Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!cornell!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!ucbcad!zen!ucbvax!bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu From: bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Badge Killer Demo Contest disks Message-ID: <21732@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: Thu, 12-Nov-87 02:42:29 EST Article-I.D.: ucbvax.21732 Posted: Thu Nov 12 02:42:29 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 14-Nov-87 15:58:14 EST Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 103 The BADGE Killer Demo Contest disks are out! It appears the first distribution was at the monthly meeting of the First Amiga User's Group (FAUG) on November 10. What follows is a review: The entries have been compressed into a set of four "Best of" disks. There are 18 total demos, 16 of which were BKDC entries. This includes the top 7 demos plus "whatever else fit". The cover letter indicates the top 8 demos are included, however Alan Hastings "Car" demo was not represented. (Too bad, this one is really neat, "Red?, Red? where are you Red?" :-). The quality of the demos themselves has already been discussed here, and anyway they are better in person (or better yet, in a large crowded room filled with enthusiastic Amigans :-). I will just make some comments on the disks: 1> All the demos can be executed by icon, good job. This must have represented quite a bit of work, since most of the demos came to the contest without icons. 2> The demos are categorized by the amount of memory needed, nice touch. The drawers have "comments" made from an invisible icon, interesting. 3> The bootable disks said "Boot Me!" and the non-bootable ones did not. Finally someone does that right! And now some negative comments: 1> The icon execution was not foolproof. For example "RotAmiga" looks for the copy command at an absolute location instead of "c:". 2> Far too many of the demos were not very robust. For example, "Kahnakas", "RotAmiga" and "Rocker" could be crashed by just hitting C= N and C= N a few times. Looking at the results, I propose some rule changes for next time: 1> All demos will be executed by double-clicking the supplied icon. If special fonts or libraries not on the standard workbench disk are needed, this must be clearly stated. 2> Eliminate the "Amiga specifics" category, or at least tabulate the score by group consensus at the time of juding. 3> Technical score starts at 30 points and goes down based on certain factors. If your demo is submitted X days early you will be given your technical score and a chance to fix any problems BEFORE the contest. Fixes after the contest, but before disk distribution, will be accepted but will not affect judging. The factors are: a> Not executable from an icon. -10 points. b> Does not work properly with extra memory? -300 points (ouch!). c> Does not work on a 68010 machine? -5 points. All you have to do is avoid the MOVE SR, instructions, it is not tough! d> Does not work properly on a 68020 machine? No penalty. -2 if it fails to tell the user this when the demo is started on a '020 machine. Again, your program has to be weird to have any chance of failing. e> Fails to returns control to user after exit. -5. If there is no warning this is going to happen or no way to abort after the icon is clicked, -20. f> Can all the icons be selected from the supplied disk, moved to another arbitrary drawer, and have the demo still work? -5 if not. g> Could our bug bashers crash your demo? -1 to -15 depending on circumstances. h> Did it work if the system font was set to Topaz 60? -2 if not. i> Did all memory come back after the program exits (After the any libraries and/or resident fonts are flushed back out)? -10 if not. j> If deprived of memory, libraries, fonts or hardware sprite allocation was the error response reasonable? -5 if not. k> Does it work with interlaced and/or oversized Workbenches? -8 if not. An additional -2 if the demo has a window that is arbitrarily restricted to 640*200 pixels. Hardware sprite based demos are exempt from the appearance of sprites due to overscan conditions. l> If the user tries to interact while your demo is running (dragging screens, clicking the mouse, C= N and C= M) is your response at least benign? -5 if not. Yup, negative scores are possible, but unlikely. This should ensure that the demos are of high quality and will help the Amiga's good reputation when placed in the hands of novices. GOOD LUCK NEXT YEAR! |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, SOH, EOT) {o O} . bryce@hoser.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!hoser!bryce (") U