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

   Reverse genre (Excellent)

   Pick any common genre and reverse the role that the player has on it. For example, you'd control the aliens in Alien Invaders, the ball in Pong, the minions in dungeon crawling games, the ghosts in Pac-Man, etc.

2. Technical requirements

   There is 1 technical requirement:

   Quantum Bogodynamics (Good)

   Pick a law of physics and base the action of the game around it. The more obscure the rule, the better -- Newton's three laws of motion are an obvious choice, but if you wish to make a game based on the inside of an atom, good luck to you!

3. Artistic requirements

   There are 2 artistic requirements:

   World Map (OK)

   You must have a world map:
   
   This may be in street-fighter style where you are shown flying to the country where you will be competing against another player. You could also have a world map that has lots of challenges are shown, and you can select where to go to next. Another possibly the game has a linear path, but you are shown on a world map how far you have progressed.

   Stressed (OK)

   The world is a haven of stress, and we all need to relax. Include as part of your entry some stress relieving music or sounds. Light jazz, gamelan, New age floaty music, chilled dancy stuff. Providing that all the audio you include induces a sensation of tranquility, the type of music is not important. Any sounds you supply should also be tranquil..birdsong, insects, lapping water or chimes are all good examples.
   
   It should fit with the design of the game. So your game design should probably fit the audio rather that the other way around.

4. Bonus rules

   There is 1 bonus rule:

   Act of Efficiency (Good)

   You may opt out of one other rule if the ZIP file of your entry is less than 150KB (153600 bytes)

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! :-)