Competition 05 ANNOUNCEMENT
30 Dec, 2009
After a long wait it’s time to have a new competition. The theme for the first competition of 2010 will be “Design A HandHeld Game”. We want you to design games using either Game Maker 7 or Game Maker 8 that would be suitable to run on a typical handheld device. That is no keyboard OR MOUSE (edit: sandy, Dec 30th) , a fixed screen size and other fixed hardware limitations.
The rules of the competition are as follows :-
- Your Game must be less than 10MB (uncompressed)
- .EXE only…NO ZIP files.
- Maximum Screen Size 480X272
- No DLLs or other extension packages can be used.
- No Installation packages.
- No use of the registry.
- Game Controls must use ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY (space-bar preferred), additionally P to pause game and escape to quit (where quit can be quit to a final menu) are OK (EDITED by Sandy DEC 31st )
- Game Maker versions 7 or 8 only
- All games must be tagged “Competition05” (EDITED by Sandy DEC 31st )
- 3D is OK, provided it uses standard Game Maker features (EDITED by Sandy DEC 31st )
- Contest finishes March 30th 2010 at Midnight GMT
First Prize is $1,000, 2nd $500, 3rd $250 to be paid by PayPal.
Posted by sandy
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December 30th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Hi can i enter the competition with my team Cross Games??It’s only 3 members.So can I?
December 30th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Dang, I hoped there would be diffuse requirements so I could use the latest game I’m working on
.
December 30th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
@NIKOS15 Yes, but we will only make one payment.
December 30th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
@sandy
ok!!!!!!!
Thanks
December 30th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I have… 1 button and no possibility to play MOD music?
What kind of handheld has those restrictions?
The nintendo ds can play mod music just fine and has much more than 1 button.
I’m a sucker for low resolutions and oldschool 2d stuff but this is just silly.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Is it alright to include a key (eg “Z”) as an optional alternative to spacebar (ie. it wouldn’t add extra controls)? I have a little trouble with my spacebar in games.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
@NAL @9_6 Let me get all of the feedback together and I may allow some minor modifications to the rules.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Im confused with the keys that are allowed
,
must game use Cursor keys. and space bar
OR
must game use Cursor, Keys(as arrow keys) and space bar?.
somebody reply this plz
December 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
@sandy: Yea I hope so.
Maybe that no .dll restriction can be circumvented by using mp3 (eurgh) or midi (eurghhh :[) music but that 1-button restriction kind of kills it.
Oh and the fact that we can’t use external resources cause it has to be exe only.
What’s with that?
What about game save files, are we not allowed to have that too?
You don’t have a gm-game-to-handheld converter up your sleeves, do you?
So how about allowing for 3 action buttons (attack,jump,pause or such) that everyone can then pick by themselves?
December 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
@jagnus That means Arrow Keys and Space Bar.
@9_6 Mostly we just want to offer a challenge. But it’s no great secret that we’re big fans of iPhone, Android, DS, PSP (not necessarily in that order !) You can have game saves of course.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I think the 1-button restriction is a funky twist that we should keep, even though technically most handhelds have many more than 1 button other than the directional pad.
There’s gotta be *some* challenge.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
“I think the 1-button restriction is a funky twist”
“@jagnus That means Arrow Keys and Space Bar.”
confused
, but does #1 mean 1 button (space) + arrow keys ? 
December 30th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@sandy: Well okay, if it is meant only as a challenge… but how about allowing people to pick that 1 action-button themselves?
The spacebar isn’t very rapid-tap-friendly.
Also at least an additional pause button would be nice.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I just wanna ask the tag must be Competition 05 or Competition05 ??
December 30th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
May I ask if the competition restrictions were based on/inspired by game applications on the iPhone?
December 30th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
@jagnus That means you have the four arrow/cursor/direction keys and the spacebar.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Sandy, other than the limited amount of keys, there isn’t much of a challenge here. Even one of the more restrictive ones, the screen resolution, is easily resolved: I can just force any game that answers all other limits (and this isn’t terribly hard) into a view of 480×272 and Game Maker will automatically scale it down.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
@amidos2006 Good point. Separate tags…I’m assuming site search now works properly
December 30th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@Smarty, True, but unless the game took that into consideration, most games characters, text, etc… would be really hard to see at that game size.
@Sandy, if we could get the rules locked in place fairly soon, it would stink to start a one button game and have another button option added! At first I was going to push for making it two buttons, but I kinda agree with RhysAndrews on this one now. Let’s leave it one for the heck of it.
-Elmernite
December 30th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
@9_6 let me gather all of the feedback and then see if some minor amendment(s) would be helpful ?
@smarty we’re not trying to make this technically hard, quite the opposite really. We’re genuinely interested in proving that Game Maker, and the community can make great games that work well on handhelds. If a 480X272 “view” works well for the game dynamic, then it means it would still be a good game on a 480X272 display. Hope that makes sense ?
December 30th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Is it ok if the resolution is under 480×272 but scaled it up over that with the global settings or view settings for each room?
December 30th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
@elmernite we’ll make any minor amendments in the next 24 hours.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
@Smarty
I’m hoping that the judges are looking for something that looks especially handheld-esque (something you might find on an iPhone, Nintendo DS, or something) – not just a game that fits the technical requirements.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Can we use text files to store highscores for example?
December 30th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
@rhysandrews Correct !
December 30th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
@Rhys & Sandy:
That’s a bit vague – what defines those looks? And are we supposed to emulate the lack of processing power?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
@Smarty
My guess is that it would give you extra points, but clearly it’s not a requirement.
Like the ancient civilisation competition… there was no requirement on how historically accurate the game is, but I’m sure a more historically accurate game would have a better chance.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I was just wondering, since the judges are looking for something you might find on an iPhone or DS, why is there a limitation on keys to only space bar and the cursor? I understand the cursor would resemble the DS stylus or your finger on an iPhone but the directional buttons on the DS would not be utilised due to the competition restrictions. Not only that, some applications on the iphone actually have the directional buttons drawn onto the touch screen by the game. I’m just suggesting that we shouldn’t limit the keys but if not, I’d still be fine with it
December 30th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
This is interesting, though I have something to say. I suggest that we should be able to choose the action key. Face it, spacebar isn’t good or even ergonomical solution for most of games. Many people even avoid those games as spacebar is actually quite fragile as it’s so big button, which makes it bad for rapid tapping for example. In short, by leaving spacebar out you will make service for developers, players and to our hardware.
Secondly I don’t really understand dll and external file rule. This renders off most sensible solutions for music for example. It also makes big difference for gm7 and gm8 users as only gm8 can use alpha channel without external files. And how about files which are stored in the exe, but which are external during run?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
@Rhys:
I find this problematic – if you deliberately impose limits on yourself that aren’t explicitly stated as competition rules, and other competitors don’t, then you may just be frustrated by having one through the effort for nothing. And vice versa – you may just have knocked yourself out by not acknowleding unwritten limits.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
YEAAAHHHH!!! Time to rock & roll! (haven’t even read the theme yet but….
Thanks Sandy!
December 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I’ll be honest…
I’m really going to enjoy mashing that beefy space bar when I try out all the competition entries. I might get a bucking-spring keyboard just for nostalgia.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Holy….
!!!! Haha.. crazy.. this Comp is almost exactly what I’ve wanted every Comp to be 
Retro-tastic! Hmmm…. great that no .dlls can be used & that file size is so low – big thumbs up there!
Now, I have 1 suggestion!
1. 2 buttons instead of just 1! 1 is interesting & adds a challenge… hmmm… dunno.. just consider 2 buttons!
also…
ya know that iPhone has res of 480×320?
Haha… I’m really loving the restrictions here! Fanastic Comp rules!
December 30th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
What about the graphics? Gameboy era ones? Palette: 8 bit, 16 bit or 32 bit?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
This sounds awesome!!
i have a few questions though.
Q. Can the game be 3d?
Q. Are the arrow keys allowed? im just unsure because it says cursor keys and spacebar.
Q. Does it have to be for a specific platform e.g Iphone?
Thanks for your time!!
December 30th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I will join! Can’t wait!
December 30th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Hmm….. wait wait! This is meant to be inspired by current handheld limitations right?
Howabout the mouse working as the equivalent of a finger/pen on a touch screen?
Most of the handhelds of today have some kinda touch-screen control & it might be nice to use the mouse for this? Possibly? Just a thought (Haha, I’m realy digging the limitations)…
rules to *keep* for sure: .exe only & no .dlls & max 10MB – they are solid gold
December 30th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Assume that clones aren’t allowed.
How about a game that uses the concept of an already existing game, less chance of winning I suppose or not allowed at all?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Cursor keys? Is that the arrow keys or the left, middle and right mouse buttons? Also, are you allowed to use text files or ini’s to save and load data?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Sounds like a challenging competition! It’s nice to have something totally new. However, I’d just like to say that even GameBoy Colors had arrow keys, A, B, and the Start (pause) button. It’d be nice to have at least those, because otherwise we’re going to end up with some crazy key combinations (such as…press all buttons at once to pause the game)
Anyway, I’m looking forward to entering this comp! (first I need to buy GM8 Pro though)
-turboRamble (Penthia Pertion)
December 30th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Is GM8 Lite allowed?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
i think i want to enter….
still have few questions
•Q
can the mouse itself be used as a control for the game?
•Q
is it allowed to save settings in *.ini files?
December 30th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
@dadio: “rules to *keep* for sure: .exe only & no .dlls & max 10MB – they are solid gold”
Actually the “no dll” rule prohibits the usage of mod music which would, by far, suit the whole ‘handheld’ theme more than mp3s or midis.
Especially since they’re only kilobytes big.
How does that add anything to the games?
The total size limit is so generous, it might as well not exist at all.
Besides, since the executable itself is ~2mb big, gamemaker isn’t exactly the kind tool to minimize filesizes of your game with…
So how does that add anything to the games?
Also exe only makes no real sense.
Why can’t I zip my executable and how does this add anything to the games?
You just picked the 3 most nonsensical of the rules and called them “pure gold” while completely ignoring the limited resolution and controls rule, which only is what handhelds are all about.
Also I really hope mouse won’t be allowed.
Screw the mouse.
I don’t want mouse controls in my “handheld” games!
December 30th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Some questions:
- Do you MUST use the space-bar?
- Do you must upload it at YoYoGames, or also on the GMC?
- Can you use any game genre within this theme?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Are you allowed to submit more than one game?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
The no .dll rule means that all games created are 100% pure products of GameMaker only – *true* pure demonstrations of what GM is capabale of *on it’s own* – I like that very much. Also, the no .dll rule means we won’t see any of the errors that can happen when using .dlls on Win7).
The 10MB rule means that people have to pay attention to their resources & *optimise* – usually people tend to never do this & giving them only 10MB (8MB really) to work with is a smart way of making people *optimise* & make the most of what they have… also, 10MB means that (thank God!) all games will be very fast to try out on InstantPlay.
The exe only rule simply keeps everything nice & tidy. I *much* prefer a single .exe rather than a folder full of a million files when I dl a GM game.
Like I say, all these rules are pure gold
December 30th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
@Dadio, I have to agree.
@9_6, he was just expressing his opinion, no need to flip out on him, oh, and try not to flip out on this comment.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
@smarty you should assume that the runner would give you almost the same performance on windows vs handheld.
You can use GM Lite
No MOUSE !
You can save settings, hi scores etc in separate files, the game itself must be a single file.
You’re free to adapt an existing game if you wish.
@rhys @smarty @all Try to get into your heads that we’d like games that are easy to run/port to a variety of handheld devices (assume we have a highly tuned runner). We’ve chosen a “representative selection” of restrictions (e.g. 10MB is an Apple app store limit to allow a game to be downloaded using GPRS rather than a Wireless Network connection) the screen size is PSP (I think) the controls are a fairly minimal selection, but enough for most games.
No promises, but I believe by the time this competition is over we’ll be able to show the winners RUNNING on a handheld device !
December 30th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
One thing: does esc have to quit the game, or can it take the player to a menu from which one of the options is to quit the game?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Since so many people are confused let me clarify.
The only keyboard keys you are allowed to use are the 4 arrow keys, a single action button, and the escape key which you can use to quit/pause the game.
You are not allowed to use the mouse.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Hm, in my opinion the use of dlls is essential to make up for Game Maker’s still lousy sound format capabilities. Without it it leaves us with MIDI (painful on the ears) or MP3 (doesn’t work on everyone’s systems and it’s bloated and using up a lot of the file size limit which is tough enough as you can’t zip the exe file).
If that rule wasn’t there (or if Game Maker could play tracker mods as standard like it really should) I might have had a go as I’d quite like to design a game intended for PSP but that dll rule ruins it totally.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
@Sandy, you said: “No MOUSE !” Isn’t that contradicting what you wrote in the first post? I’m confused now =S
December 30th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
@retep998 In the rules in says “escape to quit”, as such you are merely assuming that you can use it to pause. Nowhere has sandy stated this, which is why I’m seeking clarification above.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
one button? sounds like an Atari 2600 homebrew handheld. though I would have liked a total of 2 buttons (like A,B – then escape as pause/leave game) hmm what can be done with one button…
December 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Cool idea.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Wit, wait waaaiiit! The madness is overwhelming!
First off @ Sandy: I’m sure this will be *the* best GM Comp ever – mega props for this!
I think the rules exactly as they are are very, very tasty!
Now, let’s backtrack here… *tries to breath slowly*… Sandy… your last comment there… are you saying that you have been working on a GM handheld port?!?!?!?!?!
December 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Not the theme I was expecting. But I’m sure I can get a good idea.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
@bobking12 esc can take you to a menu…and of course you can assume there’s a “virtual” keyboard to enter names and stuff. The “key” restriction only applies to in-game controls.
@David C. Sorry, not intending to confuse you, but not many hand-held devices have a mouse. I will amend the post to read “no keyboard or mouse” Direction should be done using the arrow keys.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Oh wow
“No promises, but I believe by the time this competition is over we’ll be able to show the winners RUNNING on a handheld device !”
I’m definitely looking forward to that, if only I had a handheld device in the first place…
December 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Forget my last post. I’d like to clarify whether the space bar can be replaced with another button. Also, if it were to run on a hand held, there would be at least two buttons for actions and another one for opening up a menu etc.
@Sandy, since the winners may be run on actual handhelds, why only limit to one key apart from arrow keys (In this case space bar)? On any modern hand held, three action buttons would be useless if there was allowed only one action key.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
@Sandy:
so what are you allowed to use??
arrow keys and spacebar?
also is there a limit on entires?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
OK let me get this straight. So Sandy you are saying that we gotta make a game with GM 7 or 8 (I’m using 7) with a screen that is 480×272 with the controls being arrow keys, space bar, mouse, and mouse buttons. AND it has to be just .EXE . RIGHT???
December 30th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
and what about ESC to quit???
December 30th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
‘No promises, but I believe by the time this competition is over we’ll be able to show the winners RUNNING on a handheld device !’
Does that mean the game absolutely has to have a screensize no bigger than 480X272? Because I was considering making the playable area of the game no bigger than 480X272 and in the surrounding area you would see the actual handheldconsole, get it?
To summarize my question: is it ok to just have a PLAYABLE area no bigger than 480X272, or must the game itself be no bigger than 480X272?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I think Sandy said no mouse, the post was meant to say arrow keys not cursor keys. And the screen size is a maximum of 480×272 I believe.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
@Sandy:i think u should change the forst post from “cursor keys” to “arrow keys” because its causing alot of confusion.
also ignore my last post.
also can the games be 3d?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
@David C @michaelepw @Andre M Currently just arrow keys and space bar …and Escape to quit, which can take you to a menu before you leave the program) Been a lot of requests to either change the spacebar or add a second key….I’m considering this and will let you know in less than 24 hours if we make any slight changes. NO MOUSE…I’ve just edited the original post)
December 30th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
@ Anrde M – no mouse at all as allowed!
@ Sandy… that “running on handheld” mentioning was possibly just a slip ya made… but now my brain is exploding in a shower of crazines that might very well threaten the entire human race!!!
*Clarify!*
December 30th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
well the DS screen is 256×192. Hmm…
December 30th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Okay, Competition #05! I making 2D puzzle game. Name: Bob´s Big Day.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
@dadio. No slip. Look at the picture on the homepage…that is NOT the PSP picture viewer…THAT is a loading screen. (Remember that C++ runner that we did about a year ago ….well, it’s still early days….so I’m promising NOTHING)
December 30th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
PSP is exactly 480×272, with no touch screen & possibly just enough processor power…
& afaik, the PSP-mini limitation is 10MB *gulp*…
Lordy, Lordy…
my mind…
is…
gone!
*dies*
December 30th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I think I have a good enough idea, just wondering if team efforts were allowed?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
@Sandy, it’d be preferable for three extra keys (added to the one already given making four) to be added as there are four action on the modern day handhelds. The DS – arrows keys + A,B,X,Y and the PSP – Circle, Square, Triangle and X. I’m not saying it must be but just letting the game have four extra keys would make things much more handheld like and believable if, in the end, it is run on an actual handheld.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
‘To summarize my question: is it ok to just have a PLAYABLE area no bigger than 480X272, or must the game itself be no bigger than 480X272?’
So then, I’m guessing, the latter?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Picture on homepage.. where is this?…
is this a custom handheld?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
@ the “extra buttonators” possibly the GM-mod that’s possibly gonna work with whatever handheld can only handle 1 button input properly for now?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Hmmm… but problems aside, we have been desperate for this announcement so I’d get to work if I were you.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
@Dadio, possible but I highly doubt that. Only being able to run on one button is a weird excuse and shouldn’t hinder the theme of the competition.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
OK so NOW:
@Sandy you are saying the game controls can only be space bar and arrow keys. BUT CAN IT BE 3D?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
@sandy Im alright with 1 button lol, seeing as Escape can pull a menu down as I can see, that makes things a little bit better (pausing, weapon select, w/e) Im starting to get some ideas. though some other things need to be stated like 3D for the people who are wondering
December 30th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
@dadio @ david c I don’t want specific PSP games at the moment. Just “generic handheld” if there is such a thing ! It’s simply a competition restriction.
@PROJECT PIGEONS playable is OK, but it has to play well in that space.
@bloodstreak teams are welcome, but we can’t split the payments. One payment per prize.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
3d is fine, provided you don’t use any DLLS and you stay below 10MB.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Are you allowed to update the game frequently to update levels?
December 30th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
GREAT!
December 30th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I WILL GET STARTED RIGHT AWAY!
December 30th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I wasn’t asking for a specific PSP game but rather more button flexibility. Just tried a little persuasion =P
December 30th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
@sandy: Got it. Thanks.
December 30th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
@David C It didn’t work
December 30th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Alright then =)
December 30th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Ok Sandy. This will be a great Comp!
& I’m happy to know there are things moving along & possibilities behind the scenes.
Thanks again for such a great Comp “theme” & Happy New Year to ya!
December 30th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
i just got a great game idea!
December 30th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Great, finally!
December 30th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Let’s not forget the whole point of a contest is to create the best game possible given the restrictions…
This is the first contest I’m going to enter!
December 30th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I have a strong feeling that this will be *by far* the most popular GM Comp, with the most amazing GM games ever.
Let us see
December 30th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Does this mean we can’t use 3D graphics because super mario does on the nintendo ds? But I don’t know of any examples of it on the iphone.
December 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
So we can use arrow keys?
December 30th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
so can we use d3d?
December 30th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Is there a room speed/refresh rate that would be best?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
we can use 3d
“As long as there is no dll needed”
December 30th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I think you’ve got to allow for at least one more button. Think about it. In a standard game, arrows would be movement, and space would be action. Now, add in a menu, or inventory…and how exactly do you open it?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I’m laughing so hard right now. I makes my games fairly simple, using no mods and such. Also the fact that only mainly using spacebar and arrowkeys (I usuallly add a pause and and exit key as well, I think that should be used, at LEAST a pause key). I should say this competition is going to be a fun one!
