WhatULive4 wrote:
As for the competition start date, I'd say that 2013 doesn't have much time left and I'd personally make it a 2014 competition. That should give us plenty of time to get better organized.
How much time do we want to allow for the compo? If we only want to give 2-3 months I think going with early next year would be a good idea. Although I'd say we should iron out the details and such now and announce that it's coming up with whatever details we have planned. People can always start early if they'd like. We just wouldn't open up a registration of any sort or officially announce prizes. That and people could make plans to wrap up their current projects in the next couple months so they have those 2-3 months 'free' for development.
That time frame would allow for cart releases to happen around the same time they did this year ~early summer. I think that's a good time of year to do it off setting with the holidays. It also makes it easier to build up in preparation for the holidays if we want to capitalize on carts sales as gifts.
It'd be nice to have an annual routine of this so we don't hum haw around till we make the decision to go for the next one. The same time of year isn't going to be idea for everyone. But a regular schedule allows some assurance to people that there will be an upcoming compo. If they'd like to get an early start during the winter months for those on the bottom of the globe or other school obligations etc. It's hard to be motivated to start early when there hasn't been any plan for the next one.
Here's my proposition:
Compo announced with basic plan (not in stone): Nov 1st
Official compo details announced set in stone: Dec 1st
Compo officially starts, registration opens: Jan 1st
Compo ends, all entries due: April 1st
Winners announced, prizes paid out: May 1st
Final rom/menu/hardware/label of cart ironed out: June 1st
Carts open for sale: July 1st
This is something that sounds like it could work year in and year out. We might not always be perfect, but it's better than keeping ourselves from going 3 years without a compo.
Thoughts?
On the other subject the windows/OS idea and solitare/minesweeper sounds kinda fun. Even if it was just to change the looks of the current A53. The whole login and high scores type setup would require some battery ram/nvm write access though to be done right. Part of me thinks we should make it our own branding though, and give the illusion of an OS as we see fit instead of copy-catting microsoft products and branding.