Opry99er Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Thanks for hosting November, Vorticon!!! I have learned to love that game... I will try to put it onto a real cartridge, inside a real Funware case, and make up a Cave Creatures label for it. And now..... December is upon us... I thought quite a bit about what game to select for this month... Part of me wanted to select one of my own games.... namely Markus of Marinus--since it will start shipping this month. But I thought better of that. Next I wanted to select a Christmas-themed game, and well--frankly-- we don't have many. (Something I hope to help rectify in 2019) I then thought about doing a game from one of our fantastic programmers here on Atariage.... there have been many excellent homebrews, and they need more play! What it finally came down to was a simple matter of opportunity. I am not a great gamer, and I win about one of these competitions per year. When will I ever win November's contest again? And who would ever select St. Nick by Funware? Short answer is.... neither are likely. So-- without further ado: Funware's St Nick!!!!! Pick up Santa's toys which have been scattered about the workshop by his possessed elves. Holdovers from Halloween (the witches) wish to cause havoc and mayhem at the North Pole, and they have cast a spell on the poor elves. Santa must pick up the toys in a specific order, however, as part of the enchantment. The order is listed on the left of the screen. If you pick up a toy out of order, you are frozen in time and the elves come out and scatter even more toys. If you are touched by a witch, the same will happen. Scattered in amongst the toys are letter blocks. If you can spell SANTA by picking up these blocks (in whatever order you choose) you go into Mega Christmas mode and can pick up whatever toys you want in whatever order you want without concern for the witches at all. Start on Level 1, and let's see what kind of helpers we are here in the community. Can you help Santa save Christmas?!?! Two prizes will be given out this month: For first place, I am giving out the last un-spoken-for copy of the red "Faire Edition" of Markus of Marinus. Second place will receive a nice copy of C. Regena's Programmer's Reference book. Good luck, folks. Let's save Christmas together!!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Here is a gameplay video with some strategies for you all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Here's an opening score for you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globeron Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Level 3:4 real hardware. Sent from my VIE-L29 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Excellent score! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Turtles is going to have a ball with this one. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Yep . . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 My scores don't count toward the prizes (obviously) but here is my personal best. Previous best was around 18K. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 (edited) Hey folks, please don't forget to post your TI times on the tracker today/tonight. We collectively played the dog crap out of some Cave Creatures and St Nick (already) this week.... Let's see if we can get the TI to the top of the charts this week! Post all TI times you've played so far this week, game titles and minutes played. Occasionally we get the #1 spot, but that's usually owned by Atari 2600 or NES. Link below to tracker thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/273838-what-have-you-actually-played-tracker-for-2018-season-11/page-45?do=findComment&comment=4168583 Edited December 2, 2018 by Opry99er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Our family times are already posted--Turtles was a gaming demon this week. I even got to help a little bit. . . 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 You were playing Shanghai! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+chue Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 BUSTED! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Yep, I was playing a little bit of Shanghai. I really need to track down my copy of the instructions for that one. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Oh man I suck! My highscore was 3960. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckoBrand Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 No you don't. My high was somewhere around 2580. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Oh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 Welp, I tried to get a little better. I reached 4170. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 Nice!!!!! Once you get through level 1:6, it cycles to 2:1 and it gets easy again. Just a bit faster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 St. Nick has got to be one of the more frustrating* and irritating games I've played in a while. My GF is playing it right now and if I were to post a video of her cussing and getting agitated, would ruin everyone's Christmas. 2720 so far... *seems this game begs for a proper 4 way joystick. With a regular and standard 8 way, find ourselves getting "stuck" in places. Game requires pixel perfect steps too. Very challenging... but all in all, pretty fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 There are some pointers that will help you on your way.... #1) Santa is pseudo-3D.... His head is conceptually "above the play field". What I mean by this is that items can pass behind his head. If there is a red ball in front of Santa's face, but you're collecting boats, you can walk right into the ball and it will pass "behind" Santa's head. It seems like a weird concept, but once you get the hang of it, it makes perfect sense. More tips are forthcoming. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 And sometimes the elves don't scatter the first type of toy you're collecting when they first scatter the toys around. . . it has happened to me before. So you only have to collect 3 types of toys and not 4 ! It is very rare, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 St. Nick has got to be one of the more frustrating and irritating games I've played in a while. My GF is playing it right now and if I were to post a video of her cussing and getting agitated, would ruin everyone's Christmas. That will actually make my Christmas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 And sometimes the elves don't scatter the first type of toy you're collecting when they first scatter the toys around. . . it has happened to me before. So you only have to collect 3 types of toys and not 4 ! It is very rare, though. Correct. Additionally, if you collect all of one type of toy and are then hit by a witch, the elves will not drop any of the completed toy types. So if you get to the end of the level and have only boats left to collect, then get hit, the elves will ONLY drop boats. This is useful information when trying to decide whether or not to "Go For It" while a witch is around.... The goal is to eliminate entire toy sets because it makes collecting much easier later in the level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 Also, there is really no practical reason we must all start at Level 1:1. If you'd prefer to start on Level 2:1, go for it! I don't see a measurable advantage either way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 That will actually make my Christmas. She was getting really bad! Had to pry a newly refurbished CX40 away from her as she was just wrenching on the poor thing. Found my Ultimate Superstick and I just scored 6630, so there *is* a little hope for better scores now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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