All prizes have been shipped!
I'm very happy that all the packages arrived at their destinations in
Canada, USA and France without any problem. Four homebrew Saturn
developers were equipped with the USB DataLink device, which is very
useful for testing homebrew applications on Saturn.
The money prize transfers have been successfully completed as well. VBT
donated his money prize to support the next contest, a big thanks to
all your support, VBT!
So with that, the C4-2007 is finished in every aspect. Now there's a
few months for people to rest a bit, until the next contest starts. See
you at the next C4-2008, coming soon this year!
2008/04/09:
Ryo Suzuki, one of our judges, was
missing his judge rating on the website. He told me, I had a look and
couldn't believe that I had forgotten it somehow. The files were placed
in a subfolder, because I received two text files from him, while the
others sent in one text file. Anyways, there os no problem at all. I've
added his ratings and they didn't change the ranking. However, the
distance between first and second place became more clearer.
Yesterday, all prizes have been given over to the postal office, I
expect them to arrive at the contestants within the next two weeks.
Money transfer has also started last weekend and should be completed a
bit earlier. Thanks to all contestants for their work, especially to
vbt who has always entered high quality Saturn games. The last two
years, he made significant contributions to the Saturn contest by
entereing two entries.
That not enough, I couldn't convince vbt to take the money prize. I'll take it for the next contest!
2008/04/03:
Long time no see!
This
website hasn't been updated since a long time, instead I was in contact
with the contestants at the segaXtreme forum or via e-mail directly.
Sorry for the lack of updates and promotion, this time I had only few
time spare for these things, because my own entry demanded so much time.
To
get you up to date: the contest is over, I have received six entries,
five judges have rated the entries, extra points have been assigned as well and I have summed up the final
points, so we know now who the winner is! Videos of all entries have
been recorded and uploaded to youtube. The download package is
available, too. Everyone can try out the entries on his own!
This year, the raw size of the entries is about 960 MB, a new
record!!!! Judging with the new points based rating system is really
exciting, as the battle for the first place is an absolutely close one:
without extra points, two entries have got the same number of points
(57). A draw decision, so the extra points have to decide.
The
list of extra points has been updated with things I had promised in the
SX forum a couple of months ago, but only those things that actually
have an impact. It's the usage of homebrew libraries that is rewarded
with an extra point, too. It was also suggested to give extra points for animations done without SBL or SGL.
The judges have done an excellent job! We have more judges than ever
before and they supply us with comments that are worth reading and
fairly balanced decisions. Next, the prize shipping will begin. I'm
still waiting for two contestants to give me their contact details. So
come on, don't hesitate, your prize is waiting!
Just as a side note: judging has been done with the original submitted
entry, meaning one entry per CD. I have to say this, because there is
still a little bug in teh Atlas bootloader that drives the C4 contest
CDs, which causes some entries to not work as original and some others
to not work at all. For this reason, entries that the Atlas bootloader
is not compatible with are supplied as seperate single game CD images
and all entries are being judged without any bootloader in use.
Okay, everybody thanks for your patience. Now it's time to play! Head over to the results section, to download the entries and to view videos and judge comments!
2007/11/10:
It's already been a couple of days
since the 10 USB DataLink devices are finished. I have equiped them
with a cable twice as long as the original one, as I do have enough
flat cable for 40 units and the length can be increased without
affecting the transfer reliability.
Just to clearly point it out: the Saturn USB DataLink is no invention
of mine, it's hardware and software has been developed by gameofyou and
it can be purchased at the officially website www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/.
Right from the start, I thouth of the Saturn USB DataLink device as one
of the most useful things needed for Saturn development. But it
appeared to be rather expensive, a reason why I haven't had one myself,
for a long time. So I thought about ways to offer it cheaper. This
Saturn Coding Contest clearly is a suitable event. So I ordered 10
times the kit version only, grabbed the rest of the components from
different distributers all over the world and built the units at home.
Don't worry, I know what I'm doing ;) .
From now on, I will start to work on my own entry. It'll be closely related to the Police Officer Smith game, a graphic adventure that we (Arnold and me) are working on, since almost 1.5 years.
