Corewar Programming Contest
John Metcalf
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** 1st International Corewar Programming Contest **
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This is a single round Corewar programming contest
sponsored by COREWAR.INFO.
Corewar is a programming game in which two or more
battle programs (called "warriors") compete for the
control of the "Memory Array Redcode Simulator" virtual
computer ("MARS"). These warriors are written in an
abstract assembly language called Redcode. The object
of the game is to cause all processes of the opposing
warrior to terminate, leaving the victorious program
in sole possession of the machine.
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| Contest Rules |
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CORESIZE: 8000
MAXPROC: 200
MAXCYCLES: 80000
MAXSIZE: 20
MINDIST: 20
ROUNDS: 1000
INSTRUCTION SET: ICWS '94
- The opcodes stp and ldp are disallowed
- No self-fights
- All warriors submitted will be published at the end
of the contest
- Up to two warriors per author are allowed, but only
the best entry counts.
- Scoring is simple: 3 Pts for a win, 1 point for a tie
- Besides the ICWS '94 instruction set the entries must
run properly with CoreWin and pmars.
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| Contest Submission Guidelines |
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Submit your entries to: fizmo (at) corewar (.) info
Format your submission as follows:
;redcode
;name <- name of your entry
;author <- your name
;strategy <- if you like you can add some comments here
;assert 1
;kill <- assign which of your previous entries you
would like to replace
;evolver <- if you use an evolver program please state
here which one you was using
then add your program
Here's a sample entry:
;redcode
;name Dwarf
;author A. K. Dewdney
;assert 1
;strategy Throw DAT bombs around memory,
;strategy hitting every 4th memory cell.
bomb DAT #0
dwarf ADD #4, bomb
MOV bomb, @bomb
JMP dwarf
END dwarf
You can submit anytime until the deadline. You can
replace any time after you've submitted two possible
entries until the deadline.
I will every day (except December 24-26) publish the
updated ranking (without details like %W/%L/%T and
scoring) on the contest website at:
http://www.corewar.info/tournament/icpc1/
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| Top links for Corewar Newbies |
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The ICWS'94 draft (extended):
http://www.corewar.info/lexicon/94draft.htm
Clueless newbies should begin with Scott's Quick Core
War Guide for a brief overview:
http://corewar.co.uk/manley/guide.htm
A very nicely written German tutorial can be found here:
http://www.netcologne.de/~nc-zapfsa/files/Handbuch.pdf
If you're just starting to program in redcode you should
download MARS, the Redcode virtual machine. Recommended
are CoreWin for Windows:
http://corewar.co.uk/wendell/
or pMARS for virtually everything else.
http://corewar.co.uk/pmars/
Here is a Beginner's Guide to Redcode to learn the
essentials of '94 Redcode programming:
http://vyznev.net/corewar/guide.html
The Corewar Bibliography is an ideal starting point
for further research.
http://corewar.co.uk/biblio.htm
Also the Corewar Lexicon provides useful information:
http://www.corewar.info/lexicon/
If you like to dissect, study or play published warriors
then check out Koenigstuhl:
http://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu/birk/COREWAR/koenigstuhl.html
Further interesting website are:
http://corewar.co.uk/article.htm
http://corewar.co.uk/guides.htm
If you decided not to handcode your entry but use a
evolver program then have a look here:
http://www.infionline.net/~wtnewton/corewar/evol/
http://www.corewar.info/evolve.htm
http://www.corewar.co.uk/evolving.htm
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| Deadline |
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December 31, 2010
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** COREWAR.INFO will be awarding $50 for the winner **
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Happy coding