Competitions

General Info

  • First rule: Be creative and have fun! We invite everybody to take part in our compos, no matter if you are a beginner or a scene veteran.
  • Your contribution(s) must not have been released before.
  • You must hand in your contribution(s) via the party system before the respective compo deadline: Access the party system here!
  • By taking part in a competition, you agree that we spread your entry (e.g. through scene.org) and that we’re allowed to use it in non-commercial promotions for upcoming editions of Deadline demoparty.
  • Entries must be free of any content with third-party copyright, and they must comply with German law. We have to disqualify any entry that is in violation of copyright or other laws!
  • In case of too few compo entries for one compo (e.g. less than three), the compo organizers can cancel or combine competitions.
  • For all compos except music, we strongly encourage providing a thumbnail image along with your entry. This will be shown on the voting page, and thus help voters remember your entry.
  • Please give your release a proper file name before uploading into the party system. The releases will be published as-is on scene.org, and it’s hard for other sceners to make sense of entries like “IMG_0815.JPG” or “deadline2024.rc3.final-FIXED.zip”.
  • If you have questions about these rules, contact the organizers at contact@demoparty.berlin.

Remote Entries

You can’t make it to the party, but would like to participate? We accept remote entries for all compos! Please send us a message to contact@demoparty.berlin and we will send you a key and link to our online party system where you can upload your release (and also vote for the compos during the party).

Please note: If you win a prize we will try to send it to you or bring it to another demoparty, e.g. Revision, to hand it over. This usually works out well, but no guarantee. We will also have a livestream of the event, which can be found on the website (once live).

AI Generated Content

  • The following rules apply regarding AI generated content:
    • Pure AI content is not allowed. We don’t have a “prompt engineering” compo.
    • If you have been using AI as a source of inspiration or as a creative tool, you have to mention this in the entry description, and it will be shown on the beam slide for your entry. Failure to declare AI content results in immediate disqualification.
    • AI generated content should not be the main element of an entry.
    • The compo organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entry where too little human involvement is recognizable. This will be a subjective decision of the compo organizers, no discussion.

Executable Competitions:

PC Demo

  • Maximum running time is 10 minutes.
  • Size limit: 1 GB

Oldschool Demo

  • Maximum running time is 10 minutes.
  • Long end scrollers may be cut off earlier than that.
  • The entry must be provided in a common file format for the target platform, e.g. .prg/.d64 for C64, .prg/.st/.msa for Atari ST/Falcon, .adf/.dms/single executable file for Amiga.

PC Intro (64K + 4K)

  • Size limit of .exe: 64 KiB (65,536 bytes) / 4 KiB (4,096 bytes)
  • All other files in the archive will be deleted before showing the entry in the competition
  • For shader-heavy OpenGL intros, please consider providing the organizers with a debug version that contains unminified shaders and prints the shader compiler’s messages on a console or similar. This will help with troubleshooting.

4K Executable Graphics

  • All platforms allowed (PC + Oldschool)
  • Size limit: 4 KiB (4,096 bytes)
  • All other files in the archive will be deleted before showing the entry in the competition
  • Maximum precalculation time: 60 seconds

256 Byte Intro

  • All platforms allowed (note: this explicitly includes fantasy consoles like TIC-80, Pico-8 or MicroW8).
  • Entries must be one file, and that file must be 256 bytes or less.
  • Entries will be shown for approx. 1 minute by default. They will be shown longer if there’s significant progression.
  • Maximum running time is 3 minutes.

Compo Machines

All our executable competitions are shown live, in real-time on the original hardware (if we have it).
Here’s a list of Hardware we will have on-site. If you plan to release a demo on a different platform just let us know beforehands, or bring it yourself and we hook it up.

Compo PC 1

  • CPU: Intel Core i9-11900K
  • 32 GiB RAM
  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090
  • OS: Windows 11 64bit latest version and latest WHQL Nvidia drivers

Compo PC 2

  • CPU: Intel Core i9-10900k
  • 32 GiB RAM
  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
  • OS: Windows 10 64bit latest version and latest WHQL Nvidia drivers

Linux / MacOS

We will also provide a dual-boot environment for Linux productions, running Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 LTS with the latest Nvidia drivers from the Ubuntu repositories, but no other special software installed. Contact us if you need specific packages.

If you plan to release a macOS production, please contact us before the party, so we can see if we can provide suitable hardware for you.

Oldschool Devices

  • We will provide the following machines: C64 (Dual 8580 SID on Ultimate 64 for audio, Real C64 with 8580 for demos), Atari VCS/2600 (PAL), Atari 1040STEAtari Falcon 060Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200/060Sega Mega Drive with 32X.
  • DOS entries are run in DOSBox 0.74DOSBox-X or DOSBox-Staging (recent Git versions). If you need special settings, tell us in the release notes or provide a dosbox.conf file with your release.
  • Upon request, DOSBox MIDI output can be played through a Roland SC-55 MIDI sound module instead of Windows’ built-in MIDI synthesizer, for the most authentic 90s experience.
  • We allow every other oldschool platform with 8 and 16 bits as well – but please bring your own hardware then.
  • If you can’t bring your own hardware, please tell us in advance and we’ll see what we can do.
  • Please contact us in advance in case of unconventional video signals.

