OFFICIAL GameMaker Press Play - Share Your Idea For A Game And Win Prizes!

rmanthorp

GameMaker Staff
Admin
GameMaker Dev.

The thought of all these fantastic game projects that never left the paper inspired us to host GameMaker Press Play - an opportunity for you to achieve your game-making dreams. All you need to do to take part is to submit your idea for a game! Take this chance to win the opportunity to start your game development career!

Submissions will open on September 16th and close on September 30th.

https://opr.as/gm-press-play
 

Mr Magnus

Viking King
  • You must be a beginner and have not produced professionally or semi-professionally any games before that are widely available.
Shoot, that's me out. I guess my work technically has resulted in me taking part in the development of games that are widely available, even if it's not under my own name nor with GameMaker.

Best of luck to all the entrants, this sounds like a fantastic opportunity to get that pipe-dream of yours one step closer to reality.
 
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Who owns the rights to the games in the end? I don't see the answer to that anywhere in the blog post or the full terms and conditions. I feel like that's something that should be made clear from the outset.

Edit: For anyone that's just reading this now, the full terms and conditions have since been updated with the line:
  • The legal ownership of the game and the idea it is based on remains in the hands of the submitting party.
 
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Evanski

Raccoon Lord
Forum Staff
Moderator
I submitted Zero Chronicle,
never produced anything that was professional or widely available, unless those jam games count.
The beginner part, ehhhhh

It was mostly the
should not contain themes deemed inappropriate for minors, such as drug use, sexual themes, brutal violence, disturbing visuals, etc.
that prevented me from looking at it
I'm not into making kid games personally.
 

O.Stogden

Member
Yeah, the wording of "You can not have made a game Professionally or Semi-Professionally" is a little vague.

What is Semi-Professional? Do they mean anyone who has released a game on Steam or Itch that is paid for is a "Semi-Professional"? Because someone could do that in their first week of using GM.

And the widely available part is also vague, does that also mean any game that is released on Steam and Itch? Technically any game put on Itch is widely available, but I wouldn't attach a semi-professional tag to them...

I would assume I would count as a Semi-Professional having released a game on Steam. I definitely wouldn't call myself a Semi-Professional though haha.

I'm pretty confused as to what end this competition achieves?

The reward sounds like they pay for 20 hours of... consultation? Or at least 20 hours of work with a professional game developer. Which ultimately is no time at all. And then it's back to the amateur developer to work on their game solo? You could very likely say 3/3 of the winners will never release their games in that case. You can't be an amateur, get 20 hours with a professional game dev, and then make your dream game, it takes years of work and learning. I presume the option of paying yourself for further consultation after the 20 hours is an option, but what amateur dev is going to do that? Probably not many.

Aside from that, the laptop prize is cool, but I don't think you'll be "creating" game developers with this unfortunately...
 
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samspade

Member
Yeah, the wording of "You can not have made a game Professionally or Semi-Professionally" is a little vague.

What is Semi-Professional? Do they mean anyone who has released a game on Steam or Itch that is paid for is a "Semi-Professional"? Because someone could do that in their first week of using GM.

And the widely available part is also vague, does that also mean any game that is released on Steam and Itch? Technically any game put on Itch is widely available, but I wouldn't attach a semi-professional tag to them...

I would assume I would count as a Semi-Professional having released a game on Steam. I definitely wouldn't call myself a Semi-Professional though haha.

I'm pretty confused as to what end this competition achieves?

The reward sounds like they pay for 20 hours of... consultation? Or at least 20 hours of work with a professional game developer. Which ultimately is no time at all. And then it's back to the amateur developer to work on their game solo? You could very likely say 3/3 of the winners will never release their games in that case. You can't be an amateur, get 20 hours with a professional game dev, and then make your dream game, it takes years of work and learning. I presume the option of paying yourself for further consultation after the 20 hours is an option, but what amateur dev is going to do that? Probably not many.

