2023 Game of The Year : Round One voting

[Mpk]

Round One voting.
You may vote for up to 5 games, in no particular order.

La Tormenta
Lovecraft-derived Text Adventure with multiple endings and a multiple-choice interface. I'd probably love this if it wasn't in Spanish. ( Or if I could speak Spanish, to be fair )

ZX Snake
It's snake, it's in Boriel BASIC, it has some cool flashy effects and a nice loading screen. Plays fast, and the apples look like little arses. There's already a game called ZX Snake from 2003. Have we reached such snake-saturation that we've run out of names?

One Line Snake
It's snake, it's in BASIC^, it works fine. ( ^Just one line of BASIC, which is kind of cool I guess, especially if you like code that's really hard to read. )

LASKA Piję Activię
Intestine-themed platformer. Solid, nothing spectacular. Which is what you want from your intestines, I guess.

Znake
The gold standard for Snake games must surely be the Nokia 3310 version. Is this as good as that? Yes, I'd say it is. Just less portable.

Cracky
Reinforcing the stereotype that white man can't jump, this a no-frills ladders-and-platforms collect-'em-up. Sound.

Tetris4px
Tetris, but tiny.

Storm Over Valhalla
Live-action Video trailer? Check! 80s hair metal soundtrack? Check! Cool cover art and loading screens? Check! Tough, exploratory platforming with neat combat? Check! Occasional issues with jumping and ladders that will get you killed unfairly, undermining the whole thing? Check! Almost great, this one is very much worth a look despite its issues.

Stron 2023
Slow enough that it's almost turn-based, there's some enjoyment to be had from this very simple single-screen light-cycle arcade game.

Baby-man Vs Man-baby ZX
A shooting gallery game, without a light gun. Colourful and technically sound, but requires extreme accuracy, and I didn't feel like the feedback was snappy enough.

Super Bomberman 2 Remix
Despite the clear copyright infringement, this costs $3. That's the spirit! And if you like Bomberman, this is a very professional and slick production.

Batalla Espacial
Built to accompany a pdf machine code tutorial. An impressively fast shooter with a ton of sprites zipping about.

Winter Wonder Worm
Snake accelerated with slick rotational controls and a snazzy two-tone look.

Fallout ZX
I was all set to get absorbed in this roguelike Fallout game, but the interface is super-sluggish and I didn't stick with it. Could really use a compiler pass from BASIC.

Bomber Pengo
A top quality arcade game. Looks, plays and sounds great. Tough as nails, but fair.

SJOE
Scrabble x Tetris in a puzzle game triumph.

Porompom Pong
On one hand, this is an extremely well-made Pong. On the other hand, it's Pong. Another .pdf tutorial companion from Espamatica

WiLLY iN ThE MiRRoRVeRSE
A JSW mod. 60 screens, all original. 4 pixel-perfect jumps on the first screen set the tone for the difficulty.

Ganimedes
Classy presentation on this sci-fi platformer. Can you restore power to the mining base? Probably not, it's really hard. But we like a challenge round these parts, right?

Chemi Chaos
I couldn't stop playing this puzzler. There's no challenge, each level is effectively identical to the last, but yet it's oddly compelling. Like solving a series of easy Sudoku levels.

ZXGFX #6
Frankly spectacular presentation on a simple memory game.

Ramire the Vampire and the Mystery of the Papyrus
A characterful platformer with good presentation and music, and a variety of challenges that elevate the gameplay beyond simple jumping puzzles.

Clash of Tanks
Multiplayer turn-based tank combat. Not big on presentation, and I'll admit that I bounced right off of this one. One for the Grognards, perhaps.

Wycheweald
Does a great job bringing a first-person Bard's Tale style RPG to the Spectrum. Atmospheric and satisfying.

Asteroids
There's already a game called Asteroids, you know. Quite a well known one. This doesn't do that : it's a vertical scroller. An entry in the bytemaniacos.com BASIC competition.

Kuatris
It's Tetris! In BASIC! There are better Tetrises ( Tetrons? Tetrippotomi? ), but that's BASIC for you.

Rychlé šípy - Tajemství Velkého Vonta
Text adventure, in Czech. Sadly, events in prehistoric Babel prevent me from experiencing this.

