Wednesday 18 May 2011

C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition!

  
Well, those six months flew by!  The first RGCD C64 16KB cartridge game development competition concluded on the 30th of November at midnight with 11 new games for the C64.
 

   
RULES
  
So you can get started, the basic rules are laid out below:
  1. The competition deadline is midnight GMT on the 30th November 2011 (this gives you over 6 months of development time).
  2. There will be no competition unless a minimum of six entries are submitted by the deadline.
  3. All submitted games must be in working 16KB cartridge ROM format (help is available to test ROM files on real hardware). Compression is allowed (and encouraged) but the final file size must not exceed 16KB (.crt (VICE) at 16.0 KB (16,464 bytes) or .bin (C64) at 16.0 KB (16,384 bytes)).
  4. The games submitted do not necessarily need to be new, but must be your own work and not released in cartridge format previously. Cartridge ROM hacks will obviously not be accepted.
  5. PAL must be supported, with additional NTSC support optional (but encouraged).
  6. 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.
  7. All applicants that submit a valid entry (see above) will receive one physical cartridge copy of their game for free.
  8. The applicant owns their work, so therefore submitted games will *ONLY* be released for sale at an agreed price via RGCD if the coder expresses a desire to do so.
  9. There will be a panel of judges (announced in full over the coming weeks), and entries will be scored on a point distribution basis across several criteria. The decision of the panel is final.
  10. Judges *CAN* enter games themselves, but cannot self-vote (award points to their own release).
     

  
FINAL 2011 COMPETITION LINE UP


Here is an alphabetical list of the games that were submitted by the deadline.  
  
Blok Copy (T.M.R)   
   
C64anabalt (Paulko64)

  
Fairy Well (Wide Pixel Games)   
    
Fortress of Narzod (TRSI)   
      
Get 'Em! (Endurion)  

    
 
Panic Analogue (Goin' Sideways)

    
Rong - Ron's Pong (Ronny 'Ron' Nordqvist)    
    
Space Lords (P1X3L.net)

    
The Mollusk (Achim Volkers)  
    
Woolly Jumper (Richard Bayliss)
    

   
THE JUDGING PANEL
  
The panel of judges consists of the following people:
  
Andy Jenkinson/Uglifruit (RGCD)
Enthusi (Onslaught)
Frank Gasking (GTW64)
Heavy Stylus (RGCD/Avatar)
Kenz (Psytronik)
Mayhem
Nreive
(Retroaction)

Ruari O'Toole (RGCD)
T.M.R (Cosine/Backward Engineering/RGCD)
 

 
SCORING SYSTEM
 
The scoring rules are very simple.  Depending on the number of entries, the judges will award points to each game over several criteria (as discussed below).  If there are 6 entries, 6 points go to the best, then 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 to the worst.
 
If a panel member has entered a game themselves, then the number of points that they can award will be adjusted (in this example, to 5) and they will not score their own release. This may initially seem harsh (and disadvantageous), but is countered by fairly taking a mean average based on how many people judged each game.
 
The criteria that each game will be evaluated on are:
 
Concept (originality and design),
Presentation (quality of graphics, audio and execution of design),
Gameplay (a measure of how enjoyable the game is to play),
Lasting Appeal (replay value, addictiveness).
 
When the panel has scored each game accordingly, the totals for each criteria will be divided by the number of judges to produce a mean average.  These averages are then added together for each game to give a final score.
 

  
PRIZES
  
As well as a free copy of their submitted game on cartridge, there will also be prizes awarded to the entrants behind games that place 1st, 2nd and 3rd (as decided by the judging panel).
  
1st Prize
£150, EasyFlash cartridge (pre-flashed with Prince Of Persia), a cartridge port expander and two RGCD cartridge releases of the winner's choice (including sold out releases).
  
2nd Prize
£75, EasyFlash cartridge (pre-flashed with Prince Of Persia), a cartridge port expander and a 20 Euro voucher for use at the Protovision shop.
  
3rd Prize
£25EasyFlash cartridge (pre-flashed with Prince Of Persia), a cartridge port expander and a prize bundle from Psytronik.


  
RESULTS
    
01 - Fairy Well (Wide Pixel Games)
02 - C64anabalt (Paulko64)
03 - Panic Analogue (Goin' Sideways)
04 - Space Lords (P1X3L.net)
05 - Jars' Revenge (TRSI)
06 - Woolly Jumper (Richard Bayliss)
07 - Fortress of Narzod (TRSI)
08 - The Mollusk (Achim Volkers)  
09 - Get 'Em! (Endurion)  
10 - Blok Copy (T.M.R) 
11 - Rong - Ron's Pong (Ronny 'Ron' Nordqvist)
    
The full write-up of the 2011 competition results can be found here.

4 comments:

  1. Annual competition?? Wait a minute, does this mean that new games will be released on cartridge every year???!?? That's bloody fantastic and (on the downside) it also means that I should pull my act together and enlist (maybe) next year.. Damn, where are my assembly books. . . Big thumb up for every applicants (good looking games) and especially for the arrangers, bringing the C64 into a new golden age!

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  2. Yes, that's the idea, and thanks! :)

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  3. To me this competition is the highlight of c64 game production in 2011. Can't wait to see all these new releases. I already got an idea for next year's competition...

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  4. Thanks for the kind words Achim ;)

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