3H-GDC m.IV

Results: 1st place: ApochPiQ 2nd place: DrewGreen 3rd place: d000hg Date/Time: The contest will be held on Saturday, December 10th, 10AM Eastern Standard Time (3PM GMT). Prizes: 1st: A box of 36 assorted Cheryl & Co. Cookies1 valued at $76.22 USD (provided by kSquared) 2nd: $75 USD Gift Certificate for purchases on NewEgg.com or Amazon.com (provided by aidan_walsh) 3rd: 1 year GDNet+ valued at $39.95 (provided by Prozak) 1 this offer is only available in the US and Canada. Other contestants will receive a gift certificate to Amazon.com for an equal value. Sumbission: Submissions can be found on the new contest website under the m.IV link. I'll be making screenshots as soon as I judge them. Theme: CARTS The past three contests were "Black and White," "Fire," and "Crackers". The emphasis is originality in interpretation. With the Crackers theme there were entries that featured fire crackers, saltines, people "cracking" windows open to prevent leathal doses of methane gas, and southern honkeys. Rules:

1. Submissions must meet a predetermined theme (which will be revealed 15 minutes before the beginning of the contest)
2. Any Language (C, Java, C#, Python, &#106avascript, Brainf***, I don't care) or API (SDL, Allegro, PyGame, JOGL, etc) is acceptable, as long as you handle all distribution yourself (Ideally include all assemblies. You *may* link to a direct download, but a download page is UNNACEPTABLE. One click should be all I need to download the components I need). Do not assume the Judges have any particular machine setup.
3. So called "Game Makers" are NOT acceptable. The process must require you to write a significant portion of code to produce a stand alone executable. If you are not certain if your particular system constitutes a "Game Maker," then ask in the thread. Judges reserve the right to disqualify entries that they deem were made with an unnaceptable "Game Maker".
4. (major rule change)You may use rendering frame, input manager, math library, or sound manager ANY base code that you have written, but no other code. You must may post this code in a source tag in the forum on Friday night before the competition to keep the playing field even (anyone may use it if they want), if you so choose. The judges reserve the right to veto your use of such code (hence the need for the Thursday night deadline).
5. Judges will judge on a full binary version of the software. They will not compile the software. Source code is not required.
6. Judging will be conducted by a panel of non-competitors
7. Judging will be based mostly on overall gameplay and originallity of game design. Graphics will be a minor part, but mainly in the fluidity of the graphics (stuttering, tearing, flickering graphics will be very bad). We understand that content will be light, that graphics will be underdeveloped, that input MIGHT be a bit akward. Gameplay is the key.
8. prizes (when available) are listed above
9. presumably, winners will post their winning game in the GDNet Showcase.
10. runners up receive nothing.
11. we will attempt to pursue full legal action against nefarious ne'er-do-wells (those that would upload destructive code).

Three hours is plenty of time to make a classic arcade game, or something new with simple gameplay. Check out the previous contest to see what was done. Gameplay is what this contest is about.

• 3H-GDC m.II
• 3H-GDC m.III

If anyone wants to volunteer as a Judge, please post here and list your machine specs as well as your pertinent software running on your computer. For example, I'm: Processor: Pentium4 2.4GHz Memory: 768MB RDRAM GFX: Radeon 9800 Sound: SB Audigy 2 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 Other Software: Java 5, .Net 1.1, .Net 2.0, DX9c (October 05), MDX 9 (August 05) edit: the time has been chosen. The theme has always been announced 15 minutes before the start, not an hour, and I don't see any reason to change it. [Edited by - capn_midnight on December 14, 2005 10:58:12 AM]

If anyone needs hosting, I am willing to host files for people.

I can host files for people as well.

For judging:

Processor: AMD Athlon64 Venice 3000+
RAM: 1024MB RAM
GFX: Radeon 9800 Pro
Sound: Integrated Crap
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
Other Software: .NET 2.0, DirectX 9.0c, Java 5, Macromedia Flash


[Edited by - zer0wolf on December 6, 2005 10:44:03 AM]

I'll volunteer as a judge. Due to my work schedule I won't be able to participate, but I'll be able to do some judging.

Copmuter Specs:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 2.2GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
GFX: Radeon XPress 200 Series; Known for a fact to support PixelShader 1.1 not sure about after that though.
Sound: Realtek AC'97 (???)
OS: Windows XP Media Center SP2
Other Software: .NET 2.0, DirectX 9.0c, Java 5


I'm sure I'll see great stuff if they let me be a judge. Thanks.

-AJ

Quote:Original post by Binomine

Quote:Original post by capn_midnight

3H-GDC m.IV

Date/Time: The contest will be held on Saturday, December 10th. I have not decided on a time yet; I am considering 10AM.

Timezone, my friend! Timezone!

I work 3PM EST, so depending on what 10AM is, I may or may not participate.

10am eastern time, which is currently GMT-5.

Quote:

Quote:

• (major rule change)You may use rendering frame, input manager, math library, or sound manager ANY base code that you have written, but no other code. You must may post this code in a source tag in the forum on Friday night before the competition to keep the playing field even (anyone may use it if they want), if you so choose. The judges reserve the right to veto your use of such code (hence the need for the Thursday night deadline).

Wow. so I can use an Engine I wrote for for this entire year against people who are just coding from scratch? What about the use of a 3rd party engine like Panda3d?

yeah, you could use Panda3D. But 3D graphics aren't going to help you at all if A) they are shoddy, smooth 2D will win out over blocky, poorly animated 3D every day, and B) your gameplay is weak and your theme interpretation is unoriginal.

I look at two things for graphics, and two things only:
1) are they smooth/not-painful-to-watch?
2) are they clean, i.e. no jpg compression artifacts, sprite backgrounds are transpartent, or at least completely blended into the background without anyway to see the non transparent background.

If you make 3D graphics, I doubt you'll have enough time to code in any meaningful gameplay. I doubt you'll also have time to model smooth animation. Now, I'm sure you could maybe drop in some pre-modelled stuff, but you still have to meet the theme and if you fail to meet the theme in anyway then you are disqualified. The theme really helps to keep the artwork original and created during the contest period.

I could judge if needed.
Processor: Pentium4 2.5GHz
Memory: 512MB RDRAM
GFX: Radeon 9200SE
Sound: Some cheap onboard.
OS: Windows XP Home SP2


I would enter, but I never seem to get things done quickly, and jump between projects too much, :(

Is there any penalty for using something like ASCII-mode graphics (think Nethack, Kroz) rather than "art?" i.e. if the gameplay is good, are the shineys absolutely necessary for good judging?