Bratrstvo kočičí pracky
Text adventure, in Czech. As above, I'm ill-equipped to comment.

Ikarie XB 1
A text adventure, but in Polish. Really nice loading screen, but someone else will have to pass judgement on this one.

[akeley]

Thanks for putting the list with scr$ & links together (I know it's a lot of work). I've been out of the loop and so being able to see the year's best releases at a glance, with easy DL links, is really great.

Just one correction: Ikarie XB1 is in Czech, not Polish. It's not on the level of calling Irish writing English, but still a little regional faux pas

[Mpk]

Thanks for putting the list with scr$ & links together (I know it's a lot of work). I've been out of the loop and so being able to see the year's best releases at a glance, with easy DL links, is really great.

If this helps some of these games get played, then my work here is done.

Just one correction: Ikarie XB1 is in Czech, not Polish.

Oops! Very sorry about that. I believe that I can't edit it now without resetting everything.

[clebin]

@Mpk

You’re going to hate me for this, but… no Seraphima?

[Andre Leao]

@Mpk

You’re going to hate me for this, but… no Seraphima?

This is 1st round

[Mpk]

@Mpk

You’re going to hate me for this, but… no Seraphima?

Seraphima's in Round 2, a week from now.

I reserve the right to hate you anyway, should I see fit.

[R-Tape]

1 - Wycheweald
2 - SJOE
3 - Storm over Valhalla
4 - Super Bomberman 2 Remix
5 - Cracky

[ParadigmShifter]

Best vote for myself then lol

"Puzzle game triumph" that's quite a review

EDIT: Not worked on the new version which will fix the TIME mode bug though for a while, probably do some more work on it over christmas period.

[Lee Bee]

Could easily have picked a top 10, but my top five were:







Probably too late to change the system, but I feel like text games should be in a special separate competition, maybe BASIC games too. A bit like how men, women and people with disabilities have separate sports competitions because you just can't put them up against each other.

Edited by PJ

[Daveysloan]

This poll has made me realise I've played a lot fewer new Speccy games than I realised this year! Wycheweald is my pick out of the ones I've played from that list, it's stunning!!

Big shout out to baby Man Vs Man Baby for not only doing something a bit different with MPAGD, but looking absolutely brilliant while doing it.

[Mpk]

text games should be in a special separate competition, maybe BASIC games too.

I did give that some thought, but in the end I don't agree. I expect to be voting for some text games and at least one BASIC game in later rounds.
Best game is best game, regardless of genre / tech.

[Mpk]

Wycheweald is my pick out of the ones I've played from that list, it's stunning!!

No argument from me, just remember that you don't have to have one pick in these polls, you can have 5!

[Jbizzel]

I realise I've spent all year playing a very different type of game!

[_dw]

context for motifs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rychl%C3% ... A1%C3%ADpy

Czech text in the picture:

Rychlé šípy
Tajemství Velkého Vonta

Toho osudového večera jste se sešli v klubovně, abyste se společně pohoršovali nad černobílými fotkami, které Bratrstvo kočičí pracky půjčovalo za peníze zvědavým hochům a které jste jim zabavili, když tu náhle dovnitř vběhl Losna a celý zadýchaný se zhroutil na židli.

Jsi ve vaší nové klubovně.
Stará vyhořela.
Vidíš tady fotky, švihadlo, Otakara Losnu a Rychlé Šípy.
Můžeš jít ven.

PŘÍKAZ _

Automatic translation of the text in the picture:

The Rapid Arrows
The Secret of the Great Vont

On that fateful evening, you were gathered in the clubhouse to gloat over the black-and-white photos that the Brotherhood of Cat's Hands lent to curious boys for money and that you confiscated, when suddenly Losna ran in and collapsed panting in his chair.

You're in your new clubhouse.
The old one burned.
You see the photos, the skip rope, the Otakar Losna and the Rapid Arrows.
You can go outside.

COMMAND _

PS: Pohoršovat se -> gloat over (tranlastion fail) -> resent (probably right)

[clebin]

Seraphima's in Round 2, a week from now.

Ah sorry, I misunderstood the format.

