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Welcome to the official thread of the second-annual Text Adventure Competition!

UPDATE: New prizes added June 21st!

Last year, we held the first-ever TGC Text Adventure Competition. This year we're doing it all over again, this time with modified rules and multiple award categories! Please read this thread carefully and keep an eye out for updates made to this first post! Also, please be sure a question has not already been answered prior to posting that question, so we can attempt to keep this thread a bit shorter than last year's was.

In this competition, you'll be tasked to create the best text adventure your brain can muster, and you'll be pitting it against other aspiring game designers who are vying for the same great prizes. Along the way, we're hoping your project will help you learn new things about writing great stories, and push you to develop your good ideas into fantastic ones.

What could I win?

GRAND PRIZE:
One (1) free copy of Dark AI, supplied by The Game Creators. One of the most requested features for DarkBASIC Professional, along with physics were A.I. (artificial intelligence) commands. Commands that would help with pathfinding, and adding intelligent behaviour into your games, making opponents and allies smarter. To this end we're pleased to present to you the Dark A.I. extension.

One (1) free copy of eXtends, supplied by The Game Creators. This pack extends the core features of DarkBASIC Professional, and expands it into 4 new areas. The new features include dynamic media handling, the XGui system, the XFont system, 2D special effects, perfect pixel sprite collision, a billboard system, a virtual 3D lights system, a custom particle system, and a real-time sky system. Plus, this includes a bonus Asteroids game, which showcases the various features of this awesome plugin.

One (1) free copy of PlayBASIC, supplied by Underware Design. Play Basic is a Game Programming language designed to take the learning curve out of 2D game making. Allowing users to bring their game ideas to life in a fraction of the time of other basic languages.

One (1) free copy of the game Eternal Equinox, supplied by MISoft Studios. In this commercial text adventure, you assume the role of a tropical islander whose village is threatened by an incoming tsunami. To save your people, you'll need to track down a magic artifact, known as the Hoto, before your people are completely annihilated by the coming disaster.

KUDOS AWARDS' PRIZE:
For each kudos award we hand out this year, we'll be giving one (1) free copy of Eternal Equinox. Read on to learn more about the kudos awards and their various categories!

Also, to the winner of the kudos award for Technical Design, we're giving one (1) free copy of PlayBASIC, supplied by Underware Design!

What is a "Text Adventure?"

A text adventure is a PC game wherein the player navigates through a world by reading segments of a story, and then selecting a path or action from a list of options supplied by the software. Some text adventures use basic variables to offer players items, weapons, etc. to utilize during play. Most text adventures fall into one of two technical categories: The option list adventure, and the parser adventure. "Option list" adventures have a menu of options wherein a player can select an action from a list of choices (such as, "1. go east, 2. go west" and the player presses one or two, or presses the corresponding number and then presses enter). "Parser" adventures allow the player to type in commands, such as "open door," "go north," "eat apple," etc., and the software can detect specific segments of code that is entered into its entry line. This year, the technical aspect of the scoring has been changed somewhat dramatically, so be sure to read about that in this post.

PRIZE CATEGORIES
Grand Prize: The grand prize package will be awarded to the entrant who scores the highest overall score in four distinct categories: Originality, Story Development, Writing Ability, and Technical Design. The game's scores in each of these categories will be averaged to figure out its overall score. Each category can earn a maximum of 10.0 points. For more about each of these categories and how they are defined, please read the "Kudos Awards" category below.

Kudos Awards: These awards are given to the best entries in each of the four main categories (originality, story development, writing ability, and technical design), as well as a few other categories. Here are the categories of kudos awards.

- Originality: Depicts the overall originality of your game's concept, including (but not limited to) the uniqueness of the game's plot, characters, locations/ environments, etc.

- Story Development: How well your story is developed from beginning to end. This covers your ability to provide detailed descriptions of the events, characters, locations/ environments, and plot (and sub-plots) of your story, and otherwise your ability to present said story in a fluid and consistent manner.

