Casual Creations - COMPETITION RULES & OVERVIEW

[kevin]

Casual creations  - 2009  PlayBASIC Game Programming Competition


COMPETITION RULES & OVERVIEW

Document Revision V0.09 - Last Updated 8th, Jan ,2010

Table Of Contents

• Introduction
• Theme Overview
• So what's a Casual (Mini) Game ?
• Start & Closing Date
• Development Tools
• Submission Requirements (Terms Of Entry)
• Judging Criteria
• Competition Prizes (The Loot!)

Other Important Pages For Contestants

• CONTESTANT REGISTRATION (You must register if you want to enter this competition!)
• Theme Clarifications / Competition Questions
• Casual Creations Forum
• Submit Game (Closes 11:50PM 11th,Jan,2010))

Sponsors

This competition is proudly sponsored by,

Introduction

 The 2009 competition is bit different from our previous challenges.   In years gone past, PlayBASIC competitions have been aimed at challenging programmers to bring one their (median to large) game design to life.    Unfortunately, there's a number of issues with this.

           A) It's very individual and not very beginner friendly.

           B) Assumes various skill requirements  (Programming, Design, Art, Sound etc etc)

          Ultimately though,  it just doesn't encourage community participation between forum members.  

Theme Overview

       This years theme is perhaps the most open in terms of skill and interpretation we've ever had, and can be summarized as:  

        In 2009, the game programmers/designers objective is to create a casual game experience, consisting of a main theme broken up into an least 3 (or more) mini / sub games.    The game design should attempt to cohesively connect the various mini games together (in any way you see fit), so they're seen as elements of  the overall games design and not just 'random' game ideas stuck together.  

       The game design should try to be universally accessible to all age groups (8 years and above).  So the player should be able to quickly pick up the game and start playing almost immediately.  The game should allow the player to either progress  linearly (the player plays through each mini game until reaching the end) or in a none linear fashion (the player can move/choose what sections they enter) in order to achieve the games overall objective.



   

What game genres / visuals can the mini games be ?

        You can use whatever visual representations you feel best depict your game design and it's sub games.  The more then better, as long they're fun and add to the overall experience.  So If the components of your game design is more arcade/shooter styled,  then go with it.   If the overall concept is more suited to a puzzle mini games,  then great,  it's your game.. Design it how you want it.



   

Some Example Casual Game Design Ideas

The following are just some random ideas that might help you kick start our game design process.   Have fun with it !

• Farmer Fred

     This game design could see the player manage/run a farm.  The player interacts with the game from the farm owners perspective (They play as Fred).   Where the objective is to run a profitable farm.  So the player has to manage various day to day chores that are needed.

     Such things might be,

         *  The planting / maintaining / harvesting of crops.
         *  Feeding / maintaining stock..
         *  The collection of produce, such as Egg's / Milk / Wool etc  
         *  Buying/selling stock & produce at the markets.
         - All the way though to negotiating  with the bank.. :)


     These tasks could be represented as separate mini games within the one game.    This particular idea could both be visualized a more serious manager game, or as a more arcade cartoon style of a younger audience.

• School Years

      This game idea could see player take on the roles as school kid/teenager as they progress through life.   The objective of the game could be to see the student make it all the way through to graduation.   So the player could start out as a teenager, then process through the years, each year could have various mini game and even boss challenges (final exams) in it .  

      Some mini game ideas could be,

         * Catching the bus.
         * Getting to class on time. (avoid hallway bullies)
         * Attending classes.  Here you could have mini games to cover everything from English/Math classes,  Computer science through to trade subjects like Wood/Metal Work.. Etc etc.  Depending upon how nerdy you wanted to make the game.
          * Sitting exams (Boss fights)
          * Socializing (Getting a date to formal / prom)

          etc etc

       If you represented these as series of mini arcade games, it'd almost be fun to play :)

               

        While I don't imagine either of these ideas being that much fun, but hopefully they'll give you some ideas on how virtually any activity can be broken down into a various situational mini games..  So go nuts and surprise us all ! :)

An Example Game

 
  Still confused ? - Well, here's game written by Micky4Fun what would fit perfectly into this competition.

 Santa Sorta by Micky4Fun

  -  

   

How Do I Know If My Game Design Is Acceptable?

    Not sure if your game design is acceptable and need some further clarification ? -  Then feel free to post your question(s) in the following thread.
See: Theme Clarifications / Questions

So what's a Casual (Mini) Game ?

  The term Casual Games is really an umbrella term, encapsulating a vast array of genres.    However, within the bounds of this competition, you can treat "Casual" to mean an easily accessible game built of many small sub games.


References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_game

Start & Closing Date

Starting Date: 9th, November, 2009

Closing Date: 11th, January, 2010    


 All entries must be received (via email) by the 11:59 PM (Melbourne / Australia Time - GMT + 10) on the day of closing.

See Current Time & Date In Melbourne

Note  #1 - New closing date! - The competition duration was extended by approximately 2 weeks on the 19th,Dec,2009  

Note  #2 - Further Extension  - The competition was extended by 2 days on the 8th,Jan,2010  

Development Tools

 Obviously since this a PlayBASIC[/u] sponsored competition, all entries must therefore be produced with PlayBASIC.

