SimComp
| SimComp | |
|---|---|
| Competition | |
| Organiser | David Fisher |
| Edit this infobox | |
(First in a series of six minicomps for 2009: SimComp, EnvComp, AbilityComp, NPCComp, SenseComp and GameplayComp).
The aim of SimComp (formerly RoFLComp; organised by David Fisher) is to create a game involving some kind of physical simulation. Some classic "tricky" objects to simulate are rope, fire and liquid (thus the old name RoFLComp), but these are not required to be present in the game.
The aim is not to produce a technical demo, but rather to create a complete game that involves physical simulation (ie. the simulation should fit with the rest of the story).
Emily Short's Metamorphoses would fit these requirements, since it focuses on physical properties of objects, even though that game is based on magic.
Dates
- November 1st, 2008: competition begins.
- February 1st, 2009: submission deadline (midnight GMT).
The results will be announced when the panel of judges have all submitted their scores.
Rules
1. Entries must be in English.
2. Entries are not restricted to any particular IF language or platform, but it is highly recommended that a portable IF language be used (such as Inform 6/7, TADS 2/3, Hugo, Adrift, etc.). Judges will only be required to play games that they can run on their system. In the unlikely event that a game cannot be run by any of the judges, it will not receive a score.
3. The game length should be roughly one to two hours.
4. A walkthrough must be submitted with the game (to make sure the judges can complete it!). If you do not want the walkthrough to be publicly released, please write "Not for public release" at the top.
5. Works must not have been previously released, or include copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder.
6. A panel of approximately ten judges will score and write a review of each game that they are able to run on their system. Public discussion of games during the judging period is permitted (including authors and testers), but judges' scores and reviews will not be published until they are all ready.
7. The results will be announced when all of the judges have completed their judging; there is no time limit, but the judging period will probably be less than two weeks.
8. By submitting an entry to this competition, authors implicitly give permission for their entries to be uploaded to the IF Archive.
9. Any number of entries from the same author are permitted.
10. Remember to allow time for Beta testing! If English is not your native language, people are available to proofread your game as well (ask on the rec.arts.int-fiction or rec.games.int-fiction newsgroup).
Judging
At this stage, the judges will be J. Robinson Wheeler, Ross Presser, Greg Boettcher, Michael Coyne, Jason Dyer, Mike Snyder, Jimmy Maher, Magnus Olsson, David Jones and Dan Shiovitz.
Judges may not also be Beta testers or enter a game in the competition they are judging.
Guidelines for Judges
The main judging criteria are:
(1) Is this a good game? How does it rate compared to the other entries?
(2) Are the simulation aspects as thorough as they need to be?
(3) Does the simulation fit with the rest of the story?
When your reviews and scores are ready, please send them to davidfisher@australiaonline.net.au. Feel free to make your reviews available anywhere else as well, but not until the competition results have been announced.
Scores range from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Half-point scores are permitted, eg. 9.5. The scores assigned by each judge to each game will be made public; if you would prefer your scores to be anonymous, let me know and we will work out some way to do that.
Games should be played until you feel you can give them a fair score and a full review; feel free to use walkthroughs if necessary to see the whole game. Reviews and scores are not required for games which you cannot run on your system.
Submissions
Entries may be sent to dfisher at efs dot mq dot edu dot au any time before the deadline of February 1st 2009, midnight GMT. Remember to include a walkthrough, and feel free to include source code as well.
(If you don't receive an acknowledgement, try davidfisher at australiaonline.net.au instead).
Since the main aim is to produce new games rather than to be bureaucratic, if any author requires a (small!) extension to the deadline, please contact the organiser at davidfisher@australiaonline.net.au.
If there are problems with a game that require it to be re-submitted during the judging period, that will be permitted as well, but the scoring penalty for doing so will be at the judges' discretion.
Entries
SimComp had no entries.