rokicki@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Tomas Rokicki) (09/21/87)
[ The deadline is drawing near! . . . ]
Folks, it is now the 21st of September, and I have yet to receive
any killer demo contest entries. I've received a large number of
donations and pats on the back, but we need entries! Win an Amiga
2000 or one of many other prizes in an evening (or so) of work.
Every hacker on the net should be able to cook up something! The
deadline is officially 1 October, but I'm going to accept everything
up to 7 October.
For those who haven't seen the rules yet, here is a version ready
to be TeX'ed. Or simply strip out all of the lines that start with
a backslash, and it will be readable. -tom
\magnification=\magstephalf
\font\huge=cmbx10 at 24.8832truept
\font\bit=cmbxti10 at 17.28truept
\font\bf=cmbx10 scaled \magstephalf
\newdimen\fullsize\fullsize=7.5truein\hoffset=-0.5truein
\newdimen\realvsize\realvsize=10.0truein\voffset=-0.5truein
\nopagenumbers
\tolerance=8000
\hsize=3.6truein % this is awfully narrow; will it work?
\def\makefootline{\baselineskip24pt\hbox to\fullsize{\the\footline}}
\let\lr=L \newbox\leftcolumn
\output={\if L\lr
\global\setbox\leftcolumn=\columnbox \global\let\lr=R
\else\doubleformat\global\let\lr=L\fi
\ifnum\outputpenalty>-20000\else\dosupereject\fi}
\def\doubleformat{\shipout\vbox{\hbox{\box\topbox}
\hbox to\fullsize{\box\leftcolumn\hfil\columnbox}
\makefootline}
\global\vsize=\realvsize
\top{\ntop}
\advancepageno}
\def\columnbox{\leftline{\pagebody}}
\newbox\topbox
\def\top#1{{\hsize=\fullsize\global\setbox\topbox=\vbox{#1}
\global\vsize=\realvsize
\global\advance\vsize by-\ht\topbox\global\advance\vsize by-\baselineskip}}
\raggedbottom
%
\def\sec#1{\goodbreak\medskip\leftline{\bf #1}\medskip}
\top{\centerline{\huge
The Zeroth BADGE Killer Demo Contest!}
\medskip
\centerline{\bit
Win an Amiga 2000! Don't Delay! Enter Today!}
\medskip}
\def\ntop{\centerline{\bit
If You Don't Enter, You Can't Win!}\medskip}
\noindent
This is an updated announcement; some of the rules have
changed, and there have been some rather significant prize
contributions. Please use this announcement instead of the previous
one.
\sec{Introduction}
The Bay Area Amiga Developers' Group is sponsoring, for the
first time, a competition designed to provide some impetus to the
creative and sometimes demented developers and users of the Amiga
to create some killer demos. The rewards consist of cold hard cash
and recognition throughout the Amiga community, and some neat toys.
Do not hesitate to enter because you don't feel you can compete
with commercial developers; some of the best Demos were hacked
together in a few hours by newcomers to the machine. There is
nothing so fun as making your Amiga turn some new tricks!
\sec{Prizes}
There shall be at least nine prizes awarded. The prizes consist of
cash, hardware, and software. The prize categories will be : First, Second,
and Third Overall, Best Category A (512K), Best Category B (1M), Best
Category C (1M+), Best Use of Sound, Best Use of Graphics, and Funniest.
The grand prize shall be an Amiga 2000, donated by Commodore. The exact
prizes and their corresponding categories have yet to be determined, but
they include (in alphabetical order to avoid stepping on anyone's toes):
$$\vbox{\halign{#\hfil\quad&#\hfil\cr
ASDG&Some Hardware\cr
BADGE&Cash and organization\cr
BYTE&Free BIX signup\cr
Commodore&Amiga 2000\cr
Individuals&Varying sums of cash\cr
Lattice&C compiler\cr
MicroBotics&RAM Cards and MouseTimes\cr
MicroSmiths&FastFonts, TxEd\cr
Radical Eye&AmigaTeX\cr
Software Visions&Microfiche Filer\cr}}$$
I would like to thank all those who have agreed to contribute,
and encourage any further donations.
\sec{Time and Place}
The actual competition will take place on Thursday, October
15, 1987, at Stanford University, during the regularly scheduled
October BADGE meeting. (Actual location to be announced.) All
entries must be received by October 1, 1987 to be eligible for the
contest.
\sec{Rules}
All entries must be freely redistributable. Floppies with
the best Demos will be sent to Fred Fish for inclusion in his Freely
Redistributable Library and will be made available to any interested
parties, including dealers.
Source is not required, but appreciated in the spirit of
Amiga hackerdom. If source is provided, it too will be distributed.
All Demos must be runnable from the CLI by specifying the
name of the Demo only; no `execute' or parameters should be required.
The sole exception to this is tool-based Demos developed with tools
that do not allow this.
Shareware is not permitted.
All files required for the Demo, except those on the standard
1.2 Workbench Disk or AmigaBASIC, shall fit on one standard 3.5 inch
Amiga floppy. The Demo will be run with the standard 1.2 Workbench
Disk in DF0: and the Demo disk in DF1:. The current directory shall
be a subdirectory into which all of the files from the root level of
the supplied Demo disk have been copied; all files referenced by the
Demo should not use logical names or absolute paths, except for the
standard logical names defined after a cold boot onto a standard 1.2
Workbench.
All Demos shall run under Version 1.2 Workbench.
Either custom programs or tool-based Demos are acceptable.
If a tool-based Demo is entered, the `player' tool must be provided
on the Demo disk.
No Demos will be accepted if they are directly derived from a
commercial product available on or before October 15, 1987. In other
words, a Demo-mode version of Marble Madness is not acceptable.
All Demos shall run properly on an Amiga with expansion RAM,
even if they are entered in Class A. Things that need to go in CHIP
RAM should specify CHIP RAM.
Each Demo shall have up to five minutes to load and 60 seconds
to run. If it does not terminate
of its own accord by this time, it should have clearly indicated a method
of termination, and it will be ended. The 60 seconds shall start when the
Demo presents a `ready' screen, or actually begins `demo'ing. For those
demos with large data files, up to a five minute startup time shall be
allowed for the demo to load any files or do any calculations required.
Each Demo should require little or no user interaction. If any
user interaction is required, complete and clear instructions shall have
been displayed at the beginning. A mode in which absolutely no user
interaction is required is highly recommended, even for those Demos that
benefit from user interaction.
A person may enter as many times as they desire.
Anyone may enter, except Tom Rokicki, Chuck McManis, Lee Taran,
and Ali Ozer.
The decisions of the judges and BADGE are final.
\sec{Entry Fee}
No entry fee is required, but donations toward the prize money
and operational expenses of the contest are encouraged. If at least
\$5.00 is sent, a floppy containing at least the top-three ranking Demos
will be returned. All donations will be acknowledged in a file
distributed with the Demos and displayed by a script written to run the
Demos. Please donate, and help make this Contest successful!
\sec{Judging}
There will be three classes, A, B, and C. Class A will be
Demos that run on 512K Amigas. Class B will be Demos that run on
1M Amigas. Class C will be Demos that require more than 1M. You
may enter any class, but your Demo must run on a machine of the class
you enter. In particular, Class B Demos should run on Amiga 500's
with the internal RAM expansion.
During judging, all Demos will be run on an Amiga 1000, with
the appropriate amount of memory. Class C Demos will be run on a 2.5M
Amiga; if your Demo requires more memory, contact Tomas to see what
can be arranged.
If the response is great, there will be a prejudging step to
prune the number of Demos down to 30. This prejudging will be held
just like the final contest, but only ten judges shall be used.
The main contest will be held with everyone present voting.
Each demo will be shown, and then everyone present will be requested
to score that demo on their own judging card. At the end of the
meeting, the judging cards will be collected; the results will be
tabulated and the awards presented the following evening.
The judging will be based on a 100 point total. The judging
categories will be: Technical, 30 points. Nift, 30 points. Use of
Graphics, 15 points. Use of Sound, 15 points. Amiga Specifics, 10
points.
