If it’s September, then it must be time for FAILURE
September 1st, 2009
September usually means a few things Stateside. In the north, the leaves start to change colors and the temperature drops from a temperate upper 70’s, to a hellishly cold 50 degrees. Theme parks close until Spring, and the movie industry begins it’s autumn snooze until it reawakens in time to cash in on the holidays. It’s also the time when most schools reopen, and students let out a collective groan while parents let out a collective sigh.
And while many of us here at EGP don’t fit into either category, we do like to pay tribute to a little something that everyone worries about with this month’s theme.
So how about it? Is anyone else ready to join us in FAILURE this month?
We're a group of indie game developers, running a friendly competition every month. The rules: Make a game based on the month's theme, and don't spend more than 7 days. New games posted at the end of every month. 
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59 Comments, Comment or Ping
50 degrees is hellishly cold? You should come visit me in January.
September 1st, 2009
Alot of games can be made out of “Failure” but i’d personally like a more detailed description anyway :O
September 1st, 2009
I acutally like this theme – I got no idea what I’m gonna do, but I’m sure I’ll think of something and the rest will surely too think of amazing games :D
Good luck everyone!
BTW: in my opinion hellishly cold begins at 32 – 50 can be quite canny ^^
September 1st, 2009
Well… I sure hope I’ll have time for this one :D
September 1st, 2009
Interesting theme! Time to coock something interesting!
September 1st, 2009
Oh I did this one last month :P
I’m pretty sure I can come up with something good for this.
September 1st, 2009
I foresee a bunch of karoshi clones.
September 1st, 2009
Does not making a game count as a submission for this theme? ;)
September 1st, 2009
I started making a game for this theme, but it didn’t pan out.
Also, “hellishly cold” doesn’t start until -40
September 1st, 2009
I FAILed to make a game for the EGP last month – can that count as my game for September? :p
Anyway, I’m sure some people will be glad to see this theme. There were quite a few people hoping for FAILURE to be the next Jay is Games contest theme.
September 1st, 2009
Yes, Failure was going to be our *next* competition. It doesn’t seem like such a good idea now.
Seems like a weird coincidence that it was chosen for a theme over here. I suppose we were too transparent with our theme selection process. :(
Anyways, good luck everybody. Will look forward to what you come up with.
September 1st, 2009
well, fuck you jay and your small-minded thinking. it’s just a competition theme, and you don’t own it. don’t ask your fans to vote for anything next time, asshole.
September 1st, 2009
nice:D
September 1st, 2009
We actually came up with Failure as a theme we wanted to do months ago, but Unexperimental Shooter seemed a little more ironic as a launch theme. With only a finite number of interesting themes I guess something like this was bound to happen eventually.
In any case, the more the merrier! The interweb is big enough for everyone to join.
September 2nd, 2009
This will be a fun one.
i took to long last contest so i couldn’t enter.
“I foresee a bunch of karoshi clones”
ill email jessie, lets see if we can get him over here.
September 2nd, 2009
sadly i fit into the last category.
i hate school, the shear stupidity of the fact you dont learn there.
heres an example at how much of a failure the grading system is for seeing how much you learn:
my global grade for the year: 75
my score on the global final: 99% and the 1 wrong answer was a typo.
wtf?
in math class last year we “learned” order of operations. im in tenth grade and i make video games, OF COURSE I KNOW MOTHER FUCKING ORDER OF OPERATIONS! THE AVERAGE BEAR KNOWS ORDER OF OPERATIONS. SAME WITH MOST WOODLAND CREATURES.
(rage)
we also “learned” the Pythagorean therum.
again.
Maby i could make a game about how fail the educational system is?
-sorry for the immature rage post. just rembering what i have to sit through.
- as a second note. my spelling does need improvement, that may be the one thing school can do for me this year.
September 2nd, 2009
I remember how much that sucked LAFE from my own personal experiences. I wish I could say that university will be different. Just spend your free time making games and learning how to turn them into a source of income. By the time you’re out of school you’ll probably be set.
