Flash 4k Game Competition: Prizes and Rules
Today we are kicking off the first official Urbansquall sponsored Flash 4k Game Competition!
First Place Prize
Sponsored by:
The winner will get $50 in cold hard cash (so long as you can receive PayPal), and a grab bag of my favorite indie games including Robokill, World of Goo, and your choice of either N+, Castle Crashers, or Aquaria (if you have these games already, then you get the cash equivalent because you’re awesome for supporting indie games!).
Second Place Prize
Sponsored by:
Second place will get their pick of any Flash related book from Amazon.com of up to $50.00.
Audience Favorite Prize
There will be two weeks of voting following the announcement of the first and second place winners in order to select the audience prize. The audience prize will be $25.00 in cold hard cash from Urbansquall. First and second place winners will be ineligible for the audience prize. You do NOT need to release your source code to take the audience favorite.
Souvenir
All three winners will receive an as-yet unannounced souvenir trophy (assuming you can receive delivery from the manufacturer).
Due Date
All entries are due by 8:00 AM PST, March 9th, 2009. If your submission is received late, then I may still post your entry, but you cannot win one of the prizes.
Submission
Name a zip file the name of your game and put in the following:
- Your built swf.
- A readme.txt that contains your e-mail at the very least. It should also contain your name and whether or not your source code can be released if you don’t win 1st or 2nd place.
- All your source in a subfolder called /src. Please don’t forget your fla, Flex Builder or Flash Develop project. NOTE: If you do not say otherwise, you are giving me the right to publish source code with your game. If you only wish to participate in the audience prize, then DO NOT INCLUDE SOURCE. If you only wish to publish source if you win a prize, then PLEASE note that in your readme.
When your package is ready, please use EmailLargeFile.com and send it to 
Don’t put in your own e-mail or you’ll risk disqualification If you want confirmation that I received your swf, just put a unique comment in the subject line (”what is 3 + 9?”, “I am cornholio”, etc.) and I’ll add it as a comment to this page when I receive the e-mail from EmailLargeFile.
If you are uncomfortable sending source via EmailLargeFile, then don’t – I won’t vouch for their privacy policy, I’m using them simply out of convenience. Just note it in your readme and I’ll contact you for source after I have finished judging, if appropriate.
I suggest you download the following example and peruse it. It has additional information for those wanting to make the most of their shout out: example_game
If you submit your game and decide you want to resubmit because you found a bug, or whatever, then please just keep track of the number of submissions you have made and suffix your zip file with the version number. Ie: starshooter, starshooter_2, etc. I’ll only judge the last one you submit. If you submit more than 3 versions I reserve the right to disqualify you for wasting my time. 
Contest Rules
- The game must be delivered as a swf.
- If I right click and view your swf’s properties in Windows XP it must show size as 4.00kb or less or you will be disqualified (that’s size, not size on disk). For those looking for exact measurements, it’s 4096 bytes. If there is some discrepancy between the two, use the lowest to be safest.
- The code must be yours.
- You must provide the ability for me to build your game from Flash Develop (using the Flex3 SDK) or Flash CS3. Flash Develop supports importing Flex Builder projects, so Flex Builder is probably okay.
- If you enter the competition, then you are giving me the right to post source code along with the swf on the gamepoetry website. You can optionally opt-out of having the source code posted if you simply want to show off your 4k game swf without actually participating in the competition. Put another way, to win a prize, you must be willing to release your source code.
- Don’t cheat. That means the swf must be self-contained. Don’t load external files from anywhere. Everything must come out of your 4k swf file.
- It doesn’t matter if the swf has been posted elsewhere before, so long as it is allowed to be posted again.
- If there’s a gap in the rules that you’re not sure about, please ask and I will clarify. I reserve the right to modify or add new rules to the competition to preserve the spirit of the competition (more specifically to avoid cheating!).
- I’m not responsible for your ensuring your ability to receive the prize. If your country doesn’t receive Paypal or Amazon shipments, or whatever, that’s something that I presume you’ll work out on your own.
