Leftley's development blog

Some time ago I had a thought for an interesting little design contest: create a game that is played using only two buttons. Not two buttons + arrow keys, not two buttons + verbs, two buttons + mouse, or two buttons + context menu. Two keyboard buttons: that's it. Unfortunately the idea just kind of petered out and didn't go anywhere, so I'm kicking things off again. We're going to make it a bit simpler this time, so here's the rules:

Rule the First:

All entries must include a .dms script file with the following lines of code:



Player mobs, of course, must include "buttonA" and "buttonB" verbs. The entire game must be playable using nothing except these two macros. You may include other forms of getting at these two commands if necessary--you could macro left arrow to buttonA and right arrow to buttonB, or create HUD buttons that call buttonA() and buttonB(), etc.--but games will be judged solely on their playability with the required a + b macros. Anything that can't be done in game with the a + b button doesn't count, so if the game's not playable with those two buttons, it's out.

Just to clarify: The player is not allowed to interact with or affect the game in any fashion save through inputs that go directly to buttonA() and buttonB(), neither of which can accept arguments or use input dialogs.

(Chat functions and commands of a purely administrative or social nature are the only exception to this rule, so long as they do not directly have any influence on gameplay and are not required to play the game as intended.)

Rule the Second:

Entries must feature some sort of multiplayer interaction. Multiple players playing separate games in parallel do not qualify--a player must be able to have some affect on other players, either directly or through a shared environment.

Rule the Belated Third:

Source code must be included for all entries to verify that the limits on input aren't being circumvented, but you don't have to distribute the source openly if you don't want to.



And... really, that's about it. All entries must be submitted to t_leftley@hotmail.com by February 28, 2007 (either mailing the game's source package or just sending a link to a hub entry or site where the source is available to download). Games will be judged in four categories:

-Presentation (general appearance and user-friendliness)
-Creativity (original and unique approaches to the design constraints)
-Depth (the game's variety and replay value)
-Overall Fun (general enjoyability and non-suckiness)

Assuming there are at least four participants (because it's not a real contest unless you can call someone the loser!): First place will win a BYOND membership for the recipient of their choice (include themselves) plus $10 Paypal, second place wins a BYOND membership plus $5, third place wins just a BYOND membership. Multiple entries per contestant are allowed, but only the best will qualify to place for a prize.

In addition to entries, if anyone wants to volunteer to help judge I'd be much obliged (theoretically, more judges means more of a commitment means less chance I'll get bored and wander off before the contest ends).