Game development Compo

Skip straight to the rules

Description

The world needs new, fun games to play. Are you up for the challenge?

Making a good game usually requires a combined effort of game designers, programmers, graphics artists and musicians. But sometimes, a fresh idea can be turned into a fun, exciting game by simpler means.

In this compo, you'll get to demonstrate your game on stage to convince the audience and the jury that you have made the next great game we would all love to play.

This year, The Gathering has entered a cooperation with the Norwegian Game Awards (NGA). If you enter the Game Development competition at The Gathering, you can also sign up to compete in the NGA competition. This offers a chance to win more prizes, and bring more public attention to your game.

This compo is for playable games only. If you have a brilliant idea for a game, but not the skills or time required to create a playable prototype of it, we encourage you to enter the Game Concept Compo.

Rules

1. Hand-in

   Entries in this competition must be delivered through the web-based compo system as a Zip or Rar archive containing the executable file and all necessary data files and dynamically linked libraries (DLLs).

2. Allowed platforms

   • Windows
   • Linux
   • Java, .NET, XNA
   • Web-based (Flash or Silverlight)
   • All portable devices (please bring a working device with your game to the party for demonstration).

3. Size limit

   350 MB in installed form

4. Deciding a winner

   The winner will be chosen by combining the results from the popular vote with a jury vote. The popular vote will account for 67% of the total score, and the jury vote will account for 33%.

5. Preselection

   A jury will select up to eight (8) entries to be demonstrated for the public, and compete in the finals.

   To make sure that the jury can fully appreciate your game you should also make a small users manual. This should explain the game concept and objectives, as well as how to control the game.

   Entries not picked for the finals can not be voted for.

6. The entry must run on the compo machine to compete

   Entries that are not playable on the compo machine will be disqualified. Make sure you include installation and running instructions with your entry if needed.

   Games for portable devices are obviously exempt from this rules, but you must bring your own hardware to demonstrate your game.

7. General rules

   The general rules apply to this compo.

Compo machine

The compo machine(s) final spec is not ready yet, but it will be something along these lines.

• Dual or quad core CPU
• SM4.0 graphics card
• More than enough RAM

Deadlines

Soft deadline

This compo has a soft deadline, which is Friday 10/04/2009 23:59. Before this deadline you must have uploaded a working version of your entry through the compo system.

Hard deadline

The final deadline for updates to this compo is Saturday 11/04/2009 12:00. After this deadline, you will no longer be allowed to update your entry. The latest uploaded version of your entry will be used for the preselection and competition.

Prizes

Place	Prize
1st	10 000 NOK
2nd	5 000 NOK
3rd	2 500 NOK

See the Prizes page for an overview of the prizes and awards for all compos.

Getting started

Starter kits and tutorials

• C++ Tutorial - An introduction to the basics of C++ programming
• Demomaking for dummies - Tutorial and examples from the TG06 seminar in (OpenGL/C++). The principles in this tutorial also applies to graphics programming in games.
• nehe.gamedev.net - Comprehensive step-by-step OpenGL tutorial (OpenGL/C++)
• directxtutorial.com - Step-by-step Direct3D 9.0 Tutorial (Direct3D9/C++)
• Microsoft XNA Game Studio - Microsoft's hobbyist game development suite for C#. Can also be used for demos.
• Frontend - The framework used in the TG09 invitaiton demo (C++)

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