Rule-O-Matic

Don't read too much into the results of these sample spins! The method of picking rules is yet to be tweaked to its full potential, and until a good selection of rules have been added, it's rather meaningless.

Once the Rule-O-Matic has been spun for a final time, the authors of the selected rules will be contacted in order to add clarifications and last minute twists. They won't be allowed to do anything drastic, and to limit their advantage of a heads up, they won't know for sure which of the rules atually were selected. (For example, they may be notified that one of three specific rules have been selected.)

Here is a sample spin, with the following rules being chosen:

1. Genre requirements

   Wind (Great)

   The game must incorporate wind as a key element of the gameplay.

2. Technical requirements

   There are 2 technical requirements:

   Speedy Gonzales (Good)

   The whole game must consist of fast-moving characters or objects. Look at Sonic the Hedgehog's original Sega Genesis adventures, for example. Whatever leaves the player's head spinning!

   8-bit Challenge (Mediocre)

   Your game must incorporate special effects based on 8-bit palette changes.

3. Artistic requirements

   There is 1 artistic requirement:

   Boom, Boom, BOOM! (Great)

   The game must feature lots of huge explosions both with and without a good reason.

4. Bonus rules

   There are 2 bonus rules:

   Act of Chewbacca (Great)

   You can opt out of one rule if your game contains no verbal communication at all. Your game can't use words, but it can still use symbols, icons and descriptive sound effects.

   Exactly What It Says on t (Good)

   A title should tell you what a game, level, or item is about or does. A racing game might be called "Driving Faster Than the Other Drivers", a level to a platform game might be "Jumping on Things and Collecting Coins While Avoiding Death", the Excalibur sword be called "Long Flat Sharp Weapon". No euphemisms, deception, or literary embellishment is allowed. Throughout your game, make sure that whatever happens, it's Exactly What It Says On The Tin.

5. Other Important Info

   All entries must comply with all requirements except where nullified by Act of Dog.

   All entries must be submitted on or before 12:00 UTC on Monday 25th July without fail. All entries must be supplied in a ZIP file equal to or less than 250 KB in size. All source code, makefiles, documentation, and references to additional libraries used must be supplied in the ZIP file.

   You can assume that everyone will have a copy of Allegro (standard installation) installed. You do not need to supply one. It is okay to use a more recent version of Allegro, but if someone is unable to compile your game because of that, it's your fault. You should consider uploading binaries for people who have problems compiling the source onto your own website. I will be checking that the binary and source match up, so adding enhancements to the 'competition binary' is not permitted..

   If source code is reused from legal sources (your own, GPLed, public domain) you should declare this and what changes have been made, so that your work can be assessed for the voting.

   People should keep a informative and interesting account of their development through the competition. This can be sent after the competition for those people with no Internet access over the weekend. This does not affect your space requirement.

   A web-based "blog" update page will be available. This will allow spectators to see what is going on :-)

   You can make use of all information sources, mailing lists as you see fit. This is not an exam! :-)