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Random Theme Quest contest #3


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#1 Jamian

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 06:17 AM

Hey, do you know what we haven't had lately? A Random Theme Quest contest!

 

The first two editions were a great deal of fun so I'd like to gauge interest in a third one. Post here to sign up or make comments.

 

When: To be determined. If/when there are enough people interested in participating, then I'll announce when it will start and when it will end. I'll try to take everyone's schedule into account so we can have dates that work for as many contestants as possible.

 

How long: You will have two weeks to design your quest, so I recommend that you make it a short quest, although there is no size limit. Just like in the previous editions, you would get your themes ahead of time and would be allowed to plan things, build a tileset, write scripts, etc. before the contest starts, if you so desire. Actual screen design, however, is only permitted once the contest has officially started.

 

Themes: I'm hesitating between either of these two links to generate the themes:

https://videogamena.me/

http://orteil.dashnet.org/gamegen

I'm also contemplating combining them, though I'm unsure if that would work.

Tell me how you feel about it.

 

How: Here is a slightly updated copy/paste of the rules I wrote for the first contest. These rules are not set in stone, so feel free to suggest changes if you think they would benefit the contest.

 

1) Because the temptation to hit the "generate" button until you find something you like would be too great, I would be generating the themes for everybody and then would randomly assign them. This is precisely what I think would make the contest interesting and would encourage you to be creative: you don't get to choose, you have to work with the unlikely cards you've been dealt and make the most of it. 

 

2) However, some results can be really difficult to work with, or may not be to your liking. Therefore, each contestant will be given three randomly generated themes, and will get to choose the one he prefers.

 

Concretely, I would be generating themes and writing down the best results (editing out the NSFW ones and the more boring ones). Then, I would randomly assign three of them to each contestant.

3) Once the applications are closed, the titles will be generated and given out, and people will have a couple of weeks to think about the quest they'll be making. The restrictions would be the same as the two weeks contest: pretty much everything is ok (planning, scripting, importing graphics...) except actual screen design.

4) After that, you are given two weeks to actually design your quest and submit it.

5) Polls will be created to pick winners in different categories, but because of the inherently random nature of the contest, I'll stress that it's about fun and not about winning.

 

NB: I have no issue with letting somebody join the contest even after the applications are closed. That is fine. You'll just get less time than the others to work on your quest.

 

Signed up:

Eddy

Dimentio

RedTribeLink

SpacemanDan

Russ

Golden Warrior

Geoffrey

Moosh

ZoriaRPG

Avataro

Joelmacool

Polaris

Anthus


Edited by Jamian, 17 December 2016 - 06:35 AM.

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#2 Eddy

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 07:02 AM

Oh nice, it's great to see one of these show up again. I'm definitely in for trying this out again, so you can sign me up (and hopefully I can do something that isn't a disaster like the Phoenix Wright one :P)

 

I also think combining both generators could make some really interesting results, so I'm all for that as well.



#3 Deedee

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 07:48 AM

Oh, sweet! I wasn't here for the first 2, but seeing how fun they could be...

Sign me up!



#4 Joaish (RedTribeLink)

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 09:13 AM

Sweet!  I was just thinking the other day how we hadn't had a two week contest in a while.  Sign me up as well!



#5 SpacemanDan

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 09:21 AM

I'll throw my hat in. Absolutely no idea if I'll actually successfully make something, but it'll get me going on ZC some more. :3



#6 Russ

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 09:42 AM

Another two week contest? Welp, I'll start preparing Moosh's psychiatric care kit. Who wants to bet on what kind of new engine he'll miss two weeks of sleep scripting until he hates life? I'm putting my money on psuedo-3D.

In all seriousness, I do love two week contests. While I love how some of the random theme contests turn out, my worry is that they can also impact turnout in a negative way. For instance, the 2015 two week contest (which had no limit on theme) had more entries (at least, non-joke entries) than, say, the random name contest from 2014 (it was 2014, right? They're starting to blur together). With that said, I do like the format of these, and I don't know how to fix the turnout issue while still keeping the random theme idea. I guess I might suggest doing something like letting people pick between three random names or three random themes, and allowing people to combine the random names (if I recall, in the last random name contest, Moosh and I combined "The colonial graveyard of the banana blood god" with "In the lost kingdom of the something or other" to get Bananas). Basically, more freedom for the quest designer is better.

With all of that said, I think I should actually have time to make an entry for a change, so sign me up.

#7 Golden Guardian

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 10:29 AM

Given every other project I've started has been overly ambitious, something like this would be good practice that I can probably finish for once, haha. Go ahead and consider me interested as well. 



#8 Deedee

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 10:55 AM

In the lost kingdom of the something or othe

In the Lost Kingddom of Banana Posse, I believe.



#9 Geoffrey

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 04:41 PM

Me please.



#10 Moosh

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 07:46 PM

Can't hurt to toss my hat (tip tip, nice meme) in and see what I get. A couple questions, though:

  • Could you filter out any themes that sound like they'd be too difficult to make happen without ZScript? For example, the theme that resulted in Fedora Toss: A puzzle game where you throw hats to win points. Puzzle games are really hard to do in ZC without scripts, so I think we should either filter those types of themes out or maybe drop genres out of it altogether. This makes things overall fairer for everyone.
  • Are teams allowed and how will that work? Do we pick one person's theme and run with it or MushRushMishMash them together? I can't imagine who I'd want to team up with... :P

One has a lot of talent with overworlds and not enough free time, the other has no talent with overworlds and ALL the free time. Russ and Moosh, together they are: The Quest Contest Domination Dream Team!


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#11 Jamian

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 08:35 PM

I'd probably sort the themes and make sure that everybody gets, at most, one theme/title that seems to go beyond what vanilla ZQuest can do. IIRC last time I kept a list of themes grouped within three categories. The categories were, very roughly, something like "traditional", "more daring", "very daring". And when I randomly attributed them to each contestant, I made it so everybody would get one title from each category. So there should be enough possibilities for everybody.

 

I'm fine with allowing teams. On the one hand I don't think it's fair to compare a group quest to a solo quest, especially when you have to work with a short deadline. But on the other hand, there's no prize to win, and the contest is just an excuse to make quests and have fun, so if this results in having better entries I wouldn't want to prevent that. I feel the same about grouping themes together. While I do think part of the appeal is having to work with what you're given, if you have a brilliant idea that involves combining your themes, I wouldn't want to limit your creativity.


Edited by Jamian, 07 December 2016 - 08:39 PM.


#12 Jamian

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Posted 08 December 2016 - 07:11 PM

So I'm thinking of giving out themes and officially starting the contest right after new year's eve (I know people will be busier during the holiday season). That leaves you with a little under a month to sign up.

 

I'm thinking of giving everybody three titles from the first link, and three gameplay concepts from the second one. It'll be up to you to combine a title and a concept and do your thing with it.


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#13 TheLegend_njf

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Posted 08 December 2016 - 08:59 PM

I would join if I didn't already have two big projects I am working on already. 



#14 Eddy

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Posted 09 December 2016 - 05:42 AM

So I'm thinking of giving out themes and officially starting the contest right after new year's eve (I know people will be busier during the holiday season). That leaves you with a little under a month to sign up.

 

I'm thinking of giving everybody three titles from the first link, and three gameplay concepts from the second one. It'll be up to you to combine a title and a concept and do your thing with it.

This definitely sounds good to me. I'm looking forward to seeing what crazy titles and concepts we're all going to get :P



#15 Timelord

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Posted 10 December 2016 - 08:27 AM

Jamian, please send me a set of themes.


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