2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by Hugues Ross » Post

A couple of things I also want to mention now that those are out--if any jam participant wants more feedback than they got out of me here, I'm willing to give my personal opinion of what I'd add or change to improve the game in the future. That offer's open to everyone regardless of the score I gave you, I believe that anything I threw in the dumpster can rise to the top given enough time, effort, and good stewardship.

Also, I'll be back for round 2 in the CDB reviews later this year. I encourage everyone to do the same!

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by Wuzzy » Post

Hey, it would be fun if every participant gave some kind of "post mortem" of their own game, and how development went, where the idea came from, etc. Here's mine (for the game "Lazarr!", ranked #13):

This was my first game jam ever and I am honestly surprised I managed to get out a (barely) playable game in the first place? Why? Because I literally had this game idea in the final day. It's a complete trainwreck of time-mismanagement.
I originally had a completely different idea for a game, namely some kind of arena battle in which you must survive attacks from monsters. But I procastinated (I started playing addictive video games ... The irony!) after the first day and on the 2nd-to-last day I realized my idea really doesn't work out and programming the mobs with proper behavior, battle mechanic, etc. with only 2 days left was no option. So I woke up the last day, completely spontanously had the idea for "something with lasers". I really wish I had this idea earlier, lol. There were only like 12 hours left and I crunshed like crazy just to get something out. I could have just given up and do nothing but I would probably have just kicked myself in the ass for ignoring the game jam completely, I *had* to submit *somthing* lol. I'm happy I managed to get it into a BARELY playable state, and I am not surprised by my poor rank, it was expected. So if you were disappointed by my game, you're right, it was the best I could do in only 12 hours. It was hard, but … an interesting experience, haha. So my "strategy" was to do the abolute minimal but playable thing I could reasonably do in the time, with almost zero polish, so the features also had to be as minimal as possible, the only thing that mattered to me at that point to be playable. :D
Many were annoyed by the screwdriver and I agree. I should probably have picked screwdriver2 or coded my own (but again: no time, ouch!).
And I also made a stupid mistake in that one of the 10 levels was literally unsolvable >_> I noticed this hours after the submission ... Ooff!
I did not completely start over, SOME code from my "arena game" I was able to re-use, but not much (basically the basic architecture stuff).

As for the development in detail, it actually went surprisingly smoothly. I took like 1-2 hours for the laser nodes, a couple of hours for calculating and updating the playing field, another hour only for documenting the licensing/readme stuff ( >_> ), 1 hour for levels, I guess like 1 hour for graphics and sound (and minifying xdecor), and the rest of the time for the rest. I got actually lucky while development since I didn't get stuck at anything, didn't run into a brickwall with a serious bug that had to figure out before I coud continue. If I would have hit any serious brickwall, I probably would not have reached playability at the deadline. It was close, VERY close. And at that day, I only made 1 short pause of like 30min, the rest of the day I only worked, did nothing else. Crunshing development is bad, y'all, take your time. :-)

Overall, I am totally not surprised by my poor ratings, it was expected with such rushed panic development. XD

So yeah, that's my post-mortem. :P

I do plan to continue with this game, because I kinda fell in love with the game idea. It seems there aren't many puzzles games with lasers in a 3D world. 2D laser games are plentiful, but in 3D? Don't recall. And when I made the levels, I felt like the 3rd dimension adds something special.
I answered to every single comment of my game, by the way.

--------------------

I liked the idea of the game jam and I appreciate the submissions, the players, and reviews. I gave most (not all!) games a negative review, I admit I was highly critical. Maybe I was too harsh when a game simply did not work for me, it could have been very well been my own fault. :-( Many games I criticized because I think they were not "complete" enough. I still appreciate every submission, it's great y'all took the time to do something, no matter how good or bad the end result will be. This deserves a little applause from me. :-)

I am very surprised by the winning game, I did not expect that (I expected either BomberClone or Moontest to win. Subway Miner ranked #2, and I expected a high rank for it, so that one checked out), but congrats. I replayed Alter and added a new, longer review.

Reading the judges reviews was very fun. sfan5 literally just said "???" once. :D
Did someone create timestamps for the celeront55 "trainwreck review stream" yet? 4 hours is a long time lol.

I feel like this type of game jam could be done again for 2022. I think the game jam itself was a massive success: 26 entries (I did NOT expect that many), lots of players, reviews, and it's in Minetest. It couldn't get better than that! :) The organizing behind this was top!

