WAG Challenge - Game Writing Challenge

LexAquillia

The UK is going to have a game-writing competition and it's open to international entries as long as you submit it in English.

Visit and follow their website:
http://itch.io/jam/wag-challenge

Start: 1 June 2015
End: 1 July 2015
Restrictions: 10-20 minute playthrough

garethf

Very cool, thanks for posting.

Nuclear_Mosquito

Nice. Time to work on my writing skills. Thanks for posting this :) Time to go dust off my RPG Maker copy.

Nandrew

Oooh! Yummy.

Tuism

Ooooh, I was a bit meh about this until I actually read what the thing is about. Key points:

1. It's not about text. It's about a GAME that is WELL WRITTEN. So you're submitting GAMES. That can be played through in 10-20 minutes (as cited in OP)

2. Entries will be judged on their writing by a jury of pro writers in the video game industry.

3. No genre restrictions (they cited Journey as an example so it's not about text)

RAD :D

Nuclear_Mosquito

The writing for the entries has to be done within the month, but can we start writing the backbone (Mechanics) of the game early? I'm just asking because my exams start right when the contest ends.

brondin

Thanks for posting! Looking forward to this, I might finally get around to learning Twine 2.0 while I'm at it :D

@Nuclear_Mosquito: I can't imagine that being too much of an issue, if the last paragraph of the rules page is anything to go by :)

Participants can enter with any game made during April 2015, which means that they can reuse any project they made for other game jams or competitions as long as they match our criteria and themes.

Tuism

@brondin you don't have to use Twine - it doesn't have to be a text-based game, I'm sure it can be, but it doesn't have to be :)

LC_Lupus

I was expecting to join this forum and struggle to find anything to do for a while seeing as I'm a writer and have no other skills in game development yet so woohoo! There's immediately something that I can do.

brondin

@Tuism, I know the rules don't proscribe tools other than Twine, but my general lack of skill in basically everything else does :P I could maybe cobble something together in Game Maker, but I have a much better sense of how to make Twine do the things I want it to do :)

LC_Lupus

@brondin, I'm new to any form of game development (been gaming since I was a child though), and so I decided to go for a visual novel type thing with Ren'Py and just rope in a guy that can draw the stills. I tried using Game Maker years ago and uh... well I couldn't figure it out back then. Never heard of Twine though.

Nuclear_Mosquito

I have a friend that is going to help me with writing, but any artists that want to join my team are more than welcome. I'm going to do a top down style RPG in RPG Maker. I also have a sound guy in mind, but I haven't asked him yet, so that slot is also open.

LC_Lupus

I need to figure out how to do most of it on my lonesome. Gotta learn somehow! My writing has been polished over many years but nothing else is so I bet that this game, my first proper attempt at a game that isn't a WarCraft 3 map mind you (because that's the extent of my experience at the moment), will be rather rough around the edges.

@Nuclear_Mosquito, Can you make an RPG that lasts less than twenty minutes? Or will it be more of a top down hack 'n slash/shooter with some mild RPG elements thrown in to the mix? Just wonderin' for interest's sake.

Nuclear_Mosquito

@LC_Lupus: Yes, you can make one for 20mins. I'm going to have to play around with the game's mechanics an see how I can make the combat challenging, but as fast as possible. The reason I'm doing a RPG is because of the amount of narrative that you can put in through dialog, world design, various other elements and even the skill sets. RPG's also help with focusing the player's attention on the narrative, rather than the moment to moment gameplay. I also own RPG Maker, so this helps a lot for fast game prototyping.

LC_Lupus

@Nuclear_Mosquito, I don't really agree with the supposed narrative power of an RPG. If anything the narrative capabilities of an RPG are found in the side quests, or in terms of minimalistic stylings through visual presentation and item descriptions/skill sets/dialogue, but for the most part an RPG takes far too long to establish itself. I think that it would be better to focus on a more closed experience. By all means do the top down RPG-style, but I don't think that actually making it an RPG is a good idea. Twenty minutes is hardly enough time to establish a setting let alone a narrative, and one often overlooked element of stories is pacing. You could have the best story and world-building on earth, but if you rush it the strength of the narrative itself is lost.

BenJets

So stoked!

