So, the submission period for the first Gameful Challenge has officially ended… But don’t be sad, after all here comes the interesting part: How will we manage to find a winner between so many interesting proposals and fully developed games?

Well, this weekend I have devoted myself to finding a methodical way to classify each and every one of the contest entries, and then determine a coherent system for measuring both their merits and weak points. It has been a very difficult challenge taking into account that we have a collection of radically different games: No-tech prototypes, videogames, concepts that rely heavily on modern equipment, each one trying to address different issues that range from local issues to global troubles…

As you can see, it’s quite a task to find a way to find which one is “better” than the others when they have so little in common. So, the solution that I am working on is the following:

First of all, I have read through the entire forum devoted to the first gameful challenge, in order to collect every competing project in this spreadsheet:

Spreadsheet Prototype A1

[UPDATE: Made a few minor edits and uploaded the document to Google Docs so everyone can see and edit it without having to download anything!]

(If there’s something wrong with any data on this file, please let me know. I did my best in order to find every one of the entries, but I might have missed one, or listed a prototype that wasn’t intended to be an entry)

Then, after carefully reading each one of them, I have created the following set of categories that aim to qualify each one of the games’ features:

+Game Information
Pretty self explanatory. In this category, you can see the project’s name, who developed it, a link to the post where it was submitted (or the project’s website), its platform (No tech, Game console, PC, mobile device…), the genre where it can be classified and its development level (Prototype, full game, proof of concept…)

+Set-Up Phase
Here, I try to qualify what is needed to play the game. Do you need any previous knowledge to understand the game? Do you need any special materials to play it? How available are these materials? Can you replace them and the game will still be fun to play?

+Gameplay
Is the game challenging enough? Is there any social interaction involved? Would you play it again?

+PERMA
Do the game manages to cover each one of the requisites described by the PERMA principles?

+Appeal
Can the game be enjoyed worldwide, or is it so localized that it won’t make sense in other parts of the world? How creative is it? How big or measurable is its impact? And finally, is it practical to play it?

And… that is it. Would you like to add something else to these categories? Are they fair enough?

Money fights really get my creative juices rolling for this one

VERSUS

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=17083.0

The rules are simple: make a game that pits at least one human player versus another human player. The rest (genre, online/offline, etc.) is up to you.

I’m going to play every one of these games. It combines my two favorite things: indie games and multiplayer action. Mmmmm, taste that player on player gameplay. 

Get your game making skills rolling. There’s still a million weeks left till the deadline. 

Click the weblink above for details. They even have resources to help you playtest your game with other people (Gasp!)

I am in no way affiliated with this site. I just want to see some awesome games.

“TIGSource competitions are short competitions based around a particular theme.  The emphasis is on collaboration, sharing, and, most of all, the completion of projects.  i.e., it’s an exercise in making small, tight, enjoyable/interesting games that can be played from beginning to end.  There are no prizes involved.”