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Post by hcmffm on Jul 29, 2021 15:19:01 GMT -5
Congrats to the two students for releasing a first version of their game. Uuuh, feedback for four games is due.  |
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Post by hcmffm on Jul 29, 2021 16:34:35 GMT -5
Feedback below is for "Galactica" written by Vega. When reading "Galactica" I think of Lorne Greene in Battlestar Galactica. Right, Galactica is a space game and to be more precise it's a vertical shooter. If you look at the project page of "Galacica", you will see that Vega had not just concepts for one game but three. I'm glad that I don't have to shoot on humans with a crossbow. But I wouldn't mind bombing another person's tank, though. ___ GalacticaVersion played: Alpha release (BTW: What is an alpha release candidate?) Played in Browser using Dr. Snuggles' online emulator, Controller: PC keyboard · WHAT I LIKE+ Various enemies with different graphic and way of flying + There is some sound. + Up to five shots at a time.
· VARIOUS THOUGHTS:· On the Vectrex there are many space games, already. With games like the unique Vectorblade it's hard to compete in this area. Good that you have implemened your concept for a Vectrex nevertheless.
· It's a bit of a surprise when the first enemy passes you and you get a "GAME OVER" although you didn't crash. You know, then, that you better shoot all enemies.
· In this alpha version "Bomb" and "Shield" are not implemented, yet. Especially "Bomb" (which I suspect that it will kill all enemies currently on the screen) will help to handle currently impossible scenarios (see below).
· BUGS· If an enemy crashes into the player ship, a crash sound is played. Crash sound isn't muted so you hear still noise in the Game Over screen. · Once I played and no more enemies appeared. I had to reset the game.
· SUGGESTIONSLevel screen at startCurrently, right before the game starts a level screen is displayed. The screen won't vanish until you press a button. Suggestion: Typically, screens that are just for player's information automatically vanish after a short while. Otherwise people miht have the impression that you can set a level in the level screen which is not the case. Level 1: Duration and difficultyCurrently, level 1 is finished after shooting few enemies. Sometimes the whole level takes just three seconds. This is a bit short for a level, I think. Suggestion: Make level 1 a bit longer but easier (e.g. only an easy type of ship might appear in level 1) Game DifficultyCurrently, the enemies appear very randomly. There are scenarios of enemies (even in Level 1) that are hard to solve or which you cannot handle because enemies are too fast and too far apart while the player's ship is slow. Sometimes it takes some seconds till an enemy appears. Suggestions:
· Introduce some rules for the appearance of the enemies to avoid both impossible scenarios and pauses.
· Some enemies like the kamikazee enemy might appear only in small quantities for example.
· Initial game difficulty should be lower and difficulty should ramp up more slowly (Level 3 is very difficult, already.) Stars in Background
Suggestion: Perhaps you can add dim stars as background which scroll downwards. This will much add to the athmosphere of Galactica.
AsteroidsCurrently, all enemies that appear on the screen must be shot before they pass you, otherwise the game ends.
Suggestion: Apart from enemies that you have to shoot there could be asteroids that you cannot shoot and which may pass you without ending the game. Asteroids can be fast and you have to be careful not to crash into these. This will make Galactica more varying and make game play more interesting.
Button setting (minor)Currently, button 2 is used for firing. Suggestion: Button 2 is not bad, but on the Vectrex typically button 4 is used for shooting. From what I can see button setting written on overlay and real button setting don't match. - o - |
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Post by hcmffm on Jul 30, 2021 15:34:31 GMT -5
Feedback below is for " Invasion" written by Cargo. Before playing Invasion I played Galactica and now I think that both games might swap their names: · In "Galactica" you have to keep enemies away and avoid that they pass you. Sounds much like avoiding an invasion. ___ InvasionVersion played: Alpha release Played in Browser using Dr. Snuggles' online emulator, Controller: PC keyboard · WHAT I LIKE+ Calm game with smooth flying + Ship can fly in all directions
+ No shooting
· VARIOUS THOUGHTS:· The game concept and scenario of the alpha version is a bit like flying through an asteroid field. And flying the ship in Galactica reminds me a bit of Xevious. Currently, there's no shooting at all, speed is comparatively slow so you can fully focus on controlling your space ship. I like this concept and calm athmosphere and wonder how some variety and challenges could be added to the game while keeping this cool feeling of flying in space. In your concept paper there's a swirl, a mother base and shooting - that would be variety but sometimes it's the simple games that are real fun. So perhaps just adding graphical stuff and fine-tuning the arrangement of obstacles might be the best way to go for Invasion. E.g. I could imagine that you have to control your enemy ship through massive asteroid belts. Rather than flying through the asteroid belt at high speed you fly slowly and have even some time to plan your flight to avoid collisions. But I don't want to mix up the initial game concept at this late stage.
