Contest Guidelines

Edits

Some edits will be made even during the contest to optimize this guide, as we are still in the early days of testing this system.

The contest is slightly unfair due to it trying to compare on-going projects with new ones. Therefore, we ask people not to focus too much on the prize but their own personal growth and positive-impact goals.

[P1] Contest Guidelines

Here you will find the very specific guidelines we have concerning the different types of creations that you can make at [P1].

What We Offer

Only the prizes mentioned in the initial meeting are the ones we offer. Any offers made by other members to those who win are not guaranteed by [P1]. Nothing other than that which is listed here or was mentioned in the initial meeting should be considered something we're giving away.

Generally

Generally, it's hard to sustain projects with volunteers unless there's a steady influx of people, as volunteers often need to prioritize life events, which happens more often than we think. What we offer is to help winning projects maintain a steady supply of people by leveraging our massive community. Then we use time-tested methods to help you and your team succeed.

Since we don't charge for this service, we make no guarantees. However, having built the most active game developer Discord voice chat in the world, we're confident we can provide the manpower and mentorship you need to succeed, provided you have the humility to absorb the mentorship and the time to put it to work.

Rules

1) Theme: Projects get extra points if they follow the publicly stated theme. The theme is revealed on the second day of the competition and is posted to #news in Discord at that time.

2) Original work: All submitted content must be completely original. No pre-made assets, non-original contributions, or AI-generated work. You can use our open source asset library however.

Apache 2.0 or OFL licensed work is allowed when it comes to fonts provided you follow the related credit rules.

3) Open source + submit on time + submit properly: We are an open source organization and require everyone to release the work they create during this event under the Apache 2.0 open source license. This means all games must be submitted properly via the official submission form which all team members need to fill. You will need to "buy" a submission form using the free currency Helpfulness. You get Helpfulness by being active in voice chat in Discord during the jam.

Submitting properly

Skip this if it’s your first read.

1) All members of your team who contributed to the game must submit using the submit form and fill out the form fully and accurately.
2) All the assets must be uploaded to the acid Discord before the deadline and linked in the project post in the forum.
3) Make sure to upload the code to a public repository with the Apache 2.0 license.
-- Offboard inactive people to avoid the above requirements.

Spare at least 6 hours for submission to avoid being caught unable to submit due to the time the process takes. Being even 1 minute late will mean disqualification.

Your team leader buys the form and gives the link to all your team members.

4) No crypto/loot boxes: Any games with crypto technology, Web3 integrations, tokenization, or loot box mechanics that are intentionally deceptive, creating an illusion of winning something nearly impossible, are not allowed or welcome here. We do allow chance-based loot boxes even if those chance-based loot boxes don't reveal their percentage within reason.

5) Keep our code: If you violate our Code of Conduct, all support for your project will be cancelled and you can be barred from winning future contests.

6) Work only in our Discord: All text and voice chat when it comes to the projects you create must stay on our Discord. This is how we ensure the highest standards. Feel free to create any Miro or any Trello but voice/text chat stays on this Discord.

7) Register first: People who join or start teams must register as an individual participant and follow all rules/guidelines set out during registration.

8) Keep to section 1) of the Thematic Guidelines.

9) [P1] Pro games can compete but can't win prizes. Prizes will be passed to the next team on the list.

10) If you see a rule posted somewhere, keep it. If we were to list them all it would be arduous.

Thematic Guidelines

1) Avoid graphic violence, shock, horror, and sexualization.

2) Our goal is to positively impact humanity. Avoiding certain themes will improve your project's chances of being voted for by the community and impacts 5/100 points of your total via the judges. Keeping to these is not a hard requirement.

🙅‍♂️ - Violence, suffering, illness

🧙‍♂️ - No magic, bones, charms, monsters or dragons

👻 - No zombies, ghosts, undead, witches, ogres, gremlins etc.

🚔 - crime or criminal themes

⛓️ - Slavery

🛐 - religious themes of any kind (even idol-statues)

🧱 - Imprisonment

🧪 - Unethical science

🤥 - Lying and dishonesty: No themes that glorify lying or deceit

💸 - Gambling: No casinos, betting, or gambling mechanics

🍑 - Sexual themes, nudity, coarse joking.

