I was thinking more along the lines that most of us redstoners like to build multiple creations. With catagories even if there were few competitors there would be multiple entries from each person. A general competition only really allows for one creation from each competitor (their best work). I am just seeing it as:
general competition with 5 competitors = 5 entries to judge total
5 catagory competition with 5 competitors = up to 25 entries to judge total (possible 5 entries per catagory)
I was just thinking with catagories it would entice people to submit all or their creations instead of just their one best creation. lol I could be thinking about it the wrong way though. Just a suggestion.
As for wanting me to judge well... I wouldn't mind judging, although I am not quite up to par on all aspects of redstone. For example I've never decided to build a calculator or any 7 segment displays. I am capable of dissecting any creation and understanding how it works but I would be a little uneasy about judging something I have never got around to building myself.
Yeah, that could work, but I don't want one person to be able to dominate the competition. The main issue I have with all these ideas is we don't really know how well it will work out until it happens. I'll probably start experimenting with some of these suggestions, but for the first contest I want to keep it as simple as possible and just see how it goes.
I don't think we'll be seeing any calculators or anything overly complicated in the first contest. I'm mainly hoping to inspire people to build bigger and more complex builds as the contest goes on. Either way, before I even put up a submission thread I'll show you my computer and explain how it works. It's a lot to take in all at once, but I don't think it will be much of a problem for you, and it will give you a good idea of how advanced logic circuits work. A computer is basically a fully automated calculator with memory and a plethora of extra features and functions, so you'll know how a calculator works too. I have another world where I built a calculator so I could just show you that too, it also has a 7-segment display.
7-segs are actually the easiest part of building a calculator, besides serial busing. They only look intimidating because they usually use large binary to decimal decoders. To build one of these decoders, pretty much all you have to know is how to count in binary, it's literally that easy. In fact, it's so easy it becomes extremely tedious and annoying to build them. Once finished, each line represents a decimal number. You extend these lines over the lines from your display, then basically use the decimal lines like ROM, selecting which segments are activated for each number.
Binary to BCD is a bit more complicated, but it's more compact. It involves a lot of adders, instead of a simple array of conditional AND gates. I haven't messed with it enough to know exactly how it works. I'll have it mastered by the time we start on the 16-bit computer though, I'll want a 7-segment display for it. And with 65,536 possible values, a binary to decimal decoder would likely take up a quarter of the map and probably take over a minute to decode any number above 60,000. Sooooo, yeah... BCD is necessary. lol
So, I've changed my mind and decided to throw something together for this competition. Depending on when it takes place, it may or may not be finished in time for the first competition.
Not that it's super-overly complicated or anything, but it should be fun to build and watch(hopefully).
Good points. If a video is submitted, the HUD opacity must not be completely transparent. As for screenshots... well that's a toughy. Is it possible to screencap the crafting menu?
So, I've changed my mind and decided to throw something together for this competition. Depending on when it takes place, it may or may not be finished in time for the first competition.
Not that it's super-overly complicated or anything, but it should be fun to build and watch(hopefully).
It won't be starting for another week at least, you'll have time.
It won't be starting for another week at least, you'll have time.
Alright. I'm going to be doing things I've never done before, but that I know I can do. Like a 7-segment display(I think that's what it's "official" name is) and a few other things. Hopefully, the Xbox's redstone mechanics don't get too horribly finicky. Haha.
Alright. I'm going to be doing things I've never done before, but that I know I can do. Like a 7-segment display(I think that's what it's "official" name is) and a few other things. Hopefully, the Xbox's redstone mechanics don't get too horribly finicky. Haha.
Great! That's exactly what I wanted this to urge people to do, get out of their comfort zone a bit. And don't worry, if something doesn't work because of a bug it won't hurt the score of your creation. You shouldn't have too much of an issue just with a 7-segment display though. I've done a few now and the only ones that give me major problems are piston displays. The best way to combat the display glitches is to use a sort of debug function. I recommend using having a "power" button or lever that blocks all signals from coming into the splay. Then you can set up a button to send a pulse to all the segments simultaneously. Most of the time that will take care of any bugs in the display itself, but not any bugs in the decoder or decimal lines.
Are you planning to just build something with a single display, like a 4-bit adder, counter, or something along those lines?
Im a little confused as to weather this is an Xbox thread or a PC thread, i was under the impression this was for the Xbox ?
As you know Minecraft hasn't been out that long on XBLA so there is a possibility that they are new players who are not used to the game and are still discovering the wonderful world of Redstone, maybe you should rename the thread to ' a competition for PC players on the Xbox' you talk about these calculators like everyone knows how to make them lol
For one, PC players are too busy playing PC Minecraft to bother with such a contest. And like I've already said, I want to inspire players to dive deeper into redstone. A lot of people are "discovering" by following tutorials and, frankly, that's why many of them are still boggled by it. It's really not all that confusing if you start from the very basics and take baby steps up to the mega builds.
