ms2000 - expect nothing!

Competitions on ms2000

Competitions are the core feature of any decent scene party. They are the ultimate tool to present one's work to a large audience and compare one's creativity directly to that of others. Consequently, in competitions on major parties, new milestones are set for demo technology because people keep constantly improving their skills in their quest for fame in the scene.

Each year again it's hard to determine which competitions to hold. You hold too many, people get bored (and the time table gets overflowed) -- you hold too few or too restrictive ones, some people get upset because they feel that they can't use their whole creativity. Also, there has always been the aspect of tradition. Many guys (including us, the organizers) have been in the scene business for over ten years; sometimes it's not easy to make major changes to rules which had been established for a long time.

We hope that this year's selection of competitions suits your taste. If not, you may of course contact the coordinator of the respective competition by E-Mail for further discussion.

Some more notes

Everyone intending to participate in one of our competitions has to be present at the party. We don't accept contributions via mail. The sole exception to this rule are the Demo competitions; here we welcome external entries as well. Contact Raw Style for further discussion.

It is not possible for an individual to take part with two entries in one competiton.

Cross-platform competitions

Alternative Music Competition

(including ambient, chillout, demostyle, etc.)

• MT2, IT, XM, S3M, DBM and MOD allowed
• maximum filesize of 1.8 Megabyte (no compressed files)
• 4 minutes playtime
• all modules will be played with the latest version of their respective trackers
• one entry per competitor
• contact Sierra if you like to use another format

Progressive Music Competition

(including d'n'b, house, trance, techno, etc.)

• MT2, IT, XM, S3M, DBM and MOD allowed
• maximum filesize of 1.8 Megabyte (no compressed files)
• 4 minutes playtime
• all modules will be played with the latest version of their respective trackers
• one entry per competitor
• contact Sierra if you like to use another format

MP3 Music Competition

• enter your tracks as MP3 in 128kbps or higher or on Audio CD
• 4 minutes playtime
• one entry per competitor

32K Game Competition

(for Amiga, PC and C-64)

• Size of all files: 32K
• Competition machines are the same as in the platform-specific competitions (see below)
• The game will be played on the bigscreen by the coder.
• If you are planning networked games, contact us in advance. We will do a quality preselection on this competition.
• For PC only: Mega-Em will be started to support GUS Midi music. Game must be playable with keyboard only. However if you have support for some special device (joystick or whatever) be sure to bring it along.

Pixel Graphics Competition

(hand-pixelled images only)

Maximum resolution is 800x600 in 24 Bits TrueColor. Raytraced pictures do not belong into this category, only hand-pixelled graphics are to be handed in for this competition. The entries must be handed in in IFF, PNG or TGA format. All entries will be shown at least twice, at different daytimes. The inclusion of working stages of your picture is appreciated.

Alternative Graphics Competition

(ray-traced, composed etc.)

Maximum resolution is 800x600 in 24 Bits TrueColor. The entries must be handed in in IFF, PNG or TGA format. All entries will be shown at least twice, at different daytimes.

C-64 platform competitions

You may choose between a C64 with a new or with an old SID-chip with or without a cartdridge. It's connected to a 1541-II floppy drive. All releases must be handed in on 5.25" disks.

Demo Competition

• Maximum size is a standard 5.25" DD disk (both sides).
• The demos may require user (keyboard/joystick) interaction.

4K Intro Competition

• Maximum size is 4096 ($1000) bytes (=16.12 blocks).

C-64 Graphics Competition

All formats/modes are allowed. The entry must be handed in as an executable file or as Koala/Amica. Any sounds or extra info-screens included in the file will not be shown/played. It would be nice of you to forget about additional music or coded effects and give us something serious for the show. The inclusion of working stages of your picture is appreciated.

SID Music Competition

All formats allowed. The entry must be an executable file (if you need help with a program to play your tune, contact any of the Padua-organizers). The C-64 screen will not be shown during the competition. We will play up to 4:00 minutes of each tune. You may choose between a C-64 with a new or with an old SID-chip. About 10 to 15 songs will be selected by a Jury to be played.

The C-64 competition rules are maintained by Anonym, please mail him for further information or discussion.

Amiga platform competitions

The competition machine, kindly provided by Infinity / Creative Minds, is equipped as follows:

• A4000, MC68060 @50MHz
• PPC 604e @233MHz
• 64MB RAM (Your entry must work on 16MB machines as well)
• Cybervision PPC
• WarpOS & PowerUP

Demo Competition

• Maximum size is 6 MB.

64K Intro Competition

• The intro size is 64KB at most. The intro is a single executable file.

4K Intro Competition

• Maximum size is 4096 bytes.
• Booting AmigaOS without startup-sequence, running SetPatch and then simply running the 4K executable from a standard PAL screen must be everything that's necessary to start the intro.

The Amiga competition rules are maintained by Raw Style, please mail him for further information or discussion.

IBM PC platform competitions

The competition machine is equipped as follows:

• Intel Celeron or Pentium2 400MHz Processor
• 128MB RAM
• Riva TNT 2
• Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 (ISA)
• Gravis Ultrasound Classic 1MB (ISA)
• Most recent DirectX, at least 7a
• Latest Nvidia Detonator Drivers
• Acceleration allowed in all PC competitions!
• Operating Systems: Windows 98SE, SUSE Linux 6.x Full Install

Demo Competition

• File Size 10MB

Intro 64K

• File Size 64K

Intro 4K

• File Size 4K
• Mega-Em will be started to support GUS Midi music.

Time Limit: We don't have a distinct time limit for the competitions. Just be creative and take the time you need. However, if an entry gets too boring it will be skipped!

Usage: All DOS/Win entries will be started from the Windows 98SE command line. Demos requiring EMS memory or special memory configurations will not be shown. We will not change anything in config.sys or autoexec.bat! Pure Animations are not accepted.

Please read the following FMC (frequently mentioned complaints) before complaining about the rules:

• Accel, Non-Accel topic: Now you know the rules and are free to write an accelerated production, if you think that this will give you an advantage.
• Windows productions: It is a fact that Windows demos are far more compatible and easier to handle than DOS based productions. Anyway, in every compo you have the choice between a DOS, Win or Linux entry.
• We suck, and don't know the roots of the scene: Actually most of us are part of the roots, but we realize that the scene is changing every day! If we wouldn't accept that, we would have the following compo machine: 386/33 with 4MB, Trident 8900 and a SB1.

The PC competition rules are maintained by Doj, please mail him for further information or discussion.

Other competitions

PlayStation Demo Competition

• max. 1 audio track and 1 data track are allowed.
• the size of the data track must not exceed 6 MB.
• the demo must be delivered on a SELF-BOOTING CDR (NO CDRWs).
• before the demo starts there must be a possibility to choose between PAL/NTSC or at least an auto detection.
• the competition will be held on a SCPH-7002. (to avoid probs like last year... hello Haujobb)
• all demos will be spread.

Wild Competition

Here you can deliver anything that doesn't fit into the other categories. We will not have separate Wild ("classic") and Video competitions, as the number of entries in the former would be too low. The most welcome contribution medium is a VHS or S-VHS tape recorded in PAL; you can optionally hand in a graphics file containing some information about the hardware used to create your entry. If you can't tape the thing yourself (if you are using really Wild hardware...) please contact us in advance.

There aren't many restrictions on this competition. Your entry should be related to computers, though. People are not interested in watching yet another skateboard video. Please help keeping this competition interesting!