AGDQ 2015 Game Submissions - Due date is September 3rd 11:59 EDT [locked]

2014-08-23 04:33:39 pm

Hi, this might be too late/inconsequential but I thought i'd just make a post re: FFT after someone suggested. I'm not really a part of the speed running community at all (hence this being my first and maybe only post here), but my friends and I are watchers of agdq/sgdq for it's entertainment value/hype for charity more or less.

I was surprised to find out that FFT was rejected because it holds such a huge nostalgic grip on most gamers that I know. It's one of the most frequently cited favorite games, many times in a "lol even more than the main FF games" way. The top reasons people like us watch gdq are a. amusement over really insane runs that even we outsiders can tell are difficult, and b. seeing shared nostalgia over games we love being played well. While the FFT run clocks in at 5 hours and may not seem to satisfy the first point at a glance, i think it makes up for it in spades from the second point :O. I imagine all the people i've met in my life who've gushed over FFT would love to see it played with everyone else and reliving the game + seeing a new side of it they would not have considered when they played. Was just a bit surprising to see it rejected! I don't know anything about the person playing it, but from the video linked he seems to fill up any empty time / silence with commentary so I don't think people like us would get bored.

Anyway, i don't mean to speak for all of us filthy casuals but I thought i'd just say something even if it doesn't make a difference. Good luck wading through the rest of the submissions Smiley

Look forward to donating stuff when everything is finalized!

Hi, this might be too late/inconsequential but I thought i'd just make a post re: FFT after someone suggested. I'm not really a part of the speed running community at all (hence this being my first and maybe only post here), but my friends and I are watchers of agdq/sgdq for it's entertainment value/hype for charity more or less.

I was surprised to find out that FFT was rejected because it holds such a huge nostalgic grip on most gamers that I know. It's one of the most frequently cited favorite games, many times in a "lol even more than the main FF games" way. The top reasons people like us watch gdq are a. amusement over really insane runs that even we outsiders can tell are difficult, and b. seeing shared nostalgia over games we love being played well. While the FFT run clocks in at 5 hours and may not seem to satisfy the first point at a glance, i think it makes up for it in spades from the second point :O. I imagine all the people i've met in my life who've gushed over FFT would love to see it played with everyone else and reliving the game + seeing a new side of it they would not have considered when they played. Was just a bit surprising to see it rejected! I don't know anything about the person playing it, but from the video linked he seems to fill up any empty time / silence with commentary so I don't think people like us would get bored.

Anyway, i don't mean to speak for all of us filthy casuals but I thought i'd just say something even if it doesn't make a difference. Good luck wading through the rest of the submissions :) Look forward to donating stuff when everything is finalized!

Countdown42

2014-08-24 11:20:44 pm

I imagine there's a lot on your plate but I have to ask

why waitlist my KSS submission after accepting usedpizza/0xwas'?

mikwuyma

2014-08-24 11:24:32 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Did I accept usedpizza's? I'm honestly not big on a race if 0xwas is there.

CVagts

2014-08-24 11:25:44 pm

"Let's put a SMILE on that face!"

I presume that the other runners who submitted the game are waitlisted as part of the "sort out which runner(s) of this game are going to do the run" process.

mikwuyma

2014-08-24 11:33:11 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Correct.

lurk

2014-08-25 01:15:06 am

when will we be able to edit the run's video, departure times and such? i wanted to amend the SWAT4 submission since it says "This run involving 10 or more runners" when it's actually just "10 runners total"

mabdulra

2014-08-25 01:31:36 am

LADX

First time submitted to a marathon and I'm in the "waitlist and potentially sort out runners later" boat.
Where would this conversation take place? Would it be in this thread after the due date cutoff, or will there be a different thread for this discussion?

Second question, how do games placed under the "Bonus Game" category work? Would those be part of a bonus stream or would they be incentive runs? I only ask since if they are to be played after the final date then a lot of runners would likely back out due to having to go back to real life shenanigans like work.

Thanks for answering!

mikwuyma

2014-08-25 01:33:25 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

lurk: This has been mentioned multiple times, but the only thing you will be able to edit later are run video and departure time.

mabdulra: Second round would be the time to discuss that waitlist and games with multiple runners.

Bonus games are incentives, not bonus stream.

EvenSteven02

2014-08-25 01:47:12 am

Stay frosty my friends!