- Writing Ability: Rates your mastery of the English language. Avoid spelling and grammar errors, typos, and the like if you want to score well in this category.

- Technical Design: Rates the game's functionality, control layout/ design, and general playability. Keep your entry glitch- and bug- free, simple to understand, and easy to command to score highly.

(And the other categories)
- Best Media: The game that contains the best media, from the front-end to in-game media. Please note the rules about media usage prior to using media in your game, and ask for clarification if you don't understand the rules!

- Most Addictive Game: The game that the judges simply can't stop playing will earn this kudos award.

- Best GUI: The game that has the most interesting and aesthetically-appealing interface/ HUD/ GUI.

- Retail Award: Last year's entries showed us some really awesome games, many of which I personally would have paid money for. It inspired me to make a retail text adventure, so this year we'll offer the retail award to the entry that the judges would most be willing to pay money for.

RULES

NOTE: The judges have the final say in how each rule is interpreted. Attempts to intentionally deviate from these rules will result in disqualification. The competition's judges reserve the right to disqualify entries if they feel the need, and will present a written statement as to why these entries have been disqualified so as to avoid confusion or unfairness. The judges have been selected because they are mature, trustworthy, contributing members of the TGC community, so don't worry about any judges treating you and/ or your entry unjustly!

Your entry's text must be presented in English. US, UK, and other well-known interpretations of English are acceptable (so the word "color" can also be spelled "colour" with no effect on scoring either way).

You may present your text in various colors and/ or fonts, but please try to be prudent with how you apply this rule. You must use a font that is included standard with Windows 2000 and XP machines. Alternatively you can use bitmap fonts or a 2D image of the pre-written text, so long as they do not violate the following rule (regarding media)

Your entry may not contain any "media" beyond the use of a HUD/ GUI (explained in the following rule). "Media" is defined in this competition as 2D images, 3D images, sound effects, music, 3D models, and/ or animations of any kind. You CAN use a simple 2D image of text to present the text for your game, but this must be simple and cannot violate this rule with non-textual imagery. Because we know you might release this game beyond this competition, you may use any form of media that you want to use in the game's front-end (the "main menu" area and any splash-screens you'd like to use prior). Also, you can use media if you present an option to turn off said media. This option must be available either in an "Options" menu in the game's front-end, or as an in-game option available during play. All entries containing media will be eligible for the "kudos award" for best media, but entries violating the stipulations of the rule we've just defined will not be eligible for the grand prize.

The game is allowed to have a HUD/GUI. The image used must be static (cannot be animated), and the same HUD/GUI must be used on all screens. Also, the HUD cannot contain images that depict the location(s), character(s), environment(s), or any other aspect(s) of the story. Judges have the final say and will determine if an image used for a HUD/GUI violates this rule.

Your entry must be programmed using a language officially available on TGC (www.thegamecreators.com). These include, but are not limited to, DarkBASIC, DarkBASIC Professional, DarkSDK, or Playbasic. You may use, at your discretion, any additional expansions, plugins, and/ or DLL's that you see fit, so long as you include a list of these additions. The language/ tool used must be available from The Game Creators on a date within the run of this competition (June 7th 2007 to October 19th 2007).

You must provide source code to prove that you wrote this software. You are allowed to remove certain aspects of your code that you wish to remain secret, but you must use a reminder statement (the "rem" command or (`) symbol followed by a description) to explain that a portion of the code has been removed. Most of the game's functionality must be presented in source. Judges retain the right to determine if your source code meets this requirement.

The game must be controlled using only the keyboard. You can employ mouse usage in the game's front-end only. If you plan to include mouse control, the game must have an option to not use the mouse and only use the keyboard for input.

All games submitted to this competition must be fully compiled. Submitted source code that is not compiled will not be judged. Your entry must come in the form of an executable file. You can include additional files and folders, but one executable (EXE) file should run the game.