The Technical category will be judged before the meeting; it
is expected that each Demo shall receive the full 30 points for this
category. The requirements are that the Demo shall not require reboot
to exit; shall have a clearly indicated and simple method to exit the
Demo if necessary; shall return all system memory and other resources;
shall work with a 60-column workbench as well as an 80-column workbench,
and shall not write to either disk during execution. A Demo may take
over the machine, but it should run to completion and return to the
Workbench correctly. You should be able to execute the Demo from a
command script and have the command script continue at the end of the
Demo.
The Nift category is just sheer impressiveness and impact.
The Use of Graphics category and Use of Sound categories are intended
to be self-explanatory; how effectively did the Demo make use of the
graphics and sound capabilities of the Amiga? Finally, the Amiga
Specifics category is intended to judge how much this Demo sets the
Amiga apart from other computers; was it obvious that this type of
Demo could not have been done on an Atari or Mac, for instance?
All points will be totalled, and then, for each individual
Demo, the highest 10\% scores and the lowest 10\% scores will be
eliminated and an average taken. Prizes will be determined strictly
by ranking the Demos by the resultant average.
All entrants will receive a notice of the final results.
\sec{Entry Instructions}
To enter, send in your Demo on one 3.5 inch floppy, with no
files on the floppy but those required for your demo, excluding any
files on the standard 1.2 Enhancer Workbench floppy, to Tomas Rokicki,
Killer Demo Contest, Box 2081, Stanford, CA 94305. Include a sheet
of paper with the following information: Your name, telephone number,
and address; the class of your Demo (A, B, or C), and a short
description of your demo to help in the judging. You are also
encouraged to include a donation towards the prize money; \$5.00 will
get you a floppy with at least the top three demos on it. All
submitted materials become the property of BADGE and will not be
returned. Make sure your entry gets to Tomas by October 1, 1987.
If you plan to attend the BADGE meeting and you do not usually attend,
please indicate this so an appropriate-sized room can be reserved.
\sec{Announcement Distribution}
Please give this announcement the widest possible distribution.
Post it to bboards, announce it at User Group meetings, print it out
and give it to friends.
If you have any comments or would like to discuss the rules, feel
free to call Tomas Rokicki at (415) 326-5312. Thank you for your
support.
\if R\lr\null\vfill\eject\fi
\byemike@ames.arpa (Mike Smithwick) (09/22/87)
[]
I just wanted to add a followon to Toms Killer-Deemo re-announcement.
Apparently he's recieved alot of responses similar to the following:
Amigaoid #1 : So, ya going to enter the Killer Deemo contest, and become
famous, and have EA sign ya on to killer contract??
Amigaoid #2 : Well, gee, I'd really like to, but ya know, that BAADG
group has the worlds best Amiga programmers in the world. And I
just don't think that I could turn out anything that would come
close to what that Caped character could do, or even that Smithwick
geek.
Oops, gotta go, Wheel of Fortune is on now. . .
. . . and so on. . .
The truth is, that alot of the World's Greatest Amiga Programmers are
currently under contract to turn out the world's greatest Amiga software,
and don't have time for a contest.
The moral (or immoral) of the story is, now is your chance to show off.
Now is your chance to be the next "Guy in the Cape", and get respect
and honor and international fame. Not to mention the free '2000, but
you really arn't entering the contest for mere material gain, are ya?
Oops, gotta go, the Wheel of Fortune's just started. . .
***mike***
* * * Astronomy is over my head. . . * * *
--
*** mike (powered by M&Ms) smithwick ***
"ever felt like life was a game, and
someone gave you the wrong instruction book?"
[discalimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas]mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) (09/22/87)
Let me add to what Tom and Mike said: I took a brief survey at the last BADGE meeting, and found that many people were just flat to busy trying to get commercial software out the door to work on a demo for the contest. That's the state I was in until that meeting. Upon finding out that there weren't any entries, I decided I could spare a weekend to throw together a demo. And that's about what it took. Everything but building the final disk is done. The demo isn't what I had in mind when I started (that part *still* doesn't work!), but is still something that I think will get used at display booths. The hardest part of doing an entry for the demo is coming up with something worth doing. I suspect that most of the people reading this could have written any of the spiffy things that Leo did (*) if they set their mind to it. Coming up with the idea in the first place is something else again. So, in order to create more competition for myself, I'm urging *all* of you to spend spare time this week thinking of neat things you can make an Amiga do, and then spend next weekend making it do them! Now, for a change of topic - I'd like to find a copy of the "moving polygons" demo that was around early in the life of the Amiga. Binaries are fine; sources would be nice but aren't required. Any pointers would be appreciated. <mike (*) Mike's first rule of equality: Anything I can make a computer do, anyone else can make it do, and probably better. Naturally, I apply this to other peoples nifty things. -- But I'll survive, no you won't catch me, Mike Meyer I'll resist the urge that is tempting me, ucbvax!mwm I'll avert my eyes, keep you off my knee, mwm@berkeley.edu But it feels so good when you talk to me. mwm@ucbjade.BITNET
bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu.UUCP (09/24/87)
In article <5189@> mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike Meyer) writes: > >Now, for a change of topic - I'd like to find a copy of the "moving >polygons" demo that was around early in the life of the Amiga. >Binaries are fine; It came on an old "dealer demo" disk. Works with V1.2. I'll mail you a copy. >sources would be nice but aren't required. With the Metacomco Toolkit's "disasm", source is just moments away. :-) Seriously, disasm does a nice job, and integrates debug symbols in. Most of those old demos have them. It took 3 mins. flat to disassemble "molly", fix the bug that prevented it from working with V1.2, reassemble and test. (someone confused the "public" and "chip" memory attributes) ------------------ I'm looking for a copy of a very old picture. It has the rainbow checkmark and the stylized AMIGA name in black on a white screen. It is clearly visible in the videotape of the Amiga launch. Any picture with the Amiga logo and name in huge letters would probably do... (Unless you define the Amiga logo as a Red-And-White checkered ball :-) // \\// AMIGA <-This one does not count |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, ENQ, SYN) {o O} . (") bryce@hoser.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!hoser!bryce U How can you go back if you have not yet gone forth?
