[BEGINS: September 20th, 2014 @ 00:00 UTCENDS: October 30th, 2014 @ 23:59 UTC]

BEGINS: September 20th, 2014 @ 00:00 UTC
ENDS: October 30th, 2014 @ 23:59 UTC

64Digits proudly presents the 4th annual Scary4Digits game development competition. Since 2011, Scary4Digits has been a staple competition of the 64Digits community; everyone in the community comes together to compete against one another, make games, and have fun - then come Halloween night, play all the creations in a spooktacular fashion.

The tradition isn't changing this year, but the way themes are handled is. Historically, a single theme has been given for participants to use, but this year will be different; each entrant (solo participants and entire teams) will be randomly assigned 3 themes from a precompiled list of themes, meaning each entry will be following a different set of themes. Themes will be completely open to interpretation to promote creativity and thinking outside of the box.

Over the years, competitions hosted on 64Digits have attracted hundreds of participants and have obtained big name sponsors such as Unity, YoYo Games, Scirra, and more.


Entry Submission and Voting

To submit your entry, you must use the game submission system on 64Digits and set the game's genre to "S4D14", and then send me a PM as notification that your entry has been submitted. There will be two rounds of voting, the first of which starting on November 1st. All participants MUST vote during both periods to avoid being disqualified. The method of voting will be determined at a later date.


NOTE: All participants will receive a free trial for Unity 4.x Pro for the duration of the competition.

CURRENT PRIZES (subject to change):

1st Place

$165
Construct 2 Business Edition License OR 6-month Unity Pro Subscription
$30 worth of Steam games (of your choosing)
Competition winner's badge on 64Digits


2nd Place

$70
Construct 2 Business Edition License OR 6-month Unity Pro Subscription (whichever 1st place doesn't choose)
$10 worth of Steam games (of your choosing)
Competition winner's badge on 64Digits


3rd Place

$25
Competition winner's badge on 64Digits

SPONSORED BY

Click here for more information about Scary4Digits (rules, themes, and other general information). If you already have an account at 64Digits and wish to sign-up for the competition now, you can fill out the applicants form here. You can also check out @Scary4Digits on Twitter and make use of the #Scary4Digits and #S4D14 hashtags when referring to the competition and/or your entry.

I look forward to seeing what all of you can create with your given themes!

Now I shall wait for issue 4.

Your wait is finally over.

I've decided to bring back OverByte, complete with 6 articles (one of which is an interview) and 3 game reviews. This is the first issue in which there are more articles than reviews, mainly because I didn't feel like reviewing anything!

The issue is available for download via the OverByte website or at Box.net.

The "Download File" link on the OverByte site may or may not seemingly download a corrupted PDF. It isn't as easy to fix as simply reuploading the file (I've tried and had others try for me), so it is an issue with the server or my code I assume. As I'm planning to make a new website in the near future, I'm not even going to try to fix it anymore than I've already tried.

So if the PDF is corrupted, please download it from the Box.net mirror.

I sadly cannot grow much facial hair, though that also means I don't have to shave as much!

Last time I shaved was over a month ago, and right now I've got a little bit of a mustache, some chin hairs and a little bit on my cheeks.

Before the last time I shaved, I went 4 months without shaving and it was pretty much the same as it is now, just a bit longer I guess.

Just licked my finger and cleaned my left ear.

19 in May.

It's been posted on a couple of other communities, but they are game making/programming communities as well.

Another year, another survey.

Last June, I made a survey that focused on 2D and 3D gaming preferences, purchasing information and other things. The results to that previous survey can be found here.

This new survey focuses primarily on 2D games. There are 6 questions, all of which require an answer. Basically, it will help give a better understanding on the marketability of a 2D game.

I will admit, most the of the survey takers will be game developers, so the survey will be inaccurate in terms of non-developer viewpoints. You can help by getting other people who don't know shit about making games to take the survey if you wish. The more responses to the survey, the better and more accurate the results will likely be.

Take the survey.

Your participation is appreciated. The results may or may not be released in the near future, but they will most likely be released eventually!

http://www.last.fm/user/RedChu

I added an "other" text field like some of the other questions have. I should have done so when I made the survey, however, I didn't think about it.

I ran out of room for it. The free version of Survey Monkey apparently only allows for 10 questions.

Thanks for answering, though.

Yes indeed, there is nothing more exciting than an absolutely free survey. All you need is a minute or so of free time to answer 10 questions.

The survey is about your general (although it says commercial) gaming preferences, such as which type of graphics you prefer (2D or 3D), your method of payment among other things.

The tenth and final question may seem irrelevant, but due to the nature of the survey it really isn't (at least not to me).

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QDDPH7X

It's something to do if you're bored and have a minute or so to spare, I guess. I can't make a survey seem more appealing, so I'll leave it at that.

Your participation in the survey will be much appreciated.

[The Black Hole That Wants To Eat Me]

It was just another peaceful day in space. Stars from millions of light-years away flickering like that of a lit candle... no one could have expected that a black hole seemingly just appeared in the middle of nowhere, causing massive destruction and loss of lives.

I was awakend by the eerie silence that is space. I stood up only to realize that I was standing upon a lone platform deep in space, close to the black hole. It was pulling me towards it... I ran, but its force kept getting stronger...

-----

The Black Hole That Wants To Eat Me is a simple arcade/platform game where you repeatedly press the Z key to build up strength to survive as long as you can while a black hole is pulling you.

Through the course of the game, the black hole will strengthen and the rate at which your strength will diminish increases, making for a more difficult challenge in your quest for survival. Along the way, colorful balls will float towards the black hole. These balls are power-ups that, when you collect, will give you a strength boost for a limited time, weaken the gravity of the black hole or reset the rate at which your strength diminishes.

