Description

What is this?
This is a game making event where we partner up in order to create two games per partner!


TWO games?! Are you mad?!
I don't think so? Oh, wait, that was a rhetorical question, right?

Anyway, it's a pretty simple premise. You start a game and work on it for one week. At the end of that week all the games are pooled and then distributed semi-randomly to each other. Then everyone finishes the games they are given over the next week.

Basically, a big swaparoo~


Rules
  • Sign up below. Make sure that you're dedicated for the whole two weeks/both parts of the event.

  • Games must be new and made only for this event.

  • You may use any RM engine. Sorry, while it is a neat idea in theory to use any engine, most people who sign up might not have experience in those engines, limiting the ability to finish the games.

  • If you only have access to a particular RM engine, please note that in the comment section so that I know to account for that when distributing the first half of the games.

  • Also, make sure to include an RTP stand-alone version of the game (and include resources) when passing it over so that your partner is not looking for different files to make it work.

  • When it comes time to submit, for the first half of the game upload the WIP to the event locker (accessed by Submit in the top corner).

  • First halves of games must be in by the time shown under the Details section after you add your time offset in the settings of your account. The Date End reflects this and will be changed when the second halves are handed out.

  • The second halves will be submitable by game page ONLY. Make a game page for your game whenever you like, just remember to update the information when the second creator comes into play.

  • To keep time realistic, aim for each half to have a half-hour of play at the most. This will make an hour-long game, which is pretty decent for 2 weeks. You can go over this amount, but remember that the longer the game, the less chance there is to finish it.

  • In the spirit of the event, don't be a back-seat driver to the second creators. They can take the game where they like - that's half the fun of the event. In fact, let's just say that you keep your fingers out of the game pie after it gets handed over. Make it something of a surprise, eh?



Achievements?
As always, there's badges to consider~
Started in the Middle with You - 30MS - Received at the end of the event for those who started a game and had it completed.
Ended in the Middle with You - 30MS - Received at the end of the event for those who finished a game.
Meshing the Middle with You - 20MS - Given to the game that feels like a concerted effort to create a whole piece.
Mashed in the Middle with You - 20MS - Given to the game that is a mess of mashing together the elements.
Beyond the Middle, it's True - 50MS - Given to the overall best game of the lot, as judged by our panel of select cherry-pickers.



Clown/Joker signs by Brian Edwards

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Swap in the Middle with You~.

Posts

Hue hue... I is in XD

I work best with VXA, though RenPy would also be fine if anyone dares to.

I have Tsuk 2k3 and the official 2k3, but barely know how to do anything in them, so I'd rather not use them if avoidable. Especially the official one, since it requires steam (and getting steam to work here is a pain).

Just a clarification: What do you mean by 'midnight of the 6th'? Midnight of the sixth day of the event period (March 4)? Or of March 6?
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
I only own RPG Maker VX Ace.

As for Steam, the prices where I am are (in New Zealand dollars): MV $97, XP $30, 2k3 $24, 2k $30.

I should be able to get XP, 2k3 or 2k if requested, but MV? No way. :)
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Yeah, I'm not getting MV until the price goes down. I mean, I'd spend it if I thought it was worth it, but it's just not a big enough step over VX Ace to really justify it to me.
It's okay, at the end of the first part we'll talk engines - just keep in mind that some people will have all the RMs so don't worry about that too much. We'll deal with it then. But RM engines only for this event.

@karins: Go to your Settings area and set the time zone to your own. You'll see that the time in the top-right corner of this page will change date/time - this will show when, in your timezone, the end of the first part of the event will be.
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
I'm in! I own XP and VXAce.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Who is ready to mak som gam?! (I'm using vx ace btw~ I also have mv and 2003 unofficial version)
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
You imply in the rules that each half should have about a half-hour of play... but that means that the first person will be doing about 95% of the work. Creating content is only a small fraction of creating the game, after all, and mostly can't be done until almost everything else is already done.

Shouldn't the first half be systems/scripts/resources/formulas/database/graphics and the second half be mapping/battles/moredatabase/animations/cutscenes/testing, or something to that effect? I'm just trying to feel out how this will actually work.