rap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck) (10/17/87)
The Badge contest was held last night, with 30 entries, and over 150 judges present. Winners are to be announced Monday or so. My personal favorites are Alan Hastings' car.demo which is the first four (critical) scenes from his latest videotape offering "Apocalypse Real Soon Now". Those who have not seen it, I won't be the spoiler... someone else can do that. The other favorite, and seeminly by many present as well, was "RGB", (author's name escapes me), an instructional video (lesson #8 I think) about what can happen to you if you watch too much TV. For the RoboCity News, in August, I had written a crystal ball gazing attempting to predict which neat features of the Amiga might possibly at last be shown off by the contest entrants. It did not quite happen that way. Yes, the entries were interesting and entertaining, but it would have been even better had it been obvious somehow that the entries (with appropriate software/hacking) could not have been done on any other computer. There were three of the 30 that did address Amiga-only capabilities, one called Halfbrite-Hill that showed the ghost of Fred Astaire dancing as a 32-color (half-brite) ghost against a 32-color background (by Kevin Sullivan); the second demo of this nature was "ripple.demo" that put a continuous wave effect onto the Workbench "in the grand tradition of Leo's viacom demo" (author?); and the third demo that was doing a 3D wire frame animation using standard system calls seemed to surprize folks somewhat (Matt Dillon). Oh yes, and a 26k of object code demo from Mark Riley that did a nice 3D starfield/planet flyby effect. But I must say that I do look forward to the next contest, during which someone might really do something that actually takes advantage of the Amiga's built-in capabilities and won't appear as a me-too on some other computer's demo disk at the trade fairs, simply because it cant be done. Yes, I too was too busy with lotsa other stuff... did not enter. Maybe next year. (sigh). Rob Peck ...ihnp4!hplabs!dana!rap
rokicki@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Tomas Rokicki) (10/19/87)
Ali Ozer and Lee Taran worked their fingers to the bone this weekend, tabulating and checking the 100 ballots received at the BADGE Killer Demo Contest, each ballot with approximately 150 numbers on it. The winners have been determined. In order to not make any mistakes, we are holding the results until Monday at 5:00 PM, at which time I will post them to Usenet, Ch andck McManis will post them to BIX. The availability of copies of the demos will be announced sometime thereafter, and I seek suggestions as to the best method of distribution, most likely to get copies to each and every Amiga dealer in the country. Should I set up a network, where each dealer should send copies of the disks to four other dealers, in exchange for getting copies? To make sure the `chain' isn't broken, I could set up the network such that each dealer should get copies from two different dealers . . . Should I make copies of the floppies available free to all those individuals who agree to supply copies to three dealers? I will most certainly send a copy to Fred Fish . . . How many dealers are out there, anyway? I guess I should ask Commodore for a list . . . -tom
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (10/19/87)
In article <245@dana.UUCP> rap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes: >The Badge contest was held last night, with 30 entries, and over 150 judges >present. > >Winners are to be announced Monday or so. > >My personal favorites are Alan Hastings' car.demo which is the first >four (critical) scenes from his latest videotape offering >"Apocalypse Real Soon Now". Those who have not seen it, I >won't be the spoiler... someone else can do that. The other favorite, >and seeminly by many present as well, was "RGB", (author's name >escapes me), an instructional video (lesson #8 I think) about what ^^^^^^^^^^^ Joel Hagen. >can happen to you if you watch too much TV. > >It did not quite happen >that way. Yes, the entries were interesting and entertaining, but it >would have been even better had it been obvious somehow that the entries >(with appropriate software/hacking) could not have been done on any >other computer. I sure would'nt want to port the package that ran RGB to a machine without a blitter. Ask Dan Silva how much fun it was emulating the Blitter stuff on a PC. >There were three of the 30 that did address Amiga-only >capabilities, one called Halfbrite-Hill that showed the ghost of >Fred Astaire dancing as a 32-color (half-brite) ghost against >a 32-color background (by Kevin Sullivan); This was one of the most impressive demo's I've ever seen. However, there is a fundamental difference between this and the Hastings/Hagen demo's in that the latter "told a story", while the former was just a continuous loop. After 20 seconds or so, you "get the idea", while the "movies" take up all the alloted time to complete. >Yes, I too was too busy with lotsa other stuff... did not enter. Another book maybe ? :-) >Maybe next year. (sigh). Next year ? How about having one of these things every six months ? Perhaps alternating between the East and West coasts ? > >Rob Peck ...ihnp4!hplabs!dana!rap -- Richard J. Sexton INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard "It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."
bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) (10/20/87)
>In article <245@dana.UUCP> rap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes: >> >>...Yes, the entries were interesting and entertaining, but it >>would have been even better had it been obvious somehow that the entries >>(with appropriate software/hacking) could not have been done on any >>other computer.... I had real troubles with that category... what other computer? With how much work??? Some used Amiga specifics where they might not be needed on another computer. Some things were clean and elegant on the Amiga, but could be done with a "hack and slash" attitude on the others. For the next contest I hope the "Amiga specifics" category is either pre-judged or judged by group consensus (after a discussion of just what makes this demo special). >>There were three of the 30 that did address Amiga-only >>capabilities, one called Halfbrite-Hill that showed the ghost of >>Fred Astaire dancing as a 32-color (half-brite) ghost against >>a 32-color background (by Kevin Sullivan); Even that is not Amiga specifc. You take any machine with 64 color registers and set the top 32 to half the intensity of the bottom 32 and you have it. Only the Mac II's lame animation capabilities would prevent a superior effort (that and you would need to buy a color card). The HAM animations used a very Amiga specific feature, HAM mode. But even that is just an extension to get more colors out of a limited depth display. (These were awsome, by the way) The "wiredemo" certainly benifited from the fact that the graphics library can use the blitter to do line draws. The ea game "interceptor?" was probably stuffing the blitter full of area fills, that's rather Amiga specific. Any of the demos that used interlaced NTSC video could not be done with the ST or Mac. Even if you could get a NTSC card for the Mac II, none of the animations would work out very well. (Such a card may be available, I know not for sure) "Markeroids" used Amiga specific humor, but we can assume that there are counterparts for the other machines. "Wavebench" uses the beam-synced graphics co-processor (copper) to do work it's magic. This is one of two of the demos that really could not be ported at all to the other computers. The rest would just loose color, speed and grace. The other no-port was the "demo shower" (I forget the name, and forgot to snag a blank judging form after the contest.) This one fired up a bunch of demos and moved the screens in a waterfall pattern. The demos were all written to run stand alone, until this sadist by the name of "Mike Myer" decided to run them all at the same time. Worked, too. "workbench lander" runs on the workbench screen, and integrates smoothly. Try doing that with a Mac or ST desk accessory and you will get a few real quick lessons on the benifits of multitasking. It might just be possible, but it *will* be ugly. Some of the others draw fine lines. The ANIM "with the cat" (forgot name) had sonix fired up in the background. While you could not arbitrarily do this on another machine, you could write a sound player inside of your animator. So where does one draw the line? ANIMs like "the dream goes berserk" and "the one with the cat" have been ported to the Atari ST. True, they look bland and grainy and take over the machine, but what do you expect? |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, ENQ, DC1) {o O} . bryce@hoser.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!hoser!bryce (") U "...up to 50 overlapping windows simultaneously..." -Amiga Advertising, Spring 1987 [Dale, have you been slipping limitations in while our backs were turned? :-) ]
higgin@cbmvax.UUCP (Paul Higginbottom SALES) (10/20/87)
in article <681@rocky.STANFORD.EDU>, rokicki@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Tomas Rokicki) says: > The availability of copies of the demos will be announced > sometime thereafter, and I seek suggestions as to the best > method of distribution, most likely to get copies to each > and every Amiga dealer in the country. > Should I set up a network, where each dealer should send > copies of the disks to four other dealers, in exchange for > getting copies? To make sure the `chain' isn't broken, > I could set up the network such that each dealer should > get copies from two different dealers . . . > Should I make copies of the floppies available free to > all those individuals who agree to supply copies to three > dealers? > How many dealers are out there, anyway? I guess I should > ask Commodore for a list . . . > -tom There's around six or seven hundred dealers. Commodore itself has not distributed much public domain demonstration offerings because we never know if someone might sue us for unlawfully redistributing something without permission, or if it infringes on someone else's work or whatever. If we can get the disk(s) with something from the authors saying they don't mind us distributing the material, we'll make the disks and distribute them. At the very least we can send them to our district and regional sales managers and our independent reps for them to give out to dealers as they call on them. Paul.
mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) (10/21/87)
In article <4466@zen.berkeley.edu> bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) writes:
<"Wavebench" uses the beam-synced graphics co-processor (copper) to
<do work it's magic. This is one of two of the demos that really could not
<be ported at all to the other computers. The rest would just loose color,
<speed and grace.
<
<The other no-port was the "demo shower" (I forget the name, and forgot to
<snag a blank judging form after the contest.) This one fired up a bunch
<of demos and moved the screens in a waterfall pattern. The demos
<were all written to run stand alone, until this sadist by the name of "Mike
<Myer" decided to run them all at the same time. Worked, too.
Thank you. I wanted to point that out to Rob after his posting, but
decided that it would be a bit - well, "That would be wrong."
Likewise, Bryce failed to mention that he was a great help by providing
demos (boing and fields) that worked under 1.2 with expanded memory.
And boy, did that need expanded memory; it used nearly all the CHIP
memory as CHIP memory.
The name is "bully." Not only do I think it's a bully demo, but it
pushes other demos around. And I suspect that was the demo that Tom
wanted to rewrite. It started life as something else, and has
vestigal code all over the place. I'll probably rewrite it when I get
the time.
Finally, I have to disagree with Bryce. Both demos used magic hardware
in the Amiga, but both could be done in software given the right
software. For Wavebench, I think the only "right software" is NeWS.
The hard part would be getting performance out of the software
anywhere near as good as the hardware on the Amiga provides.
<mike
P.S. - did Tom really misspell my name? I hadn't noticed...