I reserve the right to hate you anyway, should I see fit.

Wise. That store of resentment will definitely come in useful at some point.

[_dw]

Same context, just playing the dark side.

Czech text in the picture:
BRATRSTVO KOČIČÍ PRACKY
(Konečne jsme na ZX Spectrum! A teď se, Šípáci, třeste!)

Praha, září 1938

Rychlé Šípy. Pořád jen Rychlé Šípy, jako by snad nikdo jiny na Druhé straně ani nežil. A zítra nejspíš vyhrají závody. Ne, to se nesmí stát! Rychlé šípy musí být zničeny! Založíš si vlastní klub a porazíš je! Ano, to uděláš! Vzhůru do ulic!

Jsi v ulici Jozefská. Zde je dům, ve kterém bydlíš.
Vidíš tady Bohouše.
Můžeš jít na sever, na jih a dovnitř.

PŘÍKAZ _

Automatic translation of the text in the picture:

Brotherhood of a Feline Paw / Brotherhood of the Cat's Feet
(We're finally on the ZX Spectrum and now, Arrows, shake!)

Prague, September 1938

The Rapid Arrows. Always the Rapid Arrows, as if no one else on the Other Side even lived. And tomorrow they will probably win the races. No, that must not happen! The Rapid Arrows must be destroyed! You will start your own club and beat them! Yes, you will! To the streets!

You are in Jozefská Street. Here is the house where you live.
You see Bohouš here.
You can go north, south and in.

COMMAND _

[ParadigmShifter]

SJOE could probably use some instructions if you are going to try it out... here they are

People who should be credited additionally:

People who made Beepola http://freestuff.grok.co.uk/beepola/help/credits.html
I used Joffa Smith's SpecialFX engine for the music in this game and Beepola to input the tune and get the player source, So Jof needs a credit (RIP) (and it looks like Chris Cowley for the music editing tool).
I wrote the tune myself though in 1988 I think

Shiru for BeepFX sound effects engine and SFX creation tool.

So this game is unfinished/beta and defo not for sale anyway

I was also going to improve it and (maybe) enter it into the CSSCGC but I want to improve it before I do that (and I'd rather not make the least crap game and all that comes with that lol).

Improvements I am thinking of making: half tile movement for the piece under control (bit fiddly that though, may require a rewrite of the movement and update code). I also want to make it so you do not lose if you place a tile off the top of the screen IF you make a word that will not leave any tiles off the top of the screen. And maybe some attrib effects for the background although there's not much memory left for that. And optimisation.

Game Description:

SJOE (pronunciation: "shoe") means "Crikey" in Afrikaans and is my favourite 4 letter Scrabble word I think (although WAQF and MZEE are also very good)

Wordle meets Columns meets Tetris. Only 4 letter words are allowed, when you get one (or more) it is cleared Tetris/Columns stylee. If more 4 letter words are formed after the initial drop you get a bonus! (Depending on game mode). You can form a 4 letter word in 4 directions: horizontal, vertical, diagonally from top left to bottom right, and diagonally bottom left to top right. Words may overlap e.g. FUSED counts as both FUSE and USED. So like Scrabble but with diagonal words also allowed (only if they read from left to right).

You can redefine the keys but don't use PC cursor keys if you also want to use SHIFT (caps shift) as a control as well, use 5678 if you want to use caps shift as well as PC cursors. Default keys are WASD IJKL though + 0 for pause.

You can move the piece, rotate it 90 degrees, roll the letters ABC -> CAB etc. and there is a key to flip the letters (ABC -> CBA). You can also drop one row at a time Tetris style.

All 4 letter words that are allowed in Scrabble are recognised (although you need to go to OPTS and select CUSS -> YEAH to make it recognise the rude/unwoke words that are allowed in Scrabble). If you turn on CUSS mode all the bad words are allowed! Even FART! (Obvs worse words than that exist). 5,638 total words are allowed in CUSS mode.

BANK mode is score attack similar to Tetris/Columns. If you make a word after pieces fall (after making valid word/words) you get a score multiplier which doubles after each drop (but resets back as soon as you get your new tile).

TIME mode you get 2 minutes on the clock and get bonus time for words you make. If you get a word after pieces fall you get a free row clear.

