Fairly simple. Someone will post a screenshot of a game and the next poster will try to guess what game and system it is. If they are incorrect, whoever posted the screenshot will tell them so and another person will get a chance to go. Depending on the content of their answer, they'll get a certain amount of points for whatever they guessed right. Example:
[ screenshot of the genesis version of B.O.B ]
Poster 1 says: B.O.B for SNES
Poster 2 says: B.O.B for GEN.
In this situation they will both get a point, 1 point will go to Poster 1 for guessing the game right, and one point will go to Poster 2 for guessing the system right. In a different situation, however, things get a bit more complicated:
[ screenshot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist / Shredder's Revenge / Return ]
Poster 1 says: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in time for SNES.
Poster 2 says: TMNT: Hyperstone Heist (or Shredder's Revenge / return, since they're the same game, just a different localized name).
Poster 1 gets no points, while Poster 2 gets 2 points for guessing both the name of the game and the correct system.
There's one more situation, and this is usually the most difficult especially if someone knows what they're doing (it's also the biggest point earner):
[ cropped screenshot of Raiden Trad for SNES ]
Poster 1 says: Raiden for TG-16
Poster 2 says: Raiden Trad for SNES
Poster 1 gets no points, while Poster 2 gets three points for guessing the right system and game while the image was cropped.
This will be a game in four quarters. The first quarter will start today, and end on Saturday, June 1st, 2013 at 12:00 AM PST. Whoever has the most points at the end of each quarter will start off the next quarter by posting a screenshot of their chosen game. At the end of the game itself, whoever has the most points will get a special prize from me (mostly in the form of Viz, a short story, a poem, or a recognition in my signature that you are the victor of 2013's Screenshot Game). Nobody is exempt from participating in the game, and everybody has a fair chance at winning.
Seems simple enough, right? That's the premise behind the game. Now some ground rules for posting screenshots. . .
- No screenshots of hacks for any game, unless the graphics are distinguishable enough from the original game. Good examples: Super Metroid: Phazon Hack, Castlevania: Chorus of Mysteries. Bad examples: 99% of Pokemon hacks, some Sonic hacks, any hacks that are just translation hacks.
- No screenshots of an already posted game, makes it too easy.
- Speaking of easy, make the screenshots of a generally unknown game, or at least cropped enough so it isn't instantly recognizable. There'd be no point to winning the game if every screenshot was of a Mario, Zelda, Sonic, etc. game.
- No hints unless the screenshot has been unknown for more than a week. Hints can be given in the form of a name of a character (other than the main), another screenshot, a description of a level, etc.
- Any game that is on Vizzed is acceptable.
- You don't have to make the screenshot yourself, you can simply google the game and take one off of images, but be sure to change it enough so that someone can't use reverse image search.
- Be sure to change the file name too! Don't want people to just look at the file name, it'd be cheating. ;]
That's about it for everything, really. I hope you all understand the rules of this game, and I hope everybody has fun!
To start it off, I'll add a screenshot. Good luck all!
Edit: No guesses? Here's a hint, the game name has Hero in the title.
Image upload: 343x111 totaling 8 KB's.