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

   Insanity! (Good)

   Your project should either be about insanity or have a featured character who is insane.

2. Technical requirements

   There is 1 technical requirement:

   Grip (Good)

   The game must feature surfaces with differing friction, and this should somehow impact the gameplay.

3. Artistic requirements

   There are 2 artistic requirements:

   Go Nuclear (Good)

   Working with radiation as I do, I thought that it would be a good thing to add to a computer game. You can have lots of unearthly glows from Cherenkov radiation, large thermonuclear explosions, power stations, radiation effects on people. Radiation also covers electric and magnetic fields plus optical radiation such as lasers.
   
   Ensure that your game is glowing with radiation inspired content. You can make this pro/anti radiation as you see fit.

   Boing boing! Spring time! (Good)

   People love bouncing. Thus your game should feature springs. This can be either springs as characters or enemies, or part of a character. Or this can be bumpers or other items used by the player. Or any crazy idea about the use of springs. Extra kudos if cleverly used in the game or if it's the core of the gameplay. Bonus if there are realistic spring physics.

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.

   Act of Asimov (Great)

   You may omit one other rule if your multiplayer game features an AI that can play as a player.

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! :-)