Omnimaga
Omnimaga => News => Topic started by: noahbaby94 on April 24, 2009, 08:50:17 am
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Omnimaga Contest - Platformer
Omnimaga will be hosting its first contest since its re-opening: a platformer contest. This category will be rather open, so use your imagination! It can include action, puzzle, even 3D platformer (that is, if you're up for it). There will be two categories: the pure BASIC category and the hybrid BASIC/ASM category (xLIB, Celtic, CODEX or other ASM-lib-enhanced games will compete against pure ASM ones). A 16GB USB flash drive will be the first place prize for both the BASIC category and the hybrid BASIC/ASM category. The winners will also receive a custom-made banner showing that they've won. They will be graded on creativity, speed, size, graphics and replay value. Projects shall be judged by registered Omnimaga members through a closed poll.
Entries must be send via e-mail to either noahbaby94, simplethinker or DJ_Omnimaga by 11:59 CST August 24 for approval. The e-mail addresses are n o a h . f e n c e r @ g m a i l . c o m, e l l i s r i l @ g m a i l . c o m, and o m n i m a g a @ g m a i l . c o m, respectively (without the spaces between each characters). Put "Omnimaga contest" on the subject line of the emails.
Rules-
1). You must not have previously announced your project anywhere.
2). You may release screenshots of your progress - however, you are not allowed to release demos or have direct help with your code.
3). BBC Basic, FastRPL, TI-Power, EZAsm, C and other programming languages other than z80 ASM and BASIC are not allowed for this contest. Celtic III, Omnicalc, xLIB and other libraries are allowed since they aren't entire new programming languages. This is to make it fair for ASM programmers.
4). You are not allowed to receive help with entry ideas.
5). Omnimaga has the right to change and modify the rules at any time.
[June 20, 2009] Rule #4 (no idea help) has been added. Note: the new #4 has been stated elsewhere, and this change is only to make it explicit and official.
Good luck to all who enter.
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I win!
(http://xlib.mtv-music-generator.com/rickrollcalc.gif)
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Hmmm, it might be that I have to put Portal 2 on temporary hold so I can beat you all in this contest! ;D
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Heh the final day is my birthday o.O Too bad i won't be here. Good luck to everybody who does compete though.
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I don't know if I'll enter: I'm doing too much contests instead of working on my current projects...
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I'm entering my new awesome project.
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I'm entering my new awesome project.
Were all very excited.
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Cool. Is this just for the TI-83+/TI-84+ series?
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yeah it's for TI-83+/84+ only
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builderboy, why don't you enter portal 2 instead?
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because he must not have announced his entry before the contest was announced.
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Because Portal2 is not a platformer. Without the portal gun, it got considerably harder to move around, so the New portal will be top down (Which is much easier for the kind of game it will be)
Anyways, I was thinking of making a new version of a platformer I tried to make a long time ago, but failed (I was very inexperienced). That wouldn't count as previously announced would it? As i never released it to the Internet, and it was never finished anyway.
(I'll keep the idea secret for now ;))
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No it's ok you can use that idea especially if it's really old.
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I guess... the requirement of not having it announced automatically disqualifies CaDan 83+ ...
Could've easily won a contest with something like that in the works :P
If an RPG could be qualified as a "platformer" (unsure of what that is), maybe I could try coding something using Celtic III just to push the lib ... >> ... <<
Or... use a "secret" uber version of Celtic III that's not available to the public yet. You know, the one that has a raycasting engine...
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O.O
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You might as well write it in assembly if your going to go that far :-\
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I think he would prbly do this to show what Celtic III can do more than winning (altough, he could still have chances to compete against ASM if the asm entries aren't too good)
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I guess... the requirement of not having it announced automatically disqualifies CaDan 83+ ...
Could've easily won a contest with something like that in the works :P
If an RPG could be qualified as a "platformer" (unsure of what that is), maybe I could try coding something using Celtic III just to push the lib ... >> ... <<
Or... use a "secret" uber version of Celtic III that's not available to the public yet. You know, the one that has a raycasting engine...
Wow! With a raycaster engine? O.O I'm ready to do anything to get my hands on it! :P
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I guess... the requirement of not having it announced automatically disqualifies CaDan 83+ ...
Could've easily won a contest with something like that in the works :P
If an RPG could be qualified as a "platformer" (unsure of what that is), maybe I could try coding something using Celtic III just to push the lib ... >> ... <<
Or... use a "secret" uber version of Celtic III that's not available to the public yet. You know, the one that has a raycasting engine...
Wow! With a raycaster engine? O.O I'm ready to do anything to get my hands on it! :P
It's possible that he was being silly. :P
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I guess... the requirement of not having it announced automatically disqualifies CaDan 83+ ...
Could've easily won a contest with something like that in the works :P
If an RPG could be qualified as a "platformer" (unsure of what that is), maybe I could try coding something using Celtic III just to push the lib ... >> ... <<
Or... use a "secret" uber version of Celtic III that's not available to the public yet. You know, the one that has a raycasting engine...
Wow! With a raycaster engine? O.O I'm ready to do anything to get my hands on it! :P
It's possible that he was being silly. :P
Much along the lines of the discussion "yesterday" on IRC about how I could add another 16K page to support MOS and ION. And maybe a scripting language to do away with a lot of BASIC code.
