Announcing the Choice of Games Contest for Interactive Novels

Yes, they are awards, not advances. The second depends on sales math/how successful your COG title or the winning entry is, but potentially, yes. It’s a contest. The winners will be (I think) pretty handsomely rewarded.

We all have slightly different goals in mind for the kinds of entries we receive or indeed the point, but speaking as someone who fields a lot our email, I’ll say this. I’ve received a lot of emails which say something like “I’m not really eligible (i.e. a writer) to be considered to write for Choice of Games, but how about if I write a whole game and then you guys see if it’s good enough for Choice of Games?” Our game/pitch development process is complex. It’s nuanced; here we’ve laid the cards so to speak on the table, and are giving folks an opportunity to try to write something against those guidelines without input from us. So, good luck to all!

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@Mary_Duffy would a person be able to submit multiple games for entries into the competition?Im sure that a author would only be allowed to win only one of the 1st 2nd or 3rd places, but would a authorities be allowed to submit multiple games for consideration?

The official rules state:

There is no limit to the number of Entries submitted by an Entrant or Entrant Team, however each Entry submitted by an Entrant or Entrant Team must be substantially different from any/all Entries previously submitted by such Entrant or Entrant Team.

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Likewise, @JVM I think the official rules state that only one prize would be awarded to an individual so yes, you can submit multiple entries, which could increase your chance of us judging that you have submitted a high scoring game, but only one prize would be awarded.

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Whoa. I definitely wanna try to do this.

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A competition that’s a year and two months long? That’s like a megalodon competition!

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Quick question. Would I have to submit a game that is part of an entirely new series (or a stand alone) or could I potentially submit the third book in my Demons Among Men series? I have a ton of WIPs right now, so this will help me decide on which one to focus on for the contest.

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Can I participate even if I leave in Germany? If no, why not?

As Mary has already said.

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We expect it would take just short of that long for people to write a 100,000 word game.

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You could submit part of an HG series you’ve begun, but a free-standing game maximizes your chances of winning, and we’d encourage you to submit a free-standing game.

Which is to say, the rules allow it, but after some discussion with the judges, we think the chances of winning are better with a standalone game than with a sequel to existing HG games.

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Wow, I thought that might of just been a typo. Well, that gives people plenty of time to write something awesome.

So… the answer is no. But isn’t it somehow not fair? Why we can’t have same rules for every body. like wattpad.Those Guys have too this kind of things, and there’s no problem at all.

The rules are dictated by government laws. Our governments are never fair.

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This is the first contest Choice of Games has run. Choice of Games are not wattpad.

And no it’s not fair, but that lack of fairness is because different countries have different rules for contests. I am certain that this was a difficult decision for Choice of games to make. To limit the contest to just some select countries. To limit the contest to those over 18. Choice of Games try to be as inclusive as possible. They can’t in this case because of the law.

They’re offering not just a substantial amount of prize money but also a publishing contract. Both of those things are going to be subject to restrictions.

As @RETowers states.

Send them an email. Let them know what country you’re in and that you’re ineligible.

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Choice of Games LLC has worked very hard to ensure the contest is run legally and to protect ourselves from any issues with that. Other people do other things, but we consulted a lawyer who specializes in contest law and helped us ensure that our contest is fully legal. We do business in countries around the world and cannot risk running a contest in one of them illegally because we took some kind of shortcut with our contest.

If you don’t understand why contests are run this way, you can learn more about contests on the web: http://money.howstuffworks.com/question541.htm

On a more practical level, the cost of adding even one more just Anglophone country to this contest would have doubled the lawyer’s fees, which were already substantial. The legal work to ensure compliance with additional nations’ laws on contests would have been quite expensive, and Choice of Games is already spending a substantial amount of money to fund this contest, without any guarantee of the number of entrants that it will produce. If we hold additional contests in the future, we may be able to revisit that decision, but for this year we had to limit our overall budget for the contest.

We’re sorry to disappoint people, but you can still likely publish a Hosted Game; if you use the guidelines we’ve published, and write a 100,000 word game, your Hosted Game could see very good sales, comparable to @cataphrak, @JimD, @Lucid, @Eric_Moser who have had great success in our Hosted Games program.

I hope this will be the last word on our contest eligibility.

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I think CoG will get a TON of high quality entries. It’s a very smart idea that will produce some publicity and lots of great content for them to publish either as CoGs or as (probably better than average quality) HGs.

I don’t think many people are going to devote a year to writing something for the contest that isn’t pretty damn good, even if it’s not ultimately a winner.

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I also think this is a fantastic idea. Not only are the prizes alluring, but just the kick in the butt it’ll give some people (…cough…me…uncough…) to get working on a story alone is awesome. Plus, as has been mentioned, even if you don’t win, you’ll still be able to submit your story for Hosted Games. It’s a win for everyone if you ask me!

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I just want to say I think the contest is a great idea and I’m sure you’ll get lots of fantastic entries (which will mean great games for all of us to play!)

But most especially I want to say THANK YOU for releasing the guidelines! Just reading through these has been sooo helpful in understanding what you are looking for in an “official” CoG submission. And again I think this will ratchet up the level of the games being submitted and later published.

Question: In some writing contests it states that submissions may be considered for publication even if they are not selected as winners. While I understand that any completed games can then be submitted as Hosted Games, will you also be looking at non-prize-winning entries for publication as “official” CoG’s? Sorry if this question was asked above, but I don’t think it was.

Again, THANK YOU for the guidelines!

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I imagine that there will be many great entries and if several of them fit in the guidelines, inevitably some won’t win the prize however, that doesn’t mean a game isn’t CoG worthy, so if it’s good enough then perhaps it can be an official CoG despite not winning which in itself is a great deal.