Gentlemen: start your engines, pick up ye olde painting brush and contract the whole PSG orchestra, it's time for MSXdev'10! Like MSX itself, the annual game development contest MSXdev is tough and sturdy, it may be around for an eternity, who knows.. While the harvest of recent years wasn't as vast as in 2005 - when MSX productivity was flourishing in general - the quality of games remains stable. Specifications have climbed up since the early editions, step by step, and not without arguing about it first. The current specifications seemed to have reached a point, acceptable for most developers - if not all. And so, the specifications for this year are comparable to last year's. Let's have a look.

• The game should be a ROM file, with a maximum size of 128kB. More details about memory mappers at the MSXdev website.
  
• The minimal configuration an entry should work on is an MSX1 with 64kB system RAM, 16kB video RAM and PSG for sound and/or music. More details at the MSXdev website.
  
• The game should also be able to run on later MSX generations (MSX2, MSX2+, turbo-R), if not: it'll receive a penalty point.
  
• Bonus hardware support (sound chips, video chips etc.) is allowed but won't gain bonus points in the jury report. For MSXdev'09 there was a sponsored prize rewarding such extras though, so who knows what the MSXdev'10 sponsoring system will bring..
  
• Use any programming language you want. Assembly obviously has many advantages, but C or BASIC are also possible, whatever suits you.
  
• Any game genre is welcome. Original work is preferred. If you must use media from third parties, ask for permission. Plain unauthorized content stealing isn't acceptable for the jury.
  
• The game should come with an English instruction manual and a high resolution ROM label.

The jury is composed out of mars2000you, BodyHammeR, and a third member, to be presented later. Like previous editions, the open sponsorship means that anyone can initiate a prize category. Typically these categories can reward specific skills, like best graphics, best music, and last year the MSX1+ category saw daylight (best bonuses). The sky is the limit..

Development time has been discussed in previous editions. Whether you start a week prior to the deadline or not, the strict deadline is 31 January 2011, 23:59 CET. That's about ten months, and should be sufficient for even the most complex genres. And with that, you have enough information to get cracking! What will this edition bring us? Epic RPG's, platformers, shooters? Or back to the basics with Pac Mans and board games? Maybe even daring simulations and hilarious concepts.. would we finally get to see Mr.Chin to do his trick in space, without gravity, with plates floating away instead of falling down? Thrill and suspense await us!

Relevant link: MSXdev'10

No, RELEVO's new game briefly mentioned yesterday isn't out yet, we have until midnight to wait for that. Until then, we can drool over the surprise preview that was published yesterday on Konamito.com, including some stylish concept art. According to Google's translation, it's a yet-to-be-titled platform game set in the land of the discomeats about collecting tea biscuits for the queen until tea time. This game was meant for Konamito's 2nd MSX-BASIC contest, but was refurbished to compete in MSXdev'09.

Relevant link: RELEVO's teagame preview (Spanish)

Ba-Boon!, an MSX1 banana-ape game originally intended to be competing in MSXdev'09, has been postponed until further notice. With the deadline speeding towards them, RELEVO Videogames didn't have time left to polish and test it. Fortunately, they have a backup under the hood. This surprise game is practically done, and will be released tomorrow, so don't worry about a viejoless MSXdev.

Relevant link: RELEVO Videogames

Hate it or love it (just like the grumpy Dr. Pill), but the MSXdev'09 competition is now completely over. Months of hard work have now come to an end with the announcement of the winning entry: Dr. Pill. After receiving this news, the doctor himself just sent us a telegram with the words: "Muhahaha, epic! Now take some cyanide please!"

