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Post by Peer on Mar 12, 2023 6:35:29 GMT -5
Greetings everyone!
Vectrex Academy 2023 will start coming Thursday, on March 16th, 2023. Here is the link: As of today, already 8 students have pre-registered. Let us see if all of them will indeed show up on Thursday, and how many else, who have not yet registered, might also show up.
Many Cheers, Peer
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Post by VECTREXER on Mar 12, 2023 14:57:07 GMT -5
Greetings everyone!
Vectrex Academy 2023 will start coming Thursday, on March 16th, 2023. Here is the link: As of today, already 8 students have pre-registered. Let us see if all of them will indeed show up on Thursday, and how many else, who have not yet registered, might also show up. Many Cheers, Peer
Fantastic. Maybe more too? HaPPy Educating! |
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Post by hcmffm on Mar 12, 2023 15:44:04 GMT -5
Thank you, Peer, for this great news. Always good to read about a new crew of students starting the Vectrex Academy.  I wish 0b00101010, PixelBlast, 0xC001D00D, stackoverflow, MRX, alt_&_F4_for_save, nop, the_last_bitbender, other students to come, and last not least you a good start and look much forward to seeing first concepts and sketches! |
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Post by Malban on Mar 13, 2023 4:58:04 GMT -5
LOL
I hope the students invest as much time in Vectrex programming as they did into their Nicks.
0b00101010 The answer to the universe... and everything
PixelBlast Yes - pixels are for losers - Vectors!
0xC001D00D CooLDooD
stackoverflow I don't know if there are questions/answers on StackOverflow for Vectrex
MRX Difficult this one....
But my guess would be a Hacker Mr X
alt_&_F4_for_save
25 years ago this might have been funny ;-)
nop Not much to expect is there?
the_last_bitbender Don't know is that something avatarian?
Cheers
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Post by Peer on Mar 13, 2023 6:22:18 GMT -5
LOL I hope the students invest as much time in Vectrex programming as they did into their Nicks. ... MRX Difficult this one....
But my guess would be a Hacker Mr X ... Cheers Yes, each year again I am looking forward to the choosing of the names. That is one of the fun parts of the course.
MRX is a character from the movie "Who am I", a german production, and indeed a hacker movie. MRX is one of the bad guys. According to the student, the name was selected because MRX has three rules: No system is safe. Aim for the impossible. Have fun in cyberspace and meat space. Many Cheers, Peer ...
... which happens to be my real name, and yes, it has already been the target of countless jokes ... peer-to-peer network: I am a solitary man...
peer-to-peer communication: ... so, yes, I talk to myself
peer-programming: one of my favorite activities peer-review: demanded always and everywhere, that is why I am so busy connection-reset-by-peer: my counter-measure if someone bothers me too much peer-pressure: what you get if you do not behave as I want peer-group: my friends
peer-person: in essence, most of the time, a nice guy... 
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Post by kokovec on Mar 13, 2023 11:08:09 GMT -5
LOL Many Cheers, Peer ...
... which happens to be my real name, and yes, it has already been the target of countless jokes ... peer-to-peer network: I am a solitary man...
peer-to-peer communication: ... so, yes, I talk to myself
peer-programming: one of my favorite activities peer-review: demanded always and everywhere, that is why I am so busy connection-reset-by-peer: my counter-measure if someone bothers me too much peer-pressure: what you get if you do not behave as I want peer-group: my friends
peer-person: in essence, most of the time, a nice guy...
Having a German last name, I can feel your pain. |
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Post by Peer on Mar 14, 2023 14:58:31 GMT -5
Small update: One more student has preregistered. Currently, there are 9 participants.
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Post by Peer on Mar 16, 2023 14:56:36 GMT -5
Next Update: First classroom meeting today. All 9 pre-registered students were present. 4 more students have voiced their interest to join.
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Post by Peer on Mar 18, 2023 13:38:02 GMT -5
And already the first ideas and game concepts are coming in. I am pleasently surprised by how fast this is, considering that the first lecture took place only just two days ago. There is some nice first concept art to be found on the project web pages.
Many Cheers, Peer
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Post by hcmffm on Mar 23, 2023 1:27:42 GMT -5
Great that first game concepts have been created and made available! I'll have a look at them and will write up short commments tonight.