If you get the NUKE CODE word it clears the entire screen. You don't get bonus points or anything since it's not too hard to just go for the NUKE word. And there's no flash graphics when you nuke the board either, it was a last minute thing.

You can get a LIST of the words allowed (which changes depending on whether CUSS mode is on or not) if you are a girly swot or are surprised a word was allowed (you can look them up after the game).

Menu items are first letter of the flashing words, and 0 and 9 (page forward/back) and ENTER to exit a submenu.



High scores to beat challenge

BANK: 16310 (WAVE 21)
TIME: 28:33.6 (WAVE 33)

Those are pretty good (its only me that has posted any high scores lol). It gets pretty fast by wave 20.

TIME mode is easier than BANK mode because of the free drops you get if you get a combo.

Oh and scoring in BANK mode is based on Scrabble Tile value x 10, and if you get 2 words at once it is doubled, 3 words at once tripled, etc. Then after gravity takes effect if you get another word, your next words are doubled (then quadrupled, etc.) after each clear/evaluation phase.

In TIME mode you get +10s if you make a word, +15s per word if you make more than one, and if you get a new word due to gravity after evaluation you get a free row clear (which stacks).

Written in 100% machine code as they used to say Using the Sjasmplus assembler. Tested/debugged using ZXSpin.

Tips for playing

Like in Columns, making words diagonally is the best tactic. Horizontal words are the worst usually. If you get all vowels that's not good, dropping the piece vertically is usually a good idea. Stash the annoying tiles like Q, J and Z on the edge if you must. Learn some words with a Q that don't require a U.

It's quite difficult to plan making words so that new words are formed after gravity takes effect but that is what scores the best/clears the most (in TIME mode), so go for that. Diagonal words are best for that anyway, just like in columns.

It's lame to just try and get the NUKE word and ignore everything else but that is possible if the NUKE word doesn't have too many weird letters in it. Usually I completely forget about the NUKE word about 5 seconds after it scrolls off the screen though, don't think I've ever got one accidentally. Kind of regret putting it in tbh (although since you don't score points or gain time all it does is clear the board).

Wave increases every 4th time you make a scoring word following piece placement. I think it starts off at 50 frame delay before each gravity tick and that goes down by 1 (maybe 2) each wave, but it caps out at some point (it's way too fast before the cap anyway).

If you know your scrabble words (there's a list in game though) that helps a lot.

I like it when you get a weird word by accident

Oh you can only get words left to right or top to bottom (or diagonally top left to bottom right), it's not like a wordsearch (although I considered adding that, don't think it is needed).

Tile letters are completely random but are drawn from a distribution based on letters used in all the 4 letter words allowed. There's no "bag" of tiles it pulls from and then makes a new batch once it runs out or anything (although I considered doing that as well).

Some tiles you get given may spell out rude words I don't check for them, sorry (so you can get a BUM tile etc.). Luckily there's not too many offensive 3 letter words If you are offended by any tiles, it's random sorry!

Also, all high score names are randomised from valid words the first time you see the high score table... and if CUSS is allowed it can pick anything so beware! If you change the CUSS mode after it generates the high score tables for the first time it does not remove cuss words.

Some words are not classed as CUSS but are not really suitable for being in high score tables, but I didn't get around to flagging certain words for not suitable for use in high score table, sorry also Words like NAZI, COCK, SLAG, DOPE, CIGS, METH, KILL, HARM, etc. And even the worst of them all, TORY, may turn up randomly too.


There's a bug in TIME mode unfortunately If you get a game over and your piece is vertical at the time, it uses the remaining time as your score instead of the elapsed time

[_dw]

The third text is by the same author, so it is not Polish, but Czech.



context
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122111/
https://www.hollywoodsoapbox.com/review ... -restored/


Czech text in the picture:
IKARIE XB-1
aneb
Návrat na Zemi

Vesmírná loď IKARIE XB 1 se vrací zpátky na Zemi z výpravy k Alfě Centauri, kde posádka pátrala po mimozemském životě a dělala všechny ty věci, co vědci dělají.
Dlouhou cestu tráví posádka v hibernaci. To je dobrý způsob, jak zabránit tomu, aby se lidé, co si jdou na nervy, navzájem pozabíjeli.
Nyní jsi probuzen. Něco není v pořádku...

