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<\/a>Game development competitions (shorter ones are called \u201cgame jams\u201d) have scoring systems to determine the winners of the competition, but it can be difficult to design a scoring system that causes the best game to win.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Here I propose model judging criteria for a game development competition that have several advantages:<\/span><\/p>\n You are free to use these criteria in your own game development contests, or to modify them for your contest\u2019s needs. They are based on the criteria I used in 2010 for the UFEC contest which were in turn based on the criteria of GameDev.net\u2019s Four Elements series of contests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the criteria. I describe the judging system and details on the criteria further below.<\/span><\/p>\n The judging system. <\/b>Many judging systems are compatible with these criteria. In general, you\u2019re going to have one or more judges who each assign scores for one or more criteria on one or more entries.<\/span><\/p>\n For example, UFEC used the following system:<\/span><\/p>\n Each contestant and anyone from the public may each grade any number of games. You can\u2019t grade your own game. You don\u2019t need to grade each game on each criterion. For each criterion where you put a grade (a number from 0 to 10), you must submit feedback as text as well. To get the total score of game, sum the average score of each criterion. The winner is the game with the greatest total score.<\/span><\/p>\n Details on the criteria.<\/b><\/p>\n\n
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\n Technical<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n Production<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n Gameplay<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n Theme<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Stability<\/b>
\n<\/b>Does it crash? Are there bugs? How does it handle errors?<\/span><\/td>\nGraphics<\/b>
\n<\/span>Is the artwork good? Is the art and art style appropriate?\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nFun (immediate)<\/b>
\n<\/b>Is it fun when you first play the game?<\/span><\/td>\nTheme cohesion<\/b>
\n<\/b>Does the theme fit the game, or does it feel \u201cbolted on\u201d an existing game?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Best practices<\/b>
\n<\/b>Does it offer video options? Confirmation before quitting?\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nAudio
\n<\/b>Are the music and SFX good? Is it voice-acted well?<\/span><\/td>\nFun (long term)<\/b>
\n<\/b>Is the game long or replayable? Can it hold your interest?\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nTheme-based<\/b>
\n<\/b>Is theme so integral that the game couldn\u2019t function without it?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Performance<\/b>
\n<\/b>Does it stutter? How fast does it load up? How much memory does it use?<\/span><\/td>\nWriting<\/b>
\n<\/b>Is the story and dialogue inspired? Is the interface text clear?<\/span><\/td>\nOriginality<\/b>
\n<\/b>How original is the gameplay and the game concept?<\/span><\/td>\nGeneral cohesion<\/b>
\n<\/b>Does it feel like a single, smooth system? Does everything \u201cfit\u201d in the design?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Documentation<\/b>
\n<\/b>Is the manual easy to read and helpful? Is it available in-game? Does it explain hidden mechanics?<\/span><\/td>\nPolish<\/b>
\n<\/b>Does the game feel smooth and polished?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nAccessibility<\/b>
\n<\/b>Is it easy to install? Does it have a tutorial? How is the difficulty curve? How are the controls?<\/span><\/td>\nCompletion<\/b>
\n<\/b>When you beat the game, did it feel like a complete game? Or more like a demo?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n