Going over contest feedback

Hi, just wanted to go over and respond to the feedback that I received for the contest held at the beginning of the month, and I'll then I'll talk about what I might do differently.

I think the choice of theme might have been a little restrictive. Cyberpunk is typically quite dark and it is very difficult to turn into something romantic or fun and sexy.

Also, a science fiction theme would have scared a lot writers away. Creating an imaginary world requires a lot of imagination and effort.

If you're going to run the competition again and still want a theme, I would suggest broader and abstract themes, such as "bubble," "winner," or "thirst," which just have to appear somewhere and may or may not be central to the story.

The only reason I didn't make a game for the competition is that I'm currently working a much larger game that would break many of the rules.

I think the author here has a point. "Cyberpunk" was little restrictive, and I know at least one author who didn't submit an entry on that basis alone.

I'd love to keep a theme going, but keeping them a lot vaguer and ephemeral might be key, if they are going to stay at all. The intention of the themes was to give people ideas, not restrict them, and I don't think they worked in that regard.

I like the idea of having more contests, so I am definitely in favor of this, but I think it's obvious that a vote between two games (albeit neither of them were anywhere near as awful as some entries to the minicomp) is only half a competition.

Sadly, I don't think I can really offer any constructive criticism on how to increase the number of entries.

I agree. I'm going to have find ways to promote the competition better if I'm going to run it again. Getting my ass sorted out with the AIF archive and investigating more websites is probably a good place to start.

 Fun contest.  This was just the right length to do something quick but still fun.  I hope to enter another Sneeze comp with what I've learned from this one.  Hope other people liked my game.  My suggestion for the next topic: Magical girl vs. Demon beast.

A sadly poor turnout, but hopefully it will continue and possibly gain some traction in the future. On the bright side, it is relatively easy to put together and got at least a couple games out there and who knows - maybe it sparked some interest!

I myself started with an idea - I had even tossed that general setting into the pot myself (though it could have been one of several). Sadly I didn't think I would get it done and went another direction. Then realized how little I knew about Twine and doing the many things that come naturally to me with Inform.

Even though I released nothing in the end, I did have fun. And though I see that a lot of polish could be applied to the games released, it is great to see the work they did put it in and hopefully they will feel the desire to put out more in the future.

A huge success or not, thanks very much for putting the SNEEZE together for us. It means a lot!

 That's very much appreciated, thanks. I still need to figure out ways to increase turnout.

 I swear it only took me a few seconds to realize that you meant the contest itself and hadn't accidentally left out a third entry in the archive.

CYOA is not necessarily my genre of choice, but any attempt to get a little blood flowing in the community is appreciated.

 Again, thanks!

I personally like the theme but maybe there would be more participants without one?

If feedback is anything to go on, yes, there would be more participants, which makes me rather sad. Making the theme vaguer, or getting rid of it, is really the choice I need to make.

Conclusions

SNEEZE COMP was a good experiment, and I think I will do it again next year, but with the benefit of wisdom and experience.

To me, the big issues were:

1. A lack of entries and votes.
2. A lack of public discussion about the games. 

While there was plenty feedback for the authors (especially considering the low votecount) none of it made it to the comments section, which I found unfortunate, because it made things seem a lot less active than it actually was.

As for 1), it's not just the theme, though that's a part of it. I think I really needed to do a better job of publicizing SNEEZE COMP. Put it on more boards and such. I think I can squeeze out more interest if I focus on that.

Duel to the Death Cover

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to put back up feedback for the contest but I've been horribly busy. I've been working odd hours nearly every day last week. Things might finally chill, we'll have to see, then I'll put up that feedback.

Anyways, I wanted to show everyone the cover for my new book, Duel to the Death, coming out next year. It's about half way done and I just cut out 20,000 words, which represents about a month of work. Ouch. That hurt. But I think the end result is going to be awesome.

If you want you can check out the publisher here.

SNEEZECOMP 2015 Winner

By a close vote of 16-13, Condomocium by Octarine Flash is the winner of SNEEZECOMP. Congratulations!

I'm going to set up a Hall of Fame, of sorts, sometime this week or next. The authors will be getting the feedback you gave them, too, when I have the chance to compile it all.

So thanks for everyone that voted, and thanks for the people who submitted entries. And soon I'll be posting and replying to some of the feedback about the contest itself, so stay tuned for that.

SNEEZE COMP 2015

There were two entries to this year's SNEEZE Comp. Thanks for everyone who participated! These are:

• Condomocium by Octarine Flash
• The Heir by Efon

You can download the entries here.

Have fun playing! Once you are done, fill out the voting form here. Voting closes on October 8th, 2015, 12:00 PM. Since there are only two entries, it's a simple binary vote and instant runoff votes are unnecessary. Any feedback you send will be given to the author.

EDIT 10/1/2015: Author posted a last-minute update to Condomocium.