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

   Boats ahoy! (OK)

   Some form of exploration with boats.

2. Technical requirements

   There are 2 technical requirements:

   Rock Paper Scissors (Great)

   One of the gameplay elements must include three (or more) choices that beat each other circularly in the conventional rock-paper-scissors fashion.
   

   Let's get random! (Great)

   Life is random. We all know it. Your game should be too.
   Your game must then creatively use random numbers.
   
   For example, you can either randomly create levels, textures, or effects at runtime. Enemies randomly moving should't be enough. Try to use random algorithm as cleverly as possible, and to achieve an original gameplay or feeling that way.
   
   Creating your own algorithms, using your own ideas is encouraged, even though after all we have no way to know if you simply used an algorithm from the internet. But it's all about fun!
   
   

3. Artistic requirements

   There are 2 artistic requirements:

   Chancey (Good)

   Random chance must play a big part of the game. This could range from different chances of firing or killing an enemy, to levels changing randomly around the player.
   
   Despite the randomness, the game must still be fun to play!

   Skies (Good)

   The sky must be present in large part in your game. Whether the main character flies or jumps into the sky is up to you. Maybe it could take place in a large airship if the main character doesn't fly, but the sky must be in the scenery.

4. Bonus rules

   There are 2 bonus rules:

   Act of Genesis (Good)

   You may omit one other rule if your game does not use any external data files.

   Act of Cod (Good)

   Overwrite one rule by replacing any of its words with "fish". The new rule must make sense, be creative, and can not conflict with any other rule.

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! :-)