Nandrew

I think the definition of "role-playing game" can be quite flexible, especially if one goes into it thinking narrative-first. It's definitely not a free ticket, but if you exercise minimalism in the right places ... I think I could see this working very well. :)

The major obstacle I'd envision is the general consensus that RPGs require heavy player investment and development. But while time and experience (not necessarily XP, though! ;) ) could probably help you forge more of a connection with your character, it should technically still be possible to build a 20min narrative RPG with all the genre traits and values in place.

... if you show the community your work in progress and request active feedback, of course. :3 :angel:

LC_Lupus

@Nandrew, I agree that "role-playing game" can be a flexible label, and as gaming as an industry matures, the lines between genres blends together in much the same way as with books which, for instance, often find it difficult to classify themselves into a single genre. But personally I think that a true narrative experience isn't much suited to the realm of the RPG. It's too open for a tightly knit story. Not to say that fantastic stories can't come out of RPGs, but I just think that a tighter focus genre can convey a story better than the choice that is inherent in an RPG. Unless of course choice is part of the narrative, like the Fallout games.

Nuclear_Mosquito

@LC_Lupus: We're going off topic a bit, so if we continue this discussion we might create a new thread for it. I believe a JRPG can convey a very tight story if your level design is good and you subtly guide the player. Another very story strong genre is Adventure games, but their puzzle solving can sometimes completely break your story pacing.

Quoting the mighty Wikipedia:

A role-playing game (RPG and sometimes roleplaying game) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making or character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.

LC_Lupus

@Nuclear_Mosquito, I agree. This probably should continue in a different thread. It is an interesting argument/discussion after all.

LC_Lupus

I came back to check in exactly how long the competition would be open, but the link seems to lead somewhere different. A different date and a different website layout entirely. Anyone know what's going on there? I couldn't find it on Google either. May be looking in the wrong places of course.

EvanGreenwood

The WAG Challenge on itchio appears to be from the 1st of June to the 1st of July.

The dates in the original post appear to be out of date (unless they refer to a different competition).

LC_Lupus

The link originally led to one that did conform to the original post. It was supposed to start tomorrow so I have no idea what's going on. Unless they cancelled the original competition or something and set it for a later date while keeping the same web address.

I don't see any references to the original competition anywhere through the link.

EvanGreenwood

@LC_Lupus If those dates are right, you've got nearly a month before the challenge.

Just a suggestion, it might be a good idea to use that time (if the website is correct) to do a small test and figure out a few things first. As I understand it this is one of your first game attempts, so getting a bit of prep work out the way is probably a good idea.

(And if all goes smoothly you end up with 2 games in 2 months)

LC_Lupus

@BlackShipsFilltheSky, That's what I have been doing. Been preparing for tomorrow's opening date. The website originally said the 8th to the 29th of May and I'm gonna be a bit disappointed if it really has changed but more prep work is always better, I suppose. I was just really looking forward to going beyond the prep phase and getting into the proper thing.

Oh well, I guess. Gives me more time to become accustomed to things in the engine I thought was easy till I made a two hour mistake a while back...

Although I have been thinking that maybe they have monthly challenges or something, and maybe the one I had seen at first has already started. But I don't know. Can't seem to find the original page anyway. But if it get's to next month and the date jumps again... well then I know something's up.

EvanGreenwood

Have you posted any of your prep work here?

(I ask because if you're not getting feedback on your work you're probably not evaluating it very well, this is just how games work, and if you're not learning from the prep work you're doing then you might be headed into the WAG challenge with all the new-to-game-development mistakes looming over you).

Fengol

It looks like the jam dates have changed :(

It now seems to be 1 June to 1 July. OP updated

LC_Lupus

I have not posted anything, no. But it's a visual novel and I don't really know if getting feedback would help much... or even if anyone would be interested. It's basically just interactive fiction. I can't do anything else on my own so I don't think there are many areas I can really screw up... at least from a technical perspective. If there are things that I can screw up when it's all basically just a bunch of words then well done me, I guess... because only I, as an incredibly technically lacking person, could figure out how to do that.

But I know that I should...

LC_Lupus

Just a reminder to everyone about this challenge. It has now officially begun, and the central theme is "down the rabbit hole" with the last date of submission being the 1st of July.

Nuclear_Mosquito

I'm really excited at the moment. I still have to write a test tomorrow, but after that I can focus on this.

Fengol

I'm working on a project for it! Theme is perfect to what I already had in mind