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[Announce] CreatureComp

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David Fisher

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Aug 21, 2006, 11:46:24 PM8/21/06
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The feedback seems to be positive, so ...

CreatureComp is officially on! To reiterate:

The main focus of the game must be some kind of creature. For example:

- the PC is some kind of creature (as in "Ralf" (dog), "A Day For Soft Food"
(cat), etc)
- a creature (or creatures) must be trapped and captured by the PC
- the PC has crashed in a remote location and there is Something Out There

The exact definition of "creature" is up to your interpretation, but a
normal human being obviously doesn't count. Fairies and elves are also right
out ... you get the idea. :-)

The deadline is Friday the 22nd of September 2006 - one month away. This
gives a week of judging before the IF Comp judging period starts.

Send entries (or a download address) to david at hsa dot com dot au.

No prizes at this time, though a donation of a creature suitable for first
prize will be gratefully received.

David Fisher


quic...@quickfur.ath.cx

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Aug 22, 2006, 11:17:17 AM8/22/06
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On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 01:46:24PM +1000, David Fisher wrote:
> The feedback seems to be positive, so ...
>
> CreatureComp is officially on! To reiterate:
[...]

Sorry if this is a stupid question (I'm still new here), but are there
any rules on the size/length of the game? I seem to have read somewhere
that some IF competitions limit gameplay to at most 1 hour, or some
such.

Also, I guess I'll be needing someone to beta-test... but how would that
work if they are also entering the contest? Nobody I know IRL is
interested in IF.


QF

--
The easy way is the wrong way, and the hard way is the stupid way. Pick one.

David Fisher

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Aug 22, 2006, 7:15:51 PM8/22/06
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<quic...@quickfur.ath.cx> wrote in message
news:20060822151905.GB22379@crystal...

> On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 01:46:24PM +1000, David Fisher wrote:
>> The feedback seems to be positive, so ...
>>
>> CreatureComp is officially on! To reiterate:
> [...]
>
> Sorry if this is a stupid question (I'm still new here), but are there
> any rules on the size/length of the game? I seem to have read somewhere
> that some IF competitions limit gameplay to at most 1 hour, or some
> such.

This is a pretty relaxed sort of competition, so it's really up to you - but
I would recommend a short game (1 hour or less). This makes judging the
games a little easier, and also means that your game will probably be more
fully implemented, given the one month time frame.

> Also, I guess I'll be needing someone to beta-test... but how would that
> work if they are also entering the contest? Nobody I know IRL is
> interested in IF.

There are a few ways to get Beta testers ...

* Post a message to rec.games.int-fiction asking for testers
* Ask for testers on the IFMud - http://ifmud.port4000.com
* Look at Lucian Smith's "IF Beta Site" page -
http://www.plover.net/~textfire/beta.html

David Fisher


she's long gone

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Aug 23, 2006, 9:14:00 AM8/23/06
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You can also ask for testers at the new IF forums.

http://www.intfiction.org/forum/

Taz

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Aug 24, 2006, 5:20:10 AM8/24/06
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Oh Woot!

I just had my idea for the basic premise behind this. My skills are so
NOT up to implementing it - but hopefully I can learn as I go. It'll be
somewhere to start anyway.

*is excited*

Hazard Suit

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Aug 25, 2006, 2:53:03 AM8/25/06
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If I were planning a longer game, could I enter the competition with,
say a part of it, like Episode I or something?

David Fisher

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Aug 25, 2006, 3:13:18 AM8/25/06
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"Hazard Suit" <the-...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:1156488782.9...@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...

> If I were planning a longer game, could I enter the competition with,
> say a part of it, like Episode I or something?

That would be OK ... as long as it feels reasonably complete by itself.

Just in case you were not aware, the annual IF comp (and most others) don't
allow previously released games to be entered - so if you were thinking of
entering the full game in a future competition, you may want to do a
variation or "test version" instead of the final thing you had in mind.

David Fisher


quic...@quickfur.ath.cx

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Aug 25, 2006, 9:44:05 AM8/25/06
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[...]

So does releasing part I of V of a game qualify as a "test version"?


QF

--
Don't drink and derive. Alcohol and algebra don't mix.

Andrew Plotkin

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Aug 25, 2006, 10:07:59 AM8/25/06
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You could enter part 1 in this year's IFComp and part 2 in next year's
IFComp. Or you could enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and release
the full game on its own next year (not as part of the IFComp.)

What you can't do is enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and then the
full game (including part 1 unchanged) in next year's IFComp.

--Z

--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
It used to be that "conservatives" were in favor of smaller government,
fiscal responsibility, and tighter constraints on the Man's ability to
monitor you, arrest you, and control your life.

