Handdrawn graphics

Still images using any traditional handdrawn techniques, such as pixelling or freehand painting.

• The entry archive should include at least 3 phases or steps of the creation process.
• No animations are allowed.
• Only one picture per artist is allowed.
• If the graphic doesn't look handdrawn, it will be moved to the freestyle competition.
• Pictures will be shown using XNView, any format that it can display is allowed. (Lossless PNG is preferred.)

Freestyle graphics

Still images created by any tool or creation method available, such as photo retouching or 3D rendering.

• The entry archive should include at least 3 phases or steps of the creation process.
• No animations are allowed.
• Only one picture per artist is allowed.
• Pictures will be shown using XNView, any format that it can display is allowed. (Lossless PNG is preferred.)

Photo

The competition of camera-twiddlers!

• HDR and slight retouching is allowed (e.g. color correction and cropping), but the archive must in include the original, unretouched picture too, with EXIF information intact (or the original RAW file).
• Only one picture per artist is allowed.
• Pictures will be shown using XNView, any format that it can display is allowed. (Lossless PNG is preferred.)
• Note: we will perform a quality preselection and only the best 15 photos will be shown at the compo! Please try to be original and creative - the Nth sunset and bug macro don't count as such.

Music

Musical entries created with either modern studio techniques or oldschool trackers.

• Playing time: 4 minutes. We'll fade out afterwards.
• Maximum size: 10 megabytes zipped
• Allowed streaming formats: MP3 and OGG. Also, please fill the ID3/OGGInfo fields if possible.
• Allowed tracked formats: XM, IT, S3M, MOD
• Only one song per artist is allowed.
• Replaying application: Winamp for streaming, XMPlay for tracked

Game development

You make it, you play it!

• Maximum size: 64 megabytes zipped
• The game must not write on the hard disk, only inside its own directory.
• The game should not have an installer!
• You'll get around 3-4 minutes to play and present your game during the compo, otherwise we will play instead of you (consider that a threat).

Wild demo / Animation

Entries which don't fit into any other category. Short films, rendered animations, Flash movies, machinima, alternative platform demos.

• Playing time: 10 minutes. We'll stop it afterwards.
• If your entry is a video file, please use common formats like MP4 / MKV / AVI containers with H.264 / DivX / XviD video and MP3 / AAC / uncompressed audio.
• If your entry is NOT a video file, consult the organizers before the deadline.
• Only one entry per artist is allowed.

256 byte intro

256 bytes of coder mayhem, get the most out of a quarter kilobyte.

• Playing time: ~1 minutes. We'll stop it afterwards or when the audience begs us.
• If possible, quit on a keypress, preferably ESC.
• The entry must be one single file, not larger than 256 bytes.
• The entry must not write on the hard drive.
• Entries will be run on the main PC compo machine, booted with the latest version of Rufus. This means no midi, no pc speaker, no virtualbox, no vmware, no DOSBox, just plain FreeDOS.

4 kilobyte intro

4 kilobytes of visuals and sound packed together to create the ultimate coding challenge.

• Playing time: 5 minutes. We'll stop it afterwards.
• Entries must quit on ESC.
• The entry must be one single file, not larger than 4096 bytes.
• The entry must not write on the hard drive permanently.
• Usage of the most recent, Win7-10 compatible Crinkler is recommended.
• You can include a safe mode EXE in the archive, but if the compressed version of the intro doesn't run, we won't show the larger version.

64 kilobyte intro

Minuscule demos providing endless possibilities to show off in music, code and graphics.

• Playing time: 10 minutes. We'll stop it afterwards.
• Entries must quit on ESC.
• The entry must be one single file, not larger than 65536 bytes.
• The entry must not write on the hard drive permanently.
• The usage of kkrunchy is highly recommended.

Oldschool demo

Blast from the past! The demo compo for all kinds of oldschool platforms.

• Entries must run on platforms that are from 1995 or before, including C64, Amiga, vintage consoles, and DOS-based PCs, to name a few.
• Must not be a simple animation player.
• Playing time: 10 minutes. We'll stop it afterwards.
• If your entry is NOT running on Amiga or C64, please contact us in advance to work out the details.
• Hardware expansions are allowed but contact us with any special needs.

Demo

Have all the space you want for creating the masterpiece of the demoscene.

• Playing time: 10 minutes. We'll stop it afterwards.
• Entries must quit on ESC.
• Maximum size: 64 megabytes archived.
• The entry must not write on the hard drive permanently.

General rules

• Productions can be entered on-location by uploading them via the party network.
• Remote contributions via e-mail are allowed, but we won't safe-keep your prizes, if no one picks it up during the prizegiving.
• The organizers reserve the right to remove entries from competitions. These entries won't be shown, won't be spread and won't be votable. In individual competitions this usually means preselection to avoid a huge amount of entries to be presented, in other competitions it solely means quality control and eventual compatibility problems. If your entry doesn't run on the compo machine, we'll do our best to help you to get it running though.
• The organizers also reserve the right to merge competitions together if there are not enough entries.
• Previously released material is not allowed. Covers, remixes and derivative works can only be entered with the consent of the original author.
• For every entry we'd like to ask to include a FILE_ID.DIZ (a simple text file) in the archive, containing the prod's name and author, optionally the compo and party. (Note: Traditionally FILE_ID.DIZ's are 40 characters wide at most.)
• The compo entry must be packed together with either ZIP or RAR (or the best packer on that given platform). We will not accept unpacked entries, and we will not pack your entry for you.
• For PC compos, the latest DirectX end-user runtime will be installed on the compo machine.
• By entering, you also agree on having your works uploaded to our website after the party and to various larger demoscene FTP servers (scene.org)
• The maximum resolution of the projector is 1080p (1920x1080), so please respect that and don't go over it, because it might result in your entry breaking.

Compo machines

• PC: i7 - 3.4GHz, 16GB Ram, GTX Titan, SSD, Win10
• Amiga: A1200 + 060
• C64: Stock C64, New SID, 1541/II
• Android: nVidia Shield

Other platforms may be available on demand