10.03.2019 - Round 1 results of our "A Love Letter For FreeBASIC" game dev competition have been published. Please be sure to check the results thread: http://games.freebasic.net/forum/index.php?topic=629.0. Don't forget that the competition is continuing with a round 2, lasting till 29th of April, 300 USD first prize. Stay tuned!

Author Topic: "A Love Letter To FreeBASIC" Competition (Oct 2018 – Feb 2019), 1000 $ 1st prize  (Read 37834 times)

Lachie Dazdarian

  • Double dipper
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
    • Yahoo Instant Messenger - lachie13
    • View Profile
    • The Maker Of Stuff
    • Email
Dear FreeBASIC friends and fellow travellers.

After a 4 years long delay I’m sponsoring a new FreeBASIC Games Directory Game Dev Competition, and the last one I will ever sponsor.

Since this is a conscious decision to make it my LAST, it is my wish to make the theme of this competition FREEBASIC itself and its community, and the impact it had on each of us individually.

The entries should be developed as a homage, a love letter to the very compiler/community, or as a final farewell, depending on the sentiments of the entrant, both hopefully being accepted as legit, by all participants and followers of the competition.

A LOVE LETTER TO FREEBASIC

Summary:
The objective in this competition is to create a game that is your expression of love and appreciation toward FreeBASIC and the FreeBASIC community, as appreciation for the positive impact it had on you as a person.

Competition rules:
* the entry must reference FreeBASIC in some way, the FreeBASIC community, or its members (it can be more or less related to gameplay, a backdrop, a vague theme, you can toy with the horse mascot for example, make a cyberpunk RPG where you hack using FB, you name it, …)
* the entry must be compiled in FreeBASIC
* source code must be provided with the entry
* all libraries wrapped for FreeBASIC are allowed (FBgfx, GL2D, OpenGL, SDL, ...)
* the competition entries must be submitted via email or in this thread before the 11th of February 2019, 18:00 GMT
* the winner will receive 1000 $ cash prize paid via PayPal or Bitcoin or Etherium; the 2nd place holder will receive a 700 $ cash prize, 3rd 400 $, 4th 200 $ and 5th 100 $
* in case of donations during the course of the competition, prizes will be increased
* all entries will be evaluated by competition sponsors (those who forked their own cash), while one category will be based on community votes
* teams are allowed
* non-original work MUST be credited (music, graphics, story, ...)

Scoring details (as with the last competition):
Game design (35 points max): The emphasis in this category will be on how much the theme is expressed in the game overall.
Gameplay (15 points max): In this category I will evaluate how much the game is fun and challenging to play.
Progression (6 Points max): In this category I will evaluate the progression in the game (is it present and how much it enhances the play experience). This will be used to award the entries that feature more depth in comparison to those that don't feature it.
Replay Value (6 Points max)
Graphics (7 points max)
Sound/music (7 points max)
Personal likeness (from 4 to 6 points max)
Community vote (up to 10 points): Depends on the number of entries. I'll try to separate the entries with at least 2 points, depending on their final placement in community vote.

I encourage everyone to share their WIP, but if worried about sharing concepts/ideas before the deadline, I think all would appreciate at least some vague info on what you are working on and the progress.

We will also organize a second round for those who will not manage to complete their entries for round one. Round two will last until 18th of March, and the only condition is that you don't submit anything for round one. Round two first prize is 300 USD, second prize is 100 USD.


Why this competition?

After such a long absence from the community, interrupted with an occasional yearly glance, I realized recently that I will never, or at least not in the foreseeable future, return actively to FreeBASIC.

And I believe many people who were once important members of the community and very active in the past, feel similarly. And them, equally as I, most likely feel they’ve left too abruptly, without that being a result of some conscious decision. This is a chance for them to give one final farewell to FreeBASIC.

The other group are those who still plan to continue to use FreeBASIC, and this is their opportunity to develop a game expressing their love and appreciation for the compiler. And also a chance to win 1000 $.

I would not like to see feelings of resentment toward people who want to make a conscious decision to develop their final FreeBASIC work via this competition, from those who want to continue using FreeBASIC, and vice versa. Allow those who want to say goodbye to say their goodbye, and those who still see future in FreeBASIC, to demonstrate their dedication. Let’s part as friends and commemorate the days we spend together as something valuable.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2019, 07:53:55 AM by Lachie Dazdarian »
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

landeel

  • Forum Howler
  • ****
  • Posts: 102
  • http://cmcgames.blogspot.com
    • View Profile
    • CMC Games
Already working on mine. This will be fun. ;)

The Car

  • Amoeba
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
    • Email
I'm in! It's been nearly ten years since I've done anything in FB. I hope I still remember enough of it :)

Pritchard

  • Global Moderator
  • Forum Howler
  • *****
  • Posts: 160
    • View Profile
    • Email
I'm in. I'll have something done in a week that will be remembered for centuries :)

Eponasoft

  • Novice
  • ***
  • Posts: 53
  • I Am... Kaiaphas.
    • View Profile
    • Eponasoft
I'm in. It will be my last FB project as well.

