Count Vecula (formerly known as The Count)

[Peer]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, playvectrex and D-Type! I very much appreciate it, even if it is too late now for any major changes.

The game design is just as it is

The game is primarily a skill-shooter, and not an action-shooter (though of course there is some action going on). And completing a level takes some time, depending on how skilled you are, and depending on the current difficulty of the game. Please keep in mind that the tournament version was deliberately set to a pretty high difficulty and to one life only. In the full version, the default difficulty is lower, and you can also select between three different initial difficulties. This will also have an effect on how much time you will need to complete a level and how quickly you proceed through the rooms.

There is no journey-mode, and also no restart-where-you-lost-your-last-life mode. I am very sorry, if this disappoints you. If your game is over in room 9, and you want to know what room 10 is like, then yes, indeed, you have to restart your next game in room 1 and make your way up to room 9 again. But this is just the same as Mine Storm works (or many other Vectrex and classic Arcade games) and the way I want the challenge to be.

But...

For me it is extremely interesting to see, that nobody seems to realize, that the game offers a feature which tries to make this replaying of the already visited rooms as non-boring as possible. Each room comes in three versions, and when entering a new room you can select which version to play (left, middle, or right door). So when replaying room 1 to 9 you can have a totally different experience. If your first game takes you through room 1a,2c,3b,4c,…,9a, then your next game can go through 1a,2b,3b,4a,…,9c, depending on your choices. Same choices will always give you the same version of the room.

Thus, by playing 10 rooms, you effectively have the possibility to see a variety of 30 different rooms. The final version has over 100+ different levels. By playing ~33 rooms, you effectively have the chance to see any of them. That was my design choice (the layout of the castle), so that you do not have to play exactly the same sequence of levels over and over again.

And, there might (emphasis on "might") be some oval shaped object(s), usually distributed by a certain long-eared animal around the time of April, which accidently made their way in to the code, and which, when discovered, could help to ease the pain you two are so much worried about 

But those are rumors I neither confirm nor deny...

[50tbrd]

That actually sounds really cool. So there can be a strategy to complete the game and take an easier course. That'd be fun for people to figure out.

[Peer]

Nov 16, 2023 10:26:54 GMT -5 50tbrd said:

That actually sounds really cool. So there can be a strategy to complete the game and take an easier course. That'd be fun for people to figure out.

Exactly. If you figure out, that for you room 7a is harder than 7b and 7c, you have a strategy to avoid it in future games.

I tried to design the rooms so that all three variants of each room are somehow similar and of roughly the same general difficulty, yet the details vary and differ, and depending on your personal style of playing and your skills, one variant might seem easier or harder for you than the other variants.

[playvectrex]

Ahh, so the LEFT / CENTER / RIGHT is more linear from room to room. Different versions of that room number. I never figured out the pattern because I only played a few times that lasted many many hours.

Is it too much of a spoiler to ask if the game has an ending after 33 rooms? I got to 32, so now I feel like I have to play again soon!!

[50tbrd]

Nov 16, 2023 13:15:19 GMT -5 playvectrex said:

Ahh, so the LEFT / CENTER / RIGHT is more linear from room to room. Different versions of that room number. I never figured out the pattern because I only played a few times that lasted many many hours.

Is it too much of a spoiler to ask if the game has an ending after 33 rooms? I got to 32, so now I feel like I have to play again soon!!

Obviously, we need to let him do his thing. 

[Peer]

Nov 16, 2023 13:15:19 GMT -5 playvectrex said:

Ahh, so the LEFT / CENTER / RIGHT is more linear from room to room. Different versions of that room number. I never figured out the pattern because I only played a few times that lasted many many hours.

Is it too much of a spoiler to ask if the game has an ending after 33 rooms? I got to 32, so now I feel like I have to play again soon!!

Assume the final version has 99 levels, which translates to 33 rooms in variants a,b,c. You start at difficulty 1 and play the first round through rooms 1 to 33, choosing variant a,b or c for each rooms. If you master room 33, then you continue in a second round at difficulty 2, and play again through rooms 1 to 33 (which are now numbered 34 to 66). Depending on your choices, you might see the same or a different variant of each room, compared to your first round. But even if you chose the same variant of a specific room, it will still feel and behave differently, as the difficulty has now increased. After mastering room 66, the third round continues with difficulty three. Once you get to room 99, you might have seen all 99 levels, or just a subset, depending on the doors you selected.

Now note that you played the Vector War tournament version, which has only about a third of the number of "levels" and "rooms" compared to the final version. When you played your 32 "rooms", at a certain point you came to end of the first round of that version, and the rooms wrapped around and the sequence started over again (with increased difficulty).

The rooms 1 to 32 you saw in the Vector War version, are not the rooms 1 to 32 of the final version. You already saw a repetition of rooms when you played, but you probably did not notice, as you most likely chose different entry doors in your second round.

[Peer]

Nov 16, 2023 13:48:27 GMT -5 50tbrd said:

Nov 16, 2023 13:15:19 GMT -5 playvectrex said:

Ahh, so the LEFT / CENTER / RIGHT is more linear from room to room. Different versions of that room number. I never figured out the pattern because I only played a few times that lasted many many hours.

Is it too much of a spoiler to ask if the game has an ending after 33 rooms? I got to 32, so now I feel like I have to play again soon!!

Obviously, we need to let him do his thing.

Everything I do is my thing by mere definition 

But I will happily answer that question. In fact I already did in my previous post above. The final version does not end after room 33

[playvectrex]

Ahh, thanks for the answer. The end is so far away!!

Does anyone remember pausing their NES for days at a time to keep continuing? And just turn the TV off so nobody was the wiser?

I did notice the rooms repeating and increasing with speed. Maybe around level 22? That’s cool that there are more unique rooms, and plenty of versions of the rooms as well in the upcoming release. Looking forward to playing it.

[Peer]

Nov 17, 2023 1:46:06 GMT -5 playvectrex said:

Ahh, thanks for the answer. The end is so far away!!

Does anyone remember pausing their NES for days at a time to keep continuing? And just turn the TV off so nobody was the wiser?

Yes, a friend of mine had an NES. I do not recall which game it was, but he got really far, and then paused and we headed off for sports. While he was gone, his mother cleaned his room and turned off all the devices her son had forgotten to switch off... Those were the days!

[Peer]

I just got word from Sean that Count Vecula is now available on his web site as a boxed version including overlay and manual, and as a cartridge only version.

Many Cheers,

Peer

[TrekMD]

Thanks for letting us know, @peer!