games/competition95/rules.txt

Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 22:44:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gerry Kevin Wilson <whizzard@uclink.berkeley.edu>
Subject: rules of the IF competition


      Announcing the First Annual Text Adventure Authorship Competition

	This idea has been bandied about on r.a.i-f for awhile, so I am
making it a reality.  The original concept of the contest was to get more
Inform source code out in the public domain.  However, the TADS authors
wanted to play too, so a category was added for them.  Here is my own
personal vision for the contest.

	"This competition is to inspire IF authors to write something,
however small, and make it available for people to play.  IF as a hobby
cannot survive unless there are people out there writing and playing it.
Hopefully, some of the people who enter the competition will enjoy it, and
decide to write more on their own."

	Anyways, here are the rules (I mean, the rule.)

	The Rule:  The text adventure you enter must be winnable in under
two hours.  Judges will be asked to rate it after playing for that long.

	That's the main point of the competition.  You don't have to enter
something really long to have a chance at winning, because you aren't allowed
to.  That way we get more entries.

	The rule is not debatable.  It's the only rule, and it's not very
unreasonable.

	Now, to enter, simply write a game, using either the TADS authorship
system, or the Inform authorship system.  The two groups will be judged
seperately.  Once you have your game, put anything that comes to mind with it
(that's related to the game) such as maps, read.me files, hints,
walkthroughs, source code, whatever and .zip it.  I know some folks may have
trouble with .zips, but I'm here to help.  If someone needs their game zipped
or needs a game unzipped, just email me, and we'll work out something.  You
cannot enter a game in both categories by porting it over to the other
development language.

	Upload your .zip file to: ftp.gmd.de:/incoming/if-archive/competition

	The deadline to do this is Midnight on the last day of August.
	(That's midnight in Germany obviously.  Plan ahead, upload a day
early.  I doubt I'll disqualify slightly late entries anyway.)

	If you want your entry to be anonymous, then leave your name off it
and email me that it's your entry.  I advise a secret command that pops up
the author and copyright message.

	Which reminds me.  All entries MUST be freeware or public domain.  So
don't enter a game you've worked on for 2 years if you don't want to give it
away.

				Judging

	The judging will be a 'People's Choice Awards' type deal for the
most part.  There may be a few prizes that are just awarded by the person who
donated them to whichever game they liked best, but not many.  In general,
everyone is able to vote.  All you have to do is play every game in the TADS
and/or Inform category (which will be sorted out on the 1st of September)
and then choose your three favorite games, in no particular order, for
that category (or both categories, if you've played them all.)  Email me
your votes at whizzard@uclink.berkeley.edu.  The games with the most votes in
each category will win.  The winners will have their pick of prizes available
in a draft sort of thing.  If there are conflicts between the TADS/Inform
choices, a coin flip will decide the matter, with the loser choosing another
prize, if there is one.

	The deadline for submitting votes is September 30.  Prizes will be
awarded the next day.

	The Prizes So Far Include:

	$100.00 cash, donated by Eileen Mullin
	1 free copy of Avalon (upon its completion), donated by me.
	One free registration for Save Princeton, donated by Jacob Weinstein.
	"Castles and Kingdoms: An electrifying compendium of 15 BASIC
           adventures you can type in to your Commodore 64" by Bob Liddil,
	   donated by Gareth Rees.
	1 year subscription to the printed version of XYZZYnews, donated by
	   Eileen Mullin
	"Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur" for the Mac, complete with box,
	   etc., donated by Jacob Weinstein.
	An autographed copy of my first novel, if and when it's
	   published--for a winner who feels like taking a big gamble,
	   donateer who feels like taking a big gamble,
	   donated by Jacob Weinstein.

	More might be donated as we go along.  If you have something you
want to donate, email me with details.

	Good luck, now get out there and write!