Stephen Granade

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Aug 25, 2006, 10:16:13 AM8/25/06
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On non-released competition entries:

Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> writes:
> Here, quic...@quickfur.ath.cx wrote:
> > On Fri, Aug 25, 2006 at 05:13:18PM +1000, David Fisher wrote:
>
> > So does releasing part I of V of a game qualify as a "test version"?
>
> You could enter part 1 in this year's IFComp and part 2 in next year's
> IFComp. Or you could enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and release
> the full game on its own next year (not as part of the IFComp.)
>
> What you can't do is enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and then the
> full game (including part 1 unchanged) in next year's IFComp.

N.B. that this is exactly what Paul O'Brian did with his Earth and Sky
series.

Stephen

--
Stephen Granade
stephen...@granades.com

Andrew Plotkin

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Aug 25, 2006, 10:33:05 AM8/25/06
to

"This" meaning part 1 one year, part 2 the next year, etc.

Hazard Suit

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Aug 25, 2006, 2:58:30 PM8/25/06
to

Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> Here, Stephen Granade <stephen...@granades.com> wrote:
> > On non-released competition entries:
> >
> > Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> writes:
> > > Here, quic...@quickfur.ath.cx wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Aug 25, 2006 at 05:13:18PM +1000, David Fisher wrote:
> > >
> > > > So does releasing part I of V of a game qualify as a "test version"?
> > >
> > > You could enter part 1 in this year's IFComp and part 2 in next year's
> > > IFComp. Or you could enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and release
> > > the full game on its own next year (not as part of the IFComp.)
> > >
> > > What you can't do is enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and then the
> > > full game (including part 1 unchanged) in next year's IFComp.
> >
> > N.B. that this is exactly what Paul O'Brian did with his Earth and Sky
> > series.
>

So, like this year:

A Squirrel's Quarrels (hey, nice title :-) ) 1 - Where did I hide the
nut?

and next year

A Squirrel's Quarrel 2 -How to get the damn thing up the tree?

complete independent game, like Zork 1 and 2

would be ok, right?

Timofei Shatrov

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Aug 26, 2006, 3:02:48 AM8/26/06
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On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:07:59 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Plotkin
<erky...@eblong.com> tried to confuse everyone with this message:

>What you can't do is enter part 1 in this year's IFComp, and then the
>full game (including part 1 unchanged) in next year's IFComp.

Didn't Ninja 2 include full version of Ninja 1?

--
|Don't believe this - you're not worthless ,gr---------.ru
|It's us against millions and we can't take them all... | ue il |
|But we can take them on! | @ma |
| (A Wilhelm Scream - The Rip) |______________|

quic...@quickfur.ath.cx

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Aug 31, 2006, 2:33:35 PM8/31/06
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On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 03:46:24AM +0000, David Fisher wrote:
> The feedback seems to be positive, so ...
>
> CreatureComp is officially on! To reiterate:
[...]

> The deadline is Friday the 22nd of September 2006 - one month away.
> This gives a week of judging before the IF Comp judging period starts.
[...]

Excuse me for a newbie question... how much time do y'all usually
allocate for beta-testing? It's only a little over a week since the
CreatureComp announcement, and I'm already finding that my story needs a
second(!) major rewrite (to a setting more suitable for the main
character, altho much of the puzzle ideas remain). At this rate, I fear
whether I'll have *any* time left for beta-testing. Any advice from IF
veterans? ;-)


QF

--
To provoke is to call someone stupid; to argue is to call each other stupid.

Emily Short

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Aug 31, 2006, 2:48:48 PM8/31/06
to

quic...@quickfur.ath.cx wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 03:46:24AM +0000, David Fisher wrote:
> > The feedback seems to be positive, so ...
> >
> > CreatureComp is officially on! To reiterate:
> [...]
> > The deadline is Friday the 22nd of September 2006 - one month away.
> > This gives a week of judging before the IF Comp judging period starts.
> [...]
>
> Excuse me for a newbie question... how much time do y'all usually
> allocate for beta-testing?

Depends on the size and complexity of the game, the number of testers
I've got working on it, and how many hours during that time I think I'm
going to have available to work on something.

As a (very) rough guideline, I find that a mini-comp game intended to
have 20ish minutes of playtime usually needs a couple of people to look
at it for a couple of days; a full comp game of a couple hours needs
more like five people to look at it for a week to two weeks; on a
medium-sized game taking 4-6 hours generally needs at least a month
(especially since one will need to release updates and have people test
them again); and a full-sized game can be in beta for some number of
months before it is smooth enough to release.

It also pretty much never hurts to allot yourself too much beta time.
Nothing is ever too polished.

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