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Post by hcmffm on Mar 23, 2023 17:52:58 GMT -5
Great that there game concepts, already. When looking at the Vectrex Academy webpages I had expected games of 6 students but in fact it's games of 13 students, now. Wow! That's quite a number of students this year - cool.  Below please find some comments on the game concepts. VEC PONG Game concept is good to understand and detailed. I like the variations to the original Pong like spike in the game board and possibility to tilt the paddle. Actually, just very recently I've purchased a SABA Video Play of 1977. Games are very(!) simple and almost all games are two player games because console came with two controllers, already, and writing up an AI for an oponent was either unknown or too difficult at that time. In other words: Maybe a two-player VEC PONG might be a good idea - even two player only would be acceptable, I think. And a cool variation are two-paddles per player which are controlled by joystick and buttons, see Hockey for Saba VideoPlay CLIFF JUMP An interesting game concept and cool that there will be another sports game for the Vectrex. I've even just learnt that there are two different position in cliff jumping. Graphics are simple but with nice details. I much like the score cards after the jump. Reminds me a bit of platform diving in Summer games. GET IN SHAPE Already, for "Get in Shape" there's a game concept but also a colourful overlay - nice! "Ah, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for the Vectrex!" was my first thought. Cool that an animated intro screen is in the game concept. The game itself reminds me of Guitar Hero but sure enough it has a different purpose. And it reminds me of In the Groove with four arrows, freezes, and mines. You have mines - perhaps you can also introduce freezes but not sure whether this is something for a brain training game. Some sound/tones for each button when pressing might be an idea. Look much forward to see how this game concept works out. VECDRIFT A short and clean game concept. You may want to make match perspectives of cars and road. Perhaps both joystick and button control can be provided. Additional obstacles and fuel are good possible extensions. Some racing games have gears to make it more realistic but personally I think race games can do without that - there is automatic gear shift, too. HAPPY BIRD Game concept has many details in it and looks well thought through. A bit of a pity that there is a Flappy bird clone on the Vectrex, already. But why not have another one - makes players HAPPY. TANK MASTER Maybe it's the war in Ukraine but there's quite a number of new tank games on the Vectrex these days. For some reason I don't know I don't mind tanks as long as tanks shoot on tanks and don't shoot on people. In your drafts, maps have lots of lines - this might become a flicker problem because drawing might need to much time. Tank control with rotate left/right and forward using joystick would be cool. Perhaps turret can be rotated independently to the tank - this would make the game difficult and realistic. O.k., I'm just dreaming. WETCAT A nice idea for a game with a professional looking game concept. "Floor is Lava" has a similar game concept but I much like this concept with scrolling screen and with water, cat, and mice this will be something unique. Animation of cat might be a challenge but start simple and if there's time you can still make it more complicated. FREERIDE-VEC-TOUR Cool game concept with a lot of varation in it. Diagonal scrolling and all the variations will be quite a challenge. Perhaps you can plan a sort of MVP/first increment of the game and once you have finished that and still have time you can still enhance it. FLY HIGH Game concept is something new to me - I guess when playing it will be a bit like the fourth stage in Scramble but vertical instead of horizontal. For drawing barriers you might try out a single line with short vertical line instead of two horizontal lines. This will a.) speed up things and b.) look 3D, and c.) look less artifical. Space ship is well designed - I just wonder how you will draw an arc. TEE TIME It took me a moment to understand the intended pun. Game play is known but AFAIK still unknown on the Vectrex. I much hope that you find time for the optional two player mode. Then, I can challenge my daugther in mini golf on the Vectrex. BOMBSWEEPER / 1024 FAIK, there's no Minesweeper clone on the Vectrex, yet. Drawing the many lines and details might be an issue, though. 1024 is also a good idea but there is a very good port of 2048 available, already. VECVENTURE Cool story. Not quite sure but AFAIk there's no RPG on the Vectrex, yet. Oregon trail is a bit in this direction but not really. I'm nosey to see how this one turns out. VEC T-REX RUN Game title with a cool pun. I like side scolling games and I like the game idea. Another promising game concept. @all students: All your game concepts are pretty cool. I wish you good success and fun during Vectrex Academy 2023! |
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Post by VectorX on Mar 23, 2023 20:10:29 GMT -5
Sounds like a bit of variety this year!
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Post by nexus6 on Mar 24, 2023 3:50:35 GMT -5
Nice to hear that such a large number of students have started this year The concepts are promising. If they get finished, there could be some nice candidates for the next Vector War. |
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Post by Peer on Mar 25, 2023 5:10:46 GMT -5
Great that there game concepts, already. When looking at the Vectrex Academy webpages I had expected games of 6 students but in fact it's games of 13 students, now. Wow! That quite a number of students this year - that's cool. Below please find some comments on the game concepts... Thanks a lot, Helmut, for your posting your thoughts about the game-concepts. This is a great motivation for the whole team |
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Post by hcmffm on Mar 25, 2023 16:12:19 GMT -5
^ You're welcome, Peer. Something that came to my mind: For new game concepts it might be a good idea to have a look at games on even simpler consoles like the Saba VideoPlay or Atari 2600. As written above, the Saba VideoPlay (=Fairchild Channel F) has very simple two player games. In a first increment, a simple two player game could be implemented and in further steps/increments a one player mode (with opponent with AI) or additional graphics, title screen, sound, and more could be added. Just an idea... |
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I wish 0b00101010, PixelBlast, 0xC001D00D, stackoverflow, MRX, alt_&_F4_for_save, nop, the_last_bitbender, other students to come, and last not least you a good start and look much forward to seeing first concepts and sketches!