It mostly was a discussion as to whether or not Celtic III-powered programs could be classed as an entry type of its own :P
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Yeah, to be fair, if an ASM lib for BASIC programmed became THAT powerful, it would become unfair to ASM programmers participating to the contest, because then they would devote 10x more effort into making a game (since ASM is much harder), but still barely be able to do something as good as it's lib-enhanced BASIC counterpart. Basically, ASM programmers wouldn't stand a chance anymore.
Right now, lib enhanced BASIC games competing against ASM is fair, because while it's much easier to make a good looking game using Celtic/xLIB and BASIC, ASM still produces considerably faster games.
When libs get so powerful that barely a single line of BASIC has to be written to function, it will pretty much be a totally new language :P
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What would BBC Basic be categorized under? (If allowed at all)
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for this contest it isnt allowed. However for a future contest it could be an option since it may get finished by then (hopefully)
EDIT: Edited rules to specify this change
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:( You could put all those under a separate category, so each would be competing against programs of the same type
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well not for the current contest, because I don't think I'll spend more than what I plan to spend for the current one since I'm not that rich :P
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Ah yes that true.
Its probably for the best too, I need some more time to learn BBC Basic better.
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Glad I have the summer to finish/work on something, i guess I can always go back to my old platformer when you had diortem going on...
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Hmm after working on a little idea I had, I think I might enter this contest. Only problem is I would have to submit my program at the beginning of July..is that ok?
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Sure August is the deadline you can get it done anytime before hand.
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As far as ASM projects go, you might want to specify something about not allowing extensive re-use of code from some other completed project? I know it's not much of an issue with BASIC code since the BASIC editor doesn't really do copy and paste, but it could be a problem with ASM entries.
What's to keep me from, say, re-using the engine from CaDan in some other project for the sole purpose of trying to win the contest? Sure, you'd notice it in a heartbeat, but let's suppose someone else tried passing off a remake of some other game they've made as a contest entry? Though this *might* fall under rule (1), the re-use of code like that poses a gray area.
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Are you able to enter in both categories?
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Yeah you could.
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You can kind of copy/paste in Basic
First you create the program COPY
Then you recall the program that has the code in it into COPY
You remove all the excess code from COPY
recall copy to wherever you want
(Yes you can recall programs, its quite useful)
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Or you could use celticIII det(5.
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Well... I suppose, but it seems a bit excessive for a replacement of a simple recall :-\
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I originally posted this on TI-Freakware, but I would like Omnimaga members opinions as well. First I just asked in what range are the point values for each category? (0-10? 0-5? etc.)
Then this sentence came to my attention, "...judged by registered Omnimaga members through a closed poll.: This is all well and good, a community-driven poll, I have no problem with that. But I was wondering if anyone else saw it as being possibly problematic. For example, say 50 programs are submitted. Will every person that votes seriously go through and play all those games? It would appear to be a very big commitment. So if one doesn't run through and judge all programs, but still votes, isn't that a little bit biased?
My idea was to just have 2 or 3 trustworthy people, volunteers, (preferably noahboay and DJ_Omnimaga) go through and judge the programs, then submit the best 2 (given the cumulative score) to a closed poll for the community to vote. Or they could just pick the best 1, and label that the winner. In my honest opinion, that seems to be more fair and less biased.
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Mhmm now that you mention it, this could be an issue. I personally don't expect that many entries to be submitted, since the only places where the contest was announced are Omnimaga, #omnimaga and TI-BASIC Developper Wiki Forums, but it's still Omnimaga. Because the discussion here are mostly oriented towards calculator games projects rather than general help and discussion and most other places won't give much support toward people projects anymore, the forum managed to remain the 2nd most active TI forum in the entire community even after a 8 months shutdown with the intention to not bring Omni back up. On top of that, each candidates can submit two entries (one in the BASIC category and another in the ASM/libs category). Because of that, now that you bring this up, this could indeed be problematic, especially since the contest will end during a period where most people are doing trips in other countries and going to camping.
I say we do it as planned for now, but if near the end of the contest there's a huge rush of entries, then some designed staff such as myself, noah or whoever desires to judge every programs will do it so we don't risk of having certain entries tried many more times than others.
Of course, when contest is finished, all entries that weren't disqualified for any reason will be posted to public, though.
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No it's actually posted on uti and ti-freakware as well and for the issue I was thinking screenshots of every program to help people out.
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really? I didn't knew, because a few days ago I swear I checked there and saw nothing about it x.x
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http://www.unitedti.org/index.php?showtopic=8728
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Well that sounds good DJ_Omnimaga, I like that idea, as well as noahbaby94's idea. Screenshots will be able to help some bit.
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So if we used 1 ASM utility that only copied archived programs to RAM (Like Resource) to save space, then it would be considered Hybrid? even if EVERYTHING else was Basic?
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So if we used 1 ASM utility that only copied archived programs to RAM (Like Resource) to save space, then it would be considered Hybrid? even if EVERYTHING else was Basic?
For this contest, yes.
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So if we used 1 ASM utility that only copied archived programs to RAM (Like Resource) to save space, then it would be considered Hybrid? even if EVERYTHING else was Basic?
For this contest, yes.
Bleh. Alright.
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So if we used 1 ASM utility that only copied archived programs to RAM (Like Resource) to save space, then it would be considered Hybrid? even if EVERYTHING else was Basic?
For this contest, yes.
Bleh. Alright.
Sorry :( I'm not the authority on this (so I could be mistaken), but from what I've read there's no leeway in that definition for this contest.