Some links you might find useful to start developing Saturn games and to enter this contest:
Hello everyone,
I've had some nice progress building the Saturn USB DataLink devices
that can be won here in this Saturn coding contest. Two weeks ago, I
successfully built the first unit, it worked right from the start! I've
used it intensively and it proved to be a very reliable and useful
device. You can see it working here on this video:
This
week, I managed to solder the remaining 9 units. My girlfriend even
helped me to apply some of the neccessary modifications to the case, in
order to fit the pcb in. So
I'm sure in one or two days, the units are finished! Here you can see a
work in progress picture:
Oh and by the way: I also made a little banner:
Happy coding and see you soon,
Rockin'-B
2007/10/13:
New prizes arrived!
Arnold donated 5 very nice games for SEGA Mega Drive, plus a hint book.
I put those six prizes in a seperate table,
along with 7 of 10 USB DataLink devices. These prizes are independent
from place/rank of your entry. Instead, everyone can win them by
achieving 1-3 extra points.
All components of the USB DataLink devices have arrived, I start
building some of them, now. See the mass of electronic components:
2007/10/03:
Added extra points for
dual cpu usage and SCU DSP usage.
2007/10/03:
The new C4 - 2007 SEGA
Saturn Coding Contest starts now. Have a look at the prizes, it's worth a try! Happy
coding everyone.
Info
The SEGA Saturn videogame system has been released in 1994. With it's
32-bit dual CPUs, two graphic processors, 16-bit sound processor, sound
DSP and mathematical DSP, it's one of the most exceptional and
interesting pieces of hardware that a hobbiest programmer can develop
for. The wide range of original and unique peripherals like a NetLink
modem, Floppy-Disk Drive, Video-CD MPEG cartridge, printer, link cable,
lightgun, RAM extension cartridges made this outstanding entertainment
system being ahead of it's time.
A lot of it's power and potential is still uncovered, due to it's
limited lifecycle. This is both, the mission of this SEGA Saturn Coding
Contest and the general opportunity of homebrew Saturn development: to
unveil it's real power piece by piece.
For the third time, this SEGA Saturn Coding Contest will give birth to
another batch of brand new games and demos to be played on the classic
SEGA Saturn videogame console. With high-value prizes
(worth 850,- Euro in total) it encourages
hobbyist programmers to join the Saturn development community. The new
well-thought extra points
system supports existing homebrew Saturn
developers to create even higher quality entries than before and to
become better and better.
What's new this
year:
A new points based rating system with extra points
honouring the presence of advanced features in an entry.
Prizes for everyone: every contestant get's an USB
DataLink
device for free. Connect your Laptop to your PC and share save games or
download homebrew software to your Saturn.
$$$: win a lot of money when your entry places among the
three best entries
regarding multiple entries of a single person/team: every
entry can win a prize now (last year: only the best one)
Prizes
There are two types of prizes to win: money prizes for the three best
entries and a USB DataLink device for every
contestant. To prenvent
misuse, this very valueable and expensive item is only given away under
this condition: get three extra points or become one of the three best
entries
These prizes are independent of the rank your entry gets.
Each of the prizes listed here costs a certain amount of extra points.
No matter which place your entry scores, if you got some extra points,
you can exchange them for these prizes. If multiple contestants want
the same item, the one with the highest placed entry gets it.
Connects SEGA Saturn with modern Personal Computers. Can be used to
backup and transfer save games, as well as downloading and executing
homebrew games on Saturn.
Constists of Hardware unit, cables and software for Windows Operating
System.
Requires SEGA Saturn, an Action Replay Pro or compatible cartridge with
Commslink connector and a PC or Laptop with USB interface.
region: PAL version
in-game text: english language
manual: multi-language
condition: good, complete
A fighting /action game similar to Streets of Rage. I've played it I'm
absolutely stunished! It features some nice special effects, all
animations are very smooth and the comic book style is unique and very
original. From all games here, I enjoyed playing this one the most.
Eternal Champions
(Classics)
for SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis
region: PAL version
in-game text: english language
manual: german language, printed 100% in color
condition: good, complete, with move list and advertising poster
2D fighting game, SEGAs incredible answer to Street Fighter, this one
is a must have!
language: german
condition: good inside, used outside
Contains detailed hints and walkthroughs for 34 SEGA Mega Drive games.
