it is a borderline case, then the answer is YES. Interactive Fiction, computer jigsaw puzzles, train-riding sims, as long as it is on a screen and you play/have fun with it, then yes.

Basically, rule of thumb: If it seems so obviously not okay that you don't have to ask, then no. If you have to ask, then yes.

!= · Posts: 163

Hey, I might participate. I sort of have a rough idea though it has not yet cristallized just yet into a proper design.

And when I say might, there's a very good chance.

Ionustron · Posts: 47

Hey Prof - is it safe to dabble with program and scripting, or learn prior to the Bakedown, so long as you're building everything from scratch at the start of Bakedown? WhatI mean is - I'm planning to do this in gamemaker, but I haven't used the program in years (and when I did, I had only dabbled with it.) I think it has some simple scripting power, but I'd like to study it during December - pratice, which may very well not really happen, would prolly go as far as; plop a block down, plop a script on it, see what happens, take note of what function does... Is this safe to do?

another god · Posts: 1629

Yeah, dabbling is good as long as you're not making resources specifically for your game. Prof scissors and I are going to talk about it soon (I hope) and get things finalized before I write up the website.

Also:

Does anyone have any tutorials for game maker utilities? Or "indie games" to model after? There's going to be a links section full of resources to look at. Anything from graphics to sound to whatnot are cool to share.

BEIGE · Posts: 208

So are group projects a Go or a No Go? Cause I've got some Megazeuxing in mind for this.

professor_scissors · Posts: 1033

Group Projects are Go, but not reccomended unless you have an awesome group.

djtiesto · Posts: 170

MZX? I'm almost tempted but am real busy on a big MZX project at the moment...

Ionustron · Posts: 47

another god wrote:

Yeah, dabbling is good as long as you're not making resources specifically for your game.

Okay! Thanks guys =)