Which would you like to see in the next contest (please read below for descriptions)
Finisher
 25%  [ 5 ]
Simulator
 15%  [ 3 ]
Group Project
 15%  [ 3 ]
Video Clip Project
 5%  [ 1 ]
CSE Game (use of Tokens map editor)
 10%  [ 2 ]
Sprite Usage
 30%  [ 6 ]
Total Votes : 20

I have a Prizm as well, so I could grade if it came down to that. I imagine I'll be one to help grading again, because of reasons :p

Just not sure if a conquest game would be educational. There are a variety of subjects that could be covered that are educational and could be made to be fun.

I like what Kerm has suggested thus far.
Education has been our theme a lot lately--we should branch out. Something pure fun. Like, make a game that is somehow related to the topic of cats or something.
merthsoft wrote:
Education has been our theme a lot lately--we should branch out. Something pure fun. Like, make a game that is somehow related to the topic of cats or something.


Educational space-cat simulators. I'm happy, you're happy. Everyone is happy.
merthsoft wrote:
Education has been our theme a lot lately--we should branch out. Something pure fun. Like, make a game that is somehow related to the topic of cats or something.


I'm open for this idea also. Maby limit it to types of games though, like RPG's, puzzles, sidescrollers, etc.
I don't want to grade six incomplete RPGs about cats. I'd much rather leave it open for variety. That's what Ludum Dare does, and they get great results.
zeldaking wrote:
I love the idea of a conquest type game! Add some historical information; such as real historical commanders, troops, and time periods?
This would be really fun. Have some sort of rpg or conquest game hold historical information while being fun. I would love to work on something like that.


I told one of my friends about this history idea, and he responded with this:
"Abe Lincoln used Emancipation Proclamation! It's Super Effective!"
I'm not sure this is what we all had in mind... 0x5

I did have another idea though, take an old Atari, or Nentendo (Gameboy, GameCube, ect) and port it for calculator.
KermMartian wrote:
I'm certainly open to allowing Casio Prizm programs in the contest, but there are two potential limiting factors. The first and most important is that I believe only one of the potential judges (myself) has a Casio Prizm, and I wouldn't want to unfairly disadvantage Casio Prizm entries by only being able to judge them on my own stringent criteria.

I am sure if it come down to this my program would meet it assuming I know what your stringent criteria is.
KermMartian wrote:

The second and much less important is that we're hoping to work with graphing calculator companies to get word about this contest spread far and wide, and while we have been building a relationship with Texas Instruments in this regard, we unfortunately have been unable to make inroads with Casio's calculator division

I just mean have Casio prizm entries as a possible option which it appears that is what you are going to do if so I would be happy with that. No need to contact Casio or make a huge production out of this. Also although I am not a fan of the TI calculators I do think it is good that they are trying to support the community instead of go against calculator communities.
Will platforms be able to include libraries in them to aid in creation of an entry? Mainly looking at the Prizm lacking dynamic linking or such (although that may have changed) (even more specifically looking at the asymmetric engine).
16aroth6 wrote:

I did have another idea though, take an old Atari, or Nentendo (Gameboy, GameCube, ect) and port it for calculator.

I don't like this idea for a couple of reasons. First of all, most of the calculators people will be programming for will already be able to run these games via a gbc/gba emulator. In addition, porting previously made games removes the creativity aspect, and is also a long, difficult progress.
There was quite a successful Pong contest on MaxCoderz a while ago so I think the idea might have some merit, so long as nothing overly complex is selected as a subject.

In the spirit of DCSE8 and the 84C, I would like to see something 'colourful' as a result of the contest Smile.
tr1p1ea wrote:
There was quite a successful Pong contest on MaxCoderz a while ago so I think the idea might have some merit, so long as nothing overly complex is selected as a subject.

In the spirit of DCSE8 and the 84C, I would like to see something 'colourful' as a result of the contest Smile.

The lightning contest last winter achieved this. I like the idea though of having a simple game idea, and then taking it to the next lexel (kind of like the far previous tick-tack-toe game contest.)
I am not sure if pong or tic tac toe would be for a good idea given that according to KermM the contest is going to last till the end of December see http://www.cemetech.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10858
I think something more challenging would be better. Regardless of what the contest is I heard autumn cemetech contests target thanksgiving break which many people are in right now. I am excited to hear about the contest whatever the objective may be.
Finally found my way to this topic to say, as usual and expected from me, that it'd be good if this contest was open to Prizm (and Casio calculators in general) entries, as well as entries for the HP Prime, etc.

