Vector War XIV - Preparations and Discussions

[kiwasabi]

I'm constantly reminded that the Vectrex community is the most intelligent gaming subculture in existence.

So are you guys saying it still isn't even known who programmed the original A Crush of Lucifer code? Is there a style to the code that might reveal hints when compared to other games' code?

By the way, it will be interesting to see just how many times people are able to defeat Lucifer in one playthrough in the upcoming Vector War. Anybody know what's considered a good score for a game of ACOL?

[Sketcz]

Curious to know this myself about ACOL.

When I first played it, when it arrived, I beat him 3 times and got over 30k. Must have been fluke. Every subsequent go after this I can't even reach him once - it's somehow gotten harder!

[kiwasabi]

Oct 11, 2024 18:29:05 GMT -5 Sketcz said:

Curious to know this myself about ACOL.

When I first played it, when it arrived, I beat him 3 times and got over 30k. Must have been fluke. Every subsequent go after this I can't even reach him once - it's somehow gotten harder!

Honestly, there's a big randomness factor that makes it way harder in some playthroughs. Sometimes the portal will appear 150 squares away on the grid, forcing you to move left or right way more which causes way more deaths. I've thought in these cases during Vector War it would be better to just keep resetting until the first portal appears within 25 squares or less on the grid. Otherwise you're wasting your time with tons of excess deaths trying to reach Lucifer for the first time. My record is also beating him 3 times and getting about 30k points.

This also brings up another point... there's a major issue with the collision detection where you're too easily able to collide with objects that aren't in your field of view when moving left and right. So this issue is compounded when Lucifer's portal appears 100-150 squares away. There doesn't seem to be a very safe way to move left and right with any certainty of not hitting any objects. I had the thought that this game would be better as a third person shooter where you've got a physical ship that you navigate around objects. You wouldn't be able to have the very cool first person perspective of the bullets flying out... but it would probably play a lot better. Either that or the player's own collision box should be shrunk way down so when you're moving left and right, that you can't collide with an object that isn't in the field of view.

By the way, as far as my guess about who programmed the original A Crush of Lucifer... my observation is ACOL seems most similar to Web Wars. Both games have the 3d graphics that rotate along with the camera, as well as a very intricate character design with Lucifer, which reminds me of the 20 animated characters that you collect in Web Wars. The only other original Vectrex game I can think of with such elaborate character designs was SPIKE. But the creator of that game has never mentioned working on a canceled game. I believe his name is Tom Sloper. He has a website blog where he talks about game design and the games he has worked on. He also made the Super Nintendo version of Aliens vs Predator.

[arquillos]

Hi, I am looking for advise about running this two games:
- Every Day Is Halloween v1.00
- Thrust v1.2

I am using a VecMulti (2010), and both games crashes after displaying the game title. I tried both game in the emu "VectrexEmulator_0_2_6_2_Alpha", and both runs fine.
Any help with this Issue?

Update: After trying to launch the game several more times, Thrust started to work!, "Every day is halloween" i still refusing to work (I only get the title screen).

[D-Type]

Oct 13, 2024 9:33:54 GMT -5 arquillos said:

Hi, I am looking for advise about running this two games:
- Every Day Is Halloween v1.00
- Thrust v1.2

I am using a VecMulti (2010), and both games crashes after displaying the game title. I tried both game in the emu "VectrexEmulator_0_2_6_2_Alpha", and both runs fine.
Any help with this Issue?

Update: After trying to launch the game several more times, Thrust started to work!, "Every day is halloween" i still refusing to work (I only get the title screen).

As part of my VW prep, I found the same thing as you, all the games worked except EDIH and Thrust. I was also getting crashes on Release, but I was probably running a version with high score saves, which the VM doesn't support. 

I note they're both 32KiB (as is Release), all the rest are smaller.

I fixed my problems by switching to VEXTREME and VecFever.

[D-Type]

Update: I just tried the VecMulti again (actually I have two, one new, one old) and using the original games provided on the microsSD card, Thrust works. Previously I'd wiped the VecMulti and put on only the VW games.

I have a feeling that the binary I tried that didn't work was from VIDE and has a newer version number than some others I found, it may well be something to do with that.

[hcmffm]

Begin of Vector War XIV is getting closer - only 5 days to go. 

I've created a ZIP archive with all free binaries. You can download the ZIP archive here.

