Open Source Game Competition

[squamulus]

Hello!
I'm working with a few guys on a project for indie game developers. The two of them quit their jobs about a year ago to focus on building a marketplace for indie games that gives developers more freedom and opportunities to collaborate. We're now almost ready for an open beta, and we need both games and people to help us test the platform.

To that end, we thought we might hold a competition to find some noteworthy open source games. The goal of the competition would be to grant recognition to open source developers who have contributed to the community in a way you feel is important. Since our platform is based on indie game development, we're looking to celebrate the work of open source indies you love, granting their developers some recognition and allowing us to feature some favorite open source games from the community in our marketplace.

What do you think of this idea? Who are some people in the community with open source projects that you think deserve recognition?

Here's the blog with guidelines for the competition: http://digitalmancompetition.wordpress.com/
I'll be improving the site based on your feedback to make sure it's as awesome as possible, so feel free to drop your advice below. If you think the structure of the competition itself needs to be heavily modified I'll gladly take your suggestions. We'll be running more competitions in the future, so any input now would be great.

14 games have been nominated so far, so get over there and get your voice heard!

Thanks,
Samuel

[Z-Man]

That Pink Pony game is there! Minions, you know what to do.

(Though I'm skeptically curious about that digital distribution system. What's that about?)

[squamulus]

Hahahaha I thought you might smell the flowery competition on the winds...

The metaphor I like using for the technology we've built is a bubble.
The marketplace acts as a little bubble, where developers can build games and tools for other developers who may be less savvy, and then they can sell them through the marketplace. Since it's all in that bubble, it automatically goes across mac, windows, and linux (as of now), with plans to stretch it onto mobile devices and consoles. So you get to collaborate with other developers and don't have to rework the game for different systems.

The competition is so we can have a nice base of games to attract those initial gamers and also to do some more rigorous testing.

Sketchiness dispelled?

Thanks,
samuel

[squamulus]

The day has arrived.

Voting for the best open source game on the web has begun. We've broken the list down into 10 genres. Vote on the art, innovation, storyline, and overall gaming experience to decide what games from the 10 genres will go head to head in the final round.

I'll post some results every day so you can see how your game, and gaming community, stacks up against the rest.

*dons battle cap*

There is a pink pony in the way of victory. I think you know what to do.

-samuel

[squamulus]

Armagetron Advanced,

I have grave news. Frets on Fire rallied over night and has overtaken every category in the Arcade genre in the Digital Man Competition. These are not Pink Ponies we're dealing with here.

They're not ahead by all that much, but they are ahead.

Here's the site. You can vote every day if you want. Hop to it!

Thanks,
samuel

[Jonathan]

For those of you who like rhythm games, Armagetron is a rhythm game too! Hit the key just a little bit before you hit the wall. Hit some combos to get to places. The charts are new and interesting every time, thanks to other people in multiplayer who help make them. What more can you want?

[Word]

http://de.surveymonkey.com/
am i the only one who's always directed to this site? i voted like 10 times but i can't anymore

[madmax]

Holy crap screw Armagetron! I'm voting Open Sonic!

In Soviet Russia, Armagetron screws YOU! - Lucifer

[Phytotron]

The only other games on there that I've played are Neverball and SuperTuxKart.

[squamulus]

Hey guys!

The first wave of voting is over, and we're now moving on to the the final round. To check out who made it through and to cast your final vote, check out the site.

Congrats,
samuel

[warclown]

Sounds almost exactly like Steam.

[Tank Program]

Best Story/World: Armagetron Advanced

Now, I'd like to point out that we don't really _have_ our own story. Just the stolen Tron one. I do find it amusing that Frets on Fire won everything else in the Arcade category.

[Z-Man]

We have an *implicit* story. We don't just tell it, it is all created in the heads of players. The AI names give some hints to what it may be, and of course that tron thing, but our story is not a continuation of that (at least, I don't think it is). Anyway, chalk that down as a victory of player imagination.