one year ago, we did a gamedev contest known as the week of awesome: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/646780-the-week-of-awesome-unofficial-gdnet-competition/
since cornstalk isn't very active these days, i thought i'd take up the mantle and run a second competiion, but i'd like to get a poll of those whom would be interested.

The Week of Awesome II

For Information about the contest, see this thread: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/645699-upcoming-unofficial-gamedev-competition

The competition has started here

When is this years?

This years will take place from midnight(00:00:01) September 22nd to midnight(00:00:01) September 29th. all times are EST GMT -5.

Currently: Well be decided on Friday, the 29th.

This is not currently set in stone, and is subject to change.

[UPDATE: i've added a poll to get a feeling for the best week that people can do this, please vote on all the weeks you'll feel you can adequately participate in.

Where is this years?
It's still on the internet, right at this very site!

What are this years rules?!
They are still the same as last years:
http://www.gamedev.net/topic/645699-upcoming-unofficial-gamedev-competition

With exception to the available platforms, stay tuned to see what the judges can do this year!

We have a list of our platforms for this year:

-Windows 7/8
-Linux
-IE 11
-Firefox
-Chrome

unfortunately we only have 2 judges capable of both mac/linux, which puts it out of the running for the 3 judges to test. also i don't want to discourage mobile games, however last year it was a slight problem with one of the games that were built for iOS could only be tested by one judge, so this year i'm going to remove the mobile testable platforms, however that does not mean you can't design your game for mobile system, just be prepared for it to be played on a desktop is all.

we also have several gamepads available for use during testing, so don't shy away from making gamepad enabled games!

What's the criteria this year?
This year we are changing things up a tad bit in how scoring is to be handled:
The contest will be judged by the following categories:

• Gameplay/fun factor: 25 pts
• Graphics: 20 pts (that is, does it look good, aesthetically, and do the graphics contribute to or detract from the game experience?) (note: it's not a contest of who has the most realistic graphics; rather, this category is about how well the graphics help the game express itself and create an engaging experience for the user)
• Theme: 20 pts (that is, how well the game incorporates the theme)
• Audio: 10 pts (similar to the above, but with audio)
• First time user experience: 10 pts (that is, is it easy to install and run and start playing?) (clarification: your game doesn't need an installer; in fact, a download-and-play (without an installing process) is probably even preferable; what I meant by "easy to install" is that it includes all the necessary dependencies (or has good instructions for obtaining/installing necessary dependencies) such that a user can easily run you game without having to fight it; you'll also want to include at least some minimal instructions or a tutorial/in-game hints/tips).
• Participation: 10pts(that is, you post to the relevant threads on your progress, post dev journals, and in general participate with the rest of us rather than locking yourself away until your done. you don't have to go overboard, but a post every couple days with what your doing/upto will likely net you these 10 pnts)
• Judges score: 5 pnts(this score is up to each individual judge, with no individual category to hold them down, overall it's up to each judge to define what criteria they will choose for this category!)

Expect a grand total of 100 points, you'll notice that we've reduced the amount you get from First time user experiance, and increased the points to gameplay/fun. we've also added the participation and judging category. with the participation category i'm hoping to see more input from members throughout the week, and promote a greater atmosphere for us about the competition! and with the judging category, we give them a tiny bit of room to play with for their individual feelings on each person's game.

How do i get participation points?
Great question, when the competition is going on, by posting journals, pictures, or links to wip builds you will garner a certain amount of participation in the community. what we want to foster is an atmosphere of development over one where each participate is working quietly alone.

you can also use the hashtag: #gdnjam on twitter to post images, but it'd be easiest for us to observe it when it's here on gamedev itself. their are many ways to gain participation points, so just be sure to post often!

Who are the judges?!

• slicer4ever
• alleightup
• swiftcoder
• aurioch
• orymus3

I have found all our judges!

However Judging is not going to be dealt with in the same manner as last year. I personally felt like a big disappointment with last years competition was that we received no individual scoring of each category, as such we were given final scores, and that was it, no feedback, or anything. This year each judge is expected to compose something similar to this: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1587/entry-2258640-week-of-awesome-my-game-reviews/ this means individual scores to each category, and at least some form of feedback for the game being played. If you believe you can do this, send me a pm then!