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Halifax! Long time no see! ^_^
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Yeah, it has been a long time no see. :D I'm glad to see you again though.
So if we used 1 ASM utility that only copied archived programs to RAM (Like Resource) to save space, then it would be considered Hybrid? even if EVERYTHING else was Basic?
Yes, that should be considered hybrid. Are you gaining a clear advantage over pure BASIC programs? Yes you are in fact. Pure BASIC programs must fit everything into RAM and still make sure it runs fast.
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Yeah, personally I still consider it hybrid. With no ASM you need to rely on 24 KB of RAM and for a long game like Illusiat you must split it into chapters where the player archive/unarchive stuff manually in the middle of the game. Also you can't do dynamic program execution such as
Repear A>=0 and A<=9:Prompt A:End:0->X:"MAPDATA"+sub("0123456789",A,1:Asm(prgmXCOPY:prgmXTEMP000:0->X:Asm(prgmXCOPY
My concern, though, is what hybrid programs should be forced to compete against ASM and what not. For hybrid games only using an utility such as XCOPY or Resource, this might be unfair since ASM would have a clear advantage on graphic speed or quality
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I am up for the judges to vote for the best, and then you can post those results making us vote next..
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Yea that's what we're probably going to do.
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My concern, though, is what hybrid programs should be forced to compete against ASM and what not. For hybrid games only using an utility such as XCOPY or Resource, this might be unfair since ASM would have a clear advantage on graphic speed or quality
I agree. That may be unfair, and thus I think there should be three categories in fact: BASIC, hybrid-BASIC, and ASM. But ASM is no walk in the park either, so it might balance itself out. In the end, I still think 3 categories would probably be the most fair.
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My concern, though, is what hybrid programs should be forced to compete against ASM and what not. For hybrid games only using an utility such as XCOPY or Resource, this might be unfair since ASM would have a clear advantage on graphic speed or quality
I agree. That may be unfair, and thus I think there should be three categories in fact: BASIC, hybrid-BASIC, and ASM. But ASM is no walk in the park either, so it might balance itself out. In the end, I still think 3 categories would probably be the most fair.
That's true, but one thing we have to keep in mind is $$$ :(
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My concern, though, is what hybrid programs should be forced to compete against ASM and what not. For hybrid games only using an utility such as XCOPY or Resource, this might be unfair since ASM would have a clear advantage on graphic speed or quality
I agree. That may be unfair, and thus I think there should be three categories in fact: BASIC, hybrid-BASIC, and ASM. But ASM is no walk in the park either, so it might balance itself out. In the end, I still think 3 categories would probably be the most fair.
That's true, but one thing we have to keep in mind is $$$ :(
Oh yes, I'm quite aware of that. That's why I'm just making suggestions. Maybe one category should just be eliminated...who knows.
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Yeah true, $$$ can be a serious issue. I'm not affected by the economic crisis at work, but food price has skyrocketed in the past year and I still got the rent, the power bill, internet, phone and insurances to pay. And before someone tells me I should get a more payful job, I would rather stay where I am right now because I'm treated better than at many places and no matter how bad the economy will go in the near future, I'll still keep my job. Because it's a low prices supermarket, business has increased instead of decreasing over here because people who used to go at more expensive supermarkets now come over here instead since they're trying to save as much money as possible. Wal Mart isn't a threat because they seem to have a mentality of installing their stores in the middle of nowhere or far away from residential districts. But still, unless I got more money in the future on a regular basis, more categories could mean smaller prizes. x.x
Had the contest got only one category the prize would have been a Casio FX-9860G or an used TI-86
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maybe you should merge the hybrid and asm categories together
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Uhhh, isn't it already in the same category? ;)
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Uhhh, isn't it already in the same category? ;)
crap im retarded
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Technically I was supposed to enter Illusiat 13 for the zContest 2009 ( http://www.yaronet.com/forum.php?s=493 ) for the hybrid category, but for some reasons, the contest appears to have died. I even read a post from the author saying he didn,t have the motivation and time to restart it
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I think you need to reconsider your scoring system a little. It really needs a miscellaneous category, as this would include stuff like ease of installation, user friendliness, and not having hundreds of files on the calculator like Contra (well, maybe not that many). People often underestimate the value of these things in a game.
I've got an idea for an entry. I'm thinking Contra 83, but less abusable, more varied, and not so luck-based.
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It really needs a miscellaneous category, as this would include stuff like ease of installation, user friendliness, and not having hundreds of files on the calculator like Contra (well, maybe not that many).
I think "size" covers the whole lots of files thing. But you also have to consider the fact that you're limited to ~24 kb of RAM, and subprograms or lists (like with Contra83) can save a considerable amount of memory if used correctly.
You do raise a good point about installation and user-friendliness though :)
[edit] It looks like we forgot a general "game play" scoring category, which is kind of odd... :D
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True, altough to be fair sometimes it's hard to pack a good game in so few sub-programs and small size in BASIC. See RPGs for example. But since this is a programming competition, everything needs to be considered in the scoring, even if it means that the judges need to scan through the code to see if the author missed simple optimizations such as forgetting to leave out closing parhentesises and not using lbl/gotos correctly. Plus it's a platformer contest so I doubt the games will be large, since if someone makes a large game in lenght he may not even get enough time to finish it. Since there's a short deadline, I think this could be a good category addition to the contest.
