@Doc, wow you edited my title, such a power-hungry tyrant.
In light of the recent addition to the #ideas:best, I decided to take a look at what makes the two ideas that currently hold this title stand out and use the criteria that I’ve decided were important to consider. If you have another category for criteria, please comment!
##Dappertron’s Status Effect Depletion
Having the title of ‘first-idea-to-be-granted-with-this-honour’, there must be something special about Dappertron’s Status Effect Depletion idea.
However, Stu even admits that the decision wasn’t from a formal, rigorous process but we’ll see what caught his[?] eye.
###Originality
Dapper keeps claiming that this idea has been suggested before but a 5-minute google search didn’t seem yield anything. Perhaps my search query was less than stellar, but Dapper was certainly the first person to put effort into developing a concise, thought-out version of this idea.
###Effort
The use of gifs to demonstrates the idea visually in a clear manner, and aids the audience in understanding the idea. The gifs contribute the overall impression of a well-thought, polished idea. It’s clear this idea had some effort put in, not just a few sentences like, "How aboit we maek an affect wheree ur buff starts blinking wehn you almost run out? Or stasises for enmies??"
However, Dapper’s comment,
holds some merit. Compared to fully designing a dungeon (we will look at Puff’s later), this took only a fraction of the time. So how do we reconcile this?
If we just look at absolute effort (i.e. how much time put into an idea), the only ideas in Best of the Best would be dungeon designs. To have a wider range of ideas, we should rate the effort relative to the nature of the idea. For this idea, the effort shown clearly exceeds expectations from; even if Dapper were to physically put more time in, would it improve the idea drastically?
To conclude, the effort category should be subjectively reviewed based on the type of idea presented.
###Community Reception
Generally extremely well received by the community, being the second topic in “Top” on the forums (though to be fair, the “Top” criteria is based on discussion, not the original idea). I believe that it’s also the second most liked topic.
Generally very well received, and there’s little criticism. That being said, I’m not implying the criticism is bad per-say, but a topic with tons of critics is an indication that it may have some inherent problems that require fixing.
###Implementability
I’m still not sure about this category, but as for Dapper’s idea, it seems quite plausible to be implemented and would enhance gameplay without many downsides. As always, I have no idea about the code but the simplicity of the idea makes it appear easy to put in. But I could be wrong…
##Puffagod’s The Beyond (Dungeon Idea)
###Originality
A completely new dungeon, this dungeon definitely scores big points for originality. While using mechanics from previous dungeons, the creator is able to fuse all the individual elements together to make a unique final product. Plus all the new enemies/items/effects etc.
###Effort
As I mentioned earlier, effort should be judged with respect to what type of idea it is. Being a dungeon concept, it’s expected that this idea have tons of work put into it to make a comprehensive blueprint should it actually created. Even looking at purely the page count (50), one can see the amount of work that went into this. The organization, meticulous attention to diction/detail and aesthetically pleasing layout gives a sense of a project that someone put a lot of effort into.
For example, sprites are refined and well-designed, enemy behaviour laid-out in well-organized tables, stylistic choices results in a skillful composition, which makes for an interesting read.
###Community Reception
Puffagod’s idea isn’t far behind Dapper’s, in fact, it’s just one behind in Top topics. Although I mentioned that a great deal of criticism might signal an unfinished product, this is a special case. Xaklor wrote pages of constructive criticism but for such a grandiose project, this is necessary for it to improve. The important thing to note is that Puffagod took these criticisms thoughtfully and used them to improve his final product. Rather than being an indication of a poor-quality dungeon, this merely is part of the design process.
###Implementability
Again, not sure about this category. Of course implementation of an entire dungeon, especially a complex, end-game dungeon, is no easy task. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it; I suppose this criterion could be changed to:
Is the effort taken to implement [idea] worth the time and effort on the part of Deca?