It's not that I plan on participating, but I appreciate seeing new software being developed for less popular calculators, and there have already been too many contests that were not open to said calculators.
If I'm seeing correctly, the last contest open to entries targeting the Prizm was back in November 2012, two years ago Rolling Eyes. Even if we end up not seeing many entries for non-TI calculators, I think opening the possibility would not hurt.

The Prizm was once seen as the most promising calculator around, to a point where it almost seemed Cemetech was becoming Casio-focused, with very positive articles and posts being written by many people including Kerm. It's sad to think that the same device is now basically forgotten, not just in this community for sure, but especially here. The reasons for such are not for this post (especially since I've written my views many times, and will probably write more as things happen and my view changes). But still in this topic of which calculators to allow, I think it isn't reasonable to put endorsements, relationships and "work with graphing calculator companies" before the community, and I really hope that's a "much less important" factor, as Kerm said, and that it will continue to be. Otherwise the community will be lost to sponsorships.

Now, on the topic for the contest... while motivating educational entries is good, it shouldn't be a restriction, especially not if the motivation behind it is the "work with graphing calculator companies"; is the point to sound nice to teachers, schools and such companies, or to have fun developing new things? Not saying that we should annoy such parties on purpose - well the opposite - but that their non-annoyance should not be a primary factor, to the point of restricting people's creativity.

While a more open contest in the likes of Ludum Dare would probably get more entries, I believe the quality of most entries would be lower than with a closed-topic contest - simply because it would be easier for people to go with too ambitious projects - not that they are impossible to complete, but what I've seen in previous contests and not just here is that a considerable fraction of people end up giving up or submitting unfinished things, because of lack of time, motivation, or both. With a more closed topic I think it's easier for people to focus and present something finished, and it could also be easier to judge more objectively - but in this I have no experience, so I may be totally wrong.

Speaking of projects that are left incomplete (as is the case with so many game projects, for the Prizm and other calculators), I just thought of something that as far as I know has never been tried and I'm not sure would work very well as a contest, but here it goes anyway. It consists on finishing unfinished projects. Since I joined this community I have seen too many promising projects get abandoned. Sometimes, when they are made for a contest, they are submitted with the note "this is still a alpha/beta version, will be finished some day", but of course that day never arrives.

How would such a thing work? Well, for a start, people who have unfinished projects of theirs that are provably abandoned for long (to prevent people from submitting something they were working on already, before the contest was announced) could resume work on these projects and finish them (or at least take them to the next preview release). The idea is that since these projects would be resumed by the people who originally made them, there would be no licensing/copyrights/credits issues.
In the case of incomplete projects for which their source is available and the licensing terms allow "remixing", other people could resume work on the existing code, if it is of good enough quality, modifying it as necessary but keeping within the original spirit of the thing. Of course, the end result would need to credit the original authors and respect the original licensing terms.
In the case of incomplete and closed projects, one of two things could be done after asking the original author for permission: one, is to ask for the source code (not necessarily making it open source, it could be more like licensing the code to another person) and work from there, then releasing with appropriate credits and licensing as discussed with the author. Other, if the source code is not made available/is lost, is to re-implement everything from scratch while keeping as much as possible within the original specification - much like a port of closed-source games where people add new features while taking into account the main ideas.

The quite obvious reason why I don't think this would work in a contest is the difficulty in judging the entries. Someone that took an almost-finished project would need very little work to get a finished product, while someone that took what was basically a draft will have much more work, let alone those who are working in a project of theirs but lost the original source code and assets. Judges could take the "how much work had to be done, and how much work was actually done" factors into account, but this is hard to measure - highly subjective. Another problem could be the shortage of unfinished projects, but a quick browse through the Prizm forums alone tells me that for it at least, there would be no short supply.
Of course anyone can just pick up on unfinished projects at any time, but the idea of doing it in a contest is that you would have more people working simultaneously towards similar goals, with a nice end result of having less abandoned projects around, like a housekeeping marathon but for abandoned projects.

Well, I leave my two cents here, even if not for this contest... sorry-but-not-sorry for the long post Smile
gbl08ma: that's what I was thinking with the "finisher" subject. You just stated it better. Also, if this really becomes a contest, unfinished entry's shouldn't be accepted (duh, that's what the contest is about). I support this idea (I have many unfinished programs also Razz)

I was thinking about a way to tell what was done to finish the project, and came up with this:
When you submit the entry, you have to submit the version that you started with, and the final product.
You also submit it with a readme file that explains what was added to it to get it to the point where it is.
  
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