Together Retro - Brainstorming Changes - Your Input Is Wanted!

[pierrot]

I think Maru's idea is pretty solid.

I was also thinking it might be worth just using old TR games from back in the day since those threads are mostly from over a decade ago.
I took the liberty of going through the topics and pulling out a bunch that I think would fit the criteria Maru had:

- Samurai Shodown
- Tomb Raider
- Ristar
- Captain Commando
- Resident Evil
- Jet Set Radio
- Broken Sword
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Ys 1
- Super Monkey Ball
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
- Gunstar Heroes
- Crazy Taxi
- Contra
- Shining Force
- D&D: Chronicles of Mystara (?)
- Psychonauts
- Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
- Grandia
- Mega Man X
- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
- KotOR (?)
- Metal Slug
- Puyo Puyo (Tetris 1 and 2?)
- Alone in the Dark (along with the new one, maybe)
- Disgaea
- Gauntlet (?) (is it on any modern compilations?)
- Bioshock
- Street Fighter III

Not trying to deter any brainstorming on a bunch of games that haven't been done for TR before, though. I was thinking it could save some work to just throw these into a hat and draw them out.

[Ziggy]

That's not at all a bad idea. There's some big name games on that list that I have never played, but would like to.

[Syndicate]

....so I'm a chronically late poster on topics, I'm generally reading instead of posting tbh. Anyways, moving TR to a quarterly schedule sounds like a positive change imo. The more leisurely pacing fits better into an adulting filled life and playing games is usually better than talking about them and if it can help me at least put a scratch in backlog I'm cool w/it

[opa]

Random TR idea: Sega - Cradle to Grave
An all-encompassing look at Sega home consoles (SG1000 to DC)

[Syndicate]

...so I've been giving this a thought for a while, but I'm just getting around to posting. I really think that 3-month sprints to get through a theme could be really cool. I was hoping that Oct through December could be great for revisiting some classic 8/16-bit RPGs, especially w/there being less daylight and what I think would be more time to chill during the holidays. Getting started a bit late and missing most of October the RPG thing probably wouldn't work. so would anyone be down for classic platformers? I'm thinking the Mario games, Capcom's Disney offerings on the NES, Psycho Fox, and the 8-bit SMS Disney or Sonic games. Thoughts?

[Ziggy]

You got my vote!

Would you be up for making a TR thread for this idea? If not, I can, when I get around to it.

[Ziggy]

So I was having a thought for the new TR format...

To try and encourage engagement, maybe we should have some kind of loose goals for each quarter. I'm taking inspiration from the summer challenge, which seems to have plenty of engagement. Without something like this, I feel like most people will just be chatting and not actually playing, which seems to be how the TR threads went for a while now since we went to the more broad topics. Which, it's fine to just talk as a way of participating in TR. But it'd be nice if more of us are actually playing games too, like we use to. So I'm thinking maybe having some sort of goals or something would help with that.

Just sorta thinking out loud with this, but maybe we could come up with some generic goals that could be applied to all TR quarters going forward. And then members are free to pick one or more goals to set for themselves. Or no goal at all, if you so choose!

For example...

1. New Kid In Town - Beat a number (3, 5, 10) of new-to-you games that fit the TR topic during the quarter.
2. Memory Lane - Replay some of your beloved, most cherished, all time favorites that fit the TR topic.
3. Racketboy TR Trophy Achievement - Set a game specific goal for yourself (100% a save file, beat a game on 1 life, etc)
4. No Goal - Participate in any way you wish!
5. Set your own goal(s)!

It might also help to provide some lists/articles in the first post to aid people looking for new games to play. Or knowing what the must-plays are in topic. Either RB articles or off-site lists/articles could be useful.

Thoughts?

[Ziggy]

Since the posted TR thread isn't getting much love, I'm going to try and expand on my own ideas a bit.

Any input, suggestions or feedback is welcomed.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Together Retro will have a quarterly format going forward. We do not always have to stick to a strict quarter start and end dates, and there's no rule that says we can't overlap the start and end of TR events. In fact, I think we should post the next TR thread before the the previous one ends, so people have a chance to plan (pick games, goals, whatever).