Copyright Law: Any media used in this contest must be made by you. Otherwise, proof of permission to use said media must be presented (even for freeware games), including the author of the images/ music and some form of contact information, albeit a website address or e-mail address. Any entry that does not meet this standard will be void from participation.

There is no length requirement for this contest, although you should try to keep your game relatively short to play so that it can be judged fully and fairly. Try to introduce the judges to your best features early because they may not have time to play through the entire game if we receive a large number of entries.

Judges, TGC employees, employees of prize furbishers, and/ or the families of these parties may not enter the competition.

Submissions: You may submit your entry via e-mail (e-mail the game to me) or via these forums. To submit, you can include a compressed file (zip, rar, etc.) or a direct download link. By "direct link," we mean said link should open a download window immediately once clicked. All entries must be recieved no later than 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time on Friday, October 19th 2007. No exceptions!

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Wonderful. I'm on it. Thought it would have been over by now, so this is definitely good news.

Back to the drawing board...

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Cool, I plan on entering.

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Yeah, the other thread over in GC was more a planning thread. It's a huge relief to finally have this kicked off, now I just need to secure some prizes, hehe. I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone might have, and I'm sure the judges will too (although it's kind of rude for me to speak on their behalf, hehe)

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in your GUI are you allowed a small picture of an item? you said no graphics of characters, places and events. but what about items?

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I'd like to express my interest in this competition. When I started reading it, I placed myself in the maybe pile. Once I'd read that the deadline is in October, I'm considering myself as probably submitting an entry. That's a very generous deadline.

It's the sort of thing I'll enjoy regardless of the prizes. I've never designed a game with an emphasis on storyline before. It's all about the gameplay with me. I'd just like you to know in case you're interested in the amount of entries that are likely to be present.


(By the way, I am the same as Mirthin_. I have resurrected my long-dead account.)

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You cannot show/ use images that depict anything regarding the story whatsoever. This includes people, items/ inventory, places, etc. Sorry, I should have clarified that better.

Quite a few people had said they'd like me to push the end of the competition forward so they could wrap up their school work, so we pushed it to October, giving contestants in various nations an entire summer vacation to hammer out their entries. Hopefully it'll work for everyone.

The more the merrier! I'm glad to see so many people are showing interest this year, I think it's safe to say our turn-out will be far better than the 2006 competition

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What about using text to represent things (people, items inventory, places, etc.) such as in a rogue game where your on a ASCII map.

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i don't know. i think it's all about the story dude

EDIT
do you mean by this

..._...|..____________________, ,
....../ `---___________----_____|]
...../_==o;;;;;;;;_______.:/
.....), ---.(_(__) /
....// (..) ), ----"
...//___//
..//___//
.//___//

p.s. i didn't amke this

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You can't use ASCII either. As Shadow already mentioned, this competition is all about story development. You could use imagery, but then you'd be ineligible for the grand prize (once I figure out what that will be, of course) and only eligible for the kudos award for best media.

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What is it about people and trying to get away with exceptions to rules? We had these discussions last year too.

"What if I turn the door handle upside-down, does it still count as a door handle?"

...

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If by chance a Moderator comes across this...

I would really appreciate if a moderator would consider "Stickying This Thread" for us.

It became difficult to keep up with the suggestions thread in the Off-Topic board. While this board has less traffic, It would be nice to have it at the top for anyone to see, and to comeback to. If it's decided that it shouldn't be stickied (through the duration of the competition), I'll understand, but It would be nice to know that it was considered.

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@Matt Rock, perhaps you can also make a submission to Batvink to include this news in the Monthly NewsLetter. I'm not sure if anything was mentioned last NewsLetter. There are a number of people who don't visit all the boards regularly who still read the TGC "News Letter" each month. Might be a good idea to reach out to that part of our community as well.

Sincerely,
~zenassem

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Very intresting idea.

Let's see if i can get one out this year,last year i didnt for some reason.While i like Text Based games.(When they are like original one's offcourse.)

