100 lines contest

Hi George,

please give us more information about how the contest is restricted. I mean, I could put literally 1000 instruction in one line, so the line count seems a bit.. well.. not very well chosen as requirement. Plus, I would like to know if and how we are limited to use datafiles to store data (like text, images and sound).

Cheers
Christian

I think they probably mean each line as is delineated by the compiler, or that the semi-colon marks the end of line?

But I don't know it is a good question.

In C/C++, a logical line ends with a semicolon. That is meant here. So if you put 50 commands on a single line, you only have 50 lines left.

Comment lines or empty lines don't count.

it says 100 lines of code and smaller than 10KB. semicolons aren't mentioned in the aum description.

Right, but I'm the boss, and the boss makes the rules.

The boss is always right ;). Try to write the code without using too many semicolons.

will there be a semicolon counting tool to help the judges? a bytes limitation maybe would be the simplest solution but i don't really care. i think this is a nice contest idea.

Something like that can be created with only a few lines of lite-C code.

#define :semicolon: ;


(difficult joke, I know)

sorry
I have a6 only... can I enter?
=/

What about external files? Am I limited somehow?

It's a lite-C contest; however, you can enter by downloading and installing lite-C free version.

External files are ok, as long as they don't contain code. You can use full sized levels, sound, music, graphics, etc but not h, fx, resource files, etc.

=/
ok.. im too sticked to c-script, i cant learn LiteC at the moment due to various problems( time,work...)

good luck to everyone then.

lite-C is pretty much C-Script on steroids; it shouldn't be that hard to learn the changes. Check out the A7 -> A6 guide from inside the Aum for more information.

Alright, I might do that.. depending on my free time.
thankks

Cool!

Sry but you are talking about "100 lines" but in the magazin says that the maximum is "101 lines" ;).

"less than 101 lines" means x < 101 which means a maximum of 100 lines.

So how many lines are:

I would say: 5

But there are only 3 semicolons

But you can place one ofter the while and if brackets.

Hey, can JCL or George code a closed-source validator? That would remove any discussions about the count of lines.

Seriously.

i would prefer if this counted as 3 lines and if it really were a 100 semicolon contest because after having a look at pong.c i fear it would be very hard to do anything fancy if this counts as 5. :p

can all files of the lite-c include directory be used? or only acknex.h?

Let's wait for JCL's feedback; he is the contest sponsor, after all.

I asked about having datafiles because I would like to store some data as binary file (or ascii file, it doesnt matter) to save some data which is connected to a certain timetable.

[EDIT] Other question: has any datafile to be readable (ascii files vs. binary files if not a gamestudio format)?

George: But I can add fx file as effect = "..."; string code, right?

only three lines

reminds me on the "20 liners contest" in the good old "64'er" magazin.

,gri

That's 3 lines in the sense of the contest. The semicolons count.

You can add anything you want as long as you don't use more than 100 semicolons. Basically, you can't hide functions, etc into another file - that wouldn't be fair. If you need another file use it, but make sure that the total number of semicolons stays below 101.

that pretty much means the semicolons in .fx files will be counted too, right?

julz

EDIT: awesome contest, btw.

What do you mean by this? That it wouldn't be fair for example to write a fx file converted to ascii code numbers into the rgb channels of a picture and deconvert it in the project using some simpel pixel_for_bmap and str_for_asc instructions??

The semicolons in .fx files will be counted too.
RedPhoenix: please stop giving them ideas

not that i have made plans to do so, but if we were to make a 100 line program that doesn't require any other content (throw it in SED, hit compile, and voila! it's finished!) can we just post it in a thread here

julz

A demo is always better; you can forget a semicolon or I can paste only a part of your code in Sed.

by the way, notepad++ has has a counting function in its find dialog.

it still is a semicolon even when in disguise.

ok, so counts as two lines? I know, I'm getting on your nerves...

since its same thing with

x=0;
while(x<7){

x++;
}

yes, it counted as two lines

well but thats no real argument, is it?

my.x = temp.x;
my.y = temp.y;
my.z = temp.z; //three semicolons

is also the same as:

vec_set(my.x,temp); //one semicolon


Two semicolons got lost ;). We could also say: They are hidden!
Now the question is: Where is the difference between these hidden semicolons, and those, when I would transform commands into a picture and some short lines, that rebuild the code.

I think the idea of a 100 lines prohgram is a very good one for a contest, but it stays unclear what is allowed and what is not, or let's say, what would be fair, and what wouldn't. Obviously one idea behind this contest is, to find ways to shorten code and use optimised commandments, but I couldn't judge for myself where the border between this goal and making unfair tricks is located.

I assume the default commands of 3dgs count as one, so make use of them and save 2 lines ;). I can't speak for JCL, but for what I read it's about making a lite-c code as compact as possible while performing big or complex things.

Apparently the 100 lines rule is still not clear for some reason. When you send your source, we'll run a semicolon counter over your source files and when it counts 100 or less, the entry is accepted. That's it.

Included files from the Gamestudio include folder and code folder don't count, so you can use acknex.h, default.c or the shaders from the code folder if you want.

hihihi (semicolon counter ):

#define eol ;

my.x = temp.x eol
my.y = temp.y eol
my.z = temp.z eol
...