· ATM, Invasion is in alpha state and various stuf like ship explosion, score counter or timer, sound are still missing but it's planned as can be seen in the paper concept on the project page of Invasion. · Appearance of enemies/obstacles seems buggy to me: Sometimes there are very little enemies/obstacles for a longer time and sometimes there are heaps of them. And sometimes lines of enemies/obstacles appear out of nowhere on the level of the spaceship.
· SUGGESTIONS Stars in BackgroundSuggestion: Perhaps you can add dim stars as background which scroll downwards. This will much add to the athmosphere of Invasion (same applies for Galactica). Obstacles of different speed Currently, all approaching obstacles/enemies have the same speed. Suggestion: Perhaps it's a good idea to have obstacles with different speeds. This will make the flight through the obstacles/enemies challenging. The overall speed of the game should remain slow, though.
Appearance and Disapperance of obstacls/enemies Currently, the obstacles/enemies appear at the top and vanish at the bottom all of a sudden. Suggestion: The obstacles/enemies should appear more at top and dissappear at the very bottom. (This might not be easy because objectes might wrap around the screen and appear at the other side).
Bonus items: Intensity or blinking
Currently, there are bonus items but you do not really know that until you try. Suggestion: Bonus items could be displayed in brighter colour or even change their intensity (blink). This way you would know that the bonus items are something special. Space ship graphics Just for fun I drew some space ships. Spaceship 1 is the current space ship in "Invasion". Spaceship 6 is a trial to reduce points; it uses 11 points instead of 16.
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Post by hcmffm on Aug 7, 2021 14:28:34 GMT -5
I've been on holidays for a week - for this reason feedbacks for Blackjack and Catch Your Parcels are still due. I'll try out the games and write something up in the next 2-3 days. |
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Post by hcmffm on Aug 8, 2021 16:06:28 GMT -5
Feedback below is for " Black Jack" written by Insomnia. ___ Black JackVersion played: Alpha release Played in Browser using Dr. Snuggles' online emulator, Controller: PC keyboard · WHAT I LIKE+ Card game (there are very few card games on the Vectrex)
+ No shooting + Enemy KI is not too clever so I could also win.
· VARIOUS THOUGHTS: I've read the Wikipedia article for Black Jack but I'm still a bit at a loss how to properly play this game. I guess more experienced players will beat the enemy and play forever. BTW, I still wonder whether the "E" stands for enemy and whether the enemy is the croupier or not. Perhaps I should have read the game manual... EDIT: Game manual is not available, yet. Phew! · Round counter counts 1, 2, ..., 9, 10, 21, 32, 43, ... · When pressing button 3 ("Draw") while enemy's cards are shown the display timing between the first two cards is influenced.
· SUGGESTIONS Stand without drawing Currently, you can "Stand" without drawing any card. Very likely that you'll loose such a round.
Suggestion: "Stand" without drawing any card doesn't make sense. Perhaps this should be prevented but on the other hand the player should know what he/she does.
Display more or even all player's cards Currently, only one card is displayed at at time. Suggestion: It would be cool if 3-4 cards or even the full set of cards of the player would be displayed. (In theory a full set of cards could consist of 8 or 9 cards, but this is very unlikely. A maximum of four cards would be sufficient for probably 99% of the rounds. The point display could appear whenever not all cards of the player are displayed.)
Enemie's cards Currently, you only see the enemy's cards if the enemy has won.
Suggestion: I think the enemy's cards should always be displayed. And the round counter should be increased after all cards of the enemy have been shown. This way the player can experience and see whether he/she has won or lost.