Now regarding as to handhelds, I was figuring a classic gameboy with the monochromatic 4 colors. Trying to create an iPhone game would miss one feature: tilt, so I’d say that’s a no go if not already.
Anyways, so in a way if there is no inclusion of say, the enter button for PAUSING. Then the player might have to either: Just play a game that doesn’t support pausing, make your gameplay PURELY functional on Arrow Keys, or make some sort of combination to press =P
Again I find this funny since I can work with this. Also is it possible to submit more than one game for this competition =D I have 2 ideas that work perfectly with this competition!
~GL
-ps And having the PSP resolution in mind, therefore emulating a PSP, there’s practically no graphical boundaries in that part =D
December 30th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
@GameLink7 you can make as many entries as you wish.
December 30th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Can it be a 3D game?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
@homebrewpc and GameLink7: You are allowed to use the Esc key to open a menu.
Sandy: ‘Currently just arrow keys and space bar …and Escape to quit, which can take you to a menu before you leave the program)’
December 30th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
@ button people:
…
people, people…
just cos ya only have 1 button doesn’t mean ya can’t access menus & pause & all that
This rule is actually *very* good cos I notice that no small amount of GM games suffer from “endless button syndrome”
so… you wanna “Pause” the game? – you hold down space bar for 3 seconds. You wanna access a menu? – you tap the “up” arrow-key twice… (just use simple timers).
*No problem*
It will be *very* nice to see some well streamlined, sensible controls on these games!
December 30th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Can you update the game after you submit it?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Hi, I was just wondering if the escape key must be used only to quit the game, or if it could be used to go to a menu, for example.
Also, is there any limitation color-wise?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
You might want to say no gamepads too. Though it’s far easier to use an Xbox 360 pad with a DLL, it’s still possible in GM.
I’m going to be using Z instead of spacebar. My keyboard, and that of many others, gets all funky when you use spacebar in conjunction with other keys. Two of the more popular games on the site right now (2DCube’s ‘Focus’ and Awoken’s “Wrapple”) are greatly affected by this. ‘Focus’ accounts for it by allowing you to change the action key from spacebar to control.
I just want my game to work perfectly on any machine is all. If I get disqualified, I get disqualified. Oh well. Not the end of the world, now, is it?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I think it’s a pain that you can only use 1 button. Hell, even the various Game and Watch systems had at least 2 buttons.
Can’t we at least use a different key other than Space?
December 30th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I’m really looking forward to this. I think the space bar + arrow keys only will probably make the games a little more creative and original.
In terms of graphics, should we be aiming for the old Game Boy style, or are things like 3D and photoshop graphics perfectly acceptable?
December 30th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
@Prog: It just depends on what system you’re trying to emulate.
Remember that 8-Bit systems use a 4 color/mono palette, one of the colors being transparent. So in essence, 3 colors per 16 pixels of a sprite. For NES/GBC games,handling it right can have a multi-color efect (Just look at Megaman, the reason why he gets 5 colors in instead of four, is because his FACE uses a separate palette than his body (which is why the face color doesn’t change when Megaman uses another ability)
I’d suggest you Wiki or Google specs about the system you’re trying to emulate for best results =P
~GL
December 30th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
1) Any limitation when it comes to room speed?
2) Can the Esc key be used to open a menu rather than just exit the game?
December 30th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Sandy has already said that the Esc key can be used to bring up a menu.
December 30th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
i want to make a ds game but how would i include the stylus with out the cursor?
December 30th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
**quote**
well the DS screen is 256×192. Hmm…
**quote**
~ David C
Possibly for a PSP – go to the home page of yoyogames and look carefully at the picture…
December 30th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
This is a good idea for a compo. Glad you guys are doing these again!
December 30th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
No dlls,
.. Just when I start to learn enough C++ to be capable of creating dlls 
..
Other than that: I guess it’s too late, but considering most keyboards block when pressing up + left + spacebar I suggest some letter (or probably control key).
December 30th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I love the limitations set up – it’s a good challenge on Game Makership.
I’d really appreciate if the spacebar was changed to any ambiguous key, seeing as it is such a fat and (on some computers) unresponsive key.
December 30th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Should we limit our games to 30 frames per second? I think that’s the DS and PSP’s limit.
December 30th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I’m still wondering where to find that picture of gm on a psp…
Everyone keeps mentioning it but I just can’t find it. o.0
December 30th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hey, Sandy.
Could i use a sequel of one game for this?
December 30th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Sorry one suggestion… *please* take back what you said about any old game being allowed to be submitted to this Comp.
If you don’t I fear the Comp will drown in a swamp of 1-5 year old games… & the winners will inevitably be popular games from the past that people already like.
*Please* make it “new games only*.
December 30th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I see that some of the specs are “Maximum Screen Size 480X272.” I know for a fact the iTouch/iPhone use a resolution of 480X320. and DS and PSP I’m pretty sure are even larger. So maybe you could allow for a max res of 480X320 at the least. Also proof of the res of the iTouch is here ~ http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/specs-8.html
December 30th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
DS & PSP are actually smaller than iPhone
PSP is exactly 480×272
December 30th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I still don’t get this…
My questions:
#1What music files are we allowed to use?
#2What buttons are we allowed to use?
#3What codes are not allowed to be used?
#4What age group game does our game have to be?
{I would appreciate if someone answer all my question.}
December 30th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
“Maximum Screen Size 480X272″
Does that mean the play area is no larger than that or can we use a ‘view’ of that size but have a larger play area, like a platform or shoot em up?
December 30th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
What do you mean of “No use of the registry”?
And How will you find our game?
Just adding “competition” and “05″ or we can add more tags…?
December 30th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
@ZuperZ_Games
I think Sandy mean’t no use of the Pro actions.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Why can’t people simply just read the damn topic and quit asking the same stupid questions over and over again? Use your common sense, which I hope you all have.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
@GameLink7: I think you’re talking to someone else and put my name there by accident.
Anyway, can you update your game once you submit it?
December 30th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
@ZuperZ_Games
I was wondering about that for a while too, so I looked it up in the Game Maker Help files.
I think Sandy meant the “Registry” functions.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
The least amount of buttons on a hand held controller I’ve ever seen is 6 on the gameboy and that’s not counting start and select. It would be good to be able to have two non cursor buttons instead of just one.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
People need to stop griping about having only one action key. It’s supposed to help make you get creative–not resemble any existing game system. Pointing out that hand-held systems all have two or more action buttons is calling Sandy ignorant. I doubt highly that he appreciates that.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Are we allowed to use the internet (e.g. GM8′s splash web page) for online scores?
I think that most hand held devices have more than 5 buttons (4 arrow keys and 1 extra). I think if we were allowed to use 2 extra buttons this would be more like real hand-held devices.
This is a very interesting idea for a contest and I will gladly be entering this competition!
December 30th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
can it be 272 X 480 or just 480X272?
December 30th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
@dED_n_BURYd take a guess…
@Sithen “I think Sandy mean’t no use of the Pro actions.”
we are allowed to create 3D games (possible without pro???)
December 30th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
@calthor
@dED_n_BURYd take a guess…
@Sithen “I think Sandy mean’t no use of the Pro actions.”
we are allowed to create 3D games (possible without pro???)
No he meant not using the computer registry (for more info, read the help file!)
December 30th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
after @calthor was in quotation marks
December 30th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
My questions:
#1What music files are we allowed to use?
#2What buttons are we allowed to use?
#3What codes are not allowed to be used?
#4What age group game does our game have to be?
{I would appreciate if someone answer all my question.}
December 30th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
@GamesDX
1)anything that GM natively plays and loads internally (.mid, .mp3, .wma, .wav)
2)arrow keys, escape, one other (currently locked on SPACEBAR)
3)anything that has to do with DLLs, your computer’s Registry, or Highscores (they use the Registry)
4)for kids from 1 to 92
December 30th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
GM doesn’t load mp3′s natively.
December 30th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Can we use GM’s built-in high score system?
Can we use game_save() and game_load()?
Can we use the .ini file system, and/or create other external files on the fly?
Do we need to provide the source file of the games we enter?
It seems a bit weird to me that the official Game Maker competition would rule out a large part of Game Maker’s power.
How much detail can we use in the 480×272 pixels? Can we use small fonts for example?
Sorry for all the questions, but for a competition with technical limitations like those given, I’m rather safe than sorry
December 30th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Come on, just spacebar!? Even the original Game Boy and nearly every other handheld has at least 2 action buttons. Having only one action button is kind of extreme isn’t it?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
@EricLeppen: they want to provide a challenge where you can’t use all of gm’s built in functions. A few questions:
1) Can you make it a feature of the game that it is updated every few days?
2) Can you use the built-in high score functions?
3) Can you make files that the game will use later?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
i don’t like this theme! i don’t get it! can sum1 tell me! PLEEZ!
December 30th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Don’t get what?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Isn’t it vague to have a picture of a psp on the homepage ( the psp has 4 buttons, you may only use 1 button in the competition ). It would be nicer to have a picture of a custom handheld on the homepage ( with really only 1 button).
December 30th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
I like this idea. I think I’ll actually make a game for this competition. Maybe someday that loader from the front page will be on the iPhone -> http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s276/combustion-ent/IMG_0344.jpg
December 30th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Handelds feature 2 action buttons (A and B). So just using the spacebar is lame. What about ANOTHER action key, like the enter key (in addition to the ESC key)?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
@Prog Re:”GM doesn’t load mp3’s natively.”
Oh, really? It seems to for me.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:02 am
cool, my game is gonna be called ‘dodge the viruses’
December 31st, 2009 at 12:11 am
@Mr JAk HAk, Actually it doesn’t. When you load a MP3 the kind changes to “Use multimedia player”. It’s actually using whatever you use to play music normally on your computer.
QUOTE – (From the GM Manual)
“Sound files are normally played through DirectX. This gives many possibilities but is limited to wave and midi files. If you want to play other files, like mp3 files, you should select the option to use the media player. This is much more limited though. No volume changes or effects can be used and only one piece can play at once. Note that midi files, when played through the media player may sound different from playing them as background or normal sounds. The reason is that the media player uses the hardware synthesizer (which is different on each machine) while otherwise a software version is used (which sounds the same on all machines). Preferably don’t use mp3 files in you games. They need to be decompressed which takes processing time and might slow down the game. The fact that the file size is smaller does not mean that they use less memory. Also, not all machines support them. So your game might not run on all machines. ”
-Cameron
December 31st, 2009 at 12:16 am
Loving the theme. I’m guessing I won’t have the time to enter, but who knows, I might try. Not like I’ve ever uploaded anything else…
I love most of the rules, too, but I concur with many that two buttons might be better than one. (However, one action button + Esc still has good possibilities! and for that reason alone, I’d still be just fine if the one-button limitation stayed put!) Also, I agree with whomever has said that the 10MB limit seems like not much of a limit considering the theme, that perhaps a smaller limit would be better — maybe something between 4-to-8MB? (I’ve always loved the fact that the gigantic game, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, is only like 2MB!)
Regards,
Brandon W. Horton
ParodyKnaveBob
P.S. Awesome to hear about YYG working on a portable porter! ha ha
December 31st, 2009 at 12:24 am
are you allowed to take away one directional key lets say down and make it a pause button??
December 31st, 2009 at 12:26 am
@Canman
Okay. Thanks. So, unless the target hand-held device has a mp3 player (and I don’t think any of them are allowed to), no mp3s. Or, something like that…
@ParodyKnaveBob
The 10MB limit came from the one Apple uses in its app store to allow content to be downloaded by GPRS.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:39 am
So we can use multiplayer functions?
December 31st, 2009 at 12:40 am
I’m sorry, TLoZ:LA was 1MB — not 2.
@ everyone on figuring out how to use the limitations:
Mr. Sandy’s making it quite clear:
You can use four directional buttons for any actions you want. You can use one extra button for any action you want. You can use the Esc button for essentially any action you want, as long as it can ultimately lead to exiting the game. You can use combinations of buttons; completely different actions can come from Press Left, Press Action, Hold Action while Press Left, Hold Left while Press Action, Press Left and Action simultaneously, etc. etc. etc. — not even counting double-tapping, triple-tapping, the other directional keys, etc. I’m guessing you folks have never played NES and Game Boy games.
Thankfully, Rareware knew how to use buttons and combos in their games, even on such an advanced and button-heavy console as the Nintendo 64. Coming to mind are Perfect Dark’s weapons (quick weapon switching forward and backward, quick weapon switching menu, secondary mode switching, quick secondary with instant switch-back, etc. all with simple A, B, and Z press-or-hold-or-combine usage) and Banjo-Tooie’s moves (Banjo and Kazooie *both* and *each* had so many different moves using the same few buttons). (Perfect Dark had other examples, like aiming and ducking, too. And, Banjo-Tooie paled horribly in comparison to Banjo-Kazooie, but I merely brought up B-T because it more intensely used context-sensitive button combinations.)
Ha. Maybe I’ll make the time to enter this contest after all, since so many are having difficulty with old-school-ish limitations.
Brandon W. Horton
ParodyKnaveBob
December 31st, 2009 at 1:27 am
so only 6 buttons total…
CRAP
December 31st, 2009 at 1:32 am
What do you mean by handheld?
iPhone? Mobile? DS? PSP?
Also, can the screen be EITHER landscape or portrait? (switch the width and length)
And Sandy, plz write any NEW rules up the top, just to clarify things for people who don’t want to read this whole page.
December 31st, 2009 at 1:42 am
@Slammin Sam
The iPhone is the only platform out there to support Portrait screen formatting, so my guess is to keep it as Landscape. But, then again, who knows what’s actually going on inside Sandy’s head?
December 31st, 2009 at 1:46 am
How do i put a game on the PSP??
December 31st, 2009 at 1:53 am
@creed
You don’t
December 31st, 2009 at 2:16 am
Hi Sandy (Alex).
The Nintendo DS is capable of running Game Maker games. I am the creator of ‘DS Game Maker’ (google it). I want to help you. I found no other way to contact you than the blog comments. I don’t know any one else in DS homebrew who will want to help you directly. If you are interested, email me: james@dsgamemaker.com
James
December 31st, 2009 at 2:16 am
@ everyone complaining about the 1 button, think about Atari 2600 only 1 button as well,
December 31st, 2009 at 2:27 am
The DS is NOT capable of running GameMaker games. The DS Game Maker is just a GUI for devkitPro which is using C++.
You can’t open GMK files in DS Game Maker and compile them as DS roms.
December 31st, 2009 at 2:30 am
Sypran: Yeah that’s true. I’ve got an Atari 2600, it’s a great system for it’s time. Even though the controller is just a joystick and a button, you don’t need more most of the time (unless you’re playing a 1 player game where you have to use both for some stupid reason).
If you guys struggle with making a game with that kind of limitations, just try a few Atari 2600 games to try to get inspiration
Sorry for double post…
December 31st, 2009 at 2:31 am
I’d be perfectly fine with these limitations if there was AT LEAST two action buttons. Pretty much every console has AT LEAST 2 action buttons: Select and Cancel.
It’d be pretty hard to imagine what it would be like to play something that involves a lot of menus (Like an RPG) without being able to go back if you make a mistake (IE: Buying a wrong item and spending a bunch of money on accident).
Or what it’d be like to play Mega Man without being able to shoot.
December 31st, 2009 at 2:34 am
*Sorry for double post, I accidentally pushed submit >.>
@Everyone talking about the 2600
That was like 30 years ago. And it WASN’T a handheld console.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:21 am
Yeah I can make a pretty awesome game( in my opinion) but to do any awesome stuff it needs two buttons.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:27 am
Huh. I was hoping the Mac port would be out by the time for Comp5…
December 31st, 2009 at 3:31 am
Let me think… games with low numbers of buttons…
DIABLO!!!! BOTH GAMES!!!! 3 buttons, with options to use more, for both games (Left mouse, right mouse, escape for menus)…
SUPER SMASH BROS!!!! 5 buttons, and I slaughter with Yoshi (Up = jump, left, right, down, A for Attack)
FINAL FANTASY!!!! 7 buttons, 6 if you overlap pause with cancel (Up, down, left, right, A for Action, B for cancel, Start for menu — can overlap with cancel)
You get 6 buttons. Awesome, right? (Up, down, right, left, space, escape for menus)
December 31st, 2009 at 3:34 am
I’d agree with the general opinion. Most of these limitations are inaccurate and pretty lame, but manageable. The lack of control buttons, however, is a deal breaker. Even the original Game Boy had 4 buttons.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:35 am
Only the arrow keys and the spacebar? Even the old game boy has got many more buttons (the 4 directions and the A-Key PLUS B, Select and Start). Maybe at least the enter key or something else to pause the game? Imagine playing the game, moving and shooting and no way for pause… at which, I could use the Escape key to pause
^^
December 31st, 2009 at 3:35 am
Sweet, I’m ready for this competition. Fortunately the Project I’m doing (hopefully this one wont get thrown in the Trash Bin) already only uses WASD and Space, just change the WASD and make more levels and I’m set.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:45 am
@nacho101: Megaman is actually one of the few classic platform shooter games that doesn’t require any more buttons than allowed! Left and right to move, up to jump, space to shoot, esc to change weapons. What’s the problem?
December 31st, 2009 at 3:58 am
Is adding extra button/s to the restrictions still being considered?
December 31st, 2009 at 4:04 am
MUST… MAKE… REPORT… OF… OLD… GAME!!!!!
December 31st, 2009 at 4:14 am
Stop complaining about only using one button. It’s not that hard! Use context-sensitive actions! Combine the spacebar with arrow keys! Combine arrow keys! Context-sensitive combinations!
Use a little imagination, people…
December 31st, 2009 at 4:24 am
What about multiplayer?
December 31st, 2009 at 4:26 am
@Robert
When was the last time you had multiplayer on a hand-held system?
December 31st, 2009 at 4:28 am
@Supafly,
I was not complaining but merely asking whether the thought was still taken into consideration. If you weren’t referring to me, then nevermind. I’d still like my question to be answered.
December 31st, 2009 at 4:37 am
This sounds like alot of fun, and I’ve got a comical idea I’d like to attempt to execute. As far as the controls, think retro. Need the spacebar for an action? Use the up arrow to jump. Plus as Supafly said, combine controls. Many older games could perform different actions with one action button, based on which direction you were holding. And I think somebody said something about pausing the game by pressing the down arrow… sounds odd, but I think I’ve seen that done! Won’t swear to it though.
@Sandy, PLEASE confirm those official rules soon. I’m eager to start my first competition game… It will be a welcome distraction from my first official game, currently in production
December 31st, 2009 at 4:39 am
Hand-held multiplayer?
Pokemon Red/Green (1995 GB/GBC)
Any of the games in that series
Several GBA games
Many NDS and PSP games
December 31st, 2009 at 4:46 am
@fenyxofshadows
My apologies for not being clear in what I meant (which probably derives from Robert not having been clear either). I assumed he was questioning how to do local multi-player with so few keys. Internet functions using only Game Maker are permissible, so online and network games should be allowed.
December 31st, 2009 at 4:58 am
I’ve read through all of these comments so many times but still can’t seem to wrap my head around this:
“Maximum Screen Size 480X272″
Does that refer to the resolution restriction like in the global game options; Or rather to the width and height of the view on the screen?
I imagine it needs to be this little zoomed in box thing on the screen so that it would refer to the view on the screen — or does that refer to the actual room size, not the view?
December 31st, 2009 at 5:03 am
Here’s how I would have done the rules:
For this competition, entrants must submit a game that could be ported to a handheld device (Nintendo DS, PSP, Cell Phone, etc.) i.e. no keyboard.
Here are the rules:
1. The game must be smaller than 10 MB in size.
2. The submitted game must be a single executable file. No external files (.DLLs, extension packages, external graphics, etc.) can be used.