Jsi v těsné hibernační kóji. Nápis na displeji hlásí, že kosmická loď je bez kyslíku! Vidíš tady přihrádku,, tlačítko a helmu.
Nedá se jít žádným směrem.

PŘÍKAZ _

Automatic translation of the text in the picture:
ICARUS XB-1
or
Return to Earth

The ICARUS spacecraft XB 1 is returning to Earth from an expedition to Alpha Centauri, where the crew searched for extraterrestrial life and did all the things scientists do.
The crew spends the long journey in hibernation. That's a good way to prevent people who get on each other's nerves from killing each other off.
You are now awake. Something's not right...

You're in a tight hibernation cubicle. The sign on the display says the spacecraft is out of oxygen! You see a compartment, a button and a helmet.
There's no way to go.

COMMAND _

PS: I tried to play it because I naturally love that button.

PRIKAZ STLAC TLACITKO

Tento prikaz neznam.

Citis se velmi slabe.

Nebezpeci! Ukladani pozic je ZAKAZANO.

PRIKAZ STISKNI TLACITKO

Tento prikaz neznam.

PRIKAZ AKTIVUJ TLACITKO

Tento prikaz neznam.

PRIKAZ ZMACKNI TLACITKO

Tento prikaz neznam.

Temer upadas do bezvedomi!

PRIKAZ POUZIJ TLACITKO

Stiskl jsi tlacitko. Koj se otevrela.

Udusil ses!

SELHAL JSI!
NAVRAT NA ZEMI SE NEZDARIL!

ENG:
COMMAND PRESS BUTTON

I don't know this command.

You feel very weak.

Danger! Saving positions is NOT allowed.

COMMAND PRESS BUTTON

I don't know this command.

COMMAND ACTIVE BUTTON

I don't know this command.

COMMAND PRESS BUTTON

I don't know this command.

You're almost unconscious!

COMMAND USE BUTTON

You pressed a button. The cubicle opened.

You suffocated!

YOU FAILED!
RETURN TO EARTH FAILED!

So congratulations, you just played the first Czech adventure game in your life.

[Mpk]

So congratulations, you just played the first Czech adventure game in your life.

Awesome, thanks for writing this up.
I had no idea this was based on a movie.

[Mpk]

I'm noticing that several people are just voting for 1 option, and I'm wondering why that is.
Habit?
Not aware that you can choose up to 5?
Form not working right?
Only played one game?
Only liked one game?

[PeterJ]

Mine was habit @Mpk,

Just changed my votes from 1 to 3, and will pick the other two later this afternoon.

[briefer]

Great initiative, but it would be even better if you define a criteria why some games have been selected, and some don't.

[PeterJ]

would be even better if you define a criteria why some games have been selected, and some don't.

There will be 4 preliminary polls, one per week, over the next 4 weeks. Eligibility depends on the game being registered in ZXDB, with a publication date in 2023.
The 4 polls are loosely, but not exactly, divided by release date.
Games releasing in December will be added to the later polls.
Each user can vote for up to 5 games in each poll.
In week 5, the top 5 from the previous polls will be ushered into the grand final, which will select a single winner.
So - vote for the games you like, maybe play some that you missed out earlier. But do vote.
And feel free to evangelise in the threads about your favourites - votes can be changed right up the close of each poll.

[Mpk]

Great initiative, but it would be even better if you define a criteria why some games have been selected, and some don't.

Cheers!

This is just the first of four rounds, after which there will be a grand final.
Details you want are in the other thread at viewtopic.php?t=10626

Short answer - almost everything qualifies. @Joefish already chastised me over Woot games, and rightfully so. I'll be blending those into rounds 3 and 4.

[briefer]

Cheers!

This is just the first of four rounds, after which there will be a grand final.
Details you want are in the other thread at viewtopic.php?t=10626

Short answer - almost everything qualifies. @Joefish already chastised me over Woot games, and rightfully so. I'll be blending those into rounds 3 and 4.

Thanks for the answer. Hopefully some of my 2023 games will qualify for the voting.

cheers