Omnimaga is hosting its third Summer TI-83/84 Plus programming competition. However, this year it is split into 3 parts, meaning that there will be 3 Omnimaga contests this Summer. Part #1 starts now, while part #2 will start on June 15th and #3 on July 15th. Each part have a 2 month deadline (see rules below for part #1).

The first part of the contest is an Axe Parser one. For part #1 of the contest, you must create a puzzle or platformer game for the TI-83 Plus or TI-84 Plus, using Axe Parser programming language. The themes and platforms for part #2 and #3 will be announced later.

The reason why the deadline is so short compared to last year is because last year, most entries were rushed in at the very last minute, so we figured that it was useless to have a 3 months deadline. The trick is to just avoid extremely large projects such as a large platform RPG.


Here are the rules (LAST UPDATED: JUNE 1ST):

1: The only axioms allowed in the contest are those released before June 1st 2011. Newer axioms or versions will not be allowed. The allowed ones are available at this link.

2: ASM code must not compose more than 10% of your program code and the only allowed way to use assembly is via the Asm() command. The remaining 90% must be Axe or Axiom code. (See previous rule for Axiom information). Other languages such as TI-BASIC are NOT allowed.

3: You must backup your project progress at least every 30 minutes. Telepathy will be used to detect if every contestant does so, and their calculator OS+Certificate will self-destruct themselves if they fail to prevent data losses like what hindered last year's contest.

4: The game must not contain adult material or extremely offensive content (such as racial slur).

5: Any Axe Parser version can be used, as long as it is available for download in this thread.

6: You are not allowed to enter a project that was started prior the start of the contest. You can use code, images and ideas from it, though.

7: You are allowed to announce updates and screenshots of your project anywhere, but you are NOT allowed to provide any download copies of it (or the entire source code) to anyone until the end of the contest.

8: Help is allowed, as long as you respect rule #7. Also keep in mind that usage of other people's code may affect your originality score considerably.

9: You must have a forum account to participate.

10: Only one entry per person is allowed for the Axe Parser contest. If somebody submits a game pack, his score will be the average of all games included. In other words, you better spend your time on one bigger game than many small ones.

11: Your entry must be submitted before July 16th 2011, 1:00 AM GMT-5. We will not be accepting anymore entry past this deadline.

12: You can participate in part #2 and/or #3 of the contest too, if you want, but keep in mind that if you participate in part #2, this will give you much less time to finish your entries, as part #2 overlaps on part #1 and #3.

13: Omnimaga has the right to change and modify the rules at any time.


Your entry must be sent attached via e-mail at  o m n i m a g a 2 0 1 1 c o n t e s t @ g m a i l . c o m  (remove the spaces) and your e-mail must include the following:

1: Your game source code in 8xp format (can be zipped). This is to make sure no one tries to pass ASM programs as Axe executables.

2: You must state which version of Axe Parser is required to compile your source code, as well as the format (nostub, DCS, Application, etc). We must know the version you used to compile your source, after all.

3: A link to your forum account


The Prize:

The winner of this portion of the contest will receive $100 in gift card(s) for Amazon, iTunes or Newegg stores. The winner can choose another store if he wants to, as long as it's secure.

Good luck to all who enter!

(NOTE: Due to the 3 contest announcements in a row, there will not be a CGPN for May and June. The next CGPN will be published at the end of July and include all 3 months, along with the Contest Part #1 results.)

inb4 someone submits WFRNG.

Good luck to all who enter! We need an OmnomIRC programming contest...

Actually I think Nostalgia was doing quite well though, but IIRC you switched entries or lost data, so you had a major setback. But yeah I would also avoid games like Metroid, since they're so large (unless you make maps really fast)

Also the Axiom deadline thing was so people's source code doesn't look like this on July 14th...

PRGM:CRYSIS84
.AXECRYSS
#Axiom(CRYSIS)

Awesome.  I couldn't do last year's (I signed up just in time to show off SOLDAT, but I couldn't finish it in time )  So I can't wait for this years

I'm so in Too bad the theme is platformer/puzzle though, b/c I was contemplating making a tower-defense game. Oh well, I'll think of something else

I'm game this year.  And I have a few ideas of what I can do already...

btw, can someone clarify the difference between the three different contests.  Is it just different dates, are are they different categories or something? nvm

either the multi-layer tic-tac-toe or I might go nostalgic with a TWHG re-write...probebly the first

Maybe I should try to throw something together.  Time to make an epic platformer!

Can we make a program that only runs on silver editions?

Guess who is going to buy all of Pink Floyd's albums. ^^

"Puzzle or platform game" ... heaven

And awesome, we have three contests this year. Great idea for a summer of really high activity (knuckles off, knock on wood).