The SDL Perl Game Contest!

Sure, you know what SDL is, right? Well, SDL has very nice Perl bindings that let you use the power and flexibility of Perl to write awesome games in no time!

There's even a manual to help you get started, including full game tutorials and a list of free/open-source resources for your games, like sprites, sound effects and music.

But by far the Coolest Game Ever™ is the one *you* write, from that silly idea you had the other day to a playable game you and your friends can enjoy.

And this march, the SDL Perl team is going to help you take that project out of your dusty drawer of "TODO"s and turn it into a reality, with the SDL Perl Game Contest!

The rules are simple, and much like the Perl Ironman contest:

"One game per week. Every week of march."

This means by the end of march you'll have not one, but FOUR games to show for. How cool is that?!

In fact, you can even make your weekly game the subject of your Ironman posts this month, and take out two birds with one stone (hmm... more game ideas)!

This monday (feb. 28), start writing your game! You have until the following monday to make it playable ("complete") and start all over again with a brand new game for the next week.

But what if I miss a deadline? What if I can't start this monday?

It doesn't really matter - just join the party and have some fun! Even if you only get to do one game, it's still a great opportunity to improve your skills and learn a bit about game design and development.

If you need any assistance writing your game, from ideas to code, WE WILL HELP! Just send an email to the SDL Perl mailing list with your questions (subscribe by sending an empty email to sdl-devel-subscribe@perl.org, then fire your questions to sdl-devel@perl.org) or, better yet, join us live in #sdl over at irc.perl.org and we'll be more than happy to assist you and try your game out. If you never used irc before, please keep in mind people might be busy or in different timezones than you, so you may get instant responses or have to wait a few of hours before you get a reply. Be patient!

It can be a game about anything. Just make sure it's doable in a week. Some games take years to be complete, but you might be surprised at how much you can accomplish in just a few hours with SDL Perl :)

Oh, there's one extra rule, actually, and that's mandatory - HAVE FUN!! :)