Jump to content
IGNORED

IntyBASIC Programming Contest Rules


Recommended Posts

Intellivision IntyBASIC Programming Contest 2015

 

Welcome to the first IntyBASIC game programming contest held on AtariAge (thanks Albert!). The contest is open to all IntyBASIC programmers and is sponsored by GroovyBee, nonner242, nanochess, CollectorVision and Albert.

 

Further prizes are being offered by revolutionika and cmart604, and awards will be given to entries that place 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Drop us a PM if you'd also like to help out with some more prizes!

 

post-21935-0-33592200-1435875529_thumb.png

 

THE RULES

 

So you can get started, the basic rules are laid out below:

  • The competition starts today (Wednesday 1st of July 2015) and the deadline for submissions is 00:00 GMT on the 1st of January 2016 (midnight on the 31st of December) - this gives you around 6 months of development time.
  • There will be no competition unless a minimum of six entries are submitted by the deadline.
  • Your game(s) must be developed in IntyBASIC and use the default prologue/epilogue files. The only assembly language statement allowed within your game is the ORG statement so that you can develop a larger game. However, bank switching is not permitted.
  • All submitted games must meet the entry criteria to be valid.
  • The games submitted do not necessarily need to be new, but must be your own work, not sold commercially or released in cartridge format previously.
  • NTSC must be supported, with additional PAL support optional (but encouraged).
  • The maximum number of single entries from a person or group is set at three. If more entries are made, the applicant has the opportunity to replace a previous entry with a new one.
  • The 1st prize winning game may be published by CollectorVision (should it's developer enter into an agreement to do so). This matter will be discussed privately with the parties concerned and if an agreement is reached a public announcement will be made later.
  • There will be a panel of judges (announced in full over the coming weeks), and entries will be scored on a points basis across several criteria. The decision of the panel is final.
  • All game ROMs below 1st prize (2nd, 3rd etc.) will be published after judging has been completed. However, if the 1st prize game is to be published by CollectorVision its ROM will be distributed after game sales have completed.
  • All entries must be submitted via email to contest@intybasic.com by the closing date.
  • The judges will declare the results of the contest by 12:00 GMT on the 31st of January 2016.
GAME ENTRY

 

Each entry into the contest must consist of the following items to be valid :-

  • Game image in *.rom or *.bin+*.cfg.
  • Brief instructions on how to play the game.
  • IntyBASIC source code (and any data files).
  • Instructions on how to build the IntyBASIC source code (this must also include IntyBASIC compiler version number).
As part of the validation process, each entry's source code will be built using its instructions and the final binary produced must match the submitted binary image 100%. Any entry that fails this criteria will not be judged.

 

It is not necessary for any contestant to publish the source code to their entry. However, if they wish to do so before the contest closes, they will be awarded an extra 5 points.

 

Competition contestants are free to discuss their game's progress, provide source code and WIP ROMs and to also help other contestants should they wish to do so.

 

Your entry must be submitted via email to contest@intybasic.com by the competition's closing date.

 

THE JUDGING PANEL

 

The panel of judges is as follows :-

  • Albert Yarusso (Albert)
  • Mark Ball (GroovyBee)
  • nonner242
  • Oscar Toledo G. (nanochess)
  • J-F (retroillucid)
Judges are not permitted to enter the contest themselves. However, they are permitted to answer technical questions and provide assistance to applicants publicly when required.

 

DZ-Jay will validate the entries. His role is to ensure that only the permitted assembly language is used in the game and that an exact game binary can be produced.

 

SCORING SYSTEM

 

The criteria that each game will be evaluated on are:

  • Originality (1 ro 10) - Is the game based on a new idea or a twist on an established design?
  • Concept (1 to 10) - Quality of game design.
  • Execution (1 to 10) - Execution of design, taking into account controls, NTSC/PAL compatibility.
  • Graphics (1 to 10) - Quality of graphics and animation.
  • Sound (1 to 10) - Quality of music and sound effects.
  • Presentation (1 to 10) - Overall presentation.
  • Game play (1 to 10) - A measure of how enjoyable the game is to play.
  • Lasting Appeal (1 to 10) - Replay value, addictiveness.
  • Source code (5) - These points are awarded to any coder that publishes his/her game's source code publicly.
When the panel has scored each game accordingly, the totals for each criteria will be added together for each game to give it a final score.