Anyway, I'm signing up. I have access to RM95, RM2K, RM2K3, RMXP, and RMVX Ace. I can deal with people who have either the English or Japanese versions of any of those (I've had some experience converting projects from one format to the other). I'm also willing to help out anyone else who's given a project they can't open because of incompatibility problems, once we get to the halfway point.
Rhyme
Tear Harvester Rhyme
7582
XP, VX, VX Ace, and MV here! (no 2k/3 unfortunately)
Because it's not a partnership in the true sense of the word (meaning co-operative interaction and talking about how to make the game) it'll be left up to the creators how they go about it.

Think of it a bit like a chain game with short chapters (that just so happen to be the only chapters). You make part of it, they make the rest. That's part of the fun - someone might make half a game with events and leave battles and the like for the second person to do (only to have them take it into a puzzle game instead), while someone else might make a bunch of maps and the second person fill them in with event/story.

The time thing is mainly just a flexible rule to make sure people don't screw themselves over. As long as there's something playable for the second person to check out and then expand on to end the game, that's fine. Just try not to over-achieve - this is for fun not to create the most awesome epic game ever omg.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
It's like that game in school we used to play, where you'd write as much as you could in the time limit, and then we'd change seats and the next person would just pick up willy-nilly. That's how one of my first stories ended up with a sprite named Pepsi.

By the way, I've got three reviews in the queue now. How long can we expect to wait for approval, given the added achievement of five games with first time reviews, that is.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Oh, so will we know before we start who we'll be working with?
author=pianotm
By the way, I've got three reviews in the queue now. How long can we expect to wait for approval, given the added achievement of five games with first time reviews, that is.


There's a time stamp added always. I'd guess you go by that if you end up double-reviewing one.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
I'll be using VX Ace.
I have 2000 (official), 2003(official), XP, VX Ace, and MV

I guess this is pretty obvious, but I just wanted a clarification: The second person is only allowed to complete the game, right? So they shouldn't be changing the content that is already there? For example, they wouldn't be allowed to, say, go into the first part and remove a character they don't like? (Tho they could just kill that character off when it comes to their half XD) I guess this means they shouldn't even tweak battles etc from the first person's half, too.
I hope that's not the case, as I'll likely spruce up battles and add interesting mechanics when I get my half, cuz that's what I'm most confident in.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Oh, right, I should probably tell all the engines I have: RM2k, 2k3, XP, and VX Ace (all legal).
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Rine
I hope that's not the case, as I'll likely spruce up battles and add interesting mechanics when I get my half, cuz that's what I'm most confident in.


Yes, but this also means that potentially someone could make those battles worse or add mechanics that don't benefit the game, and would also make the line of where one person's work ended and the others began a bit fuzzier (and I personally think playing this games trying to spot where that line is will be fun XD)
Eh, I feel it is part of the event. You could say the same about mapping or events, the other person could easily ruin what you made. Then again, I'm sure tons of us have ruined our own projects by fudging with them too much ^.~
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Rine
Eh, I feel it is part of the event. You could say the same about mapping or events, the other person could easily ruin what you made. Then again, I'm sure tons of us have ruined our own projects by fudging with them too much ^.~


True, but at the same time, I feel like the second person should be spending their time completing their half of the game rather than redoing the first person's work. If I did the first half, and then found that the other person had stripped out my mechanics, changed my story, added new gameplay to my half, and then just slapped a quick ending on it, I'd be pretty disappointed. I think that goes against the spirit of the event.

When you played the game where the first person wrote the first half of a story, you weren't allowed to erase what they had written and put in new stuff. No, you had to take what they had made and go forward with it.
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
I agree with unity. You can still add cool battles and mechanics in your own half. Changing what has already been made defeats the purpose of the event, which is to pick up where someone else left off and improvise.

Golden rule of improv: Don't deny.
I should mention, I own 2k, 2k3, XP and VX Ace. I'll be using VX Ace for the purposes of starting my half.