19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

People are still making stuff for the Sinclair related machines. Tell us about new games and other software that runs on the Spectrum, ZX80/ZX81, Pentagon and Next.
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Andre Leao
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19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Andre Leao »

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stupidget
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by stupidget »

There are some stunning games on that list. Looks like I know what I'll be playing on my week off :D
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ralf »

Lots of great stuff here!
Dift! and Valley of Rains seem to to particularly interesting and polished.
Cant wait to get back home :)
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ast A. Moore »

I concur re Valley of Rains. I also really enjoyed Yazzie and Hardy. Valley of Rains is an obvious homage to the Savage series, which I liked a lot back in the day.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.

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and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by DouglasReynholm »

Just posted in the other thread about my disappointment in not being able to vote in this (from a social media point of view anyway), it was about time for me to give back to the community instead of just drive-by posting witticisms here and there. ;)

Anyway, just spent a few hours playing (almost all, can't run the TRD for some reason and some just fell through due to my pathetic knowledge of Russian) and it seems like I'm in broad agreement with most people here. The standouts for me are Valley of Rain and Yazzie, Space Monsters meet theHardy and Hunt Buck the Nuclear Defence. Valley of rain is incredibly playable and the graphics are gorgeous and Yazzie just runs so beurifully smoothly. Pre-ZU is quite enjoyable too, and the presentation of Drift is second to none, though I can't get a hang of the drifting mechanic yet, which seems like it might be essential to prgression.. Talking of which, does anyone else find QAOPM a bit uncomfortable on their pc keyboard? I'm surprised redefinable keys wasn't an option on the majority of the titles..?
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ast A. Moore »

DouglasReynholm wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 7:03 pm does anyone else find QAOPM a bit uncomfortable on their pc keyboard? I'm surprised redefinable keys wasn't an option on the majority of the titles..?
I’ve never liked QAOP, even back in the day. Redefinable keys must be an option in any game. Moreover, all the controls should be present on the screen before the player selects the keys. There was at least one title in the competition, which displayed them one at a time. I had to redefine the controls a couple of times because of a coupe of unusual options (i.e. jump vs. select vs. fire, etc.).

Still, a surprisingly strong selection of games, I must admit. Very refreshing to see. Most, as I far as I can tell, are hand-coded (as opposed to using game designer software).
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.

Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ralf »

Valley of Rains is incredible. Looks like not a Spectrum game, like something running on a much more powerful platform.

And it's actually very intense but playable and accessible to an average mortal at the same time.

I would never expect in my life to see on Spectrum a Savage style game better than Savage.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by g0blinish »

big mistake is absence of an author's description

TR-DOS, .tap, map
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by ZXDunny »

Alone in a dark maze is possibly my favourite, but it's very badly written. If the author had just offset the maze by one character square vertically then you'd not have to guess where you can go down. Other than that it's pretty good fun :)

Needs more colour too.

...and don't play the games on the online emulators. JSSpeccy has no sound here, and QAOP has the worst controls in the history of bad controls. Use an emulator.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by g0blinish »

if you ever play in Atari XL "Preliminary Monty 16K", you'd realize how to move: keys "up" anf "right" pressed etc.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Morkin »

Wow, these look amazing. In a way it's almost a shame that it's a competition, there's some real quality games here that deserve some individual 'new game' announcement attention.

Have been having a quick play here and there, but hoping to spend some time playing them all properly.

Alone in a dark maze is quite simple but has a cool soundtrack. I'm stuck at screen depth 'F' though, have come to a bit of an impasse and it's driving me crazy..! :lol:

Image

Concur with the other comments about Valley of Rains. It's beautifully presented.

Image

It can get quite tricky to avoid some enemy fire when there's a lot on screen but keys are responsive and the sprite is nicely controllable, so despite not getting too far I haven't got frustrated with it at all. Some nice boss enemies as well.

