How long can a challenge specification be?

Question

Recently I had the idea to create a KotH challenge based on a card game (played with regular 52 cards). I then began drafting the rules of the game and the interface method.

The thing is, I was taken aback by how lengthy the specification of the challenge is. The Markdown file that contains my draft is more than 8kB, and I'm not even finished yet.

I know that KotH specifications are longer than those of regular challenges, but I would like to avoid them being too long.

So, these are the question I would like to ask:

• How long can a challenge specification be (depending on the type of challenge)?
• Are there general tips to reduce the length of a challenge specification (especially KotH)? Note that the game in question has many variations and optional rules, so I need to crearly define which rules we use.

Answer 1

A Challenge Spec can be up to 65536 characters in length.

Thanks to @StepHen for that number.

However, despite this, a maximum of ~30,000 characters (closer to 33,000) is required for the sandbox, which is heavily recommended for questions. Therefore, I would recommend cutting a challenge down to 30,000 characters to allow posting in the sandbox.

Now for some tips on cutting challenges down to size.

Don't over explain.

When I am trying to make my challenges more brief, I find it easiest to remove sections that reexplain sections. For example, if I explain a rule using a bullet point, I tend to reexplain it later using an example. Getting rid of unnecessary examples helps a lot, and although retaining test cases is a good idea, examples that illustrate simple steps are often unnecessary.

Make the challenge simpler.

If all else fails to cut your spec down to a reasonable size, sometimes removing cumbersome rules that require paragraphs of explanation will do the trick. As you are asking specifically about a KoTH, golfing your controller may also help (if you are including it in you spec as code, and not just a link). Some excessively complex rules can make a challenge less fun, as well as give it a much longer spec. Remember, nobody wants to read a 50,000 character wall of text that just explains a bunch of boring, obscure rules designed to cover every possible edge case. If you need to explain that an edge case is not allowed, you can even do it in a comment on your question, if the explanation is making your spec to cumbersome.