CS Games '10 Competitions

These competition categories were stolen from the CSGames website for your convenience. Enjoy!

Artificial Intelligence

The competition is about developing a program that will control the actions of a Player in a game. The controller will decide what actions to take depending on the environment in order to win the game.

Number of praticipants: 3

Details
You will be given the game and the source code of a very simple Java and Python controller.

Live videos of the agents in action will be projected in the main room during the weekend.

Preparation
Look up path finding, evolutionary neural networks, genetic programming, fuzzy logic, temporal difference learning, human ingenuity, hybrids of the above, etc.

If you have time, read the following:
State-Driven Game Agent Design
A* Pathfinding for Beginners

Debugging

The creators of this competition gave a new meaning to “Strong coupling”, “Obfuscated code” and “Spaghetti code” and refuse to believe that some programmers can live without GOTOs. The “/” and “#” keys of his keyboard are as shinny as they were when they were assembled. So many bugs and so little time to solve them all.

Number of praticipants: 2

Details
You will debug a dozen of small programs. Each program will contain between 1 and 5 bugs. Your bug fix will have to be as short as possible.

Preparation
Bring some ingenuity and look up GDB.

Extreme Programming

Two programmers, one computer. Participants will get a unique occasion to test their coding skills with a buddy and enjoy this unique bonding experience under extreme circumstances! Remember, what happens in XP stays in XP... or on the Internet.

Number of praticipants: 2

Details
You will have to write as many of the programs specified in the subject as possible before time runs out.

Preparation
This will be a great opportunity to enhance your pair programming skills.

LAN Party

The LAN party will be an evening of fun where teams will be competing with one another in video games.

Number of praticipants: 3

Math and Logic

“Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” This famous quote from Dijkstra takes its whole meaning when we think about algorithms. Paper, pen, and a little bit of brain juice are the only elements required for this competition. They also happen to be the only ones allowed. Creating, analyzing, enhancing and validating algorithms will definitely keep participants busy for the whole 3h.

Number of praticipants: 2

Preparation
Brush up on your discrete mathematics (combinatorics, algorithms, set theory, graph theory, etc).

Operational Research

You will develop and implement an algorithm to solve a real world NP-Hard problem.

Number of praticipants: 2

Details
The algorithms will be ranked by the quality of the solutions they output. You will be given problem instances to test your algorithm on.

Preparation
Look up greedy algorithm, metaheuristic algorithm, heuristic algorithm, dynamic programming, genetic algorithm, simulated annealing and common algorithms like A* and Djikstra.

Participation

During the weekend the participants will be called to participate in a variety of events in order to give them the chance to socialize with the other teams. This part of the competition is based on the participation of the teams throughout the weekend.

Puzzle Hero

Puzzle hero is a weekend long challenge where you will have to answer hard funky geeky trivia questions.

Number of praticipants:

Preparation
Look up Google.

Relay Programming

3 competitors will have 3 hours to code 3 different applications. Seems easy? Well, each participant will only work an hour on an application before having to relay it to another team member. "WHAT, no comments!!! &*!*$"

Number of praticipants: 3

Details
At the beginning, each team member will be sent to a different room with a different subject. Every hour each member will switch subject and code

Preparation
Setting some coding conventions might help. Maybe.

Sports

Each year, Sports is a mystery. What will it be this year? What skills does it require? One thing is sure, team spirit will be more important than ever... Individual skills just won't be enough!

Number of praticipants: 2

Team Software Engineering

You will write a program from scratch*.
* We sure hope competitors have good design skills, because this time, there's no going back to the drawing board! After a design phase of 30 minutes, team members are isolated 2 hours for implementation. At the end, the team has 30 minutes to stick the pieces of the puzzle together. It better fit!

Number of praticipants: 3

Details
You spend 2h coding in separate rooms with no means of communication.

Preparation
Expect some hardcore coding action.

Web Design

You will have to create a full-fledged website. You will implement both the frontend with XHTML/CSS and the back-end using PHP.

Number of praticipants: 2

Details
The websites will be rated first and foremost on their usability and functionality, and then on their look and feel.

Preparation
Look up HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP.