#GPC

#GPCv19 LIVE!

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:36:54 -0400

The Game Prototype Challenge is pleased to bring back our LIVE! event for #GPCv19. Challengers may recall that we ran a LIVE! event for #GPCv6 which was hugely fun and resulted in lots of awesome games by Challengers new and old. #GPCv19 LIVE! will run 36 hours on the Saturday and Sunday, starting 9am EST on August 10th and ending 9pm EST on August 11th. #GPCv19 LIVE! is going to be hosted by Bento Miso at 862 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario. We are extremely excited to be working with them to bring you a place to come together and make incredible games!

Attendance for our LIVE! event is non-mandatory in order to participate in #GPCv19; it is an auxiliary event that builds on top of our established base in order to provide more help, fun, and community to the Toronto-local scene. Remote Challengers are welcome as always; we are a worldwide game jam.

Computers, food, and other resources are not guaranteed to be provided, so please ensure you have everything you need to enjoy the weekend. Entry is free, but limited; please register here to reserve a spot for you and your team (each member must register individually!). We cannot wait to see what comes out of #GPCv19 and #GPC LIVE!

The incredible poster above was made by Tim Nguyen. Big thanks to Bento Miso for providing their space and Randy Orenstein for helping to make this a reality.

Announcing #GPCv19

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:59:33 -0400

#GPCv18 is done, and we are moving straight into the planning phase of #GPCv19. Stay tuned for a special announcement regarding #GPCv19 coming very soon.

Begins: Noon EST on Monday, August 5th, 2013

Ends: 11:59pm EST on Monday, August 12th, 2013

Thoughts? Comments? Just wanna say “hey”? Rather than having the conversation spread over Twitter, Facebook, or email like we used to, use the Disqus system below!

#GPCv18 Complete!

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:59:31 -0400

You can view the archives here.

Thank you for participating! If you are still finishing up, late submissions are welcome. Please double check your form data before submitting. If you have submitted a mistake which needs correcting, contact us by email.

Information on #GPCv19 coming soon.

#GPCv18

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:59:37 -0400

Themes: HOMELESSNESS and MAGIC

Due by: 11:59pm EST on June 10th, 2013

Submit: Here!

Please double check your form data before submitting. If you have submitted a mistake which needs correcting, contact us by email.

Announcing #GPCv18

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:29:33 -0400

#GPCv17 was a lot of fun with an interesting pair of themes which hopefully challenged a lot of people in new ways. Many #1GAM-ers joined in to get their April game done, and we’re hoping to see them return for June. You’ll have to wait to see the themes, but the dates for #GPCv18 are below, so mark your calendars!

Begins: Noon EST on Monday, June 3rd, 2013

Ends: 11:59pm EST on Monday, June 10th, 2013

Thoughts? Comments? Just wanna say “hey”? Rather than having the conversation spread over Twitter, Facebook, or email like we used to, use the Disqus system below!

#GPCv17 Complete!

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:59:00 -0400

You can view the archives here.

Information on #GPCv18 coming soon.

#GPCv17

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:59:33 -0400

Themes: ISLAND and ENTANGLEMENT

Due by: 11:59pm EST on April 15th, 2013

Submit: Here!

Please double check your form data before submitting. If you have submitted a mistake which needs correcting, contact us by email.

Announcing #GPCv17

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:57:59 -0500

With #GPCv16 passed and 24 new games made, it’s time to start thinking about our next Challenge. We’ve got plenty more fantastic theme pairs for this year, so mark your calenders for #GPCv17!

Begins: Noon EST on Monday, April 8th, 2013

Ends: 11:59pm EST on Monday, April 15th, 2013

Thoughts? Comments? Just wanna say “hey”? Rather than having the conversation spread over Twitter, Facebook, or email like we used to, use the Disqus system below!

#GPCv16 Complete!

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:59:36 -0500

You can view the archives here.

Information on #GPCv17 coming soon.

#GPCv16

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:59:44 -0500

Themes: ABSORPTION and FOUR COLOURS

Due by: 11:59pm EST on February 11th, 2013

Submit: Here!

Please double check your form data before submitting. If you have submitted a mistake which needs correcting, contact us by email.

Announcing #GPCv16

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:01:37 -0500

With 2013 upon us, a new archive, fresh aesthetic, a [belatedly] integrated commenting system, and the itch to make some games, we’re happy to announce that #GPCv16 will run noon EST on Monday, February 4th, 2013 to 11:59pm EST on Monday, February 11th, 2013.