As for submitting games for judging, once again see the original thread: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/646780-the-week-of-awesome-unofficial-gdnet-competition/

Note: Being a judge does not bar you from participating, however it does mean you are exempt from claiming any prizes! as such, if for example you come in first, instead of receiving first prize, that prize would instead go to second, second go to third, etc.

So what do we get if we win?

Current prizes are:
1st place
- 150$ USD*
- 150$ USD* - Thanks to stormynature
- 100$ USD* - Thanks to lactose
- a special gamedev title to reflect your winning!
2nd place
- 50$ USD*
- 50$ USD* - Thanks to stormynature
- 50$ USD* - Thanks to lactose
3rd place
- 25$ USD*
- 25$ USD* - Thanks to stormynature
- 50$ USD* - Thanks to lactose
4th place
- 25$ USD* - Thanks to orymus3
5th place
- 10$ USD* - Thanks to 0sok


- all participates will receive some rep as well!
I am currently looking for anyone whom wishs to donate to the prize pool, if you'd like to add to this, please send me a PM.

*All money payments well be done via paypal, if paypal is not possible we will attempt to reach an agreement with something like a steam gift card, or w/e can make it work for you. cash payment will be divided among members in a similar way as last year*


So who's doing this?

If you are interested, please drop a post below, as it stands these are the currently known interested members:
Servant of the Lord Blog: Pixel ? Tile ? World
minibutmany Blog: -
endurion Blog: -
ryan20fun Blog: -
navezof Blog: -
riuthamus Blog: http://www.riuthamus.com/?project=the-harvest
dsm1891 Blog: -
stu_pidd_cow Blog: -
eric rufelt Blog: -
geartreeentertainment Blog: -
sugavanas Blog: http://kks21199.mrgoogleglass.com/gamedev/
mousetail Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1931-journal-for-week-of-awsome/
saen t mcbeth Blog: -
td25 Blog: -
orymus3 Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1927-the-week-of-awesome-ii/
0sok Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1929-0soks-journal/
thaumaturge Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1923-the-week-of-awesome-ii-thaumaturge/
mussi Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/803-journal-of-mussi/
themasterrat Blog: http://weekofawesomeii.tumblr.com/
d000hg Blog: -
stenol26 Blog: http://sjs-studio.com/en/
dmatter Blog: http://www.gilldave.co.uk/blog/
Night Lone Blog: -
garrett hoofman Blog: http://teamopifex.com/
aldacron Blog: -
jackoatley Blog: -
fusoy Blog: -
b boy 212 Blog: -
yellowkitsune Blog: http://thoughtsofakitsune.blogspot.com/
technogoth Blog: -
cefleet Blog: http://aletheiagamestudio.com/?cat=4
johnnycode Blog: -
newtechnology Blog: -
dixus Blog: -
gezegond Blog: -
lootheo Blog: -
trueerror Blog: trueerrors Journey through insanity
eck Blog: Eck's Journal - Still Flying
shadowisadog Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1928-the-week-of-awesome-ii-shadowisadog/
m_juststarting Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1934-new-syntax-blog-for-week-of-awesome-ii/
xaer0 Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1926-xaer0s-journal/
Captain Coffer Blog: -
erraticvelocity Blog: -
madeso Blog: -
phil_t Blog: -
multiparadigme Blog: http://www.multiparadigme.org/
doboss Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1933-the-week-of-awesome-ii-herd-of-nerd-star-participation/
thesikaoz Blog: -
gurgehx Blog: -
erraticvelocity Blog: https://trello.com/b/UCfBXYNs/week-of-awesome-ii
sethhope Blog: http://thewireboundpony.tumblr.com/
geoffreys Blog: -
sketch99 Blog: -
line Blog: MoonlitHouse.com
xai Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1941-xais-awesome-living-toys/
do note that you do not have to be an interested member to participate, nor even drop any sort of message at all. so long as we receive your game submission before the end of the competition, you will be entered!

