Homebrew WIP: Steps

[+Dave C]

This is a logic game called "Steps" - Play it on Javatari!
 

• Your job is to help Zara the Clever Squirrel collect all the acorns. She's put them all on a long stairway reaching up to the sky, but there's a catch...
• Zara is an exceptionally tricky squirrel and to keep any other squirrels from raiding her cache she's made it so you can't walk straight up the stairs - you have to jump instead.
• There's a number on each stair indicating how far you jump, up or down, but no more and no less.
• Jump too far off either end of a stairway and you'll fall, luckily Zara is also quite agile and will catch herself.
• Get to the top of all the stairs and you'll get a special prize...
  
  

I've tested on Stella and Javatari, primarily NTSC... any feedback much appreciated.

TLDR:

This game is based on a type of jumping maze called a "tweetmaze" that I came across looking for puzzles I could add to VCS Lisp. At first I thought it would be impractical to visualize this type of maze on the 2600 (at least, given the self-imposed constraints of running alongside VCS Lisp)... until I hit on the idea of the "steps" to display the maze diagonally. The graphics kernels for VCS Lisp support drawing indented blocks of text that could be made to kindasorta look like stairs... so I started building a "quick" POC... then I had a sidequest to make a maze generator... then I started trying to add custom graphical sprinkles... and sounds... now it's several months later... and has spiraled into it's own thing...
 

• More on Tweetmazes and other kinds of jumping mazes at the Maze Blog 
• More on solving Tweetmazes (in Lisp) at uLisp (which is where I originally found out what a tweetmaze is)
• The music for Steps is based on Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in B Minor, K 27, transcribed into furnace tracker and then run through a custom export process
   

steps_NTSC_20231229.bin steps_PAL60_20231229.bin

[JetSetIlly]

I love it!

[+cjherr]

Cool idea, and nice execution!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Happy New Year! ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Steps on today's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch! Hope you can join us in the chat!

 

Tue Jan 2, 2023 | 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT+1Day

WATCH LIVE: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/
WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• Catch (2023 Exclusive World Premiere | 2600) by Mike Littau @littaum
• Zkeep (2023 WIP | 2600) by Krzysztof Kluczek @KK/Altair
• Button (2024 WIP | 2600) by Jonas Carlsson @Lillapojkenpåön / Glafouk (Music)
• Steps (2023 WIP | 2600) by Dave Christianson @Dave C

 

[Bomberman94]

Nice surprise - I liked to play your game! I can confirm that it works smoothly on my real Atari light sixer (PAL version). 

[+Dave C]

1 hour ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Hope you can join us in the chat!

Awesome I think I can make it today. Even better I was trying out Buttons yesterday, I need the pro tips on how to crack it. 

[Prizrak]

I played it some the other day, on my phone because I hadn't had time to play on real hardware, hopefully this weekend. Is there a way to stop on a specific number? I get the idea behind it but had some difficulty. Maybe it's the screen based joypad.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

17 minutes ago, Dave C said:

Awesome I think I can make it today. Even better I was trying out Buttons yesterday, I need the pro tips on how to crack it. 

 

Excellent, see you there tonight! I'll put my platforming skills to work on Buttons and do my best!

 

Looking forward to playing Steps, Tanya will love the puzzle aspect to it. 🙂

 

- James

[Dionoid]

Nice game! Love the rainbow colors you used for the stairs.

Suggestion: a jumping animation for the squirrel would be cool.

[+Dave C]

5 hours ago, Prizrak said:

I played it some the other day, on my phone because I hadn't had time to play on real hardware, hopefully this weekend. Is there a way to stop on a specific number? I get the idea behind it but had some difficulty. Maybe it's the screen based joypad.

Yeah I realize it's not super obvious how the control works... I did show the game to some alpha testers - with zero explanation how to play - and it was really tough going.

• You can't stop your movement - if you're standing on a 2 and you push up you go up 2 steps (or down 2 steps if you push down), you "skip" the steps in between. It might be more obvious if the squirrel jumped like @Dionoid suggests.
• It's possible there are stairs that can't be reached - it's also possible to have loops. But the mazes are constructed so there is *always* a way to get to the top step from the bottom.

 

6 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Excellent, see you there tonight! I'll put my platforming skills to work on Buttons and do my best!

 

Looking forward to playing Steps, Tanya will love the puzzle aspect to it. 🙂

 

 

It was great watching the game get played on ZPH - the feedback is super helpful and I will say I have been 100% thinking of invisible numbers (well adding a mode where if you press the trigger Zara will "whistle" the solution as a hint, and combining that with "dark" stairs). 

The other games were great. I didn't know Blip at all but I love seeing remakes ("upmakes"?) of those crazy old handhelds, ZKeep was astounding. Since downloading Buttons I already hated that none of my games have those screen transitions (and Steps doesn't have actual jumping despite looking like a platformer).
 

[m.o.terra kaesi]

really nice game with a very unique idea!

I also like the idea of increasing the difficulty in higher levels by adding hidden numbers. One more Idea: adding "swirling steps", where - if you step on it - all the numbers are mixed up.

 

wow, this ZPH show was one of the greatest in terms of games I ever saw! What a start to 2024!🙌

[+Dave C]

On 1/3/2024 at 2:45 PM, m.o.terra kaesi said:

One more Idea: adding "swirling steps", where - if you step on it - all the numbers are mixed up.

So like it changes the other steps? Or changes itself? 

 

I’m also wondering if I made it so maybe you carry some limited number of “swaps” with you (like, I am carrying a step with me that I could drop down and jump that amount - or I could use the steps that are there - but maybe now there are situations where it’s impossible to climb unless you make a swap). You’d have more feeling of control over how you play (otherwise, these steps can only have so many solutions, especially the shorter flights)

[m.o.terra kaesi]

My first thought was of changing the other steps by swapping. Maybe it could even be a necessary solution to get to the next stair. In any case it makes sence only in the higher/last levels.

[Schmudde]

Will this get the cartridge treatment?

[8bitPoet]

Fun original game! Took me a minute to understand how to play, but once I got it, it was really satisfying to solve each puzzle.

 

Some squirrel animations could add some polish and reward to the game. Maybe Zara flicks her tail in celebration of attaining another acorn before venturing up the next flight of steps.

 

 

[+Dave C]

13 hours ago, Schmudde said:

Will this get the cartridge treatment?

I haven't thought super far ahead but that would be fun to think about. For Steps one thing I definitely would like to do is achievement badges of some sort. 

[+jgkspsx]

I beat it! Although it took me a long time to understand, haha. Are there different mazes?

 

EDIT: Ah, yes, I see:

 

Are they dynamically generated?

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Hello there! I somehow just won a category we where both nominated in, just wanted to say that I was 100% sure you would win, this is a beautiful game, I know the making levels part probably isn't something you're looking forward to, me neither, let's suffer through this together, keep going!!