Aside from that, the laptop prize is cool, but I don't think you'll be "creating" game developers with this unfortunately...
I agree, and the first time I read it, I felt the same way. But on re-reading it I think the intent really is just to motivate someone to make a game, and give them some help to do so. It really isn't to get a finished game. You can see this through word choices like start, kickstart, and "encourage the winners to pursue a career". They're also not promising to promote anything but "The finished games".

Really I think the big mislead is this sentence here: "Opportunity to work with a professional game creator, who’ll make your dream game a reality!" The second half of that statement is just outright false when you look at the extended rules. 20 hours even with a skilled developer would at most get you a game jam sized game. Hopefully, they change it to something more reasonable, or remove the second half entirely.

I do think this is a really cool idea though and it's nice to see the continual support and investment from YoYo in the community.
 
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O.Stogden

Member
samspade said:
Really I think the big mislead is this sentence here: "Opportunity to work with a professional game creator, who’ll make your dream game a reality!" The second half of that statement is just outright false when you look at the extended rules. 20 hours even with a skilled developer would at most get you a game jam sized game. Hopefully, they change it to something more reasonable, or remove the second half entirely.
Yeah, I think it would be tough and asking too much for them to set someone up with a career in game dev. I think the marketing team has hyped this up a liiiittle too much, as you say haha.

It's kind of beyond any companies ability to promise to make someone else's game a reality unless that company was prepared to create the game, or fund the game entirely by themselves, and that's not on offer here. Nor should it be.

I think the worry here is that they're specifically looking for amateurs with no experience in game dev. Which means they might quit a month down the road because they've moved on, or they may not have realistic expectations. I guess it's up to the judges to gauge whether someone is actually serious about game development and a career in it when they're picking the 3 winners.

I think at least the forum thread title is well-measured and accurate. :D
 
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Nocturne

Friendly Tyrant
Forum Staff
Admin
Who owns the rights to the games in the end? I don't see the answer to that anywhere in the blog post or the full terms and conditions. I feel like that's something that should be made clear from the outset.
@rmanthorp Can this be clarified? To me this is the elephant in the room... if you are trying to attract young or potentially inexperienced people to the competition, then it should be made clear the legal status of any project that get's started as part of the prize.

I'm also curious as to whether this signals (as I hope it does!) the resurrection of YYG Publishing? I know you can't say anything and it'll be a :squirrel: but I have to ask!
 
Clearly not for me, but I love the initiative behind this; looking forward to seeing how it turns out! If this is an example of the kind of initiatives OperaGX will get behind for the community, then I'm all for it.
 

gnysek

Member
Can I submit as idea "YoYoGames Classics Remastered", a upgraded collection with They Need to be Fed, Reflexions, Froad, Simply Word Search, Simply Minesweeper, Planet Descent, Lazy Mouse etc. ? :D
 

Chaser

Member
Oh @Alice , your such a sensitive soul. I meant no harm by my comment, was just a bit of banter. I put a lol and :) to show I was being humorous. I apologise if it came across as a ridicule. :)
 
Unfortunately, the dream game I have is impossible to be made in 20 hours even with a big-fat AAA team, but still big props to Yoyo for setting up contests and stuff like this.
This is all obviously a new kind of thing and will evolve as it goes, but I really like the idea of "Give us an idea and let us show you what it can really do!".
I hope they pick a really original concept to showcase something else than platformers and space shooters, but hey! That's politics, by this point!
 

Roldy

Member
  • You must be a beginner and have not produced professionally or semi-professionally any games before that are widely available.

I've never released a game of my own as an indie (besides jams). But have worked as an engineer, never as designer or producer, with and at game studios that have released plenty of games (of which I am credited). Does that exclude me?
 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
I've released paid games, but I've got the least professional behaviour out of everyone that's ever have worked at my current company. Last week, I "borrowed" some equipment and it prevented the IT guy from preparing some new computers for new team members, delaying at least 4 people for several days. Of course I blamed it all on someone else and then proceeded to go home 3 hours early.

