Well, since the old thread sorta died, I thought it would be good to have a new one. Since the judging database doesn't seem to be on-site yet, this thread is important. The MinorHack website is here: http://cgamesplay.com/minorhack/

Posty!

Although I missed all of the previous MinorHack competition, I want to participate this time.

Short question: Is is allowed to prepare code snippets before the competition starts?

The rules are extremely clear about this. Read them.

Well, not the rules. Strictly speaking, the rules don't address this issue -- the guidelines do.

However, it was agreed on that we could use a simple code base to initialize Allegro, include headers, and have a

while (!key[KEY_ESC])
{
//do something
}

for the main loop.

The guidelines were in the "Rules" section.

Yay for MinorHack! Can't wait!

I'm a "maybe" on this one.

Yeah, but I'm still not very clear on it. I reuse code all the time, either by copy&paste or by remembering it.

So, in theory, it would be allowed to prepare code snippets, memorize them, and type them into the editor after the competition has started. You know, the thing you learn at school: memorize something that you don't understand and later write it down as fast as you can.

Memorizing is fine. Pasting in a few hundred lines from some other project you're working on is not. It just gives an unfair advantage.

Code base helps to avoid "I just spent 15 min setting up Allegro for the comp."

Of course, using a lot of stuff from another game = bad bad bad.

I really want to participate in one of these soon... I wont be able to participate in this one.

I'm too busy.

Hope you can be in soon!

For anyone who hasn't yet noticed, the next MinorHack is tommorw.

Count me in.

Yay! MinorHack in ...
7 hours and 43 min? What the heck is wrong with it?

CGames, you need to look at the timing on your site. It's messed up.
(It gives EST as 5:18, when my computer clock says 10:18, same as every clock on my house. This is not just daylight savings time.)

I don't know why the clock was so off, but I've reset it. Seems the machine was rebooted, and loaded the hw clock as GMT, when it was set as EDT, or vice versa.

[append]
Kikaru, set your timezone to America/New_York instead of EST, because we are in EDT right now

Ok. thanks.

[EDIT]
Now that's more like it!

What a great idea for a competition.

By the way, guys, I won't be able to provide those Windows binaries today!

Eeks! I've just notices there's a hack in 3 hours and I'm not even on my computer (it's broken)! I better get some dev tools or something...

BTW, it would be nice to have an "I'm in!" button for future competetions so that we can tell how big it's going to be.

That is in the TODO list

Maybe I should do some work on the site sometime.

That would be good.

LennyLen, Zaphos: You guys in?

We have the capacity to make this the biggest MinorHack yet!

Hurray! More people!

Sure; I'm in.

I can make the Windows binaries afterwards if someone wants them, it's no big deal. I'll probably participate if the rule won't turn out to be something braindead .

Anyone know how to do a precompiler #ifdef to check if the compiler is MSVC?

I'm throwing in a macro to fix the for scope.

Well, the easiest way if you're using allegro is #ifdef ALLEGRO_MSVC. However, I don't know if anyone still uses MSVC6, which IIRC was the last version to have for scoping problems.

I'm too rusty with Allegro to enter a 1-hour comp. I'd spend 50% of the time looking up the API. I might enter the next 48-hour comp, though probably not since they're always over the weekend, and I never have free time during the weekend (I can easily be working 30 of the 48 hours at this time).

But all you need is circle()! And maybe textprintf_ex().
Especially now that Kikaru explained, "it was agreed on that we could use a simple code base to initialize Allegro, include headers, and [etc]".

Yeah, I'm using MSVC6

Why, though? Later versions are free and actually compile standard C++, for the most part.

Yeah, LennyLen! Join us! Prepare the code base now!

I downloaded VSExpress and tried to use it to compile my current project and it threw 80 separate errors on code that compiled fine on VS6, and I just haven't felt like porting the code.

I probably should though, I use STL heavily and apparently more recent MSVCs do STL much better.

I think I should point out something...

If you must use a skeleton, that's fine. But don't be excessive. Really, it's against the spirit of the competition.

/me wears badge that says "I coded my MinorHack entry from scratch".

Maybe if I'm still awake at 7am. I've been up for 44 hours now, and my eyelids are getting very heavy.

As I mentioned, just initialize Allegro and make a

while (!key[KEY_ESC])
{
//do something
}

main loop.

I think that counts as a skeleton.

[EDIT]
MinorHack in 1 hour. twitch

Well, I don't think there's much difference in spirit between starting with a skeleton or taking five minutes to regurgitate a skeleton from memory. And having a skeleton encourages new people to come in, and makes it more accessible for people who haven't done this sort of thing enough to have the startup code basically memorized. I see very little wrong with using a skeleton.

It's a little late for this time, but perhaps for the next MinorHack (and subsequent ones), there could be an "official" skeleton that everyone can use.

[edit]I'm not gonna make it until 7am. It took me more than twice as long to correct this post than it did to write it.

This was actually sort-of planned at some point, but then dropped -- I'm not sure why. I believe I proposed this skeleton, which I would still be fine with:

Zaphos: Way too much error checking for a hack.

Is there an official MinorHack IRC channel?

