ok first questions asked....

Quote Originally Posted by SilverWarior View Post
I got a few questions?
Yes, I conclude that you do indeed have questions! Next question! (sorry been up since 6am and it's now midnight and I'm a little loopy on caffeine)

Quote Originally Posted by SilverWarior View Post
Does the "protagonist" have to be visible in game? Idea of a game where you are controlling your whole kingdom from kings point of wiew. You are just isuing orders which are caried out by your units. These units aren't even rendered in the game as the king isn't able to see them when they are on the other side of the kingdom.
There must be at least "A" protagonist meaning there must be at least one conceptualized within the game. This could be the king himself... animate him standing up to make a "decree" which is your selected orders... just a thought. If selecting from a list of "dialog" and/or text options or some kind of button interface that would be somewhat indirect I believe.

Quote Originally Posted by SilverWarior View Post
Can I make a game where I as a captian controll the ship by simply isueing orders like (turn left, turn right, set heading to, hoist all sails, fire port cannons, etc.)?
Well to be clear, if you are simple making a virtual controller UI that directly controls the game, this does not fall within the spirit of the challenge and shouldn't be considered a valid means of INdirectly controlling your protagonist(s), however if you were issuing commands like a captain and then the crew were listening and then independently reacting (perhaps even with some kind of balanced delay to make sure it's known and to add a challenge to playing the game?) then that would indeed exactly fall in-line within the context of challenge theme.

Quote Originally Posted by SilverWarior View Post
How much autonomy could my "protagonists" have? Can I make a game where my characters are compleetly autonomus (I don't even need to isue any commands)?
You can use any level of autonomy you deem fit. In this challenge theme you cannot use too much autonomously "controlled" characters Protagonist or any other kind in your game. Specification of AUTOMATION is merely a suggestion to highlight one of the ways you would likely be able to achieve the goal of a functioning protagonist in lieu of it being controlled directly by the player of the game. In this theme it might also just be a great way to add more factors to this kind of enforced game mechanics.


If anyone else has any questions of the sort, I'm an open book.

WARNING: Humour may ensue over the next few hours. I've been up for a bit and working on my current project it half driving me mad. Oh and caffeine helps too.