Am I a professional, a semi-professional, a sub-professional, a confessional, a jerk, or something else entirely? asking for a friend
 

FredFredrickson

Artist, designer, & developer
GMC Elder
@rmanthorp Can this be clarified? To me this is the elephant in the room... if you are trying to attract young or potentially inexperienced people to the competition, then it should be made clear the legal status of any project that get's started as part of the prize.
I'd like to second (or third?) this. But not just for the projects that win - for all ideas submitted.

If the ownership of these concepts isn't clear, it could create a giant mess if Opera, YYG, the judges, or anyone else involved decides to go ahead and develop them without the original creator involved.

Or what if YYG/Opera decide they own all submitted ideas, and then a creator/submitter wants to go ahead and use their idea after other winners are announced?

This is an important point that must be addressed.
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
Usually I'm the first person to post critical comments on recent Opera announcements, but not this time. Several people have beaten me to the punch, and most have publishing experience. This is a very clear warning sign.

To begin with, the definitions of "beginner", "semi-professional", and "widely available" are loose to the point of being unenforceable. Take me for example --- I don't have a commercially published game yet, but I have submitted GMC Jam entries and served as a technical reviewer for several books. If I submit an entry, what would I count as? Are jam games "widely available"? I can argue that they're only for a narrow audience, i.e. the small group of GMC Jam participants. What about the books that are "widely available"? I can argue that they're not games. Can you see how pathological this can get?

And even if you can define what a beginner is, what kinds of "ideas" are YoYo expecting of them? As a Q&A responder, I can tell what "dreams" these kinds of beginners typically come in with. They either come in with vague, dime-a-dozen descriptions that haven't been thought through, or want to replicate big-ticket items that take a team of seasoned professionals months or years to produce. On top of that, the 500-character limit almost guarantees a level of shallowness and vagueness. There's a reason why "i wanna make a minecraft mmorpg" and "i wanna make an rpg with monsters and inventories" are classic stereotypes around here. 20 hours of consultation time is unlikely to get it even started, let alone getting it to last or finish.

But more serious than that is the legal minefield that is ideas sent in through mail. Ask anyone with professional experience in a major game or content publisher, and they will tell you that their company has a policy of not accepting fanmail containing game or business ideas. The reason behind it is that every piece of fanmail like that is a handicap to future development and an IP dispute waiting to go off. So why is Opera and YoYo inviting 2 weeks worth of them onto their doorsteps?

I apologize if this is starting to get personal, but I think the staff responsible for marketing GM at Opera needs to be grounded for a while. He/she/they are coming up with a lot of poorly thought out ideas that any average developer over the age of 25 can find fault with. He/she/they are not thinking like a lawyer in a matter that could have involved a legal professional. Someone in YoYo or Opera leadership should have put a damper on this kind of freewheeling behaviour.
 

Posh Indie

That Guy
...
they will tell you that their company has a policy of not accepting fanmail containing game or business ideas.
...
Confirming this.

I am also doubtful that the target audience will be able to make the most of the rewards. In any case, at least they can play some sweet AAA games made with Unreal Engine on the high end gaming laptops while not completing their dream games once the consultant finishes their obligation...

I love the spirit Opera is bringing to the table, I just wish these things had sufficient thought put into them...
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
500 word limit seams odd. If yyg/opera were really committed they would be ready to spend some time reading GDDs. Instead it seems like they don't want to spend much time. (Same with a relatively easy laptop prize instead of a full publishing deal, and 20 hours of consultation).

500 words simply isn't enough to write a GDD in.
So if it's just a couple vague paragraph describing the game, I think you will get lots and lots of half assed submission with little effort put into it.
It wouldn't wean out the people who are ready to put a lot of effort in from the rest.
After all, making a game isn't about having a good idea. It's about having the discipline.


[Edit]
Maybe that's the point: 500 words isn't a large investment.
 
