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Community Competition / [STICKY] Dec 2010: Official TGC Game Making Contest! A Quiz Game!

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James_TGC
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Posted: 9th Dec 2010 19:06 Edited at: 13th Dec 2010 13:25
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As the recent Santa Claus competition produced some great entries and seemed to inspire many of you we have decided to run another one!

The Task...
For this competition, we would like you to come up with a superb quiz engine that provides questions and also allows players to add their own ones!

What we’re looking for...
* Good, well documented and tight code.
* The more graphical, animated and musical the better!
* Must be a family rated game.

Using...
DBPro or GDK

Prizes...
1st prize: $100 TGC voucher
2nd prize: $50 TGC voucher
3rd prize: $30 TGC voucher

Deadline...
Sunday, 9th January at midnight.

Good luck!

Answers to questions in this thread:

Quote: "1. Is it ok to use GDK.Net?"

Yes fine.

Quote: "2. I assume we can't use any commands that aren't part of DBPro/GDK, aka: VB.Net or C# commands?"

Depends really. Structural commands for loops etc are fine. A quiz function would be pushing it!

Quote: "3. Can we use any plugins for DBPro or do we have to use the standard commands?"

Yes, fine.

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Jammy
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Posted: 9th Dec 2010 21:25
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Wow, these are comming thick and fast. I will try and get an entry in.

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thenerd
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Posted: 9th Dec 2010 21:39
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Good luck to everyone who enters! I'm not going to enter, I don't think that'd be fair.


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knxrb
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Posted: 10th Dec 2010 00:15 Edited at: 10th Dec 2010 17:19
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Hmm, I might join this, got a few questions though:

1. Is it ok to use GDK.Net?
2. I assume we can't use any commands that aren't part of DBPro/GDK, aka: VB.Net or C# commands?
3. Can we use any plugins for DBPro or do we have to use the standard commands?

Sorry if these have been answered in other competitions but I've not entered one of these before.

Robert

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Jammy
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Posted: 11th Dec 2010 23:17
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thenerd I think it would be fair. We need as many people as we can to support these compos or TGC might not feel they are worth it and stop them. Your programs are great and can teach many people a lot (including me).

A quiz program in a month is a tall order, but I think it can be done. So come on peeps what else you going to be doing ?

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knxrb
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Posted: 12th Dec 2010 00:39
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Any chance of a response to my questions from anyone?

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Phaelax
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Posted: 12th Dec 2010 10:01
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cool, I've been wanting to make a game like this for awhile.
I'm not gonna finish my zelda clone with all these challenges coming up!

"Only the educated are free" ~Epictetus
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..." ~Einstein
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thenerd
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Posted: 12th Dec 2010 16:47
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@knxrb:

Quote: "1. Is it ok to use GDK.Net?"

Yes.

Quote: "2. I assume we can't use any commands that aren't part of DBPro/GDK, aka: VB.Net or C# commands?"

I would say no unless they were in a plugin for db.

Quote: "3. Can we use any plugins for DBPro or do we have to use the standard commands?"
Definitely! My entry used sparky's collision DLL, and the second place entry used box2d.


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knxrb
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Posted: 12th Dec 2010 17:23
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Thanks, thenerd
I've already started in DBPro and I think I may use a plugin as well now

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Eminent
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Posted: 12th Dec 2010 17:31
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Cool, I'll probably enter this.


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James_TGC
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Posted: 13th Dec 2010 13:26
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Good to see plenty of interest in here!

I've included answers to the questions in my original post.

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thenerd
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Posted: 20th Dec 2010 04:24
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Jammy, you'll be happy to know I changed my mind, and I'll still be making a game based on this theme. I might not be able to enter it in the contest though, I'm rather short on time around the holidays.


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Phaelax
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Posted: 26th Dec 2010 11:42
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Well, up until this point I've just been thinking up ideas for this contest. Yesterday I finally got some ideas. I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone post any WIP for this contest yet.

"Only the educated are free" ~Epictetus
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..." ~Einstein
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Drillfoot
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Posted: 26th Dec 2010 17:48
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Once we submit, are the games property of TGC? Not a big deal, just wondering what happens to the games when they win, or if they are runner ups etc.

rem allow user create game with one click
rem create graphics, sound, scripts, models, with one click
rem slap user in face if game choice is mmo
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Jammy
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Posted: 27th Dec 2010 00:49 Edited at: 5th Jan 2011 23:34
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The property of the game is yours. However, If you look at previous compo entries, You need to submit your code. This is so others can learn from your experience.

There is no way you can stop someone directly copying your work. If they do, I take it as a big compliment and anyone can use anything I post on these forums, in their TGC projects as they wish, though a mention would be nice.

