“Your Game-5” competition. Rules.

 

 

 

 

1. Base rules.

 

1.1 All contributed games must be written specially for the competition (ports from other platforms are allowed), any number of entries from any author.

 

1.2 Competing games should not be released officially prior to the beginning of the voting (except for demo versions).

 

1.3 Your game must work on ZX Evolution computer with baseconf firmware (http://www.nedopc.com/zxevo/zxevo_eng.php, http://forum.nedopc.com).

 

1.4 Prize money raised by organizers will be distributed across 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, as defined by vote and awarding rules.

 

1.5 Places taken by participants are assigned according to vote and awarding rules.

 

2. Technical rules.

 

2.1 In your game you can use one or many configuration(s) of ZX Spectrum hardware supported in ZX Evolution with baseconf firmware:

• ZX Spectrum 48k

• ZX Spectrum 48k + AY

• ZX Spectrum 128k

• Pentagon 128k, 512k, 1024k

• ATM Turbo 2

• ZX Evolution base configuration -- all features

 

2.2 Take into account the following features of screen scan and ports in ZX Evolution (baseconf):

• CPU frequency: exactly 3’500’000 Hz in 3.5 MHz mode, no waits

• Available frequencies: 7’000’000 Hz (no waits), 14’000’000 Hz (with wait-states)

• AY frequency: exactly 1’750’000 Hz

• 71680 t-states (for 3.5 MHz cpu clock) per frame (as in Pentagon)

• 224 t-states per line (as in Pentagon)

• bitmap drawing begins at 17989th t-state in 3.5 MHz mode (as in Pentagon)

• all I/O ports are decoded fully within address bits 7..0 (i.e. port #7FFC won’t work)

• no attribute port #FF

 

2.3 You can use the following sound devices:

• Beeper

• AY (we will be using YM2149 chip for listening)

• TurboSound (2xAY NedoPC standard)

• TurboFM (2xAY NedoPC standard + OPN FM synthesis -- made of two YM2203)

• NeoGS (compatible with General Sound device)

It is not recommended to use simultaneously NeoGS and any other sound device for sound output.

 

2.4 You can use any of the following user input devices:

• ZX 40-key keyboard standard

• PS/2 scancoded ZX Evolution keyboard standard

• Kempston joystick

• Kempston mouse (bit0=LMB)

Kempston joystick can’t be the only input device, you must give the user an option to select keyboard control.

 

2.5 Options for game loading:

• .TAP container (use only BASIC or CALL 1366 loading)

• .TRD containers which must be written to physical floppy disks by user (no limitation in number of disks). Your game must work with single floppy drive assigned to any letter (which it is run from), though game can take advantage of several floppy drives.

• .TRD containers mounted from HDD or SD card by means of EVO Reset Service (no more than 4 TRDs). You can only use BASIC or CALL #3D13 disk access.

• FAT16 or FAT32 HDD or SD Card (NemoIDE standard for HDD access, Z-Controller standard for SD Card access). You must provide *.$C (hobeta) loader for your game to be run from EVO Reset Service. You can use RST #8 FAT services provided in EVO Reset Service. No limitation for the size of files.

Comment: we cannot provide appropriate testing, neither users wouldn’t be able to run your game if it will be of insane size (say, it will require 10 physical floppy disks or 1 Gb total size on FAT device).

Warning: Since EVO Reset Service supports both fat16 and fat32 devices, if you are not willing to use RST #8 services, you should also support both fat16 and fat32. Otherwise some competitors may support only fat16 and some -- only fat32, and we will end up being unable to release all entries on single media. Best way to support both is to use RST #8 services. Similar thing is for HDD vs SD -- though HDD is optional, but SD Card is a must for you!

FIle placement on FAT drives: you must either allow placing all your files and subdirs in any directory on media or have them all in specific directory in root. No files allowed in root directory of media!

 

 

3. Vote and awarding rules.

 

3.1 There will be two independent votings: offline and online. Votes from both votings are equally accounted.

 

3.2 Online voting will take place in internet, anyone could participate. To get voting key, you should present your valid email and sms-capable phone number, then enter check codes arrived to your email and to your phone via sms. Valid voting key will be sent then to the presented email.

 

3.3 Organizers reserve the right to invalidate any online voting key without further explanations.

 

3.4 Offline voting will take place among:

• Sponsors, who will donate not less than 100 roubles (or 3$).

• Those, who will buy works pack on physical media by post or directly from organizers (price will be established later)

• Competition participants: every entry gives to its developers single voting key, selfvoting for such a key wouldn’t be accounted.

 

3.5 Everybody who participates in voting, will be given voting key, which is unique random sequence of symbols. For the vote to be accounted, one should send filled voting list along with his own voting key to the organizers via email. Voting results will be published along with anonymized voting lists and appropriate voting keys, so that every person who participated in offline voting could check his vote while not disclosing his anonymity. Every voter is advised to keep his voting key in secret, otherwise his anonymity would be compromised. Additionally, if we’d get two different votelists with the same key, we can’t guarantee that any of them will be accounted.

 

3.6 Vote counting: for every entry in voting list one can either set his vote (which is a number from 0 to 9 -- correct vote) or leave field blank (or set any other symbol -- no vote). For every entry, sum of correct vote numbers and number of correct votes would be counted and the result for entry is the ratio of that numbers. Entries with 3 maximum ratios will be awarded with 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

 

 

3.7 Sponsorship and software pack purchase

 

 

Organizers get donations from sponsors and payments for software pack by these ways:

1. Cash (bank wire transfer, money order, western union, cash personally without cash back - only by prior agreement with organizers)

2. PayPal transfer  to lvd.mhm@gmail.com.

If you desire to use something from item 1 please discuss it with organizers to know if organizers may receive money that way.

Attention: webmoney or mobile payments are NOT ALLOWED!

Money should be in Russian rubles or United States dollars. Every sponsor has right (but it has to be specifically requested) to be noted on competition web-site with or without specifying amount of money that was paid.

Software pack:

• Handed to buyer if purchased personally

• Sent by Russian Postal Service

• Sent by any courier service if: 1 -- courier will come to organizer’s address to pick up parcel, 2 -- buyer will pay all expenses, 3 -- all customs clearance, if any, will be held without organizer’s participation.

Price of the pack and postal service fee will be determined later.

 

 

4. Final conclusion

 

4.1 Organizers have rights to modify this rules without notice and resolve any issues not described here.

 

Competition idea: Alone Coder.

Initial rules author: lvd (lvd.mhm@gmail.com).

English translation: lvd, Shaos.

Critics, discussion, rules update: Alone Coder, nyuk, Shaos, CHRV.

 

last edit: 19.06.2014