BridgeBuilder-Game.com logo
 BCS/Pontifex II Contest 16



Welcome to the sixteenth 'kinda monthly' bridge building contest!
It's about building Bridge Construction Set/Pontifex II bridges. Everyone is welcome to enter. The full version of BCS/Pontifex II is required.


The Goal

For the uncertain, the goal is to build the cheapest, most original, best-looking or craziest bridge possible that allows the train to complete the level, while obeying the following simple rules...


The Rules - read carefully!!

There are 2 main bridge categories: 'clean' and 'dirty', and the additional 'artistic' category.

For 'clean' bridges:

1. The deck along which the train travels must be horizontal, i.e. on the same level as the uppermost anchor points, in edit mode.

2. Hydraulics are allowed.

3. The train must pass the bridge without breaking any links and without ever touching the water.

4. The bridge must work ('test passed') with any train delay beyond the 'settling point' (architects should include the required settling time in game seconds in the bridge description).

4b. Update: The bridge must be supported only at the anchor points.

For 'dirty' bridges:

5. Hydraulics are not allowed.

6. The deck along which the train travels may be angled or arched.

7. The bridge must work ('test passed') reliably with a train delay specified by the architect (again, in game seconds in the bridge description).

For 'clean' and 'dirty' bridges

8. The ships may not touch any part of the bridge.

9. For the sake of simplicity, bridge/train intersections and bridge/ground intersections are allowed.

10. You may not exploit bugs or flaws in the game engine.

For 'artistic' bridges:

11. Modifying the budget is allowed, however I don't think this will be necessary :)

For all bridges:

12. Save your bridge in a .PFB file. It will be located in your profile folder. Compress it with RAR or ZIP! Then attach it to an e-mail and send it to contest@bridgebuilder-game.com.

13. The e-mail subject must read "[CLEAN/DIRTY] Cost: xxx Name: yyy" or "ARTIST Name: xxx Cost: yyy". No dollar signs ($), no punctuation in the bridge cost. My subject line would be "CLEAN Cost: 12345 Name: Chillum". Use these e-mail links to make sure you get it right: Clean, Dirty, Artistic.

14. The contest ends at 9:00 PM CEST (7:00 PM GMT) on December 1st. I take no responsibility for e-mail servers being too slow for your e-mail to reach me in time, etc. You will get an automatic e-mail reply when an entry is received.

15. Strictly ONE bridge per category per participant is allowed, no exceptions. ALL bridges count as 'artistic' as well, so you don't have to submit your 'clean' bridge twice to get the Bridge Artist title.

16. Any discussions on contest bridge costs are to be kept in this special sub-forum. For your own good, it is password-protected. To get the password, first read this.

17. Breaking, bending or scratching any of the above rules will result in disqualification. If you are unsure whether or not your bridge meets all the requirements, contact me for a clarification before submitting your entry.

18. In the event of a tie, the entry I receive first will be rated better.


The Prizes

Following some discussion in the forum, and to try to encourage entries from people who might feel they have little chance of winning against the 'Bridge Gods', I have decided to implement the following plan for prize distribution:

1. Prizes are awarded, as usual, to the cheapest working bridge in each category.
2. If either of these prizewinners declines their prize, as has frequently happened in the past, their prize shall be awarded to the best newcomer in that category.

For this contest I define 'newcomer' as anyone who does not appear in the Hall of Fame.

I should stress that handing down of prizes is totally up to the winners, however I'm sure most of the contest regulars would be happy to support the bridge-building community in this way.

This means that even if you never entered a contest before, there's a really good chance you can win a prize this time! So don't be shy! Send in your bridges! :)

For the cheapest working 'clean' bridges:

Winner: Eternal glory and admiration, the title of 'Bridge General'
and the full version of any Chronic Logic game
1st Runner-up: Temporary glory and admiration, the title of 'Bridge Major'
2nd Runner-up: Momentary glory and admiration, the title of 'Bridge Captain'

For the cheapest working 'dirty' bridges:

Winner: Eternal respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Don'
and the full version of any Chronic Logic game
1st Runner-up: Temporary respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Mafioso'
2nd Runner-up: Momentary respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Bandit'

Additional awards:

- The Title of 'Bridge Artist' for the best-looking entry
- The Title of 'Bridge Inventor' for the most creative entry
- Possible additional Special Titles as I see fit :)

Many thanks to Chronic Logic for providing the prizes!

The winners will be announced soon after the contest ends. They will have the right to register on the Forum completely free of charge and bear the best of their titles there forever. Their names will also appear in the eternal Hall Of Fame.


The Level

Put the file in the 'files' folder and load it from the main menu using 'Load Level'.

Thanks to ead and others for pointing out a rather horrendous bug with the original contest level!
I'm not sure how this happened, but I apologise sincerely to everyone who encountered this bug. This has now been fixed, hopefully there'll be no further problems.

Contest 16 level (ZIP)


Some Hints

I suggest you read the Manual and check out the forum in case you're not very familiar with the common bridge building techniques.


Good Luck!

All content (c) 2001-2006 Gray/Guilderoy. All rights reserved.