--
Love and affection, Mike Meyer
Of the corporate kind. mwm@berkeley.edu
It's just belly to belly, ucbvax!mwm
Never eye to eye. mwm@ucbjade.BITNETrap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck) (10/21/87)
In article <4466@zen.berkeley.edu>, bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) writes: > >In article <245@dana.UUCP> rap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes: > >> > >>...Yes, the entries were interesting and entertaining, but it > >>would have been even better had it been obvious somehow that the entries > >>(with appropriate software/hacking) could not have been done on any > >>other computer.... > > I had real troubles with that category... what other computer? With > how much work??? Some used Amiga specifics where they might not be > needed on another computer. Some things were clean and elegant on > the Amiga, but could be done with a "hack and slash" attitude on > the others. > > For the next contest I hope the "Amiga specifics" category is either > pre-judged or judged by group consensus (after a discussion of just > what makes this demo special). > > [ lots more that addressed what points I raised... ] Thanks, Bryce, for pointing out what I might have missed re the demo contents and methods. It just seemed to me that it would have been nice to have more that a sophisticated person (read experienced on one or more machines at an advanced programming level) might have to think "man, that'd be do-able on my xxx-machine, but it'd be ugly or slow or whatever". I think back to the very first time I saw Intuition screens demo'ed where RJ called us in and pulled down the front screen to show something else behind it. My jaw dropped. THAT was something I had never seen any other computer do before and I believe that this experience is what colored my own judgement of the Badge contest. I was looking for a jaw-dropper, something that was obviously Amiga and Amiga-only, something that the same sophisticate would have to say perhaps "that's gotta be a videotape" or better still, a remark that one of our guys overheard when the prototype boards of the Amiga were first demo'ed at Vegas: "I design computers for a living, and I know --- THAT CAN'T BE DONE!!!" Great expectations, thats all. The Amiga has spoiled me. Now I expect everything on Amiga to be WOW and FAB (aarrrgghhh - showing my age). (sigh) Rob Peck ...ihnp4!hplabs!dana!rap (ps. re contest preparations... maybe next year... "next year" is only 2.33 months away :-) )
rokicki@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Tomas Rokicki) (10/21/87)
> The name is "bully." Not only do I think it's a bully demo, but it > pushes other demos around. And I suspect that was the demo that Tom > wanted to rewrite. Damn, that's a clever name! I should have been able to figure that one out. No, Mike, yours isn't the one I wanted to rewrite. It was one that was only about 50 lines of code. > P.S. - did Tom really misspell my name? I hadn't noticed... Nope, just checked, I've got your name right on the nose. -tom
ccplumb@watmath.UUCP (10/21/87)
In <4466@zen.berkeley.edu>, bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) writes: >The other no-port was the "demo shower" (I forget the name, and forgot to >snag a blank judging form after the contest.) This one fired up a bunch >of demos and moved the screens in a waterfall pattern. The demos >were all written to run stand alone, until this sadist by the name of "Mike >Myer" decided to run them all at the same time. Worked, too. Now *this* sounds impressive. Much more eye-catching than any demo alone, and >> displays multi-tasking <<. Just what the doctor (well, BADGE) ordered to boost christmas sales... Overall, the quality sounds excellent. I hope they *all* get published. (fished??) I can't wait to get my hands on them. -- -Colin (watmath!ccplumb) Zippy says: I hope you millionaires are having fun! I just invested half your life savings in yeast!!
peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (10/26/87)
I guess I must have missed the posting of the results, because I have now seen a comment on it but not the results themselves. As a hopeful entrant in this contest I'd like some sort of feedback... positive or negative. Could someone nearby who has happened to save the message mail it to me? -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- Disclaimer: These U aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.
spencer@eris.berkeley.edu (Randal m. Spencer [RmS]) (09/09/88)
Announcing the First Annual BADGE Killer Demo Contest! The Bay area Amiga Developers GroupE is sponsoring, for the second time (last year was the Zeroth), a competition designed to provide some impetus to the creative and sometimes demented developers and users of the Amiga to create some killer demos. The rewards consist of cold hard cash, recognition throughout the Amiga community, and some neat toys. Last years winners included Joel Hagen, Ken Offer, Robert Wilt, Leo Schwab, and Mark Riley. Some of the prizes from last year included an Amiga 2000, ASDG Memory board, MicroBotics Starboard II, Lattice & Manx C compilers, and 3 year subscriptions to Info magazine. Last years winning demos were distributed to dealers and in the Fred Fish Freely Redistributable Library disks 112 - 127. This year we are doing it again... Two categories: Custom Programs and Tool Based demos (Anims) Environment: 1 meg machine, 2 floppies, WorkBench 1.3 running Technical Qualifications: Runs from Workbench or CLI Runs from within a drawer on any device Runs on all KickStart supported processors If no obvious close gadget, input causes exit Returns all memory and resources, doesn't write to disk Entry: Letter of Intent September 15, 1988 Final Submission September 29, 1988 Judging: October 20, 1988 meeting of Bay Area Developers GroupE All attending are eligible to vote Spelling doesn't count Send a letter of intent or inquiries for more information to: BADGE Killer Demo Contest c/o Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542, Berkeley CA 94704 Include your name, address, and phone number; and an SASE for a complete listing of the rules and suggestions Phone number (415) 222-7595 ---- BBS number (415) 222-9416 Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore Business Machines "He who dies with the most toys... is dead" -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)222-7595 spencer@mica.berkeley.edu I N F I N I T Y BBS: (415)222-9416 ..ucbvax!mica!spencer s o f t w a r e AAA-WH1M
limonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) (09/09/88)
In article <14039@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> spencer@eris.berkeley.edu (Randal m. Spencer [RmS]) writes: >[much deleted] > Environment: 1 meg machine, 2 floppies, WorkBench 1.3 running > [much more deleted] Ok. As soon as I get my developer's kit I'll start working... or are you suggesting that 1.3 will be finished and available to nornal people soon? :-) { The assumption here is that I'm normal :-[] } Tom -- Tom Limoncelli -- Drew University, Box 1060, Madison, NJ 07940 TLimonce@Drew.Bitnet -- limonce@pilot.njin.net -- VoiceMail (201)408-5389 Drew College of Liberal Arts: male/female ratio: 2:3 student/pc ratio: 1:1 "The opinions expressed are mine... just mine."
mroth@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Roth) (09/09/88)
In article <14039@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> spencer@eris.berkeley.edu (Randal m. Spencer [RmS]) writes: >Announcing the First Annual BADGE Killer Demo Contest! > >Environment: 1 meg machine, 2 floppies, WorkBench 1.3 running ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >Entry: Letter of Intent September 15, 1988 > Final Submission September 29, 1988 Are you trying to restrict the number of contestants or has 1.3 come out already and I just never heard about it? Not all of us have access to the Omega versions of 1.3. (Not that I would enter the contest, but that even if I wanted to I couldn't.) Maybe you should rethink this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mike Roth - ihnp4!ihlpf!mroth (or whatever other way works)
mriley@pnet02.cts.com (Mark Riley) (09/11/88)
>> WorkBench 1.3
Ditto here. I don't have a copy of the 1.3 stuff (not being an
"official" developer.) I do want to enter the contest, but I'm
gonna have to just assume my stuff will work with WB 1.3, etc...
I really don't anticipate any problems, but the contest does
seem to have a bias towards the official developer types because
of the 1.3 restriction. I'm not sure what it costs to be a developer
but I understand it could be as much as several hundred bucks
or so. Too much for me. In any case, I'm happy with working
with the OS as it stands. I'd really hate to write a program
using a 1.3 function and find out (after releasing the product)
that several hundred thousand 500 owners haven't gotten around
to upgrading to 1.3 (1.4, 1.5, et al) and thus can't use and
won't buy my program because it has a silly "Needs 1.3" sticker
on it. My philosphy is to write programs for the least common
denominator when it comes to hardware (512K) and OS (1.2).
