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(logo by Cinossu)
 
First of all, I'd like to apologise for the delay in announcing this contest as usually we have it posted before the previous year ends. This year there were some issues that had to be looked at preventing the announcement. However, all of that has been sorted and we can go ahead with the announcement of the 2015 Sonic Hacking Contest.
 
For the last few years, we've had community involvement that increases every year, from the interactive participation where the public can download the majority of the entries, to our live streams brought to you by well-known people…as well as people not so well-known. It's that popular that the servers hosting the 2014 Contest crashed twice due to overloading and bandwidth usage. In any case, the contest is getting better and better every year, even if some get disappointed with entries that are or are not submitted. The Hacking Contest is for everyone to submit, be it beginners who want to show off their hack to people, intermediate people who want to have a platform to show their work, or the advanced technical guys who want to blow your minds away with what is possible in a hack. So of course, this WILL continue!
 
JUDGES
This year's judges will consist of myself, Cinossu, D.A Garden, Shadow Fire, Mercury, Reverie, SuperEgg as well as new judges LazloPsylus and SSF1991 (Donnie). This team will be reliable and will be able to deal with contest judging as soon as possible in order for us to progress through the contest and get the results out as soon as possible. Judges will be able to submit their own hacks, but will not be able to judge it themselves, nor will they be able to judge submissions that they have been involved with (such as team hacks). Please note that the final decisions are subjected to the Judging Team, and may not reflect your own opinion. Judges may change at any time due to unavailability or other reasons. Regardless, we'll have enough judges to make sure the proceedings are carried out as best as they can.
 
TROPHIES
First are the normal trophies. Please note that any level specific trophies are now hack specific meaning they no longer go by individual levels in a hack.
 
Hidden Palace Trophy
Grand prize / 1st place. This is given to the overall best hack in the contest. At the moment there is no cash prize but instead we have this.
 
Wood Zone Trophy
2nd place.
 
Dust Hill Trophy
3rd place.
 
Green Hill Trophy
Hack (or specific level of a hack if non-applicable) that plays most like a Sonic game.
 
Windy Valley Trophy
Best art in a hack submitted.
 
D.A. Garden Trophy
Best music in a hack submitted.
 
Lava Reef Trophy
Best level layout in a hack submitted.
 
Genocide City Trophy
Most difficult hack (or specific level of a hack if non-applicable) submitted.
 
Generations Trophy
Best 3D Sonic game mod.
 
11000101 Trophy
Best technical / proof of concept hack submitted.
 
Fang Trophy
Best new enemy/badnik in a hack submitted.
 
Eggman Trophy
Best new boss or miniboss in a hack submitted.
 
Spin Dash Trophy
Best new ability in a hack submitted.
 
Carnival Night Trophy
Most innovative game play feature in a hack submitted.
 
Emerald Trophy
Best Special Stage in a hack submitted.
 
Robotnik's Revenge Trophy
Best fresh concept using existing concepts as the backbone in a hack submitted.
 
Casinopolis Trophy
Most entertaining / fun hack submitted.
 
Polygon Jim Trophy
Most unique hack submitted.
 
Tails Trophy
Most improved hack from last year's contest.
 
 
COMMUNITY TROPHIES
These trophies are trophies that are awarded by the community during the Contest Week.
 
Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Best hack submitted overall.
 
Big Community Trophy
Worst hack submitted overall.
 
Windy Valley Community Trophy
Best art hack submitted.
 
D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Best music hack submitted.
 
Lava Reef Community Trophy
Best level layout hack submitted.
 
11000101 Community Trophy
Best technical hack submitted.
 
Polygon Jim Community Trophy
Most unique hack submitted.
 
...And there you have it!! The only other incredibly important thing to mention at this point in time would be the rules of this hacking contest. These are generally the same as last year's with a few changes:
 
RULES
1. Your entry must be based on an existing Sonic the Hedgehog ROM or game. No homebrew submissions will be accepted.
2. No palette hacks - we have moved on from these sorts of hacks and can do far better than that nowadays, plus there is no trophy for palette hacks.
3. Level layout only hacks can be submitted - if you can't do much with your hack and think it can't be submitted, think again. Ask a judge if you're unsure though.
4. Joke hacks along the lines of Sonic 1337 will not be accepted. Feel free to make something humourous though!
5. No Private Hacks. Entries are either Public (Hack can be downloaded) or Partial (media such as screenshots, videos and music only available to the public).
6. You must include media such as screenshots (absolutely mandatory, must include a title screen image), videos (YouTube links are fine) and music (MP3 and VGM preferred). The judges will no longer waste time making screenshots for you.
7. E-mailed submissions will not be accepted. All submissions must be through the online script.
8. All submissions MUST BE PLAYABLE and can not prevent judges from playing the game. Judges have the right to look at your incomplete work if you submit it, and judges do not allocate trophies based on your incomplete builds, only the last build submitted.
9. These rules can change at any time. Check back often (or at least before you submit something) to make sure they haven't.
 
