*heart attack*

*gag*

no, seriously... gag, keel over and die....

i thought i was going to enter the next competition.... so better hurry up!!!!!!

agjkl anadf bn fksghgo i euyioq ae

^
|
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sign of happiness, btw

Lol I thought it'd be funny if you started this competition before the third even ended, then you did! Go jay! \0/!

I noticed the competitions have less and less time between them each time... it's a good sign!

but it would be nice if the next theme is going to be announced way before the competition. coding does take time, especially in hobby status.

Oh.

I thought the prize would have been a box set of all the Leisure Suit Larry games.

Antoher One!??!?! Already?!? Wow. You must be loaded with cash =) (or is Sierra supplying that?)

I was expecting at least 6 months before another comp, not minus 1 days!

Glad i'm not a flash designer (as much as i want to be), you're giving everyone a hard time =p

ROLE ON THOSE GAMES!

Fuzzygrid - then people would start working on their games before the competition had started.

@theprogram00, and what could be the downside of that? I just see more time -> more and better games. Especially for people with less time onhand beside their jobs.

Two competitions in single row ?
You are awesome Jay !

So since the prizes are raised how about raising the requirements as well? It takes maybe 3 seconds to put even the simplest explanation of how to play or what the objective is on these games, and I've noticed that those which do so are often of an immeasurably higher quality than those that do not. Probably because it forces the author to evaluate his work.

Imho making a game that can't be played without first asking someone else WTF it is isn't artiscness, it's just being lazy, and I think that reflects on the work as a whole as well as JIG itself and not just the author.

Wow jay, Sierra.

It seems like this website is becoming a little famous
^_^

I remember back when I first found this site and thought it was just another game site, and it was - then. I almost feel like I'm friends with someone famous. I'm proud to have witnessed the growth of this site and I'm happy for you, Jay. Keep it up!
-Mkelican

I love these competitions! I think that within two months, I can get a game finished, ne?

Last two competitions I simply haven't coded fast enough ^^;

Sierra? I still have Shivers 2 but it's for Mac only (which I haven't had in over a decade.) And I have a few Hoyle games for PC. The Gabriel Knight trilogy I also had for PC. I guess they got lost in my last transcontinental move.

More game competitions! Yay! :o)

@superslash

Can you give some examples from the competition just wrapping up? I can think of one game that, yes, could definitely have benefitted from an instruction screen (Turtles of Time) and one whose instructions were incomplete (Parley). Other than that though, all of the games included sufficient instruction or were simple enough not to need it.

In addition, I don't see any correlation between games that included instruction and ones that did not. Yes, the games that had inadequate instruction were a bit more frustrating to get into, but when considering the overall gameplay, there are several other entries which fare worse. However, that frustrating first impression still exists, and I'm sure it is taken into account by the judges.

This is all, of course, my opinion... your experience may have been different.

This last competition was pretty good, but the one or two before that were especially notable for having some games that motivated me to just go watch two white men boxing at Stupid in the morning.

I thought some of the more simpler games actually benefitted from the extra mystique not having instructions gave them. Having the player figure out what's good and what's bad is sometimes a good design choice.

Superslash - The types of games we were looking for in the first 2 competitions were "simple puzzle games" and we actually scored games higher if they included no instructions and were thus self-explanatory.

The idea was to encourage puzzle games in which the thrill of discovery is part of the enjoyment of playing. We mentioned several times that the inspiration for these competitions was Click Drag Type, a brilliant collection of puzzles for which there are no instructions.

While I realize that some people prefer to have instructions available, I believe there are perhaps even more that do not. And I believe it takes great skill to design a game simple and straightforward enough to be discerned without them, imho.

Ah, I see. Actually the first two competitions (especially the first) specifically asked for games playable with a minimum of instructions. So it wasn't just the authors, it was more about the type of games the competition was trying to elicit. Of course, the winning games were often the ones that were most successfully able to convey their purpose without specific instructions.

Perhaps Jay has noticed the same things you have, and that is why this last competition didn't have those same requirements. Or maybe he's just crazy! Two competitions back-to-back?!?! That is insane, just insane!

JAY!!

Really great that you increased the time limit on the latest competition. Can I ask for one more thing? Can we vote on the theme from four or five of your selections? (I just didn't like the way that many of the designers took "replay" in the last one. I want to put my two cents in!!)

Keep up the great work, and congratulations on getting sponsored by Sierra! Wow!

Hurrah!

Huzzah!

Woo!

YAY!

and other ludicrously happy noises!

'waits for the theme to be announced'

I believe the theme is going to be:

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Flying Lobsters

really Harukio?!!! interobang?!

better get coding
*starts furiously typing*

I refuse to take competition announcements seriously unless I see the phrase "Wooty tooty flip-bam-booty!" in them. Yoink!

Does the Sierra sponsorship mean we can hope the "JIG Game Design Competition #4" gallery to be published ? :)

So the next theme will be "Kings Quest" :-)

Or "bothersome hair-tearing mini-arcade game, like Sierra always has put somewhere in middle of their adventures, most often short before the end"

Just kidding ;-) Looking for to the next competition, I love this, and they are just great.

w00ty w00t!
Your on a ROLL!
Now I won't be supprised if the twelfth is out by Setember, o.O !

Jay, I think that elemeno's idea to let people vote on a topic for the game design (using the paypal thing to help fund... things that need to be funded) so that people can see what they may or may not need to design for and so that we "can put [our] two cents in!!"

Good luck to all you designers, and may the force be with you.

Another competition already? Nice.

I'd love if this newest competition was audio/music themed -- I can't get enough of those types of games.

My life just exploded in happiness and delight.

@jay: Having a game that doesn't require instructions is not the same as having a game that does and didn't come with even the slightest hint of how gameplay works at all.

I respect the former, and abhor the latter.

I know it would require to solve new technologic challenge, but a cool theme for a competition would be "multiplayer".

You think it would be possible to provide a general server access module or something like that for the contestants??

There is hope yet! :) I had given up entering a JIG contest after that last one, but it looks like I'll have a better chance this time. Thanks.

Though I'm not sure what I'll do with my old "replay" game idea now... :/