This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 27, released in November 2006

The Game.Dev Comps evolved considerably since they started, with sponsors and prizes being obtained, and a larger, more experienced (and larger) community facilitating the creation of even more advanced games. We take a look at all the competitions held since August 2006, 10 competitions over 2 years.

Comp 11 – Tutorials

Comp 11 was considerably unlike the other competitions held to date, and still stands as the only competition that didn't bid for the creation of actual game. Instead, comp 11 sought to take techniques that developers had learned and used during the creation of their games and create a succinct tutorial describing the technique, effect, skill or system. This change was justified twofold: Firstly, it served as a way for developers to share tricks and tips; secondly, it sought to correct the post-rAge slump that threatened to throw off the regular 2nd-month schedule that the competitions had been maintaining. Being little more than a warm-up for the return of the 'regular' format in Competition 12, this comp only saw 2 entries.

Comp 12 – Single-PC multiplayer

Following immediately after Comp 11, without the customary month-long gap, Comp 12 tasked developers with the creation of a multiplayer game that is playable on a single system. No other constraints were imposed so entries varied from real-time co-operative entries with a split mouse/keyboard control scheme to turn-based tactical offerings. What made this Comp unique was the introduction of additional players into the design equation. Past games had dealt with single players only, so the new challenge here was to create a game that was fun for all parties involved. This required some new, creative thinking on the parts of the developers, but precipitated interesting and fun results. In true Christmas spirit, this competition had a modest but tangible prize up for grabs, sponsored by none other than Danny "dislekcia" Day himself.