BitBuilt's 2024 Summer Building Competition

[cheese]

Over the past year we've seen some incredible projects from the community! From portables never thought possible, to insane wiring to get every last mm off, we're constantly blown away... Just around the corner, the 9th Summer Building Competition! As always, first time modders and enthusiasts alike are all welcomed to enter their projects and show off their skills! With the ever changing times, this year, we're changing up the rules

Information

The 2024 Summer Building Competition officially begins June 1st and ends November 1st. After concluding the community will vote and results will be revealed shortly after.

The first change this year is a new category for voting, innovation! Sure, the gboy is a great design, but we've seen it before. The new smallest playstation? A portable xbox? Now that's what I'm talking about! We'll be keeping the other 3 categories from past years, so entries can get up to 4 votes instead of 3 this time.

Innovation - Got an idea nobody's tried before? New stuff is always cool, and will gain you massive props

Case Design/Aesthetic - Pouring hours and hours into designing and producing a case deserves praise.

Internals - We've all seen portables that look as pretty inside as they do on the outside. Electing to make your internals clean will gain you some votes and cred among the community.

Features and Functionality - Despite the fact that some projects are mods of consoles over a decade old, it doesn't mean they shouldn't have modern amenities. Managing to sneak in extra features, more functionality (original or not), and whatever else you can come up with can gain you extra points.

Rules

Our goal each year is to make the contest as fair as possible for everyone participating and we hope that these rules achieve that goal. Note some fresh changes this year in line with the ever evolving community aspirations

1. All work must be done by you and only you. Commissions involving your contest project are not allowed at any point throughout the duration of the contest while you remain a participant. This includes board trimming, PCB design, case design, wiring of any kind, etc. If you are unsure of what this includes, please ask before going ahead with it to prevent you from being disqualified.

2. A worklog with pictures must be made on the forums. A piece of paper or index card must also be visible in photographs with some variation of “BitBuilt 2024 Summer Building Competition” along with your forum username displayed on it.

3. At the end of the contest, a video of your project is required and must be submitted along with your final contest submission. If your project is not fully functional by the close of the competition, try to demo as much as you can. If it isn't functional at that time, you can include clips recorded through the competition showing the progress towards a finished project.

4. Your entry may build upon projects from previous years, but the work used must be made open source or otherwise available to others before July 1, 2024. Links aren't strictly required in the competition post, but would be helpful (and you may very well get "where can I get X" posts if you don't )

5. When making your thread select the "Worklog" prefix. Once your entry is complete and also has your submission video, edit the original post to change the prefix to "Completed".

A tip of advice: Remember your peers will be voting for you. Making a clean work log and or a spending time on your entry video may prove beneficial in portraying your submission to voters!

By registering for the contest, you’re letting us know that you agree to the rules stated above. Breaking the rules (namely the first one) put you at risk of being disqualified from the contest and banned from BitBuilt events and or services. Any necessary punishment is decided by BitBuilt staff and is final. When in doubt about anything, reach out to myself, @CrashBash or a staff member on the forums / Discord and we will advise you or direct you to someone who can aid you.

Registration

In order to register, you must first log in, go to your account dropdown menu, and click “Account Upgrades”.

After that, you can click “Purchase” under the Available Upgrades section and pay the $2 entry fee. Once you have paid the fee, you will automatically be given a banner to denote that you are a contestant in the Competition!

Once you are ready make your worklog in the 2024 Summer Contest subforum. See rule 5 for thread prefix rules.

Make sure to pay attention to the stickies here on the forums as well as the Discord Channel. Any and all new information, such as the prizes, will be announced in those places respectively.

Good luck to all!