3. Maximum Window Size: 480×272 (pixels).
4. Operating-specific items cannot be used. (Windows registry, installation packages, etc.)
5. Games can use up to a maximum of four buttons, excluding a button to exit the game. This includes buttons to call up a menu, but does not include a button to exit the program.*
Any four buttons can be used, and can be changed to meet the user’s liking. Even though this is a contest to minimize the buttons, since it is being played on a computer, the programmer should be able to pick the buttons, and have a customizable control scheme. Also, a separate option to use a game controller should be in. A game controller best mimics the functionality of a handheld device.
6. Must be made in Game Maker 7 or 8, have the tags “competition” and “05″, and must be finished by midnight (GMT time) March 30, 2009.
*(Let’s be honest, name one handheld device that doesn’t have at least four buttons. The original GameBoy had four buttons and a D-pad. The power button on each device is not a button that is used elsewhere, which is why it should be excluded.)
December 31st, 2009 at 5:27 am
ok I got it that the MAX resolution can be 480×272, but can it be smaller? im guessing so, but just to makes sure. Also I have to agree about the ESC key also being the Enter key, on PC is easier to hit and ESC can easily be made to do the same exact thing.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:37 am
@Sypran, think about what maximum means.
It means it can be anything up to the maximum not specifically the maximum. I don’t even know why people are asking about this.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:42 am
@David C, careful now. You might “inspire somebody”. Next thing ya know, we’ll have a 16×16 game in which the object is to use a blue pixel to shoot the red pixel with a black pixel. Not sure why, but I think it would be called Pixels.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:45 am
@fusionpro: This probably means viewable area. I personally prefer no change to resolution, fixed scale 100%, with a view area of whatever view I am using, in this case a 480×272 view, even with a 2000×2000 room. How else are you supposed to do a complex RPG or a complex platformer…
@MrJAkHAk: You could probably use a menu system, and have the ‘esc’ key double as ‘previous menu’, like I mentioned earlier. You set up the multiplayer parameters with the menu, though you have to make it a well built menu, and look for a match, or what have you…
December 31st, 2009 at 5:45 am
@kvegas
I’m pretty sure your post was more inspiring than David’s. lol
I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and see what Sandy has to say. I hate being in a different time zone than YoYo.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:46 am
@fenyxofshadows
I suppose so.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:47 am
I don’t know anything about handhelds. I was just curious as to why noone was asking about it. And aren’t games like the ported SM64 allowing multiplayer? Because what about Liberty City Stories mutliplayer. I don’t plan on it I was just curious and thought it should be mentioned.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:47 am
@kvegas, Sandy actually said it’s ok, as long as the game is playable in that space.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:48 am
I like Diablo’s menu system for this reason, only one button is used, the mouse. In this case, you would have to use 3 buttons (up, down, space), possibly all 5 for menu selection, but it is most certainly doable…
December 31st, 2009 at 5:51 am
@Mr JAk HAk or anybody who knows… speaking of the timezone, does anybody know how to make the post times reflect my own timezone with this Glog?
@David C, well in that case, my game is done
December 31st, 2009 at 5:52 am
I have no idea how to do that, mine is 9 hours off…
December 31st, 2009 at 5:54 am
I’m off by 7 myself
December 31st, 2009 at 5:57 am
I don’t think you can.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:22 am
Hi,
Does “consol style” game can be made in any console game style(e.g. these very old like NES or first GB)?
December 31st, 2009 at 6:29 am
@David C What I meant was like does it have to be a uhh.. great whats the wording… like multiple? of that resolution (example 200, 136) also what about stretching the game to full screen. or w/e does it need to be that size finished product, or can the game be stretched so people on YYG can actualy play on a decent sized screen (400×272 looks REALLY small on my PC screen) and I don’t want to picture a 160×160 without any form of stretching
December 31st, 2009 at 6:31 am
Use full screen, fixed scale in 200%, so it is still in the proper screen size, while being viewable and readable according to your standards. Good night, and to sandy, good morning…
December 31st, 2009 at 6:35 am
sorry, double post
It would still technically be 480×272, but everything would be stretched to take up 2 pixels instead of one. If you unstretch it, then it will be the proper resolution for a handheld (like the PSP)
December 31st, 2009 at 6:46 am
@Sypran, can handhelds stretch the resolution? No, I see their logic in making that restriction. It does look small, but so are handhelds and that’s how it is.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:50 am
Sorry, double post but it does not have to be a multiple I believe. If you’re comfortable with the size of the screen, then i guess it’s too bad. I have nothing against those restrictions as one, i prefer it, and two it’s only logical.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:15 am
@Sandy. Is the portrait screen layout of 272(w)x480(h) allowed?
December 31st, 2009 at 7:27 am
I know ahh well Ill stretch it for now then before I post Ill destretch it.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:37 am
how is anyone meant to make a core action game with only 10mb i think it should be 2 gigabytes maximum.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:40 am
@mrsmes, yer clowning right?
December 31st, 2009 at 7:52 am
and sure it can be 480 by 272 on the actual console but the game on YYG that’s going to be a tight squeeze.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:17 am
I’m in favor of the ability to map directional, action and quit/pause functions to other keys in addition to their default (escape, spacebar, etc.) The reason I bring it up is that I can’t imagine controlling direction with the arrow keys, since all I’ve ever done since I was a kid was control direction with my left hand (d-pad or WASD). Some people might actually prefer the arrow keys. Anyhow, I don’t see any conflict as long as people don’t try to add extra functionality to the additional button maps or something. Also, this would address the issue people have with the spacebar as the sole action button.
I’m also in favor of a second action button.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:20 am
to many people are whining about the 1 button -__- seriously, at first I didn’t support it, but after about 5ish hours of playing games/thinking (yes I have a lot of time on my hands) I came up with something you just got to think of how to use the buttons correctly, (arrow keys included, if I recall there are games even from 1991 that only require 1 button (and pause of course) the idea isn’t to have as many buttons as possible but make good control with what you have. You can’t convince me that it’s not possible when there is TONS of 2600 games, or arcade games. with 1 button (not including player 1 start) “oh well that was 30 years ago” – yeah so? more buttons =/= better gameplay look at the atari Jaguar (though I actually do like my jaguar…) I can think of at least 25+ arcade games that can get a graphic boost, more levels, better (or any) music, that had 1 button.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:27 am
Many handheld games have two action buttons (A and B), some even have more. I think it would make the contest more realistic if we were able to do Z and X as the action keys.
Other than that, it sounds fun
December 31st, 2009 at 10:49 am
Even Game & Watch had two action buttons, come to think of it.
I like the idea of using Z and X, that’s even what most Gameboy simulators use.
Besides that, I’m all for the restrictions.
December 31st, 2009 at 11:07 am
1: How do you intend to port the games to handheld, decompile peoples work or ask them for the source?
2: Game must be posted publicly I assume, or can it just be sent in for judgement?
Also you should allow us to use the z key instead of spacebar.
December 31st, 2009 at 11:17 am
@Razon:
1. They never said they were going to port anything.
2. You post the game in the YYG website, thus it is public.
3. How many times are people going to say that?
December 31st, 2009 at 11:24 am
@-Oakleaf-
It’s because spacebar is bad for repeat presses, also it takes more force and is less stable then normal keys. I’ve broken the spacebar on a keyboard in my younger years from playing a game too much that constantly used it, I myself don’t like having to use it for games.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Can we use the key mapping functions to map multiple keys to the spacebar?
December 31st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
@Sandy: I was also wondering if you were allowed to use online functions, as handheld consoles like the DS have online play in some of the games?
December 31st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
“Game Controls must use cursor keys and space-bar only, escape to quit”
One action key? at least two please
and escape to quit, cant it go to a menu where you can select quit?
or maybe another button for menu? earliest game boy i know has:
-”arrow” keys
-2 action buttons
-start (menu)
-select (idk really)
at least give me an opportunity to have a menu
December 31st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
btw, will i be able to play games on my own portables? if I get the .exe file to it? or are you going to change the game so it will work?
December 31st, 2009 at 2:24 pm
would hurt to have the size limit stretched to 12.5? As a blank executable is 2.5 mb by itself.
Guys, the whole won’t bend your way all the time. People wont go brushing the path you are about to walk. If you find one non-movement button too hard, you’ll be able to live until the next competition, now that yoyo games is back to business.
December 31st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
This competition sounds great. Though I would like one more action button.
December 31st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
oh and remember that on a hand held console only one directional button can be pressed at a time x_x
December 31st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Chill out
I’ve had game maker LITE for about 14 days and I’m not complaining(that much)
just deal with it
like arrow keys to move and hold space to do some super fried chicken wing attack or something.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
So that means no combos.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
make space a combo by holding it down
December 31st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
May I ask when the rules will be finalized and consolidated?
December 31st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Keep the file size restriction. 12.5MB gives people too much breathing room…
…
10MB= around 8MB of actual space to work with & adds to the challenge, forcing people to optimize heavily & be very creative with sounds & music.
—–
I think it’s safe to assume the rules are pretty much gonna be as they currently are
& combos are allowed afaik (I see no rule against them).
December 31st, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Gah… music’s going to be annoying… I forgot about that at first, so I changed my 1000×1000 background to a 64×64 tileset…
December 31st, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Arg. 2 sprites an object and a room and already 2.2mb xD.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Escape can go to a menu, as long as you can eventually quit with that menu. To make an effective, multi-layer, you would have a quit function in the main part of that menu, with the ‘escape’ key acting as ‘cancel’, or ‘previous menu’, while in the actual game, it enters the menu. Also, make stuff like ducking provide a different form of attack. You need to know how to get around limited controls, not how to add more controls. Even on a modern hand held console, with as many buttons as they have, they have to figure out how to use that specific set of buttons to their advantage. They can’t just add more buttons. That is the point of the limitation, not to limit your abilities.
As for the 10MB rule, try not to get caught by it. It’s a lot harder once sound is involved.
Online, you could probably do it, as well as using 3D, because they don’t use the operating system-specific registry, and they don’t require a separate dll or extension, they just require Game Maker Pro, versions 6, 7, or 8.
Seriously, I’m creating an action game, and I hope it turns out to be under 5MB…
I think that the rules are already finalized as is, though I will have to check back on that…
December 31st, 2009 at 5:28 pm
@oneoftheguysabove You said you didn’t agree with it at first but after playing games for 5ish hours now support it. Thats Great! That is just what sandy wants you to get creative and I agree with everyone getting on board with this and we will some interesting games created. But since it is going to ported later the controls can always be changed before then so thats why I think it should allow you to pick whatever buttons you want in the mean time as long as it has the same schematics. Also while developing your game guys you can allow it to lower the screen res in the time being which will make it larger for you to see and it will change back when you close the game. And before you submit it just make sure to untoggled changing of the screen resolution. Good luck you guys! I am interested to see what the community comes up with.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:45 pm
It’s good news! And now my game is created. =) It’s really game, not two-minutes creating. =)
[But, really, I don't think, that it will be winner =)]
December 31st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Im confused,
Do we use Mouse, LeftClick, RightClick, SpaceBar, Esc
or Spacebar, Esc
SOO CONFUSING
December 31st, 2009 at 6:46 pm
@sandy
Im confused,
Do we use Mouse, LeftClick, RightClick, SpaceBar, Esc
or Spacebar, Esc
SOO CONFUSING
December 31st, 2009 at 6:52 pm
@Tony
Those are the mouse buttons–not the cursor keys. The cursor is the thing on the screen. Originally, the arrow keys were used to move it (and still are in text documents). Hence, they still also have the secondary name “Cursor Keys.” Not that hard to figure out.
Anyway, I’m thinking Sandy doesn’t work today. Awesome: Leave us all hanging again.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
@Mr Jak HAk
Thx
so just to make everything clear
I can use;
right click, Left Click, SpaceBar, and Escape?
December 31st, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Uhh… sorry. No. Arrow keys, Spacebar and Escape. Escape has either to exit or lead to a menu where you can exit.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:14 pm
@Mr JAk HAk
Im srry but i have one more question….Can I use 3D or and gamemaker 8 pro features????
December 31st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
@tony1121
There’s nothing saying that you can’t, so in other words yes.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Can you make it a feature that the game gets updated to add more levels and features?
December 31st, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I’m here ! @tony1121, you’ll find other people have already asked the same questions…and been answered elsewhere in the comments. NO mouse, the cursor keys (my old man language) are the ARROW keys. See the slightly edited rules for some clarification. For anyone still reading these comments I’VE EDITED THE ORIGINAL POST.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
To clarify:
NO MOUSE ALLOWED AT ALL.
NO JOYPAD ALLOWED AT ALL.
Only:
up, down, left, right ARROW keys
“Space bar” button & “Esc” button.
THAT’S IT.
(Sorry for Caps, just wanted to make clear).
December 31st, 2009 at 7:47 pm
@Dadio…see my edits I posted about 2 minutes ago
btw, Thank You
December 31st, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Ah
Sorry…
that makes it clearer… One other thing you might want to add is that the max screen size really means “max view size” (so you can have large rooms that scroll with a view of max 480×272).
ah… ok
December 31st, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Sweet. Thanks, Sandy. I’m going to get to work on my game right away.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:03 pm
@sandy
You say a fixed screen size which sounds like scaling isn’t allowed, you should specifically clarify wether it is or not. If you’re you’re interested in putting the game on a handheld, then you probably want it made at the right size instead of scaled down to it.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
hi, its my first comment on the glog, i have a few questions:
1: i can use ini files?
2: i can use mouse wheel or one key instead of space?
3: you will play the game somehow in a real console?
December 31st, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Does P have to be the pause button or can we still use escape?
December 31st, 2009 at 8:08 pm
@David C
Bringing up a menu would probably pause the game, so likely you can still use escape.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:13 pm
@Razon: good question.
@Sandy: I suggest adding:
*No downscaling of the screen allowed* – (this will stop people just throwing old games that are actullay 1024×768 etc.. just with different view/port sizes to fit the 480×272…
@pabla:
2. NO MOUSE ALLOWED AT ALL.
3. This has been hinted & hoped for by Sandy – but not confirmed.
@David C:
I’d assume you can use Esc to get to a menu that would pause the game & then a 2nd Esc from there would quit the game… or Esc to pause & then 2nd Esc while Paused to quit.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Sounds like a cool premise. Perhaps I’ll make an attempt at this one.
I’m assuming that the contest is to create a game that is similar to a handheld game, not to create a game that would actually be converted to a game playable on an actual handheld (i.e. PSP, DS). Making Game Maker games into games that run on handhelds isn’t very practical. I’d be surprised if Sandy actually has some way of porting it to one.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
ive been working on a game with just the right requirements like this one.. haha looks like i got a head start. i need some help with the a.i tho. can someone help me ? ( ima post on gmc ).
December 31st, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Can we enter more then once?
December 31st, 2009 at 8:35 pm
@Sandy, you might want to clarify the “no registry” rule. Many GM users don’t realize that the built-in “high score” function uses the registry.
The manual does not state this. So it’d be a shame to see someone break a rule inadvertently.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
what is regestry???? is that like pro edition stuff???
December 31st, 2009 at 8:58 pm
*shudders at the above comment*
December 31st, 2009 at 8:58 pm
@Kc Ic
what is regestry???? is that like pro edition stuff???
December 31st, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Aren’t some blog posts are CLOSED TOO SOON HERE?
Or is it the aim to not to be able to reply to posts???
December 31st, 2009 at 9:08 pm
The system registry is the thing used by Windows to keep track certain system things. The Game Maker built-in high score system uses the registry, and, with pro edition, you can directly edit the registry. You cannot use the built in system for high scores, because it uses the system registry. However, you can build your own high score system by using the ‘file_open’, ‘file_read’, and ‘file_write’ functions, available in the Lite edition, however, you must learn some GML…
December 31st, 2009 at 9:12 pm
GML is the built in language for Game Maker, therefore, you do not need any extensions or DLLs to use it. You either build a script, and link to it with the ‘Execute Script’ function in the 4th tab in the object editor, or you place the code directly into the object with the ‘Execute Code’ function in the same tab. Neither of these require Pro edition, but certain functions, such as 3D, require it.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Let me get this straight, a game using no Lib or Extensions? But i still can use other people’s graphics and sounds? well, of course i will give credit.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:24 pm
May it be also for windows mobile 5??????
December 31st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
@Bluish-Green
Sandy already said you may enter as many times as you like. It helps to read all of the comments. Pretty much every question being asked now has been answered already.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Ow sorry i didn’t read it properly.
My excuses.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:13 pm
@sandy: So can we map buttons?
Cause if anything, pause (or more like the ‘start’ button) should be the spacebar so I’d map space to ‘P’ and use ‘Z’ as my action button and also map ‘Y’ to it for german keyboards using gamemakers key mapping functions.
Would that be fine?
December 31st, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I wish game maker would let you use .ogg files, it would make this easier.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
@sandy: Thanks for the changes, and thanks for rules you kept.
@all: “6. No use of the registry.” This simply means, “No use of the Windows Registry.” This does *not* mean “No use of the functions only accessible by a registered (Pro) copy of GameMaker.”
I really am digging the one-button rule (even though Esc and now P(ause) are now availabe, too). Last night, I figured out a basic game concept. Like I said in an earlier post, perhaps I’ll actually enter this. If nothing else, because so many are having difficulty with the limitations!
However, I -am- teaching a class this quarter ontop my job and other duties; therefore, if I don’t enter, well, shucks, no big stress here.
And @kvegas: You mean like the easter egg game in Ark22 ?
Anticipating entries!
Brandon W. Horton
ParodyKnaveBob
December 31st, 2009 at 10:46 pm
CAN YOU MAKE IT A FEATURE THAT YOUR GAME IS UPDATED TO ADD MORE LEVELS AND FEATURES?
I’ve already asked this five times, even right before Sandy’s post, and still no reply of any sort.
Can you use an extension if it only uses GML?
December 31st, 2009 at 10:57 pm
No extensions at all.
No .dlls at all.
Your idea soundslike it might need outside help to work (extensions/dlls), if so, then you can’t do it.
Something to bear in mind is that if you can make it work with just GM…
your “updated with added levels etc thing” will have zero influence on the “Winners” decision (ie: you’ll be judged on what is available by the closing date) – making your request kinda pointless, no?
December 31st, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Why only one key other than the arrow keys?
Aren’t there usually like 6 buttons other than the arrows on a typical handheld device nowadays?
December 31st, 2009 at 11:34 pm
@Dyson: Making games that will work on handhelds is not really the point of this contest. It’s to challenge yourself, thus the one-button limit. This has already been mentioned tons of times.
@sandy: thanks a lot for the new edits! It’s all crystal clear as far as I’m concerned. (Though you might want to clarify for people who don’t know that the GM highscore actions use the registry)
January 1st, 2010 at 12:16 am
for those panicking about music, you can use a program by the name of Finale, it works really well and you can also create large orchestra songs, and then create a MIDI version of it, which would only be something like 20kb. The free version is a thirty day trail, so you would want to make your music all in one go.
January 1st, 2010 at 12:19 am
[...] Games have announced their fifth Game Maker competition with $1750 of cash prizes. The theme, “Design A HandHeld [...]
January 1st, 2010 at 12:45 am
Hmmm. Sandy, are we allowed to rate the competitor’s games? I just did, having completely forgotten that it was disallowed in the past. Maybe mention somewhere that this is not permitted, unless of course it is (which would be nice to know).
January 1st, 2010 at 1:37 am
if its handheld, can we change the sizes around? (like instead of 272×480 can we have 480×272, cause most games i have on my iphone i have to turn the device around to play them)
January 1st, 2010 at 2:26 am
@sandy I have a question my self. I find it annoying for that screen size in a window mode, especially when I want to make it bigger. Can we make the size to full screen at start of the game? I ask this because older competitions had that as a no, and I do not see it here.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:30 am
Would scaling to fit the size of the screen be allowed? I make my games scale to fit the size of the screen of te computer and take its resolution with the use of views and xport and yport. Its a lot nicer as it makes use of the resolution of the current screen to maximise the graphics capability. If you are unsure what I mean here is one of my games that does it: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/93896-shute-traveller
January 1st, 2010 at 2:30 am
Are we allowed to keep the defalt keys like F1 to show help? Or do we have to disable them?
