Reddit
Extended Submission != Extended Development?
I keep seeing posts or chat entries that say things like “I used the extended submission time (12 hours) to add XYZ to my game”.
Is that valid? I know the competition is a bit laid back, so I’m not too worried about it, but does this bother anybody else?
I’m kind of kicking myself, because I purposely stopped a couple hours before submission time to make sure I had everything deployed correctly, which meant that I had to stop myself from fixing a few bugs, one of which occasionally freezes my game. If I had also used the extended submission time, I’d be a lot more confident that everything in my game worked. But I didn’t want to abuse the extended submission time.
Oh well, I guess I’m just ranting and wondering if anybody else feels the same way. I still had fun, so I’m not getting too worked up over it, but it does seem a bit unfair. Oh well!
I feel the same way. 12 extra hours is a lot, I could fix some bugs, polish my game, add more stuff…
But like you said, this compo is more for funzies, and I don’t think I would win anyway ;P
I don’t think you were really meant to, as the extra twelve hours was only really on an honor system (i.e. the organisers said to stop at the normal time and just upload later). But hey, if people used the extra time, it’s only their sense of satisfaction they’re losing out on.
I agree, although think of people that wasted a lot of time, uselessly trying to submit their stuff, or people who started later. I think that’s within the rules, but it’s a matter of personal good taste. IMHO this competition is about finishing a game before some deadline and under 48hours. If the game feels unpolished by that time, people should just let it be unpolished – this is a proof that they tried their best, but something still could be done more efficient and faster. Next time they will know better.
That’s why there’s no ending in my game, anyway. The last level just loops. :]
Thanks guys, at least I know I’m not crazy.
As for people who lost time trying to submit stuff, that’s what the extended submission time was for. IMHO, all development should stop at the deadline. Time wasted trying to submit is time wasted after development has ended anyway, and using the grace period to fix bugs or add last minute features seems like an abuse of the contest’s kindness, which is unfair to the people who didn’t abuse it.
Oh well, I still had fun, I just wish there was a more reliable way to enforce the deadline. I think that would make things more interesting and fair. Especially because, as this community is growing (this was my first contest), it will attract more people who won’t be as cool about following the rules as past participants have been.
>which meant that I had to stop myself from fixing a few bugs, one of which occasionally freezes my game
You’re allowed to submit fixes for fatal bugs after the deadline, such as the game crashing/freezing or some level being unplayable.
Also, porting is fine.
Interesting, I didn’t know that! I still think it would be a little dishonest to fix it now, so I think I’ll leave it in. But I still think it’s abusive for people to add features after the deadline.