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@ entomophobiac: I'm sure we'll end up seeing the same thing next year as well, and every year following. I'm wondering if maybe I'm wording things incorrectly or something, I can't figure out why everyone is assuming bending the media rule is okay. But I'm almost willing to bet money that we'll see another question about it before this competition is done

@ Zen: I emailed Vink, I'm not sure if he got it though. I'll email him again later in the week if he doesn't respond by then. He actually emailed me first, back when the "conceptual" thread was going, but I wanted to get the rules finalized and stuff before I asked him to mention anything in the newsletter. I need to change my email addy from the yahoo address to the MISoft address, maybe I should do that later today after my soccer game.

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Wow.

Now to get a little discussion going, unless people are being very secretive. I'm basically working on my main "design goals" as I perceive them.

First off: real-time.

My intention is to make a text game in real-time. There are plenty of reasons for this, concerning the story, but this is a field where I'm less certain than secretive -- I would say something if I had only decided exactly what to focus on.

Second: choice-based. (Numbers)

Simple and quick. Also quite good for a poor coder such as myself. Given the real-time aspect, I intend to keep it logical and interesting. A tough nut to crack, really.

Third: satirical/comical.

Last year, my entry was a bit on the heavy side. I need to keep my brain occupied with new challenges.


Thanks to Matt Rock for this opportunity!

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@Matt Rock, First let me say that I will be donating a prize. Specifically...
The Unit Lua 5 : Expansion pack
+ Code Snippet

This DarkBASIC Professional DLL will add Lua 5.0 scripting support to your games and applications. 

  $ Dollar € Euros £ Sterling Click to Buy 
Price: $20.00 €16.00 £12.00  

The LUA Scripting Pack is distributed electronically.
You must download this product. Download instructions are sent after purchase.
It is not available boxed or on CD. DarkBASIC Professional 5.9+ is required to use this pack

I will purchase it, and turn it over to yourself or anyone you designate. And the prize will be in the proper hands well ahead of the competition deadline (ASAP). This way there will be no problems with prizes or advertising the competition . You can decide what category's winner will receive it.

Please Contact me via MSN or my Hotmail account, if your interested, to discuss the details.

Beginning Of Sob Story
=============================
Unfortunately, I have to announce that my entry will automatically be disqualified! And I just want to take some time to explain why. It's not anyone's fault - the rules are what they are - and I'm deciding to break them.

[edited] I read the rules wrong

I am still excited about the competition, and looking foward to everyone's entries. So good luck everyone!!!!

Sincerely,
~zenassem

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I'm not sure what you mean by this. The rule is:

So basically, you could use bitmap fonts or even an image of the text (and this includes custom fonts), so long as it is text and nothing more. If you're using the "Beatnick Hayseed" font to show animals, or some other wacky font that shows images, then obviously a judge would disqualify you. But from what you've explained, I don't see any reason why you'd be disqualified from the competition

The only problem though is with you supplying a prize. Anyone who offers a prize will be unable to enter the competition. I'd much rather find the prizes myself, and get the judges and to help me find suitable prizes if it comes to that, than have a potential contestant barred from entering. Don't worry about getting us a prize... buy EE instead, lol. But in all seriousness, I'd really rather you entered than supplied a prize. Have no fear, my scrounging abilities are quite remarkable, hehe. We'll have decent prizes yet .

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TGC needs another forum dedicated to competitions like this, so they are all in one place.

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Fantastic news! I've spoken with TGC about prizes, and they've agreed to supply us with a prize again this year . I can't say for certain exactly what it will be this year, but I can assure you it will be something awesome. Stay tuned and I'll have an update regarding the prize relatively soon.

EDIT: Well, I lied guys, I'm sorry to let everyone down. I said TGC was going to supply a prize, but this was false information...

