The Gamer's Quarter

professor_scissors · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

SUPER GAME BAKEDOWN
A Month in Which Like-Minded Individuals Endeavour To Create Interactive Electronic Simulacra as that may Reciprocate and Entertain, Colloquially Known As Videogames
January 2007
It's coming

The Super Game Bakedown is the gamer's answer to NaNoWriMo. The idea is that at the beginning of January, anyone who wants to participate starts making a videogame, with the goal of finishing it by the end of the month. No resources (code, graphics, sound, music) can be created in advance, copied from old projects, or jacked from the internet, but advance planning is okay and recommended.
The idea of this is that if you want to make a videogame "some day" but can never work up the motivation to get started, NOW IS THE TIME. A deadline is a wonderful thing! Also, if you already have game-making experience, it's a good chance to try out wacky ideas and reinvent some wheels that you've grown to rely on.
Game Maker and its ilk are A-OK. So is Inform, ZZT, Megazeux, Multimedia Fusion, RPG Maker 2000, and pretty much any other tool for makin' videogames.
Group Projects are okay, but I don't really recommend them unless your group is REALLY ace.
Using the Bakedown to pick up and finish an old half-finished project is not allowed.
There'll be a website for this soon, but so far there is not.

All right! Who's interested?
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SUPER GAME BAKEDOWN 2007 IS COMING.

Rud13 · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 130

prof. scis I will you cross post it across the the internet. I have no experience at all in programing and no real ideas, so I'm out. I do find it intensely interesting.

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I am in. Firmly. It's about time I started and finished a game.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Yeah, but how do you start?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Pijaibros · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 2:54 pm Post subject:

With a dream

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Which I have.

I'm asking how to just jump into it all and start making something. I have no experience coding whatsoever.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:08 pm Post subject:

if you have no coding experience, start with inform or zzt.

preliminarily signing up for an as-of-yet unplanned zzt project.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

This is excellent because that's exactly when I was planning to make [url="http://www.gamersquarter.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1321"]Animal Cakeshop[/url], and for how long. Who wants to be on my team? I need writers, programmers, people who can bang out crappy sprite art, and possibly musicians. Read the thread I linked to, and see if you think you're a good fit for this project.

professor_scissors · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

If you have no experience at all, I recommend you get Game Maker ASAP and just start fiddling with it at random. Make some stupid crap. Get some ideas! Be sure to think small, though, for a first project. It is VERY easy to bite off more than you can chew.
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SUPER GAME BAKEDOWN 2007 IS COMING.

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Animal Cakeshop is a very simple program, it just requires a lot of planning and thinking through beforehand. I don't really plan on making more than one game, so I don't have a whole lot of interest in messing around doing other stuff.

ApM · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject:

Oh HELL yes. I am BEYOND down.

I find the "GameMaker OK -- old code NOT ALLOWED" provision a little odd, but that's mostly because I'm hacking out a barebones game enginey thing in Gambit Scheme right now. I guess if Ludum Dare has taught me anything, it's that I could probably rewrite it in a day if it turns out good.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

SuGaBaDo?

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:08 pm Post subject:

suga bado!!

that might just have to be the name of my entry!
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Ok, I'm making a porno wadhack of DooM for my entry that replaces all the guns with penises. I haven't given it much thought beyond that but I can tell you episode 1 is going to be called Balls Deep In The Dead.

oligophagy · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 28

I imagine the chainsaw will be highly inappropriate!

mechanoriINtransit · . Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 33

Is anyone familiar with that XNA thing?

The setup is usually the hardest part for me, so if I can just run an app that I can code and compile with, that would be fantastic.

Python is the alternative, I suppose, but its community seemed to lack any sort of cohesive FAQ or tutorial.

TOLLMASTER · nippon ichi PR man Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 187

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

So it looks like I'm doing a text adventure for this one.

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

does anyone have a copy of the IC development forum's resources page? i was kind of counting on it for part of the SuGaBaDo site, but it's obviously not here.

Toups?
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"It is a peaceful way of understanding life, to play"
_Marcel Duchamp

Perseus · . Joined: 24 Sep 2006 Posts: 56

Count me in too! I've wanted to make a text adventure for a while now, but it never materialized. Actually I want to make something like a text version of Snatcher (command menu instead of text input to restrict player input to a small set of verbs, accompanied by a tight, linear narrative)... I wonder if Inform's my best bet to make such a game.

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

oligophagy · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 28

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:00 pm Post subject:

inform 7 is great, and totally recommended to beginners. i wrote this game for an interactive fiction competition on those selfsame development forums, in less than a week and it was my first inform 7 project.

i have some experience with inform 6, actually. inform 7 is basically inform 6 (which is very code-y) reorganized to look more like natural english. with a little tinkering you can do pretty much anything.

you should start reading the manual in preparation!
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oligophagy · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 28

Well, okay. I only ever read the first chapter of the Inform 7 manual once, but it seemed kind of complicated to me then! (Totally biased toward past experiences in this thread).

professor_scissors · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

Quick input - for the forum, we need a short, snappy tagline for the Bakedown. Probably no longer than 10 words, and looks good as a subtitle under the name of the forum. Any thoughts?
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SUPER GAME BAKEDOWN 2007 IS COMING.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

"a one month game is better than a great idea shelved forever"

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Just something like 'January is national game development month. Let's make a game in 31 days!' will do.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Create a game in 31 days, you don't really need to sleep

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Create a game in 31 days is the dream! PURSUE IT WITH A FIERY GUSTO!

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Game make month skill happy fun development party

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Game make month skill happy fun development party. CAN YOU SEE I AM SERIOUS??

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

You aren't a real HARDCORE GAMER until you've made a game in 31 days. Fag.

oligophagy · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 28

"a Month for the Creation of Electronic Simulacra as that may Reciprocate and Entertain"

My modification of the alternate Super Game Bakedown title, proposed by a forum member whose name I can't remember because I am horrible person (sorry whoever!).

!= · . Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 15

Also!

People participating, consider taking snapshots of the development as it proceeds, so we can have fun seeing how everything came together.

professor_scissors · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

oligophagy · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 28

Stopped by the domain today (for Curiosity!) and saw the forums. Now I have questions!: Is the whole month going to be run from there or are you building some Web 2.0-esque ancillaries? Will supergamebakedown.com provide image and file hosting? Is there anything I can help with?

It's cool if you don't have answers yet; I ask to pass the time!

professor_scissors · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

professor_scissors · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

Next piece of help the new website needs: Links!
I need links to good game-making tools as well as tutorials or resources. Here's what I've got so far:

TUTORIALS
NeHe Productions
The Experimental Gameplay Project
How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days
Game Programming Wiki

SOFTWARE
Game Maker
Inform 7
ZZT
MegaZeux (Is there a real homepage for this? It didn't show up on Google very clearly)

Anything else?
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SUPER GAME BAKEDOWN 2007 IS COMING.

Asceai · . Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 1

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Hey, January is almost over. How did this go?
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resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

GSL · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject:

I forgot all about it. I was going to try and whip up a short VN on ONScripter, too... Sad

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject:

i was planning on participating but my new year saw a bunch of setbacks: i was sick, then the magazine was (is) late. i don't like how it became a selectbutton thing too, since i'm not sure how comfortable i'd be keeping a development diary for my game concept over there.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

If I'd had nothing better to do this month, I would have totally joined in.

So did many people actually participate with this?

ApM · Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:05 am Post subject:

I did for a couple of weeks, then bought a grotesquely faulty computer from eBay and spent over a week making it work.

I granted myself an extension, though, so we're cool.