Sumea Programmer Challenge

ahahahahahaha

unfortunately i have been faaaaaaaar too busy, exams, thesis, research projects.

I won't be entering in spite of my best intentions :( I did come up with some ideas though that I might write up and make a demo out of to put up sometime this summer

Unfortunately I didn't have time

Yeah, I've got an entry but have been lazy over the last month so probably won't get everything that I wanted working, but gezzz, you learn a lot doing these kind of things.

Okay, so I've decided that I don't have enough time to complete an entry now. I gave it a good shot but three weeks (of about 12-16 hour days) was not enough time to create an game engine/framework and a game with interesting AI.

I did manage to create a decent game engine (fairly no frills though), and I learnt/refreshed a lot of mathematics that I hadn't used for a while.

So I'll write about the experience on my blog (www.dominikgrabiec.com) and I'll be building a proper game with what I've got now.

Good luck to the remaining entrants!

Darn!

I really wish I had done something for this, every programming contest ever suffers from a lack of entries :(

but i only saw it 2 weeks ago and have been really busy (not to mention 2 weeks prolly wasnt long enough so even though i started work on an entry it would never have been done in time =)

I will keep on eye on this site for future contests XD since it sounds like a lot of fun

but i must mention that starting it in september does seem like a bad time of year (exams anyone? :O)

-queries possibility of extension until end of january? :P!!!-

i don't know if there is ever an "ideal" time, lots of competitions suffer a big drop out rate regardless of the time of year. Just be sure to get some resolve to have a crack at the next one!

Yeah, at least now I havee some sort of base game engine/framework to work from for the next competition.

I'll send the THQ guys an email to get an answer.

HI

It is preferred that the entire application is written in C++.
If your AI language uses C++ as a core for a scripting style language, then that is also an acceptable solution.

Cheers
William Docherty
Technical Director
THQ Studio Oz

Taken straight from the challenge brief:

The Judges will be reviewing your work with the following criteria:

- Quality of code framework
- Code & data efficiency
- Levels of player interaction
- Unique & clever uses of AI

You will not be judged on the graphics quality of the work submitted.

- Quality of code framework
- Code & data efficiency

but how could you compare those two when the 'game's we make will be vastly different?

Doesn't matter what you make, if the code is poor its poor.
Maybe you create a game that is the most fun to play but in the end if it doesn't score well in all the judging criteria then it won't win.

Ok first of all, i'm assuming people doing this competition are competent enough programmers to be able to code cleanly, so your statement about the code being poor just seems irrelevant to me.
The first two clauses of the judging criteria just don't seem to be things you can compare in this competition because they way you code it is unique to the product/game you're making. We haven't been told that this game is to support extensions or comply to standard X or standard Y or anything of the sort; thus the first criteria is the most generic criteria possible.
The second criteria i'm going to assume is related to resource usage, ie. CPU and memory. And also slightly more generally to say you won't need the 100% resource usage of a top-end computer just to run Snake.

The second two criteria seem to be related to gameplay, but it is not clear how this is going to be judged? Thats really what i'm trying to find out in this thread. Is player interaction measured by how fun it is to play? the UI? What players have the ability to do? Its just that the more I look at it its sounding like a Game design competition not an AI programming challenge.
And as for unique & clever uses of AI, what does this mean? Is it a measure of how intelligent the AI are in the game? Are we programming bots that play like humans or is AI here defined as how intelligent the units in an RTS game are at carrying out their tasks? its so broad! an extra-intelligent AI could have more knowledge about its environment than the human player and also be able to cheat...

The competition brief is quite vague isn't it? Making it more specific at this stage wouldn't be possible but i'd like to have some sort of a better idea as to what they want and how they will be judging it.
For example you could create a chess game with a chess player AI (which could be coded cleanly, efficiently, have a good UI and the AI opponent could be pretty smart), but you could also create a whacky game of your own design where you're shooting things in the most complex world ever, where the physics of every object accurately reflects science on earth and the AI is so smart it recursively knows the next 5 branched levels of possible game state and acts accordingly. But how would you compare the two?

If this is an AI programming challenge, how do you compare two AIs when the game they are being played on is not common?
From what i'm guessing, it seems like a Game Design competition with a specified focus in its AI components where we have to make a Fun (? does it have to be) game (how complex?) where there are 1000+ (quoted) AI controlled objects/units/whatever that doesn't take up excessive ammounts of resources (but what is considered excessive?)

Actually, regarding the 1000+ AI unit requirement, what does that entail? do a thousand units that move forward or left depending on the colour of the square they're standing on count as 1000+ AI units?

Sorry its so long, and I would really like to enter the comp but what are we measuring :(

I'm not going to comment on the design stuff, because I think one of the organisers could answer it better, but in regards to the quality of code it is quite easy to measure (in my opinion).

In my job I frequently look at code written by other programmers who are all 'competent enough' but their code is not always easy to follow, easy to debug, well commented or particularly well written! The code still works, obviously, but it can take a little while to figure out what it is doing (or trying to do!).

With that in mind, I think it makes sense to add it as a criteria to be judged against. If the reviewer can't look at your code and understand what you are doing then you aren't coding cleanly :)

Hope that helps.

That makes sense =)

I know I will come across as a grumpy old man, but let's face it. I am one

Brief answer to a few of your inane quandaries

1. Does it have to be a game?

In the competition specification it says "player interaction". Player implies the verb play, and play means game. At least, this is my take on it.

2. Player interaction ?

Fun may not be the top priority. My initial understanding is that it would be likely that this is more about the AI having not only a level of reaction to player input, but some 'perceivable consequence' - probably making it both a design and programming consideration.

3. Unique/clever use of AI ?

Two things I can think of that might come into the judging process. First is that AI already has many established methods, although it might seem like a 'design challenge' it's also true that to apply these solutions to new problems requires thorough understanding of the behaviour of the method. Judging whether the AI 'appears' smart is how I am going to look at it.

I think, regarding say your chess example that I would think that an AI being 'successful' is not equivalent to an AI being 'smart'. Knowing more branches of the game than a human can see is a dull, boring, obvious method for AI.

4. How complex a game ?

I think this is only implicitly part of the judging criteria, I'm not sure. It's likely (although not necessarily true) that a simpler game will have simpler AI requirements, and hence may effect what you can actually achieve AI wise. Hence, affect your result.

5. What is considered excessive ?

My logic :

We are given that we will be able to use DX9. Most systems that support the features of DX9 are probably 2-3 years old at least. If it doesn't run in real time on that kind of system, it's probably excessive. I am fairly sure it'd be a bad idea to write for a target platform of a mobile phone.

Okay - I will now spend less time responding, and more time coding

I suggest we all follow suit :)

HI

As someone was already kind enough to point out, the submissions will be reviewed using these criteria:

- Quality of code framework
- Code & data efficiency
- Levels of player interaction
- Unique & clever uses of AI

Some additional notes:

Quality of code framework
- Has nothing to do with coding standards or coding style
- Has everything to do with the architecture & quality of implementation
- This criteria will reward solutions that are architecturally sound

Code & data efficiency
- Solving unique code challenges within reasonable CPU performance bounds & memory restrictions is an every day task when developing games It is very easy to solve many problems by ignoring real-time aspects & reasonable memory use.
- This judging criteria will reward solutions that recognise the importance of code & data efficiency

levels of player interaction
- In game development it's all about player interaction for the end user
- This criteria will reward solutions that show good use of player interaction

Unique & clever uses of AI
- In game development a unique/clever feature may become a USP for your title. Pushing the boundaries of what's being achieved before or implementing an old system well using a new technique.
- This criteria rewards solutions that offer something new

Regarding some of the other questions:
A solution that moves 1000 units forward and left based on the colour of the square they are standing on, will not fulfill the criteria outlined above, for example, being unique or clever.

Proving a solution that plays chess, would be clever and may score well, however it wouldn't be unique or demonstrate 1000 units.

The specification for the task is deliberately open to interpretation, but is closed enough to limit the solutions that can be presented.

Cheers
William Docherty
Tehcnical Director
THQ Studio Oz

That makes more sense =)

How is everybody going with the challenge???
I'm not going to repeat myself so this is what I'm up to:

http://www.tsumea.com/journal/manix/111108/update-thq-challenge-entry-m…

Terribly ! Massively swamped at uni, will have to do a rushed job after exams.

Damn honours !!!

I may have to extend the deadline to match the modeller challenge's finishing date. I'm going overseas and won't be back in the country until the 13th or 14th of December. So yeh, you may get an extra few days :o

I created a scene where objects are randomly placed and now I'm working on analysing the scene. So far I've managed to mark where it is safe for agents to stand, which has hopefully ment a lot the math is out of the way. Next will be finding where the waypoints will go and then I can start concentrating on the AI.

An early screenshot showing some objects for agents to hide behind.

A debugging screenshot showing where it is safe for an agent to stand. The green areas are safe and the red areas are where objects are.

Ok so I think ive got the idea im going to go with.
Its a human vs AI war game where you control huge army's into battle. A lot of emphasis will be put towards group formations and tactics.
If time permits ill also put in some more advanced individual/unit behaviors to give them each different personalities.

The game in dot points:
*Each army will start at each end of the map.
*The terrain will vary so archers/snipers could take advantage of higher grounds.
*Formations can be as large(within the size of your army), or as small, as you like. Different formations include rectangular, defensive circles, triangles, etc.
*Tactics such as flanking and group dividing can be used. The book "the art of war" will be used as reference for AI tactics.

I think ill use the Irrlicht engine.

Finished the design and starting to code the program. Going to be harder that originally thought. Like most of the things I do.

Hurry up already :P

Should we post up our progress here or in the other programmer challenge thread ?

Yep, use this programmer challenge section (called The tsumea, THQ AI programmer challenge) to post your progress!

The other programmer challenge section is sorta not in use, and is being kept to store the old challenge threads.

Well ... I tried to create a new forum topic and it had some error :(

Says this at the top of the page

* warning: reset() [function.reset]: Passed variable is not an array or object in /home/tsumeaco/public_html/sites/all/modules/og_forum/og_forum.module on line 712.
* warning: key() [function.key]: Passed variable is not an array or object in /home/tsumeaco/public_html/sites/all/modules/og_forum/og_forum.module on line 713.
* warning: array_key_exists() [function.array-key-exists]: The first argument should be either a string or an integer in /home/tsumeaco/public_html/sites/all/modules/og_forum/og_forum.module on line 714.

Ok, that's not supposed to happen! Give it another shot, I'm sure it'll be fine this time.

except that it's a programmer challenge like our modeller challenge, and our sponsors are writing up the guidelines right now. It should be pretty cool!

ooo - a secret !

sounds exciting ;)

Any more news on the programmer challenge?
I'm really looking forward to it.

There's been a bit of back and forth with the sponsor with some small refinements, but I think we're getting real close now.

Well that kinda fizzled....

Cheers redwyre for the idea - I thought it seemed like a pretty decent challenge. Bit of a shame not to see more entries, but I'm guessing everybody must be too busy doing "real" code.

worked for me, and was pretty cool - good job :)

pity about the lack of entries, I'm not a coder but I do enjoy seeing the fruits of challenges like these

I had worked on one, I just didn't end up finsihing off the main part of the challenge... solving the puzzle!

It saved/loaded and let you make your own puzzles etc, but I didn't get around to making it solve them.

What's the challenge?
Write a program that can solve sudoku puzzles. The input will be a text file (9 rows of 9 digits, 0 being an unknown cell). The output can be displayed on screen (text console or a gui) or saved to a text file.

Why should I do this?
These challenges are an easy way to brush up on your coding skills. They may or may no be directly game related, and it's a good chance to do something you might not normally do. There is no "winning" as such.. but by participating and learning we all win!

How should I do it?
I guess there's no reason to restrict it to any language, but if you want others to use your program it's probably best not to use some obscure language with a 20MB runtime :)

When do I start?
Now!

When do I finish?
We'll make it the end of next week (13th). Work on it by yourself until the end of this week (6th), and then after that everone can discuss any problems they have encountered and/or solutions they have found.

Why didn't it start when you said it would?
I'm busy with work. And sleep.

im definately up for a third...

maybe i can try my hand at DirectX this time...[:D]

I'd join in if i had the time! (which is likely i would)

Okay so... should we have a theme? and if so, any suggestions?

I'm not sure if the discussions about the last programmer challenge problems have been resolved. You guys wanted a stock set of graphic content to work with, and how'd we go about getting that available.

I'm against having a public "stock content" thing... I don't think all the games sharing the same graphics is a good thing. The programmer art in the first challenge was not a major issue.

Perhaps an alternative is to have artists involved in the challenge and they're allowed to work before the deadline. So in this way, perhaps we might allow all audio/visual game assets to be constructed ahead of time, but no code is made till the clock starts?

Well... considering the happening right now is Halo 2 and Half Life 2, sci-fi sequels are the flavor of the month.
that in mind how about the theme "Screw it!! Let's make something Medieval!"

Hehehe..
Except EverQuest 2 and World of Warcraft are both out this month, both fantasy, and both have the potential to seriously compete with Halo 2 and Half Life 2?
So you need to avoid both sci-fi and fantasy if you want to do something different.

How about a puzzle game?

Hmm, puzzle games are good... but limiting all the games to one genre might discourage people from entering.
Maybe we need a sort of vauge theme like the artist challenges are given.

OR we could make the theme "blatant rippoffs of current games" [:D]

Is there any chance we can have more than 48 hours?? Something like a week would be nice, and would (probably) result in more polished entries.

When you consider that the last modeller challenge went for about 2 months, while we have to design a game, code it, test it and create the art & sound content in only 48 hours!! It's a tight squeeze for even the most mighty of caffeine-powered code monkeys.

quote:Originally posted by Soul

Is there any chance we can have more than 48 hours?? Something like a week would be nice, and would (probably) result in more polished entries.

When you consider that the last modeller challenge went for about 2 months, while we have to design a game, code it, test it and create the art & sound content in only 48 hours!! It's a tight squeeze for even the most mighty of caffeine-powered code monkeys.

