If you do not want to know what is being planned, do not read this thread. I've discovered no one outside TASVideos actually reads the forums and GDQ events now require more manpower than before, hence the more open approach to planning. Each GDQ has its own forum thread.
Updated plan as of the start of AGDQ 2017:
The NES Classic is a bit of a mess as it filters out things like pressing left on one frame and then right on the next frame so it's really difficult to get anything super accurate or complex. In general, the NES Classic is *not* very good at all, and it's the kind of thing TASBot would look down on for not being perfect. So, uh, we're going to kill two birds with one stone - Since the NES Classic has 30 games on it and a subset of those games are available in all territories, we'll pick that subset of games or a smaller subset and do a death tour, playing the game long enough to do a fastest death and hear the death music then move on to the next game by pressing the Home button to get back to the game selection menu.
Going this route might sound a bit strange, but it means that if there is a desync, it will "re-synchronize" at the edge of each game. It'll give us an opportunity to quickly cycle through several games with times ranging from 5 seconds to 20 seconds, although more for some really hard to die in games in which case we may have to skip them. The whole thing will take between 7 to 10 minutes. The alternative is to pick some other arbitrary short goal or use a simple game like Galaga to do a complete TAS with very conservative button presses of which would not be very interesting. I personally think the fastest death tour seems more interesting but we'll have to see how it plays out and I'm open to suggestions.
Following that, we'll show SMB3 total control and the GeekPwn payload but with AGDQ graphics and different NSF music - the amazing level 1-1 takeover is too good to pass up and most people haven't seen it. We'll transition away from that console and start playing [redacted] which is when things will really get interesting. Fortunately, [redacted] is a very quick hop into complete control and it has the advantage of [redacted] which means we can easily show [redacted]. At one point, we'll allow Twitch Chat to [redacted] which could get kind of crazy. It's going to look like utter randomness because it's Twitch chat but it should still be fun.
From there we'll move to LoZ:LttP which is just long enough for some decent commentary, as in, there's some actual gameplay involved (about 3 minutes), and during that time there's all kinds of crazy things going on thanks to work from Tompa. At the end, we'll trigger a glitch at the Sanctuary which will give us total control, and we'll use it to trigger the mirror effect used to change between light and dark worlds. Instead of transitioning to the dark world, we'll instead transition to [redacted] and show [redacted] which will definitely be the highlight.
I've made another update with the start-of-event status which you can read here.
Old post below: For AGDQ 2017 I'm hoping to really up our game as a site when it comes to raffle prizes. Please consider making something, donating something, or otherwise pitching in for some really good raffle prizes (or one nice prize - suggestions welcome). Take note that submissions are only open from September 4-10 and can be done one at a time, so I plan to do the last one no later than Sept. 9th. Current list of ideas, updated as we discuss and punt some ideas to later GDQ's (now with holes thanks to moving ideas out):
Idea #1 Console chaining, but not that chaining
Update, 2016-09-03: In the months (years?) since this idea first came up we've tossed around a number of ways to use this kind of ability. During the last month we've experimented with something related that, if we manage to pull it off, will be truly out-of-this-world amazing. This is about the only thing we're going to be quiet about but it will make sense why. The description of this will probably be "mystery game".
Idea #2 (added 2016-07-21): N64 shenanigans
In the (very possible) event we can't get chaining to work, I'd instead like to focus on an N64 total control, or at least near total control. There are some really interesting options on the table already and some interesting things we could do after gaining total control but much more work is required. (Update, 2016-08-19: Post DEF CON, the craziness level of some of the propositions is now off the charts but we haven't confirmed we can make some of the ideas work so we might have to submit this one as a mystery entrant).
Idea #3 (added 2016-07-21): External control
We faked taking over a camera during Pokemon Plays Twitch due to being unable to get the serial commands and cabling worked out fast enough, but it's a very intriguing idea to have TASBot, via a game, take over something outside of a console. Suggestions on what that might be are welcome, as I haven't figured it out yet. :)
Idea #6 (added 2016-08-19): Mario Kart 64 remaining cup(s)
Weatherton is working toward completion of all Mario Kart 64 cups. We may be able to show one or more cups completed, and this will likely be the last time MK64 is showcased. It may or may not make sense to do this for AGDQ 2017 but it should be good entertainment regardless of the timing.
Idea #8 (added 2016-08-19): Something involving Pokemon Go
We have absolutely no idea what we would do yet. We know it would be cool to do *something*, though... Update, 2016-09-03: With recent litigation from Nintendo we have to be careful how we approach this but we would still like to fit this in in some way. We don't yet know what that looks like.
Idea #9 (added 2016-08-19): A TAS on NES Classic Edition (NES Mini)
Seriously, this device is just too cute to not do something with. It's hard to say how much of a hit it's going to be, and we clearly won't know for certain if we can even make something happen before the AGDQ 2017 submissions phase passes as the console isn't even slated to come out until November 11th. Ideas include rapidly beating or breaking several games in succession to figuring out a way to escape the confines of a game and do something interesting with the hardware. We... just don't know what we can do yet.
Idea #11 (added 2016-09-03): MK64
Weatherton has finished his MK64 run to the point where it can be demoed, although he plans on finishing it further. We'll pitch different categories with different cup choices and work out good commentary and perhaps donation incentives. This will be the last time for a while that we plan to pitch a MK64 run.
Updated 2015-08-08: Added list of volunteer positions needed
Updated 2016-07-21: Updated to reflect current thinking
Updated 2016-08-18: Clarified chaining / virus idea, added a fair number of other ideas
Updated 2016-08-21: Added Tetris TGM
Updated 2016-09-03: Punted ideas to SGDQ 2017, added MK64, hinted at new "chaining" replacement
Updated 2017-01-08: Added current plan and link to start-of-event status
