It's competition time!

[ciw1973]

Here's the properly hosted version of the competition resource file:

Download

The file contains the following:

\graphics\graphics.png
\graphics\graphics.bmp
\mp3\0.mp3
\mp3\1.mp3
\mp3\2.mp3
\mp3\3.mp3
\mp3\4.mp3
\mp3\5.mp3
\mp3\6.mp3
\mp3\7.mp3
\mp3\8.mp3
\wav\0.wav
\wav\1.wav
\wav\2.wav
\wav\3.wav
\wav\4.wav
\wav\5.wav
\wav\6.wav
\wav\7.wav
\wav\8.wav

And for those of you who can't contain themselves whilst the 97K file to downloads, here's what the graphics files look like:

The rules:

- The competition will run until 23:59 GMT on Monday 19th November 2007.
- Once the competition has ended, the final submissions will be downloaded and these will be judged. The latest version posted on this forum at the end of the competition will the one judged and not any updated versions which are released afterwards. Those ranking the games for audience appreciation purposes should also ignore any updated versions.
- Judging will take place during the week which follows the end of the competition and the results will be announced on this forum no later than 22:00 GMT on Monday 26th November.
- Prizes will be paid immediately once the results have been announced and the winners have provided details of how they wish to be paid. Ideally this will be via PayPal, but alternative methods of payment can be arranged.
- You can enter individually or as part of a team, but you will obviously need to share any prize you may win.
- You must use the graphics and sound files provided and no others.
- You can use graphics primitives in your game if you wish, but the main objects in the game should be those provided.
- You can use other external non-graphics files like maps if you wish, and MODs are OK as long as they only use the samples provided.
- Your entry should be submitted as source code plus any additional libraries which are required for it to run. You can provide a binary if you wish, but it should be a seperate download.
- The minimum requirement is that entries must run on Windows, but ideally they should also run on Linux.
- You can use any external libraries you require, and binary versions of these should be provided along with your entry.
- You can use libraries of code previously written by either yourself or others, and whilst it would be friendly if you also made these available for others to use, it is not a requirement.
- During judging, if 50% of those who entered a game feel that you have cheated, then you will be disqualified, so if you are in any doubt about the rules and what is acceptable, please ask on this thread.

The prizes:

First prize: 100 GBP
Second Prize: 50 GBP
Third Prize: 25 GBP

As the sound and resource files were provided, there are no marks in this competition for the actual art and audio, however, there are marks for the effective use of these. There are no marks related to the source code this time, and I've replaced the "CIW Fun Factor" mark from the last competition with an audience appreciation mark, where those who have submitted entries get to rank the other games. There are 10% of the marks set aside for this.

The judging categories this time around are as follows:

Effective Use of Graphics - 25 Points
How effectively were the original graphics used?

You can use standard drawing primitives etc. to create additional art to be used in the game, but there will be no points awarded for this, just how well you use the actual art provided.

Effective Use of Sound - 15 Points
How effectively were the sound samples provided used? I know they're quite limited, but they can be replayed at different frequencies, so I'm hoping some of you may attempt a little music.

Game Design - 20 Points
How well thought out was the game/level design? Were there any flaws in the design, and were there areas which could obviously be improved?

Presentation - 10 Points
How well was the game presented? Did it have title screen, instructions etc.? Did it have a proper ending?

Originality - 10 Points
How original is the game? Was it just a copy of an existing game, or something typical of a particular genre? If it were based on an existing game was there an effort made to improve on the original and were there novel twists?

The graphics are from Space Invaders, but if you just enter a remake, then you're obviously not going to get many points for originality.

Depth - 10 Points
Does the game have any real depth, or is it just the same thing over and over with very little new or interesting happening?

Gameplay - 10 Points
Ignoring all other aspects of the scoring, how well did the game actually play?

Controls - 10 Points
How well do the controls work? Are they intuitive? Are they responsive? Are they kept to the minimum required to be effective?

