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RESULTS OF THE CONTEST

The comments of the 3 members of the jury (Daniel Vik, SuperCobra and mars2000) have been gathered for each game, but their order is always changing . So you will have a little idea of the criteria that have guided the jury's choice !

1. SHIFT - 73 % Big winner all categories     Team : Infinite Code - Concept : Edwin Graphics - Musics : Wolf Game genre : Thinking Format : 256 KB ROM Year : 2009 Downloads : - version 1.0 (submitted to the contest) - version 1.1   - This is a good game, highly addictive - long playing hours guaranteed. Well done Infinite ! - A nice puzzle game. Its not as addictive as some puzzlers are, but its certainly a well put together game. - A good thinking game for the fans of this type of game !		Graphics/Visuals - 71,7 % - The general look of the game is nice what concerns the graphics, it is very appropriate for a thinking game - Not a whole lot of special effects, but nice backgrounds and play field. - Nice tables, nice gems: an overall good effort.   Musics/SFX - 81,7 % - The music is well written and fits the game. They show that the composer knows his PSG. If a game had this music in the 80's I would have bought the game no matter how the game play was. It’s a pleasure to listen to. - Sometimes the musics sound a bit dull, but good to have different tunes between levels. - A large variety of musics inspiring action or thinking following the case, what is stimulating the player unceasingly.   Playability - 68,3 % - Extremelly smooth controls, fluid. Rules are easy to understand. Got right into the action for long hours playing. - If you like this type of game, you will become very fast addict to it and you will need to discover all its puzzles ! - Although I'm a big puzzler fan, I find this game pretty boring. But the controls are great and the game plays well.   Originality - 68,3 % - You will appreciate that this type of game was converted with talent for the MSX system, especially with the 2 difficulty levels. - Its not an original game idea, but few MSX games with this high quality of backgrounds exists, so in that context its quite original. - Not seen this game before anywhere, certainly not on MSX. If this is a fully original concept, chapeau! Otherwise, nice work to get it working on MSX !   Polish - 75 % - Normal mode is entertaining. Time Attack is a nice variant to try levels you didn't reach in normal mode and to score better trial after trial. - The game is polished at high level, with exception for an unfortunate bug. - Screen 8 really gives a nice polish and together with the music it gives a great impression. The movement of the balls especially the bouncing back on illegal moves shows that the creators have put a lot of effort into making the game as enjoyable as possible.
2. EQUIVOCAL - 60,3 % 1st ex-aequo for the originality     Team : The New Image (TNI) Code - Concept - Graphics - Musics : GuyveR800 Additionnal Code - Sounds FX : BiFiMSX Game genre : Shooter Format : 32 KB ROM Bonus : MSX-MUSIC musics Year : 2009 Downloads : - version 1.0 (submitted to the contest) - version 1.5   - The final version sent after the deadline would have scored a few more points. Though TNI added a nice sense of (dirty) humour, I could not get very enthusiastic while playing Equivocal. Either I am a very bad player, or it's just that I could not see why I should play it over and over again. - A good and original shooter that would deserve to be extended to other stages ! - It’s a simple shooter with some nice aspects, like smooth movement of items, but the game doesn't feel complete and ready for release.		Graphics/Visuals - 60 % - Clean but no crazyness (except in Dirty Mode). Enemies, options etc. are far too small. - Good graphics for the background and the sprites, also their fitting to create a game which moves and attracts the eyes ! - Nothing special here. The scroll is simple but nice but the enemies and the main ship really doesn't look that great.   Musics/SFX - 63,3 % - Dynamic musics and good sound effects, but a bit variation is missing. - Ok music for this type of game. It doesn't enhance the game, but its not annoying either. A bit more variation would have been nice. - Cool (even more in FM mode), drives the gameplay up.   Playability - 53,3 % - It plays like any average shooter, but there is not much variations. - The basics are working but I couldn't get very excited (sorry), nor got far into the game… some bad flickering here and there - and game crashed a couple times during testing (solved with latest releases but I am not allowed to judge that version.) - You become fast addict to the game and it's a good way to release the tension, but do you want really to make a megascore ?   Originality - 68,3 % - A shoot'em down/up/away or whatever you want to call it. The Dirty Mode helped staying above the average. - A shooter with a strange name, an equivocal (!) story, elements with double meaning that become reality in a special mode of the game. Yes, we meet originality ! - Well, it’s a shooter, but it certainly has some elements that makes it a bit unique.   Polish - 56,7 % - The developers have been short of time to provide a perfect product, you will note especially a bad corruption bug which happens sometimes to waste the pleasure. - Some things are really nice, the game plays very smooth, but apart from the smooth movements, there aren't too much more that adds to the polish. The amount of smooth moving objects shows that the team knows how to code, and the smoothess does enhance the overall feeling of the game. - Since I didn't came far into the game, maybe I missed something (outside the main screen options).