Well.. i'd like to see more pollished entries too, but I have 2 other projects to finish over the next 3 months and at this rate I couldn't enter if the compo was much longer than 2 days.

it may be too hard to do in 48 hours, but what about a sports theme?

quote:Originally posted by Kane

it may be too hard to do in 48 hours, but what about a sports theme?

hmm, that could be good
writes down idea: kung fu soccer madness, platform game

If the comp was a week long (or more), couldn?t people who only have one weekend to spare still enter? Previous modelling challenges have been 2 months long, and while most people take all the available time, some people get their entry done in just a couple of days.

Theoretically, the programming challenge could be a couple of weeks long, but those psyched for a 48-hour challenge could just do a 48-hour caffeine induced marathon?

Wouldn?t the end result be more polished entries, and more challengers competing?

Of course I?m just sticking my nose in where it doesn?t belong because I have no intention of entering (certainly not in a 48 hour challenge anyway), but it just seems logical to me to have it over a few weeks.

Going back to the idea of having a set of graphics to work with, what if we have a couple of weeks prior to the challenge of artists submitting art based on the theme, then programmers could use whatever they want from the archive. Maybe afterwards the artists could make specific pieces on request, based on what pieces the programmers want to use?

quote:Originally posted by Kezza

Perhaps an alternative is to have artists involved in the challenge and they're allowed to work before the deadline. So in this way, perhaps we might allow all audio/visual game assets to be constructed ahead of time, but no code is made till the clock starts?

This sounds like a good idea.
However it's achieved, it would be cool to somehow have a challenge involving both artists and programmers.

Perhaps the question that we should be looking at is what exactly the competition is to be judged on. Having artists working with purely a coding competition could actually distract people from the technical challenges which should be our focus IMHO.

The modelling challenges are being used to improve peoples skills and get them some exposure to the industry, can we somehow use a programming challenge in the same way?

quote:Originally posted by Barry Dahlberg

Perhaps the question that we should be looking at is what exactly the competition is to be judged on. Having artists working with purely a coding competition could actually distract people from the technical challenges which should be our focus IMHO.

The modelling challenges are being used to improve peoples skills and get them some exposure to the industry, can we somehow use a programming challenge in the same way?

Hmm, we'd have to be careful not to turn it into a tech demo challenge. [:D]

I didn't pay close attention to the second competition, however i don't think that quality of artwork was a huge factor in the marking of the first challenge.
Although the winner wasn't the one with the most complex gameplay, but it was the one that seemed most "finished".

quote:Originally posted by Kezza
Hmm, we'd have to be careful not to turn it into a tech demo challenge. [:D]

What is the aim of the challenge then? Perhaps people see this as more of a game production challenge, trying to get something complete rather than technically impressive?

I think it's an effort to try and make a game that's as enjoyable as possible under heavy time constraints.
After all, the judging is done by the votes of all sumeans by simply listing their preferences.

So it's a game development challenge then, not a programming challenge?

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

So it's a game development challenge then, not a programming challenge?

i guess it always has been one [:D]

ok, now that that is sorted out, should we start pondering themes?

yes we should.
How about using "speed" as a theme?

speed as in fastness...interesting

what made you think of that? that could be interestiung to see what people come up with...

Nah speed as in amphetamines. Could make up lots of fun games oriented around that...from truck driving to being a bikie gang :D

If it's a game development challenge then I dunno if I CBFed - all the art/design/ideas stuff is too much of a pain in the ass to accomplish in such a small time frame - I'd never be totally satisfied with it!

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

Nah speed as in amphetamines. Could make up lots of fun games oriented around that...from truck driving to being a bikie gang :D

If it's a game development challenge then I dunno if I CBFed - all the art/design/ideas stuff is too much of a pain in the ass to accomplish in such a small time frame - I'd never be totally satisfied with it!

well you see, ideas/design/music has always been done before the compo... that's why we called it a programming competition before, because the main work was always coding the game.

As for the art, this time round we may also let that be done ahead as well.

depending on the date, im in :D

did any of you guys do the ludumdare competitions? might be worthwhile checking out how they do it, and what rules they used.

Matt D

I would actualy enter this one if it was over a week or two period. Also are we allowed to use Graphics Engines like OGRE or use DirectX?

hmm not a lot of movement here is there ;)

so whats the consensus? 48hr comp? longer comp? a less comp structure but more of a all in "lets just write a game by a date and see what everyone else did" type of thing?

all it needs is a decision really. maybe a quick poll? technology is another biting point, with a small number of entrants its not like you can have a hardcore and open leauge (as was touted with LD last time). maybe using the rules from the last comp (anything with a binary) could work. although it rules MDIP v2 stuff out :P

ideas?

Matt D

maybe, instead of running for 48 hours, have it over a couple of days or so...[;)]

I think it would be cool to just keep the 48 hour deadline. Its just enough time to make something interesting...

I think we'll get more people if we do it after christmas. Alot of people are probably just ending or have just ended crunch time and probably want a bit of a break.

i'd have to agree with that actually. Why not do it in January?

ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHH! Compile you bastard!

BURN IN HELL DIRECTX, BURN.... IN.... HELL!!!

OK, cleary the delusions are starting.

Have you even looked at the DD for this game yet? Sheeeeeeet...I probably should've toned the ambition factor down.

We have a design doc??? Nobody told me! Who's running this thing??

This competition is pretty quiet. Everyone must be hard at work ;)

Wow - times running fast and I haven't even started making the actual GAME yet.

Oh deary me :)

I'm shagged, will sleep for a few hours then get back into it.

Well, we're pulling out...yes, we aren't men enough to code what we wanted in the time frame. Having said that, I have at least 3 good excuses as to why :)

1. I was working at the pizza store till midnight on friday, meaning we had no time to prepare anything

2. I was rostered on for a further 10 hours at the pizza store over sat/sun and soul was on for 4

3. I'm a total pansy :P

Considering that for the last 48 hours I've had only 9 hours sleep and every other hour has been spent working I don't feel too bad.

I have to say sorry to, and a good luck to Kane. Looks like you are set to win if you hand up anything! But don't drop your standards because of that, go for it boy!!! *cracks whip*

man, im trying to figure out how to do the scrolling and it is confusing me... i really doubt that i will finish on time... [:(]

What libs etc. are you programming in?
The basic idea is you have a camera sort of thing that translates your world co-ordinates to camera co-ordinates and that does the scrolling (or showing different parts of the world) for you.
It's a reasonably simple matrix transform...
CYer, Blitz

i am using Java...

i have decided to skip the problem i was having and keep adding things that are most important..and i think i have it sorted now anyway, in my own deranged way...[:D]

just a note to everyone...

ive never made a side scroller before, and my character doesnt move from his spot on the screen, and he probably wont be able to jump... so it will possibly be the most boring side scroller ever created, but hey its my first attempt!

dont worry kane, from the looks of things its a 1 on 1 competition :o

well, 2nd is always good!

i am currently trying to make the character jump, and with a bit of success...but he still doesnt move around, the map walks by him!

w00t! [:D]

lol sounds like fun :D

Looks like you'll have to settle for 1st Kane :P

ahaha!

other people will post closer to the finish time ill bet..

and on top of my semi-non-spectacular side scroller, my PC microphone has shat itself, so i dont even get to make a heavy metal theme somng or any sound effects!

wo is me! [:(]

More than likely yeah, there hasn't been much talk about it on the IRC chan though...I guess most people are just busy.

ok, here we go people!

keep in mind this is my first side-scrolling type game, even though it has limited scrolling abilities...[:p]

Name: Painkiller 2D : Aspro Clear
[url]http://home.graffiti.net/dinomedia:graffiti.net/Painkiller.zip[/url]

Size: 302KB Zipped

Requirements: Java VM or SDK. I have only tested it on a Windows XP machine, but should work fine on a Mac.

