Renowned game developer (and space traveller) Richard Garriott wants a modern-day port of the teletype RPG
D&D #1, which he programmed in 1977, and to get it he's calling for developers to take part in a
public competition to see who can port it best.
"Richard Garriott's
D&D #1 Contest" started yesterday and runs for 30 days, ending May 15. Until then, anyone may submit a fully working, faithful recreation of
D&D #1 as either a Unity game or a browser game that does not require any additional plug-ins.
The contest seems fairly standard, but there is a catch that might bother some game creators, as Garriott is asking
all participating developers to cede their rights to their work to him, going so far as to require them to add “© 1977-2014 Richard Garriott” to their submissions.
After May 15, two winners will be chosen from both the Unity and non-Unity submissions, for four winners total. Each will be granted a "Citizen Level" pledge reward from his
Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter campaign, which contest organizers value at roughly $550.
In addition, the four runners up -- two in each category -- will be given a "Collector" level pledge reward from the same campaign, valued at roughly $165.
History buffs, take note: Garriott has made scanned printouts of the the BASIC source code for
D&D #1 available for free as part of the contest.