"#define eol ;" counts as 101 semicolons.

don't you know, semicolon counter has ability to understand defines hehe

(from Joozey)
but, mercuryus, since you actually bothered to write your version i'll trust you thought it up independently

i'd love to see someone try to get away with that

here's a hint to all: try not to put any "wink" emoticons -- ie: ; ) (minus the space) -- in your comments in your code. that could be terribly wasteful.

jibb

ooops! Glory goes to Joozey...

I want a cookie!

do semicolons in strings count,too? *annoy*

Best to make a max-2000-chars contest :P

Better change the title to 100 ;(s) contest otherwise I
will write the code in a single or several line(s).

It's a cool contest. For me, it better sounds like a minigames\miniprogs contest.
Now I'll spend some time to script some of my ideas.

i think i entry white my mini shootingbal game i only need to change some stuff and ready

also i made a small ";"counter if sombody want one you can ask for it
it works i now only need to add the include search i think its fast done to

i'd suggest you use this tool:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cccc

that contest will be fun!
i think the 100 semicolons limit is exactly right. it´s a bit tricky but possible to do nice things like simple games with that amount of code. this also will be a contest were the playing field is more evened out. probably there won´t be big team entries a single person has to compete against.

storage space limitation would lead to cryptic code (short variable names and no comments) so i think the semicolon limitation is a better idea.

There you have a point. Apart from bad names, spaces and comments could be excluded but thats not really making the contest-rules easier anymore... ok, semicolons win.

there is also a rule that the file must below 10kb so its already 10000 chars



yah you could use that but it doesnt scan for .fx it doenst know if its a header
out of the a7 folder

and its difficult to use wite my program i can change it what i want and it works so its oke its only a problem if there are //

Ha!
Status of my game: 30%
Status code: 40%
Used semicolon: 24

And i dont use tricks,... so it is very easy to write a game with "100 lines".
A tip: make your setup (position, parameter, ans so on,...) in wed.
So you dont have to define it in your script.
Use macros
And there are some mor little tricks to keep the count of your "semis" low.
(i don't say all tricks,... -> keep my chance to win
First i write my code without this "tricks". At the end i will optimzie the code, so i will see how much code i can write for "spezial" functions / effects.

the minishootball game had 900 lines

whitout changing anything i could convert it to 500 lines
now i changed a lot but its more like a mini game has to be
its 200 lines and now i still need to remove 100 lines that realy a problem

the ; counter its create a txt file named counter.txt
you just need to add this to your folder change the
STRING* filesearch = "main.c"; to your main project file
it does count even stuff if there are // ; ore ";"
it also doesnt include .fx yet but you could change it to
STRING* filesearch = "yourshader.fx";

here is the download link:
http://boxstr.com/files/1606888_dxngu/semcounter.c

hope it helps you

first of all...great idea for contest. you play by rules and fair. let's see who can make better thing with 100 ";". like maslon1 said...make all you can in wed and think about optimizing your code. every optimized line is a plus.

one question for @jcl and @pirvu...when someone gives you his project for contest, let him give you and full project folder where you can see if there's any anomaly.

or...everybody plays fair.

make one little bigger post with some definite rules.

Quoting flits.

Thank you, flits.

Don't worry - the projects have to be fully playable; otherwise, they will be rejected.

What means fully playable. What if I make a non interactive demo?

We'll make an exception for you :). I meant a fully running demo.

Entries ready: 3.
Work in progress entries: 2.
Freezed projects: 1 (ph_* madness - ph_poly never works)

Some questions:
1. Can I send screenshots here?
2. Can I send links to completed projects here?
3. If q2>no, where to send them? (manual says 'send to us', but where's us? [I guess, to George?])

1. You can post screenshots here if you want to, but they won't be collected. Please include them in the downloadable archive.
2. You can post links to completed projects here.
3. You can also email the projects (if they are small) to me using the email address that comes with each magazine or (if they are big) you can use a service like http://www.yousendit.com and then email me the link to the project(s).

That´s a nice idea for a contest. I know some more tricks to save semicolons but i am not sure yet if i will have enough time to take part.

Please post screenshots of your entries here Vadim! It would be interesting to see what kind of projects can be expected.

MiniTD - small example of TD map. Nearly impossible to fit into 100 lines. Here: 1 tower, buildable\upgradable, 13 creep waves.

MiniSurvival - game of 3 hours. The point is simple - to survive as long as possible. After every wave stats point awarded, which can be used for boosting health\damage\speed.

Packman - maybe the most classical game that I can imagine. Simple designed, point of game is to avoid ghosts (in this version they simply are floating around.)

Tomorrow I'll upload games and post links here.

ah i was planning a survival like your one.

you made it, then im gonna make a sidesroller

In this world, there's enough ideas for everyone.
Dunno why, but my survival far look reminds me something, but I can't remember what exactly...

Here's alpha versions of minigames:
MiniTD
miniSurvival
Pacman 3d
Say me, what to improve.

nice screenshots!

hm... the 10KB limitation seems to be the bigger problem than the 100 semicolons. i hope i will have some time at the beginning of june to finish my entry... and i hope the map compiler will become usable before then...