We have got some very cool dual themes for this year coming up, so feel free to get excited.

Thoughts? Comments? Just wanna say “hey”? Rather than having the conversation spread over Twitter, Facebook, or email like we used to, use the Disqus system below!

Welcome to the new GPC

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 18:57:45 -0500

Hello, Challengers! It’s been a while coming, but it’s finally here; the brand-new Game Prototype Challenge, just in time for 2013.

Take a look around the site, and you’ll notice a few things:

The aesthetic is different. Gone is the grey and pink of 2011 and 2012, and in is sterile white. Now, this minimalist look might not be up everyone’s alley, but we hope you like it. One thing it’ll do very nicely is allow us to switch logos in the future, should we run another logo challenge for 2014.
The submission form now has instructions. This should help clear up any confusion while submitting stuff for future Challenges. The submission form itself is largely the same as it was for 2012, and the year’s testing should have crushed any bugs, so if you follow the instructions you should have no problems. If you happen upon a fringe case, please let us know.
The archives are no longer Tumblr-side, but server-side. This ties in to the new submission form and the brand new database running things behind the scene. This is what allows us to have the new “View the Archive by author” feature. Archives will be dynamically and automatically generated as soon as games are submitted for future challenges, which is wicked cool.
The new database-driven archives have been populated with the past two years’ games so you can get browsing right away, and a big shout-out to Damian Sommer who helped plug in more than half the data.
And of course, this news feed/Tumblr has been updated to reflect the new homepage too.

So here we are, ready to get going with #GPCv16 in 2013. Check back soon for more details on that, which will run in February (as January is reserved for Global Game Jam, which we highly recommend you sign up for).

The GPC Logo Contest - The Votes Are In!

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:39:51 -0400

After one week of voting, the results have been tallied and a new logo has been decided. With a majority vote of 9, @JasonPKaplan’s logo will replace the current logo to take the GPC into the next year!

@SnakeEaterITA’s logo followed with 4 votes, and @Ragzouken’s with 1 vote. Interestingly, no one voted for the original, possibly because @JasonPKaplan’s was so similar?

It is very possible we’ll do this again next year, especially after seeing some of @SnakeEaterITA’s late modifications to his proposed logo, which are pretty awesome. Hopefully by next year we’ve got a little bit more steam in our engines and we see even more awesome submissions. We can’t wait!

So, what’s next? We’re going to start working on the revamped backend for the GPC, and then shut down the site while we work on a new front end. We hope to have it up and running again by next week, at which point we can announce the next Challenge, #GPCv16. Stay tuned, and while the site is down, follow along with us on Twitter, Facebook, or email us with any questions or concerns.

The GPC Logo Contest - Community Voting Begins!

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:40:50 -0400

Last week we opened up the floor for submissions for a new GPC logo to more forward with a fresh face. Our current logo:

One week later, we have submissions from three people:

@Ragzouken:

@JasonPKaplan:

@SnakeEaterITA:

And now voting begins. On Twitter, use the hashtag #GPCVOTE and let us know which logo you like best; Original, @Ragzouken, @JasonPKaplan, or @SnakeEaterITA. On Facebook, simply comment with your vote on this post.

Voting will last until next Monday, September 24th, 2012, at 11:59 PM EST. The winning vote will then become our new logo and we’ll move forward with a site redesign and preparations for the next GPC. Best of luck to our contestants, and may the voting commence!

New GPC Logo Contest

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:43:17 -0400

As mentioned in the last post, the GPC is accepting any and all submissions for a completely fresh or subtly modified logo/icon to move forward with a revitalized look. Feel free to use your imagination and get creative. The only guiding principles are:

1. As an icon, same width and height is generally preferred.

2. Bright and simple stands out more than dark and complex.

3. Scalability is important so that it can be used at any size.

Simply submit your version/modification to the GPC by Twitter, Facebook, or email (email preferably) by next Monday, September 17th, 2012, 11:59pm EST (same timeline as a Challenge!) at which point a community vote will be held on the designs and a winner will be chosen. The current logo will be in the running, so if you don’t want the logo to change, simply vote for the original next week. Thanks!

The Future of the GPC

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:18:02 -0400

Hello friends and Challengers! Normally, GPC posts are written with the majestic plural, but today I want to talk to you from a more personal place. So this isn’t “we”, the GPC, this is me, Jason P. Kaplan, and I’m here to apologize.