There is a yearly tradition that we've had at RB, the Summer Games Challenge, that I think we should make the official TR event during that block. The Summer Games Challenge really is the essence of what Together Retro tries to accomplish. It already is TR, just not officially by name. I think it would also be a mistake to try and have a separate TR event while the Summer Games Challenge is going on. They would be competing with each other. So, nothing changes about the Summer Games Challenge, it just gets posted in the TR forum going forward.

Taking inspiration from the SGC, I think the challenge aspect of it really helps engagement. Without any real direction, the TR topics have grown stagnant. Some topics were popular enough that there was a decent amount of chatting. But I feel like no one has really been GAMING during TR for quite some time now. So, I think each TR quarter should have goals that people can try and accomplish.

Like the time frame, the goals do not have to be rigid rules. I think we should come up with generic goals that could be applied to most or all TR quarters. But if there's a particular TR theme that seems like it should have different, special or unique goals, then we absolutely should organize it that way.

Whoever posts the TR thread for each quarter should include certain things in that post.

-A brief description of what TR is, or a link to an explanation about it. A mission statement, if you will. This is so that newcomers are welcomed and not alienated.
-A description of what the TR theme is. I find it cool when this includes a brief blurb of history. And a picture is a must! I wouldn't be opposed to trying to make a fancy banner for each one.
-Links to relevant RB articles (or off site if warranted). This is so people can get ideas of games to play. But I think we should also state that people are also encouraged to ask for game suggestions in the thread.
-List the TR goals. Tweak or fine tune the goals to the TR theme if needed or wanted.

Some goals I came up with, with cute names...

1. New Kid In Town - Beat a number (3, 5, 10) of new-to-you games that fit the TR topic during the quarter.
2. Memory Lane - Replay some of your beloved, most cherished, all time favorites that fit the TR topic.
3. Racketboy TR Trophy Achievement - Set a game specific goal for yourself (100% a save file, beat a game on 1 life, etc)
4. All Talk, No Walk - No Goal. Participate in any way you wish!
5. Set your own goal(s)!

Like the Summer Game Challenge, I think people should be encouraged to state their goal(s) at the start. People tend to make a list of the games that want to try and beat for the SGC, I think we should do the same for TR. So whether you choose 1 or 2, you should specify a list of games. And if you need help picking games, as I said above, we will link articles and encourage people to ask for suggestions. If you're planning on goals 3 or 5, you should still state that, list your game(s) and what you plan to do or hope to accomplish.

For 3 (feel free to come up with a more clever name) I think we should give examples of things but also leave it open for people to come up with their own personal challenge.

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Is there anything that you feel would help YOU participate more in TR?

[Key-Glyph]

Since the posted TR thread isn't getting much love, I'm going to try and expand on my own ideas a bit.

Any input, suggestions or feedback is welcomed. ...Is there anything that you feel would help YOU participate more in TR?

Yo Ziggy, first off, I just want to say how much I love and admire your dedication to Together Retro. I peeked in here for the first time in a while and brought myself up to speed with what's been happening and how you're trying to keep it going. Just really awesome stuff. I say this as someone who would be heartbroken if the Summer Games Challenge ever stopped, so I can see how much this means to you and how much work you're putting into it.

I had a lot of thoughts while reading this, including feeling like I might want to join Together Retro in the future given this newish direction it's taking! So I thought I'd just riff for a bit to add to the feedback pool. (Sorry in advance -- this one is long. )

About Together Retro, past and present:

I think I participated in Together Retro only once or twice a long time ago, and the barriers to my sticking with it were 1) my lack of emulation options and 2) my not being a collector. It was mentioned somewhere in these threads that having to acquire specific games to participate can be a burden/deterrent on involvement, and I can confirm that this is exactly what happened with me. Together Retro seemed geared for folks who either already had large libraries or who enjoyed hunting for and picking up random titles in the wild. I thought it was super cool that it catered to collectors like that and just accepted that I wasn't a good fit for this.

