ID:1455153
 
Noticed http://www.onegameamonth.com/ doesn't list any BYOND games which surprised me. Is there a reason why BYOND developers aren't jumping into that fun community challenge? I think it would bring a great deal more traffic to BYOND especially if people could trust BYOND made games more than installing random executables.
It was brought up some time back. I don't remember the outcome, but what I believe the cause is that because this is a hobby for much of the community, that enforcing deadlines would suck the fun out of it. So no one opted in.
There was someone, I forget who, that planned to do it for an entire year. I think it was Lord Andrew, actually, but I am not sure. I don't know how that turned out. Hm, it could of been Oasis too, but again not sure.

Anyway. I remember back then I thought about it, but I knew I had no time to do so with my current project going. As it stands now, it's tempting, but it sucks too much time and energy away from my primary projects for something that's really nothing more than a challenge. An achievement in something I enjoy, much like one in a PS 3 game, so to speak.

I'd much rather just focus on making as many solid, complete, and polished games as I can over the next year or so. Big, small, or somewhere in between; I don't care. I just have a list of like 15+ games in a document, with none of them released, none of them being ones I want to give up on, and that all needs to drastically change.

Most of them are simply a concept, or type, but still. I'm taking it one or two at a time till I get them all down. Usually one big one, and one small one, now; that way I can stay fresh and get things out pretty quick even when I'm making something big.
I'd like to point out that LordAndrew did take part in One Game A Month. His entry was Green Orb Quest which was open-source for awhile, but he hid it and closed access to the source. From what I recall, someone even made a blog post about his game, although I forgot the link.
Sounds like fun. I might or might not take part in the onegameamonth for January 2014; I have other projects going on that are more important to me and would take longer than a month.
I would take on such a challenge if I didn't have to deal with bug fixes and getting gameplay perfected. :P
In response to Lige
You can find his game on GitHub, I downloaded it not to long ago, like a month ago.
Any clever ideas around some kind of contest or motivational thing that would get some BYOND games going on that site?

What about open source and/or team projects? BYOND community picks the themes?
If I was going to go solo which I'm doubtful to do because I'm thinking about finishing off my BA starting early next year, I would pick a genre and stick with it for the year such as side scrollers. In this manner, each months efforts would build off the previous months.

I think the key is that you aren't going for the big win. You will eventually ease into a big win if you have many small wins under your belt.

It looks interesting. However, I'm afraid that if I were to start a project now, school would only deter its development.
In response to PopLava
PopLava wrote:
Any clever ideas around some kind of contest or motivational thing that would get some BYOND games going on that site?

Maybe showing how easy and fun developing a game within a month is, we'd get more developers working towards it. It would give BYOND some recognition as well. The main issue I foresee is the lack of resources available. Not many people are willing to shell out money for artwork, and most of those that are willing to do so lack the funds necessary. If I had the time and resources, I'd give it a shot, but that seems very unlikely given my current availability is extremely limited.

What about open source and/or team projects? BYOND community picks the themes?

Team projects would speed things along, but some schedules collide and people lose motivation because of it. It's worth noting that some people just aren't as dedicated to projects as others so some might eventually succumb to boredom and move on to the next shiny item.
The point of open source is to let others carry the ball so ta speak. Secondly, if you look at the thumbnail artwork for most of the onceamonthgames, they are less than polished (way less). The goal is not to create an awesome game but to create "a game". The goal is to get yourself into a repeatable game making mode. Quality and content will come naturally once you get going.
In response to Lige
Do you think that some decent free resource art could help with the resources issue you mentioned? Preferably some targeted at BYOND, actually, but either way. I know there's a little, but what if there were much more?
I like game in a day/week/month concepts but one a month or any other kind of time period feels draining. Its fine if you got the time, but its time we could spend on our main projects.
Ace, you can submit any game-related work as your "game" of the month. If you're working on a long term project, your game for every single month could just be a new iteration of the same game.
In response to Acebloke
Acebloke wrote:
I like game in a day/week/month concepts but one a month or any other kind of time period feels draining. Its fine if you got the time, but its time we could spend on our main projects.

depends on what your idea of what a game in a month means, could mean make a game in 30 days or spend 30 days making a game.

that seems like something that was possibly taken by someone who came on byond and saw the contests of the type that people like ian started back in the day. Then again.. it's probably just a coincidence (somewhat feeling like i remember that it was mentioned somewhere -maybe- that these contests here were taken from ideas elsewhere anyway. But anyway this is all just one big sidenote)