ECTOCOMP 2018 is up!

Hi guys,

No tired yet of coding for IFcomp? No problem, we have ECTOCOMP 2018 ready for you.

Remember, do a spooky game for the spooky festivities of the end of October and beginning of November, it doesn’t matter if you celebrate Day of the dead, or all saints, or Halloween, this comp is for you.

As always, there are two categories: La petite mort, for games done in less than 4 hours (yes, we have increased the limit from the traditional 3 hours to 4). And Le grand guignol, for games done in more than 4 hours. Details in the official page.

This year we are trying to organize both categories in the same itchio jam page. I don’t know how this will work if there would be too many problems or we must relay too much in the well being of the popular jury, but… let’s try and see how it goes.

Also, we still need a new logo for this year edition, if you have artistic abilities, please, come along! We need you!

More news… this year the submission windows is reduced to the last days of October, so, you can do your game now, but you can’t submit it to the comp until the last days of October and previous to the 31st day. The motivation for this is that we have a lot of games ready for play for the festivities, and not a small trickle through the whole month.

That is! Enjoy the comp!

itch.io/jam/ectocomp-2018-english

About 27 minutes into “Wake Up” which I’ll be trying to finish in 4 hours. (I’m using an activity tracker and assuming this is “4 hours of active coding” and not “one solid 4-hour block unbroken.”)

It’s based on an experience I had when I was 14.

That should be the case - 3 (now 4) hours of total coding, non-consecutively. You can chess-clock. That’s the way it’s been every year I remember.

Thanks for the clarification :slight_smile:

I’m so sorry not to have come forth with a logo yet - last week I was absorbed in getting my IF Comp entry ready and this week work has been beyond manic. Hopefully, I’ll have time at the weekend.

No problem JJ. Do you have my email, isn’t it?

Initial coding over in 3 hrs and 2 min. After having a beta tester try it out, I have “polished” my game about as much as I can (3 hrs 50 min total coding time).

Can’t wait for submission time :slight_smile:

This will be the first contest I’ve entered IF into. Should be exciting and a little terrifying. :wink:

Then you can work on your Grand Guignol now :wink:

I’ve sent you a banner image by email, Ruber!

Jason

Yeah! and I love it!

Now everyone could enjoy it too. Behold the JJ’s banner in Hammer style.

itch.io/jam/ectocomp-2018-english

Also… this year I would not be into the marketing stuff too much, so I would like to beg for some help. Could you people help to spread the word twitting about it using the #ECTOCOMP2018 hashtag?

Thanks!

I’m eager to see your contributions at the end of the month!

I’m already excited to check out the other entries at the end of the month! I have a question, though: is it okay to submit an Ectocomp game to multiple game jams? Some neat itch.io jams going on this month are tempting me to incorporate a few different themes into my Grand Guignol entry, but if simultaneous submissions are discouraged, I can hold off.

I’m very close to the 4 hour limit now. I think I asked another year, but I’m not sure:

  1. does typing out a walkthrough count as coding time?
  2. does time spent using a computer to draw cover art count as coding time?

I would say, yes, you can, but release the game first for Ectocomp. We don’t have an explicit rule of: previously unreleased works, but it is implicit in the spirit of the comp.

No and no.

That makes sense; thanks for getting back to me. This game is an Ectocomp entry first and foremost, so I’ll be sure to release it for Ectocomp before anything else.

I forgot to say thanks for your response! And I have another question as an “extra” “reward.”

Someone in the Grand Guignol offered to swap testing. Which was nice, but, does the 4-hour development limit include outside testing? I recall that, for earlier comps, it did. I helped test Wade Clarke’s Ghosterington Night & used about 15 minutes and he used 2h45 to code.

If not, I wouldn’t be able to have outside testing, but I think/hope I did enough on my own. I wanted to be extra clear on the rules so people know in the future too.

About testing, either no. I mean… the time you spend fixing the bugs, yes, it counts to the total, but handing out the game in rough state so others could play and report back? Hell no! Please, test your games!

Thanks again, Ruber! I’m glad to hear this!

Ok, submissions open tomorrow! You would send the game to the competition, and remember, you have 4 days to do it, previous to Oct 31, so we can enjoy the works for the spooky festivities.

itch.io/jam/ectocomp-2018-english

Sharp your teeth!

Yay! I submitted “Wake Up” to La Petite Mort (I think). Though the category options are four blank boxes for me… Anyone else see this?

I chose the first blank box.

I was thinking of submitting “Please Help Me” to Le Grand Guignol as well. Though I’ll probably do that after the category boxes are sorted out.

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