Personally I don't see any point to flame a game just based on the amount of files included and its file size outside of a programming contest, though, because it is very offensive to the author and it is like if you flamed a game just because of graphics or just for being in BASIC instead of ASM no matter how good the game is.
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Yeah, flaming sucks.
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I don't think it's fair to judge a game by the code within it. It should be based entirely on the end result. In fact, I don't think the judges should even be allowed to look at the code.
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well I meant more on a code quality point of view. of course that part doesn't have to have a great value on total score. Maybe 1 or 2 points, but then there's still the issue about having a judge who knows every optimizing tricks discovered in TI-BASIC, which isn't my case, so I think coding quality will pretty much not be judged directly. The only way I think it will be judged is if the game causes err:memorys or runs extremly slow for what it does.
This is why I think we shouldn't judge too hard based on the program size and amount of subroutines either, because for some games many files are necessary (take Metroid II for example, which got 350 maps in the expansion set stored into matrices) and IMHO a game with many files/large size doesn't means it's not worth it. Plus, the contest has no rules limiting the game amount of content, except for the fact that if a game contains content that is innapropriate for the forums such as racism, porn and the like, it won't be released to the public on the forums.
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I don't think it's fair to judge a game by the code within it. It should be based entirely on the end result. In fact, I don't think the judges should even be allowed to look at the code.
I kind of agree, and I kind of disagree.
I think there should be one judge who looks at the code and judges it based on that, and then the other judge never looks at it, and judges based on the end result (if there's more than 2 judges than you can add them in somewhere). That way the judge who judges the game play won't be biased towards good or bad code.
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Well, as I said, the major problem of judging the code is that we would need to find a judge who knows every single basic tricks in the world, which could be the case of one of our staff member, but does it means he would necessarly want to participate in judging entries?
After reading posts, I think the code shouldn't be judged directly, nor the game file size and amount of sub-programs. If the game has errors, including ERR:MEMORY resulting of bad coding or extremly slow speed then it should be judged under functionality or whatever it will be called
Else, I think it will suck if a super revolutionary BASIC game that runs fast without any error gets a much lower score than a slow BASIC game with few features and that runs slower, just because it has more files or that the author missed closing parhentesis at the line 244 of his 3rd sub program
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I don't even know if weregoose knows every basic trick.
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Do you even know if there IS every basic trick? o.O
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I am certain there are some that weren't discovered yet (simple or not). There could be other hidden commands syntaxes in the TI-OS that ASM programmers didn't revealed because they wanted us to learn ASM or don't care enough :P
On the TI-83+ we didn't know about Text(-1 until 2001 and Circle(X,Y,Radius,{i until 2006 or 2007.
Even on the older 83 there were hidden commands such as Send(9prgmNAME, which is the equivalent of Asm(prgmNAME on the TI-83+
There are lot of bugs, too, though...
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Code size shouldn't be a major factor in judging, but there's probably a point where, even if the program runs decently, where the size is unreasonable. If someone were to submit a 14 kilobyte nibbles game :o (even the most extensive ones can probably be done in well under 5kb), then their score should suffer a bit.
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yeah, true. Lol that reminds me Illusiat 1 when I finished it (it was 18 KB). 6 months later I rewrote it after the Illusiat 2002 incident and it dropped to 4.5 KB (altough about 5 KB were added when starting a new game due to pictures being created. Before, the pics were premade and came with the game)
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Code size shouldn't be a major factor in judging, but there's probably a point where, even if the program runs decently, where the size is unreasonable. If someone were to submit a 14 kilobyte nibbles game :o (even the most extensive ones can probably be done in well under 5kb), then their score should suffer a bit.
Yes, there is a point. But that point is in such a gray area that I believe it shouldn't even be included. In your example, of course, it's obvious that the author may have been negligent, but in other more complex games, where do you draw the line? Simply put, you can't objectify it, thus I don't think it should even be included in the scoring.
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Yeah, judging a game by its size is kinda unfair for coders who did their games properly.
If zContest 2009 ever happened, I was supposed to submit Illusiat 13. My code is far from perfect, since I haven't finished a calculator RPG in 4 years and most tricks I practiced are from almost a decade ago, but I still think it's pretty good compared to what I saw on ticalc.org sometimes. Should such game be judged mostly by its size, Illusiat 13 would stand no chance, no matter how much features I decided to put in the game and how long it is.
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Yes, there is a point. But that point is in such a gray area that I believe it shouldn't even be included. In your example, of course, it's obvious that the author may have been negligent, but in other more complex games, where do you draw the line? Simply put, you can't objectify it, thus I don't think it should even be included in the scoring.
True. I was thinking more along the lines of truly absurd memory usage and code inflation. However, as you said, there no way to objectively evaluate where "large" meets "absurd", so I suppose it can't used as a reliable measure.
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I think that it should be based on Gaming experience alone, and maybe the judges shouldn't look at the code at all. After all, the people playing the games sure aren't going to care if its wonderfully coded or not! They're just looking for some fun! :D
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well, I still think there should be scoring on the game based on if it's extremly slow and unplayable of if there's full of errors. Most code-related scoring would probably be in the "Gameplay/controls quality" category
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I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but who are the judges going to be for this contest? I kinda feel suddenly motivated to participate in this contest. If you need some judges, I wouldn't mind reviewing some games, otherwise I think I'll submit an entry of my own :)
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welll we might need some judges in case something would happen like me or noah not being able to review the stuff due to being away or something like that or if many entries are submitted
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I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but who are the judges going to be for this contest? I kinda feel suddenly motivated to participate in this contest. If you need some judges, I wouldn't mind reviewing some games, otherwise I think I'll submit an entry of my own :)
Currently, the judges are noah, DJ, and myself. Right now the plan (as far as I know) is that the judges will agree (by consensus) on the top few entries in each category and then there will be a poll, so if there are too many judges it might make the selection a bit tricky (but if there aren't enough then the selection might be a bit biased). We probably don't need a fourth judge so you should be able to make an entry (we can always force persuade some of the staff members that haven't made entries if we're short on judges :).