Player's cards / Enemy's cards Currently, the letter "P" or "E" is underlined to indicate which cards are shown. Suggestion: In addition to underlining you can use intensity and position of the cards to indicate who's cards are displayed. Wording: Hit and Stand
Currently, the overlay says "Draw" for button 3. When pressing, you draw another card. Suggestion: I've just read the wikipedia article for Black Jack and from what I can see the official term is "Hit" to draw another card.
Enemies / Croupiers cards Currently, you see your cards but you don't see the enemies cards. Suggestion: As written above I've just read the Black Jack rules and from what I can see the first card of the enemy (croupier) is displayed while the second card isn't. (I assume that the enemy is the croupier). Alignment of Player / Enemy Currently, the player's and enemy's scores and results are aligned horizontally. Suggestion: Vectrex screen is not so wide but high. Perhaps a vertical alignment of player / enemy would be better. Card animation Currently, the cards are animated but animation is very quick. Suggestion: Make animation more visible. There could be even a stack and the cards might move from the stack to the player and/or the enemy.
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Post by Peer on Aug 26, 2021 5:54:10 GMT -5
Greetings everyone, the Vectrex Academy 2021 has officially come to an end. All students who stayed in this class until the end have handed in their projects, and, considering the once again difficult online-teaching circumstances we had to deal with this semester (mainly the students not having a real console to work with), I am really happy about the results and about what the students have achieved. I have updated all project pages. Binaries, overlays and manuals are available for download. I think there are some nice gems to be discovered: Vectrex Academy 2021 Project GalleryIf necessary, please be sure to hit the reload button of your browser to see the latest versions of the pages. We wish you all lots of fun playing the games  Many Cheers, Peer |
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Post by hcmffm on Aug 29, 2021 14:25:25 GMT -5
Thank you for this big update, Peer! I was on holidays and just had quick look at the project page - it's very good to see that many games have been released. Until now, "Instigator" is my personal favourite game but I still have to have a look at the many other games and ideas. Thank you to all students for their time and effort in designing and programming their Vectrex game - especially under the difficult conditions of Corona. I think you all did very well and hope that you had fun in drawing vectors, realizing ideas, and getting the old 6809 processor do what you intended it to do! |
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 4, 2021 15:45:43 GMT -5
I finally found the time and managed to play all games that have been released (EDIT: No I didn't play all games, yet, see note at the bottom). My long feedbacks above are time-consuming and they don't make too much sense given that all games are released and final. But I think and hope that it's a good idea to write up short feedbacks for all remaining games. Don't break my heartFirst game that I played was a positive surprise: It took me a short while till I understood the gameplay of "Don't break my heart" and I even had a quick look into the manual which didn't help too much. I guess it's because the concept/gameplay of the game was changed during development: Instead of just one arrow at time it's always four arrows that fly around and fly towards you. But only one arrow directs to your heart and you have to put up your shield against that specific arrow. I think this change in the gameplay was a very good step and makes "Don't break a heart" interesting to play. At some points the speed is insane and I'm proud that I made 46 points. Thumbs up - well done, Dr. Runtime Terror! PS: As written in an early post the game story is really worth while reading.
Tank AttackSecond game that I played was Tank Attack. My first two games and thoughts: Game 1 (Duration: ~20 seconds): Uh, how unfair. Why is this bastard so fast and I'm so slow. Ah, it's approaching. No! I was killed. Game 2 (Duration: ~50 seconds): Cool, I can control tank and cannon independently. I like this game. Ouch, this poor bastard shot against the wall and killed himself. The main thing is that I won. Level 2, yes! Killed him! Level3, yes! Ouch, two enemies, how unfair! Two bastards that are fast and I'm so slow. I'll kill him with that mine. Ah, mine exploded too early. It's approaching. It drove right through me. Damn, shot myself.
As you can read in my above comments, "Tank Attack" is fun to play. It's pretty mature and the AI of the enemies is cool. Controlling your tank is good fun and mines and shots and the various scenarios offer quite some variety. Thumbs up - well done, Innogamic! Third game - again I write up my thoughts and impression.
