http://appdeveloper.intel.com/en-us/blog/2010/06/09/country-connect-solves-puzzle-as-winning-educational-netbook-app

Without this post I never would have made that game, so again: thanks a lot!

I spent about 10 days on it, based on a very crystal clear idea i had, was able to re-use a lot of code (and particularly, /experience/, which sounds more obvious than it is). And now I’m happy because a) I’ve finished a game (my current project is going very well but is a large scale project) and b) maybe I’ll be accepted!

I still have to get it integrated with their API, which I don’t consider to be risk-free, but fingers crossed!

Ohhh my game is called Paradise Perfect Boat Rescue.

http://sykhronics.pastebin.com/kx2PN7Lb

There is a bunch of stuff going on here, but practically speaking, the Intel part is only the lines/calls with ADP in the name. Of course, you’ll want to butter-up the user experience a bit with error messages, just so they know what’s going on.

P.S. Nice Bohnanza avatar jovoc.

Their developer site is funny, it’s like a carbon copy of the apple dev site but tinged with cloying desperation. I wish the platform were more homogeneous, that’s one of the big draws of the iPhone, but seems like a good opportunity if I find some time for porting.

- 70/30 royalty split (like every cool distribution system)
- Royalty Payments are via Paypal.
- Pay-outs appear to be every 4 weeks (28 days), though the contract says monthly.
- The market is still very new, and though a beta client is available for Windows, don’t expect it to be a notably profitable market until an OEM (Acer, Dell, Samsung, etc…) ships the store on a device (coming soon).

You can go “just Windows” or “just Linux” if you want. Practically speaking though, the Windows market will be bigger (meaning more chances to earn money from downloads). But for making the deadline, you could get away with just a Linux version. If I remember reading correctly, you need both an RPM and a DEB installer if you’re going the Linux route. I haven’t finished my Linux installers yet.

MeeGo (formerly known as Moblin) is, as far as I know, is 32bit. There’s no reason it can’t be 64bit, but I’m pretty sure all the downloads at moblin.com are 32bit. In the future they’ll probably support 64bit, but for now it’s all 32bit. You can grab a live disc, and put it on a USB key if you want to try it out.

As for as libraries, I think anything you want is allowed. I used SDL 1.2 in my winning game, which is an LGPL library. The stock moblin installs also tend to include SDL as part of the distro, so that’s helpful.

The DRM is a simple “.lib” file or “.a” file you link against. In the easiest case, they’re a very basic “am I authorized yes/no” C or C++ function you can call. Yes, you could technically put the DRM calls in a simple C program that then starts a python interpreter after passing validation.

Do you think that (Linux only) will affect chances of winning? It’s really the bragging rights I’m after

I think Intel will be fair. MeeGo (Moblin) is an important project to them. It’s a standardized alternative to Windows that will cost the PC OEM’s nothing to use. Plus once the store is filled with useful apps and games, it wont really matter that you’re not on Windows. MeeGo (Moblin) should eventually let the OEM’s shave like $40-50 off a price of a Netbook, which should some day bring them down to ridiculously low prices like $200 and $150. So in the short term, to make the most of it, I do think Windows is where to be. But in the long term, like 2-3 years from now, Linux will definitely become a cost leader.

That’s just my opinion though. I’m a bit of a Netbook and portable/mobile gaming nut, and winning the prizes has certainly colored my opinion of the market. Truth be told, we have no idea what will happen, but Netbooks are certainly one market I’m optimistic of.