Sonic Hacking Contest 2014

(logo by Cinossu)

It's that time again. The 2013 contest was very successful with what we had done this time, with the site submissions, a good load of entries and of course the rather popular Contest Week which went well without much issues. So it would be obvious that we should do the same again...in 2014!

Things are largely the same as the 2013 contest with a few changes. We have a new judge, a few rules have been amended and there'll be stuff to be announced as the contest progresses including the Contest Week. So let's start...

JUDGES

This year's judges will consist of myself, Cinossu, D.A Garden, Shadow Fire, MegaGWolf, Mercury, Reverie (that new judge I was on about) and SuperEgg. This team will be reliable and will be able to deal with contest judging as soon as possible in order for us to progress through the contest and get the results out as soon as possible. Judges will be able to submit their own hacks, but will not be able to judge it themselves, nor will they be able to judge submissions that they have been involved with (such as team hacks). Please note that the final decisions are subjected to the Judging Team, and may not reflect your own opinion. Judges may change at any time.

TROPHIES

Allow me to show you the list =):

First are the normal trophies. Please note that any level specific trophies are now hack specific meaning they no longer go by individual levels in a hack.

Hidden Palace Trophy

Grand prize / 1st place. This is given to the overall best hack in the contest. At the moment there is no cash prize but instead we have this.

Wood Zone Trophy

2nd place.

Dust Hill Trophy

3rd place.

Green Hill Trophy

Hack (or specific level of a hack if non-applicable) that plays most like a Sonic game.

Windy Valley Trophy

Best art in a hack submitted.

D.A. Garden Trophy

Best music in a hack submitted.

Lava Reef Trophy

Best level layout in a hack submitted.

Genocide City Trophy

Most difficult hack (or specific level of a hack if non-applicable) submitted.

Generations Trophy

Best 3D Sonic game mod.

11000101 Trophy

Best technical / proof of concept hack submitted.

Fang Trophy

Best new enemy/badnik in a hack submitted.

Eggman Trophy

Best new boss or miniboss in a hack submitted.

Spin Dash Trophy

Best new ability in a hack submitted.

Carnival Night Trophy

Most innovative game play feature in a hack submitted.

Emerald Trophy

Best Special Stage in a hack submitted.

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy

Best fresh concept using existing concepts as the backbone in a hack submitted.

Casinopolis Trophy

Most entertaining / fun hack submitted.

Polygon Jim Trophy (previously WTF?! Trophy)

Most unique hack submitted.

Tails Trophy

Most improved hack from last year's contest.

Froggy Trophy

If someone can actually implement a fully playable Big the Cat in a Sonic game, they will get this. If there are more than one entry, the best implementation wins. Hint: Fishing.

Now we move on to the Community Trophies!! =) These trophies are trophies that are awarded by those following the contest.

Hidden Palace Community Trophy

Best hack submitted overall.

Big Community Trophy

Worst hack submitted overall.

Windy Valley Community Trophy

Best art hack submitted.

D.A. Garden Community Trophy

Best music hack submitted.

Lava Reef Community Trophy

Best level layout hack submitted.

11000101 Community Trophy

Best technical hack submitted.

Polygon Jim Community Trophy

Most unique hack submitted.

...And there you have it!! The only other incredibly important thing to mention at this point in time would be the rules of this hacking contest. These are generally the same as last year's with a few changes:

RULES

1. Your entry must be based on an existing Sonic the Hedgehog ROM or game. No homebrew submissions will be accepted.

2. No palette hacks - we have moved on from these sorts of hacks and can do far better than that nowadays, plus there is no trophy for palette hacks.

3. Unlike last year, level layout only hacks can be submitted - if you can't do much with your hack and think it can't be submitted, think again. Ask a judge if you're unsure though.

4. Joke hacks along the lines of Sonic 1337 will not be accepted. Feel free to make something humourous though!

5. No Private Hacks. Entries are either Public (Hack can be downloaded) or Partial (media such as screenshots, videos and music only available to the public).

6. You must include media such as screenshots (absolutely mandatory, must include a title screen image), videos (YouTube links are fine) and music (MP3 and VGM preferred). The judges will no longer waste time making screenshots for you.

7. E-mailed submissions will not be accepted. All submissions must be through the online script.

8. All submissions MUST BE PLAYABLE and can not prevent judges from playing the game. Judges have the right to look at your incomplete work if you submit it, and judges do not allocate trophies based on your incomplete builds, only the last build submitted.

9. These rules can change at any time. Check back often (or at least before you submit something) to make sure they haven't.

DEADLINE

The submissions deadline for entries will be Thursday 31st July 2014 where you must submit a playable build by then to the contest site in order for it to be entered.

