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JULY 4-6, 2025


Sommarhack compos
 
This year we have a total of seven competitions, please note that the music and graphics compos are focusing on lower end platforms. Any highres graphics and streaming music entries are rather accepted in the Wild category.

Themed competitions
  1. Mixed-resolution demo
  2. Neochrome raster split photo
Regular competitions
  1. Demo/intro
  2. 256-byte intro
  3. Lowres graphics
  4. 32k music
  5. Wild
We will likely not stream the compos this year due to connectivity issues. However, please be advised not to use commercial music or nudity in your productions. There's a risk a stream, if we stream after all, will be banned in such a case (see Revision 2021).
 
Demos that work on the provided compo hardware will be run live on our machines while other Atari platforms need a video/audio recording to be submitted.
 
We will display full specifications of the hardware requirements as well as file size/resolution before each entry is shown.


Remote entries
 
You can send us remote entries via e-mail (please add SOMMARHACK to the subject so we don't miss it by mistake). Please use the below example as base. 

Compo:
Title:
Authour(s):
Platform:
Playtime (for looping music/demos):
Slide note:
Link to video or audio recording:
Don't forget to make a video or audio recording available if the production is for a system we don't have at hand, don't attach videos to the e-mail, rather give a link (Google Drive, Dropbox whatever).
 
Send entries to: info@sommarhack.se
 
Thanks in advance for your participation!


Deadlines
 
For the most recent timetable with deadlines, please refer to the main page.


Compo hardware
 
These are the machines we will provide for the competitions; if your contribution is for another Atari machine, please submit a recording that we can play.
 
Atari 8-bit a
  • Atari 130XE
  • 576 kB RAM
  • SD2SIO
  • NOTE: Available if submissions are received before july 2nd
Atari ST/STe
  • Atari STe machine
  • TOS v1.62 (or if you require, 2.06)
  • 4MB ST-RAM
  • 8 MHz 68000
  • Floppydisk (Gotek HxC)
  • UltraSatan/CosmoSEX SD harddrive (HDdriver)
Atari Falcon 030
  • TOS v4.04
  • 14 MB ST-RAM
  • 68030/68882 at 16 MHz
  • SSD IDE harddrive (HDdriver)
  • VGA or RGB
Atari Falcon 060
  • CT60-TOS v1.05
  • 14 MB ST-RAM
  • 256 MB TT-RAM
  • 68060 with FPU at 66 MHz
  • SSD IDE harddrive (HDdriver)
  • VGA or RGB
  THEMED COMPETITIONS
 

1. Mixed-resolution demo

Make a demo where all parts of the demo features a split of the visible screen, one portion of the screen being in low resolution and the other in medium resolution. Both resolutions must be clearly visible simultaneously in all parts. You can have several changes in resolution on the screen.

Rules:
  • Atari STE
  • Color monitor
  • 1 MB RAM
  • Floppydisk or harddrive
  • More than one entry per participant/crew allowed

 

2. Neochrome raster split photo

Another photo compo, another special file format. Neochrome Master introduced raster splits with one palette per scanline.

Rules:
  • No photo editing
  • Neochrome raster split photo IFF file
  • Max three (3) entries per person
So how do I get my photo to this format?
  1. Load the photo to your favourte photo editing tool
  2. Scale/crop the image to 320*200 pixels, save as 24-bit PNG
  3. Open this site: http://tool.anides.de/ and drop your image to it's Window
  4. From the leftmost menu, select "NEOchrome Raster"
  5. From the second menu from the left, select "4096 (STE/ECS)"
  6. From the third menu, select dither of your choice (if any)
  7. Finally, save your picture by pressing the save button
  8. Submit the IFF output file!

 

REGULAR COMPETITIONS
 

3. Demo/intro

This is a combined competition and we will make sure that all hardware specifications as well as size of the demo is shown before it runs. You can enter any kind of Atari demo here, no limits!
 
Rules:
  • Any Atari platform allowed, if your demo or intro is for an Atari platform not available at the party, please supply a video along with the native executable
  • Filesize, system and memory demands are open, but will be disclosed in detail before and after the entry is shown
  • Several entries per person or crew is allowed

4. 256-byte intro

Again a combined compo.
  • Any Atari machine, specifications will be disclosed
  • For TOS machines, 256 bytes plus 32 bytes header.
    If you want to show off, keep it under 256 bytes with header! The exact size will be disclosed
  • If the intro requires a certain resolution to be set before running, instruct so in the submit e-mail
  • Several entries per person or crew is allowed
The intros will be run on our compo machines (see left column). If your entry is for another Atari system, please provide a video along the executable!

5. Lowres graphics

The resolution is limited to what the ST can display with overscan. Higher resolution images are welcome in the Wild compo instead.
  • Max resolution is 416*274
  • If you have a custom graphics format, please provide an Atari executable file for display.
  • The machine, resolution, size and number of colours will be disclosed in the compo slide
  • More than one entry allowed

6. 32k music

Size limited music competition. Larger music such as mp3 or wave are welcome in the Wild competition.

This compo is suitable for chipmusic, small modules and softsynths. We allow any format that is playable on an Atari. If the music is for an Atari machine that we don't have at the party, please send a recording along with the native version of the music.
  • Custom formats are allowed and encouraged. You need to provide an executable.
  • More than one entry allowed
Tip: If you're having problem with too large SNDH file, ICE pack the file to reduce it's size or create an executable and compress it with with something like UPX for good ratio.

7. Wild

No compo that fits your entry? This is where it can be submitted. Animations, streamed music, analogue graphics, game or anything that you think will fit a demo party.
  • You have to submit a picture, video or audio recording, please use commonly available codecs such as Flac, Mp3, Ogg Vorbis, H.264
  • More than one entry allowed
Please don't attach giant files to the submit e-mail, instead link to the file (Dropbox or whatever you can provide). If all fails, contact us and we'll try to arrange some sort of way to transfer the file.

  Contact:
  info@sommarhack.se