They're supplying TWO prizes this year! Yes, you heard right. TGC is offering one free copy of Dark AI, and one free copy of eXtends! I was unsure which would be better for the competition, and TGC said "have one of each!" How cool is that! In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this... I can't wait to see what everyone thinks about these awesome prizes . I'll be updating the main post in a few minutes with links so you can see what these prizes are. Extra special thanks to Rick Vanner for this!

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Ok, great!

I was thrown off about the included part. Should have read the next sentence.

I'm in business!!

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That's great news! It's good to see that TGC are helping out with this competition.

I'd just like to wish everyone good luck and I can't wait to see the great games made for this competition

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More great news! I'm posting this a bit late, I've had a super busy week, but anyway...

A new prize update! We're giving away not one, but TWO copies of Playbasic! One with the Grand Prize, the other with the Kudos award for Technical Design. Pretty cool, huh? Special thanks to Kevin Picone of Underware Design for supplying these fantastic prizes!

Again, sorry for not putting this news up sooner, I've been bogged down with tons of stuff this week. I think this should just about do it for prizes, I mean we're giving away four prizes with the Grand Prize plus one or two prizes with each kudos award, so I think we're covered for this year hehe.

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Maybe I'm joining. Will be doing something really basic, but using a special approach. Will be interesting and a side-project of which I can definitely claim a maximum 10% chance of it getting finished at all. But hey, worth a go, right?

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you knoe i might think about joinin' this one. i don't know if i could cook up enough time to write a good enough entry.

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I have a couple questions about this:

1) For the Best Media award, it kind of sounds like if you attempt to win this award, you are unable to win the grand prize? Like if you include an option to allow the showing of media, then this is the best you can win?

2) Is there a certain resolution that we should use? 640x480,1600x1200,1024x768? i.e., what minimum system specs. should we be expecting? I'm assuming that if we compile with any of the 6.x's (DBPro), that the judge's computers will have the latest DX and so be able to run it?

3) You say that the HUD must be used on all screens. I assume this means all in-game screens, discluding the front-end and options menu?

4) The rule about the mouse. Is that just for playing the game? Do you have to make the front-end and options menu useable by just the keyboard?

Thanks,

-F7

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The way to win both awards without being disqualified from one is to (as you suggeseted) put an option in your game to turn on/off media, of course using media is up to you, it is not necessary unless you want to win that particular kudos prize.


The rule states that you can use the mouse for only the front end so you should be able to get away with the front end of your game.

I assume that any 6.n version of Dark Basic would be fine

Not sure about your other questions though, I'll leave that to Matt.


I assume that would be referring to DX 9.0c - even though the latest version is DX 10 or something like that - seeing as DBP for me makes files for DX 9.0c... of course correct me if I'm wrong

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Sorry about getting to this late, it's been pretty hectic around here lately. Anyway, on with the questions:

There's no particular rule regarding resolution, but I would suggest not going above 1024x768x32. You never know what someone's display is capable of handling. As far as DX9.0c is concerned, I for one have the latest version of it, but I can't speak for the other judges. I think the latest version is April 07, right?

Right, the front-end and options menu don't count, only in-game screens, and the HUD must remain the same in each gameplay screen.

@ Rami: I'm not sure if it's morally right for a MISoft Studios team-member to participate in the competition

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cool, sounds like a nice compo. i still dont get the media thingy tho. If i had a nice little graphical image to the side, just for decoration, nothing to do with the story, or the characters, iteams, ect, is that okay. or do the huds HAVE to represent health, armor. i didnt even know you got health in text adventure games.

and no music?!

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From what I've figured, for the HUD, if you have no option of removing the graphic then it is unable to have anything to relate to the situation at hand. No picutres of your character, no health bar, no map, no anything. But if you have the option of hiding it, and i'm assuming if you start it all out hidden, then you can have whatever you want.

