Spicing Things Up

In this week's newsletter's comments, Rychan suggested..

I reckon start early, Christmas Game compo, start time now, end time 1st December, any platform, but needs to have a Xmas theme to it. Orrr perhaps a Halloween compo instead?

I'd have PLENTY of time to make a Xmas game!
But how many others, of our currently active community, would?
And how many people who aren't regulars would suddenly register so they can enter a compo?

That's kinda what I hate about "Competition"..
It's very "not for us", and I've always felt it was very much a desperate attempt at getting more people to join the site..
Is it wrong to think that way?
Maybe..

Discuss!!

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Thu, 08 Sep 2022, 05:47

Depends what you mean by competition.

If it's too serious, with prizes like the old retro remakes ones, then it would not be something I'd be interested in. Things went sour and I'd prefer not to see that here.

If it's a bit of fun to see what we get, then maybe. My productivity has been up and down all year, I'm reaching Minion level of wips.

BTW, on the subject of this site, I don't really know how things used to be...I visited from time to time in the past, and these days I try to make the effort to visit every day as it feels less mentally toxic than social media, like a palette cleanser from all the crap.

Websites are hard to do these days, despite the huge effort you put in, so I understand it can feel disheartening. I enjoy coming to this place if that makes any difference.

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Andy H
8-bit games at www.hewco.uk
Cartoons at awful.ovine.net
Ovine at ovine.net

Thu, 08 Sep 2022, 06:01

"Aw, but my project only needed 2 more days.. Can you move the deadline again?"

Ugh...

I tried adding that Word of the Week, a while back, but that didn't ever take off.
Maybe a theme for each month? Then people have more time to contribute something?

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Thu, 08 Sep 2022, 06:58

Our build something this month that incorporates this graphic...

(You have plenty of games that have unique and wired graphical elements to go on for years surely? )

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Andy H
8-bit games at www.hewco.uk
Cartoons at awful.ovine.net
Ovine at ovine.net

Fri, 09 Sep 2022, 05:13

Monthly theme with maybe a more open thing, not necessarily a game, could be a photo, website, music, or even shots of something not digital.

Instead of a physical / monetary prize, perhaps, if there is a winner, they get to decide the theme for the next month?

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!

Sat, 10 Sep 2022, 04:02

I like the idea of "Pick the next month"

Slight issues I can see with that, though..
How/when do we declare someone a winner (There's not exactly enough of us to have both entrants + judges, and any voting would end up going beyond the end of the month!)
and
How/when does the winner then pick the next month, before the next month's started, whilst the voting's still ongoing, after the previous month's ended?!

Hmmm...

Voting for a monthly theme, then just rolling with it, might be the better solution, here.
Or maybe .. not one theme.. I think that was the main issue with the Word of the Week thing.. It was only one idea.
What if there was a series of words/phrases, and you could choose one, or many, and be creative based on those?

Would that work better?

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Sat, 10 Sep 2022, 05:19

Any of that could work, but you can be pretty flexible with the interpretation. It has been on the 10 liner competitions I've entered in the past.

How about making a form like the poll of the day, allow anyone who wants to vote? Run it for a few days, or a month while the next compo runs.

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Andy H
8-bit games at www.hewco.uk
Cartoons at awful.ovine.net
Ovine at ovine.net

Sat, 10 Sep 2022, 14:59

Yeah, maybe allow 3 votes max per person?

Sun, 11 Sep 2022, 06:04

Possible name for monthly creativity outlet threads...
"Mind Poke"
?

Thoughts..?

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Sun, 11 Sep 2022, 06:31

Sounds good to me!

Sun, 11 Sep 2022, 06:56

OK, planning some kind of an idea... What if, every time you posted something creative to the thread, you're allowed to include a suggested word for next month?
I could either use ALL the given words for next month's thread, or alternatively put them into a random-bucket and pull out the first 4 or 5 of them?

I've plucked today's Word Lattice words from Foldapuz to mock up an example..

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This Month's Words

Snuffler
Recoinage
Trichina
Mounter
Wolfberries
Lakeshores
Petalodies
Overrich

Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz
Suggested by Foldapuz

Your Task

You have until the end of the month to do something creative using the words above.
You can do anything you'd like. Draw a picture, take a photo, write a poem, make a game, compose a tune, film a video.
Literally anything, as long as it's creative (and as Safe-For-Work as is possible!)
Be creative, and add it to the thread of creativity.

Be as inspired as you can from the list of words.
You may use as few or as many of the words as you'd like, within your creativity, and can post as many things as you wish throughout the month.
There are an additional set of ideas, below, automatically generated from the list of words, which may or may not provide additional inspiration.

Let the Mind Poke inspire you.

When you post anything creative to the thread, be sure to leave an inspirational word, which will be gathered and used for next month's Mind Poke.

Videogame Ideas | Image Ideas | Song Ideas

Some AI Generated Videogame Ideas

The player controls a Snuffler, a creature that lives in the Lakeshores, who is on a quest to stop the Recoinage, a process that is turning the Wolfberries, which are a food source for the Snufflers, into Trichina. The Mounter is a creature that is helping the Snuffler on its quest, and the Wolfberries can be found growing on the Lakeshores. The Petalodies are creatures that live in the Lakeshores and help the Snuffler on its quest. The Overrich are creatures that live in the Lakeshores and are trying to stop the Snuffler from completing its quest.
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Snuffler is a game about a cute little creature who lives in a world of Wolfberries. The player must help Snuffler collect as many Wolfberries as possible, while avoiding the dangerous Trichina that live in the world. Along the way, the player will also encounter friendly Mounters who can help Snuffler on his quest. The game is set on beautiful Lakeshores, with Petalodies providing a lovely soundtrack.
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In the game, you play as a Snuffler, a creature who lives in the forests and lakeshores of the world. Your goal is to help the creatures of the world by collecting coins and wolfberries, and returning them to the lakeshores. However, the world is threatened by the Trichina, a creature who wants to eat all the Snufflers. You must stop the Trichina and save the world!

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Mon, 12 Sep 2022, 07:48

OK, is this good enough?
Is it a decent plan?
Is everyone happy with it?
Are we all ok with the title?
(I'm not 100% sure, because my head keeps saying "Mind Jolt"... *shudders* )

Suggestions, complaints, alternative name suggestions and anything else.
Get 'em in now! (Though we still have 2.5 weeks before October kicks off, so plenty of time to figure things out!)

Discuss!! Please don't leave this all to me!!!

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Mon, 12 Sep 2022, 13:25

So, I guess to split time up between voting and making I guess it should allow for a week for voting as a rule? So peeps have time to try everything out?

Am just spitballing it as a idea currently.

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!

Mon, 12 Sep 2022, 13:38

rockford

My brain just says "Wibble."

Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 05:17

We're a week away from the first Mind Poke starting.

If you'd like to suggest a single word each for the first round, you should probably do that, now!

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Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 05:20

I had put together two prototypes for games, one based on snuffler, the other coinage. Likely going with the latter.

I might have misunderstood the rules, but thought you just take whichever takes your fancy?

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Andy H
8-bit games at www.hewco.uk
Cartoons at awful.ovine.net
Ovine at ovine.net

Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 05:23

LOL, you did?! OK.. This wasn't actually a thing yet, just me testing how I would put it together, but ok!
Yeah, the plan is, here's a set of words, use whatever you wish.
I'm leaving it as open as I possibly can, so that people have as many options as they can, and we (hopefully) get as much creativity over the space of the month.

Post whatever you've got, though! Every little creativity counts

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Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 05:25