|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 22, 2021 14:41:43 GMT -5
There are pictures of the now finished KnightEx cart and the wooden spoon sitting in an inbox folder of a certain competition organizer. Yes, and this certain competition organizer is pretty sleepy in the evening and is thankful for support from other people like Brett, who announced the Vector War XI in several forums.  Thank you for your photos and your friendly reminder, Tony, I'll post photos tomorrow during the day. Promised. |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 23, 2021 3:37:42 GMT -5
O.k., here they come - these are the prizes donated by Tony ( fruktodlaren ): The Aluminum KnightEx cartridgeThis is an aluminum cartridge donated by Tony with a PCB of KnightEx donated by Alexander von Knorring (developer of KnightEx). AFAIK, this aluminum KnightEx cartridge is the first of its kind. This prize is a choosable prize; i.e. the frist three winners of the Vector War can choose this aluminum KnightEx cartridge as prize; first winner has chooses first. Artwork is designed and prepared for milling:
The final aluminum cartridge shell:
The wooden spoon prizeThe wooden spoon prize is the second of its kind: In Vector War X Tony ( fruktodlaren ) had the idea for the wooden spoon prize; inspired by the wooden spoon prize donated at Cambridge University. The second last winner will win the wooden spoon prize. Before milling:
 The outcome:
Again, thank you very much, Tony, for crafting and donating these beautiful prizes! |
|
|
|
Post by D-Type on Oct 23, 2021 8:13:42 GMT -5
It's there a zip file available of all the freely available game binary files?
|
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Oct 23, 2021 10:00:55 GMT -5
The T-shirt looks also cool - it "competes" a bit with the winners' T-shirt. Thanks! - Hmm... nah... too colorful! I was kind of hoping to make 3 of them so the whole family could wear them, but I could only order 1 at the $9 price. If my kids qualify though, I might get them one as a prize. I kind of came to the realization that I'd probably never win one, so I might as well make one to celebrate my love for the Vectrex (totally different of course as not to compete). I'm the kind of person that ALWAYS wears t-shirts as well. I think the real prize is getting forced to play the game, and realizing that games you never really played very much are actually totally kick ass!
It's there a zip file available of all the freely available game binary files? Don't start just yet! You'll burn out before the heat turns up 
That ALU-KnightEx cart looks sick! |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 23, 2021 14:53:38 GMT -5
It's there a zip file available of all the freely available game binary files? This year it's "Organization on demand". A ZIP file will be posted tomorrow. ... I think the real prize is getting forced to play the game, and realizing that games you never really played very much are actually totally kick ass! ... Exactly, plus some competition and fun with other Vectrex nerds.  |
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Oct 23, 2021 21:01:17 GMT -5
... I think the real prize is getting forced to play the game, and realizing that games you never really played very much are actually totally kick ass! ... Exactly, plus some competition and fun with other Vectrex nerds. Yes, getting my rear end handed to me by Malban, Chainsaw, LimitZer0 and Coleco1981... fun! |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 24, 2021 4:16:05 GMT -5
When gathering all binaries I just realized that I lost "Tank Attack" in the discussions above. Tank Attack is really worth while playing in Vector War XI so I wondered what to do. Cutting down the number of GCE/MB original games is not really an option because this might prevent people without a multicartridge or flashable cartridge from participating. Increasing the number of games would be an option but players will have to play even more games and getting really into a game will get more difficult. So I decided to move Big Blue from this year to next year because Big Blue was added last to the game list. So game list for Vector War XI will look like this: MB/GCE games:
1. Pole Position
2. Scramble
3. Solar Quest
4. Star Trek/Star Ship
5. Tour de France
6. Web Wars
Homebrew games:
1. Galaxy Wars / Space Launcher (Binarystar, Chris Malcolm)
2. Get the beer (Vectrex Academy, literally)
3. Gyrostronomy and Gyrostrology (Vectrex Academy, Peer)
4. KnightEx (Alexander von Knorring)
5. Tank Attack
6. USA Zombie ApocalypseSorry for this lapsus and be prepared that there will be more - I'm getting old. A ZIP archive with all free binaries will follow soon. |
|
|
|
Post by fruktodlaren on Oct 24, 2021 6:38:16 GMT -5
I have no problem with having another extra game in the lineup. Question is if that skews the points system or of that is adaptable enough to handle one more game without running into rounding issues or things like that.
|
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 24, 2021 11:44:43 GMT -5
I have no problem with having another extra game in the lineup. Question is if that skews the points system or of that is adaptable enough to handle one more game without running into rounding issues or things like that. Thank you for your feedback, Tony. The point system allows for adding more games without any problem. But I think the more games the less players can focus on playing a game. Getting really the last possible points out of a game is really challenging and retro (i.e. the way gaming was back in the 80ies). ___ All free binaries for VW XIYou can download a ZIP archive with all free binaries played in VW XI. Notes: - When unpacking the ZIP archive a folder "VW11-binaries" is created. Please make sure to put the plain binaries (without folder) on your flash device unless you know your flash device supports folders.
