Maxgames Flash Game Contest 2

[JoeMax]

Hey everybody,

I am pleased to announce the second MaxGames flash game contest is now underway as mentioned in Tom's recent frontpage post, July 1st to October 30th, 2008.

Once again We have a very unique contest to offer the flash community. The top ten winners will be decided by a group of five mystery judges. Last years judges were Tom Fulp, Psycho Goldfish, Skye, Edmund McMillen and Mike Max. MaxGames is extremely excited to offer over $40,000 in cash prizes. However you don't have to finish in the top ten to win cash. We have many bonus prizes that will also be awarded, plus this year we are excited to announce that you can use in game ads from NewGrounds or Mochi ads for added income to you the developer.

Since MaxGames has no community forums I will be answering contest questions here in this thread. You can view contest rules, bonus structure and how to submit at GameStudios.com.

If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask. You can contact me in this thread or through email, joemaxgames at gmail.

Cheers,
Joe

[souled]

When you say mystery judges, do you mean they haven't been found/revealed yet, or we won't know who they are?

[zrb]

They haven't been revealed yet, they will be later on though.

[Cryoma]

Don't tell me you hired The Anonymous to judge.

[JoeMax]

At 7/10/08 04:15 PM, Cryoma wrote: Don't tell me you hired The Anonymous to judge.

Darn, you figured out my master plan. Back to the drawing board...

[KaynSlamdyke]

At 7/10/08 03:46 PM, JoeMax wrote: Cheers,
Joe

Welcome back to the forums Joe. Good call on the allowing of interstital adverts. Hope the contest runs smoothly for you and best of luck to everyone entering.

[GustTheASGuy]

October 30? That's like this year! O snap.

[regulargabs]

wow this contest sounds great

[funkycaveman]

oh dear!

[skinnyeddy]

At 7/17/08 01:15 PM, regulargabs wrote: wow this contest sounds great

I agree. I might even enter. It'd be my first flash game but it's worth a shot and would give me some (a lot) of motivation.
Luckily i've got some good ideas...;)

[Wurmy]

Is there an age limit to this? (18 or older?)

[TheMillz]

Matt Porter and I are really deep into a sweet game we're going to enter in this. Hoping we can polish it up real nice and win something, we're trying some stuff that's pretty new, atleast from what we have seen, so we're liking our odds :)

[Rustygames]

I thought the last contest didn't get many entrants. Is there somewhere we can view the winners of the last contest to see what we might be up against?

Cool contest, I hope it goes well for the competitors and the host :D

[El-Presidente]

At 7/18/08 07:23 AM, Rustygames wrote: I thought the last contest didn't get many entrants. Is there somewhere we can view the winners of the last contest to see what we might be up against?

Yeah, can we just see the whole page of winners and bonuses given out from last year. But Rusty, top 5 were:

1. Louissi's - Age of War
2. Gangsta Bean
3. Nameless The Game
4. Cannon Runner
5. The Strangers

[poxpower]

What's the situtation with sfx copyrights?
What do you allow as far as that goes?

like for instance, can I use a sound from a cartoon or a movie that isn't someone saying anything people know?
Like if some guy makes a really awesome fart in a movie, can I use that? Or like a crazy laugh?

[JoeMax]

At 7/10/08 07:05 PM, KaynSlamdyke wrote: Welcome back to the forums Joe. Good call on the allowing of interstital adverts. Hope the contest runs smoothly for you and best of luck to everyone entering.

Thanks man, we wanted to do the in game ads to maximize the earning potential for the developers.

At 7/17/08 07:14 PM, Wurmy1029 wrote: Is there an age limit to this? (18 or older?)

No, there is no age limit...

At 7/18/08 04:03 AM, TheMillz wrote: Matt Porter and I are really deep into a sweet game we're going to enter in this. Hoping we can polish it up real nice and win something, we're trying some stuff that's pretty new, atleast from what we have seen, so we're liking our odds :)

Millz, how's it going bro? Drop me a email sometime soon so we can catch up. Glad you and Porter are entering the contest. Can't wait to see what your cooking up.

At 7/18/08 07:23 AM, Rustygames wrote: I thought the last contest didn't get many entrants. Is there somewhere we can view the winners of the last contest to see what we might be up against?

Cool contest, I hope it goes well for the competitors and the host :D

Thanks dude, you can view last years winners at this LINK. Note: this page does not show who won the "best of the Month" bonuses. Last year like this year we will be giving away 1,000 dollars to the top three submissions in July, August and September. So that was 9,000 worth of bonuses that are not shown on that link. Also there is a, "weekly top 5 bonus" that was paid out twice last year that is not shown on that page.

At 7/19/08 06:15 AM, poxpower wrote: What's the situtation with sfx copyrights?
What do you allow as far as that goes?

like for instance, can I use a sound from a cartoon or a movie that isn't someone saying anything people know?
Like if some guy makes a really awesome fart in a movie, can I use that? Or like a crazy laugh?

If it's as subtle as a fart effect I don't see a problem with it. If it's the theme song from Mission Impossible then that may be pushing it. As long as there's no foul language I don't see there being any issues.