January 1st, 2010 at 2:37 am
Oh and do we have any idea of the spec of these things? I don’t want to create a game that can’t run on these things or lags lots! If its possible for some of way to measure that would be nice.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:47 am
I got a question…C=do we have to make the room 430×272 or can i make the view 480×272
January 1st, 2010 at 2:52 am
@tony1121 he’s already covered that the room doesn’t have to be only 430×272 but the view has to be
@zbox It’s up at the top it already says it’s 430×272
January 1st, 2010 at 2:52 am
sorry 480×270
January 1st, 2010 at 3:01 am
how do you guys know if we use extensions???
January 1st, 2010 at 3:12 am
@sandy: If we aren’t allowed to use the registry, and therefore, cannot use the Game Maker default high score system, could you edit the rules to say that we can’t use the high score system. Some people might not know this, I didn’t know until I read this post.
January 1st, 2010 at 3:18 am
Can our games be in fullscreen, or do they as to be windowed?
January 1st, 2010 at 3:40 am
Can we only use “arrow keys and one other button” for the menu, or can we use the mouse to click buttons in the menu?
January 1st, 2010 at 3:43 am
Oh and allso, it sais the max screen size is 480×272. can we have a larger room, but a 480×272 view size?
January 1st, 2010 at 3:52 am
@astinon: Regardless of your game having menus or not, the mouse CANNOT be used. And yes, your room size can be greater than the view so that it scrolls.
January 1st, 2010 at 4:05 am
cool!
now its:
arrow keys
space
keyboard(P)
and esc?
right?
January 1st, 2010 at 4:09 am
I’m like, technologicaly impared so……..
is there a gb1 to anything converter
forgive me if i am being retarded
January 1st, 2010 at 4:11 am
I’m definetly retarded(ps sorry for double/triple post)
January 1st, 2010 at 4:57 am
So, we can also have options, like (sound mute and fullscreen)
January 1st, 2010 at 5:02 am
is it ok if my game has joystick controls along with keyboard controls?
January 1st, 2010 at 5:04 am
dang no edit button. can it only have one other button then arrow keys and pause? Ive never seen a handheld that has that little buttons
January 1st, 2010 at 5:30 am
*facepalm* sorry for the triple post. are we alowed to use 3d models if we include the obj files with the exe in the global game settings? if not then there probably won’t be any good 3d games submitted
January 1st, 2010 at 6:02 am
WAIT, in the game we have messages, but what about choices, like yes or no, can we do that. or will it be counted as mouse, i’m not sure!
January 1st, 2010 at 6:10 am
Could we also make 2 games?
January 1st, 2010 at 6:11 am
I also would like to know if we are allowed to use obj files if we include them in the global game settings.
This shouldn’t be a problem since we are allowed to use game save files, right?
January 1st, 2010 at 6:58 am
My Team Vanzar Studios Entertainment (VSE) Glad to join but i have no credit card , i hope there another way to be payed.
January 1st, 2010 at 9:28 am
@madmaker
Well, you can probably use full screen, but it’s probably best not to. (I don’t think i’ve ever seen a portable a screen the size of a computer screen)
For yes and no, nope, no mouse. But you can make your own yes and no without the mouse.
And for the sound mute, yes, you can.
January 1st, 2010 at 9:30 am
No files that are downloaded alongside the executable. You should be able to get away with using included files that are packed in the executable as long as they are deleted afterward.
No mouse whatsoever. If you need a menu, make one on your own that doesn’t use a mouse.
You may make as many games as desired.
All of this has already been answered. If you had bothered to read through most of it, you would know.
January 1st, 2010 at 12:21 pm
im asking again because no one answer me:
ini files are allowed??
January 1st, 2010 at 1:37 pm
@pabla
ini files are allowed, as long as the game comes with 1 single file.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:08 pm
What is the meaning of maximum screen size 480 X 272?
Do I have to change screen revolution or room view??
January 1st, 2010 at 2:39 pm
@pabla… only submit an .exe to the Comp. No other files.
.ini & .txt for setting/high scores *can be generated & saved to at runtime*… hope that’s clear.
@Evilgamer… 480×272= room view, actual room size can be whatever you want. You don’t have to change screen resolution, but I would guess that most peole will be including a “fullscreen” option that cleanly doubles up the res to 960×536, to make it easier to see… *game must be designed for & able to run properly at 480×272 room view tho* – hope that’s clear.
January 1st, 2010 at 3:26 pm
can You use the arrow keys but don’t use ex: the down key?
Ill absolutely join! =)
January 1st, 2010 at 3:44 pm
@Sandy: *please* retract your statement that old games can be submitted to this Comp. We will drown in a sea of old games if this is left as true. & the winner will inevitably be an old popular game from the past. *Please* add a new rule that “all games must be new games that have appeared no-where before ’10″ – it only takes seconds to downscale a game to 480×272 as a blurry but playable game… or to change a view to 480×272… & so many people will try this cheap shot at winning if you allow it. *Don’t!* New games only *please*…. I promise you’ll have a whole lot of quality games for this Comp anyway.
January 1st, 2010 at 3:48 pm
@dadio
Who said the games weren’t new?
Sure they may have old graphics but they are still new
January 1st, 2010 at 3:49 pm
@dadio
Who said the games aren’t new?
Sure they may have old graphics but they are still new
January 1st, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Sandy said: “You’re free to adapt an existing game if you wish”
actual effect: 1000+ old GM games being entered into the Comp
You see the problem?
January 1st, 2010 at 4:11 pm
..Hi Sandy, i’m interested to join this competition. Although i want something clarified: we have to use original background music (and probably sound effects) or else we shouldn’t use any sound at all, right?
January 1st, 2010 at 4:17 pm
@SCi_00: as in all Comps, all graphics sound & music should be yours… or you have permission to use them from the original author of the assets.
You are also allowed to use “royalty free” sounds & music (but make sure they are genuinely royalty free & free to use for any use).
Sound & music will likely be slim or none in this Comp as the free space to work with is around 8MB taking the runner into consideration…
I expect smart people will use a whole lot of midi for music…
just make sure it’s legal.
January 1st, 2010 at 5:26 pm
if I post a game in the contest, do I still own all the rights to the game or do you get the rights to use it and say that the game was your idea?
January 1st, 2010 at 5:32 pm
You own the rights
…
but bear in mind that the game must be available to all to play for free on InstantPlay (at least until the Comp is over)…
so it’s not such a good idea to submit a game that you want to sell commercially for example.
January 1st, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I’m gonna try. I don’t really know if you can do this with GM, but can you make an emulater for a video game?
January 1st, 2010 at 7:36 pm
@dadio
I think he meant that you could enter one of your older games in the comp
January 1st, 2010 at 8:37 pm
I don’t know what the big fuss is about. the limitation is great! I’m alread done with my first game to enter! you should etleast give it a chance
January 1st, 2010 at 8:44 pm
“Game Controls must use ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY (space-bar preferred), additionally P to pause game and escape to quit (where quit can be quit to a final menu) are OK (EDITED by Sandy DEC 31st )”
does this mean we can use the arrow keys AND spacebar AND P key AND escape key?
January 1st, 2010 at 9:10 pm
@calthor…
Note exactly. You may be misunderstanding.
You can only use arrow keys & Space.
Additionally, you can use “P” *only* as a Pause button (& for no other purpose)
& the “Esc” button to get to a Menu &/or quite (& for no other purpose).
Arrow keys & Space are the only buttons YOU get to decide what they do. Hope that helps.
January 1st, 2010 at 10:24 pm
‘P’ is basic pause, no menu. It would be like how you can pause during cutscenes in Final Fantasy X by pressing ‘Start’ instead of ‘Triangle’.
‘Esc’ is a quit button, or a menu button, like Diablo’s ‘escape’ menu. It must be able to exit the game, either by going to the main menu that has an exit function, or by directly quitting.
Arrow keys are 4 buttons that must be on the ‘Up’, ‘Down’, ‘Left’, and ‘Right’ buttons, but can do whatever you want.
You get one extra button to do whatever you want with. Sandy prefers ‘Space’, but it doesn’t always work. I personally use ‘x’
January 1st, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Can escape open a menu from which you can go to a main menu and then quit the game?
January 1st, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Yes. That is what many games do, and what you would have to do to put an RPG, or anything with an inventory system, in.
January 1st, 2010 at 10:46 pm
This is because it is able to quit the game, however indirectly.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:12 am
Hey I was wondering if it’s okay for the game to be stand-alone, but for it to create temporary files that can be deleted after the game play if necessary.
Matt
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:45 am
This has already been mentioned. Yes.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:51 am
I’m not done with my game yet (of course
) but where on yoyo and how on yoyo will we upload the games? Also can we still use F1 for game info? I need it.
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:04 am
I would suggest mapping ‘Game Info’, if it is allowed, to a menu, inside the main menu. You just upload them normally, with the tag ‘Competition05′. Go to ‘Share’ on the site, log in, and follow the directions.
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:45 am
just like to add to:
with 1 and 3 as other buttons
7.Game Controls must use ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY (space-bar preferred), additionally P to pause game and escape to quit (where quit can be quit to a final menu) are OK (EDITED by Sandy DEC 31st )
That a typical handheld device usually uses more than one button, ie original gameboys had 2 buttons and a dpad), phones have arrows (or 4, 2, 6 and
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:51 am
@fenyxofshadows: Thank you, I wasn’t so sure.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:48 am
Can you have the outside data be level design data in the form of ini or text files, and can you put in a level editor for the game for an added push? I would like to know because I am interested in creating a level editor for my entry, and have level data be implimented in the game outside of the main engine (otherwise known as the .exe). I would like to know soon Sandy or anyone else who can help me.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:59 am
were do we send it in when were done the site site am gussing
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:05 am
Do we post our game in “download” or “instant play”?
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:10 am
Are Libraries against the rules, because they are not extensions.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:41 am
Yes. It isn’t native to GM, it’s something external you added.
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:24 am
can we have arrow keys and TWO additional keys other than P and ESC?
I can’t think of ANY game console that only had directionals and ONE other key. Think of Gameboy, A and B. Even mario required two buttons (jump, and shoot/run).
Please reconsider?
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:32 am
Jump… UP!!!
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:47 am
Hello, I know it says no GEX or external extensions of the sort, but does that surface fix gex count? I’m guessing it does but I check anyway.
Also are we alowed to use the embed files into the exe thing in the global settings… Just wondering how to store my 3D models.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:26 am
Yup, and yup, as long as you clean up the files afterward…
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:31 am
What about all the other rules like using other people’s resources such as music? This is the first competition I’ve heard no mention of them.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:32 am
So no gex, which is ok, since it was only for special effects. :O and then I can use the embed to load the 3D models from temp_directory…
I hope your right fenyxofshadows
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:43 am
I’m just basing this off of what others have said and the rules. I hope that I’m right as well, otherwise my game is screwed as well.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:52 am
OK, how about another example (since a game like Mega Man can be done with only one action button):
What would Contra be like if you couldn’t aim up? It’s already hard enough…
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:10 am
Can INI files be used for storing data? I dont know if it’s an extension package, it is somehow, but it’s also extremely useful for e.g setting the action button or saving.
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 am
there is a user that uploaded more than one game, (3) i can do this too?
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:06 am
I presume the no extension rule is meant to ensure that people don’t accidentally use DLLs through the extension mechanism, but does this rule cover the extension that Mark created for additional room transitions?
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Sandy, when you say that we are allowed game saves, does that mean we allowed to use game_save() and game_load()?
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
You are asking questions that have already been answered. Please take the time to read sandy’s replies.
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:27 pm
This should solve most questions in 1 blow:
You can *only submit a single .exe to the Comp* – no .dlls – no extensions, no .gex, no libraries, no .inis no .txts no outsie 3D model files… *nothing* but the .exe!
Now…
*at run-time* you can create & save to .inis, .txts, 3D models.
My advice would be use a “temp_directory” for all additional files like this to keep it clean (so they disappear after exiting the game).
The exception would obviously be save & setting & high score files – which Sandy has mentioned can be saved to & kept *after having been generated at run time from the single file .exe*
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Why one button, that doesn’t make any sence. Even a gameboy has 2. what kind of handheld has that limitation.
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I’m out of this games already 27 mb
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Still not answered: Can we flip views?
480×272 or 272×480, NOT 480×480
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:47 pm
What do you guys mean by “No use of the registry?” Does this mean we have to register Game Maker 8 to fulfill this?
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Sorry, I forgot to add something. If anyone has a response to my question, send me a message to my MAIN YoYo Games account: GXC Games. Do not send me a message to anything else!
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:56 pm
@GXCGames:
You want us to give you a personal answer to a question that has alrady been asked and answered several times?
Too bad.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
I was wondering if there’s any fps limit, since a handheld device is not such a powerful system.
@Sandy: Could you please write the answer in the announcement? Thank you very much.
…Happy New Year…
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:59 pm
We don’t have to email that email right?
competition at yoyogames or whatever it was?
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Hi!
I’m Brazilian and I wish to participate of this competition, but I am not registered on the site of Yoyo Game.
Can anyone tell me how do I apply the competition and if I can participate?
Thanks!!!
Happy 2010 to everyone.
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:17 pm
@ZERO: You can participate. You just have to register an account on YoYoGames.com, and upload a game that follows all of the rules. You don’t have to have Pro edition, you only have to have the Lite editions.
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Are we allowed to use the internet to store hiscores??
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Are we allowed to “port” a game in development that doesn’t fit to the restrictions, so it does? And release a competion and non-competition version?
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Hello. I want to patricipate of this competition. I have an answer. May I have to my game Pro Version? Or only Lite edition?
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Can anybody tell me how to create a menu that uses the arrow keys? I’ve only ever used the mouse in the past so I’m not too sure how to do it.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I’m up to it challenge! Early game developers had to work with even lesser restrictions! Winning a competition like this will look good on any resume!
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I know how that may do. I deposit the example. http://depositfiles.com/files/56mccyiv5
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
@Max: Thank you soo much! This is great!
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Even though obvious, could the ESC button have a link back to the main menu, where if pressed again will exit the game?
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Hey. it says the maximum screen size is 480×272. i was wondering that if i have an image of a psp and the whole game on that psp screen, which is 480×272, can i use that or should i take out the psp?
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Hi. I take it you are allowed to use views in your game as long as the screen size is what you said.
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Hello
Shubshub Here
I want to Enter my Game in The Competition But Its not really good atm Could Someone Please Answer The Following
1. I Know the max screen size is 480×272 But am I Allowed to use a screen size of something like 320×640 That Means X-320 Y-640
Where max screen size is X-480 Y-272
Please Answer Me
(Also do Not Critisize My Weird typing I Know Its Weird)
Just Answer The Question Please
Signed Shubshub
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Does the music size is included in the 10mb size limit? Is it possible to have an outside mp3 file playing while the game is running to avoid a big game file? Thanks!
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
@EdM: no ZIP packages => you can’t use external MP3 files. 10MB is the utter MAX.
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:55 pm
@shubshub: the window size is 480×272 or less. You can use views to make larger rooms, but the game should run on devices with a resolution of 480×272.
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Ok
But just so i know will the winner have there game put onto a handheld console because if it is then im gonna make mine for the DS and make A Paper mario DS
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:59 pm
question?
when you said maximum screen size 480 x 272
were you saying that your room must be 480 x 272? or were you saying that you can only see ( at the max )
480 x 272 of your room?
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:03 am
You Can Use Veiws To Make a Larger Room Just make sure the Room Screen Size Does Not Exceed 480×272
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:41 am
I think that there should be age groups. Im only 13 and I don’t think i could stand a chance at winning without them.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:53 am
10 mb…oh my. This is going to be a challenge.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:00 am
I am 14, but it doesn’t matter. I will submit my game.
January 3rd, 2010 at 3:19 am
I’m submitting a game too. I just think that it would be a little more fair if there were age groups.
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:09 am
@GamesFromTheEast-I think the restrictions for the game are tight enough that aldult game creators will be largly restricted, giving other, less experienced game makers a type of advantage. I could be wrong, though. You never know what people like 2Dcube will have up his sleeve.
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:28 am
@Sandy
Would it be alright to use the pause button for, say, switching weapons mid-game or something?
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:52 am
To Sandy, Dadio or anyone else who can help
When you say you can save “Save” files, does Save files also include custom levels, custom made with a built-in level editor, built into the “.exe” file itself, as well as progress save states. I would like to know ASAP.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:02 am
Is the screen size 480(W)and 272(H) ???????????????????????
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:19 am
YES! YES, THE SCREEN SIZE IS 480×272!!!! HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND?
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
Can I add additional keys?
like:
F – Flash Light
M – Mini Map
Second question:
Do I have to add the options to save and load the game?
Thanks, please reply this
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:40 am
@Maman:
No and no. Read the rules again. If you STILL don’t understand them, read them until you understand. THEN come back and ask questions.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Argh! Please increase the size limit! My theme music alone is 2MB!
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Argh! Don’t use that kind of music!
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Ok, thanks.
Some other questions:
1.How many levels the game must have? (Min and Max)
2.The game’s genre can be whatever I want?
Thanks, please reply
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Do the rules say ANYTHING about levels? No. How about the genre? No.
Use your goddamn common sense.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Sorry, I meant make it bigger than 10MB.
@Maman: Please stop asking unneccesary questions. It’s so irritating.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
http://bellard.org/lzexe.html
I’m not sure if it’s allowed, but this program supposedly reduces an exe’s size by 50% by removing the free space from it.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I don’t think it’s allowed though.
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Sandy, could you please make clear what options are allowed on the menu? Can anything be put on – for example “Inventory”?
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:54 pm
On the ESC menu, could options like “Player Stats”, “Items” and other thing be put on it as well as options to quit the game?
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
@CLDavi: I think that’s ok. Afaik, you can pop out a million files from the 1 .exe at runtime
(tho people might not like it much).
(ie: yes, but go easy on how many addtional files appear…)
ABotu Esc menu: until Sandy says otherwise, it’s probably best to assume that Esc is mostly just an “Exit” button…. & that if you use it for a Menu that that Menur should only really have things like Exit, Save, Load, Keep Playing.
Quite a few people I think are trying to “cheat” the rules by changing the “Esc” Menu into a part of the game: that’s not meant to be it’s purpose here.
If you want a “real” Menu… use one of the existing buttons (like Up or Down) or a double tap or longer hold on a button.
(Hopefully Sandy will clear this up 100% tomorrow when he’s back in work, but I think my advice is good for now).
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Thanks but I don’t see any rules that say you are not allowed to implement the menu as part of the game. It’s possible but it’d be nice if Sandy could clear this up for us.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Yeah, it would be really good if Sandy could tell us for definite.
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Yes it would. But if you really think about it, this meanns that people who make “Menu dependent games” like say turn based RPGs… or Sim games with lots of stats or as access to an inventory… *an advantage* over people who make games that aren’t dependent on Menus.
ie: Most people have up,down,left,right & Space to “work with”…
but Menu game people have up,down,letf,right,Space & Esc to work with…
if you think about it, it’s kind of “cheating” by squeezing an extra button out of Esc.
I have a feeling Sandy will say Esc should be kept as a simple Exit/Save/Load Menu only – *to make it fair for all*
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:48 pm
P could be used though couldn’t it?
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Hey i have a question:
Do you can put games (executables) on handheld devices?
And if so, wich program do u use?
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
@EXPScoreBoy yeah, good point.
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:19 pm
@kawaray:
Yes, we can do put games on handheld devices.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Haha, this sounds challenging, makes me wanna try lol
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Heyy Sandy
Can you enter more than 1 game into GM Comp 5?
Thanks
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:57 pm
CAN YOU ENTER MORE THAN JUST ONE GAME??! please respond!
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:01 pm
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Could I allow extra keys for an optional second player?
