Pdroms Coding Competition #3.99 - 24.01 - 02.03.2008

[Kojote]

Hello everyone!

It’s time for a new coding competition powered by PDRoms .

Competition running time: 24th January 2008 to 2nd March 2008
Deadline: Sunday, 2nd March 2008 @ 23:59, in YOUR timezone!

Systems allowed: Atari 2600, Coleco Vision, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Game Gear, Genesis/Megadrive, GP2x, Intellivision, Master System, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo DS, PC Engine, Playstation Portable (PSP), Wonderswan, Wonderswan Color

Topic: Create any kind of childproof game (no pr0n, racisms, extraordinary violence and adult humour, ...) by using maximum four colors only on screen at once per scene (this could be a level, menu, etc) (also applies for dual screen systems). Black, white, grey do count as color! You can choose your four colors freely.

Prizes:
#1 - One brandnew GBA Micro console (without games) + One Mindcandy DVD (selectable between Volume 1 OR 2)
#2 - One copy of "Beggar Prince" (Megadrive/Genesis) + One Mindcandy DVD (selectable between Volume 1 OR 2)
#3 - One Mindcandy DVD (selectable between Volume 1 OR 2)
#4 - One "Digital Memories" DVD
#5 - One "Digital Memories" DVD

The prizes are donated by our kind sponsors:
http://superfighter.com/
http://www.go64.de/
http://www.fusecon.com/

Full details can be found on the PDRoms webboard here http://www.pdroms.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=405

P.S.: The amount of prizes might raise during the compo time! Contributions are welcome.

 

[trooper]

No GP32 enteries ?.

Trooper

 

[senquack]

Wow, we have two coding contests going on at once, this and the GLBasic one. Can't believe people were talking about GP2X dying back in Oct/Nov.

 

[Kojote]

No GP32 enteries ?.

Trooper

As diabol's compo is running, you should better compete there. and for everyone who can not handle glbasic... can join my compo

 

[Alex.]

The 4-color rule will add a lot to the fun, I can't wait to see the rules

Thanks for holding this!

 

[Kojote]

The 4-color rule will add a lot to the fun, I can't wait to see the rules

Thanks for holding this!

as most of you probably can already guess the topic itself...

i've spent the past days checking really "old" classics. games with cga gfx, speccy and amstrad cpc games etc. depending on which technique you use, a game with 4 colors only can still rock the hell. but full details on 24th ain't too long anymore...

the prizes are also increasing, i am in talk with dan of dan wright (fusecon), publisher of the mindcandy demo dvd's and also with enno from cws verlag germany, who want to donate 2 other dvd's too.

as the "main" people whom i wrote did not reply yet, there might be even more

 

[Imerion]

Would have been fun to join, but it seems Fenix is not allowed.

 

[Quiest]

[rant]
Fenix not allowed again, this is so fuckin stupid, that I just have to complain everytime this compo is annouonced.

QUOTE
"One file games" will help us making the judging process easier and it's looking slick if there is just one executable file, rather better than taking care of 20 files which need to be in the correct folder etc. The chance of getting a wrong install is almost zero with one file, so it's definatly prefered.


This is one of the most stupid excuses I heard for that rule, if you are too stupid to unzip a file onto a SD card, you do ABSOLUTELY not belong into the gp2x scene >_< Its like unzip, run gpe, done. WTF.

Even if I'm not fenixing much anymore and switched to C++, I'm complaining for the Fenixers in the gp2x scene that brought out lots of awesome games and that are still pumping stuff out like mad, especially looking at Ruckages work here.

This just seems to be so that the judges have it easy, and not that the scene gets a shitload of awesome new games, which would be some more I guess if Fenix were be allowed.

I know you can do what you want, its your compo, but dont make up any stupid excuses, just say it the way it is. :angry:
[/rant]

Edit: typos

 

[ruckage]

I have to agree with Quiest. As was said last year the competition should be about the games and not what they were coded in. I also feel in this respect that the file size rule is a bit pointless, why not just judge the entries on the playability, graphics and sound. In last years competition entries in fenix, java etc were instantly marked down because of size and it's not something that the coder had any control over.

I have to admit I didn't think I would be entering this year anyway as I have too many projects on the go but there are plenty of other users who shouldn't be excluded and could potentially produce some great games. I won second prize last year, and had fenix been excluded that game would never have been created.

Bottom line - inspire creativity, don't stifle it.

 

[senquack]

The 1-file rule and no-fenix rules are unfair. Ruckage's and Quiest's games are proof that fenix games can be more polished than 99% of GP2X games as long as the author cares enough.

I also would not have allowed dithering, but that is not a big deal.