Are there any teams?
Servent of the lord is himself and one friend
Garrett Hoofman and his teammate Kirk.Roerig are competing as Team OPifex
Riuthamus is competing with two others as Slaughterhouse Gaming!
dsm1891 has notified me he's looking for a special team member to work with!
0sok is competing with his girlfriend as graphics!
mussi is looking for an artist to team up with!
themasterrat has teamed up with a few folks
night lone is competing with a composer friend!
Jackoatley is competing in a team!
b boy 212 is competing with a friend!
sugavanus has formed a 2 man team!, competing under the team banner "Rocket-Powered Operatives"
newtechnology is looking for some folks to be on a team.
Eck will be competing under the team banner of "Sill Flying"
m_JustStarting is competing with Davidjo and adamc762 under the team banner of "New Syntax"
Xaer0 is competing with a designer friend under the team banner of "Ghostware Games"
doboss is competing with supervacanea and makokvak under the team banner of "Herd of Nerd"
Line is competing under the team banner "Moonlit House"

I encourage team names, so please drop one in when your announcing your teams!
also, please remember that: "you may leave your team at any time (though I suggest you don't be a jerk and leave your team stranded). You may join a team at any time before the competition. Once the competition starts, you may still leave your team, but you may not switch to a new/different team. Additionally, once the competition starts, you may join or form your own team at any time, provide that you (and your members) were not previously on a team."

I would be interested in participating again, I had a lot of fun last time around.

The date slot is perfect for me, I've got a few days off :)

Also, same rules please! I've just attended LD#30 this weekend, and having to open source has severely hampered me. Last years compo I could use my own framework which makes me a lot more productive.

Oh goodie! Hopefully this time I don't have a 5-day concrete pour and a family semi-reunion in the middle of it. :P

Mark me down as a 'maybe', with a maybe +1 partner (same as last year).

Oh, and same question as last year:
Can I repurpose art and code from my previous (and ongoing) projects?
Repurposing art might be a little unfair, but I don't think existing (code-library not gameplay) code would harm anything.

Last year the official rules were decided to be:
"You may use any library, game engine, tools, art, or audio to develop the game, provided you have the appropriate license to do so (if licensing is required for what you use); note that this means you may use code, art, and audio that you or others may have made in the past (the explicit limitation is that you may not use existing game logic (i.e. you may use libraries and engines, but you still have to actually make the game during the 7 day period))"

Can we adopt the same ruleset? :ph34r:

The rules are going to stay mostly the same as last years, it worked nicely then, so i see no reason to change them. one of the major things i plan to change is on the judging and scoring side though. First off i was severely disappointed in how scores were handled last year, not in terms of the scoring system, but that we had no actual feedback, nor even released individual category scoring. If you remember my dev journal last year that went through each game, This is how i fully expect each judge to handle things this year.

Secondly i was considering adding a participation category to the score system which is based upon posting images/dev journals/general community participation with the competition threads to give better atomosphere to the entire thing. However this category is still up for debate.

I'm interested in doing this again, Hopefully less frustation getting what I want and not having to cut out a lot of intended stuff.

But the date is a slight problem, I will be away for most of the first week of September :(

If that can be worked around: I will be using the D3D11 prototype rendering system I've been working on, Unfortunetly the D3D9 part was based on the FF pipeline and would take a few days to work out better D3D11-D3D9 interop in the loader.

Best of luck to the competition :)

I can't say for sure that I will participate, but this sounds interesting and last year's theme was rather promising. If I participate, it will probably be with a friend. And if I don't participate I'm still curious of what people will do :D

Secondly i was considering adding a participation category to the score system which is based upon posting images/dev journals/general community participation with the competition threads to give better atomosphere to the entire thing. However this category is still up for debate.

Nice idea. I like it!

How the theme will be chosen? It is entirely up to the judges?

Nice idea. I like it!
How the theme will be chosen? It is entirely up to the judges?

I have 2 options for that i was thinkibg of doing, the first is obviously judges choose. The second is that i post the themes i've come up with, and people posts a theme as well. At midnight on the start day, i'll write a program on codepad to randomly select one of those themes. The latter method will allow judges to enter as well as they woudn't have any way of knowing which theme got choosen.

I'm tempted to dip my toes in it.