------------------
Edit from CrashBash:
Voting is now Open!
Link: https://forms.gle/yRDqGViGMhTvf6X68


Voting has ended, results have been announced here:

https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/2024-summer-competition-results-and-prizes.6653/

 

[Mc moron mods]

So for rule #1 can we use the pcb off of 4 layer or do we have to make a custom replacement

 

[Stitches]

So for rule #1 can we use the pcb off of 4 layer or do we have to make a custom replacement

Rule 1 is moreso referring to PCBs that are custom designed to suit your entry. You can freely use any product that you can buy through a storefront. PCBs bought from 4layertech, Electron Shepherd, AliExpress, fleabay, Amazon, etc aren't classed as custom PCBs since they're stores that sell a regular inventory of pre-made products to everyone. What you aren't allowed to do is get someone to do any of the work for your entry for you. If you want to use PCBs that are custom to your design, like for controls or your own regulator board, you have to design them, order them, populate them, test them, all yourself. If you can buy an existing product that fits your needs, you're fine to do that. You just can't have someone else doing any of the work. You can ask questions of course, but no physically helping hands

 

[Mc moron mods]

Rule 1 is moreso referring to PCBs that are custom designed to suit your entry. You can freely use any product that you can buy through a storefront. PCBs bought from 4layertech, Electron Shepherd, AliExpress, fleabay, Amazon, etc aren't classed as custom PCBs since they're stores that sell a regular inventory of pre-made products to everyone. What you aren't allowed to do is get someone to do any of the work for your entry for you. If you want to use PCBs that are custom to your design, like for controls or your own regulator board, you have to design them, order them, populate them, test them, all yourself. If you can buy an existing product that fits your needs, you're fine to do that. You just can't have someone else doing any of the work. You can ask questions of course, but no physically helping hands

Okay

 

[icy_system]

Awesome! I want to make something this year. I can't believe it's already time. Good luck to everyone entering

 

[Wolf33]

I have a few questions
1. How many entries can someone enter into this competition? Do you have to spend 2 dollars per entry?
2. Is emulation allowed? Could I design and make a custom case with controls for a phone?
3. How large can we go? The PS3, XBOX 360, Wii U etc, use many watts and put out significant heat, would a laptop form factor be allowed? What about something with wheels? I'd like to make something like a Wii U in a rolling chassis so I could give it plenty of cooling and battery.

 

[GingerOfOz]

Only 1 entry is allowed. There's no original hardware rule, the project just needs to be a gaming related project. It can be as big as you'd like.

 

[Customledmods]

Would I be able to use the Aveflex or fujiflex in my build or no ? What if I bought it from someone ?

 

[Y2K]

Would I be able to use the Aveflex or fujiflex in my build or no ? What if I bought it from someone ?

Existing community contributions made by others that are not tailor-made to your project are fair game. The idea of rule #1 is to eliminate the possibility of someone collaborating on their contest entry with someone else, or commissioning a 3rd party person to design/build your project for you. This is a contest that is geared towards individual modders, and allowing collaboration/commissioning would not be fair to others who are putting all the work in themselves.

Examples of things that can be done without fear of breaking rule #1:
- ordering parts that you designed through a manufacturing service (JLCPCB, PCBWay, PCBUY, etc)
- integrating existing open source designs into your project (i.e assembling Shinobi Scaler for use in your project)
- integrating existing commercial products into your build (i.e 4LayerTech products, stuff from AliExpress/Amazon/etc)
- modifying existing open source designs to better suit your project

Note: We request that your worklog & submission provide proper credit to any open source projects that are used. Please also make sure to follow all license agreements, as many open source projects require you to redistribute your changes if you make any, among other stipulations. Violating open source licenses is not cool!

Examples of things that can not be done, and may result in a DQ and/or other action:
- Commissioning a 3rd party to design any 3D printed parts for you, BitBuilt community member or otherwise
- Asking someone to print plastic parts for you (ordering prints through a company such as JLC3DP is permitted, just not any one specific individual)
- Collaborating with another person to design PCBs for your project
- Building someone else's existing project (please, we don't need 20 various Ashida/G-Boy submissions...)
- Slavery/Indentured Servitude

tl;dr: If it publicly exists, you can use/modify it as you wish. You cannot have anyone help you other than general questions & sanity checks. In the end, you are the only one that is allowed to touch your project, both in the design phase and build phase.

Hopefully this helps clear up the idea behind rule #1. Please feel free to reach out here or to any of the staff in DMs if you have specific examples you need approval/clarification for.

 

[Customledmods]

Thanks @Y2K this is very helpful.

 

[CrazyGadget]

A couple questions:

• Regarding Rule #2, does every single image need to have the "BitBuilt Summer Comp 2024 (username)" card in it? I have a couple pictures regarding my project that don't have the card in it and I can't go back in time :^/
• Somewhat related to above: last year, it was stated (in rule #4) that projects "must have been started in or after May of 2023." Since this thread was uploaded on 5/12, do project started in May still count towards the contest?