- You can enter only once. We will likely have future competitions so you don’t need to use up all your good ideas for this one, just your best!
Q & A:
Are there any restrictions, or criteria on which the games will be judged?
Not specifically. I’ve done plenty of reviews for GameTunnel’s monthly panel. I doubt reading them would help you, but it might give you an edge if you want one.
How do we submit the game to you?
I’ll be posting submission information later. Basically, you’ll be uploading a zip with the swf, source and a readme which has your contact information that I won’t read until after I do the judging. Details will be coming in the next week or two.
Is this competition open to all ActionScript and Flash Player versions?
As long as you follow the build requirements listed in the rules. Specifically the ones detailing that I need to be able to build the game without fussing around.
Does the programmer surrender all rights to the game and the source code when they enter the competition?
Not at all. You grant me only the right to post the swf file if you participate because you can opt out of the source code part completely. If you want to be eligible for a prize, though, you have to agree to let me post source code. You’ll be able to opt-out of prize eligibility in your readme that goes with the submission.
What if I don’t use one of your required methods of code building?
That will disqualify your entry. If you can’t do Flex Builder or Flash CS3, then you must use the free option available to you. I can’t be fuddling around with 90 different ways to build each entry. Flash Develop is free as is the Flex SDK. That is the preferred submission method.
Are system fonts considered an external resources?
I don’t see any particular good reason to consider system fonts an external resource. If you embed a font, then yes, your swf will be larger and it will have to still meet the 4k size listed above. If you’re simply using a device system font, though, that’s completely fine.
That’s it! Best of luck everyone!
Clint
Sounds great!
Can you enter more than once?
Are there any restrictions, or criteria on which the games will be judged?
I have a game that’s currently about half done and sitting at 16KB — this might be a good chance for me to trim it down and enter it.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:41 amurbansquall
Clint, answered your questions in the post, but specifically, no, you can’t enter more than once, and there is no specific criteria for this competition, no.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:47 amsausage
How do we submit the game to you? If it is done by email then surely that will, in most cases, give you an indication of who the programmer is.
Is this competition open to all ActionScript and Flash Player versions?
Does the programmer surrender all rights to the game and the source code when they enter the competition?
February 6th, 2009 at 10:00 amNeko
What if I just use a text editor to create .as files and compile them directly to .swf with mxmlc.exe (without any Flash Develop or Flex)? Would you still accept those as source?
February 6th, 2009 at 10:09 amurbansquall
Questions answered in the Q&A section.
@sausage: Submissions will be anonymous. All player/actionscript versions are fine, just be aware of the build requirements. If you want to win 1st/2nd place, you have to be willing to let me release source. If you send me a swf, you’re giving me the right to post it.
@Neko: You have to give me an easy way to build it thus the need for those rules. So, you can code it however you want, but you’re going to have to fiddle with Flash CS3 or Flash Develop so that I can build it.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:44 amRJ
1) MochiAds need an .as file, can I use them?
2) So do we need to send you the source code? Or simply the .swf?
February 8th, 2009 at 8:26 amurbansquall
You can send a <4k swf to participate, but if you want to enter the competition, then you need to send source code.
You can do whatever you want with MochiAds but it will count against your budget.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:06 amBen
Does that mean we have to build it using CS3/4? I, for instance, only have Flash MX readily available.
February 8th, 2009 at 4:56 pmurbansquall
CS3 can load flas from older versions(as far as I know), so Flash MX should be no problem.
February 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pmSpace
Regarding #4 Why do you have to be able to compile it? I don’t see the point. You get a working swf.
I like that the source code will be published, but it should just be up to people to find out how, if they want to compile it.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:52 amurbansquall
The rules for source/compilation will be different for the next competition, but they are what they are for this one.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:00 amClint
Totally loving the contest so far — thanks so much for putting it on.
I have a /very/ rough concept demo done and sitting at about 2k. Can’t wait to see everyone else’s entries — can’t wait for March!
