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Post by eyelyft71 on Sept 28, 2024 18:08:23 GMT -5
Hello All,
Firstly, I just wanted to thank everyone that is involved and participates in this every year. Quite ok to take a well deserved break Peer as you have done so much for this community for so many years! Taking a sabbatical is one of the best things you can do for yourself and personal growth as you already know.
So typically I am not one to choose the lineup, but I do have some suggestions this year below.
I second that of not having Tour De France this year despite it being a great game. If we decide to do Hera Primera, I feel we will need a binary for that one just for the tournament. Many of us did not order the new problematic cart and still just have the demo version. If everyone is fine with using the original demo version I am ok with that as well.
Armor Attack
Bedlam
Berzerk or Berzerk (ultimate)
Pole Position
Rip Off
Star Trek
Karl Quappe
Protector
Sea Pup
Trick-or-treat-o-tron
Unicorn Galaxy
Vec T-Rex Run
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 29, 2024 15:45:05 GMT -5
Wow, a lot of discussion is going on and the organisator of VW doesn't react. Until now.  Thank you Vectrex veterans, Scott, John, Phil, and Alan, for joining in the Vector War XIV discussion! Cool that you are around, again.  Original Vectrex consoleGames must be played on original Vectrex console. This means that emulators are excluded from Vector Wars. (From my point of view a Vectrex competition on emulator would be like a soccer world championship played on green sand.) ... Luckily dev's respect the integrity of the event. Well, I hope so, anyway. :-D Luckily all players respect the integrity of the event.
Controllers: Original and non-original ^If I remember correctly with the last several V. Wars you just needed to post saying you were using a non-standard controller and that was it. Helmut may say differently though. 100% correct, Darryl, and I don't say differently. See rules in initial post. Game list - DiscussionPersonally, I'm not a physical game collector, so unless it's free, I can't play it. ... A good hint that I've been trying to consider for years. There should be two commercial games maximum in every Vector War. ... Or, in general, if the developers feel like it, what about free special Vector War editions, like we had several in the past? Maybe limited in some way. Those can also work as appetizers to buy the full version after the tournament. Free, special Vector War editions are a good option which I much like. Years ago I posted a topic CompEditions. In the past there were some CompEdition and prereleases, thanks to Chris S. (Malban), Chris M. (Vectorrepublic), Steve (Minsoft), and Thomas S. But bad me, I haven't contacted any developer this year and had no offer for a CompEdition, either. ... I second that of not having Tour De France this year despite it being a great game. ... Thank you, for your opinion Hmm, is there a reason why Tour De France shouldn't be played? Both Pole Position and Tour De France have been played in VW11, so I don't mind changing Tour De France to Pole Position or Berzerk/Berzerk Ultimate. Other opinions? Game list - HomebrewsUntil now, no " mountaingoat" game has been played in a Vector War, therefore Marine Fox is in. Frogger and Karl Quappe have been played in previous Vector Wars but both are good games so Karl Quappe is in. List of homebrews is now: 1. Karl Quappe 2. Marine Fox 3. Sea Pup 4. Thrust
5. Unicorn Galaxy (Commercial game) Two more homebrew games to decide on. Lightpen games (Mail Plane, ..) will not be played in coming Vector War XIV. But maybe in VW 15. With Hera Primera I'm not clear: AFAIK, Polysoft has fixed the problem and has sent out new PCBs to those who received a buggy PCB. From my point of view all those people owning Hera Primera should have a runnable version of Hera Primera, now. And Hera Primera is commercial and not free but still available. Crush of Lucifer and Trick-or-treat-o-tron (suggested by Alan, developed and published by Chris M. (Binarystar) just like Unicorn Galaxy) are also still an option. They are both commercial but one more commercial game would be fine, I think. Thank you for suggestion Vec T-Rex Run, Alan. This game of the Vectrex Academy is indeed an option. Not quite sure how much of a lucky game it is. Last not least: Every Day is Halloween was played in VW 10. It perfectly fits to the time of the year. |
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Post by Peer on Sept 30, 2024 0:37:52 GMT -5
... Thank you, for your opinion Hmm, is there a reason why Tour De France shouldn't be played? Both Pole Position and Tour De France have been played in VW11, so I don't mind changing Tour De France to Pole Position or Berzerk/Berzerk Ultimate. Other opinions? I have to admit that I am also not a big fan of Tour De France, and I would not feel sad if it was replaced by a different game. No specific reason. I just never got "into" the game. Fun fact: Tour De France uses large parts of the code / graphics-engine of Hyperchase (just look at the details of the landscape), but it lacks that awesome look and feel, in my opinion. Maybe "Save the Planet" and/or "Get the Beer" from past Vectrex Academies deserve a chance to be played again? I think it would be quite interesting to explore Crush of Lucifer in a tournament. I have been through the code, but I have not really played it a lot so far. Would be good if someone who is non-biased and from "outside" the Academy (i.e. not me ) could try and and evaluate the game with respect to being suitable for the tournament. But I think the other two I mentioned above would likely be more fun. |
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Post by Peer on Sept 30, 2024 2:35:05 GMT -5
Btw, has Blitz ever been played in the tournament?