And then about health in a text adventure:

From what I've figured, you can have many different kinds of text adventures. You are able to have one where you are a warrior who needs to kill skeletons to save a princess, you can have one like EE(Eternal Equinox) where you have a mystery to solve (and I'm assuming you need to pick up items along the way to solve the mystery), or you can have just a plain, simple, informative one where you need to find something in the middle of nowhere, by looking under gowns or constructing guns or anything of the like.

Just my few cents,

-F7

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We had to employ strict regulations on media because of the unfortunate human compulsion to bend rules. If we said "images are okay," then someone would take that as a sign that they should tell the entire story with images. They might show the environment using a bitmap, and they might decide to go an extra step and show a character walking in that environment. In a way it would defeat the purpose of the competition. It's much more challenging to be forced to introduce a player to a world through words rather than graphics and audio. But we understand that some people will want to include media, and so we made the Kudos award for Best Media specifically to suit that purpose . But make sure that media is only optional (and is defaulted as off) if you want to win the grand prize .

The HUD is really intended to break up the screen and nothing else. It can't consist of animations and it has to be the same on all game screens, regardless of the player's location or actions in the game world. But again, if there's an option to turn it off, and it's defaulted as off, then feel free to go crazy with your HUD and include whatever you'd like .

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okay, what about buttons. like, next page?

EDIT: and what bout, he he, language. swears?

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In-game controls have to be handled via the keyboard only, unless you have an option (defaulted to off, of course) to turn alternate input devices (mouse, joystick, etc.) off. Here's the rule about input:

As for bad language (swears), I can't say I'd be offended by them personally, but others might be, so please take this into consideration and if you use them, please use them extremely sparingly. Remember, this is a TGC competition, so avoid saying anything in the game that you wouldn't get away with saying here. I can't say how each judge will score your game, but if they detracted from your score because of a word they personally found offensive, I certainly wouldn't over-ride their decision. Also, if TGC or Underware design asked me to disqualify an entry because of bad language, I'd do it without thinking twice... not that I'm saying they definitely would, but if they did ask me to, I'd do so without complaint. They're supplying our prizes, after all . So in a nutshell, I'd suggest not using them, and if you do use them, avoid words that would be considered extremely offensive.

Maybe I should make a rule about this... I hate ammending to rules after they've been posted, but what do you guys think?

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Oh, darn, I never thought about that. You're absolutely right.

I'm in for fun, then, and I'll add that in the description.

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okay, ill keep the swears bleeped off then. completely understand, its just going to be do dialoge for gansters and mobbosses now.
i think it might be a little to graphic anyway, as in, very detailed. does it also need to be suitable for elementrary schoolars to read. as in, can we explain exactly how the brains fly out of mans head when he is shot in the ear with a .38? and how each stand slides slowly down the wall next to the mans head, and the blood that flys through the air for a second or two sparkaling in the light as falls to splash on the ground and as the man watches wit go for half a second?

maybe ill change my story...

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lol while that's extremely graphic, I don't see any harm in violence in the story, so long as it isn't offensive, like a crime related to sex, or a hate-crime of any kind. It's up to the particular judge and what he might be offended by. I for one won't be offended by much, but still, I'd try to keep it as clean as possible just to be safe.

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Hmm, personally, I think an IF version of Manhunt 2 would work very well. Naah, kidding.

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cool, I might enter this. I have always wanted to make a text adventure, and here is the perfect excuse

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nice!! I'll give this one a go.

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This is an awesome idea, I loved playing text adventures back in the 80's and even wrote a couple back then on an Oric-1 computer. (Anyone remember the Oric??). I submitted one of these as a project for my O'Level Computer Studies exam and got a grade E !!! Huh, my teacher at the time said the examiners probably thought I'd copied it from somewhere else as it was 'really good' !!

Anyway, I've now a lot more responsibilities in my life than back then, but even with 4 kids to tend to, I'm still going to make time to enter this compo !!

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I'm glad to see so many people are interested in this year's competition! I have a feeling we'll have a much better turn out than last year's (and last year's competition had some really great entries!).