Here are the rules and regulations for this contest:

Title: 4 Day Pure QB Mini RPG Contest
Duration: Friday, Oct. 18th - Monday, Oct. 21st
Channel: #QBRPG on espernet

1.0 Basics:

The goal of the contest, is to make a mini RPG in QB, without using 
any libraries or ASM.  The RPG must be finished in the 4 days the 
contest is held.

You may do all the work by yourself, or team up with one person, and 
split the work among eachother.  Any teams of more than two people 
will be disqualified.

2.0 Limitations:

2.1 Graphics

All graphics created must be your own.  You may use any program and/or 
method at your disposal to create them.  They must be created in the 4 
days the contest is running.

You must use standard mode 13h (320x200x8bit).  You may use a custom 
palette.  You may not use any page flipping, or buffering techniques.  
All graphics must be drawn directly to the screen.  Custom fonts are 
allowed, and they do not need to be your own, but you must have 
permission to use them.

Tiles must be 16x16.  There is no limit to sprite and other graphic 
sizes.  The only colour limit to graphics is the 256 colours you 
choose to work with.  You may use a custom palette, or the default 
VGA palette if you wish.

2.2 Object/Map/Tile Limits

You may have a maximum of 3 different tilesets, with up to 50 
different tiles per set.  Flipped tiles count as unique tiles.  
Animated tiles are allowed, but they will count towards your 50 
tile limit (ex. if you have a water tile with 4 frames of animation, 
that counts as 4 tiles)... tiles that are animated by cycling colours 
in the palette only count as 1 tile (unless you are using more than 1 
frame for the animation).  You may have a maximum total of 10 maps in 
the game, and they may be no larger than 50x50 tiles.

You may have up to 25 different objects per map.  Examples of objects 
would be NPCs, treasure chests, switches, pushable crats/statues/etc, 
and other such things which the player can interact with and/or 
manipulate.  Your NPCs must be stationary, and you may have up to 8 
frames of animation per npc (ie, you wish to display an npc that is 
watering flowers, and want to animate this npc).

You will have one player controlled hero in the game.  They player may 
not switch the hero, or play as someone else, however, you may give 
them the option of selecting the hero at the beginning.  The hero 
cannot hold more than 10 different items in the inventory at once, not 
counting currently equipped weapon and/or armor.  Duplicate items 
count as seperate items.  The hero can also have a maximum of 10 
different skills and/or magic spells at once.  These may be given 
to/learned by the player in any way, except for through shops.

You may not have any shops in the game.  Adding shops can take a fair 
amount of time, so we shall keep them out of this contest.  Inns are 
allowed, and you may decide to charge the player to stay at an inn, 
or not.  Also, the player should have two pieces of equipment at most 
(a weapon, and one piece of armor, or accessory)... the equipment may 
be upgraded throught the game by any means, except for shops.

2.3 Battles

Battles will be one player versus one enemy at a time only, and should 
be done Final Fantasy style (ie. you can see the player and the 
enemy... think Secret of Cooey 1 and 2).  The player may have up to 5 
frames of animation in battle.  The enemy may have up to 4 frames.

Enemies may have up to 3 types of attacks... this can be a combination 
of magic and/or physical attacks, but not limited to either one or 
the other.  Gray magic (ie poison, stop, slow) is allowed, but 
strongly discouraged due to time constraints.

Battles may be random, or pre-determined... however, only boss enemies 
are allowed to be shown on the map screens.

2.4 Code

It is preferred that all code is your own, however, you are allowed to 
use public domain, and other free to use code, as long as you have 
permission, and you credit the original author(s).  You may not use 
any external libraries or assembly language in your code.  The code 
will not be judged, except to make sure it fits into the guidelines, 
so don't worry about being sloppy.

2.5 Music and Sound Effects

Both are strongly discouraged, as they can take a significant amount 
of time.  If, however, you feel like you must have at least something, 
small wav sound effects will be okay (and you do not need to code your 
own routines, you may use wav code available online... again, remember 
to credit the author).  The sounds do not need to be your own, 
however, they must be free to use, or you must obtain permission to 
use them.  If you must use music, please stick with MIDI, as anything 
else requires an external library.

3.0 Contest Duration:

The contest will start at 00:00 on Friday, October 18th, 2002 and end 
at 23:59 on Monday, October 21st, 2002.  The times are based on a 
24hour clock (army time) and are specific to the time zone you are in 
(ex. if you are in EST, then you may start when your clock hits 12am 
on Friday).  All contest entries must be finished by the end time, or 
they will be disqualified.  If there is a need for a time extension, 
it will be considered.

4.0 Communication:

4.1 Meeting on IRC

All contestants are encouraged to meet on IRC.  If you do not have a 
client, go to http://www.mirc.com and download it.  We will be using 
the espernet network, and the channel we will meet in is called #QBRPG
If you are using mIRC, simply click on file, go to options, choose 
EsperNet as your IRC Network, enter a nickname and hit 'Connect to IRC 
Server'.  Once you are connected, type /j #QBRPG and you will be in 
the channel.  I should be idling in there for the entire duration of 
the contest, however, if you see my nickname as DD-afk or any 
variation thereof, it means I am not currently at my computer.  Other 
people may be in there as well, so feel free to chat and/or ask 
questions.  Remember to be polite, however.

4.2 On The DarkBoard

If you have questions, or wish to post a status update, you may do so 
in this forum on the DarkBoard.  If you cannot make it into the IRC 
channel, please, at least post one update per day on the status of 
your entry.  If you do not, it will be assumed that you no longer wish 
to participate, and your entry will be disqualified.  If you have 
computer troubles, or cannot get online however, that will be 
excusable, and you will still qualify in the contest.

5.0 Misc:

If you have any questions or comments about the rules, please post it 
in this forum.  Alternately, you may e-mail me: (darkdread at 
indie-rpg.net) or join #QBRPG on IRC EsperNet and pose your question 
there.

Good luck to all contestants... and remember, have fun! 

