[s]I do not see why a review should automatically be a yes vote, they are two separete things.
A review need not even be a positive review.[/s]
EDIT - Bah, just ignore this. I hadn’t read the rules properly. Sorry.
“Does rating (but not reviewing) a game on IFDB count as ‘writing and publishing a review.’”
No. A review has words, even if it is just the name of the game and “recommended.” It does feel odd giving a “yes” vote for people who review a game on IFDB, but I can’t be sure whether or not the reviewer is aware of the rules, and therefore need to assume every review counts.
“Adding a game to an IFDB poll, with or without a comment?”
No, just adding a game to a poll isn’t a review. And, like for a blog post, a comment isn’t a review. A comment would be a discussion, which is allowed.
“Do reviews from people who aren’t voting count as yes votes?”
Yes. We can’t predict who is voting. Besides, there is no rule that says reviewers need to vote.
“You may vote on your own game, or a game you tested. If you do this, you should also vote for at least two other games.’ Does this only apply to Yes votes, or both Yes and No votes?”
The rule doesn’t specify which votes it applies to, so it applies to both.
“I tested three games; can I vote Yes on all of them without voting Yes for anything else? Or do I have to also vote Yes on 2*N other games that I didn’t test?”
The implication to me is that you need to vote on at least two other games that you didn’t test for each vote you give to a game that you did test. This isn’t made clear in the rule, though, so I will probably be lax about it.
And note that the rationale for counting any review as a “yes” vote has been addressed, both in this thread and during last year’s competition.
Neil
I wasn’t aware of the rules at first; I have just been reviewing ifdb games to give the community an idea of what each game is about.
When I found out the rules (after writing a negative review), I reviewed all the games. One game had no link on ifdb, and two games had a lot of profanity, so I didn’t review them because I wouldn’t want anyone in my family thinking they were fine to play due to my reviewing them, if that makes any sense.
Which game has no link?
I don’t have an Allen interpreter, and only play on mobile, so I couldn’t play The Songbird, the Woman, and the Silver Casket.
Matt, thanks for playing and reviewing all those games. Please also consider voting. Just list the games and mark each with a “yes” or “no” for commendation, then send it to me. A PM would work, too.
There’s just under a week for everyone to get their votes to me.
Neil
Has anyone been able to play Songbird on a mac? I tried putting the most up-to-date Alan plugin into Gargoyle, but Gargoyle still won’t run the game.
Songbird wouldn’t play for me either. I tried installing Alan and it wouldn’t work, and I’m afraid I finally just gave up! That’s the only game in the comp that I haven’t managed to play.
Today is the last day for sending me your votes. The voting period ends at 11:59 pm in the Pacific time zone. Show your support for those games you enjoyed! I have several and, like last year, I’m impressed with the output.
Neil
Because of a tie, there are six commended entries for ShuffleComp: Disc 2, listed alphabetically:
False Mavis by Litany Brisket
Molly and the Butter Thieves by Cosmic Hamster
The Skeleton Key of Ambady by Adalai Trammels
Starry Seeksorrow by Ayla Rose
To Spring Open by Two-Bit Chip
When the Land Goes Under the Water by Nikephoros De Kloet
Congratulations to everyone who submitted a game, and thanks to everyone who participated and helped in any way. In addition to IFDB, the games are still available at nigeljayne.ca/shufflecomp2015games.html
All the songs are available at nigeljayne.ca/scd2-songs.html
I will publish all the pseudonyms later today. If authors want to reveal their identities, go ahead and start another thread.
Neil
Woo! Neil, thanks for organizing and running the comp. I’m happy with the results, and I honestly enjoyed all of the submitted games. I suppose it’s too soon to think about whether this should become a yearly tradition, but I’m glad you decided to make a Disc 2 come together!
Neil, thank you for organizing this and your hard work making it happen. Kudos to everyone to submitted a game!
Thank you for running a wonderful comp, Neil!
17/10, would shuffle again.
Some notes from the organizer:
I’m happy with the way the event unfolded. There were a few bumps, but people were very helpful, and I learned a lot.
I had debated about how much advertising I should do for the event. Should I post to other forums? In the end, I decided to keep it “in the family” and only post in this forum. I was afraid that if I announced a song-based event in other forums that I may get a lot of song submissions but not necessarily a concomitant rise in games. Besides, I never ran a competition before, and my technical knowledge and skills are limited (but expanding). That, and hand reconstruction surgery just when the games were being finished, made me think that limiting the number of entries would be the wise choice.
I’m a bit on the fence about counting every review a “yes” vote. This year, I don’t think it had an effect on the results. It seemed that for some reviewers, the review represented their vote (i.e., they didn’t send me other votes).
I didn’ go into the event expecting a lot of voters, because I know that Spring Thing and EctoComp show a low voter turnout. Still, I can’t help but wonder why so few people vote, not only for SCD2 but for many other comps as well. I assume – or at least hope – that many more people played than voted. I can understand people who wrote a game may be hesitant about voting, but I don’t see a problem with entrants voting, especially if you don’t vote on your own game.
Am I organizing a Disc 3? Probably not. The problem is that I would rather write a game for the event than organize it, and I can’t do both. I’ll bring up the fate of the event later this year and see if someone wants to take over. If there is still plenty of interest, whether it be song-based or not, and we can’t find another organizer, I may do it again.
Some songs that I hadn’t heard before and that I really enjoyed: “4"33"” by John Cage (composer), Lawrence Foster (conductor), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra; “Bad Girls” by M.I.A.; “The Ballad of Barry Allen” by Jim’s Big Ego; “Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play” by Roky Erikson; “Mary Had a Laser Bat” by Vi Hart; “Pussy” by Rammstein; “Train across Ukraine” by Golem;“Underground” by Tom Waits; “The Violet Hour” by Dolls Come to Life; “What?” by A Tribe Called Quest.
NeilDo people think this is an event that can run every year, or would it be better with a break?
I would love to see it as a yearly event! But I know it takes a toll on organizers to run a comp. [emote]8-)[/emote]
Would it have helped voter turnout if you could vote somewhere on the website? Maybe people thought it was too much effort to send an email? I have no idea. Just guessing. Someone somewhere might already have data comparing the effectiveness of different voting avenues.
I thought it was a good event! A lot of really nice games came out of it.
My personal take is that it’d benefit from being given a break. It’d be cool to see it again in a few years, but you’d see diminishing returns if it became a regular event.
I do think that it’s ideal to have a moderate-stress minicomp at least once a year, but it keeps things fresher if it’s a different formula, with a different focus, and perhaps run by different people.
Well, we’ve done sound, and sight (Cover Stories), so obviously the next step is – SniffyComp! A Leather Goddesses of Phobos tribute. Everyone sends and receives a “playlist” of four unusually smelly substances and your task is to write a game inspired by one or more of the odors.
Sam will organize it.