Includes also screenshots, passwords and maps. Beware: it's in german.
Donators:
vbt: 30,- Euro
Arnold: 5 games and a hint
book
Arnold & Rockin'-B: 40,- Euro
Rockin'-B: rest of money, shipping costs, 10x USB DataLink devices:
This is how it looks now. Building all 10 devices from these mass of
electronic components will require some time though :)
Well, I though it'll cost less if I take the cheaper kit version, order
electronic components myself and take profit from discounts I got, but
unfortunately, it did cost a lot more. Anyways, you can get them for
free in this contest!
Rating: points and
extra points
The entries are rated in three categories: graphics, sound and
gameplay. There are 1 to 5 points given in each category, the better
your entry, the more points you get. Additionally, there are a couple
of extra points that can be collected by implementing some advanced
features, see below. All these points are summed up to determine the
ranking.
Extra
points
Each of the following listed features gives you an extra point, when
implemented in your entry. You can implement as much of these features
as you like. Their difficulty ranges from basic, over advanced up to
expert.
graphics
background images in menues are highres and interlaced
in game background images are at least one of these:
highres or interlaced
in-game graphics consist of a significant portion of
polygons
real time gouraud shading, with dynamic lightsource
depth cueing
features complex textured or gouraud shaded 3d scenes
converted to Saturn using the Sega Saturn 3D SGL export plugin for
Blender 3D
features big 3d scenes with space partitioning done with
the tools RB_SaturnMAP of the RB Library
polygon display is highres, too
bump effect: red gouraud shading for 8bit paletted
polygons, see CHROME demo of SGL
animations without using SBL or SGL
sound
sound effects 1,2,3)
and background music 3,4)
background music by not using CD-DA, but with either
sequences 5)
or AIF 3)
AIF streaming from CD, which allows multiple long
audiofiles to be played back simultaneously
Sound
implementation examples:
PCM playback using
SGL-library
WAV playback by converting to PCM in memory
AIF playback using PCM library of SBL,
playback methods are: memory, file and stream
CD-Digital-Audio playback with CDC-Library
sequence playback using SGL library, similar
to midi
gameplay / other
2 player support
save game support
artifical intelligence of cpu opponents
a lot of action on screen
dual cpu usage, resulting in noticeable advantage in game
usage of SCU DSP, even if it's experimental
usage of homebrew libraries, instead of SGL and SBL
peripheral
support
3d analog pad
keyboard
lightgun
backup memory cartridge
link cable to connect 2 Saturns
multitap for 3 to 12 players
netlink modem
RAM cartridge, 1MB or 4MB (see RB_CartRAM.c)
Further Rules
deadline:
submit your entry until december 20th 2007, 23:59 CET
your SEGA Saturn game/demo must run on real hardware
Submit small-sized (below 7MByte) entries as e-mail
attachment to C4_2007@rockin-b.de
before the deadline. If the file is huge (above 7 MByte), then upload
it to a free webhosting service (www.megaupload.com, or
www.savefile.com, or www.yousendit.com or www.filefront.com) and submit
the URL via e-mail.
your entry must show contest title "C4 - 2007" and webpage
"www.rockin-b.de" at game start
teams are allowed, but sharing the prize is up to you
multiple entries are allowed and welcome. New: Every entry
goes into prizing.
don't submit something that has been released on SEGA
Saturn
before,
unless it shows significant updates
all types of games/demos/emus/ports allowed, every
programmin language available can be used
(C,C++,ASM,Lua,GameBasic,Forth)
if you want your game included with the entries CD:
make sure your app (all files + all CDDA tracks) uses not
more than 70 MB.
(if you want to play longer music tracks, don't use CDDA, but use AIF
with optional ADPCM
compression instead, see SoundPlayer
to know how, or use sequence aka midi music)
call SYS_Exit(0) to return to the boot cd menu (link
SEGA_SYS.A). Allow to exit at any time by pressing START+A+B+C.
use an IP.BIN created without linking sys_init.o
Legal stuff:
This page is not affiliated with, or
endorsed by Sega or any other
company.
All appearing trademarks belong to their
respective owners.
