19 new games at Yandex competition!!!!

[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..!

Spoiler

20 levels, no obvious difficulty spikes. Nice.

[g0blinish]

Eh?

what's wrong with you?

[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.

[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.

[ZXDunny]

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.

[Ivanzx]

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

[g0blinish]

guys, break!

[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:

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.

[Ersh]

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.

[ZXDunny]

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:

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.

[Morkin]

Just been playing Automated Cave Explorer.

Clearly a Boulderdash-style game, but make no mistake - this one's a real puzzler. The controls are pleasantly responsive and it's easy to react quickly and push things even under the pressure of falling boulders.

Thankfully there's also no time limit and no limited lives. I've found myself pressing the 'R' key (to restart the level) a few times though.

I'm not sure how many screens there are but I'm utterly stuck on the 3rd. After multiple attempts, I just can't seem to get to those gems in the top right of the level:



The boulders fall & either block off my access to the diamonds, or trap me in the corner... My feeble brain isn't quite up to the task.

[Edit:

Spoiler

Before anyone mentions it, in the screenshot I've messed up the part where you need to get the boulders into those holes next to the green blobby thing, I know what I'm supposed to do there and am not worried about that part!]

[djnzx48]

[mention]ZXDunny[/mention] I do see your point about items and monsters appearing out of nowhere. Getting softlocked by opening the wrong door can also be a problem, and it happened to me on both playthroughs, but it could be arguably seen as part of the game strategy - find the currently accessible doors and decide which one to open based on the likelihood of progressing further. I didn't really mind having the lower passages be invisible until you stumble across them.

Overall the game reminded me of Out of the Shadows, a game featuring locations becoming visible based on line of sight/proximity. One thing that would be interesting to see would be procedurally generating mazes using an algorithm (which is what I initially perceived the game as doing).

I'm not sure how many screens there are but I'm utterly stuck on the 3rd. After multiple attempts, I just can't seem to get to those gems in the top right of the level:

Spoiler

I managed to get past that section after some trial and error. You need to move three squares to the right to position yourself under the boulder. Then quickly move downward, move right to collect the gems and go back towards the left to avoid getting trapped.

[Morkin]

Spoiler

I managed to get past that section after some trial and error. You need to move three squares to the right to position yourself under the boulder. Then quickly move downward, move right to collect the gems and go back towards the left to avoid getting trapped.

Brilliant, thanks..!



Hooray..!



...Aaarrghh..!

[druellan]

Just been playing Automated Cave Explorer.

I'm surprised by this game. Is one of the best Boulder Dash clones I've played and there are a TON of them!

[Alessandro]

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.

It is vaguely similar to Dizzy, although there is no adventure element to be found, just a simple (and pretty shallow if you ask me) collect-em-up, because it was authored with the Dizzy mod designer created by Hippiman, the game's author. I also noticed the springboard issue.

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.

Here is a walkthrough video with the CD tracks running in the background. Nice music, but not quite appropriate for a fast-paced action game, rather for an adventure/role-play/strategy one.

[Ersh]

Here is a walkthrough video with the CD tracks running in the background. Nice music, but not quite appropriate for a fast-paced action game, rather for an adventure/role-play/strategy one.

Reading the comment section for that video, Zotova states; it's not the full OST but a bonus track by Tiurula. The full soundtrack will be handled by the team. That being said, I like Tiurula's mellow tune, it's got an ethereal quality that suits the heroine and complements the atmosphere perfectly.

[redballoon]

Woah, gave them all a go and I'm incredibly impressed!

The ones that stood out for me were Pre-zu, Space Monsters meet THE HARDY, Valley of ains and Yazzie, but Pre-zu was the one I enjoyed the most out of all them in both gameplay and style. I know the simple graphics suit the game, but I'd love to do graphics for another version.
A couple of things regarding the games
The presentation on just about all of them are incredible! I agree about Drift, though - sweet Moses it looks incredible but found it quite unplayable but I'm aware it just needs time and practice.
Valley of ains is just great but the minor gripe I have was that there are no clues on the grass where the spikes would emerge.

[JasonUK]

Automated Cave Explorer & Yazzie are the stand-outs for me. Valley of Rains looks great but gameplay isn't all that (IMHO). Drift similarly looks great but playability is low (or I'm just getting too old lol). I quite like the look of Quest for Elements too ~ the blue/black/white palate looks pretty cool although probably not to everyone's taste.

[moroz1999]

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.

In-game credits mention that soundtrack is made by Tiurula.
http://tiurula.ru
So I think we are expected to play that folk album in a background, similar to what was done in older MS-DOS games

[ianace]

Hi just downloaded some of these, drift, Mario and s couple of others, as tap files, to try on the vega, sadly while they load then crash.....any chance of a vega vision?

[Morkin]

Just been playing Automated Cave Explorer.

I'm surprised by this game. Is one of the best Boulder Dash clones I've played and there are a TON of them!

One of the things that I've noticed (so far) is that although there are moving creatures/enemies, they don't move so crazily fast that you don't have much time to react.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I see awesome top-quality. Most of them would have been commercial hits back in the day, definitely.

Drift and Valley are my faves.

[druellan]

Hunt Buck reveal effect. Seems to transition from whatever is currently on screen, border synchronized, no colour clash.

[djnzx48]

I did think that effect was quite cool. It works by switching between the two screens on a 128 while also changing the border colour. The game has been designed for Pentagon timings, which is why the menu doesn't look right on a Sinclair or Amstrad machine.

[DenisGrachev]

What a great compo, as expectrd. As a Tourmaline author i really enjoy Automated Cave Explorer
Btw, final version of Yazzie (with 48K version + pentagon) will be released at the end of the week.