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Alright, has anyone decided to attempt defining 'platformer'?
I always thought they were sidescrollers... with platforms and pitfalls and the like.
(Which is how wikipedia describes it; paraphrased of course)
Though, now I'm seeing these top-down games as entries and I'm lost.
So... what do we qualify as a 'platformer' exactly?
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Anything where you jump on blocks, platforms and the like. It can be 2D side scrolling or 3D. Top down view also work as long as you can jump on platforms and stuff. It can be games like Block Dude, Super Mario, Metroid, Falldown (altough I don't think a game simple as falldown game will stand a chance in this contest), Ice Climber, Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie. Pretty much everything where you jump on blocks, platforms and stuff. However I don't recommend going too much toward RPG platformers, because you might not even have time to finish half of your entry before the deadline, since RPGs takes so long to make
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No worries.
I have the entire engine for a 2D sidescrolling puzzle platformer.
Only took about 4 hours and all that's left is making the levels.
...and the menu.
Maybe a highscore of some sort.
I was just curious as to EXACTLY what you all found to be a sidscroller.
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hmm, maybe I should enter my platformer when I make some actual levels for it..
{AP}: your avatar scares me
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I was overdue for a change anyway.
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I kinda liked the old one, altough it reminded me a bit too much of the revsoft incidents (since an user there who was involved used the exact same avatar with just colors inverted). Also it wasn't scary to me, just surprised me as soon as I scrolled down to an {AP} post due to the licking :P, personally I prefered the dark version you had to the one Snake X has on Revsoft, though
the new one is cool, though, did you made all the stuff?
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it still scares me
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(http://www.weird-encyclopedia.com/images/Exorcist.jpg)
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ummm, blank post much
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oh wow, I didn't need to see that
EDIT: was that you DJ_Omnimaga? the post disappeared before I had even finished this one
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mhmm I am unsure, maybe you did some sort of weird sequence when posting idk.
EDIT: mhmm, actually, I think he was updating my exorcist image with his post, but then I edited mine before he notices, which is why he took his post down
(good thing this wasn't the randomness section, though, else I would have posted a different exorcist pic that is more gory :P, nothing along the lines of DShiznit stuff on Cemetech tho)
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hmm, wierd. oh well the link wasn't that pg anyway
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Check out ticalc.org!!!
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o snap! nice!
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nice!
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Hm... so... when sharing screenshots... do we post them here or make our own topics for our projects?
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You can make your own thread.
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Hm... so... when sharing screenshots... do we post them here or make our own topics for our projects?
You do it in another topic. But remember: don't post any code or ask for help! :)
[edit] Dang, ninja'd by 13 seconds.
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Don't mess with the lightning reflexes of noah.
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Hm... so... when sharing screenshots... do we post them here or make our own topics for our projects?
You do it in another topic. But remember: don't post any code or ask for help! :)
[edit] Dang, ninja'd by 13 seconds.
Psh, me? Need help?
I'm a staff member for a reason, yo. ;P
Besides, the screenshot is of test levels anyway.
None of them will even be in the game.
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I hope no one rips off anyone...
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I hope no one rips off anyone...
If somneone did rip another person's special idea, then I'm almost sure that they would be called on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's at least how I would hope for it to be.
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if a basic program uses Asmprgm, is it still considered a basic program?
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Nope that would make it a hybrid program.
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d'oh man! i just need it to invert the text!! that's IT! lol ill just make the rest of the screen inverted so that the text looks the right way
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you could invert the text manually...(I do that for title screens) of course it's really slow....
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yeah im just gonna either start it with the asmprgm and if its good enough enter it in the hybrid one, if it isnt, ill just invert all the rest of the screen so that it has the same effect
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why do you need to invert the screen? couldn't you just make it work without the inverting?
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i need to invert the text, not the screen, because the background is black, and im trying to put white text on it, and white text sprites, too
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ah I see. that sucks
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Inverted games looks cool sometimes. It makes them look more old skool rather than gameboy-ish.
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Does posting asking for an idea for a game count as unallowed help? Because i can code... i just don't know what to code.
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unfortunately yeah it counts as help. :(
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How about some generic help, such as "Go to Newgrounds and try to remake some of their Flash games as your own."
That's what I did with some other Flash game a long while back, though not from that site.
Feel free to delete this post if it infringes on the rules.
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well I think this wouldnt really be help to make him choose a game, more a suggestion on how to decide what to make. Actually playing other existing games is the best solution to find ideas IMHO
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If allowed, what would a BasicBuilder packaged game be? ??? (I may need a couple programs, unless you teach me about level-making WITH proper collisions, the BasicBuilder Multi-Program thing seems to be working, though.) My entry (maybe) is... text based :'( . I might need BasicBuilder because I use a different method than some complex engines, without filling all the memory. I can't use ASM, so I have no options other than:
A) Use BasicBuilder with the "standard method"
B) Receive a proper level engine
If August is the deadline, I might at least come up with something.
