Contents - Cultural View

Java 4K Game Programming Contest 103
Reasons for success
While there has been a great deal of debate on why the Java 4K contest is so successful, the consensus from the
contestants seems to be that it provides a very appealing challenge. Not only do the entrants get the chance to show
off how much they know about Java programming, but the 4K size helps "even the odds" compared to other
competitions where the use of artists and musicians can easily place an entry far ahead of the others.
This may explain why spinoff contests targeting 8K, 16K, or a specific API like LWJGL have never taken off. In
fact, the contestants seem to believe that 4K is the "sweet spot" that balances what an individual can do. Because of
the tricks developed for the 4K contest, it's believed that adding even a single kilobyte would open the doors to far
more complex games that are beyond the ability of a single developer.
Year 2 (2004)
Heavy use of pre-rendered sprites, transparency, and sound effects defined this year's entries. The strongest
contenders were Defender 4000, Abuse's Shooty-Transparenty Game, and Space Invaders. However, Space Invaders'
lack of sound caused it to fall behind the other two entries which were competing hard to pack in the most
technology and gameplay.
Of particular interest were the different tactics used by the two entries. For graphics, Abuse used precious few high
color images which he then applied transparency and rotation to at runtime. Jbanes, on the other hand, developed an
imaging packing technique that allowed him to store twenty-one single-color images. Rather than applying rotation
and transparency, he chose to use his larger number of images to produce pre-rendered animations. For sound, Abuse
used clear chimes and other instruments from the MIDI soundbank. Jbanes chose to use runtime-generated PCM
sound that sounded more like video games of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Both approaches had their merit, so it's difficult to say what finally swayed the judge's opinion. What is known is
that Year 2 was the last year that sound would be a deciding factor in the games. In future years, the bytes allocated
to sound were reallocated to other functions such as 3D graphics, levels, and bosses.
Year 2 was the first year that official judging took place. Unlike subsequent years, the only judge was the contest
organizer, mlk. After careful consideration, the judge decided to award Prong with the Best Technical Achievement
Award, and declared Defender 4000 as the overall winner. Interestingly, he scored each game but did not use this
score in determining the winner. Abuse's Shooty-Transparenty Game actually scored one point higher than Defender
4000.
Official List of Year 2 Entries [1]
Year 3 (2005)
Year 3 was defined by a major influx of professional Java developers, 3D graphics in the games, and a gradual
transition to the JavaGaming.org forums. JavaUnlimited also began mirroring the competitors in a permanent
archive. While the mirror started as a manually edited HTML page, it eventually grew into a complete contest
management site with a database back-end.
Judging this year was handled by a panel of three volunteer, professional developers who were not participating in
the contest. One of the volunteer judges was Chris Melissinos, Sun's Chief Gaming Officer. The scoring method
used was based on the method that mlk had applied the previous year, but was updated to allow the judges to give
awards for exceptional gameplay or technological achievements.
While most of the entries were of exceptional quality, T4XI by Kevin Glass (aka kevglass) was chosen as the winner.
Besides having extremely original gameplay, it provided exceptional graphics through a pseudo-3D effect that gave
perspective to the buildings.