For all who want to know how much semicolons your script has, I present to you: the online semicolon-counter!!

http://webberry.nl/temporary/countsemis.php Changed to: www.joozey.nl/countsemis.php

The file will soon be transmitted to a different host, but it will work for now!
Includes comment checks and comment block checks.
Have fun!

dam Joozey, here I am with a great character counter and you just had to beat me to it ;). Oh well guys here's what I was using: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/rende...me=PADTools.exe

P.S. mine is better Jking..

[edit] Ya, I just tried your, your the man.. WAAAAAY BETTER THANKS [/edit]

Oh snap, and I don't even like beating people to it

Well yours is better, for a different purpose It's far more extended than mine ^^. But for a quick check it's not very handy .

Joozey logs the scripts for sure just to use them for his own contest entry!!!!!

Hey! I even included the sourcecode! xD

how can we know it is the real working code ? maybe your one has some extra functions : P

then grab the sourcecode and host it yourself

Link changed: www.joozey.nl/countsemis.php

a one line ; counter written in python.



btw. i posted a beta of my entry: http://www.coniserver.net/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=206455#Post206455

it works completely correct. nice job

But that also counts the ';' in comments

yeah but it tells you how much there is semicolons that are not in comments

first number is all semicolons in code and second number is the number of semicolons that are not inside of comment.

still one line (without the import) but a bit nasty to read. :p

Ait... I declare you winner.

i just did this for fun and out of curiousness and not because i found your counter bad or something.

you could use regular expressions like that in php too (ereg_replace() i think). they are great for such things.

I know, just messing with you . And regular expressions give me the creeps.

What about a plugin for SED which counts the ; like the contest wants it... :P

My current 4 entries:Here
I'm making 3 more games and 1 program.
It's possible to make more, of course, but I have such problems as level design or modeling normaly.

Well if you want a bigger chance to win, I'd recommend to focus on one game and make it look more pretty and play more fun. Now users will vote on one of your 4 games, but the resulting votes wont(?) be added together, so you'll end up with 4 times an average voting result rather than one good voting result. Unless all of your games are under 100 lines of code together?

Not entirely sure if all of your entries count as one in the poll, perhaps george knows the answer?

I'm mainly scipter and not far with things like model design.
Focus on one game -> yeasterday I shared games with some classmates and asked to say what was the best. Most of votes were for MiniPH, because there aren't many games of this type (especialy small and free). It's easy to expand and I can improve design, but ODE stops me here. I'm not sure that engine with changed built-in ph's will be released till contest end and I'm twice unsure that updated LiteC free will be released...
So normaly I have a one WIP project of every type and expanding depends on mood.
I have other 4 games finished in script, but lacking when it comes to level design.

I can also tell you that you are not the only one working on physics demo for the contest I'd better try to improve with leveldesign and modelling then. Just a tip, but of course, do as you please .

When sending in a project, do you tell me if the project applies to the 100 lines rule or not and why? Just to make sure that I send in a project and if it is exceeding 100 lines you'll tell me.

We will tell you if the project exceeds the 100 lines rule after we stop collecting the entries. This means that you will have less than 2 days to correct the problems (even less, if you don't visit the forum on a daily basis). It's best to make sure that the submitted project is obeying the contest rules before sending it.

it would be good to to make the rules 100% clear once and for all so that there are no surprises.

<= 100 semicolons and <= 10240 bytes

is this right? these are the only two rules?

guess we should take how Windows counts.

google says it is 10240 .

Google Calc. Search

@JCL/Gorge: the problem is, that if you simply include the mtlFx.c or mtlView.c, you instantly exceed the 10kb limit.

So what do you think?

jcl said that the files in the "include" and "code" folders won't be taken into account. you can use them.

And how will it then be differentiated when it comes to the file size? I mean, I included mtlFx.c and mtlView.c and I was over 100kb!

This leads to confusion. Maybe you just restrict it to the count of semicolons?

why is this confusing? only your own code counts. i think the 10240 bytes limit is important because the 100 semicolon limit alone wouldn't be a very big hindrance.

I wrote the following:



and compiled it with a result of 107.491 bytes.

Then, I compiled my project with exact the same includes and received 113.359 bytes.

So, am I right that my app is only 113.359 - 107.491 = 5868 bytes great with being < 10 240 bytes = 10 kB ?



I just want to know how to calculate the size of my compiled code without taking the permitted stuff into account.

the exe doesn't matter at all. your code must not take more than 10240 bytes.

anything is good, as long as the code has less than 101 lines and the size of the .c file is smaller than 10 KB.

Yes.
Damn.

Does that include DLL's? :P

JCL is the sponsor, so he is the ultimate ruler
These are the contest rules as I understand them:
- The code must use a total of 100 semicolons (or less) and the resulting code file size must be 10,240 bytes (or less). If you use several code files, add their sizes - the total must be 10,240 bytes or less.
- The code that comes with GameStudio won't be taken into account. Feel free to include as many built-in code files as you want.
- The size of the executable doesn't matter.
- If you want to use a dll you have to provide the source code for it as well; the total number of semicolons (dll source + project source) must obey the <= 100 semicolons rule and the total file size must be 10,240 bytes or less.

Excuse me for my question but WHAT is estimated in this 100-code-lines-contest in the end?

