$12256 / $11500
Hi there,
A little question about the final clause in the LPC judging criteria: "How much the judges like your game". Does this mean "how much they enjoy playing the game", or "how much they objectively appreciate the way the game works"?
The reason I'm asking is that the game I want to make is in a somewhat esoteric genre. I'm worried that it might damage my chances, if the judges happen not to like the genre. Should I try to aim for something more commonly popular, or will the judgement be (as much as possible) based only on the objective merits of the game?
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I am no judge but however objective the judges maybe, there would be biases even involuntarily.On the other hand it's possible that the judges might be surpised and enjoy the game for its uniqueness.
For e.g. as a player while I have played all the game genres the most I enjoy and have enjoyed are RPG's and virtual villager types of games (Life simulation, god game) , the latter which are as a genre a dearth in FOSS world till yet.
I am guessing here but do *think* the judges will release some sort of break-down of how your game scored on number of things with their subjective comments as well. I don't think any judging system is perfect but do guess that they will attempt to be as fair as possible.
It's also possible that some games might also generate a sort of public following so the best thing would be to follow your heart (or whatever you wanted to try in the first place). You never know.
As an official representative of LPC, I will state that there is absolutely no genre preference for the actual games. If you want to make a shooter or a sci-fi action game or an RTS or whatever else, go for it. Just use the art. :)
The reason we settled on one art style is because we wanted to create an extensive, stylistically-consistent set of graphics, which is something the FOSS world mostly lacks. Given the art entries we got, I think it's safe to say that we made the right decision. We realize that the tiles are generally suited towards 2D RPGs, but the intent is definitely not to push a certain type of game.
Bart
Well, I guess I'll go for it, worst case scenario - a new genre is added to the free software gaming world.
Just to be clear though, I have to say - I definitely did not mean "shooter" or "RTS" when I said "esoteric genre". I meant it's a genre that many gamers quite likely have never played in their lives... So my worry wasn't that the LPC as a policy encourages certain genres (and in fact, if my game goes according to plan, it will make great use of the given art), but that the judges, being (I assume) gamers with their own preferences for games, might be less excited about a genre, that on average, people are less excited about (I hope that made sense :-)).
Basically that relates to the "fun" factor, if the game is fun it will be rated better. However the judges will do there best to judge something on a fair basis, ie I personally dont like the game but I can see that other people would.
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Full Steam Ahead! o/ <-- little ascii fist in the air holding a debugging hammer.