-Mark-
UUCP: ...!crash!gryphon!pnet02!mriley BIX: mriley LAT: 34.25 N
INET: mriley@pnet02.cts.com PLINK: SONIX LONG: 118.78 W
"Hey, I don't _use_ programs, I write them..." ;-)darin@nova.laic.uucp (Darin Johnson) (09/14/88)
In article <6831@gryphon.CTS.COM>, mriley@pnet02.cts.com (Mark Riley) writes: > >> WorkBench 1.3 > > Ditto here. I don't have a copy of the 1.3 stuff (not being an > "official" developer.) I do want to enter the contest, but I'm > gonna have to just assume my stuff will work with WB 1.3, etc... > I really don't anticipate any problems, but the contest does > seem to have a bias towards the official developer types because > of the 1.3 restriction. Actually, it is a little late to enter anyway... The rule about 1.3 was put in eons back when it was assumed 1.3 would come out "in a month or two". The restriction was so that demos would work with 1.3 which dealers, new users, etc. would undoubtedly be running. Besides, you wouldn't want to show a demo to your friends and say: "wait just a few minutes while I try to find where I put that dang 1.2 disk...". If 1.3 came out tomorrow, I doubt that the judges will take those rules as absolute (there might be heated discussions though). Also, since 1.3 has been pretty well described on the net, and I haven't heard of developer's complaining that program X won't run under 1.3, I would assume that a reasonably well written program for 1.2 would run under 1.3 (as compared to the (poorly written?) 1.1 programs that crashed under 1.2). Also, there are a few non-registered-developers who are BADGE members, and I don't think BADGE would discriminate on that basis. Actually, there are no qualifications for membership (they haven't booted me out!) except for an interest the technical side of the Amiga. In fact, there are really less than a handful of "official" members, but only because Stanford required a certain number of members before BADGE (BAADG?) could become offical. The majority of the "attendees" are just freeloaders ;-) Darin Johnson (...pyramid.arpa!leadsv!laic!darin) (...ucbvax!sun!sunncal!leadsv!laic!darin) "All aboard the DOOMED express!"
dbk@fbog.UUCP (Dave B. Kinzer @ Price Rd. GEG) (11/18/88)
[Eat punched tape confetti, Mr. Lineeater]
{all flames and counter flames deleated}
It seems to me (aka IMHO), that if the stated intent of the BADGE
contest is to produce demos that run on a stock machine and leave the
machine in a useable state, then it only makes sense to have rules
supporting it. It's their contest and they have the right to make up
whatever conditions and rules that they want. You can't win the Irish
sweepstakes with a Publisher's Clearinghouse entry form.
This is not to say that you cannot win the "Dream Home" from some other
contest. Anyone who wants to produce * T H E U L T I M A T E D E M O *
is certainly not prohibited from doing it. It can be entered in any contest
that it qualifys for. If there is no existing contest that it is eligable
for, a new 'no holds barred' contest could be started by the programmer.
(Note: I am not volunteering here, its easier to write for the rules then
run a contest, especially if you have to wait between reboots. :-))
Failing starting another contest, the author has another route to fame
and glory, release it to the public domain. If it really is that terrific,
then you will have all the attention you deserve. Look at Leo (I don't
even have to mention his last name and you know who I mean) with his
screen hacks.
The only person with a valid complaint about this is the person who's
entry was misplaced. Since there were prizes associated with the contest,
the organizers incurred a responsability of due care for the entrys. It
is unfortunate for him that his demo wasn't shown, it is unfortunate for
BADGE in that it casts a shadow over contest. I'm sure that because of this
the contest will be run in a more organized manner next year.
The fortunate side of this is that even though this person's demo didn't
win (perhaps directly as a result of it not being shown), *I* still want
to see it! It may very well be that I will declare it the winner in my
household. This may not be the prestiege that the author sought, but
at least I'm happy about it, and the Amiga (the true intended benefactor
of this contest) is that much better off.
I do apologize for the length of this rambling, apply IMHO (in my
humble opinion) liberally throughout.
| // You've heard of CATS and DOGS, I'm from GOATS, Dave Kinzer |
| // Gladly Offering All Their Support! noao!nud!fbog!dbk |
| \X/ "My employer's machine, my opinion." (602) 897-3085 |rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) (02/21/89)
====================================================================
The following posting is also being sent to all of the major Amiga
magazines. I have not as yet contacted the disk-based Amiga mags,
but shall do so RSN. :-)
Posted on behalf of BADGE which itself has no explicit Usenet access.
Rob Peck
====================================================================
(officially)
Announcing the results of the 1988
Bay area Amiga Developers GroupE
Killer Demo Contest
On October 20, 1988, the Bay area Amiga Developers GroupE (BADGE)
held a contest to select the best Amiga demo of the year. The
contest is sponsored to promote greater interest in the Amiga
and thus generate additional sales. The primary purpose of the
contest is to create demo disks for dealers to use to show off the
Amiga.
First of all, a very large THANK YOU goes out to all of our sponsors
who were generous enough to donate prizes for this year's contest.
Commodore-Amiga -- Amiga 2000
Go Amigo -- 30 meg Hard Card
Computer Attic -- 2 meg Ram Board
MicroBotics -- 8Up! 8 meg Ram Board (unpopulated)
Manx Software -- Aztec C compiler
(and temporary housing
one of the judges)
A-Squared -- Real Time Video Digitizer
Oxxi -- Software (Maxi-Plan, Atalk III)
Boing Inc. -- Boing Jacket, Boing Mouse
Info Magazine -- Ten three-year Subscriptions
Winner's Circle,
Berkeley -- Time and Equipment (thanks!)
Tracy McSheery -- Game software
Radical Eye Software -- $500.00 cash
(for operating expenses)
This year there were two catagories of demos: Tool-Based (meaning
that the demo may require another, possibly commercial program
to run), and Custom-Programmed (a standalone program).
The prize catagories were: Best Overall, Best Use of Graphics, Best
Use of Sound, and Funniest, as well as second and third place.
[Scoring details and explicit finishing
positions omitted for brevity]
This year, the Best Overall prize (an Amiga 2000, donated by Paul
Higginbottom of Commodore-West Chester) goes to Brad Schenck for his
Director Animation called Charon.
Other winning catatories include:
Best Custom Demo -- Tank by Vince Lee;
Funniest -- "Not Boing Again" by Dr. Gandalf;
Best Sound -- "Charon" again, by Brad Schenck;
and Best Graphics -- Tychoid by John M. Olsen.
Two disks with the top three demos are available from BADGE for
$5.00 by sending your request to:
Badge Killer Demo Contest
c/o Randy Spencer
P.O. Box 4542
Berkeley CA 94704
All of this year's entries will be sent to Fred Fish for distribution
in his Freely Redistributable Library.
The Folks Behind BADGE
=======================
We are BADGE, the "Bay area Amiga Developers GroupE". The group consists
of developers (both commercial software organization employees and
independents) and others who just want to be there when the latest
hot product (sometimes work-in-process) is shown. We enjoy working
on the Amiga and want to promote it wherever possible.
Some time ago, we realized that with a limited budget for advertising
and dealer training, Commodore International might need some gentle help
to show off the capabilities of the Amiga. With so very much software
becoming available in the Public Domain for the Amiga, someone at a
BADGE meeting said: "Hey, why don't we create an award or a hall of
fame for the best of the Public Domain Amiga software".
This idea soon became the seed for the "BADGE Killer Demo Contest", a
contest that might use some of the spare time of various developers to
create whiz-bang demos that we could distribute, at our cost, to dealers.
This would help sell machines and garner a bit of fame (if nothing
else) for the demo's creator. Suddenly we were awash in offers for
prizes to give for contest winners and suddenly we had a real
contest that demanded real rules and real judging. The idea had
taken on a life of its own.
The first contest (called the ZEROth demo contest, because we didn't
know if it would ever happen again) was a success and the disks were
distributed far and wide. We again promoted the contest idea for
the following year, and established a set of rules to follow. The
rules took up a few pages and unfortunately tended to discourage some
entrants who might otherwise have produced the "demo of the decade".
At our most recent meeting, BADGE has decided to get back to that
original idea -- to promote the Amiga -- and the demos should support
that most basic concept.
Thus, we present the "CONCEPTS For Future BADGE Killer Demo Contests":
The Winning Demos:
o are easy to install and run
o are 'safe' to run
o are freely redistributable
o promote the Amiga
and THAT's IT! Exactly what BADGE would like to be able to distribute.
