What Escape really means….
August 25th, 2011 4:32 amOk, I have noticed that many people don’t actually know the full meaning of word escape which might be affecting voting in the Theme category. I don’t blame anyone and no one should, since most of the folk here aren’t native English speakers (me too, but I’m an English teacher 
).
So, Here is a definition from The Free Dictionary with some pictures for better reading 
escape [ɪˈskeɪp]
verb
- to get away or break free from (confinements, captors, etc.)
the lion escaped from the zoo
- to manage to avoid (imminent danger, punishment, evil, etc.)
to escape death
- (intr; usually foll by from) (of gases, liquids, etc.) to issue gradually, as from a crack or fissure; seep; leak
water was escaping from the dam
- (tr) to elude; be forgotten by
the actual figure escapes me
- (tr) to be articulated inadvertently or involuntarily
a roar escaped his lips
- (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Horticulture) (intr) (of cultivated plants) to grow wild
Here you go 
Somehow I get the feeling this means every game should get 5/5 in the Theme category.
Also, all games ever made.
Haha the more common the word is, the more meaning it have
)
Also, some words have different meanings when used in conjunction (look up ‘escape cock’ to see what I mean
Yeah, I’ve noticed that some of the games have nothing to do with the theme, and it makes me wonder if people had some pre-made games ready to go, and they just added one tiny thing to make it fit whatever theme was chosen.
“Here’s a platformer where you collect things and kill bad guys… because you’re escaping!” Could have just as easily been “… because you’re in a dream!” or “… because you’re a thief!” or any of the other themes that it could have been this year.
Don’t get me wrong, many games incorporate the theme really well, but I’m definitely skeptical about some of the entries. And I’m also fine with having a few ideas (not code) ready to go for different themes. It just seems a tad unfair to use a cookie-cutter game for a contest that’s mostly about fun and creativity.
I actually quite often, especially with loose terms like “escape”.
Last time the theme was “it’s dangerous to go alone! take this”, which was applicable to any kind of situation or game.
That’s hwy I keep voting for exotic themes, like “nihilism”. At least then you have to think what you want to make.
I’d love to see some exotic themes again for Ludum Dare. But this won’t happen again, as long as there is public voting and so many (potential) participiants. The exotic themes are those which people either hate or love, and the more general ones are the “meh” themes nobody cares about. And that’s why they win, because they don’t get downvotet.
Exotic themes will mean that by the time people have come up with an idea, day one will already be drawing to a close.
In my opinion, the theme should simply feed the imagination, and not put a difficult restriction on what can be crafted.
Similar themes would be “Movement” or “Goal” or “Treasure”.
I can’t edit posts? ….hrmpf
“it happens actually quite often”, was what I wanted to say in that mangled sentence above.
And I didn’t meant to imply that Ludum Dare only happened once a year!
It’d be nice if we had a proper forum here with bbcode, and not this WordPress nonsense.
reply to vote in agreement.
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Good point! I also wrote a post about how I give theme ratings
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2011/08/22/how-i-rate-your-games-for-theme/