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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Morkin
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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:

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

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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: :) )
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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!!!!

Post by ZXDunny »

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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Einar Saukas
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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!!!!

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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!!!!

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

Post by Morkin »

Impressed by Yazzie. As Ale says, typical Denis Grachev game, it's very slick & playable.

...Thanks for providing the first puzzle-arcade game in some time that I've actually been able to finish..! :lol:
Spoiler
20 levels, no obvious difficulty spikes. Nice.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by g0blinish »

ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:23 pm Eh?
what's wrong with you?
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ralf »

What?
You should show some manners...
Wuh?
Eh?
what's wrong with you?
Okay, people please stop this caveman talk and everything else before some serious fight emerges.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by djnzx48 »

I couldn't vote but I'll write some brief thoughts on a few of the games. Some of them I haven't had the chance to play thoroughly.

Alone in Dark Maze: The game has some nice music, and I like the line-of-sight effect. I got stuck on level U after using a key on the wrong door - since I played it before seeing the map I didn't know how many levels there were. I found the controls to be quite intuitive; you just hold down direction keys to turn into corners, like Pac-Man.

Automated Cave Explorer: This a particularly good Boulder Dash game, with colourful graphics and smooth gameplay.

Drift: As others said, the presentation is top notch, but it probably takes some time to get used to the controls.

Hunt Buck: One of the coolest loading screen animations I've seen on the Spectrum. It would be nice to have an English translation to be able to know what's going on.

Just a Gal: A good racing game. I liked the tilted horizon effect.

Pre-ZU: This was one of my favourites in the compo. It has minimalist yet functional graphics, original gameplay and a helpful tutorial section. The game is just a little short and I feel it could have been expanded on a bit more.

RoboBro Episode 1: Plays similarly to a Dizzy game, with the player character as a robot rather than an egg. I've only played a small section so far, as the game hangs if you jump on a springboard a few screens in.

Sochi Nights: I liked the music, but I got stuck in a wall in the initial part and haven't yet made it to the driving section.

The Order of Sleeping Dragon: A nice RPG which took me about two hours to finish. There's a useful quest system showing the objectives to be completed. The boss fights are pretty easy so don't expect anything too difficult there.

Valley of Rains: Graphically appears very similar to Savage, and seemingly goes as far as tracing sprites. The scrolling is faster, and there are some meaningful additions, such as the parallax effect, that prevent the game becoming a straight clone. Wasn't sure what the soundtrack CD referred to in the opening was.

Yazzie: A fun multicolour platformer, borrowing some elements from Lode Runner. Another one of my favourites.

It was interesting to see three 3D racing games released at the same time for this compo. That genre seems to have been overlooked in recent years for homebrew software.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

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Ralf wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 9:09 am
What?
You should show some manners...
Wuh?
Eh?
what's wrong with you?
Okay, people please stop this caveman talk and everything else before some serious fight emerges.
I dunno, I feel quite attacked here tbh.

First I raised an issue with a game where a design decision made by the author caused the game to be somewhat less than intuitive to play, whereupon I got advice which didn't seem to apply to the game in question - pressing both down and right/left was not really an adequate solution to the issue, in any case. It seemed nonsensical.

Then I got attacked for not being sensitive to that person's use of English (I'd love to know where that came from as I'm at a loss there - nowhere did I criticise anyone's use of language).

And now there's something wrong with me? Really?

I suspect that this person is annoyed that I pointed out a massive flaw in the game.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by Ivanzx »

ZXDunny wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 9:51 am
Ralf wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 9:09 am Okay, people please stop this caveman talk and everything else before some serious fight emerges.
I dunno, I feel quite attacked here tbh.

First I raised an issue with a game where a design decision made by the author caused the game to be somewhat less than intuitive to play, whereupon I got advice which didn't seem to apply to the game in question - pressing both down and right/left was not really an adequate solution to the issue, in any case. It seemed nonsensical.

Then I got attacked for not being sensitive to that person's use of English (I'd love to know where that came from as I'm at a loss there - nowhere did I criticise anyone's use of language).

And now there's something wrong with me? Really?

I suspect that this person is annoyed that I pointed out a massive flaw in the game.
"What", "wuh", "eh" and so on are not polite answers you give someone when you do not understand him, unless you are in a pub.

I don' t think he is annoyed because the game is not his, he was trying to give you clues and explanation of why the game might behave in a way.

Anyways, I also feel a bit like the rest of the people with Drift. The presentation is amazing but I have tried a couple of times and end up disqualified. I have to perservere and try it much deeper, because I think that when you get the grip of it, it is a marvelous experience :)
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

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guys, break!
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

Post by djnzx48 »

I think this is all just a misunderstanding, but IMO you can't really claim to be the victim when your first post in the thread contained:
ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:20 am it's very badly written
Pressing those keys (up/down and right) was just an example for moving in a particular situation. The game is designed so you hold the key for the direction you want to move in advance, like when executing pre-turns in Pac-Man. Using this technique means you don't need to see off the bottom of the screen. Going to the bottom and then move left/right while holding the down key can be used to reveal the passages to lower levels.
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

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Alessandro wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 9:22 pm 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!
It really is; 8 huge levels with lots of art, animation and gameplay. Fantastic. :)
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Re: 19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

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djnzx48 wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:34 am I think this is all just a misunderstanding, but IMO you can't really claim to be the victim when your first post in the thread contained:
ZXDunny wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:20 am it's very badly written
Pressing those keys (up/down and right) was just an example for moving in a particular situation. The game is designed so you hold the key for the direction you want to move in advance, like when executing pre-turns in Pac-Man. Using this technique means you don't need to see off the bottom of the screen. Going to the bottom and then move left/right while holding the down key can be used to reveal the passages to lower levels.
Ok, but how can you see, at the bottom of the screen where you can actually move? Poor design, thus badly written. At least in PacMan you can actually see the walls.

Which is a shame, because with only one small change - offsetting the map vertically by one character space - the issue would be resolved. The rest of the game is not without its problems.

There is the small problem of not being able to react in time to the presence of a monster in time due to the limited view distance. This is a thorny one as you can't solve it easily without breaking the limited view distance mechanic that the game relies on. Better monster placement might help though, if they were placed moving perpendicular to a junction so you could see them move past.

Occasionally items like keys don't show if you're looking directly at them - you have to be within about three character squares before they will show up. That's an easy fix to make sure they show up if they're in your line of sight.

And then there's the issue of not being able to progress if you open the wrong door and run out of keys. That's just poor design, which requires you to have prior knowledge of the maze layout. I mean, you can't seriously say that this is an acceptable gameplay mechanic in this day and age. Similarly, requiring the user to hunt for what is an essentially invisible corridor by walking along at the bottom of the screen holding two keys down is also a bad design.

But aside from these issues, this has been the game that I've played the most out of all of them. With some small fixes and more mazes it could be really, really good. It's my favourite of the bunch.

And the music is brilliant.
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