I’d really like to do another entry this year - just to keep involved. However, due to some impending babyage here in the house of glass I may not have the time/interest nearer the time.
What are the rules with respect to creating an entry early and entering it when the contest opens?
Kev
well, I think that if it is to be not allowed then how will it be able to be enforced?
JM4K was dragged across the first 3 compos until I managed to finally finish it. There werent any rules against that and I think we should start using such a rule. 4k can be pretty frustrating… so, I guess some gave up (like I did), but they might finish it for the next compo. The more the merrier, right? 
Well, for me if it’s against the rules, I won’t do it - no enforcement required.
I’ve always thought so, but since there might be like sponsors and things this year there probably needs to formal rules or something ?
Kev
I’ve already started playing around with it a bit. 
I’m going to avoid posting anything until the compeition actually starts, though. The fun part is to see what others make, and to know everyone’s working on it at the same time, more or less.
the way I see it… I’ve announced it… sooo I see it as okay o_O
Excellent! Then consider me started
Kev
Hey waitaminute, Markus, both you and Kev should WAIT to submit games for a couple months after the competition officially starts, at the least, to give everyone else the illusion we might have a chance… :-\
hehe, j4k is never about the winning it is about having fun programming. Well… it is to me! My day job involving programming is boring and i see this good way of relieving stress.
I’m not sure I should give away my “plan”, but:
The first year I was in the competition, I went for pure technology. My biggest focus was on getting a nice renderer going, then tried to fit a couple of games into it. I’m still really happy with how Dungeon4k turned out. =)
The second year was about gameplay only. I started by trying to make the game fun by adding as many addictive elements as I could; many levels, increasing difficulty, loads of sprites, a “creative” part to let the player play around. It worked very well for Miners4k, but Dachon4k (which I never officially entered) was never really fun… for some reason.
This year, I’m going for experimental/original gameplay. I don’t expect to win.
As for me, I’m really not going to get time this year Although I was scoping round the 4K sight recently and found a page at (javaunlimited.net/4K2007) which has subsequently disappeared! Woogley?!? It specified a rather early start date so now I’m rushing to get a clone entry done just so I can say I entered every year
My Cubis Clone: http://www.cokeandcode.com/node/594
Most likely be my only entry this year, so no worries from me
Kev
Slightly off topic, but…
kev, there’s something seriously wrong with the way my computer collaborates (or doesn’t collaborate) with your webstart. All of your 4k ones work like a charm, but all the bigger ones, using external libraries (tiltation, your spacehulk demo, and shrooms are unstartable. Probably some sort of configuration error on my behalf, but it’s a slight bit annoying. I want to be able to run your webstarts, after all
EDIT: Error code for typhoon, the others are similar.
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeApplication(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.executeMainClass(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.continueLaunch(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleApplicationDesc(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleLaunchFile(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: no lwjgl in java.library.path
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.System.loadLibrary(Unknown Source)
at org.lwjgl.Sys$1.run(Sys.java:67)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.(Sys.java:65)
at org.lwjgl.opengl.Display.(Display.java:104)
at org.newdawn.render.window.LWJGLWindow.updateDisplayMode(LWJGLWindow.java:193)
at org.newdawn.render.window.LWJGLWindow.startRendering(LWJGLWindow.java:268)
at org.newdawn.typhoon.Game.(Game.java:113)
at org.newdawn.typhoon.Game.main(Game.java:162)
… 11 more
Your right, it is a bit off topic However, what platform are you on?
The error message you’ve got normally means I haven’t included the native libraries for your platform. However, since I track downloads and players - I know that at least WinXP, Win2000, Linux and Mac Binaraies are all working fine. So, are you on Solaris? or maybe Win98 or something?
Kev
WinXP Pro.
Then my only guess that you ahve in the past installed LWJGL in the JRE’s ext direction and it’s picking that up in preference to the one included in the webstart.
Curious…
Kev
so, when are we going to start submitting those games?
i’ve been working in a litle jerky thing these past days, but it needs a litle polishment and i would like to see other games before posting.
game submissions will begin when the contest begins, of course.
developing early is a slight risk due to you don’t know this year’s rules yet. what if there was a major change?? 
I’m not saying I’m expecting a rule change, but its just one of the reasons I dont turn on submissions until the contest officially starts. nice to see the anticipation though