- the entry with the most functionality
- the best idea (gamedesign)
- reusabitlity of templates
- the best looking entry (mostly reached by good graphics)
- the best (cryptic/compressed) script
- the best readable/undastandable/reusable code
- the best idea (recursions, math. algotithms, AI)

I'm a little confused to set the focus...

mercuryus

- reusability of templates
- best readable code

I would say all of your points except those two since using the templates won´t be allowed (only stuff in the "include" and "code" folder I think!) and it would be a bit silly to expect very readable code from a contest like this.

I guess that the winner will be the most impressive project, the one that shows the power of lite-C, its ability to create games or other applications with only a few lines of code. You can include the template scripts if you want to, but I believe that the jury won't be too impressed if you don't add your own code as well.

I'm too busy to join the contest, so here's a nice trick I thought of to avoid semicolons (I don't think it was mentioned before):

a = 3;
-> while(!(a = 3)) {} // same effect, no semicolons
Make sure that you negate (!) when the value you are assigning is non-zero.

It works for any kind of expression, even function calls with a return value:
str_cpy(a, b);
-> while(!str_cpy(a,b)) {}

Another one, should be well known:
int a;
int b;
int* c;
-> int a, b, *c; // 1 semicolon instead of 3

Now you can write code using nearly no semicolons

...you spoiled everything! i figured out some more tricks like that. one is cleaner to read, doesn't have the ! problem and consumes less space. it was clear pretty soon that this actually only is a 10kb contest.

an entry with 0 semicolons would be 1337. :p but i think variable declarations aren't possible without?

#define myvar 0
?

Preprocessor statements like this work only globally. Defines are nice, though, this way I get additional 15 characters in my sourcefile instead of just using 0

so no semicolons needed any more...

i simply replaced many of my semicolons with +.

i=
(a=3)+
(str = str_create())+
...
(vec_inverse(v));

As Vent predicted, this becomes really a 10kb sourcefile size contest I'm around 50 lines now (there are things you cant workaround with tricky hacks) and my file is around 7KB, still growing. I think the real hacking begins when I come close the 10kb border with trying to reduce ASCII characters

plenty of ; hacks. now go on to 10kb hacks.

#define _ var
#define _s STRING*

saves you some chars.

Pssst!

haha

I really start liking the contest. This starts beconing an code obfuscation contest. Too bad I currently have no time to take part

Hm not really obfuscation but crunching.

Like when cleaning up your room for a girl. Making it look nicely and seducing - but behind the curtain you dont know what it is and you really dont want to find it out.

If you crunch it small enough, you can start to create ASCII pictures inside the source using your own code lines

Hey, cool idea!

@George:

I hope you don't count semicolons in strings, e.g. for the string parameter in pan_create, don't you??

set the parameters later by using one of the semicolon hacks.

If a semicolon is a part of a string it won't be counted.

Does this apply to strings assigned to effect="..." in Material definitions, too?

here you could use a different delimiter and replace the characters in strings afterwards.

Hmm, I dont like the contest anymore since it is obvious that the aim can't be anymore to make the best game with less code (-> having one nice idea and calculate how many features are possible to implement) but to crypt its code in the most extreme way.
What ever, even when the win chance by programming on the classic way is too small, I'll finish my mini project and will take part. And at the end I'll win cause of that great concept I have *lol* :P
Okay, of course some tricks I'll use, but I really didn't know, that you can spare nearly all semicolons. My problem is that thats an really enticing fact ... but I don't wan't to have the possibility to make my project big(ger)...!!! *argh*

Here's my humble little entry. Screens and everything are in the zip file. My full name is Aris Kostakos.

The executable was made using a7.7, but the source I'm submitting will only compile in a7.08.2b (and anything above I presume..). The reason is that I'm using draw_quad(), but the betas wouldn't let me publish an exe.. I had to replace draw_quad with panels to publish in a7.7 but that killed my semicolon count . Other than that though, the source file for a7.8.2b produces an identical executable.

Cheers and good luck to everyone,
Aris

the general interest in this contest seems a lot bigger than usual. contests should be like this more often; not exactly this, but some sort of limitation.

working within tight constraints is great fun, because people like to push them.

if i'm lucky i'll get an entry in on time, but i haven't been able to start because of too much uni work. next week is the last week of semester *coff* *bludge!* *coff* so i'll see what i can do.

julz

"Does this apply to strings assigned to effect="..." in Material definitions, too?" No, those semicolons are counted.

Clemens: don't worry, the winner will be the best game, not the most cryptic piece of code. I have managed to create a small painting program (you'll see its source in Aum74) using a tiny function, 4 semicolons and a trick, so everyone has his / her chances.

Aris, please don't forget to email your demo to resources at acknex dot net; it might get lost here and / or you might want to update it before the 15th of June.

Two final comments about this contest.

- The basic goal was restricting the source code to only 100 commands. Now of course you can use many tricks to avoid semicolons - by redefining them to another character, or by placing commands in comparisons or the like. However in such a case we'll just count the commands. So please apply some common sense.

- There is also the question whether beta testers can send in scripts that use the new 7.08 beta features. That would give beta testers an advantage over normal users. Therefore, in such a case please send two scripts, one for 7.08 and one for 7.07. You can use 7.08 for effects or eye candy, but the basic app should be able to run under 7.07.

@jcl:
if I'm always replacing

by

and it's alright, because that appears to be 1 com?
@George:
Let me guess about small painting program creation:
Way1|turning off background leads to avaibility of 'paint program'...
Way2|on mouse_left paint pixel to predefined bmap of window size, that is drawn by 7.08 function or used by panel.
_________________________
I'm finishing one more game (platform\logic\loads levels with ent positions from MDL files).

right!


