Interest in a nesdev coding compo?

3gengames · Post by **3gengames** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:08 pm

Jeroen wrote:Cool. I'll have to see how hosting is gonna work out (guess i'm paying for some webspace )

Ahh crap I don't know PHP.....Well I'll have a website done in a little for a demo

Post by **tepples** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:27 pm

65024U wrote:Also, maybe use a MMC1 mapper with a 256K PRG ROM and put even more games on it That would be 8.....Unless you can't put 256K CHR on it....

MMC1 is limited to 128 KiB CHR ROM. You still need space for the menu, so unless one of the ROMs is 128 KiB, you'll still need some space for the menu.

Go up to SUROM, and you can fit 12 games (480 KiB) + menu, or more if some games use CHR RAM, NROM-128, or easily compressible tilesets. To encourage this, you can award a couple bonus points at judging time for ROMs smaller than the maximum.

As for a web site, you can probably abuse MediaWiki to act as your CMS, like StepMania.com does.

Dwedit · Post by **Dwedit** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:32 pm

Is this an NROM compo, or a MMC1-multicart-entry compo? Doesn't MMC1 let you use single screen mirroring?

3gengames · Post by **3gengames** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:34 pm

I thought we could make it NROM only and add a mapper to make it a multi-cart. I guess now is the time to decide, NROM or no NROM, No NROM means it might be hard to put on the MMC1 mapper cart, unless it uses the MMC1 mapper.

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:39 pm

Like I just said on irc...you can make the original mario with nrom....I dont think many of these entries are gonna exceed that. So I think we should stick to nrom.

tomaitheous · Post by **tomaitheous** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:48 pm

I'm in

If we're taking votes on the setup, I vote chr-ram, 32k prg-rom, h/v/ or single screen mirroring.

3gengames · Post by **3gengames** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:07 pm

Well since the RetroUSB carts have it, it would be like $2 or so more, but use both CHR-ROM and CHR-RAM maybe?

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:11 pm

Having both chr rom and chr ram could turn into a hassle if we do a mulitcart though. (and again i'm stil not fond of the idea if it means I have to make all those carts....and I dont think anyone else is gonna pay up front for them)

3gengames · Post by **3gengames** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:14 pm

Well only games that used it would use it, others would just act like it's not there....And hey, soldering is WAY easier then desoldering....My 5 NROM Development/Demo carts confirm!

Took like 45 minutes to tear a board apart, 5 to solder chip sockets in -.-

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:28 pm

Yeah but someone stil needs to fund them before they're sold. I'm 17 and have no job. Also using chr ram and loading the chr rom into the ram before booting would definitly be a hit on the amount of games we can put on the cart. (then again there probably wont be that many entries)

Post by **Memblers** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:26 pm

What hasn't been mentioned (and is pretty important for setting the rules), who is judging? I think we could have a panel of judges (or simply let the contestants make up the panel - but can't rate your own entry).

Also I would say that the size limitation is pointless (especially if we have knowledgeable judges that can take size into account if they want to). A really good 16kB game is going to beat a lousy 64kB game. Having the size limit though would mean the 64kB game would be crippled or not even happen.

Also the talk of building and selling multicarts of the entries is a bit premature. We should see what happens in the end. Also, the estimate of about $23 each for Retrozone parts alone is outrageous. I would aim for (and sure I could achieve) more like $6 in parts costs, almost 75% cheaper.

Also even if a multicart is built, CHR-RAM or CHR-ROM really shouldn't matter. If the game uses CHR-ROM, you just load it into the RAM before running it. You can typically run stuff like CNROM games on 8kB CHR-RAM without a hitch (and even better size-wise, if you use compression).

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:35 pm

Jeroen wrote:Having both chr rom and chr ram could turn into a hassle if we do a mulitcart though.

Not really, as long as the CHR-ROM entries are limited to NROM (8KB of CHR). The menu can have some info about each game (like the type of mirroring they use and whether they have CHR-RAM or CHR-ROM), enough to configure everything before they run. If a game uses CHR-ROM, its tiles are copied to VRAM, if not, just leave it as is, the game itself will take care of uploading its tiles.

I don't think the games should know they are in an MMC1 cart though, and shouldn't be allowed to use any of the mapper's features (such as dynamic mirroring).

EDIT: I think that deciding on the specs will be tough. If everyone is free to use whatever they want, making a multicart will be very hard. And by disallowing certain configurations you might be reducing the number of entries.

Another very important thing that wasn't discussed yet (AFAIK): the deadline. How much time do you think people would have to work on their games? Can works already in progress be used (that might not be fair to people who haven't started yet)?

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:39 pm

So we need some people one jury duty.
For one I would be a judge. I'd hate to ask a favour but memblers would you be interested?
Any other volunteers?

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:42 pm

Wouldn't most of us be interested in coding rather than judging?

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:47 pm

Thats why i'm asking...would anyone like to be a judge instead of coding?