Whirled Flash Game Developer Challenge

The Whirled Flash Game Developer Challenge will be run periodically. Games which meet all the contest criteria and are submitted before the contest deadline will be eligible to compete for Challenge prizes in the period the game was submitted.

The submission deadline for the first Whirled Flash Game Developer Challenge was 11:59 PM PST on March 31, 2009.

Overview
Whirled is a complete, self-serve Flash game development platform. Using Whirled it is possible to create and charge for virtual items, single and multiplayer games, avatars, furnishings, and much more by selling directly to players. It was created by online gaming pioneers Three Rings Design and represents years of micro-transaction learning packaged into a Flash development and billing framework.

All games that are uploaded to Whirled during the contest period and comply with the below conditions are eligible. There are two categories for prizes - single and multiplayer games. The multiplayer game category also includes MMO/AVRG-style games that are played within the Whirled itself.

Multi-Player Game

 * 1st Place: $7,500
 * 2nd Place: $5,000
 * 3rd Place: $4,000
 * 4th Place: $2,000
 * 5th Place: $1,000

Single-Player Game

 * 1st Place: $2,000
 * 2nd Place: $1,500
 * 3rd Place: $1,000
 * 4th Place: $750
 * 5th Place: $250

Dates & Deadlines
The submission deadline for the first Whirled Flash Game Developer Challenge was 11:59 PM PST on March 31, 2009.

Conditions

 * You must be the original creator of any games you upload to own all rights to it.
 * Whether you are awarded a contest prize or not, you are eligible for the items sales revenue share and game developer bonus programs.
 * To be eligible for the contest, games may not contain advertising. Links to your own site and/or that of your sponsor are fine.
 * Your content must fulfill the technical requirements for its respective content type.
 * Multi-player games
 * Flash 9, Actionscript 3 compliant
 * Uses Whirled API to store scores
 * Uses Whirled API to award trophies
 * Uses Whirled API for multi-player gameplay
 * Include instructions, at least one screen shot, and game thumbnail
 * Single player games
 * Flash 9, Actionscript 3 compliant
 * Uses Whirled API to store scores
 * Uses Whirled API to award trophies
 * Include instructions, at least one screen shot, and game thumbnail
 * Your game must comply with the official contest rules.
 * Your content shall comply with the Whirled Terms of Service.
 * You retain all intellectual property and distribution rights to your game. By participating in the contest and uploading your game, you grant Three Rings a non-exclusive license to display your game on Whirled.
 * Demos and incomplete games are not eligible for prizes. A demo refers to a game that requires player to go to another site in order to play the complete, full game.
 * If you are under 18 and are awarded a prize, consent from your parent or guardian will be required for the prize to be issued.
 * Games are eligible only for the contest in the period in which they were uploaded.
 * You may submit as many games as you want but can only win once in each category per contest period. You may however win in both the single and multiplayer game categories in a given contest period
 * Three Rings employees are not eligible to participate.

How to Enter
To enter, simply upload your game to Whirled. Please be sure to fulfill the technical requirements as per the Conditions section above.

For more information about making games, read the game creation guide. If you get stuck, try the coders forum.

Selection of Winners
A panel of judges will judge all games submitted during each challenge. Judges will evaluate based upon the game's originality, gameplay, accessibility, and aesthetics with consideration given as well to player ratings, total number of minutes played, and breadth of use of Whirled API.

Full Rules & Regs
Here is the full legalese.

Past Winners

 * April 2009 Winners