To expand on the items just a LITTLE bit:
Easy to install - the dealer or customer ought to be able
to figure out what is needed to install it on a hard
disk and the program should know how to run no matter
where it is installed. Or explicit instructions on
how to run it can be provided.
Safe - the program contains no virus, and does not crash
the machine on entry or exit.
Freely redistributable - we want to give them out at cost
to whoever wants to see them. The winners get famous.
Promote the Amiga - it certainly would be nice to see things
that are not as easily done on other machines, shows
folks why they bought (or should buy) an Amiga. Something
uniquely Amiga would be a big plus.
So you now know our GOALS. So what are the RULES?
Well, we've become pretty open ended there. The only rules (and
maybe for something fabulous we might be willing to bend just a little)
are basically the opposites of the GOALS above.
A demo program can be disqualified for any of the following:
o if it crashes the machine (bendable rule);
o if it has or installs a virus (hard and fast rule);
o if it does not exit cleanly (does not follow Amiga program
"rules", bendable to some extent);
o if it is not freely redistributable (ok to copyright, but
if you prevent us from distributing it,
it won't be accepted as a contest entry);
o if it requires that the disk be write-enabled
(bendable - BUT... one entry last year wrote to its disk,
then stopped running after it had been run 5 times;
this is not a suitable item for a person to have to demo
his machine... word of mouth sells a lot of systems! )
We have developed a set of 'recommendations' which we felt would
best serve our target audience for the demos. Note that these are
not "rules" per se, however the presence (or absence) of some of
these could be considered in part of the judging:
RECOMMENDATIONS (NOT rules):
o uniquely Amiga - a big plus
o originality - will influence audience reaction
o runs in 512k system - largest installed base
o runs in a one-disk system (another large installed base)
(if needs Workbench disk present for libs etc, maybe demo
can be set up to run with certain things in RAM:?)
o easy to install on a hard disk (maybe even provide a script)
(We'd "prefer" all-you-need in a drawer that we could simply
use Workbench to drag onto the hard disk)
o fits on one disk (nice, but low priority)
o obvious means of exit (or startup screen that tells how to exit)
o asynchronous exit (can get out at any time)
o idiot proof - cannot 'cause' it to crash; trap all
non-exit events -- low priority item,
but nice if included
o supports multi-tasking -- nice if you can do it
o no blatant commercialism IN the demo --
though a text file specifying the product
that created it, or glorifying the creators
of the demo is perfectly acceptable.
JUDGING: will be based on the following tenets in general:
o which demo will sell the most Amigas?
o audience reaction will play an important part;
technical judges might act as human applause meters,
so to speak
o use "technical merit" (we are, after all, developers)
as a tie-breaker.
o no explicit categories, but one special award for 'funniest'.
Yes, there will probably be "professionals" entering demos in the
contest, but every demo has an equal chance of winning. We're looking
forward to seeing everyone's ideas.
Announcing The SECOND BADGE Killer Demo Contest
===============================================
The SECOND (annual?) BADGE Killer Demo Contest will be held at the
September, 1989 meeting of BADGE (most likely to take place on the
third Thursday of the month.)
Entrants are encouraged to follow the above rules and guidelines
in submitting your demos. Demos should be accompanied by either
a README file on the disk to tell us the minimum configuration
in which the demo will run and exactly how to start (and stop)
the demo. Demos will be accepted up to and including September 1,
1989, with that date relatively firm (because the contest is being
announced so far in advance). This will allow sufficient time for
the judges to arrange the necessary equipment and to set up a
reasonable environment for the display of the demos.
If you wish to ask any questions about the rules and recommendations,
please send those questions to the address below. We will try to
respond in a reasonable time frame. A quick answer is certainly
possible, but an "official" response would be based on a vote of
the BADGE membership. Since we meet only once each month, an official
response might not be what you'd want, but perhaps a "well-maybe"
would suffice until the next meeting happens.
Submit your "prize-winning" entries to:
BADGE Contest
c/o DATAPATH
P. O. Box 31008
Los Gatos, CA 95031
All entries will be acknowledged on receipt. If you want your entry
material to be returned following the contest, please include a self-
addressed envelope with sufficient postage to carry the material
safely back to you.
We've announced the contest considerably earlier this year to give
folks time to think about the rules and recommendations, and to provide
additional work-time if required. It would be a shame to miss a chance
for the killer demo of the decade just because we did not post the
contest rules in time. For all coming contests, we'll want to distribute
the winning disks very quickly, and this is yet another reason why we
simplified the rules.
Additionally, since the announcement is early enough that we have no
idea what kind of prizes might be available for this next contest.
As mentioned earlier, prize donations are voluntary and depend
on the generous support of our sponsors.
We can not guarantee anything of course, but please realize that this
contest draws a lot of interest from users around the world who eagerly
await the killer demos each year -- you could become famous.
We're looking forward to your entry.
BADGE.c152-cb@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Vince Lee) (02/22/89)
> Tracy McSheery -- Game software
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please change this to Laser Gamesmanship. Mentioning the
president's name really doesn't do anything for the company's
publicity.UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (02/22/89)
Given the stated purpose of the Killer Demo contest, would it be appropriate to add a APPLICATION PROGRAM DEMO category. For example, someone might create a continuous looping demo of the capabilities of TeX, or the Director, or Dpaint, or AREXX, or dmouse, or whtever. The local dealer here in Erie, for example, can't demo spreadsheets, word processors, graphics/video programs, or anything else for that matter, (no flames, please---he's the only dealer). My notion is that instead of running JUGGLER in the front window of his store, he could run some sort of productivity software demo.
eberger@godot.psc.edu (Ed Berger) (02/23/89)
In article <72810UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >Given the stated purpose of the Killer Demo contest, would it be >appropriate to add a APPLICATION PROGRAM DEMO category. For >example, someone might create a continuous looping demo of the >capabilities of TeX, or the Director, or Dpaint, or AREXX, or >dmouse, or whtever. With the new rules, These could be entered and win if: A.) They aren't blatently commercial B.) They are the best in a given category C.) They are freely distributable I didn't see anything in the rules, that said the entries had to be Demos.... Let's see some 'complete' applications entered! not brain dead demos.... I'm sure a 512k version of Aspice would win for funniest demo :)
rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) (02/24/89)
In article <72810UH2@PSUVM>, UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: > Given the stated purpose of the Killer Demo contest, would it be > appropriate to add a APPLICATION PROGRAM DEMO category. For > example, someone might create a continuous looping demo of the > capabilities of TeX, or the Director, or Dpaint, or AREXX, or > dmouse, or whtever. > > The local dealer here in Erie, for example, can't demo spreadsheets, > word processors, graphics/video programs, or anything else for that matter, > (no flames, please---he's the only dealer). My notion is that > instead of running JUGGLER in the front window of his store, he could > run some sort of productivity software demo. Considering what I have often seen running in the windows of MAC and IBM dealers, Lee has a VERY good point here. Running loop demos of various commercial software could indeed be a good selling feature for the machine and in the case of a not quite so experienced dealer, could be a godsend. However #begin personal opinion mode "why have the commercial program writers and market-teers not done this ALREADY????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It would seem that with SO very much commercial software now becoming available for Amiga, there should be at least a FEW of the larger vendors creating self-running demos promoting their product. Looking at games-creators, for example, there is usually a play-with-nobody mode built in for the very purpose of convincing the user to buy it (as in the arcade games... play me, I look interesting). I believe that the primary potential for reward in such an area is to have the potential demo writer contact the manufacturer for which he'd like to do a demo and make a contract to produce it. ALL commercial vendors, I'd assume, have access through Commodore to find out where the authorized Amiga dealers are located. And if the dealers don't carry their products, I still feel it is up to the vendor (and not a non-commercial group such as BADGE or even Fred Fish) to promote his own product. With programs like the DIRECTOR and various ANIM and movie players, as well as the PD music players, the commercial guys have plenty of PD tools/toys to work with. Lets see some creative marketing here. Surely they want to sell their products, effectively, to the largest possible audience. #begin to soften one's opinion Well, maybe if a demo "appeared" (via frame grabs etc) to show more than one commercial product in a single "reel", effectively showing off Amiga's capabilities to form your own customized environment by using a combination of your own favorite utilities, this could potentially qualify under the general rule "what will sell the most Amigas". Remember that the goal is not to simply provide existing users with pick-and-choose catalogs (they are already convinced of the machine's utility... they bought one), but to convince more folks that this is a viable machine. Do we want demos that look like a slick commercial for the Amiga?? YES, I believe so! Look what Commodore did with their demo tapes recently. I, for one, was impressed. Hey, run THAT in the dealer's window. I'll bring this up at the next BADGE meeting, but unless some "reel" excitement was in a single-product demo.... well, who knows? "We ain't seen one yet, so we don't know whether it'd fly". I do recall seeing a recent self-running demo of a flight simulator (forgot which one), but though the rendering was quite impressive, anything more than two minutes of watching it brought yawns to some. Other opinions welcome, next BADGE meeting is third Thursday of March, so there is time to collect data. Rob Peck
paolucci@snll-arpagw.UUCP (Sam Paolucci) (02/24/89)
In article <72810UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes:
->Given the stated purpose of the Killer Demo contest, would it be
->appropriate to add a APPLICATION PROGRAM DEMO category. For
->example, someone might create a continuous looping demo of the
->capabilities of TeX, or the Director, or Dpaint, or AREXX, or
->dmouse, or whtever.
