A link above, for anyone unfamiliar with the contest. It’s not mentioned much around here anymore, but it was still going around the time I joined and has been on my mind of late.
I know this petered out in '17, and no version of it was held in 2018 (although of course there was a much larger and more significant contest in the actual one that CoG ran, so it wasn’t as big of a deal as it might have been). Would there be any community interest in seeing it come back in 2020 or even later this year? Certainly it seems like running and judging was a significant undertaking, but even though Irish seems to be AWOL, a lot of the others who were involved in this are still around and potentially might still be interested. I’d love to see it come back, since other IF contests often have publication stipulations that could interfere with putting your game out on a label here and this had no such issue.
I’m sure the community would love to see it back. It’s more an issue of whether anyone has the time and energy to run it, and the ability to supply prices etc.
Let’s see, for last three years of the five that Lord Irish Presents, I was a judge and a prize sponsor, and got to see first hand how the back end of that wonderful community contest was run. How much of an undertaking it was even with the exceptional help of @Fiogan as an executive assistant for the last two years that the competition ran.
Running the comp is no mean feat, it is a hectic full-time job for two weeks prior to the start of the comp and stays a full-time job (in addition to RL responsibilities during the comp’s time frame) for two months.Do not get me wrong do I think all that work is worth it heck yes, I was honored to be a part of something so great that inspired people to work with something so unique that sparked the imagination, and quite a few great games that eventually became Hosted Games.
@Lordirish was willing(and I think still is) to hand over the competition to a worthy successor, heck even I thought about stepping up, but I could not since I could not dedicate the time necessary to run such an event.
Food for thought, if this competition is to see the light of day again, it must adhere to the spirit of the original, it also has to be run by a trustworthy community member. The second point is very important, what made this competition grow was the additional support of wonderful adding into the prize purse making the contest grow and added in more challenges.
I do hope that this event does see the light of day again, I have been honored to see some of the greatest authors on this forum absolutely floor me with their creativity.
I think anyone here can’t force anyone to make a competition that needs so much effort and money. I think it needs be an official one with clear rules and protection to competitors and judges. So any contests should be official
Well, no one is forcing it. If no one volunteers to lead this, it simply won’t happen. I would love to do it, but realistically I don’t think I have the time to give it the attention it needs. I would be glad to kick in a prize, though.
As for being official, I don’t think that is feasible. The staff would be putting all this time and effort into something that doesn’t really benefit the company itself in any tangible fashion.
The community and company has grown thankfully. To a rate no unofficial members or members can handle something of that level. As the scope on numbers of participants an job to handle it grows. With that also arise needs to moderation etc rules…
Only something stable and official could handle something with the actual scope an potential of Cog and Hosted and whole community have now.
You are right that it is much bigger than the last contest. But the actual CoG employees won’t likely have the time or inclination to work on something like this that doesn’t really grow the company or brand in any significant capacity and would take them away from the numerous other fires that pop up. If they wanted to do another contest it’s be more likely to be a second version of the 2018 one than another CSComp, as that directly benefits them by galvanizing the CoG and HG lineups. Assuming it had been a worthwhile investment the first time.
And if you mean official like the site staff, they already do a lot of work for no actual pay. So that would be a pretty cruel thing to foist upon them. No, this needs to be volunteer only. And since nobody seems inclined to take on this admittedly significant task, it may just not be time for it to come back.
With official i mean with staff rules prepared legally and with polished production. It could be then handle the ground work to or volunteers or a hired people for the task.
Maybe Cog is not just there in economic terms but is already far BIG to have a totally amateur volunteer contest is too much work to handle it
Oh I am inclined to, but no longer in the position to be able to sponsor such a contest. But I can see this working, and if CSComp worked with CoG and HG, to help participating authors an alternative way of encouraging old and new authors to try something different and stay close to the core principals of CoG (Over the years CSComp’s rule organically grew to almost mirroring CoG rules and guidelines to be a brand label game, barring a few caveats; inclusivity was and will always be a core principal to CSComp).
The way I can see CSComp going forward is for the competition to become a NPO (Non-Profit-Originazation Legally(US based for legality and practicality CoG and subsidiaries run 100% by the law(which is a breath of fresh air)), which is fairly easy and that would help if CoG/HG(maybe even HC) labels to be able to donate time (which can be an incentive those labels for a tax write off) and even adding in comments on the submissions if CoG wish donate their time (bonified write off) and give authors additional encouragement to submit their games with said labels.
If CSComp is to rise again it has grow and stay with its core principals, inclusivity, creativity, and encouragement. It also has to be wholley seperate from CoG, but work in partnership with the company. As fans of the label and an alternative way of peer review and a way of showing community support, LordIrish CSComp grew over the 5 years, to size of submission and support from our lovely forum goers.
So in parting and as a judge and sponsor for the last 3 years CSComp ran, I like to give out a few interesting facts.
Being a judge is hard: The attrition rate for CSComp judges varied, but ran 50-75% of all the volunteers had to bow out.
Wow that is A LOT!!!: Over the years CSComp grew (as did the prize pool); from 5 submissions to 22 (and 14 of which made the dead lines.
They made it!: Few of our winners did make it to the HG label, but I am not giving out the number I want you all to visit memory lane and find out for yourselves, you will have to hunt for the games but well worth it! Just search for winners of CSComp XD.
Um, just WOW!!!: CoG took a step up at the plate and knocked it out of the park, a community contest inspired; CoG to bring it! And they did!
Four out five, twice!: 5 years four entries and placed twice, Kudos to that author.
Still out there!: The are a few submission either in private beta or alpha.
Wow the is effing A LOT!!!: The largest submission in word count over a 30 day period was 140k…and that title is still in closed private beta to my knowledge…I wonder if it will surpass Tin Star word count by @AllenGies when they finally submit their game…MAgic 8-Ball says yes! XD
