Seven Day Roguelike 2008: Call For Dates
Jeff Lait
Roguelike authors are faced with the grueling challenge of making a
complete roguelike within one hundred and sixty eight hours. With
another year of wisdom, and another year's worth of new hopefuls, what
will the
results be?
First, what is a Seven Day Roguelike?
A Seven Day Roguelike is a roguelike created in seven days. This means
the author stopped writing code one hundred and sixty eight hours
after starting to write code.
For more details on the history of Seven Day Roguelikes, check the
RogueBasin:
http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=7DRL
A Seven Day Roguelike (7DRL) can be written at any time. However, a
general agreement was reached that it would be fun to schedule a
specific week for a challenge. This allows the various authors to
know that others are also desperately tracking down a bad pointer
reference on the 167th hour.
Now, we must choose a week.
For a given week, you can start at any time on the Saturday or Sunday.
You start by posting to rec.games.roguelike.development. Your
timelimit is then 168 hours from that point. Thus, if you started on
February 24th at 15:00 EDT, you must finish on March 2nd at 15:00
EDT. You finish (if successful) with an announcement to
rec.games.roguelike.announce.
You can use either your timezone, or the timezone of the computer you
are working on. The start and end timezones have to be, of course,
the same.
Due to obvious USENET propagation issues (coupled with
rec.games.roguelike.announce being moderated), the time stamps of your
messages are not authoritative. We are working, obviously, on the
honour system.
As per tradition, three weeks have been selected. January is right
out, as that is not enough warning. Same goes for first week of
February. The following two weeks can easily run into Valentines, and
I don't want any angry significant others tracking me down.
Thus, the available weeks are:
1) February 23rd to March 2nd
2) March 1st to March 9th
3) March 8th to March 16th
Please post a reply to this message listing *all* weeks that you would
be able & willing to participate.
Ie, I would post and say: "I can attend all three weeks". If you
reply more than once, the latest reply will be used as the final
result.
Next Wednesday I'll take a count to see which week has the most votes.
In case of tie, the *latest* date will be picked. This is designed to
bias the contest date to the previous year's date.
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)
Jeff Lait
>
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
I can attend all three weeks.
--
Jeff Lait
uschkinre...@gmx.de
Hello; I would like march 8th to march 16th, since i would spend as
much time as possible into the framework. I haven't write everything
from scratch, do i?
Greets
purestrain
stu
>
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
>
> Please post a reply to this message listing *all* weeks that you would
> be able & willing to participate.
>
I can do option 3 (depending on how much time the baby demands from
me!)
-stu
Gamer_2k4
<uschkinredsunsh...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Hello; I would like march 8th to march 16th, since i would spend as
> much time as possible into the framework. I haven't write everything
> from scratch, do i?
I think the general consensus is that it's alright for you to use SOME
pre-existing code. The goal of this is to make a playable game, not
to see who can write the most lines of code. Obviously you can use
libraries such as curses or SDL, but the content of your game should
be significantly different from any of your other projects. For
example, I'm pretty sure Jeff Lait uses the same display engine for
YOLO, LetterHunt, and Save Scummer, but the games are clearly
different from each other.
--
Gamer_2k4
Gamer_2k4
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
#1 is best for me, as I have a break from school that week, but I'd be
willing to participate in either of the other weeks as well.
--
Gamer_2k4
Rachel Elizabeth Dillon
I am equally likely to try and fail any of these three weeks :)
-r.
Maxy-B
[snip]
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
Oh snap. Options #1 and #2 work for me.
--
Max Bane
Martin Read
>It is now time for the fourth annual Seven Day Roguelilke Challenge!
Which, sadly, I shan't be taking part in, despite being full of energy
for roguelike-writing this winter, because that energy belongs to MPRHB.
I would like to wish good fortune and happy coding to the participants,
though!
--
\_\/_/ some girls wander by mistake into the mess that scalpels make
\ / are you the teachers of my heart? we teach old hearts to break
\/ --- Leonard Cohen, "Teachers"
Slash
> It is now time for the fourth annual Seven Day Roguelilke Challenge!
Yay!
> Roguelike authors are faced with the grueling challenge of making a
> complete roguelike within one hundred and sixty eight hours. With
> another year of wisdom,
wisdom? :P
> Thus, the available weeks are:
>
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
All of them are equally bad for me :D
(That means any of them will do)
SNIP
> --
> Jeff Lait
> (POWDER:http://www.zincland.com/powder)
lochok
> It is now time for the fourth annual Seven Day Roguelilke Challenge!
>
<Snip>
> Now, we must choose a week.
>
<SNIP>
> Thus, the available weeks are:
>
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
>
Either 2 or 3 (preferably 3) - 1 will be filled with my trying to finish
my album for the FAWM!