You then have a week to refine your entry, fix any issues found and improve your hack which will be Thursday 7th August 2014.

Any questions can be asked in this thread where-in a judge will be able to provide some sort of answer. We do not need any other judges at this time.

CONTEST WEEK - Monday 18th August to Sunday 24th August

Like the last few years, the public will have a chance to view this year's entries, download the public hacks and vote for Community Trophies.

We hope to have live streams, mini contests, radio streams and much more similar to the 2013 Contest - these will be announced during the Contest when they have been finalised.

We'll let you know when the website is updated for the 2014 Contest so you can start submitting. Once again, in order to submit you'll need a Sonic Retro or SSRG full member account although exceptions may be given by contacting a judge.

So with that, I'll leave you to your hacking.

Ready, Set, Procrastinate!!

 

Dang. Advertising so soon? You guys like to be on the ball. 

 

I'm actually anticipating this one. I have a few projects in the work that I plan to enter.

 

depending on how much further I get done with my hack, there is a very good chance that I'm going to enter in this years contest.

 

Quick question: How do you submit a hack to the contest? Do you post it in this thread or is there a special place for submitting?

 

I know from last years contest on it's website, there was a built in submission system for hacks where you could just do it there and it's going to be the same again this year as it's in the first post.

 

I'll say this once early on and hope the message gets across. For the love of God, plan out the results show and stop it being a total bore where you play each game for half an hour at a time. Most people just want the results in a clear and concise manner, they don't want to be waiting hours to find out what's going on. Some people have other things to be doing as well. Two years running now the results show has been a crock of shit, please don't make it a third year.

 

I agree with OrdosAlpha.

 

If you ask you don't get. I've had someone ask me yesterday and they were told that they could do it the same year as TSR becomes one.

I think the results show was a lot better than the mess it was in 2012, but we could look at giving only a certain amount of time to discuss the entries. 

Read the above. As said in the first post, judges can change if someone can't do it any more for example.

 

Which is why I never asked, all I said was "I agree with OrdosAlpha"

 

If the results were any shorter in time in the podcast, we might as well not fucking bother with the podcast.

 

I'm sure to win the Sonic Hacking Contest 2014 beascue i can do anything. :training:


Did you say full member?I'm in trialist but i'm going to the member group if i don't post more than 20 posts.

 

Yes I'm sure you'll become a full member, that signature just seals the deal

 

EugenTheBoySecond, you do realise you should be editing your existing post and not making another one when nobody else has said anything right? Merged the two posts.

 

Sorry,i just say it some questions.

 

Well, first you need to post 20 posts, then you go into the prospect group, then the staff looks over your posts to see if you are worthy enough to be member. Good users get moved to the member group, 'meh' users get moved back to trialist, bad users get moved to the limbo group, where they have to wait 6 months to be trialist again. If you try to dodge the limbo (by making a new account while the old one is in limbo so you can keep posting) will get you into exile (banned group).

There are some exceptions. If a users is very good and is in the trialist group, it will be an automatic move to the member group. Trialists can still be banned for bing a terrible user. Users in the exile group can get a second chance, but that is extremely rare.

EDIT: If you want to win, you'll need to put some good effort into a hack, and I mean REALLY good effort, and no you can't win the contest because you can do anything.

 

Yeah, no. I didn't get in pre-20, and, not trying to sound arogant or anything, my trailist posts were miles better than what you post. At least I didn't double-post and spout off that I'm better than everyone else. I'd seriously recomend taking yourself down a peg, and try to establish a line for yourself that you never cross. Heck, TimpZ didn't make it pre-20, and his posts were fantastic. Better than mine for sure.

 

Ah, another year with the requirement of using code from holy lord Naka and his Sonic Team missionaries for MD/MCD/32x antics. Going to be watching this one from the sidelines like always, working on bigger things. Always fun to see what's submitted, of course, but at the same time, I want to see something really amazing that's not chained down to the Sonic engine. Probably just me being callous and wanting to see something wildly different, though.

Also, it's not impossible to be promoted to Member in less than 20 posts. Just not common. You really have to make a damn good impression on the staff to be promoted to member before the usual expected evaluation point (or have certain other circumstances apply). There's nothing wrong with having to take 20 posts to get the review to be granted membership, so just work on making a good impression as a member that would be a good addition to the community, and things will probably turn out just fine. Just don't get your hopes up that you can skip the normal progression.

As for the restriction to only full members or above having submission access, it makes sense to have it, and there's such things as exceptions. Talk to judges if you're not a member come contest time but still want to submit, and who knows, maybe something could be worked out. Or at least, that's how it worked last year, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong and things have changed.

 

Pretty much. Just ask a judge if you can submit if you're not a member near the time.