Global guild rules and Timeframe discussion

There's a lot of intense discussion going on about the best process for the guilds to take. Many of you are putting a lot of thought into this and that is much appreciated.

However, it's obvious no one is going to come up with something that everyone can agree on, at least not any time soon. So I'm going to have to take the likely unpopular approach and pull rank on all of you. I'm going to go with NAMKCOR's idea:

I'd say that every so often we should have some sort of "press release" in the guilds' main threads for the community to view, but that it shouldn't be required to be a specific type of release.  There should be points taken off the final judging for missing press releases.  Of course it'd have to be something new and show progress, and it'd have to be somewhat substantial, but it doesn't have to be a specific type of update. 

That way we discourage procrastination and allow guilds to set their own goals as they see fit.  It also allows guilds to keep big guns secret if they want.

The reason being is that this allows for specific intervals where a condition must be met. Every so often the guild must make a "press release" or otherwise suffer a penalty. This will help to keep everyone motivated without being too constricting and complex. In addition it lets the community at large see what the guild has planned, without the guilds giving too much information away early and helps to build hype for their project. This also allows guilds to work on their project in a manner most fitting for them.

I feel this option is a good middle-of-the-road approach from what everyone else was suggesting and feel that most of you will accept this as the best approach, as it still allows a lot of freedom while keeping things organized and in line.

Huge thanks go out to modern algebra, grafikal, Zeriab, Falcon and Irock for your discussions on this matter. I would also like to extend an invitation officially for modern algebra to help oversee all this and make sure things are running smoothly.

Feel free to discuss this here, especially if you have questions. We still need specifics set for this method, especially concerning a timeline (we don't even have a timeframe set yet for how long the guilds will have to work).

I think 5 months (it'll be spring by then ._.) is good. Press releases would take place monthly, and the final month will be the full game,

Or, 5 months is a long time. Maybe 3 or 4. ._.

Considering this probably won't officially start until January, you're putting this lasting through May. That's a long time and I think interest would start to dwindle well before then.

I would suggest nothing longer than 3 months, but if most of you want more than that, then so be it

EDIT: ninja'd

Three months is ace.

That sounds fine to me. The guild leaders are responsible and I'm sure they will be able to strike a balance that works for their respective guilds.

As for the overseeing thing, I'd prefer not to if you are OK with doing it by yourself. If you ever need or want my help, then I would be happy to do what I can, but I think I will be pretty swamped by life this coming term and would prefer to keep my obligations to a minimum. Thanks for the invitation though, and if you ever need to take a break or if you would prefer not to do it by yourself then I will be happy to do what I can.

And yeah, no more than three months would be my suggestion as well. I think two months would probably be a better goal really. Maybe allow for an extension to three if necessary, but ideally I think it could be done in two. But I'm happy with anything.

That sounds fine to me. The guild leaders are responsible and I'm sure they will be able to strike a balance that works for their respective guilds.

As for the overseeing thing, I'd prefer not to if you are OK with doing it by yourself. If you ever need or want my help, then I would be happy to do what I can, but I think I will be pretty swamped by life this coming term and would prefer to keep my obligations to a minimum. Thanks for the invitation though, and if you ever need to take a break or if you would prefer not to do it by yourself then I will be happy to do what I can.

Sure, I think I can handle it well enough. Thanks a lot for offering to begin with and thanks for offering to help if I need it. I hope you continue to offer your input too.

I like this.

Perhaps every 3 weeks, a release? All that within 3 months. So that's a total of 4 releases. The 4th release could either be the Final Release of the game, or final touches and then there would be a 1 week period after the 3 months to maybe organize a sexy topic for release and add literally final minute touches.

I like Grafikal's idea.

Let's to that,

Which part? "The 4th release as FINAL" -- or "the 4th release as final updates and then a 1 week extension for the sexy topic + final touchups"?

The part where it's 3 months and the part that gets this over with faster by agreeing with you.

ok

I like this.

Perhaps every 3 weeks, a release? All that within 3 months. So that's a total of 4 releases. The 4th release could either be the Final Release of the game, or final touches and then there would be a 1 week period after the 3 months to maybe organize a sexy topic for release and add literally final minute touches.

Are there no objections to this? There have been a lot of views on this topic but not many posts.