Cheers,
Joe

[El-Presidente]

If you win over a certain amount, do you have to fill in a W9 or any other forms?

[cainine-k9]

Geese, with that amount of money being given away, I'm suprised only 26 people did it last year!

[JoeMax]

At 7/21/08 01:33 PM, El-Presidente wrote: If you win over a certain amount, do you have to fill in a W9 or any other forms?

Nope, no w9 forms. We may request that you sign a distribution agreement but that is all...

I'd also like to inform everyone that we will be giving away $3,000 in bonuses this month. The top 3 entry's this month will each win a $1,000 bonus. With 8 days left in the month anyone who submits a game into the contest stands a good chance to win...

[mayoarm11]

I really hope I cant get my flash done by october 30th >.<

Also... what are the prizes that you mentioned for those not in the top 10?

[WolfAkela]

Is it fine if we use sound effects taken from these sites?
http://www.soundsnap.com/
http://www.findsounds.com/

[J1mp]

I am tempted by this :) The only factor which is stopping me really is the fact that I cant afford to not make money on a game, if you see what I mean. Im relying on games and web design to live, so I dont want to spend ages working on a game for a competition and then not win anything or make any money from it, when I could have made a bit from sponsorship.

Still really tempting though, the prizes sound great!

[JoeMax]

At 7/24/08 07:30 AM, WolfAkela wrote: Is it fine if we use sound effects taken from these sites?
http://www.soundsnap.com/
http://www.findsounds.com/

I see no problems with that...

[poxpower]

What about music from the SNES?
What's the policy on that? If we take really obscure shit from games no one has ever played, is that ok?

[mayoarm11]

At 7/24/08 09:33 AM, J1mp wrote: I am tempted by this :) The only factor which is stopping me really is the fact that I cant afford to not make money on a game, if you see what I mean. Im relying on games and web design to live, so I dont want to spend ages working on a game for a competition and then not win anything or make any money from it, when I could have made a bit from sponsorship.

Still really tempting though, the prizes sound great!

Im pretty sure you can still get a sponsor.
Remeber reading it somewhere in the instructions. But you are limited to choosing between max games sponsorship and newgrounds.

I think >.<

[knugen]

At 7/27/08 12:59 PM, mayoarm11 wrote: Im pretty sure you can still get a sponsor.
Remeber reading it somewhere in the instructions. But you are limited to choosing between max games sponsorship and newgrounds.

I think >.<

Nope, you are allowed to use in-game ads, but that's it.. If you don't win anything in the competition you can just hope that the game gets popular and that those ads do well.

"You are allowed to have one other intro animation or in game ad within your submitted game. It can be your own personal site or in game ad, However you cannot have both and you cannot resell sponsorship to other game sites. Your options for in game ads are Mochi ads or NewGrounds ads. See, additional ad revenue section for further details."

[mayoarm11]

oh shit.

mmmm makes sense, this sounded to good to be true xD

I will consider entering my flash into the contenst only once it's finished. I guess I'll submit it on the last day so I can preview my competition.

my idea! don't copy!

:| lol jk

[JoeMax]

At 7/27/08 03:27 PM, knugen wrote:

At 7/27/08 12:59 PM, mayoarm11 wrote: Im pretty sure you can still get a sponsor.
Remeber reading it somewhere in the instructions. But you are limited to choosing between max games sponsorship and newgrounds.

I think >.<

Nope, you are allowed to use in-game ads, but that's it.. If you don't win anything in the competition you can just hope that the game gets popular and that those ads do well.

"You are allowed to have one other intro animation or in game ad within your submitted game. It can be your own personal site or in game ad, However you cannot have both and you cannot resell sponsorship to other game sites. Your options for in game ads are Mochi ads or NewGrounds ads. See, additional ad revenue section for further details."

Hey guys,

OK I thought long and hard about this and I have decided to amend this rule a bit. Here's the deal, if you submit a game prior to September 30th and you win zero money in the contest then you can resell sponsorship elsewhere. However if you win any money including a top ten prize or any bonus then you will not be able to resell sponsorship. MaxGames.com is putting a lot of money on the line and hoping to have a good contest. However we are also aware of the risks and we want to eliminate those as much as possible.

So tell your friends and I hope you all feel good about this rule change...

Cheers,
Joe

[JoeMax]

Please check out the amended rule on the rule's page of the contest found here.

Sorry for the double post, hope a mod can join the two posts...

[J1mp]

At 8/8/08 06:00 PM, JoeMax wrote: Hey guys,

OK I thought long and hard about this and I have decided to amend this rule a bit. Here's the deal, if you submit a game prior to September 30th and you win zero money in the contest then you can resell sponsorship elsewhere. However if you win any money including a top ten prize or any bonus then you will not be able to resell sponsorship. MaxGames.com is putting a lot of money on the line and hoping to have a good contest. However we are also aware of the risks and we want to eliminate those as much as possible.

So tell your friends and I hope you all feel good about this rule change...

Cheers,
Joe

Awesome news! I actually decided this before you made that post, but im pretty sure ill be submitting a game for this :) Hope you get some good submissions!