dobbschallenge2.com - The Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce Weblog

The Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce Weblog

he Dr. Dobbs modding competition ended on June 12th, and as of then we ended our contest to win Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads for creating the best level every week. Of course, we still have two best level winners to award with Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads, and one final $500 best level of the month prize to award.

But please don't stop creating levels just because there are no more prizes on offer! You can still share levels with your friends and enjoy the levels currently on offer, and discuss them on our forum!

Entries for Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce closed on June 12th, and now we're able to announce the cream of the crop, announcing our winners of Best Game, Best One-Button Game, Best Total Conversion and Best Game Starring Dr. Dobbs and the Defy all Challenges Crew.

If you missed out on it, we previously announced the winner of The Dobbs Race-to-the-Finish Challenge here, so be sure to check that out too!

The Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce ends at midnight on June 12th, leaving you just five more days to compete for our prize pool!

This date marks the end of the competition’s main challenge -- to use Microsoft Visual Studio to code a mod of the Silverlight-based Dr. Dobbs Challenge game -- but also the final chance for users to win the monthly $500 best level prize, awarded to players who create levels using the web browser-based in-game level editor.

Dr. Dobb's Best Level Picks (25th May)

As there are now only a scant few weeks left before this competition ends on June 12th, we want to keep your eyes on the prize by reminding you that yes, there are prizes at stake here! The two best level winners that follow after the jump will both receive a wonderful Dr. Dobbs Bobblehead, and if you enter before the 12th you will remain in the running for either a bobblehead or the $500 best level of the month prize!

Not to mention the thousands of dollars that are on offer for anyone who makes their own game using the Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce game as their basis!

Some of you may have forgotten that we were awarding a $1000 prize to the best game developed within half of the length of the competition - The Dobbs Race-to-the-Finish Challenge. Now with just over a month to go until the end of the contest (which closes on June 12th) we are announcing the winner and the close runner-up (who recieves a Dr. Dobbs Bobblehead) to inspire you on the final stretch creating your own Dr. Dobbs game!

We've heard from a few of you that you're big fans of the tunes in the Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce webgame, and up to this point if you'd wanted to hear the music outside of the game you had to download the full source code and find the files. Once you'd done that, you could enjoy the music, but the sound files were just a bit short! As a result we've got in touch with the wonderful brain behind the music, danny B from dB Soundworks, who has created an extended Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce soundtrack for your download and enjoyment!

Dr. Dobb's Best Level Picks (4th May)

We've been busy playing the levels in the Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce community section, and now with three more weeks of best levels to award Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads to, along with a $500 best level prize for April, it's time to get cracking!

And don't forget to get cracking yourself if you haven't been making levels or working on your own version of Dr. Dobbs Challenge! There's still plenty of time of course (the entire competition ends on June 12th) but we just can't wait to see what you're working on!

It's been three weeks since we last announced our picks of the best levels we've found on the site -- created with our in-browser level editor -- an unfortunate gap caused by the chaos of the Game Developer's Conference and then a nasty case of the flu.

Today we'll be awarding three more best levels -- with each designer awarded a Dr. Dobbs Bobblehead -- plus announcing the winner of our first $500 "best level of the month" award for the best level created in the month of March.

We've given you more than enough time to become comfortable with our in-browser level editor, so it's time to start awarding Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads to the best levels we've found!

You can find and play created levels in the community section of the Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce game, so be sure to check out the levels your peers are making - to get ideas, inspiration and see the competition, or just to have fun!

Remember, we'll be awarding $500 to the best level created this month - the deadline is, naturally, the 31st of March - so if you haven't already, get started on your opus!

Unveiling: The Dr. Dobbs Bobblehead!

You may have noticed across the site we repeatedly mention "Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads" as one of the prizes you can win for creating the best level.

Well, we're getting ready to select the first best level winners so it's time to unveil the Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads!

You can see the first sneak peak here, but full images follow after the jump!

We've had a few comments recently from users having a spot of difficulty with our in-browser level editor, and so we thought we'd help out with a quick "getting started" guide to the editor here. Don't forget that there's a fully featured Tutorial on the site, or that the effort you put into learning the editor will be worth it--not only was the in-game editor used to make all of the official levels for Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce, you can win prizes for making the best levels on a regular basis - from Dr. Dobb's bobbleheads to cash prizes!

Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce Welcome FAQ

We'd like to welcome interested participants to Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce, a special game competition brought to you in association with the world-renowned Dr. Dobb's for software developers and Microsoft Visual Studio.

So, you want to take part in Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce? Here's what you need to do:

The Best Of The Dobbs Challenge

Before you get started on your developments for Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce, we thought it might be nice to re-visit some of the best entries of our original challenge, merely known as "The Dobbs Challenge".

This competition, which ran about the same time last year, offered $10,000 in prizes to developers who rebuilt either a Windows Mobile or Windows Dr. Dobbs game in Visual Studio 2008. There were some fantastic entries, and they're well worth revisiting now -- perhaps to give you some ideas for your own fantastic entries for Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce?

Looking For The Dobbs Challenge?

If you're Looking For The Dobbs Challenge - the original challenge that Dr. Dobb's for software developers and Microsoft Visual Studio ran in early 2008, you can now find it at http://archive.dobbschallenge.com.

It still has all the same information - including entrants, winners and the useful coding tutorials - so you won't miss a thing!