- - ------------------------------------------------------ - - Want to make a demo in 16-bit screen mode without sacrificing the speed? w e w i s h y e w e l c o m e t o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _@~~ ]__ ]@@@_ *~@ *~@ ~@@_ ~~@@~~~~@@~@@~~~~~~~ @~~~~~~@@~@@~~~~~~~ @_~@ @@_~[ ]]##_~ ~~* ]]##_~ __~ @@@_[ @@@@ ]_~#%[ ]_~#%[ _@@~~@@_ ~@@@_ __@@~~ ]#@_~[ ]#@_~[ @@@ @@# __@@@@@@@___ ~%@@ ~%@@ #@@~~~~ @@@@~ ~@@@@ @__~[ @__~[ @@@ __ ]]@@@ @@@@ ]@@@@ ]@@@@ ~@@__@@_]@_~@ ]@_~[ ~@@% ~@@% @@#[[ @@@_ @_~@ @_~@ *_~@@[ ~[ %@@_ %@@_ %@#%__ @@~ @@~ #%#@~ @ @ [ [ [ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ t e x t m o d e d e m o c o m p e t i t i o n TMDC Infofile version 0.9 (c) 1996 Sol/DEE and the The Joker/Crusaders What? The demos today seem to move in the same direction as the PC market; more processor power, more resolution, more memory, more colors, more sound.. At the same time new demo competitions are introduced. Hornet introduced 8086 demo competition (with three or four contributions!), Assembly org introduced 4k intro competitions, Imphobia has it's coding competition, etc. All these have rules that limit the task somehow. Code size, speed, processor type. So we introduce new competition with a new limit: the video mode. We have seen some demos in text mode (and some demos with few parts in text mode). And we like them. Why? They are sort of C64ish: they push the limits of a resource you didn't think as possible. On the other hand, textmode gives you very low resolution and very many colors. Do you think textmode is childish? Do you realize that everything done in higher resolutions can be also done in textmode? Simply by using IBM-charset characters 176,177,178 and 219 plus fore and background colors, you can easily get more than 500 colors on-screen at the same time (and you are NOT limited to those characters)! Converting any routine to textmode could be simple filler recode or a generic framebuffer copy function. When? The deadline is 12th of October, 1996. The results should be available by end of October. We will email the results textfile to all contributors, and post it to the usenet PC demo newsgroup. Where? The competition is held in the Internet, although you don't have to have internet access to contribute a demo. You may send your contributions to: email: joker@crusaders.no IRC: _TJ_ (#CODERS) BBS: TRK +358-0-874-2789 28.8k (Dubius, DEE and Hysteria HQ) Snailmail: Sol/DEE The Joker Laurintie 116 Stationsveien 56 Vantaa 01400 2010 STROMMEN Finland,Europe Norway, Europe (Please include Self Addressed Envelope and International Reply Coupons if you want to have your disk(s) back). Rules? - The organizers reserve the right to disqualify any demo, and the right to change the rules at any time. - ONLY CONTRIBUTE FINAL VERSIONS! (You may give us 'more final' versions before the deadline though). - The organizers will release the demos when the judging is done. - The demos must be previosly unpublished. - The authors will retain copyright to their productions. - You must include .nfo and file_id.diz file in the package. In addition, you may add 'readthis.org' with info for the organizers only (we will delete this file before releasing the package). - Remember to include mail address info in either .nfo or the readthis.org file! - Maximum file size is 1447424 bytes in a ZIP file, and 10 megs uncompressed. (This limit is to make them easier to distribute on disks - the size is under one HD disk since we will add info file about the compo in every ZIP). If you use DOS4GW, you don't need to include it in the ZIP. (Everyone has it already). - Maximum demo length (in time) is not limited, but you should remember that too long demos are boring. - The complete demo must run in some textmode (including setup screen if applicable). Valid textmode screen modes are: 40x12, 40x14, 40x21, 40x25, 40x27, 40x43, 40x50, 80x12, 80x14, 80x21, 80x25, 80x27, 80x43, 80x50. You *MAY* support other modes, but we will judge the demos in one of those modes. (All of these modes can be set through use of interrupt calls, so no outs are required). If you want to use nonstandard text modes with these resolutions (for instace Liket's 60hz or 50hz modes) please make them optional. - Font and palette changes are not allowed; neither are other hardware tricks like splitscreen or startaddress. (Changing font means you want higher resolution, and that's not the point of this competition. Changing the palette is also out of the question; you can change colors on screen in other ways). - User must be able to quit the demo at any moment by pressing ESC. - Sound support: At least GUS (either native, MEGAEM (midi) or SBOS (SB/adlib)). - The demo must run on Pentium 120 with 8 megs of RAM under either QEMM, EMM386, HIMEM or plain boot. (Judging will be done on P120 and P133 machines with 16 megs of RAM, tho). - The demo must not write anything on harddrive (neither in current dir nor on C root or anywhere else). Also suggested, but not madatory: - Autodetects and command-line options are a good idea. - Demos should run through once and quit - or loop if a certain command-line parameter is given. - Nosound and SB support would be nice. Prizes? [Under discussion - see tmdc10.txt that will be released with invitation intro!] Other? Please note that this is NOT a joke competition! You CAN do all plasmas, whirls, vectors, and stuffs in text mode. And due to the reduced resolution and virtually truecolor palette, you can do much more than what you could imagine doing in 320x200 or even higher graphics modes. If we don't receive any good demos, we will cancel this competition. If you have any questions, send them to either joker@crusaders.no or solar@venture.fipnet.fi, or use the other contribution addresses mentioned above. Signed, Sol/DEE and The Joker/Crusaders 15 August 1996 - - ------------------------------------------------------ - -