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#1 2007-09-29 07:35:33

xot
Administrator
Registered: 2007-08-18
Posts: 1,239

Conspire? Compete? Combine?

OK, you've seen the header at the top of every page. Now what the hell does it all mean? Well, it refers to the as-yet-unrevealed portions of these forums, the heart of these forums. Here's the concept:

• Conspire — This is where we can all pitch script proposals, ideas for scripts that we think would be useful, or even scripts that we need for our own projects. We work together defining the specifications, the function and the features that will make for a high-quality, general purpose script.

• Compete — When the particulars are settled for a script proposal, it's time to get to work. That's when the script proposal is moved to the next phase, the Code Lab. Simply post your entry, even if it doesn't work, into the relevant thread. Now here's the twist: it will remain secret until the deadline. You are free to refine and edit your entry as much as you like ... until the deadline hits and all is publicly revealed.

• Combine — At this point, the entries are examined, tested, judged, discussed, and finally chopped up and recombined in an überscript, a Frankencode monster. Even entries that don't work may have a kernel of genius, so don't be shy with your submissions. Everybody who has some of their code or methodology incorporated into the final script gets credit for it.

Well, that's the basic idea. Many of the technical hurdles have already been taken care of but there are still gaps to be filled. Although I've given it a lot of thought, I haven't decided on any kind of reward or scoring system beyond script credit and bragging rights. I'm not sure how long the entry period should be, a week or two from proposal acceptance to deadline I guess. I have some ideas about judging based on weighted criteria, sort of a decision matrix, but nothing is set in stone. Other things like script licensing also need to be discussed, something in the spirit of a general public domain license would be ideal in my opinion. But it's not about my opinion, this a community and I want to hear your opinions. Help me round out this concept, I think it will be a lot fun for us and a good thing for everyone in the Game Maker community. Who's with me? What are your thoughts?


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#2 2007-10-20 17:22:10

IamCalle
Member
Registered: 2007-10-20
Posts: 23

Re: Conspire? Compete? Combine?

What exactly do you mean with "reward or scoring system beyond script credit and bragging rights"?

About the entry period; During my time as a member(Sound Lead dep.) in TGG Teams, we had two types of entries:
If I remember correctly, nr. one was a one/two week long entry while nr. two was a one/two months long entry.
We were going to add a yearly/half-year(don't remember exactly) contest too, but we never got there before TGG shut down the team.

For our use, out from what I read in your post, I suggest varying the entry based upon the difficulty setting, maybe from a week to a month or something? (Just thinking outloud)
The reward system we had was the Gold, Silver and Bronze reward system, announced in the  same topic.

Last edited by IamCalle (2007-10-20 17:26:09)

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#3 2007-10-20 17:47:15

xot
Administrator
Registered: 2007-08-18
Posts: 1,239

Re: Conspire? Compete? Combine?

Finally! Someone replied. smile

I think the duration should be something that is decided in the proposal phase. A week sounds good for most projects, maybe two for more advanced ones. We are only making general purpose scripts here, not entire games or demos. I don't know if a week is too short or not. Everyone will have plenty of time to think about their entries during the proposal phase, so I think it should be enough for most cases. I guess when a proposal is looking complete, we can give a few days for any last minute suggestions. If there are none, a moderator will open a new topic in the Code Lab.

About rewards, over at GM Clans, the moderators give out experience points to everyone who participates in a "battle". People gain points in different categories like, graphics, or code (I don't really remember, but their are something like half a dozen areas). And they level-up RPG style. People over there seem to really like it. I wonder if something like that would be desirable here. I don't want to rip them off or anything, but points of some kind might be a good metric or augmentation for bragging rights.

For code competitions, what I had in mind was a decision matrix that distributed points according to the most desirable script criteria, such as functionality, lack of bugs, efficiency, completeness, code formatting, etc. Users can accumulate points and maybe have it displayed in a dynamic userbar for their sig. Points can be given other ways too, adding an annotation to the help file, finding or fixing a bug in a script on GMLscripts.com, or reformatting the code should I decide to switch to BSD-style (like the help file) from K&R-style formatting (my personal style), even making a good suggestion. I'm sure there are other ways to earn points.

Other rewards a possibility, a friend suggested unique icons that could be won like trophies. Personally, that sounds like work to me, something I try to avoid, but maybe for a major competition it could be a nice extra. smile

Another idea I had was a way for people who have earned points to pledge them as a bonus in whatever competitions they like, sort of an added incentive to lure others to participate. Points are sort of worthless by themselves, I thought it would be fun to have a way to spend them (while keeping a record of your total earnings). People who horde their points should be considered misers, which is not a good thing. This was the only spending idea I had that seemed to have any merit. The others were just artificial barriers to enjoying the site.


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#4 2007-10-21 09:27:38

IamCalle
Member
Registered: 2007-10-20
Posts: 23

Re: Conspire? Compete? Combine?

Okay, I get it now. smile
Your ideas sound good, and I understand that actually spending the points will be more fun than just having a lot of them for nothing. wink

About those unique icons; TGG made many smilies for his forum, he also made "trophy-icons" for 1st 2nd and 3rd place in the contests we had. I don't know if you have the privileges to do it, maybe you have, maybe you don't, I doon't say we need those icons anyway. wink

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#5 2007-10-21 12:33:28

paul23
Member
Registered: 2007-10-17
Posts: 110

Re: Conspire? Compete? Combine?

I'm wondering, should the scripts posted in "code lab" (and other forums: like gml creations etc) be especially for/about gmlscripts site?

I mean do you also allow us to post complete different scripts which are thanks to some reason(s) won't fit in the gmlscripts site? ie they're limited to some (special) way of using, or like in my case are more like an "engine" than a real "script"?

Well the rules state it's about the use of the scripts at gmlscripts.com, though I hope the rules can be stretched a bit wink.

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#6 2007-10-21 13:11:53

xot
Administrator
Registered: 2007-08-18
Posts: 1,239

Re: Conspire? Compete? Combine?

Thanks for posting this, paul23. I understand now that when you PM'd me this question, you were talking about something else, but your question fits here, too.

You'll be able to post any script proposals you want, they do not have to be strictly suited for the GMLscripts.com site. If you are working on a personal project and you need help with a script, you can propose a competition. It would probably be a good thing if you can back that up by pledging some points as an incentive. Other people who like your project might also feel like pledging points, boosting the chance that people will compete for them. Likewise, script ideas that are good for GMLscripts.com would also have extra points pledged by me or by other moderators. Further, we might also do some sort of point matching, that is, for every point pledged by a member, GMLscripts.com will match it.

I'm not entirely sure how the economics of it work out, I guess we'll experiment and see. One thing that does need to be considered is some sort of point multiplier system as people join a challenge. Without it, as more people join, the points could get split up among more participants, and the average point value of the competition goes down. Ideally, the more people participating, the more valuable the competition should be. Greater competition, means greater risk, which should also mean greater rewards.


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#7 2009-05-08 06:26:48

Caniac
The #1 Caniac
From: Raleigh NC, usa
Registered: 2009-05-08
Posts: 8
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Re: Conspire? Compete? Combine?

Actually, I didn;t see that till I looked a second time after you pointed it out tongue


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