It took me a while to realise there was a time limit for each level, but it seems quite generous with its power up items so I guess the trick is not to hang around (probably a good idea with those flippin' bats everywhere... :cry: :) )
My Speccy site: thirdharmoniser.com
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by ZXDunny »

g0blinish wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:42 am if you ever play in Atari XL "Preliminary Monty 16K", you'd realize how to move: keys "up" anf "right" pressed etc.
wuh?
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

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Morkin wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 1:33 pm Alone in a dark maze is quite simple but has a cool soundtrack. I'm stuck at screen depth 'F' though, have come to a bit of an impasse and it's driving me crazy..! :lol:
That game is not well designed, though it is nicely presented. There are two issues - firstly, you can only "see" a short way ahead so a key will not appear until you're almost on top of it. That might have been an acceptable mechanic back in the 80s, but we're more refined now.

Secondly the maze cuts off at the bottom of the screen and there's no way to see if you can move downward or not - you have to shift left and right, pressing down each time to see if you can descend. If the author had offset the maze by one character square vertically then this issue would go away.

Other games:

The driving games are all well presented but terrible to play. Amazing graphics, no game.

The Savage clone is excellent though.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by g0blinish »

ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:17 pm
g0blinish wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:42 am if you ever play in Atari XL "Preliminary Monty 16K", you'd realize how to move: keys "up" anf "right" pressed etc.
wuh?
if you walking up/down and want to turn right press twice uo and right.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by ZXDunny »

g0blinish wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:30 pm
ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:17 pm wuh?
if you walking up/down and want to turn right press twice uo and right.
What?
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by g0blinish »

forget about it
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Einar Saukas »

ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 3:44 pm
g0blinish wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:30 pm if you walking up/down and want to turn right press twice uo and right.
What?
He means that, if you are moving down and wants to turn at the next right passage, then simply keep pressing both down and right keys.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ralf »

Anyone managed to get into Drift! ?

Is't a game with beautiful graphics, probably as good as monochrome graphics may be. Animation and framerate are also
good.

But I can't play it :(
You have to move on some track with obstacles. But I get off the track all the time. And often I don't see that track at all.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by DouglasReynholm »

Ralf wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 5:00 pm Anyone managed to get into Drift! ?

Is't a game with beautiful graphics, probably as good as monochrome graphics may be. Animation and framerate are also
good.

But I can't play it :(
You have to move on some track with obstacles. But I get off the track all the time. And often I don't see that track at all.
I gave it a good go but couldn't get the hang of it either. The presentation is second to none but unfortunately for it there's several far more compelling and addictive games in the competition.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Alessandro »

Here are some notes after playing several of these games. Not meant to offend anyone of course, after all they are made by fans for other fans, do not cost a dime, and testify of the vitality of the Spectrum retro scene :D

Ernesto's Adventures: The presentation is interesting, but I found the game itself to be random, samey and frustrating - walk here, go there, cannot go back from where you came, die for no apparent reason etc. I think I'll pass on this.

Alone in dark maze: Walk around a maze which is slowly revealed as you go by, open keys with doors, and get killed by invisible monsters. Ho-hum. Not exactly exciting, and the bland graphics don't help. Nice AY background music however.

Robo-bro: Nice main sprite, and colourful - sometimes rather garish - backgrounds. But at its core is a very simple collect-em-up with few surprises. I also noticed some dubious collision detection with the vertical spikes. On the good side, the music, and the possibility of going straight to a level by entering a password.

Robo-stalker: It is made in compiled BASIC, ZX-Basic to be precise, and it shows. I appreciate the effort - it's not easy to create an action game from scratch with it - Leszek Chmielewski made a good one some years ago. That said, I found it rather slow and lacking variety in action and setting, although it shows some potential - the large sprites, the different weapons for instance.

I found a bug: in the fourth screen, if you call the menu after destroying both droids, your robot won't appear and the game will freeze.

Quest For Elements: A platform game with an unusual graphic style. I still haven't figured out what you are supposed to do, besides walking and jumping from screen to screen.

