Day of Zeux: Difference between revisions

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*[[Christmas 2006 Dualstream Day of Zeux]] - [[RoSS]], "Memory" and "Flight", 15 entries (1 DQed).
*[[Christmas 2006 Dualstream Day of Zeux]] - [[RoSS]], "Memory" and "Flight", 15 entries (1 DQed).
*[[Summer 2007 DsDoZ]] - Lancer-X and Terryn, "Genetics" and "Sentient AI", 15 entries (3 DQed)
*[[Summer 2007 DsDoZ]] - Lancer-X and Terryn, "Genetics" and "Sentient AI", 15 entries (3 DQed)
*[[Winter 2007 DsDoZ]] - WildWeasel, "Tranquility" and "Wild West", 13 entries, (Judging in progress).
*[[Winter 2007 DsDoZ]] - WildWeasel, "Tranquility" and "Wild West", 13 entries, (0 DQed).


==Miscellaneous==
==Miscellaneous==

Revision as of 18:13, 8 February 2008

A Day of Zeux, typically abbreviated as DoZ, is a competition invented by kvance in which teams and solo competitors are assigned a topic and must create a game within 24 hours based on one of the topics. The submitted games are then scored by a number of judges (usually four) selected by the DoZ's host to determine the winner. Day of Zeux competitions pre-summer-2001 were confined to one topic; however, the two-topic "Dualstream" format (abbr. DsDoZ) popularised by Terryn has since replaced it. The terms "Dualstream Day of Zeux" and "Day of Zeux" are now synonymous.

Days of Zeux competitions are typically held twice per year, within the first month of summer and first two weeks of winter. There have been some exceptions (such as Easter 1999).

Day of Zeux Rules

Most current Day of Zeux competitions typically run under these default rules, with minor variations:

Teams

Teams consist of one to three people. If necessary, competitor(s) may also appoint an alternate member who can take the place of any member of their team should they be unable to attend the Day of Zeux. This alternate member can only be added to the team at the start of the DoZ, before the topics are announced. Sign-ups are typically accepted from the time the form goes on the page until the Day of Zeux ends (for obvious reasons, the alternate member field should be removed when the topics are announced).

Topics

When the Day of Zeux starts, two topics are presented: an abstract topic and a concrete topic (often referred to as "general" and "specific" topics, respectively). They are posted in as many places as possible - e.g. DigitalMZX, IRC, the email addresses of the host(s), and on the DoZ site if one was created. A team or solo competitor may only use one topic as the game's theme. If the average score in the theme category for a game is below a certain threshold (currently 5 (25%) for the Specific theme only), it is automatically disqualified.

Anonymity

Up until 2005, the Day of Zeux enforced an anonymity rule, which forbade contestants from disclosing their identity within their games. This was done to prevent biased scores from judges, but has since been removed from the rule set.

Team Numbers

Each team receives a number prior to the start of the competition. These numbers were originally used for anonymity purposes; however, since the anonymity rule typically no longer applies to DoZs, they are now merely for traditional and organizational purposes. The ZIP/RAR file that competitor(s) submit must have a filename that matches their team number. Failure to follow this rule results in disqualification.

External Material

All material except music, sound, and the default MZX charsets/palette must be created within the 24 hour period. If any evidence is found that the competitor(s) used material such as engines, character sets, palettes, and artwork created before the announcement of the topics, the competitor(s) are disqualified. Use of external programs such as CharWorks and Palzor during the Day of Zeux is permitted, as long as it is done within the 24 hours.

Game Submission

Before submission, the competitor(s) must make sure that the ZIP matches the team number (ie. 424.zip for team 424). The game is expected to run as intended when it is unzipped, so care must be taken include all music, WAVs, and (of course) the .MZX file. Games must be submitted to, and received by, the host of the Day of Zeux in any way possible. ajs has assisted in running an FTP server for this purpose in many of the recent DoZs, but the host is generally expected to provide as many fallback options (e.g. HTTP upload, email, AIM file transfer) as possible.

Grace Period

Following the end of the 24 hours, a one hour grace period goes into effect for late submissions and patch submissions. Scoring penalties have varied widely across DoZs, but they usually look something like the chart seen below. Any games submitted after the DoZ and grace period have ended are judged, but disqualified.