September 2nd, 2009
concept done, time to prototype…
September 2nd, 2009
Easy. I’ll just start making a game about the greatest failure ever. And then I’ll fail to anything out of the concept beyond a simple platformer. Double failure power.
September 3rd, 2009
I came up with an idea for Failure for jayisgames’ competition but I prolly won’t do it cause I don’t really know how to implemented but if someone fails to come up with an idea I would be willing to share.
September 3rd, 2009
I’m gone a few days now with no idea.. I only came up with maybe the concept of America’s war on Drugs.. but the only concept is a rip of Drug Wars.
September 4th, 2009
Woot, first game! I hope it doesn’t say something about the game itself :(
RUN was made in 3 days. Just copy the arcade font to your fonts folder (font included in zip).
Download – http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/action/run/715/
Please play the game before reading about it in the news section.
September 4th, 2009
Hey Pedro,
Just a quick tip: I’d like to replay your game a couple of times to make sure I explored enough of it to form an opinion. The game doesn’t allow me to easily restart though, I have to launch the game from the gamejolt website again. Going in for a couple more plays now. :)
September 5th, 2009
are you allowed to enter if you use a preexisting game engine like AGS?
September 7th, 2009
I’m not organizing the competition, but I think it’s right to use any game engine. AGS is a more specific game engine than what most people use, and also needs a lot less coding, but you’re still making the whole game, that is, the story and the gameplay, including the art.
September 7th, 2009
Yeah, using a game engine is fine. Even if it is a fairly complete engine, you need ideas and skill to make anything interesting. Probably worth crediting what you use when you’re done anyway.
I have a concept for a game, which I think could be worthwhile if I can find the time to make it. The feedback on my last one was fairly consistent… “The control scheme sucks!” ;)
September 7th, 2009
Hey, I just discovered this site. I like the idea of game design competition a lot! But what are the rules? I see that a lot of the games here are very minimalist, old school and simple. Does that mean we have to create it from scratch and code everything? Or can we use game level editors like source sdk Hammer, Unreal,RPGmaker , Game Maker and Flash?
It’s not very clear to me.
September 8th, 2009
Things like hammer/ unreal aren’t great as they require the player to have another game: They’re mods, rather than games. I’d still be able to play them, but probably wouldn’t because of the effort involved. (Unless it sounded extremely cool)
RPGmaker, gamemaker and flash can make distributable versions, so they’re easier to get people to play. Flash is especially easy to get people to play, because all they need to do is click a link.
One point is that this is a good way to get practice with whatever you’re using, so if you want to get better at C++ use that. etc.
Still, if you think you can make something interesting or experimental in unreal on the theme in a week, I doubt anyone would stop you.
September 9th, 2009
Yeah, I see your point.
Even if I’m pretty good with source sdk, there’s no point in creating an awesome and original core gameplay mechanics if no one is able or willing to try it.
Besides, there’s no challenge for me if I’m going to use an editor I’m that familiar with. :) Thanks for clearing that part up. I see that someone else asked the same question as me haha. Guess I should read all the comments before posting. :/
Ok, I’m in for Failure. So today is officially my day #1. I already made a quick brainstorm, research and came up with a few concepts. Now I’ll go get inspired by other human (or non human) failures!
September 9th, 2009
what the point of doing this.
karoshi 2.0 has perfected this genre
September 10th, 2009
Failure #1 – Couldn’t prototype in 7 days…. Im tonally Swamped, will try to pull it off this weekend. Is pausing the stopwatch cheating? :P
September 11th, 2009
“Is pausing the stopwatch cheating? :P”
Well, this guy was actually doing it for the blog:
http://experimentalgameplay.com/blog/2009/08/canabalt/
“I made Canabalt in 5 very long days (at least 60 hours) – 1 day at the start of the month, two days at PromJam, and then this weekend.”
And clearly doesn’t seem to think so.
*counts days*… I should be able to make a start in about a week, and finish a week after that. So it will be towards the end of the month. I have a solid concept though.
September 11th, 2009
Just when I was struggling to think of what to do next, I stumble across this site again and find fun things are happening.
Count me in.