DEADLINES
The submissions deadline for entries will be Sunday 9th August where you must submit a playable build by then to the contest site in order for it to be entered.
 
You then have a week to refine your entry, fix any issues found and improve your hack which will be Sunday 16th August 2015.
 
Any questions can be asked in this thread where-in a judge will be able to provide some sort of answer. We do not need any other judges at this time.
 
CONTEST WEEK - Monday 24th August to Sunday 30th August (this date may change)
Like the last few years, the public will have a chance to view this year's entries, download the public hacks and vote for Community Trophies. If you're planning to debut your submission to the public, you can do it then however nobody can be stopped from releasing earlier. If you want to show it off to the biggest audience around, the Contest Week is your best time for it.
 
We hope to have live streams, mini contests, radio streams and much more similar to the previous Contest - these will be announced during the Contest when they have been finalised. We'll also have news coverage this time as previous years have usually lacked in that, but Donnie has assured us that this will not be an issue this year.
 
We'll let you know when the website is updated for the 2015 Contest so you can start submitting as some changes to the site will be carried out to improve it. Once again, in order to submit you'll need a Sonic Retro or SSRG full member account although exceptions may be given by contacting a judge.
 
The contest rules and features can change at any time - further announcements will be posted in due time.
 
So with that, I'll leave you to your hacking.
 
Ready, Set, Procrastinate!!

Here are the results from this year's Hacking Contest.

Judged Trophies

Hidden Palace Trophy - 1st Place
Sonic: South Island Warped - GHZ Demo by Shockwave

Wood Zone Trophy - 2nd Place
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by LoneDevil

Dust Hill Trophy - 3rd Place
Sonic 1 Color Contrast by TheInvisibleSun

Green Hill Trophy - Level that plays most like a Sonic Hack
Sonic: South Island Warped - GHZ Demo by Shockwave

Windy Valley Trophy - Hack with the best level art
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by LoneDevil

D.A Garden Trophy - Hack with the best music
Sonic Tetris by Crash

Lava Reef Trophy - Best level layouts in a hack
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by LoneDevil

Genocide City Trophy - Most difficult Sonic hack
Sonic UMZ by TheInvisibleSun

Generations Trophy - Best Sonic Generations (or 3D) Entry
Mystic Cave Classic - Sonic Generations Mod (Release 1)

11000101 Trophy - Best technical / proof of contest hack submitted
Sonic 1 FM by Team Valley Bell

Fang Trophy - Best new enemy submitted in a hack
Sonic the Very Useful Engine by VAdaPEGA

Eggman Trophy - Best new boss or mini boss submitted in a hack
Sonic: South Island Warped - GHZ Demo by Shockwave

Spin Dash Trophy - Best new ability in a hack submitted
Sonic and Tails: Double Trouble by FFuser

Carnival Night Trophy - Most innovative game play in a hack submitted
Sonic 1 Color Contrast by TheInvisibleSun

Emerald Trophy - Best special stage in a hack submitted
Sonic Tetris by Crash

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy - Best new concept in a hack using existing concepts as a backbone for a hack
Big's Fishing Derby by flamewing

Casinopolis Trophy - Most entertaining / fun hack submitted
Sonic the Very Useful Engine by VAdaPEGA

Polygon Jim Trophy - Most unique hack submitted
Big's Fishing Derby by flamewing

Tails Trophy - Most improved hack from last year's contest
Sonic 1 Color Contrast by TheInvisibleSun

Froggy Trophy - Best implementation of Big the Cat in a hack submitted.
Big's Fishing Derby by Flamewing

Newtrogic High Trophy - Best entry as voted by the Media Panel
NOT YET DECIDED

Community Trophies

Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by LoneDevil

Windy Valley Community Trophy
Mystic Cave Classic - Sonic Generations Mod (Release 1) by JansenM

D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Sonic Tetris by Crash

Lava Reef Community Trophy
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by LoneDevil

11000101 Community Trophy
Sonic Tetris by Crash

Polygon Jim Community Trophy
Big's Fishing Derby by Flamewing

Big Community Trophy
sonic hard mode by sonic hacker

----

Once again the Hacking Contest has got bigger and better thanks to the Contest Week's interactive participation not to mention the streaming and video reviews done by people such as SomecallmeJohnny, MegaGWolf, Bartman3010, Donnie, Geek Critique, Cobanermani456 and TailsChannel along with anyone else that I forgot to mention. However, it's also thanks to the people who have taken part by submitting to the contest, playing the entries, voting themselves and watching what's been going on that the Hacking Contest is a good ongoing success that gets better by the year.

