GAF CREATES CONTEST II: Electric Pixelloo
The Mission
A fresh new year with a fresh new decade on top of that. Now I know some of you nerdlings are too busy hiding in your grandad's bombshelter, refusing to let go of the fact that it is now the 21st century, and that 3d games have ruled the wastelands (that's right, the world is a wasteland now so stay in your hole in the ground away from us ghouls).
By now you have memorized the level layouts and enemy locations in Amagon, and are currently on your 1,307th playthrough of Harley's Humongous Adventure. Your roach colony has defied you and have decided to risk living in the sunlit world than stay another day with your rank ass. Saddest of all, grandad seems to have had his "fill" of you (yes I've been watching you from a tiny camera I planted in one of your fingernails, bet you can't find it).
Basically, you're bored shitless.
Well I'm here to help fill your waste of time with some other waste of time!
See I have chosen to recruit you, yes YOU, to help join me in defeating the evil 3d Overlord whom has turned the outside world into that depressing wasteland which is preventing you from getting you your daily supplies of Pringles and Twinkies. Most importantly, this evil is thwarting you from getting your hands on fresh new old games!!!
Awful right?
Now before you do something drastic like grabbing your plastic lightsaber and jumping outside, my requirements actually allow you to continue using your PC like always. You need to hurry though, as you have one year to finsh your project or else the 3d Overlord with obliterate the world with its army of shavened space marines!
This isn't making a lick of sense to you? Stop thinking about it and read on to find out how to join!
Requirements:
I- Start and complete a new old game by the end of this year
II- Game must be in the style of a retro game (from the Atari era to the SNES days)
III- Old school game mods are acceptable, but must have all new level layouts and other additions (like new enemies or gameplay elements)
IV- Must be polished, playable, and beatable
V- Game must be at acceptable retro length (think typical NES or Arcade game)
Additional rules:
A- Anything is allowed to help you make you game (LunarMagic, XNA, SEUCK, Flash, GameMaker)
B- Teamups with other GAFFERs are allowed but only by a limit of 3.
C- If making a mod, DO NOT include the rom with the zip
D- When finished, zip and upload your game to an accessible filesharer (ex.Filefront) and PM the links
E- If caught plagiarizing someone else's work you will be banned to the wasteland and appropriately mocked!
F- No DudeBro. Dawg's got his own time and place to shine.
Other notes:
1- BACK UP YOUR WORK CONSTANTLY!
2- It's helpful to post updates on your progress. Why? Because once you let people in on what you're working on, you will feel more compelled to finish.
3- Try to make sure your game is as accessible to as many people as possible. You want your hard work to be seen right?
4- Don't be afraid to ask for help! Getting stumped on how to do something is usually as killer in developing games on your own.
5- Don't be too ambitious! Keep it simple at first and push yourself further as you get a better handle on things.
6- If you need some help getting started I have provided some tools in the next post to lead you into the right direction.
7- Its best to start early. Spend the first few of months learning your software and sketching out ideas.
8- Most importantly DONT PANIC! If midway through you realize you might not make the date then string together a demo or video if you can then just finish the project when you choose.
Awards?
Well besides finally getting your ass away from playing games to learning how to make one, I will be dolling out a free downloadable game ($10 max) to anyone that meets the criteria above. There will be a special GAF CREATES Game of the Year Award, but I haven't decided on what that would be yet. On Jan. 1, 2011, GAFFER's will be able vote on their favorite game. I'll will go into more details as the time comes. Also if anyone would like to donate prizes just shoot me a PM.
Final Words:
Unlike the last
GAF CREATES, this contest is more open and expanded. The idea of GAF Creates is to give an extra push to you wanna-be-gamemakers to start making something and learning about game development. Instead of just focusing on one game and program, you can now use whatever tools that are available to make your game as long as it sticks within the retro styled world. Learning to make a game can be quite daunting at first, but once you get a handle on the basics, creating a game can be just as fun as playing one.
Good luck everyone!
Maybe a SNES mod or something would be a nice place to start?