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by Krock » Post

Relevant:
Image

Detailed feedback

I took some notes as feedback for each game submission in the style of CDB reviews, which I would like to share now. The list turned out to be pretty long, hence I will provide the feedback in an exported and trimmed spreadsheet rather than copy&pasting everything into a CDB report. This doc includes bug reports (which might already be fixed by now), ideas and suggestions to improve the game experience.
Please do not take harsh criticisms too personally - I'm after all only one judge of many.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by runs » Post

Congratulations to the winners.

I did not participate due to lack of time. Bad time for me, too much work. Although in reality I don't work much. I do rather work.

I hope there won't be another mod jam in December 2022, because I'm going to make a secret game and maybe I'll present it as a new one. And of course I would win it.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by v-rob » Post

runs wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 00:10
I'm going to make a secret game and maybe I'll present it as a new one.
Wait, did you just openly say that you'd cheat by making a game before the next jam starts?
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by runs » Post

v-rob wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 00:43
runs wrote:
Tue Jan 04, 2022 00:10
I'm going to make a secret game and maybe I'll present it as a new one.
Wait, did you just openly say that you'd cheat by making a game before the next jam starts?
I was trying to be ironic. Anyway, people are very tricky.

Or not. Hahaha (devilish laughter)

PD: I like to play with things.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [RESULTS IN!]

by GreenXenith » Post

I've written up a post-mortem for the jam! It covers what went well, what didn't go well, and details about future plans!
You can read it here https://github.com/GreenXenith/minetest ... TMORTEM.md.

Thanks again to everyone that contributed and participated!
Wuzzy wrote:
Sun Jan 02, 2022 03:10
I feel like this type of game jam could be done again for 2022. I think the game jam itself was a massive success: 26 entries (I did NOT expect that many), lots of players, reviews, and it's in Minetest. It couldn't get better than that! :) The organizing behind this was top!
Thank you for the kind words! But I hope it can get even better :D
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

next time hopefully the competition will be much fiercer, tho id say it was petty good this time!

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by runs » Post

I regret not having participated. But it's just that I got caught on a bad date. Given the poor quality of the games, mine would have won with a minimum effort.

Of course I plan to participate in the next one. And I plan to win it. Sorry for not being humble, but that's the reality, I have great ideas.

(NOTE: A portion of this post was deleted by a moderator and a warning was issued to the user.)

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

Great ideas are fairly easy to make. Turning them into games, within the timeframe, working with the engine limitations, making the assets yourself so they are thematically similar, thats a bit harder, tho entirely possible.

I also expect the competition will be fiercer next time

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by runs » Post

MisterE wrote:
Sat Jan 15, 2022 15:14
Great ideas are fairly easy to make. Turning them into games, within the timeframe, working with the engine limitations, making the assets yourself so they are thematically similar, thats a bit harder, tho entirely possible.

I also expect the competition will be fiercer next time
I'll win. I want it now. I will go from 0 to 100.

June 2022 would be a good date.

And if not, I'll wait. I have all the time in the world to wait.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

imo, it would be wise to say "I will try my best to win" rather than "I will win"

I thought my team's Blockbomber game was very good. I thought I had a reasonable chance of winning. But I agree that Alter and the other 3 games that ranked higher were also very good choices to win.
So I am glad that I did not go around bragging that I would win; it makes graciously "losing" easier, tho I did not actually lose, I made a good game that *I* actually enjoy playing, thats a great win to me.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MeseCraft » Post

I just saw this after the contest has completed. Wow, what a fun competition. I'm glad you guy's put something like this together.
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by Komodo » Post

Something I thought of: What's from stopping someone from designing a mini game now, caching it until the next jam, then dropping it during the jam to try to take the prize $$? I hope that doesn't happen. It would be cheating.
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by Blockhead » Post

