This year’s Sonic Hacking Contest has opened its gates for would-be game hackers to show off their skill and creativity once again.
Running from Monday 20th November to Sunday 26th November, the Sonic Hacking Contest pitches the most cool and unusual Sonic game hacks the community has to offer to the public and judging panel in order to see which ones stand out as the best of the pack.
Alongside this will be a number of side shows such as the usual Hacking Expo that allows entrants to cut loose and show off, and other events to be announced closer to the contest period. There are some pretty notable attendees to be seen during the Interactive Contest Week, with confirmed streamers including SomecallmeJohnny, MegaGWolf, AntDude and many more to be revealed.
In order to provide a better experience for those playing the hacks, this year will introduce Quality Control Criteria that every hack has to meet in order to qualify for the contest. Essentially, make sure your hack is of a good standard before submitting. Joke entries aren’t allowed in the contest, but as long as it meets the QCC it can still be put forward for the Hacking Expo.
The deadline for preliminary submissions is October 29th. Following this, contest entrants will be allowed to refine their builds until the final build upload deadline of November 5th. If you are entering your hack into the expo and not the contest, the deadline for refinement is November 12th instead.
If you wish to read more about the contest or submit your own work, the Sonic Hacking Contest now has its own dedicated website. Because of this, any downtime issues that were experienced in the past should be mitigated. Please note that you need to have a verified Sonic Retro or SSRG account to submit entries.