Rules
- The contest will be held between August 7th 00:01(EST timezone) to August 13th (23:59 EST timezone) of 2017.
- There will be multiple themes to choose from, 2 must be implemented for full points.
- The theme's will be announced at midnight when the competition begins; games must incorporate 2 themes in some way.
- Games must be made during the 7 day period of the competition. (i.e. you can't submit a game you made previously or are making now)
- You may use any library, game engine, tools, art, or audio to develop the game, provided you have the appropriate license to do so (if licensing is required for what you use); note that this means you may use code, art, and audio that you or others may have made in the past (the explicit limitation is that you may not use existing game logic (i.e. you may use libraries and engines, but you still have to actually make the game during the 7 day period)) however this does not mean you can create assets specifically for your game prior to the start of the competition, this includes outsourcing work to others, or making assets for what your general idea for a game will be. the bottom line is that if the asset existed before the idea for your game, it is ok to use, but it is not ok to create something specifically for your game before the start of the competition.
- You may target any platform (but at least 3 judges must play your game, if you develop for something the judges don't have, you can't be accepted as an entry; see the supported platforms list below for what can be developed for.)
- Teams can be made up of at most 4 people. A person may only be on one team.
- Games must work on the judges' platforms (that is, if you have a bug in your program and it works fine on your computer but not on a judge's, you must fix it for it to be judged (during the 7 day period; no work/updates/fixes may be done after the 7 days); at least 3 judges must be able to evaluate it for it to be accepted as an entry)
- Games will be preferably distributed as stand-alone startables(this means your game shouldn't install itself on the platform). This allows for easier access to testing, and distribution of the games in large packages. Although this doesn't mean disqualification, it will be preferred.
- Any online(i.e: HTML5) game must be provided in an offline format when submitting the game.
- For each category of points, the top 3 judge scores will be averaged, dropping any lower scores for that category.
- Multiplayer games are fine to make, but do note that coordinating judge's to play it together can be difficult, it is recommended that multiplayer components not be the primary focus of the game.
Judging Criteria:
- Gameplay/fun factor: 25pts.
- Graphics: 20pts. (does it look good, aesthetically, and do the graphics contribute to or detract from the game experience?) (note: it's not a contest of who has the most realistic graphics; rather, this category is about how well the graphics help the game express itself and create an engaging experience for the user.)
- Theme: 20pts. (how well the game incorporates the theme, 10 points are given for each theme implemented(a total of 20 points available.))
- Audio: 10pts. (similar to the above, but with audio.)
- First time user experience: 10pts. (is it easy to install and run and start playing?) (clarification: your game doesn't need an installer; in fact, a download-and-play (without an installing process) is probably even preferable; what I meant by 'easy to install' is that it includes all the necessary dependencies (or has good instructions for obtaining/installing necessary dependencies) such that a user can easily run you game without having to fight it; you'll also want to include at least some minimal instructions or a tutorial/in-game hints/tips).
- Participation: 10pts. (you post to the relevant threads on your progress, post dev journals, and in general participate with the rest of us rather than locking yourself away until your done. you don't have to go overboard, but a post every couple days with what your doing/upto will likely net you these 10 pnts)
- Judges score: 5pts. (this score is up to each individual judge, with no individual category to hold them down, overall it's up to each judge to define what criteria they will choose for this category!)
Please note for participation points, please provide your devblog/forum post/update link in the relevant thread during the competition: [Link here when created]
eck has written up a great expectations are for each category:
http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2108/entry-2261430-ecks-unofficial-judging-officially-explained/ Judging Team:
Supported Platforms
