Welcome ...

... to the 28th bridge building contest. This Bridge Construction Set/Pontifex II contest is free for everyone to enter. Chronic Logic has released a special demo for the contest. The download link is below, but please read the rules carefully first.

If you are new to the game or use the demo, please note the hints for beginners at the end of this page!

The Goals

In Contest 28 there are 3 rule categories: NORMAL, EXPERT and ARTISTIC.

• NORMAL and EXPERT bridges should be as cost-effective as possible,
• ARTISTIC bridges should be original, good-looking or crazy bridges (costs don't count).

The Rules

For NORMAL bridges:

1. The bridge must work without breaking any links.
2. Both decks must be strictly horizontal (i.e. the decks may NOT be curved) in edit mode.
3. The bridge must work (the 'test passed' message must appear) with the following delays (the time shown to the bottom right): 0:30, 0:45 and 1:00 Minutes.
4. Bridge links may NOT touch/penetrate the level terrain (i.e. only touch the ground at the anchor points) throughout the complete simulation (all phases).
5. The bridge may NOT have gaps.
6. The trains may NOT touch the water.
7. The ships may NOT touch any bridge material (every pixel counts; this would be against the rule).
8. In order not to overcomplicate things: Trains MAY go through/touch bridge material.

For EXPERT bridges:

1. Broken links are ok.
2. Both trains must use at least one full-size deck piece in common!
3. The bridge must work (the 'test passed' message must appear) with zero delay (pause, reset, test).
4. Bridge links MAY touch/penetrate the level terrain.
5. The bridge MAY have gaps.
6. The trains MAY touch the water.
7. The ships and trains MAY go through/touch bridge material.

For ARTISTIC bridges:

• Everything is allowed.
• The bridge must work (the 'test passed' message must appear) with a delay specified by the architect (that means: it's sufficient if the bridge works reliably with e.g. 17 seconds but not with any other delay).

For ALL bridges:

• Editing the level is strictly prohibited.
• You may NOT exploit bugs or flaws in the game engine (e.g rigid suspension cable).

Level submission

In short:

1. rename your file as described below (saves me a lot of work),
2. compress the file with zip or rar,
3. make sure this is the file you want to send because you are not allowed to send more than two bridges per category,
4. send your bridge to info@bridgebuilder-game.com as described below.

If you use the demo:

The file containing your bridge is named 'contest28.pfb' and it's located in the folder 'Bridge Construction Set Contest\profile\default\demo'. If you've finished your bridge, rename the file to:

• NORMAL bridges: 'N-[6 digit cost]-[your name].pfb' (without the brackets, e.g. 'N-012345-Guilderoy.pfb'; if your costs are below 100.000 please use a leading zero)
• EXPERT bridges: 'E-[6 digit cost]-[your name].pfb' (without the brackets, e.g. 'E-011111-Guilderoy.pfb')
• ARTISTIC bridges: 'A-[Yourname].pfb' (without the brackets, e.g. 'A-Guilderoy.pfb')

WARNING: You can't load a renamed file in the demo, so once you rename your bridge, you will have to rename it back to contest28.pfb if you want to edit it again. This makes working on your bridges a bit tedious. With the full version you can just use 'save as' to save your bridge using the correct name and 'load bridge' to load it up again.

Compress the file with RAR or ZIP, attach it to an e-mail and send it to info@bridgebuilder-game.com.

If you use the full version:

Your bridges will be located in your profile folder. Rename your file like described above and then compress it with RAR or ZIP!

The e-mail subject must read "[NORMAL/EXPERT/ARTIST] Cost: xxx Name: yyy". Use these e-mail links to make sure you get it right:

• NORMAL
• EXPERT
• ARTISTIC

The contest ends at 18:00 GMT on Sunday, January 8th. I take no responsibility for e-mail servers being too slow for your e-mail to reach me in time, etc.

I'll put up a list of received entries in the forum during the contest.

The number of bridges you submit is limited to two per category. In case of NORMAL and EXPERT bridges the last submission will count, both artistic bridges count.

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

General comments on the level and the contest are warmly welcome and should be posted here [link follows]. This forum thread is also the right place to discuss the rules. If you are unsure whether or not your bridge meets all the requirements, contact me for a clarification before submitting your entry.

Breaking, bending or scratching any of the above rules will result in disqualification.

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

The Prizes

Chronic Logic give away four full versions of any Chronic Logic game (e.g. Bridge Construction Set, Gish) to the winners. One game will be awarded to the architects of the cheapest working NORMAL and EXPERT bridges. Additionally, you can win two games that will be given away by a lottery. Everybody who submitted a working bridge will take part in the lottery. If either of the two winners declines their prize, as has frequently happened in the past, their prize shall be added to the lottery. 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 'NORMAL' bridges:

• Winner: Eternal glory and admiration, the title of 'Bridge General', 10 points and a red/gold medal for the Hall of Fame, and the full version of any Chronic Logic game,
• 1st Runner-up: Temporary glory and admiration, the title of 'Bridge Major', 6 points and a red/silver medal for the Hall of Fame,
• 2nd Runner-up: Momentary glory and admiration, the title of 'Bridge Captain', 3 points and a red/bronze medal for the Hall of Fame.

For the cheapest working 'EXPERT' bridges:

• Winner: Eternal respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Experts King', 12 points and a dark blue/gold medal for the Hall of Fame, and the full version of any Chronic Logic game,
• 1st Runner-up: Temporary respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Experts Lord', 8 points and a dark blue/silver medal for the Hall of Fame,
• 2nd Runner-up: Momentary respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Experts Knight', 5 points and a dark blue/bronze medal for the Hall of Fame.

Additional awards:

• The Title of 'Bridge Artist' for the best-looking ARTISTIC entry (2 points for the Hall of Fame).
• The Title of 'Bridge Inventor' for the most creative entry (2 points for the Hall of Fame).
• 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. Their names will also appear in the eternal Hall Of Fame.

The Level

The BCS Contest Demo version including the contest 28 level is available for Windows only at the moment. The fate of a possible Linux and OSX version is unclear but they might follow in a few days.
Windows: bcs_contest.exe (5681 KB)
Linux: bcscondemo.tar.gz (6877 KB)
OSX: bcs_contest.dmg (9424 KB)

If you only need the contest level (you own the full version), download it here:
contest28.zip (4 KB)
Unzip the archive into the 'files' folder and load it from the main menu using 'Load Level'.

Some Hints

If you use the demo and you're new to the game, you should play through the five demo levels first, in order to learn some basic bridge building skills.

I strongly recommend you read the Manual, study the record bridges from the DWN-site and the winning bridges in former contests (especially contest 22) and finally check out the forum in case you're not very familiar with the common bridge building techniques.

Good Luck!

The full version of BCS can be purchased for $19.95 directly from Chronic Logic: http://www.chroniclogic.com/pontifex2order.htm