February 12th, 2009 at 9:32 amClint
Two more questions please:
Are post-build compressors allowed? For instance, a tool to re-encode the .lzw stream at a higher compression ratio, or to hand-twiddle the symbol tables for size? In such a situation, a default release build of the source code would likely not fit under 4k, but the submitted entry would fit, and be functionally identical. What’s the stance on post-process compression?
The anonymous judging presents a bit of a quandary. If I want to use this contest as an opportunity to gain some notoriety, then I’ll want to identify myself on the game (either with IP that I use for games, or my name / website / whatever). Would you like us to submit an “anonymized” version without any personally identifiable info? What are your thoughts on this? I do respect and appreciate you wanting to be impartial, and want to support you in that.
Thanks again for doing this! I’m having a blast.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:16 pmurbansquall
As a part of the submission you’ll deliver a readme.txt that I’ll basically dump into the HTML surrounding your game with pretty much any and all information you’d like to deliver, whether that be pimping your development services, or talking about the procedure related to making your game.
For this particular competition, I am requiring the ability to build source code, so I’m going to say that eliminates post-build compression. I’ve learned a lot from various complaints and questions, though, so the next one will have some more flexibility in this regard.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:23 pmClintRocks
Awesome! I am so completely stoked that Clint is entering this! I could not be any more pumped! I can not wait until March 9th! I’m sure all of the entries will be great! This is so awesome! It’s cool that you’re bringing some old-school space challenges up! I will be very excited to see the results. Go Clint! HanClinto rules! Good luck everyone!
February 12th, 2009 at 1:54 pmSpace
“The rules for source/compilation will be different for the next competition, but they are what they are for this one.”
Not much of an explanation.
Anyway, does the source code given to you, have to be compilable to under 4k? I can’t guarantee that your environment, despite being able to compile my code, also produces a swf under 4k, even if mine does.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:48 pmurbansquall
I’m sure it’ll work out, Space, so just do what you gotta do.
February 13th, 2009 at 11:22 amRick
I’m totally in, but is it okay to release the game later (with mochiads + leaderboards)
also, where to send my submission? what’s your mail?
February 13th, 2009 at 5:16 pmSquize
Anyone know what licence would be best for this ?
ie I want to open source it, I want people to use portions of the code if they want to ( 4k of code isn’t going to be all that ) but I don’t want to see a version floating around with an ad in it and some lamer script kiddies name in the credits. So anyone know the best licence to cover this off the top of their heads ( I did search, but there’s a fair few, and it’s kinda dry reading ) ? I remember in the old days just calling something PD and it was covered, but things move on etc. etc.
February 13th, 2009 at 5:25 pmSpace
Does the source code given to you, have to be compilable to under 4k? I can’t guarantee that your environment, despite being able to compile my code, also produces a swf under 4k, even if mine does.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:14 amurbansquall
@Space: Your package will include the compiled .swf as well. If when I recompile the swf it fails to be under 4k, I’ll use my discretion when comparing it against the one you compiled. If you didn’t do any post compilation tricks (which are not allowed for this particular competition), then the swf is still eligible.
@Rick: You can do whatever you like with the swf.
Submission details will go up in the next week or so, but it’ll be an online form that you upload to.
@Squize: If a fancy legal license won’t work, then just describe something that’s understandable by normal humans. “Ie: You’re free to use this code in a game of your own making, so long as it isn’t an obvious copy.” Maybe?
February 15th, 2009 at 10:19 amurbansquall
Submission guidelines have been posted. Best of luck everyone!
February 17th, 2009 at 1:36 amJP
http://creativecommons.org/ lokos like a good licence, people can use your code but they have to credit you.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:10 amSquize
Excellent, cheers JP
( I’ve opted for: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ )
We all know in real life it doesn’t make much difference, but it’s the thought that counts.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:47 amCory
I’d love to contribute to this sort of thing, but I’m not going to learn a new build process (FlashDevelop) when the standard command-line tool (that FlashDevelop is based on!) already exists.
I don’t see why you need to be able to build the code — if you want to verify no assets are being loaded, just run it offline.