A beer title. I don't like beer. Was it back in 2020 when there were three "beer" projects? Beer consumption in Germany decreased during the past years, but obviously not in Pforzheim. Read the manual? No, let's get right into it. What? Why do I control a pregnant woman who knows kickboxing? She should better avoid alcohol. My neighbour had her baby yesterday evening at 18:11 o' clock. O.k., no, that supposed to be a beer belly. Platforms? I've finished Miner 2049er so this should be a piece of cake. Damn, this narrow platform is pretty nasty. Fallen down, again. Again. And, again. Lucky me, at least you don't die when falling down to the bottom - aehm, I mean into the void. Ah, made it to the elevator platform. Cool animation when elevator platform goes downwards. Correction: you do die if you fall down for too deep. New game. This superfast horizontal control kills me - literally (pun intended). Quick pulses makes it bit easier to control this guy. Hmm, not really. Hmm, really! Another two platforms and I'll get my first beer! Yes, I got it! 1111elf! Cool, level 2 has a completely different setup. What's this? Why did I miss this elevator platform? O.k, again. Platform 1, platform 2, platform 3. Darn, missed elevator platform, again. ...
I'd like to know whether there are even more levels and how "Drunkenness" affects the gameplay but I must move on to the next game. "Get that beer" is a good platform game and challenging and much fun to play. I assume that the "Drunkenness" will make the game even more challenging. Another "Thumbs up!". Well done, literally! Fourth game. Midnight - I have to hurry up. Thoughs and impressions - you know... Nice parcel and overall graphics - this must have been designed and programmed by a woman. Writing while reviewing is a bit cumbersome - next time I'll do video reviews. O.k., on-topic, again. Manual? No, I'm sure "Catch your parcels" is a clone of "Kaboom!". Button 1. A postman on a trampoline?! That's really weird! Caught a parcel. Caught star. Another star. Another parcel. Hmm, score doesn't look right. Oh, the stars decrease my score - I better don't catch them. Mean stars! Ah, this is relaxing. Parcel, parcel, parcel, parcel. "New stage". Oh, this is fast! Parcel, star, parcel, parcel. "New stage". Man, this is super-fast. 44 points - Game over. Catching parcels on a trampoline is a bit weird setup for a game. But playing "Catch your parcels" is definitely fun. Difficulty ramps up a bit too quickly, I think. I wonder what highscores other people have. Thumbs up!. Well done, Pac-Man! ___
Still six games to go. I'll continue tomorrow writing in a new post.... |
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 5, 2021 10:40:09 GMT -5
... here comes feedback for the remaining six released games. Please note that below I wrote up my thoughts when playing the games for the very first time. Actually, to keep me from switching from playing and writing, I used the dictaphone app of my smartphone to memorize my thoughts. Automatic translation from German to English was done using www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version). In addition to the English automatic translation you'll find the original German text hidden as spoiler - click to expand and see it. All games were played in browser and keyboard using Dr. Snuggles handy emulator. Arcade Puzzle, that sounds promising. Arcade. The overlay and the screenshots look like Tetris to me. I'll give it a go. Here we go! Options, Inputs. Right, it's a Tetris clone. Yes, first block comes, first block laid. Is there anyone here who doesn't know Tetris yet? First line deleted. So, I find it a bit strange, because the pieces come in step by step, you can't see if it's a square or an "L", but it's OK. Second line done. And turn, and left and right and fit in. So far everything fits, perfectly. It's Tetris. But why is it called "Arcade Puzzle"? Ah, that doesn't fit at all. There's a bit of space at the bottom left and right where you'd think there'd be room for another box, but there isn't. Wow, only four points, that's tedious. Six points, yes! I'd like to see that on a real Vectrex, it's already flickering in the emulator; it's got its hands full here. Oh, now I see, with "Next", there's the preview! Huh, the parts look a bit different in the preview; they're just lines. (Note: A not very qualified expression on a vector console. ). O.k.. 8 points meanwhile. 9 points. Slowly faster, not really a challenge for me. Nice to be able to use the down arrow key to command the pieces down and also slow them down again if you make a mistake in the column. 10 points. 12 points. Yes, what can you say? A Vectrex clone, no, not a Vectrex clone, a Tetris clone. I don't think we've had a Tetris clone on the Vectrex before. It plays well. It's not necessarily spectacular. I can't really say what I expect. 14 points. There's also a pause function, which is nice. What's a bit irritating is that the preview looks so much different than the actual parts.