After the last compo. James E-mailed me and asked

Quote: "Would you also be happy with TGC hosting your game so that we can let the rest of the TGC community download and play them?"


I said fine by me.

I am sure TGC would not use any of your work without your permission.

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Drillfoot
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Posted: 27th Dec 2010 03:22
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Great Jammy, I appreciate the response. Being new here, I don't really know how things work. I don't mind people having my game or code just as you say. I was just wondering what happens after we submit. Thanks for answering!

rem allow user create game with one click
rem create graphics, sound, scripts, models, with one click
rem slap user in face if game choice is mmo
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James_TGC
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Posted: 30th Dec 2010 15:24
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Hi Drillfoot, Jammy is correct in his answer your question. Thanks for the post, Jammy.

How is everyone doing with their entries!?

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Phaelax
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Posted: 31st Dec 2010 00:44
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Mine's getting there, I've just had to learn some DB commands I've never used before. But should it work out I think the feature will give me a leg up on the competition.

"Only the educated are free" ~Epictetus
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..." ~Einstein
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James_TGC
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Posted: 31st Dec 2010 15:30
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Sounds interesting!

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Jammy
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Posted: 5th Jan 2011 10:25 Edited at: 5th Jan 2011 10:26
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Here is a couple of ScreenShots of my progress so far.
The question Editor and Main Menu.

I have been very short of time at my pc - but hope to get a nearly finished product today, however I will have no time for polish and playtesting.



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Jammy
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Posted: 5th Jan 2011 23:59
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Odds On By Jammy-Soft - Just Click the "Download" Button on the bottom right of this post.

Well I have finished as best as I can.

Here are some screenshots.



To Download click the Download button to the bottom right of this post. Full Game, Question Creator and source code are included.

It is a quiz game with a horse racing theme. Bet time depending on how confident you are about your given category. Then Answer as quickly as possible. The quicker you answer the faster your horse. Your horse will run for your betted time at your answer speed. First past the post wins, there is no second prize.

Question creator makes it quick and easy to add questions to the game. It will support 1000 categories, each with up to 100 questions.

James - People seem to have been a bit busy over the holiday period. If I am the only person to enter, I think it would be best to extend the deadline for a couple of months. Advertise in the newsletter, facebook and make it a hot topic in the forums.
I Love these compos and think they are great for the community and TGC, I would rather have a delay and some competition than win by default.

So Anyway HIT THE DOWNLOAD Button and if anyone finds a major problem, I will try and fix before the deadline. If not this is my entry.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 6th Jan 2011 15:25
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Don't worry Jammy, I'm not gonna let you win by default so easily

"Only the educated are free" ~Epictetus
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..." ~Einstein
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Jammy
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Posted: 6th Jan 2011 21:40
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Fantastic,

Hope you have had time to put some polish to your creation.

Mine is a little bit ruff around the edges. But I still think the concept was good and I think the way I made the questions works very well. I had added text to speech, but it just slowed the flow of the game down as you could not do anything while it talked, so I took it back out again. It is a very busy time at my work just now and I won’t have time to add polish, only fix the most drastic of problems (If there are any).

Well Good Luck and I hope there are more quiet entries waiting on the sidelines.

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RUCCUS
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Posted: 7th Jan 2011 07:07 Edited at: 7th Jan 2011 07:07
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According to ESRB, the Everyone rating allows for some violence. Does that mean if the video game has guns and the concept of death, without blood in it, it still falls into the Family category?

Seeing as my entire concept relies on shooting zombies. And since zombies are dead already... youre not technically killing them! Youre really just saving the world from the spreading zombie disease, so everyone wins!

Anyways, allowed?
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Phaelax
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Posted: 8th Jan 2011 06:46
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So every zombie carries a disease? Shouldn't stereotype, we are all brothers in life!

"Only the educated are free" ~Epictetus
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..." ~Einstein
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thenerd
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Posted: 9th Jan 2011 00:10 Edited at: 9th Jan 2011 00:10
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I'd say it's fine, the impression I got from "family rated" was no explicit content, extreme gore, swears, all that... zombies should be ok.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 9th Jan 2011 17:56 Edited at: 9th Jan 2011 18:07
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Ok, I've got as much finished as I'll probably get by this deadline. The source requires Cloggy's D3D plugin.

Download Here 3.48MB

Quote: "and also allows players to add their own ones!"

The questions are all loaded by a simple to understand XML file. Very easy to add your own questions and categories.

There are 3 difficulty levels for questions, with the option for the quiz to ask questions that are either easy, medium, hard, or all 3 levels.

Unfortunately, I didn't complete everything I wanted to include. Categories are basically irrelevant, so if you want to keep them separate then put each category into a separate XML file, otherwise all categories in a single xml file will be included for that quiz. A minor detail, but what I had really hoped to do was make it an online multiplayer game. I just didn't have time so what little networking segments I did have were removed.