Installing and Running: Unzip the contents of the zip file to a desired location. Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory in which you unzipped the game. At the prompt, type the following;

java PainRun

Then hit the enter key. With any luck it will appear on the screen.

Controls and Instructions:

RIGHT = right arrow key
LEFT = left arrow key
SHOOT = space
JUMP = j (use at own risk!)

You have to be at least 2 spaces from enemies to shoot them.
You will get hurt if you run into an enemy.
There is currently only the one level, and provides a maximum of 20 seconds gameplay!

Bugs: There are plenty of bugs in this baby...

The first major bug is with the repainting of the window. At first only some or none of the graphics will be displayed, but if you minimize the window, them open it again, it will correct itself.

Secondly, there is no animation in the game at all, so basically you will see a man sliding across the ground.

Thirdly, enemies have no AI and basically just stand there waiting to have a stake shoved through their head.

Fourthly (?), the avatar can jump onto the one platform that is in the game, but unfortunately defies all laws of physics and remains airbourne when he walks off the platform. So jump at you own risk. Also, he can't jump onto it unless he is directly underneath it.

And finally, at least to my knowledge, if you walk to the edge of the level, (the level is about 20 tiles long...), the game will have a spaz attack and the graphics will go haywire. Just walk back the way you came and it will correct itself.

*applause*
Well done Kane, good to see you made it to the bitter end (or not so bitter in your case!).
Can't seem to d/l the file tho.

try again, i put the wrong URL a minute ago...

but if it still doesnt work, tell me, please!

Yes nice job Kane,

I downloaded it first thing this morning at work.
Yes, its buggy buy hey you tried.

I was almost going to compete but was put off by the 2d nature of the topic. Could I suggest that for the next comp. we get people to submit their on ideas on a topic and we vote for the most interesting.

All I wont to know now is what does Kane win?

yeh! [;)]

how bout a Sumea T-Shirt?

I still have all that GDC stuff that no-one wanted from the last comp o.o
CYer, Blitz

hey, I'll have anything your willing to give away... [:D]

I am somewhat confused and amazed by this piece of work. I didn't reach the end of the level, the camera did and the game finished :D. Good work, sequel? :D

Wow, someone actually dug up this old piece of junk!

I had never attempted anything like this game before, and I had very very limited programming skills at the time, but I was quite proud of I managed to do in that short amount of time! I am surprised to see that you were amazed by it, but I suppose it was the winning entry. [;)]

What date?

This is just a crazy idea, but what about having something where programmers and artists team up? Of course then it isn't a programmer challenge, so it would probably mean changeing it into like a 7 day game dev challenge or something, but the results would be pretty cool.

Or if not, what about having a programmer challenge that goes for a bit longer? Say 4 days or something?

Or, it would be really cool to pick a free game engine of some sort that everyone has to use. Though it takes time to learn an API...
...still, that could be part of the challenge?

-Just thought I'd throw around some ideas. [:)]

what about a platform Mario style rip-off :)

palantir: sounds like a good idea.. much organising tho.. and would make it hard for an induh-vidual to compete.. :)

jacana: cool idea.. platformers are nice and simple.. maybe we can see Studio48 #2 :)

a Programmer / Artist comp would be convenient cos me and my brother could work together...

are we going to vote on a theme again? my theme suggestion is "Kill the Linux Penguin!"

as for the date, i dont know, when does uni finish for you uni student types?

quote:
This is just a crazy idea, but what about having something where programmers and artists team up? Of course then it isn't a programmer challenge, so it would probably mean changeing it into like a 7 day game dev challenge or something, but the results would be pretty cool.

could be fun, but uless you know an artist it makes it a little hard.. :) anyone else like to comment?

quote:
Or if not, what about having a programmer challenge that goes for a bit longer? Say 4 days or something?

i think too many people work fulltime for a longer comp unfortunately. unless theres a 4 day weekend anytime soon ;) (although itd be fun)

quote:
Or, it would be really cool to pick a free game engine of some sort that everyone has to use. Though it takes time to learn an API...
...still, that could be part of the challenge?

any particular engine you had in mind? theres a lot of talk on ludumdare at the moment about open and hardcore entry streams and all that, but i dont think we quite have enough entrants to split the field.

perhaps using a standard API or toolset might be a better option rather than using an entire engine?? especially for things like 2d games?

Matt D

am i wrong in saying that it was open to use artists in the last programming test ?

everything in the last game (except music) had to be made by you

quote: am i wrong in saying that it was open to use artists in the last programming test ?

From the rules of the last one:

quote:?You may work in a pair of two programmers if you wish (the intent that a less experienced programmer can work with a more experienced programmer). No artist+programmer teams allowed!?

I was thinking of something where an artist and a programmer from Sumea team up, and over a period (like a few of weeks maybe), develop a game ? more like the modeller challenge then the programmer challenge in implementation. The benefit being that at the end we would have a cool game that could be added to a portfolio if desired.

This idea isn?t really for a programmer challenge though; it?s a hybrid artist/programmer challenge ? something new for Sumea.

To organise teams, we would just start a thread where people state their skills (what they plan to do) and try to team up with interested people. I think it would be interesting to work with new people, and team work is good experience. Of course, it?s always a problem bringing artists and programmers together! [;)] And it could bring up issues if someone doesn?t pull their own weight.

I guess another option could be just to have a straight programmer challenge that is implemented over a few weeks, like the modeller challenges are. Wouldn?t need to rush so much then! I guess the programmers like the 48 hours thing though.

But the more I think about a Hybrid programmer/artist game dev challenge, the more I like it. Anyone else think so?

The platformer one could be done on the GBA? There are plenty of emulators out there, documentation, and free compilers. Although we'll need about a week at least to learn the GBA system. However from what I've read the graphics part for a platformer should be fairly easily implemented on the GBA.

GBA development is quite simple as long as you're not worried about performance too much (which shouldn't be a problem with simple games that aren't using much memory etc.).
However, the time required to learn the system would vary depending on peoples experience, which is one of the reasons we allowed the first comp to be done in any language etc.
So, if you wanna do GBA stuff it should be optional IMO.
Artist/programmer teams is a nice idea, but it runs into trouble when communication comes up. I can't really see a 48hr artist/programmer team working unless (like Kane) you actually can talk to the person in reality. Trying to communicate this stuff over the net in such a short period would be difficult.
As far as having competitions over an extended period of time, i think that is a fine idea. I understand that some people dislike this idea because of school/work etc. but i think really you just would have to bite the bullet and resolve that you may not be able to spend every waking minute on it, and just deal with it. With these sorts of competitions it's just not easy to be entirely fair to everyone :) Howver, i think the other problem with longer term competitions, and particularly a group one, is that they do require a certain commitment, which people may be unwilling to do. They may just get bored of the project, or completely run out of time, and they don't want to let other people down etc.
I actually have some fairly crazy off the wall ideas about a next comp which i'll elaborate on in a later post, after oiling them up with a bit of indy conference tomorrow :)
CYer, Blitz

How about just allowing the people doing it to work for 48 hours or so over the course of a week on the game project?

