RetroGaming Shorts Part 059 - Adrenalin
An obscure little shooter with a potentially interesting game mechanic idea - you have a limited number of bullets, but each bullet can go through any number of enemies.
So, the idea is to try and figure out where/when to aim in order to take out as many of them as possible with the limited number of bullets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=164_LFwSbcY
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 058 - Chomper Man
This Pac Man clone looks inspired by another Pac Man clone, Munch Man for the TI-99/4A. It uses the same small 8x8 pixel sprites that made Munch Man suitable for the TI video chip, even though C64 sprites are much larger.
The maze design also feels like Munch Man. I really like how it makes the maze feel a lot bigger, although the original Pac Man actually has small 8x8 hit detection boxes so the feeling is actually illusory. Nevertheless, I really like the look and feel of the small sprites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUciKftgywA
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 054 - Rootin Tootin
This enchanting Pac Man type game has a lot of interesting features that make is more than just another Pac Man clone.
First off, the main mechanism is that you "shoot" a note when you "eat" it, which makes it difficult and interesting to attack enemies, as they usually chase you.
Second, when an enemy is shot, it instantly respawns from its pen. This makes getting at notes near the pens an interesting challenge.
I'm this principle of instant respawning for my Rivers of Impossibility game. It's sort of like Gauntlet, but each generator only spawns one creature at a time. You need to touch a spawn point to seal it, but a simple direct assault won't generally work well because the creature will simply respawn instantly no matter how many times you shoot it. So you have to think about how you will lead away the creature or get around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIM8OtNf1yg
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Ciao a tutti, sono un #NuovoUtente.I miei interessi sono #arte, #blender, #bosque, #c, #c64, #commodore64, #dibujo, #dividends, #django, #dudh, #educación, #encryption, #hack, #hispagatos, #inktober, #música, #openshot, #programación, #python, #retrogaming, #roland, #session, #synth, #synthesizer e #ukraine.
Luckily, Stephen’s younger self went to some extremes documenting the project, starting with a map he created which was inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. There are printed notes from a Commodore 64 printer, including all the assembly instructions, augmented with his handwritten notes to explain how everything worked. He also has handwritten notes including character set plans, disk sector use plans, menus, player commands, character stats and equipment, all saved on paper. The early code was written using a machine language monitor, since [Stephen] didn’t know about the existence of assemblers at the time. Eventually he discovered them, attempted to rebuild the code on a Commodore 128 and then an Amiga, but never got everything working together. There is some working code still on floppy disk, but a lot of it doesn’t work together either.
Goes to show again the value of printing on paper for long term storage. I experienced the same thing when I wanted to resuscitate a program I’d written on the HP-41CV about 35 years ago. I’d also kept all my handwritten notes, and with a few fixes, I got it going again, and I published the code on Github. I also remember having printed out and filing all the Clipper source code that I worked on in my professional career in the 1990’s – more because we filed everything, and not because I was specifically thinking about the longevity of it being accessible.
See https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/well-documented-code-helps-revive-decades-old-commodore-project/
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 053 - Various Super Star Trek type C64 games
Here are just 3 of many Super Star Trek type games for the C64. Star Trek was one of the first really popular computer games, and its basic structure would be used for Star Raiders and many flight sims since.
The basic idea is that you command one ship and you try to rid the galaxy of enemy ships. This galaxy is a grid of square sectors, within which are randomly placed stars, friendly starbases, and enemy ships. You go from sector to sector, managing your energy, shields, and ammo ... you can resupply at starbases.
It was a really great game design with random placement making each game different and providing a feeling of exploration.
Space the Ultimate Frontier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS92L9N-rtk
Star Trek (1985, Share Data) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3kB5uxTXmU
Star Trek (Dave Neale) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ROrEUe_2IY
I'm using these games as references; my Obligalore game project is more along the lines of Star Raiders in that there's first person arcade style action for the combat, but other aspects are inspired by classic Super Star Trek. Also, I'm drawing inspiration from space trading games, so you trade for supplies rather than simply being repaired/supplied at starbases.
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 051 - Endless Forms Most Beautiful 64
This old school action game has some interesting gameplay mechanics that make you think a bit differently. In particular, instead of doing a normal wrap around, you wrap to either the next or previous floor. You have to think more carefully about how to avoid the enemies.
This C64 port shows off nice overlapping high resolution sprite graphics and aesthetic use of C64 color.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORCHQOy70jY
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 044 - Spore
Spore is a puzzle/Gauntlet hybrid game that uses small 8x8 pixel tiles/sprites in a non-scrolling screen rather than the larger tiles/sprites in scrolling Gauntlet. The game and level design has more of a puzzle feeling than just straightforward action.
Certainly a game worth studying for game design inspiration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcO5h7_iQI
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 043 - Nuclear Embargo
Yet another Star Trek/Star Raiders type game for me to study for Obligalore. This one's a bit different, with a Raid Over Moscow/Beach Head type feel with multiple minigames to deal with. The first person combat sequences are also very different in feeling from the typical Star Raiders type game. Instead of fighting enemy starships against a starry background, you look down on a planetary surface from orbit, and shoot it out with ground launchers. This totally kills the usual "3D" illusion, but it's at least ... different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXUXkjMr7Y
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 042 - Perplexian Challenger
I think this is a basic Star Fire type first person space shooter, but there are a few things "off" about it, so it fails to provide a proper sense of motion. The stars don't move right - they expand away from your aim point without getting faster the further away they are. And the motion of the target ship doesn't seem affected by moving your aim point.
I guess it serves more as an example of some things to try to avoid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQVBpcl-4qw
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 041 - Pirat
Take Pirates and strip it down to the minimums, and program it entirely in BASIC (the original Pirates was mostly in BASIC).
The result is similar to old school sea trading games like Taipan. It shows how you don't necessarily need machine code graphics and action to make a trading game.
Still, I think that a space trading/Star Trek hybrid could use some spicing up with the action. Instead of simply exchanging fire, or aiming in straight lines (as in Star Trek), I like the idea of your cannon shells being affected by gravity. So, you have to try and adjust shell velocity and direction to take planetary gravity into consideration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpL6WIcX6Bw
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RetroGaming Shorts Part 040 - Dick Swanson II
I highlight this unremarkable graphic adventure game for only one reason - the pixel art style is distinctively Doodle. Doodle was a popular C64 bitmap drawing program with joystick control. Trying to draw with it was a bit like an 8 way Etch-a-Sketch. So, you ended up with very distinctive squiggles and/or you constructed images out of stuff like line and circle primitives.
If you're an old C64 user, maybe you drew stuff using Doodle. In which case, check out the video for that Doodle aesthetic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWfLC3S88AE
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