->
->The local dealer here in Erie, for example, can't demo spreadsheets,
->word processors, graphics/video programs, or anything else for that matter,
->(no flames, please---he's the only dealer). My notion is that
->instead of running JUGGLER in the front window of his store, he could
->run some sort of productivity software demo.
In my humble opinion, such application demos should be left to the authors
of the commercial software. First because they know the software best,
and second because it is in their interest to make an attractive demo
that sells.
BADGE should have as little to do with anything smelling of commercialism
as possible.
--
-+= SAM =+-
"the best things in life are free"
ARPA: paolucci@snll-arpagw.llnl.govchad@cup.portal.com (Chad The-Walrus Netzer) (02/24/89)
In a previous article, (Lee Sailer) writes:
)Given the stated purpose of the Killer Demo contest, would it be
)appropriate to add a APPLICATION PROGRAM DEMO category. For
)example, someone might create a continuous looping demo of the
)capabilities of TeX, or the Director, or Dpaint, or AREXX, or
)dmouse, or whtever.
While I agree that this might very well make a good demo for the
Amiga, it doesn't really fit the context of the contest. We (BADGE) are
looking for more of an artistic interpretation, ie. creative, original,
eye-catching demos that will promote the Amiga. Once we have caught the eye
of a prospective buyer, other demos that show him features of various
application programs can be shown. But the contest's first priority is to
gain the attention of prospective buyers. Note that this does not mean that
someone could NOT do what you asked, assuming it is freely distributeable, but
it probably would not fare too well in the judging.
Note also that there are no specific categories this year, just one
big pool. We made this decision after some thought and realized that if it is
a good demo we don't really care if a "tool" was used to make it, or if it is
a standalone program... We just want to get some good demos!!!
Note: I do not officially represent BADGE in any way other than being
a devoted attendee, and was present for the formulation of the guidelines of
this year's contest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chad 'The_Walrus' Netzer -> AmigaManiac++
"The time has come", The Walrus said, "to talk of many things..."
-Lewis Carrolllauren@cbmvax.UUCP (Lauren Brown CATS) (02/25/89)
In article <3682@ardent.UUCP> rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes: >> My notion is that >> instead of running JUGGLER in the front window of his store, he could >> run some sort of productivity software demo. > >Considering what I have often seen running in the windows of MAC and IBM >dealers, Lee has a VERY good point here. Running loop demos of various >commercial software could indeed be a good selling feature for the machine >and in the case of a not quite so experienced dealer, could be a godsend. > >........................................................ALL commercial >vendors, I'd assume, have access through Commodore to find out where the >authorized Amiga dealers are located. And if the dealers don't carry >their products, I still feel it is up to the vendor (and not a non-commercial >group such as BADGE or even Fred Fish) to promote his own product. And we'll make it even easier for demos to reach dealers, publications and Commodore offices worldwide. The following will appear in the next issue of AmigaMail-Market (in your mailbox soon). We're looking for good demos! Attention all developers: Commodore would like to obtain disks containing demonstration versions of commercially available products. Dealers are sometimes reluctant to open new packages to show the customer, so we would like to help your sales efforts by duplicating and distributing your demonstration disks free of charge. Here are some guidelines for the types of demonstration disks we would like to see. 1. Preferably, these demos should be both free-running and interactive, that is, if someone wants to sit down and be guided through some specific features, they can; otherwise the demo runs unattended. 2. Demonstration disks for all application programs are welcome. We have special need for demos showing: graphics, video, productivity, music, games, etc. 3. Either a readme file or printed documentation should be included indicating: a. System requirements (RAM, drives, etc.) b. A statement allowing us (or anyone) to copy the disk and distribute it free of charge. c. Where dealers can purchase your product (through you, a distributor, etc.) and who to contact for more information. d. Information on support for national keymaps, PAL/NTSC modes and local language versions. Additionally, if you know of other quality public domain demonstrations (graphic slideshows, for example), please send them in also. Send your disks and any documentation to: Barb Feldman Commodore International, Inc. 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester, PA 19380 If the demo is (or could be) available in languages other than English, please advise. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Lauren Brown -- CBM >>Amiga Technical Support<< 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester, PA 19380 UUCP ...{allegra,uunet,rutger,}!cbmvax!lauren PHONE 215-431-9100 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
a3@mindlink.UUCP (Dave Allen) (02/28/89)
I happen to agree with Lee. > >> In article <72810UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >> ->(no flames, please---he's the only dealer). My notion is that >> ->instead of running JUGGLER in the front window of his store, he could >> ->run some sort of productivity software demo. > BADGE should have as little to do with anything smelling of commercialism > as possible. > > -- > -+= SAM =+- > "the best things in life are free" > > ARPA: paolucci@snll-arpagw.llnl.gov l What is the biggest complaint about CBM heard all over the world? The AMIGA is not a business computer. Business = productivity, yes, no? Perhaps if you saw some demos running in the store window that took advantage of the productivity products out there, there might be more acceptance and understanding of a machine that does a far better job that ANY single tasking machine, as a potential business computer. We have been using AMIGAs since we started and it is obvious from the systems I have helped to set up (from A500 to A2000) that the AMIGA can be made to truley shine in a work environment. I really don't want people to think of the AMIGA as ONLY a fancey graphics and animation computer (read: games machine) even though for the buck it does a better job in those catagories. Lets see some demos of multiple worksheets, with files downloading from BBSs and word precessors printing letters, etc.... BTW, if the best things in life are free, who bought you your AMIGA? -- RSI-where WEDGES come from // Multi-Tasking is my life! 9651 Alexandra Road // Name: Dave Allen Richmond, B.C. Canada \\ // Phone: (604) 278-6694 - MIND LINK (604) 533-2312 V6X 1C6 \X/ UseNet: uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Dave_Allen
gbuce@pixar.UUCP (George Buce) (03/02/89)
In article <3682@ardent.UUCP> rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes: >In article <72810UH2@PSUVM>, UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >> The local dealer here in Erie, for example, can't demo spreadsheets, >> word processors, graphics/video programs, or anything else for that matter, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Lee has a VERY good point here. Running loop demos of various >commercial software could indeed be a good selling feature for the machine >and in the case of a not quite so experienced dealer, could be a godsend. > > "why have the commercial program writers and market-teers not > done this ALREADY????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This has been done with a commercial program, for quite a few months. AMnews disk magazine has a self-running demo based on Meridian Software's Demonstrator. The Demonstrator records all Intuition inputs (mouse and keyboard) and later plays them back exactly as recorded. After putting together an issue of AMnews, we would do an hour long "walk through" of the magazine, showing off the articles, illustrations and demos while the Demonstrator was recording our inputs. The resulting file is included on every issue of AMnews along with a DemoPlayer from Meridian. All that was required of the dealer (besides a 1 meg Amiga) was to boot up the magazine and double click on the demo icon. The demo ran in a loop that was anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the issue. I understand a good number of Amigas (and magazines) were sold due to that demo mode. The Demonstrator is general purpose enough that it could be included with any piece of software to show off the product's highlights without any attendance by a salesman... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- George Buce (8{> | Can you say 192 Meg of RAM? (Only 24K of CHIP though) ...ucbvax!pixar!gbuce | Can you say 48 bitplanes? (How about $29,500?) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: I used to work for AMnews, but I found a company with bigger and better toys.
