ZX HSC Round 2 - Cannonball / PSSST / Flappy Bird ZX

[PeterJ]

After 30 minutes of trying Flappy Bird, I managed a high score of 2. What were you thinking of [mention]R-Tape[/mention]

[GreenCard]

I used QAOP through ZXspin.

How do you do that? I've tried remapping the "keystick" controls in the options menu, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

[R-Tape]

I used QAOP through ZXspin.

How do you do that? I've tried remapping the "keystick" controls in the options menu, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Ditto. I'm using v0.666. [mention]Freespirit[/mention] which version are you using, and how are you doing it?

[akeley]

It still can't fathom why there is no option to remap keyboard in ZX emulators, seeing as it would be extremely handy in so many games. I'm pretty sure it's possible in the likes of VICE for C64.

In any case I really recommend getting a gamepad (or joystick, if you are used to those more). Second hand Dualshocks 3 or Xbox pads are very cheap and will do just fine. For me using the analog stick instead of keyboard, d-pad or joystick is a godsend. And you can remap keys any way you like then.

[GreenCard]

I'll have a go of it on RetroPie over the weekend with a controller/joystick, see if I can up my score somewhat.

[Freespirit]

How do you do that? I've tried remapping the "keystick" controls in the options menu, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Ditto. I'm using v0.666. @Freespirit which version are you using, and how are you doing it?

I'm using version 0.7

Tools/options/controllers/Keyboard
Keystick emulates - Kempston Joystick
Customise... Setup QAOP (or whatever you like)
Then enable Keystick (F7)

Choose Kempston when playing the game and use your defined keys - You are welcome

[GreenCard]

Ditto. I'm using v0.666. @Freespirit which version are you using, and how are you doing it?

I'm using version 0.7

Tools/options/controllers/Keyboard
Keystick emulates - Kempston Joystick
Customise... Setup QAOP (or whatever you like)
Then enable Keystick (F7)

Choose Kempston when playing the game and use your defined keys - You are welcome

I'm using v0.666, and that method didn't seem to work. Will try version 0.7 instead. Cheers!

[smurphboy]

Right then, I've had a nice afternoon hiding from the heat. My final round 2 scores will be:

Cannonball: 3205
Pssst: 41610
Flappy Bird ZX: 68

[R-Tape]

Here are mine. Hopeless. I've not been at the races this week:

Code: Select all

Cannonball 625
FlappyBirdZX 31
PSSST 23185

I'm glad that I finally got around to giving PSSST a proper go. It's good, and I would have gone nuts for it back in the day. Another one I'd like to see done now, and done better.

Hopeless.

Oooh - but with Alessandro stepping down, I think that puts me in the top spot for Nohzdyve? I would be a very small & petty man if I celebrated winning in such a default way...

Spoiler

[Freespirit]

I'm using version 0.7

Tools/options/controllers/Keyboard
Keystick emulates - Kempston Joystick
Customise... Setup QAOP (or whatever you like)
Then enable Keystick (F7)

Choose Kempston when playing the game and use your defined keys - You are welcome

I'm using v0.666, and that method didn't seem to work. Will try version 0.7 instead. Cheers!

I downloaded v0.66 to test and it works fine. Must be user error

[R-Tape]

Tools/options/controllers/Keyboard
Keystick emulates - Kempston Joystick
Customise... Setup QAOP (or whatever you like)
Then enable Keystick (F7)

^That's^ it! Finally. The procedure is intuitive right up to the F7 key. How did you know about that?

Anyway, thanks so much. That has opened doors for me.

I downloaded v0.66 to test and it works fine. Must be user error

Spoiler

[GreenCard]

I'm using v0.666, and that method didn't seem to work. Will try version 0.7 instead. Cheers!

I downloaded v0.66 to test and it works fine. Must be user error

Aha! It's working! Like R-Tape, I wasn't enabling the Keystick!

Here are my final scores for this round...

[Freespirit]

^That's^ it! Finally. The procedure is intuitive right up to the F7 key. How did you know about that?

Anyway, thanks so much. That has opened doors for me.

Glad you got it working. I knew I was close and I just went through every option looking for the final key to the puzzle. Years of playing adventure games helped.

[Morkin]

Flappy Bird - 27 (no change)
Cannonball - 3,435 (no change)
Pssst! - 26,500 (new!)

Will try to find some time to have another go at Pssst! tomorrow on the (real) Speccy. Haven't been finding QWERT too bad once I've played for a while.

[Morkin]

Here we go then, my submissions for round 2. [Edit: added code tags for no particular reason]

Code: Select all

Flappy Bird -     27
Cannonball  -  3,435
Pssst!      - 45,655

Morkin's comments for the round:

Flappy Bird



All I'll say is that you guys getting 3 figure scores in this game are a special kind of crazy. Or maybe it was the slightly unresponsive space bar on my laptop which explains my comparatively rubbish score.

The saving grace of this game for me is that you get to marvel at the technically smooth scrolling as you crash into the walls, time after time... Very slick. Now, please can nobody else make another Flappy Bird game for the Speccy. Ever.

Cannonball



Y'know what? I reckon that for a random magazine cassette tape game this has been a bit of a revelation since its unearthing by Juan.

OK, so it's not a classic, but you can naturally improve at this game with practice, to the point that level 1 of 'Muy Dificil' difficulty level is regularly complete-able. I'd have been been delighted to encounter this on a 16/48 magazine tape.

Pssst!

Had a fun time loading this on my Speccy this morning.





Fairly simple game on the surface yet quite addictive. Was only going to have a couple of goes but ended up playing it for a while... Reminded me how slick the early Ultimate games were, compared with the competition at the time.

My tactic on each screen was to try to get the 3 sprays into the 3 bottom left spaces as quickly as possible, so I could lurk there knowing that the insects couldn't creep up behind me. In fact I lost most of my lives going for the 'tempters', the bonus score items that appeared in other compartments.

Fun fact - the mechanism where using a spray against the wrong insect just paralyses it, is something I may have 'borrowed' for Balachor's Revenge, where a creature is only temporarily stunned - as opposed to destroyed - if you use the wrong weapon against it.

Overall

Quite enjoyed this round - highlight for me was (unsurprisingly) Pssst!. Cannonball was OK, but I was a lot tenser after playing it...

[akeley]

Flappy Bird ZX - 28
Cannonball - 835
PSSST - 113,320



I did not take a scr$ when I first played Flappy, so had to try the accursed bird sim again. It really makes me dizzy, it's metronomic all right, but in a bad way. With better physics and absence of the scroll jerk it could be quite playable though. PS: now I just see I managed to beat Morkin by one point, well mate, you still have few hours to go and top my score, being safe in the knowledge I will never play it again

I did not dare play Cannonball again too PSSST got quite amusing after 50K, when things get interesting, still, I just kind of set myself the 100K target and then got a bit bored. It's an awesome game though, if it had a bit more enemy/item variety it'd be even better.

[R-Tape]

With better physics and absence of the scroll jerk it could be quite playable though.

You see scroll jerk? For me the inertia is heavy, but not 'wrong', and the scroll as perfect as is possible on a speccy.

[akeley]

Yes, definitely some when I tried it on an emulator on even bigger on FPGA+ CRT. It's like a big lurch every cycle or so.

I know it's a big achievement for ZX, but my brain refuses to process it...

[smurphboy]

Round 2 - recomputed