U mentioned that everyone on XBLA are loving piston doors atm and that you find them lame so that's why you didn't want to do them, news flash for you mate we have only just been introduced to pistons so were obviously gonna be building them a lot, one step at a time you know.
I just don't like to build piston doors, they're not my thing. Obviously, I'm still Impressed by 5 x 5 doors, castle gates, etc. I'm just not personally interested in piston-based creations. If I said they were "lame" it was probably because I was in an argument with someone.
Im not sure weather this is an actual attempt at starting a competition or some where for the more advanced Redstoners to come and gloat, if you are serious about hosting a competition for the XBOX players then you should consider all aspect of Redstone, just saying.
While I do enjoy gloating, like everyone else on Earth does, (especially gamers) that's not the purpose. If it was, why would I bar myself from the competition? Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? And did you not see the many many times that I stated this will be a GENERAL REDSTONE COMPETITION? I already said, several times, I did not want to narrow the competition down to anything specific.
Ive only been using Redstone for a couple of month now and i think im advancing pretty fast, especially when all you guys who says the Redstone is bugged on the Xbox which stops you from making the seven segment displays, i have a fully working digital clock that works like a dream, never had any problems with at all.
Completely agreed with that tbh. I'd made a nether portal "turner off and on thing" that to me is far more useful than a calculator or clock, but as it's not half the size of the map and full of duped blocks of gold I suspect the OP would immediately discount it. As you say I think the competition is a chance for certain people who consider themselves the so called "gaming elite" to flap their wings and really not much else. I mean, when posting, the OP must have known that the amount of people here who build stupidly large and complex circuits can be counted on one hand, so by his own ruleset he's immediately disqualified just about everyone on here. Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday bub.
A real competition would be based on practicality, design, footprint of the redstone, what it does, etc, surely things that are actually pertinent to the game itself.
Of course a calculator in Minecraft isn't useful. What, do you think I would build one just to do my taxes? Your definition of practicality is flawed. In Minecraft, the whole point of the game is that there is no point, your goal is whatever you want it to be. Anything you build is only as practical as you decide it should be to you, and in reality, none of it is practical at all.
The whole point of this competition is to encourage people to increase their knowledge in redstone, and push the limits of it. Like I already mentioned, practicality doesn't make sense as a category, what is practical to you may be pointless to someone else. (You see my computer as pointless in your world, just as an on/off switch for a nether portal would be pointless in my world. In fact, a nether portal would be pointless in my worlds, period.) Design is already part of a category and I've went over it several times. Circuitry footprint, that's also ridiculous. Usually, smaller is better with redstone, but the most compact design is not always the best design, you may want a larger, faster, design. As for keeping the components neat and compact with each other, that will influence points. But, I'm not going to restrict someone's creativity with some sort of overall size limit on creations. And just because one build is bigger than the rest doesn't mean it instantly wins. If it came down to a massive 1 kilobyte memory array and a small 4-bit adder with a binary display, the adder would win due to complexity.
Great! That's exactly what I wanted this to urge people to do, get out of their comfort zone a bit. And don't worry, if something doesn't work because of a bug it won't hurt the score of your creation. You shouldn't have too much of an issue just with a 7-segment display though. I've done a few now and the only ones that give me major problems are piston displays. The best way to combat the display glitches is to use a sort of debug function. I recommend using having a "power" button or lever that blocks all signals from coming into the splay. Then you can set up a button to send a pulse to all the segments simultaneously. Most of the time that will take care of any bugs in the display itself, but not any bugs in the decoder or decimal lines.
Are you planning to just build something with a single display, like a 4-bit adder, counter, or something along those lines?
I plan on using it for a countdown or maybe a counter, haven't quite decided on that at the moment. I can easily build the display, but as I'm sure you know, that's the easy part.
I plan on using it for a countdown or maybe a counter, haven't quite decided on that at the moment. I can easily build the display, but as I'm sure you know, that's the easy part.
You should try to make a counter with JK flip flops. That's how they're made in real life, yet you don't see them in minecraft too often. It's a lot easier to just use a shift register, but that's no fun.
You should try to make a counter with JK flip flops. That's how they're made in real life, yet you don't see them in minecraft too often. It's a lot easier to just use a shift register, but that's no fun.
Well, I've already finished the countdown clock portion of my build, but I'll look into seeing if that would have made it easier.
Well, I've already finished the countdown clock portion of my build, but I'll look into seeing if that would have made it easier.
