So, mochi have a new 'big' contest, as opposed to the smaller ones I've been entering lately. It does look interesting, due to the fact it's for a management game, which I've been meaning to write.
Unfortunately, I think I disagree with the rules of the contest on a fundamental level and will not enter. The prize of the contest is -not- the money. The prize is actually a sponsorship, requiring you to produce versions of the game with their preloader etc.
This is not acceptable. Ultimately, they're saying that I should fail to get any money for my game through sponsorship so I can enter it into a competition where I -might- get sponsorship. Its completely the wrong way around. If I commission art from someone, for example, I don't say "OK, I want you 50 people to produce something, and I'll pay the best one", because that means that I'm not paying 49 people for their work. Only the desparate would work for nothing, knowing that they may never get any money.
There's a whole website about this: No!Spec, although it's mostly from an graphic desgin perspective.
So I will not enter. If I thought I was really good, I'd write a better management game and specifically -not- enter it into the competition, and hope it's better than the rest. And unfortunately, I wish that more people would take this line. But due to the semi-amateur nature of flash games, I think a lot of people will be taken in.
(as an aside, of course, I don't actually try for sponsorship anyway. But that does miss the point!) |
