Sonic Hacking Contest 2020

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The Contest Week has now started as of this post!

Play this year's Contest and Expo entries!

It's that time of the year again...



Contest Date

Last year, we ran the Contest Week around the start of December.
We found that this has noticeably this resulted in a lower stream turnout.
Therefore we are returning to hosting the contest at an earlier time this year..

Historically, the reason the contest dates kept on being moved every year
was usually a result of site delays, however some other circumstances also
occurred. In 2018, we moved it due to the release of Sonic Forces.
In 2019, we delayed it due to Thanksgiving. This year we are returning the contest week to late October.


Deadlines & Judging

In 2019 we found a number of Expo entries slipped the net
and nearly ended up in Contest Week despite failing the
Quality Control criteria. This was mainly due to negligence of
some Judges to monitor Expo entries as they were being submitted.


To compensate, we added an additional week between the Expo
deadline and the Contest Week, to ensure entries could be filtered out.
We do not wish to give bad quality entries exposure, particularly
those we do not feel would bring anything positive to the end user.

Regarding game compatibility. As an improvement to previous years,
a spreadsheet has been made to track which games individual Judges
can play. This will allow us to ensure that we can better tackle niche
games (should any be submitted), better than in prior contests.


The Trophy System

We found that the new trophy system introduced in 2019 has worked pretty well.
Some categories did not simply have a good turnout to take full advantage of them.

Overall we were happy with the outcome. We should continue using this format,
but tighten up some minor loose ends that were discovered.

Entries will be graded top 3 overall in the respective common submission formats/categories:
“Retro”, “3D” and “2D PC”. Various “general” categories, subject to different interpretation based
on submission format such as “best visually appealing” or “best sounding”
will also be split in the following manner.

Last of all, “special” trophies such as “most improved since last year” or “most WTF” (Polygon Jim)
will also be split this year. Also, we have reinstated a few trophies that were removed last year.

We understand that there is a possibility that some of the trophies under the format may end up
“unnecessary” in the long run with no real “winners”, due to what may or may not be submitted.
For such trophies, the “Null Vote Rule” will be applied, with “Null Vote” being a voting option if no
entry either satisfies the trophy description or does not meet a given quality standard in the given
trophy’s department. If “Null Vote” becomes the top vote for a category, no trophy is awarded.

Uploads and Patches


A recurring issue every contest year is that we very often receive requests from
users to make available an archive of all of the entries for a given contest.

While at the time of a contest, it is possible, with the passage of time this becomes
very difficult, as many entries are often hosted off-site.

Well, in good news. According to SeanieB, (who hosts the SHC server), the bandwidth
on the current server is now more than enough to allow all entries to be directly uploaded.
As such, there is no need for an extra server to be configured for uploads,
which had been the plan for previous contests but time constraints did not permit this to be set up.

As a direct result, we expect SHC2020 to have no off-site links for entries.
Although it wouldn’t stop mod loaders, this will also address a potential exploitable issue with off-site links being updated after the contest deadlines.




The Judges

This year's judge set consists of AURORA☆FIELDS, Cinossu, CodenameGamma, Dario FF, Melpontro,
OrdosAlpha, Sewer56, SSF1991 (Donnie), Spanner and Twilightzoney.

Judges & Contest Submissions

Judges will be allowed to submit their own hacks, however they will not be allowed to judge
their own entries (conflict of interest). This includes submissions that they have been involved
with, such as team submissions.

After the main contest finishes, the Judges will provide more detailed evaluations of the entries to
give their opinion, thoughts, and advice they feel is deserved.

Disclaimers

This judge list is not final and additional judges may be recruited to replace former judges who have
left the contest due to retiring or other reasons. Do not ask to be a judge as that just rules you out.
If we think you're up to the job, we'll talk to you.

Not all judges can judge all games as they may not have have the capability to do so.
For example: 360/PS3 based Sonic hacks requiring either powerful PC for emulation or hacked console.
If you submit a non 8/16-bit entry please have this in mind. The majority of judges however are capable
of playing PC-based game entries.

Please note that the final decisions are subject to the Judging Team and may not reflect your own opinion.
If one hack wins a whole load of trophies that is what the judges thought should win. Judges may change
at any time due to unavailability or other reasons.



Like last year, we have three main categories that entries can fall under:

Retro
For any and all retro console hack entries

3D
For all entries based on the 3D Sonic games outright

2D PC
For those entries based on the 2D ports, rereleases, and remasters on PC, as well as Mania.

All three of these categories will have a Top 3 result and individual trophies of
the following:

Best Visual
Best Audio
Best Technical
Best Level Design
Best Voted by Media Panel
Most Entertaining
Most WTF (Polygon Jim)
Best Team Entry
Best Multiplayer Entry
Best Character Implementation
Best Boss Design
Best Fresh Concept Using Existing Concepts As A Backbone
Most Potential
Most Improved Since Last Year

Of course we also have the overall Top 3 that can again be attributed to any
entry from any category.

