MRC Under Water Challenge - Full results

So, here it is... the extended report of the Under Water Challenge jury. As you all probably know, Frank H. Druijff was the head of this jury. Below you can see a list of all demo's including a small note from the jury, which will mainly, but not only, reflect Frank's opinion about the demo's.

As with the snowfall challenge, we were very pleased to see a huge diversity in the approach to the theme 'Under Water'. Frank was especially pleased to see there are still a lot of people actively developing new MSX1 products, showing what this 1983 computer is capable of time and time again.

So, now lets have a look at each demo seperately, here is the top 11 of the Under Water challenge!

01 - Coral 2

• Created by: Infinite
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX2, Moonsound with 512kB Sample RAM
  Received: 15-05-2004
  Description: A trackmo for MSX. he main part of this production is the song. The graphics are there to add some extra's to the atmosphere.
  Jury: Very impressive demo. A well-thought combination of visuals, text and great music. The choice of creating a trackmo with static images turned out to be a very wise decision, as it highly contributes to the atmosphere. Combine that with Vangelis-style music of a quality not often heard on MSX and you know why this one has become the well-deserved winner.

02 - Kobashi

• Created by: Vincent van Dam
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX1, 16kB RAM
  Received: 12-05-2004
  Description: A game for one or two players; eat as much as you can!
  Jury: This game captures the tradition of genuine MSX1 games. Easy to create, fun to play and very addictive.

03 - N-Sub

• Created by: Ricardo Bittencourt and Cyberknight
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX1, 64kB RAM, MSX-DOS
  Received: 15-05-2004
  Description: An MSX port of the classig SEGA game
  Jury: Frank mentioned he would have been really proud if he had made a game like this in the days he was working at MCM. The is a true MSX1 games and plays just like you expect it to be. Too bad the introscreen looks a lot better than the game itself.

04 - Team Bomba Under Water

• Created by: Team Bomba
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX2, GFX9000 (Moonsound with 256kB SRAM and Harddisk, CompactFlash or Ramdisk recommended)
  Received: 15-05-2004
  Description: A GFX9000 demo, consisting out of two parts
  Jury: This one was very tough to rate, as it's difficult to realize you'd have to compare this demo with MSX and not with PC or modern consolde demo's. The demo looks cool, the effects are smooth (and never seen before on MSX), but the demo could have done with a few more original ideas.

05 - Madfish

• Created by: Marco Rossin and ICE
  Programming language: ASCII C
  System requirements: turboR
  Received: 15-05-2004
  Description: Watch or control the fish with cursors and spacebar
  Jury: A very nice, technically interesting demo. The end-user won't spend hours on playing this demo though.

06 - Pengu Racer

• Created by: Benno van den Boogaard and Bas Wolvers
  Programming language: BASIC
  System requirements: MSX1
  Received: 16-05-2004
  Description: Collect the fish before your time runs out!
  Jury: The idea of this game has a lot of potential, yet the entry for the challenge lacks the details it needs to become a winner.

07 - Farting Fish

• Created by: Jussi Pitkänen
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX1, 32kB RAM
  Received: 09-05-2004
  Description: A demo with 3 parts: Bars with bubbles, Plasma and a Picture with a text-scroller
  Jury: A nice and impressive plasma effect. The music of the demo is quite annoying though, and the greetings barely readable (as it should be on MSX )

08 - Shark

• Created by: David Heremans
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX2, 128kB RAM
  Received: 15-05-2004
  Description: A start of a remake of the arcade game 'Blue Shark'
  Jury: Very impressive intro-screen with a lot of animations. The game itself has quite some nice details, too bad David didn't manage to complete it in time

09 - Blub 'n' Breathe

• Created by: André van Herk
  Programming language: NestorBASIC/NestorPreter
  System requirements: MSX2+ (turboR recommended)
  Received: 14-05-2004
  Description: An unfinished game inspired by Mario brothers
  Jury: The concept of the game is very nice, but unfortunately this is another unfinished entry to the challenge. There are no enemies, there's no music and the map is on the small side. This game could be very addictive once finished, though

10 - Dope Fish

• Created by: Sjoerd Lammertsma
  Programming language: BASIC
  System requirements: MSX2 and Moonsound
  Received: 02-05-2004
  Description: A dope fish and a weird OPL4 tune!
  Jury: The song of this demo either makes you laugh or annoys you to the bone. And so does the flashy screen. The demo sure is 'dope'

11 - Grijander Water

• Created by: Maso Jose
  Programming language: Assembly
  System requirements: MSX1, 32kB RAM
  Received: 15-05-2004
  Description: A TMS9918A benchmark
  Jury: The demo only scrolls on a TMS9918A VDP or an emulator truly emulating this chip. The effect does differ on several emulators, but the benchmark showed no data that would make it useful as a true benchmark.

All in all the Under Water Challenge gave a very nice impression of what the MSX community is about in 2004. Whether you're creating products for the most advanced MSX setup to date or the very first computer that started it all, developing for MSX is fun and (relatively) easy. We hope you all join in in the current and future challenges as well. Show you're out there, show your skills, share your knowledge and win cool prizes where you're at it! There are still a bit more than 2 weeks left to finish your entries for the MRC Bounce Challenge. Use that time wisely