- I've included both Star Trek (GCE) and Star Ship (MB). FAIK, Star Ship is easier to play than Star Trek. All players are asked to play Star Trek (GCE) which is more common than Star Ship (MB).
- Both Gyrostrology and Gyrostronomy are also included. According to Peer it doesn't matter which one you play (see above) so please decide yourself.
- KnightEx binary is a special Vector War edition. The binary can be used and played within Vector War but must not be distributed in any way.
- Binaries of "Big Blue" and "USA Zombie Apocalypse" are missing - these binaries aren't available for free.
|
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Oct 24, 2021 12:48:46 GMT -5
When gathering all binaries I just realized that I lost "Tank Attack" in the discussions above. Tank Attack is really worth while playing in Vector War XI so I wondered what to do. I just played Tank Attack a bit and tried to see if it would be suitable for the competition. Some problems I see are: 1. It has no score 2. When you die it doesn't show what level you made it to 3. After reset it doesn't show any score or level 4. From the project page I gather there is an ending, but the level number for the ending is not stated. I have no idea if this game can be beaten, but even so, I don't think we'd be able to rank players unless they beat the game and take a picture of the end screen. Or you'd have to take a picture of every level you get to before you press 1 to play it. That's a lot of work and remember to take pictures instead of just concentrating on playing the game. I know a bunch of people were looking forward to Big Blue already... me included Maybe we can play Big Blue this year, and Tank Attack next year after it gets some fixes added by author? |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 24, 2021 13:10:09 GMT -5
When gathering all binaries I just realized that I lost "Tank Attack" in the discussions above. Tank Attack is really worth while playing in Vector War XI so I wondered what to do. I just played Tank Attack a bit and tried to see if it would be suitable for the competition. Some problems I see are: 1. It has no score 2. When you die it doesn't show what level you made it to 3. After reset it doesn't show any score or level 4. From the project page I gather there is an ending, but the level number for the ending is not stated. I have no idea if this game can be beaten, but even so, I don't think we'd be able to rank players unless they beat the game and take a picture of the end screen. Or you'd have to take a picture of every level you get to before you press 1 to play it. That's a lot of work and remember to take pictures instead of just concentrating on playing the game. I know a bunch of people were looking forward to Big Blue already... me included Maybe we can play Big Blue this year, and Tank Attack next year after it gets some fixes added by author? Thank you for checking out Tank Attack, Brett. I thought I did see a score but now notice that I was wrong. And I was about writing something like "a scoring in Tank Attack doesn't make sense because the setup of the levels and the number of tanks per level are always the same". But a scoring is always possible (e.g. score could not just depend on the number of tanks but on other parameters like number of shots or elapsed time.). And then: Having no final result when you die is really a problem. It's a bit of a pity but Tank Attack is out in VW XI and Big Blue is in. I'll try to contact the developer of Tank Attack via Peer and will ask whether he/she is interested in enhancing Tank Attack a bit so that it can become part of Vector War XII. I've removed Tank Attack from the ZIP archive with all free binaries played in VW XI (see above). |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 24, 2021 16:27:38 GMT -5
Brett ( playvectrex ) has provided a photo of his great Vectorlink - see below:  You may wonder what a Vectorlink is - here you can find out. Please note that this will be a random prize - so anyone participating can win it. Thank you very much, Brett, for donating a copy of this brand-new and magical Vectrex item! |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 26, 2021 14:57:09 GMT -5
Last things on my Todo list: - Complete threshold scores. - Complete list of Prizes
|
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 28, 2021 15:24:40 GMT -5
Following question is mainly directed towards Brett ( playvectrex) and Tony ( fruktodlaren): Last year I've decided to award the wooden spoon prize to the second last adult player. Reason behind the addition "adult" is that I think that children might not understand the fun/intention behind the wooden spoon prize and are even disappointed. Should we stick to the addition "adult" or change the rule to just "second last player (regardless whether it's an adult or non-adult player)"? |
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Oct 29, 2021 17:44:59 GMT -5
In about 8 hours Vector War will start.
I've just added the threshold scores for homebrew games. Please note that USA Zombie Apocalypse has no threshold score because I don't own it and can't try out.
And I've added a rule: "Vector War is a tournament that lasts for one week. For this reason, on the last day of the Vector War no new players may participate."
EDIT: List of prizes has been completeted. Additional prizes are a copy of VecRibbon and a $25 coupon for a game offered by Packrat video games.
|
|
Thank you for your photos and your friendly reminder, Tony, I'll post photos tomorrow during the day. Promised.