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Couldn't agree more how ambiguous the terms are. I can't see myself eligible to participate just because I've several apps on the market despite being far from even qualify as a semi professional let alone be lumped as professional. LOL. I never majored in computer, and only began coding when I picked up GMS2 in 2018. The reason I managed to make the apps I made was due to diligent reading the manual, following along video and written tutorials, and adopting methods learnt from those tutorials into my own.

There are game ideas that I have had to shelf due to lack of skills even to this day. I'm barely even using 20% of the functions and features of the IDE. But how to even qualify for a shot at realizing at least 1 dream game with the terms sounding like so. By the look of it, it's geared more to those who just picked up a free trial GMS2 with less than a couple months experience tinkering with it.. My main motivation if I could even join would be the chance to get mentored by a real pro on a number of things I badly wish to learn. I simply don't have the financial capability to pay a tutor. I find the mentoring more useful as it's akin to being given a fishing rod than being given the fish where I'd ended up playing games than making them. LOL
 

FoxyOfJungle

Kazan Games
Anyway, it's a good initiative for those who have brilliant minds but are still inexperienced with any game creation and/or don't have opportunities, like a decent computer.

I consider myself an advanced/professional user (modesty aside!) on GMS 2/GML (I make money from assets), but at the same time I have never released a complex game with top graphics or anything like that (not counting 2 jam games and 1 children's quiz), I just do projects, so technicallyI'm not allowed. But my brother really wants to get into this game development area.
 
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O.Stogden

Member
500 word limit seams odd. If yyg/opera were really committed they would be ready to spend some time reading GDDs. Instead it seems like they don't want to spend much time. (Same with a relatively easy laptop prize instead of a full publishing deal, and 20 hours of consultation).

500 words simply isn't enough to write a GDD in.
So if it's just a couple vague paragraph describing the game, I think you will get lots and lots of half assed submission with little effort put into it.
It wouldn't wean out the people who are ready to put a lot of effort in from the rest.
After all, making a game isn't about having a good idea. It's about having the discipline.
Bear in mind that YYG/Opera are only interested in people with basically 0 experience with game dev, and those people likely aren't writing up a GDD, at best they might have a notepad document with a few things written down about what they'd like in a game. This whole thing is a little odd. They're basically asking for people to walk in off the street and say what their next MMO idea is.

Their only saving grace is the 16+ age limit, otherwise the vast majority of submissions here would be 8-15 year olds submitting ideas for a new Minecraft/Fortnite/Pokemon hybrid MMO. 🤣

I know when I first started out game devving, I wasn't writing GDD's at all, it took me many years before I was writing up plans and proper documents to detail what the aim was.

My posts probably come off as harsh in here, I do appreciate what they're trying to do, they've just made some odd choices that make no sense and are confusing to almost everyone.
 

Chaser

Member
500 words isnt a great deal if your going all out for a ‘in depth’ plot where gui is detailed, characters realised, story’s backdrops and everything else, but that’s not what there asking, just an ‘idea’ for a game is all. 500 words is more than enough to get the basics in my opinion. I would say for every game jam game I have ever played has been based on an idea that doesn’t exceed 500 words, I mean some probably don’t even have 20 words, lol.

“New Minecraft/Fortnite/Pokemon hybrid MMO”

Woahhhhh! @O.Stogden nailed it! Lol :)

Is the laptop for keeps or leased? I need a new computer, and it just so happens that all my family and friends have suddenly decided they want to be a game developer. This is good news. Lol. :)
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
Don't get me wrong; very cool initiative.
But it's all very vague.

I suppose it's ok though since 500 words isn't a large investment. The details can be disclosed to the winners and I'm sure they have the opportunity to assess it then.
 
