Theme for Competition #3

Theme for Competition #3

Marcus42 16 Oct 2014 02:26

Update: The theme that was chosen is Castlevania! All that sidescrolling platformer scariness.

As always, if you don't like the theme, don't hesitate to try something a little different by reusing some of the tropes from the game or by just doing something completely unrelated!

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Since we all seem to pretty well agree that the third programming competition will run from October 31st to November 30th, I think it's about time to decide on the theme.

The last couple of times, we've chosen arcade type games for the theme, and, if there are more good ones out there that we can all agree on, I'd like to continue with that trend. Another thing I think we should keep doing is using tropes - I think that it's a really nice balance for the games made being similar while still allowing for creative ideas.

What do you guys think?

Last edited on 31 Oct 2014 01:32 by rbwhitaker Show more

Re: Theme for Competition #3

rbwhitaker 16 Oct 2014 02:49

I like the arcade theme, myself. I think it sets a realistic goal for the 31 days we have to do this. RPGs, FPSs, RTSs, and MMOs just take way to much time and resources. But I do like the idea of having a set of tropes for people, based on the theme game. It lets people who already have something in mind that they are planning on doing tie it back to a shared idea, which I think is great.

I really don't care what the actual theme is, but just to keep the ball rolling, I'll throw out a few ideas that seem interesting to me:

• Centipede
• Missile Command
• Qix
• Xevious (My brother and I used to play this one all the time with one of us being the pilot, and the other one being the gunner.)

I've intentionally tried to avoid games that are too similar to Space Invaders and Thrust, which were our themes in the other competitions (weren't they?). But if people want to do something similar to those, I'm not opposed to it at all.

Let's spend a few days coming up with ideas and choosing one, and then we can pick some tropes from whichever game we select.

Re: Theme for Competition #3

Marcus42 17 Oct 2014 04:57

Yes, Space Invaders and Thrust were the themes for the last two competitions.

Wow, RB, you came up with some great choices. For me personally, I'd go with Missile Command or Qix, leaning towards Missile Command a bit more.

Re: Theme for Competition #3

PiscesMike 18 Oct 2014 20:51

My suggestions are Halloween based, even though Halloween will be mostly over when we're starting.

I've been kind of itching for a side scroller, so my suggestions are: Friday the 13th the video game (for the NES originally), and Castlevania (Also originally for the NES).

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"May the mercy of His Divine Shadow fall upon you." - Stanley H. Tweedle, Security Guard class IV, The League of 20,000 planets

Re: Theme for Competition #3

rbwhitaker 22 Oct 2014 03:54

OK, it's time to nail down the theme so that we can get some tropes and badges defined before the competition starts. Our current suggestions are here:

• Centipede
• Missile Command
• Qix
• Xevious
• Friday the 13th
• Castlevania

This doesn't have to be the final list, but if anybody wants to add a suggestion, the time to add it is now!

Also, if you have a favorite that you want to start casting votes for, go for it.

If you want to stick with the theme, but really don't like one of the suggestions here, I officially give anybody who has signed up and is planning on sticking relatively close to the theme Absolute Veto Power. Just say the word and I'll remove the suggestion.

Re: Theme for Competition #3

Marcus42 25 Oct 2014 17:31

I'd be okay with any of these, so if someone really wants a different theme, lets go with that one, but I'm still leaning towards Missile Command. Friday the 13th and Castlevania would be undoubtedly cool to have as a theme, especially since they're already Halloween-y, but also probably more difficult.

Oh, hey, I'd forgotten about the badges - we could probably carry over most all of them from last time if we wanted to, though.

Re: Theme for Competition #3

rbwhitaker 26 Oct 2014 23:07

Perhaps the question for you, Marcus, is what game are you going to make? If you're thinking about going with Missile Command or some other choice from the list, that would make a difference. I'm going with something very different from any of these suggestions, so I don't want my vote to count. I know PiscesMike is leaning pretty heavily towards doing a Castlevania clone.

I would probably lean more towards Missile Command rather than Castlevania for a theme, based on the simplicity/complexity thing, if there was a split. But if you don't think you're sticking to the theme either way, then let's go with Castlevania, so that at least somebody is doing the theme.

Re: Theme for Competition #3

Marcus42 27 Oct 2014 01:50

I honestly have no idea, so yeah, let's go with Castlevania, and then maybe next time we can use Missile Command, when I'll likely stick to the theme more.

Re: Theme for Competition #3

rbwhitaker 29 Oct 2014 00:40

Alrighty then. We're close enough to the start that I don't think it's worth lots more discussion. Let's just call it a Castlevania themed competition then