Our third developer competition has started, which brings up an important topic: rules. We want every aspect of indiePub to be as transparent as possible, from the publishing process to the rules, so let's have an open discussion and see what questions, concerns, or confusions that anyone has. Post any questions in the comments on this article, or in this forum thread. You can also contact me at admin@2beegames.com.

First, here is the legal text of the rules. I have to add a disclaimer that what I say here is just for reference; it's just to help you understand the legal text more clearly.

Here is how this contest works:

• Developers make and submit their games to the contest by July 31.
  
• Our panel of awesome judges looks through all the games and determines the grand prize winner, as well as the 5 Public Recognition winners.
  
• The community votes on the Community Favorite game.

That seems simple enough. I think most of the questions revolve around the publishing deal. Let's answer some right now:

• Who is the publisher?
  The publisher is Zoo Games. Zoo is the owner of indiePub. Zoo publishes casual games, and thinks there are great partnerships to be made with indie developers. You can learn a bit about the history of the company and its goals for indiePub in this video with its CEO, Mark Seremet.
  
  
• Is the grand prize winner forced to take the publishing deal?
  No, the grand prize winner just takes the cash, and Zoo gets the "right of first negotiation and last match". "First negotiation" means that after the contest, Zoo will present the developer with the terms for a publishing offer. The developer can accept it and work out a deal with Zoo if he chooses to, but is not obligated to do so. "Last match" means that if the developer decides to get his game published by another publisher, they need to show Zoo the offer and see if they want to match it.
  
  
• What's in it for the publisher?
  Why do we want to give away so much money? What's the catch? Aren't publishers evil?
  These are important concerns, because publishers are often perceived as the opposite of indies: whereas indie developers are focused on creative expression, publishers are focused on money. So how do we reconcile these issues? Well, with indiePub, we are specifically addressing some common concerns from the start. We don't want to impose creative limitations. We aren't going to be sneaky with restrictive terms. We aren't going to be bullies with IP ownership.
  
  We are able to do this because we know that passionate, talented developers will make a great game if that enthusiasm is sustained. Traditional developers are generally composed of large teams of people, some of whom are working just to work, leading to large production and management overhead; this requires a more formal and structured publishing relationship.
  
  Since indie developers are generally tiny teams or even single people, they have a lot to gain, and since they are super-passionate about the games they make, we feel that they don't need an extra bureaucratic impetus: they are already going to make an awesome game, so we're not going to get in the way. We're just going to give them what they need to do it.
  
  So in conclusion: we pick awesome developers, and we make them happy. They make awesome games, making everyone happy. We want to work with indie developers as partners, not as a hierarchal relationship.
  
  
• What does a publisher offer me?
  We can get you the resources you need to make your game: money, tools, development kits, and sandwiches. We can even get another development studio to handle large portions of the game, leaving you to focus on the design. Additionally, Zoo has international retail capabilities, and can get your game out as boxes copies into stores onto any platform. If you want to do digital distribution, we can handle all of the administrative headache that comes with working out an XBLA or PSN deal, letting you focus entirely on making your game.
  
  
• Who can get a publishing deal?
  It's not just the grand prize winner: anyone that has an awesome game can be approached to work out a publishing deal. It doesn't even have to be in the contest. We want to publish every awesome game on our site that is worth publishing. It can be big or small; even if you just need a little bit of money to finish your Steam-only game, we could work something out with you.
  
  
• NEW!
  Who owns the entries?
  You do. Here is the section in question:
  
  
  Entrants retain ownership of the Games they submit, however, by entering you, on behalf of yourself and any Third Party Creators, grant Contest Entities the perpetual, fully-paid, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to display, exhibit, modify for use on our websites, transmit, the Games in any manner, form, or format now or hereinafter created, including on the internet, and for the purpose, of the Contest Entities and the Contest Entities' goods and/or services limited to, the hosting of the games on the site, advertising or promotion of the Contest and the Contest Website without further consent from or payment to you, Third Party Creators or any other third parties.
  
  What this means is that by submitting the game, you allow us to use the game on our website for the purposes of the contest. An example of this would be us posting a promotion or article saying, "Hey, try out this developer's game, it's really cool and it won second place in the contest!"

Here are some other questions that have been brought up:

• Can non-US/Canadian developers enter the contest?
  Absolutely! Any developer can enter their game in the contest and be eligible to win. The Gamer Sweepstakes, on the other hand, are just for US and Canadian residents.
  
• What kind of games can I enter in the contest? Can I submit iPhone games?
  We're working on allowing any game for any platform. Help us work out the details of how to best show off your games to everyone else! There is an ongoing discussion in the forums about the best way to integrate iPhone and Android games in the contest.

Keep the questions coming! We want the contest to work for you, so let us know about any issues you have.