Lachie Dazdarian

  • Double dipper
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
    • Yahoo Instant Messenger - lachie13
    • View Profile
    • The Maker Of Stuff
    • Email
Thanks to Pete Berg's donation I'm upping the first prize to 300 USD, and the second prize to 150 USD.
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

ssjx

  • Forum Howler
  • ****
  • Posts: 174
    • View Profile
    • ssjx.co.uk
Hi,
Here is a link to a work in progress demo of my entry:

http://ssjx.co.uk/windows/fbgd.php

The idea is that you will go inside various smart devices and use FreeBasic to clean/cure the evil programs inside them. Or something along those lines...

The home screen is a little dull at the moment so I am thinking of adding some cyber ghosts which will you stun to allow you to access the device they are linked to.

This very early demo with lots that still needs doing but just wanted to show what I am working on.

I think this game will fall under 'vague theme' category! :)

Thanks for looking!

Lachie Dazdarian

  • Double dipper
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
    • Yahoo Instant Messenger - lachie13
    • View Profile
    • The Maker Of Stuff
    • Email
This is great.

Thanks for sharing.

The space shooter is already fun.

Looking forward where this will go further.
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

Pritchard

  • Global Moderator
  • Forum Howler
  • *****
  • Posts: 160
    • View Profile
    • Email
Have not made any progress since my last update. I am focused on work and will not have any spare time until the holidays, when I have several weeks off altogether. I want each feature of my game to be something I can make in just a couple hours. I spent too long on the first feature and it's making me nervous to pick up the code again because I don't have enough time to spend 4 - 6 hours on each component, when I want 2 - 3 dozen features in my game altogether.

Like I said in my progress thread, the idea is that each feature can be completed and left as-is, so the game will always be ready for release. I've been spending a lot of time in the back of my head thinking about how I can code features quickly and also always have the game releasable in case I run out of dev hours.

landeel

  • Forum Howler
  • ****
  • Posts: 102
  • http://cmcgames.blogspot.com
    • View Profile
    • CMC Games
I've made a lot of progress in the last few days.
I have a title screen already.
Game is almost playable.

Eponasoft

  • Novice
  • ***
  • Posts: 53
  • I Am... Kaiaphas.
    • View Profile
    • Eponasoft
I've made some progress on my entry, but most of my time for dev is being taken up by Yuki PC right now. Once that's out of the way, I can focus more time on this.

gothon

  • Amoeba
  • *
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile
My entry I am calling 'Programs of Legend', is a programming game where players will explore a procedurally generated world using bots that they program using a GUI that exposes a small subset of FB.  I have managed to set up the underlying libraries and graphics code to compile in 32 bit windows, 64 bit windows, and 64 bit linux, but I have a long way to go before it is playable.  Once I have it working well enough, I'm hoping I can crowd source the community for code that can be used by opponent bots.. :-)

Attached is a portion of a screenshot showing a rendering of a large number of high resolution orthographic voxel tiles.  These tiles are drawn by first rendering them to a texture and then from the texture to the game map display.  The tiles shown are simple demo tiles, as I still need to make tiles and sprites for this.

Lachie Dazdarian

  • Double dipper
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
    • Yahoo Instant Messenger - lachie13
    • View Profile
    • The Maker Of Stuff
    • Email
Great to hear about all this progress. Gothon, your idea sounds particularly original. Can't wait to get a taste of it. A huge fan of your Color Eater 3D.
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

Lachie Dazdarian

  • Double dipper
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
    • Yahoo Instant Messenger - lachie13
    • View Profile
    • The Maker Of Stuff
    • Email
Adjusted the prizes incorporating the latest donation. The current prize pool so far is 650 USD and will be distributed as folows:

1st place - 350 USD
2nd place - 200 USD
3rd place - 50 USD
4th place - 25 USD
5th place - 25 USD

The current sponsors:
Pritchard - 200 USD
Leopardpm - 100 USD
Pete Berg - 100 USD
Lachie Dazdarian - 250 USD

All sponsors will be contacted before evaluation process regarding scoring the entries (won't be eligible if they decide to submit an entry themselves), with their vote carrying the weight of their share in the prize pool.

Would be nice if we could find one more sponsor to beef up the 3rd and 4th place by 50 and 25 USD respectively, but as it is, this is quite a serious prize pool already.
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

Lachie Dazdarian

  • Double dipper
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
    • Yahoo Instant Messenger - lachie13
    • View Profile
    • The Maker Of Stuff
    • Email
Thanks to a very generous anonymous donor who donated impressive 1250 USD, we are upping the prizes as follows:

1st place - 800 USD
2nd place - 600 USD
3rd place - 300 USD
4th place - 100 USD
5th place - 100 USD

The current sponsors:
Pritchard - 200 USD
Leopardpm - 100 USD
Pete Berg - 100 USD
Lachie Dazdarian - 250 USD
Anonymous - 1250 USD
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist