Magic Tower

[Andre Leao]

Released...





https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... tower.html

✓ PROCESSED

DH 30/08/24

[R-Tape]

Nice. Looks good and I like the 'hemmed in' play area.

I can't find a website for the ZXGM Competition. Is there one?

[stupidget]

Just had a quick play and it's great. I think it would be even better with an AY tune playing during play. Is that a limitation of the ZXGM engine?

[R-Tape]

Is that a limitation of the ZXGM engine?

No some of the ZXGM games do have AY. The author mentions something in the notes about not being a musician.

[Lee Bee]

I've offered music to the author

[Audionautas]

Nice. Looks good and I like the 'hemmed in' play area.

I can't find a website for the ZXGM Competition. Is there one?

No Dave, there isn't. This competition is "promoted" by three Spanish websites: Ready and Play, Spectrum and Retronews and El Mundo del Spectrum. The announcement was made on this post on Ready and Play (https://www.readyandplay.com/bases-zx-s ... maker-dev/) that you can translate it with Google easily. They posted some news about the first three games submitted to the competition and that's it. Spectrum and Retronews took over the reins and have been posting about the new games regularly, but the website is really really poor, and El Mundo del Spectrum is not interested on the homebrew productions at all, so they posted some scarce information about this new engine long before the competition was announced and that's it. Probably, they will post something with the competition results, but they are only interested in classic Spectrum, nostalgia and the past. This group of websites collected 600 euros in prizes but didn't care about promotion, so, there's no website, no FB profile, no Twitter account, no forum promo, no English translation of competition rules anywhere, nothing. If you can imagine a bad way to set up a new competition, this is the perfect example.

The funny thing is that this competition was set up to promote this new engine (an alpha version of a new engine very far from being completed with lots of features missing yet), but this competition ends today Saturday 31st and a lot of well-informed guys in the scene didn't even know this competition existed. It's really sad. Nevertheless, it can be considered a success that in just over three months of competition (why just three months?) and zero promotion, a dozen games have been submitted, but all of them by Spanish authors exclusively and most of them displaying very similar game mechanics. Despite all this apathy by the organizers, at least we have some new authors on the Spectrum scene, that's the positive side of all of this.

Regards

[R-Tape]

Thanks @Audionautas. So all things considered, a dozen games is bloody good! I'd better get a group sorted for ZXDB.

[Lee P]

Nice little game, once I got used to the mechanics of it and worked out you hardly get any immunity once you hit something. I'm not usually fussed either way by AY music but agree a tune would be nice here.

Any advance on level 40?

[PROSM]

A neat little game, and a good first effort from Seagal. Only up to level 27 so far - ended up messing that three-level high ladder!

I think the suggested donation might be a little high though...

[Lee Bee]

I think the suggested donation might be a little high though...

It won't be when the music's added.

[Jbizzel]

Just need to make the invincibility last a moment longer.

The engine is quite interesting as it requires zero coding to use. AY music is easy to add too.

It's quite limited, more limited than ADG for example. But it's interesting to see what can be done with it.

This game is an interesting example of the variation you can get within a limited engine. Nice

[Pssst]

No Dave, there isn't. This competition is "promoted" by three Spanish websites: Ready and Play, Spectrum and Retronews and El Mundo del Spectrum. The announcement was made on this post on Ready and Play (https://www.readyandplay.com/bases-zx-s ... maker-dev/) that you can translate it with Google easily. They posted some news about the first three games submitted to the competition and that's it. Spectrum and Retronews took over the reins and have been posting about the new games regularly, but the website is really really poor, and El Mundo del Spectrum is not interested on the homebrew productions at all, so they posted some scarce information about this new engine long before the competition was announced and that's it. Probably, they will post something with the competition results, but they are only interested in classic Spectrum, nostalgia and the past. This group of websites collected 600 euros in prizes but didn't care about promotion, so, there's no website, no FB profile, no Twitter account, no forum promo, no English translation of competition rules anywhere, nothing. If you can imagine a bad way to set up a new competition, this is the perfect example.

The funny thing is that this competition was set up to promote this new engine (an alpha version of a new engine very far from being completed with lots of features missing yet), but this competition ends today Saturday 31st and a lot of well-informed guys in the scene didn't even know this competition existed. It's really sad. Nevertheless, it can be considered a success that in just over three months of competition (why just three months?) and zero promotion, a dozen games have been submitted, but all of them by Spanish authors exclusively and most of them displaying very similar game mechanics. Despite all this apathy by the organizers, at least we have some new authors on the Spectrum scene, that's the positive side of all of this.

Regards

Hi, I hadn’t paid attention to this message until now, but I’ll take the opportunity to respond.

First of all, I want to make it clear that I’m not a member of any of the mentioned websites included 'El Mundo del Spectrum'

Secondly, I find it totally unacceptable for you to speak in such a manner about 'El Mundo del Spectrum', which is the leading podcast and website in Spain dedicated to the ZX Spectrum, implying that they have no interest in the homebrew scene.

https://www.elmundodelspectrum.com/zx-s ... -tecnicos/

They always cover everything related to the Spectrum whenever possible, and within the means they have.

As a user, I fully understand the real reason behind your criticism: your involvement and collaboration with a certain YouTube channel, which I’d rather not name to avoid giving it publicity.

This channel is now mainly dedicated to promoting Chinese emulation consoles, while trying to make us believe that it cares about anything other than those who simply flatter him.

The person running it split from 'El Mundo del Spectrum' and has since been indirectly attacking the podcast and website, which have been the foremost reference for the ZX Spectrum in Spain.
They have been working on this since the mid-90s, making them true VETERANS, not OPPORTUNIST.

As for the organization of the competition, calling it a disaster is, at the very least, debatable.
So far, 15 new games have been submitted in less than three months, which speaks for itself in terms of whether or not it has been a success.

Honestly, I think you’re speaking out for attention that doesn’t belong to you, since you’re clearly uninformed about how difficult it is to organize a competition like this without the support of those who are supposed to give it visibility.

To make matters worse, the YT channel you collaborate with, instead of truly contributing, only throws obstacles in the way of anything beyond its own reach. It’s shameful, my friend. But here you have the response to all your malicious distortions, from a simple user who is just observing.

Cheers, campeón!