The best Speccy game by Stonechat Productions: vote

[PeteProdge]

At last, we've hit the post-commercial-life homebrew era and we begin with a software label from one of our own! @R-Tape is the proprietor and likely the sole developer of these 40 games.

You'll remember Stonechat Productions from in the shops, don't you? (Er, this is homebrew stuff, Pete - Ed.) You'd go out to WHSmiths, Boots or Woolworths and you'd see that Stonechat logo with the robin on it (Stop it! - Ed) and you could pick one of theirs, but they did have to compete with rivals Rockgossip Creations, Pebbletalk Originals, Boulderconversation Conceptions (Yes, I see what you're doing here, very droll - Ed), etc. I think it's been going since 2011. Anyway, if you ever wanted to know what the founder/director/MD of Stonechat Productions looks and sounds like, there's this contribution to a Reheated Pixels video about Blackpool Play Expo 2019.

And he may even be along later to tell you how he's voting, like having to select a favourite child!

Andy's Escape


Bauble Blast!


Bean Brothers


Biscuits in Hell


Capital Cities Tester


Chrimblast!


Christmaze


Colin's Crimbo Caper!


Curse Of Oddville, The


Chuntey Force 2


Doodle Bug


EFMB: Endless Forms Most Beautiful


Genblast


Home For ZXMas


Jeremy ZXMan's Speccy Quiz


Lost Tapes Of Albion, The


Left Behind - Escape from Mars


Lorne Sausage Lawn, The


Moderate Retribution


Mole Rat!


Nightmairbnb


OPZ


Pondoom


Radioaction


Rally Fever


Rally Xmas


Rock, Paper, Scissors, Pudding, Drop!


Shuttlebug


Santos' Christmas Adventure


Sixteen Skirmish


Skurff


Sprouty


Stamp Quest


Stompo, El


Stormfinch


Sun Bucket


Tardigrade


WunderCHAR$


Xmas-oid


ZX Codewords

[R-Tape]

Thanks for your time on this Prodge. I think I'll have to abstain, unless a decider is needed...

[Lee Bee]

Great titles, and great thread as always, Pete. I can't vote as I haven't played them all, but I am a big fan of Bean Brothers

[Kweepa]

Yep, every one looks like a lot of fun! I really want to play Skurff and The Curse of Oddville now!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

1. Bean Bros.
2. EFMB
3. Stormfinch

[stupidget]

1 - Bean Brothers (just an amazing game)
2 - El Stompo (just pipped to the post by Bean Brothers)
3 - Sunbucket

This is a list of some of the best Speccy games out there

[Morkin]

1. El Stompo
2. Sunbucket
3. Bean Brothers

[TMD2003]

I should be extremely biased here because it's the first one of these polls I've actively been involved in, contributing a few examples to ZX Codewords.

But the three that always stick out for me are:

1 - El Stompo (not just for the Nirvana graphics, but that they're recognisable TV logos from the 1980s)
2 - Stormfinch (a horizontal shooter I can actually play for a while because it's not all lost in the background detail)
3 - Shuttlebug! (which helped with a certain diagnosis that is best kept to those who already know, and contains a few effects that my meagre experience with machine code might be able to replicate)

See, if anyone ever says "why should I bother with modern games?", there's three examples - and the Retrosouls poll will have even more.

[cmal]

I've probably played about half of them and so far it's Shuttlebug. That kept me playing for hours.

[+3code]

Too many nice pieces of software. I was'nt aware of all the R-Tape production. Can my memory fail, but had "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Pudding, Drop!" a previous demo version made with CharAde?

[R-Tape]

Can my memory fail, but had "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Pudding, Drop!" a previous demo version made with CharAde?

Cheers. No RPS Drop didn't have an earlier version. Maybe one day, but I've yet to create anything substantial or releasable with CharAade.

Are you thinking of my 2014 crap game comp entry, Crap, Tapir, Slippers?

[+3code]

Cheers. No RPS Drop didn't have an earlier version. Maybe one day, but I've yet to create anything substantial or releasable with CharAade.

Are you thinking of my 2014 crap game comp entry, Crap, Tapir, Slippers?

I think I've seen somewhere an old demo of something in CharAde and the screen's general scheme was very similar. The final released game jumped from charade to other system, but I can't remember the title.

[Hank Scorpio]

1 Skurff
2 El Stompo
3 EFMB

[PeteProdge]

I still haven't given a top three, or even voted in the main phpBB poll. That's because I don't feel confident having only played a handful of the forty games here. I mean, Bean Brothers is good, but you lot do like El Stompo.

There's one thing that'll fix this.

A live stream of Stonechat Productions games, starting from 8pm UK time tomorrow (Friday) evening!

Yes, I'll be over at https://twitch.tv/ReheatedPixels playing and live reviewing them all. It'll take 3-4 hours if I spend about 5 minutes on each one, which probably isn't enough, but better than nothing.

