Category 1:- This category is reserved for games. Any tools or toys should be submitted as category 2.
- Mapper 28 compatible entry up to 64KB with NO PRG-RAM
- Prizes as follows:
- Limited Edition multicarts for all meritorious entries (at judges discretion)
- Anonymous entries are allowed if you wish to opt out of receiving a prize, but would still like your submission included.
- By submitting an entry into this contest, you are giving full consent to use the entry on the multicart. Submissions must meet multicart standards to be inlcuded (see below under general guidelines)
- See General Guidelines below.
tepples wrote:
Mapper-specific advice:
- NROM-128: Be careful not to write to $8000-$FFFF. Test with a breakpoint on writes to ROM.
- NROM, CNROM: Be careful not to overwrite CHR ROM. Test with a breakpoint on writes to PPU $0000-$1FFF.
- NROM, CNROM, ANROM, BNROM: $FFD0-$FFF9 of each 32K PRG ROM bank must be unused.
- UNROM (2): $FFD0-$FFF9 must be unused.
- UNROM (180): $BFD0-$BFF9 must be unused.
- A53: Write to register $81 only once, at the beginning of the program, and match the values written to $80 to the size of the entry: $00-$0F for 32K entries and $10-$1F for 64K entries. Specify whether $FFD0-$FFF9 or $BFD0-$BFF9 is unused.
Excessive padding is discouraged. For example, an entry's 10 KiB of PRG data shouldn't be strewn across a 32 KiB PRG ROM; it should instead be packed into 16 KiB. Nor should a CNROM have two CHR ROM banks that are less than half full; NROM with $2000 switching is usually better for that situation. This helps ensure more entries can fit on the multicart.
- Contest runs until January 31, 2019.
- Entries should be submitted by February 1st 12:00AM CST
- Commercially released entries, and previously submitted entries with no changes are discouraged.
- Multiple entries are allowed and encouraged.
- Only one cash/cartridge/other physical prize will be awarded per entrant across all categories. If multiple submissions place in a cash winning position, the greatest prize will be awarded, and the runner up will receive the prize. You can only win one cash prize*. You can only win one cartridge**. You can only win one other physical prize.
- Entries must be original. Plagiarism and copyright infringement will result in disqualification.
- Use of existing tools/libraries/code qualify as long as permission has been granted by the author.
- Collaborations are allowed, prize distribution will be decided by those who collaborated on the project. This decision should be known by the person who submitted the entry as they will be our primary contact. Please make these decisions beforehand.
- There are no restrictions on submissions including explicit content.
- Publishers and organizers reserve the right to request changes to your entry for content exceeding E10+ ESRB rating prior to inclusion on published cartridges.
*In the event that a single entrant wins multiple cash prizes, regardless of who collaborated on the projects, the person who submits the project represents the whole. i.e., Project A and Project B won 1st and 2nd respectively. They were submitted by Bob. Larry was a collaborator on Project B. There will still only be one cash prize for the two projects.
**If the entry is a collaboration, additional cartridges may be purchased at cost for fellow collaborators (or deducted from a cash prize if applicable).
Category 2 (the non-contest):- Anything Goes - old unreleased stuff, modified existing stuff, whatever. If it runs on the NES/FC feel free to submit it.
- There will be no cash prizes awarded for this category.
- Multicarts and possible physical prizes for all entries included on the multicart (at judges discretion)
- Depending on the configuration of the entry, it may not be possible to include it on the multicart, however, at the judges discretion multicarts and physical prizes will be awarded. For exceptional submissions, extra effort may be done to adapt the game/cartridge hardware to support being included in the multicart.
- Entrants are not required to consent to multicart inclusion upon submission.
- Since this category will not be ranked or judged, it will also not be under the strict submission dates and times. If it is submitted before the multicart is released, then it is fair game. Keep in mind, the sooner it is submitted the better chance it will have at making it onto the multicart.
- Entries in this category will also not be under the restriction of the General Guidelines above, but material you do not have rights to will not be considered for the multicart.
Category 2 is intended to give publicity to homebrewers by having their work placed on the nesdevcompo website, and to encourage entrants to finish their projects.
~*~ SIDE CONTESTS ~*~There has been some interest in having a little side competition to give recognition to multi-player games (which traditionally don't score well even though they are probably the most fun in a group). Also, interest has been shown on remaking/remixing previously existing competition entries. As a result we are trying out a little side competition with some prizes. These will be awarded by community vote once the competition is finished. These prizes are subject to the same "one cash prize, etc" listed above. The entries for these prizes will be selected from category 1/2 entries which fit the appropriate descriptions.
- Best Multiplayer Game - $100
- Best Remix/Remake - $100
Please reply on this thread, PM me, or email
NESHomebrew@gmail.com with any questions or clarification. Thanks and GOOD LUCK to all entrants!
