plans for a 1-bit forum contest

good idea: contests motivate people to create new things, so I'm in. Do you think it's relevant to make several categories?

1K size limited, yes !

So I take it we'll have at least 3 entries for the 1K category? Alright then, I'll add it to the compo!

Yes, that's indeed the point. Well, one of them at least

That's a very reasonable idea. However, for the time being my motivation to organize another compo is near 0. Perhaps we could collaborate with the Spanish folks from Culturachip, though. Like, handle the submissions through them, but use our more transparent approach to voting. I mean the main idea of the last forum compo was to attract more people to the forum, and it clearly flopped (not just) in that respect. And I don't think that would change with a different ruleset.

Regarding allowed engines, I think the easiest would be to draw the line at Phaser2, eg. all engines released prior to that would be prohibited. The only drawback would be that this would exclude Stocker. (I've got a -somewhat conceptual- Stocker project in the works, though ) What do you think?

Nice idea

I've been very busy at work recently so haven't been very active on the forum but my enthusiasm for 1-bit hasn't diminished.

Maybe a list of allowed engines for the compo?

@Shiru: Well, Follin's engine is virtually unusable, and I've used ZX-10 excessively (and everybody else hates it). But, I see your point and agree. tBeepr and Beep Tracker would also fall under the "age limit", so yep, best use an "excluding" list.

@Tufty: Hehe, that'd be a pretty damn long list by now Think it's indeed best to do a list with disallowed engines, and for the rest direct users to http://randomflux.info/1bit/viewtopic.php?id=25. (I have to check if that one's actually up to date though).

@garvalf: There once was a -rather successful- Beeper BotB battle. But it was a one-time thing, quite sure I'd have a hard time convincing puke7 to host another one any time soon considering how packed the battle schedule is nowadays. Anyway BotB does a good job of drawing attention to 1-bit music either way, seeing how zxbeep is now one of the most popular formats on there aside from the "big ones" (nsf*, s3xmodit, wild).

Ok, I'll try to make a start on "the" list then.
The following engines would be disallowed:

- FuzzClick (Special FX/Orfeus)
- Huby
- Music Studio
- Octode (should that include the XL, 2k15 and PWM variants?)
- Qchan
- Phaser1
- ROMbeep
- Savage (should include newcore imo)
- Tritone
- Wham! The Music Box

Any others I forgot? What about ZX-7, -10, and -16? ZX-7 has been used quite a bit in the old days. For the rest we had the Tribute compilation, so those engines have had their spotlight already. I think we might also want to give a "recommended" list, which should include Phaser 2/3, fluidcore, and perhaps quattropic.

Edit: Squeeker and BT'man need more love, too, imo.

OctodeXL has a cool fat catchy sound, so I fear it might "attract" most of the interest. But it wouldn't be fair to allow Octode 2k15 and not Octode XL, so maybe it would be more interesting to have no octode and variants at all. On the other hand, if it can attract more people (who wouldn't have participated otherwise), it's not that bad, so... either all of the variants, or none of them.