Planning a mini 7DRL challenge for October.

[Slash]

Who would be up to participate?

[Eben]

I almost certainly would be!

[Samildanach]

I'm not going to participate (no programming knowledge at all) but out of curiosity: "mini" in what way? Shorter?

In any case, I'll watch with interest. 7DRL produces some great games.

[CaptainKraft]

7DRL has been something I've been itching to do for a long while now. For the past 3 years I have missed out on the main jam, but one of these days I will work on something, during the main competition or maybe just on my own. I wish October where a good time for that. Maybe I can carve out some time...

[Paul Jeffries]

Maybe.  I do have a 7DRL idea that I'm itching to put to good use, although October looks like it may be a busy month for me.

[corremn]

Ah the old Orange October Minigun 7DRL Challenge. 'bout time you brought that back. Good times , except I failed dismally.

[Aukustus]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that "ordinary" roguelikes have no place in these 7drl's. I'm having "normal"  ideas but having looked at previous extremely weird (in contrast to normal roguelikes, not implying that weirdness is bad) entries or tech demos nullifies any interest at participating.

[CaptainKraft]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that "ordinary" roguelikes have no place in these 7drl's. I'm having "normal"  ideas but having looked at previous extremely weird (in contrast to normal roguelikes, not implying that weirdness is bad) entries or tech demos nullifies any interest at participating.

A lot of people use these jams as an opportunity to experiment with new ideas to find out if they work out. It's a great way to take a break from your normal development to play around with sometstuff you have been thinking of trying.

[Samildanach]

A lot of people use these jams as an opportunity to experiment with new ideas to find out if they work out. It's a great way to take a break from your normal development to play around with sometstuff you have been thinking of trying.

Exactly. A lot of the most 'successful' 7DRLs are ones that focus on exploring one or two unusual mechanics. I think there's a freedom to it because you know you only have seven days - you're not going to accidentally get sucked into spending two years labouring on a game centred around a mechanic that doesn't necessarily work, or completely break a larger ongoing project by inserting a strange feature.

Look at Jeff Lait, for example. He's quite prolific with his 7DRL entries and they're usually a bit off the wall and experimental compared to his main project, the much more 'normal' POWDER.

[Paul Jeffries]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that "ordinary" roguelikes have no place in these 7drl's. I'm having "normal"  ideas but having looked at previous extremely weird (in contrast to normal roguelikes, not implying that weirdness is bad) entries or tech demos nullifies any interest at participating.

I don't think that's true.  Indeed, I think most people's first 7DRL is probably fairly 'normal', it's just that once you've shown you can make a roguelike in 7 days you tend to then move on to doing something a bit more extravagant the next time around.

[Eben]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that "ordinary" roguelikes have no place in these 7drl's. I'm having "normal"  ideas but having looked at previous extremely weird (in contrast to normal roguelikes, not implying that weirdness is bad) entries or tech demos nullifies any interest at participating.

I don't think that's true.  Indeed, I think most people's first 7DRL is probably fairly 'normal', it's just that once you've shown you can make a roguelike in 7 days you tend to then move on to doing something a bit more extravagant the next time around.

This has been my experience as well.

Depending on my initial concept and how it takes shape over the week I've done some very standard roguelikes (with a slight twist) and a couple basically non-roguelikes disguised as roguelikes.

This is the power of the 7dRL. I've discovered that some theoretically non-roguelike ideas are actually quite well suited to classic roguelike games and other theoretically well-matched ideas make the game not roguelike at all. Being able to test something out without the pressure of continued long term development lets me explore and focus simultaneously.

[Darren Grey]

Who would be up to participate?

Sure! Though it might be worth considering combining it with the Procedural Generation Jam which is planned for 8th to 17th November:

http://itch.io/jam/procjam

[Rickton]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that "ordinary" roguelikes have no place in these 7drl's. I'm having "normal"  ideas but having looked at previous extremely weird (in contrast to normal roguelikes, not implying that weirdness is bad) entries or tech demos nullifies any interest at participating.

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "ordinary" and "normal" (theme? mechanics?), but think of it this way. There's already quite a few "ordinary" roguelikes that have been in development for years with tons of content, features, and hopefully polish. Compared to them, there's not much reason to play a roguelike made in seven days if it doesn't have anything new or different to offer.

[Aukustus]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that "ordinary" roguelikes have no place in these 7drl's. I'm having "normal"  ideas but having looked at previous extremely weird (in contrast to normal roguelikes, not implying that weirdness is bad) entries or tech demos nullifies any interest at participating.

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "ordinary" and "normal" (theme? mechanics?), but think of it this way. There's already quite a few "ordinary" roguelikes that have been in development for years with tons of content, features, and hopefully polish. Compared to them, there's not much reason to play a roguelike made in seven days if it doesn't have anything new or different to offer.

Ordinary refers to for example a play style as in every major roguelike.

Yeah, it's true that regular roguelikes would be boring as there are hundreds of them.

[Samildanach]

The thing about 'ordinary' roguelikes in 7DRL is that it's a personal challenge. If you've never made a game before, then simply making something that plays might be enough of a challenge for you. If you've never made a roguelike, maybe getting a generic dungeon crawl up and running would be an achievement in seven days. Participants aren't all starting from the same position. 'Ordinary' roguelikes might not offer much from a player's point of view but they have their place.