Despite the low entry count of the first edition, which was closed
last night, Passion MSX just announced the second edition of their contest.
The basic idea is still the same: create an MSX2 game in ROM format (max 512KB). The game should be an MSX2 game at the very least, not really an MSX1 or MSX1+ game with a bonus palette, to name something. While the MSX1 screens, aided by an MSX2 palette, could form a bit of a grey area, let's keep in mind that this really is an MSX2 contest. MSX1 games are better served in the
MSXdev contest.
A radical change from the first edition is the amount of system RAM you can use. New games may use up to 128KB RAM, which follows the MSX2 standards in Europe. Entries should also work on a turbo-R and on any MSX2+ with at least 128KB main RAM (expanded internally or externally).
Prize money has been increased to a whopping €1500, to be split among the top-3: €600 for the winner, €500 for the runner-up and finally €400 for the third place. The jury for the second edition will be formed out of Passion MSX crew Mars2000you and Supercobra, and externally by Manuel Pazos.
With a deadline set at 30 June 2010 23:59 CET, you have a whole year to come up with a new game. If the lack of entries of the first edition teaches us one thing, then it is that there is no point in complaining about the lack of new MSX2 games. If developers keep complaining about the MSX1 limits of MSXdev yet can't find the motivation to join a contest made to exactly serve their needs, then what else could motivate them? We know for a fact that there's so much talent in the scene, and so many people being around who are really able to come up with new games, that a contest like this should have no problems raising at least ten new games within one year of time. If you belong to this group of creative people: what's keeping you?
Let's for once show that we're not mere passive news readers or chit-chatters, but active and productive MSX users who haven't forgotten about what we were doing during the 90's: creating games, and some of them were absolutely huge. Are you a coder without graphician? Are you a musician without a coder? Let's form
new teams then if your old teammates have gotten inactive or lazy, and show that in one year of time we're still capable of doing something fruitful with our machines!
Tjakka!
Relevant link:
Passion MSX2 contest - 2nd edition - contains all the rules in detail
