#retrogamingshorts

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 098 - Angry Ninja

Angry Ninja 1994 (Commodore 64)

Awesome PETSCII art inspiration! This game really shows off what old school C64 PETSCII aesthetic can do. Just because you CAN fill up the whole screen doesn't mean you should. The small size of the map view gives an interesting sense of scale, and cropping the fights to just around the two (well animated!) characters makes combat feel more focused and deadly.

Oh yeah, the PETSCII animation of the melee fights is excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DefcRDflDv4

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #C64 #Commodore64 #Commodore

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 082 - Dungeons of Zedd

Dungeons of Zedd 2022 (ZX-81)

This modern action dungeon crawler is what we now call a "roguelike", due to its randomly generated dungeons. I think it has twin stick style WASD+IJKL controls, although the pacing of the game makes it look okay with 8 directional movement plus fire as well.

There are a lot of interesting game design details here, like the way you are limited in experience point gain between boss fights, and the way some enemy gangs respawn at their original spawn points when the last member of the gang is killed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ-MUKk-6t0

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #zx81

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 081 - Chitei No Monster

Chitei No Monster 1983 (NEC PC-8001)

Pixel art inspiration! Undergrand Monster has a distinctive look with blocky 160x100 resolution semi-block graphics and 4x4 pixel sprites.

While I love 8x8 pixel art, honestly 4x4 is a bit too little for expressiveness for me. Nevertheless, I present this example because it's rare and could serve as interesting inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM_VrbCKLho

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #NEC #PC8001

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 079 - Camelot

Camelot 1983 (ZX-81)

Camelot is another sort of old school proto-CRPG, with a board wargame map of regions rather than a typical terrain map of squares. It has graphic adventure style graphics for showing encounters or non-encounters, resulting in sort of a hybrid between graphic text adventures (proto-point-and-clicks) and CRPG mechanics.

Anyway, it could be good game design inspiration for a hybrid point-and-click with CRPG mechanics ... even a graphical MUD or something ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88brWXc61IY

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #zx81

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 075 - Just Yer Basic Missile Command

Just Yer Basic Missile Command 1991 (Amiga)

This PD Missile Command clone is the version I played the most. The graphics looked really sharp for the time - 640x400 interlaced!

I love the smooth fast action. It's the sort of game design where the programmer clearly played it over and over and kept bumping up the speed and numbers of enemies to pump up the difficulty to taste.

The result is usually a game that is WAY too hard for me. But in this case, the generously large explosions kept things manageable to me.

As a result of this game, most Missile Command ports/clones look really sedate to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m0P32fmAGs

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #Commodore #Amiga

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 071 - Section Z

Section Z 1987 (Famicom/NES)

Section Z is an NES game nominally based on the arcade game, but Capcom dramatically redesigned the game for the home version. This video dives into the game design changes, and why the home version is much better and more interesting than the original arcade version.

Section Z mixes things up by having different scrolling speeds - some sections scroll so fast that you can do little more than dodge the terrain. Some sections scroll very slowly, turning them into endurance survival tests. Unfortunately none of the levels scroll at a rate of classic force scrolling games, like TRS-80 Sea Dragon, where you must judiciously use diagonal rearward movement and sprinting forward when you get the chance, to navigate the terrain. But, for a Section Z inspired game, you could add that into the design.

Another thing that makes Section Z particularly interesting is the way you choose the next section to go to. Unfortunately, it does not include any sort of "automap" feature, but if you design a Section Z inspired game, you can include this. Without automap, Section Z only becomes playable with manual mapping. Bleh.

I'm not sure, but I may use both ideas with Rivers of Impossibility. Forced scrolling with different speeds allows interesting different player challenges, while keeping the basic game engine and graphics assets the same. The non-linear choices of which section to go to next all for a feeling of exploration while automap should alleviate the frustration of uselessly going in circles. The basic idea is that you need to seal off all of the spawn points in a level, so a "single pass" scrolling paradigm won't do. The player must be able to circle around to redo any sections as needed to seal off remaining spawn points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPljIydOWOk

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #NES #Capcom #RiversOfImpossibility

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 070 - Battle Shark

Battle Shark 1989 (Taito arcade)

More retro art/setting inspiration! Battle Shark wasn't popular enough to get home ports, so unless you happened to run across it in arcades you probably missed it. But the aesthetic is pretty interesting and different.

Submarine games were generally less common, but, say, the aesthetic of In the Hunt will feel familiar because of Metal Slug. Battle Shark's aesthetic is worth checking out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4T2zeESUc

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #Taito

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 067 - Sea Route to India

Sea Route to India 1984 (Commodore 64)

A COMPUTE type in BASIC game of the Oregon Trail type, with nice little minigames, all in PETSCII.

I think it could serve as good inspiration for mobile game design and aesthetics. For example, the PETSCII map and travelogue "dot" movement gives a particularly effective feeling of scale and adventure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG5WvhyFp44

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #C64 #Commodore64 #Commodore

isaackuo@diaspora.glasswings.com

RetroGaming Shorts Part 066 - Coil Cop

Coil Cop 1985 (Commodore 64)

Thing on a Spring is a cute platformer where you control a cute cartoon creature with a springy pogo leg. Here in the USA, though, it was renamed Coil Cop and advertised by Epyx as part of its totally rad MAXX OUT series.

So look at the totally rad COP OUT magazine ad for Coil Cop. And then contrast with the cutesy gameplay. I still wish the game I imagined from the ad existed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwEiKJXPpMA

#RetroGamingShorts #RetroGaming #C64 #Commodore64 #Commodore