From: whizzard@uclink.berkeley.edu (Gerry Kevin Wilson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Announcing the 3rd Annual I-F Competition
Date: 16 Mar 1997 18:19:04 GMT

---> I marked subsequent changes like this paragraph.
---> The complete, current version of the rules can be viewed at
--->    http://www.afn.org/~afn55673/contest/
--->                                     Volker Blasius, 04apr97

Folks, please crosspost this message to relevant newsgroups, websites, and
your local computer club.  The more the merrier.

      Announcing the Third Annual Text Adventure Authorship Competition
				Administered by whizzard@uclink.berkeley.edu

	"Third time's the charm."
	    -Most Common Programmer Saying, right after "&$%&^@%!!"

	Text adventures still exist and thrive on the Internet.  If you
enjoyed Zork, Trinity, Corruption, or any of the many other text based
games put out in the 70's and 80's, then I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear
that.  You'll be even happier when you find out that there is an annual
competition on the Internet to see who can write the best text adventure,
and that you can enter it, or judge the entries, for free.

                                -=The Rules=-

	This year's competition is a bit different in that the rules are
stricter and better defined.  Violaters of any rule will be given a warning
the first time, and disqualified if a second transgression is made.  Sorry
for the harsh crackdown, but it seems to be neccessary to ensure a tranquil
and pleasant competition for all.

  1.  Any text adventure you enter must be winnable in under two hours.
The judges are only allowed to play it that long before quitting and rating
it.  This is to ensure small games, and encourage authors to enter who
might feel intimidated going up against a huge game.

  2.  All games must be entirely your own creations.  You may parody
established works, but you may not, for example, write a game based on
Sherlock Holmes.  This avoids the entire issue of copyright and the ethics
involved.

  3.  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.  No
shareware, no donorware, no commercial products, etc.  Only clear and free
games.

  4. All entries must be previously unreleased at the opening of voting. 
If an entry has previously been circulated, it will be disqualified.  If
you are unsure whether your game fails to meet this rule, please ask me.

---> Rule 5 below was dropped - "too much confusion for too little return".
     5.  Your game must not have your name listed anywhere in, or associated
   with it.  Entries will have pseudonyms in the form of author numbers 
   assigned to them, and everyone will be sent a legalese boilerplate to put
   into the start of their game to protect their copyrights.  Copyrights will
   be retained by the authors, whose names will be on registry with the
   Annual I-F competition organizer (i.e. Me.)
---> Rule 5 above was dropped - "too much confusion for too little return".

  6.  Authors of a competition entry may not discuss the entries in a
public Internet forum while the voting is open.  This means don't post
about your entry (or anyone else's) on a newsgroup until the deadline for
voting has passed.

		    -= Procedures and Recommendations =-

  1. It is recommended that you enclose a complete text walkthrough with
your game.  With a walkthrough, I can doublecheck your entry to ensure
that it is winnable, and judges can get by hard puzzles to see the rest of
your game.

  2.  The entry may be written in any programming language, including any
of the text adventure creation utilities available (such as TADS, Inform,
AGT, or Alan, to name a few.)  If your game is unplayable, then it won't
receive enough votes to be eligable for prizes.  (See Judging.)

  3.  Multiple entries by the same author are fine, so long as all entries
meet all the rules above.  Let me just close this with a caveat emptor. 
You will likely be better off investing more time in a single entry rather
than trying to finish two.

  4.  To enter this year, you must e-mail me by September 1, 1997, with
your intent to enter.
---> The following sentence was dropped together with rule 5 above.
                       I will assign you an author number, and a
   telnet-accessed e-mail address that you can receive feedback on your game
   at until the voting period has ended.
---> The preceding sentence was dropped together with rule 5 above.

  5.  You will need to e-mail me your entry privately, either through
e-mail (as a uuencoded file) or some other arrangement that you will have
to work out with me.  The entries must be received by September 30th,
1997.  No entries will be accepted after this date.

			      -=Judging=-

	The Judging system this year is still in debate.  With the large
number of entries last year, it is unsure whether the old system will
continue to work.  I want to continue the people's choice award method, but
I think it suffers if people are only grading a partial set of the entries.
I am very reluctant to do the judging in stages, with semi-finals and all
that garbage.  It's too much work, quite frankly.  A small number of
registered judges may be the only way to go, if not the most distasteful to
me.  I will attempt to resolve this situation by April, or May at the
latest.

			  -=Awarding of Prizes=-

  1.  The winner will be the game with the highest average score.  Each
winner will have a draft pick to choose a prize of his/her choice until
there are no longer any prizes left.  Tied entrants who both select the
same prize will be decided between by a flip of the coin, the loser
receiving his second choice.

The Prizes So Far Include:

	None so far.  If you would like to donate a prize for this year's
competition, please contact me as soon as possible with your prize.  The
competition is dependent on prize donations from interested parties to
boost interest and the number of entrants.
	However, this year I will be attempting to have trophies made for
the first three places.  This is likely to be a fairly expensive prospect,
so donations of money (or trophy-making talents) are needed this year as
well.

			   -=Online Resources=-

	Lastly, for those of you unfamiliar with the online resources
available to text adventure authors, here are some interesting sources.

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/
	Main directory for the interactive fiction (text adventure) archive.
	It is mirrored at several sites, but the info escapes me for the
	moment.

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/
	The location of several programs designed to help authors write
	text adventures.  I recommend TADS, Inform, Hugo, Alan, or AGT,
	particularly the first two: TADS and Inform.  Please see the
	relevant directories for further info.

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/info/authorship-guide.base
	The main document for Whizzard's Guide to Text Adventure Authorship.
	This is something I wrote to give ideas to prospective authors,
	mostly dealing with the non-technical aspects of writing text
	adventures.

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/info/Craft.Of.Adventure.txt
	A file by Graham Nelson also discussing the less technical aspects
	of how to write text adventures.  Included is a Player's Bill of
	Rights that is very useful.

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/info/Index
	A filelist that lists numerous other helpful files for new text
	adventure authors to peruse.

Newsgroups:

  REC.ARTS.INT-FICTION
	For the use of text adventure authors in discussing the mechanics and
	other important topics of text adventure creation.  Important contest
	announcements will be posted here.

  REC.GAMES.INT-FICTION
	For the players of text adventures to discuss games and hints, and to
	buy/sell used text adventures.


-- 
=  SPAG Magazine  = Issues 1-9 at ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive/magazines/SPAG =
=       All       =  Ratings =     Issue 10 coming soon.  It's the      =
=      About      =  Reviews =        1996 I-F Competition Issue.       =
= Text Adventures =   News!  =        Editor: whizzard@pobox.com        =