The Week of Awesome

IV

The fourth annual week of awesome is here folks! and today i am here to announce the changes that are to come for this years competition. The major changes you can expect to find are a slightly modified judging system, secondly some changes will be made to how the theme is presented. Rather than one singular theme, you will be offered four themes, two of which must be implemented.
You can find last years competition here: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/668847-the-week-of-awesome-iii-the-third-annual-unofficial-gamedevnet-competition-administration-thread/
You can find the second years competition here: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/660249-the-week-of-awesome-ii-the-second-annual-unofficial-gamedev-competition/
You can find the first years competition here: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/645699-upcoming-unofficial-gamedev-competition/


The competition has begun!
The competiton is over, see the afterparty/judging thread here: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/681331-week-of-awesome-iv-the-after-partyjudging-thread/

Have questions, you can also find most gd.net and contestants at the gamedev discord chat: https://discord.gg/012hCxxdaFBl2U81j

Dates:
[spoiler]This years competition will be held from August 8th, 00:01 (EST timezone) to August 14th (23:59 EST timezone).[/spoiler]

Where:
[spoiler]Right here, on gamedev.net will be where the majority of the competition will be handling updating, and information handling. There is also a twitter handle which can be used, #gdnjam!
[/spoiler]

Rules:
[spoiler]
Some minor changes have been made to the rules this year(see the bolded rules):

• There will be multiple themes to choose from, 2 must be implemented for full points
• The theme will be announced at midnight when the competition begins; games must incorporate 2 themes in some way
• Games must be made during the 7 day period of the competition (i.e. you can't submit a game you made previously or are making now)
• 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)) however this does not mean you can create assets specifically for your game prior to the start of the competition, this includes outsourcing work to others, or making assets for what your general idea for a game will be. the bottom line is that if the asset existed before the idea for your game, it is ok to use, but it is not to ok to create something specifically for your game before the start of the competition.
• You may target any platform (but at least 3 judges must play your game, so if you develop for something the judges don't have, you can't be accepted as an entry; see the supported platforms list below for what can be developed for.)
• People may work in teams of up to 4 people (a person may only be on one team, though)
• Games must work on the judges' platforms (that is, if you have a bug in your program and it works fine on your computer but not on a judge's, you must fix it for it to be judged (during the 7 day period; no work/updates/fixes may be done after the 7 days); at least 3 judges must be able to evaluate it for it to be accepted as an entry)
• Games will be preferably distributed as stand-alone startables(this means your game shouldn't install itself on the platform. This allows for easier access to testing, and distribution of the games in large packages. Although this doesn't mean disqualification, it will be preferred.
• Any online game must be provided in an offline format when submitting the game.
• For each category of points, the top 3 judge scores will be averaged, dropping any lower scores for that category.

Major highlight of changes: removed the requirement for the splashscreen, and changed expectations for what is expected from the theme, as well as a minor changes to how scores will be averaged from the top 3 scores of each category.
[/spoiler]

Supported Platforms:
[spoiler]
Supported platforms that are guaranteed to be used by the at least 3 judges:

• Windows 7, 8,(10 should support 7/8 binary's theoretically)

please note that this list will change, and is just a preliminary list of what is supported. all platforms supported will be finalized at least 72 hours before the competition begins.
[/spoiler]

Judging Criteria:
[spoiler] I believe last year we struck an excellent balance for what points go to each category, as such no changes will be made to this year's competitions. However, please note that the method of being awarded participation points well be further clarified.

• 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, 10 points are given for each theme implemented(a total of 20 points available))
• 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!)

for Participation you are free to post blog updates, dev journals, and twitter updates and such, but you must drop the link into the competition thread(That is not this thread, but a thread which will be running during the competition) two years prior i made alot of extra effort to track down blog posts from folks who didn't post very often what they were doing(although they made posts into their own respective blogs). so please remember to post at least the links into the competition thread! also, i've also written up few guidelines for our judges as well to follow:

• Remember each game is only built in the 7 days, so not all functionality may be straight forward, if you can't figure out a game, give them some leniency and contact the lead dev, this can reflect in the FTUE, or even the judge category, but should not spill into the other respective category's!
• I will generate the participation points i feel each team has obtained, each judge is free to figure out their own points, or simply use the numbers i distribute, expecting each judge to read through every persons dev blog, journal, and post is a daunting task, and I won't expect each judge has the time to dedicate to such a task, but you are certainly free to do so.
• don't normalize your results, yes this is a competition, but don't explicility boost/lower scores so that you have a linear worse->best of all the games, if we end up with ties in the prizes category's, we'll deal with how to resolve them then
• Please stick to whole points, and no half point system.
• I expect each judge to include at least 2 or 3 sentences about each game, so please remember to write down your thoughts on the games directly afterwards!
• eck has written up a great guideline on what expectations are for each category: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2108/entry-2261430-ecks-unofficial-judging-officially-explained/

[/spoiler]

Prizes and sponsors:
[spoiler]
This year i will be putting up 300$ to the prize pool:
First place

• 300$ USD

Second place

• 200$ USD

Third place

• 100$ USD

Fourth place

• 50$ USD

Fifth place

• 25$ USD

Sixth place

• 15$ USD

Seventh place

• 10$ USD

Sponsors:

• 300$ USD - slicer4ever
• 300$ USD - stormynature
• 100$ USD - iedoc

Becoming a sponsor
To become a sponsor, drop a message in this thread and i will pm you, or pm me directly. please note that if you wish to contribute with a monetary prize, i must have your contribution before the start of the competition.
[/spoiler]

Judges:
[spoiler]
At this moment, i'm aiming for 3 additional judges, as the judging system will see slight modifications(see the rules section). if we see a higher volume of interest, i may seek more judges.

