NE Olympics '16 / NE Olympics Rules & Regulations

Rules & Regulations

1 Olympic Committee
1.1 - The Olympic Committee consists of Liampie, Louis! and inthemanual
1.2 - The Olympic Committee is in charge of managing the logistics of the Olympics and acting as a referee
1.3 - It is the Olympic Committee's duty to strictly enforce the rules and regulations

2 Countries
2.1 - A Country consists of no less than three and no more than six members Update 17-1-2016: to facilitatie the border corrections the limit now seven
2.2 - No more than two NE parkmakers per Country are allowed Update 17-1-2016: to facilitatie the border corrections the limit has been removed
2.3 - Parkmaker statuses acquired after May 19th will not count towards rule 2.1
2.4 - If the Olympic Committee or a majority of the Country's members find that a member is unable to compete, that member may be dropped from the Country roster
2.5 - A Country can only seek a replacement member if a drop-out will result in the Country having less than three members
2.6 - A dropped member cannot be picked as a replacement for another Country for the remainder of the Olympics
2.7 - A member that has contributed to a Country's released submission cannot be dropped
2.8 - A dropped member cannot contribute to any of the Country's future submissions
2.9 - You can only modify your country name and flag once after signing-up. No modifications to the flag or name of a Country are allowed after June 2nd
2.10 - Players who are not affiliated with a Country can compete independently in any discipline but the Parade of Flags. However, no points will be awarded to independent players

3 Flagbearers
3.1 - Each Country must have a registered Flagbearer, who will be in charge of communication on behalf of the Country
3.2 - In case a Flagbearer fails to do fulfill his duties, for example not responding to the Olympic Committee, the Olympic Committee is free to appoint another member Flagbearer in cooperation with the Country
3.3 - In case members in a Country are not satisfied with their Flagbearer, they are encouraged to communicate this with the Olympic Committee

4 Park Content
4.1 - All RCT2 entries must be compatible with both OpenRCT and the default game, compatible meaning that the parks can be viewed without triggering error trappers
4.2 - All members of a country must be featured as a creator on at least one entry. Any member who fails to meet this criteria will be dropped from the Country roster
4.3 - No information or screenshots can be shared with anyone other than other members of your Country and any non-competing Committee members, unless the Olympic Committee specifies otherwise. This includes streaming any unreleased contest-related work on Twitch, Google Hangouts of OpenRCT Multiplayer. Breaking this rule will result in the Country getting disqualified in every discipline, with any points earned in the past being redistributed
4.4 - Entries must be built specifically for this contest. Recycling of older work is not allowed and will result in a disqualification
4.5 - Every discipline will have additional rules regarding the content of an entry. Breaking these rules will result in a disqualification
4.6 - If the Olympic Committee feels an entry does not complete a discipline's objective, the entry will be regarded as a forfeit
4.7 - It is allowed to send in two savegames as a single entry, if they are identical except for a single element being added or taken away. For example: maps with and without water, peeps, or roofs, or one map compatible with the default game and one compatible with OpenRCT.

5 Park Submission
5.1 - A disqualification in a discipline will result in penalty to the Country's overall point total equal to the maximum amount of points earnable in that discipline
5.2 - A disqualified entry cannot compete in a discipline, but members who built on this entry will still contribute towards rule 4.2
5.3 - Failing to submit an entry before the deadline will count as a forfeit
5.4 - Entries that are not compatible with both OpenRCT and the default game will count as a forfeit
5.5 - A forfeited entry cannot compete in a discipline, and members who built on this entry will not contribute towards rule 4.2
5.6 - A Country may submit multiple entries per discipline, except for the Parade of Flags
5.7 - No member can contribute to more than one entry per discipline

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Disclaimer: this is a brand new contest format. Althought we've tried our hardest waterproofing the rules & regulations, it's not unthinkable that we will have to make some modifications and/or additions to respond to unforeseen situations. Of course, we won't make any modifications that will change the nature of the contest, and for any modifications made further into the contest we will consult the Flagbearers to ensure the changes are fair and accepted. Feel free to PM us any feedback!

Can you elaborate a little on rule 4.4? I have ideas that I've messed around with in-game that may be useful at some stage. Like a layout I've made or a ride concept. Would this be considered recycling? 

Can you elaborate a little on rule 4.4? I have ideas that I've messed around with in-game that may be useful at some stage. Like a layout I've made or a ride concept. Would this be considered recycling?

Good that you ask. It's a quite difficult rule, because recycling indeed is a quite vague term when you think about it. The essence and intention of this rule is to avoid that people revive unfinished projects and start entries at 20% or 50% to get a head start, because they are cheating immature pricks. When you've been toying with a theming idea for years, you may actually be further along than the guy who recycles a map that has three buildings on it. We're drawing a line between actual content on a map and concepts/ideas though. I think that if the composition is missing, content like a small building, or a wall layering trick, a tiny sculpture, a colour scheme qualify as concepts/ideas. Not sure about layouts. Since the objectives per discipline vary, recycling layout may or may not be a significant portion of the content that is required for that discipline, maybe more than in H2H in which approved layout recycling has happened an a few occasions. I think this is something the Committee will have to discuss. For now, assume that recycling rides is not allowed.

Why don't you add a rule, that a member needs 3 screenshots in order to be eligable for the contest. I think that's not too much to ask and give the people building countires a bit of insight.

I think it's the responsibility of the players to sell themselves.

wow, rule 4.3....

