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GlyphGryph
Jun 23, 2013
Probation
Can't post for 16 minutes!

Polo-Rican posted:

"Local Color" is unfair to people who live in Connecticut. I no longer live in CT, but have sympathy for those who do.

edit: this post was intended as a joke, but that category does actually strike me as a bit unfair, because some people will immediately have a near-infinite number of ideas to choose from whereas others will have a MUCH harder time coming up with something clever.

Connecticut has Putnam though. One would think your state containing a town that warps dimensions, is always full of fog, is nearly impossible to escape from, has lots of spooky legends associated with, and has lots of abandoned boarded up buildings with phones ringing in them would be amazing for local color.

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Obsurveyor
Jan 10, 2003

Local Color only works for people that live in interesting areas(i.e. big or historical cities). It's pretty loving boring where I live and nothing especially exciting ever happened.

Hel
Oct 9, 2012

Jokatgulm is tedium.
Jokatgulm is pain.
Jokatgulm is suffering.

Polo-Rican posted:

"Local Color" is unfair to people who live in Connecticut. I no longer live in CT, but have sympathy for those who do.

edit: this post was intended as a joke, but that category does actually strike me as a bit unfair, because some people will immediately have a near-infinite number of ideas to choose from whereas others will have a MUCH harder time coming up with something clever.

That's probably why they included ancestry as well, so even if you live in the most boring place, some one in the family has to have done something at least mildly interesting.
Maybe your grandmother had her poppy harvest ruined by opium junkies(Tower defense game), maybe you grandfather made bootleg Scottish tweed in Denmark during the fifties(Theme Bootlegger) or that time your mother met a min celebrity at the laundromat(Keeping it cool simulator) 1985).

Edit: misread the theme as local folklore or ancestry, not ancestral
folklore.

Hel fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Jun 22, 2015

xzzy
Mar 5, 2009

Obsurveyor posted:

Local Color only works for people that live in interesting areas(i.e. big or historical cities). It's pretty loving boring where I live and nothing especially exciting ever happened.

There has to be some dumb local history you could use. Like some crazy old man that all the kids talk in hushed whispers, or some old unsolved murder, or some kind of annual parade.

It probably doesn't have to be your own town either. Move out to your state or country and there's got be something. The categories in SAGDC aren't strictly policed so as long as there's some thin connection to the stated theme you're in the clear. You could probably even make a local color game about a place on the other side of the planet, it's not like the judges are going to demand proof of where you live.

Marsol0
Jun 6, 2004
No avatar. I just saved you some load time. You're welcome.
As someone who really likes history, I can't imagine that there are places in the world that have absolutely nothing going on. Basically everywhere in North America has some history with native populations. "Winning the West" started basically when Europeans landed on the continent!

Connecticut has the American Revolution and WWE. Plenty there if you cross them. :q:

Forer
Jan 18, 2010

"How do I get rid of these nasty roaches?!"

Easy, just burn your house down.
it was also mentioned in the IRC, Local flavor counts on a national level, so johnny appleseed (even if you're in washington) would be completely fine

Shalinor
Jun 10, 2002

Can I buy you a rootbeer?

xzzy posted:

Chicago has:

Burning the city down,
Prohibition era mob,
Rampant government corruption,
Corn,
Gang violence.

So yeah some pretty good seeds in there. :v:
Consider the number of gamedev goons that live in Seattle a/o Colorado, and think to yourself "do I really want a solid brick of weed-themed video games."

GlyphGryph
Jun 23, 2013
Probation
Can't post for 16 minutes!

Shalinor posted:

Consider the number of gamedev goons that live in Seattle a/o Colorado, and think to yourself "do I really want a solid brick of weed-themed video games."

I would imagine all the Seattle goons would make games based around accidentally burning down cities.

xzzy
Mar 5, 2009

GlyphGryph posted:

I would imagine all the Seattle goons would make games based around accidentally burning down cities.

Or building a town on a tidal flat, then blowing up a cliff for fill when they got tired of being flooded constantly. Seattle's history is awesome.

Or how about an apocalypse survival game when a couple inches of snow falls and no one can drive anymore.

Shalinor
Jun 10, 2002

Can I buy you a rootbeer?

xzzy posted:

Or building a town on a tidal flat, then blowing up a cliff for fill when they got tired of being flooded constantly. Seattle's history is awesome.

Or how about an apocalypse survival game when a couple inches of snow falls and no one can drive anymore.
Yeah, these are all things that could happen if people dug deep on the theme.

But weed is topical, and we devs are oh-so-lazy. And weed games might be fun to make.

Obsurveyor
Jan 10, 2003

I think more interesting gameplay could come out of Critical Omission than Local Color. Local Color seems more inspiring towards the setting/story/ambiance which seems like it would lead to more basic and repetitive gameplay we've seen before.

xzzy
Mar 5, 2009

I wouldn't be so sure, there's always some nuts stuff that comes out of left field even for supposedly "bad" themes.