 Contestants may enter using either,

         * PlayBasic V1.63 Free learning edition (for unregistered users)

         * PlayBasic V1.64j2 (or higher betas) (For Registered Users).

Submission Requirements (Terms Of Entry)

• All contestants are required to sign up to CONTESTANT REGISTRATION before 30th November 2009 Failure to do so, will mean your game isn't eligible for a major prize!

• All Entries must be produced with PlayBasic

• All Entries must display the sponsors logo(s), upon start up.

• All in game text or Sounds/Music information in the game should be English  (default)

• All entries must be 'playable' in single player mode. Two player only games are not allowed!

• Games can be submitted in the any of the following forms
  
  
  
  • 1) Binary Only (Exe + Media)
  • 2) Binary + Source Code + Media
  • 3) Source Code + Media (For Demo Users)

• Entries must NOT be packaged using any 'installer', or be self extracting.  Only ZIP / RAR archives are acceptable.

• Entries (when zipped) should NOT exceed 10 Megabytes (10,485,760 bytes)

• Entries may NOT include any copyrighted or trademarked materials (i.e characters, Artwork, music etc) from any 3rd party, without including written consent from the creators.

• All submissions must include a README.TXT file including the following information.
  
  
  
  • Game Title:
  • Your Name(s): (Or your Team Name)
  • Brief description of the game, including how to play and any cool things you've implemented
  • Controls:
  • Software/Hardware Requirements

• Submissions must NOT contain any bad language, adult images or racial intolerance.

• Contestants found to be faking their forum WIP / blog entries / screen shots will not be tolerated. Such submissions will be disqualified

• Contestants found to be badgering / intimidating or in any way making fun of others contestants work (on any site) will absolutely NOT be tolerated. The offending contestant will be instantly disqualified and removed from the forum

• Professional programmers may enter, but are NOT eligible for major prizes !. (This compo is aimed at beginners, not pros!)

• Authors automatically give UnderwareDesign.com & PlayBASIC.com consent to redistribute submissions (Binary Versions (& source code where denoted) / Screens Shots / Game Descriptions) in competition results and for promotional purposes.

• Contestants may enter as many times as they like.

Judging Criteria

   Contestants need to be aware that this is a game making competition! - Therefore, Judges will be commenting on the overall quality of each submission, and not purely any programming or graphically wizardry you may have achieved.   So a simple but complete game, is likely to be more enjoyable and better received than an elaborate half finished mess.

   All submissions will be ranked by each judge across three primary categories.   Those being Playability, Graphics & Sound.  Each category contains various sub categories, which each judge will be rating out of 10. Where 10 is excellent, 5 is good and a 0 is not so good. Your result will be the sum of all of subcategories.

   Since this competition is a www.PlayBASIC.com promotion,  game developers can choose to receive bonus points from www.UnderwareDesign.com by including redistributable extras such as the games source code or level editors for example.

   Each games final score will be the sum of all primary categories + any bonus points awarded. This is then averaged across the number of judging staff.   Therefore the competition winner will be the game that receives highest overall average.


Playability:

• Controls [10 points](in Game & Menus)
• Difficultly Level [10 points]
• Longevity [10 Points]
• Overall Feel [10 Points]

Graphics:

• Titles & Menus [10 points]
• Environments  [10 points]
• Sprites          [10 points]
• Over All Presentation [10 Points]

Sound

• Music [10 Points]
• Sound FX [10 Points]

Bonus Points (Awarded by PlayBASIC.com / UnderwareDesign.com)

• Complete Game [+20 Points]
• Includes Source Code + Game Media [+10 Points] (*)
• Program Performance/Scalability [1 to 10 Points]
• Includes Level Editor [+10 Points]

Handicap Points (Awarded by UnderwareDesign.com)

 Winners & placegetters of previous PlayBASIC competitions will receive the following handicaps.

•  Winners        [-30 Points]
•  Placegetters  [-15 Points]

   So if you won previous compo and place in a previous compo then your handicap will be -45.    

Note:
* = Allows redistribution by UnderwareDesign.com/PlayBasic.com

Competition Prizes (The Loot!)

The top two contestants will receive the following from our major prize pool. More sponsors to be announced soon !


1st Prize

• $100 (US) Cash - Awarded Via PayPal.com
• Published on UnderwareDesign.com
• 1 Full copies of PlayBasic (for team members)

2nd Prize

• $50 (US) Cash - Awarded Via PayPal.com
• 1 Full copies of PlayBasic
• Published on UnderwareDesign.com

FAIR PLAY PARTICIPATION PRIZE

 A major theme throughout this years competition is 'people helping people'. Not everybody who want to enter can do it alone. Therefore the contestant (the person must also enter their own game), who is the most selfless during the running time of competition will be eligible for FAIR PLAY award of either a FREE PlayBASIC license or the equivalent in value via PayPAL.

More Prizes ?

If participation is high enough,  and or if more 3rd party sponsors come forward, we'll be awarding more places.

Prize Delivery ?

Note: Cash prizes can only be awarded via www.PAYPAL.com !

Note: All 3rd party prizes are delivered by sponsors and not UnderwareDesign.com


Competition Rules are subject to change at any time !

Good Luck