Sounds very interessting, I'm curious about it (hopefully it won't be a concurrent in that contest ). But what I meant is that if the size of the game isn't really delimited like it's the sense of the contest, then the bigger projects probably will be the better ones. But JCL conceivably cleaned that up ^^...


As soon as all obscurities are resolved (-> so what exactly counts as 1 command) - the contest can become really good and absorbing, like I did imagine it at the beginning! great!!

100 commands?

Well, I hope my game will count in the end less or equal 100 semicolons and will be <= 10 kb. This is the way you originally stated how these things are defined and it would be peculiar if you reject entries which use a lot of "standard tricks" to wrap variable assignments, function calls, variable processing and so on.

lol, you can't just change the rules 15 days prior to the deadline... that's just a big f*ck you to everyone that spend time working based on the previous set of rules.. There was a big discussion about what 100 lines mean in the beginning of this thread, and honestly you should be expecting that when you say 100 semicolons, people will try to workaround it.

So... thats a few days of my life wasted.. I'm outtie, I don't have the heart to cripple my game to get it compliant. good luck to everyone who stays

I'm not JCL, but from what I know the contest rules haven't changed at all; the main challenge is to create a game / demo / whatever that's impressive and uses less than 101 semicolons. You can, of course, use some tricks in order to get rid of some semicolons, but you can't trick the 10KB rule, right?

I've got a multiplayer project that's got less than 10KB of code, so I am confident that you guys can come up with great entries.

Vadim: your first assumption is correct. I'm using something even more simple, though.

Everytime I read the posts of this thread I ask me "what monster of applications do these guys pass in, finding more and more ways to cheat the rules?". (and how long they spent for such a "contest" - we all know in the end it's only a huge number of free showcases for Conitec )

Nevertheless I will take part with my tiny little proggy...

(@george - with #define you can shrink down a c-code very, very small.)

I'm sure that each entry will have something unique and I'm looking forward to testing all the contest entries. The ones I've got until now are very interesting!

so here is mine (screensaver/zip, 23MB)




mercuryus

@Mercuryus:

Nice demo! Though, I notice sort of "lattice" distortions in the layer tubes....?

In my opinion (I know, nobody asked for it ) cheating the rules is lame.

I think everybody knows roughly, what was meant with 100 lines of code. So all the hacks reduce the fun on entering the contest.

Hey Wolfgang,

I really sit here and enjoy reducing unnecessary bytes through better coding, preprocessor tricks, wrapping or such.. its real fun! I am always on the edge and each handful of free bytes is a good source for new stuff. I think this contest is comparable with those one held in the demoscene. Though, we don't limit the compiled EXE size + content, but the code amount. Maybe the next time we could have a contest vice versa .. that would be interesting as well because then we get a lot of approaches towards realtime generated content.

From a programmers point of view this contest is like Kirmes.

BTW: removing blanks is a good source to save a lot of bytes!

If it's a matter of bytes a good thing is to redefine all keywords to unique 2chars: e.g.

#define _v vec_set
#define _e ent_create
...

but I know all of you codeshrinkers know that

...and YES! "realtime generated content" would give a very interesting contest.
But one rule should be - the contest entry must be reusable with easy and clear defined interfaces.

i fully agree to that. i hope george is right and the rules didn't change. otherwise i am out too.

that's a bit late now and what is one command? a = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6; aren't these actually 5 add commands internally for example? a 100 commands contest is no good.

#define jcl while

Yes, you are right ventilator, it's a bit late. And I don't know what should count as one command. Probably 100 commands are too less, right. But having a restiction like 100 semicolons was a bigger fail, because you can see, it's a restiction which is easy to avoid - and the sense is loosing. That's why jcl did change it (did he?). Whatever, I absolutly understand the disturbance. The rules should have been clear from the beginning. But it wasn't also not that easy to see that you can cheat in that extreme way. Mad that it's so difficult to make rules for forbidding "cheating" - in this case the commands destriction makes the most sense. (Though I surely would easily exceed 100 commands..!!)

At the moment I'm finishing my project with the aim to complete it with max. 100 semis - using the only trick, that I'm having a function with parameters I wouldn't use if the semicolons desctiction wouldn't exist.
It's important now to hear really strict words about the contest and its rules from jcl - oltherwise it's going to perish.

it would only be a problem if there were no additional 10kb limit. the 10kb limit can't be overcome.

the only reason to forbid the ; tricks (they are no cheats!) is readability but if the sources are a mere 10kb it won't be hard at all to deobfuscate the code if you are interested in how it works.

in my opinion there should have been only the 10kb limit right from the beginning. that's a clear and simple rule without room for misunderstandings. with "100 commands" you can't achieve that. what is a command? will they be counted in the produced assembler/machine code? does it mean a7 function calls only? (you could again do tricks like inlining all vector calculations and so on...)

All restrictions invite some sort of "cheating". What we should have done for this contest, and what we'll do for the next such contest is working out a system of limitation of special characters like ;=(). For this context, it's too late for any precisely defined rule. We won't be too critical with the entries. If you manage to achieve the same with fewer commands and less "cheating", you'll just have a better chance of winning.

