Community Contest #8 - Military Training Area
by David Montgomery-Blake · 03/26/2012 (5:16 pm) · 40 comments
It's that time again! We're announcing a new contest. Since some of our crew are away at Defense GameTech 2012 Conference (including Geoff who usually posts these), we decided to do a military-themed contest. We were inspired by the training/tutorial levels in Call of Duty and Frozen Synapse.
Since this is a more in-depth contest, we are allowing three weeks to put together a short military training level. Submissions due the second Friday in April 11:59 AM PDT.
Prize: $149 in first-party store credit.
Preference will be given to a playable Windows or Mac build. We do not expect it to be bug-free or have final production polish. Gameplay is the most important aspect of the contest.
Currently, we are looking at the best way to submit builds. It may be that using a free Dropbox account would be best so that we can download them and run them through a virus scanner to ensure that they are virus free.
Stay tuned for more information (and maybe fancy images from Geoff at GameTech).
About the author
Community management and development, Educational computing systems and lab management, Flex, ActionScript, JavaScript, PHP, C++, C#, Perl, Python, Ruby, LUA, etc.
#2
Good luck to anyone entering this.
03/26/2012 (6:46 pm)
Don't forget the toothbrush floor cleaning.Good luck to anyone entering this.
#3
03/26/2012 (7:00 pm)
Well now, I might just have some time on my hands. This one sounds interesting indeed. 
#4
We will provide submission details soon for playable files.
03/26/2012 (7:58 pm)
Thank you for helping me out on this one Dave! Its warm here in Orlando and I will provide some updates from Gametech tomorrow.We will provide submission details soon for playable files.
#5
No fair! You have an obvious advantage here Ron. I'm calling shenanigans. :P
03/26/2012 (10:03 pm)
"Well now, I might just have some time on my hands. This one sounds interesting indeed."No fair! You have an obvious advantage here Ron. I'm calling shenanigans. :P
#6
(When officers outnumber the rest, things change.)
03/26/2012 (11:06 pm)
I should make a sitting around and staring out windows simulator, with bonus levels where you work your way through lavish meals :P(When officers outnumber the rest, things change.)
#7
03/27/2012 (12:58 am)
Are we allowed to team up on this one? 
#8
03/27/2012 (9:03 am)
Doom was used for building team communication skills. Is this what you mean or more along the lines of Americas Army with the full firing range procedure and audio commands? Just thought I would add that to the discussion. 
#9
Some of the ideas bounced around were "room clearing" exercises in T3D perhaps along the lines of Rainbow Six, or something like Frozen Synapse in T2D - but obviously no one expects a AAA marketable release with only 3 weeks to work in.
Matt Buckland's Programming Game AI by Example builds a soccer game played by AIs and a top-down shooter that you can play or watch the AIs duke it out. My first thought when this was mentioned was something along the lines of that top-down shooter.
And Mr. Acaster just posted a big blog on how to sort of do this in T3D, actually. So, Steve - you sort of hamstrung yourself on this one, but as usual you have handed the community a gem that can be cut and polished a number of ways to benefit our projects. Thanks man - keep it up!
03/27/2012 (10:00 am)
Yes.Some of the ideas bounced around were "room clearing" exercises in T3D perhaps along the lines of Rainbow Six, or something like Frozen Synapse in T2D - but obviously no one expects a AAA marketable release with only 3 weeks to work in.
Matt Buckland's Programming Game AI by Example builds a soccer game played by AIs and a top-down shooter that you can play or watch the AIs duke it out. My first thought when this was mentioned was something along the lines of that top-down shooter.
And Mr. Acaster just posted a big blog on how to sort of do this in T3D, actually. So, Steve - you sort of hamstrung yourself on this one, but as usual you have handed the community a gem that can be cut and polished a number of ways to benefit our projects. Thanks man - keep it up!
#10
03/27/2012 (10:07 am)
Does "any Torque Engine" include the much older TGE 1.5.2? I'm much more familiar with that engine and can prototype something much faster in it than in T3D if that's acceptable.
#11
03/27/2012 (10:13 am)
I won't shy away from games made in TGE! 
#12
So I can just bring forward the work on this level and enter this contest? Can the content I make still be used in my game or does the content become owned by GG on entering the contest?