*6'30"* I don't notice at the moment that the game would get faster or more difficult. **6'53"** 19 points. I'll stop here; I think I'd have to play for quite a while until it gets really exciting. Now I finish the game. Game Over, 22 points. The overlay is nice and colourful. The one with the "Next" looks like a SIM card or a file folder to me. All in all, everything neat. A very playable Tetris on the Vectrex. Well done, Mr. G00DY34R {Original feedback in German}Arcade Puzzle, das klingt vielversprechend. Arcade, Spielhalle. Das Overlay und die Screenshots sehen mir sehr nach Tetris aus. Spiel ich mal los. So, los geht's! Options, Inputs. Es geht los. Ja, es ist ein Tetris Clone! Ja, erstes Teil kommt, erstes Teil gelegt. Gibt es hier jemanden, der Tetris noch nicht kennt? Erste Zeile weggelöscht. So, finde ich etwas komisch, weil die Teile schrittweise reinkommen, man sieht gar nicht ob es ein Quadrat oder L ist, aber schon o.k.. So, zweite Zeile erledigt. Und drehen, und links und rechts und einpassen. Bis jetzt passt alles, perfekt. Es ist Tetris. Warum es allerdings "Arcade Puzzle" heißt? Ah, das passt doch gar nicht. Jetzt! Links und rechts unten sind etwas Abstände, wo man denkt, dass da nochmal ein Kästchen Platz wäre, ist aber nicht. Boah, erst vier Punkte, das ist mühsam. 6 Punkte, ja! Das würde ich gerne auf einer echten Vectrex sehen, das flackert schon im Emulator; der hat alle Hände voll zu tun hier. Ach, jetzt sehe ich, mit "Next", da ist doch die Vorschau! Huh, die Teile sehen in der Vorschau aber schon ein bisschen anders aus; das sind ja nur Linien. (Anmerkung: Ein nicht sonderlich qualifizierter Aussspruch auf einer Vektorkonsole. . O.k.. 8 Punkte mittlerweile. 9 Punkte. Langsam schneller, für mich nicht wirklich eine Herausforderung. Schön, dass mit der Pfeiltaste nach unten die Teile nach unten befordert werden können und auch wieder abgebremst werden können, falls man sich in der Spalte vertan hat. 10 Punkte. 12 Punkte. Ja, was soll man sagen? Ein Vectrex-Klon, quatsch, kein Vectrex-Clon ein Tetris-Clon. Einen Tetris-Clon auf der Vectrex hatten wir - meine ich - bisher noch nicht. Spielt sich gut. Ist jetzt nicht unbedingt spektakulär. Ich kann gar nicht so sagen, was ich erwarte. 14 Punkte. Pausenfunktion gibt's auch, das ist schön. Was etwas irritiert ist, dass die Vorschau so viel anders aussieht als die tatsächlichen Teile. 6'30" Ich merke im Moment noch nicht, dass das Spiel schneller oder schwieriger würde. 6'53" 19 Punkte. Ich höre hier jetzt auf; ich glaue ich müsste noch ein ganzes Weilchen spielen, bis es wirklich spannend wird. Jetzt beende ich das Spiel. Game Over, 22 Punkte. Das Overlay ist schön bunt. Das mit dem "Next" sieht für mich aus wie eine SIM-Karte oder ein Dateiordner. Insgesamt alles ordentlich. Ein sehr gut spielbares Tetris auf der Vectrex. Auch hier: Gut gemacht, Mr. G00DY34R
*Level 2* A trench. O.k., Button 4 is Jump. "Trench, here I come!". O.k., that was nothing, I have to jump off much later. Run up, jump, door. I did it! That was easy! *Level3* Stairs, that's new. I like the fact that something new is introduced level by level. It was a bit tricky to take the steps, but I did it and now I have to jump. Ouch, the jump was too late this time. Is there anywhere I can see how many lives I have left? Hmm, apparently not. The stairs are really tricky. Run-up and not too early and not too late jump. I did it! That was easy! I'm curious when the gadget will come and what it is. *Level 4* The thing over the precipice looks dangerous, probably the thing will break away. Do I run over it or jump better? I'll try jumping. Hmm, that was nothing - maybe I jumped off too late again? Maybe there is something else besides jumping? Button 1. Nothing. Button 2. No chance. Button 