Komodo wrote:
Wed Jan 19, 2022 11:38
Something I thought of: What's from stopping someone from designing a mini game now, caching it until the next jam, then dropping it during the jam to try to take the prize $$? I hope that doesn't happen. It would be cheating.
It would, but they would have to do a few things:
  1. Believably fake the git commit dates. Git lets you manually set a committed date, but the author would also have to space these out believably.
  2. Keep it a complete secret to either themselves or their dev group for most of a year. Leaks can easily happen.
  3. Develop it entirely without community feedback for a year and risk it turning out to be hot garbage for usability or borked on a new engine version (or any number of other reasons). Also in the mean time they get 0 recognition or praise for their work. This links back to point (1) where they would have to rewrite the entire git history to make it look like they started on the content's prescribed version.
Also if someone seriously wants to spend approximately one year on developing something in absolute secret and only take away a few hundred dollars of prize pool money, their talents might have been wasted and they might have been able to spend the time programming, modelling and texturing for a steady source money instead of an amount of money that is really quite tiny compared to game dev salary. From a pragmatic perspective, if someone *really* wants to fake it with their entry, the community still gets the benefit, just this time it's a lot more than 21 days.

Then again, Minetest isn't well-known for making money for anyone involved. Maybe someone just really wants at least some money from Minetest? It's probably a good reminder, that if you really care, donate smaller amounts more frequently to modders you like than to award one big (for Minetest) cash prize to 3 people annually.
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by Linuxdirk » Post

Blockhead wrote:
Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:04
[*]Believably fake the git commit dates. Git lets you manually set a committed date, but the author would also have to space these out believably.
This is possible but it is rather unlikely. Also: no-one prevents you from copy-and-pasting your code within the jam time except your personal morale. Game jams or coding jams in general are usually seen as a personal challenge by the participants and not as a source for income.

Even if people want to participate for income there is no time beforehand. Jams usually have themes that are announced when the jams start. So for a 2-day jam you get the theme 2 days before the jam ends. Best you can do is pre-configure and set up an engine. But then you set up Unity for a 3D first person shooter and the jam theme is "procedural 2D platformer with a life lesson" or something like that.

A themed Minetest game jam would be awesome, though.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by Komodo » Post

Having a theme (although creatively this can be constraining) seems fun and might work to limit that.

Honor system then I guess. I personally don't plan on competing. Rather, spectate, donate perhaps. Mostly, I'm interested in the excitement and fun it generates.
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

from personal experience I will say that competing is a good way to get programming XP

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

regarding cheating, its best to assume good will and respond appropriately if it turns out someone was cheating. also, we don't know what the next jam will look like yet. and, people actually *can* start on jam submissions now. They can create media now (tho that docks points) and they can even write proof of concepts now. according to the rules of the last jam, they would simply have to rewrite their code from scratch for the jam to qualify, excepting any publically available general purpose libraries in the vein of player_api

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by runs » Post

I want to apologize, because my behavior was not appropriate. The truth is that I was envious because I could not participate and I was resentful. Very bitter and angry.

Of course I want to participate in the next one with the rules, and if I win, I win, and if not, I will have fun doing it.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

thank you, runs, I appreciate you saying that. we look forward to your participation in the next event, if you are able. also, there were many people who wanted to participate, and could not, and also many who tried hard, but could not finish. so don't feel too bad about not being able to participate this go-round.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MCL » Post

Hello, do you know when the second game jam will be? I got an idea for a game and can't wait to get started on it.
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MCL » Post

Komodo wrote:
Wed Jan 19, 2022 13:34
Having a theme (although creatively this can be constraining) seems fun and might work to limit that.

Honor system then I guess. I personally don't plan on competing. Rather, spectate, donate perhaps. Mostly, I'm interested in the excitement and fun it generates.
I really hope that the next jam doesn't have a theme and if it does I hope it's very loose.
I got a really good idea for a game I could make for the next jam that I could actually finish on time. Coconut Collection is a piece of shit that I regret making.
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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by MisterE » Post

MHL wrote:
Sun Feb 20, 2022 01:36
Hello, do you know when the second game jam will be? I got an idea for a game and can't wait to get started on it.
heh, assuming that the rules remain mostly similar, you can get started on it by making test code, making similar mods, making libraries that you publicly distribute, etc.

the test code you could not use (it would need a full rewrite), and the libraries could be used if they were publicly distributed, and are of a general toolkit nature, rather than implementing the specific gameplay for the submission.

I have heard that maybe the gamejams will occur about once per year.

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Re: 2021 Minetest GAME JAM [December 1st-21st] [$720 prize pool] [POST-MORTEM!]

by Wuzzy » Post

I have a simple idea how to prevent the "precoding" problem: Announce the theme when the game jam actually starts, not beforehand.

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