^ Is there a way for a country to build on OpenRCT multiplayer privately?

You can have passwords, so yes

Are you sure about rules 4.1 and 4.3?

 

For 4.3 I have no problem with not showing any screens but it seems quite weird to me that if for example in the VERY LAST round a country gets disqualified from the contest, in all the former rounds all teams that were behind that team will now get more points. That way you can have one team clearly leading against another, only for some weird stuff to go on in the last round (or any other round) after which a team that would've otherwise had no chance to overtake them, might suddenly find themselves ahead. Wouldn't it make more sense to just have that team disqualified but keep the former results the way they were?

 

In regards to 4.1 :

I can see why you want this to be the case, as it will theoretically allow everyone to open all the parks - theoretically. But for the life of me I cannot get rct2 to work on my computer and all I can play is ORCT2. I can thus not promise 100% that all my ORCT2 work can be opened in regular rct2, as I can't check that myself. On the other hand ORCT2 works on everyone's computer and it'd be wise for everyone to have it anyway. Also if new ORCT2 builds come out any time soon, who knows how compatible both games will be. If parks suddenly became incompatible, it'd negate so many cool tricks that you can do with ORCT2 easily, that otherwise only astoute hackers can do in normal rct. Of course that's a rightful reward for them, as they have the skills. Then again though I think in the end we all want to see the best rct that's possible, so allowing for all of ORCT2's features to be exploited should be a great idea.

Everyone should have ORCT2 anyway.

Define compatible.

Opens without issues. I don't care if things are different, just that it opens in both games.

Would it be allowed then to send in 2 savegames, one for the normal game and one for open?

wow, rule 4.3....

You were planning on leaking stuff? Don't do it. You're weakening your team as well as ruining the fun. All the leaking and stuff was the only thing that ruined H2H7 at times.

For 4.3 I have no problem with not showing any screens but it seems quite weird to me that if for example in the VERY LAST round a country gets disqualified from the contest, in all the former rounds all teams that were behind that team will now get more points. That way you can have one team clearly leading against another, only for some weird stuff to go on in the last round (or any other round) after which a team that would've otherwise had no chance to overtake them, might suddenly find themselves ahead. Wouldn't it make more sense to just have that team disqualified but keep the former results the way they were?

With ten rounds, there are only fifty rewards (points) to be distributed over all the teams. To make the ranking at the end of the contest meaningful, this number has to remain as high as possible. If a team that has performed well (say, six rewards) gets removed from the contest that is a big blow to the ranking. That's why.

But hopefully it won't be necessary, if all teams just don't leak their stuff. If you can't live with the no leaking rule this game is not for you.

In regards to 4.1 :
I can see why you want this to be the case, as it will theoretically allow everyone to open all the parks - theoretically. But for the life of me I cannot get rct2 to work on my computer and all I can play is ORCT2. I can thus not promise 100% that all my ORCT2 work can be opened in regular rct2, as I can't check that myself. On the other hand ORCT2 works on everyone's computer and it'd be wise for everyone to have it anyway. Also if new ORCT2 builds come out any time soon, who knows how compatible both games will be. If parks suddenly became incompatible, it'd negate so many cool tricks that you can do with ORCT2 easily, that otherwise only astoute hackers can do in normal rct. Of course that's a rightful reward for them, as they have the skills. Then again though I think in the end we all want to see the best rct that's possible, so allowing for all of ORCT2's features to be exploited should be a great idea.
Everyone should have ORCT2 anyway.

I don't think OpenRCT2 is mature and 'stable' enough for us to force it on the community as our main game. As long as OpenRCT is in motion as it currently is, the default game will be the norm. Don't exaggerate the risk of losing compatibility, there aren't many tricks that are RCT2-incompatible. I think RCT2 parks being incompatible with OpenRCT is almost 0 at the moment, so no worries. And like someone proposed, you can make two versions of a park.

Added 4.7 and modified 4.1 to address these issues.

I think RCT2 parks being incompatible with OpenRCT is almost 0 at the moment, so no worries

 

As far as I am aware, these are currently all the features that are incompatible with vanilla:

 

*  Invisible entrances (you can hide them with corrupt elements instead)

* Steep slopes on the Junior coaster

* Trains longer than 16 cars

 

I have also had difficulty with corrupt elements. They should work in vanilla but don't always -I had one layout I made that turned out to crash in vanilla even though I avoided the features that are known not to work. I think if you just hide one or two objects it likely isn't going to be a problem but if you make a whole layout invisible this way, you will probably want to check that it still works in vanilla afterwards.

^ I think the problem with corrupt elements comes from building things after or above the corrupt element. I've only tested very roughly, but that's what it looks like.

Just curious: If a team of 4 or 5 only builds the final round (Parade of Flags)... all members are allowed to build on the one submission?... or will that be revealed in time?... will each discipline limit how many builders per submission?... will it vary?

Yes.

Rule 2.9 updated

2.9 - No modifications to the flag or name of a Country are allowed after May 19th

2.9 - You can only modify your country name and flag once after signing-up. No modifications to the flag or name of a Country are allowed after June 2nd

This means that if you sign up inbetween June 2nd and June 16th, your initial sign-up country is final.

I think this is implied (no), but not explicitly stated anywhere- can a member compete for more than one country?

Just curious why should the parks be compatible with open rct2? This really limits the hacks you can do... I haven't tried it yet but from reactions I've seen most of my work isn't compatible with open rct2. It also limits the ability to use custom color schemes or a modified exe to enable some stuff...