Hopefully the next contest will be announced in the upcoming months, with some changes being made having seen what worked, what didn't work and how things could be improved this week - all those involved in running the contest will be discussing what is needed for the 2015 Hacking Contest.

Click here to see the latest post. The contest is now open!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


(logo by Cinossu)

It's that time again. The 2013 contest was very successful with what we had done this time, with the site submissions, a good load of entries and of course the rather popular Contest Week which went well without much issues. So it would be obvious that we should do the same again...in 2014!

Things are largely the same as the 2013 contest with a few changes. We have a new judge, a few rules have been amended and there'll be stuff to be announced as the contest progresses including the Contest Week. So let's start...

JUDGES
This year's judges will consist of myself, Cinossu, D.A Garden, Shadow Fire, MegaGWolf, Mercury, Reverie (that new judge I was on about) and SuperEgg. This team will be reliable and will be able to deal with contest judging as soon as possible in order for us to progress through the contest and get the results out as soon as possible. Judges will be able to submit their own hacks, but will not be able to judge it themselves, nor will they be able to judge submissions that they have been involved with (such as team hacks). Please note that the final decisions are subjected to the Judging Team, and may not reflect your own opinion. Judges may change at any time.

TROPHIES
Allow me to show you the list =):

First are the normal trophies. Please note that any level specific trophies are now hack specific meaning they no longer go by individual levels in a hack.

Hidden Palace Trophy
Grand prize / 1st place. This is given to the overall best hack in the contest. At the moment there is no cash prize but instead we have this.

Wood Zone Trophy
2nd place.

Dust Hill Trophy
3rd place.

Green Hill Trophy
Hack (or specific level of a hack if non-applicable) that plays most like a Sonic game.

Windy Valley Trophy
Best art in a hack submitted.

D.A. Garden Trophy
Best music in a hack submitted.

Lava Reef Trophy
Best level layout in a hack submitted.

Genocide City Trophy
Most difficult hack (or specific level of a hack if non-applicable) submitted.

Generations Trophy
Best 3D Sonic game mod.

11000101 Trophy
Best technical / proof of concept hack submitted.

Fang Trophy
Best new enemy/badnik in a hack submitted.

Eggman Trophy
Best new boss or miniboss in a hack submitted.

Spin Dash Trophy
Best new ability in a hack submitted.

Carnival Night Trophy
Most innovative game play feature in a hack submitted.

Emerald Trophy
Best Special Stage in a hack submitted.

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy
Best fresh concept using existing concepts as the backbone in a hack submitted.

Casinopolis Trophy
Most entertaining / fun hack submitted.

Polygon Jim Trophy (previously WTF?! Trophy)
Most unique hack submitted.

Tails Trophy
Most improved hack from last year's contest.

Froggy Trophy
If someone can actually implement a fully playable Big the Cat in a Sonic game, they will get this. If there are more than one entry, the best implementation wins. Hint: Fishing.
 
Now we move on to the Community Trophies!! =) These trophies are trophies that are awarded by those following the contest.

Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Best hack submitted overall.

Big Community Trophy
Worst hack submitted overall.

Windy Valley Community Trophy
Best art hack submitted.

D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Best music hack submitted.

Lava Reef Community Trophy
Best level layout hack submitted.

11000101 Community Trophy
Best technical hack submitted.
 
Polygon Jim Community Trophy
Most unique hack submitted.
 
...And there you have it!! The only other incredibly important thing to mention at this point in time would be the rules of this hacking contest. These are generally the same as last year's with a few changes:

RULES
1. Your entry must be based on an existing Sonic the Hedgehog ROM or game. No homebrew submissions will be accepted.
2. No palette hacks - we have moved on from these sorts of hacks and can do far better than that nowadays, plus there is no trophy for palette hacks.
3. Unlike last year, level layout only hacks can be submitted - if you can't do much with your hack and think it can't be submitted, think again. Ask a judge if you're unsure though.
4. Joke hacks along the lines of Sonic 1337 will not be accepted. Feel free to make something humourous though!
5. No Private Hacks. Entries are either Public (Hack can be downloaded) or Partial (media such as screenshots, videos and music only available to the public).
6. You must include media such as screenshots (absolutely mandatory, must include a title screen image), videos (YouTube links are fine) and music (MP3 and VGM preferred). The judges will no longer waste time making screenshots for you.
7. E-mailed submissions will not be accepted. All submissions must be through the online script.
8. All submissions MUST BE PLAYABLE and can not prevent judges from playing the game. Judges have the right to look at your incomplete work if you submit it, and judges do not allocate trophies based on your incomplete builds, only the last build submitted.
9. These rules can change at any time. Check back often (or at least before you submit something) to make sure they haven't.

DEADLINE
The submissions deadline for entries will be Thursday 31st July 2014 where you must submit a playable build by then to the contest site in order for it to be entered.

