How far in progress does a WIP need to be in progress before I can post it on the WIP forum?
I Have a Pokemon game that has NPC's, Pallet, Route 1 and Viridian City done but no Battle or Item Systems. Is this enough to have a WIP. I don't think it is.

LordQ

If you ask me a WIP is WIP from the start to the end.

Check some of the games in WIP to see what others are doing. But if you don't think it's ready... it's probably not.

WIPs that get released too soon, don't get useful feedback. They get ridiculed. That'll just damage your reputation. Take my advice and wait until most features are in place, and the game is playable.

That way, members can get a sense of the final game, and they can give you some useful feedback.

A work in progress topic is made for numerous reasons, of which the two most important ones are:
- Promoting your game. Making people aware and excited about a future release.
- Getting feedback, constructive critisism and suggestions for the further improvement of the game.

If you personally feel that you have progressed to a point which will make people interested in the game, then sure. But if the game consists of nothing more than a few generic features, with placeholder graphics, then as KC LC said, you'd just damage the game's reputation. The next time someone sees the game's topic, they won't even open it to check for updates.

And for the second point. If there's nothing to really give feedback on, nothing to comment on, and no context in which suggestions can be given, then there's no use posting it.

To be WIP, it has to be playable(or watchable, if its not interactive).

If there's nothing gripping or interesting yet, nobody will give feedback, because there is nothing to give feedback on.
But if your just worried about getting it locked - all you need is a demo, it shouldn't be locked for lack of demo content(unless its completely irrelevant to the game).

Like Jono said, Work in Progress can be anywhere from when you add your first sprite into the game, to the point in which you have completed absolutely everything you wanted to complete for the game. Now obviously most people (if not all) don't want to see a topic in the Work in Progress forum with just one object that sits in a blank room doing nothing, so generally a Work in Progress topic contains most of the main gameplay elements, a demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace is a good example in terms of playability, but it really depends on your level of satisfaction.

Like KC said, a vast majority of games are released way to early and that causes people to loose interest in further demos or versions. The first few minutes/seconds of your game is generally what catches a person attention. Moving a box across the room to another box is not a good first impression. Unless you have some awesomely, epic game mechanic that players can utilize to complete the task at hand.

But, go with your gut instinct, if you feel your project is completed enough to be a work in progress, then it probably is.

A WIP game does not have to go very far at all.
However, to attract a lot of attention, it needs to have a fair amount of screenshots, content, and it needs to show
that you actually put in time and effort. Only about 35% of the topics on WIP have this. >_>

In my mind a WIP can be anything, even a single sprite or just an idea on paper. You started it, therefore it exists.

What you're talking about I call an alpha (though everyone has their own definition ^_~ ). To be worth your time (or anyone else's) to show others, I'd say it needs at least half the gameplay features to show that you're serious. Story doesn't matter, and rooms, routes, rival trainers and gyms (at least in a pokemon game's case), etc., not that important until the engine itself works right.

Build the battle system, add maybe like 3 or 4 pokemon just to prove it works and you'll have a good WIP/alpha to show off.

(Although the forum seems to read like a playable demo/alpha is a WIP and an idea is specifically... an idea. ;p In which case, yea, make it combat-ready before releasing any demos. ^_~ )

Well I agree that a WIP is anything from v0.1 to v1.0, but just having a WIP is not enough to make a WIP topic. If you make a WIP topic with just what you have here, your first five or ten comments will say negative things, and then when people click on the topic in the future, the first five things they will see are negative things, so they will not play it because it has been described to them as negative by other users, who are generally more trusted than the poster him/herself.

So when you think people will say good things about your game, post it.
If you think people will say bad things about your game, don't post it.
Simple.

If you think you would download and enjoy the WIP if someone else posted it, then it is ready for the forums. If not, keep working on it and get some features on board that are worth critique.

-Tv

usually a wip is most of the game or more so atleast one area done with most of the mechanics already created

as for you game I would say work on it a little more like finish more of the items and finish some more areas and it will be appreciated in the WIP section more

go WIP when you think you've done everything you can with your game to make it perfect. Then have it bashed by the community and have it send you back to the drawing board. Who ever said the game was finished anyway?

I think no matter how early you release your game, there will always be a game worse than yours in the W.I.P. section. There is nothing to worry about.

On a more serious note, I would recommend releasing it later rather than earlier. When you release a game, you want to make sure it gets a good reputation right off the bat so People will then continue to check back on its progress.

WIP is a game that is being worked on whether or not it is playable.

Yes, but a WIP that is allowed to be posted on the GMC must be playable, mustn't it? =)

Exactly. We make that distinction because the term "WIP" alone may be misleading.

Our rules and guidelines contain phrases like "well underway" and "playable". But beyond that, we grant rather broad latitude in deciding what's acceptable. It's not practical to narrowly define "playable", so we don't try.

We just want to avoid WIPs that are intro screens to show off the graphics, or characters wandering pointlessly in empty rooms. The WIP must be far enough along to have a point.

One thing that I see a lot as that people will put a demo of only the movement system. Do not do this. Almost every game has movement and we cannot give feedback on that (well maybe..if the movement is really bad.)

Thanks I've decided not to put my game up. You've given me a really good idea of when to release my game in WIP.

It depends, how far you want it to go

Never post an incomplete project that doesn't have enough features to keep us entertained. Empty engines are boring and there is really no point to post them.

When is the right time to release a WIP/Beta to the GMC?

A WIP is a big step in a game. Do you release it when you have many levels, but nothing interesting to do? Or when you have one level that works flawlessly? What does the GMC have to say?

*****
Moderator Note: I merged this new topic with the existing one.