Summer vacation is just around the corner, and if the weather hasn't heaten things up around here, then a hot new competition should do the trick! Our forum dwellers have been discussing ideas for an engine-based contest that is sure to appeal to casual developers and veteran MMFusionists alike.

Here's the story thus far: One of our users would submit a premade game engine for Multimedia Fusion, and all entrants into the contest would have to make their own game from this engine. Contestants would not be able to edit the engine in any way, so the challenge lies in creating a uniquely awesome game without touching the base coding. The cool part about this idea is that with the engine already coded and finished, contestants wouldn't have to spend time building their own engine from scratch, and could focus their effort on the more stylish aspects of game development - the graphics, level design, sound, music, and gameplay gimmicks. The whole concept sounds like a wonderful excuse to make something quick and fun over the summer, which of course means that we'd get to play a bunch of new games! ^_^

The competition is still in its planning phase, of course, and we are trying to decide on an engine to use. Should we use something open-ended, like a simple shoot-em-up or platform engine, or should we challenge our contestants with something ultra-specific like a turn-based strategy or falling block engine? If you have an engine that you'd like us to take into consideration, post it on the forum thread and let us know your ideas!

Click here to head over to the forum topic.