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Jammy
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Posted: 9th Jan 2011 20:01 Edited at: 9th Jan 2011 20:28
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Hi Phaelax, I have just tried Quixle, unfortunately It crashes every time I click on new game. The menus look great and I can add users. But as you can see from the screenshot as soon as I click on new game, It crashes.

Hope you have time to fix this. If not, does that extended deadline sound any better now?



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Phaelax
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Posted: 10th Jan 2011 00:00
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I've had some random issues with Windows 7, but main development was on XP. I'll take a look at with Win7, but it'll be hard to track down the issue without specific error messages.

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Jammy
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I know, Sorry - but that is the only error I get. And yes I have windows 7.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 10th Jan 2011 00:23 Edited at: 10th Jan 2011 00:40
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Well this is great, I get the same error on Win7 just by running the program. Can't even make it to the menu.

Ok, system requirements for Quixle, Windows XP!


Arghh, now that stupid synergy IDE is giving me the "expired" crap on Win7. This is getting annoying.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 10th Jan 2011 01:21
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I've tracked the bug to my loadXml function. Still figuring out whats wrong with it.

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RUCCUS
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I didnt get a response in time about whether or not zombie killing was allowed so Im out. Goodluck to the others.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 10th Jan 2011 20:13
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Hopefully they test these games with XP.

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Jammy
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Posted: 10th Jan 2011 22:45
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I hope so too, I have still to try your game on my XP computer. I just use it as a media centre and it will need direct X installed first.

Sad that no-one else managed an entry and hope it will not put TGC off supporting further compos. All I can suggest is more time and better advertising.

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James_TGC
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Hi guys, thanks for your entries. We will take a look and let you know who the winner is in the next few days! Phaelax, we will try to test your game on Windows XP!

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LBFN
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Posted: 11th Jan 2011 05:48
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Phaelax:

Worked great for me on my desktop and laptop. My desktop's OS is XP, my laptop's OS is Win7.

Nice game. Man, do I feel stupid, though.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 11th Jan 2011 21:11
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LBFN, you must've downloaded it right after I uploaded the newer version, which only crashed if you let the timer reach 0. I just fixed that minor bug and uploaded the newest version.

Even though the competition deadline ended more than a day ago, I encourage anyone who wants to run the game on Windows 7 to download the newest version. The only changes I've made to the code since the competition ended were fixes to how strings were returned in my functions so that it would run on Win7, nothing else was changed or last minute additions.

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BillR
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Posted: 13th Jan 2011 07:13 Edited at: 13th Jan 2011 07:16
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I know the compo is over, but I thought the code I started might help some others as they learn DBPro, even though I had just started.

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Jammy
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Posted: 13th Jan 2011 11:47
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Phaelax - works fine now for me. Good Luck.

Billr - shame you never finished in time. Great that you posted your code though. Im sure someone will find it useful. hope you will enter the next compo.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 13th Jan 2011 16:28
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So are me and Jammy the only entries? That's a shame we didn't get more.

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James_TGC
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Posted: 16th Jan 2011 21:14
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WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

We would like to thank Jammy and Phaelax for making entries to the quiz game competition during what is a busy time for everyone! Here are the results:

1st Prize Jammy: Odds On - $100 TGC Voucher

2nd Prize Phaelax: Quixle - $50 TGC Voucher

Thanks again for your entries guys, they're excellent! Look out for a thread soon in which we will get your opinions on future competitions.

Congrats to you both!

Jammy, I have emailed you to organise your TGC voucher.

Phaelax, I have emailed the address on your website to organise your TGC voucher. If you could confirm on this thread that you have received the email that would be much appreciated.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 17th Jan 2011 21:35
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Yea I got the email

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Jammy
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Posted: 19th Jan 2011 18:10
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Thanks, James for another great competition. I do wish more people could have entered, as I know there is a lot of talent out there better than me (I’m looking at you thenerd and baxslash) and I really hope this poor turnout does not dissuade TGC from hosting this excellent resource for the community.

Anyway I got the voucher today and decided to treat myself to
Dark Source, Styx and Smart Packer Pro.

Taking advantage of a 15% discount for 3 products and adding just $18 (about £13) of my own money.

I had thought about keeping the voucher for the AppGameKit, but see It is going to have a subscription model, and am not sure how that will work.(you could keep me in mind for beta testing ?, I know me and 1000000 other people)

Hope for a better turnout next time, and will lookout for your thread on our opinions for future competitions.

Jammy

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Phaelax
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Quote: "I had thought about keeping the voucher for the AGK"

I was considering the same thing. I might get the 2D Plugin kit, not sure what else I would even want.

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thenerd
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You guys got Silver and Gold Codemaster statuses!

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