One thing that hasn't been made clear is how long a winner may spend turning their winning idea into a product. Surely there's an expected submission date for it be featured on OperaGX. Knowing that timeframe is equally important to determine the participant's idea scope. If I were to say "I want to make another Pokemon clone" and won .... I'm going to need at least 1 year, which could drag on longer, given I draw my sprites alone, e.g. My Onyanko Town clone "Guinea Pig Town" took me around 7 months to make, even then it's far from perfect. I can't imagine YoYoGames nor Opera would be fine with giving unlimited time to the winner to turn their idea into reality which might never ever happen given the winner is as stipulated have to be a beginner who more than likely is completely clueless, and the 20 hours mentoring wouldn't be enough, and doubtfully will they self-finance extra mentoring hours. And if the laptop is given on winning the idea submission, they might not even bother or have the goodwill to make the game for Opera/YoYo to feature.
 

O.Stogden

Member
One thing that hasn't been made clear is how long a winner may spend turning their winning idea into a product. Surely there's an expected submission date for it be featured on OperaGX. Knowing that timeframe is equally important to determine the participant's idea scope. If I were to say "I want to make another Pokemon clone" and won .... I'm going to need at least 1 year, which could drag on longer, given I draw my sprites alone, e.g. My Onyanko Town clone "Guinea Pig Town" took me around 7 months to make, even then it's far from perfect. I can't imagine YoYoGames nor Opera would be fine with giving unlimited time to the winner to turn their idea into reality which might never ever happen given the winner is as stipulated have to be a beginner who more than likely is completely clueless, and the 20 hours mentoring wouldn't be enough, and doubtfully will they self-finance extra mentoring hours. And if the laptop is given on winning the idea submission, they might not even bother or have the goodwill to make the game for Opera/YoYo to feature.
Yeah, like GMWolf said, I guess the particulars would be sorted after you win, but this is kind of something you'd like to know going into it.

I presume after you win and have the 20 hour consultation the obligations of either party pretty much end? Aside from the promise that they'll feature the game, but that too might be reliant on you finishing the game quickly, as you say. I guess they'd find out when they win.

And I guess it also depends on what games get picked, YYG/Opera might be putting restrictions on the "dream" games they support, so they'll probably ignore any large scope games and just focus on smaller ones.

"I want Pac-Man with guns" as someone's dream game is definitely achievable within a few days for a professional dev team. So YYG might just pick something like that. ;)
 
Yeah, like GMWolf said, I guess the particulars would be sorted after you win, but this is kind of something you'd like to know going into it.

I presume after you win and have the 20 hour consultation the obligations of either party pretty much end? Aside from the promise that they'll feature the game, but that too might be reliant on you finishing the game quickly, as you say. I guess they'd find out when they win.

And I guess it also depends on what games get picked, YYG/Opera might be putting restrictions on the "dream" games they support, so they'll probably ignore any large scope games and just focus on smaller ones.

"I want Pac-Man with guns" as someone's dream game is definitely achievable within a few days for a professional dev team. So YYG might just pick something like that. ;)
I'd have expected it be sorted beforehand, but then again knowing the timeframe means the idea have to be limited to what is achievable within the time scope, which defeat the idea of "making dream game a reality". Unless it's ok to default on the 'get featured' portion, which I think is something already considered given the target audience (participants) are beginners whom might have very limited skills to see it through to the end. Then again, who have a dream game of making another 'tetris' or 'flappy bird' clone instead of a 'Final Fantasy' or 'Resident Evil' clone?
 

rmanthorp

GameMaker Staff
Admin
GameMaker Dev.
@rmanthorp Can this be clarified? To me this is the elephant in the room... if you are trying to attract young or potentially inexperienced people to the competition, then it should be made clear the legal status of any project that get's started as part of the prize.

I'm also curious as to whether this signals (as I hope it does!) the resurrection of YYG Publishing? I know you can't say anything and it'll be a :squirrel: but I have to ask!
Clarified in the T&Cs. Sorry about that one. You own everything!

I'll get further clarification around some of the other questions asked. I don't believe we are enforcing any time frame for getting the game made we want it to be the way that makes the most sense for the winner etc. I'll update when I hear more.
 