You can jump with the space bar to collect power-ups or avoid obstacles (gray colored balls). Hitting an obstacle will take away any strength you already have built up, as well as increase the gravity of the black hole or the rate at which your strength diminishes.

Your death is inevitable, but you may as well try to survive for as long as you can. There's also an online highscores board so you can see where you stand amongst the others.


Links:

YoYo Games: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/126627-the-black-hole-that-wants-to-eat-me
GameJolt: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/arcade/the-black-hole-that-wants-to-eat-me/2335
Online Highscores: http://www.gmhighscores.com/highscores.php?gameid=875


Other Information:

• Filesize - 3.77MB (zipped)
• Made with Game Maker 8.0 Pro, so Windows 2000 and later is all you need, I think.

Screenshots:

Issue 3 has been released, you can find the link and content list in the first post.

[Articles:]

Issue 4 - July 2011

After a year of being dead, we're back to deliver more (hopefully) interesting content.

WARNING: May contain content considered offensive to some.

Articles:
2D Game Marketing Survey Results
A Look Into the nD
Does the Community Support GM
The Making of Hero Core
Tips to Keep You Motivated
Interview with Connor "Time" Ullmann

Reviews:
Tectoccular
Narrow
Squirrels With Machine Guns

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

Download Link: Website | Box.net

Your feedback and suggestions and whatever else you have will be appreciated, good or bad.

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

Previous Issuses:
Issue 1: Website | Box.net

Issue 2: Website | Box.net

Issue 3: Website | Box.net

[BACK IN TIME]

Is this a joke post? I can't tell if this is a joke post or not. Either way, it's stupid.

You'll think otherwise come 2012...

The current solar minimum is particularly... minimal.

Yeah, that's now, but the last solar maximum occurred in 2001, they switch every 11 or 13 years or so.

Also you would have gained extra TERROR points by mentioning the solar flare that took down the telegraph in 19th century, setting telegraph poles ablaze in some places or even powering the telegraph by induced current alone in others.

Didn't know this, though curiosity got the best of me and I decided to travel BACK IN TIME, or just go a mouse click away and read about it. Either would work.

Putting a magnet over a wire causes an electric current to flow inside the wire, which is what happened in the 1800's with the telegraph when the solar flare caused a magnetic storm in the Earth's atmosphere, affecting thousands of miles of telegraph wires, nearly electrocuting telegraph operators and could run powerless without a battery.

Though, in 1940 another magnetic storm occurred and affected wires under the ocean, short-wave broadcasts were blocked for hours during the time as 2,600 volts surged through the cable between Scotland and Newfoundland.

Though in theory, a solar flare can always wipe out satellites since they are above the Earth's protective atmosphere, making them vulnerable to high levels of radiation and high-energy electrons.

For example, in 1997 an AT&T satellite experienced a massive power failure due to a solar storm that occurred a few days prior, granted the Sun wasn't in the Solar maximum stage yet until later in 2001. It can happen at any time, though it is more likely to during a solar maximum, which just so happens to be in 2012.

[THE INTERNET]

YES! It's true! This theory is more likely than the Earth exploding into a million bits when the Sun decides it's time to kill us all because it's having a bad day.

What really is going to happen on 2012? Who the hell knows, but I'm going with this theory:

A Solar maximum is expected to occur sometime in 2012 or 2013. As you may or may not know, a Solar maximum is the greatest period for solar activity, meaning more solar storms, sun spot occurrences and of course; Solar flares.

Solar flares are large explosions that take place in the Sun's atmosphere, and produce radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum. Radio waves, gamma rays, blah blah blah blah blah. Solar flares occur in active areas around the sunspots, and the X-rays and UV rays sent out by the solar flares can affect the Earth's ionosphere and disrupt all sorts of radio communications and all that jazz.

Traveling back in time to 1972, I learned that a strong solar flare literally knocked out long-distance telephone communication across much of Illinois, and then on the way back to now I discovered that in 1989 electric power transmission was disrupted somewhere in Canada at some power station placeamajig, forcing over 6 million angry, scared Canadians to into total darkness for over 9 agonizing hours.

Scientists predict that this Solar maximum is going to be stronger than previous ones, and, what if there's a possibility that a SUPER SOLAR FLARE occurs? What would happen if a measly "strong" solar flare knocked out power and telephone communications? I'll tell you.

Doomsday. The end of the world as we know it. The end... of THE INTERNET! Which essentially is the end of life, because let's face it - we're too dependent on the internet.

It all makes sense now, it isn't a supernova that's going to wipe out Earth, though, that is a possibility as well, rather our own bitch of a Sun going take away our PORN!

The end of the world is nigh... 2012. Be prepared. Be scared. But most importantly - watch out for them atomic bombs!

I read every post in this topic, so I thought I'd just post to say that.

Anyway, it is quite understandable why eva would be angry/upset over this. Though personally I tend to try not to care what people say about me anymore after all that happened in 2008 when insults made public were plentiful, and personal attacks as well as virtual attacks were made onto me and my internet locale thingamabobs. I didn't understand the internet then, because an insult on the internet is like saying hello to a hippopotamus.

At least you apologized (ChevyRay), even though it isn't necessary on the internet, but it was still nice to say the least. And yes I believe eva went about this in the wrong way but who am I to judge? Who are any of you to judge other than in your minds - Jesus, or some other high religious figure which I will refer to as "God"?

Also note how I subtly told a small story about my history.

You're Going Down - Sick Puppies

Getting kicked in the testicles. Hurts. All the way up into your chest. Like one of your nuts is traveling up your insides and is going to come out your mouth.

I like this game, the puzzles are fun and difficult and actually make you use your noodle.