In this challenge, you are asked to create a clock. It must adhere to the following guidelines:
Can use any type of window, picture window, dialog, etc..
No external programs can be used, but the script can create external files. (of any kind)
You may submit a single script file named clock_challenge.mrc.
You must include full documentation in a text document.
Can be analog, digital, or both.
Must be animated or updated automatically every second while it is running.
We will be judging on appearance, functionality, features, and problems (if any). Now, we realize that an analog clock requires significantly more math than a standard textual digital clock, and maybe not everyone knows how to make an analog clock, but that doesn't mean an analog clock will automatically be better than a digital clock. Appearance will be one of the main factors, along with the number of features. Hints: Making it resizable, configurable, etc.., will improve your score greatly.
Challenge Entries:
All entries were individually tested and scored by 4 judges. Some entries did not include an extra readme, but had instructions in the .mrc file, which is OK, since a .mrc file is a text document.
Very good attention to detail, almost every aspect of the clock is configurable. Works with any shape (round or elliptical) and allows to be resized. Also allows you to snap the window the edges and save your options for the clock. Great configuration dialog, especially when choosing the colors. If you hold ctrl while resizing, it constrains to a 1x1 aspect ratio (although this isn't mentioned in the readme).
One small bug, if you load it on a black background, you must make it refresh itself, either by resizing it or going to the preferences, before it shows properly.
Below are a couple of screenshots:
(note.. second, third, and fourth were all very good and it was hard making a decision)
Almost...
Name: DanieL
Description: Had a very nice configurable clock, with good options, just didn't have quite the attention to detail the winner did.
Name: a_dude
Description: Very good clock with an ample amount of features and options, it missed second place by just a very small margin.
Name: Ymar
Description: Another good one similar to second place, with good options. Also allowed elliptical sizing, but unfortunately we saw some small errors, such as the text getting clipped, that kept it from getting a higher score.
Name: DeadL0ck
Description: Really nice digital clock with a very realistic animated display. However, the face of the clock looked a little strange, and you could not move the clock around. Also, the author failed to use $scriptdir, so if it was installed in a directory under the mIRC directory, like c:\mirc\clock, the help file failed to work. Had these small issues not been present, this would have been a perfect example of how a digital clock could easily score as high as an analog clock.
Name: dukenukem
Description: Another good, very configurable digital clock. This one had options such as "lock clock" and even a skin manager. Had some minor issues, but still pretty good nonetheless.
Name: Mr Crash
Description: A nice little dialog based clock that shows the time in either 24hour time or 12hour time. Also had some good options.
Name: INSIDES
Description: Digital or analog clock, and it looked ok, but one thing... it flickered and was really annoying, and could have been fixed with "-n" option in the /draw* commands! Had it not been for that, this clock would have scored higher.
Name: ^Andy
Description: The sad fact of the matter is, this clock has no options and is incredibly small. You can, however, move it around with the arrow keys. It does not work correctly in mIRC v5.8 due to a change in mIRC, but this did not have anything to do with its score.
Name: timbo
Description: Small digital clock, locked in place. Also put the time in the titlebar. Close button didn't work because the script was missing a | in the command that was supposed to close the window.
Name: Jason
Description: Similar to timbo's clock, but this one had an error saying "t unknown command" since it tries to call itself and mIRC does not allow that. The face also looked kind of weird if resized.
Invalid entries
Name: Buttercup
Description: Nice looking clock, uses a picture of an alarm clock to simulate a real clock. Worked good, unfortunately, one of the rules was you could only have a script file and a file explaining how to use it, and this one used a bitmap. Also must be noted that the name in the readme was different than the name in the submission, however, I cannot confirm that this was ripped.
Name: Sergio
Description: Ripped. Note to rippers: If you want to rip something, make sure to remove the original author's name from the readme.