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I really think a lot of people are over analyzing it; And unfortunately some with a little sour-grapes.

This is just a funsy! It's just a 500 word game design doco, and a cute opportunity for a beginner to potentially collab with YYG's of all things. It's awesome, and it's win-win, for YYG's, OperaGX, and for the amateur's game dev.

once more; really nice initiative from YYG's. And great from their community manager. Reading between the lines, I guess this means someone's allocated a budget to someone to come up with some community events to cater across different GM demography's. Big thumbs up, and would be great to see the general GM community get in and support these kinds of initiatives even when they aren't aimed at themselves.

Note; if there are some concerning aspects of the 'rules': questions on IP, Patents; etc; guys this is the first thing you're thinking of, then this is not for you.

apologize if this is starting to get personal, but I think the staff responsible for marketing GM at Opera needs to be grounded for a while. He/she/they are coming up with a lot of poorly thought out ideas that any average developer over the age of 25 can find fault with. He/she/they are not thinking like a lawyer in a matter that could have involved a legal professional. Someone in YoYo or Opera leadership should have put a damper on this kind of freewheeling behaviour.
Paaaaarty-pooper. The man should definitely get a raise; injecting some lively and different ideas into the community. The fact they have the balls to try something out of the box , and one that's aimed at a much forgotten (and honestly, borderline maligned.. on these forums) and throw some money behind it is great.
 

O.Stogden

Member
I really think a lot of people are over analyzing it; And unfortunately some with a little sour-grapes.

This is just a funsy! It's just a 500 word game design doco, and a cute opportunity for a beginner to potentially collab with YYG's of all things. It's awesome, and it's win-win, for YYG's, OperaGX, and for the amateur's game dev.

once more; really nice initiative from YYG's. And great from their community manager. Reading between the lines, I guess this means someone's allocated a budget to someone to come up with some community events to cater across different GM demography's. Big thumbs up, and would be great to see the general GM community get in and support these kinds of initiatives even when they aren't aimed at themselves.

Note; if there are some concerning aspects of the 'rules': questions on IP, Patents; etc; guys this is the first thing you're thinking of, then this is not for you.


Paaaaarty-pooper. The man should definitely get a raise; injecting some lively and different ideas into the community. The fact they have the balls to try something out of the box , and one that's aimed at a much forgotten (and honestly, borderline maligned.. on these forums) and throw some money behind it is great.
I'm not sure we're too bothered about being excluded, as there isn't really much of a prize that would affect any of us, aside from the laptop which is a nice prize.

Personally I'm just confused about who can enter, there's no clear direction on it. Semi-Professional is a somewhat fluid term. My understanding of it is that anyone who has ever released a game with a price tag attached is a Semi-Professional. But I have no idea if that's YYG/Opera's definition of it as they don't elaborate.

Given these rules, someone could have used GM for the past 10 years, but if they haven't released a game, they are eligible for this and class as an amateur? But someone who has used GM for a month, and released a cheap game on Itch for fun, is not eligible because they are suddenly a semi-professional? It's just a bit of a weird rule in my opinion.

Also it's the internet, and a professional could easily lie and enter this and YYG/Opera probably have no way of telling who actually does have no experience and who does. Cynical view, but it is the internet. ;)

For the record, I did submit an entry, but explicitly stated at the end that I had released a game before on Steam which might make me ineligible, as I'm assuming I class as a semi-professional now.
 
Personally I'm just confused about who can enter, there's no clear direction on it. Semi-Professional is a somewhat fluid term. My understanding of it is that anyone who has ever released a game with a price tag attached is a Semi-Professional.

Given these rules, someone could have used GM for the past 10 years, but if they haven't released a game, they are eligible for this and class as an amateur? But someone who has used GM for a month, and released a cheap game on Itch for fun, is not eligible because they are suddenly a semi-professional? It's just a bit of a weird rule in my opinion.
Yep, let's see if YYG's can clarify a little bit more. But I don't know if there's a good way to quantify it; I read the competition and new right away it wasn't for me. I think half the people on this topic also got that same understanding.