Including all communication time. Although that does bring in some problems in itself.

I think teaming up like maybe an artist and a programmer or two or something could work quite well. GBA wouldn't be too challenging, the best thing we could do is to decide on the platform early enough that people could research a little on the GBA without actually knowing what kind of game/theme that they will make.

I *strongly* advise that it be set to the Uni holidays (hehe)

The dates for me and daemin's uni are

7th June -> 20th June is SWOT-VAC (study!).
21st June -> 4th July EXAMS (argh!!)
5th July -> 25th July mid year break (woot!!!).

i'm all for doing it during uni break!! (though i'll be graduated and looking for a job, or postgrad, who knows...)

wouldn't mind learning how to make GBA games either, might be a good skill to have when looking for a job

Cool, another programmer challenge. I'd be up for a side scroller theme this time.

Artist/Programmer team would be cool but we'd need some design time prior to the competiton to coordinate tasks, etc. It can be very frustrating trying to make artists and programmers play nice together, especially under these sorts of time constraints.

As for a date I'd suggest somewhere in the first half of July. All Unis should be on holidays by about the 5th of July (most people will finish earlier if they don't have exams on that date).

Yeah early July.. else ill have to compete from Canada! (yay!) wich wont make it any easier..

A.

The 5th of July (just under a month away) seems like a nice time for everyone, I think. With the modeller challenge coming pretty soon, I'm not sure if the artists are free enough to do two projects if the two challenges run at the same time.

And how long do you reckon the next challenge to be? A weekend or more? A month long challenge?

A weekend is good :) (well for me at least)

5th of July sounds good to me...I think I'm on holidays then

so from what I have gathered it is going to be a programmer and artist team challenge...topics havent been discussed yet?

What do you guys think of a 2 week or a month long challenge?

sounds good!

the game isn't locked to be 3D or 2D is it, it can be whatever you choose, yes?

48 hour challenges are better. Makes you think of what's really needed in a game instead of what you think would be cool tech to research and trying to fit that in to a game that doesn't need the tech. Especially if you find out about the challenge 24 hours before it starts and work out the design and what's needed in that time :)

I like the idea of themes for the programmer challenge, where the programmers can come up with any sort of game to suit that theme and it's really open. Of course, I think we have to be a bit more strict when it comes to voting to stick to the theme this time [;)] Anyway, let me know what you think.
Can you programmers who will be taking part give me a yay or nay on 48 hour, 2 week, month long, topic/theme ideas?

yay 48, nah for anything longer...

we could steal some of the reject ideas from the ld48... there were some pretty good ones there.

I think i like the one or two word themes.. gives more scope because it doesnt nail down exactly what it has to be. Mind you the last one we had here was pretty successfull too. The harder the topic the better :) keeps the game simple.

Yea 48 hours please.

I'm all for 48 hours ones...less time == more fun!

I have also come up with the ultimate in themes...two words...

Milo...Kerrigan [:D]

Ok. 48 hour challenge it will be! Friday 2, July (midnight) to Sunday (midnight) cool with everyone?

July 2nd is good for me [:)]

Time to stock up on caffeinated beverages.

July 2nd is good for me too.

Caffeinated beverages for all!

I've sent off a proposal for the sponsor of the modeller challenge. Hopefully we can get a small prize for this challenge as well.

1st - Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin
2nd - Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ
3rd - Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane
4th - Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle
5th - Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD
6th - Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan
7th - Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg
8th - Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz

[code]
Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (6th, 6th, 6th)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (4th, 4th, 4th)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (2nd, 1st, 1st)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (7th, 7th, 7th)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1st, 3rd, 2nd)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (3rd, 2nd, 3rd)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (8th, 8th, 8th)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (5th, 5th, 5th)
[/code]

Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (3rd,2nd,2nd)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (4th,4th,4th)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (5th,6th,5th)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1st,3rd,1st)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (2nd,1st,3rd)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (7th,5th,6th)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (6th,7th,7th)

note: i couldn't get chaemelaeon chaos to work,

I hope no one gets offended by my votes! *All* the games were great!

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (th, th, th)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (3rd, 2nd, 3rd)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (2nd, 5th, 2nd)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (4th, 1st, 1st)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1st, 7th, 5th)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (5th, 3rd, 6th)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (7th, 4th, 7th)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (6th, 6th, 4th)

Sorry, I couldn't get your game to work either, Kane. I'll adjust my votes when I do!

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (8, 8, 8)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (3, 7, 7)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (2, 2, 2)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (7, 6, 1)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1, 1, 3)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (4, 5, 4)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (6, 3, 5)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (5, 4, 6)

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (was unable to get it to work)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (4, 1, 5)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (3, 2, 2)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (was unable to get it to work, missing .dll)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1, 4, 1)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (2, 5, 3)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (was unable to get it to work, missing .dll)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (5, 3, 4)

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (6th, 4th, 5th)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (5th, 5th, 6th)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (3rd, 2nd, 1st)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (7th, 7th, 7th)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1st, 1st, 2nd)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (2rd, 3rd, 3rd)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (missing .ddl [V])
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (4th, 6th, 4th)

Stu

[edit: changing votes, as I managed to get Kane's program to work.]

Challenger #1 - Chameleon Rescue - Kane [-][-][-]
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue- The Big J [-][-][-]
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stickman - Gooberman [3][4][3]
Challenger #4 - Ignorador - Barry Dahlberg [2][1][1]
Challenger #5 - Super Sprint - Shiva/Kalin [4][6][2]
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 - Koden/Stoffle [1][2][4]
Challenger #7 - Red Camel - Alia/Matt [6][3][6]
Challenger #8 - Columz - Blitz [5][5][5]

Ok, the guys with [-]s instead of scores, I couldn't make your games run so I couldn't mark you's, sorry.

[code]Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (6th, 5th, 4th)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (3rd, 6th, 7th)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (1st, 2nd, 1st)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (5th, 3rd, 6th)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (2nd, 1st, 2nd)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (4th, 4th, 3rd)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (8th, 8th, 8th)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (7th, 7th, 5th)[/code]

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (-, -, -) - sorry, didn't have Java on the computer i was on
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (2, 6, 6)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (4, 1, 2)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (7, 2, 1)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (1, 5, 5)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (3, 7, 4)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (6, 4, 3)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (5, 3, 7)

Wow, some really great work people. Though I can see why not many people have voted: it?s so hard to choose! They are all really great. Sorry if my votes offend anyone, you all deserve to win! Anyway, here goes:

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane (Won?t run! Sorry!)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ (2nd, 2nd, 3rd)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan (1st, 4th, 1st)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg (3rd, 1st, 2nd)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin (5th, 5th, 4th)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle (4th, 3rd, 5th)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD (6th, 6th, 7th)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz (7th, 7th, 6th)

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane # (- - - Couldn't get working)
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ # (5th 6th 5th)
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan # (4th 3rd 4th)
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg # (7th 7th 7th)
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin # (1st 1st 2nd)
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle # (3rd 4th 3rd)
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD # (6th 3rd 6th)
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz # (2nd 2nd 1st)

Some thoughts for future competitors.

