[Terryn]

Edited 2:53 PM CDT, Aug 07.

*twitch*

(Quick reference: THE DsDoZ SUMMER 2004 GAMES)
(Quick reference: terryn (at) xasm (dot) net = submission email)
(Quick reference: Topics are FATE and MINES.)

The Summer Dualstream 2004 Day of Zeux starts on 7 PM UTC (3 PM EDT, 2PM CDT, noon PDT) August 6th and ends 7 PM UTC August 7th.

Here's the ruleset.

1) There will be two topics presented; one will be abstract, the other concrete. Only one can be chosen as the theme of the game. Topics will be announced on #zeuxworld and #mzx (irc.esper.net), DMZX, and ZeuxWorld. If the judges rank your game, on average, below the 33rd percentile in the theme category your game will be disqualified.

2) Teams can consist of from one to three people, with the option of including an alternate member in lieu of a normal member. This change can only be made before the start of the competiton, to prevent the alternate from being used as a reinforcement. Signups can be made after the DoZ start time, but for obvious reasons putting down an alternate is heavily discouraged.

3) Anonymity is in effect for this DsDoZ. Teams will be referenced with a number unknown to the judges. This number (which will be emailed to the team captain after team signup) is required in the MZX main filename(s), and optimally in supporting files. If any explicit link between number and team is made before judging results (through direct naming in the entry itself, IRC, email, boards, IM, carrier pidgeon, what have you) the team in violation will be disqualified. However, implicit links such as stylistic markers are not grounds for disqualification except in the most extreme cases.

4) All material, with the exception of music/sound and MZX default files, has to be made within the alloted time period. Any evidence of importing files made outside this period will lead to a disqualification.

5) MZX code generated by an external program such as CharTools will be permitted; engine theft, however, will not.

7) Entries can be submitted via email (terryn (at) xasm (dot) net) or through DCC to appointed MZXers on #mzx at any time after the contest start. However:

-After the 24 hours of the DoZ are up, an hour-long grace period starts.
-Submissions are unlimited without penalty until 30 minutes into the grace period.
-Between 30 and 40 minutes into the grace period a penalty of 7.5% will be added for a team's initial submission;
-Between 40 and 50 minutes, 15%;
-Between 50 and 60 minutes, 30%;
-Any entries afterward will be accepted by DCC and email; they will be judged but disqualified.
-One patch submission will be allowed after 30 minutes of grace period have passed, but each successive submission will cause a 5% penalty in addition to other penalties (not compounding, and would therefore be 5%, 10%, 15%, etc.).
-The time is based on transfer start time regarding DCC and the send time regarding email.

8) Entries must consist of a .zip file named after your team's number. E.G. if your team number was 37785 then your submission would be packaged as 37785.zip.

9) Entries that are solely meant to deride and insult a person or group of persons could be disqualified.

As for the scoring categories, this DoZ will recycle the scoreset from Wervyn's DsDoZ (text shamelessly lifted as well) as it seems well-constructed enough to warrant leaving it alone.

Gameplay - 75/400 The meat and potatoes of any game, if you don't have gameplay, what DO you have? This encompasses how well the game works as a whole, how fluid the play is, and most importantly, whether it's FUN or not.
Graphics - 60/400 All this emphasis on graphics over game these days is sickening! But even so, graphics are an important part of the game, since without them, we'd just be playing text adventures (not entirely a bad thing, but still). So, does your game look nice, have you made good use of space and color, or do I want to stab out my eyes as soon as I load the title screen?
Innovation - 45/400 Mother is the necessity of innovation, or something like that. We at the DoZ value creativity and new design concepts highly. Of course, make sure your brilliant idea WORKS, first. Innovation that makes the game new, interesting, on basically makes me go "hmm, never thought of doing that before" is a good thing. Innovation that crashes my computer, not so much.
Plot - 40/400 Me, I'm a sucker for a good story, I can almost forgive a game for being buggy as hell and for looking like my monitor threw up, if the story sends me into raptures of ecstacy. Almost. Story is important, but it's not going to carry your game any more than your nifty sword engine will. Also, plot will be scored according to how important the judge thinks plot is to the game. You probably won't get a perfect score here without a perfect plot, but you might get a decent score here for no plot at all, if your game is designed to be a mindless arcade shoot-em-up.
Music/Sound - 35/400 Music does for the ears what graphics do for the eyes. Humans being (by and large) visual creatures, this category is only worth about half as much, but it's still important. Music creates ambience, and sound effects heighten the atmosphere. If they don't work with the game, then they might as well not be there. For this reason, you may be awarded a few pity points for having no sound or music , since we firmly believe that no audio is better than bad audio.
Theme - 30/400 The purpose of the theme category is more to ensure that you're following the rules than it is to get you points. That said, you'll be sorry if you completely neglect this, since as outlined in rule 7, if three or more judges score your theme less than 33% (less than 10 points), you automatically lose.
Discretion - 15/400 For all the niggling little details that just don't seem to fit in any other category. Mostly, this is about using common sense and good taste. Loads of pointless obscenity, obvious pandering to the judges (as opposed to subtle pandering, which can be a good thing if done right), and sometimes particularly addle-brained bugs, all will get you counted off here.
Rank Weighting - 100/400 This is a special score for the judges, so that they can incorporate their gut instinct into an otherwise methodical system. Unlike the other scores, which are directly designated by the judge, the rank weight is awarded proportionally based on the judges personal ranking of the games from best to worst. What happens is the judges favorite game receives a full hundred points, the judges least favorite game receives no points, and the games in between receive a percentage of the points based on how high they are on the list. For those interested in the formula, RW = (N - R)/(N - 1) * 100, RW is rank weight, R is the judge's awarded rank, and N is the total number of entries. IMPORTANT: This is NOT simply a restatement of the games' ranks as calculated from their other categorical scores. This is so that the judge can express their personal feelings on the submissions as a whole, independent of any other scoring they might have made.
Four judges, 400 points each, 1600 points total. Late penalties incurred during the grace period described in rule 7 will be deducted from this final, 1600 point score.

