Please note that these rules can be changed, added to, or removed from at any time. We will notify you in case that happens, by pushing a major announcement through the home page, our Discord server, and our Social Media accounts.
1. Your entry must be based on an existing ROM or game tied to the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise. Homebrew submissions are not accepted.
Hack of Super Mario 64 converting it into a Sonic game.
Custom game engine with imported Sonic game assets.
Hack of a Sonic game turning it into a non-Sonic game.
Hack of a Sonic game introducing new features/content to the game.
Tech demos of console to PC/console conversions are acceptable if based on an existing game and/or disassembly.
Earlier this year, we made a poll considering further additions, in the form of Fan games, entries based on Non-Sonic games, and the likes. After evaluating the public’s response, we have decided not to go through with them. We suggest submitting fan games and other non-Sonic mod material to other fan game events, such as SAGE, and the Chao Games Showcase!
Exceptions
Mods based on Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited can be submitted to the Modern 2D category (Judged and Unjudged).
Mods based on Sonic 1 Forever and Sonic 2 Absolute can be submitted to the Modern 2D category (Unjudged Only).
Other exceptions can be discussed and arranged with the Judges, and will be announced accordingly if enacted.
2. All entries must be playable and cannot prevent judges from playing them if they have been uploaded. Judges have the right to look at your incomplete work if you have submitted it. However, Judges will not allocate trophies based on any incomplete builds, only the last build submitted for the completed entry.
We are going to loosen up our restrictions and start welcoming Joke entries once more. However, these may be held to higher quality standards than the average entry.
Low effort joke/meme entries will still be rejected, at the sole discretion of the Judges.
1. You may submit any given number of entries, provided you follow the below limits:
Judged Entries (Individual): 3 per user
Judged Entries (Teams): Unlimited
Unjudged Entries: Unlimited
2. Your entry must include in-game media such as screenshots and videos. We believe it is the entrant’s job to highlight the best points of their entry through such media, so, unless otherwise stated, Staff will not be making these for you.
3. All submissions must be completed within the website. Potential submissions sent in through other means will not be considered.
4. You must inform what has been changed or explicitly what has not. This is important, and in place to ensure that your entry is evaluated based on its strengths.
Example: A level design entry featuring only some changed levels would only be evaluated based on the changes made to said levels.
This rule especially applies to repeat submitters: Entries that have been previously submitted to the Contest must include a public-facing changelog comparing changes since your last release to the Contest, ensuring that those who are only interested in the new content may choose to play that.
Repeat Entries that include a changelog in private spaces (such as the Media Panel and Judge notes) will have the changelog moved to the Entry description. Repeat Entries that fail to include one at all may be taken down at the discretion of the Judges.
5. Do not include unmodified game files with your entry upload unless strictly required for the game to run. If your entry requires files from the base game they will already be there. There is no need to duplicate them.
6. For Modern 2D and 3D entries specifically, please comment out your UpdateURL. While this will be checked and done on entries anyway, the entry specifically submitted needs this removed so that the version downloaded is specifically this year's contest version, and not auto-updated.
7. For Judged entries, do not release unauthorised updates in the period spanning from the end of the Submission Deadline to the end of Community Voting. Content updates released in that period may result in unfair influence of the Community, which may skew Community voting. Judges reserve the right to immediately disqualify entries that do not follow this rule. If you need to release an update to your Judged entry that fixes game breaking errors, you are asked to first contact the Judges. This rule does not apply to Unjudged entries.
8. Repeat submissions will need to undergo additional Quality Control criteria to ensure that enough changes have been made since their last submission to the Contest. Straight or nearly unchanged rereleases will not be allowed. For more information, please read the Quality Control page.
1. All work used from external sources/contributors (sprites, VGM conversions, etc) must be credited. Entries found with stolen and/or uncredited content will not be tolerated. If anyone suspects an entry to have stolen and/or uncredited content either flag the entry or contact staff as soon as possible.
