In article <Pine.BSI.3.96.980304232116.20635C-100000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, you wrote:
>One of the things that was cool about the old Antic/Analog/Byte days were
>the little programming contests or "challenges".
>
>Like write the best game that uses only 1K, stuff like that.
>
>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.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Well I had mentioned before that once we're all up to snuff on the 2600, it
would be kind of fun to have a "Chase The Chuckwagon" challenge.
Legend has it that CTCW was written in 5 days, so the programmers would
have to submit a programme that was written in 5 days (or less). We'd
have to be on the honour system of course, but it would be fun to do.
I'd also like to do a "Brick Kick" challenge. This game was a Pengo Clone
that was made by hacking the source code to Pac Man. It would be fun to
have a contest where the object is to take an existing game and then
turn it into an entirely different type of game by modifying as little of
the source code as possible. I guess points would be awarded on how
different the hack is from the original (just modifying the graphics would
get you 0 points), and how little source code was altered (they'd have
to fully comment the source code and indicate which lines are "virgin"
and which lines were added or modified and how).
And I guess the ultimate would be a "Chase the Brick Kick" competition
where you have to make a different hack in 5 days or less. ;)
I guess in a way that Oystron was at written totally on the fly since it
just started out as a multi-sprite demo and just evolved from there.
If you put Oystron on a CD you should include the multi-sprite demo that
spawned it so people can see just how different the game was when it started
out.
Infact it might be easier to write games on the fly rather than to sit
down and plan out every last detail before you start to code. This way
you don't end up over reaching the limits of the 2600 and/or the limits
of your programming ability.
CRACKERS
(Challenges from hell!!!!)
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