LudumData

Bug fixes (repost)

[raw] LD20LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This! 03. May 2011 · 07:19 UTC · 4 days after compo start by Covenant · 1

Sorry about posting this again, but it probably got lost in the traffic and I didn’t get any answers…

What’s the current policy on bug fixes?

People have found a couple of bugs on my entry so far (one pertaining ambient light levels, the other the behavior of the ESC key)… I’m I allowed to correct these bugs (since the first one kind of ruins the second level, and the other is just silly)?

I also have another bug concerning full screen (if the resolution is not that of the desktop, it just shows a black screen), would like to fix that so that people don’t have to edit a text file…

I remember we had some compos that allowed for bug fixes after the end, but I’m not sure what’s the current status…

Comments

nilstastic
03. May 2011 · 07:50 UTC
My personal opinion is that no buxfixes should be allowed no matter how serious they are. My entry has issues with the game playing on 600fps on som some machines as well as a number of other “minor” problems (getting stuck in walls, background shownig through the parallax etc) but it would be unfair if i could fix them after the deadline since i decided that i should spend the last hours of the compo on making the game fun instead of bugtesting. =)
nilstastic
03. May 2011 · 07:52 UTC
Also, this should be a sticky since the status on this seems a bit unclear. I work with 0 and 1, I need rules! =)
03. May 2011 · 07:59 UTC
Yeah same…

Thing is that LD is not a programming competition, so fixing “major” bugs should be allowed. Things that qualify as major bugs:

– Application not running on some platform because of compatibility issues

– Graphic/audio glitches caused by compatibility issues

– Logic bugs that not affect gameplay mechanics (flow related things, like main menu to load game to game to game over, etc)
nilstastic
03. May 2011 · 08:40 UTC
I would like it if only compability issues were allowed. Regarding menu/logical/gameover bugs, i think that they would have to stay in the competition entry since for me (and a lot of other people) a well put together menu can be a lot of fun to use. It would also make the difference between allowed/not allowed fixes to be more distinct (compability = hardware). =)
03. May 2011 · 09:23 UTC
Well, “a well put together menu can be a lot of fun to use” would be a mechanic change, if you change the menu… If you change it so that the game doesn’t crash when you over a particular zone of the screen while functionally leaving the menu just the same as it was is a bugfix…
nilstastic
03. May 2011 · 10:16 UTC
Agreed that we need a yes/no answer (with a good motivation).