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If allowed, what would a BasicBuilder packaged game be? ??? (I may need a couple programs, unless you teach me about level-making WITH proper collisions, the BasicBuilder Multi-Program thing seems to be working, though.) My entry (maybe) is... text based :'( . I might need BasicBuilder because I use a different method than some complex engines, without filling all the memory. I can't use ASM, so I have no options other than:
A) Use BasicBuilder with the "standard method"
B) Receive a proper level engine
If August is the deadline, I might at least come up with something.
Using BasicBuilder will put an entry into the Hybrid/Asm category. There's no limit to the number of programs/files an entry can be (you could have 100 subprograms if you wanted) as long as there are directions for installation. If BasicBuilder must be used, then that indicates an entry is using something beyond the limits of pure Basic (such as the extra pictures or the fact programs would reside in flash), so it would be unfair for it to compete against the Basic entries.
If you think your reasons for using BasicBuilder are legitimate (and are not to exceed the capabilities of pure Basic) please feel free to PM myself or one of the other judges and we can discuss the issue again.
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A Platformer... To August...
I might try a entry just for fun. I am in one of making BASIC games. Let's not loose the instant motivation. :P
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Hmm...
The qualms that this contest stirs...
Can we have a basic concept of how to apply platformers in pseudocode for all the folks out there?
Or is that too much help?
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Care to clarify that? If you mean using pseudocode for other language id imagine that would be ok.
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Psuedocode. Meaning words for code. Example:
To make a HELLO WORLD program.
//Open program
//Display HELLO WORLD
//End program
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Now would you be getting from some site if so I'd imagine that would be ok.
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(xLIB, Celtic, CODEX or other ASM-lib-enhanced games will compete against pure ASM ones).
lolwut? Seriously?
We'll get killed!
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Not necessarly. This is to not make it unfair to pure basic coders.
It's very hard to get something good and fast in pure basic. Contra 83 took about 2 years to make. With xLIB it's easy to get something to look better than most asm stuff at ticalc.org. The only advantage ASM got over hybrid BASIC is speed and given that it's extremly hard to make ASM games, it will take more time too, so in the end, hybrid might still have some chances. While the ASM entries might be much faster, they might not necessarly contains as much features as the xLIB/Celtic III ones
We considered having 3 categories before, but we decided to merge hybrid programs with asm for financial reasons
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Only one entry per?
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Yes only one entery per catagory which means you can have a total of 2.
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one entry per category
This means you can submit one entry in the pure BASIC category and a second one in the hybrid/asm category
multiple entries in the same category would only reduce your chances of winning anyway, as all votes on yourself would be spread across all your entries instead of having a lot of votes on one single entry. I had this happening with ticalc.org POTY 2 years in a row x.x
http://www.ticalc.org/community/awards/poty/2004.html#1 (2)
http://www.ticalc.org/community/awards/poty/2005.html#1 (3)
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List of contestants, will you have?
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Sorry for the double post.
But, do assembly hex codes count as ASM help?
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Sorry for the double post.
But, do assembly hex codes count as ASM help?
Yes.
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Btw, this count as help request too:
http://www.unitedti.org/index.php?showtopic=8804&pid=133731&st=0&#entry133731
We monitor every existing forum (and I think Noah also monitors #tcpa channel on EfNet) and ticalc.org archives
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lol, and I just posted in there...
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Well the thing actually is that a contest is a contest, or competition. The goal is to showcase your programming skills, not other people's skills, to prove you can do the best game compared to other people.
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So sorry, DJ Omnimaga!
I didn't think about that before I posted... -_-
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Is cheating allowed? As noah suggested, I could totally grab a pending file and silently reject it while calling it my own for the contest...
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Yes but be discrete about it and don't enter.
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Awesome, my <insert next program submitted here> is going to win for sure!
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QUICK! Someone submit a bogus program! :)
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Already done.
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Oh man, I'm going to win for SURE.
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My program is full of win.
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Entry submitted!
Well, emailed.
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LOL
But you would need to be lucky to win this way anyway, though, considering good programs submissions on ticalc isn't something that happens every day
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False. They occur every day.
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Well... not today?
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Well, actually, if we count the past two days, Nikky would probably be right, to some extents. However, I myself don't consider a 2 KB text-based RPG or quadratic solver as really good. Even for Text RPGs someone could do much better than most stuff on ticalc.org (Drak's Potter Quest 1 and Tifreak's TI-City would be an example)
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If I had batterys in my calculator I would join in a heartbeat and win
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Lol :P but you should get batteries ^^
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What about routines? If I borrow routines from previously-released work (so long as its my own) and use them for a brand new game? Furthermore, are we allowed to use routines that are staples of asm programming, such as ionfastcopy?
Edit: And can it be an Application?
Editx2: What if I wrote an entire engine, but never actually fashioned a game out of it, but the engine is still my original work? Is that acceptable?
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I would believe that subroutines borrowed, as long as it's your own work, or come with the shell, would still be allowed, since it is (the former part, anyway) completely your own programming skill at work. The latter is stuff that's accessible to everyone, and is for all intent and purposes part of "ASM".
It *could* be a FlashAPP, but you'd best justify the space it uses against what the game actually is. You may be marked off for, say, using a 16kB page for a Tetris game.
