QuestComp 2013

7 April 2013

This post was originally published on the textadventures.co.uk blog.

The QuestComp organiser is Evan Williams. The competition is being set up and can be discussed in the QuestComp forum thread.

To declare your intent to enter or to submit an entry, please email Evan directly.

Update 18th March 2013: £££ Prize Money! £££ Many thanks to Phillip Zolla for sponsoring a first prize of £100.

Now over to Evan to explain the rules…

questcomp-2013

Welcome to QuestComp 2013, the very first Quest exclusive IF competition! With v5.4 (beta) up and running, Quest has more to offer designers than ever, like scripts for gamebooks, a new text processor, and script specific code viewing. So, join the adventure, and be a Questing hero!

Competition Overview

The primary goal of authors entering the competition (aside from making a quality game) is to use the features and capabilities of Quest in exciting and innovative ways.

Since IF is a text-based game medium, good writing is key to a good game. So, there is also a creative theme (Plague), to inspire and challenge your writing skills. Details are in the “Rules For Entrants And Submissions” section, below.

Like the classic hero, your reward will be honor, respect and glory. Fortune smiles upon thee! There is also no entrance fee.

Dates

March 31: Deadline for declaring intent to enter
I also ask that anyone interested in judging please volunteer by this date, as I will be using the ratio of entrants to judges in finalizing both the game length and judging period, should they need to be changed.
May 31: Deadline for submitting finished games
June 31: Date for completion of judging
This date may be extended after entrants and judges have been counted.
NOTE: To allow for time-zone differences, exact cut-off for deadlines is 12 noon GMT (8am EDT) of the following day.

Rules For Entrants And Submissions

With the exception of beta testing (which is strongly encouraged), entrants are not to discuss the contents of their game with anyone until after judging is completed and a winner is announced.

  • All entrants must declare their intent to compete no later than March 31.
  • Each entrant will submit one(1) game only, no later than May 31.
  • The creative theme is Plague. You are encouraged to use the theme in any way you like, and you may stretch your personal interpretation as far as it is still recognizable. Just for reference purposes: Dictionary.com: Plague
  • Each submission is to focus on 1 to 3 specific features of Quest selected from the following list. MAKE SURE to state which feature(s) you selected when you submit your game.

Features

  • Auto-mapping
  • POV switching
  • Light/Darkness
  • Multimedia content (use it well, not profusely, IF is text based)
  • Inserted links within main text body ("ObjectLink" "ExitLink" etc)
  • Panes and/or UI customization -NEW/IMPROVED IN QUEST 5.4
  • Direct html text processor
  • Gamebook scripts
  • Scope controlled object/exit hyperlink activity
  • Enhanced list and dictionary attribute types
  • Submissions must be made using Quest 5.3 or 5.4 beta. Your use of Quest's features will be judged individually based on the feature(s) you selected.
  • EXTRA CHALLENGE BONUS: Include "reviving Bob with the defibrillator" from the Quest tutorial game. As long as the person's name is a derivative of Bob or Robert, this idea may be reinterpreted however necessary to suit the genre you are working in (i.e. a spell named defibrillaticus, or a steam-punk device similar to a defibrillator).

It is recommended that you test how well your game works when played online - you can upload a game to the site and set visibility to “unlisted” for testing.

Rules For Judges

  • Judges are encouraged to play each game as long as they want and try to finish each one. However, they are not required to finish before voting (especially if the game takes more than about 1-1/2 to 2 hours). There is no minimum time length that must be spent on each game.
  • There is currently no minimum number of games which must be played to qualify the judges' votes.
  • Anyone may judge. Please volunteer early, so we know how many judges vs games we have.
  • Games should be scored on a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being best.
  • Judges may discuss the games during the judging period, but should clearly mark posts/topics, for the benefit of those who want to avoid spoilers.
  • Beta-testers are allowed to vote on the entries they beta-tested.

All rules, dates, terms, and conditions are subject to change with the exception of the creative theme and feature choices. All changes will be clearly noted here, and entrants will be directly notified of any changes made after March 31.

Legal

  • While "freeware" multimedia is permissible, entrants assume personal responsibility for the contents of their games and may be disqualified if any copyrighted material is used without permission.
  • Entrants grant the competition and textadventures.co.uk the non-exclusive right to distribute your game for free.