Like give the arrow keys and the spacebar to player 1 and the numpad and enter keys to player 2?
I’m completely fine with these rules, I just find my games more fun with 2 players.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Would it be ok to use the “P” key for something else?
i mean you can make a pause with escape…
would it be possible to add another button say change “P” to “CTRL” if you arn’t using it for the pause?
January 4th, 2010 at 1:11 am
@Dadio, how it it cheating? We’re just using the available resources to the fullest. All we’re asking is the same menu just with added functions such as Inventory, stats on top of the normal Save + Exit. A lot of the games will be dependent on menus, just to what extent should be our choice. As long as it doesn’t violate any of the rules, I just don’t see how you can call it “cheating”.
A final answer from Sandy would be really nice
January 4th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Um hi… uh i was wondering how You send a game?
January 4th, 2010 at 2:58 am
Are the F functions allowed, such as F4 being fullscreen?
January 4th, 2010 at 3:04 am
no i dont think its allowed
January 4th, 2010 at 3:11 am
I’m not Sure
January 4th, 2010 at 4:00 am
Hi, I was wondering… what types of systems can games that are made with yoyo game maker 8.0 be run on(ex. psp)? please reply. I need to know!
January 4th, 2010 at 5:02 am
And what about Level editors. Could I put one in, if the custom levels count as Save states of some sort, in a different folder?
January 4th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Really looking forward to entering this contest – The restrictions are easily worked with and I think it will be a lot of fun! I’m glad to see another contest after the “break”
January 4th, 2010 at 7:53 am
I really want to try this contest out. But I’ll need a crew…For the one button (space bar) could you use it to open a window of commands? (eg: Attack, Move, Utilities, Map, Cancel)
January 4th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Yes. Why ever not? If it only uses the arrow keys, space bar, P to pause and Esc to quit, then that’s fine.
January 4th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Seriously, people. Are the rules that hard to understand or are you just plain dumb?
January 4th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
I am the novice game maker. I know i can’t get prize places, but if i can, can i DON’T TAKE my money?
January 4th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I don’t think so. But you could donate it to charity.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
@sandy: 2 simple questions that seem to spark a lot of misunderstandings:
-Can the ‘pause’ button bring up menus like inventory screens like what happens in almost all games?
-Can you use the mapping functions to map multiple keys to space and P so those still do their job while you can also press the mapped keys for the same effect (which is easily undo-able, should there even be problems with the runner)?
January 4th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Why is the maximum screen size 480×272. Because I made a awesome game for the iPhone, but that (handheld) device has a resolution of 480×320…
January 4th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
In Norway, you have to be 18 to register on PayPal.. In Sweden and Denmark, you don’t even have to enter your date of birth!
And there are no other payment methods than through PayPal?
January 4th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
can you use libs that have be put in the gamer maker libs folder and appear in game maker?
January 4th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
@Cool Gamer: according to the rules above you can only use the standard Gm features. this means just the features that Gm has to begin with, i suppose if the Library didn’t have any extra features it would be ok.
January 4th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Um how do I Enter!
January 4th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
You submit it like any other game, only with the tag Competition05
January 4th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
@ everyone with questions:
It’s awesome that you have such desire to create your own games, especially to enter this contest. Some advice: you’ll do better in this contest if you learn how to search and read better. In browsers, you can press Ctrl+F (for Find) and look for words on the page — for instance, if you have a question about the rule on “no use of the registry” try typing “registry” in the Find box (Ctrl+F) and see if anyone has already explained this, *before* you ask. Why do I say that this kind of skill will help you in the contest? Because by *not* searching *this* page for simple answers to simple questions, you show that when you make your games, you also don’t know how to use its Help file (which is in fact *immensely* helpful — I refer to it all the *time*), and therefore you show you don’t know much about the tool (Game Maker) that you’re using.
This is similar to looking in a dictionary for how to spell a word *before* you ask a teacher how to spell the word — this lets the dictionary serve its purpose, and it lets the teacher not be asked the same questions repeatedly.
Then, if after ample searching, you just can’t *find* your answer, go ahead and ask — and tell people what you did to search (which lets them know you cared enough *to* search, and helps them to narrow down what exactly you can’t find, and therefore will probably make the answer easier for you *and* them). I *do* hope I’ve helped.
@ sandy or anyone else:
Hey. I’m looking for competition umbrella rules. I’ve searched yoyogames.com and the YYG Wiki and Google and came up with the first competition’s rules (www.yoyogames.com/docs/comp_01/competition_rules.pdf), but some of those rules are completely changed by Mr. Sandy Duncan in this competition, and some other past rules people have mentioned aren’t in there. Therefore, I’m not 100% sure what’s reliable. My basic question:
Are the rules given in this Glog entry the *only* rules (plus of course the stuff in the License Agreement — not that I’ve ever seen YYG actually enforce any of section 3.4.), or *are* there other meta-rules (such as “no rating/commenting/etc. on fellow competitor entries”) which have just kind of been assumed and thus not explicitly stated this time? If someone besides Sandy knows a link, it’d be appreciated; and if not, I ask Sandy, Could you please add these other assumed rules IF they exist?
Thank you very kindly,
Brandon W. Horton
ParodyKnaveBob
January 5th, 2010 at 12:09 am
P.S. I agree with some others on here that it’d be nice if the rules explicitly stated that you cannot (or can) use the built-in High Score table (because of its use of the registry, which I had no idea about until someone mentioned it in the comments here).
And fwiw, about my previous post, I forgot to mention that I checked the Glog archive, too. Found a lovely post by Mark with interesting comments (compare to this entry’s comments), http://glog.yoyogames.com/?p=177 , but it still didn’t really help.
January 5th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Is it ok if I use someone elses example for basic movment as a base for my game?
January 5th, 2010 at 12:37 am
CAN YOU MAKE THE LIMIT LIKE 40 MB PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEE
January 5th, 2010 at 1:21 am
I’m going to enter to this competition.
My game will be Pyrlo’s Story: The Return of Lord Mikael. It will be platform adventure.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Why? I don’t know about you, but I think Super Mario World is a bloody good game, and it’s only 512 KB.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:24 am
@ Zeroc Thanks For The Help!
January 5th, 2010 at 1:36 am
@SHAMOWN I doubt they would because that would make things easy for us. @Sandy, why won’t you answer any questions(or atleast clarify some stuff such as the highscore thing)
January 5th, 2010 at 2:01 am
I found the information concerning high scores.
http://wiki.yoyogames.com/index.php/Competition_05/FAQ
January 5th, 2010 at 2:38 am
I’m in.
Can the actual screen resolution be 300X250 and be blown up to fullscreen, or must it be staying at small screen?
January 5th, 2010 at 11:36 am
@smash ball: doesn’t matter. It’s your choice, i think.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I can’t use mp3 music that is stored in separate file, right?
January 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Right, i’m read this – don’t answer me.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Could I have answer on this question?
Could it be full-screen or must it be windowed-mode only? Not full scale of course.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Just leave the game settings as they are which means f4 toggles fullscreen and you should be good to go.
It is pretty annoying to see so many entrants consciously disabling that option for no reason.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Where do I submit the game?
January 5th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
can we use sprites that came with gamemaker 8?
January 5th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Hi Sandy, I have a question:
Am I allowed to use royalty-free resources? Like music files… it would be nearly impossible for me to make it myself. Someone has said that it is allowed, but I’d like to hear the answer from you.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
I have a question is it correct to use savegame option of gamemaker and if yes can i use more than one save file slot
?
or just it is restricted to one
January 5th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
If I win (or even if I don’t), what rights do you have to my game?
January 5th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I agree with Ampersand, I kind of want to know that too.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
@9_6
Okay, thanks.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:02 am
What kind of rights do they have to a game posted on the YYG website?
January 6th, 2010 at 2:10 am
@ @lpha-X : (mp3) That’s the spirit! ;D
@fenyxofshadows – Ah. Since it was a wiki, I passed off the information there as unofficial, but after you linked it, I checked its history, and yeah, only MasterOfHisOwnDomain has edited it (and it’s a protected page). Therefore, I’m now taking that as official. And therefore, I thank ya!
Hm. In that case, I wonder if Sandy could edit this entry to link to that FAQ so that these comments might slow down. (I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s simply given up on trying to read/answer this entry’s comments, and neither would I blame him.)
Regards,
Brandon W. Horton
ParodyKnaveBob
January 6th, 2010 at 2:19 am
what does this mean? Game Maker’s highscore actions make use of the registry, which is against the rules! (“No use of the registry”)
and does this mean the mony cant be split by papal. Q: Can I work in a team?
A: Yes, though payments cannot be split.
if so can I receive the money by papal then turn it into cash and split it.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:25 am
why all thees sites yoyo games, yoyo wiki and yoyo forums, also if you have all thees sites why have different accounts on each, why not one account per person for all the sites. because as it is I am singed up for yoyo games, yoyo glog, atom and a site for elementary age kids called woogi world which I never go on any more but I might and I know the guy that made it.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:42 am
I really need to know this for the creation of what i’m submitting. Does the game have to be a full story game or can it be a chapter game?
January 6th, 2010 at 4:04 am
@cool gamer:Only one payment will be sent out (see the first few posts)
January 6th, 2010 at 4:06 am
@Da Vinci:
Do the rules say anything about the game type? No, no they don’t.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:02 am
Um maybe just my opinion, but I really feel that the 10MB limit will really detract from the quality of the games that can be posted.
I’m not saying that a limit is bad, but 10MB is way to small and unrealistic for a portable game.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:55 am
I don’t know if this was asked or not (forgive me if it has been mentioned).
Are we allowed to use the save/load game features in gamemaker? All I know is that it saves a file when you do this and I don’t know if it would work or not for the competition. My game would turn out better if I could use it, but it may not work on a hand-held system.. Please send me a email to onsoyon@gmail.com if I may use save/load features in my game or not. Thank you.
January 6th, 2010 at 11:17 am
@js1210: 10 MB is actually quite a lot of space. None of my games exceed 9 MB except for one that I never published, so it isn’t that hard. Just lower the quality of music or use shorter loops, and don’t use too many photorealistic backgrounds and long sound effects.
January 6th, 2010 at 11:55 am
I don’t really understand why 10 MB is so limiting. In my opinion, that’s a lot of space.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
@sandy
hey i dont really get what you mean by7.Game Controls must use ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY (space-bar preferred), additionally P to pause game and escape to quit (where quit can be quit to a final menu) are OK.
Does this mean we can have arrow keys, esc, p, and one extra key?
January 6th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY (space-bar preferred), additionally P to pause game and escape to quit (where quit can be quit to a final menu
So many people confused about this…
Basically ARROWS KEYS & ONE OTHER KEY (which should ideally be Space) to do whatever you want with…
also, you can use P ONLY to PAUSE *nothing else* & also “Esc” ONLY to Exit the game or to go to a “final Menu” with things like EXIT, SAVE, LOAD, PLAY on it *only*… ***you can’t use P or Esc for anything else***
Hope it’s clear
January 6th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Luckily for me i guess we had a university excerise just like this a couple of weeks ago. It was an i phone game with only one mouse button, which could be easily changed to space, assuming we can use projects already started…
January 6th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
I’m afraid I won’t have the time to read all these messages, but here are a few answers to questions which were brought to my attention (and which I brought to Sandy’s attention):
> 1. Can “P” be used for anything other than actually just Pausing the screen? (ie: to access a Menu)
No
> 2. Can “Esc” be used throughout the game to access a Menu that include items/stats & things (ie: as an actual useful game button)
Can exit to any menu, but must inclide a “Quit option”
> 3. Can you “upscale or fullscreen” the screen. (*as an option*, but have the default size be the actual 480×272)
Yes, but I think it will have a bad effect on a handheld
> 4. Can you use .mp3 music as part of the .exe, even tho it requires MediaPlayer 7 is not directly supported by GM?
Yes, watch out with the file-size, though…
> 5: Can included files be used for external resources, to be extracted to the temporary folder for example on game start?
Yes
> 6: And in regards to unloading files from the exe on start, can folders be used in the exe directory to stick saves(ini files and such) in?
Yes
> 7: Can additional buttons be used with the same functionality as the spacebar? (spacebar & Z => same action)
Yes
January 6th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
is it ok if i “break” the screen size a little? my with is perfect but my height is a little big
January 6th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
@Trollsplatterer
Thanks for the answers, very much appreciated.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
“What Razon said.”
January 6th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
mr magnus… no, games must be 480×272 *max*…
not 480×320…
they can be *smaller* than 480×272 if you like.. but not bigger.
You would probably be disqualified if your game is 480×320 as it breaks a very clear Rule.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:12 am
lol
I have all of my sprites done, including the annoying HUD sprites (so glad it’s not 1280*1024).
Got it under 3 MB as well.
Now here comes the programming, as my game is specifically designed to use programming instead of resources to make it good. -_-
Sound will come next. I want the game done so that I can decide on the sounds to go with it, and the quality of the background music, that I will create myself. I found an excellent and free MIDI sequencer on the internet called Anvil Studio, in case anyone needed one.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Two things:
Are we allowed to do a co-op project?
aaand
are we allowed to use non-reg GM?
Because all that cash could finally get me a registered version
January 7th, 2010 at 2:57 am
@damo566:
Of course you’re allowed to use unregistered GM, but only version 7 or 8 (that’s the latest version or the version before it).
As for co-op project, I assume you mean working in a team. That’s permitted, however only one of you will be paid and it’s your responsibility to divide the money between your team. If this isn’t what you meant by co-op project, please elaborate.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Its says you cant use external files ( such as models ) for 3d games, can i include the models as a piece of code or string inside the exe?
January 7th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
@ dadio
Thanks so much for ur help
January 7th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Quote Sandy:
“esc can take you to a menu…and of course you can assume there’s a “virtual” keyboard to enter names and stuff. The “key” restriction only applies to in-game controls.”
Does that mean you can use get_string()?
January 7th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Are you gonna get the first-prise winner’s game and put on a handheld console? (or multiple handheld consoles?) Or Maybe u could do a thing where 3rd place only goes on PSP, 2nd place goes on PSP and iPhone and 1st place goes on PSP, iPhone and DS.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:10 am
@ everyone ok. who ever thinks 10 MB isn’t much space, well…
YOU’RE WRONG!!!
if you have 5 songs and they’re each 10’000 Bytes your only using up half of 1/10 of a MB!!! Seriously it’s not that hard!
January 8th, 2010 at 1:00 am
@Erik Leppen
Lol well my game uses lots of songs and photorealistic backgrounds. I guess games would just have to be built around that limitation. Ill have to make a different game…
January 8th, 2010 at 1:47 am
@wetmat:
Your maths is out of order. If you have 5 songs that total up to 48.8 KB, that’s not half of a tenth of 10 MB, because a tenth of 10 MB (1 MB) is 1024 KB, not 97.6 KB.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:32 am
[...] is the original post: Competition 05 ANNOUNCEMENTECDomain Arcade No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Geez, wetmat was right, because he wasn’t saying about tenth of 1 MB, not 10 MB. 97,6 kB isn’t so far from 102,4 kB. ^^
(on the other hand, couldn’t he write just 1/20 MB instead of “half of 1/10 of a MB”?)
January 8th, 2010 at 9:46 am
:O Wait a sec, Sandy – most of the consoles that are important here have four action buttons. In the PSP’s case, it’s [] X O /\.
For a DS, it’s A B X Y.
Why are we limited to just space?
January 8th, 2010 at 10:08 am
@damo566: because that’s the rules.
Why is it that so many people just have to complain about the number of buttons rule? Look, if you guys don’t like the rules, or think they’re too restrictive for you to adhere to, then don’t take part!
January 8th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Hey, I’m on your side, and I’m the first to yell at people complaining about 10meg.
I asked because I wanted to know. I’m not whining. >:(
January 8th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
We’re a little bummed about the 1 button rule, but we think we can work around it. Are we allowed to let the pause button open up options? Because that would be really helpful, thanks.
-Team 3awgaming
January 8th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Oops, just read further up comments. Never mind, I have my answer!
January 8th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I did some research on old game file sizes. For SNES the game files maxed out at 3MB and that includes games like DOnkey Kong. For Nintendo 64 their games were all a standard 15.5MB. So this gives you an idea on what you can do. These games had expansive levels, multiple characters, multiple variables, and decent graphics. So any type of game between SNES quality and Nintendo 64 quality, would end up being around 10MB. In each of these there was also decent music along with the expansive levels.
January 8th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Can you use get_string?
January 8th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
^ yeah just about, though I Gamemaker has a big start exe size, but if your limited to one button and use sprites/normal textures, rather then real photos, games won’t be that big, and as for sounds, just need to research music formats, for bleeps and bloops I don’t think you’ll be needing high quality so make it a less quality smaller music file type.
January 8th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I think there should be 2 extra keys (like “A” and “B” on the gameboy)
January 8th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Why do people keep saying it will be on a handheld? Nobody made the slightest inclination towards that statement.
January 8th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
If it helps, you could try fiddling with sound using Audacity.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
January 9th, 2010 at 1:23 am
I have no complaints. My only problem is getting the screen size to work. Actually, i just had an idea.
January 9th, 2010 at 1:39 am
I don’t think you should change this, because it adds to the challenge, but most DS and PSP games are 16MB – 24MB, so it is a little unrealistic. But it will be fun trying to work around those challenges.
January 9th, 2010 at 1:41 am
I’m having a problem with tags, is it OK if i put competition05 in the game’s title? Soz 4 3x post
January 9th, 2010 at 2:19 am
@Sandy
With all due respect, I just want to point out that you want a “Generic” Hand held game. But you also only want Arrow keys and one action button, excluding menu/pause buttons.
Problem is, a “Generic” Hand held comes with 2 Shoulder Buttons, 4 Action buttons, and 4 Directional buttons, as well as a start and select. And the Iphone only uses something along a cursor as it is completely touch screen. So, what I’m saying is, it doesnt make any sense why we HAVE to use only 1 button and arrows, but we also cant use the mouse either. Thanks for your time.
- Rick
January 9th, 2010 at 5:27 am
I don’t have an issue with developing the game’s ideas and basic structures within the guidelines — it’s tight but workable.
Just a question about keys: is it OK for an entry to allow re-mapping of keys at the user’s discretion (i.e. key settings menu), as long as the number of keys and their function remain the same? I noticed that most handhelds have the arrow keys on the left-hand side, while on a keyboard the arrow keys are on the right side — using WASD may give a slightly more authentic experience if the player wants to use it.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Can we have extras/minigames!
January 9th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
@madmaker: Yeah, I don’t see why not.
January 9th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Can we change the game to full screen mode?
The small dimension limits make it hard for me to focus on the window because it occupies so little of my screen.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
hay From_SoySauce
you can have it be full screen as long as you have views and they are 480X270. if you don’t know what views are there when you have a camera that flows something.
and everybody
can you have the view be 270X480.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
hay I think I just figured out how they will tell what the view is, a tape measure. ha! ha! ha!
January 9th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Wow… seems these guidelines are a bit controversial lol. I just wanted to double check and make sure that it was okay for me to have the port on screen be 960×544 so long as my actual resolution is 480×272. For the game I’m making, my sprites are only 24×16 so it makes them a little easier to see on the computer screen at high resolutions.
January 10th, 2010 at 2:34 am
Can you use get_string
January 10th, 2010 at 2:44 am
o.O I want to participate… but one question: I can use the default Hi-score table?
January 10th, 2010 at 2:57 am
It’s already been said many times you can’t. You should search for keywords when you have a question (ctrl + f).
January 10th, 2010 at 5:33 am
@Prog: I would just put an in-game alphabet for the player to select instead of get_string(), most handhelds don’t have a keyboard…kind of like the legend of zelda name selection.
January 10th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Darn I really wanted to join but, I don’t have a credit card nor a paypal account…
January 10th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
@eventhorizonn: you could participate anyway and then use a parents paypal account? or you could set one up…
January 10th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Hey Sandy!