3. Bingo! The diagonal line makes the difference. Okay, you can't run over it, but you can jump. So, jump and?! Abyss again! sh*t, bridge not activated. Activate bridge, run, jump, run, jump. I did it! That was easy - well, not so easy. *Level 5* Three platforms and switchable. Hmm, couldn't the gadget have been a rocket pack? And all that for a sandwich? OK, complaining doesn't help and no one here wants to read that either, so let's move on. Now it's all about timing. Let's see. Run, jump, gadget, jump, gadget it would have to be. Crash. Crash. Crash. I wonder how many lives I have left. It doesn't work like that and now I'd better stop my write-up. Because on the one hand this is getting too long, and on the other hand I might be giving away tricks here that you'd better find yourself. || "The Heist" is an interesting platformer because of the different elements and their combinations. I couldn't crack level 9 despite several attempts, but the game makes you want more. Well done, Nosemany! {Original feedback in German}"The Heist", was heißt "Heist" nochmal auf Englisch? Deepl sagt "Raubüberfall", "Überfall". Müsste das nicht "The he Heist of the ultimate sandwich" heißen? Egal. Noch, ein Jump and Run-Spiel, da bin ich ja gespannt. Gräben, Treppen, Türen. Dann lassen wir es mal Snuggeln. Story mit vertikal scrollendem Text. O.k., ich bin jetzt Yves und habe ein hilfreiches Gadget, aber ich weiss noch nicht was für eins. Da lasse ich mich mal überraschen. Eine Pistole wäre langweilig und zu einfach. Vielleicht eine Scheckkarte zum Durchführen von Online-Bezahlung zur Bestechung von Wachen? Jetzt geht's los. Seltsam: Ich renne aber bin trotzdem langsam. Und warum habe ich einen Pappkarton auf dem Kopf? Tür erreicht. Level 2?! Das war einfach!
*Level 2* Button 4 ist Springen. "Graben, ich komme!". O.k, das war nichts, ich muss viel später abspringen. Anlauf, Sprung, Tür. Geschafft! Das war einfach! *Level 3* Stufen, das ist neu. Finde ich gut, dass Level per Level etwas Neues eingeführt wird. Etwas hakelig, die Stufen zu nehmen, geschafft und jetzt der Sprung. Autsch, der Absprung war diesmal zu spät. Kann ich irgendwo sehen, wie viele Leben ich noch habe? Hmm, scheinbar nicht. Die Treppen sind wirklich hakelig. Anlauf und nicht zu früher und nicht zu später Absprung. Geschafft! Das war einfach! Ich bin gespannt, wann das Gadget kommt und was es ist. *Level 4* Das Ding über dem Abgrund sieht gefährlich aus, wahrscheinlich bricht das Teil weg. Laufe ich drüber oder springe ich besser? Ich probier's mit Springen. Hmm, das war nichts - bin ich vielleicht wieder zu spät abgesprungen? Vielleicht gibt es ausser Springen noch etwas? Button 1. Fehlanzeige. Button 2. Fehlanzeige. Button 3. Bingo! Der schräge Strich macht den Unterschied. O.k., laufen darüber geht nicht, dann doch Springen. So, Sprung und?! Wieder Abgrund! Mist, Brücke nicht aktiviert. Brücke aktivieren, laufen, Sprung, laufen, Sprung. Geschafft! Das war einfach - naja, nicht so ganz einfach. *Level 5* Drei Plattformen und umschaltbar. Hmm, hätte das Gadget nicht ein Raketenrucksack sein können? Und das alles für ein Sandwich? O.k., Jammern hilft nicht und das will hier auch keiner lesen, also weiter. Jetzt kommt es auf das Timing an. Mal überlegen. Laufen, Sprung, Gadget, Sprung, Gadget müsste es sein. Absturz. Absturz. Absturz. Wie viele Leben ich wohl noch habe? So geht das nicht und jetzt stoppe ich besser meinen Aufschrieb. Denn zum einen wird das zu lang, zum anderen verrate ich hier vielleicht Tricks, die man besser selber findet. || "The Heist" ist durch die verschiedenen Elemente und deren Kombinatioenn ein interessanter Plattformer. Level 9 konnte ich trotz mehrere Anläufe nicht knacken, aber das Spiel macht Lust auf mehr. Gut gemacht, Nosemany!
