I hope I’m in time here 
I seem to have left it to the last minuite, after finishing it weeks ago 
my entry is called Chopper4K it’s a 2d scrolling shoot’em up, the point is to get the highest score you can before dying.
http://bob.newdawnsoftware.com/~dan/4k/chopper/entry/chopper4k.jar
to run.
java -cp chopper4k.jar C
there is also a webstart at
http://bob.newdawnsoftware.com/~dan/4k/chopper/chopper4k.jnlp
enjoy,
Dan.
[quote]What is the exact time the competition closes? I know it’s the end of Feb, but what timezone?
[/quote]
The deadline for posting your game on this thread ends TONIGHT at midnight EST. But since I was late to reply to your question, I’ll go ahead and just accept that as your official posting. If you could post your game info asap, that would be great so I can update the game list. You’re the only exception to the midnight rule.
You can modify your website as much as you want. In fact, the DATE of the game doesn’t matter either. What matters is people get their games posted on the J4K threads so they are eligible for being judged. We can’t disqualify a game for having a late “modified date” because webservers can crash and such
How long do we have to do the judging?
What are the criteria for judging?
(i.e. are there categories with 1-5 ratings or something, Graphics, gameplay, etc. ?)
40 games is quite a few to get through, specially if I intend to try them on 3 different operating systems. So if there is any particular requirements for the judging let me know so I don’t have to start over :).
[quote]How long do we have to do the judging?
What are the criteria for judging?
(i.e. are there categories with 1-5 ratings or something, Graphics, gameplay, etc. ?)
[/quote]
This is a good question. I was planning on posting some guidelines after tonight’s list update (which I’m working on right now), but now’s a good a time as any.
These were proposed earlier by jbanes and they seem to be pretty fair to me:
Here’s my modification of that, which seems just as fair. Unless seriously contested, these are the official guidelines:
At the max, a game can have 50 points total. Here’s some guidelines for each category. although these are at the judger’s discretion:
Graphics:. You could possibly add 1 point per different image. Or if its all Java2D geometry, 1 point per different object, or whatever. 3D games should receive an automatic 5 points in my opinion, but this is your choice. I usually find that 3D games lack gameplay, but that’s up to you to decide
Gameplay: You can add points if the game has a goal, or an equal amount of points if it is continual play (like an arcade). A game with level that continually loops isn’t much of gameplay. Be brutal: if the game is boring, score it as such. Crashing the VM should be an automatic deduction of 5 points from the total score, if it happens on a regular basis.
Sound effects: This is simple, add 1 point per each DIFFERENT sound used in the game. The score cannot exceed 10, even if there are more than 10 sounds. Background music is an automatic 5 points.
Options: Level selection, speed selection, two-player, mode, etc. You can add 1 point per option, or if the option is REALLY good, add more than 1 if you want!
Executable JAR: If you can run the JAR without having to specify a Main class in the command line, or if you do not need a command line at all, the game should receive the full 5 points.
Webstartable JAR: This will take some extra checking. If the game is webtartable AND the JAR is below the 4K limit, it should receive the full 5 points (because signing a JAR takes up space)
One more thing: if a Webstarted game exceeds the 4K limit, it is not necessarily disqualified. As long as the game owner provides an unsigned version of the JAR that IS below 4K, the game is still qualified. If there is no unsigned alternative, the game is disqualified.
I ask that all judges PM me their scores for the games by March 7th, which is a week from tomorrow. If you have any questions about the guidelines or think there should be a serious change, this is the place to voice it!
edit: one more note. Don’t be afraid to give high scores to games that have the same author. An author can have as many games as he wants in the contest, but in the end he only takes one place in the top 3, if he even places in the top 3 at all.
After I have the scores from the judges, I’m going to take a numerical average of each score to determine the placings of the games. In case of a tie for first place, the judges will each vote for what game invovled in the tie is overall better in their opinion. If an author has more than 1 of his games invovled in a tie, he must pick which game the judges will vote for the tiebreaker. Only 1st place will be tiebroken, all other places will remain tied if the end up as such.
As of this post, the contest entry is now CLOSED! The 2004-2005 Java 4K Game Programming Contest ended with a total of 46 games! Check them out at http://woogley.net/games.html
Great games, everyone! I will have the judges’ results by March 8th. Good Luck, everyone!
Crap! Sorry. The game was 99.9% finished in January, I just never got around to uploading it
Here it is:
Revenge of the Bleating Sheep 4k
http://tanksoftware.com/rotbs4k/rotbs4k.jar - 4096 bytes.
Story:
The bleating sheep has come back for revenge. Only you and your tank stand between the sheep army and their total domination of all mankind.
Aim:
There are eight waves of sheep, you must defeat them all. You have three spare tanks, use them wisely! Warning: beware of the black sheep (they are more intelligent).
Controls:
F2: New Game
W/A/S/D: Left, Up, Right, Down respectively
Left and right arrow keys: turret rotate left/right respectively
Up arrow: Fire
ESC: Quit
Further information, story line and merchandise to follow.
I have to object to those rules.