September 12th, 2009
hey guys heres my entry its called bubsy the bobcat in rip van bubsy starring bubsy. dont worry though its a different bubsy he bobcat it just has the same name. the story is that bubsy has just got home from a tiring day and goes to sleep, when he wakes up it is ten years later. he must find whats going on but theres s SLEEP GAUGE and when it reaches zero he is propelled ten more years into the future. can you solve the puzzle before bubsy dies of old age??? well heres the link http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/adventure/bubsy-the-bobcat-in-rip-van-bubsy-starring-bubsy/809/ so give it a shot i guess 0_0. oh and it was made in adventure game studio. <;^(o)-I—<
September 13th, 2009
I discovered this site via GameSetWatch when the results from last month were revealed. I came up with an idea and got a very rough prototype up and running yesterday. It still needs work but I should have some time to finish it over the next few days.
I’m a C & C# programmer, but use The Games Factory for prototyping. I’ll be using Game Maker 7 this time though as I needed a little bit more control under the bonnet, although this is the first time I’ve ever used it.
Turning an old classic on it’s head was too tempting to resist…
September 13th, 2009
here’s my game for failure. took about a day, although I reused a little bit of old code that i had written a few years back with a friend for generating the aliens appearances.
http://www.stfj.net/art/2009/loselose/
lose/lose is a game about choice and consequence, and by extension what it means to succeed (fail).
You play the role of a space captain on a seemingly endless quest to destroy attacking aliens. You receive one point for each alien you kill.
You have one life, and if an alien touches you, you will explode. If you manage to kill all of the aliens without dying, you will win the game.
There is an online scoreboard.
Although lose/lose is a video-game, everything that happens while you play is real. Each alien is procedurally generated out of a file on your computer. When you kill an alien, the file it was created from is destroyed. On the other hand, if you are killed, the application itself will be destroyed.
mac only…. sorry… i know :(
September 14th, 2009
@Zach: While I always thought Macs could use more viruses, a big WARNING: THIS PROGRAM DELETES RANDOM STUFF would be appreciated.
September 14th, 2009
there is a warning when the app starts off and in all my documentation. maybe it should be clearer though. I’ll add that
September 14th, 2009
I made the warning more prominent and introduced a wait time to clear things up.
also, it doesn’t necessarily delete random stuff. technically you delete random stuff. you could open it and try and survive as long as possible without killing anything, and you wouldn’t have to fear for your data.
September 14th, 2009
Dude, a program that deletes random files on your computer? Nasty. Glad I don’t have a Mac. Failure for shure.
September 14th, 2009
I’ve finished creating my game for this month’s theme. It’s called “Too Big To Fail”, and it’s based on last year’s financial melt-down. It fits the theme because you only “win” if you’re able to fail on a truly colossal scale. The download, instructions, etc. can be found here:
http://shapeofgames.blogspot.com/2009/09/too-big-to-fail.html
The game was created using XNA (sorry non-Windows users) and so requires the XNA framework. The installer auto-detects whether or not you have it and offers to install it if you don’t.
September 14th, 2009
I’m just about done with a few hours to spare. My game is Operation Florist, in which you play a depressed rescue pilot who can’t quit his job because he works for his father in law. He decides one day that the only way out of his hellish job (and into his dream florist job) is to perform poorly and get fired. There’s a readme file in there with a few more details.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=08X8SZ4J
I’m a little disappointed that I tied my game to the theme so loosely, but next month I should be able to spend a little more time thinking and a little less wrestling with my code.
September 19th, 2009
Now I’m done at the last day too. Ever played a typing game? Then you know my game. It’s about killing bugs by typing their names. And it looks nice while doing so. If you have a couple of minutes over check it out.
http://madeoftree.net/blog/Bugger/
September 20th, 2009
TREEMAN:
Fun little game you have there, I like how you structured each level like a sentence, giving the game some personality, rather than just throwing random words in for each bug. The graphics are very nice too, simple but with enough layers to make it interesting.
I’m not quite sure how it fits the theme of failure though?
September 21st, 2009
I just wrote up a much better description for the point of lose/lose, so I thought I’d post it here to clear up some stuff.
