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Welcome ...

... to the 30th 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!

This contest is a special for Soccer Word Cup 2006 in Germany. As the world watches TV you are invited to build some magnificent and mind-blowing bridges in BCS again. The setting gives YOU the task of building a roof over the huge stadium. But in order to take care of the grass, it's also your job to let the sun [or shall I say ships ;-) ] in ...

You might ask if boats are supposed to fall out of the sky and crush your bridge ... hmm, yes! Use hydraulics to prevent that!

First place (cheapest working bridge) in the 'NORMAL' category wins a Radeon® X1600 Pro 256MB PCIe. First place in the 'HARD' category wins a Radeon® X1300 Pro 256MB PCIe. In addition, three other chosen bridges in any category will each win a Chronic Logic game of their choice. All you have to do to take part in the lottery is to send in a working bridge for the level, no matter which category!

The Goals

In Contest 30 there are 3 rule categories: NORMAL, HARD and ARTISTIC.

• NORMAL and HARD 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. (A working bridge means the train can cross the level without a single part of the bridge breaking. The four large ships then fall without breaking any part of the bridge. The bridge can still get the train back across the level without breaking.)
2. The bridge must work (the 'test passed' message must appear) with 0 sec delay (press: simulate | pause | run test | pause).
3. 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).
4. The ships may NOT touch any bridge material (every pixel counts).
5. The decks MAY curve (you don't have to build them horizontal).
6. Trains MAY go through/touch bridge material.

Additional for HARD bridges:

1. You may NOT use cable.

For ARTISTIC bridges:

• Everything - beside editing the level - 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 (if you find any, which I doubt you will).

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. If you have questions or doubts about the rules, post it in the contest 30 general discussion forum

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.

in detail:

If you use the demo

The file containing your bridge is named 'contest30.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)
• HARD bridges: 'H-[6 digit cost]-[your name].pfb' (without the brackets, e.g. 'H-012345-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 contest30.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.

If you own 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!

e-mail

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

• NORMAL
• HARD
• ARTISTIC

Submission deadline

The contest ends at 10 p.m. GMT on Sunday, July 9th. I take no responsibility for e-mail servers being too slow for your e-mail to reach me in time, etc. I've set up a list of received entries in the forum. Your submitted entry should appear there within 3 days!

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

Feedback and discussion

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.

General comments on the level and the contest are warmly welcome and should be posted in the contest 30 general discussion forum. This forum thread is also the right place to discuss the rules - in short: everything else but costs. If you are unsure whether or not your bridge meets all the requirements, contact me for a clarification before submitting your entry (insurance free, until I get mad).

The Prizes

First place in the 'NORMAL' category wins a Radeon® X1600 Pro 256MB PCIe. First place in the 'HARD' category wins a Radeon® X1300 Pro 256MB PCIe. In addition, three other chosen bridges in any category will each win a Chronic Logic game of their choice. 'First place' is defined as the cheapest working bridge being consistent with the rules. All you have to do to take part in the lottery is to send in a working bridge for the level, no matter which category! 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 a Radeon® X1600 Pro 256MB PCIe,
• 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 'HARD' bridges:

• Winner: Eternal respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Don', 10 points and a blue/gold medal for the Hall of Fame, and a Radeon® X1300 Pro 256MB PCIe,
• 1st Runner-up: Temporary respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Mafioso', 6 points and a blue/silver medal for the Hall of Fame,
• 2nd Runner-up: Momentary respect and awe, the title of 'Bridge Bandit', 3 points and a 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 ATI and 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 30 level is available for Windows, Linux and OSX
Windows: bcs_contest.exe (4864 KB)
Linux: bcscondemo.tar.gz (6017 KB)
OSX: bcs_contest.dmg (7084 KB)

If you only need the contest level (you own the full version), download it here:
contest30.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 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

Fuyyzlogik &

The Goals |  The Rules |  Level submission |  Deadline |  Discussion |  Prizes |  Download |  Hints