However, my picking up some EverDrives a few years ago changes things! As does the idea of making Together Retro a quarterly event, which I think is brilliant. My biggest barrier, like basically everyone else nowadays, is time. I'm sometimes gone from Racket for a year or more, and although I do always come back, my timeline for participation is reaaally stretched out. Knowing that I'd have a three-month window to have fun with a particular Together Retro is a really big incentive for me. It could inspire me to log in more often, while simultaneously preventing me from feeling preemptively discouraged/guilty from thinking I just won't have the time to commit.

I also love this idea of making the Summer Games Challenge the official TR topic for the July/August/September quarter. I don't know how to explain this, but it's just... so sweet? Like a big hug, or a thoughtful gift? I think that TR and the Summer Games Challenge have been seen as separate crowds in the past, but joining them together like this makes you realize they're not very different at all. Please do this!! Come join us!! I think it will result in more crossover between our groups.

I also like that the Games Challenge was established as a summer thing in this respect, because it gives Together Retro folks 1) a break from having to plan something themselves every single quarter of the year, 2) a natural opt-out quarter if you're not into the Challenge style, and 3) a way of making traditional TR a seasonal thing instead of year-round, which might amp it up for some people. (YMMV, but I know that I get especially into the Summer Games Challenge because it only happens once a year and is associated with good childhood feelings of vacation.) I also like your idea of possibly incorporating achievements into TR, Ziggy. The objective of the Summer Games Challenge is so arbitrary, but it really does generate some motivation.

About potential topics:

Something I saw folks saying was that it was a magical thing when people were playing the same games or games in a narrower category (e.g. a particular series), but that this can struggle against making participation as smooth as possible. This got me thinking of pitches for other TR themes which would bring everyone under unified but more specific umbrellas while still allowing for a very flexible list of games to play. Here are two ideas. (Ziggy, maybe you can come up with better names for them )

Playdate at [KeyGlyph]'s House: Let's pretend I'm the host of the topic here. The idea would be for me to create a list of games that I either had at home or were particularly influential/important to me while I was growing up and invite you all to dabble in them. The point would not be to finish any of the games (although you could, if you really wanted to), but rather to just noodle around in them like you were trying them out at my house. This would be a window into learning about a fellow Racketboy's childhood and naturally steer conversation into nostalgic stories, and would also keep the host really invested. And the commitment is so casual that you could play one game for one afternoon and still have so much to talk about!

A bonus idea I had, if I were to do this, would be to create two achievements for each game. One would be something easy-ish to achieve, and one would be a hidden achievement for a condition that is very specific and significant to me personally but still doesn't require heavy investment. For example, if the game were Sonic 3, the easy achievement might be "Get one chaos emerald," because I loved those blue sphere stages so much. But the hidden one might be "Play the game as Tails," because I almost exclusively played as Tails.

Gaming Magazine Quarterly: With a lot of gaming magazines on the Internet Archive now, a host could choose a few monthly issues from a specific publication, or a few specific months from any publication, and have participants play only games that are mentioned in some way in those issues (e.g., upcoming previews, new releases, advertisements, interviews, etcetera). The bonus here is that there will be so much to talk about from just the magazines themselves. Folks will be able to share so many memories and observations about the content in those issues, the time period they capture, the writing style and graphic design -- and then the list of potential games from any issue will be accessibly broad yet still focused. Again, the goal won't be to finish anything. Just to experience things for a little while and reminisce.

Closing thoughts:

I would need to see what life is like when we get closer to October, but if stars align, I would be willing to run one of these above two Together Retros for the Fall/Winter Quarter. We could also naturally segue the Summer Challenge thread into the next TR topic when we close up in September. Thanks for reading all this, phew!

[marurun]

I love the Playdate at [someone's] house idea. That allows the owner of the games to ramble about them a bit, but also the various participants to participate only as much as they can or are comfortable.