CSSCGC 2020

[PROSM]

And I thought my vision of the future was bleak.

What John also hasn't told you all is that there are THREE editions of the game on the tape! The first is the one that's been reviewed, the second is a dismal-weather version where the sun has ceased to exist (to the sound of excited squealing in a Liverpool accent), and finally... the action is transferred to a part of rural Cambridgeshire that I'll soon be moving to.

[...]

I forgot about that actually! Yes, there are three versions, each in varying states of development. Matt actually sent me an email with the corrected tape only a few hours after his first message, but I got the files completely mixed up. Apologies to Matt!

[PROSM]

Another entry, this time from [mention]uglifruit[/mention]: Sir Clive's Ink Lair!

Review and download at: https://connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/026.html

[TMD2003]

A Crap Game, in machine code? I need to learn more of it and up my game! It is, as the review says, horribly hard, though. I challenge D.A.R.Y.L. to get to the end of it in one piece. Billy Mitchell's probably got a lot of time on his hands these days...

Although, let me tell you this, CGC aficionados: you haven't heard the last this year, from a certain former Tottenham Hotspur owner who likes winners, but is no gambler. And if you want to know what I mean... sharpen up on your third-party Spectrum floppy disc formats. That's all I'll say for now...

[ketmar]

A Crap Game, in machine code?

yeah. it is almost cheating. almost...

[uglifruit]

A Crap Game, in machine code?

yeah. it is almost cheating. almost...

I do feel I let myself down there, but rest assured the game is crap, I promise.

In my defence "Frogger" (Cassette 50, side 1, game 4) uses a Machine Code routine.

[Morkin]

I do feel I let myself down there, but rest assured the game is crap, I promise.

In my defence "Frogger" (Cassette 50, side 1, game 4) uses a Machine Code routine.

...The only problem is that Frogger is the best game on Cassette 50 by miles, so you're probably looking at the wrong program for inspiration there...

[uglifruit]

I think any crap game that auto-runs, rather than having the user RUN [ENTER] to get started is probably over-reaching the Cassette 50 heady heights.

[R-Tape]

Sir Clive's Ink Lair is inspired! Funny letter too, especially the beard stuff.

33170, 20
33181, 13

...makes it vaguely playable.

I was about to triumphantly post that I'd discovered the secret cheat mode, but then noticed that it clearly said so in Jon's review and Andy's instructions!

[uglifruit]

33170, 20
33181, 13

Goodness gracious! That's the first time I've been POKEd like that, I feel... defiled.
(You're right, that does make it almost approach playable.)

[PROSM]

Daz Peet sends us his musical simulation game, Guitar Weirdo!

Review and download at https://connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/027.html

[TMD2003]

Fix your bugs, Daz! No sooner have I tested "Whole Lotta Love" than I can tell that's a G coming from that BEEP when the screen says E, and it's supposed be E. Nothing musical gets past me, and the aural torture of trying to make a QL play a tune that isn't totally off-key is sharpening my pitch sensitivity so that it could cut through sheet steel.

What I do approve of is that this is the second CSSCGC game released this year to feature Iron Maiden! 'Arry Bomber 'Arris will be chuffed to bits. No prizes for knowing what the first was.

[TMD2003]

We interrupt this year's competition for some CSSCGC news from days of yore.

Back in 2004, I wrote Advanced Horseshoe Magnet Simulator for the ZX81, and sent it to that year's competition, run by the tragically deceased Jim Langmead. And as I've just tidied up my Sinclair webpages and amnow linking to those pages in every signature on every Sinclair forum, the pages can be easily found.

That... thing I wrote, which was little more than a 1982-style type-in based on a tired old joke that had its own thread on WOS at the time... has just found some use in the QL world, 16 years after I wrote it. One of the users has written a ZX81 emulator for the QL, and AHMS has helped him debug it.

You see, if you put the programs out there, eventually, someone will find them. And I'd like to think Jim L would approve if only he could have known.

Let's all play some crap games! I've got a couple still in the pipeline for this year, and with a bit of luck, you'll see them before Christmas. Isn't that right, [mention]PROSM[/mention]?

[ketmar]

heh. writing crap games is a great way to experiment with some things you won't touch otherwise. or refine some tools. or try some ideas. once you stop trying to make something Good, you have an endless sea of possibilities before you. my entry, for example, my entry was used to debug my patches to .txt -> zx basic .tap translator. and believe it or not, but i had some fun actually playing it too. i really tried several wight factors to get a better playfield... ah, and it is just fun to write code! ;-)

[PROSM]

[mention]uglifruit[/mention] has sent us a port from the CASIO MG-880: Digit Invaders!