Three Dee Competition

  • Deadline will again enter the third dimension! Put on your redcyan glasses and follow us in three-dee hyperspace™!
  • Allowed formats: Everything that outputs a red/cyan picture e.g. graphics / (GIF) animations / executables (newschool and oldschool). Go wild!
  • Useful ressources: Anaglyph How-To by kbAnaglyph shadertoy sandbox by LJ
  • Red/cyan glasses will be provided at the party
    • If you need one in advance for testing, please send us your address and we’ll try to send you one via mail.
Herr Petscii Robot visiting the Cellphone Convention in 3D by Slaxx

Wild and Video Competitions

Wild

  • Anything possible! It can be run on any other platform which is not listed in other competitions, or be something other than a demo (e.g. a music disc, artpack, game, …)
  • No size limit.
  • Maximum running time is 10 minutes.
  • Either bring the platform and we will try to hook it up, or include a digital video of your entry, or perform it on the stage!

Video / Animation

  • Provide a video or animation file. Please use a standard format, ideally H.264 High Profile for video, PCM or AAC for audio, and a MP4, MOV or Matroska container
  • Maximum running time is 10 minutes.

Music competitions

  • Up to two entries per artist and music competition allowed.
  • Maximum playing time for all entries is 4 minutes. If your entry is longer, it will be faded out between 4:00 and 4:10.

Streaming Music

  • Entry must be in MP3, OGG, OPUS or FLAC format.
  • Entries will be played back using the latest XMPlay.

Tracked Music

  • Entry must be in any format supported by OpenMPT (MOD, XM, S3M, IT and many others).
  • We will play back entries using the latest TrackMeister
  • Please specify if you want any specific playback settings (e.g. interpolation, volume ramping, stereo separation).
  • Size Limit: 2 MiB

Oldschool Music

  • Allowed formats:
    • SID, DualSID (will be played on 8580 SID)
    • ZX Spectrum .tap or .pt3
    • Atari ST .prg or SNDH
    • Amiga Executable
    • AHX+HVL
    • Sega Mega Drive ROM file
    • Adlib/OPL3 (RAD2/ADT2/Furnace/VGM)
  • The playtime of the song must be specified, otherwise we’ll fade out after 90 seconds.

Graphics competitions

  • Up to two entries per artist and graphics competition allowed.
  • We recommend that you also provide a list of the tools you have used to create your entry.

Themed Photo

  • The theme this year is “Carnival/Circus/Varieté”. Go get creative!
  • It has to be the competitor who took the picture.
  • Retouching and collages are allowed.
  • If it’s not a pure photo: Do not forget your working stages! Without them, your entry will be disqualified. Please ensure that your entry includes the original, unmodified picture(s).

Textmode Graphics

  • ASCII/ANSI: Maximum width is 80 characters, maximum height is 2048 lines.
  • PETSCII/ATASCII: Maximum width is 40 characters, maximum height is 25 lines.
  • No XBIN, custom fonts, custom palettes, blinking or Ansimations. iCE Colors are supported.
  • Please declare whether your ASCII should be displayed as PC or Amiga ASCII, or include a suitable SAUCE record.
  • PC ASCII/ANSI is shown using 80×25 VGA mode.
  • Amiga ASCII/ANSI can use any font supported by AnsiLove; the default is “topaz”.
  • If you’re unsure whether your entry will be displayed correctly, provide a PNG as a fallback along with the original file. (optional)

Freestyle Graphics

  • You can use every tool you wish (pixel/render/scan & retouch), just be creative.
  • The entry should be delivered in a lossless format, e.g. PNG.
  • Animations are not allowed.
  • You must include at least three working stages of your entry.

Oldschool Graphics

  • Entry must be in a native graphics format for an oldschool platform.
  • Entries for platforms without a standardized image format (Atari XL, C64, …) must be handed in as executable. Otherwise, a picture in a standard image format (e.g. IFF on Amiga) is accepted.
  • Animations are not allowed, except for scrolling.

Matelight Competition

The Matelight is an art-installation by our friends from C-Base Berlin, which is visiting Deadline this year for the 2nd time.

It’s basically a low-res-display made out of Mate-Bottles and LEDs, hence Mate-Light.

You can bring your image and or animation on the mate-light, since we will be hosting a competition for it on-site.

Specs for your image or animation:

  • 40×16 px
  • png (for static images)
  • gif (for animations)

UPDATE:

Entries will run in a continous loop for 30 seconds each until entry deadline at 2100ish sharply…

watch the entries at

https://youtube.com/cbasespacestation/live

entries will be updated every ~30 mins

The matelight at last years Deadline (photo by KeyJ)

So what are you waiting for?! Start working on your release(s)!
😉

In addition to these competitions, we will have some spontaneous compos on-site, such as building block construction, analogue painting, a retro gaming tournament etc. Come and take part!

Oh, and did we mention that we have shiny trophies?!