The Choice of Games Contest for Interactive Novels — Official Rules

Please read these rules before entering The Choice of Games Contest for Interactive Novels (“Contest”). By participating in the Contest, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Choice of Games LLC (“Sponsor”) and the judges, and that you satisfy all eligibility requirements.

ELIGIBILITY. Open to individuals who are legal residents of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, the United Kingdom and Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec) and are the older of 18 years of age or the legal age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry. The Contest and these Official Rules are void in Quebec and where prohibited by law, and are subject to applicable laws. Entrants may not be members of any guild, union or other organization that may prohibit them from participating in this Contest and that would restrict, require due payment or otherwise have the right to oppose such entrant’s participation in this Contest.

Not open to employees or independent contractors, or immediate family members (spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren) or those living in the same household of employees or independent contractors of Sponsor, authors who have previously published games with Sponsor or are under contract with Sponsor, or any entity involved in any aspect of the Contest (including funding, judging or administration), and each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advisors, or advertising/promotion agencies. Current contracts with or prior publications with Hosted Games LLC do not affect the eligibility of authors to participate in this Contest.

If you are entering as part of a company or on behalf of your employer, these Official Rules are binding on you, individually, and/or your employer. If you are acting within the scope of your employment, as an employee, contractor, or agent of another party, you warrant that such party has full knowledge of your actions and has consented thereto, including to the terms of these Official Rules and your potential receipt of a prize. You further warrant that your actions do not violate your employer’s or company’s policies and procedures.

Individuals may enter as a sole “Entrant” or as part of an “Entrant Team” of no more than five (5) members. An individual is permitted to be part of more than one Entrant Team and may enter as part of an Entrant Team and as a sole Entrant if they desire. Each member of any Entrant Team must be eligible to participate in this Contest and comply with these Official Rules or such Entrant Team may be disqualified.

HOW TO ENTER. Contest entry period begins at 12:00:01 a.m. Pacific Time (“PT”) on November 1, 2016 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. PT on January 31, 2018 (the “Entry Period”). During the Entry Period, visit https://www.choiceofgames.com/contest/ and follow the instructions provided to submit an original, complete and fully playable multiple-choice game that you’ve designed and have written in the ChoiceScript programming language (the “Game” or the “Entry”).

All Entries must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. PT on January 31, 2018. 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. Entrants assume all risk of lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, or unintelligible Entries.

Sponsor’s (or its contractor’s) servers and clock shall be deemed the official clock for all phases of the Contest, and Entrant/Entrant Team’s proof of submitting an Entry does not constitute proof of receipt by Sponsor. Sponsor is not responsible for (i) lost, misdirected, late, incomplete, or unintelligible Entries or for inaccurate entry information, whether caused by Entrant/Entrant Team or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the processing of Entries; or (ii) any printing, production, human or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Contest.

Sponsor reserves the right in its sole and unfettered discretion to disqualify at any time any Entry containing obscene, offensive, pornographic or sexually explicit material, or libelous, disparaging, infringing or other inappropriate content or subject matter (as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion).

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY. Each Entrant/Entrant Team must follow and meet the following requirements when submitting an Entry:

  • Entrant/Entrant Team must be the legitimate and sole author(s) of the Game.
  • Game must have multiple-choice game-play with strong stories and characters.
  • Game must pass Sponsor’s “quicktest“ and “randomtest“ testing scripts (which are available to entrants and Teams for free to test their Game prior to submission) to be considered.
  • The Game must not currently or previously have been the subject of a publishing agreement or option with any publisher or other third parties or have been published via any other platform, website or otherwise.
  • The Game must use unmodified ChoiceScript, as available from https://github.com/dfabulich/choicescript, and must not use the *script command.
  • Entrant/Entrant Team must be able and willing to enter into an exclusive publishing agreement with Sponsor and must not be under any existing obligation that would inhibit or prevent Entrant or any member of an Entrant Team from entering such publishing agreement or exercising the rights thereunder.

Each Entrant/Entrant Team, by accepting these Official Rules and by entering this Contest, represents and warrants that he/she is the legitimate author of the Game entered; he/she owns all right, title and interest in and to the content, including all patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, mask work, moral right, trade secret or other intellectual property or proprietary right; and he/she has received the written consent of any person who is identifiable in any Entry. If an Entrant or Entrant Team member is identifiable in his/her Entry, such individual consents, by virtue of submitting his/her Entry to the Contest, to Sponsor’s use of the entrant’s name, likeness, photograph or image, whether in writing, audio, and/or video, for any purpose, in any media, without compensation or additional consideration to or permission of Entrant/Entrant Team or any other party. Failure to obtain or provide such consent will disqualify the Entry. Sponsor may at any time during the Contest request proof of such consent and disqualify any Entry for which such consent cannot be provided. Sponsor may disqualify any entrant whose Entry Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, at any time not to comply with any requirement described in these Official Rules or the foregoing representations and warranties. Entrants agree to indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor, any entity involved in any aspect of the Contest (including funding, judging or administration), and each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advisors, contractors, and advertising/promotion agencies (collectively, the “Released Parties”), for any action or claim brought by a person whose consent entrant did not obtain.

