In 2018, as part of the 2019, 8-BIT Annual book, which is going to a kickstarter campaign soon, I held a no restrictions, 8-BIT game development contest on social media websites – Facebook and Twitter, called #8BITANNUALDEV.

The contest was open to anyone, of all ages, genders and skill levels and games could be created for all and every 8-Bit machine. Entrants could code on their own or in teams if they wished and to enter you did not need to be a pro at coding. To decide on the winners and placings, three categories were assigned 1) Basic 2) Advanced and 3) Anything Goes. Basic category = Any game developed with Basic. This includes using tools and other people to help you. Advanced category = Any game developed with assembly / machine code or other advanced coding language. Anything Goes category = Anything other than a game, that showcases your 8-Bit capabilities including music, loading screens, sprites, general / random works of art, scene demos of any kind and anything else your 8-Bit imagination can come up with.

In total the contest received the following statistics:

11 Entries for the BASIC contest.

4 Developers for the BASIC contest.

2 8-Bit systems covered in BASIC contest.

3 Entries for the ADVANCED contest.

3 Developers for the ADVANCED contest.

4 8-Bit systems covered for the ADVANCED contest.

3 Shoot ‘em ups for the ADVANCED contest.

1 Entry into ANYTHING GOES contest.

Choosing winners for each category proved difficult, there wasn’t much separating the scores between the front runners. In the runner up position for the BASIC category was, Sebastian Braunert for his Amstrad CPC platform game, Pink Pills. In the Advanced category Nobuaki Washio’s, MSX, sideways scrolling, shoot ’em up, INQ & SUQ vs NIGHTMARE received the runners up placing.

Without further ado, here are the winners of each of the three categories – in the BASIC category, first place was awarded to space 3D shoot ’em up, Space Phantom, on the Amstrad CPC, by developer, Jose Garcia Aranda. In the ADVANCED category, first place was awarded to Keith Sear, for his multiple platform entry of Chibi Akuma’s, bullet hell shooter mod – Tragical Chase, on the Amstrad CPC, MSX2 and Enterprise 128. Finally, as there was only one entrant in this category, the ANYTHING GOES category was won by an 8 member student coding group from Hungary, called Menedék Programozó Klub, for their C64 loading screen poster artworks of their proposed game called Finally (Iyoiyo).

Congratulations to the winners who will receive a free copy of the 8-BIT ANNUAL 2019 book and a free A1 poster which is being designed and put together by famed artist Lobo, as we speak. Full details of the #8BITANNUALDEV will be published in the 2019, 8-BIT ANNUAL book, so keep your eyes open for when the kickstarter campaign begins to back the project.

CPC4EVA