MSXdev'20 summary

The annual MSXdev competition is an opportunity for developers to showcase their skills and deliver home-brew games. A refreshing mix of various types of games saw light in previous editions of this challenge. This year's is no difference with no less than 21 finished entries. And the best part of it, all submitted games are free to enjoy.

We can easily say that MSXdev is a tradition the whole MSX scene is looking forwards to every year. Since 2003 this MSX games competition is hot on delivering fresh new games from the scene itself. The rules are simple; create an original MSX1 title. All the games should be 100% compatible with a standard MSX1 configuration. Some argue this is a too narrow setting, but the results have shown us otherwise. Many good quality pieces have seen light on this MSX competition.

This year's editions has been a real joy with gems of MSX coding. MSXdev'20 started on November 2019 and had its deadline on July the 30th 2020. Results will, hopefully, be made public in September this year. And boy, should we feel pity for the judges.. 'cuz, man, the quality is high this year. Remarkable are the handful of SCHMUPS in MSXdev'20.

Here's a summary of the MSXdev'20 entries:

Dot Attack, by NOP
Jäästä, by Uninteresting
Subcommander, by Zoran Majcenić
Yazzie MSX Remastered, by Retro Souls & FRS
Landing, by Z80 Epoch
Litter Box, by RAY2DAY MSX software
The Menace from Triton, by Santiago Ontañón (Brain Games)
Stupid Martians, by Visualedu and Bitcaffe
Cuncuna, by Christian Córdova
Raftoid, by Raúl Portales (Platty Soft)
Relevo’s Snowboarding, by Relevo
BlockPuzzle, by David Heremans
SPC Super HOOPS, by Hakogame
Witch Day, by José Soto Gándara (joesg)
l’Abbaye des Morts, by RetroDeluxe (Enric Geijo) and Gryzor87
Pacific, by André Baptista
Anchors Aweigh, by Manuel Martínez
Freedom Fighter – Rise of The Humans, by Pintus Giuseppe Ettore and Phaze101
Chambers of Thyrea, by Spacesugar
Find It, by Fabf
Bloody Mary, by Lady DarkBite and Danilo Angelo

Wow, quite a list. 21 new pieces of MSX bits.

And if there's a competition, there should be prices to win. Not? Of course! In the land of ancient computing, like MSX is, the first price is honor. All participants are MSX-scene-heros and deserve that honor. Congrats already. Second, it is that same MSX scene that provides physical prices. Every one can be a sponsor. If you love the MSXdev contest and want to be part of it by sponsoring, this is your opportunity! Go to the MSXdev website to donate.

With the deadline just passed, it is now up to the jury to decide which of these new gems are the best. It is a challenge after all.

Relevant link:
MSXdev website

Comments (20)

By valkyre

Hero (661)

15-08-2020, 09:49

Well done to all participants, some real quality, hopefully there will be some cartridge releases to follow.

By tfh

Prophet (3346)

15-08-2020, 10:06

Indeed... A very big thank you to both the MSXDev organisation and all the people who entered it. Thanks to you guys, the MSX has a new great set of games added to it's library!

By jltursan

Prophet (2619)

15-08-2020, 11:11

Just sent a little donation, some titles (if not all of them ) really deserves a prize!

By Uninteresting

Champion (352)

15-08-2020, 11:11

Usually, I might be a bit miffed that I expect my entry to rank second-last. Not this year.

Many thanks to the organizers and the participants.
To my shame, I still have never donated to the prize pool... maybe next time if I don't have a game participating.

By Wlcracks

Hero (565)

15-08-2020, 16:52

Very nice to see so much participants! Awesome to see MSX(1) has been launched in 1984 its still very active in 2020!
I hope though, there will be an unlimited hardware support contest (MSX2 and up/DOS2 support) next year?!

By gdx

Enlighted (6209)

15-08-2020, 17:14

Wonderful year for this contest!

By Maggoo

Paragon (1217)

15-08-2020, 18:41

Another epic year for MSXDev and a lot of great entries!

By Briqunullus

Hero (665)

15-08-2020, 22:35

This spring I returned to the MSX world after 15 years of Dark Age. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of activity that's still going on. But it got me puzzled quite a bit that the most popular development target nowadays seemed MSX1.

A few months down the road and it makes a lot more sense. I got my first MSX1 in 1986 and got a MSX2 in 1990. And if I looked back at the early nineties, even then many of the classics I enjoyed playing were MSX1 games. Yes, it was a time when many great MSX2 games were released, and no-one seemed to be bother about developing for MSX1 anymore, yet those MSX1 classics never really went away and were all around us.

So even back then, despite the very different graphical capabilities of MSX1 and MSX2, both could rival each other on gameplay. Fast forward to modern times, combined with the fact that most releases are solo projects now, and MSX1 as a development target is the obvious choice even. It offers the same retro feeling, it fits a long list of classic games and it's way less complicated to develop for.

And boy, have you been delivering. MSXdev really stimulates development in a way I could not have imagined half a year ago. I have looked at previous editions and number of entries and their quality have varied over the years. But this edition has some serious contenders.

Thanks to all participants in the competition, you are keeping the MSX alive. There are quite a few games I will explore further the coming months. And I don't even slightly envy the jury members. Your job this year is hard. Like, really hard. Good luck with that.

By albs_br

Champion (473)

16-08-2020, 06:55

Quote:

I returned to the MSX world after 15 years of Dark Age.

Same here, only that was 25 years. When I finally put my hands on a PC in 1995, the MSX went to the top of the wardrobe, to never be seen anymore (probably gone to trash on the first home moving). That's sad.

But all this time, every time I saw a cool game on other platforms I always thought: "could it be possible on the 2 colors per 8 pixels limitation?".

By DaikuMaryuGaiking

Expert (127)

16-08-2020, 22:27

Finally an edition of MSXDev as rich as it once was.

By Grauw

Ascended (10767)

16-08-2020, 23:02

MSXDev has always been rich! An off year here and there aside, even with half the number of games it is amazing. And the previous two years also had many excellent entries. But no doubt this year is a good year, not only in quantity but also in quality. By the way, has the record year 2005 been beaten? The site says there also were 21 entries then, however one of ’em was a beta…

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3659)

21-08-2020, 01:05

It would be nice to have some feedback from the judges for each game, just like in the earlier years of MSXdev.

By SjaaQ

Champion (375)

07-09-2020, 17:04

And the winner is?

By Uninteresting

Champion (352)

07-09-2020, 20:57

SjaaQ wrote:

And the winner is?

All of us.

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10109)

07-09-2020, 21:03

The winner takes it all.

By mzoran

Master (155)

07-09-2020, 22:28

Well this should be front page news delivered with style and suspense.
I expect results one minute before midnight and the entire site going from its usual blue colour into golden one

By MSXdev Team

Champion (315)

08-09-2020, 00:52

Apologies for the delay, friends.
The introduction of this year's jury, as well as their reports and the final rankings are all on the way, as well as a special statement.
Stay tuned.

By Wlcracks

Hero (565)

09-09-2020, 17:25

add one player mode in Dot Attack!

By hamlet

Scribe (4106)