The organizers are certainly satisfied with the quality of all the games that have entered this edition. No matter the rank or the points of an entry, joining the contest is the right MSX-spirit, let's continue that wave of inspiration! Now, the ranking of MSXdev'09:

1. Dr.Pill, by Infinite
   
2. Menace, by The New Image
   
3. Stray Cat, by Imanok
   
4. British Bob, by Relevo Videogames
   
5. Retaliot, by Video Hazard
   
6. Cow Abductors, by Paxanga Software
   
7. X0rz, by Vampier & Hydragon
   
8. Castle Tomb, by AG Software
   
9. Plumber, by AG Software

Dr. Pill has been highlighted as the most original game for its clever and catchy concept, and as the game with the best music, due to its really nice soundtrack. Dr.Pill and Retaliot share the medal for the best graphics. Dr.Pill contains the best music and has the most original concept. Menace features the best gameplay and British Bob is the most polished game. There was also the new MSX1+ category, which awards bonus material compared to the MSXdev specifications, usually these include sound chips, video chips and such. This year's MSX1+ prize goes to Dr.Pill, based on music, MSX2 palette and 50/60Hz choice.

And with that, MSXdev'09 has come to an end. Long live MSXdev'10! But this time it will be without Jon Cortazar (viejo_archivero, RELEVO), who not only was one of the driving forces behind the MSXdev editions so far, but also a regular to join with an entry (in previous years as Karoshi Corp.). His MSX time has been drastically reduced and he wants to focus all his spare MSX time to develop games under his new brand RELEVO Videogames. So now it will be up to Benoît Delvaux (mars2000you) and Sjoerd Lammertsma (bodyhammer) to keep the MSXdev fire burning: stay tuned for news regarding MSXdev'10!

Relevant link: MSXdev'09

With a very small week to go, entries start creeping in now. Paxanga has come up with an unannounced entry: Cow Abductors. A modest game of 16KB that requires only 8KB RAM. Paxanga Soft is a veteran regarding game development, with games such as MSX Hot Numbers, Yupipati, Parachuteless Joe or the recent Cold Blood. This new game Cow Abductors follows the same fun/quality path. The main goal is to be the fastest alien in the universe by abducting the maximum number of cows. You can play versus the computer or against a friend using a nice and funny two-players mode! ROM label and a quality English manual are provided as well. Mooh!

Relevant link: MSXdev'09

The Mini Game Competition 2009 1KB/2KB category results are in. Three MSX games were submitted and one of these reached a runner-up position! Let's have a look at this year's harvest:

• Jos'b has submitted the game Zone in the 2K compo and reached runner-up position
  
• MRC Historian Yukio has submitted two games, Fishing for the 2K compo (ranked 7th) and Aviao for the 1K compo (ranked 12th)

As for Yukio, he seems to be a busy little bee, as he has announced six entries for MSXdev as well. On December the 1st 23:59 we'll know what he managed to finish!

Relevant link: The Mini Game Competition

In May of this year, MSXdev'09 was launched. This morning at 0:00 CET it closed with nine entries. While the entry count was certainly lower than the previous edition, the overall quality of the entries may actually be higher. A summary of the entries:

• Plumber, by AG Software, a retro platform game in which you have to switch levers of pipes without being caught by the rodents who are in charge of the place.
  
• Castle Tomb, by AG Software, another retro platform game in which you have to kill vampires in a castle.
  
• Cow Abductors, by Paxanga Software, in which UFOs have the mission to abduct cows from our planet. Apparently E.T. needs milk too!
  
• X0rz, by Vampier & Hydragon, a mini puzzle game in which you have to turn a grid with colored tiles all white. Be sure to check the game newspost reactions for a quick bugfix.
  
• British Bob, by Relevo Videogames, a retro platform game in which you have to recover tea cookies for the queen.
  
• Menace, by The New Image, an innovative Galaxy Wars clone.
  
• Retaliot, by Video Hazard, a smooth horizontal two-directional shooter with stacked layers for an impression of depth.
  
• Stray Cat, by Imanok, a fast platformer featuring a cat running over the rooftops of a city.
  
• Dr.Pill, by Infinite, a simulation of a doctor's office with lots of pitch dark sadistic rants and jokes. As a bonus: this evening, wolf_ uploaded a Dr.Pill trailer to YouTube for your enjoyment.