And what of community trophies, you ask? Apart
from the obvious exception of "Best Voted by Media Panel", the community get to
vote on each and all of these categories and trophies as well.

 

All of these will be able to be played from Monday 26th October to Sunday 1st November, with the Contest Entries being eligible for Community Trophy voting too.

 

Contest Entries:

1. AMY MANIA 2020 by Troopsushi & CodenameGamma
2. Bob-omb Battlefield in SADX by Rarefoil
3. Bunnie Rabbot in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by E-122-Psi
4. Cream and Cheese in Sonic the Hedgehog by E-122-Psi
5. Dash Adventure 2 by AeroIncarnated
6. Dead Line - Sonic Lost World by AnotherBlob
7. DOOM in Sonic Mania by TheStoneBanana
8. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine: DX Edition (Ver. 3.0) by RadioTails
9. Gex The Gecko in Sonic 1 by JoenickROS
10. Knuckles' Emerald Hunt Mania by BlueStreakMods
11. Labyrinth Zone EX by TheInvisibleSun
12. Mighty & Ray in Sonic 2 by campbellsonic
13. Motobug in Sonic Mania by PaisanoJay
14. Nozomi Mania by YumeGipsu
15. Pantufa the cat : Extended Edition by VAdaPEGA
16. Return of Shadow by JoenickROS
17. Sonic '06 - Greenflower Zone by Knuxfan24
18. Sonic 06 Legacy of Solaris by JotaroPowered
19. Sonic 1 - Point & Click Edition by Nat The Porcupine
20. Sonic 1 Delta by MrLordSith
21. Sonic 2 Chaos Adventure Demo by Jdpense
22. Sonic 2 Tailsplosion by GTKoopa
23. Sonic 2: Return to Westside Island by D.A. Garden
24. Sonic Black & White by TheInvisibleSun
25. SONIC DELTA 40Mb (Sonic Delta Next) by Neto
26. Sonic Forces Re-imagined Demo by brandonj
27. Sonic Forces Tag Team Revamped by SuperSonicThomas
28. Sonic Halloween by CamManS5
29. Sonic Heroes: Extended Multiplayer Edition by DonutStopGaming
30. Sonic Mania: Boss Rush+ by Apollyon
31. Sonic Megamix Mania - 2020 DEMO by MegamixManiaTeam
32. Sonic Remixed Adventure by Dreamcast Team
33. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Anniversary Edition by SophieDude
34. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Mania by AChickMcNuggie
35. Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Pink Edition by E-122-Psi
36. Sonic the Hedgehog Frenzy by Yoshister
37. Sonic the Hedgehog: ReOne by DeltaWooloo
38. Sonic Visual Maze (Revised) by Joshwoakes
39. SONICU THE CUBEHOG by C.A.L.D.M_2001
40. Unnamed Mania Mod by Cyber1204
41. Unoriginal Flappy Bird Clone by LJSTAR

Expo Entries:

1. AMPS IN SONIC 3 & KNUCKLES by AURORA☆FIELDS
2. Chat VS Sonic Mania V2 by CodenameGamma
3. Classic Sonic Improvement Mod - THE CHAOS UPDATE!!! by Showin
4. Cursed Hedgehogs pack by PkN0PE
5. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine: Redhotsonic Edition by RadioTails
6. Green Forest (Team Battle) by Shadow Side
7. Mighty Redone by CrappyBlue
8. SA2 Vs Chat by MainMemory
9. SHC2020 The Real Sonic 2 by lavagaming1
10. Sonic & Knuckles Master Edition Demo by Xebninmaj
11. Sonic 1 published by EA by VAdaPEGA
12. Sonic 1 Tag Team Adventure by Jdpense
13. Sonic 1: Character Pak by LuigiXHero
14. Sonic 2 but with Chaotix Physics by Jdpense
15. Sonic Acceleration by Staffer
16. Sonic Adventure DX: Hebrew Translation Project by TeamKipod
17. Sonic Forces - Tropical Jungle by Knuxfan24
18. Sonic Generations: LATAM Spanish Conversion by senorDane
19. Sonic Mania J2ME by Iso Kilo
20. Sonic R Improvement Mod by Showin
21. Sonic R Mania (Sonic R Texture / Sound Mod) by Rlan
22. Sonic the Hackable - 23-07-2017 built by CHRdutch
23. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Encore Mode by SonicFan300
24. Sonic the Hedgehog 2+ by Alex Field
25. Sonic The Hedgehog: RANDOMIZER by cyberkevin
26. Sonic: Painful World Spikes Kazio by Vadim_Super
27. sonics epic quest by Sonic_the_dutch_hedgehog
28. UMGZ by TheInvisibleSun
29. Zack Fair Sonic by PkN0PE

 

 

Here is the Contest Week stream schedule for this week:

Sunday 25th
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday 1st