Hey Marc! Welcome to the PGD forums.

I really like the concept of the Eye Candy contest, however my years of experience of being involved in the Pascal game programming community is telling me that your contest is trying to break down too many barriers.

1) Take up a new dev tool (FPC/Lazarus) for many.

Even though the usage of these great projects is growing, it is still nowhere near the level of Delphi. Eventually if things continue to go the way they are I'm sure it can be very different, but take-up of a new tool such as Lazarus or even FPC alone [size=9px](the concept of a the command line at this era of software design is quite foreign to most young people just getting into 'fun' programming these days)[/size] is a barrier in it's self to overcome.

2) Linux

Most eye-candy gurus in the Pascal world come from a Windows only background. Ala Delphi or Turbo Pascal. As of yet only Free Pascal/Laz and GNU Pascal [size=9px](though it's basically a dead project by now)[/size] offer Linux solutions let alone other platforms. Kylix doesn't count as it was plagued with problems and dropped on it's head at birth by Borland. [size=9px](*ahem* Inprise, I mean *ahem*)[/size] Linux is a new platform for many so this is a yet a challenge as the transition is not so easy for quite a few Windows users. Furthering issues Lazarus packaging not too long ago was a horrible mess from distro to distro [size=9px](probably because Linux standards are such a horrible mess from distro to distro)[/size]

3) ScreenSavers

As point #2 shows, Linux is a new neich, yet. So it's obvious as to why not very many, if any is it where would be up to the task of learning how to make a screensaver in Linux of all things. Many don't even know how to make a screensaver in Windows let alone another OS. This one is probably the toughest out of the bunch mostly because it's a cascade of the Linux issue and so far removed from the mainstream.


That all said, I honestly and truly do commend your efforts. It's great that we have interest in creating and running more competitions where Pascal and graphics are concerned. I think the concept of an eye-candy contest would turn out great, however if approached right.

My rather strong recommendation [size=9px](and this is from someone who has hosted and helped run soon to be 3 competitions where external participation and involvement is key)[/size] is to keep the basic concept in place and continue to try to knock down barriers, but just take smaller bites. One major barrier is okay to challenge, but 2, 3 or more can get daunting and will scare away most if not all participation in your ventures.