Unfortunately, not every announced entry has made it to the banquet of released games. If anything, it's already a challenge to finish a single game in time. Perhaps strict planning is an area which developers could develop for the future, given there's enough spare time of course. A number of unannounced games may see daylight in the future, maybe for another challenge, maybe as a casual release. Games that have been announced for this contest, that may be released in the future are:

• Blinking Magic, an RPG by Yukio
  
• An untitled space shooter, by Yukio
  
• Running Way, a gambling game by Yukio
  
• Ba-Boon!, a puzzle game by Relevo Videogames
  
• Jumping in the Bridge, an action game by Yukio
  
• In Jail!, a mini game once again by Yukio
  
• In Jail II, the sequel by Yukio

It's now up to the jury to decide who gets MSXdev'09 gold. Jury members are: Albert Beevendorp (The New Image), Rudi Westerhof (Darkstone) and Tomas Karlsson (blueMSX). A new prize this year is the MSX1+ category, which awards all the extras compared to the bare specifications of MSXdev, such as support for extra sound chips and extra video chips. The results of this extra challenge will be presented soon. More prizes are two T-shirts for the winner and the runner up and three Portuguese magazines for the top-3. Naturally, these will be be decided by the main jury. If everything goes according to plan, December 20th will be the date when all the results will be published. Until then! Finally, perhaps you'd like to share with us who you think should win, or perhaps a top-5!

Relevant link: MSXdev website

A new MSXdev'09 entry has been announced: Menace. It will be the return of The New Image to the yearly MSXdev arena, after games like Pointless Shooter, Pointless Platform and the canceled game Cyberware: Chapter IV ~ Katarsis episode II. This new game Menace will be inspired by Galaxy Wars (1979) and has modest specifications: 32KB ROM, 8KB RAM.

There's roughly a month left before the deadline knocks the door. At the moment, eleven entries have been announced, and there's at least one unannounced entry in the making. In little over one month we'll know which entries survived Murphy's natural selection!

Relevant link: MSXdev'09

There's a small update regarding Retaliot, an MSXdev entry announced last week. While there's no in-game screenshot yet, there's now at least a title screen to enjoy. According to the developers, we're about to see some great scrolls and visuals. We'll know in less than two months!
On a related note, originally planned for the early summer: the jury of MSXdev'09 hasn't been announced yet, but will be this weekend.

Relevant link: MSXdev

In little over two weeks we'll be presented with the harvest of MSXdev'09, the yearly game programming contest that managed to break through after MSXdev'04 and was especially fruitful during MSXdev'05. You may recall from last year that there was an awful silence regarding the number of entries we would be seeing.. until that last evening when games kept coming and coming. It would probably be safe to put money on a similar situation this year. Although eleven games have been announced in advance, not many have been finished yet and half the registered entries come from one single person only: Yukio. His recent output for the Mini Game Competition exposes him as a busy little bee however, and six completed entries would surely be the stunt of the year. An overview of finished and unfinished projects so far:

• Plumber, a platformer by AG Software -finished-
  
• Blinking Magic, an RPG by Yukio
  
• An untitled shooter by Yukio
  
• Running Way, a gambling/casino game by Yukio
  
• Ba-Boon!, a puzzle game by RELEVO (former Karoshi member viejo_archivero)
  
• Jumping in the Bridge an action game by Yukio
  
• In Jail!, a mini game, again by Yukio
  
• In Jail! part II, Yukio's last entry
  
• Castle Tomb, a platformer by AG Software -finished-
  
• Retaliot, a shoot 'em up by Video Hazard
  
• Menace, an arcade classic by The New Image

In addition, there's an unanounced SCC-Megarom in the pipeline by Infinite, which happens to be a game which missed last year's deadline. Considering Infinite's deadline reputation, it'd be safe not to put it up there with the rest yet.

Some people have asked the organizers when the exact deadline was, some thought it was December 31st, while others thought it was November 30th (as was mentioned on Passion MSX). The real MSXdev'09 deadline is the first day of December, 23:59.59, Central European Time (Amsterdam, Madrid, Paris, Rome and others).

Relevant link: MSXdev