 

[Stitches]

A couple questions:

• Regarding Rule #2, does every single image need to have the "BitBuilt Summer Comp 2024 (username)" card in it? I have a couple pictures regarding my project that don't have the card in it and I can't go back in time :^/
• Somewhat related to above: last year, it was stated (in rule #4) that projects "must have been started in or after May of 2023." Since this thread was uploaded on 5/12, do project started in May still count towards the contest?

• Yeah time machines aren't exactly easy to come by these days. Not every photo needs the card (and obviously existing photos can't have the card), but ideally it should be present in at least one photo per progress milestone post from now on.
• Crash said projects started in May count, so ye.

 

[Bubberiffic]

View attachment 33371​

Over the past year we've seen some incredible projects from the community! From portables never thought possible, to insane wiring to get every last mm off, we're constantly blown away... Just around the corner, the 9th Summer Building Competition! As always, first time modders and enthusiasts alike are all welcomed to enter their projects and show off their skills! With the ever changing times, this year, we're changing up the rules

Information

The 2024 Summer Building Competition officially begins June 1st and ends November 1st. After concluding the community will vote and results will be revealed shortly after.

View attachment 33372​

The first change this year is a new category for voting, innovation! Sure, the gboy is a great design, but we've seen it before. The new smallest playstation? A portable xbox? Now that's what I'm talking about! We'll be keeping the other 3 categories from past years, so entries can get up to 4 votes instead of 3 this time.



Rules

Our goal each year is to make the contest as fair as possible for everyone participating and we hope that these rules achieve that goal. Note some fresh changes this year in line with the ever evolving community aspirations



By registering for the contest, you’re letting us know that you agree to the rules stated above. Breaking the rules (namely the first one) put you at risk of being disqualified from the contest and banned from BitBuilt events and or services. Any necessary punishment is decided by BitBuilt staff and is final. When in doubt about anything, reach out to myself, @CrashBash or a staff member on the forums / Discord and we will advise you or direct you to someone who can aid you.

Registration

In order to register, you must first log in, go to your account dropdown menu, and click “Account Upgrades”.

After that, you can click “Purchase” under the Available Upgrades section and pay the $2 entry fee. Once you have paid the fee, you will automatically be given a banner to denote that you are a contestant in the Competition!

Once you are ready make your worklog in the 2024 Summer Contest subforum. See rule 5 for thread prefix rules.

Make sure to pay attention to the stickies here on the forums as well as the Discord Channel. Any and all new information, such as the prizes, will be announced in those places respectively.

Good luck to all!

How long does it take for the banner to apply, I just bought the entry.

 

[Lemoncake]

Sorry, this is a really last minute question. When it says that all entries must be submitted by November 1st, does that mean I can submit my project ON November 1st (like the day of) or is the last day I have to post my final video October 31st?

 

[Y2K]

Sorry, this is a really last minute question. When it says that all entries must be submitted by November 1st, does that mean I can submit my project ON November 1st (like the day of) or is the last day I have to post my final video October 31st?

You have until November 1st, 2024 at 11:59PM EST to have your submission video, final submission worklog thread post w/ the video in it, and the worklog thread marked as "Completed". Please do not pull a Stitches and record your submission video with 15mins left untill the deadline, for your own sanity. (Or do, to everyone else's hilarity! )

 

[Stitches]

And if you do record it last minute, definitely don't cut your finger with a scalpel and drip blood onto the portable while you're depserately trying to demonstrate its *mostly* functional controls >.>

 

[Lemoncake]

And if you do record it last minute, definitely don't cut your finger with a scalpel and drip blood onto the portable while you're depserately trying to demonstrate its *mostly* functional controls >.>

I’ll make sure to keep that one in mind!

 

[CrashBash]

Original post has been updated with voting link.

 

[Bodhii]

Where is the results? It's November, 9th.

 

[Y2K]

Where is the results? It's November, 9th.

Results should be out later today, as far as I'm aware. We wanted to give some extra time for people to vote, so voting ended on the 8th. It takes some time to compile the results and get the winner thread made, so please be patient!