Lose/Lose is a video-game with real life consequences. Each alien in the game is created based on a random file on the players computer. If the player kills the alien, the file it is based on is deleted. If the players ship is destroyed, the application itself is deleted.
Although touching aliens will cause the player to lose the game, and killing aliens awards points, the aliens will never actually fire at the player. This calls into question the player’s mission, which is never explicitly stated, only hinted at through classic game mechanics. Is the player supposed to be an aggressor? Or merely an observer, traversing through a dangerous land?
Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an awarded for using it, that doing so is right?
By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions. As technology grows, our understanding of it diminishes, yet, at the same time, it becomes increasingly important in our lives. At what point does our virtual data become as important to us as physical possessions? If we have reached that point already, what real objects do we value less than our data? What implications does trusting something so important to something we understand so poorly have?
September 21st, 2009
My entry is “Welfare Survivor”, where you play a former worker caught in a failing economy, and need to find a new job:
http://mart0258.110mb.com/?x=entry:entry090922-070508
I feel that the balance is a little too loaded to cause the player to run broke or starve, but that’s the whole point in trying to simulate a ruined economy.
September 21st, 2009
Thanks Carl! I’m glad you liked it.
I admit I wasn’t able to tie to the theme as good as I wanted. My vision was to give the player a feeling, however slight, to be a programmer and battle bugs. Which is one of the biggest threat to failure a game faces. If I succeeded or not you be the judge.
September 23rd, 2009
Six and a half started out as a complete brainfart but turned out ok. Put yourself in the shoes of a 6 year old and save your parents marriage.
http://sixandahalf.thegiftedintrovert.com
September 25th, 2009
I decided to try a facebook app this time (a non-facebook version is included as well). Note that it doesn’t end, and the instructions in the game will explain the rest.
I’ve been told it is “fun”. :)
http://vazor222.livejournal.com/16597.html
September 27th, 2009
I was inspired by this month’s theme to create this game, ReEntry:
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/action/reentry/855/
You play a damaged spaceship attempting to survive re-entering a planet’s atmosphere.
It doesn’t end well…
This game is intentionally visually and aurally overwhelming. I was attempting to simulate the chaos and massive amounts of energy that would be involved in this sort of situation. By creating a sense fear, frustration, and futility in the player, I hope to open their eyes to the sheer amounts of energy and power embedded in the physical world, and the difficulties that actual space travelers have to overcome.
Also, there are lots of quickly and brightly flashing images in this game, if you have sensitive eyes or are epileptic, I would avoid it.
September 27th, 2009
ailure averted!
http://www.mandible.net/2009/09/28/mobius/
Mobius is a game about three heroes, sent to eliminate a galactic tyrant who rests upon his throne. They die quickly, and then the game gets somewhat more interesting.
ZIP and .exe versions are both available, here’s direct links if you want to avoid my dev journal:
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/mobius-1.0.exe
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/mobius-1.0.zip
September 28th, 2009
Wow, and apparently I managed to mistype “failure” in my (still-moderated) comment.
How’s *that* for ironic?
September 28th, 2009
Here is my entry for the Failure theme.
It is called Mailure :)
Where You play with naughty boy at school who always fails at exams. So the principal of his school decided to send a mail to his mother, but sending one mail is not enough because the boy may stole it from the postman.
So the principal decides to send lots of mails till the boy’s mother call the principal.
Hope you enjoy it :)
it took 46 hours and some minutes to finish it :)
here is the link:
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/other/mailure/857/
September 28th, 2009
Hello every one, I just noticed that the month was ending, I though I had an other week before October first, stupid school. So well, I just finish my game here, I am still in time ’cause it’s not october yet.
I did a little game where you have to pass some rectangles in a breach. Well try it, there is an online high score.
http://softhope.blogspot.com/2009/09/failure-experimental-gameplay.html
By the way, this week theme was really hard to come up with a great idea.
September 30th, 2009
September isn’t over yet. I still have three minutes left in the Seattle time zone!
I created a game at:
http://treptefamily.com/experimentalgames/SystemFailureInstaller.msi
September 30th, 2009
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