1. Help file/screen! Only takes a few moments to make a readme file.
2. Get someone non technical to test your programs. Some problems were fixable (The missing SDL.dll problem), some others are probably fixable (Chamaleon Chaos). If your using something relatively non standard (like java) then setup a batch file and explain to people how to setup.

Congrats to everyone whom entered.

Challenger #1 - Chaemelaeon Chaos by Kane ( didnt run )
Challenger #2 - Simian Rescue by TheBigJ ( 3rd, 4th, 4th )
Challenger #3 - Deformed Stick Figure Man by GooberMan ( 4th, 3rd, 3rd )
Challenger #4 - Ignorador by Barry Dahlberg ( 2nd, 2nd 2nd )
Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin ( 1st, 1st, 1st )
Challenger #6 - Studio 48 by Koden/Stoffle ( 7th, 5th, 6th )
Challenger #7 - Red Camel by Alia/MattD ( 6th, 6th, 5th )
Challenger #8 - Columz by Blitz ( 5th, 7th, 7th )

Some pretty good little games in there guys, some were alot more fun to play than some of the top shelf games that are being released nowadays, some of you should seriously think about going indy :)

OK, the votes are tallied up! And the winner is...

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachallenge/programmer1/Programmer1.gif[/img]

Challenger #5 - Super SprintF by shiva/kalin !!

The scoring method was simple - if you got a 1st, you received 8 points, and if you got 8th, you got 1 point. (If your demo didn't work, you were given 8th place, and so you received 1 point). Thanks to all the programmers who took time to take part, and thanks to everyone who voted as well. Every voted counted, and it was really neck and neck between shiva/kalin and Gooberman (2 points seperated them) right until the last vote.

If any of you remembered my little ramble on my Unreal Tournament 2004 ordering stuff up, I ended up paying for/receiving 2 copies. So for Shiva/Kalin, I'm gonna send them a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 as a prize.

Do I get a booby prize? [:D]

Grats guys! top notch remake :) (and thanks to the voters for spending the time and effort!) we have been meaning to do some more work on redcamel (and we WILL) just got side tracked by the ludumdare 48...

Whens the next one Souri???

A.

Yay!

A booby prize? I like the sound of that...

fun comp, hope it happens again

Is anyone interested in extra prize support from my GDC booty?
CYer, Blitz

Yeh, I was meaning to ask you if and how you'd want to pass on your loot to the other challengers..

Shiva, did you receive my email?

nope, try sending it to jimmy_s1@hotmail.com instead
having problems with the other one atm

I'd mail it :)
Since i have a job now i can afford postage stamps :P
Most of teh stuff is fairly small or thin, and would not cost more than about $2-3 or so in most cases, sending a small bundle of stuff might run me like $6 postage which is hardly worth mentioning :)
You can check out the loot here http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1640
see if something catches your fancy, theres probably enough stuff there to give away to the top 4 or so, and a booby prize for Kane! (he really seems to want that booby prize :))
Heck, there might be enough for all who entered, it just depends how much useless crap people want :P
CYer, Blitz

awwww your so generous souri, giving away ur extra copy of UT2k4! :P

congrats to all guys, sorry i didnt vote but my computer refused to run pretty much all of them and thus i thought it unfair to boost a few peoples numbers up and leave the rest behind when they may well have made awesome programs.

Blitz, I am the king of useless crap! Booby prize! Booby prize! [:D]

Yeh, when's the next one, that was quite fun!

I'm thinking we should run the next one maybe during the upcoming school holidays (June/Julyish). Probably allow the most people to compete...for people at tertiary/secondary school, they probably will have some spare time, and for people who work it doesn't really matter when you have it!
I think one of the reasons this comp. worked better than previous attempts was that this one actually made a game, rather than a tech demo, which probably catches peoples excitement a bit more...or it may have just been because of the time limit...
Anyway, we can start discussing that soon (if someone else wants to start discussing ideas for the next one, probably best to start a new thread and not clutter this thread :))
CYer, Blitz

quote:Originally posted by Blitz

I'm thinking we should run the next one maybe during the upcoming school holidays (June/Julyish). Probably allow the most people to compete...for people at tertiary/secondary school, they probably will have some spare time, and for people who work it doesn't really matter when you have it!

sounds good blitz, the hard part now is, how we come up with a topic! :)

Matt D

The level format is *very* elegant, nicely done guys :) Good to see you got all your favourite things in there ;)

I have to agree with the level format thing.. NICE trick! (I shall steal it if thats ok!)

*cackles gleefully*

A.

thanks guys, steal away :)
we've run it on a few more machines now and it certainly has its share of problems, but i think we shall fix it up, give it a decent resource system an 're-release' it with the intended number of creatures and a few levels, we'll let you know how it goes.

yeh, great game! love the lights!

Well, we've discovered the reason for random crashes, it's a combination of iterator invalidation (due to a vector::erase()) and me being lazy/tired/blind/stupid :/, will repost tonight

I dig the hip thrusting main character [:)]..

Ok, a stable version with a few modifications can be found at [url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/Studio48.Fix1.zip[/url].
Now you have to beat the clock

-- edit --
apparently the version i called 'stable' was not so stable at all :( works fine for most people, including those that had the random crashes, however i've had at least one report of the game crashing onload :(

if anyone else has this happen could you please let me know how far you do get (ie, window created, splash screen displayed? etc)

thanks,
stoffle

well if anyone downloaded that last update they would have been unpleasantly surprised by the huge fricken uncaught exception :/ for those of you with the patience to give us another shot, please download again from [url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/Studio48.Fix1.zip[/url] :)

haha! how did I know I would be the first to submit!

this is my attempt at making a BreakOut clone...i call it Chamaeleon Chaos!

Download install file: [url]http://dinomedia.topcities.com/chamaeleonChaos.exe[/url]

as you will all soon find out, it is no were near finished, and I thought I'd submit it know because I wouldn't get much further with it tonight anyway...currently there is no sound, but i really like what I have done so far, so I will work on it in my spare time...

also, i was unable to compile it into an executable, so I hope nobody minds running it through the Java VM (if you have it)...if you dont know how to do it, open up a command propmt and go to the directory the game is installed in (it will be set to C:Program FilesChamaeleon Chaos by default)...then just type the following to run it...

java Chamaeleon

it also has some major rendering issues, so you have to minimize the window then maximise it again to start it...here are the controls...

LEFT ARROW KEY = left
RIGHT ARROW KEY = right

and thats about it! like I said, extremely basic, but im pretty happy with it! hope someone else can get some laughs from it to!

** [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachallenge/programmer1/ChamaeleonChaos.zip"]Alternate Sumea download[/url]

Other things have taken my time this weekend so I haven't got much done but here's the entry anyway.

Name: Ignorador

Link: http://stingray.ftw.net.nz/48/BarryDahlberg.zip (Approx 230k)

If you get a warning about msvcr70.dll you need to get this file and add it to the game directory: http://stingray.ftw.net.nz/48/msvcr70.dll (Approx 330k)

Overview:

Breed an endangered bird while keeping out predators and fighting for funding. I'm not sure what genre it falls into, any suggestions...?

Warnings:

There is a random lock up bug I haven't had time to track down, I have left the game in windowed mode so you can task manager it if necasary.

Post Mortem:

The source is very messy but all the code was fairly straight forward. Unfortunately others things took up my time this weekend so I didn't spend much time on it but it was an interesting exercise.

I am seriously considering cleaning up the source code and expanding on it as I enjoyed tinkering with bird and predator AI. For this reason I wont post it for now.

Instructions can be found in my individual progress thread, enjoy!

** [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachallenge/programmer1/BarryDahlberg.zip"]Alternate Sumea download[/url]

Name: Deformed Stick Man and the Attack of the Automated Salt Shakers of Horrible Doom!!!
Link: http://www.geocities.com/gooberman_and_friends/downloads/deformedstickf… or http://www.geocities.com/gooberman_and_friends/index.html for a page with a link.
Description: An Impossible Mission clone. Run around rooms avoiding robots and their death rays, search items in the room to find keycard pieces (finding keycard pieces unimplemented, searching works though).
Post Moretem:
Source: Included in archive linked to above.
Notes: Win32 native executable. Requires DirectX 9. Runs in window mode by default. No way to specify dimensions and fullscreen in INI file, so use F9-F12 to chance resolution and fullscreen/windowed (more in readme.txt).

** [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachallenge/programmer1/deformedstickfigurem…"]Alternate download from Sumea[/url]

Name: Simian Rescue
Link: [url]http://www.julianmckinlay.com/downloads/simianrescue.zip[/url]

Overview: Endangered monkeys are being used for testing by the evil pharmaceutical company. Fly into their compound and liberate them, but beware the automated defense systems and patrolling jets!

Instructions: Use the arrow keys to maneuvre your chopper. Land on the far base to pickup a monkey and bring it back to your base to score. Every tenth monkey rescued gives you one bonus life. Press F1 to review these instructions in-game.

Tip: When landing, be careful not to crash into the ground or the edge of the platform. Bring your chopper to a stop above the platform and lower it down.

Postmortem: Had a lot of fun making this game, and had fun playing it. My top score is about 15 monkeys. My programmer art turned out far better than what I usually manage. Never got around to doing sound effects.

Source: [url]http://www.julianmckinlay.com/downloads/simianrescuesrc.zip[/url]

** [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachallenge/programmer1/simianrescue.zip"]Alternate Sumea download[/url]

Name: Columnz
Link: http://www.shinnen.net/Columnz.zip

Brief: This is a (bad) remake if the sega classic "Columns". I originally planned to do a 2D sidescroller platformer (Sonic styles) that had endangered species themes! But around midday sunday i realised it was just not going to happen, and rather than pull out, i switched to doing Columns, and old favourite of mine on the game gear.

It didn't turn out as well as i'd hoped. Most (about 95%) of the basic columns gameplay is there. However i didn't have time to put all the interface displaying score, level etc. in. Scores also aren't combo'd at the moment. If you want to view your score it's printed to the log at the end...

Overall, although i wasn't to happy with the result i enjoyed the reasonably intense codathon. (Especially the 3-4 hours trying to make the app run fullscreen, when it turned out it was just my PC not working, and the code was fine).

Please don't suffer too much playing this game!
CYer, Blitz
PS. I'll post source code later. Due to the change of tack halfway through theres just the odd thing i want to change in the project files etc. first. (This may not be until i get back from america in a couple weeks).

** [url="http://www.sumea.com.au/sumeachallenge/programmer1/Columnz.zip"]Alternate Sumea download[/url]

Alia & MattD

Name: Red Camel

Link:
http://www.roidsofdoom.mine.nu/redcamel/redcamel_bin.zip

Source:
http://www.roidsofdoom.mine.nu/redcamel/redcamel_src.zip

Instructions:
z/x for accelerate
m/> for change orientation
. to flip
b/space to fire (if you look very closely you can even see bullets)

Tip: think happy thoughts.

Postmortem: Was fun to do... definately not finished tho.

Overview:
Fight another baron to the death and kill his cow... (we didnt get that far).. a remake of RedBaron/Triplanes/Biplanes/Sopwith Camel

http://www.roidsofdoom.mine.nu/redcamel

ill put the rest in here in a bit.

Completed, enjoy
read the readme for keys.

code by kalin, shiva
art by shiva
sound by shiva
music used with permission from machinae supremacy [url]www.machinaesupremacy.com[/url]

game:
[url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/SuperSprintf.zip[/url]
source:
[url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/SuperSprintf_code.zip[/url]

we're in qld, none of that daylight savings crap

its a super sprint clone. race. have fun!

Here we go "Studio 48".. finally :) it's a bit late, but good fun none the less..

code by koden & stoffle,
art by stoffle
sound sourced by koden

read readme.txt for keys / "story" etc.
game: [url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/Studio48.zip[/url]
it is a little unstable due to decreasing caffeine levels and decreasing sleep levels ;)
if you want the source just email me: stoffle_work@hotmail.com

if you compare the game, the level file and the tileset texture you should be able to workout how to create your own levels ;)

cheers, stoffle
ps: koden explicitly says "";

--- UPDATE ---
readme file tells you the incorrect keys, they are:

Keys:
Move Left: Left Arrow
Move Right: Right Arrow
Jump: Z
Fire: X

--- ANOTHER UPDATE ---
Ok, a stable version with a few modifications can be found at [url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/Studio48.Fix1.zip[/url].
Now you have to beat the clock. I guess the original post would be our official submission still of course :)

My game won't be submitted after all... So ignore this topic...

[:(]... any reason why not? If you do end up coding this, let us know, ok [:)]

Well...
I got the (stupid) idea to let Visio generate the code for me, based on my UML doc...
The code that was generated was a disaster, and after the first 3h the only thing that i had been doing was debugging the framework! So I wasn't in a mood for staying up another 45h.

Tip. NEVER try something new in a 48h compo... Just look what happened to me! ;)

Will there be anymore 48h compos soon? ;)

took some pics at 0000, 0130, 0300, 0430, 0800, 1000, 1200
notice the increasingly tired expressions and the mounting cans of energy drinks.
[url]http://www.icecave.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?p=510#510[/url]

oh yeah
stoffle and koden are working on a platformer

Cool pictures (I don't know about the no-shirt-during-coding idea though! [;)]) Super Sprint! I love all these retro games in the challenge [:)]

lol certianly been busy by the looks of it, and hey when at home, there is no dress code ;)

Nice pics man - Kalin looks funny as, and your gettin a bit on the uncouth side with all that facial hair man [:P] going for that castaway look again eh [:D]

what can i say? getting rid of it takes more effort than keeping it [:p]
MR WILLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOONNNNNNN

Koden stole my shirt, and sold it to an eskimo.

Honest.

shiva has just returned from the 'set' of survivor to be with us for this challenge, we've had to cut him a bit of slack regarding his facial grooming :P

they kicked me out
its sposed to be survival of the fittest, but they dont seem to like the other players being murdered [:p]

Did you pulp them to death with wilson ?? my god man you truly are an animal!

