So, how is everyone doing so far in the contest? Run into any problems?

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Some inspiration again:

As a helpful gesture to all you out there that may need some resources (sounds, music, art), visit the link below:

http://forums.sdltutorials.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=36

The dollar prize has changed to: $200 (PayPal)

A special thanks to Sergey Tikhonov for the donation!

The following are some guidelines for when you submit projects. A real quick note first: by submitting your project multiple times up to the deadline, I can give you feedback and/or help. Please note, I will not give you any code, or any links to code. All I will simply do is point you in the right direction. This should even the playing field a bit for newbies.

1. Please provide a project file and/or makefile for me to compile your code depending on the target platform.
2. Please include any and all libraries involved with your project; already compiled. I don’t want to have to sit here for hours compiling libraries that are used in your project. Exceptions: if the library is easy to grab myself, simply let me know in a ReadMe.txt or something (i.e., being able to apt-get what I need, or simply download).
3. Please compress your project into a single file, and email it to me with the subject: CONTEST – [My Project Name] ; remember, email to: kizare [at] gmail.com
4. Though you can submit projects ahead of time for help, please do not submit your project more than once a week to me. I will provide help, but very limited; remember, this is a contest. I would only ask for help if you really need it; it’s very likely I’ll give more kudos to a project that asked for very little to no help, v. the person that asked every week.
5. Please…. please! Comment your code. Please.

In a few days I’ll post all of this up on a single page, timestamped, to make everything easier for people to see, and so the posts don’t get lost in the coming months.

Update:
To keep things a bit more in-line with the prize, the deadline has been moved to September 1, 2009.

After some thought, I would like to be able to give more of a prize to the winner. If anyone has any ideas, donations, suggestions, I am all ears. Seeing as this is a volunteer driven community, it’s hard to gather resources for something like this, especially since this is the first time. I want to be able to be nice to all those outside of the U.S. as well. Again, any ideas welcome.

Updates to Contest:

1. No more than 2 people per project
2. You may submit as many projects as you like

Here it is! The first (possibly annual) SDL Game Contest. Woo hoo!

The Goal: Make a side-scrolling shooter.
The Inspirition: R-Type
The Rules: This contest is open to all game developers, with the following requirements and/or conditions:

1. No more than 2 people per project
2. You may submit as many projects as you like
3. I prefer SDL / C/C++ (optionally can use OpenGL with SDL); SDL must be used. Other languages allowed: Delphi, VC++.NET, Java
4. Project must compile/work on at least one major operating system (Windows, Mac OSX, *nix); extra bonus points for cross-platformy*
5. You give SDLtutorials.com permission to use any and all submitted resources, code, and/or files for non-commercial use. Submitter retains the rights to his/her project. (SDLtutorials.com will most likely use the winning project as the basis for a tutorial)
6. All code, resources, and/or files submitted must be the submitters original work, with the exception of use of 3rd party open-source libraries, and/or royalty free resources. No commercial libraries and/or resources are allowed, and will result in immediate disqualification.
7. No plagiarism is allowed, with the exception of the “minor”** use of code from tutorials. Code used from tutorials cannot make up more than 20%** of a submitted project’s code. You may use the framework provided on this website without limitation.
8. SDLtutorials.com has full discretion to accept/reject any projects submitted, and can cancel this contest at any time.

* No actual points are involved in the judging of entries.
** This, obviously, is hard to determine. Be fair, do your own work; if you use code from online, make it your own.

The Details:

• You must make one complete level that has at minimum 3 minutes of game-play
• You must provide a scalable structure that allows players to easily add additional levels
• You must provide a basic menu (Start, Exit at minimum)
• You must provide lives, and score at minimum
• You must provide at least 3 different weapons
• You may make the side-scroller shooter any theme you would like (i.e., a banana flying through the air with a machine gun)
• It is not required to provide any sound effects/music, but this would be a major plus
• You must provide at least 3 basic enemies, and 1 boss
• The game may be 2D or 3D (using OpenGL), and may use scripting

The Prize:

• $200 (PayPal) (Thanks Sergey Tikhonov for the donation!)
• Permission to help moderate SDLtutorials.com (if the winner wishes)
• SDLtutorials.com email address (if the winner wishes)
• Has first grabs at joining (as a developer) Tim’s upcoming Indie Game Development Website.
• Free Copy of Half Life 2 (via Steam)

The Deadline:
September 1, 2009

Once all entries are received, I will post 5 of the top projects received. The community will then be able to voice their opinion (which should help weed out any plagiarism). A week after the deadline, I will post who is the winner. If I cannot contact the winner within 30 days, the 2nd place project will become the winner (and so on).