Review and download at: https://connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/028.html

[uglifruit]

Thanks for the review. (And, indeed, all of your reviews which continue to be more entertaining than the subjects being reviewed). I really enjoyed programming this one, not so much for the game, but in looking into the history of the calculator game it's based on. I found it genuinely fascinating, and ended up spending many hours reading about it.

Also, as you mentioned, I saved/loaded a data array from basic. A first for me!

[TMD2003]

5,320 and level 6 on my first attempt! Not bad, I'd say. And, have I started a trend for conversion of calculator-based games? I'm sure there are more of them out there.

Loading the tape without flash loading reveals an interesting fact: the program uses a character array saved to the tape, which makes it probably the fifth program ever to use such a contraption, alongside such classics as Make-a-Chip.

And I've been responsible for two of them - Corona Capers, earlier this year, has three character arrays in its loading process, and Super Mario Fruit Machine from 2004 had both types of array - in fact, it had all four Spectrum loading headers. Then, courtesy of Paul E. Collins, there was Brad: The Game in 2014, which used 500-and-something character arrays to load the "chapters" from a choose-your-own-adventure that spanned over a megabyte and took... quite some time to load from tape. And if we're including loading data from tape for save high scores or saved game data, then I've got another one of those covered in the Casio MG-777 Games compilation, and Redcoats used both types of arrays to save its map layouts.

I confidently predict that there will be at least TWO more entries for this year's competition, that will contain loaded arrays, and both will involve all four headers... but it won't be at all obvious for one of them. How, Who, What, Why, Where, When? Johnny (not that one) Reveals All... about three months into next year!

[PROSM]

P.S. I am making an effort to catch up on the backlog and right the wrongs of my crap time management. Expect to see more reviews coming soon (famous last words!)

Famous last words indeed! But, be assured, this competition will be over by the 31st of December for the next host to take over in good time.

In the meanwhile, we have a new entry which is the last of the July batch. It's The Adventures of Mr P.N., by AsteroideZX!

Review and download here (slightly NSFW): https://www.connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/029.html

[R-Tape]

But, be assured, this competition will be over by the 31st of December for the next host to take over in good time.

Glad to hear it. Punctuality is the CGC's watchword.

In the meanwhile, we have a new entry which is the last of the July batch. It's The Adventures of Mr P.N., by AsteroideZX!

Dirty boy! Still, change the clockweights a bit and cover up the body hair, and it'd be a superior alternative to Weetabix vs the Titchies.

[PROSM]

AsteroideZX has cleaned up his act a bit with a new game - THIS IS CYAN

Review and download at: https://www.connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/030.html

[TMD2003]

Two reviews in two days? That's more like it. Maybe my last fabulously innovative sacrifices on the altar of crapness will be revealed before Christmas after all. Brace yourselves!

I might even be tempted to throw in a last-minute entry, seeing as there's been nothing for the ZX81 yet. My dreams of a QL entry to complete the set have taken a bit of a hit in the last week, though...

[RWAC]

AsteroideZX has cleaned up his act a bit with a new game - THIS IS CYAN

Review and download at: https://www.connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/030.html

Amazing! I can't wait for This is Magenta.

[PROSM]

[mention]p13z[/mention] sends us a half-decent BASIC game with some innuendo wedged in, called Uranus Pentrator.

Review and download at: https://www.connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/031.html

[PROSM]

[mention]p13z[/mention] gives us a taste of the open road with his latest entry, Route 66!

Review and download at: https://connosoft.com/csscgc2020/reviews/032.html

[TMD2003]

So, that was the BASIC parallax game that I was so concerned about? Top banana. Corona Capers lives to fight another day, even if I'm absolutely sick to death of everything COVID-related, and I'm going a bit mad being locked in the house for an entire month... again.

This is screaming out for a sequel, set in Australia - something like Adelaide to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain. Change the colours, change the direction (as it's east to west, and Australia drives on the correct side of the road), change the distance to be measured in km, job done.

Progress on what might be the first (and maybe only?) ZX81 entry for the year continues unabated...

[R-Tape]

It may be a pile of crap, but that's a gorgeous landscape. If this was released back in March, I might have 'played' this for longer than I'd like go admit.

This is screaming out for a sequel, set in Australia - something like Adelaide to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain.

Route A66 from Penrith to Scotch Corner would be more cgc.