I continued development of Super Tilt Bro. (tail of the ladder in 2016). I wonder if it is interesting to you as a remix. As it was not done for the compo, but simply two years of hobby-dev, I would opt-out of any prize. If you are interested I may make an entry thread listing differences since 2016 and attaching a ROM.
I wonder, if a NESmaker game was submitted in category 2, could it potentially make it onto an Action 53 cart?
I mean, mapper 30 is a variation on UxROM, so you would think it's possible. Right?
RogerBidon wrote:
I continued development of Super Tilt Bro. (tail of the ladder in 2016). I wonder if it is interesting to you as a remix. As it was not done for the compo, but simply two years of hobby-dev, I would opt-out of any prize. If you are interested I may make an entry thread listing differences since 2016 and attaching a ROM.
The "side contests" are for entries in Category 1/2. Basically once all the entries are in, any fitting the description of multiplayer or remix/remake will be voted on. Sounds like this could be appropriate for a category 2 entry, and definitely a candidate for the finished
Action 53 master cart.
NESHomebrew wrote:
definitely a candidate for the finished
Action 53 master cart.
Oh yeah, it seems to be a better fit. I'll let JRoatch know how/where to find the updated game in case he wants it. Thank you
dougeff wrote:
I wonder, if a NESmaker game was submitted in category 2, could it potentially make it onto an Action 53 cart?
I mean, mapper 30 is a variation on UxROM, so you would think it's possible. Right?
Let's say the game is 128 KiB or smaller. (Bigger and it might not meet the "value for space" criterion for the carts.) Then mapper 30 is defined as follows:
Code:
MCCx xPPP
||| +++- Select 16K ROM bank at CPU $8000
|++------- Select 8K RAM bank at PPU $0000
+--------- Select 1K RAM bank at PPU $2000 (ignored on boards using H or V mirroring)
I don't know what all features of
mapper 30 NESmaker actually uses, but I can see four cases:
- If you're using H or V mirroring, not bank switching CHR RAM, and not self-flashing, the ROM will run on a standard UNROM board (mapper 2).
- If you're using 1-screen mirroring, moving the mirroring select from bit 7 to bit 4 allows it to run as mapper 28.
- If you're using multiple CHR RAM banks, you need to write 0 to $5000, write the CHR RAM bank to $8000, write 1 to $5000, and write the ROM bank (and tilemap bank if 1-screen) to bits 2-0 of $8000.
- If you're using self-flashability, fuhgeddaboudit.
Awww yeah, definitely submitting something this year, now that I have some more free time.
NESHomebrew wrote:
Nor should a CNROM have two CHR ROM banks that are less than half full; NROM with $2000 switching is usually better for that situation. This helps ensure more entries can fit on the multicart.
I just want to clarify as I've never participated. If I have two banks that are 51% full, is that okay? Like one bank for main game and second bank for menus and such. Because I don't want to deal with CHR RAM just yet.
It should be OK, but inefficient use of CHR after compression is less likely to make the cut of 53 games to be included on the final cartridge.
tepples wrote:
It should be OK, but inefficient use of CHR after compression is less likely to make the cut of 53 games to be included on the final cartridge.
So as long as it compressible with "donut" (I think) it is fine. Correct? I will probably fill the banks, but don't want to make mistakes early as I start to find free/draw the graphics.
Is this still ending 1/31? It seems like there are far fewer entries this year, but it might just be that there are fewer entry threads.
I've gotten that impression too. Speaking strictly for me, i was in on two contributions last year; this year zero. Busy life stuff and economic setbacks mostly, but also wanting to focus on getting a longer version of one of the previous entries completed. At least three games from yesteryear has or are going to get their own cartridge releases; that might've taken some time away for some.
I know of maybe 3 or 4 projects that haven't had threads so far. I'm trying to stay optimistic
We've got one that'll definitely be ready, and a quick side project that might also be ready in time. Writing the OP for posting is final step
.
When it's done I'll be entering my Dr. Mario clone even though it's not in that subforum.
There'll be at least one submission from a project I've been working on. Possibly a second if I can hunt down someone for permissions cos its a port and I'd like sign off from the original dev.
qfwfq wrote:
Is this still ending 1/31? It seems like there are far fewer entries this year, but it might just be that there are fewer entry threads.
I was hoping to do a really fast project this year, but don't think I'll make the deadline.
Don't hold out for me though.
Is there an official way to enter the contest? My entry is almost complete, but I'm not sure where to go to cross the i's and dot the t's.
I'll update soon regarding submission. To discourage early submissions I usually wait till the last week. Otherwise I have to deal with a bunch of people resubmitting with changes etc. I'll be sure to post everywhere and make it obvious what is required.
