appel
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Posted
2014-11-29 22:59:32 » |
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December 1st is on Monday and usually that's the day the Java4K contest starts. But now for the first time in about 12 years there won't be a Java4K contest starting. This was really decided last year, lack of participation and loss of interest in the Java platform along with loss of support for Java applets in browsers were the final nails in the coffin. I'm also moving my interests to other pastures.
But although this is a sad thing it's also about time. I think we should celebrate the amazing games that a lot of people submitted into the contest. The contest was a success, many people had lots of fun both in making the games and also playing them, but now it's time to move on.
Thanks all.
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DarkCart
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Reply #1 - Posted
2014-11-30 00:16:04 » |
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RIP Java4k: The original Java game jam. You will be missed.
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The darkest of carts.
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NegativeZero
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Reply #2 - Posted
2014-11-30 00:41:38 » |
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In my opinion, Gef's Socerer4K was the coolest game to ever come out of 4K. Yay Gef! |
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Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!
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Rayvolution
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Reply #3 - Posted
2014-11-30 01:44:10 » |
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Just keep the site running for historical reasons, be a shame to lose all those games.  |
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DarkCart
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Reply #4 - Posted
2014-11-30 01:44:29 » |
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Just keep the site running for historical reasons, be a shame to lose all those games. Even though half of them are broken. |
The darkest of carts.
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SimonH
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Reply #5 - Posted
2014-11-30 02:21:06 » |
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 So sad, but - c'est la vie! Many, many thanks Appel, and everyone who participated over the years for all the wonderful times we had. I think in some ways the 4K contest changed the world a little bit for the better. Not only did we make some amazing games but we showed how friendly help and support could lead to great things. Would it be heresy to suggest an HTML5 contest instead? I love java dearly but we have to be pragmatic. A shame to not have an outlet for all that ingenuity and creativity!
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People make games and games make people
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CommanderKeith
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Reply #6 - Posted
2014-11-30 03:01:40 » |
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I'm wondering what the greener pastures are? HTML5/WebGL/javascript as SimonH suggests? I'm also moving my interests to other pastures.
Would it be heresy to suggest an HTML5 contest instead? I love java dearly but we have to be pragmatic.
Despite never participating i also thought it was a fantastic contest and enjoyed playing the games and seeing the horror and genius of the code. |
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moogie
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Reply #7 - Posted
2014-11-30 05:01:51 » |
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All things come to an end For me it was the perfect blend intoxicating challenges of producing a fun game and compression I have enjoyed every year! Thanks for the great memories. |
Java4k RIP 2014
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pjt33
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Reply #8 - Posted
2014-11-30 08:50:03 » |
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Just keep the site running for historical reasons, be a shame to lose all those games. Even though half of them are broken. With some combination of old JRMs and decompile-tweak-recompile it should be possible to get most of the broken ones working. |
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Catharsis
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Reply #9 - Posted
2014-11-30 09:51:00 » |
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Yah.. Bummed I never had the free time to enter... I understand there is a 4k / Android category with this competition: http://nv.scene.org/2015/At least there was in 2014 / didn't attend, but I might in '15... Granted it's likely all GLSL re: demo scene / eyecandy and not a Java game competition. |
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Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!
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gouessej
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Reply #10 - Posted
2014-11-30 11:33:12 » |
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Hi I'm wondering what the greener pastures are? HTML5/WebGL/javascript as SimonH suggests?
In my humble opinion, HTML5/Javascript is enough for the kind of games created during Java4K. You know my opinion on WebGL. It's not the panacea. Plugin-less gaming is appealing and there are some alternatives to applets and Java Web Start otherwise I would have stopped using Java. |
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Groboclown
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Reply #11 - Posted
2014-11-30 14:28:31 » |
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Just keep the site running for historical reasons, be a shame to lose all those games. Even though half of them are broken. With some combination of old JRMs and decompile-tweak-recompile it should be possible to get most of the broken ones working. The biggest problem is that some of the older web start games were not hosted on the java 4k site, and their URLs no longer point to the game. It would be nice to create an archive of those lost games (if anyone has them), but that would require possibly tracking down the ownership rights. |
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gouessej
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Reply #12 - Posted
2014-11-30 19:13:36 » |
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I wouldn't try to archive proprietary games. The best way to prevent those games from dying consists in releasing their source code.