I made one of my own, which is actually less complex than that.
Here it is:

[EDIT]
What is IRC?

Internet Relay Chat?

I didn't even initialize graphics/timers in my skeleton. I'm wondering if I should.

Yeah -- I wouldn't go any more complex than it, probably should go less. I figured an official starter code might want to do things 'right', to some greater extent, but Kikaru's approach is also good. (edit: I might go somewhere between, and add some timer code to Kikaru's skeleton, since most games are going to need that too)

It's a chat protocol, so people can have a more real-time discussion.

This is the only case I consider a skeleton "acceptable". That is, if you can do it from memory, do it from memory.

Epoch: Nope, and you will watch as this thread drops silent for 1 hour coming up here.

Omigosh! IRC is the thing where you go to http://silverex.info and download and install that, then open it, connect to "Freenode", and type "/join #allegro" (without quotes. You will love it

The idea that copy pasting from memory is 'cooler' than copy pasting from actual code is funny to me, but, you know, whatever you need to do to feel 'hardcore', I guess

By "timer code" you mean like: long start_time = clock(); at the beginning of the loop and

while (clock() < start_time + 20)
{}

at the end?

That's so bad, but sure. Something to control the speed of the game.

Don't use clock for timing, it's inaccurate

8 yes's and 2 maybes! BAF says he'll be in but a bit late.

Yay! Lots of people! MinorHack FTW! twitch twitch twitch

I guess what I'd propose for a skeleton, to modify Kikaru's a bit:

That way there's a portable allegro timer in there, and you can use it however you want.
edit: Although to make it really the case that all you need to remember are circle() and textprintf_ex(), we could put:

        blit(buffer, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, SCREEN_W, SCREEN_H);
        clear_to_color(buffer, makecol(255,255,255));

into the loop as well.

After the competition I will change "allegro.h" to <allegro.h> and remove text_mode, and put it on the site as the "accepted" template.

[edit]
Will do.

Sounds good

And we're off! Good luck, everybody!

Achtung, fertig, Los!!!

Sadly, I failed miserably. I can't handle gravity, or so it seems. I am going to keep hacking at this for a few minutes.

I was going to add a timer to mine, and score on how fast the player landed, but for some reason with 10 minutes left I completely forgot to add that.
... it could use some value tweaking, too ...
but it's in!

My entry is somewhat complete. The only sad thing is that I spent the whole day on ways how to generate samples and music scores (tracker style) on the fly with as less source as possible. I really wanted to include sound and music.
sigh, time was simply too short .

Oh, and can anyone of you compile the entries for Windows? I can't even do this with mine, because all my Allegro installations are Linux ones.

Well, I actually finished the main game with 7 min to spare. Tweaked a few things, added a title, and double checked everything. And my source is here:

My entry is in too. I'm going to write up a basic readme this time, so please don't judge it before you read it . Of course many things were left off because the time was too short, but I'll finish it within the next half-hour and post a revised, 1,5 hour compo version .

As it is it's quite fun to play... for about 2 minutes . I have to tweak the constants - the time was added in at the last minute and it's way too lenient.

Yeah, mine came out way too easy.

I didn't have time to code the enemy AI properly, and now that I think about it, I really should have seeded the randoms.

It's the same game every time now, heh. Oops.

Oh well, still cool.

Just posted a revised version of mine, with a timer, and things moving a bit faster, so it's at least a little more interesting.

Uh, why can I still change my entry (upload a newer version)? I think the time is over?

I don't know... Anyway, I really need binaries.

I think the 'upload a newer version' is for after-the-fact entry revisions; ie, so you can put up a 'fixed' version, which isn't for the competition, but rather just so you can show what it would have looked like if you'd had more time.

I just put up the revised version too - it has some basic eye-candy, and some very important constant tweaks to make the game better. I would recommend playing this version if you want to actually have fun .

So, does anyone actually need me to make the Windows binaries, or is everyone able to compile themselves?

raises hand I am incapable. Reason: still using allegro v 4.0, also can't seem to get windows.h to work.

Alright, I posted a revised version and I'm going to ask that my game be judged based off this; I didn't add any new features, but I tweaked the gameplay so that it's actually fun to play, and that the random has been seeded.

If I am judged off the revised version, I will extend the same courtesy to those who do so.

Oh, and windows binaries would be excellent.

Controls:
WASD/Arrow Keys - Move
Mouse - Aim
Mouse Button 1 - Shoot

Okay, attached binaries.
edit: names to numbers are:
2259: CGames
4737: Epoch
3653: Jakub
7616: Kikaru
3330: Simon
1468: Zaphos

Yay! binaries!

Great, now I have to figure out what entry is what number.

Thanks alot.

Okay, I edited that into the post (above).

Note that I didn't include any of the revised versions; these are just the competition entries.
Also: To play mine use the arrow keys. UP to thrust, LEFT/RIGHT to turn.

Would it be too much to ask for you to compile a separate set of revised binaries?

I'd kinda like to play them.

Revised binaries!

Cool! I'll play some more now.

Ugh, I just noticed a bug that made most of the planetoids spawn outside of the arena. Stupid.