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CONTEST

The Passion MSX team (SuperCobra and mars2000) is very proud to announce the launch of a game development contest dedicated to the second generation of the MSX standard : MSX2 !!! As for the MSXdev' contest, focused on MSX1, we hope that many new games of high quality will see the daylight to become source of fun for many gamers.

The deadline is fixed to 30 June 2009 23h59 CET, allowing you a full year to develop a beautiful and wonderful game. You can also inform us about your project before submitting it so that Passion MSX can announce it. This will also give you the opportunity to openly discuss it through our forums.

The e-mail address for all your contacts with the Passion MSX team concerning this contest is passionmsx2@msxblue.com


Prizes

A money-prize loot of €999 will be shared between the best 3 projects

1st prize - Best Project will win 433 €.

2nd prize - Runner Up will win 333 €.

3rd prize - Second Runner Up will win 233 €.

A jury will appreciate the games and make the decision for these prizes. It is composed as following : the Passion MSX team (SuperCobra and mars2000) and Daniel Vik, main coder of the blueMSX emulator and author of great MSX1 demos and games.


Rules of the contest

1 - Format of the game

The game needs to be submitted under the form of a ROM file with a mazimum size of 512 kb. Smaller games are of course allowed.

2 - Allowed mappers

To allow maximum compatibility with real machines, only the following mappers will be accepted for MegaROMs : konami without SCC, konami with SCC, ASCII 8KB and ASCII 16KB.

For more infos about these mappers, check this technical document :
http://bifi.msxnet.org/msxnet/tech/megaroms.html

3 - Programming language

You can use the programming language of your choice, but of course assembler is strongly recommended.

Other compiled and/or interpreted languages are perfectly admissible. MSX BASIC can be used as well, when converted into a ROM file.

4 - MSX2 compatibility

The submitted game needs to be fully compatible with the following MSX2 configuration :

- CPU : Zilog Z80A (or clone) running at 3,579 MHz inside the MSX Engine
- VDP : Yamaha V9938
- PSG : AY-3-8910 or compatible sound chip (Yamaha YM2149)
- Cassette interface: 1200/2400 baud
- Memory Mapper system
- RAM : 64 KB (memory-mapped)
- VRAM : 128 KB

5 - MSX2+ and MSXturboR compatibility

The submitted game needs also to work without any problem on MSX2+ and MSXturboR machines. If is not the case, penalties will be applied on the score by the jury.

6 - Strict MSX2 tricks and features

The submitted game needs to be developed specifically for the above mentioned MSX2 configuration. It means that
- screens 0 to 3 can be used, but don't forget that you are developing a MSX2 game, so think about the specific MSX2 features of these screens when developing the game (for example : definition of the color palette);
- screens 4 to 8 can of course be used;
- the rom submitted to the contest can contain bonuses on an hidden and de-activated way such as other sounds than PSG or specific MSX2+ or MSXturboR tricks (the activation will need to press on a specific key with as result the detection of the required hardware).

Outside the contest and after the contest, you are free to release an enhanced version with for example MSX-MUSIC sounds or MSX2+ tricks. It can be a version where these bonuses have been added as they were not present in the version submitted to the contest, it can also be a version where these bonuses, initially hidden and de-activated, are now activated without need to press on a specific key.

Only the submitted version in the contest will be judged. The eventual bonuses will not give additionnal points in the jury's decision.

7 - Originality

Preference is given to original games, but non-original concept games will be also accepted. This includes conversions from arcades and/or other console or computer systems, as well as adaptations of already existent games.

However, recompiled games are not acceptable. Already released games or hacked games will not be accepted either. Also, direct graphic or music rips from other authors used without permission won't be acceptable.

In case of doubt, the organization is entitled to ask for proofs, such as the source code of the game. Any suspicious game would be disqualified if the organization decides so.

8 - Package

The submitted package needs to include the following elements :
- the ROM file in its definitive version;
- the games instructions written in English;
- a high-resolution cartridge full-colour sticker.

Only the game itself will be judged.

9 - Status and distribution

All submitted games are freeware, even after the contest closes. Enhanced versions that are released after and outside the contest will also have to be freeware, if the concerned improvements were already present on a hidden and de-activated way in the version submitted to the contest. In the contrary case, the developper decides in full freedom the status of the enhanced version.

The freeware status needs to be mentioned in the instructions. Any freeware license can be used, as long as the full game can be freely obtained by the users.

Any finished game will be distributed exclusively through Passion MSX till the contest closes. After July 1st, 2009, developers are allowed to re-distribute their game(s) through different media as long as they are downloadable for free.

Should developpers wish to distribute their games on e.g. a cartridge, they are free to do so and fix a fair price for it as long as the user still can get the alternative to download the following versions for free from the internet : the submitted version to the contest and the improved versions if the bonuses were hidden and de-activated in the version submitted to the contest.

Beta versions used for debugging and testing purposes are allowed, but they should be only distributed to beta-testers.

10 - Jury's decision

By submitting a game to this contest, the developers accept to be judged on the following points : graphics/visual, musics/sfx, gameplay, originality and polish. All participants will accept the final decision of the jury.

Good luck !