Completed, enjoy [:D]
read the readme for keys.

code by kalin, shiva
art by shiva
sound by shiva
music used with permission from machinae supremacy [url]www.machinaesupremacy.com[/url]

game:
[url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/SuperSprintf.zip[/url]
source:
[url]http://www.icecave.com.au/sumea48/SuperSprintf_code.zip[/url]

we're in qld, none of that daylight savings crap [:p]

Well done guys, not a bad little game ;)

The AI is a bit crazy, but actually having the computer there to compete with is awesome [:)] Cars go a tad too fast though, I reckon!

bah, thats your hand eye co-ord slipping i think [:p]
post your best lap times ppl...

Best I've gotten so far is 9.93 seconds

10.02

9.39
who can beat the developer [;)]

9.13

9.46 [:P] im getting warmer......

btw this game rocks - its so addictive and fun.

After a good sleep in this morning things are under way, unfortunately a construciton crew has decided to work out side my window, nevermind. I have the basic structure layed out and there are little circles roaming my "park" which represent the birds at the moment.

Next task is to set up the basic interface for selecting objects and menus. I'm taking alot of shortcuts due to the nature of the contest, will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Wow, looking forward to playing this game! I can't believe you can actually acomplish something like this in 48 hours!

I definately reckon some of these entries should go in for further development/shine, with artists around here contributing art.

Hehe, well you might beleive it when you see it in action... I've been pretty slack, went out for dinner and stuff so I haven't made as much progress as I probably should have. I've spent quite a bit of time toying with the AI and testing it which takes a while.

Anyway, these things are in the game and working:

* Basic economy. Every 5 seconds the accounts get done. You receive money for each bird alive and well in your park, and you can also sell birds for a nice profit if you don't want them for breeding. You lose money for each ranger working at your park and must also pay maintenance fees for any objects such feeders you have placed.

* Birds. The birds are purposely very stupid so I have named them 'Ignorador', not a terribly good game but it's a play off the word ignorant which I thought was fitting. They currently hunt for food which you must give them to stop them dieing. A well fed bird who reaches adulthood (about a minute) can breed if it finds a good mate. Ignorador also panic randomly for no apparent reason.

* Park HQ. When something needs doing in your park a ranger will be sent out from HQ and will return once the task is done. Park HQ also allows you to hire and fire rangers.

* Park rangers. Rangers do the dirty work in your park, distributing food and equipment at your request. Rangers cause your birds to panic if they get to close which can be a bad thing but also allows you to herd them if you are careful.

* Feeders. The first piece of equipment available in the game, feeders randomly distribute food, easing the workload on your rangers. They are expensive to purchase and maintain but essential once your flock starts growing.

These are some of the things I have planned for tonight and tomorrow:

* Predators. Currently under construction, predators feed on the Ignorador and generally try to ruin your day. They will appear at random and having more birds and food in your park will make them appear more frequently.

* Wards. Wards are a simple piece of equipment design to drive away either Ignorador or predators. They are expensive but allow you a little more control over your birds and help keep them frm becoming food.

* Art. Currently everything is represented by coloured circles and while I know the code, I doubt many players will find it asthetically pleasing. I'll probably be doing some simple 1 colour sprites in MS Paint to make things a bit more obvious.

I hope every one else is coming along well, it always amazes me what people can manage in these sorts of competitions!

Well other things have taken priority this weekend so I haven't got a whole lot done, I'll hand in my work shortly. It has been an interesting little task though, I might clean up the source and expand on it, see where I can take it.

I got some terrible little sprites in but I had to draw with my laptops touch pad so don't expect much!

How To Play

You start the game with a Park HQ and a pair of birds, 1 male, 1 female. The basic goal is to keep the birds alive and healthy enough that they will breed, so you can expand your park.

On the left side of the screen is a menu of options and along the bottom of the screen is some status info. Clicking on any object in the game will change the menu and status line to suit. You can also return to the default menu by clicking on an empty area of the screen.

With the default menu showing, position the mouse near one of the birds and press '1' on the keyboard to select the first menu option. A ranger will set out from HQ and drop a piece of food for the birds to eat. Note that you only begin with 1 ranger and you can't give him orders unless he's in HQ, by clicking on HQ you can hire and fire more rangers to suit.

Money

The government funds your park but needs to see results. Every 5 seconds the accounts will be done and you will give/take money as follows:

+ $10 for per bird
- $10 per ranger
- $7 per feeder

You can also sell feeders and birds to gain cash in an emergency.

Feeders

Once you save a little cash you can place feeders in your park which greatly ease the workload on your rangers. Each feeder randomly drops food near it however you will need to keep an eye on your birds as they tend to crowd around and starve each other.

Looking After Your Birds

In order for your birds to breed a few conditions need to be met. First you must have at least 1 male and 1 female and both birds must have become adults which takes about a minute of real time. Secondly both birds need to be well fed, select a bird and check it's status line, you need to get hunger up to about 75%. Be careful because if hunger drops below about 25% the bird will die.

The birds are jumpy little critters and sometimes panic for no reason, causing them to run off in random directions. Rangers that get to close can also cause them to panic, you can use this to your advantage if you need to break up groups getting in each others way.

You can also sell birds for a nice price if they are getting out of hand, but make sure you always keep at least a pair you can breed from.

Predators

Predators will occasionally enter your park and prey on your birds and generally upset them. Predators will be more frequent when you have a large number of birds around. If a ranger comes to close they will leave the park so try placing food on them if they are getting to close.

General Tips

To begin with stick with 2 or three birds, they will be easier to manage and less predators will show up. Just trying to get them all fed can be tricky as they aren't very good at sharing. Placing food near by the HQ will shorten the trip for your ranger but don't place it actually on the building as the birds wont go there.

Once you can afford a feeder, place one out from your HQ a little and you wont have to manually feed them so much. Remember it still costs to maintain feeders so don't place lots unless you have lots of birds.

Be careful to make sure you have both males and females doing well in your park, otherwise you're not going to get very far. If 1 bird is getting pushed around and can't feed you can break the flock up by sending a ranger at them.

It reminds me a little of Harvest Moon [:)]. Nice game - you should definately expand on it! Add in more animals/jobs to do... if you're planning on working on it more, and you need some art, I could make the next Sumea Draw Club activity for this so people can contribute pixel art of character animations, farmhouses, animals and other stuff to spruce it up. Eventually you should have a whole load of things to place there!

Haha, I have several ideas for directions to take it but I definately want to add more objects like feeders and things and more animals. If I get any further with it I'll make a post and try to find someone to help with art, it could look so much cooler.

hey, love the game!

i can imagine it becoming addictive!

It stresses me out too much playing it. Especially when you have so many birds to look after! [:)] *shakes fist at foxes*
You've probably got it planned already, but a health metre for the birds would be uber nice. [:)]

Currently there is no health meter cause there is no health, birds are either alive or dead. I plan to change it so that there is several meters like you have in The Sims, and health is one of them. When hunger drops it starts to take away from health etc. The new version will have a greatly expanded and improved AI system.