Progression - 10 Points
Does the game have a good sense of progression? Are there distinct, different levels? Is there a good sense of increasing difficulty? Does it present challenges to be overcome as the player progresses?

Replay Value - 10 Points
Does the game make you want to keep going back for just one more go?

Effective Use of Random Elements - 5 Points
Are there random elements in the game, and if so, are they used effectively? Do they make the game more fun and unpredictable, or do they make it randomly impossible or too difficult and therefore frustrating at times?

Audience Appreciation - 15 Points
Everyone who submits and entry can give their own rankings (privately if they wish) and these will be compiled and points awarded with the highest ranked game getting 15, the next getting 14 etc.

If I'm not very much mistaken, this gives a maximum score of 150 points.

Good luck everyone!

[Lachie Dazdarian]

I was kind of expecting something more original and exciting. And we did have an invaders compo in this community some time ago. Well, long time ago, but we did. Check QB Express 9 (http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/express/issue9/index.html#compo).

I will still participate. The compo might be interesting in a way how people will be able to provide a different gameplay experience. I will definitely try to code a non-Invaders like game. I do wish more graphics was available, though.

[duke4e]

any extra info?

does this mean that we need to make space invaders or to use our imagination and make something totally different. can we still make extra graphics by using FBGFX?

[ciw1973]

Lachie, can you re-grab the ZIP file again and replace the one you're hosting?

In my haste I posted the wrong file which also had various images I grabbed from the net to use as examples when I was putting together the artwork.

The new file just includes the 128x64 BMP and PNG files.

I'm rather hoping that people will try and come up with other ideas rather than just re-writing Space Invaders itself. There's no reason why you couldn't do this, but I hoping people will come up with something different.

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Yeah ciw, it wouldn't be bad you repost the rules.

duke, you can use all the provided graphics and sound, plus any you GENERATE INSIDE THE CODE, including the alteration of the provided graphics, as long as the alteration is done inside the code.

Also, you can code any game your imagination can think of, as long as you use all or some of the graphics provided.

[ciw1973]

Lachie's right, you can use any graphics that can be generated entirely in code, but you'll get extra credit if you make use of the actual graphics objects for the vast majority of the game rather than creating your own from graphics primitives.

I'll post up a summary of the rules shortly. There are some things I need to do urgently now I have my Internet connection back up.

[ciw1973]

As you'll see, the sound and graphics are from Space Invaders!

Now I suspect it'll be clear why I didn't think you'd need external files like maps etc., although these are actually allowed, and I'm happy enough for entries to include MOD (or similar) files as long as they only use the sounds provided.

I'm hoping to see some original games come out of this rather than just recreations or slight variations on the original game.

I'll post up a summary of the rules shortly, but in the meantime if you have any questions, then post them up here, which is also where you should post any entries.

The competition ends at 23:59 on 19th November.

[ciw1973]

I've just seen the image Lachie's posted up, and believe it or not, it's the wrong one again. It's missing the exploding base and has a number of duplicate characters in the lower section.

I've updated the link YET AGAIN, so if you could grab the one in the first post.

[vdecampo]

Got it!

Danx!

See you on Nov 19th! :-)

-Vince

[Pritchard]

Okay, so what are the rules . . . D:

[badmrbox]

Not to sound negative but upload2.net is satan. how in the world do I get the zip from there?

[ciw1973]

Sorry about the upload guys and girls.

I was having serious trouble with my Internet connection at home last night, and would get the occassional 10 seconds of connection followed by about 10 minutes or more of nothing.

I tried to connect to my webspace using FTP to upload the file, but the connection kept dropping, so I Googled and clicked on the first free file host I could find, then just kept clicking the upload button until it finally did.

[ciw1973]

The competition resources file is now properly hosted on my webspace, and I've updated the first post in this thread with a new link, as well as details of the rules, the prizes and of how the competition will be judged.

[Ryan]

Excellent... looking forward to wasting the competition. MWUAHAHA.

Errm.. should be fun. : )

[Pritchard]

This looks great. Thanks for posting the rules and everything as such ^.^;; I already have several ideas rolling around.