[quote="pinback"]I thought the next comp was going to use the theme of dilapidated apartments in West Palm Beach, Florida.[/quote]
How about the opposite, dilapidated palm trees in apartments?

I thought the next comp was going to use the theme of dilapidated apartments in West Palm Beach, Florida. I was ready to go, man. I was READY this time.

The other day, I was showing someone my new tumblr ([url]http://omgspellcasting.tumblr.com/[/url]) which displays spam I get because of a review of "Spellcasting 101" I did one time. I show the comments as pictures in the tumblr just because I think the original e-mail looks funnier, but here's an example for those with screenreaders:

[quote]My name is Andrian Meelin ,i want to give a very big thanks to Dr OGALA for helping me to get pregnant and now i have a baby girl and i am heavy with a boy inside of me. i was married for 7 years and i couldn't get pregnant whenever i take in it will flow out, i became very confused and frustrated until a friend in my office introduced me to Dr OGALA who came down to the states to help me untie my womb.he gave me just water from his temple to drink and he also gave my husband something to rub before we made love. i am very grateful to him . if your out there and still finding it difficult to get pregnant or when you get pregnant it doesn't stay contact him i assure you its going to be very alright with you.

(contact info omitted)[/quote]

Anyhow, the person I showed it to said, "That'd be a great SpeedIF!" which got me thinking, hey, it's not a bad idea for a comp theme, either.

So I propose we make the Hugo Comp this year a spellcasting comp! I figure this has a lot of possibilities. I figure everyone has wanted to write an Enchanter or Spellcasting 101 type game at some point, and even if you don't want to make your protagonist a spellcaster, there are plenty of other stories to be told!

I [b]was[/b] going to complement this announcement with a Hugo extension for doing Enchanter or Spellcasting 101 type spells, but I got distracted by working on another thing and considering that I'd still like an early summer deadline, it's best to get the word out as soon as possible.

What do people think?

Ok, two things. The first one is you don't understand what is meant by "IF versions" of arcade games. Maybe you should go take a look at the original games themselves.

[url]http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/mini-comps/arcade/arcade.zip[/url]

Secondly, as far as the key press thing goes, you are also wrong. It's true that Hugo can't accept key presses during a command prompt, but it can accept it anywhere else.

For example: [url=http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/hugo/tetris.zip]Hugo Tetris[/url]

[quote="Roody_Yogurt"]My other idea involved bringing back the "IF Arcade" format where people make IF out of classic arcade games. ... [/quote]

The real problem with Hugo is that it doesn't support real-time character press capability, what was often referred to as "delimiterless input." Any game that relied on the user pressing a key to commit an action, like moving the paddle in Breakout, is not possible using Hugo.

Well, the last year I intended to have a Hugo comp (but did not), I was leaning towards one of two things. The first idea was a port-an-old-game comp, somewhat inspired by "SceptreQuest" which ported some old BASIC game and, in the process, added a ton of jokes and became much better.

My other idea involved bringing back the "IF Arcade" format where people make IF out of classic arcade games. Several interesting games came out of the first "IF Arcade," and of course, there's no shortage of games left to cover.

I hadn't planned on throwing out any ideas just because they didn't result in anything the last time and was hoping somebody will say an idea that they're excited about. But hey, if people are excited about any of those ideas, let me know.

[quote="Roody_Yogurt"]Also, since we're talking about this so early in the year, I'd suggest we make use of that and schedule the deadline for early summer. [/quote]

So, having announced that you think it would be a good idea, any recommendations / suggestions on a theme, a scope or range of what the games would be about, would do, or would be related to? Or some idea what to target?

I hadn't planned to do one before that post, but I'd be up for one if we can get like 3-4 people to show interest. I loved the games that were submitted the other year, and it's definitely something I've wanted to do again.

Personally, I like having suggested themes just to help with the creative process of coming up with the initial idea, so maybe people could throw out ideas they think would be fun?

Also, since we're talking about this so early in the year, I'd suggest we make use of that and schedule the deadline for early summer. Having it in December is such a gamble with everybody's time. I was thinking possibly a June 23rd deadline just because St. John's Eve has amused me ever since I played Gabriel Knight those many years ago.

