Damn, you beat me to that theme

[bodydump]

It hasn't happened to me yet but this subject just came up in the Bosconian thread and I was recently putting a bit of thought into it. I was spending way too much time tracing out some art when I thought, what if someone else beats me to the theme. I'd be bummed. I agree with what Billpa said in that thread, that more choices are good, but I think right now everybody is more psyched to get themes for as many different games as possible first. I would certainly rather have 5 different themes than 5 Donkey Kong themes. Maybe it would be a good idea to announce your intended them in the Theme Announcement forum even before you have any finished art or layout. Then post updates and screenshots as work progresses. I realize we have the Wiki, but nobody seems to announce WIP's in there very often. It might get out of hand if people start "laying claim" to ten different themes at a time, though. I personally have a list of 40 games I want to make themes for, but I wouldn't want to "claim" them as mine. Maybe just announce 1 theme at a time? I don't really know the solution but I thought I'd open it to discussion.

[billpa]

I think there has to be some sort of work before announcing the theme but I also think it can be very minimal....just a rough layout would suffice....but not to simply serve as a placeholder or "dibs" for a game. We need to see progress after the initial announcement. If a theme takes you more than a week or two to complete, than you cannot be surprised if someone ends up creating it for themselves. I have been on both sides of that situation.

[bodydump]

Agreed, I don't really like the idea of staking claim and then taking forever to actually complete. Usually, it takes me a day or two to complete a theme from start to finish. I become a little concerned as I look at some games with minimal or, in some cases no art. If you need to create art from scratch, its going to take a long time to even get a rough layout. It's also a bummer to read FrakAttack's response of "I'll focus on the more obscure stuff". I'd hate to see everyone avoid the games people want themes for simple because their afraid of getting beat.
On the other hand, in a strange way, I like the fear of someone beating me to it. It makes me focus and work harder to get it done with out procrastinating (like I do with everything else in life)