Beyond that, building projects with mxmlc (which is what FlashDevelop does) tends to result in a different byte size each time, with no source code changes Haven’t tested from CS4, but based on my simple test apps to determine the viability of making a game in 4k in Flash, CS4 bloats your SWF so much as to make it unusable for this contest anyway (at least, unusable by anyone striving to maximize every byte).
You’ve mentioned that maybe in the next contest you’ll change up these guidelines, so I look forward to compile-ability being removed from your submission requirements so I can take part.
My complaint/non-participation aside, this contest is A Good Thing and I’m looking forward to seeing the submissions.
February 19th, 2009 at 3:01 pmurbansquall
Cory, if you’re not wanting to deal with the build restrictions, then I’d encourage you to enter just for the audience prize (which is acceptable too).
February 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pmClint
@Cory: I too am just making a .as file, and while I sometimes compile it with Flex Builder, I generally compile release builds on the command line with mxmlc. If all you need is someone to make a Flex Builder project for you, I’d be happy to try to build a project file around your source file (but I’m not entirely sure if/how Urbansquall can use Flex Builder projects).
I’ve never used Flash CS3, and hardly touched FlashDevelop (as I use a Mac), and so I’m working on my project in the hopes that Urbansquall can use what I’m able to give him.
@Urbansquall: What does FlashDevelop need to compile a .as file? There’s some sort of project file? I just use Flex Builder primarily as an editor, and I’m not sure what other “project file” I would need to include, as all I see in my source directory is my .as file and the final .swf. I’m sorry for being ignorant, but I’m not sure what the requirements are for FlashDevelop or CS3 on Windows.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:10 amurbansquall
I can import Flex Builder projects, so Flex Builder is fine.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:22 amurbansquall
Hahaha.. Someone has a great sense of humor.
Submission received: “Confirmed: 4096 bytes of wonder”
February 20th, 2009 at 7:08 pmurbansquall
If you’ve got size to spare and you want to have some fun, I’m fine with you putting a credit / your name / link to your site in the 4k so long as you make it invisible if the swf is run locally (which is how I will be reviewing the swfs). It must be invisible locally to prevent disqualification, so do this at your own peril.
Basically, if you check the root’s loader info, and notice there is not “http://” prefix, then you are good to show your logo, or put your name on there or whatever.
If that needs more elaboration, let me know.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 pmurbansquall
For the person who submitted their entry today (F16 and UFOs), please review the submission guidelines above and resubmit so that if you win a prize I can contact you. Thank you.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:39 pmRichard Davey
Hi – Quick question about the “no names” part (sorry but I just don’t want to waste precious bytes on a stupid loader check!) – is it ok if the name only appears on the “game over” part of the game? That is where I currently have it, and you would have had to play it by that point anyway to even see it. If not I’ll just remove it, I’m up against the wire already bytes-wise and I’m not wasting any more.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:30 amRichard Davey
Actually another idea – could I submit 2 SWFs, one for judging with no name on it, and one that you should use when you publish them on your site? (that does contain it)
February 26th, 2009 at 2:33 amurbansquall
Richard,
The next competition will have the 2 swf rule in effect, but for this one I’m going to stick with the original guidelines because it isn’t really fair to change it for those who have already entered.
You have free reign in the readme to pimp as much as you’d like, so I’d encourage you to use that space to do it if you don’t want to lose the bytes to the if-check.
I think it’s wiser not to risk showing it at all times on the game over screen. I am trying to be as objective as possible.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:40 amRichard Davey
Hmm, ok I’ll see what I can do. It’s annoying because I’m right against it bytes-wise, yet I really don’t want a version of my game out in the wild that doesn’t carry my name somewhere. Lamers will rip off anything that moves these days!
February 26th, 2009 at 2:21 pmClint
FWIW guys, I used a Windows computer to try to import my Flex project into Flash Develop, and found out a few things:
1) The “project file” that Flex uses is a hidden file in your project source directory called “.actionScriptProperties” — this is what FlashDevelop uses to import your Flex Builder project.