Yazzie: A typical Denis Grachev game - small sprites, platforms and ladders, multicolor etc. Although it somehow reminds me of Lode Runner - a game I never was a fan of, to put it mildly - I find it nicely done and addictive.

Hunt Buck: A little slow, almost completely silent, and too much yellow for my liking; but what's worse, only one life, which is frustrating, especially because the enemies are resilient or even immortal (the mine carts), and your bullets are limited - I was unable to find any more of them so far. However, the main character shows some interesting animations. Would benefit from some retouches, and an English translation.

Drift: The game is technically great but I still haven't figured out how to actually play it. I end up being either disqualified or with negative scores. Like Ralf, I find following the tracks very hard, there is a tiny round window in the lower right corner supposed to aid you. True that I suck at driving games most of the times, but this seems to require a steep learning curve, too much for me.

Just A Gal: Pretty much the same as above, reminds me of Full Throttle which isn't a bad thing, however I found it even more difficult to play than that venerable title from 35 years ago. At least you can see the tracks here.

Yanga: A puzzle game where you have to put colored blocks in line in order to remove barriers and proceed. More features like switches and moving blocks appear as you progress further in it. Seems pretty interesting but lacks any sound.

Pre-ZU: Behind the sketchy graphics hides a minimalist and clever puzzle game with some interesting ideas, like the different-sized creatures (which sometimes must be used as a ladder for the smaller ones), disappearing platforms, switches etc.

Space Monsters Meet The Hardy: The game is quite simple - a platform/shooter alien hunt - but very pleasant to play, multicolor has been very effectively implemented and the different kinds of monsters prevent it from becoming repetitive. The time limit is rather tight, however.

Automated Cave Explorer: A nice Boulder Dash clone. I am pretty hopeless at this kind of games, but I find it likeable. A password system to avoid repeating the same levels over and over would be welcome, though.

The Order of Sleeping Dragon: Pretty basic (but colorful) graphics, sparse sound, but a rare example of role-playing on the Spectrum. Seems quite intriguing and atmospheric; will try delving deeper into it.

Valley Of Rains: Really impressive, obviously inspired by the first stage of Savage. Large and colorful sprites, parallax scrolling, fast action, and all of this in only 48K. In addition to that, I think the presence of a female hero as the main character is a plus - I am the creator of Sophia after all :) This is the one I liked the most so far.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

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Alessandro wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 5:41 pm Valley Of Rains: Really impressive, obviously inspired by the first stage of Savage. Large and colorful sprites, parallax scrolling, fast action, and all of this in only 48K.
I just assumed it was 128k only. That's utterly mind blowing. :shock:
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by ZXDunny »

Einar Saukas wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:23 pm
ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 3:44 pm What?
He means that, if you are moving down and wants to turn at the next right passage, then simply keep pressing both down and right keys.
Ahhh, so in essence, "The author hasn't made this game badly, you're just not doing it right".

I actually like the game - it's curiously addictive. It just needed to be done better is all.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Alessandro »

Ersh wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 6:04 pm
Alessandro wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 5:41 pm Valley Of Rains: Really impressive, obviously inspired by the first stage of Savage. Large and colorful sprites, parallax scrolling, fast action, and all of this in only 48K.
I just assumed it was 128k only. That's utterly mind blowing. :shock:
Just tried it on one of my 48Ks, the one with the composite mod. Really incredible how they managed to cram so much content inside it!
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ivanzx »

Amazing compo! High level of entries, for me there are 5 that are outstanding from the rest, but still need to play them properly :)
ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 3:44 pm
g0blinish wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:30 pm if you walking up/down and want to turn right press twice uo and right.
What?
You should show some manners, as most of us are not english native speakers ;)
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by ZXDunny »

Ivanzx wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 9:36 pm Amazing compo! High level of entries, for me there are 5 that are outstanding from the rest, but still need to play them properly :)
ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 3:44 pm What?
You should show some manners, as most of us are not english native speakers ;)
Eh?
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