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

   Survival (Great)

   The objective of the game should be to stay alive, especially through difficult situations. The game could be unbeatable, and only ends when the player dies, or there could be an achievable end, it doesn't really matter :). As long as staying alive is a priority...

2. Technical requirements

   There are 2 technical requirements:

   Go Procedural! (Excellent)

   Some element of your game must be generated procedurally. Good candidates for procedural generation are levels, graphics or sound effects.
   
   Extra kudos if all elements of your game are generated procedurally.

   Scrolling Message (OK)

   Your production must contain a scrolling message within itself, somewhere within the production.

3. Artistic requirements

   There is 1 artistic requirement:

   Look Mom I can Fly (Great)

   Ground based transportation is boring. The player should be able to fly in some way or other. It doesn't have to be zooming around in a 3d space (extra kudos if it is), but the player can not be anchored to the ground at all times.

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 Politician (Good)

   Hide your incompetence! If one rule is too tough for you, omit it by putting in a distraction that kicks donkeys. F.i. if one rule says you must have a high score table, you should make the UI look like if there was one, but when game ends, interrupt everything with lots of eye candy and great music. Or with a neat bonus mini game.

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! :-)