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Post by Sketcz on Sept 30, 2024 5:31:52 GMT -5
I'm mildly obsessed with Polar Rescue. I'm not especially good at it, but I like the idea of more people discovering it. So that gets my humble recommendation.
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Post by fruktodlaren on Sept 30, 2024 6:22:28 GMT -5
Bubble splitter is a favourite Vectrex Academy game for me. But I can't remember at the time of writing if the score is displayed at the game over screen or not. If it isn't it is hard to compete in.
That said, it is a most enjoyable port of a similarly looking "arcade game that has a one word gunshot sound illustration as a name".
EDIT: Bubble Splitter displays number of the levels you reached at the game over screen. So you can indeed compete in it. However, it seems a little buggy sometimes when bubbles you haven't popped yet just disappears.
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Post by scotthuggins on Sept 30, 2024 9:00:12 GMT -5
Btw, has Blitz ever been played in the tournament? Oh, yea! I think that'd be a great one. Blitz doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves. This would be a great opportunity for Veccy fans to get a chance to discover it. |
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Post by Vorkosigan on Sept 30, 2024 13:50:41 GMT -5
I gave each game of the Vectrex Academies 2016 to 2023 a quick try. Here are my suggestions for candidates to take into the line up:
Blox (VA 2019): a very nice Break Out game.
Bubble Splitter (VA 2022): a skill game.
Pipe Race (VA 2017): At first it gives Vectrexagon vibes til you realize that you're sliding in a 3D perspective down the pipe.
Frog Jump (VA 2021), Kingdom of Heaven (VA 2017), Doodle Jump (VA 2017): Predecessors of Wet Cat but not so sophisticated.
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 30, 2024 15:39:45 GMT -5
Thank you, Peer, Marc, and Toni for more input on the game discussion. Some answers with some quoting: "Save the Planet" and/or "Get the Beer" offered indeed much fun. So do Asteroid Cowboy, Floor is Lava, and some more. Though, I'd rather find another Vectrex Academy game that hasn't been played in a Vector War, yet. - Tour de France: This one might be changed to Pole Position, Polar Rescue, Berzerk/Berzerk Ultimate or Blitz!
- Polar Rescue: Has been played in VW6, VW7, VW10, and last VW. Repeating a game of a previous Vector War is possible.
- Blitz! has been played in three Vector Wars: VW2, VW5, and VW8. Perhaps time to play it again.
- Vec T-Rex run is still an option but it's not clear whether it's suitable for a tournament.
- Crush of Lucifer (commercial)
- Trick-or-treat-o-tron (commercial)
- Every day is Halloween (last played in VW10)
- Bubble splitter: I've just tried it out and atm I think the game isn't mature enough to be played in a tournament.
- Blox: I've just tried it out and I think that difficulty ramps up too quickly: My guess is that all players will fail in level 8 or 9 latest.
- Pipe Race: Game looks good and playing it is cool. Unlike Vectrexagon the pipes appear in random order. Not sure how much it is of a lucky game for this reason.
- Frog Jump (VA 2021), Kingdom of Heaven (VA 2017), Doodle Jump (VA 2017): Good suggestions. I haven't tried them out, though, where can I find the binaries? Does anyone have the link to the Vectrex Academy Pages of 2016 and 2017?
