Submissions open from 2025-10-01 16:00:00 to 2025-10-07 16:00:00
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Put your coding and design skills to the test, and make an OS in Turbowarp!

TL;DR: You will make an OS in various rounds, using any Scratch mods. There are 5 teams that you can join. You can sign up here, and find more information here.

What is this?

  • OS Wars 25 is an indie team competition hosted by Vocale,  Flux,  Halu,  Koda, and Josh, where teams compete to make an OS (Operating System) in various rounds, determining the winner.

What's an OS?

  • An OS is an abbreviation for the phrase Operating System, which is a main component in your laptop, phone, or tablet that shapes your experiences. Windows 11, Android, and iOS are all examples of an OS. In this case though, this competition consists of creating a simulation of an OS made with Scratch to show your best ideas and design abilities.

How does it work?

  • In the span of 2-3 months, 5 teams known as Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby,  Amethyst, and Gold will compete in various rounds to determine the winner. Each round requires coordination, management, and capability.  Points are given accordingly, and the team with the most points will win the competition.

Rounds

  • Round 1 - Intro (1 week - Otober 1st-7th)
    • In this round, you will have 1 week to create an intro for your OS. Use this round to give your OS some good first impressions, meet your teammates, and coordinate and plan ahead for the first rounds.
  • Round 2 - Setup (2 weeks)
    • In this round, you will lay the basis for the rest of your OS. You will create a setup, or OOBE (Out Of the Box Experience) for your OS, where the user can customize the looks and functionality of their experience. It is essential to plan ahead to avoid having to make changes down the road.
  • Round 3 - Desktop (3 weeks)
    • The desktop is one of the most important parts of your OS, as users will interact with it daily. Ensure that it is smooth and runs well, with a user-friendly interface that allows for easy app opening and task management.
  • Round 4 - Apps (3 weeks)
    • Apps are what make an OS useful; they allow users to perform various actions on their OS. You must include at least 5 apps in your OS.
  • Round 5 - Final (2 weeks)
    • The competition is almost over! Now, you have 2 weeks to fix all the bugs in your OS and make it work as well as you can. Make sure to include suggestions by judges and users for better scoring.

Rules: 

  1. All scratch mods that do not involve written code or external framing (e.g. iframes) are completely allowed.
  2. Teams can receive up to 5+ points for limiting their submission to Scratch. It’s recommended that this choice is locked for all submissions.
  3. All extensions (premade, custom, JS-boxed) are allowed by default.
  4. Teams hold liability to ensure their product works on their preferable supported judging platform.
  5. Cloud systems (e.g. Cloud Variables) are allowed. Scratch based models receive 5+ points for server plugins, and non-Scratch models receive 3+ points for servers.
  6. Teams are also responsible for ensuring their product is compatible with most desktop devices. This includes optimization tactics, feature-friendliness, and low external reliance..
  7. We recommend teams develop their models correctly for all device types. If not, it may impact judgement but won’t directly negate points.
  8. Code obfuscation is highly unrecommended for judging. For public releases, the team is differently recommended to include code obfuscation.
  9. Developers in a specified team are REQUIRED to share weekly progress reports. Based on these reports, hosts may make changes to the team to ensure it stays active and performative.
  10. Submissions should be delivered in HTML/SB3 and named appropriate to the round and team “{Team Name} - {Round No.}”.  We do NOT allow written code in the project and we require the code to be accessible by the judges. (except for external servers and custom programming languages)
  11. Please ensure to submit the most reliable version of your project. We ask for a model that can be easily accessed by both the public and judges. Backdoors for specific stuff (e.g. info, data) are not recommended.
  12. We require all teams to be prepared before the specified deadline of a submission. If majorly not met, extensions may be awarded. On-time and quality submissions are encouraged.
  13. The final product at the end of the competition is owned by its respective teams under OS Wars’ liability and copyright. For distribution, consider contacting hosts.

Allowed tools

You may use the following tools:

  • Scratch 3.0 - The vanilla version of Scratch. Making certain things with it can prove harder, so making your OS compatible with vanilla Scratch will give your team extra points.
  • Turbowarp - A Scratch mod that compiles Scratch projects into JavaScript to make them run faster. It also supports custom extensions that can widen the range of capabilities of your OS.
  • Penguuinmod - A Turbowarp mod with a lot more blocks you can use, which will give you more freedom when making your OS.
  • Gandi IDE (A.k.a Cocrea) - a Scratch mod with more features, blocks, and extensions.
  • Any other Scratch mod - Any Scratch mod that supports sb3 files and can be exported as an HTML file. Please ask one of the hosts before picking one, to ensure that it is allowed for use.
  • Python - You may use something such as ScratchAttach paired with a Python server to let your project access the cloud. This is only a supplement though, and the main OS must run in Scratch
  • Other languages - You can use any programming languages to run your servers, but make sure that at the time of judging they work and the end user does not need to install anything on their computer.

How to submit?

  • All team leaders have been selected, but you can find information about each team in the signups project: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1216580776/
  • You can join a team by applying in their Discord server or in their Scratch project.
  • These are the links for all 5 teams: 
    • Ruby
      • Discord server: https://discord.gg/7aQpJ5hPfF
      • Signups project: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1210955918
      • The idea of team Ruby (RubyOS) is to achieve an advanced, realistic operating system. We use more experience-required programming methods, to bring the best possible outcome to the table. Our goal is to create something that powers the rest of our system, with minimal bugs or design inconsistency.
    • Emerald
      • Discord server: https://discord.gg/bdzEUfYj
      • Signups project: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1210958310
      • Emerald OS is a tiny but passionate operating system inspired by ms-dos, designed to let you relive the golden age of PCs. It’s planned to support up to 64kb cutting-edge, 30fps graphics and multiple colors, with predictable memory mapping that allows for true command line mastery. Simple, fast, and yours.
    • Sapphire
    • Amethyst
      • Discord server: https://discord.gg/U3Ks3S7mua
      • Signups project: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1212956539
      • With three former members of the winning Red OS team from OS Wars 10 leading the way, we believe that Amethyst OS has one of the highest chances of winning this OS Wars. As a team, we strive to be the most successful team of OS Wars in the new team system.
    • Gold
      • Discord server: https://discord.gg/QHZkkQGrdS
      • Signups project: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1216570677
      • GoldOS is a technical Scratch operating system aiming to emulate a 'real' operating system as closely as possible, at both the low-level and presentation layers. Borrowing ideas from major open operating system development projects such as UNIX, Plan9, and Inferno, we aim to provide a robust, hackable experience
  • For team leaders: You must submit two versions of your project: A packaged HTML file, (using https://packager.turbowarp.org/), AND an sb3 file of your project. Please also answer all the submission questions accurately. Submitting late may result in a penalty.

When does it start / more about it?

Join the Discord for more information:

https://discord.gg/E8hnRNWCcs