Vector War X - Preparations

[hcmffm]

This is the discussion on prepartion and organisation of Vector War X. If you want to submit scores please use topic Vectrex Tournament: Vector War X (31st Oct - 7th Nov 2020).

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I'm happy to announce this year's Vector War! This year Brett was first and Tony second to remind me. A good sign and feeling that players ask the organisator for the tournament to come. This year, the Vector War takes place for the tenth time - something to celebrate!

Promising Prizes
As every year, there will be prizes that can be won. Already there are two special prices, one is a copy of Vectorblade, the new vertical shooter developed Malban which offers almost unparalleled action on the Vectrex.

Better ranking system
Last year, a new ranking system has been introduced. The ranking system is a bit more complex but all in all it makes the tournament even more competitive and challenging.

Games list
This year, I haven't finalized the games list, yet. I have questions on some games which I will pose here.

[hcmffm]

As written above, the game list is not complete and final, yet.

Currently, list of GCE/MB games looks like this:
1. Bedlam
2. Fortress of Narzod
3. Polar Rescue
4. Spinball
5. Rip Off
6. Tour de France
7. ?

Can the GCE/MB originals "Heads up Soccer" and "Mail Plane" be played in a competitive way with comparable points/scores at the end? If yes, one or the other becomes the 7th title of the GCE/MB originals.


Currently, the list of homebrew games looks like this:
1. Color Clash slim
2. Vectrexians
3. SpideX
4. ?
5. ?

For the two remaining homebrew titles I have various games on my mind. Again, I'm not sure whether these can be played in a competitive way, i.e. have a comparable score at the end of the game:

Paratroopers (ClassicGameCreations)
Spike Hoppin' (ClassicGameCreations)
Vaboom! (ClassicGameCreations)
Spike's Circus (Vectorzoa)
Thrust (Ville Krumlinde)

Comments? Other suggestions?

[Peer]

Sept 14, 2020 15:06:40 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Comments? Other suggestions?

... hehe, what about Rotor ...

... to increase the stress level and add some mental torture, eh, I mean, challenge?

[fruktodlaren]

As far as I could deduce, Color Clash Slim is the only game in the current lineup that is not available as a free rom download. By the way, you may want to change a little in the introduction text that still has last years mention of Frontier being the only game you have to buy.

Mail plane. Isn't that a lightpen game? That will exclude quite a lot of players from competing in that game, I think. Myself included.

Thrust is a very capably made homebrew clone of the same game. It gets my vote.
What about any of the games from this years vectrex academy? I haven't had time to try them yet, so I don't know if any of them is suitable for competitive gaming.

To complicate things I also want to nominate Galaxy Wars : Space Launcher by Binary Star Software as a possible candidate as one of the homebrews for this year.

[D-Type]

Is your seventh highest score used in the calculation of rankings for that particular game? i.e. you could play additional games to reduce another players rankings. Tactical and devious ;-) Personally, I would discount all the other scores, keeps it simple and levels the playing field a bit, but it might be more admin.

BTW, thanks for admin'ing the event for another year!

[playvectrex]

I'm very excited to participate in this years' VWX! Thanks for kicking this off

Is it possible to ensure that the non-free homebrew games are in fact available for purchase? I've sent requests to Kristof and Martijn, but it was just last night and no reply yet.

I think Spinball is a pretty random and dull game... pinball is meant to be played mechanically! But I will go along with it if it's set in stone. Maybe there is some skilled trick to it that I can learn, who knows.

What about Beluga Dreams for homebrew? That game has not been maxed out as far as I know, and I've been trying. It's available for purchase, and download and runs on all carts.

SpideX has been open sourced, and is technically capable of compiling for personal use, but as far as I know it's not ok to distribute the binary. We'd need to reach out to see if it's ok to do so for this competition, or each compile it locally in Vide. If that's ok, that means I'll have one less game to have to try to purchase which is a good thing right now.

Would love to see VeCaves on the list, but it's not available for purchase.

Scramble for GCE is also a really fun and challenging game.

[VectorX]

Sept 16, 2020 13:04:17 GMT -5 playvectrex said:

I think Spinball is a pretty random and dull game... pinball is meant to be played mechanically! But I will go along with it if it's set in stone. Maybe there is some skilled trick to it that I can learn, who knows.

Scramble for GCE is also a really fun and challenging game.

The original GCE titles are rotated out every couple of years. With next year's competition I'm sure we'll see the return of Mine Storm (set with a 150,000 point limit due to those whose game crashes/ends at Mine Field 13), Clean Sweep (maxed at 75,000 iirc), Star Trek, Scramble and/or Hyper Chase.

[8-Bit Waves]

I'm looking forward to it.

I'm trying to acquire Color Clash but may not be able to.

I'd like to see Spike's Circus on there. Mainly to have an excuse to put some time into it. I enjoyed it last I played.

[50tbrd]

Sept 16, 2020 13:38:06 GMT -5 VectorX said:

Sept 16, 2020 13:04:17 GMT -5 playvectrex said:

I think Spinball is a pretty random and dull game... pinball is meant to be played mechanically! But I will go along with it if it's set in stone. Maybe there is some skilled trick to it that I can learn, who knows.

Part of the beauty of Vector War is earning a new respect for a game that we didn't fully appreciate.

[50tbrd]

May I suggest picking the last few homebrew games from the Sean Kelly multicart. Packrat has a backlog and almost all the other developers can be difficult to get in contact with (Madtronix, Kristof, Martijn). Sean and Andy are very consistent and a lot of people already have their multicarts.

[fmml]

Great news that you are organizing VWX Helmut. I marked it in my calendar.

Spike‘s Circus is a nice game but I think you can play it endlessly. Not sure how it would suit a competition.

Last year we had Veccy Bird to drive some of us crazy so I think Beluga Dreams might be a good choice for this year.

PS:
I have Color Clash in my collection. Seems though that Martijn is not responding to shop requests currently.

[hcmffm]

Thank you all for your replies and comments on the Vector War and its game list and sorry for the silence on my side. I'll try to clarify the situation of the various games (Color Clash, Spidex, Vectrexians) and will keep you informed.

Also I'll try to consider and suggestions but please be aware that not all wishes and desired might be fulfilled.

[Chainsaw]

Wow, cool, thanks for organizing VWX and I'm looking forward for it.
If you still are searching for a competitive funny homebrew game, maybe you (or we) find anything nice in the Vectrex Academy list, but to be honest: I didn't play Vectrex since month (shame on me!) and don't have an idea at the moment.
Anyway: Great that there is another Vector War, every year a highlight!

[fruktodlaren]

It seems Color Clash and Vectrexians will not be available to many players (myself included). I have tried to order them but there's been a week with no answer, so I give up on those two. I have Vectrexians on a multicart, but someone said that is just a demo version.

[D-Type]

Personally, I'm not going to be buying any games specifically for the VW. I'm not really a physical cart kind of guy, I only have one homebrew cart. Multicarts where possible for me! :-)