03/27/2012 (3:24 pm)
@David I'm currently working on a military based game and do plan to have a training mission area.So I can just bring forward the work on this level and enter this contest? Can the content I make still be used in my game or does the content become owned by GG on entering the contest?
#13
@Philip: A resounding YES! We definitely encourage teaming up. For teams of two each member would win a separate prize. If anyone has a team larger than two - email myself or David and we will determine potential prize distribution on a case by case basis. But I want to see community members reaching out and working together. Particularly connecting artists and programmers.
@Edward: As long as what you submit is work that was not started prior to the contest it qualifies. So YES it can be part of your military based game BUT it needs to be a training specific level that was only worked on since the announcement of the contest. (Since there is no real way to prove/disprove this its an on your honor type thing)
@Andrew: We want creativity. The only guideline is Military Training Area. No stipulation to a specific country, branch, or anything else. We like creativity more than strict rules.
@Gilbert: ANY and all Torque engines qualify for this contest.
03/27/2012 (4:24 pm)
GREAT first day at GameTech - Ill try and post some photos. Lots of great discussions with Military and Military contractors about using games to train and teach.@Philip: A resounding YES! We definitely encourage teaming up. For teams of two each member would win a separate prize. If anyone has a team larger than two - email myself or David and we will determine potential prize distribution on a case by case basis. But I want to see community members reaching out and working together. Particularly connecting artists and programmers.
@Edward: As long as what you submit is work that was not started prior to the contest it qualifies. So YES it can be part of your military based game BUT it needs to be a training specific level that was only worked on since the announcement of the contest. (Since there is no real way to prove/disprove this its an on your honor type thing)
@Andrew: We want creativity. The only guideline is Military Training Area. No stipulation to a specific country, branch, or anything else. We like creativity more than strict rules.
@Gilbert: ANY and all Torque engines qualify for this contest.
#14
We will not own your content. It is all yours. We're not harvesting IP. You own your content. We just want to see you guys succeed.
03/27/2012 (4:36 pm)
@EdwardWe will not own your content. It is all yours. We're not harvesting IP. You own your content. We just want to see you guys succeed.
#15
There's a blog right there. ;)
03/27/2012 (9:35 pm)
"Ill try and post some photos. Lots of great discussions with Military and Military contractors about using games to train and teach."There's a blog right there. ;)
#16
Gilbert: Glad to see you in this thread :)
03/28/2012 (9:23 am)
Does it have to be a contemporary training scenario?Gilbert: Glad to see you in this thread :)
#17
03/28/2012 (9:25 am)
Nope! If you want to make a knight training scenario, it would be awesome. 
#18
03/29/2012 (3:50 am)
Does it have to be 3d?
#19
@Andy - any torque engine may be used including 2D engines.
We will decide on a best way to submit and share executable files tomorrow as well.
03/29/2012 (6:22 am)
Last day of Gametech - Ill do a write up tomorrow when I am back in the Vegas office.@Andy - any torque engine may be used including 2D engines.
We will decide on a best way to submit and share executable files tomorrow as well.
#20
another option (as mentioned by David) is DopBox with the downside of requiring instalation and a dropbox share folder on your pc and you only get 2GB out-of the box - although you can get a few extra MB by performing some tasks like bringing people to dropbox
There's also SugarSync with it's free 5GB plan (never used them so can't atest to it's services.
The same can be said for OpenDrive, also offering 5GB.
Other's i have heard of are SpiderOak - ofering 2GB and ZumoDrive - offering 1GB with an extra GB for performimg tasks.
03/30/2012 (7:16 am)
Microsoft SkyDrive is an option if your looking at free cloud services. All you need is a Live ID and you get a wooping 25GB (yes that's a 2 and a 5 and a GB) to store and share anythinganother option (as mentioned by David) is DopBox with the downside of requiring instalation and a dropbox share folder on your pc and you only get 2GB out-of the box - although you can get a few extra MB by performing some tasks like bringing people to dropbox
There's also SugarSync with it's free 5GB plan (never used them so can't atest to it's services.
The same can be said for OpenDrive, also offering 5GB.
Other's i have heard of are SpiderOak - ofering 2GB and ZumoDrive - offering 1GB with an extra GB for performimg tasks.
Associate Steve Acaster
[YorkshireRifles.com]
I have a hazy recollection of lots of ironing and scrubbing latrines ... can't get much more hardcore realism than that! ;)