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

   Neptune's rule (Good)

   The game must take place under water
   And underwater "wildlife" must be visible somewhere in the game.
   
   

2. Technical requirements

   There is 1 technical requirement:

   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:

   Five Minutes of Fame (Good)

   Player must either win or lose within five minutes of gameplay.
   

   Warped perception (Great)

   The way we perceive the game is warped in some way. This could be in any level of abstraction. For example, the score could be printed upside-down, the sky could be green instead of blue, the text could be displayed in such a way that the words are in one language but the grammar of the sentences is in a different language, or the framebuffer could undergo a distortion. Use your imagination.

4. Bonus rules

   There is 1 bonus rule:

   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.

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! :-)