You're right. There are only two rules that are actually enforced. The 1-source-file limit, and the rule-o-matic's selection. I just set that as a rule to enforce that it be as easy to run as possible. It should compile for everyone, and the only things that they should have to have are a C(++) compiler and Allegro. I need to re-write the main page of the site to clarify this and other rules, as it is written very porrly right now.

[append]
Okay, good thing I did that, because I uncovered a rather serious bug in the rule selector. Anyways, I think everything is written much more nicely now, and the current competition page will reiterate the rules when the time comes.

Media files are disallowed to add a restriction to the competition, which is to keep it simple. Just personal preference, I suppose. By the way, rule submitters, I am not opposed to requiring entries to use a certain media file that you provide.

A main character bitmap and an enemy bitmap would be nice.

I kind of doubt that, with an hour to do the code and the media, anyone would have much more than simple programmer's art. All allowing media files would do is enable graphics a bit more 'flavorful' and versatile than colored circles and squares.
Also, I'm generally opposed to setting rules of a competition with the purpose of dragging down the quality of everyone's entries just because I can't get that quality myself ... ie, removing drawing just because I can't draw.

How does that "keep it simple"? I don't see any particular extra trouble in running entries that include a few media files along with their single source file. And allegro makes bitmap loading and rendering totally straightforward. Making bitmaps is pretty trivial, too -- just spend a minute clicking in MS Paint, and you get comically bad media files for the cost of a bathroom break. Easier than trying to make anything interesting out of circles and squares, probably.

Just write ANSI code + Allegro and no #pragma's etc and you should be ok i think.

Personally, I added the rules "just the mouse", "no text", "bananas", "something undestructible wants to kill the player who must destroy something". "upside-down", "l33t", "politcs" and "pig and cow".
I added "argc/argv" too, but you declined.

I always was forced to include <winalleg.h> whenever I wanted to use STL, as its implementations I was using were including <windows.h> indirectly, which conflicted with Allegro (especially BITMAP structure). Also Allegro doesn't have high resolution timers, so they can't be easily replaced.

I'm not sure whether I'll have time to enter the compo when it starts, but I'm planning to include compatibility version of "winalleg.h" for Linux users (included below), so dropping this file to compile directory will hopefully solve all problems.

#include <sys/time.h>

unsigned long long timeGetTime()
{
        timeval T;
        gettimeofday(&T,0);
        return ((long long)T.tv_sec)*1000+T.tv_usec/1000;
}

You can do that whether art is allowed or not. Actually, the time limit alone pretty much requires it -- if you were to 'focus' on art, you probably just wouldn't finish.

Adding art gives more room for creativity, and doesn't add any more work than an entrant wants. I'm sure anyone entering this will have to be quite good at managing their time anyway: No need to pretend to manage it for them, and go banning things because you think they wouldn't have time for it.

And adding media files opens up the range of ideas that can be coherently represented ... with no drawbacks, because everyone is still free, of course, to not use media files.

Do you? Really? Are you sure it doesn't just encourage use of circle() instead of blit() ...

I thought it was about making games, not just code.

A good competition would choose rules that improve the competition, and would be able to justify those rules. Just adding completely arbitrary restrictions, well, it might make the competition arbitrarily worse.

If that's fine, it just emphasizes how pointless the no-media rule is ...

I think the "one source file only, nothing else" is good. I think it's very suitable for such a short competition. It's also fun to work with something else than bitmaps. It gives you the opportunity to express yourself in a way that in any other game would look bad.

It also feels 1337.

I rest my case.

Well, if all goes well I should be in this one! This could be really nice, as it is possible to convert games made for this into finished products eventually.

[EDIT]
is END_OF_MAIN(); still necessary on Linux?

Pretty neat! A little long though, might tweak the physics a little.

No -- it's all good. It'll still be a fun competition, and I'll put in an effort as long as I can be around that hour. Glad you're going through the trouble of hosting it!

(I'm way too happy to get argumentative ... really, I think the media thing is a pretty minor point. There's no time to do art anyway!)

Okay, glad to see so much participation! Personally, I will have a lot of trouble playing. I am presently on vacation at some resort, and the rooms don't have internet. I have a phone with the internet (how I am typing this), and a laptop. I'll be playing, of course, but it might take me a while to finish my judging.

Speaking of judging, I think we should use the Borda method of voting. First place gets n points, second gets n - 1, ... last gets 0 points.

Also, as soon as I get some free time, I'll be writing a "past entries" page on the site, with everyone's progress at the end of the hour.

I imagine I could write software to do that, but the provided software uses the OS's features, which make sure that "data service" and "tethered dial-up networking" are not active at the sae time. I know that's a single bit in the config, but it's a 30/mo bit. Anyways, I can transfer data over the storage card.