Sounds fair.
One last statement: In my oppinion is the 10kb limit one of the dumbest restriction (okay, in this case it's good that it limit the contest at all), because it just results in crypted, ureadable code! You could write a program, which shrink your code (e.g. replaces vars etc. with a-z,0-9 etc.). Thats probably an interesting project but makes no sense, because its the task of the compiler - ours is to show that it's possible to make a funny/good mini game/prog/screensaver/etc. with short/less (clever programmed) algorithms!

short and clever algorithms often are harder to read and understand (if they aren't documented well) than longer and not so clever algorithms. and what is obfuscation and what programming style?

if the goal is to get readable code for gamestudio users to learn from then it would have been better to put the limit on the exe size.

Lol, my exe size is ~120 kB. Not bad for a 10 kB source and, yeah, the source is only in parts readable.

Though, I don't like people complaining that they can't extract useful code from it. With a nice search and replace tool plus knowing how to resolve wrapped together functions and so on, you can retrieve the full source code - as Vent already said.

I guess that 90% of all the entries feature "casual" programming stuff. Nothing fancy. The real achievement is to find away to make it stable and usable in the smalles scope as possible. The way you have to go is to make a data driven application. E.g. through entities and their skills/strings set in WED, material color settings in MED (I dont mean embedded effect files), or abused model entities to store lots of numeric data, like cutscenes, audio volume information or even state transitions... there is so much room to discover.

So I am really looking forward to see the sneakiest programming hacks featuring a creative way to abuse the engine -- while providing an outstanding game/app/whatever.

Wasn't that the original intention of the contest? I think so.

With readable I do not mean "simple code -> easy to understand". I mean "good looking code -> easy to read".
My problem with the 10 KB size is: I will have to shrink my code by giving vars and functions shorter names and also delete some comments, at least shorten them.

If you wan't to gauge the quantity of a program you shouldn't count the number of characters in its code!
No sense in my oppinion. That's all.


Obvious that everyone found different intentions of the contest... But I would like to quote jcl (also if my interpretation of that english sentence may be bad)...

@JCL
Thank you for taking the work arounds into consideration. All of us knew exactly what you ment when you made the rules. I think just some of us try to cheat and then blame the rules for not being very clear. I had completely given up on my multiplayer project when I found everyone else was "working around" the rules. This is great knews for the rest of us not "working around". GL TO EVERYONE AND HF!

Another topic:
Why the 14th as deadline? It's a saturday! Don't misunderstand me, I guess I'm really good in time and won't come in trouble. I'm just wondering why a saturday when nobody works. "Before the 16th" would be plausible - so conitec have all entries till monday and can prepare/start the contest.
Another little bit more specific question: How will the contest be presented? I expect a new thread with all entries (compiled) ready to download and vote for. Do you already know when this will be up and how long the voting time will be?

The deadline isn't the 14th of June, but the 15th. We've got users from all over the world, so all the entries that arrive on the 15th of June are good to go for the contest. We will not accept entries that arrive on the 16th of June, even if it's in the morning.

We'll have a separate thread with all the entries; the voting will be disabled for a few days, in order to give all the participants the chance to fix their demos (if needed) and so on. We'll probably accept votes for 10-15 days.

Thanks for that information. Sounds good.
Oh yeah I didn't observe the time zone. But however in the AUM it's called "Send your demo(s) before the 15th of June 2008" - doesn't that mean till the 14th 11:59:59 p.m ?

How about a real obfuscation contest the next time?

Clemens: you are right, but 11:59:59 p.m as an absolute reference doesn't really exist, so 16th in the morning is the safest solution (the 15th of June has come and is gone in the entire world).
Firo: we will try to come up with even more interesting ideas from now on. I've got something on my mind, but I can't talk about it yet - JCL has to approve it first.

I finished my project, what should i do next?

publish the game and include the script, or should i send the project unpublished???

...and what means physical... sry for this question ... gender/age??? (I am german -.-)

Unpublished. Physical in that context does mean "real" address in complement to "internet" (=eMail) address. So its your postal address. Have also a look at the german aum #72.

Hätte ich dir in diesem Fall natürlich auch auf deutsch beantworten können

The best idea is to include the published (not resourced!) version of the game, as well as the script; otherwise, we might publish your demo with another version of the engine and get different results (that you might not like).
The "physical" address is your home address. You don't need to make it public; send it in the body of your email and bundle a readme.txt that doesn't contain it together with the project.

is it not allowed to resource the artwork? of course i will provide my script (i won't even obfuscate it after this discussion :)) but i would prefer to resource my artwork.

In this case, I'd send a published version (which will not be shared), as well as a resourced version.

I've a similar wish but can't make a resource version. Can this be done by you/conitec? I've a good reason for that and would provide the script as well.

what reason do you have? i guess i will not use a resource then. it's not that important. it's possible to get all files out of the resource anyway if you have access to the script.

Why you don't just write...

"All included models, textures, sounds, music are copyrighted by me [your name] and you're not allowed to use it without written authorization!"

And then nobody is allowed to use your data (if someone is interested).

