Once again you will be required to pre-register for the competition in order to reserve an upload slot, full details and an entry form can be found at the bottom of this page.

Winners will be announced on December 1st, 2006, both by email and on the Retro Remakes website. In the event we're swamped with entries then this date may be subject to change.

Entries must be created exclusively for the Retro Remakes Competition 2006.

This means that they must be new creations, not seen elsewhere and began from scratch on or after the competition start date.

Games that can be proved to have been started before June 1st 2006 will be inelligable for prizes and disqualified from the competition.

All entries must be freeware and remain freeware.

By entering the competition, you also agree to Retro Remakes offering the titles up for free download after the competition has closed.

We insist that all entries promote the competition's sponsors and our website.

We will be providing a splash screen with logo's (from the sponsors) in a 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 resolutions that must be displayed fullscreen immediately after the game has loaded.

Splash Screen 640x480

Splash Screen 800x600

Splash Screen 1024x768

i) Displaying the splash screen is a requirement of entry into the competition and non negotiable. You may not adjust, change, deface or make any additions to the splash screen that we supply - it must be displayed as is - in isolation, with no counters, no changes or ammendments, additional text etc for the display period other than instructions on how to progress from the splash screen.

ii) Acceptable methods of progression from the splash screen are as follows:

* A time delay of over 4 seconds
* Any key to progress
* Mouse button to progress
* Joystick fire button to progress
* Any sensible combination of the above

iii) We will provide a space within each splash screen to display progression instructions.

You may not:

* obscure any of the logos on the splash screen in any way
* add anything other than reasonably sized text in the space provided for you

iv) You may use audio cues during the period the splash screen displays

v) Any attempts to circumvent any of the splash screen display rules will result in your entry being disqualified from the competition.

The entry you submit must conform to the following criteria:

i) We'll accept any remake, of any 8bit or 16bit game with only a few exceptions.

If the remake is already listed on the front page at http://www.retroremakes.com then the entry must be significantly better than versions already available. The whole point of the competition is to increase the number of remakes available of games that have yet to receive the remake treatment and for you to have fun in the remaking process and us to enjoy playing them.

ii) We request that you do not submit remakes of the following games as there are literally hundreds floating around the internet.

* Pong
* Space Invaders
* Breakout / Arkanoid
* Pacman
* Sokoban
* Space Taxi
* Tetris

Please use some imagination when selecting your game to remake.

iii) We request that you do not submit either of the following into the competition:-

* A direct clone of the game with either no gameplay or graphical enhancements - i.e. Jet Set Willy looking and playing exactly the same as it would under emulation. Whilst these may be technically impressive from a coding point of view, the end user may as well just play them under emulation defeating the point of a remake.

* A game only tenuously linked to the original - i.e. Wonderboy in Zelda Land, Jet Set Willy does Dallas.

We strongly discourage the entrants from submitting "fan games" based in the games universe or straight clones into the competition and will penalise any entries accordingly, either by deduction of marks from the final score or by disqualification.

We do however encourage enhancements to the formula, be they graphical, audio or new level structures providing they are appropriate and retain the essential elements of the original game. The essential point of a remake is to bring the game up to speed for modern computers after all.

If you have any queries or reason to believe that your idea may be overstepping the mark into a fan game, then please ask on our forum for clarification from the judges providing as much information as possible.

iv) For the purposes of this remake competition the term "remake" refers to any game, on any platform from the old 8bit or 16bit era. It can include platforms like the Gameboy Advance ONLY if the games were available on an original 8bit or 16bit machine.

The game can be coded using any software you choose, you are not limited to just the utilities being offered as prizes, including but not limited to Game Maker, Multimedia Fusion, Blitz, Allegro etc...

i) It must however be coded to run on the Windows platform with no additional installations required, and must cater for a range of machine specs.

ii) The maximum file size for each remake is 15mb after zip compression (see #9 for zip compression rules).

iii) The minimum resolution for your game is 640x480 and we request that all games open and remain full screen.

iv) Your entry must not be reliant on an internet connection in order to be playable. We request that your game should be able to be played by one player, with one computer and no internet connection.

We welcome the addition of "online" features, but they must not be a requirement to running the game.

We strongly discourage and disapprove of the following:

* Forced resolution changes unless absolutely necessary. We like our icons left where they were before we loaded your remake.

* Forced refresh rate changes. Putting it bluntly, we see no need why any game should change the refresh rates of our monitors and will show little tolerance for any games that do so.

* Forced colour depth changes.

We respectfully recommend that your program should make no changes to our preferred display settings whatsoever, we do however understand that certain packages enforce limitations upon you and will take this into account with our judging. It should be noted that all the judges and staff have experience of a selection of packages so attempting to pull the wool over our eyes is not advised.

We will reflect any of the above rules being broken in the judges final marks with the exception that any games that run below 640x480 will be disqualified instantly.

iv) We understand that many people have chunks of code that have been refined and used over the years, such as keyboard routines etc, bitmap text routines... and we do not object to the reuse of such code providing that it is not game specific.

v) Do not assume that the judges have anything specific installed that may be required to run your game. It is your responsibility to develop in an environment that ensures compliance with the rules of this competition and you are not to expect any of the judges to make additional installations in order to run your game. If in doubt... ask for clarification.

Marks will be awarded to your submission by the judging team according to the categories listed below.