Be creative as possible. If you want 30 enemies, that’s fine. If you want 30 bosses, that’s fine. “The Details” section is sort of a general guideline, but aim to go above and beyond it.

Please send all completed Projects to: kizare [at] gmail.com

You may send your project multiple times up to the deadline. The last project I receive before midnight is the one that I will use.

Good luck everyone!

Terms are subject to change at any time; I will give notice to such changes.

Update (6.5.2009):
The following are some guidelines for when you submit projects. A real quick note first: by submitting your project multiple times up to the deadline, I can give you feedback and/or help. Please note, I will not give you any code, or any links to code. All I will simply do is point you in the right direction. This should even the playing field a bit for newbies.

1. Please provide a project file and/or makefile for me to compile your code depending on the target platform.
2. Please include any and all libraries involved with your project; already compiled. I don’t want to have to sit here for hours compiling libraries that are used in your project. Exceptions: if the library is easy to grab myself, simply let me know in a ReadMe.txt or something (i.e., being able to apt-get what I need, or simply download).
3. Please compress your project into a single file, and email it to me with the subject: CONTEST – [My Project Name] ; remember, email to: kizare [at] gmail.com
4. Though you can submit projects ahead of time for help, please do not submit your project more than once a week to me. I will provide help, but very limited; remember, this is a contest. I would only ask for help if you really need it; it’s very likely I’ll give more kudos to a project that asked for very little to no help, v. the person that asked every week.
5. Please…. please! Comment your code. Please.

I’ve hit another one of those “busy” periods of my life, but no worries, I am gearing up for the next batch of tutorials. Here’s the lineup I was thinking:

1. SDL Collision Events
2. SDL SpaceShooter
3. C++ Variables
4. SDL + OpenGL Basics

Someone also asked about doing Isometric games, no promises, but I might fit that in.

No word on any release dates yet for the list above. I’m also planning to have a contest very soon; more news on that later – but please state your interest now so I can see how many people are willing to participate. Also, if you haven’t noticed the Forums, please check it out and sign up.

It seems there has been a lot of improvement with SDL lately, and that it is nearing its next major release. Here’s an announcement made by Sam Lantinga recently:

SDL 1.3 is ready for a massive bug hunt!
http://www.libsdl.org/tmp/SDL-1.3.zip
or
http://www.libsdl.org/tmp/SDL-1.3.tar.gz

The first person to report any particular bug for SDL 1.3 in bugzilla (http://bugzilla.libsdl.org) will get their names added to the CREDITS list for the great SDL Bug Hunt of January 2009!

Anyone who contributes an SDL 1.3 bug fix which is accepted, regardless of whether they reported it, will have their names added to the CREDITS list as bug squashers in the great SDL Bug Hunt. The top three squashers will be featured on the SDL website with a link to their favorite project (if they want.)

When contributing a patch, please include permission for me to release your code with SDL 1.3 and future versions of SDL under both the LGPL and a closed-source commercial license.

Contributors to SDL 1.3 are eligible for a discount on commercial licensing. Please contact me for details if you’re interested.

See ya!
-Sam Lantinga, Founder and President, Galaxy Gameworks LLC

As such, after the official release all tutorials will get a makeover to reflect the changes in 1.3. Until then, I encourage everyone to continue to use SDL 1.2.x. Also, anyone interested in Commercial Games with SDL, should pay attention to this site now (http://galaxygameworks.com/). You’re still free to use the library as long as you dynamically link the library, but for static links, you need a commercial license now. One incentive to get a license is official iPhone/iPod support now.

Okay, so you are here. You’ve deceided, hey, I want to start making games. Good idea! I certainly encourage you in your mission, but lets face facts. Making games is hard. Really hard. And not to throw unscientific percentages at you, but practically 90% of all those wanting to make games never finish anything. There are always two reasons, lack of discipline, or lack of understanding. You hit a wall, try to find the easiest way around, and then give up for the next project. Or, you get tired of the game you are working on, think of a “better” idea, and then start on that. Games are subjective, tastes change, and along with helping you on the way to programming, I also hope I can give you some discipline to finish your work.

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Wow, what a ways we have come! To help celebrate this momentous occasion, drums please… I have released the new tutorial in the series! Woo hoo!

P.S.
1 year was actually a few weeks ago, but oh well.