[GetDizzy]

Go Terryn!

[djtiesto]

Sigh... We're not gonna be able to compete in the Summer DOZ... I have some Visual Basic .NET training course to go to for most of Friday, and Dan's gonna be at a concert on Saturday... oh well, there's always Winter...

[Micah]

Last minute scheduling sucks. Even though I planned this way before my family planned something else, it IS family, and is more important than MZX. So no DoZ for me until winter.

[ShloobeR]

grngnrgnfngnrgnrn IS ANYONE ACTUALLY ENTERING? =)

[Dr_Dos]

I stand by my offer that if Guy signs up I will too.

[Nytar]

Should I enter? I don't think I can do as well as last year, since I perfectly satisfied myself that time. If I enter again, it can only be for greed and bragging.

[GetDizzy]

Micah: Last minute scheduling? you realize that "DoZ is the first weekend in august" has been the topic in #mzx for like 4 weeks? and that its been in the DoZ topic for more than that?

[Dr_Dos]

was it not you zaphod, who decided that doz was cancelled because it was taking so long to get things done?

[zombieguy]

This DoZ hasn't been going too well omgcaptainobvious, but I'll still be entering.. I just wish more people were, so I'd end up having a slightly higher chance of beating someone. :)

[gofer-chan]

i'm entering and i'm gonna fucking win

[Quasar84]

Nytar: Go for it, if you feel like it! You've always had good design sense, and one more enjoyable game never hurt. ^^

As for entrants, I plan on competing, for one.

[Revvy]

And the turnout is looking much better. Ok, good news and bad news time:

GOOD NEWS:
The Day of Zeux page is done. You can now sign up, receieve your team numbers and view other entrees.

Go here, right now

BAD NEWS:
The fully automated Day of Zeux script is a no-show for this competition. The test sessions I had (2 in total) gave me horribly conflicting results, so I had no idea if it was my script or people's browsers causing problems. I never even got past testing the sign up phase, so it was nowhere near a state of completion. Mad props to Insidious, ajs and dormando for giving help with hosting and troubleshooting, while all of that is now unnesscessary. I do not have enough time between now and the DoZ to slap it into a working state, so this signup script only will have to suffice.

That is all.

[Smallhacker]

I'm in.

[Exophase]

Nytar, on Aug 5 2004, 11:09 PM, said:

Should I enter? I don't think I can do as well as last year, since I perfectly satisfied myself that time. If I enter again, it can only be for greed and bragging.

YES enter.

- Exo

[Exophase]

Insidious, on Aug 5 2004, 11:17 PM, said:

Micah: Last minute scheduling? you realize that "DoZ is the first weekend in august" has been the topic in #mzx for like 4 weeks? and that its been in the DoZ topic for more than that?

He was talking about his FAMILY's last minute scheduling.

- Exo

[Micah]

Zaph: The DoZ wasn't the last minute scheduling I was talking about. My family's last minute scheduling was, however.

[Jester]

we in like a wiener in a meatpie!

EDIT: WE WE WE!!

This post has been edited by Jester: 06 August 2004 - 01:03 PM

[Revvy]

Ha, and people were bemoaning the expected low turnout. WE'LL SHOW THEM!

[Val]

Woah, i refreshed the page that showed my number after signing up and it made another Rolling Thunder Team. S+++.

[ShloobeR]

I think Revvy is referring to me :(

[Revvy]

Tecki, there are more people than you ever dreamed would enter. Stop your bellyaching and step up the the challenge like a man. And I like how I haven't seen Fungahhh for like 3 days =(

[ShloobeR]

I could dream maybe a couple more but yes

Also yes where is dat fungahhh

[Koji]

You know, I'll never get to DOZ again

On the flip side, if I get a new computer soon, I'll be able to work on chronostodian more! and maybe EVER FINISH IT!

[Nytar]

Okay, I'll enter...

[gofer-chan]

Mordac and the Projectiles are back. Modac, gofer-chan and Beige are ready to ROCK THE VOTE

[Torte]

=( Great. Now I can't join because of my damn family.

[Vlad_The_Impaler]

=O

[hob nado]

TEAM OLDHART WILL RIP YOUR CLOTHES OFF, PUT THEM IN THE STEW FOR FLAVOR, THEN DECIDE TO JUST EAT YOU RAW, AND THROW AWAY THE STEW

....ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT OLD PEOPLE

[KKairos]

Just wishing everybody a fun DoZ, since the chance of my participating in a non-joking way is...well, about 0.