2. If you have used asset collections such as music packs from the Internet, please be wary that they are known to contain content illegitimately ripped from other entries. Please always double check your original sources. We have had to partially or fully disqualify entries that violated this rule in the past, so there will be no exceptions, regardless of whether these rules were violated in good faith or not.
3. If you are reusing assets from another game (such as its art as part of a level) or other assets not created by you, please mention the game or original location in the credits section of the entry page. An appropriate field is made available on entry pages for you to credit all your work.
4. If your entry requires a user to manually supply assets from another game (for example, due to legal reasons where they must own the game said assets are in, rather than be included in the download itself), you must explicitly state this in the description and give instructions on how they can extract the assets to be used in your entry. You may include extraction or patching tools as an extra download option if this helps to do so. We have allowed similar cases before in previous years, such as with Sonic 3D: Director's Cut in the SHC2017 Expo, where the entry provided an IPS patch and the original ROM was necessary to obtain yourself in order to play it.
5. If your entry includes non-Sonic music content that is known to receive restrictions in mainstream video sharing platforms (e.g. YouTube, Twitch, etc…), you are asked to specify this information in your entry. At the very least, you need to include this in the section of your entry dedicated to the Media Panel.
The general course of action for stolen content is that the participant will have all of their entries removed from the Sonic Hacking Contest.
1. If your entry focuses on inside jokes with no appeal to anyone other than those in the know, the Contest may not be a valid place for it to be shown. Think if your entry will appeal to a larger audience.
2. Regarding controversial content in entries:
• Sexually explicit content such as nudity or any overtly sexual content are not allowed in submissions.
• Offensive content such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, or other forms of unfair discrimination are not allowed in submissions.
• Political statements of any kind, or references to current events such as conflicts or wars regardless of what side are also to be avoided.
• Violence and curse words (swearing) are allowed within reason. Excessive amounts of either may be deemed inappropriate for submission.
It is up to the Staff of the Sonic Hacking Contest to determine what falls in these categories. Judges reserve the right to not accept an entry, or request changes made to an entry, if any of the above guidelines are found to have been violated.
3. Do not make an entry with the sole purpose of just gaming the rules/exploit any loopholes. You'll just be banned, from this year and possibly future years as well. If you have any doubts about the rules, or have learned of potential loopholes, please inform the Staff instead.
4. No private entries. If you want to submit to the Contest your entry must be made available completely to the Public.
5. Give a thought about your target audience. Make sure your entry is not over-complicated to run or unnecessarily bloated. If a mod can be 200MB and easily installed with a mod loader, we don't want to see a 2GB submission that achieves the same thing requiring total file replacement.
6. All entries should be enjoyable for all to play. Please refrain from submitting monotonous, off-putting, or insanely difficult entries (such as "Kaizo" hacks). While these are enjoyable to some we want everyone here to be able to enjoy your entries, and unfortunately these just do not do so to most.
7. All entries are viewed equal regardless of who submits them. Do not be put off with people or collectives well known in the community potentially submitting something that could win trophies - people do not win trophies because of who they are in this community, people win because their entry deserved to win.
Protip: if you're going against a powerhouse that could win many trophies, try competing on one field you're really good at, or one that doesn't get much competition. You might be surprised with the results, and your entry might still manage to be a stand out!
8. While you're generally free to advertise anything you want, be it yourself, or a group or community you may be part of, do not use your entries to advertise any of the following:
• Select individuals or communities that could pose an active threat to the Sonic Hacking Contest and its userbase.
• Paywall gated content (e.g. content behind Patreon pages that require payment to access).
We will make sure to contact you in case of violation before taking action on your entry.
9. Contact us if you have any issue regarding the Contest. While we have many members of SHC Staff available across many corners of the community, we are not omniscient: for the best chance at having your feedback considered, make sure to contact us directly. The best places would be our Discord server, or through our email at shc<.>zone<.>site@gmail<.>com (without the "<>"s).