Fixed, but not in the revised binary Kikaru just posted.

I need to install Dev-Cpp, or anything not MSVC.

[EDIT]

Binary posted, but compiled with MSVC/Allegro 4.2. May not work properly.

I think CGamesPlay should comment on that, but in my interpretation, this is simply against the rules. We are given 1 hour to complete something, and that is the thing that should be judged. Otherwise, people who post revised entries will have the edge because of the extra time they had. And an extra 10 minutes when all you get is an hour is one hell of an edge.

Or we could let people post revised versions and as long as they're only tweaked, not a complete gameplay revision, we let it go?

Congrats to all those who finished.

I stated my opinion above - I will judge the compo entries. This compo only has a point if the 1-hour limit is a limit, not an optional guideline. Of course, everybody will judge according to his/hers conscience.

Yeah, who am I kidding, his/hers. The day we get a woman to enter this compo, I'm going to eat my Logitech mouse .

So, did you get some sleep and wake up already, or is it 46 hours awake now?

Yeah; I agree -- please judge based on initial entries, not the revised entries. Otherwise it's not really a one hour competition, is it?

However, it's a friendly competition.

I mean, we're all nice people, and there are only six of us. I don't see why this has to be so formal. None of the revised entries are drastically different from the original games -- they're just tweaked, so they're actually fun.

But on the other hand, yeah, it would defeat the point. To a degree.

[EDIT]

So how do we go about judging?

Zaphos: Cool game, fun to play, etc. The revision is nice. I don't like how the arrow is inverted vertically but not horizontally.

Simon: Nice game. No scoring hurts, but the graphical effect it creates is very cool.

Jakub: Very cool game. It's fun shooting around the planets. The revision is very cool.

Epoch: Nice game, but I couldn't really figure out how it worked The revision is much better, althoguh still I can't quite figure out what the controls do.

Kikaru: It's like Icy Tower, but impossible to stay alive

My rating: Zaphos, Jakub, Simon, Epoch, Kikaru.

We had some great entries this time around!

[append]
Epoch: Sort the entries that aren't your in order from best to worst. Post that order.

As to how I graded: I played both the revised and the original versions, but I graded based on what I remembered from the original. That's why Epoch's didn't get a higher grade: on mine, I collided with a star less than a half second into the game. Jakub's probably would have been higher, too, because of the ueber-awesome eye candy.

Well, I played all of them, and here is my vote:

Jakub: excellent game, nice graphics. One glitch: some targets don't respond when hit.

Simon: Nice! simple, but well polished and pretty good visuals.

Epoch: Pretty fancy. When I played the revised version it was a lot cooler. Still don't see the objective though...

Zaphos: Nice little minigame. Great lead up to playing a round of KK's strategy game from the first comp.

CGamesPlay: Sorry, I don't know what's going on here.

Yeah, as far as my entry goes...

[append]

Kikaru: is that in order?

Yes. That is the order of my vote.

Let me clarify on the controls then.

Arrow Keys (WASD in revised) - Accelerate. You accelerate in the direction of the arrow key, you don't do anything involving rotation. The ship points in the direction you are going.

Mouse Button One - Fire a stream of bullets from the ship towards the mouse cursor/crosshair. Your objective is to use these bullets to knock the enemies in to the sides of the arena.

Enemies die when they hit the sides of the arena. You die when you hit a planetoid. You are attracted towards the planetoids by gravity. Enemies are not. (Reactionless drive?)

If an enemy bullet hits you, the effect of the planetoids' gravity on you is increased.

Anyways, in order of how much I liked them:

Simon: Really fun. I laughed at the stick figure dude. I'd suggest using floating points for the falling bombs' velocity instead of an int though, that way it wouldn't "chunk" when it accelerates like it does.

Jakub: I love the graphical style, and the particles in the revised version are awesome. It's fun shooting bullets around the planetoids, but they're really too big relative to the size of the screen; I end up just using the gravity to curve the bullets a little. It'd be more fun if the playing field were larger.

Zaphos: Simple, but the controls feel right and it's fun to play with.

Kikaru: You made a less shiny version of Icey Tower in an hour, nice work. It's confusing when the ball goes off the top of the screen, but otherwise good.

CGamesPlay: The game isn't really responsive enough to be fun. Interesting concept though.

[EDIT]
Meant to put Simon first. Oops.

My votes, in order:
Jakub: Very cool concept, and I like the little graphical touches (two shades of blue for the 'planets', concentric circles for the target)

Simon: Simple concept, nice graphics, very 'complete' feeling.

Epoch: The actual 'game' doesn't quite work out, but I like the way it controls, and it's an interesting idea.

Kikaru: A very no-frills implementation, but icy tower is fun.

CGames: Doesn't really seem to work in the incomplete form, but I guess you knew that.

My order: Zaphos, Simon, Kikaru, Epoch, CGamesPlay.

Zaphos: What can I say, I'm a sucker for "lander" type games. It would be nice to have a smaller target to land in, or something to collect, or some obstacles - feels kinda empty.

Simon: Simple idea, nice touches when the triangles touch the ground. Overall second in terms of fun gameplay, nice.

Kikaru: A tried concept, works all right. Could use some touching up.