I’ve got 2 questions about the rules.
1: Is the game allowed to be in fullscreen?
2: To make the game 480×272 you just create the room in that size…right? Is it then allowed to make it bigger with views?
January 10th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
hello, is this really going to be a handheld game because i what to know if i can do 60 fps. can you wright a page of rules because i need to know whats going on! be specific!
January 10th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
I want to say/ask something which bothers me.
I finished my game for this competition. The GMK is 8,6 MB, but when I transer is to an exe file, it became 10,9 MB! 0.9MB too much! Why does it increase in file size with 1,7MB when it only becomes exe? Will my game be disqualified? I don’t think that’s fair when the GMK is only 8,6MB.
Answer/help me please.
January 10th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
@Granite Gear: To reduce your game size try to use more code then drag and drop.
January 10th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
But that’s nonsence. So when you’re making a game it must be even under 8MB to get your exe under 10MB.
:(:(
January 10th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
ok, there’s something that hasn’t be said.
where do we send the game? and what info do we gave to you?
thanks
January 10th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
@GG: its cos the compiler embeds a runner “yoyo70″ into your game, this runner makes the game independant, the gmk uses an external runner.
January 10th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Yes, but I still think that’s rubish. I kept an eye on my GMK, I thought: Good, not over 10MB. And than I saw the exe, I thought: Darn, over 10MB? That disappointed me. Why is the limit only 10MB anyways?
January 10th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
It’s meant to be a challenge. Lower the quality of your sprites/backgrounds from 32-bit to 16-bit. That will help a lot.
January 10th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Sori, double post
I think that the best way to keep your game under 10MB is keeping it under 7MB. That’s what I’m doing.
January 10th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Ah well okay, it’s alright now. I deleted a music file which was 2,8MB. o.O It’s 8,3MB now for full exe.
January 10th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Is m_play okay? A lot hand held systems have wifi now…
January 10th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Why can’t we use the arrow keys and 4 other buttons? I mean, all of the new handheld systems have arrow keys and four other buttons. Nintendo DS, and PSP included. Oh wait, those are the handheld systems.
January 10th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
@ Fadenkreuze: I think it’s been mentioned that no plug ins can be used, multiplayer functionality requires them if I’m not mistaken.
@ EneilShade: It’s been covered more than once that the button alotment isn’t going to change. Everyone agrees that the modern handhelds have four buttons, but this is more of a challenge than an actual requirement. I think it’s fun. Forces you to really think about your control scheme and the features you have in your game.
@lazootin: See the main entry for all the info you need. The game isn’t going onto an actual handheld. It just gets uploaded to YoYo for rating and voting.
@-1000: You don’t send it anywhere. You upload your game to YoYo and tag it with “competition05″. Read the main blog entry for all the info you need.
January 10th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Multiplayer, specifically the ‘m_play’ functions, are normal Game Maker 6-8 functions, and do not require a plugin. If you can implement it successfully, then yes, you can use it.
January 10th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
I don’t understand…
You said “That is no keyboard OR MOUSE”, and later “Game Controls must use ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY”…
January 10th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
…and one extra button? The old handhelds had 2.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:24 am
It’s a challenge for you. You are supposed to make a game that fits these requirements.
You can’t use other keyboard keys, except for the arrows, ‘esc’ to exit or go to a menu, ‘p’ to pause (only pause, not to do anything else), and one other key. You can’t use the mouse at all.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:54 am
Some people should stop complaining about the strictness of the rules, most of my games (although they suck) only use the arrows and one other button. Instead of complaining, you should try to figure out how to do it, if it means lowering the quality of music, then lower it. Sprites? smaller sprites. any thing else, lower the quality of it, but not to an absolute crappy level.
As has been said before, stop repeating questions, search for it as most of these questions have already been answered.
@MarioAndLinkGamez what’s not to understand? it’s simple, only use 1 button and the arrows, it’s that simple, no mouse or anything else.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I think MarioAndLinkGamez’s confusion comes with the term keyboard.
Keyboard in this case is referring to the letter, number, and punctuation keys, not the actual piece of hardware itself.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
No. I’m confused because he said “no keyboard”, and later he said that we have to use the arrow keys…
January 11th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Sorry if you don’t understand what I mean, but I’m no good at explaining.
January 11th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Thank you for answering microbrew!!
January 11th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Music file sizes (1 = biggest, 3 = smallest)
1. .wav
2. .mp3
3. .mid
I recommending NOT using .wav files, but .mp3 is good for short music files.
January 11th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
just thought of a nice question…
QUESTION:
Does the game need to be in fullscreen mode or is it okay if it isn’t?
January 11th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
So far this looks to be a good competition. I do have one question, though…
Can savefiles be used in the competition games?
January 11th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
DP Software asked this question:
“In Norway, you have to be 18 to register on PayPal.. In Sweden and Denmark, you don’t even have to enter your date of birth!
And there are no other payment methods than through PayPal?”
January 12th, 2010 at 6:53 am
@ MarioandLinkGamez:
It’s actually possible to get WAV files smaller than MP3s, depending on how your WAV files are encoded. A 44.1kHz GSM 6.10 WAV is only 71 kbps, for example (although it has a habit of adding audible noise to some recordings due to its compression). Given the fact that WAV files loop much better than MP3s…
January 12th, 2010 at 9:25 am
I am with another problem, somebody please help.
I uploaded my competition05 game. But there are a lot people who wanted to play it, but they got an unexpected error. And there are also a lot other people who don’t get that error (like myself). Does somebody know how to solve that?
January 12th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
@Granite Gear:
Maybe… what’s the error?
January 12th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
@Granite Gear: I played it yesterday. Do your game involve anything like copying, saving or opening files or savegames?
January 12th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Hmm no, although I tried to set my own exe-stand-alone icon, but they say that wasn’t posible. But nothing more. And what the error is, I don’t know, I can’t see the error. Dx
January 12th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Mr. Sandy!
I have a few questions.
1. Can I use temporary files?
2. How should I develop my game?
Thanks!
Conclusion
January 12th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Hello,
I have a question…. when i’m done with the game what do i do with it to enter the competition??
thank you,
why789
January 12th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
are you allowed to use the sprites that come with gamemaker or do you have to make your own?
January 12th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Can I use the “views” Option?
(Please Answer)
January 13th, 2010 at 12:28 am
hay asp-e you can use views and why789 All games must be tagged “Competition05” (EDITED by Sandy DEC 31st )does that help.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:34 am
MarioAndLinkGamez so fond one of your friends that has pay pall.
January 13th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Still plenty of comments. Awesome!
Just wanted to stop and say that my game is going totally great thus far.
Really surprised with how well it is turning out.
Can’t wait for you all to give it a try
January 13th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
hi everyone, i’m new to yoyogames competitions
i was wondering:
how do you choose the winner?
-do i have to just put the game on yoyogames with the Competition05 tag and just get a lot of comments/votes/reviews?
or maybe is there a special jury?
-am i allowed to upload a beta version? and change it later, before the end
it’s just that i wonder if i have to hurry to get votes quickly..
and who are the “moderators” here? i don’t recognize them
thank you
good luck everyone
January 13th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Eh? Just one other key? That is quite stritch limitation especially if we consider that even black and white Gameboy used at least two buttons.
and ofcourse handhelds of these days are even more complicated. DS has 6 buttons and PSP has 8 I believe. Plus extra buttons such as select and start ofcourse.
January 13th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Considering this question has been asked and re-asked a multitude of times, all without an absolute response, I am not expecting one either.
With that said…
Is it permissible to use the Esc key to double as a game menu? An inventory, perhaps.
Alternatively, a more preferable solution would be to allow remapping of the ‘pause’ key, and to let that double as a menu, much like a typical handheld game would perform.
January 13th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Ok, i’m new to this stuff, and i was wondering, how am i supposed to post the game? do i post it normally and put the tag as “Competition05″ or something else?
January 13th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Insted of useing a .sav file that game maker makes can I use a .ini(or anything like that)to save user data?
January 13th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
I second thetruegamer’s question.
Also, I’m assuming this doesn’t have to actually PLAY on any hand-held system. It’s really just a no-theme compo with some restrictions.
To be honest, one other key is actually fine. I can deal with that.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
@Shiny:
Sandy through Trollsplatterer absolutely answered your question on January 6, 2010, but I understand why it’d be difficult to find, what with everyone continuing to ask such questions repeatedly… Yes, you may use Esc to exit to any menu, as long as it ultimately leads to the option to quit. (Anyone else reading who has questions, do a Ctrl+F for Trollsplatterer, and some more of your questions will get answered.)
Regards!
Brandon W. Horton
ParodyKnaveBob
January 14th, 2010 at 12:24 am
To everyone on here with a question about the competition: READ THE REST OF THE TOPIC. Every single question you may have has already been answered repeatedly, most of them in the announcement at the top. However, if you are not going to read the whole thing, I provide here a list of WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR. Feel free to copy-and-paste this post lower down, or to add stuff to it.
-You may only use the arrow keys and the Space Bar; using Escape to quit and/or P to pause is acceptable. This is not because most handheld consoles have only 3 buttons and a directional pad, it is to test your game design ability. Escape can also lead to a “final menu” giving you the option to quit and load/save, although it is unclear (I haven’t seen any messages from sandy about this issue) whether you can also use it to e.g. open an inventory.
-No use of the Windows Registry. If you don’t know what the registry is, you’re unlikely to use it by accident EXCEPT that you are not allowed to use Game Maker’s built-in high score system. If you want high scores, you have to script them yourself.
-You can use views, 3D, and any other system you want, as long as the game appears on-screen as a window of size 480×272 or less.
-No extensions or DLLs. This includes extensions for displaying 3D (you can only use the built-in d3d_ functions), extensions for online play (you can only use the built-in mplay_ functions), extensions for sound (you can only use sound types that Game maker supports natively), and anything else. The point of this restriction is to show how powerful a game design tool Game Maker is, even without extensions.
-The game must be submitted as an executable with a file size less than 10 MB (don’t forget that the GM8 runner is about 2.2 MB; the GM7 runner is slightly smaller). To play the game, no additional files must be needed; however, creating save files is fine.
-Use Game Maker 7 or 8. Lite or Pro are both fine. Game Maker 5 and 6 are not allowed simply because they are obsolete and don’t reflect the current capabilities of GM.
-You can upload multiple games, and you can also upload incomplete games; if you update your game, the version online at the deadline will be judged.
-You can participate as a team, but only one person can receive a prize. Split it amongst yourselves however you like.
-To submit a game, upload it to YoYo Games and give it the tag “competition05″; you can give it other tags too if you like. To find all the current entries, do a search for “competition05″.
-The winning game will be chosen by a panel of judges, who vow to play all the submissions they receive (a Herculean effort there; give them a round of applause). I’m told community response is taken into account, but in theory a game with a 1-star rating can still win.
-As usual (this applies to all games, not just those in the competition), you can use sprites, backgrounds, sounds etc. created by others so long as you have their permission. It’s usually a good idea to include them in your credits too.
Anything I missed out? Yes? No? Regardless, please read this comment before posting any more questions.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:25 am
The screen size is 480×272 but can we use FullScreen?
January 14th, 2010 at 12:32 am
Also: sorry if my last comment was a bit rude.
By “no additional files must be needed” I mean that you must be able to play the game if you only download the executable file. Once it’s downloaded, you can create as many files as you like of whatever type you like.
And a good point I just noticed: don’t assume your game is going to run on a handheld. Even if the rumours are true, only the winners could even potentially get a port to handheld. It’s more important that people have fun playing your game.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:34 am
@BP_Gamer: No, you cannot. The game must run in a window of size 480×272. It’s your duty to make sure everything is still visible at this size.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:36 am
Eh, snowyowl?
Actually, Trollsplatterer mentioned that he CAN use fullscreen, but it has to be optional and it’s apparent that it can’t be the default option.
January 14th, 2010 at 4:02 am
@ParodyKnaveBob:
Thank you!
I did not realize that any person other than Sandy was giving official responses.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:03 am
So the screen size needs to be 480 width and 272 height. Is it for the view or the full room size? Just need to get this cleared up.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Read the goddamn topic before asking questions.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
@Captain_Cook: My mistake. You can run games in fullscreen, as long as it’s windowed by default.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
@ kingkong8me:
Since it’s the maximum SCREEN SIZE, I’d think it would have something to do with the view.
And everyone: I wouldn’t recommend increasing the resolution at fullscreen. I don’t think YYG would be very happy about that…
January 14th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Are we allowed ini files for saving etc?
I’m assuming by the EXE ONLY in the topic that it means no installer or compressed file formats (RAR, ZIP)
would like to know if the following are allowed:
MPLAY: (using keyboad ONLY as a means to input an ip address etc not for gameplay)
INI FILES: (for storing game settings and saves)
MP3′s…
the game will have an exe and perhaps an ini file or two.
that okay?
January 14th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
We were going to use a sort of map for the room, is it possible that it shows the map with the [P] Key?
January 14th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Actually, also I’m quite curious about the screen size. Does it really have to be the max size or are anything below that accepted as well as long as it’s in some hand held’s screen size? Ofcourse I’m aware that it is very unlikely for you to try to port this game in to a black and white gameboy or anything like that but it would be nice to know if it is anything between 160×144 to 480×272
January 14th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
@snowyowl, hum… ok, I’ll see what I can do, Thanks ;D
January 14th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Sandy, if we write in-game documentation that explains how to do certain things in the game, do we have to mind the fact that the game might be ported to another platform later and the documentation might not be completely correct anymore?
For example, if I create some sort of tutorial that says ‘hit spacebar to shoot’, that won’t look good on a console, since consoles don’t have spacebars (most of the time).
Is this something to keep in mind, or is it no problem to change this later (if/once the game gets ported to another platform)?
January 14th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
By the way, one more question. Will the contestants hold the rights in to game itself or will they go for Yoyogames? It would be nice to get this confirmed.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
@ Postality:
1. You may NOT use the full keyboard. If you can find a way to input IPs with the arrow keys and the action button, fine. But as far as I know, using the keyboard for that reason will get you disqualified.
2. INI files are ok.
3. MP3s are okay. Read the replies (particularly Trollsplatterer’s on number 469).
@ Armogohma: I don’t think so. P is for pausing, and only for pausing. No exceptions.
@ Bastard: Sandy plainly said that the maximum size was 480×272, implying that it’s allowed to go lower. As long as it can be viewed on a portable, it’s probably fine (so don’t get cute by using a 1×1 view).
@ Tempestum: … Actually, I can’t answer your question. You’ll have to see Trollsplatterer or Sandy about that one… that is, if they come here…
…
Although, I suppose Sandy should update the post with some sort of FAQ for these questions.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Um imtrying to upload my comp .exe file but Yoyo games keeps telling me its not a game file when it is!
Is this happening to anyone else?
January 15th, 2010 at 12:09 am
actually Captain_Cook:
“sandy Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
@bobking12 esc can take you to a menu…”"”and of course you can assume there’s a “virtual” keyboard to enter names and stuff. The “key” restriction only applies to in-game controls.”"”
I read through all of Sandy’s replies I just want to be 100% sure before I make something that’s not eligible…
January 15th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Well, that’s something I overlooked.
Although, exactly how is that supposedly going to work out on a handheld is beyond me.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:37 am
not sure, but maybe it has to do with handhelds having virtual keyboards like he said.
I know iphones and even psp’s have them now so maybe that’s why he’s allowing. for gameplay I understand as you wouldn’t have the vkb available in-game.
January 15th, 2010 at 7:19 am
Wow, Sturgeon’s law is in full effect here.
Erm… exactly when is Yoyo Games going to get its own quality control? Or am I just not aware of it?
January 15th, 2010 at 10:06 am
hi, i just whont to mack shore that sent this is the frist i am entering into a contest. The keys to us are the up, down, left, right arows keys and the ‘SPACE BAR’, and to exit the game you con us ‘ESC’ key and for pause the ‘P’ key. and the size is 480 w X 272 h. and at the end of the game it is ok to type in your name for the hight score, and do not us the mouse in aney shope or form. Am i missing aney thing and whare can i upload it so that people can let me know if it is right with out being disqifide.
PS: thank you,
January 15th, 2010 at 10:13 am
i for got one more thing do you whont it full screen or not.
PS: thank you agen
January 15th, 2010 at 11:07 am
just look thow the coment and i must a foe know key bord on less it is a vaual keybord ans know scor bord on less in is made frome scrach. sorey about that. is it ok for me to upload the game so i can get i idea on whot need to be chaned for the contest.
PS : thank you agen.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
i spek gud enklis nad re vary undrestanbal so cna i maek gmae for teh compo tnaks
Seriously, what?
January 15th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Erm, roman_warrior, I wouldn’t recommend using the default highscores table, as it uses the registry.
Although, I’m not Sandy, so I might be wrong. Still pays to be cautious though.
an ples spel betr
January 16th, 2010 at 12:33 am
@roman_warrior
read my comment #505.
January 16th, 2010 at 1:02 am
can you have a splash video?
January 16th, 2010 at 1:28 am
@Sandy
Is there a limit on how many games you put in the competition? Please reply.
Thanks!!!
January 16th, 2010 at 4:14 am
@nate00: There is no limit, Sandy answered that question a long time ago.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:18 am
@ smash ball
oh, thanks.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:03 am
@Sandy: It’s apparent that you are looking at games that would port to hand-held. What’s the fine print on our submissions? Are we going to see yoyo porting our game, or a clone of it, for sale and taking the cash? Or is it the standard artist maintains ownership of work agreement?
thanks.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
i don’t think they will sell anything
( well except maybe to third world countries… :p )
January 17th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Does it really matter whether we use Spacebar or not? Would using Shift instead reduce my chance of winning?
January 17th, 2010 at 4:59 am
What I find hard to believe is that everybody seems to find using only the spacebar and the arrow keys a challenge. Trust me, it’s not.
I love games where there are several “skills” or “abilities” that the player can use. I hate games where each of those skills or abilities has it’s own key. So, what do I do? I use one key, the space bar key, to tell the game that the player is going to use one of those skills. I use the arrow keys to select between those skills. I use the release-spacebar action to execute the chosen skill/ability. Is it hard? You better believe it is. Is it fun? I’m not going to repeat myself.
Now, does that fit the requirements? yes. And I know that some games can’t be played with that sort of pause every couple of seconds. But does it matter to me how much you think it sucks? You better believe it doesn’t.
Sorry for ranting. Thanks for the competition, Sandy.
January 17th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
@Sandy
I created a script for my game that didn’t work correctly. If I go to the GMC forum to ask for help, will my game be disqualified?
Regards
January 17th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
My idea for a game had using the P to go to a pause menu, where skills could be selected. I just wanted to doublecheck if this was aloud, as i’ve already started before I thought about the pause menu. Since it would still keep with the rules as there is 4 arror keys, space bar for action key, P to pause, and esc to close. The menu will just change the characters weapon being used with Space.
January 17th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Sandy, can we have an official statement on inventory useage?
I’d like to be able to pull up a very simple inventory using ESC or P whichever is allowed.
Thanks.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:31 am
@Chaos James
I was wondering about the P menu functionality, especially after reading this:
469. Trollsplatterer Says:
> 1. Can “P” be used for anything other than actually just Pausing the screen? (ie: to access a Menu)
No
I assumed beforehand that the P key would allow both a pause and menu functionality, but according to this seemingly official post apparently not, which kinda sucks. If it is true, I would relegate menu functions to the Esc key, which is definitely allowed.
oya, and also on that post:
> 7: Can additional buttons be used with the same functionality as the spacebar? (spacebar & Z => same action)
Yes
Really? We can have other primary function keys available simultaneously? Two or more even??
January 18th, 2010 at 5:17 am
@paulkim26:
You can have a different button instead of spacebar, not as well as spacebar.
= allowed
= allowed
+ = NO!!!!
January 18th, 2010 at 5:19 am
doublepost: sori
[space] = allowed
[z] = allowed
[space] + [z] = NO!!!!