You then have a week to refine your entry, fix any issues found and improve your hack which will be Thursday 7th August 2014.

Any questions can be asked in this thread where-in a judge will be able to provide some sort of answer. We do not need any other judges at this time.

CONTEST WEEK - Monday 18th August to Sunday 24th August
Like the last few years, the public will have a chance to view this year's entries, download the public hacks and vote for Community Trophies.

We hope to have live streams, mini contests, radio streams and much more similar to the 2013 Contest - these will be announced during the Contest when they have been finalised.

We'll let you know when the website is updated for the 2014 Contest so you can start submitting. Once again, in order to submit you'll need a Sonic Retro or SSRG full member account although exceptions may be given by contacting a judge.

So with that, I'll leave you to your hacking.

Ready, Set, Procrastinate!!

After a week of playing the hacks, watching hacks be played and voting for the trophies, this year's Sonic Hacking Contest has now come to an end. Now for the stuff everyone has been waiting for - the results!

Judged Trophies

Hidden Palace Trophy - 1st Place
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Wood Zone Trophy - 2nd Place
Sonic Generations - Unleashed Project by Dario FF, Chimera, TwilightZoney, etc

Dust Hill Trophy - 3rd Place
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

Green Hill Trophy - Level that plays most like a Sonic Hack
Sonic 3: D.A. Garden Edition by D.A. Garden

Windy Valley Trophy - Hack with the best level art
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

D.A Garden Trophy - Hack with the best music
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Lava Reef Trophy - Best level layouts in a hack
Sonic 3: D.A. Garden Edition by D.A. Garden

Genocide City Trophy - Most difficult Sonic hack
Sonic 1: The Harder Levels by The Harder Levels Project

Generations Trophy - Best Sonic Generations (or 3D) Entry
Sonic Generations - Unleashed Project by Dario FF, Chimera, TwilightZoney, etc

11000101 Trophy - Best technical / proof of contest hack submitted
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Network by Morph

Fang Trophy - Best new enemy submitted in a hack
An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack by Cinossu

Eggman Trophy - Best new boss or mini boss submitted in a hack
Sonic Winter Adventures by vladikcomper

Spin Dash Trophy - Best new ability in a hack submitted
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Carnival Night Trophy - Most innovative game play in a hack submitted
Sonic Classic Heroes - Rise of the Chaotix by flamewing

Emerald Trophy - Best special stage in a hack submitted
The S Factor: Sonia and Silver by Aquaslash & Pals

Robotnik's Revenge Trophy - Best new concept in a hack using existing concepts as a backbone for a hack
Sonic the Hedgehog Never Stop Running by Cinossu

Casinopolis Trophy - Most entertaining / fun hack submitted
Sonic Classic Heroes - Rise of the Chaotix by flamewing

Polygon Jim Trophy - Most unique hack submitted
An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack by Cinossu

Tails Trophy - Most improved hack from last year's contest
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

Community Trophies

Hidden Palace Community Trophy
Sonic Generations - Unleashed Project by Dario FF, Chimera, TwilightZoney, etc

Windy Valley Community Trophy
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

D.A. Garden Community Trophy
Sonic Winter Adventures by vladikcomper

Lava Reef Community Trophy
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive by MKDarkon

11000101 Community Trophy
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Network by Morph

Polygon Jim Community Trophy
An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack by Cinossu

----

Thank you to everyone for taking part in this year's contest - definitely one of the best we've had for quite a while to be honest. I would like to thank our judges who worked hard on getting these entries judged as quickly as possible - Cinossu, D.A. Garden, MegaGWolf, Mercury, Shadow Fire and SuperEgg along with myself. It is also thanks to Cinossu for providing the website used for the contest along with the graphics made for this event. Thanks to MegaGWolf and SomecallmeJohnny for their streams, they were very popular and it's something we'll definitely have to return for next year's contest. Also thanks to DalekSam, Donnie, Dude, Erika, GeneHF, MarkeyJester, Reverie, SeanieB along with many others for their help and support to keep the contest week running as smoothly as possible. I'd also like to thank Ayla for helping get this contest set up, unfortunately personal issues had prevented her from being able to participate in the contest but I'm sure she will be happy to see that the contest went well even without her being around.

And now this year's contest has officially come to a close. We'll be reviewing this year's contest to see what worked and if anything needs to be changed for our next contest, you'll see a thread about that near the end of this year. Thanks for participating!

So I recently picked up another monitor to set up a dual screen environment for my main desktop. Unfortunately I also bought the wrong kind of cable as it only takes in from HDMI then out to VGA. My graphics card has a DVI port (in use), a HDMI and a DisplayPort which is why I'm needing something.

Has anyone got a similar setup or knows what exactly I need to get this up and running?