Sure, I can resource the project for you.

i use FileFront for uploads - is it allowed?
because its not a direct dowwload, confirm a (advertisment-)screen and click a download button!

you can actually just send the project over the mail when it's under 10 MB or so... which is most likely the case .

sry but noy my project - unpacked nearly 50 MB! packed ~15MB
(it includes 3 small levels)

George, that's really good. Is it possible to only resource the script?
(The reason is not, that I don't want to share my work ...its more an opposite purpose... )

And another question about counting the semicolons. Could we please stipulate that the semicolons in the main.wdl, when it's only used for the "project settings" commands (PATH..), won't be count? It's not necessary for the gameplay but for the overview and organisation. Just more nice for every one who has the project folder on his/her HD (and probably want to use the mod feature ); and there's no benefit for the contest.

huh? resource the script? why? an opposite purpose? :p first you speak out against obfuscation and now you want to encrypt your script? (which actually doesn't make sense anyway since with lite-c scripts don't get resourced anymore but compiled to an exe.)

Yeah I know I'm riddling
But at first it's really import for the game concept to know if it's possible to encrypt the script on a medium (I don't want to make a mountain (protection) out of a molehill (public interest in my game ^^)) secure way??
So:

1. Hmm, how is that possible!??!

2. That's new for me. Doesn't work with Lite-C free... ! Does it, how?

1. if you know the filenames(you can see the used file in the script right ) you can add the wrs to your project with add_resource("aaa.wrs"); And if you have access to script you know the filenames. After adding resource you can use files as usual with their names.

2.Lite-c free doenst do that. im not sure about paid lite-c but all a7 editions compiles lite-c scripts into exe.

yes, if you know the filenames of the files in the resource you not only can use them but also copy them out with file_cpy().

i have sent my entry to george now and have decided to resource the artwork because otherwise i would have had to make a lot of changes to organize the files nicely but if you are interested in how the models or levels are set up you can just copy them out. my license allows non-commercial use.

kasimir: sure, send me the link to FileFront. There are some file uploading services that don't work for me (MegaUpload insists that I install their toolbar - which I won't), but FileFront, YouSendIt and so on work fine.

My email account has a limit of 7 or 8 MB, so don't send anything over 5 MB if you want to be sure that I get it.

Clemens: "Is it possible to only resource the script?" We want to show your great ideas to everyone, so I'm afraid that the answer is no. Sorry, the semicolon limit has to be 100; it wouldn't be fair to change it now, when some of the users have sent their projects already.

Can I use FileFront or File-uplaod for uploading my game??? (~12MB)

because its not a direct dowwload, confirm a (advertisment-)screen and click a download button!

... yes of course, you can

Fast scripting - art drawing

cool, nice music (linkin park?)

Linkin Park forever =)

Hi! This is my small game =)
http://www.coniserver.net/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=211118#Post211118

And here is my contest-entry:


The first shortcut "Bulldozer" does not work, so you have to start "bulldozer.exe" from "source" folder...

It uses exact 100 lines

Download from FileFront (~12 mb)

George, can you tell us an approx. amount of hours which are left? 3, 5, 10? I want to spend in the end time on reducing filesize of textures and such things and it is better to know a more exact date than "Sunday"

[EDIT]: do you like to have the source archive (of course) and for simple playing a packed version (I have many... content files. Looks ugly.)?

Kasimir...you have my vote! Leveldesign, gameplay, physics...everything is well done and well balanced.

here is my entry... (george, it's the same i have already sent per email. i just posted it here so that people can already have a look at it.)

knights_on_wheels.exe

Wow, kasimir - very nice screenshots and perfect graphic for small game =)

Well, if evereyone is showing his game here, I'll do the same

"Black and Red"

http://www.coniserver.net/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=209889#Post209889

Already sent to you, George.

Right, then here is mine as well and yes I already sent you an eMail with it George

http://www.coniserver.net/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=127791&page=2

HeelX: you can send the game until it's Monday in your country. I'll start preparing the demos first thing in the morning, so I can only accept entries for about 6 more hours.

My contest submission is called "a7titude"

Here are some screenshots:







The entry has been already submitted to George, so there is no time issue here

Download: http://www.christian-behrenberg.de/projects/a7titude/downloads/a7itude_source_2008-06-15.rar

Needs an installed OGG driver! The public version (the packaged one) will include an OGG installer, of course.

Description:

a7titude is a game of skill which ensembles several tricky puzzles which have to be solved to get to the next stage to get more and more points to reach the highscore. The game has been done for the Conitec 100 lines contest (June 2008) which involves programming limitations like only 100 semicolons as delimiters for lines and only a sourcecode filesize of max. 10 kB. a7titude fulfills these requirements and is still a cool game. Ensembling the very well received but not used A7 logo design, a7titude is also a hommage to the A7 game engine community. Filled with rockin' tunes from the very well know electronic artist Binärpilot from Norway, an easy to understand but hard to master gameplay, you are asked if vou've git the right a7titude. The a7titude to make games, to play games, to have fun or chill with style while listening to a fine selection of electronica music.

How to play:

You can proof your a7titude while solving tricky puzzles to get the highscore . There is the "play all" mode and single trials. When you play all stages, you play them after another. If you play them single-wise, you just play it once.

