Thank you for questions. We received your email but will answer your questions here in case other people have similar questions.
- We are not necessarily interested in a "long game" or even in replayability. If you look at some of the previous winning games that might help to provide some idea of the scope of the games we've received in the past. Although we are very impressed with the skill of the developers and designers who have entered our contest - we also have seen that often it is the idea behind the game that is its most compelling aspect. (I was going to suggest some specific games but as some of the teams who made those games might enter again this year I want to avoid any appearance of favoritism or bias. Please explore some of our other games and you'll see that some are longer and some are much shorter.)
- We fully appreciate your concerns about source code and game assets. We are requesting these in advance mostly due to our own mistakes: we did not require these in advance - and sometimes never requested them afterwards. This has caused many problems for us as, for example, some of the Flash-based games or Unity Player games don't have the source code or assets so that we can port them to another platform. At this point many of these games will not be playable any longer. The good news though is that we've been doing this since 2008 and have never had any problems or complaints about respecting the IP rights of the teams who enter our contest. (I actually have a law degree with one of my focus areas being IP due to my technology background.)
- Any funds received by the entrants are theirs to do with as they wish. The money can be used for school - or for whatever they choose. Likewise for the prize money we will be giving to schools - although our hope is that those schools do use the funds for purposes related to video games and education.
I hope that this is helpful. I recognize that there is a lot of information here (and in the rules) and will be happy to explain or clarify anything else you might want to know.
Thank you again and good luck!