Denial

Hello guys, new VIC software is not exactly flourishing this year, so here's a little game in hi-res .

It's basically a silly "game-and-watch" style arcade, with a 5-position cannon controlled through user-defined keys. You simply have to destroy 19 enemy bombs each level, before they hit your city or time runs out.
Only a divertissement, nothing deep, but hey, it runs with a mere 8K expansion, which is less than my average .

Please find instructions and download link HERE. Have fun!

Hi Orion

Thanks, I Will try the new vic game on Vice tomorrow and give a small review

Thanks! Don't be too strict with me, as it's my first try at the arcade genre .
BTW, I finally got back home, tried it on the real VIC (with green monitor), and works flawlessly...

Very nice! A good use for MINIGRAFIK as well. How about joystick support? Also, is it possible to make it a little more colourful? For example: the damage counter could go from green to yellow and red. The other instruments and/or the city could be coloured as well.

Still, a great game as it is! Thumbs up!

Thank you very much Tokra! As I wrote, it's quite a silly game, but it gets fun when bombs are coming down fast . It's only left-right-fire so I wanted to keep it keyboard-controlled (also adding redefinable keys), but yes, it's possible to add joystick - will be done soon.
As for colours, I thought it was impossible to have more than two (foreground and background) in hi-res . How can other colours be added? Of course, I won't be enjoying them, as I use a green monitor .

orion70 wrote:How can other colours be added?

PM sent.

Never stop learning! Mike told me the way to draw objects in different colours in the hi-res screen. I'll try and apply it to the game, but due to graphic limitations (colour clash: each 8x16 pixel has one defined colour), I can't guarantee any (good) result.

Yup, due to the 8x16 colour clash you basically have to design your graphics set up with that in mind, unless you use the VFLI-mod, where colour resolution is enhanced to 8x1

It is also possible to mix hires and multicolour on screen. Multicolour allows to place up to four colours nearby (one of them again being the foreground colour, the other three are global to the whole screen), at the cost of resolution.

Thanks German friends . I'm choosing the first alternative (more resolution, and graphics carefully adapted to 8x16 blocks), and the result so far is quite impressive . Will post the colour version of the game, possibly with joystick support, in a few hours!

I had a look at this in VICE. Very nice graphics for the VIC 20.

Thank you! Hope you will enjoy also the 8 COLOURS and joystick support game .

I modified - with a lot of patience - the graphics to adapt them for colour blocks. No particular clash can be seen if you don't hit a bomb too close to the time indicator . Oh, and you have to hit only 12 bombs to pass level.



So, I hope you appreciate it, and that someone more skilled than I am will be inspired to use Minigrafik for better, more complex games!

orion70 wrote:Hello guys, new VIC software is not exactly flourishing this year, so here's a little game in hi-res .

I've noticed that too. I wonder if the number of VIC-20 homebrew projects are on the decline because a lot of games and programs that VIC-20 enthusiasts have always wanted to make have now been made?

Just look at the dwindling number of entries that get submitted for the minigame competitions. There were massive numbers of submissions in the early years, with only a handful of entries that get submitted nowadays.

I've been so busy lately that I can't see myself continuing or starting any new homebrew projects for many months.

Or maybe it's just because retrocomputing in the age of the iPad and portable computing devices is not as cool as it used to be? (it's still cool, but now the VIC-20 has more formidable competition nowadays). Compared to the virus-ridden Wintel PC of the 1990s, the VIC-20 was a breath of fresh air. But the App store offers an array of really nice looking games, many which have a "faux retro" look and feel to them.

So I'm glad that you're picking up the slack for those of us who are on a sabbatical of sorts. I will check out the game soon.

Ghislain wrote:I've noticed that too. I wonder if the number of VIC-20 homebrew projects are on the decline because a lot of games and programs that VIC-20 enthusiasts have always wanted to make have now been made?
[...]
Or maybe it's just because retrocomputing in the age of the iPad and portable computing devices is not as cool as it used to be?

I guess it's more a combination of saturation (lots of high-quality games in all niches already done, VIC pushed to its limits, all historical titles covered) and older age (less spare time, less enthusiasm), than losing ground to the iStuff.
At least, it's my case: compared to the 2007-2009 'golden age', now I'm more than 40, married, with more responsibilities at work, and frankly less willing to spend time on VIC stuff (yes, maybe less in love with the VIC, which is a wonderful hobby but has now lost the novelty factor). Still, I don't have an iSomething - that technology simply doesn't appeal to me: a mobile phone and a desktop PC at home are all I need.

Ghislain wrote:So I'm glad that you're picking up the slack for those of us who are on a sabbatical of sorts. I will check out the game soon.

OK, thanks. But don't expect more games before the end of 2011 .

Nice, I'll check it out again. Although key control might be easier, so I hope it's still in the game