[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux Demo Day 99

[Steve Baker]

"J. Reeves Hall" wrote:
> 
> Steve Baker wrote:

> > I had the idea to try to write an entire computer game in 24 hours - to
> > establish some kind of record with the Guinness Book of Records - then
> > to sell it for charity (some kind of shareware deal maybe).
 
> I LOVE that idea - but dammit, I'm gonna be in Atlanta in a week!!!
> Speedcoding is extremely fun. Err, perhaps this could be done over the
> Internet, with live videoconferencing?

I guess so - of course if we all did that, it would be a less publicity-
raising event than sitting in the foyer of a big computer store doing
it!
 
> I'll participate if possible. Good luck in any case. This could raise a
> lot of Linux publicity, even if it didn't get in the GBWR.

[Having floated the idea - I'll play devil's advocate for a moment]

If GBWR understood anything about the subject, they clearly wouldn't
be able to formulate a set of rules that would make this a proper
record attempt.

  * What constitutes a video game?  Would 'PONG' do? (I could write
    that *easily* in an hour - single-handed)

  * How much of it has to be done in the 24 hours?  Do you have
    to think up the idea, plan it *and* code it in that time?
    Would you be allowed to flowchart all the code in advance?
    Would you just have to type in the code in 24 hours?

  * How many people can help?  Because you need artists and musicians,
    it would be hard to build a 'reasonable' (ie non-Pong) game by
    oneself - even in infinite time.

  * What pre-written libraries are allowed?  Clearly one shouldn't
    have to rewrite the C standard library. What about Mesa or libSVGA?
    Are you allowed to use a game library like my PLIB package
    or ClanLib?  If you are allowed that, why not a complete
    "Game Engine" like Doom or Quake?  It hardly seems like you'd
    need to write code at all in that case.

So, with all those grey areas, it might be hard to pursuade GBWR
to accept it as a record-able event.  However, it's possible we
might sneak it past them since we would certainly be the first to
make such a suggestion.  Of course once the news got out to somewhere
like slashdot, there would be people taking advantage of the grey areas
to write 'pong' in ever decreasing amounts of time.  Still, WE would
still have been there first...and I'd like to make it a 'real' game...
something like "MarioKart" - but with Tux the Penguin instead of
Mario.

So, perhaps forget the "official" part of the record attempt thing
and just do it for the heck of it and for the publicity.

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1 at airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker at hti.com      (work)