The intended aim of these categories is to open up the competition to those who are less skilled in certain departments as well as those that are excellent artists / musicians or coders making it possible for all entrants to garner a good spread of points regardless of where their expertise lies and be rewarded appropriately.

The judges have all been instructed to remove marks for violations of any rules that do not warrent a disqualification from the competition.

i) Each of these categories have had specific total amounts of marks given to each of the judges to mark against - totalling a maximum of 80 points awarded to your entry from each judge.

* Use Of Visuals and Use Of Sound

We at Retro Remakes are fully aware that not everyone is a fantastic artist, but we also understand that you don't have to be a fantastic artist in order to make your game look good.

As well as rewarding excellent art, the Use Of Visuals category will reward how your game looks as a coherant whole and in respect to the chosen art style, be it pixellated, 3d, vector styled etc...

As with the Use Of Visuals category, the Use Of Sound will be judged not just on technical merit but on the application of sound within your remake.

How appropriate is the sound fx and music to the remake? Does it fit? Is it a new soundtrack or just ripped from the original?

* Playability and Longevity

Probably the most important part of any game is how well it plays. The playability and longevity categories will be marked as to how playable each individual judge finds your game and wether they would be inclined to return to it at a later date for further playing.

* Overall Package

The final judging criterion on the first 80 of your marks will be judged on how well the entire game sits together overall and will also take into account any omissions or rule bending that occurs.

ii) The final 20 marks out of 100 will be judged upon accessibility with a possible 5 points awarded for each of the following accessibility categories:

*Adjustable difficulty levels and player assistance.

Please bear in mind that not everyone who might play your game is of the same ability, therefor there can be no such thing as a game that is "too easy".

We understand that not every game can support an Easy / Medium / Hard dynamic easily without destroying the core of the game - we recommend that if you cannot easily increase or decrease the difficulty then you can consider offering varying levels of assistance to the player, such as easier access to extra lives (or more lives at the beginning of the game), time limits removed or lengthened or provide the player with clues as to how to progress.

*Accessibility of Controls.

The more control options that you support, the more you open up your game to a wider userbase. From simple things like offering a variety of control methods and/or redefinable keys to offering simplified control methods to your game there are a myriad of ways that you can make the controls more accessible.

*Sound options

At its most basic level, this category will have points awarded for implementing basic audio menu's - will the user have the ability to seperately control the output levels of the music and sound effects?

For more advanced implementation we ask you to consider anything from audio cues for on screen events to closed captioning/subtitling your games.

* Clarity

The final 5 marks are awarded according to how well the accessibility features gel within your game.

Is your game easy to understand or to play?
Are the menu's easy to navigate around?
Have you implemented things in an easy to understand and appropriate manner?

The aim of these rules is not to limit what you create, but to open up what you create to a wider audience. In every genre or style of game, we believe that you should be able to implement these features at or beyond their most basic level.

We want you to consider making your remake open to as many people as possible to play regardless of their ability or skills. If you wish to discuss the implementation of these features then please, feel free to visit our forum and discuss it there.

iii) We request that all games are fully playable and at bare minimum 80% complete, not 1 or 2 level demo's or fundamentally broken tech demo's.

If the game has 10 levels, then implementing 8 out of those 10 to a fully playable level is considered acceptable.

We reserve the right to remove severely incomplete games from the judging process providing a unanimous decision from the judging panel.

Submitting your entry.

i) All entries must be submitted in the .zip format using standard Winzip packing.

We will not accept any submissions that use an installer, even if the installer is contained within the zip file.

We will not accept any entries that require any other zip package than Winzip to unpack. This includes 7zip, Winrar etc...

Your media can be protected in any way you like as long as the entry we receive is a zip file and does not use an installer.

The maximum size of zip file/entry we will accept is 15 megabytes - no exceptions. This total will not include any additional material that we ask you to supply.

Once you have submitted the file in zip format with no installer to our FTP then you are, of course, free to distribute it in any format you see fit from your own website.

ii) All entries must include at least four screenshots of your game/entry.

These must be minimum of 640x480 in size, preferably without borders around, and include a screenshot of the title screen.

We will not consider an entry completed unless these screenshots are included. If you have not provided screenshots by the end of the competition then your entry will be marked down.

All entries must include a readme.txt explaining everything there is to know about the game. What is it a remake of, what do you have to do, what are the controls, any details about the authors etc...

Prizes will be given to the 3 top scoring entries, as well as special prizes awarded for excelling in the following categories:

i) Best Use Of Visuals

ii) Best Use Of Sound

iii) Most Accessible Remake

iv) The Tokers Prize for best Minder remake

Each judge has a prize bundle to issue. These can be issued for any reason the judge see's fit.

It is possible to win more than one prize. For instance if your remake is judged to be the 2nd best overall entry and the most accessible remake then you will win the prizes for BOTH of those categories.

For those who don't fare so well, the judges each have a certain wooden kitchen implement to award to the lowest rated or most appalling remake they have had the displeasure to review.

Deliberate Wooden Spoon entries will only be accepted if accompanied by a genuine entry into the competition.

As well as their prizes, all prize winners (including Wooden Spooners) will receive a certificate with regards to their placings in the competition.

Prize winners will be listed on the Retro Remakes website AND winners will be notified by email when all entries have been judged. Prizes cannot be swapped for alternatives or a cash value. All prizes can be posted to any postal address you specify - anywhere in the world.

The judges decision is final and non negotiable. It is you're responsibility to comply with the rules and any failure to do so on your behalf will result in suitable penalties as detailed above.