2) The import isn’t a very solid one, and I’ve not yet been able to click on “Run” and see it actually run from FlashDevelop.
I’ll keep you posted with my findings, but for those of us who are using Flex Builder and/or mxmlc for development, we may have to find someone willing to create new FlashDevelop projects for us. Urbansquall, when you’ve imported Flex projects, have you run into any of these issues? Or was it pretty seamless for you?
February 27th, 2009 at 9:03 amanonymous
Hi urbansqual ! No updates in 3 days… I’m wondering if you received my game ? I cannot give the name because of the rules but can you post the confirmation comments or the names of the games you received so far ?
Thanks for this competition, it’s really exciting !
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pmurbansquall
@anonymous: Attack Of The Rage Beast, Bovis Abyssus, WhacAMole4k
I had another entry from the 25th which I commented about above. The person did not follow the submission guidelines, so I need them to resubmit.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:20 pmurbansquall
“Mine-X 4K rocks! =)” – haha!
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:16 pmanonymous
So you did not received mine… I’ll send again later today.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:02 amurbansquall
4k Hello World
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:47 amurbansquall
Hamsters Rule!
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:48 amClintRocks
Only 7 days left! I am really excited to see all the entries. I hope everyone is enjoying the competition! I can’t wait to play through all of the entries. And I, most especially, can not wait to see what Clint has come up with! Good luck to all!
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 amurbansquall
Colorstack received!
And yes, less than 7 days left. Good luck for the people still putting together their entries.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 amAnonymous
Gah, I suck at EmailLargeFile apparently, and sent you one with no subject line and thus no shout-out. If you could just echo the filename here, I’d appreciate it. If not, I can resend, lemme know what I should do. Thanks!
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 amsomeone
yay you finally got mines. Sorry if you received multiple emails these past few days though, it was because it took you until today to post the confirmation (I sent the first one about 4 days ago.)
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:31 pmRichardDaveyRocks
Pretty excited about there being a Hamsters game! Some of these titles sound like they’re going to be fun! I am equally excited about every submission title so far. I think playing through the posts will, most certainly, take up the majority of my week.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:08 pmRichardDaveyRules
Pretty excited about there being a Hamsters game! Some of these titles sound like they’re going to be fun! I am equally excited about every submission title so far. I think playing through the posts will, most certainly, take up the majority of my week.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:10 pmurbansquall
Yeah, I was playing one the other day and it pulled me in for longer than I care to admit.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pmurbansquallRocks
I just want to thank you for hosting this contest. Your prizes show you to be a champion for independent games. And your further dedication to them through the inspiration provided by this competition, as well as your hard work and dedication (hosting said competition) is greatly appreciated.
The space challenges presented make it very challenging to include the embedded resources and depth of content condusive to modern games. But that is what makes the entries so exciting. The ingenuity of the developers, their willingness to share code for others to review and learn from, and (again) your devoted efforts. It all creates a well-appreciated community. Thank you.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:34 pmurbansquall
Oh man, that just made my day! Thank you whoever you are. 
March 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pmurbansquall
4k Dungeon Romp!
March 5th, 2009 at 8:42 amBillAndTed
Any sign of “Neon Bricks 4K”
March 5th, 2009 at 11:20 amurbansquall
Neon Bricks was received.
Event Horizon has also been received.
March 5th, 2009 at 11:43 amRichard Davey
There was a strange irony in using emailLARGEfile.com to send the game in!
(the hamster posting imposter above made me smile though)
March 6th, 2009 at 1:19 amRichardDaveyImposter
The particles effects that Richard Davey managed to put in 4kb is amazing… Looks like there will be a lot of competition.
March 6th, 2009 at 9:17 pmLoser
Did anyone doubt that there would be stiff competition? The prize could have been a can of beer and it would no have changed anything. This kind of thing interests many hardcore devs because it is such a pure challenge. It’s easy to make a bloated piece of crap, but how easy is it to make something playable and as small as possible? I think we have all found out.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:02 pmNotherLoser
man… I really should have added more/better graphics instead of sound… sound really takes up so much space. But it’s too late now, I’m busy the entire day today and tomorrow.