Epoch: I tried to understand what it's all about, but failed. It looks like an original concept, and has nice controls - but I can't find the game in that.

CGamesPlay: Well... you can't make anything out in the compo version, let alone try to play it.

Oh, i came here to see when would be the next minorhack and was surprised. IT WAS TODAY. However, i lost it by some hours...

Well, maybe the next...

I just got my internet back up.

Oh well, I didn't really have time for MH and now I'm several hours behind on my own work. Sigh.

Whew... finished an update! Source attached.

Heh, I just faked the gravity formula. There are 6 "acceleration points" located on the y-axis, so it must feel a bit "chunky". This sort of stuff happens when I'm short on time.

Anyway, after getting all these "revised version" talk, I've made a revised version of MY game. Gameplay is the same (including the dumb acceleration), but I've added a survival timer, and, what's even more important, a music engine.

Have fun!

Oh, and could someone compile a Windows Binary again? ... please?

----- JUDGING -----

Jakub: Really nice game, I still wonder how you got it right in time.
Epoch: I love how the little spaceships move, but the game is far too easy.
Zaphos: Nice gravity/accelleration calculation, but I hate "Land the spaceship" games.
Kikaru: Could be a good game, but it runs too fast for me.
CGamesPlay: -

Awesome revisions, Simon
Attached a binary.

edit: Missed kikaru's revision before, for some reason. Anyway, both binaries for both Simon's and Kikaru's are now attached.

...this is what I get when I assume that all times given are my time zone...

I don't know how I mis-counted the countdown timer...

If you log in and set your time zone, they are in your time zone

Whoa, 1:00 PM? That's a big difference from 6:00... but that's what the timer told me. (I was too lazy to find out what UTC was so I just counted off the timer vs. my system clock)

Oh wait,

That explains it...

The clock is fixed now, and the competition was at 1 p.m. CDT, if you are in that time zone.

Damn, I couldn't make on time. My idea was to make Hanoy only that two of the poles keep pusing away your rings, so you have to put weights and stuff to keep them from going away.

Cool games!! I'm not sure how to play CGamesPlay's game though. Simon's game is rather easy. though the graphics are lovely. Jakub's game is nice but I for some reason I can only hit one target, the graphics are great! Epoch's game is really cool though it's kind of stupid that you can shoot bazillion bullets a second while the enemies can only shoot a few. Kikaru's is nice but gets boring after a while. And Zaphos' is, for some reason, quite hard. (I played only the revisions)

So, when's the next one? (Next week, same time? Maybe even today?)

It's whenever everybody wants it. The schedule so far has been every other week, which has worked out so far.

My game was going to be kind of like pong... there was going to be a ball and you had to move your paddle on the bottom of the screen to keep bouncing it.

How long did you play it? It ramps up weirdly -- the bombs fall almost not at all for a bit, and then suddenly they're all over. When I first played it I was just trying to skim through all the games, and I closed his before the bomb rate seemed to increase, so I thought the game was too easy, too. Give it ~15 seconds to get interesting.

I did, and still it was rather boring (aftwer I stopped laughing at the stickman, that is).

CGamesPlay: Zaphos, Jakub, Simon, Epoch, Kikaru.
Kikaru: Jakub, Simon, Epoch, Zaphos, CGamesPlay.
Epoch: Simon, Jakub, Zaphos, Kikaru, CGamesPlay.
Zaphos: Jakub, Simon, Epoch, Kikaru, CGamesPlay.
Jakub: Zaphos, Simon, Kikaru, Epoch, CGamesPlay.
Simon: Jakub, Epoch, Zaphos, Kikaru, CGamesPlay.

Adding these up:

Jakub: 23
Simon: 20
Zaphos: 18
Epoch: 14
Kikaru: 10
CGamesPlay: 5

I will win one of these days!

Congrats to Jakub, Simon, and Zaphos; Epoch and Kikaru: We gotta kick it up a notch!

Didn't I win the only one I've submitted an entry for (so far)?

Wheeee!

EDIT:

With the revised version (WinBin posted by Zaphos, thanks ) you get a time counter. My personal high score is 79 seconds, what's yours?
Or do you mean it's not easy but still boring?

Yes. I mean, it's kind of nice for 1 minute, but gets, ummmm, repetitive after a while.

Show me a game that was done in under 1 hour taht doesn't get repetitive . It's not like you can put a whole bunch of content there .

So, I guess I won. Too bad KK wasn't in the competition this time, maybe we could do another "Teraz Polska" one . Perhaps next time. Congratulations to everyone who finished their entry, and good luck to you CGamesPlay. Don't even try not to win the next one .

I'm sure I'll enter some day if time allows. I was with a friend in a pub to talk a bit and relax this time.

Congratulations to everybody.

Ah, those darn pubs.

Hope you can join next time!

How about a different time for the next comp?

1800 UTC is 0700 here, so I'm normally asleep or just going to bed at that time.

Propose one! Don't you know I can't think for myself? It's a mircale I can even get Allegro running in an hour

maybe 2000 UTC? That would be 4:00 here, and 0900 in LennyLen time.

