The themes...

pymike on 2009/04/19 16:09

...just, wow.

Idea #1 - Scuppers:
After reading wikipedia, I decided, wtf.

Idea #2 - Tatlin's Tower:
After reading wikipedia, I decided, Tatlin's Tower Defense!

Idea #3 - Half Sovereign:
No no no no no God no. *Has visions of thousands of boring and half-implemented stock exchange games*

Idea #4 - Get off my lawn:
Of course! Ride your donkey on a lawn as long as you can while being chased by zombie baby-sitters. Sold.

Idea #5 - Sleeping Bears:
Hmmm, maybe a platformer where you jump over sleeping bears? Maybe a first person shooter with zombie bears? Sokoban with sleeping bears? I must say, interesting and perhaps fun games could come of this.

Before voting, I beg people to consider what they'd actually do with the themes should they be chosen. Just voting for the funky/cool sounding theme can end in misery, aka not finishing. Ye be warned.

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Comments

jakob on 2009/04/19 16:45:

"Idea #3 - Half Sovereign:

No no no no no God no. *Has visions of thousands of boring and half-implemented stock exchange games*

I disagree. In my mind Half Sovereign is possibly the best of all themes. Keep in mind that Sovereign can be more than just coins. According to Merriam-webster.

j-1 on 2009/04/19 16:48:

Stock exchange? That's the last thing I would have thought about. My thoughts are more along the lines of AI, automation or random motion. As long as one avoids over-complicated gameplay and makes it easy to wrap your head around, I think it's going to be awesome.

j-1 on 2009/04/19 16:52:

I also think that a lot of people would go with some kind of strategy game, á la Civilization.

Woodwolf on 2009/04/19 18:26:

Half sovereign does not really have to be related to turn based strategy or economics... It could be something like Rampart or... who knows, Castle crashers. You are the King, but your Evil Brother has betrayed you and have taken your throne. You have to fight back for it!

pymike on 2009/04/19 19:32:

Actually the only definition for "half-sovereign" is "a British gold coin worth 10 shillings" according to the same source. After more thought, I guess there could be an rpg where you have to find a legendary half-sovereign, but in my mind I don't think anything really innovative would come of it.

Woodwolf on 2009/04/19 20:11:

But "sovereign" is not only a coin, but also someone who has power and rules (a monarch, a king) see here That way, it could be understood as "half a king", with some funny implications. Well, if organizers allow this meaning, of course :)

j-1 on 2009/04/19 20:13:

You are parsing it as (half sovereign), but (half (sovereign)) (i.e. almost, but not entirely not sovereign) is not wrong. After all, part of what makes this competition amazing is that you can interpret the themes in so many different ways.

pymike on 2009/04/19 20:16:

Ah, I see.

shundread on 2009/04/19 22:06:

Usually when I'm out of ideas I resort to anagrams. I'm not sure yet if I'll be using any this time, but I've taken a look and there are a few anagrams I liked. Here's what they make me think of:

SCUPPERS

CPU Press: In an alternative dimension it turns out that RIAA, MPAA and the gang weren't completely delusional when they claimed that unauthorized copying is made by actual pirates! You and your pirate crew have estabilished a clandestine "software press" (CPU Press - bear with me and pretend this makes sense) at the deck of your pirate ship. But keeping a clandestine CPU Press in the open seas is complicated, you have to prevent the water that occasionaly enters the deck from mixing your source code and lowering the quality of your unauthorized copies.

TATLIN'S TOWER

Tsar title now!: You're a russian highschool student on a trip to Sweden. After reading about Tatlin's Tower in Wikipedia and learning that there's a model at the Museum of Modern Arts in Stockholm, you decide to check it out. You find out that the model is magical and it grants you a chance to go back on time and take over Stalin's position as leader of the old USSR by force! Oh yeah, the model tower also grants you some powers. =)

HALF SOVEREIGN

Logan Feverish: You're Logan, a boy/girl (according to these links, any would be fine) who collects coins. Your grandfather decides to give you N (number to be decided later?) half-sovereigns so you can add it to your collection. On your way back home some wacky thing (to be decided later?) happens and you must collect the coins, because you managed to lose them somehow.
Oval Green Fish: Honestly, I have no clue. Well, maybe you're some kind of oval green fish that just happens to like coins? I'm amused enough with the anagram to put it here anyways.

GET OFF MY LAWN

Manly Wet Goff: Apparently, a goff is a silly clown. You don't want kids on your lawn? Well, imagine a silly clown on your lawn. Or a manly, wet, silly clown. Damn this idea sounds terrible in so many different levels.

SLEEPING BEARS

Singable Spree: It's winter in some part of the world that has bears and you're merrily making your walk in the forest. You come across a cave and, lacking survival instincts, decide to walk inside. Inside the cave you see a cute family of bears hibernating together. The scene is so cute that it makes you want to sing. The mama bear wakes up and interprets this as a threat to her cubs. Now it's time to run for your life. =D

mespringfield on 2009/04/19 23:10:

Hmm... does Scuppers refer to the dog in the children's book, or to those openings in walls for draining water? (See Wikipedia entry on scupper.)

j-1 on 2009/04/19 23:15:

> You have to prevent the water that occasionaly enters the deck from mixing your source code
> and lowering the quality of your unauthorized copies.

That's what you get for distributing them with torrents - they mess up the floats. But seariously, dousen't all copywritten material these days cointain some kind of DRM or watermarking? I think that makes the files easily tide to you guys. This sounds fishy.
On the other hand, I'm not reely freightened by the new anti-pirating laws, so I will have to ponder your offer.

pymike on 2009/04/19 23:49:

Decided I'd post my "pyweek-ideas.txt" file, since people like sharing ideas :)

Scuppers
    Pirate-y ship game, mebbe? Screwed if this wins
Tatlin's Tower
    Tower defense, where you must guard the tower from being sabotaged
    by Tatlin's competitors.
Half sovereign
    RPG where you go on a quest to find a legendary half-sovereign, or 
    restore a sovereign to 100% sovereignity
Get off my lawn
    Turn-based puzzle game where you have to navigate lawns to get off 
    a lawn, featuring zombie baby-sitters!
Sleeping bears
    Some kind of platformer where you jump over sleeping bears, or
    a lode-runner game where you have to wake up sleeping bears.

I'm really pumped to go. I can't wait another 604,800 seconds >(

claxo on 2009/04/20 00:05:

@mespringfield : any of these, and also see at botton of the page you linked:
'The transitive verb "to scupper" (British) means to overwhelm or destroy. '
Perfect for games, its always fun to explode something!! :-)

bencoder on 2009/04/20 01:10:

J-1: *BIG groan*, but good work

shundread on 2009/04/20 14:31:

j-1: "[...] I think that makes the files easily tide to you guys. [...]"

"you guys"? o.O

pymike on 2009/04/20 16:12:

If sleeping bears wins, someone has to make a game based on the anagram "beagle sniper" :D

shundread on 2009/04/20 18:45:

pymike: beagle snipers. 2 ss in "sleeping bears". =)

pymike on 2009/04/20 19:01:

shundread: beagle snipers. =)

shundread on 2009/04/20 19:29:

Sleeping Bears -> Snape Berg Isle =P

RB[0] on 2009/04/20 19:37:

ROFLMAO

pymike on 2009/04/20 19:41:

LOL!

Akake on 2009/04/20 19:53:

LAWL XD