But yes, it will be the same as last year. If you want to start getting a description.txt file based on this template started check it out here:
http://nesdevcompo.nintendoage.com/file ... iption.txt
Sorry for the double post, I've added the submission details on the 2018 page. Same as last year!
Phew.
Submitted ours a little bit ago. Will post a proper thread in a while. Giddy to see what other submissions show up.
Hey Everyone, I've sent out all the emails for the voting. I decided to use a spreadsheet format this year, which turned out to be a lot of extra work, but hopefully it will improve the overall experience. I've left room to comment on each of the voting categories, as well as a large field for any general comments.
Here is a link to view the master copy for anyone interested:
Compo2019Ah dang, messed up some conditional formatting... a costly mistake @ 13 entrants x 13sheets. Estimate it will take me 5.5 hours... So in other words, it isn't getting done this year
Basically it was supposed to turn the cell red if you put a value greater than 10 or less than 0. Somehow when I changed it for for the one >20 it also applied this to the >10 fields.
Awesome. Looks great. Thanks for all the work you put into this. Definitely wouldn't have as many cool NES projects out there if it wasn't for you.
I like things listed explicitly. These are the Category 1 games this year.
Block Dude
Chicken of the Farm
Critical Match
Espitene
Euchre
Gruniozerca 3
Melo-Jellos 2
Split Second
Squirrel Domino
Squish
Super Homebrew War
Tesla Vs Edison
We are Hejickle
Judging sheets look excellent. Thanks for that extra work.
Did everybody's sheet come pre-filled with their own game given full marks? Heh. Took me a few seconds to figure out everybody got their own spreadsheet. At first I thought it was a shared sheet and that the first reviewer played my game first and thought it was the bees' knees. Which seemed flattering, but unlikely... lol
Can't wait to play through all the games tonight.
Is there a compilation ZIP of all the entries?
I got the zip file emailed directly to me.
rainwarrior wrote:
Is there a compilation ZIP of all the entries?
http://nesdevcompo.nintendoage.com/file ... egory1.zip
How are we assessing for the multiplayer award? Am I overlooking something in the spreadsheet?
M_Tee wrote:
How are we assessing for the multiplayer award? Am I overlooking something in the spreadsheet?
I'll be posting a poll this week to vote on the multiplayer. It will be open to anyone for a week. I'll be doing the same on NA and will combine the results.
Ah. Thanks for the quick answer.
Since I didn't have time update the website, here are the results!
Code:
Gruniozerca 3 53.72 $512
Super Homebrew War 50.97 $256
We are Hejickle 49.32 $128
Tesla Vs Edison 44.76 (prize passed down)
Espitene 44.53 $64
Critical Match 39.68 $32
Chicken of the Farm 39.48
Euchre 38.54
Squirrel Domino 36.88
Melo-Jellos 2 35.09
Split Second 34.90
Block Dude 31.74
Squish 24.00
Also multiplayer results:
Code:
1 Super Homebrew War (Prize passed down)
2 Tesla Vs Edison $100
3 Squirrel Domino
Sweet, do you have the breakdown per-category? Like that spreadsheet from last year.
Congrats everybody. I've loved the entries this year
Yeah. Congrats to all. This was a blast to participate in.
Time to start planning my next entry I guess.
Thank you. A lot of great games this year. I'm happy to see Super Homebrew War buck the "multiplayer games don't get any love" trend of past years as well.
M_Tee wrote:
Thank you. A lot of great games this year. I'm happy to see Super Homebrew War buck the "multiplayer games don't get any love" trend of past years as well.
As well as Tesla vs Edison. Both did a lot better than multiplayer did in the past.
Congratulation everybody! A lot of nice game this year.
pubby wrote:
Sweet, do you have the breakdown per-category? Like that spreadsheet from last year.
Sorry I didn't set it up quite like that this year. If I showed details this year it would expose who the people who voted were. It was easier to pull the final calculated values from each individual sheet than the scores for each separate category.
I could of course gather this information in a new spreadsheet, but it would require a ton of tedious copy and pasting. Which brings me to my next thought; I think we all agree that the voting was much easier than previous years. The downside is that it was much more labor intensive than I expected, and one little mistake can result in a ton of extra work (if the mistake has been copied to 17 different workbooks x 13 different sheets).
That being said, I'll be looking to automate this in the future (maybe with the help of sheets API). Then it should be pretty easy to see a breakdown of stats in future competitions.
Oh rats. I wanted to send my partner his music rating. But that's alright. Thanks for all the of volunteer work you've done running the constest.
And hey, congrats everyone
Nice work everyone! And congrats to the winners! That is definitely my top 3 right there.
I am soooooo ready for 2019!!!