Is there any hope for a 2016 minicomp? I was just thinking about the 2012 minicomp... but that was *long* before I discovered Hugo.

We moved it to a private base where people were supposed to write weekly coding updates, but I dropped the ball in terms of motivating others as well as doing the work myself to the point where we had to say, "Ok, that didn't work out so well. See you next year!". I had just started a new job that had a lot to learn so I'm not too mad at myself, but there's really no reason why I haven't picked it back up since then.

What ever happened with this? I was away from the forum a while, but I don't remember there being an official announcement about it starting -- just some comments about what form it might take and when it might get rolling. Seems like it was becoming a tutorial-based competition?

You know, actually letting me see the competition base would help me immensely in this whole "getting started on the game" front. Know what i'm sayin'?

Honestly, the thign that's handycapping me a lot in trying to figure much of anything out is the way most existing source code is so... pretty. I mean, ascii art looks neat, and all, but when I'm trying to figure out exactly what will work and what won't work to make the barest-bone source code possible to keep the size down and whatnot, it gets really irritating. I'm just picky about that though, so never mind me.

[quote="Ice cream Jonsey"]You'll catch up just fine. By the end of the week I'll only have a program shell going, which I can send to you in fact if you want a handy program shell.[/quote]

You know, that might help. Also, I already konw that there's gonna be about two weeks near the end of June where I will be practically unavailable. COnsidering that's ideally when the really intensive error-checking stuff will be going on, this could be... problematic. Well, I guess i'll just have to set aside more time to work on the thing the rest of the comp.

[quote="Icecream Jonsey"]But look, if you're going to make a game for this thing we're going to fix your spelling. At at least one point I will demand your source code so I can
go in and get things working smoothly.[/quote]

Yes, let's hold the hand of the stupid punk teenager, everybody. You know, that would be easier to do if you were actually on AIM more. OH SNAP! Nah, seriously, i'll probably be going around asking other people to look at my source code if there's a bug I can't figure out how to fix. Hell, i still can't get what little I've made out of a shell game to compile, ranted i haven't tried to make it work in the past forevver but still. This is going to be crazy because i'm going to be learning the language at the same time as I enter a competition. Just crazy, I tell you. Anyway.

[quote="Ice cream Jonsey"]I know it's not your fault, due to the fact that there are only 3.2 people per ten square miles where you live and apparently none of them know how to spell either, but you're entering the BIG TIME now, my friend.[/quote]

Spoken as a person who is living on an island that is about 35 miles across, I find this statement highly offensive.

You'll catch up just fine. By the end of the week I'll only have a program shell going, which I can send to you in fact if you want a handy program shell.

But look, if you're going to make a game for this thing we're going to fix your spelling. At at least one point I will demand your source code so I can go in and get things working smoothly. I know it's not your fault, due to the fact that there are only 3.2 people per ten square miles where you live and apparently none of them know how to spell either, but you're entering the BIG TIME now, my friend.

...Could you please, please, please hold off starting on this thing for... I don't know, a week at the most? Ideally start around Valentine's day? I've got sixty bazillion school things I need to do right now that would seriously cut into my "GAEM"-ing time for the first few weeks. And--well, I'm already starting out handycapped, lololololz, I don't want to start out behind too. Narmean? (TM; c 1999-2004 Robb "B" Sherwin)

Thumbs to the sky on everything since my last post. And I see you've made the new base. [i]It's on like neckbone![/i]

That's good for me.

July 4th? It's on a Monday, so those of us who would like the weekend for last second changes would have the whole of it before submittal time.

I want to apologize that I haven't been posting to this as much as I should. I've been juggling a lot of things lately and therefore don't want to work on any of them most of the time.

Anyhow, yeah, I didn't really like the points thing, either; I was just suggesting it as a novel approach.

So when should the end date be? I like easy-to-remember holidays.

Also, the main reason I wanted coding to start so soon is because I feel coding itself affects and influences the game design (and to some extent, everything before that point is unquantifiable). Plus, it's when your wheels are really touching ground and you can figure out if there's any traction.

I think we just need someone to suggest some "official" start and end dates then run through here and the couple people on the ifMUD that might be interested and run with it.