Maybe that's why you haven't won yet

Everybody okay moving the compo back 2 hours?

0900 isn't much different to 0700 to me. I'm usually fast asleep by then (I was awake again at that time on this occasion, but that's because I only slept for an hour and a half due to no sleeping pills. The times I'm generally asleep are from 0600 (1700 UTC) and 1300 (0000 UTC). Weekends are pretty hard for me to predict times I'll be available as it's when I work the most, and I have no set hours.

Would anybody be interested in a midweek (Wednesday for me, Tuesday for most everyone else) comp? I don't work Wednesday nights, so I could go to sleep and get up earlier. 1200 Wednesday here would be 1600 Tuesday PST, 1900 Tuesday EST, 2300 Tuesday UTC.

Moving the comp forward two hours on the same night as last time might work, provided I got home from work in time.

You mean moving it earlier 2 hours?

Yes.

[edit]Though, having it not at the weekend would be much beter (for me). [/edit]

Get a few more people to play on a weekday and I will schedule it.

In the mean time, everybody okay for 1600 UTC?

Sounds good to me. Doubt I could make a weekday, though.

I could probably make it on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, but that could change before next week.

I'm ok with both, though I prefer weekends.

Okay, I will schedule it for the weekend following this on at 1600 UTC. If you all would like to have one on a week day, give me a date and time! I might be able to participate, but only on Tuesdays or Thursdays and at about 1900 UTC - 0000 UTC. Oh, and I'm free all this Thursday.

I can run on weekdays, depending on the time.

Weekends, Wednesdays, and Fridays are good for me. Mondays are somewhat iffy.

Wednesdays seem to be the best day. Next Thursday at 0100 UTC okay with those who want to participate?

[append]
Oh, I just realized that Jakub is in Poland, so probably won't be participating in an 0100 UTC compo. But anyways, is that good for everybody else?

I'd need to leave for work during the hour at that time. An hour earlier would be fine. I might give myself a couple of weeks of practice first though. It's been a while since I wrote anything longer than 10-15 lines, so I tried writing Pong in an hour last night. I was rustier than I thought.

November 2nd at 0000 UTC, then?

I'd have a go at it if it was two hours earlier. Any later than that and I won't make it - I need at least 5 hours of sleep per day .

Anything around 0000 UTC sounds good to me.

Okay, I've got two scheduled: Competitions list

Let me know if those are problematic.

Well, I will be in on the Oct. 28th one, since it's a Saturday. However, I can't do the Nov. 2nd one, 1) because it is on a friday, and 2) because it would be at about midnight.

Sooo, I'm assuming they are scheduled for different people?

Correct

I can participate in the Oct. one. Isn't the Nov. on Thursday rather than friday?

For those not east of Greenwich, yes.

Well, I found that my MinorHack entries have made some of the best foundations for full games yet.

For those west of Greenwich, it most certainly won't be Friday. November the 2nd is a Thursday, and since this event will be taking place at 0000 UTC, it will be Wednesday the 1st still, west of Greenwich.

For our American friends, it will be 8pm on the East Coast, 5pm on the West Coast, 4pm in Alaska, and 2pmin Hawaii.

Heh, I didn't even read past "on Thursday", apparently.

This thread will not die, for it is immortal. Anyway, how is the scoring database coming along, CGames?

You might also want to add that skeleton starter code to the site, when you get around to it. Just sayin' 'cause I don't see it on the to do list.

Yeah, I haven't actually touched the site in a while. Last I recall, in my test environment, I was doing rule voting, or something.

[append]

I won't be able to play in this Saturday's, as I have a race to be at

Darn! This will be the first one you missed right? Well, there are two ways to look at it: One less chance to win, or one less chance to lose.

Haha, let's go with the first

Yes, this will be the first one I've missed. Fortunately, there is a small backing for this competitions so I don't need to be in all of them

Well, I will continue to enter whenever I am available! training for SpeedHack

I should be able to be in the next one.

Yay! More people to participate!

[EDIT] MinorHack this Saturday! (and then next Thursday/Friday)

I will try to get in too, but not sure though.

Yep, it's already on my calendar. I just hope I can still program fast, it's been a while since I've participated in a hack of any sort, let alone a minorhack. On another note, anyone else in pacific time participating? Cause it's at 9am right? (just wanna make sure, I'm never too sure about these time conversions)

Go to here and put in "America/Los_Angeles" for the time zone, without the quotes. The clock on that page should read correctly.

MinorHack in two days. Sky Ball completed.

That's right, just keep it alive, one day at a time

I wish you had done that back when the thread had 300 replies... That was a record for a thread started by me

I tried, but I lost that thread. I went to look at it one day, and "poof!" it was gone. At first I thought I might have hidden it...
Anyway, this thread will stay for as long as I can keep it alive (assuming the comp is still around, that is.)

But, you know, if no one posted after you it would die

"send to top" button.

Works once and doesn't stop the thread from locking

In terms of getting new people to participate, it's probably better not to keep giant minorhack threads that span multiple competitions. A new thread for a new competition is a good idea.

Also use decoy thread names. Like for the next MinorHack thread, title it "Want to on the top all night?"