I'm disappointed but not really surprised that Chrono Cross was rejected, mostly due to length. It would have been a great way to end AGDQ as a spiritual sequel to last year's Chrono Trigger finale. Oh well, $2 million hype will have to come from a different game.

mabdulra

2014-08-25 03:08:28 am

LADX

Thanks for answering my questions! Good luck to everybody with organizing this marathon. Smiley

RTG

2014-08-25 09:04:51 am

I'm kinda surprised that Rayman Origins was rejected, but i sort of expected it to happen seeing as the game was in a LOT of marathons (even being with the slower and outdated category). I'll still attend just fine, and i wish best of luck to everyone who got in.

Linkinito

Edit history:

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 02:46:10 pm

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 02:40:55 pm

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 02:40:53 pm

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 02:40:52 pm

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 02:39:21 pm

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 02:38:38 pm

2014-08-26 02:38:19 pm

This is my avatar

I'm gonna throw my support towards the rejected run of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

I realize that this game has a pretty huge estimate of 5 hours and 30 minutes and it might be really hard to put into a schedule, but honestly, this is a run that uses them to the fullest. It's not like most RPGs which have, in the same estimate, around 1 to 2 hours of dialog skipping and cutscenes. There's driving between missions of course, but it's all part of the running experience and trying to find the right vehicle at the right place. And some boring parts would be pretty useful for donation reading or route explaining. And we can still follow the story along the run.

Also, the game always has a great amount of hype and was the most popular run at ESA two years in a row. There are also great donation incentives (TriHard% vs. Will Smith% which could draw a 5-figure donation amount simply for a haircut, subtitles language, pole glitch in 555 We Tip, YOLOfence...), and the runner (Tirean) is the second best for running GTA SA any%. Also this is a run that will draw a lot of viewers simply because of the huge popularity the game had at release (being one of the best-selling games of all time) and is still, 10 years after release, considered as a masterpiece and even superior to GTA IV and V.

I know that my only voice might be worthless (especially considering the whole community around Claude and his FFT run) but GTA SA really deserved to get through the first cut. It might be a very long run but it is always entertaining and features tons of "what" moments where the chat would simply explode. It is the ultimate GTA experience, especially for speedrunning, and it deserves to be part of a GDQ marathon. And in 5 hours and 30 minutes, pretty much anything can happen, which makes every run of GTA unique in essence.

I'm gonna throw my support towards the rejected run of [b]Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[/b].

I realize that this game has a pretty huge estimate of 5 hours and 30 minutes and it might be really hard to put into a schedule, but honestly, this is a run that uses them to the fullest. It's not like most RPGs which have, in the same estimate, around 1 to 2 hours of dialog skipping and cutscenes. There's driving between missions of course, but it's all part of the running experience and trying to find the right vehicle at the right place. And some boring parts would be pretty useful for donation reading or route explaining. And we can still follow the story along the run.

Also, the game always has a great amount of hype and was the most popular run at ESA two years in a row. There are also great donation incentives (TriHard% vs. Will Smith% which could draw a 5-figure donation amount simply for a haircut, subtitles language, pole glitch in 555 We Tip, YOLOfence...), and the runner (Tirean) is the second best for running GTA SA any%. Also this is a run that will draw a lot of viewers simply because of the huge popularity the game had at release (being one of the best-selling games of all time) and is still, 10 years after release, considered as a masterpiece and even superior to GTA IV and V.

I know that my only voice might be worthless (especially considering the whole community around Claude and his FFT run) but GTA SA really deserved to get through the first cut. It might be a very long run but it is always entertaining and features tons of "what" moments where the chat would simply explode. It is the ultimate GTA experience, especially for speedrunning, and it deserves to be part of a GDQ marathon. And in 5 hours and 30 minutes, pretty much anything can happen, which makes every run of GTA unique in essence.

OtakuSRL

2014-08-26 02:56:50 pm

< ^ > < ^ >

Very sad and disappointed to see my two-man-one-controller Hamtaro run rejected. Sad

Oh well. Best of luck to all the other submitters! Still looking forward to the event, albeit I'm extremely bummed out, I'm still looking forward to watching the other runs and meeting everybody (again, and more) this year! Smiley

CVagts

2014-08-26 02:57:11 pm

"Let's put a SMILE on that face!"

The two major negatives going against GTA: San Andreas are the length (which you addressed) and the coarse language. And given that the marathon is PG-13, this is going to be a tough negative to overcome.

TheMG2

2014-08-26 02:59:22 pm

They've had GTA runs before so the language thing isn't that big of a thing. The language thing mostly applies to commentary not so much games from what I understand.

Worn_Traveler

2014-08-26 03:30:17 pm

Formerly known as Skullboy

Language in GTA III and VC is a lot tamer than the language in SA. Of course, one could turn the subtitles off, which wouldn't remove the audio swearing but would the text.

Linkinito

Edit history:

Linkinito: 2014-08-27 04:05:02 am

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 03:58:35 pm

Linkinito: 2014-08-26 03:50:32 pm

2014-08-26 03:49:07 pm

This is my avatar

And it's not like there's an F-bomb every five minutes. There's definitely some profanity in GTA SA, and of course violence, but we can still disable the subtitles and anyway the runner's commentary would cover the voice dialog. As a reminder, before GTA III appeared at AGDQ 2013, controversial games like GTA were ruled out as they "didn't fit into an event for charity". But the game selection became more open-minded, GTA appeared and got a phenomenal success. Since then every GDQ marathon got a GTA run.

I doubt GTA SA was ruled out because of swearing/violence. The length was in my opinion the principal problem, and probably the risk of softlocks, even though there can be up to 10 safety saves. But honestly, if there was room for like three or four long games (at least 4 hours), GTA SA would have been part of it no matter what for me. Especially when we see that the very long runs of GDQs were mostly Zelda, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and a bit of Mario.

the1stpkmnfan

Edit history:

the1stpkmnfan: 2014-08-26 04:42:39 pm

2014-08-26 04:40:59 pm

Snowboard Assassin

Been wondering about the bonus stream for a while. I understand the main priority at the moment is to flex out a main stream schedule with the games that got accepted. But is there going to be a bonus stream again? I remember reading here that people were considering to omit one completely. However, if that's not true, and there intends to be a bonus segment, how would the games get picked? Is it something put together later down the road during the marathon? Do games that get rejected stay rejected? Or do they get some redemption and get a shot at some spotlight?

I'm aware this feels like 20 questions, but I'm curious as to whats been decided and what the intended plan is set to be for AGDQ 2015. Other than that, I look forward to the many new games that got accepted (and if they plan to stay).

Also, I'm sure its for confidential reasons, but I'd like to know why games get rejected. Granted, it may apply to obscurity, time ranges and summaries. Having no video doesn't hurt or help. So, I'm just curious, since we had feedback received in a topic last year.

Been wondering about the bonus stream for a while. I understand the main priority at the moment is to flex out a main stream schedule with the games that got accepted. But is there going to be a bonus stream again? I remember reading here that people were considering to omit one completely. However, if that's not true, and there intends to be a bonus segment, how would the games get picked? Is it something put together later down the road during the marathon? Do games that get rejected stay rejected? Or do they get some redemption and get a shot at some spotlight?

I'm aware this feels like 20 questions, but I'm curious as to whats been decided and what the intended plan is set to be for AGDQ 2015. Other than that, I look forward to the many new games that got accepted (and if they plan to stay).

Also, I'm sure its for confidential reasons, but I'd like to know why games get rejected. Granted, it may apply to obscurity, time ranges and summaries. Having no video doesn't hurt or help. So, I'm just curious, since we had feedback received in a topic last year.

TheMG2

2014-08-26 04:45:08 pm

Answer to your first set of questions: It will not be speedrunning content iirc.

Answer to your second is that mike simply doesn't have the time to do that anymore. You can pm him about individual games.

StingerPA

2014-08-26 04:45:58 pm

Mike posted about bonus stream in the earlier topic about game submissions, I've quoted it here.

Quote from mikwuyma:

Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what I want for bonus stream. I was going to create a separate topic for it, but since people are asking here, I might as well answer.

I want bonus stream to be a (loosely) scheduled stream with about 24 hours of non-speedrunning content. This can include side tournament finals such as Fighting Masters and Melee. It can also include games such as Mario Party or other party games, possibly a blind playthrough of something that's really bad but funny to see people suffer through (like Toki), and possibly even a Q&A session.

The purpose of setting up bonus stream this way is to make it more casual and fun like it was back in the day, and to solve how unsustainable it is.

I know some people will be mad about this change, because a lot of people have the mentality of, "well I didn't get my game in the main marathon, but I can get it in bonus stream," but as I said before, that's not what bonus stream was about, or should be about. Bonus stream back in the past was just a way to stream and relax after we were done with a marathon.