 

PRIZES

post-21935-0-91467900-1435751512_thumb.pngpost-21935-0-64160700-1435875918_thumb.pngpost-21935-0-06224200-1435876288_thumb.png

  • First prize:
    • Game on Bee3 cartridge (1 copy only).
    • End label and a box designed by nonner242 (1 copy only).
    • Hive Multi-cart Deluxe Edition.
    • 2 blank Bee3s.
    • 1 Bee3 programmer adapter (donated by DZ-Jay).
    • Optional: CIB publication with CollectorVision.
    • CIB Copter Command Deluxe (donated by revolutionika).
    • One console from CIB Intellivision I, CIB Intellivision II or CIB Sears (donated by cmart604).
    • 30 pack of CIB common games (donated by cmart604).
    • Choice of D1K or D2K (donated by cmart604).
  • Second prize:
    • Game on Bee3 cartridge (1 copy only).
    • End label by nonner242 (1 copy only).
    • Hive Multi-cart Standard Edition.
    • CIB Copter Command (donated by revolutionika).
    • One console from the remaining choice of CIB Intellivision I, CIB Intellivision II or CIB Sears after the 1st prize winner has picked theirs (donated by cmart604).
    • 20 pack of CIB common games (donated by cmart604).
  • Third prize:
    • Game on Bee3 cartridge (1 copy only).
    • A simple end label by nonner242 (1 copy only).
    • CIB Space Raid (donated by nanochess).
    • CIB Copter Command (donated by revolutionika).
    • The remaining CIB Intellivision/Sears console after 1st and 2nd prize winners have picked theirs (donated by cmart604).
    • 10 pack of CIB common games (donated by cmart604).
Note: These rules are based on RGCD's Programming Contest 2014 rules and are used with permission.

 

DEVELOPMENT

The development tools and emulators needed to create and play your games can be found here.

  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any IntyBASIC free compiler and manual is availabe?

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/232063-intybasic-compiler-v10-crunchy-tasty/

Everything you need is in this thread.

 

There are lots of threads in the Intellivision Programming forum that go into greaty detail on how to do things in IntyBasic

http://atariage.com/forums/forum/144-intellivision-programming/

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx. I have not intellivision, but contest look interesting.

If your IntyBASIC game works correctly in jzintv then it should work fine on real hardware too. I suspect that the only major issue will be how you handle the disc controller input (especially for games that require 2 or 4 way restricted movement).

 

If you need help testing on real hardware, post a ROM of your game in its announcement/development thread and one of us will try it out and give you some feedback on any issues.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a programmer, but I'd love to see SPACE ROCKS on the INTV!

The game is only possible on the 2600 because of the ARM acceleration available in the Harmony/Melody. It'd be interesting to see what could be done in that genre on the Inty tho.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some clarification on this criteria for this might be in order:

 

  • Execution (1 to 10) - Execution of design, taking into account controls, NTSC/PAL compatibility.

What is the baseline for NTSC/PAL scoring?

Are the judges expecting the game to run at the same speed for both NTSC and PAL in order to get full marks? IntyBasic already handles the music speed between the two but are the judges going to time how long a character takes to move from one side of the screen to the other and dock points if it isn't the same for NTSC/PAL?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This category isn't broken down into any finer granularity. For example, its possible to do more work in the vertical blank period on a PAL machine than an NTSC machine. Which means that your game might work fine on on PAL and not NTSC. If developers go to the extra mile of making the delays the same and using fractional movement/positioning for MOBs (an advanced technique) then thats an extra spit and polish step and should be rewarded.

 

We won't need to time anything religiously because you have to submit your source code with the entry so we can see what you're doing and to make sure it builds your contest entry ROM too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't understand this line under what the entry should include

"Instructions on how to build the IntyBASIC source code (this must also include IntyBASIC compiler version number)."

Shouldn't you just use INTYBasic to build it?

nanochess has released several versions of IntyBASIC with modifications to both the compiler and the preamble and postamble assembly language files. If we don't know what version you've used to make your game we can't build the source code to create the exact same binary as your contest entry. Not everybody will be using the exact same version of the compiler either. Sometimes you start a project with a version of the tool and stick with it over the life of the project, even though more versions might come out in the mean time.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 2 cents:

 

1. I must be blind. I checked the forums last night for the first time in a while and had no clue any of this was going on. I actually found out about this from the AA front page (on a non-bookmarked computer at the moment). We need a thread in the programming forum in case anyone else is as stupid as me. :P

 

2. Oscar, is there a planned IntyBASIC release coming soon? Just a suggestion, but if so - now's the time to do it. And then stop adding stuff for a while, so that developers have a stable platform to target. I know - people can just stick with one version but I can tell you from experience that it's always oh so tempting to try to incorporate the "new stuff" halfway through the development lifecycle. Which is often less "help" than one might think ;) I suspect others may vigorously disagree with me on this one.

 

2a. On that note, did you manage to fix the "multiply by zero" bug yet? Or any other outstanding major bugs, if there are any? A lot of entrants probably aren't going to be reading all of the 5000 IntyBASIC posts from the past year or more, so they may not be aware of these things. It would be nice to start everyone off with a very clean version of the compiler, if at all possible. If not, perhaps we should publish a comprehensive list of all known bugs/odd behaviours.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. I must be blind. I checked the forums last night for the first time in a while and had no clue any of this was going on. I actually found out about this from the AA front page (on a non-bookmarked computer at the moment). We need a thread in the programming forum in case anyone else is as stupid as me. :P

:lol: You can't get any more prominent than the front page of AA. There is also a thread in AA's homebrew section too.

 

We are working on an IntyBASIC installer package to make contestants lives easier. That should be available this week, if all goes to plan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...