Just doing some preliminaries for the Java 4K 2009 competition

There is still 3 months until it starts, but I'd like to get some feedback on possible improvements. I thought the last competition was very successful, excluding a minor delay in the judging results. But there is always room for improvements, so here's your chance.


I would like to shorten the competition from 3 months (Dec, Jan, Feb) to just 2 months (Dec and Jan). IMO 3 months is too long, add to that maybe one more month for judging (if it's delayed), so 4 months total.
 Can be boring for people to submit a game and not see the results sooner than 4 months later. It's also harder for judges and management of the competition to stay on top of things for so long (1/3 of a year). 2 months, or 8 weeks, should be more than enough for all.


Ok, thanks.

hmm... how about jan/feb instead as in december you loose many days to christmas etc..

Judging collided a bit with JavaOne last year for some, so ending one month earlier might be better for getting judging done quicker. Real life^tm can naturally creep in any time, but that seems to be extra hectic. Last year we also had a few entrants on the first day, so if you think it is a bit too short time with 2 months... Well it is still lots of time till end of Jan

I usually finish my entry in about two weeks or so, so any time longer than that is fine by me. =)

>Applet-only

Beh.

what is the benefit of mandating 1.6 only? 1.5 generated byte code will run in 1.6....

agreed that the competition should be left open to whatever distribution format the users wants (applet, jws, jar only, etc).

And I can't (and will never be able to on this computer) run 1.6.

I can still with my work computer, but otherwise no.

I don't care about applets vs. webstart, although I will probably use webstart. I assume the JNLP file doesn't count for the 4k?

Once you submit your game, are you allowed to modify/update it at all during the 2 months the competition is open?

...sorry if it is a silly question.  This will be my first comp.   


I prefer applets as it doesn't force a player to press 'ok' to the silly security stuff that a JNLP often invokes.

Also, when it *is* needed it will also be needed for applets... so no distinct advantage to applets there.

About the rules: Previous years have allowed changing the entry up until the deadline, so that shouldn't be a problem. But you should really ask appel or jojoh to make sure

Ah, right. In any case it's not the usual behaviour, so in most cases it won't be a problem. 

Doesn't really matter so long as its 1.5+, IMO.

No. Definitely no.

I've always had trouble getting applets to run JARs that need natives, like LWJGL. Webstart is easier in that regard.

For me, the biggest difference is what happens when programs crash (and most do at some point or another). Applets, when run with the old applet plugin, will crash your browser = not good. Webstart won't.