Also, the way bonus stream is handled now doesn't work. It barely worked at AGDQ because Hannah spent time organizing it (and frankly she should have rested instead), and it didn't work at SGDQ because no one on staff cared. If we continue the path of letting people speedrun games with no real schedule, it'll just create more conflict and arguments about who gets to run in such a small amount of time.

By the way, if people are wondering why only a 24 hour period, it's because the teardown this SGDQ was very nice and relaxed since I had a full day and lots of good help thanks to people such as yeti and vanish mantle. It was much better than the AGDQ teardown.

Now if this new bonus stream doesn't work, then I'll just nuke bonus stream because it's not worth having bonus stream if no one is having any fun.

Mike posted about bonus stream in the earlier topic about game submissions, I've quoted it here.

[quote="mikwuyma"]Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what I want for bonus stream. I was going to create a separate topic for it, but since people are asking here, I might as well answer.

I want bonus stream to be a (loosely) scheduled stream with about 24 hours of non-speedrunning content. This can include side tournament finals such as Fighting Masters and Melee. It can also include games such as Mario Party or other party games, possibly a blind playthrough of something that's really bad but funny to see people suffer through (like Toki), and possibly even a Q&A session.

The purpose of setting up bonus stream this way is to make it more casual and fun like it was back in the day, and to solve how unsustainable it is.

I know some people will be mad about this change, because a lot of people have the mentality of, "well I didn't get my game in the main marathon, but I can get it in bonus stream," but as I said before, that's not what bonus stream was about, or should be about. Bonus stream back in the past was just a way to stream and relax after we were done with a marathon.

Also, the way bonus stream is handled now doesn't work. It barely worked at AGDQ because Hannah spent time organizing it (and frankly she should have rested instead), and it didn't work at SGDQ because no one on staff cared. If we continue the path of letting people speedrun games with no real schedule, it'll just create more conflict and arguments about who gets to run in such a small amount of time.

By the way, if people are wondering why only a 24 hour period, it's because the teardown this SGDQ was very nice and relaxed since I had a full day and lots of good help thanks to people such as yeti and vanish mantle. It was much better than the AGDQ teardown.

Now if this new bonus stream doesn't work, then I'll just nuke bonus stream because it's not worth having bonus stream if no one is having any fun.[/quote]

Kefka14

2014-08-26 05:21:42 pm

Once again, I'd like to thank mikwuyama for considering my games, and say that I am more than hype that Sneak King made it past first cuts! The AwfulGDQ block is probably one of my favorite parts of AGDQ in general, so I'd be more than honored and hyped to run something at it! I was also very hype to see that the Catherine 1p2c run got past. Here's to hoping to get through round 2! Either way its gonna be a great time.

snorlax

2014-08-26 05:32:12 pm

zzzzzzzzzz

I believe there was a short mention earlier in this thread of possibly having a dropdown with common reject reasons in another column added at some point. Any chance that is in the works? It'd be nice to give people a little information without having to PM.

mikwuyma

2014-08-26 07:59:18 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Bonus stream: I can confirm that stingerpa's quote is directly from me and how I intend to handle bonus stream for AGDQ 2015.

GTA: San Andreas: Actually, the violence isn't really a huge factor (or we wouldn't have had a GTA game in a marathon), but the length definitely is. As far as I know, GTA: SA is pretty lacking in donation incentives, and that is definitely a concern for longer games.

snorlax: Cool Matty is working on that along with a bunch of other features at this point.

Marche_Fighter_Paladin

2014-08-26 08:18:20 pm

Claimh Happy

can I hear the reasons for Nightmare in Dream Land being rejected? I'm sure it'll probably be the same as the last few marathons, but it'd be nice to hear officially.

dntn31

2014-08-26 11:19:48 pm

I'm a little surprised that Mario Kart 64 is being rejected as a whole. The MK64 AGDQ14 run currently has the most views of any video on the SDA youtube channel out of all of the AGDQ14 runs (currently sitting around 270K, next highest is I Wanna Be The Guy at 212K), it also tied for the game with the single highest individual donation at AGDQ14 ($10K) and won the add-a-game bid war at SGDQ15. Clearly there is a lot of interest in speedruns for the game and I would think SDA would want to capitalize on that. I understand that there is a ton of submissions and not every game can be included, but to reject a game that is at the top of several objective categories (video views, single donation amount) seems a little strange.

I respect the decision and I'm not salty, just thought I'd say my peace and perhaps bring some attention to the above facts if they weren't already known by those responsible for making the decision to reject the game.

Thank you for all of your hard work.