By those rules, Hunters4k would reach a theoretical maximum of 20 points, while a game that does nothing else but provide a self-executable webstart contained jar file that plays 10 sound effects would be guaranteed at least 20 points.
I have to agree, the original weightings were much fairer. Putting that much emphasis on saving yourself 40 odd bytes to add a manifest to the jar is surely sending the wrong signal.
Kev
I agree with Kev and Markus + it seems a bit odd to come with big changes of rules after the deadline has passed!!! Not sure if it is that important who winns, but I wouldn’t want to see a really unplayable game win this nice competition. Maybe if gameplay had a max 30 or 40 points this would make somewhat more sence.
AND on the 4K website it states:
“The current deadline is end of February”
I have one more game I’d like to add, and independent of timezone, there is still February all over the world… ??? What gives?
I didn’t think I was crazy ??? I remember seeing that too.
Being GMT+10, I thought I’d have the best part of the first of march too (if the deadline was in US time…). Not that I’m worried, my game was finished, I just wanted to do a jazzy web site and release both at once.
Edit:
from: http://woogley.net/java4k.html
(emphesis added)
As I edit this post, there is only one part of the world in March, and that is New Zealand.
Will.
I found the manifest added a lot more than 40bytes, more like about 200-300bytes, although that was before used slightly better compression.
In my opinion, credit should be definitally be awarded for having an easy to run version of the game that is still under 4k. Sure, if you do self-executing primarily, offer a JWS version that may be over limit or vice versa, but if the only version that is under 4k is a bitch to run, then you should definitally miss out on some bonus points. I also think the version that the judges run (and judge) should be the 4k version.
I also think that the judges should be able to give discretionary bonus’ to things they like that are perhaps unique. This way, the good games will score better.
Will.
seems Markus, Kev, and the rest are right about the rules. This is what happens when you try to think at 11pm at night with no sleep then night before
I liked jbanes rules as well, and I still wouldnt mind going with them, but I say music and sound are the same category.
And about the deadline, for the past 5 updates, the Games List has said “Don’t forget! The deadline is February 27th!” and this is also mentioned 2 or 3 times in the “Submitting 4K Games” thread.
Also in that thread, Will, I mentioned your 24hr deadline exemption because I was late to answer your question.
Anyway so I would appreciate someone to not just object to the rules, but come to an agreement as to what you want to use.
edit: I’m guessing I’ll have to push the deadline to the 28th, because Will also could just as easily read the “Submitting 4K Posts” and the Games List. So exempting Will and not jojoh wouldn’t be fair. The Games List is obviously updated more, you should have been referencing that, not an old page that said “currently”
Anyway there’s no sense in arguing about it. Just get me a set of judging guidelines that you all agree on, and the judging will begin
I suggest the judges should use this thread as a guideline and agree a set of categories between them. Don’t bother making it public since it doesn’t really matter after all
Next year! Oh next year! I’m going for double figures.
Kev
PS. It all seemed a little hard on Woogley above who frankly has done a wonderful job in keeping a nice central collection/organisation of the games. Top job.
I think we should do a 16k competition instead next year.
4k is just TOO small to do anything good.
I bet I could make a multiplayer quake 1 type game in 16k. =)
Of course, on the other hand, the reason this year was so successful is probably because 4k is small enough for people to actually FINISH their entries. (Some more than others. ;))
Thanks, I did appreciated that :), but I didn’t want people to think I was getting an unfair advantage. I should have stayed more up to date I guess, I read that in January, and it stuck in my head that it was the end of Feb. In that time I’ve had an interstate move, so I haven’t been keeping very close tabs.
I think if we have a 16k compo, some standard third party library should be allowed, like LWJGL.
Will.
[quote]It all seemed a little hard on Woogley above who frankly has done a wonderful job in keeping a nice central collection/organisation of the games. Top job.
[/quote]
He certainly has done an excellent job, thanks!
Will.
I appreciate the gratitude, I didn’t mean to come off as too defensive earlier. The game list will have a final update tonight, and I hope to see some agreed guidelines by then…
I am making arrangements for a 16K as we speak. I’ve been working on a databased site for both the 4K and 16K contest which will make things easier (i.e. no need for WEEKLY updates etc…). I need a name for the site… something to do with mini java games would work well. As it stands, I think I can have a site done for the 16K sometime by the end of March or early April. We should start a new thread and draft some rules and such sometime after the 4K judging
Yes, great job! And: I especially appreciate the screen shots, very nice. I especially like the action shot of my game. Thanks!
Re: 16k crickey you guys are giving me a headache…
Greetings,
I know I’m a newcomer and this is a little last-minute, but this contest looked like fun so I sat down and wrote a simple entry over the course of the last week or two. Although I didn’t make a webstart, my entry is at: http://w4jdh.net/~seigfried/g4k/
I apologize for the substandard ReadMe; I’m terrible at writing them. It’s a simplistic top-down shooter; controls should be pretty self-explanatory.
… Well, crap.
It looks like the deadline was actually last night- I assumed that it was midnight on the 28th (today), since it was only specified as “end of Febuary” on the website and the first posts of the two threads, not the 27th (yesterday).
Well, sucks to be me, I guess. At least it was fun to write. ^^;