Contest Hosting Guidelines

General discussions pertaining to the Armadillo Run Forum Contests should go here. Also contains the classic contest threads.

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Contest Hosting Guidelines

Postby dudiobugtron » Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:46 pm

If you have won a contest, and want to know what to do next, these are the guidelines for you!

These guidelines were originally written by PeterT, and basically copied from his post here: http://armadillo.metaclassofnil.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=232
Anything written in the first person is referring to Peter!



Contest Level Design
Tradition dictates that the main winner of the previous contest gets to design the level for the next one. Up until contest 5 or even later, there were no additional rules. However, since then, some bugs/features in the physics engine were discovered that made certain constructions very unpredictable and a pain to tweak. This concern can be remedied by following simple guidelines during level design.

The guidelines in detail -
General, applicable to both A and B:
- No special per-level rules regarding scoring or non-destruction of components. The cheapest (legal, see contest rules) solution wins.
- Keep small gaps between longer runs of anchored metal or rubber. This will detach them and prevent most problems with strangely interacting solutions.
- Related to the above: If there are multiple areas where the players will need to build independent structures in your level, try your utmost to keep them disconnected.
- Provide an ample budget for the level (it doesn't really matter for the contest if there are a few thousand remaining - but you needn't go totally overboard either!) and test the solvability of your level with it.
- Try to design the level in such a way that there is no immediately obvious cheapest method. Ideally, design it such that multiple different paths arrive at nearly the same score. We understand that this is very hard.
- Please follow this naming scheme:
ARFC_[type: A or B]_[RomanNumeral]_[YourNameForTheLevel].lvl
Numbers start from I again and are counted individually for each type, roman numerals are used to prevent the game from thinking the level is part of a set. The level name should be at the end of the string, that just makes a LOT more sense from a grouping perspective I think. The final string should contain no spaces.
- Remember the highest goal: the contest should be fun!

Additional guidelines for type A:
- Only levels that were created using the ingame editor exclusively. (No multiple armadillos, portals, overlong metal bars etc.)
- Levels should be solveable (not cheaply, just solvable!) in no more than 1.5 hours by an average player that has finished the main game and extra levels.

Additional guidelines for type B:
- You may meddle with the level file in any way you wish, as long as you test it well
- One contest may consist of more than one level. This fits into the naming scheme by just varying the [YourNameForTheLevel] part.
- Levels should be solvable in 3 hours by regular contestants (higher level of experience compared to the normal players above).

Guidelines for Matacus Design Contests:
Matacus contests are a lot less formal than the A or B competitions; refer to earlier competitions for good examples of what to do (or what not to do). You can have a starting level which people need to modify, or you might ask people to create their own levels following some guidelines etc... The only limit is your imagination!


Contest Duration and Administration
This is also a point that has been discussed quite a bit. I initially wanted to do 48 hour contests, but it was soon apparent that many people had various real-life obligations that made such a set-up unworkable. So the duration gradually lengthened to about 4 to 5 days. With the new dual system, I propose the following:
- 2 A type contests per week, from sunday to wednesday and from wednesday to sunday
- 1 B type contest per week, from sunday to saturday (to balance the excitement a bit :D)
- Approximately 1 Matacus Design contest per month. (This is very flexible though depending on the contest, and interest, etc...)

How to keep the contests running
For the classic contest (cc) most administrative issues were handled by me, mostly because I wanted to make sure that all the files would stay accessible indefinitely (or at least as long as the forum) by putting them on this server. I also wanted to keep the threads formatted in a uniform way to increase usability. But as I probably won't be able to keep up with all this stuff in the future I would like to handle it like this:
- The winner of the previous contest creates a new thread with this headline: ARF Contest [A/B] #[num] (yyyy-mm-dd to mm-dd hh:mm GMT)
- Inside the post, they link to the rules (and add any extra rules if applicable, their email address and attach (yes, attach, I'll finally try to install the mod tomorrow) the lvl file/s (or a zip archive with the lvl + extras)
- After the deadline is over, the contest host creates a thread with this title: ARF Contest [A/B] #[num] Results
- There he (or she? I fear we have not a single female member :?) announces the winner/s and attaches a zip containing all solutions.
- If possible, he should also post a short description of the various methods used and post screenshots of a few interesting solutions
-For Matacus Design competitions, when the contest is over, the host posts the solutions (anonymously, so noone knows who created what), and everyone votes on them (the winner of this vote is the contest winner). The contest host should write some guidelines about what to base your vote on.
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dudiobugtron
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