By participating in this Contest, entrants are authorizing the transfer of personal data to the United States for purposes of administering the Contest, conducting publicity about the Contest and such additional purposes consistent with our goals or the Contest goals. By entering the Contest, Entrant/Entrant Teams consent to our collection, use and disclosure of their personal information for these purposes. The data controller is Choice of Games, LLC, 1040 Ordway St., Albany, CA 94706, United States.

JUDGING. From February 1, 2018 through May 31, 2018, each Game will be rated by a panel of qualified judges selected by Sponsor using the following criteria: (a) quality of the writing, including originality and interest of the characters, originality and interest of the setting and plot, and prose styling; (b) quality of the game design, including creativity and consistency of application of in game stats, quality of the goals and end states of the game, which should include conflicting goals and satisfying endings, and quality of the choices presented to the players, which should be balanced, interesting, and allow player intentionality; (c) inclusivity; and (d) length and coding efficiency (collectively, the “Judging Criteria”). The one (1) Game with the highest score will be deemed the potential First Place winner. In its discretion based on the number of entries, the Sponsor may have preliminary judging on each Game done by a single judge, with judging by the full panel of judges restricted to Games that are finalists; if preliminary judging is used, the same criteria will be used as for the final judging and the judges for the preliminary judging will be qualified judges who are part of the final judging panel. The judges may disqualify any game which is deemed unacceptable with regard to any Judging Criteria, even if it would otherwise qualify for a prize. The one (1) Game with the next highest score will be deemed the potential First Prize winner. The one (1) Game with the next highest score will be deemed the potential Second Prize winner. In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken by the tied Games being rated based solely on originality of Game content.

In the event a potential winner is disqualified, the Entrant/Entrant Team who submitted the next highest rated Entry will be selected as the applicable potential winner, and must comply with the requirements in these Official Rules. All decisions of the judges are final and binding.

PRIZES.

First Place (1): Winner will receive $5,000.00 USD awarded in the form of a check and will also receive a publishing agreement with Sponsor that includes a 25% royalty for winner granting Sponsor the exclusive worldwide publication rights for the Game in any/all formats.

Second Place (1): Winner will receive $3,000.00 USD awarded in the form of a check and will also receive a publishing agreement with Sponsor that includes a 25% royalty for winner granting Sponsor the exclusive worldwide publication rights for the Game in any/all formats.

Third Place (1): Winner will receive $2,000.00 USD awarded in the form of a check and will also receive a publishing agreement with Sponsor that includes a 25% royalty for winner granting Sponsor the exclusive worldwide publication rights for the Game in any/all formats.

The total ARV of all prizes is $10,000.00 USD. Prizes are non-transferable. No prize substitutions or cash redemptions allowed. In the event an Entrant Team is deemed a prize winner, the Sponsor will divide the prizes equally among the members of the Entrant Team, unless informed in writing by all members of the Entrant Team that a different division has been agreed to by all members of the Entrant Team, in which case the prize will be divided as specified by the Entrant Team. Prize winners are responsible for any costs and expenses associated with prize acceptance and use not specified herein as being provided. Designation as a prize winner is subject to Entrant/Entrant Team’s proof of compliance with these Official Rules, maintaining compliance with these Official Rules and approval by the Sponsor. All details of prize not specified herein shall be determined solely by Sponsor. Each winner will be responsible for paying all costs and expenses related to the prize that are not specifically mentioned, including, but not limited to, taxes, and any other expenses that might reasonably be incurred by the winner in receiving or using the prize. Winners (and if an Entrant Team, each team member) will be required to submit to Sponsor his/her social security number or tax payer ID number and W-8BEN, or other such tax filing information required by Sponsor in order to claim the prize (as applicable). All prizes awarded will be inclusive of any taxes Sponsor is required by law to withhold as well as applicable sales, use, gross receipts, goods and service, or similar transaction based taxes. IF TAXES ARE APPLICABLE TO THE PRIZES, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNER TO PAY TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES. PAYMENTS TO CONTEST WINNERS ARE SUBJECT TO THE EXPRESS REQUIREMENT THAT THE WINNER SUBMIT TO SPONSOR ALL DOCUMENTATION REQUESTED BY SPONSOR TO PERMIT COMPLIANCE WITH ALL APPLICABLE STATE, FEDERAL, LOCAL AND FOREIGN (INCLUDING PROVINCIAL) TAX REPORTING AND WITHHOLDING REQUIREMENTS. Contest winners are responsible for ensuring that the tax documentation submitted to Sponsor complies with all applicable tax laws and requirements. If a winner fails to provide the documentation or submits incomplete documentation, the prize may be forfeited and Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, select an alternate winner.

Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize (or portion thereof) for an item of comparable or greater value, in its sole discretion. All prizes will be awarded “AS IS” and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose). Limit one (1) prize per Entrant/Entrant Team

GRANT OF RIGHTS. By submitting your Game in this Contest, if you are selected as a winner you grant Sponsor the exclusive worldwide publication rights to your Game in all formats.

If you are not selected as a winner, Sponsor’s exclusive publication rights to your Game terminate when you are eliminated from the Contest. If you are not selected as a winner and Sponsor notifies you that it wishes to publish your Game, you agree to negotiate the terms and conditions of a publishing agreement exclusively with Sponsor for a period of 30 days after you receive notification from Sponsor. If you and Sponsor have not reached agreement after 30 days, you may offer the Game to other publishers on the condition that before you enter into an agreement with another publisher, you will afford Sponsor the last right to publish your Game on the same terms and conditions offered by any other publisher.

Entries, along with the name of Entrant and any/all Entrant Team member names may be posted on any Web site owned and/or operated by Sponsor or any of its affiliates (“Sponsor Site”), Sponsor’s pages on social media web sites, such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and any other Web site or other online point of presence on any platform, through which any products or services available on or through the Sponsor Site are described, syndicated, offered, merchandised or advertised, in Sponsor’s sole discretion. Sponsor’s decision to post an Entry or any portion of an Entry on any Sponsor Site does not mean that the selected Entry has been selected as a winning Entry.

By submitting an Entry, you grant Sponsor, its affiliates and agents permission to use, without charge, portions of your Entry, along with your name and stated reason for writing the submitted Game (if provided) for any purpose in connection with this Contest. You also grant Sponsor the right to edit the formatting and display of your Entry, and to create alterations to or effects in respect to your Game without compensation or approval. In addition, to the extent that any moral rights (for example, the right to attribution and the right to integrity) apply, you waive (and to the extent that these rights may not be waived, agree irrevocably not to assert) your moral rights in your Entry for purposes of this Contest, including, without limitation, our use of excerpts from your Game in connection with this Contest.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION. Each potential winner will be required to sign and return an Eligibility Affidavit; Liability and Publicity Release or other such form as requested by Sponsor. Prior to awarding a prize, Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, require the potential winners to sign such additional documents Sponsor decides are necessary to confirm eligibility, to obtain a liability/publicity release, and to award any prize. Failure to return any required document by the date requested by Sponsor will deem the winner as ineligible to receive the prize. If any documentation is not returned by the specified dates or if a potential winner is deemed ineligible prior to the prize being awarded, Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, award the prize to the next Entrant/Entrant Team receiving the highest score.

ADDITIONAL TERMS. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change these rules or cancel the Contest at any time, or to modify, terminate, or suspend the Contest should viruses, worms, bugs, unauthorized human intervention, or other causes corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness, or proper play of the Contest or submission of Entries. Sponsor is not responsible for any human or other error that may occur in the processing of the Entries, nor is it responsible for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, theft or destruction, or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, Entries, or for technical, network, telephone, computer, hardware or software, malfunctions of any kind, or inaccurate transmission of, or failure to receive any entry information on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site. Sponsor is not responsible for injury or damage to any entrant’s or any other computer resulting from downloading any materials in connection with the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual found to be tampering with the entry process, the outcome of the Contest, or the operation of the Contest or Web site; to be acting in violation of these rules; or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR AND ITS AFFILIATES RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK ANY AND ALL REMEDIES AND/OR OTHER RELIEF FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

MISCELLANEOUS. The Contest and all accompanying materials are copyright © 2016 by Choice of Games, LLC. All rights reserved. By entering, entrants agree to be bound by these rules. No transfer, assignment, cash redemption or substitution of prizes is permitted except by Sponsor due to prize availability and then with prizes of equal or greater value. Entrant/Entrant Teams agree (for themselves and their heirs) that the Released Parties will have no liability, and will be held harmless by such entrants to the maximum extent permitted by law for any liability, loss, injury, or damage to property or to person, including death, and reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by reason of participation in the Contest, or by reason of the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the prizes, even if caused or contributed to by the negligence of any of the Released Parties. Contest is governed by the laws of the United States and the State of California. As a condition of participating in this Contest, entrants agree that any and all disputes which cannot be resolved between the parties, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with this Contest, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively before a court located in California having jurisdiction. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances will entrants be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages, including attorneys’ fees, other than entrant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (e.g. costs associated with entering), and Entrant/Entrant Team further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased. Entrant/Entrant Teams agree that the decisions of Sponsor and the judges related to the Contest are final. By participating in the Contest, Entrant/Entrant Teams consent to the use of their names, biographical information, Entries, images and/or likenesses in any manner and in any medium for any purpose in connection with the Contest, including worldwide, without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law.

WINNERS’ LIST. After the winners are confirmed, the winners’ names will be posted at https://www.choiceofgames.com/contest/ until June 30, 2018.

SPONSOR. Choice of Games, LLC, 1040 Ordway St., Albany, CA 94706, United States.