And, I don't think game engines would work as entries. It needs to be playable. It needs to be a game. If it's a work-in-progress and is not intended to be solely for the project (that is, to have the work as a continuing work throughout its life), then it might be acceptable if you put enough content in it to be justified as a contest entry. It just needs to be playable. And preferably fun to play.
Your development cycle's gonna have to be fast, since you've got just a little more than 2 months to code this thing. On a plus side, I don't think there are going to be many ASM submissions anyway. Most of the submissions that will be put in that category is probably going to be hybrid type programs.
Do your best.
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And, I don't think game engines would work as entries. It needs to be playable. It needs to be a game. If it's a work-in-progress and is not intended to be solely for the project (that is, to have the work as a continuing work throughout its life), then it might be acceptable if you put enough content in it to be justified as a contest entry. It just needs to be playable. And preferably fun to play.
No what I meant was that I made an engine a long time ago, but never developed a game from it. If I developed a game from it now, would that be within the constrictions of the contest rules?
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What about routines? If I borrow routines from previously-released work (so long as its my own) and use them for a brand new game? Furthermore, are we allowed to use routines that are staples of asm programming, such as ionfastcopy?
Edit: And can it be an Application?
Editx2: What if I wrote an entire engine, but never actually fashioned a game out of it, but the engine is still my original work? Is that acceptable?
1) Borrowing routines from your previous work should be fine. I'll have to discuss this with the other judges though, so it could change.
2) Routines from Ion and MOS are acceptable, as they've become standard components of Asm programming and are accessible to everyone.
3) Applications are fine.
4) It has to be a playable game, so you can't submit just an engine.
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If an engine would work as submission but it would probably stand less chance to win, as it would be in direct competition with complete games
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And, I don't think game engines would work as entries. It needs to be playable. It needs to be a game. If it's a work-in-progress and is not intended to be solely for the project (that is, to have the work as a continuing work throughout its life), then it might be acceptable if you put enough content in it to be justified as a contest entry. It just needs to be playable. And preferably fun to play.
No what I meant was that I made an engine a long time ago, but never developed a game from it. If I developed a game from it now, would that be within the constrictions of the contest rules?
...
lrn2readthispost >_>
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No need to be an asshat about it. This post was rude and uncalled for, especially when no consideration about the users' native languages are taken. It is against the forum rules. Next time yoU,re banned 7 days. This is a warning (as you also got via PM). I am unsure what's the point in trying to offend other users on the internet.
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A little dry sarcasm isn't allowed?
But at any rate, would it be allowed if I took an engine that I had previously written and based a game off of it?
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*sneaks in*
Eeeeeenteresting.
*sneaks out*
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For making something using an engine that you've previously written, you should not have announced that you were making something from it prior to this contest. If you can say no one really knows about this engine, then it should be fine to make a contest entry from it.
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From what I remember, though, this engine never made it to the public (in download form) before, though.
EDIT: Oh and Hi spelli, long time no see ^^
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Yeah, I'm still there. Have been lurking though, as can't really contribute anything right now.
But I like to keep myself up-to-date. :>
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cool
I really need to try working more on Illusiat 13 x.x
But that torrent of 1300+ eurobeat songs takes a while to sort (I am deleting as many duplicates as I can find so it can eventually all fit on one DVD)
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Looools, 1 of my idea's i discarded for the contest..was a Platform Guessing game!! looools.
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Uhm... OK?
But we never know, maybe something good could be made out of this :P
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So what is the definition of a platformer? I don't want to make a game that doesn't work for the contest.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_game
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Anything other than what wikipedia says?
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well it is what a platformer is
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There has been an addition to the rules. The first post (http://ourl.ca/3306/60994) in this thread has been updated.
When asked about receiving help with ideas, our response has been that it is not allowed since the entry should be the author's work alone. This has led to some confusion because the official announcement mentioned nothing about it, and so we've decided to officially add this as the new rule #4.
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That's a stupid rule.
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</trolling>
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I think that, for the pure BASIC category, if you use assembly hex codes, it should still be counted in the pure BASIC category. I mean, seriously. Anyone can type in the hex codes, so no external programs are being loaded onto the calculator. And, every model can use them.
Does anyone agree?
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So lets say I re-created Super-Maro (http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/174/17452.html) in regular uncompiled Hex, would that really be fair to regular BASIC programers? HEX is no different from the assembly you write on the computer, and in fact, there are plenty of programs that enable you to write assembly programs on your calculator!
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Come on, dude. You know what I'm talking about. Don't make this literal.
I'm talking about these: http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/hexcodes
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But where do you draw the line? Where's the border? If you can do radio text, why not fill the screen? If you can fill the screen, why not fill only part of the screen? Since that's basically rectangle filling, can we extend it to drawing the border? How about a simple sprite drawing routine? How about advanced key input, that's pretty simple.
See what I mean? Its difficult to draw the line between basic hex codes, and all out assembly programing. As it is, BASIC programing actualy means using the TI-BASIC language, which excludes all assembly, hex codes or not. As soon as you do something like turn off the run indicator, you are already 1 up on regular BASIC
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they are still the same as assembly codes, Builderboy's comment is valid. Hexcodes are the same as using assembly libraries, it counts as a hybrid game/program.