Yesterday, I didn't look right and from what I can see I'm done, now: All released games should have some feedback from my side. The above type of feedback is very "special" and still time consuming. I much hope that it was worth the effort. At least you can consider my feedback as some acknowledgment for your work. Next year I'll try to find a more efficient way. I guess simply writing brief feedbacks is the key. My summary of Vectrex Academy 2021Most of the games Vectrex Academy 2021 were quite positive surprises. Gameplay-wise my favourite is still Instigator. Controlling-wise and from the perspective of details it's "Tank Attack". Again, thank you all students for developing these games and for providing them for free for downloading and playing. I appreciate this very much! End of October, Vector War XI, an international Vectrex tournament will start. Perhaps I'll included one of the games in the Vector War - well knowing that sound and golden shoelaces are missing. Let's see. Good luck and all the best to you! |
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Post by VectorX on Sept 5, 2021 12:22:45 GMT -5
I don't think we've had a Tetris clone on the Vectrex before. There's Vectris on the All Good Things cart from Classic Game Creations (now Packrat). So, close. |
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 5, 2021 16:02:23 GMT -5
I don't think we've had a Tetris clone on the Vectrex before. There's Vectris on the All Good Things cart from Classic Game Creations (now Packrat). So, close. Oh, right! I didn't think of Vectris and I admit that I've never played it even though I own the "All good things" cart. |
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Post by Peer on Sept 6, 2021 6:34:18 GMT -5
Thank you very much for your feedback on all the 2021 games, Helmut. As always, this is highly appreciated by all us of (i.e. me and all the students), and we want to thank you again for all the effort you put into this. We especially like that you wrote down all the things that came to your mind while playing the games. That is not only very interesting, it is also very rewarding for the programmers |
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 11, 2021 8:44:18 GMT -5
Thank you for your nice words, Peer. As you know time is often scarce and it costs time and effort to write up feedback and reviews. Very good to read that the feedback and even my first-play-experience reports are appreciated and perhaps even fun to read. In my quest for games for the coming Vector War XI I did a replay of some of some of the Vectrex Academy games. This time I played the games on a real Vectrex console. This was really fun! For some reason I don't know, there was no sound when playing the games in the Firefox browser using drsnuggles emulator. So it was a surprise for me to hear some melody at the start of "Tank Attack". And sound when jumping in "Catch that Parcels". Furthermore, control was much better, e.g. I finished level 10 in the "The Heist" and got much farther in "Get that beer". Tank AttackReally well done and fun to play. As written before, there are nice small extra animations which add to the athmosphere of the game. The levels and the intelligent opponents are challenging. Player's tank and/or rotation of the turret/cannon could be a bit faster. Button 3 and button 4 should be swapped though. A pity that Tank Attack has no scoring - otherwise it would be a game for Vector War XI. Game says "Single player" - a two-player version would be really cool. Get that beerUsing original controller and real hardware I made it to level 5. There are really good ideas and details in the game. This game might make it into the Vector War XI. Catch that parcelAs written before, difficulty should ramp up a bit more slowly. After the second (or third) speed-up it's very hard to survive so I guess all players' games will end up after the same play-time. This game might make it also into Vector War XI Don't break my heartGame idea is really cool. Graphics look nice - intensity of graphics is a bit high. The fourth(?) level seems insane and not doable for me but perhaps there is also a way. Ramping up difficulty a bit more slowly would be good. Speed of the arrows could increase a bit within the level - this would help the player to get a start in a level and increase both tension and motivation to get a(nother) level solved. - o -
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Post by darrin9999 on Sept 18, 2021 16:12:40 GMT -5
Awesome!
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