Shift register would definitely be the easiest, using a 7-segment display. It just moves a bit down a straight line of D flip flops, meaning it already counts in decimal, no need for a decoder. Except for lines of torches to decode the decimal into whatever code your display design uses.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffYeah, that could work, but I don't want one person to be able to dominate the competition. The main issue I have with all these ideas is we don't really know how well it will work out until it happens. I'll probably start experimenting with some of these suggestions, but for the first contest I want to keep it as simple as possible and just see how it goes.
I don't think we'll be seeing any calculators or anything overly complicated in the first contest. I'm mainly hoping to inspire people to build bigger and more complex builds as the contest goes on. Either way, before I even put up a submission thread I'll show you my computer and explain how it works. It's a lot to take in all at once, but I don't think it will be much of a problem for you, and it will give you a good idea of how advanced logic circuits work. A computer is basically a fully automated calculator with memory and a plethora of extra features and functions, so you'll know how a calculator works too. I have another world where I built a calculator so I could just show you that too, it also has a 7-segment display.
7-segs are actually the easiest part of building a calculator, besides serial busing. They only look intimidating because they usually use large binary to decimal decoders. To build one of these decoders, pretty much all you have to know is how to count in binary, it's literally that easy. In fact, it's so easy it becomes extremely tedious and annoying to build them. Once finished, each line represents a decimal number. You extend these lines over the lines from your display, then basically use the decimal lines like ROM, selecting which segments are activated for each number.
Binary to BCD is a bit more complicated, but it's more compact. It involves a lot of adders, instead of a simple array of conditional AND gates. I haven't messed with it enough to know exactly how it works. I'll have it mastered by the time we start on the 16-bit computer though, I'll want a 7-segment display for it. And with 65,536 possible values, a binary to decimal decoder would likely take up a quarter of the map and probably take over a minute to decode any number above 60,000. Sooooo, yeah... BCD is necessary.
Not that it's super-overly complicated or anything, but it should be fun to build and watch(hopefully).
I'm not entirely sure if it is, to be honest.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffIt won't be starting for another week at least, you'll have time.
I guess I'll just have to take one's word for it if they post screens.
Alright. I'm going to be doing things I've never done before, but that I know I can do. Like a 7-segment display(I think that's what it's "official" name is) and a few other things. Hopefully, the Xbox's redstone mechanics don't get too horribly finicky. Haha.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffGreat! That's exactly what I wanted this to urge people to do, get out of their comfort zone a bit.
Are you planning to just build something with a single display, like a 4-bit adder, counter, or something along those lines?
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffFor one, PC players are too busy playing PC Minecraft to bother with such a contest. And like I've already said, I want to inspire players to dive deeper into redstone. A lot of people are "discovering" by following tutorials and, frankly, that's why many of them are still boggled by it. It's really not all that confusing if you start from the very basics and take baby steps up to the mega builds.
I just don't like to build piston doors, they're not my thing. Obviously, I'm still Impressed by 5 x 5 doors, castle gates, etc. I'm just not personally interested in piston-based creations. If I said they were "lame" it was probably because I was in an argument with someone.
While I do enjoy gloating, like everyone else on Earth does, (especially gamers) that's not the purpose. If it was, why would I bar myself from the competition? Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? And did you not see the many many times that I stated this will be a GENERAL REDSTONE COMPETITION? I already said, several times, I did not want to narrow the competition down to anything specific.
What was that about gloating again?
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffOf course a calculator in Minecraft isn't useful. What, do you think I would build one just to do my taxes? Your definition of practicality is flawed. In Minecraft, the whole point of the game is that there is no point, your goal is whatever you want it to be. Anything you build is only as practical as you decide it should be to you, and in reality, none of it is practical at all.
The whole point of this competition is to encourage people to increase their knowledge in redstone, and push the limits of it. Like I already mentioned, practicality doesn't make sense as a category, what is practical to you may be pointless to someone else. (You see my computer as pointless in your world, just as an on/off switch for a nether portal would be pointless in my world. In fact, a nether portal would be pointless in my worlds, period.) Design is already part of a category and I've went over it several times. Circuitry footprint, that's also ridiculous. Usually, smaller is better with redstone, but the most compact design is not always the best design, you may want a larger, faster, design. As for keeping the components neat and compact with each other, that will influence points. But, I'm not going to restrict someone's creativity with some sort of overall size limit on creations. And just because one build is bigger than the rest doesn't mean it instantly wins. If it came down to a massive 1 kilobyte memory array and a small 4-bit adder with a binary display, the adder would win due to complexity.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffYou should try to make a counter with JK flip flops. That's how they're made in real life, yet you don't see them in minecraft too often. It's a lot easier to just use a shift register, but that's no fun.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffShift register would definitely be the easiest, using a 7-segment display. It just moves a bit down a straight line of D flip flops, meaning it already counts in decimal, no need for a decoder. Except for lines of torches to decode the decimal into whatever code your display design uses.