And yeah, like most thins, this will require a bit of good-faith acting from all parties involved. But I think if you check someone's with a little bit of a profile, who's been building some Drag n Drop games over the last 6 months, then getting some kind of opportunity like this to take it to the next level is great. I don't know if it'll be all that hard for YYG's to tell whether someone is a good fit to work with or not.
 

Chaser

Member
@Desert Dog i say this with respect, but this isn't a 'community' event, as it excludes a lot of the community here, or at least i think it would be fair to say that the feeling is that this excludes a lot of us due to the 'terms' that have been set for this event.

However, to get the best for Gamemaker, it is important for the community to help drive initiatives like this and support it as in the long term it would help Gamemaker grow to a bigger audience. it's not a bad thing, but like you say, maybe some 'sour grapes' unfortunately. There doe's seem some money has been put into a kitty for some which is great, maybe helped from the new 'subscription' module, which wasn't long ago announced, and met with some grumbles, then we had the Opera GX game jam, which had some gripes with some for what ever reason, and now this effort. It's a lot going on in such a short space of time. I don't mirror what Frostycat said, it's great that things are being done as they are, but i feel some of what they are saying, shouldn't it all be spaced out a bit more? more of a steady pace so we can digest it? We also had the GMC game jam recently, i can't keep up. I'm in danger of getting FOMO. :)
 

O.Stogden

Member
To be honest I submitted my idea, and if YYG or whoever it goes to think it's a good idea, they're free to make the game. :p

I tried making it many years ago, but lacked the ability/skill required to do it. But I'm not against someone getting further than I could with it.
 
Note; if there are some concerning aspects of the 'rules': questions on IP, Patents; etc; guys this is the first thing you're thinking of, then this is not for you.
Well, if Blizzard or Squaresoft sent out a Tweet saying ''Shoot us your game design ideas! You may win a laptop!'', what would be the first thing you'd think about?
Plus, the odds of a beginner finishing any kind of game with only 20h consultation to help him are slim to none, so it does make it look like they're just after ideas, and not after a cool full-fledged game that showcase the engine at it's fullest. Fender or Gibson don't use guitar players with 20hours of experience to showcase their guitars, don't they?
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
I'm actually awake now, and it all make a lot more sense to me now.
It's not so much: pitch a game idea and we will develop it with you, but much more: we want to kick-start someone's game making career (be it professional or no) but obviously can't give the mentoring and hardware to everyone, let's organize this fun contest instead.

Their really just providing some mentorship to get someone involved in gamedev. I like that.
The prospect of creating their first game is alluring but it seems to me this isn't really what it's about.
 
Well, if Blizzard or Squaresoft sent out a Tweet saying ''Shoot us your game design ideas! You may win a laptop!'', what would be the first thing you'd think about?
Well, I've written what my first thoughts where when Yoyogames posted about it. GM has other userbases: Classrooms, universities, game design courses, etc, etc, outside of the niche indie game market.

Blizzard and Squaresoft are professional game companies; they're in a completely different domain to Yoyogames.

Fender or Gibson don't use guitar players with 20hours of experience to showcase their guitars, don't they?
Oh, people really take Gamemaking too seriously. Many, many(most?) of GM classics were people first games, first programming experiences, and first time doing digital art. It's just about if you make something fun at the end of the day, and you can do that in GM even as an absolute beginner. Hopefully we get to see that from this initiative!
 