   *  1-30:   no deduction from final score
   * 31-40: 7.5% deduction from final score
   * 41-50:  15% deduction from final score
   * 51-60:  30% deduction from final score

Patch Submissions

The rules regarding exact handling of multiple patches are less set in stone and tend to vary, since in practice this scenario almost never occurs. But current rules work as follows: Competitors are allowed unlimited patch submissions during the first half hour of the grace period, with no penalty. After that half hour has passed, competitors are allowed one patch submission, which will suffer the score penalties above depending on lateness. (If the first submission is received during this half hour, it will count as your patch submission.) Any further patch submissions suffer the score penalties, PLUS an additional 5% penalty for each patch submission.

MegaZeux Version

The judges play all games in the latest stable version of MegaZeux (2.81g as of this writing, as 2.81h is still considered unstable), so competitors are generally recommended to create and test their games in that version. SMZX mode is permitted, but not specifically rewarded, and most DoZers avoid using it since it generally has a low return on investment.

Current Day of Zeux Scoring

Theme - 100/400 (General) 20/400 (Specific) For the general theme, this should be the most important category. You'll be scored on how well you interpret and use the theme, as well as how much the theme can be felt in all elements of the game. For the specific theme, the purpose of the theme category is more to ensure that you're following the rules than it is to get you points. That said, you'll be sorry if you completely neglect this, since as outlined in the rules, if you receive an average of 5 or less, you will automatically be disqualified.

Gameplay - 90/400 (General) 120/400 (Specific) The meat and potatoes of any game, if you don't have gameplay, what DO you have? This encompasses how well the game works as a whole, how fluid the play is, and most importantly, whether it's FUN or not.

Graphics - 70/400 (General) 90/400 (Specific) All this emphasis on graphics over game these days is sickening! But even so, graphics are an important part of the game, since without them, we'd just be playing text adventures (not entirely a bad thing, but still). So, does your game look nice, have you made good use of space and color, or do I want to stab out my eyes as soon as I load the title screen?

Technique - 60/400 (General) 80/400 (Specific) This is a game-making competition, and so each game is expected to use at least some Robotic. However, all code is not created equal: some code is cooler, faster, shorter and generally just better than other code. Does your code make movement feel slow or smooth? Is your entire game spread out over many, many boards with a lot of repetition, or is it modular and on one board? Is the programming generally impressive?

Story - 50/400 (General) 50/400 (Specific) Me, I'm a sucker for a good story, I can almost forgive a game for being buggy as hell and for looking like my monitor threw up, if the story sends me into raptures of ecstacy. Almost. Story is important, but it's not going to carry your game any more than your nifty sword engine will. Also, story will be scored according to how important the judge thinks story is to the game. You probably won't get a perfect score here without a perfect plot, but you might get a decent score here for no plot at all, if your game is designed to be a mindless arcade shoot-em-up.

Sound - 30/400 (General) 40/400 (Specific) Music does for the ears what graphics do for the eyes. Humans being (by and large) visual creatures, this category is only worth about half as much, but it's still important. Music creates ambience, and sound effects heighten the atmosphere. If they don't work with the game, then they might as well not be there. For this reason, you may be awarded a few pity points for having no sound or music , since we firmly believe that no audio is better than bad audio.
DoZ General Theme.pngDoZ Specific Theme.png
Four judges, 400 points each, 1600 points total. Late penalties incurred during the grace period described in the rules will be deducted from this final, 1600 point score.

Past Day of Zeux Scoring

The scoreset and text in this section were written by Wervyn in Summer 2003, with slight alterations over time. This scoreset was used with minor variations in point value from Winter 2001 to Summer 2006

The maximum score that any judge can give to a game is 400 points (300 before rank weighting is factored in). After rank weighting is applied, the sum of all judges' scores, minus late penalties incurred during the grade period described in the rules, will be the final score (1600 points is the maximum score if there are four judges).

Gameplay 75 points max. The meat and potatoes of any game. If you don't have gameplay, what DO you have? This encompasses how well the game works as a whole, how fluid the play is, and most importantly, whether it's FUN or not.

Graphics 60 points max. All this emphasis on graphics over game these days is sickening! But even so, graphics are an important part of the game, since without them, we'd just be playing text adventures (not entirely a bad thing, but still). So, does your game look nice, have you made good use of space and color, or do I want to stab out my eyes as soon as I load the title screen?

Innovation 45 points max. Mother is the necessity of innovation, or something like that. We at the DoZ value creativity and new design concepts highly. Of course, make sure your brilliant idea WORKS, first. Innovation that makes the game new, interesting, on basically makes me go "hmm, never thought of doing that before" is a good thing. Innovation that crashes my computer, not so much.

