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

   Mr. Inventor (Good)

   The game must feature several items, and ways of combining them to put them to some other use that they originally have. The best ways to combine an item are left to be figured out by the player.

2. Technical requirements

   There are 2 technical requirements:

   Random playing (Great)

   The player never plays the same game twice because the game randomize characters, items, maps, scenarios and whatsoever is in the game.

   Doubleplusexcellent! (Good)

   The game must have a way to make several levels of "combos", which are rewarded with fanfares, spinning rainbow animated letters, scrolling "Wonderful!" messages or whatever.

3. Artistic requirements

   There are 2 artistic requirements:

   Don't pick this item! (Great)

   There must be getable items in the game that are bad to the player (like cursed items).

   Subliminal Message (OK)

   Try to get some sort of subliminal message across. It doesn't have to be integrated into the gameplay, but it should.

4. Bonus rules

   There are 2 bonus rules:

   Double 'n Half (OK)

   If one of the rules restricts your game idea too much, you can loosen the restrictions, if you tighten the restrictions of another rule. Say one rule says the screen must be 320*240 and another says there may not be any humanoids in the game. Using the Double 'n Half rule, you can make a 640*480 game screen (453*339 for smart donkeys), if you restrict the other rule to no living creatures at all. All Doubleing 'n Halfing must be negotiated with the Übermeister.

   Act of Illuminati (Good)

   You may opt out of one other rule if you include a picture of yourself accessible via some secret within the game itself. This may be a secret area, key combination, menu item, etc. Instructions on how to unlock the secret must be hidden within your documentation file in any way you deem fit, as long as it is realistically decipherable.

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! :-)