That doesn't work at all. I tried to use that line and I got thrown out the bar!

Hey, now it reads out in my timezone... who would have thought. Awesome, now I shouldn't miss it... unless I sleep in, which might happen.

I find myself thinking about MinorHack constantly. I can't wait. It should happen more often though, like at least once every week.

Edit: I notice that the site says it is currently 1:56 EST, even though it is 2:56 EST. That should maybe be fixed.

No it isn't. It was currectly 2:56 EDT. Daylight savings time. Use America/New_York as your time zone.

I'd suggest adding current time display to the compo site, which should make it clear whether one has set up time zone correctly or not.

Done. Technically, it's been done since before the last competition Also, Kibiz0r was going off of said clock.

Well, the MinorHack is tomorrow. I like the way they are now, mostly because I don't like missing them, and I can't be in them every week. Right now, I only missed one.

Well, how was I supposed to know about that?

Duh, you're SUPPOSED to read Appendix H of the PHP manual! Doesn't everybody?

I need to make that a drop down, I know. It's on the TODO

2 hours and 30 minutes to start.

I will try to participate this time.
Unfortunately, now I'm not very excited about that. Just psychological reasons, though.

Now I'm thinking about what my game will be, and waiting for the begin.

Hey, CGames, just letting you know, your current time doesn't work very well at all. When I put in america/new_york, it says it's about 2:00. However, in eastern time, it's 10:00. That's 4 hours off. However, when I put in EST, it's just one hour off, as expected. Just letting you know.

Anyway, MinorHack in 2 hours. I can't wait.

I wouldn't expect you Windows users to understand the nuances of case-sensitivity, but suffice it to say that I didn't tell you to put in "america/new_york".

1:15...

I'm going to set up a build dir and stuff.

Speaking of case sensitivity, why don't you have it force text into all caps? then you could look for AMERICA/NEW_YORK. Makes everything easier for us.

Anyway, MinorHack in about 1 hour 15 min.

Because AMERICA/NEW_YORK isn't the time zone either

Like I said, I need to make it a drop down.

I found the right timezone anyway. So it does work. I think a drop-down would really help. Anyway, good luck to all competetors!

A HUGE dropdown...

I have a pop-tart, a can of soda, TextPad, Rage Against The Machine, and the Scrubs marathon on TV. Let's roll.

Yeah, I should get some soda.

I will be playing, but half-heartedly

Ready ... steady ... reload your browsers ... GO!

FOR THE MINORHACK!!!

It will start now

[Edit] The rule:
The game must use the trigonometric functions. These include sin, cos, tan, atan2, and others. Remember, only the bold part is the rule, and bending the rules is strongly encouraged.

Doh! Missed the start. DrunkHack is probably a bad idea anyway. (So is drunkPost. Took me ages to make sure this post was error-free).

Oops, I slept through it. Heh, I was afraid I was going to do that. Oh well, I don't code well in the morning anyways.

I'm done... but it isn't playable. I wasted like 10 minutes thinking about trigonometry, recalling stuff from school.

So.. as said before, my entry compiles, runs, is beautiful to watch, but you can't do anything. Because I ran out of time. sigh

I made something... playable.

Oh man did that suck. I was working on it for about 40 minutes before I tested it. Always a bad idea. Oh well, at least you can shoot stuff.

well, i finished a so-so game. it plays, but there is one glitch with the collision detection in the first version.

[EDIT]
Strangely, I can't compile anything using <windows.h>. I need windows binaries.

I did something playable. However there was a bug in the first version which makes the player lose lives without no reason and the bullets disappear with no reason. The score was stuck in zero too.

Four minutes after deadline that was fixed. It's just a three-lines fix.

Kikaru: Nice game! Looks well done and has a decent menu.

Victor: The enemies seem to hit me without hitting me, but other than that it is pretty cool.

Simon: Really nice graphics!

Kibiz0r: Is there a way to win or lose?

That's my ranking.

Well, after another 12 minutes of work, it's kinda playable, after 30 minutes of work on it. I hate it when you have to scrap stuff.

So, if you multiply it by 2...I win?

Well, I can't judge anything yet, because I need Windows binaries.

I'm very curious how you can compete in this competition if you don't have a compiler...

@CGamesPlay:

Being hitted by the enemies without being hitting or hitting them without hitting is caused by x*x+y+y which should be x*x+y*y.

The revised version fixed that.

I do have a compiler, however, I can't seem to use anything containing "windows.h". Victors' gave some weird errors when I tried to compile. I think it might have been something about casting.

But still, I would like binaries.

@Kikaru: Which errors?

Boom. Binary.

And why exactly do you need "windows.h"? I can honestly say I've never once included it in any of the projects I've written to work on wondows.

@victor
A bunch of 'conversion errors'.
on lines 177 - 188. And a return statement on line 250.

My game is very similar to Kibiz0r's and Kikaru's games.

Simon Parzer: Your game could be great. Too bad that is too unfinished and unplayable. Nice graphics though.

CGamesPlay: Your game is interessing, very good idea. But that colorfullness hurt my eyes (and is gay too).