I was not saying they are after IPs, I'm saying it definitely could look like it when you read how they worded their stuff before they added that part
The legal ownership of the game and the idea it is based on remains in the hands of the submitting party.
I think I know the big lines of where it fits in their business plan, and it makes sense when you think about it. Probably not the place to talk about that, tho 🔨😂
The fact of the matter remains, even 20 hours of mentorship doesn't guarantee them the delivery of a game.
What are the obligations when you win the design part? I'm still not clear if this is "best design doc wins", or "Make us a game, we pay 20h tutorial and a laptop", or "we make that game for you, for up to 20 hours", or whatever else this thing might mean:
The help of professional game creators with the game production, for which GMS will cover the cost for up to 20 hours.
...
This can really mean anything...
 

drandula

Member
Overall, I like this idea :) Though, I do feel bit sad that I can't participate x)
(I have only made gamejam entries etc., but more than 10 years experience, so I am not beginner either)

My opinion about prize, is that it sounds bit odd first but "correct". It gives out different mentality why to participate; to advance your game development. I think in OperaGX jam the "big money" made some people take it too seriously and forgot to have fun.

Latest events etc. signals, that YYG and Opera tries to make things more lively and involve community more, which I feel is good thing! In previous ownership, things felt being bit stagnant, so it is nice change of pace.
 
Overall, I like this idea :) Though, I do feel bit sad that I can't participate x)
(I have only made gamejam entries etc., but more than 10 years experience, so I am not beginner either)
You've never shipped a game to sell then? I think that still qualifies you as a beginner in the context of the terms laid out by this contest. Now that it's been clarified that you'll retain ownership of anything you submit - If you go ahead and submit an entry, the worst thing that can happen is you don't win a free laptop.
 

TheMagician

Member
Do you get the laptop immediately after your entry has been chosen as a winner or only after the finished game has been published to Opera GX? If it's the former, then how do they make sure that you want to develop the game all the way to the end?
 

drandula

Member
@Mushroomstick I don't that is in the spirit of this event 😝
(Think this way, there would be lot of people who whould nag about "not being beginner" etc. if someone with years of GMS experience would be chosen, even though they would "technically" fit in criteria.)

But anyway, I can mention this to my little bros ;)
 

samspade

Member
@Mushroomstick I don't that is in the spirit of this event 😝
(Think this way, there would be lot of people who whould nag about "not being beginner" etc. if someone with years of GMS experience would be chosen, even though they would "technically" fit in criteria.)

But anyway, I can mention this to my little bros ;)
I agree. It's unclear if I technically qualify - never produced a game, only participated in 4 game jams. But, I've been making GameMaker tutorials for the last two years. And quoting from the full rules:

GameMaker Press Play is an event focused on helping total beginners into game-making (people who either never used GMS before, or made just a few amateur projects) achieve their dreams. The aim is to encourage beginners to send us the ideas they have for their dream game - the plot, the mechanics, the system ( see submission requirements) The most interesting/creative ideas will be rewarded (see prizes section), which will hopefully encourage the winners to pursue a career in game development.
That doesn't sound like me. I'm not a total beginner, I've used GMS for years, and I don't 'need' encouragement (I mean everyone needs encouragement but I'm already invested). While, I as pointed out above, I disagree with some of the wording, particularly the promise that a professional game creator will "make your dream game a reality!", the idea is very clearly to attract and inspire a new group of GameMakers, not to actually get a game out of anyone. Although that would be pretty awesome.
 
@Mushroomstick I don't that is in the spirit of this event 😝
(Think this way, there would be lot of people who whould nag about "not being beginner" etc. if someone with years of GMS experience would be chosen, even though they would "technically" fit in criteria.)
I respectfully disagree. I think this event can also about giving a relatively skilled hobby game developer a push towards taking a step into the realm of going pro and potentially even making a finished product available for sale. I see this as a potential next step for someone who may have only released their work in the form a few gamejam entries.
 

O.Stogden

Member
Tbh, I think this is a case of "if you have to think about it, then this competition is not for you"... ;)
Unfortunately I think this discriminates against those of us who lack the ability to think.

I, for one, am hurt.

I hope this turns out for the best anyway. And I hope that there's some public acknowledgement of who won so we can see if there's anything we can look forward to from them.
 
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