I think with that kind of goal, it might be better to stagger them a little and make them different, not just demo, longer demo, longest demo, final game. I think a better approach is something like (and assuming prep and organizational time not included in the competition time) at two weeks - teaser w/ text and screens and chars or something - so basically like a decent project topic; at six weeks - playable demo; twelve weeks - final product. I think that would be more interesting from a public perspective - one demo is much like another and it's boring to play through the parts of the previous demo anyway. I also think that preparing things for public display requires time to finesse superficial details and to bug test demos and stuff that takes time away from the project as a whole, and while that stuff needs to be done at some point anyway, the less frequently the better and it might be stuff better reserved for the latter end of the competition, so it seems to me more sensible to have a more staggered approach with less public releases. But that probably makes Irock's head explode with fury, so whatever works.

Press release != demo

HURR DURR

Press release != demo

HURR DURR

Not necessarily. In NAMKCOR's post even, he has press release in quotes, implying it's not necessarily a press release. It could be a demo. It could be a press release. It could just be a post with screenshots. Nothing has really been discussed yet as far as what it could or should be.

Aside from which, both you and grafikal mentioned Zeriab's plan in fairly recent posts, and that involved demos. Please excuse my complete and utter stupidity if I have misunderstood you in any way, shape or form, sir.

Press release != demo

HURR DURR

Not necessarily. In NAMKCOR's post even, he has press release in quotes, implying it's not necessarily a press release. It could be a demo. It could be a press release. It could just be a post with screenshots. Nothing has really been discussed yet as far as what it could or should be.

NAMKCOR specifically said a few times in IRC that he didn't like the idea of releasing demos of the games. I'm sure he put it in quotes because it's technically not a press release if you're not actually releasing it to the press, and "press release" was the best title he could come up with.

Press release != demo

HURR DURR

Not necessarily. In NAMKCOR's post even, he has press release in quotes, implying it's not necessarily a press release. It could be a demo. It could be a press release. It could just be a post with screenshots. Nothing has really been discussed yet as far as what it could or should be.

NAMKCOR specifically said a few times in IRC that he didn't like the idea of releasing demos of the games. I'm sure he put it in quotes because it's technically not a press release if you're not actually releasing it to the press, and "press release" was the best title he could come up with.

I didn't see him say that, so excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me. You're such a fiddlenanny. >

Regardless, I think if the guild decides to release a demo in place of the press release, then that would be acceptable. Maybe NAMKCOR's guild won't, but the other could.

I like modern algebra's staggering idea, sounds like it would work very smoothly.

Press release != demo

HURR DURR

Not necessarily. In NAMKCOR's post even, he has press release in quotes, implying it's not necessarily a press release. It could be a demo. It could be a press release. It could just be a post with screenshots. Nothing has really been discussed yet as far as what it could or should be.

NAMKCOR specifically said a few times in IRC that he didn't like the idea of releasing demos of the games. I'm sure he put it in quotes because it's technically not a press release if you're not actually releasing it to the press, and "press release" was the best title he could come up with.

I didn't see him say that, so excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me. You're such a fiddlenanny. >

Regardless, I think if the guild decides to release a demo in place of the press release, then that would be acceptable. Maybe NAMKCOR's guild won't, but the other could.

Yeah, it will be acceptable. It's their decision though, not Modern Algebra's.~

He was just using an example. Besides, the important thing right now is the timeframe, which was the main point of his post.

I know he was using an example, but I think it should be up to the guilds themselves what content to release. If they make it boring, that's their own fault.

Also, talk about a timeframe. I still like the 3 month total with 3 week press releases.

No Absolutely not What I say goes and if anybody tries to transgress my omniscient and omnipotent will I will smite them. HARD. My primary objective is to control the guilds with an iron fist and I have trained and devoted my entire life to attaining this elusive and unimportant goal. These are my true colours, finally revealed

No Absolutely not What I say goes and if anybody tries to transgress my omniscient and omnipotent will I will smite them. HARD. My primary objective is to control the guilds with an iron fist and I have trained and devoted my entire life to attaining this elusive and unimportant goal. These are my true colours, finally revealed

I don't agree with that. We should try to keep the guilds fun and open to as many possibilities as possible. It's not really fair to try to control everything, because it makes the competition not as fun. :[