Lochok
Krice
> Ie, I would post and say: "I can attend all three weeks".
All weeks ok. I hope I'm now better prepared to write
WhitePoweRL. I already have something done in content
side (not much though) so I'm obviously cheating.
Ido Yehieli
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
They are all equally bad for me :(
Unless I haven't failed my differential equations exam, which means
the last week would be the best - so I'll vote for #3.
-ido.
Robson
> On Jan 23, 10:03 am, Jeff Lait <torespondisfut...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Thus, the available weeks are:
>
> > 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> > 2) March 1st to March 9th
> > 3) March 8th to March 16th
>
> All of them are equally bad for me :D
>
> (That means any of them will do)
Ditto!
I might make http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=63 with a load
of changes to make it more roguelike.
jot...@hotmail.com
> Ditto!
>
> I might make http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=63 with a load
> of changes to make it more roguelike.
Bastard! :D
(I mean that in a good way!)
This will be an interesting experience. I won't vote but later I might
participate if I find that I have the time. Cheers :)
Jotaf
simhau
Jeff Lait skrev:
<SNIP>
> Thus, the available weeks are:
>
> 1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> 2) March 1st to March 9th
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
<SNIP>
Timofei Shatrov
<uschkinre...@gmx.de> tried to confuse everyone with this message:
>I haven't write everything from scratch, do i?
Try it, it's fun. My first 7drl was entirely from scratch and it was quite
rewarding, considering it was my first roguelike, I had no code, no design
ideas, and programmed it in a language which was considered totally unsuitable
for roguelikes. And now I can brag about it on the newsgroup!
--
|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) |______________|
Timofei Shatrov
<torespon...@hotmail.com> tried to confuse everyone with this message:
>Thus, the available weeks are:
>
>1) February 23rd to March 2nd
>2) March 1st to March 9th
>3) March 8th to March 16th
1, although I'm likely to skip this one due to laziness.
same...@gmail.com
> > >1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> >2) March 1st to March 9th
> >3) March 8th to March 16th
If it's ok to post Nintendo DS RogueLike
i vote for #2 but also #3 is good enought
if it's no ok ... i'll do it the right way 8)
Jeff Lait
There are no hardware restrictions. You can write your roguelike in
any language and for any platform. I believe we had a C64 basic
roguelike last year!
Slash
> On Jan 24, 7:02 pm, sameli...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > > >Thus, the available weeks are:
>
> > > > >1) February 23rd to March 2nd
> > > >2) March 1st to March 9th
> > > >3) March 8th to March 16th
>
> > If it's ok to post Nintendo DS RogueLike
> > i vote for #2 but also #3 is good enought
> > if it's no ok ... i'll do it the right way 8)
>
> There are no hardware restrictions. You can write your roguelike in
> any language and for any platform. I believe we had a C64 basic
> roguelike last year!
yeah, sadly I couldnt get it to run :(
> --
> Jeff Lait
> (POWDER:http://www.zincland.com/powder)
--
Slash
Robson
> On 24 Jan, 14:13, Robson <iceyi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Ditto!
>
> > of changes to make it more roguelike.
>
> Bastard! :D
>
> (I mean that in a good way!)
I'm not sure I follow... were you going to make that or something?
Kornel Kisielewicz
> 3) March 8th to March 16th
Sadly, this is the only one I could attend :/
regards,
Kornel Kisielewicz
Altefcat
there is no way for me to have a full week dedicated to development.
Any way, good luck for all of you !
Actually, maybe I'm not the only one in such a situation; has it been
discussed already about doing a 100 hours roguelike, instead of 7
consecutive days ? This way, developers would count each time they
work on their roguelike, and after 100 hours of development, they
release their project. What do you think ?
Ido Yehieli
> has it been
> discussed already about doing a 100 hours roguelike, instead of 7
> consecutive days ? This way, developers would count each time they
> work on their roguelike, and after 100 hours of development, they
> release their project. What do you think ?
If that what it takes to make it work for you, go for it!
I'm sure we can find a jpeg of a medal to send you if you produce a
working game after 100 hours ;)
Good luck,
Ido.
Radomir 'The Sheep' Dopieralski
Altefcat wrote:
> Too bad for me, I would have really liked to try it this year, but
> there is no way for me to have a full week dedicated to development.
> Any way, good luck for all of you !
>
> Actually, maybe I'm not the only one in such a situation; has it been
> discussed already about doing a 100 hours roguelike, instead of 7
> consecutive days ? This way, developers would count each time they
> work on their roguelike, and after 100 hours of development, they
> release their project. What do you think ?
You are not required to spend all that time working on your game. You
can release it even after one hour, if you think it's ready.
The point of limiting the time frame is not to show how fast you can code,
but to help oneself focus on the project -- something that's often the
most difficult part of writing and *releasing* a roguelike game.