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,—+
January 18th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
This sounds like oodles of fun
I love the restrictions… it makes you think really hard about what you can and will put into the game and how you’ll do it, in fact thanks to the last 3 years of programming Pokemon games in GameMaker, I’m used to just the Arrow keys and 3 other buttons 
I think the 10Mb limit is really generous, that’s a heckload of sprites and MIDI music, I’m a little worried about the strings and maybe some other resources but it should be fine.
Just to clarify, whatever we create that we made completely by ourselves (or those who did it with their teams) we do keep our copyrights over the product correct? I have this great idea and I really don’t want someone else stealing it once i’ve released the game (if I finish it for the contest)
Other than that I’m going to have a blast for the next few months
January 18th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
having p not pause the game and show a menu is understandable, because most pause menus use the mouse.
but could the pause menu use the arrow keys and space?
January 18th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Hmm btw, some of the contest entries I’ve seen that are really good, they seemed to defeat the purpose of this entire competition, which is to design a game that would work on a hand-held console. Why? Because they run at 10-15 fps on my machine, and my machine is more powerful than any handheld.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
can you use the game maker 8 sprits and can you enter two games?
January 18th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
@coolgamer76
you can enter thousands of games
and for the sprites, even if you sell your game, you’re allowed to use them, its written in the manual
January 18th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
@ cool gamer 76:
You can enter multiple games, but don’t overdo it. Quality is much more important than quantity here.
*points to crappy games like Save gm logo 2*
@fenyxofshadows
Read it again:
> 7: Can additional buttons be used with the same functionality as the spacebar? (spacebar & Z => same action)
Yes
Your answer: You can have a different button instead of spacebar, not as well as spacebar.
You CAN use two keys for primary actions provided they do the same exact thing.
January 18th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
I apologize for the double post, but you should probably put a FAQ or something on the OP, sandy. It might reduce the number of questions asked.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:56 am
Can I use W,A,S and A instead of the arrow keys? Most games have the control pad on that side anyway.
January 19th, 2010 at 3:23 am
“7. Game Controls must use ARROW keys and ONE OTHER KEY (space-bar preferred), additionally P to pause game and escape to quit…”
Seems pretty mandated to use the arrow keys only; they’re even a requirement unto itself. It’s all in the wording.
@Captain_Cook
Thanks for the confirmation
January 19th, 2010 at 8:23 am
I’d rather use, the arrow keys, Z and X, so its like a gameboy!
January 19th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I’ve never entered one of these comp before and I was wondering…
How do I go about submitting an entry?
Sorry it may be a n00b type question to some but I’ve never done it before…
Thanx guys
January 19th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
you have to post your game on the yoyogames website like any other game, but with the tag: Competition05
January 19th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Its funny though that the keyboard has right side arrow keys and the game systems have it on the left side. That was why I asked, most games use WASD anyway.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
i live in england, and i saw that the prize is in dollors, i was wondering if it comes in pounds as well??
January 19th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
How do you make an object change into a random object.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Also how do you make an object stay a certain distance from an object.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
e
January 19th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
sorry about the e I was testing to see if I could comment, I didn’t see my Also how do you make an object stay a certain distance from an object.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
@Positality & chocoboy, you post it like any other game, only with the Competition05 tag
January 20th, 2010 at 12:42 am
I have a legal question. If i enter the competition, am i allowed to sell my game before and/or after I enter my game? Assuming of course, I follow all copyright laws. When I enter my game, is it considered yours?
January 20th, 2010 at 4:00 am
@coolgamer76
First, in the ‘End Step’ event, have it check if the follower object is within ‘x’ distance of the front object. If it is, have it stop, and exit the event. If it isn’t, have it move toward the front object at ‘y’ speed.
January 20th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
@ kupiakos:
I’m not 100% sure about this comp, but I do know some past competition entries did go commercial (Caveman Craig, Sixty Five Million and One BC).
Proof: http://forums.yoyogames.com/forums/3/topics/19540
January 20th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I have never made a game before, i recently downloaded gm8 to be directed here because a new competition opened up XD may as well enter it, ill learn quicker if i have to meet a deadline XD
January 20th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Good luck, then…
XD
January 21st, 2010 at 1:14 am
hay fenyxofshadows can you type me the code co I can copy and past it.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:30 am
if distance_to_object(player_obj) < 35
{
exit;
}
move_towards_point(player_obj.x,player_obj.y,2);
January 21st, 2010 at 9:02 pm
thanks. and can game maker use a joystick throttle?
January 21st, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Hey
I need a question answered about a game Ive been working on for this comp, since were making this for a hand held device but can only use compter controls so far, if we have a button in the game like a sprite that says push “Space” should we put a button in the game that says space is the action button?
January 21st, 2010 at 9:41 pm
“6.No use of the registry.”
what does this mean?
can i use pro version of game maker or?
January 21st, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Yes, you can use Pro edition, but you cannot use certain features like saving to the Windows Registry (Pro only), or the GameMaker default high scores (which are in the Lite edition).
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:21 pm
thanks,i get it now,we have to make it completely our own
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:02 am
does the registry include the standard messages used by commands like show_message()?
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:14 am
No. The registry is an area where Windows manages all of your installed programs. show_message() simply displays a message, while the high score table stores the game, names, and scores in the registry. You can have your game create its own file and store high scores to that, but it requires a custom system of high-scores.
If you want to see the registry, go to Start>Run regedit.exe
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:15 am
So, if I understand the registry thing correctly, .ini files are fine to use to save options and such?
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:27 am
So. cant use the standard high score. should I have my game not save the high score like old Magnavox odyssey games. you tell me what you think and give me the code so I can copy and paste.
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:15 am
@kintro:
Yes, as long as you create them with the game, not package them with the game.
@cool gamer 76:
I would use a personal high score system, but I am trying to figure it out myself still…
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Hey
I need a question answered about a game Ive been working on for this comp, since were making this for a hand held device but can only use compter controls so far, if we have a button in the game like a sprite that says push “Space” should we put a button in the game that says space is the action button?
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
As I am making a game for the competition also I understand many of the questions that people ask. For example about people who ask about the 480×272. I’m mixing it up a little too so i have the question that will answer to everyone with the resolution question.
From what I have read 480×272 has nothing to do with room size. Now the question is we should put it on the “view in room” or the “port on screen”.
Also i would like to add that fullscreen is allowed as long as it is optional from the build-in F4 so you shouldn’t change it from global settings. Please answer.
January 24th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
@squiggy: I’m getting the image of the “A” button in a legend of zelda game when you say that space is your action button. You can have whatever you want in your game, the controls should be explained (many games have failed to do that in their menus.)
@My Kingdom: I would have fullscreen under the options menu, not F4…
January 24th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
thanks for the answer but the actual question was wether 480×272 is the ‘view in room’ or ‘port on screen’
January 24th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
@My Kingdom
Port on screen.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:15 am
[...] The game is a collaboration between Andrew Brophy and Banov and is made for the YoYoGames Comp 05 [...]
January 26th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Receiving money with PayPal is not available in my country, is it possible to transfer money to my HSBC bank account?
January 26th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I have a question for Sandy.
I just discovered I have such a crappy keyboard that it can’t register space, left and up at once, so I’m kinda forced to use another action key than space, otherwise I can’t even properly play my own game. What is your second choice for action key? Or can I use multiple keys that have the exact same behavior?
January 26th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
How can I tell if my game is doing well? Are you judging or just going by how they are ranked, because my game is the first on the list (whatever plus)
January 27th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
@Razon thanks
@ErikLeppen to check weather your is good you can change the key as long as you are trying it and when you are sure you can just change it back to space so that you can update
January 27th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
i meant upload
January 28th, 2010 at 12:35 am
Hello everyone )
Just a few questions:
-If no mouse than could we use arrow keys to move mouse cursor and space bar instead mouse click… ? )
-Where should i registered to participate in this competition?
Or should i just send an email with my work… if so, to which one?
January 28th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
@Wins Vega
To confirm, no mouse controls are allowed. An in-game cursor controlled by the arrow keys and space bar should be fine. There is no separate contest registration required to participate, other than a regular yoyogames account. Do not send an email with your work to any of the judges, just upload a game with the appropriate tag according to the rules.
@Doombot
Games are NOT selected based solely on their community rankings, comments, etc. Games are judged individually, but community input is taken into some consideration.
@ErikLeppen
Multiple keys can act as the action key, where (as an example) you can have space, shift, and Z available SIMULTANEOUSLY, or you can have just one of them work (ie. ONLY shift).
I have found these answers by skimming the above posts and using ctrl-f. For many of these questions, relevant information and confirmation can be easily found. However, the lack of an official FAQ does hurt.
January 29th, 2010 at 8:40 am
I first found this competition to be really exciting, however, when I am making my game I just can’t stop thinking of whether it would be able to ported over to a handheld(and still have good performance).
Could Sandy or somone please confirm that games will be judged on their entertainment value and not on how well they work(or may work) on a handheld. The restrictions should be restrictions, not judging criteria, if you know what I mean.
January 30th, 2010 at 9:12 am
HI
Question 1: Can I use the pause button as a map also since it is hard to now were you are in the game unless with a map since it is 3d and small screen size?
Question 2: can the game screen size be less than 480×272 since i have it 360×240 since i played with the fixed scale (in %)?
please replay fast i may still nead a big amount of time if the anwser for one of the questions is no.
thanks for lessoning.
January 30th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
I gots a question too, and I hope it gets answered soon
Does the “480×272″ screen size mean that I can have the game 272 wide by 480 tall? So in handheld terms you would be turning the console on its side.
@ 3dt: I think the Pause button is limited to just a pause, since the game itself may only use arrows and one other button.
January 30th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I have a quick question about the restriction of the screen size..
This may sound wierd, but I’m making a REALLY old school game, and it uses 32×46 pixels in room size. But the view size is zoomed 8 times (so each pixel looks lite a 8 pixel square), so when you play the game you see it in 256×368 pixels. Does this make the game too big in screen size? Well, my other option is to just zoom it 6, or perhaps even just 4 times. But it looks better in x8 xD.
January 30th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
HI
Can I put a menu pause like:
p to show map in the pause menu
p then up to save.
p then down to load .
p then left to return to game .
p then right to exit game.
I be happy for any reply.
And Thanks
January 30th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I would suggest doing that with ‘esc’ instead, but, I think so…
January 30th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
@ 3dt: I found this on the forums:
You’re allowed to use an ESC key to interrupt the game. You can make this bring up a menu and pause the game, from which you choose to e.g. either Resume, End the Game (back to the Main Menu) or Quit the application.
So give that a try
January 31st, 2010 at 9:16 pm
So i have a question.. me and 2 of my other friends are planning to participate in this, and we were just wondering.. if we were allowed to render images, objects or sprites in other softwares and then import it in gamemaker.. are we allowed to do that or do we have to do everything in gamemaker?
January 31st, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Seeing as he said Screen size, it makes me believe that the View can be anything but port on screen MUST be that resolution. type @Sypran and tell me if I’m wrong.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:39 pm
@ Pwned: I should certainly hope you can use sprites you made outside GM… otherwise the 3D ship sprite I carefully modelled in Blender would be wasted… lol
Still waiting on an answer to my “can the screen be 272 wide by 480 high” question…
January 31st, 2010 at 11:13 pm
@Sypran
Yes, it is the port on screen he talked about.
But also no, it MUST NOT be that size. that is the MAXIMUM size. it can be smaller.
Just one question…
the screen size is restricted to a maximum of 480X272 pixels. Is it okay to flip it over so it is 272X480 pixels?
January 31st, 2010 at 11:14 pm
@Kolink
When setting the room size, the width must be 480 pixels and the height must be 272 pixels.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:16 pm
@pandaboy that is what i meant lol oops
January 31st, 2010 at 11:23 pm
One more thing. I was stupid and used windows registry… So I’m thinking to use INI files instead.
Is that okay?
January 31st, 2010 at 11:25 pm
You can use INI files, as long as the game creates them.
Shame about not being able to flip the screen to vertical… I’ve seen plenty of handheld games do that
January 31st, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Are we allowed to leave the “Let F4 change the screen mode” option on?
(Yay, 666!)
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Okay, I am a semi-newb and am looking to make a team up for the competition. I will be the secondary sprite editor but I need two level designers, two programmers, two testers and a Primary Sprite editor/designer
Qualifications:
Sprite Editor
-needs some experiance, pro edition
Alpha Programmer
-needs experiance
-pro edition
Beta Programmer
-needs some experiance
-does NOT need pro
Tester
-Be critical
-Open mind
Level Designers
-Creative
-Puzzle-minded
I do not plan on taking any place, but if I do, the others may take the prize money
If you are interested, post a comment telling which position you would like on my comment bar on yoyogames.com (I’m “Doombot”)
If you are wondering what the game concept is, just ask
February 4th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
can you submit more than 1 game?
February 5th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Yes.
February 8th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Can I do anything below the maximum screen size?
February 8th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
@Crasher
You mean anything in game room?
Room size can be as large as you want! And so you may..
February 12th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Can I use the P button to go to a pause menu, with things like a map, settings, upgrades, etc.?
February 13th, 2010 at 4:18 am
Is WIP & BETA game allowed to be submitted earlier with updates (until completed) before contest ends? x
February 14th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Ok! I entered my game: CubeWorld (By Super-Power-WM) into the competition!!!!! Plz play my game, rate it, and tell me what position I could come in the competition!!!! =D
February 15th, 2010 at 4:27 am
@kupiakos:The pause button has to pause the game in some way, when you go to a menu the game is paused so yes.
@Mraven:People have already done WIP and BETA, go ahead.
February 20th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Can we use show_message() function? “OK” by spacebar…
Can we use show_question()? “YES” by spacebar and “NO” by esc key…
February 24th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Ohh i missed… No mouse yes?
But if only
mouse_x
mouse_y
display_mouse_set
display_mouse_get
Is this out too?
There is no mouse at all, no actions, just a little…
February 27th, 2010 at 12:42 am
I have the same question as ErikLeppen. Are you allowed to assign multiple keys to one action?
For instance, you can use space to perform an action, but you could use the enter key as well in the menu.
Using space to confirm an option seems odd.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Nevermind, it was already answered.
February 27th, 2010 at 5:41 am
2 Qs @Sandy
1. Can we use F1 for a help screen?
2. Where do we submit our EXEs to?
February 28th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Question, is it possible to use the esc or P (pause) button to display statistic data such as maps and/or stats? I’m referring to un-editable data for display purposes only, just to give the player a little bit of more info.
March 1st, 2010 at 10:51 am
@cjdb01: You have to submit your game to yoyogames.com and it “must be tagged “Competition05””.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:39 pm
why everybody got such a big problem with the 2 key thing?
1 key is for pausing – there are no restrictions that say: u cant have menu. so as long as the game is PAUSED u can do it.
2nd key is ur action key and btw ONE key has TWO functions (tap and hold)
so ure obviously not in a lack of buttons. u can for example shoot ur weapon by holding the button and swap weapons by tapping it.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
http://www.easy-share.com/1909424318/mechashmuptry.exe
this is what i mean:
usually i wanted to take part in that competition but dont got enough time for proper design:
WSAD to control.
TAP “T” to swap weapon
HOLD “T” to shoot.
the big enemies are better done with rockets.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Hello, I’m making a game for the competition. The .GMK file is 9.34 MB but the .EXE file is 11.34MB . Can my game still participate?
March 4th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
are masseges in game exepted that the game make not an object that the game made the key space close massege not i ordered the massege to close by space
March 8th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
where do i submit my game to the competiton?
March 10th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
[...] was alluded to in a few obscure screenshots and then not very subtly in the YoYo Games Competition 5 rules has now been made official in a Glog post today; that YYG has been hard at work on a version of the [...]
March 14th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
I have 2 questions:
1.what do you mean by tagged “competition05″? do i have to rename my game to “competition05″ or i have to write that inside the game?
2.Can i splash pictures or videos inside the game(without exceeding 10mb) ?
please answer me fast…Thanx
March 14th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
I got answers of all my questions after reading snowyowl’s post.
thanx…
Now i know that what is tag “competition05″ and i can’t splash pictures or videos or any other files.
But still there is confusion on the tag that i have to include competition05 seperately or as one?
(i’m asking because i’m a novice)
March 14th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
It’s one tag, if you just search for it at YYG you would have known: http://www.yoyogames.com/search?q=competition05
March 14th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Work are taken before March 30th 2010 exactly or they should be presented few days earlier?
March 15th, 2010 at 8:13 am
thanx Lapixx….
i just wanted to know that can i submit my game on 22nd of march? i mean my game will be selected if i send my game on 22nd march or not?
or i have to submit my game earlier than that?
March 15th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
“Contest finishes March 30th 2010 at Midnight GMT”
I’d say that the 22nd is BEFORE the 30th, right?
March 17th, 2010 at 12:28 am
Wondering if we can have it set to save to be able to save a game?
March 18th, 2010 at 12:03 am
[...] of Knowledge is a game I plan on entering into the YoYoGames Competition 05. It’s a collab project between 2 friends of mine and myself. It will be a platform action RPG [...]
March 18th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
does
Can exit to any menu, but must inclide a “Quit option”
mean it should quit from it to main menu or quit all game
March 19th, 2010 at 1:22 am
Sounds great! Just have one question that I couldn’t find in the 700 odd comments. Assuming that this is supposed to be a handheld game, do we need to protect our external files from i.e. modifying one number to get to the last level, given that all handhelds don’t have a folder interface?
March 19th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
I would like to say that my game is in competition05, but it just can’t be rated. I would like to know the reason, because I feel thwarted in this competition.
Thanks, Victor.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
my game is: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/119889-up-and-down-bubble
March 20th, 2010 at 2:13 am
my game is: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/119921-gr8-ballz-mini
March 20th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Okay here is what I dont get, you say we only can use arrow keys and space ( P and esc aswell) but on the psp and DS there are four buttons besides the arrow keys( square, triangle, circle, and X or A,B,X,Y) so y cant we use three more buttons then space? I have a great game(in my opinion) and it needs atleast one more button just to switch weapons. when arrow keys are my movement keys and space is fire, how is it posable to switch weapons?
March 20th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Hello .. I would like to Know how long will the competition
and in what format should be put in YOYO Games?? GMK or executable?
Thanks
(Sorry for my english … it’s not very good)
March 21st, 2010 at 4:37 pm
@canscaw: Nobody ever said that the current handhelds only have 1 action button. This is just part of the rules of the competition.
Also, I don’t think it is very hard to think of another way to swap weapons. Holding the spacebar, pressing two buttons at the same time… That shouldn’t be too difficult to make.
@Keke Games: As you *could* have read in the post, the “Contest finishes March 30th 2010 at Midnight GMT”.
You create the executable, upload it to YYG, and add the tag ‘Competition05′ to it.
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:43 am
I CANT BELIEVE I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS! ITS ON!
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:25 am
Also found a short time. And I have seen For A Little More than 1 Month that I can finish my game. I’m building a more as fast as I can. and @ Lapixx Thanks for giving me the answer. On the finish of the competition was not found … (laughs)
Thanks Staff
PS. Sorry for my English – (I have Some Questions Add More Currently forgot)
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:37 am
CAN YOU PLEASE EXTEND THE DEADLINE!!
PLEASE!!!!!!!!! I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS COMPETITION THROUGH GAME MAKER, WHEN THE WINDOW ABOUT IT POPPED UP IN GAME MAKER!!! PLEASE GIVE IT ANOTHER MONTH, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:39 am
I JUST CANT MAKE A GAME IN A FEW DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:47 am
Our … Now that I realized … (scared) … Delivery of the Game Can Be Held Only 1 week from now … I think not Put More Here … Running To Do To My Game …
An Another Personal Question … the link of my game has to be put here or elsewhere?? or who will decide the placement will see the games with the tag Competition05?
