At long last, we are proud to announce the results of Cemetech Contest #8, centering around the theme of Arcade games. Unfortunately, the judges' schedules prevented the results from being released until now, although hopefully the authors and other Cemetechians alike will appreciate the care put into grading. For the first time, a Cemetech contest included three categories: TI-8X games, Casio Prizm games, and Computer games. There were about sixteen to eighteen prospective entries, of which thirteen entries were submitted for grading. Without further ado, the winners and runners-up of each of the three categories!

TI-83+/84+ Entries
Although Cemetech seems to be inexorably shifting to the latest and greatest in graphing calculators, the Casio Prizm, the lion's share of the Contest 8 entries were for the trusty TI-83+/84+ line of graphing calculators. We had one TI-BASIC entry, one Hybrid BASIC entry, one Grammer entry, and four Axe entries. The entries:
:: Buttsfredkins: [TI-83+/Axe] Futility ( Download)
:: Leafiness0: [TI-83+/Axe] My First Quantum Translocator ( Download)
:: CalebHansberry: [TI-83+/BASIC] Andropod
:: Emerov: [TI-83+/Axe] Lose-Lose
:: Qazz42: [TI-83+/Hybrid BASIC] Castle Run
:: Sorunome: [TI-83+/Grammer] Mino v2.0
:: SquidgetX: [TI-83+/Axe] Zombie Gun ( Download)
Each of the entries was very well-written and well-documented, and other than some minor emulator hiccups with one entry, they all were easy to test and judge. I am honored to award Leafiness0 the TI-8X Contest 8 crown for his Axe game "My First Quantum Translocator". Its judging score of 52 out of a possible 60 points were due to taking a nice concept, executing it well, and creating many levels that were a balance of fun and challenging to complete. The category runner-up is Buttsfredkin with his Axe game "Futility", which earned 45/60 points, which beat out Zombie Gun by a very slim margin. Congratulations to the winners, and well done to all of the entrants.



Casio Prizm Entries
The Casio Prizm is rapidly gaining in popularity, and in the middle of the contest time, there were roughly six potential Prizm entrants. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, there were only three entries completed. I must emphasize that these three entries were each very fun and entertaining, and I feel terrible that I have to assign awards to only two of the programs:
:: Purobaz: [Prizm/BASIC] Free Wheel ( Download)
:: Ashbad: [Prizm/C] Raptor ( Download)
:: Nitrosax: [Prizm/BASIC] The Impossible Game ( Download)
Purobaz and Free Wheel took the winner's cup with "Free Whee", a Prizm BASIC game that impressed judges with the extreme attention to detail, extensive set of levels, and addictiveness of gameplay. One judge sat for an hour beating the game, forgetting everything else he needed to finish; the game achieved a 52/60 score. Ashbad's "Raptor" game won the runner-up spot with 49/60 for brilliant graphics and an authentic retro feel that made up for the frustrating lack of difficulty settings. Although it didn't place, Nitrosax's "Impossible Game" clone was close behind, with a number of clever touches like a main menu that fit the game mechanic that impressed the judges. Congrats to all three authors!



Computer Entries
As with the Prizm category, there were nearly twice as many planned as completed computer entries, but I appreciate the efforts of the authors of the completed and incomplete entries. Three games were entered in the computer programming category:
:: Souvik1997: [Comp/C#] Galagaman
:: HOMER-16: [Comp/C++] System Crash ( Download)
:: Elfprince13: [Comp/Java]Tunnel Game
In the end, Homer's C++ "System Crash" narrowly took the top spot for a fun game mechanic, good execution of an original idea, simplicity of installation, and very effective (if simple) graphics. Souvik's Galagaman earned a close runner-up for an ingenious remix of two game concepts and obvious care and work put into the finished product.



Once again, congratulations are well-deserved by every competitor. The set of programs entered for Cemetech Contest 8 may well have been the most diverse and impressive set of programs entered in a Cemetech programming contest to date, and it saddens myself and my fellow judge, Rivereye, that we couldn't give everyone awards. At this point, I strongly encourage all the authors to upload their entries to the Cemetech archives so that I may update this article with download links.

Be sure to look for the next Cemetech contest somewhere around the summer months, which we hope to have some more substantial prizes beyond the invaluable respect of your peers!

Edit: Thanks to erstwhile ticalc.org news editor Ryan for posting ticalc.org news about the Cemetech Contest 8 results!

Is there a download link for ashbad's raptor game somewhere?

The Impossible Game and Free Wheel are now in the archives. I'm waiting for the other authors to release their entries.

Ah, ok.

I'll be uploading my entry to the archives asap. I definitely want to work more extensively on it. Hopefully, I can get a lot of play testing done with the mechanics.

You duplicated my entry accidentally in the Ti-83/84 section. I've also changed the name to "System Crash"

What was my entries actual score, btw? Also, from a testing perspective, what could be improved, changed, etc.

Yay, I got second place. I'll be uploading my entry into the archives soon, until then you can download it here: http://db.tt/er0rY1wh

Homer-16: Awesome. I look forward to it. You got 49/60. Thanks for the note about the article, fixed a few errors there. I'd probably make the default move speed faster, but keep sprinting as well.

Souvik: Yes, it was very nicely done.

Great! (better late than never, but I understand the time constraints)
Congratulations, everyone!
Now I'm going to fill some more KB of my Prizm's memory...

Congrats everyone and the winners especially! Hopefully we can give all of those entries a try as well. (unlike the 2010 contest where some entries took half a year before their respective authors upload them to public <_<)

I think certain KeithJohansens might not have ever uploaded parts of their entries to the public, if I recall? Maybe my memory is incorrect on that, though.

Congratulations, leafy and everyone else!

From what I recall, I think only Yumé 1 was uploaded (in February 2011), after I convinced him few times to upload it. But again I could be wrong.

According to TsukasaZX's Cemetech profile he hasn't authored any files, and his Yume thread seems to end without any resolution.

Congrats everyone! Good work!

Good work to you too! Thanks for an enjoyable entry, sorry for not reviewing my emails carefully.

No worries, my readme wasn't really up to par.

Could you possibly provide the rubric used for grading? Constructive criticism is always useful

Also, thanks for the effort you and the other judges put into this. It was fun!

Good work, everyone. I look forward to playing all the games!

You're welcome, it was fun for us too. Here's the rubric we used; I can send you your specific rubric if you'd like:

Yes, please do.