Oh well, even if I don’t have awesome particle effects, hamsters still pwn shooters. haha
Good luck everyone
March 7th, 2009 at 10:33 amurbansquall
“I’m cocoa for coocoo poops!”
March 7th, 2009 at 11:52 amMr T.
I tried to send my entry to myself with emailLargefile, but when I opened the flashdevelop-project it had switched back to debug-mode. All the other settings were still there though (such as the exclusion of the raw metadata).
March 7th, 2009 at 12:31 pmurbansquall
ghost4koin (v2)
March 7th, 2009 at 12:43 pmscriptaholic
Did you receive Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer?
March 7th, 2009 at 8:07 pmSteakAndCheese
Did you happen to get “Steak and Cheese?” I posted it on Friday.
March 7th, 2009 at 10:23 pmBigLoser
Chuck vs Tom Sawyer Ghost4Koin Neon Bricks Mine X …
It looks like we will have some awesome classic 4K arcade action!
March 8th, 2009 at 7:21 amurbansquall
PLEASE resend “Steak and Cheese” and “Chuck v Tom Sawyer”. I did not receive either.
The british are coming!
March 8th, 2009 at 9:04 amscriptaholic
I just resent “Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer”. Let me know if it comes through.
March 8th, 2009 at 11:03 amurbansquall
“4096 bytes is enough for anyone”
March 8th, 2009 at 11:18 amurbansquall
Steak and Cheese!
March 8th, 2009 at 11:20 amurbansquall
Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer
March 8th, 2009 at 11:25 amurbansquall
I just noticed a few entries that got tossed into my spam box before I could retrieve them in time, will the following entries please resubmit:
I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
I’ll start a fresh post for all the ones I’ve successfully received so you can double check.
March 8th, 2009 at 11:43 amurbansquall
“a city built on rock and roll would be structurally unsound”
March 8th, 2009 at 12:27 pmA Non Mouse
just wondering if Space4000 has turned up safely?
March 8th, 2009 at 1:57 pmurbansquall
I received Space 4k.
March 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pmJeff Fulton
“a city built on rock and roll would be structurally unsound”
There should be a special prize for the best anonymous call back line from emailargefile.com. That one wins hands down!
March 8th, 2009 at 6:48 pmOthniel
Hoping you received “FallingWithStyle”? I’m very nervous submitting so close to the deadline, but I only just finished. Thanks!
March 8th, 2009 at 7:07 pmurbansquall
Falling With Style was received.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pmurbansquall
“The story of Athenodoros as told by Pliny the Younger”
March 8th, 2009 at 9:54 pmYetAnotherAnonymousLoser
I just realized that my game’s instructions are in the Readme.txt, and that they’re kind of necessary for understanding how to play.
Moreover, I just realized that you won’t be reading the Readme.txt until after you finish judging.
Argh.
Is this going to be a problem?
March 9th, 2009 at 5:39 amPie
Has “Pie” turned up safely?
March 9th, 2009 at 4:37 pmPie
Never mind, I didn’t see your latest blog entry.
March 9th, 2009 at 4:39 pmTo YetAnotherAnonymousLoser
Just send a net textfile containing just your instructions to urbansquall with the email anonymitizer. Maybe he’ll get it in time
March 10th, 2009 at 4:01 amYetAnotherAnonLoser
Thanks — I actually ripped out some other code and re-submitted my game just under the wire that included some bare-bones in-game instructions. Though if an external file of instructions is permitted, I’d love to do that. But if everyone else was forced to give up bytes for in-game instructions also, I’d hate to be the exception and have an unfair advantage. I love the restriction of the contest, and want to comply with it — I just messed up.
It’s really my fault for not paying enough attention to the rules — I think I got confused — I’m used to “readme” files being read before playing contest entries — I didn’t think of it as being a “readmelater”.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:17 am