The RL Incubator and associated bundle didn't take off in 2013. It had an auspicious start, with some enthusiastic exchange showing that there is interest in the Incubator, but then the activity more or less stopped. Without dwelling too much on why this might have been so, I want to throw out a proposal for a revival of the Incubator in 2014 (if this post generates any response, we'll soon enough be discussing more explicitly what might have been done differently in the past, to come up with better solutions for the future).
I'm envisioning the Incubator as a hybrid web zine/game bundle of sorts. During 2014, the bundle would come out with twelve "issues", give or take. Each issue would contain a number of alpha/beta games, as well as a section with comments to the games released in the previous issue. To join, you'd have to submit a game as well as comments to the latest release of one or more other incubator games. I think there should be few restrictions on games allowed: They would have to be (intended as) Roguelikes, and perhaps we should also only allow free or noncommercial games.
The Incubator should have its own web page, with a front page exposing the latest issue, as well as an archive of older submissions. It should be possible to download each individual game directly through the website, or bundled together in an archive. The comments for each issue should probably be compiled into a document which can be downloaded separately. We could also use the database to do some simple statistics. I'm thinking about stuff like sorting games depending on how many times they've been released within the Incubator, how many comments they have gotten, an interface to access directly all comments to a certain game, etc.
Submitters might set individual goals for the year, aiming to reach a certain point before the December issue, which might come in the form of a megabundle, collecting the latest releases of all the games that took part in the project over the year. I'm instinctively thinking that this bundle should be free to download. I'm all for charity, but am afraid it might muddle the waters to add money into the mix at this point.
I would be willing to do some administrative work, such as receiving the submissions and compiling them into "release issues" each month, and/or maintaining the website (having some experience with php and mysql). I don't dispose of any server space, but maybe the Incubator could be hosted on the Temple?
Bear in mind that I'm just throwing this out as an idea for y'all to consider. If there's interest, we have December to discuss the details here in the forum and come up with a form that reflects what we want/need as a community. Instinctively, I'm thinking the threshold to enter should be low, as long as every submitter offers some comment on (some of) the games found in the latest issue(s). We could even allow for people to enter the Incubator with stuff like tilesets and other assets (perhaps with the stated goal of merging with a project within the December release). It would also be possible, for instance, to broaden the idea of the comments section. In addition to pure commentary, each issue might contain one or more articles or interviews, for instance. Just to say that the possibilities lie open at this point.
If we decide to go through with it, I'll join with Land of Strangers, as well as shouldering some of the administrative burden, as said. Now I'm just hoping to get some response to this. Any comments, ideas from any of you?
As always,
Minotauros
