Two new games for the 8k Expanded Vic - 2022

[huffelduff]

Hello there everyone,

I hope that 2022 is treating you well so far.
I have two new games to share for the Vic-20 with 8k expansion.

1. Wormhole - Become an interstellar taxi driver
2. Jovian Moon Lander - A lunar lander clone

Anyhow if someone could test them on physical hardware I would be much oblidged.

Greetings to all

Links:
https://huffelduff.itch.io/wormhole
https://huffelduff.itch.io/jovian-moon-lander

[huffelduff]

Hi there,

I have two new games to share for the Vic-20 with 8k expansion.

1. Wormhole - Become an interstellar taxi driver
2. Jovian Moon Lander - A lunar lander clone

Here's the link to the thread to get the downloads:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10343

Greetings

[nbla000]

thanks for sharing, you are really "prolific"


PS: I've noticed that both games start from $1200 and you have to load them by using LOAD"GAME",8,1 I think is better they start from $1201 so you may load them even with a simple LOAD"GAME",8

[huffelduff]

Hi there nbla000,

You wrote:

I think is better they start from $1201 so you may load them even with a simple LOAD"GAME",8

Its been corrected. Thanks a bunch.

You also wrote:

thanks for sharing, you are really "prolific"

There's a good reason for that. You see I originally got a Commodore 64 in the mid 1980s. A couple of years later someone gave me a hand me down unexpanded Vic-20. I messed with it a bit and then put it in a closet. Compared to the C64 the Vic's virtues did not appeal to me back then.

Moving forward a few decades, when I decided to start playing with 8-bit again, I was working on a piece of software for the 64 and I stumbled onto a site with a lot of reference material. There was a lot of Vic stuff and so for the fun of it I started reading. About two days later I was still reading and going through old program listings... So I shelved the 64 software and started with the Vic.

So I'm still on my Vic-20 honeymoon so to speak. To me it is still a brand spanking new computer

Greetings

H

[chysn]

The lander game is a neat take on the concept. The audio clips really make it stand out!

Wormhole feels like it has this split personality. On the one hand, it seems like a universe that you can explore. On the other hand, the controls are extremely demanding and require perfect precision. I might get the hang of it!

[huffelduff]

Hi Chysn,

Hope you're having a good 2022.

You wrote:

The audio clips really make it stand out!

mr. Armstrong and his historical prose

You wrote:

Wormhole feels like it has this split personality.

Yeah it has a split personality so to speak. Its two different games I stuck together, hehe.
Over time it was supposed to become a space trading game with a small FPS and even gambling and also a bit of resource management (after seeing ZEPTOPOLIS)
But I ran out of steam and got tired of it. So there you have it.
Maybe I'll come back to it at some point.

Greetings

H

[chysn]

Over time it was supposed to become a space trading game with a small FPS

Oh, yeah, I remember an Amiga game I had called Elite II that involved exploration, trading, space combat, etc. That was kind of fun, maybe a bit troubling in the slave trading mechanic. It was almost impossible to control the ship by any means other than automatic.

Anyway, I did manage to pick up a couple passengers in Wormhole! Unfortunately, I got them killed immediately.

Incidentally, one of the reasons I stick to unexpanded games is the real possibility of me "running out of steam." If I ever do a bigger game, it'll be because it needs a lot of data, not a lot of code.

[Rich]

Thanks for the time and effort to make games for the VIC 20, keep it up we all appreciate it!!!

[huffelduff]

Hi there chysn and Rich,

chysn you wrote:

Oh, yeah, I remember an Amiga game I had called Elite II that involved exploration, trading, space combat, etc.

That's exactly where I was heading but... (your next comment elucidates)

Incidentally, one of the reasons I stick to unexpanded games is the real possibility of me "running out of steam." If I ever do a bigger game, it'll be because it needs a lot of data, not a lot of code.

Yep, at about 1.5 kloc's (thousand lines of code) I get restless and a bit confused.
The lunar lander game is about 4k of compiled code in total, the next 6k is just the two audio samples.

