[stella] Contests/Atari Demos

Subject: [stella] Contests/Atari Demos
From: Robin Harbron <macbeth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 09:56:55 -0500
Glenn Saunders wrote:
> One of the things that was cool about the old Antic/Analog/Byte days were
> the little programming contests or "challenges".

We're still doing that in the C64 NTSC demo scene... we've
had two 4k compos in the last few years.
http://nlaredo.globalpc.net/~coolhnd/driven/4k98.htm
has info on this years compo - and the files from
both the '98 and '96 are available at:
ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/t/tpinfo/C64/Demos/4kContest/

> Like write the best game that uses only 1K, stuff like that.

One guy managed to get both a Mahjong (sp?) and Pacman game
_both_ into one 4k file...
 
> It would be cool to see who can write the best 4K 2600 game from scratch
> in only one month (100% original, not just Pong clones).
> 
> Sometimes the best output can come when you work quickly in one furious
> burst, before you have time to second guess your ideas.  It probably
> wouldn't result in the cleanest code, but it might result in some novel
> gameplay ideas and graphics.

I find this to be more true of doing demos and
graphical effects.  If a game isn't planned out
well in advance, it quickly turns into an
unmanagable mess.  Not that there isn't room for
creativity while coding - I just find it's much
better suited to demos - "programs without a
point" :)

So, to swing this around to the Atari 2600 - what
are the coolest "demo style" effects seen on the
Atari?  The intro to California Games has always
impressed me, with the large stretching "colour
bar arrows" - for lack of a better way to describe
them.  I think these routines are cool - they
probably use a fairly minimal number of bytes,
and yet make the game seem much more complete -
much better than a static screen.

Perhaps a competition to produce a very small
and yet cool looking kernal would be something
to do - with a 1k limit on size.
-- 
Robin Harbron  <macbeth@xxxxxxxxxxx>
   http://www.tbaytel.net/macbeth

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