Games that are not included in the ZIP archive:

• Vectrexagon is donationware and can be downloaded for some donation or even free via www.sdwdevelopments.com/
  
• Crush of Lucifer is a commercial game available via www.vectrexmulti.com/ *
  
• Unicorn Galaxy is a commercial game sold by game author Chris Malcolm at ebay *

^*Depending on your location, it's probably too late for order Crush of Lucifer and/or Unicorn Galaxy.

A word on EDIH binary: In VW10 people had experienced problems with the binaries and a patched version (filled with zeros) has been created and provided. Both the non-patched and the patched version is included in the ZIP archive.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I'll announce all prizes that have been donated so far.

[jbrodack]

Vector War start date crept up on me. Looks like too late to get Unicorn Galaxy unfortunately but I should have everything else. I started playing Vectrexagon for the Vectrex high score club.

[D-Type]

Thank hcmffm for putting the ZIP archive together, especially remembering the EDIH workaround! Hopefully this will resolve the VecMulti issues that have been seen.

[hcmffm]

Four days till Vector War XIV starts. Time for announcing prizes...

Let's start with the most special prize: The wooden spoon. 

Despite bad and difficult circumstances in his life, Tony Lindberg (fruktodlaren ) can provide a wooden spoon for Vector War XIV. The wooden spoon is a fun prize for the person or the team who just made it or that became last. See Wikipedia for more info on the wooden spoon award. In Vector War rules for winning are slightly different: Second last winner will win the wooden spoon. Here's a picture of this unique item:

Please note that the prize is the wooden spoon, only. Lindberg family's black cat, the Norwegian milk chocolate, the Sir Parton sweet, the two jars and its content, the black blanket, the book "Bullar & Brod & Brunch" by Camilla Hamid, and Tony's smartphone, the kitchen table and the kitchen cupboard are not included.

Thank you very much, Tony, for donating the wooden spoon for Vector War XIV!

[hcmffm]

Next prize to be announced is another Tony Lindberg prize: 

An aluminum cartridge of Vectrexagon. This cartridge is in memory of Andreas Gustavsson, author of Vectrexagon who died in spring 2023. R.I.P., Andreas.

As you might know, game list had been changed on last minute - see above. Tony did react on those last minute changes and struggled to get this prize done. So far it's the aluminum shell without PCB; Tony and I will find a way that winner will get a PCB, too. Thank you very much, Tony, for crafting the aluminum cartridge of Vectrexagon and donating it for the coming Vector War. A very special prize. And a memory to Andreas Gustavsson.

[hcmffm]

Three weeks ago, Ralf has contacted me via and offered a prize for the coming Vector War. A Vector War bezel overlay. You don't know what a bezel overlay is or looks like? Here are two photos:





Thank you, Ralf, for this great, Vector War specific prize. And sorry that it took for so long till your prize was announced.

[hcmffm]

Right, my backlog of non-announced prizes for Vector War XIV was long. But I'm getting there...

End of september(!), John (Sketcz ) had sent me a PM. John is author of the trilogy "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers" and donated the full trilogy of books digitally. Winner can get the trilogy as PDFs, Mobi, or eReader files.

This is what the book covers of "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers" look like - click on the photos to read more about each book.







Each of these books contain interviews with more than 30 Japanese game developers and provide a deep insight, details, and secrets. Vectrex wasn't developed in the U.S. and not in Japan and therefore Vectrex isn't included. But I guess most video gamers aren't focussed on Vectrex, only.

Thank you very much, John, for this excellent prize!

[hcmffm]

While the above prizes are choosable by winners of the tournament, following two prizes are prizes for winners of a game:

Five years ago, Chris Malcolm (binarystar ) had provided a special edition of his "Every Day is Halloween" for Vector War X. This year, Chris did it again and even twice:

• Person with highest score in Every Day Is Halloween will win a special edition of Every Day Is Halloween.
  
• Person with highest score in Unicorn Galaxy will win a special edition of Unicorn Galaxy.

Here's a photo of the EDIH special edition:

Please note that in a Vector War, a person can win only one prize - except the wooden spoon.

Thank you very much, Chris, for donating these two great prizes!

[hcmffm]

Those players winning a Vector War are real Vectrex experts. One of the prize that winners can choose from is a Vectrex Pin:





Diameter: ~58mm (~2,3 inch)

This Vectrex pin is rare - that's for sure. And I was very lucky and own two of 'em, atm (Thank you, Mat and Martin!). Special rule for this prize: If you should be both one of the happy winners of Vectrex War XIV and lucky owner of such a Vectrex pin, already, you have to choose a prize other than this Vectrex pin.