My Favorite MIX09 10k Challenge Entries

Pete Brown - 29 January 2009

A few other folks (like Tim Sneath and Shine Draw) have put up their lists of favorite MIX09 10k entries, so I thought I’d do the same. There’s some amazing work there, and all in 10k of source code (not 10k compiled, 10k of source). Of course, if you like byte-budgeted contests, you should check out some of the assembly demos folks do in 8, 16 and 64k. Awesome stuff.

So here are my favorites, in no particular order. If you like these, go vote in the MIX 10k competition!

Silvertyper by John Bruin

Folks who know me know I’m a C64 fanatic almost as much as I am a Silverlight fanatic. I’ve even gone so far as to start porting a C64 emulator to Silverlight. So, any game that is based on an old C64 game gets more attention from the part of my brain that still thinks I’m 15.

That said, this game was just plain fun. It is quick to play and gets your heart racing. If it had more words it would be more challenging, but it’s tough enough as is :)

Genetic Algorithms by Rick Barraza

This was one of the first entries to do 3d in Silverlight. Drag your mouse over the network/map on the left to see the 3d manipulation working. This one also covers a slightly headier concept than many of the other entries. Extra points for getting this one in very early in the game.

Sokoban by Rene Pronk

Another little bit of 8bit heaven. Yay for the C64! Old 8bit games are a natural for porting as they usually had to make due with really tight memory and resource constraints.

SilverRubix by Timmy Kokke

I’d like this one even more if it let me solve it by peeling off the stickers or pulling it all apart (the only ways I ever solved more than 2 sides of the cube in the 80s), but alas, one cannot cheat in this version. Great use of 3d (which Silverlight 2 does not natively support) and an attractive application.

Raindrops Orchestra by Mokosh

Here’s another very cool one, although it seems like it stretches the rules just a bit by downloading all those sound samples and not counting them towards the quota. (at least I assume that is what is happening; I’ve never traced the network traffic). Still, an extremely cool app.

Turtle# by Ueli Sonderegger

With Silverlight’s native graphics being vector-based, I’m surprised it took so long for someone to create a logo clone. (I know, again with the C64 refs) in 6th grade, we used to have a special day in our math class a few times a year when we’d go into the computer room and play with logo on the commodores. FORWARD 100 RIGHT 90 (or was it FWD 100 RIGHT 90?).

Cogs of War by Conan Ablewhite

A fun little game. It would have been nice to support arrow keys, but then it wouldn’t be quite so challenging. Love the retro-handheld game look and feel.

Verdant by Karim Hernandez