It's been an age since I streamed so I've done some testing and just about ready to go for tomorrow night. See you there.

[Nick]

1. Bean Brothers - I love the the team work element of this platformer
2. El Stompo
3. The Curse Of Oddville

[R-Tape]

Yes, I'll be over at https://twitch.tv/ReheatedPixels playing and live reviewing them all. I

Cripes that's dedication Prodge. I'll swing by occasionally—there's a few that are less polished than others that could be fun to watch.

[PeteProdge]

Right, if you've seen my Twitch stream, I've really enjoyed a lot of this. A galaxy of riches, and yes, some ignorable turkeys, but there are about ten games that the full price labels would have given their right arms for to publish back in the day.

I can now make a really informed decision (well, alright, most were played for around five minutes each, but I have played them all!) that my top three are:

1) El Stompo - yeah, there's a reason why this is currently leading the poll. Immense fun.
2) Sunbucket - very very closely following El Stompo, like a spiritual sequel or spin-off of it? This is Rod Land but way better!
3) Bean Brothers - what I'd have voted for had I not properly dug into all the Stonechat games. A 2D Head Over Heels, but actually better than Head Over Heels.

It's been immense fun. Here's the Twitch stream playback, and I'm literally streaming me typing all this right now. I'll go back and edit and place all that once this stream is terminated!

[Einar Saukas]

my top three are:

1) El Stompo - yeah, there's a reason why this is currently leading the poll. Immense fun.
2) Sunbucket - very very closely following El Stompo, like a spiritual sequel or spin-off of it? This is Rod Land but way better!
3) Bean Brothers - what I'd have voted for had I not properly dug into all the Stonechat games. A 2D Head Over Heels, but actually better than Head Over Heels.

Hey that's my top3 too!

[R-Tape]

Just watched the stream through (a good accompaniment to a morning's data processing at work). Nearly 4 hours streaming till midnight must have been perfect preparation for Parkrun.

I was surprised how much you enjoyed the Lorne Sausage Lawn and Radioaction!, and doubly surprised at the total rejig of your votes. Ta for taking the time - from a spectator's point of view I enjoyed seeing the quizzes most, and realising I'd forgotten all the capital cities I'd drummed into my head while making Capital Cities Tester.

[PeteProdge]

Just watched the stream through (a good accompaniment to a morning's data processing at work). Nearly 4 hours streaming till midnight must have been perfect preparation for Parkrun.

Well, it was rather an underpar performance in Oxford this morning, but I am in the middle of a gruelling keto diet!

I was surprised how much you enjoyed the Lorne Sausage Lawn and Radioaction!

Yeah, I don't think those would be in anyone's favourites but I think they have a lot of charm. I do like a lot of silly low-effort-programmed games that clearly aren't going to have a triple-A feel. It's why I'm loyal to the 8-bits.

and doubly surprised at the total rejig of your votes.

Well, it's the scientist principle. When presented with new evidence... not that I'm saying this is rocket science, although I did fly spaceship last night.

Ta for taking the time - from a spectator's point of view I enjoyed seeing the quizzes most, and realising I'd forgotten all the capital cities I'd drummed into my head while making Capital Cities Tester.

I woke up this morning realising I had accidentally omitted one game! Yep, it was 39 games in that stream, because I skipped over Christmaze! I did give it a little go before leaving the house, it's actually okay, but wouldn't be top three, wouldn't even be in my top ten, so I'm not changing anything.

I'm wondering what your favourite games of your own output are, although you said you'd only have a say if there was a tie. Well, that's not really likely to happen now.

[PeteProdge]

Well, whack my telly, it's El Stompo that wins, with 10 votes.

In second place, with 5 votes, it's Bean Brothers.

Joint third place goes to Shuttlebug and Skruff, with 2 votes each.

The games that got 1 vote each: Biscuits In Hell; The Curse Of Oddville; EFMB: Endless Forms Most Beautiful; Santos' Christmas Adventure; Sixteen Skirmish; Stamp Quest; Sun Bucket and ZX Codewords.

And here are the proportional results:

Stompo, El 15
Bean Brothers 11
Sun Bucket 5
EFMB: Endless Forms Most Beautiful 3
Skurff 3
Stormfinch 3
Curse Of Oddville, The 1
Shuttlebug 1

But what were @R-Tape's favourites?

[R-Tape]

Thanks to everyone that voted. This has been a really nice reminder that I did some decent stuff, and it's given me a boost to get developing again.

But what were @R-Tape's favourites?

Tricky. I have two lists.

This is my 'heart over head' list. Basically it's the projects that I'm especially fond of based on my experience of making them and where they occurred during My Spectrum Journey:

1 - The Lost Tapes of Albion
2 - Shuttlebug
3 - Stamp Quest

And here is me trying to be objective:

1 - El Stompo
2 - Bean Brothers
3 - Sprouty

Though I'm very fond of these games too of course.