In a stage there are up to 14 levels. Each level is a puzzle which has to be solved. A puzzle can be solved if you ignite the lightbulb by touching it. simply collect the ligtning dot in the starter circle and move it with the mouse to the bulb. Each bulb has, though, surrounding rays of light or other things. Each stage has different types of puzzles, too. There are a lot of things to be taken into account before solving a puzzle without losing too much points. When you ignite the bulp, you get points and when you crash with obstacles, you lose points. You can not die, you can just get down to zero points.

Each stage bases upon a Binärpilot song. The stage is only open for you as long as the song plays. When the song is finished, you automatically get to the next stage (or: you finish the last puzzle before the song ends). When you reach another stage in the play all mode, you unlock it for later single trial.

Enjoy!

Notes: I was only able to produce 2 of 4 planned stages, so the first one is easier compared to the second one which was intended as stage 3. Plus, the source contains code to analyse precalculated volume data during runtime. I had no chance to make content to visualize it so I skipped it to even *finish* the game. Future versions could feature this feature.. oh well.

C&C are welcome.

Bye bye
- Christian

kay... i quess i failed this one >.<

this is a clone of Triple triad card game, originally from Final Fantasy VIII.
i just wanted to see how hard it will be to create a game like this, so i tried and got it in like a week and then i heard about contest and wanted to enter it with this one.
originally it had like 1800 semicolons, then i reduced em to something near 400 ... and with some dirty tricks finally got to 98 =)
after that i tried to reduce its size to 10 kb and ended up with renaming whole script to variables with one or two letters... and you know what... i decided to quit now.
it was fun playing with semicolons but a script that looks like:
n_ u9(var u8){f(q6[0]=0)f(q5[0]=-1)f(q6[1]=0)f(q5[1]=-1)f(q6[2]=0)f(q5[2]=-1)f(q6[3]=0)f(q5[3]=-1)f(w8=1*(u8>-1)+1*(u8>2)+1*(u8>5))for(i=0;i<9;i++){f(w9=1*(i>-1)&

is no fun >.<
so i let it be in original shape ^_^ it was more than 100 lines game anyway. here ya go. tell me if its fun to play.

filefront mirror
depositfiles mirror

original game video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=264wi-_Yxmw

for those unfamiliar with this game:
first you need to select five cards, then you need to flip enemy cards with them, when two cards placed near each other one with better number on the side that facing enemy card wins. if your card stronger than enemy card it will flip enemy card and make it your color. coal is to end game with more cards than enemy
in my version you will get 10 new cards for each round you win
have fun =)

p.s. sorry for my english, russian guy here =)
p.p.s. all cards and game idea is a copyrighted by square-enix guys

@LunaticX: nice game! Though, I think, using those Square-Enix stuff could be a bit.. problematic. Dunno.

I made a trailer for my game for those who dont want to download it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnbUGH7h488

yours fun too
i like camera and text flying

mine is just a fangame
not trying to sell it or anything

Nice game HeelX!
Though, hope I can switch off that music

Good luck...

@LunaticX: nice game!

@heelix
Yes its very nice!!!
I like it - the Music matches perfectly, it includes a menu and highscores -> thats much for 100 lines!


Just two things i don't like:

1. the camera shakes/rumble (?! "ruckeln") when starting a stage...
2. my mosue is not exact enought for this game -> so i got frustated

EDIT: if i finish the first moving blocks at stage 2 - the engine closes (ERROR)!!!

@HeelX: awesome game .D pretty crypted code.

all you need is some AA but i guess it doenst go well with pp effects.

Nice style but the framerates are so low, it's unplayable for me.

yes the framerate is bad, perhaps it would be nicer if the game is 2d!
(sure 2d it needs more code than 100 lines)

Hi,

thanks for the feedback. You can turn off the sound if you press F12 (how it is indicated in the F1-menu).

The graphics feature highpoly models to deliver high quality visuals I use blurred stencil shadows, which causes also a fps loss on low system. On my system (casual PC) it runs fine, though.

On a casual laptop it does not .

EDIT:
genuine intel 1.66GHz
2048MB RAM
Radeon X1600 512MB

EDIT2:
Hm, today I seem to suffer low fps much less than yesterday, maybe my notebook was a little overheated (he's getting old). But the mouse sensitivity and accuracity is not really good of the game. The disk that you grab appears to be snapping or something, in any case I can't move it with high accuracity. But nice game, I managed to complete the red puzzles .

Do you have an installed OGG codec? I recognized that machines run slower without it...

Yeah, OGG is installed. Especially the third level of the blue theme is unfinishable.

Just a quick update. We've got 21 contest entries; we'll get to see them all tomorrow. One of the demos has a problem; I'm waiting for the author to fix it.

I don't think with this contest it is very important that a game/level is finishable or has a good performance on slower systems.

I think with this contest counts the game mechanics, the features of the entry and of cause the look and feel.
Think about the 100 lines - that's not much for game programming.
It doesn't matter if there is a not perfect balanced level?!

> One of the demos has a problem

mmm...its Magic Balls? O_O

@mercuryus:
Yes, you're absolutely right .

No, it isn't that demo. I've got a fix from the developer, so we'll see them all here quite soon.

ok..thanks!

I was even thinking it might have a collision bug or something as there seems to be a delay between visuals and collision that's messing up the collision prematurely, I can swear I did not touch the borders at least a good few times yet it still made it restart. Also, it's not very wide I guess, so it's very tricky (and for me still impossible to beat),

Cheers

iam voting for a7titude