My score:
1. Kikaru
2. CGamesPlay
3. Kibiz0r
4. Simon Parzer

[Edit]
I was using a C compiler. If you use a C++ compiler, you may get some errors. The return in line 250 is because main returns int and the return statement returns nothing. Put "return 0;" there. About the conversions, i think that could be this:

dx = tiro<i>.x - inimigo[j].x;
dy = tiro<i>.y - inimigo[j].y;

Where i'm converting float to int without a cast. Just cast to int and it will be ok.

By the way, the C compiler don't even warn about that, where C++ could give errors.
By the way I should remember to use -Wall and -Wextra to avoid this.

binaries please?

Binaries here.

[Edit] As I have some SVN version of Allegro 4.3 from somewhere in time. I putted that there too. JUST FOR TESTING PURPOSES. DON'T USE THAT DLL FOR ANYTHING ELSE.

My ranking goes as follows:
Victor - this game is pretty neat. If it wasn't for the glitch, it would be truly awesome.

CGamesPlay - The game is cool, and pretty simple. Just a little hard see what's going on.

Simon Parzer - Very pretty, but no point.

Kibiz0r - Neat, but it crashes my system.

So, after dinner I thought I could finish my little game. Took me more than one hour, but anyways.
The revised source can be found on the MinorHack page, and it is attached to this post.

I cannot provide a Windows binary, because I haven't yet had the time to set up Allegro under Windows.

EDIT:
Here's my rating
1. Kikaru - Great idea, nice "radar explosion" effect. Not very challenging, though.
2. CGamesPlay - Beautiful colors, but not very playable.
3. Victor Williams Stafusa da Silva: You should have limited the bullet count.
4. Kibiz0r: Nice gravity physics, but I don't have a mouse cursor and the player is not able to die.

o.O

Uh...what gravity physics?

Also, you can die, after 100 hits. (it is very easy to get hit)

Are you sure you downloaded the right one?

I think it's some kind of bug. Sometimes one of the bullets I shoot orbits around me (green dot). It somewhat looks like it would be some kind of gravity source

Ok, I didn't play that long. Or wait.. maybe this is the reason why the game quit itself so often. Thought it was a crash .
I'm sure I downloaded the right one. It's the game where you play Greindor, the Green Dot who has to defeat the Red Rectangles of Death.

EDIT: I shouldn't have been coding so much. I've been coding almost the entire day. I think something in my brain got damaged.

You have no idea how hard I laughed at that. Genius. Pure genius.

The score:

            CGamesPlay Kibiz0r Kikaru Simon Victor
CGamesPlay  *          4th     1st    3rd   2nd      
Kibiz0r                *
Kikaru      2nd        4th     *      3rd   1st
Simon       2nd        4th     1st    *     3rd
Victor      2nd        3rd     1st    4th   *

Kibiz0r didn't vote?

Considering 3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd and 0 for 4th. We have:

            CGamesPlay Kibiz0r Kikaru Simon Victor
Total       6          1       9      2     6

First - Kikaru
Second and third - CGamesPlay and me tied
Forth - Simon
Fifth - Kibiz0r

I'll edit if Kibiz0r vote(d).

It's been 24 hours, and kibiz0r didn't vote... I think that means he is disqualified... Simon gets and extra point, but the places are unchanged.

Well, I came closer this time!

Wow, I won! Neat. Well, as was said, small ambitions pay off I guess.

Oh, and CGames, the gameplay was good, it was just too hard to see what was happening.

If I had more time, I would have used two back buffers, that way I could draw a blac outline around the asteroids. Also there is a collision problem somewhere in there.

I just meant if it refreshed the screen, instead of leaving trails.

No, I wanted to leave the trails, but I wanted it to highlight the present state over top of that.

I created this new skeleton game for minorhack:

Ok. Anyway, good try!

The next one is for people in Europe I think, and is in 3 days.

[EDIT]
That skeleton looks pretty good, really.

I think I'll be able to do the next one. Lucky other participants, you know you won't have last place.

I think we should make a new thread for the next one, this one is getting too long...not really going to attract any new participants this way.

In Europe it's at 1:00 am ...

That really depends on what part of Europe you live in.

I will be able to participate the next contest (2nd november), at least i hope do.

Well, MinorHack B in one and a half days.

I'd like to get into this but I'm not sure if I'm up to it ...

MinorHack B is in exactly 25 hours! This comp is really cool.

You might have an unhealthy obsession with MinorHack, Kikaru... Not that I mind!

Not quite an obsession. However, it's one of the fun things I do on Saturdays. (replacing LAN parties, since my brother is now at college)

What I've been doing is called "bumping," only I actually say something.

My entry is going to be horrible. I was in a zen state of coding last night and I tried to pick it back up today and caused more trouble than anything else.

2 hours.

hmm, I may be able to participate in this one, but I gotta get some homework done. I think coffee may be the solution to this one. 

so ...basically you get one hour to code something? I would like to do this but, I'm not sure... I mean...do I have to stay online the whole hour?

You don't have to stay online the whole hour, but you have to get online in order to upload your source file.

Oops, I totally forgot about it.

Yeah, figured as much

I have a complete game! I think this is my best entry so far, in fact.