The fact of the matter is that lately, this summer especially, my heart hadn’t been in it. I think this is reflected by the dwindling numbers of entries. Sure, the summer might have had something to do with that to, but I’m taking responsibility for that. Being late on announcements and archiving, and not contributing my own content to the Challenge for many, many moons now; I’ve been distracted, and the GPC was hurt for it.

So, I’m putting more into this. This involves a few things:

1. A facelift. We need a new logo and a fresh look to the site. Read on below for details on logo submissions.

2. A technical upgrade. Last year, I talked about upgrading the submission process and creating a database. Though submissions have been made more formal, the second half didn’t materialize. Yet!

3. Invoking more community input, regarding themes and the like.

So! There will not be a Challenge for September. Instead, if you are so inclined, feel free to submit logos for the GPC to move forward. As with this one, something simple and bright is preferred. Once the submissions are processed, we’ll have a community vote on which logo, including the original, should be used for the coming year of the GPC.

Once the logo is decided, I’ll work on the front and back end of the site, and once that’s done, we’ll launch the next Challenge, and the first with our new system. I hope for this to take place as early as October, no later than November.

I hope you, friends and Challengers, are as excited to kick start the GPC into the next year as I am. Submissions, as always, can be sent via Twitter, Facebook, or email. I hope to hear from many of you about how you feel the GPC can be improved and what you’re looking for out of the GPC in the next year.

#GPCv15 Wrap-Up

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:10:39 -0400

With less of a bang and more of a whimper, the last challenge of the summer, #GPCv15, ends with only one submission, Bothersome Burden by Nicholas Ng-A-Fook (which is a pretty great prototype! We hope to see it continued and completed). It can be found in the Version 15 archives.

As stated earlier, this is the last #GPC of the summer. More information on future GPCs will come out in September. In the meanwhile, have a great summer and keep prototyping on.

If you’d like to join the conversation about the Challenge and the games from #GPCv15, you can use the hashtag for the Challenge on Twitter as well as visiting the Challenge Chat. Want to wear the Challenge? We also have a Challenge Store. Remember to follow us, like us, or simply check in on us for information on #GamePrototypeChallenge and the next Challenge. Feel free to offer suggestions via any of Twitter, Facebook, or email.

#GPCv15 Themes

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:54:49 -0400

With a little more than a month gone by, it’s time for #GPCv15. Our first theme has been waiting patiently to be used for almost a year, and we think will result in some very cool games. But the right partner theme was proving hard to come up with. After some careful thought, we’ve decided on the following two themes…

INVENTORY and THWART

While an inventory is pretty self explanatory as a game mechanic (though, using it as a design idea is also perfectly valid!), the thwart theme is very vague. Thwart what? Or being thwarted? It’s all up to you.

The details: you have until 11:59pm EST on July 30th, 2012 to submit your game through the submission form which will become usable in the next couple days. Use the #GPCv15 hashtag to discuss your development on Twitter. Web deploy-able games are preferred but not required; simply provide a download link if your game is run as an executable.

It is recommended all developers take part in #ScreenshotSaturday as a progress milestone. A screenshot is necessary to submit your game. Screenshots are requested to be 400x300 resolution and must be in .png format.

A good summer prototyping to you, Challengers!

Announcing #GPCv15

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 09:17:36 -0400

With #GPCv14 over, it’s time for #GPCv15. We’re a little late announcing this, so we’re pushing back the July competition to the end of the month, and as such we won’t have an August competition, so this is the last GPC of the summer. As always, if you have any suggestions for themes, tweet them at us!

The dates, then, are Monday, July 23rd, 2012 to Monday, July 30th, 2012. Themes will be announced at noon EST on the 23th, and games due at 11:59pm EST on the 30th.

Can’t wait? Check out more amazing compos at CompoHub.

Thoughts? Get in touch with us by means of any of Twitter, Facebook, or email and talk to us.

#GPCv14 Wrap-Up

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:44:14 -0400

Great work, Challengers! #GPCv14 has come to an end, with a bunch of new games to play. They can be found, as always, in the Version 14 archives.

If you have a late entry, the submission form will stay active for the next two days, and late entries will be added to the archive then. More information on #GPCv15 will be coming in a couple weeks, and expect the challenge to take place in the second half of July.

If you’d like to join the conversation about the Challenge and the games from #GPCv14, you can use the hashtag for the Challenge on Twitter as well as visiting the Challenge Chat. Want to wear the Challenge? We also have a Challenge Store. Remember to follow us, like us, or simply check in on us for information on #GamePrototypeChallenge and the next Challenge. Feel free to offer suggestions via any of Twitter, Facebook, or email.