The following rules and guidelines were created with reference to rules listed on the wiki and additional ones added to cover concerns that have arisen in the past.
A competition is one of our most frequent community activities, bringing us together to create and compete. We host a variety of them including (but not limited to) Drawing Competitions, Minigame Competitions, Music Competitions and Sprite Competitions. You may find examples of these in The Vault or browse our nearly complete competition history on the Official MFGG Wiki.
The goal in most competitions is to create an entry from scratch within the given time frame, utilizing the theme and following the rules set forth by the host.
General Rules
The following rules apply to all competitions, unless otherwise stated in the specific competition rules themselves:
Drawing Competitions
Minigame Competitions
Typically, a minigame is a small experience, requiring shorter development time and less investment from the player. However, in this case, the sort of minigame you develop is up to you as long as your entry abides the competition rules.
Music Competitions
Pixel Art Competitions
Vector art has traditionally not been allowed in these competitions because it would give Sprite Competitions too much overlap with Drawing Competitions. Pixel art versus vector art may also not be a level playing field, so we're keeping up this tradition and changing the name to make more sense considering what is or isn't allowed.
Recommended length for a Pixel Art Competition is one to two weeks.
The Voting Process
Once the deadline has been reached, the voting process may begin.
The Reward
Spectator Etiquette
Please feel free to post any comments, concerns, questions, suggestions, etc below!
A competition is one of our most frequent community activities, bringing us together to create and compete. We host a variety of them including (but not limited to) Drawing Competitions, Minigame Competitions, Music Competitions and Sprite Competitions. You may find examples of these in The Vault or browse our nearly complete competition history on the Official MFGG Wiki.
The goal in most competitions is to create an entry from scratch within the given time frame, utilizing the theme and following the rules set forth by the host.
General Rules
The following rules apply to all competitions, unless otherwise stated in the specific competition rules themselves:
- Each participant may submit an unlimited number of entries, but must select one entry as their final submission for the voting process.
- You may not submit an entry that was created or started outside of the competition for any reason.
- You may not submit someone else's work as your own. Resources and teams are covered further below.
- The host of the competition, in most cases, has the final say on whether your entry may or may not be disqualified. However, they may only disqualify your entry if it violates rules they have already established previously in the thread.
- Your entry must not violate any of our Forum Rules.
- Unless stated otherwise by the host, your entry does not need to be Mario related. This means that competitions aren't required to be Mario related either, should you get a chance to host one.
- Competitions may have up to two deadline extensions and the extensions must only be for one week at a time.
Drawing Competitions
- Your entry may only be traditional art such as works done on paper with pencil, marker, charcoal, etc or digital art such as brush, raster or vector art.
- Pixel art is not acceptable. Pixel art is covered under Sprite Competitions, as stated below.
- The host may require a specific medium or set of tools as stated in their rules.
Minigame Competitions
Typically, a minigame is a small experience, requiring shorter development time and less investment from the player. However, in this case, the sort of minigame you develop is up to you as long as your entry abides the competition rules.
- Your minigame may be developed in the program of your choosing. However, it must be submitted in a format that is easily playable by most. Unfortunately this means that an app developed for Android may not be acceptable, for example.
- Your minigame may not use any premade engines created outside of the competition, even if you developed it yourself.
- You may enlist a maximum of three team members for your project or must specifically select three team members that would receive badges, should your project win at any level.
- Resources such as music, sound effects, and sprites may be used even if they were developed outside of the competition. However, you must give credit for any outside work and must not attempt to represent someone else's work as your own.
- Additional rules may be set in place by the host.
Music Competitions
- Your entry must be submitted in a reasonable format that is easy to download and play for most. Lossless wave files may not be accepted, for example.
- YouTube videos and other streaming services are acceptable.
- Additional rules may be set by the host.
Pixel Art Competitions
- Your entry must be pixel art. Pixel art is generally drawn or refined on a pixel-by-pixel basis to convey meaning with limited space and colors.
- Obvious use of line, shape or other tools that affect the quality of your submission with no clear effort to hide the usage of those tools will result in the disqualification of your entry. For example, MS Paint's circle tool produces a more jagged edge instead of one that is smoother in appearance.
- Sprite animations, sprite sheets, etc. will still be allowed as long as the medium used to create them is pixel art.
Vector art has traditionally not been allowed in these competitions because it would give Sprite Competitions too much overlap with Drawing Competitions. Pixel art versus vector art may also not be a level playing field, so we're keeping up this tradition and changing the name to make more sense considering what is or isn't allowed.
Recommended length for a Pixel Art Competition is one to two weeks.
The Voting Process
Once the deadline has been reached, the voting process may begin.
- If there are at least six entries, we will proceed to the Top Five Voting phase. During this phase, members are asked to select their top five favorites out of the entries provided. As with both voting phases, this is done simply by listing the name of the submitter. You must vote for five entries, or your vote will not be accepted.
- Once the Top Five have been selected, or there are five or less entries total, it is time for the Final Voting phase. During this phase, you must vote by submitting the name of the submitter of your favorite entry. You may only vote for one entrant.
- You must not vote for yourself or any project you have worked on during any phase of the voting process.
The Reward
- Badges will be awarded to first place, second place and the remainder of the top five entrants.
- The first place winner will be the next competition's host.
- The runner up will be the next competition's host if the first place winner has won twice in a row.
Spectator Etiquette
- Please keep any feedback constructive in nature, including concerns with the host's chosen rules and theme.
- Please do not post comments that disparage other entrants by stating that a particular entry will win at any stage.
- Please keep any complaints about how other people are voting to yourself.
Please feel free to post any comments, concerns, questions, suggestions, etc below!