Ideas on "Adventure template contest"

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
1

Hello all,

recently we noticed we do not have that many game templates, especially no adventure templates. To improve this situation we can make a sort of contest to create some of them.

The benefit is that nobody would loose:

  • template creators get experience in game creation
  • judges are able to compare different solutions
  • readers can choose from different templates to create own games

My questions are:
What should be the minimum features of an contest entry?
Should all entries base on the same story?
Do you think it should be a context with a ranking (similar to BGMC)?
What would you judge and how?

My ideas on this:
Minimum features (game aspects):
[table=“class: grid”]

[th]Genre[/th]
Point&click adventure with rendered backgrounds


[th]Navigation[/th]
Fixed camera with scene switching


[th]User input[/th]
Point&click interactive objects


[th]Menu[/th]
Not required


[th]Interaction[/th]
Object selection, Dialogsystem


[th]Storyline[/th]
Linear


[th]Feedback[/th]
Animations, Texts


[th]Music[/th]
Yes


[th]Sounds[/th]
Yes


[th]Persistence[/th]
Savepoint


[th]User manual (game)[/th]
Yes


[th]Usage instructions (template)[/th]
Yes

[/table]

As said these are minimum features, better features (e.g. branching storyline) or more features (inventory, cutscenes, multilanguage, configurable input, object hover, in-game help) are welcome but not required.

Judging
a ranking is difficult and subjective, but not impossible. Maybe some reviews can help with notes to each aspect of the template.

The story should be very short (as it is a template) but still show what is possible (minimum: two screens). Open question: one story for all, or each one can come up with own stories. We might even collect stories each contributor can choose from.

The asset quality does not need to be high but good enough to attract people. I think papercut drawing style would show it is a template without being to demanding or frighten later users. [A scene full of cubes is a bit to primitive and should be avoided.]

Team entries: Yes.
This is pretty much work so a team is a good idea. A team gives feed back if the resources are understandable (as it needs to be when finished).

Time
How about two weeks?

Versions
Obviously an entry would be a single version.
I strongly suggest to provide a version to each entry before submitting (mostlikely 1.0). If you care your work I expect you or your team do some improvements pretty soon. With a version number you can show there is progress and old reviews might be invalid with it.
You should also think about how you want to update your entry with bugfixes. [Nothing complicated, a complete replacement can be sufficient enough]

Is it worth? What do you think? What would you add? What would you skip? What would you do differently?

Thanks
Monster

2

I think it’s an excellent idea Monster, I’m a big fan of Point&Click Adventure Games.
I’ve played most of the King’s Quest and Space Quest games, and Myst series.

My question is would 3rd-person point&click, and 1st-person games like Mist, both be acceptable as templates?
Or would we stick to one idea?

Personally, I think some elements may not be as necessary for a template, such as animations, sounds, music, and textures, and they could be left out to keep it as simple as possible, or added as a bonus.

Maybe more focus could be on:

  • Text and Dialog Handling.
  • Scene Changing Design and Efficiency (with mouse cursor handling.)
  • Interactive Object Handling / Inventory System (for keys and other objects.)
  • Save and Load System (with a simple menu setup for starting and exiting the game.)
  • Path Finding (simple and most efficient for the 3rd person games.)

Those are just my ideas to throw into the discussion :slight_smile:
Any templates would be good, and definitely worth it.

3

I think it is a great idea. After posting my first released game made in the BGE (it is not that good in some parts I admit), I have been on a bit of game development hiatus. I am still looking for jobs in my area and trying to start with my adult life, and that often distracts me. Making templates for other users seems a lot more productive and easier compared to making new games.

4

here is a basis for a template.

Attachments

PointAndGo.blend (522 KB)

5

@BluePrintRandom, you do not understand the topic. The topic is to discuss what we need to start a challenge. There is no need to post any blend, as the contest has not started yet. It is like starting a race without even knowing where the track is. So please stay on topic.

6

So how many gonna be on? I like the complex dialog trees, where your action affects the outcome. I would join, but my python skills are not that good. so ill be enjoining learning from a template. And you could also use models from blendswap.

7

i’m going with a game that give to the player the choice: first person 2d person third person. I canceled the Point & Click choice. but now I think I will give it another try.
Point & Click Adventure Game is not as easy as it looke : xploration, puzzle solving, story, dialogue and conversation, game items, the inventory system, game progression save & load. it can be very hard but it worth to try.

8

I think one story would be best, or a couple to choose from because that would make it easier for the judging.
All the contestants would have the same goal, but figure out different paths to get there.
And the papercut drawing style sounds good too.

Two weeks sounds good to me.