• slicer4ever
• josh petrie
• nightcreature83
• bacterius

[/spoiler]

Participating Teams: [spoiler]

Team: New Old Things
Members: Endurion
Website/Whatever handle: http://www.georg-rottensteiner.de
Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1966-new-new-things/

Team: Bytetroll
Members: Bytetroll, Tetriarch
Website: N/A

Team: dmatter
Members: dmatter
website/blog: gilldave.co.uk/blog

Team: mousetail
Members: Mousetail
Website: N/A

Team: Grey army
Members: Servant of the Lord, Artist Friend
Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/862-pixel-?-tile-?-world/

Team: Thaumaturge
Members: Thaumaturge
Blog/Website: http://thaumaturge-art.com
Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/EbornIan (@EbornIan)

Team: SeraphLance
Members: SeraphLance, +1 Programmer friend
Blog/Website: N/A

Team: Frango Digital
Members: devn00b
Site:https://frangodigital.itch.io/

Team: DH.
Members DH.
Site: <none>

Team: 7 day masochists
Members: IYP, newt
Website: N/A

Team: Stout Walrus
Members: ArThor

Team: Boona
Members: EarthBanana + wife (not member)
Website: www.earthbanana.com

Team: Kseh
Members: Kseh
Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/878-ksehs-blog/

Team Aletheia Game Studio
Members: Clint(cefleet?), Rick 

Team: TeamYAG
Members: LEde
Website: http://www.etekworld.com/teamyag/

Team: SilviuShader
Members: SilviuShader
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvaqRjp1TcJFu9hcSicNJFw
Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2213-silviushaders-woa-iv-dev-journal/

Team: Perturbation Games
Website: http://perturbationgames.esy.es
Twitter: @perturbgames 

Team: Something Fun
Members: Ryan20fun
Website/Blog/Twitter handle: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1924-ryan20funs-journal-of-rasterisation/

Team Name: The Gares
Members: GTEGares and CaveCrow.
Site: None 

Team : needsugar
Member : tommyasa

Team: KodingNights
Members: DKoding (just me)
Website: http://darkdroid.com

Team: Slaughterhouse Gaming Corp
Members: Riuthamus, Jaden, MasterKG, iCompose
Blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1862-riuthamuss-freelance/

TeamName: Unicore
Members: Orymus3
Website: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2070-the-week-of-awesome-iv/

[/spoiler]

People looking for teammates
[spoiler]
orymus3 Is looking for an artist to join his team.
seraphlance would like any artist that would like to join his team.
krisgamer kris is looking for any teammates who would like to work in c#/Java languages
[/spoiler]
This thread is both here for asking questions, and telling us you will be competing, as we like to get an idea of how many people to expect. so please post a team name for your team, as well as your members(and be sure to drop an update to us if the team members change) please try to follow the following format for declaring your team:
Team:
Members: , , ,
Website/Blog/Twitter handle:

try to be creative folks with your name!(please remember the sites rules still apply here!)

Chalk me up as one man team :)

Team: New Old Things

Members: Endurion

Website/Whatever handle: http://www.georg-rottensteiner.de

Chalk me up as one man team :)

Glad to have you onboard for another year! :)

Alright, I'll bite. I'm going in alone this year (at least until further notice).

Team: Bytetroll

Members: Bytetroll

Website: N/A

Sign me up!

Team: dmatter

Members: dmatter

Obligatory unmaintained website/blog: gilldave.co.uk/blog

Yes, I'll actually have a free week that time!

Count me in, as a one-man team

(I'll make a blog here on gamedev closer to the start date)

I'm interested in entering, albeit a little tentatively.

Team: Thaumaturge
Members: Thaumaturge
Blog/Website: http://thaumaturge-art.com
Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/EbornIan (@EbornIan)

I have a question:

There will be multiple themes to choose from, 2 must be implemented for full points

Do I take it correctly then that including more than two of the themes would not confer any bonus points? (This does seem fair to me; if there were an advantage to including more themes, then the de facto maximum score involves doing so, defeating the point (if I gather it correctly) of having a choice of themes.)

[edit]

Oh, one more thing: You give the starting time as 8 August 2016, 00:01 (i.e. the first minute of Monday the eighth of August), and the ending time as 15 August 2016, 23:59 (i.e. the last minute of Monday the fifteenth of August)--by my reckoning that's eight days, not seven. Did you mean for it to end on the 14th?