Plot 40 points max. Me, I'm a sucker for a good story, I can almost forgive a game for being buggy as hell and for looking like my monitor threw up, if the story sends me into raptures of ecstasy. Almost. Story is important, but it's not going to carry your game any more than your nifty sword engine will. Also, plot will be scored according to how important the judge thinks plot is to the game. You probably won't get a perfect score here without a perfect plot, but you might get a decent score here for no plot at all, if your game is designed to be a mindless arcade shoot-em-up.

Music/Sound 35 points max. Music does for the ears what graphics do for the eyes. Humans being (by and large) visual creatures, this category is only worth about half as much, but it's still important. Music creates ambiance, and sound effects heighten the atmosphere. If they don't work with the game, then they might as well not be there. For this reason, you may be awarded a few pity points for having no sound or music , since we firmly believe that no audio is better than bad audio.

Theme 30 points max. The purpose of the theme category is more to ensure that you're following the rules than it is to get you points. That said, you'll be sorry if you completely neglect this, since as outlined in the rules, if three or more judges score your theme less than 33% (less than 10 points), you automatically lose.

Discretion 15 points max. For all the niggling little details that just don't seem to fit in any other category. Mostly, this is about using common sense and good taste. Loads of pointless obscenity, obvious pandering to the judges (as opposed to subtle pandering, which can be a good thing if done right), and sometimes particularly addle-brained bugs, all will get you counted off here.

Rank Weighting 100 points max. This is a special score for the judges, so that they can incorporate their gut instinct into an otherwise methodical system. Unlike the other scores, which are directly designated by the judge, the rank weight is awarded proportionally based on the judges personal ranking of the games from best to worst. What happens is the judges favorite game receives a full hundred points, the judges least favorite game receives no points, and the games in between receive a percentage of the points based on how high they are on the list. For those interested in the formula, RW = (N - R)/(N - 1) * 100, RW is rank weight, R is the judge's awarded rank, and N is the total number of entries. IMPORTANT: This is NOT simply a restatement of the games' ranks as calculated from their other categorical scores. This is so that the judge can express their personal feelings on the submissions as a whole, independent of any other scoring they might have made.

Variations

There are a few variations of the Day of Zeux, most of which increase or decrease the time limit. A Week of Zeux, or WoZ, ends exactly a week after topics are announced. A Weekend of Zeux, or WEoZ, usually begins on a Friday or Saturday and lasts for 48 hours. These extended time competitions are extremely rare, as people often lose interest before the competition ends and very few quality submissions are actually received. The longer the competition, the fewer the entries.

The Blitzkriegzeux, or BKZX (alt BkZX), which the DoZ itself was originally based on, is usually organized on IRC and can last up to two hours. Day of Zeux scoring rules rarely (if ever) apply to a BKZX. Most BKZXes taking place after 2004 are scored by peer ranking; in rare cases such as tie for first place with fewer than five competitors, or whenever there are fewer than three competitors, the person organizing the BKZX decides which game is the best.

Past Variations:

Rule Variations

  • Almost all DoZ competitions prior to December 2005 used an "anonymity rule" where teams hid their identities from the judges; only the host or file administrator knew the people's identites. The notable exception is the first DoZ in 1998. Since the anonymity rule was rescinded in the Winter 2005 DoZ, no further DoZs have had an anonymity rule. Several DoZ entries have been thrown out over anonymity violations, notably Nash's Porno Creep.
  • The December 2006 Day of Zeux marked the introduction of the split scoresheet detailed above. Previous Dualstream DoZs used the same scoresheet for both themes, and included a rank weight category which applied a scaled modifier based on a judge's ordering of the games from most to least favorite. In an effort spearheaded by Wervyn, new scores were proposed which would weight the "theme" score far more heavily and restructure the categories; however, compromise between dissenters such as Exophase over the theme weighting led to two separate scoresheets (one per topic; one as Wervyn proposed and one more closely resembling the default). The scoresheet and debate are detailed here.
  • In one DoZ, teams were allowed to have four members total (Winter 2004).

Past Days of Zeux

Miscellaneous

  • The longest-standing scoring system was contentiously hammered out between Exophase, ajs, and Terryn in late 2001, and lasted five years before being retooled into the current system. Before that the scoring sheet was often in flux, with wide variation in categories and point ratios from DoZ to DoZ.
  • The entire set of scoresheets of the Summer 2000 DoZ ("Freedom") is missing.