Winning Conditions

Judge: What is the quality of the project? 40/100

If it's a game

First-time submission:
- How fun is the game? 20/40
- Radical creativity: Does the theme immerse the player in a unique world? 10/40
- How does the game look? 5/40
- How does the game sound? 5/40
If the game is being resubmitted:
- Did they listen to feedback and improve the experience? 10/40
- Did they make an effort to improve the fun of the gameplay? 10/40
- Did they make an effort to bring even more creativity to their idea? 10/40
- Did they maintain focus on core mechanics or add new elements to the determent of the original concept? 10/40

If it's software

First-time submission:
- Usefulness: Does the project represent a prototype of a product which, if fully completed, would accomplish it's goals. 20/40
- Innovation: Is the idea new and innovative? 10/40
- Accessibility: How easy is it to navigate and utilize the software? 5/40
- Art and Feedback: How well does the software utilize art, sound and feedback to increase the user experience?
If the project is being resubmitted:
- Feedback: Did they listen to feedback from the last round and improve the product? 20/40
- Focus: Did they maintain focus on their core value proposition or get distracted by unnecessary extras? 10/40
- Innovation: Did they introduce innovations on their project's idea? 5/40
- Bugs: Did they fix major bugs and improve usability? 5/40

Community: Which project will have the biggest impact on society? 25/100
- We aim for every project to improve lives, be it via education, poverty relief, or other means.
Judge: Will the project further the personal goals of those participating in it. 10/100
- Example: If those creating the game want to build a portfolio piece, will the project serve their interests?
Judge: Quality of related video/trailer showing off the work! 10/100
Judge: Theme adherence. 10/100
Judge: Thematic guidelines section 2 adherence. 5/100

Trailer Criteria

How captivating is the trailer? Does it grab the viewer's attention and maintain it throughout?
Is it clear & concise? Is it under 2 minutes? Does it show off the product or game in a way in which a person would understand what they are about to download.
How professional is the presentation? Do the presentation's visuals, camera angles, and art style contribute to a professional presentation?

BONUS:

+5 for each team that submits their project on your division or legion.

+5 for incorporating [P1] ideas, icons or values in the project. Credit [P1] as helping you create the project but don't present it an official [P1] product.

These bonuses will play a significant role in your ability to win the competition, and they will be described in detail during future meetings as part of small mini-contests throughout the bigger contest. Ask about them during meetings freely.

Judges

Whoever hosts on day one is the community-appointed judge. They may also appoint another.

Eligibility

Only people over 18 who are not in a U.S. or Canada sanctioned country can participate. No one employed in any [P1] related activity can win. However, staff of [P1] and non-competing elected members can give as much advice as they'd like to any team, including contributing to their ideas and helping them solve problems practically.

Amendments

In case something happens, the leaders of [P1] can initiate a vote. If the majority of people present in Discord (participants or not) vote in favor (options to vote in favor and against will be present) within 5 hours of the poll being posted, the rules can be changed. So, keep a close eye on the Discord and make sure your notifications are on.

Deadline

Each contest lasts 2 weeks from the initial pitch day. You may not start working on your game until that day. Trailers can be submitted on the community vote day (2 days after deadline).

Tips

We highly recommend that you bring the entire team to every meeting we have each day because not doing so will result in missing serious opportunities to gain some of those extra points or even to learn about how to get them.

Submission will require each team member to be present and takes as much as 6 hours. Prepare for that. Everyone on your team needs to submit the form for your submission to count.

Further reading (not required or even recommended):

Other legal `*,`**,`***`.

2024/Jan/14 removed "Judge: Does what has been created, fit the theme for the competition? 20/100"

`*`This is to prevent people loading their team with inactive users to win the bonuses. We can't track everyone so we will check on a few random teams and if the problem is found in the first 4 we will continue to another 4 teams. Every once in awhile we may check in on people who are in the Discord to see if they are legitimate accounts and users this means you should reply to message requests/direct messages from our staff.

`**`We often do large-scale marketing that brings in new people throughout the 2 week process. Integrating brand new members who have just joined the Discord who you didn't get to join but are requesting to join a team also counts. We will give these qualified individuals a special role to mark their eligibility.

`***`
Obviously, this small advantage will give teams which have been faithful over multiple iterations without getting through, an advantage. However, those teams are unlikely to be able to keep the theme which somewhat balances this advantage out.

Added "present in Discord (participants or not)" for next jam. 1/13/2024

Old, ignore

Specifically

For the April contest, we are offering a slot in The Covenant, a $3000-$4000 value.

The Covenant is a program for those who are highly skilled and highly motivated to connect with others who have the same mindset and are determined to enter the games industry. Learn from world-class game industry CEOs who have gone from pitch to publish on indie games like One Lonely Outpost and helped make Ratchet and Clank.

With The Covenant, you are placed on a small team of 8-12 highly motivated people to work on a commercial game. Published commercial games are the golden ticket into the industry as they separate hobbyists from professionals who understand the industry.

The reason it's called "The Covenant" is that each member of your Unit takes an oath that the first person to get into the industry will pull the others in also.

Learn more >>

The Covenant is a sponsor of [P1]. The winner will be the person on the winning team that receives the most accolades from their team at the end of the competition, or if they don't have the time, they can choose who on their team gets the prize.