/fg/ - Fangames

TL;DR: pic related.

I've been thinking about the much reviled "western 2kki" lately, and I've come up with an idea for a process that may allow for a game like this to be made. This thread isn't for starting such a game, but for review, criticism and suggestions concerning these ideas.

The process goes a bit like this:

1 - I (or any one organizer) makes a thread where people can send submissions for in-game maps that they made themselves.

2 - One week later, a new thread is made, where a small RPGM game is posted. This one-week period will be called a "phase" hereafter. The game consists of a Nexus which connects to each individual map that has been submitted through numbered doors. The thread's OP also contains a strawpoll for voting on which map do players think is the best. The one with the best score wins. It also contains another call for map submissions.

3 - Repeat step 2 for 4 phases, then go to step 4.

4 - The winners of the last 4 phases (now refered to as devs) get together in an online chat like a Discord server or IRC, and put the winning maps together in order to create a playable game. See pic related, fig. 1, for an example of what this would be like after 4 phases and fig. 2 for what the same project would look like after 8 phases. Noticed how nothing from fig. 1 is changed. What has already been released cannot be changed.

These devs have a deadline of 2 phases to do this, after which an official release is posted in the appropriate thread. The chat is managed by the organizer, who has no input in the actual conversations taking place.

5 - Repeat step 3 ad infinitum.

That's a rough outline of how the whole thing works. Here are some extra details, specifications and thoughts that are relevant:

- Communication between the organizer and the devs prior to the group chat meetup are done via email, so devs must actively check their emails otherwise they won't participate in the development process and their maps won't be added in, which renders their efforts moot without penalizing the other winners. The chat logs may also be released publicly to ensure that the organizer had no influence on the final decision.

- Who the organizer is is flexible; any one organizer may step down and leave room for someone else to pick up the project where it left off.

- There are no limitations on how big a map can be or how many submaps it can have. The voters will have to decide whether or not they want your 15 hours monolithic block of teleport mazes to be added to the game.

- Maps may contain effects or even a specific player character spritesheet to be used inside the map.

- If a submitted map has multiple connections, it may connect back to the Nexus via either a one-way or a two-way warp (Nexus door) at the submitter's request. It may also leave one or many connections empty, which would then be blocked off by a traffic cone 2kki-style.

- More global game elements such as the Nexus or the protagonist's design are problematic since they can't simply be integrated into existing maps. I've had some ideas for those things:

* Hold a democratic vote based on people's submissions as is done with maps at the beginning of the project. This is my prefered approach for the protagonist's design, since having the power to change something as important and memorable very early on would be a huge incentive for participation. I also think that this power is very much deserved; it's a way to say "thank you" for being a pioneer and contributing to the project when it's most vulnerable to failure.

* Have the organizer decide based on ideas, suggestions and contributions from the threads during the first few phases.

* Have it somehow be flexible between each iteration of the game. I have no idea how this could work, but that's what this thread is for!

- For the voting process, you can only vote for one map, which gives it +1 point. Every map starts at 0 points and the one with the best score wins. No map can win if they are below a pre-determined threshold (which will likely be based on the results of previous phases). This is in order to prevent shit maps that don't meet the threshold from getting in.

- The first phases could be extended to 2 weeks or more to give people more time since they'll likely be starting their maps from scratch. This would add one more incentive to get people to participate early on, when the project is most prone to failure.

>Why aren't you actually making this instead of talking you little bitch?

I'm making this thread for review, criticism and suggestion. Trying costs nothing but I want some feedback first in order to improve the whole process because I want it to change as little as possible (ideally not at all) during development. Also if I get universally laughed at maybe I won't do it pls be nice UwU.

TL;DR: pic related.