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appel
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Reply #13 - Posted
2014-11-30 22:49:24 » |
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I think I have most of the games that are broken archived somewhere, but they need to be manually restored, which is something I haven't gotten around to. I'd be interested in a html5 canvas game competition but someone has to organize it other than me Would it be a 4k contest? Is that really feasible? You can minify Javascript, but I don't think you can compress it like you can with class files. |
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Riven
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Reply #14 - Posted
2014-12-01 06:39:27 » |
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One of the downsides of Java4K became that you needed this insane toolchain to compress your classfile. The better your tools the better the odds of an advanced game. Your hacking skills became gradually less impotant. With my compile-n-shrink, I tried to level the playingfield, but it was really disheartning that when I tried to bring it up again the next year, I couldn't get the same compression ratios, as I overwrote the binaries with their latest versions.
If there were to be a new contest, I'd limit the sourcecode, as compressing that is somewhat within your own control, as opposed to the blackbox that Java4K tools became.
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Hi, appreciate more people! Σ ♥ = ¾ Learn how to award medals... and work your way up the social rankings! |
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ra4king
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Reply #15 - Posted
2014-12-01 07:35:28 » |
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Very sad indeed. I very much enjoyed judging that year we had a record-breaking number of entries! Thank you appel for hosting Java4K for so many years!
I unfortunately never was able to enter due to having too little time and also for the exact reasons Riven mentioned: it was more about how well you could compress rather than hacking. I didn't have enough time to be able to figure out how much I could actually fit into 4K.
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mlk
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Reply #16 - Posted
2014-12-01 13:49:16 » |
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 Very sad to hear. But it had a good run. |
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Zarkonnen
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Reply #17 - Posted
2014-12-03 09:32:25 » |
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That is understandable if sad. I continue to love the format for prototyping if nothing else. Thank you for all those years of crazy Java fun. A successor JS/HTML5 contest could be cool. In fact, there is such a thing, called Js1k, though it's not specific to games and most entries aren't games. |
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Gibbo3771
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Reply #18 - Posted
2014-12-03 12:24:41 » |
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Bollocks . With that being said, can we get some way to download the games on there? |
"This code works flawlessly first time and exactly how I wanted it"
Said no programmer ever |
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zeroone
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Reply #19 - Posted
2014-12-04 16:19:39 » |
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One of the downsides of Java4K became that you needed this insane toolchain to compress your classfile. The better your tools the better the odds of an advanced game. Your hacking skills became gradually less impotant. With my compile-n-shrink, I tried to level the playingfield, but it was really disheartning that when I tried to bring it up again the next year, I couldn't get the same compression ratios, as I overwrote the binaries with their latest versions.
If there were to be a new contest, I'd limit the sourcecode, as compressing that is somewhat within your own control, as opposed to the blackbox that Java4K tools became.
Agreed. One year, Notch posted a version of your Compile-N-Shrink that could be executed offline. I used it ever since, never fully understanding how it worked it's compression magic. And, I always wondered how many people were disadvantaged by not having access to it. J4K should be transformed into a contest where you just submit one source code file with some size restrictions on it. Perhaps something like 16K of source. |
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oNyx
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Reply #20 - Posted
2014-12-04 16:51:20 » |
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12 years is a long time. I was there when it started and now I'm here again to "press F to pay respect". Hah. What a timeless joke. Thanks for getting this rolling, mlk. Thanks for running the site for all these years, appel. I had fun those two times I actually participated. It was a great competition. |
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steveyO
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Reply #21 - Posted
2014-12-04 19:07:07 » |
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Yup RIP Java4k it was fun for a long while. This thread seems to have revived the interest in java4k so much that the website is now down (CPU Limit Reached).
With regards to the games that don't work, I seem to recall this was mostly due to pack200. Can you (i.e. appel) not write a script to unpack all the games, and modify the html src accordingly? I would assume all the packed .jars are sitting on a file system somewhere, so should be doable?
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richard.pickering
Senior Newbie  Exp: 5 years
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Reply #22 - Posted
2014-12-04 22:00:24 » |
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I can't believe this is the end of the Java 4K. I only participated once which was last year, and I did enter a buggy mess of a game, but it was really fun and enjoyable. Really good for prototyping. Is there any interest in keeping a 4K java gaming contest going? If so I'd happily organise one for next year. If not, it looks like I'm going to be competing against myself . |
Long Live the Java 4K! Also, jMonkeyEngine is awesome! . |
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moogie
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Reply #23 - Posted
2014-12-05 07:33:32 » |
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Well it could be just an informal one. Just create a thread and see if there is any interest.... I did plan on "finally" finishing my java 4k project of the last couple of years in this years competition... so I may be a competitor for you  |
Java4k RIP 2014
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