Obsurveyor
Jan 10, 2003

xzzy posted:

I wouldn't be so sure, there's always some nuts stuff that comes out of left field even for supposedly "bad" themes.

I'm not using definitives so I'm not "so sure" but hey, thanks for responding to all my posts as if I am.

Shalinor
Jun 10, 2002

Can I buy you a rootbeer?

xzzy posted:

I wouldn't be so sure, there's always some nuts stuff that comes out of left field even for supposedly "bad" themes.
Sure, but that doesn't mean you pick the bad theme intentionally and count on that nut. That same nut would probably do something even more amazing with a less crappy theme. ;)

(dunno if Local Color is exactly "bad", but Critical Omission does seem "better")

floofyscorp
Feb 12, 2007

Obsurveyor posted:

I think more interesting gameplay could come out of Critical Omission than Local Color. Local Color seems more inspiring towards the setting/story/ambiance which seems like it would lead to more basic and repetitive gameplay we've seen before.

I think Local Colour can lend itself more immediately to theme and story before gameplay, but on the other hand Critical Omission could result in just mechanical games without any interesting theme or story for themselves. A good game, whichever theme gets picked, will have both.

I still definitely prefer Local Colour. I think no matter where you happen to live there is interesting history to be found, even if you have to do a little bit of digging for it(you might even learn something! :v ), and exploring the stories of your ancestors gives even more possibilities!

ephphatha
Dec 18, 2009




Games for Grandma I reckon would give us some really interesting games but would probably tank participation. I sure as poo poo can't think of something good for it. Thankfully Australia has a massively racist culture and history to draw on for local colour so I'm set there.

ClownSyndrome
Sep 2, 2011

Do you think love can bloom on bob-omb Battlefield?
If I lived in Chicago I'd make a game based on the REAL Al Capone's vault

Obsurveyor
Jan 10, 2003

ClownSyndrome posted:

If I lived in Chicago I'd make a game based on the REAL Al Capone's vault

It would just have plastic spiders and candy in it, wouldn't it? :cheeky:

Takanago
Jun 2, 2007

You'll see...
For me, Local Color would have a pretty wide range of potentially interesting options. Florida's got a lot of crazy poo poo, so I could make a game about Florida Man or the mythical origin Lovebugs or retirees or themeparks or whatever. Or I could go and make a game about Alaska, where I grew up, and there's a ton I could grab from there. (Gold rush or bears or fish or oil or "goddammit we bought a lot of goddamn useless, frozen land from the russians and now what are we going to do with it") Or I could even go into my ancestry and do something about Thailand. Don't know much about that place, but I'd probably end up learning a lot if I tried.

For Critical Omission, I could maybe do a game about a bank robber or criminal that doesn't own a car, so for the getaway they have to hail an uber and give the guy directions away from the cops and toward the hideout or something.

Not quite sure what I'd do for Games for Grandma, maybe make a game for a grandma that lived in the Eastern Bloc and wants to relive the nostalgia of avant-garde socialism. Or make a game for the grandmas of 2060, basically something like what we play today but through the lenses of future people who normally play games a lot radder than we can handle.

Ultigonio
Oct 26, 2012

Well now.

Obsurveyor posted:

I think more interesting gameplay could come out of Critical Omission than Local Color. Local Color seems more inspiring towards the setting/story/ambiance which seems like it would lead to more basic and repetitive gameplay we've seen before.
Yeah, this is kind of where I am, although it's somewhat because my interest in history is low. I have some ideas for Local Color, but, beyond the setting, they're very dull and derivative (hmm, what's happened in California, oh, Bacon & Eggs fire, let's make an ~auto runner~ or some sort of way-too-clicky game that would rely entirely on its presentation!). I guess I'm not very creative when the mechanics don't come first.

Fredrik1
Jan 22, 2005

Gopherslayer
:rock:
Fallen Rib

Ultigonio posted:

Yeah, this is kind of where I am, although it's somewhat because my interest in history is low. I have some ideas for Local Color, but, beyond the setting, they're very dull and derivative (hmm, what's happened in California, oh, Bacon & Eggs fire, let's make an ~auto runner~ or some sort of way-too-clicky game that would rely entirely on its presentation!). I guess I'm not very creative when the mechanics don't come first.

This is what I feel as well, local color just lends itself to do a theme on top of a existing type of game, like a platformer with elves.

Critical Omission feels like we need to create something new and experimental, a platformer where you can't control the hero and you need to build the level or something like that.

Unormal
Nov 16, 2004

Mod sass? This evening?! But the cakes aren't ready! THE CAKES!
Fun Shoe
I unequivocally decree that Critical Omission is the best theme of the three, by far. There's no question. If Critical Omission isn't the theme, a grave disservice has been rendered to all future game consumers.