Well, my game is something of a Space Invaders clone. The problem is that the enemies don't fire back. I didn't have time to implement this, although it was on the wishlist. I just thought that being able to fire at them was more important and that stole priority.

I also made a note in my entry that this competition inspired me to make a full game with a similar theme. Basically a Breakout clone, but certain bricks (which are, in this case, locks) can only be destroyed by certain keys. Some locks contain these better keys, and destroying these locks upgrades your key. So, there is actually some strategy to playing it. Of course, there would still be the general Breakout-style upgrades, but I think that the key thing adds another (thin though it may be) level to the gameplay.

For now though, I'm working on finishing Presidential Kung-Fu Showdown.

well, I didn't get started until there were only 30 minutes left, and I had no idea what I was going to do so I did the best I could...had some weird problems with it but mainly it just didn't work out the way I wanted, especially since I ran out of time ...

Okay, check out my revised version. It has a very improved movement system.

I was gonna be in this too, so I made a game. Sadly, it wasn't finished on time so it can't really enter. I should learn to write faster Anyways, the theme was "keys and locks" and my game only had "keys", so that's another thing.

Although I finished it about 15 minutes after deadline I thought I'd post it here, because it is playable, and minorhack is the reason I did it. Enjoy if you might.(the attachment of course, is the source)

I like Skalle's game. I changed it to have a position_mouse(mouse_x, SCREEN_H / 2), so the mouse wouldn't run off the top and bottom of the screen. (Press the mouse button to flap, collect keys)

wiseguy: I had to change your game to use _FILE_, and up your buffer sizes so they could hold the source file. Too fast to play! A shame you had to comment so much out Also, it might have been better if it showed the upcoming characters. It could almost be a typing tutor. (Press the key on the screen)

Kibiz0r: Very fun game to play. I got like 8000 points before I died. Nice work for an hour. (shoot.)

My rating: Kibiz0r, wiseguy.

[edit]
Added playing instructions

My original idea was to have the characters start out at the top of the screen and flow down randomly, and if you got one of them, it blew up, but if not and it got to the bottom, it would pile up till you were killed...

unfortunately i ran out of time and I had trouble with my buffer sizes which is why I had to comment out a lot of stuff...

oh well, that was my first ever competition entrance...I'll work on the game more (most of the games I end up finishing are learning games anyways, because I have 3 kids and also a lot of nieces and nephews...)

wiseguy, Kibiz0r, you two need to vote.

Crap, I thought the contest was at midnight, not noon. Bloody 12h system. Well, I'll try to enter the next contest I guess.

My ranking is:

1. Skalle (if he had made it on time)
2. CGamesPlay
3. Wiseguy

So, in reality I guess it's CGamesPlay, Wiseguy.

I lost it?

It should start in 17 minutes. But is's over now?

CGamesPlay, there must be a bug in your timing system.

Edit: Oh, it was yesterday at 8:00 pm 1st november in my timezone... Maybe is something about forgetting to decrease one day when the local timezone go to negative hour? I thought it was 8:00 pm 2nd november...

Edit2: Or maybe i just got very confused...

There is, indeed, a timer. But it is for the judging, not the start of the competition. Perhaps you misread it?

Edit: Or maybe it was just a time zone issue...

Edit2: Stop editing your post!

kibiz0r: I really don't know what happened. But I'm sure that its not a misread about "currently judging".

And now, that the judging finished. There are no previous compos acessible in minorhack's site.

Maybe there needs to be a new comp on the calender.

They are there. They is just no list of them anywhere.

http://cgamesplay.com/minorhack/competitions/1

Victor: Maybe it was different for you because you were logged in. I just know that when I checked it when I was at school it said Currently Judging and on the comp's page it said Judging has xx minutes and yy seconds left.

Well... When the next one will be? What about november 15 or 18?

Stop being a liar!

Fixed now. I don't know why on Earth I coded it to only show the previous competitions link if there was a competition on that page that wasn't over >_<

Also, this whole I'm-not-going-to-vote thing is really annoying.

CGamesPlay: Kibiz0r, wiseguy
Kibiz0r: CGamesPlay, wiseguy

Yay for ties.

Another suggestion: in entries list (both for given user and for given compo) it would be cool if there was also download link for revised version (if it exists), so in Entry column one would have [ View | Download | Revised ]. It would be even better if some information about the game was available in this list. As the list isn't too long, you can even put entire info about the entry there.

I look forward to the next. KK, you should join us again.

I think my goal for today is to implement the "proposed competition" feature. Then it will be automated!

Anyone know of a markup engine for PHP?

Now if I go to the "previous competitions" page it still shows the "Also look at the previous competitions." line. (This is wrong)

CGamesPlay: str_replace or ereg/preg usually work quite well. Well, that's how I wrote mine.

Ah, that must be why

That's for sure. I just have to find some time for it.

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't get to vote......... I had to go to bed soon after the contest and to the hospital that morning...sorry

will do better next time

Well... I just voted on the November 11th comp, and now it became official. It only seems to need 4 votes.

The default minimum players is 4 Please post in this thread form now on.

I prounounce this thread dead, in exange for a new one.