EDIT: nice ninja there Builderboy
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Raylin, you're getting rude there. This is a warning. You have no right on these forums to be rude to other members, even less just because they disagree with you and even less considering they're established forum members and they know what they're talking about. Builderboy and Eeems are right. Hex code=ASM code. Omnicalc ExecAsm( function=hex code= ASM code. If OpenLib/ExecLib uses functions from an ASM application that can be deleted from the calculator, then it's not pure BASIC anymore either. Pure BASIC programs must remain pure BASIC. AsmComp( and AsmPrgm are BASIC commands too, but the hex code put afterward is not. Rules were set so pure BASIC only contains pure BASIC programs and lib-enhanced programs competes against ASM. You should be happy we even allow ASM libs at all because most contests wouldn't even do that (see MaxCoderz, Cemetech. I think UTI contest only allowed Codex and Zsprite as ASM libs for the BASIC contest. In 2004, MaxCoderz even had a contest where pure BASIC (no ASM/hex) competed against ASM. If you're not happy with how our contest works, then don't participate. Simple as that. Or just submit something anyway and if it contains hex/asm it will be automatically moved to the ASM/hybrid category
Have respect for the other forum members and don't pull off a "You're overreacting about my post, Jesus" like you did in a topic on UTI, because rules are rules. If UTI allow rudeness in users' posts, it doesn't mean we do. We welcome all new forum members, as long as they respect us and stay polite. Omnimaga is meant to be a forum free of any hostility.
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Can I join this contest? Or is it too late? (Just saw this on ticalc.org). 0.0
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Can I join this contest? Or is it too late? (Just saw this on ticalc.org). 0.0
As long as it's submitted by August 24.
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Cool! ^_^
I look forward to competing with you all! :P
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good luck :)
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There's only one month left until the deadline. Remember: entries must be submitted by 11:59PM CST (http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/na/cst.html) (UTC-6).
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hey can my friend submit a contest entry? I think he makes some pretty cool platformer games on the calculator.
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hey can my friend submit a contest entry? I think he makes some pretty cool platformer games on the calculator.
All he has to do is become an Omnimaga member :)
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he doesn't have internet connection haha. he wants to submit under my name
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he doesn't have internet connection haha. he wants to submit under my name
I'm sure that would be allowed. You can't modify the code though.
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ha! funny, like i would know how =)
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Just a reminder the contest ends tomorrow so send your enteries in.
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sweet :P
I'm sending my entry to DJ right now, hope you contest judges like it :P
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Just sent my Submission to DJ.
Good luck everybody!
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Cool!
For other people who got entries and haven't submitted yet, hurry because the deadline is 12 AM central time! :P
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I win!
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This topic isn't needed anymore since the deadline has passed, so I'm locking it.
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For sure, if there is ever another contest, hacked pics/strings/GDBs will not be allowed unless the author finds a way to make the game installable in WabbitEmu
This should prevent longer delays in judging process, which are currently partially caused by such files in one of the game. Fortunately, though, due to the longer delay, this allowed us to manage to find a way to test the game in question anyway, preventing it from being disqualified.
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O.O, what about hacked characters? Didn't those also cause a problem with wabbitemu? I might have avoided a crisis by switching out Serenity, which uses special characters by the dozen.
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MHmm for that that's one other issue, altough I didn't though about it. These chars works fine in WabbitEmu and on calc as long as it's OS 1.15 or later. However, I doubt I would ever add this rule in future contests as OS 1.15 was released several years ago.
Even on calc Serenity, Pokémon Purple and Illusiat 13 will not work on 83+/SE with OS 1.14 or older. It will give a transmission error. Not a bit issue, tho, since most people have upgraded to newer OSes or use TI-84+ by now.
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The troubles with hacked pics and groups has prompted me to start writing some computer programs for grouping/ungrouping, renaming and altering .8x* files. I'm also planning on adding a feature to create the AppVar's necessary for this (http://ourl.ca/3313) on computer to ease with distribution. But this will all wait until the judging is done (and they will be finished before the next contest, if there is one).
O.O, what about hacked characters? Didn't those also cause a problem with wabbitemu? I might have avoided a crisis by switching out Serenity, which uses special characters by the dozen.
What do you mean my "special characters"? Are you talking about the inverted equals sign, percent, tilde, greek chars, etc...? Those shouldn't be a problem since they're all TI-OS tokens.
On a side note, I'm unlocking this topic since there appears to be a use for it yet ;)
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Mmmm yes that makes sense now. I was never able to get my 84SE dumped, so I had to borrow my friends 83+ because for some reason 84s are just a pain :P but I guess his ROM was very old because I can never send programs with those new characters to wabbitemu.
And the appvar thing would be cool! :)
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I think you need Rom8x by Andée Chea on Ticalc, to dump from 84+
But yeah I myself always had issues because most sites offers very old ROMs (usually 1.12) and I rarely felt like dumpin a ROM from my 83+ cuz it takes like 30 minutes with VTI
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Hmmm interesting, I will have to try that when I get back home...
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oh! I just found a way to make hacked pics work! You can send the pics individually from your calc, so they don't have invalid characters...so yeah...that is a way that you can get it to work with wabbit (it just wont work with a normal calc then...)
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but won't TI Connect give invalid names errors when trying to send such files individually from calc to PC and will they work fine on emulator?
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well on Vista I can send them individually fine, but only to the comp...not back...but yeah...they work fine for me on an emulator
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Then maybe it might be a vista-only trick x.x
Oh well, next contest, unless Spencer releases a build of WabbitEmu with group support before next summer, I guess we'll have to add new contest rules for 2010 if we do another one x.x
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ah ok...well...hmmm...I should test this on XP...