 

[Orkie]

It is easy to get a Fenix game down to what appears to be a single file. Shove the entire game, resources and runtime into a loopback image, tack that to the end of an executable which reads argv[0] and uses mount with the loopback and offset options to mount the appended image into say /tmp/game (which would need to be created in the executable). Then just have the binary execute that of the Fenix runtime (in wherever you mounted it).

I will try and enter this time (though not a GP2X entry) - I want that GBA Micro!

 

[senquack]

It is easy to get a Fenix game down to what appears to be a single file. Shove the entire game, resources and runtime into a loopback image, tack that to the end of an executable which reads argv[0] and uses mount with the loopback and offset options to mount the appended image into say /tmp/game (which would need to be created in the executable). Then just have the binary execute that of the Fenix runtime (in wherever you mounted it).

Yes, anything is possible, usually, there's always a way. But what are you left with? A kludge. That's why the rule is a bit silly: people will try to work around it and in the end the programs are no more stable or reliable than if they consisted of multiple files or, if the author was polite, multiple files in sub-folders.

I'm all for fun rules, I think the 4-color rule is awesome, it instantly brought back images in my mind of fun CGA games I used to play on PC: Monopoly, Space Invaders, Roger Rabbit, Monuments of Mars. There's a rule that makes sense.

 

[woogal]

Why can't I use a car to enter a 100m race? It goes along the ground just like runners do so what's the problem?

The fact is rules have been set. This is Kojote's compo and he can run it any way he likes. If you don't like the rules don't enter - there are plenty of other compos around that do allow fenix and multiple files, just like there are plenty of races that allow cars. Quit bitching and get over it.

 

[ruckage]

Why can't I use a car to enter a 100m race? It goes along the ground just like runners do so what's the problem?

The fact is rules have been set. This is Kojote's compo and he can run it any way he likes. If you don't like the rules don't enter - there are plenty of other compos around that do allow fenix and multiple files, just like there are plenty of races that allow cars. Quit bitching and get over it.

I don't believe I was 'bitching', I was putting across an opinion as I believe its a shame that people are being excluded when competitions like this can often encourage and inspire new coders. You will notice no one complained about the glbasic competition as it's obvious it's a competition to see who can make the best game in that language. This competition I just feel should be a competition to make the best 4 colour game possible for the listed systems without these other restrictions, particularly as the reasons for not using scripting languages is pretty poor.

I do appreciate the work Kojote does for these as it must be a lot of work, my comments aren't meant to sound whiny or unappreciative but as these competitions require the participation of the community our opinions are quite important.

 

[Quiest]

Why can't I use a car to enter a 100m race? It goes along the ground just like runners do so what's the problem?

The fact is rules have been set. This is Kojote's compo and he can run it any way he likes. If you don't like the rules don't enter - there are plenty of other compos around that do allow fenix and multiple files, just like there are plenty of races that allow cars. Quit bitching and get over it.

Its not that I'm comparing apples with pears here, seriously, your car example has absolutely no weight here.
The use of a scripting language does bring one advantage: easier coding, but also maybe less speed and less possibilites in the game itself. So the advantages and disadvantages keep it on the same level, I'd say.
And its not that he used that reason to explain the rule (see the real explanation above), which I maybe could go along with if he wanted it to keep a low level coding compo (but then again, you should also disallow SDL and the likes, which make coding a lot easier as well).
He sure can run his compo like he wants, and I still like Kojote for everything he has done for the community, and for helping me out some times over irc, (btw, grats for becoming father ) but I just dont see any obvious sense it such rules, and thats why I start bitching.
Have you ever seen me comlaining about something seriously, except for this rule?
I'm not the one who switches to bitch state like that, so I play my bitch-card right here and now.

 

[Orkie]

Yes, anything is possible, usually, there's always a way. But what are you left with? A kludge. That's why the rule is a bit silly: people will try to work around it and in the end the programs are no more stable or reliable than if they consisted of multiple files or, if the author was polite, multiple files in sub-folders.

Actually, it's not a kludge at all - it's the way self extracting installers are made. It would also take up less space on SD if you have smaller files, and will result in less clutter. I'll see if I can whip up a tool to make some later.

 

[Parkydr]

I've managed to make a self running single ext2 image

• Make an empty file of the size you want
• run mke2fs on the file
• make a script that mounts the image using the offset of the end of the script then runs the program
• cat the script and the image

 

[Orkie]

I've managed to make a self running single ext2 image

• Make an empty file of the size you want
• run mke2fs on the file
• make a script that mounts the image using the offset of the end of the script then runs the program
• cat the script and the image

Yep, I've also got it running and I'll be releasing a tool to make them automatically later. I was hoping to work on this for the Pandora.

 

[quasist]

I sent last day my entry to them. And already recieved confirmation mail.

How much new gp2x games are will be released on 9th march?