In my bordom I started on a small Sim-City (thats really pushing it) engine, because the contest has not been announced I will postpone Gnome Quest and work on this game in the mean time.
Engine Description (because it doesn't work yet)
10 Building "plots™" and a wall are on screen which are really sprites. When clicked on a build menu appears and you can build a building based on your resources, buildings will give you stuff like weapons and more health.
The wall helps you in the Defense minigame where you are attacked "basically gnome defender with some added stuff.
The way you get resources is by look on the map and going to locations, fighting off anything you see and collecting your goal.
I think it shall Zombie-Gnome themed.