It doesn't make much sense to work on it 100 hours over a timespan of
two years. At least for me, your mileage may vary.
--
Radomir `The Sheep' Dopieralski <http://sheep.art.pl>
Meden agan.
Altefcat
> can release it even after one hour, if you think it's ready.
>
> The point of limiting the time frame is not to show how fast you can code,
> but to help oneself focus on the project -- something that's often the
> most difficult part of writing and *releasing* a roguelike game.
I can see your point, but this thread was about choosing a week among
three for the seven day challenge, right ? I agree that it's
encouraging to challenge other devs and to get something done just in
time.
>
> It doesn't make much sense to work on it 100 hours over a timespan of
> two years. At least for me, your mileage may vary.
>
In my mind, timespan was a year, or say 11 monthes from january to
november, and results in december for instance.
Slash
> > You are not required to spend all that time working on your game. You
> > can release it even after one hour, if you think it's ready.
>
> > It doesn't make much sense to work on it 100 hours over a timespan of
> > two years. At least for me, your mileage may vary.
>
> In my mind, timespan was a year, or say 11 monthes from january to
> november, and results in december for instance.
Bummer, that path has been walked so many times... one year is just
too much, everybody dies. 7DRLs are not just about finishing a game,
they are about learning how to translate a project into a game.
--
Slash
http://slashie.net
Jeff Lait
> Too bad for me, I would have really liked to try it this year, but
> there is no way for me to have a full week dedicated to development.
> Any way, good luck for all of you !
I hope you don't think all the participants have a week devoted to
development! I certainly have nothing close to 100 hours available to
me! If I'm lucky, I'll scrape together maybe 30-40 hours of
development time over the week.
> Actually, maybe I'm not the only one in such a situation; has it been
> discussed already about doing a 100 hours roguelike, instead of 7
> consecutive days ? This way, developers would count each time they
> work on their roguelike, and after 100 hours of development, they
> release their project. What do you think ?
I've seen people try that with 24-hour comic contests and similar. I
think it misses the point of time-constrained creativity. It turns
what should be a fun race to the finish into a time-punching ritual.
If you want to write a roguelike over a year timespan, I don't see why
adding a 100 hour limit would at all help. Why not just write a
roguelike over the same timespan without punching a clock? Schedule 2
hours a week of coding and you'll hit 100 hours pretty closely with no
need to fill out timesheets.
The advantage of a 7drl over just writing a roguelike is that the time
limit forces you to *finish* something. A 100 hours over a year is as
a nebulous time limit as "a year" - procrastination and feature bloat
will creep in and you'll never finish. (Not that there is anything
wrong with not finishing - almost all great roguelikes are unfinished)
Like the NaNoWriMo, the goal isn't to create *great* roguelikes. It
is just to create roguelikes. I encourage you to participate even if
you can't have a cleared schedule. Just make something smaller (and
possibly more fun!) with the time you do have.
Martin Read
[something for which they didn't provide an attribution line]
>> It doesn't make much sense to work on it 100 hours over a timespan of
>> two years. At least for me, your mileage may vary.
>>
>In my mind, timespan was a year, or say 11 monthes from january to
>november, and results in december for instance.
That's a very generous timescale to get 100 hours of development time
into (I'd suggest something more like three months).
zircher
>
>> In my mind, timespan was a year, or say 11 monthes from january to
>> november, and results in december for instance.
>
> That's a very generous timescale to get 100 hours of development time
> into (I'd suggest something more like three months).
Being married with children, 100 to 168 hours over the course of a
year is about average for me. Perhaps I should be planning for 2009
by starting now? :-)
--
TAZ
jot...@hotmail.com
> On Jan 24, 4:50 pm, jota...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > On 24 Jan, 14:13, Robson <iceyi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Ditto!
>
> > > of changes to make it more roguelike.
>
> > Bastard! :D
>
> > (I mean that in a good way!)
>
> I'm not sure I follow... were you going to make that or something?
No, it was just to say it was a good idea to adapt to RL (I think...).
But even if it wasn't, ya know, you got dibs ;)
Jotaf
Slash
> On Jan 28, 4:16 am, Altefcat <edemp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Too bad for me, I would have really liked to try it this year, but
> > there is no way for me to have a full week dedicated to development.
> > Any way, good luck for all of you !
>
> I hope you don't think all the participants have a week devoted to
> development! I certainly have nothing close to 100 hours available to
> me! If I'm lucky, I'll scrape together maybe 30-40 hours of
> development time over the week.
30-40 is a whole lot... If I am lucky I will be able to gather 20
hours in my week :(
So, this is not an excuse for not getting in! ;D
SNIP
> --
> Jeff Lait
> (POWDER:http://www.zincland.com/powder)