Sometimes the tightest constraints inspire the highest creativity. The 2024 Tiny Games Challenge invites you to have the most fun with the most minimal setup. Whether that’s tiny size, tiny parts count, or tiny code, we want you to show us that big fun can come in small packages.
The Tiny Games Challenge starts now and runs through September 10th, with the top three entries receiving a $150 gift certificate courtesy of DigiKey.
We can’t tell you how much fun we’ve had playing Twang and a few derivatives thereof. It’s an amazing amount of fun to get out of just a springy door stopper, an accelerometer, and an LED strip. Pong is an evergreen game, and you might expect to see it implemented on an LED strip, but how about on ten LEDs? Or Snake on a 16×2 LCD? [Doug McInnes]’s Hunt the Lunpus runs on two seven-segment displays!
We’ve seen no end of small handheld game projects, ranging from the Arduboy to [Deshipu]’s outstanding PewPew series of devices. These projects have an incredible degree of finish, but that shouldn’t stop you from lashing up a quick pocket gaming platform out of whatever you have on hand.
Or maybe you want to have fun with the hardware? We’re absolutely interested in seeing the most innovative minimal controls you can come up with. Who knows, you might just invent the next Playdate!
No matter whether your game is small in scope, code size, build complexity, or form-factor, if you’ve got a Tiny Game, show us! Head over to Hackaday.io and create a project, use the pull-down menu on the left-hand side to enter, and you’re set. We’ll be judging on simplicity, fun, and the quality of your documentation, and the top three will get a $150 DigiKey shopping spree. Let the (tiny) games begin!
Honorable Mention Categories
- One Dimensional: Everyone has an LED strip kicking around somewhere. Show us how we can put that to use to make an engaging game that plays only in one dimension.
- The Classics: You know: Pong, Snake, Tetris, or maybe even Hunt the Wumpus. In this category, we’re looking for modern implementations of a classic tiny game of yesteryear.
- The Controls: With some games, it’s the controls that make them fun. If your tiny game has innovative user interfaces, this is for you.
- Pocket Arcade: You want to bring your games with you everywhere, right? This category is for DIY tiny games that you can carry around every day.
- Fancy!: This category is for the polish, the fit-and-finish, and the shininess. If your game looks fantastic, it’s fancy.
I think seeing Bedoiun children playing with pebbles was watching a minimalist game.
deadline?
“The Tiny Games Challenge starts now and runs through September 10th”
Now I have no more excuse not to write that PWM based zero dimensional PONG game I’m lugging around in my brain for a decade now.
Zero dimensional? I’m very intrigued 🤔 😁
I’m waiting for the 4th dimesional version…
Ooh. You could also cheat with color!
Ey! Stop spoiling! :-D
The reason I’m going to cheat with color is that it’s very easy to see when a PWM controlled LED has reached the state “OFF” whereas it’s pretty hard to see the difference between 90% lit and 100% lit. You could use log tables or just use a red and a green LED and players look at when their opponent’s LED is off.
Now just to be sure – I don’t need to cheat with color. It’s just a convenience to not give one player a massive handicap. I’ll probably use log tables anyway. It’ll also have different settable levels of difficulty. I wanna use a yellow 3½ digit LED display that young me bought in the last millenium without a use for it. I’m gonna use it to first show the difficulty setting and when the game is running, the score.
Maybe it’s time I wrote my Video Poker with a 3 suits deck. MicroVP. Noone steal my idea. Or do, the payout table is not traditional so that’s where the customization comes in.
Ok here my minimalist game entry for an adult game, I just grab my minimalist “cazio” calculator and I type 58008, then turn upside down and smile :) so where my money?
Just being silly as usual, good look to all the contestants!
only rule: you lose when you remember the game. I just lost :(
80 Micro magazine had a similar feature every month.
“The magazine challenged readers to write complete games, sometimes including scoring, on just one line of BASIC code.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Micro
10 GOTO 10 REM THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS NOT TO PLAY
The German 64er Magazine had a similar monthly installment, a 20-line or, if pure machine, 2 KByte challenge.
Love it. Implement a few, ripping them off entirely or partly. Use as inspriation for a jumping off?
Makes me think of BASIC Computer Games: http://vintage-basic.net/games.html
Good source material!
You sent me down a rabbit when I followed the link.
Especially when I forked off at the KTI magazine and Mean Time Between Explosions (MTBE)!