Last updated: February 17, 2010

Read this part, it's different this year. For this, the fourth year of Blockparty, we took a number of looks back, listened to some excellent feedback and reviews, and considered what would be best for the competition. Demo Competitions are a very regimented thing, with a lot of tradition and rules that have been put together over decades. The fact we're tinkering with them means we're stepping in a different direction, and we welcome feedback about this. The goal, in the long run, is to realistically include all manner of machines, operating systems and projects, while trying to leave some of the judgement to the audience in voting.

Subsequently, you will see a few big changes: Non-Windows and Non-PC competitions in the demo, and an additional "old school" competition. We're also combining what used to be the "streaming" and "old school" music competitions into a single "music" competition, and changing the rules for what "old school music" is. We think this allows people who do anything but "mainstream" demo coding and music making to be involved in the main competitions without being relegated to "wild". This will also introduce a level of complexity to the process, but we hope you'll work with us to overcome it. So, on with the rules.

Competitions at Blockparty will be demo, oldschool demo, HiRez, textmode, music, oldschool music, photography, and wildcard. All compos will be governed by the general compo rules as well as rules specific to that compo.

Our intention is to have a compo only if we have enough entries to justify a true competition, so a compo may be cancelled due to insufficient entries. A minimum of 4 entries make a competition -- or it's cancelled.

All entries submitted to a compo will be published on internet file servers, unless a competition is cancelled. Any prizes from cancelled competitions will be joined to other competitions at the discretion of the organizers.

Conversely, competitions may be subdivided if there are too many entries. For instance, if there are a large number of demo entries, the compo may be split into a "64K and under" demo compo and a "over 64K" demo compo.

Photography must be created by single attendees who also attend the party.

Wildcard demos are typically animated short films, or short visual productions. The demos should involve the use of technology in some way. Additional surprise competitions might happen at Blockparty as opportunity presents itself.

If you have any questions about the rules or competitions, please contact the organizers and ask.

2010 Machine Specifications

Read this as well, for it is also new.

"The Beast" (2007-2009) has been retired. Long live the beast.

The New System for 2010 will be MONSTROUS!

Intel i7-920 processor overclocked
Nvidia GTX 275 video card w/ 896 MB RAM
12 GB RAM
Dual 1.5 TB hard drives
Soundblaster x-fi audio
Running Windows 7

We are allowing people to enter their own machines into the competition in the event of non-windows demos. You have to let the judging staff know you are intending to do this by 10pm on Friday, the 17th of April. Entries that are made without notification by this time will automatically default to the wild competition.

The way we are splitting up entrant machines into "regular" and "old school" is to go by the definition of "the operating system is still being manufactured or sold". In the case of Linux distributions, we will take distributions that are less than 2 years old. In the case of Mac machines, this means OSX.

General Compo Rules

Deadline for all entries is 5:00 PM Saturday, April 18th, 2010.
Only original, unreleased works may be submitted to a competition.
At least one team member or creator of the work must be physically present at the competition in order to enter. In the case of productions created by a group, any member of the group may serve as a representative.
All entries shall be submitted in the form of a ZIP file which contains the file(s) for the competition entry.
The ZIP must contain a "README.TXT" containing:
1. The title of the entry
2. The name of the author/group submitting the entry
Material governed by copyright (images, music, models, etc.) of a third party may not be included in any entry without a written release permitting the use of the materials in accordance with these rules.
Submissions must be made electronically (CD-ROM, floppy disk, etc.) before the deadline of a competition. Please mark clearly on the media the following information: title, author, and group (if applicable).
All entries will be made publicly available for unlimited download without fee on internet file servers and web sites.
All Notacon attendees are eligible to vote.
All competition entries will be qualified by a jury.
Jury members will be selected by the Blockparty organizers.
Juries reserve the right to disqualify any entry for failure to abide by these rules. A majority vote of the jury is required to disqualify an entry.
Winning entries for each competition are selected by a popular vote point system. The three entries with the highest number of points will be awarded first, second and third place prizes, respectively, in a competition. Points are computed from the rankings on ballots of party guests.
In the event of a tie in the number of points, the jury for that competition will break the tie by a majority vote of the jurors.
Points are awarded by individual vote of guests and jurors.
Each registered guest and juror will cast ballots for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in each competition.
Jurors may not preside over a competition they have entered.
Staff and Management of Blockparty and Notacon may not accept prizes for any competition; in the event a staff or management member wins a competition; their prize will shift down to the next winner in order of votes. The staff entrants will be recognized as having placed in the competition, however.
The Blockparty organizers reserve the right to cancel any competition for any reason.
These rules may be changed without notice, but will be time-stamped and available at this website: http://www.demoparty.us/competitions.shtml.

Demo Comp