I'm tempted to put Crush of Lucifer on the list but still wait a bit. And why not play "Everyday is Halloween", again? I'm still undecisive and will wait with deciding on the game list till the weekend. So you can still convince me and other people if you want a game to be in. Most important is fun when playing the game and the must be suitable for a tournament (not too much luck plus something like a scoring system). |
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Post by Peer on Oct 1, 2024 0:54:42 GMT -5
... "Save the Planet" and/or "Get the Beer" offered indeed much fun. So are Asteroid Cowboy, Floor is Loving, and some more. Though, I'd rather find another Vectrex Academy game that hasn't been played in a Vector War, yet. - Pipe Race: Game looks good and playing it is cool. Unlike Vectrexagon the pipes appear in random order. Not sure how much it is of a lucky game for this reason.
We had lucky games before (e.g. Spinball). Pipe Race is very intense and a combination of luck and skill. It is also short, so good for taking a quick break from playing one of the other games. Unfortunately, the 2016-2018 pages were lost, see this thread here. I still have the binaries, so let me know if you need a specific game. Personally, I vote for "Crush of Lucifer" (never been played before) AND "Everyday is Halloween" (so much fun and so fitting regarding the week of the tournament, also great for children to play).
I also vote for Blitz.
But those are just my thoughts  |
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Post by D-Type on Oct 1, 2024 1:02:24 GMT -5
How about Release? Wonderful port from Malban and easy to play for my kids.
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Post by scotthuggins on Oct 1, 2024 12:30:17 GMT -5
D-Type!
That may be the BEST idea yet for a homebrew for this year's Vector War. Release is PERFECT. It's fairly quick to play a game and there's plenty of dynamics to the gameplay to keep you wanting to "just one more try". Yea, you only need a controller that has one single button that works in order to play it, but it's a blast.
The ending of Release is the most intensely visual celebration of your death I have ever seen before. LOL. Helmut, please! Release! :-)
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Post by hcmffm on Oct 1, 2024 15:42:07 GMT -5
Vector War hasn't even started, yet, and already people are around and are discussing and posting as never before. Wow, I'm positively impressed! There are still many games in the race and it's pretty hard to decide and to please everyone. There are pros and cons for every game. Two examples: 1. Release: Indeed, an excellent and very cool game of Malban. Currently, Karl Quappe is on the game list, which is also developed by Malban. Two games of one homebrew developer in a Vector War is not fair to other homebrew developers. Perhaps kick-out Karl Quappe and play Release instead? But Karl Quappe is a great game for both adults and children. Hmm. 2. Blitz! In past two Vector Wars we've played Heads Up! (Soccer). Not many people were enthusiastic about Heads Up! and same applied for Blitz! some years ago. So it seems like a good idea to have a pause from sport games with tactics in VW14. ___
In the list of original games I've removed Tour De France and added Clean Sweep. Clean Sweep has flickering and a bug but it is playable and hasn't been played since Vector War 6. It's four weeks till Vector War will start. For commmercial games a decision is needed so that people still can order it. Therefore I decide now, that Crush of Lucifer is in. Both Unicorn Galaxy and Crush of Lucifers will be played in VW14. If you don't own Unicorn Galaxy and/or Crush of Lucifer, yet, and want to play these games in VW14 you can place your order and there should be a good chance that you receive your copy in time. And I've added Pipe Race which still can be discussed. Currently, the game list for VW 14 is: Original games (not final, yetArmor Attack Bedlam Rip Off Clean Sweep Pole Position Star Castle Star Trek/Star Ship Homebrew games (not final, yet)1. Crush of Lucifer (Commercial game)* 2. Karl Quappe 3. Marine Fox 4. Pipe Race
5. Sea Pup 6. Thrust 7. Unicorn Galaxy (Commercial game) **Game will be definitely played in VW14. Above game list is still under discussion for two more days - I'll freeze the game list on 3rd October. |
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Post by Sketcz on Oct 2, 2024 2:51:04 GMT -5
Crush of Lucifer ordered! I've been wanting to get it for ages, since it's one of the "lost" original dev titles. Looking forward to it.
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Post by D-Type on Oct 2, 2024 2:56:17 GMT -5
Time for Sean to pony up some prizes, with all those Lucifer sales! :-)
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