BTW congratulations on the MIDI code and hardware. Nice work indeed.

Rich you wrote:

Thanks for the time and effort to make games for the VIC 20, keep it up we all appreciate it!!!

Thank you so very much. I really appreciate the encouragement.
I checked out the games you posted by the Japanese author(inufuto)
The cross compiler by Fabrizio-Caruso is impressive and I am/have been tempted HOWEVER
There is something about coding in assembler and working with the Vic internals directly that just keeps me hooked.
Now I am not even close to pushing the Vic's capabilities yet but I'm going to keep on trying to improve my code and style as time and opportunity allows.
Maybe one day I'll get there.

Some footnotes notes on some game coders:
Aleksi Eben's (aeb) old code (circa 2003) is mind blowing. What he can do in 1k is absolutely fantastic.
Then I dunno If you guys/gals saw what Andy from Hewco is up to with his pixel perfect platformer. I dunno if its finished yet but what I saw left me gawping.
And then there's the new Boulder dash by Peiselulli of tRSi...
So to all the Vic game coders... One day Gyruss will exist on the unexpanded Vic (just kidding )

Greetings

H

[necronom]

I've just got back to playing some Vic-20 games, and I've just tried Jovian Moon Lander.
I was surprised to hear the digitised speech! An excellent addition
In this game and the previous one of yours that I played (Monster Maze) you use a very small font for the game title that isn't readable on a CRT through composite. Red is especially bad for this, so a larger font would be better for real hardware.
A personal thing with the controls: I'd much prefer to push up to thrust up, like left and right thrust left and right. Pressing a button for up and left/right for left/right is very confusing to me. Maybe up and fire could have both thrusted up?

Great work. I'll be trying Wormhole soon.

[edit] Just tried again and I think I've got used to fire to thrust. I was going up upload to YouTube, but I found an emulated play of it where the player died in almost the exact place I did.

Just tried Wormhole. I'm confused about the teleport screen. Is there a way to tell who is an enemy. I don't really understand the screen or what's going on. Once I got rid of an enemy, another time it was not an enemy, and another time I was shot. There are people at the top and bottom of the screen and I'm not sure why or what they mean.

I can read the font much better on this one.

[edit again] I've just noticed the happy and sad faces. I have to collect the happy ones and eject the sad ones.

[Spectrum]

Just played to Wormhole and Jovian Moon Lander and I loved them, especially the last one. It reminds me good old Jupiter Lander and the many hours I and my cousin spent on it in the 80s. Very good game, I love the smooth sprite moving and the different levels. The speech amazed me!
Great job, I'm going back to play!

[huffelduff]

...you use a very small font for the game title that isn't readable on a CRT through composite.

Hi Necronom, thanks for the tip - I'm going to keep that in mind going forward.

A personal thing with the controls: I'd much prefer to push up to thrust up, like left and right thrust left and right. Pressing a button for up and left/right for left/right is very confusing to me. Maybe up and fire could have both thrusted up?... Just tried again and I think I've got used to fire to thrust

Glad you got the hang of it. I vexed over the controls a bit. I felt it was needed to use the fire button seeing as its your main thruster and all. Remember: You're an ace pilot, so intricate controls are a cakewalk for the likes of you.

Footnote: I considered giving a screen code if one finished the eight landing so that one could e-mail me for a pdf Jovian Lander "Pilot's" license certificate. I think I ran out of space to code it in so I never got round to it. If I release this game with a compilation one day I may refactor the code and make it more efficient and then include this feature

I've just noticed the happy and sad faces. I have to collect the happy ones and eject the sad ones.

I knew you'd figure it out.

Greetings

H

[huffelduff]

Just played to Wormhole and Jovian Moon Lander and I loved them, especially the last one. It reminds me good old Jupiter Lander and the many hours I and my cousin spent on it in the 80s. Very good game, I love the smooth sprite moving and the different levels. The speech amazed me!
Great job, I'm going back to play!

Thanks Spectrum.
And thank you for your kind comment on itch.io.
I appreciate it.

Greetings

H

Here's some mock ups of things I'm playing with