c152-cb@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Vince Lee) (03/04/89)
In article <88@mindlink.UUCP> a3@mindlink.UUCP (Dave Allen) writes: >I happen to agree with Lee. >> >>> In article <72810UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >>> ->(no flames, please---he's the only dealer). My notion is that >>> ->instead of running JUGGLER in the front window of his store, he could >>> ->run some sort of productivity software demo. >> BADGE should have as little to do with anything smelling of commercialism >> as possible. >What is the biggest complaint about CBM heard all over the world? The AMIGA is >not a business computer. Business = productivity, yes, no? >Perhaps if you saw some demos running in the store window that took advantage >of the productivity products out there, there might be more acceptance and >understanding of a machine that does a far better job that ANY single tasking >machine, as a potential business computer. The point is that this should be CBM's responsibility, not BADGE's. BADGE is a strictly non-commercial organization consisting of hackers, not business and sales types. I, for one, would rather keep it that way. The BKDC should remain a forum for programmers to show real neat stuff, with a side benefit that the programs may spur some Amiga sales. I would hate to see it turn into a merchandising show for venders to show off the latest whiz bang version of their newest database program (YAWN!). It is already in a companies' interests to make running demos of their programs. I don't think awarding prizes for this is necessary or appropriate. -Vince Lee
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (08/18/89)
Official Statement from the BKDC-II Committee
Response to recent postings in comp.sys.amiga
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
In: <21363@cup.portal.com>, Classic_-_Concepts@cup.portal.com writes:
Am I the only one so busy that I'll NEVER get to enter the Killer Demo
Contest???? I've wanted to each time and the heavens continue to conspire
against me. I've got this **KILLER** demo idea that just really wants to
get done. I said THIS YEAR. But my gosh, the deadline is 2 weeks away
and I haven't started yet. Sigh. Hey, any plans to extend the deadline,
a few days, hours, or even minutes?????? If so, let me know!!
In: <394@ncis.tis.llnl.gov>, lindner@ncis.tis.llnl.gov (Curt Lindner) writes:
Why bother???? They probably wont award the prizes again
this year! A sysop in the D.C. area here, Eric Fleisher, was
a winner in last years contest, and has yet to receive
anything!! Also, I've heard of several people who have
sent their money to BADGE to get the video of the animations,
only to receive nothing, nor hear one word from BADGE.
Curt Lindner
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Entries for the 1989 BADGE Killer Demo Contest will be accepted up to the
point where there is NO way to get them into the show --- September 15, 1989
at least.
With reference to the 1988 prize awards: All, repeat, ALL, announced prizes
were shipped long ago. A trace is being run on Eric "Dr.Gandalf" Fleisher's
prize as of today (Friday, Aug. 18, 1989) since noone on the BADGE committees
is aware of non-receipt of the prizes.
There no NO BKDC "videos" and no checks were cashed for same.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Committee would like to emphasize:
=> "ALL NEW MANAGEMENT" is operating the Contest this year, 1989.
=> ALL entrants in the 1989 BADGE Killer Demo Contest will get something!!!
=> Learning from experience, ALL prizes will be in hand the evening of the
Contest, and ALL prizes will be shipped within 2 weeks of the Contest.
=> Prizes already in hand as of Thursday, Aug. 17, 1989 are:
+ A2000...................Donated by Commodore Business Machines
+ A2620...................Donated by GO AMIGO!
+ DigiView GOLD...........Donated by NewTek
+ DigiPaint-3.............Donated by NewTek
+ "Game Package"..........Donated by Electronic Arts
+ AmigaTeX................Donated by Radical Eye Software
+ Boing! Jacket...........Donated by Boing, Inc.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The 1989 BADGE Killer Demo Contest (BKDC-II) Committee comprises:
Gary Starkweather, Chairman
Rob Peck
Ali Ozer
and numerous other volunteers.
I'm acting as Usenet liaison for Gary (who's not on Usenet); send email for
Gary to me and I'll relay it to/from him. My uucp addresses are:
thad@cup.portal.com
..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
At Thursday's (Aug. 17, 1989) BADGE meeting, Chuck McManis was nominated the
"Chief Honcho, Factotum, and Moderator" of BADGE for the next 12 months, taking
the reigns from Leo Schwab. Thanks (!!), Leo, for hosting BADGE during the pas
t
year, and a welcome to Chuck!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Repeating the 1989 BKDC-II Rules:
BADGE Killer Demo Contest 2 --- News Flash!
The entry deadline for BADGE Killer Demo Contest 2 (BKDC2)
is mid-September 1989. Entries should be submitted on floppy to:
BADGE Contest
P.O. Box 31008
Los Gatos, CA 95031
The rules for the contest are very basic. Each entry
> must be easy to install and run
> must be safe to run
> must be freely distributable
> must promote the Amiga
Any entry can be disqualified for the following reasons:
< the entry crashes the system
< the entry has or installs a virus
< the entry does not exit the system cleanly
< the entry is not freely distributable
< the entry requires disk to be write enabled
All entries should be accompanied with a README file indicating the
minimum configuration required to run the demo and exactly how to start
and stop it. If you'd like your material back, please enclose a self-addressed
and stamped (US$0.45) envelope.
The following prizes have been promised so far; at this point the list
is subject to change (most likely grow). As the list finalizes we will provide
up-to-date information.
Commodore A2000
Electronic Arts Populous, Power Dome
Go Amigo A2620 Board
NewTek DigiView Gold, DigiPaint 3
Radical Eye Software AmigaTeX
Xecom 2400 baud mini modem
Judging will take place at the September 1989 meeting (most likely
to be held on the third Thursday) of BADGE, with the audience voting.
There will be no explicit categories for "best graphics" or
"best sound" (unlike last year), however, there will be a special award
for the funniest demo, and, of course, awards for the overall winners.
BADGE is the "Bay area Amiga Developers GroupE". The group consists
of developers and users who enjoy working on the Amiga and want to
promote it wherever possible.
The goal of BADGE Killer Demo Contest is to get people to create
demos that promote the Amiga; it has succeeded twice so far (in BKDC0 and
BKDC1) to attract a killer collection of demos which have made their way
into dealer windows and many freely distributable disk collections.
BKDC0 Best Overall winner was "RGB," by Joel Hagen; BKDC1 winner
was "Charon," by Brad Schenck. BKDC2 is your chance to become famous!
Please give this posting wide distribution; if you don't see it on your
favorite bulletin board, upload it; if you don't see it in your local
user group newsletter, give it to the editor. If you have friends who
use Amigas but don't read newsletters or bulletin boards, print copies
out for them, too!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (08/19/89)
I don't think you can call it BKDC II. BKDC 2 is OK. There is no
zero in roman numerals.
leerokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki) (10/21/89)
Well, folks, I'm just back from the third annual BADGE Killer Demo Contest. This contest, under the name BKDC-2 (the first was BKDC-0), went well beyond anything I expected. The demos were so incredible I'm planning to make a videotape for myself to keep for another decade or so. I am simply stunned, absolutely amazed, at what people were able to do. There were 30 entries shown, and the vast majority were simply superb. They were also big (all thirty take 36 megabytes of a hard disk.) But I don't think anyone will be disappointed when they see them. I'll leave a description of the various demos to others, but they ran the gamut from astonishing custom demos showing off the raw power of the machine, to humorous cartoon-like animations, to incredibly realistic 3-d animations. Thanks to Lee and Ali Ozer, Gary Starkweather, and Grant [something], who ran the entire show did a marvelous job. Special thanks to those who took the time to enter the contest. -tom
paulz@hpspdra.HP.COM (Paul Zander) (10/24/89)
Perhaps you or one of the contest people can arrange a private viewing for the staff at the San Jose Mockery Snooze. Seeing a what a "real" computer can do might give them a bigger jolt than the earthquake...