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:

   Non-linearity (Good)

   We have had enough of games where there is The One And Only Path to the success.
   
   Either the game should be possible to finish in many different ways, or the player should be given a good deal of freedom to move about and choose which quests or missions to pursue.
   
   In a nutshell: when you play the game another time but make different choices, the gameplay experience will also change in some essential way.

   Just a minute (Good)

   The main gameplay must take exactly one minute to complete, whether the player(s) win or lose.

3. Artistic requirements

   There are 2 artistic requirements:

   Tabula Rasa (Good)

   The game's levels (if any), possible dialogue and graphics have to be different every time you start a new game.

   Superheroes (Good)

   The game must feature superheroes. Extra kudos for including a good old-fashioned supervillain with a knack for monologue and devious plans.

4. Bonus rules

   There is 1 bonus rule:

   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! :-)