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Hello. I'm Hythrain, one of the hosts for this event.

I was playing your game on stream today. While I had planned to send you the VOD later, something occurred that takes precedent. While I was exploring the game, I saw the little Party button and decided to click it, causing the animation of Niko running around my desktop. Because I'm streaming and need to focus on the game, I force closed the game and reopened it only for Niko to confront me for doing so. When he asked if I'd apologize, I said no... at which point the game triggered a command to my computer to shut down completely...

While I was streaming.

In order to ensure this wasn't some pure coincidence, I even did it all a second time. Again, it was shut down.

I'm assuming that you have coding set up to do this if the player doesn't apologize. This can be seen as a form of malware and is NOT appreciated in games submitted to this event. As such, I have no choice but to disqualify your game. I can still send you the VOD for some feedback on the game if you wish, though.

Hi! Appreciate you taking the time to test the game.

First of all, it's definitely not malware, just a harmless fourth-wall meta mechanic — no files or system settings are touched or damaged. You could easily verify this yourself, as the open-source code is linked directly on the game page via GitHub.

Refusing to apologize to Niko is a serious offense, and the World Machine does not forgive such actions! Testing it a second time mid-stream knowing full well what would happen was a bold move, though. I'm not going to remove this punishment, but will ensure the game doesn't turn off your pc when OBS or other streaming program is active. 

I respect the event rules and your decision to disqualify the game, but I'd still love to get the VOD link to see the reaction. Thanks anyway!

To be fair, a program that does something undesired by the user constitutes being malware. So even if you mean it as a harmless joke mechanic, it still can be considered malware.

I would say making the game close is a good idea. That's more in line with what other devs do and what people would find acceptable.

It'll be a few more days before the VOD is ready, but it'll be there in time.