2009 8-bit Contest Draweth Near...

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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Meatballsub
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2009 8-bit Contest Draweth Near...

Post by Meatballsub »

Because I consider last year's 8-bit contest a success, I have decided to bring it back for this year. I'm not exactly sure of a starting date yet, but I thought I'd just mention it so those interested in participating could get the creative juices flowing a bit before the contest actually starts. I'm open to suggestions as to a start date.

I'm thinking that the rules will likely stay exactly the same as last year. I will probably have a game file to download to ensure everyone starts at the same time (or imports their graphics at the same time).

Stay tuned...
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Post by Twinconclusive »

There is no such thing as start this contest too soon. :v:
Glad to see you're hosting it again.
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Momoka
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Post by Momoka »

I'm in. It might be nice to start a contest more than two days before it ends :o
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misterj
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Post by misterj »

You know, you should probably make your rules match the NES better, since that's what everyone's based their games on.

edit:
"I will probably have a game file to download to ensure everyone starts at the same time (or imports their graphics at the same time)."
Waste of time. This was a good idea 9 years ago but now people know what hex editors are.
Last edited by misterj on Wed May 06, 2009 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Meatballsub »

misterj wrote:You know, you should probably make your rules match the NES better, since that's what everyone's based their games on.
If you would elaborate on this more, I may consider changing up the rules some.

edit:
misterj wrote:"I will probably have a game file to download to ensure everyone starts at the same time (or imports their graphics at the same time)."
Waste of time. This was a good idea 9 years ago but now people know what hex editors are.
I don't know what you are talking about actually, but honestly, I just said that as a bad attempt to get people not to start their entries early. Without having the official rules posted though, it wouldn't be a bright idea to get started early anyways.
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Post by Twinconclusive »

misterj wrote:Waste of time. This was a good idea 9 years ago but now people know what hex editors are.
I don't think anyone would be desperate enough to hack the game file (I think that's what's going on? :???: )
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Post by Mogri »

I think the point is that it's unnecessary. If they were going to cheat anyway, it's not making it more difficult for them to do so.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

I think that the term 8-bit is often used to talk about NES style graphics, even though most NES games used 2 bit palettes. When You see a NES sprite with more than 4 colors in it, that means it was built using a composite of several sprites each with their own 2-bit palette.

The OHR itself uses 4 bit palettes, and has an 8-bit master palette. The terminology confusion comes from the fact that old systems like the NES and SNES were often identified with their processor word-size, 8-bit and 16-bit, even though these numbers had absolutely nothing to do with graphics resolution or color depth.

Here is a handy chart:

Code: Select all

Bits  Colors    Games System Equivalents &#40;rough estimates&#41;
1     2
2     4         8-bit
4     16        
8     256       16-bit
16    32767
24+   truecolor 32-bit 64-bit
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Post by lost.pebble »

Hence, this is more accurately a 2-bit contest?
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Post by chill-e »

I actually did a bit of research on NES limitations.

-All sprites and tiles are limited to 3 colours
-Only 13 colours are able to be shown at a time (not including sprites)
-Only 8 sprites per scanline (basically, 8 sprites per X axis)
-Max of 12 sprites on the screen
-This was their palette

Translating back to the OHR, we basically could use the palette I found, and limit the amount of colours used on a Tileset to 13 colours, and 3 per sprite/tile
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Post by Newbie Newtype »

I'm pretty sure tiles still have a 4 color limit on top of that, though I personally think this limitation should be divided into 4 colors per 10x10 corner of a tile (shouldn't be too hard to determine, and if a mistake is made, people are quick to forgive it anyway as it's easy to correct).

Same 10x10 workaround could probably work for sprites too.
Last edited by Newbie Newtype on Thu May 07, 2009 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

chill-e wrote:-All sprites and tiles are limited to 3 colours
Yeah, you are right. When I said 4-color I guess I was counting transparent as a color.
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Post by Meatballsub »

I appreciate the feedback and will likely tweak the rules just a bit before releasing the official post.

Since I haven't been following the forums as much as I used to, could someone tell me what (if any) contests are running right now? I think that may help me figure out exactly when to launch this one.

I hate to say that I will likely not be entering this contest this year. I'm still working on that non-game OHR project, but hardly even have time for that due to my busy schedule. To those who do decide to enter though, I wish you the best of luck.
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Post by Twinconclusive »

Meatballsub wrote:Since I haven't been following the forums as much as I used to, could someone tell me what (if any) contests are running right now? I think that may help me figure out exactly when to launch this one.
The TGC just ended and I'm hyped up to work on more games.
I think the Pepsi Ranger's Epic Game Contest is the only thing going on right now.
(But I think only two people are still participating)
I hate to say that I will likely not be entering this contest this year.
:(
Then good luck with your other project then, whatever it may be.
Last edited by Twinconclusive on Thu May 07, 2009 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Meatballsub »

Thanks, I hope to release more information about it soon. I had an awesome idea for the contest, I just don't see how I would be able to pull it off given my schedule right now.
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