PS. Sorry for my english It is still weak
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:58 am
alright, i see its to late for me.. maybe. Just a few last questions, to whoever is holding this contest.
1. can the game be a Demo, like just a few levels? like a preview to the final game?
if not, then i give up. When will the next contest be held?
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:58 am
well then, here’s my last post for the day. i can only work on this game on the weekend, giving me only 3 days! its worth a try.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:40 pm
[...] The game has entered the YoYo Games Competition 5 and the developer took already many suggestions from others into consideration to improve the game. [...]
March 25th, 2010 at 2:47 am
Here is the Download location of the Final Edition of My Competition 05 Entry, now called CentiBall. Please download it, test it, and let me know how you like it. I greatly improved upon the original Gr8-Ballz design, combined it with a new game concept, and added new things, improved graphics, sounds, specialFX, overall Fun Factor increased greatly..
Get it Here:
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/120771-centiball
March 25th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
err…how to I attach a the Competition05 tag?
March 25th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
duh me, please ignore my last question, just found the answer.
Mr JAk HAk Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
People need to stop griping about having only one action key. It’s supposed to help make you get creative–not resemble any existing game system. Pointing out that hand-held systems all have two or more action buttons is calling Sandy ignorant. I doubt highly that he appreciates that
Actually Jak, you are right. Late year i used GM7 to make a prototype for a hand held game (J2ME),exactly to Sandy’s specs. it can be done. heres a rough sample
http://tazra.com/games/ProtoSubTrance.exe
btw are particles allowed?
March 26th, 2010 at 6:10 am
It says exe only, no external files, but is it allowed to create files during the game play, i am using a user library which creates its own files, is this allowed?
March 27th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Depending on what file that library create, you should contact the creator.
March 27th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Also, maybe no? Maybe we can only use the built-in library?
March 27th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
So can we use copyrighted characters? I don’t feel like making character sprites, so I don’t care if I win. It’s just for fun.
March 27th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I think I will not participate, Beyond My Game Be Full.
he is following all the rules to the letter. this great game
posted it on a forum and all gave top marks
but I am unwilling to participate … suddenly I can participate in last minute … but the moment I’m “giving up” the competition
Thanks to all
PS. Sorry for my English
March 28th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Scuse me, I use the P key to pause the game, but I just read in the FAQ that pause can’t be anything else than a freeze screen. I find this totally stupid, why can’t it be a menu if you use the arrow and space keys in it ? I have a pause menu that freezes the game and says “Continue” and “Go back to the menu”. I don’t want to delete this, I always tought a pause menu isn’t only useful to freeze the game but also to decide to stop/quit/reload.
March 28th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
[...] “The Lite part of the game is because mostly of the small size limit for the competition and also because i originally have a lots of ideas for P-Lox but have to cut down some of them [...]
March 28th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Hey, just wondering, when you say march 30th at midnight do you mean at the end of tuesday, or at the very end of monday/begging of tuesday?
March 29th, 2010 at 1:14 am
@canscaw: hearing of this comp on 25 March, imagine the pressure. i just came in to verify that date too, that’s a very good question.
@ sandy: this is important, please clarify, thanks. I hope it means the mid-night ending March 30th.
March 29th, 2010 at 1:44 am
@earth38: ya same with me and i got a good game coming and i need all the time I got for this game. So yeah, Sandy plz clarify this and plz do it soon, thank you.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:02 am
Sandy, I would like to know: may I update my game after March 30th? If not, I would like that you extend the finish date… I need some time for adjust my game, because it has a bug.
thank you.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:14 am
please, can I update my game?
March 30th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Did the competition just end? It is mid night and I still dont know if it is the midnight starting march 30th oe ending march 30th. Please Sandy tell me that it is the mid night ending march 30th, because I am so very cloce to finishing my game.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:09 am
It’s really important to know which day the midnight belongs to.
http://www.npl.co.uk/reference/faqs/does-%27midnight%27-belong-to-the-day-before-or-the-day-after-%28faq-time%29
I’m also about to finish something and wondering this.
March 30th, 2010 at 4:06 am
I would really like an extension on this, please
Even a week or a few days would be greatly beneficial.
March 30th, 2010 at 4:17 am
I would also like to know. I’m quite worried, because I uploaded my game for the competition about 6 hours ago. So is it in? Because the way I’ve understood it, we have until midnight TONIGHT (the 30th).
Please clarify this.
March 30th, 2010 at 5:20 am
Here ya go!
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121638-crate-snatcher-hand-held-edition
March 30th, 2010 at 6:50 am
Im now assuming that the competition ends at the end of march 30th, therefore I will continue my work untill about seven pm EST today since that should be about Midnight in GMT time.
March 30th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Hi, everyone! We’re very excited to share with you the result of our work for this competition: “Milk Money”
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121504-milk-money
It’s our first foray into both game making and Game Maker, and our first project as a team… We really hope you enjoy it!!
March 31st, 2010 at 1:09 am
Hey Sandy. Just wanted to say that my entry – Geo Spiral: Mille VS The World – was uploaded by me at exactly 11:55 GMT on March 30th. The YoYo virus scan may have bumped the file up to like, 12:00-12:02, but I hope (with a sad puppy face on) that you can still take my entry into consideration (I worked for months on the thing).
- Broken Shadow
March 31st, 2010 at 2:28 am
I am a little confused. I added the game on March 30th. Then, I found one last problem I had to fix, so I updated the .exe file. The scan result came in, and now the game says it’s been created on March 31st… Am I still part of the competition? =/ I would appreciate feedback on this. Thank you very much.
March 31st, 2010 at 4:03 am
Is the competition entry time over?
March 31st, 2010 at 5:12 am
Can we please have an extension for all users to the end of the 31st GMT?
I had some complications this week as my son had surgery and the GMT timezone threw me off…
April 1st 12 AM.
I’ve spend alot of time on my game as I’m sure I’m not the only one that messed up the deadline.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:58 am
I believe that the entry time should be extended by just one day. My own entry is finished but I think that many others may not yet be finished and need a little more time to finish their games. After all, when you have 31 days in a month, it seems a tad illogical to end a competition on the 30 and not 31.
March 31st, 2010 at 11:29 am
Still, the competition has been going on for quite a while. Would 1 day make any difference?
March 31st, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I’d be willing to bet that many assumed that the competition ended the 31, and so have planned to have their games finished on that date. And now that they’ve found out it was the 30, they’ve missed out on everything because of a single day.
A butterfly flapping it’s wings can mean the difference between rain and sunshine.:D
March 31st, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Well I sure would like one day since I was reading post here saying we dont know if the comp ends at the mid night ending march 30th or begging it. I did an all nighter the night before and say a post else where saying the comp was over when it really was not. so I went to my friends house. When I came back I realized the post was misleading and ended up with 2 hours left. I needed that whole day and the post threw me off.
March 31st, 2010 at 5:34 pm
I had the same thing happen to me. I made a nice little game in 3 days, but when I went to submit it turned out it was 16 minutes late. I thought I had 1 more hour, but it turns out that when I checked the time difference it didn’t update for DST correctly. I’m very proud of my little game and I’ve been doing some more tweaks, but I’d love to get it in the competition.
March 31st, 2010 at 5:45 pm
That wasn’t really my point. I’m sure there are people that need one more day to finish their games, but in general, one day does not make any difference.
Anyway, good luck to everyone, even if you submitted your game “too late” (let’s hope that won’t be the case).
March 31st, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Im summiting my game anyways, and Its pritty fun I think
March 31st, 2010 at 8:04 pm
I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THESE COMMENTS.
I just so happened to submit my game right around the exact end of the competition. But the virus scanner was SLOW, and i thought i still had a day!
If I had known the end was March 30th, and NOT the 31st, i would never have let this happen.
I EMPLORE you to extend the deadline to fix all these world-clock problems!
March 31st, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I think it’s a bit weird that there hasn’t been a new blog post yet, or a comment from Sandy… Guess we’ll have to wait and see then.
March 31st, 2010 at 8:47 pm
I am waiting
I signed up for the glog just to voice my opinion for this!
March 31st, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Dear Sandy,
My name is Roman Tarchinski and my good friend Chris and i have been working diligently for the past 2 and a half months on a game called Half-Mech:Corroboration. After learning of the competition we quickly started work but we had thought that the due date was March 31st 2010. I can see that many other people have had some confusion with this date and we know we aren’t special. Had we have checked last night or a week ago we would have noticed to due date was yesterday at 7:00PM in our time zone and would’ve posted it yesterday, but alas, we checked the site again this morning at school and were shocked to find that we had misread the original directions and deadline.
The game is nearly done, we had planned to finished it in the next few hours and upload it. With school today and things to do, we really haven’t had much more time than anyone else.
Like i said we know we are not special and have not done anything in particular to deserve an extension on the deadline. We have, though, been working on this game every day for the last 2 and half months and would be forever grateful if you were merciful and allowed our game into the competition.
I’m not going to bag on anyone because we think the deadline is too early, we own up to our mistake with misreading the deadline and instructions.
We intend to upload the game tonight anyway, but it would be really swell if we could still enter it in the competition!
Thanks alot for at least reading the whole comment!
You can email me at roman-fire@hotmail.com if you want to talk!
Thanks again!
-Roman
March 31st, 2010 at 9:47 pm
I sumbited my game last night between 9 and 10PM. It shows I sumbited the game the 31st thought. I am annoyed, because i thought that 2 hours early would have made the time different. I hope they extend the deadline.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Its called Mirrored. http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121867-mirrored
March 31st, 2010 at 10:08 pm
heh, heh. for me it’s 5 minutes that makes the difference.
April 1st, 2010 at 12:29 am
On your game or mine?
April 1st, 2010 at 12:32 am
And anyone wanting a game maker team, contact my old account, File Cracker Or Nintendai games. I am looking for new Nintendai members. File Cracker’s Description says more.
April 1st, 2010 at 12:59 am
Uploaded my game. It’s pending virus scan. It’s called “Chroma Theory Mini”.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:32 am
Kombowz Entertainment released this:
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121869-komboz—in-your-face-portable-edition
They’re still developing it.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:04 am
Here’s what would have been my entry:
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/122005-chroma-theory-mini#
Chroma Theory Mini!
Give it a try and leave some feedback, please! ^_^
April 1st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I can’t believe this is even up for debate. The contest deadline was clearly stated. Any game submitted after the deadline should not be allowed in the competition. I worked my tail off to get my game in before the deadline. There was much that I could have done to improve my game, if I had another day or two. It would be extremely unfair to me and others like me if late games are allowed.
Also: It should be noted that “midnight” on March 30th actually occurred at the end of March 29th. Therefore, any games submitted on the 30th or 31st should be disqualified.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:35 pm
True, but I find it a bit strange that there is no *official* response yet :/
April 1st, 2010 at 2:11 pm
But if they extended the deadline 1-2 days that would give you the time you WOULD have liked to improve your game Retro.
People aren’t asking for a personal extension, that would be unfair if someone even requested that.
If they allow an extension it should be globally for all users so it’s fair for everyone.
April 1st, 2010 at 5:39 pm
That doesn’t make any sense at all. As Retro said, the deadline was clear. Most people finished the game in time. Extending the deadline doesn’t mean all games suddenly can be improved. That’s just a weird idea.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:01 pm
My game have a bug, so I am working on it again, all the project, correcting errors just for replace my game, that was added in time for this competition. I think, at least for edit the game files, should be correct extend the dead line, because of errors in the program.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:43 pm
My game also has a couple of glitches, but the deadline has passed. If there were no prize on the line, anyone could submit anything anytime. This is a competition, and, as such, should be conducted according to its own guidelines out of fairness to all participants.
It’s too bad y’all didn’t make it in time for this one, but maybe you’ll do a better job of managing your time before the next competition.
Additionally, it is getting conspicuous and frustrating that this issue has not been address by an official comment.
April 1st, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Here!
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121624-twin-cherry-slots
Play this while you wait!
April 1st, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Well, considering that it seems a LOT of users (naturally) assumed that the deadline was the beginning of the 31st – myself included – I hope the Yoyo crew will posthumously extend that obscure, confusing deadline. Really, it’s only fair.
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:14 am
agreed!
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:49 am
Lol i bet if any of the people who are so anal about not extending the deadline would’ve mistakenly misread the deadline and submitted their game a day late, they wouldn’t be so adamant about not extending the deadline.
I dont think they should extend it cause there wasn’t enough time to make a game, I think it should be considered because of the obvious mass of people who were a bit confused by the deadline or mistakenly assumed (like us) that it was the last day of the month. besides, I’m sure were not the only ones who have school during the day, we really didn’t get much extra time to work on the game, maybe 1-2 hours but not a significant amount of time and that wasn’t really utilized to develop the game, we just got everything together and sent it in.
So if they don’t extend it i understand and i’m not gonna whine about it, but just because we misread the deadline, doesn’t mean we didn’t manage our time properly, we managed it great with all the stuff we had going on. So don’t make assumptions and think of it from the other side for a moment, i can understand that competitions have rules and the company running the competition is the judge and jury in any problems.
So all we can do is wait until someone from YoYo makes a decision.
-Roman
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 am
“anal about not extending the deadline”?
There is not really a problem with extending the deadline for one day, but saying that “it’s only fair” is just nonsense.
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
My game has a ton of issues, but I’m still working on it.
My submission was on the 31st because of the GMT confusion and my son having surgery.
My submission was that of my game that was not completely polished so I will obviously leave the submission as it is for that is only fair.
IF I do or don’t win that’s fine however I will continue to develop my game so if I do win etc I can provide a fixed version.
I can understand why people do and don’t want an extension. Personally, I had issues here at home with my son that was spent in the hospital in which I was unable to submit my game on-time.
Surely I’m not the only one with kids. Furthermore I’m sure those kids developing games would want their parents there if they were in the hospital for surgery.
I submitted my game late yes, and the submission is far from polished…
I think due to circumstances however, I would hope yoyogames would at least allow submission that entered on the 31st…
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Well the rules were not clear about whether “midnight” was at the end of March 29 or the end of March 30. Personally I think it is obvious that the deadline is at the end of March 30 as “midnight is generally known as the latest hour of a day and not the earliest.
I have bugs I want to update too but I won’t because rules are rules. If mistakes were made because of timezone misunderstandings, that is nobody’s fault but your own as the rules have always clearly stated the GMT timezone. If a game has the date March 31 for any reson, it should not be accepted. If they are accepted then everyone who has entered the contest should have an equal chance to update their files which just causes too much chaos. The rules are all clear and should be upheld except for the specific day that midnight occured. As long as the file date is march 30 or earlier, it should be accepted.
I too am curious about why there has been no word from the YoYoGames team about the conclusion of this competition.
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I agree wholeheartedly that, if the deadline is extended, it should be extended long enough to give everyone a chance to make an update.
However, because the deadline was clearly established, I don’t believe it should be extended. Also, anyone who doesn’t understand the meaning of “midnight” should look it up. This contest ended at 12:00 AM on March 30th. Games submitted on the 30th or 31st are late.
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Roman –
It is not a coincidence that some games are submitted on time and others are not. It is the result of choices we each make.
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Retro-
I see what you mean. Im sure there are some people who are playing up the whole confusion to get an extra day to work on it (very much like the whole toyota brake and floor mat problem in the U.S.), but is an extra day really going to help? If after a few months you NEEDED an extra day, i think thats going to be the least of your problems.
So yes i see what you mean, but i don’t know if thats good enough reason to remove the others who have been working very diligently for a few months on putting together the best they can. They obviously wont need an extra day for work, they just got the deadline confused.
I do think its odd though, that no one from yoyo has addressed this situation yet, or posted any updates or announcements…
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Midnight meant before the 31st! I sumbited Mirrored between 9:00-10:00PM on the 30th in US Central time. It shows I sumbited it the 30th.Midnight means mid-night 12:00AM the next day. If you stay up until midnight, you don’t stay up the prior day. Play Mirrored if you like games with guns and ninja guards. If my game doesnt get in, atleast I sumbited two other games much earlier from my File Cracker account, but I believe the time being in GMT time and the date confusion I think there should be at least a 31st extention. I got up at 5:00AM on the 30th to work on the game. I spent all my extra time on that game. It still has 5+ bugs in it that someone reported the next day.
April 4th, 2010 at 12:18 am
Agreed BattleBot. Pre March 31 submission. There is only one user arguing otherwise.
April 4th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Where’s YoYo in all this? It’s April 3rd, would be nice to know that they still exist. There’s been no official word anywhere, not even announcing the end of the Comp.
April 4th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Someone still thinks the deadline was the 31st? Who’s that?
April 4th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
There’s no need to start this again, let’s all wait for a response from YYG.
Happy easter by the way
April 5th, 2010 at 4:00 am
Agreed Broken.
It’s as if YoYo themselves aren’t taking the competition seriously.
Some notification in regards to the competitions current status would be nice.
April 5th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I dont care what anyone else says,the end date was 30th of March 11:59. If my game doesnt get in with that, I will be mad because I sumbited it two hours early.
April 6th, 2010 at 8:19 am
@BattleBot, relax man
I guess you refering to astro’s defination which is NOT correct.
Midnight is when a full day cycle has completed and moving to the next, so midnight 30th March is defined as the that point in time between 30 & 31 March. A day cycle is not complete until it passes it’s midnight. Therefore March 30 is not over until it crosses the midnight hour.
For instance midnight, 31 Dec we all know what that means, don’t we? We usher in the New Year.
I don’t think anyone here ushers in the New Year before that
Anyway in future YYG should shift away from midnight deadline to avoid any confusion. Cheers!
April 6th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Maybe YYG couldn’t come up with the funds or something…
April 6th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Let’s not jump to conclusions. Although it seems strange that there is no new blog post yet, the deadline was only a week ago. Give them some time
April 7th, 2010 at 2:21 am
I agree. They should at least tell us what games are in and such. And agreed earth38. Anyone care to post games? heres mine again- http://www.yoyogames.com/games/121867-mirrored
April 8th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Hi all, I’m new to this competition thing, and I agree that any game submitted after the 30th should not be included in the competition, or maybe accepted and penalized for being late. At least then they still have a chance for all their hard work. Then again, if you can’t tell time, it might be a hint that you shouldn’t pursue a career in game design. As for when we will hear from yoyo about the winners. I looked at the last few comp’s and with almost 300 entries, it took them 2 months to announce the winners. Comp05 has over double the entries so I don’t expect to hear anything till probably June or later.
April 8th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Oh yea, lol, forgot to mention my entry for comp05, http://www.yoyogames.com/games/120804-rover-2025 A totally revamped version of the classic Moon Patrol. My first game for the Yoyo website. Please with sugar on top, try my game and leave a comment. I can’t improve my games if no one tells me what’s wrong or right with them.
April 9th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Check out our site, nintendaigames.webs.com
April 10th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
@BattleBotGames:
Your site is terrible – you’d do yourself a favour by just providing the link to your competition entry.
April 11th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Whoops! I seem to be a little late… Anyone know when the next competition is?
@BattleBotGames:
Help! I can’t find your website.
April 18th, 2010 at 11:36 am
This may be a little bit late…
) or would I have to upload the earlier version back?
If I posted a game in before the deadline and then updated it afterwards… would it get disqualified or something similar?
(I had assumed a copy of the game would be captured
April 18th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
@SpiritStealer….I am sure you are not alone on those thoughts, but a deadline is a deadline espically in a competitive environment, otherwise whats the use of having a deadline. Re-submission sounds risky, its a personal choice.
April 18th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I submitted the game 4 days before the deadline.
I actually wanted to improve it a bit so i brought out version 1.1.0 and this update was done 2 full weeks after the deadline!
(The update was to improve the game on the site NOT for the actual competition)
May 7th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
[...] game maker games would be fun to play on it. Not including the recently submitted games for the Yoyo Games competition 05 I have compiled a list of 5 game maker games that I would like to see/play on the PSP (in [...]
May 7th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
I writing this little late but my game there
http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=462234
(3D render graphics)
June 5th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
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