Diametunim
Oct 26, 2010
I'm in as a solo act for now. The last two years I've put my name on the list and ended up on the infamous Wall of Shame; this time will be different, this time I will make a terrible game. Both Critical Omission and Games for Grandma have potential, not quite sure what I would do with Local Color but I'm sure I could come up with something. Now I just have to decide if I want to use Unity, Unreal 4, or put my CS degree to work and write some awful code from scratch.

NextTime000
Feb 3, 2011

bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
<----------------------------
I threw my hat into the orphan pool, and if I don't get picked up then no real loss for me. I got a lot on my plate at the moment so I'd rather just be told what needs to be programmed or whatever someone needs me for.

lets see... for Local Color I could have done something for family-heritage and go Polish like Pirogi-simulator; which honestly could double for GrandmaGames, though that's the only thing off the top of my head. Otherwise I could see what fun I could drum up to make a game that represents Detroit somehow.

GrandmaGames just write themselves honestly; I still have 2 of them so I got lots of sources to draw inspiration from. got one of my grandmas to play a bit of A Link Between Worlds for a few seconds :3:

Critical Omission is my game from last year I don't really know what I would do for that, good thing I am just looking to help someone else's idea then!

Calipark
Feb 1, 2008

That's cool.
Just to clarify, Local Color doesn't HAVE to be specific to your location. It's not like the judges are going to look into your personal history to make sure your game is accurate to your heritage.

All the themes are open to your own unique interpretation.

Calipark fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jun 22, 2015

Fish Noise
Jul 25, 2012

IT'S ME, BURROWS!

IT WAS ME ALL ALONG, BURROWS!
Modern folklore.

Internet folklore.

GlyphGryph
Jun 23, 2013
Probation
Can't post for 16 minutes!

Fish Noise posted:

Modern folklore.

Internet folklore.

SA folklore?

xzzy
Mar 5, 2009

GlyphGryph posted:

SA folklore?

Someone's always looking for an excuse to make a Zybourne entry for SAGDC.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

xzzy posted:

Someone's always looking for an excuse to make a Zybourne entry for SAGDC.

Imagine four games on the edge of a cliff. All of them suck. That's how games work.

Fish Noise
Jul 25, 2012

IT'S ME, BURROWS!

IT WAS ME ALL ALONG, BURROWS!

GlyphGryph posted:

SA folklore?
Strangely, my first reaction to this was not Zybourne Clock. No, that was my second reaction.

The first was Groverhaus.

The third was Doobie Dogs.

The fourth was that one of the judges is basically a living legend.

KiddieGrinder
Nov 15, 2005

HELP ME

Fish Noise posted:

The third was Doobie Dogs.

Hotdog Shack Tycoon :allears:

Hel
Oct 9, 2012

Jokatgulm is tedium.
Jokatgulm is pain.
Jokatgulm is suffering.

GlyphGryph posted:

SA folklore?

Just as a warning, http://lparchive.org/Awful-Fantasy/ is what happens when you do SA in-joke games. So I'd probably suggest not going too far in that direction.

Manto
Aug 27, 2003
Rawrr!
Doobie's Dog House game could fit under the critical omission theme since he serves everything but dogs these days.

Plebian Parasite
Oct 12, 2012

GlyphGryph posted:

SA folklore?

Printer Quest

JawKnee
Mar 24, 2007





You'll take the ride to leave this town along that yellow line

KiddieGrinder posted:

Hotdog Shack Tycoon :allears:

critical omission: dignity

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

I'm in again this year after giving last year a break! Wooo!

xzzy
Mar 5, 2009

Man, javascript frameworks have come a long way since the last time I looked into them. Thinking of trying out Phaser for this.. anyone got a strong opinion for or against it or any other library?

Seems like a slam dunk for 2d as it looks like it does everything.

root of all eval
Dec 28, 2002

xzzy posted:

Man, javascript frameworks have come a long way since the last time I looked into them. Thinking of trying out Phaser for this.. anyone got a strong opinion for or against it or any other library?

Seems like a slam dunk for 2d as it looks like it does everything.

No doubt. I have been using MMF 2 for a while but the bullshit workarounds to decent logic and loops has been driving me nuts. Starting with a native JS framework would be so freeing. I'm looking forward to suggestions as well.

thehoax
Feb 23, 2011

Well, then.

xzzy posted:

Man, javascript frameworks have come a long way since the last time I looked into them. Thinking of trying out Phaser for this.. anyone got a strong opinion for or against it or any other library?

Seems like a slam dunk for 2d as it looks like it does everything.

I user Phaser for my last year's game and it was a blast. Pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it, and everything is built in, including physics and whatnot. I'd say go ahead, it's pretty good.

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vaginal cramps
Nov 17, 2003

My vote for theme is Games for Grandma. Local Color is good too, and I can think of many great ideas that do not rely on living in a place perceived as having unique culture.

I feel like Critical Omission could end up with some similar ideas to the "You can't _____" category that was used in the past.

vaginal cramps fucked around with this message at 08:03 on Jun 23, 2015

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