Dear FreeBASIC friends and fellow travellers.
After a 4 years long delay Im sponsoring a new
FreeBASIC Games Directory Game Dev Competition, and
the last one I will ever sponsor.
Since this is a conscious decision to make it my LAST, it is my wish to make the
theme of this competition FREEBASIC itself and its community, and the impact it had on each of us individually.
The entries should be developed as a homage, a love letter to the very compiler/community, or as a final farewell, depending on the sentiments of the entrant, both hopefully being accepted as legit, by all participants and followers of the competition.
A LOVE LETTER 
TO FREEBASICSummary:The objective in this competition is to create a game that is your expression of love and appreciation toward FreeBASIC and the FreeBASIC community, as appreciation for the positive impact it had on you as a person.
Competition rules:* the entry must reference FreeBASIC in some way, the FreeBASIC community, or its members (it can be more or less related to gameplay, a backdrop, a vague theme, you can toy with the horse mascot for example, make a cyberpunk RPG where you hack using FB, you name it,
)
* the entry must be compiled in FreeBASIC
* source code must be provided with the entry
* all libraries wrapped for FreeBASIC are allowed (FBgfx, GL2D, OpenGL, SDL, ...)
* the competition entries must be submitted via email or in this thread before the 11th of February 2019, 18:00 GMT
* the winner will receive
1000 $ cash prize paid via PayPal or Bitcoin or Etherium; the 2nd place holder will receive a 700 $ cash prize, 3rd 400 $, 4th 200 $ and 5th 100 $
* in case of donations during the course of the competition, prizes will be increased
* all entries will be evaluated by competition sponsors (those who forked their own cash), while one category will be based on community votes
* teams are allowed
* non-original work MUST be credited (music, graphics, story, ...)
Scoring details (as with the last competition):Game design (35 points max): The emphasis in this category will be on how much the theme is expressed in the game overall.
Gameplay (15 points max): In this category I will evaluate how much the game is fun and challenging to play.
Progression (6 Points max): In this category I will evaluate the progression in the game (is it present and how much it enhances the play experience). This will be used to award the entries that feature more depth in comparison to those that don't feature it.
Replay Value (6 Points max)
Graphics (7 points max)
Sound/music (7 points max)
Personal likeness (from 4 to 6 points max)
Community vote (up to 10 points): Depends on the number of entries. I'll try to separate the entries with at least 2 points, depending on their final placement in community vote.
I encourage everyone to share their WIP, but if worried about sharing concepts/ideas before the deadline, I think all would appreciate at least some vague info on what you are working on and the progress.
We will also organize a second round for those who will not manage to complete their entries for round one. Round two will last until 18th of March, and the only condition is that you don't submit anything for round one. Round two first prize is 300 USD, second prize is 100 USD.
Why this competition?After such a long absence from the community, interrupted with an occasional yearly glance, I realized recently that I will never, or at least not in the foreseeable future, return actively to FreeBASIC.
And I believe many people who were once important members of the community and very active in the past, feel similarly. And them, equally as I, most likely feel theyve left too abruptly, without that being a result of some conscious decision. This is a chance for them to give one final farewell to FreeBASIC.
The other group are those who still plan to continue to use FreeBASIC, and this is their opportunity to develop a game expressing their love and appreciation for the compiler. And also a chance to win 1000 $.
I would not like to see feelings of resentment toward people who want to make a conscious decision to develop their final FreeBASIC work via this competition, from those who want to continue using FreeBASIC, and vice versa. Allow those who want to say goodbye to say their goodbye, and those who still see future in FreeBASIC, to demonstrate their dedication. Lets part as friends and commemorate the days we spend together as something valuable.
