HSC Season 2 Week 12: Oystron

[Ze_ro]

Important note: This weeks competition is over. If you still wish to discuss this game, then feel free to do so, but no further scores will be accepted. Thanks to everyone for all their contributions! Please join in on the latest High Score Club competition!

 

Planet Oystron is under attack! An unknown force has set their sights on the obscure little world, and is even directing meteors and asteroids straight towards them! The Galactic Federation has rushed to aid the planets inhabitants against the unknown invaders. Their first step was to create a series of energy barriers around the planet to destroy the incoming asteroids. While the rest of the armada confronts the invaders on other turfs, your duty is to protect the energy barriers. The planets fate is in your hands, because this week's game is Oystron!

 

Game Information

• Released By: Xype (Piero Cavina)
  
• Left Difficulty: A (Novice Game)
  
• Right Difficulty: A for NTSC or B for PAL, your choice
  
• Game Mode: Beginner
  
• Chosen By: racer raul
  

Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores will be approximately Tuesday, April 12th at 1:30 AM (CST). In case you haven't already done so, please read the High Score Club rules. There is other useful information contained in that previous link, including a list of previous High Score Club games!

 

As before, next week's game will be chosen by the next person in the member list, which happens to be Robert M! Please send me a private message with your choice of game for next week!

 

If you don't have a copy of this game, you can purchase a brand new copy of it (complete with manual) from AtariAge! Check it out right here if you're interested. Alternatively, AtariAge also hosts the ROM image over here.

 

If you are not a member of the High Score Club, but would like to be, then all you have to do is post a score for this week's game, and I'll add you to the list!

 

Current High Scores

1. 99,990 (keilbaca) [+11]
   
2. 47,100 (vdub_bobby) [+10]
   
3. 34,520 (Thomas Jentzsch) [+9]
   
4. 21,470 (Malc74) [+8]
   
5. 9100 (Osbo) [+7]
   
6. 6850 (Numan) [+6]
   
7. 6160 (gospeedde) [+5]
   
8. 5120 (SpiceWare) [+4]
   
9. 2680 (Philflound) [+3]
   
10. 2450 (Dan Iacovelli) [+2]
    
11. 2310 (Keir) [+1]
    
12. 1850 (khryssun) [+1]
    
13. 1320 (LarcenTyler) [+1]
    
14. 1260 (Goochman) [+1]
    
15. 540 (Blackjack) [+1]
    

Score Statistics

• Average Score: 16,181
  
• Std. Deviation: 26,940
  
• Total Score: 242,720
  

Best Tips

• vdub_bobby [+2]
  

Bounties and Challenges

• Help Me Out Bonus:
  • Malc74 [+1]
    
  • gospeedde [+3]
    

Current Standings

1. StanJr [98]
   
2. keilbaca [92]
   
3. Malc74 [43]
   
4. sku_u [42]
   
5. Christophero Sly [41]
   
6. KaeruYojimbo [39]
   
7. video game addict [34]
   
8. Osbo [34]
   
9. the 5th ghost [31]
   
10. Fellow Atari Man [31]
    
11. racer raul [29]
    
12. chrisbid [28]
    
13. Blackjack [25]
    
14. pitfallaimee [24]
    
15. Philflound [24]
    
16. Dones [24]
    
17. gospeedde [23]
    
18. LarcenTyler [23]
    
19. Keir [23]
    
20. vdub_bobby [21]
    
21. Cybergoth [20]
    
22. Numan [20]
    
23. Robert M [20]
    
24. chubsta [17]
    
25. candiru [14]
    
26. cvga [13]
    
27. mikeftrevino [13]
    
28. Goochman [12]
    
29. Dan Iacovelli [11]
    
30. adams_ale [6]
    
31. Gamemaster_ca_2003 [5]
    
32. Bubbledragon [4]
    
33. scogey [4]
    
34. BydoEmpire [3]
    
35. kemsted [3]
    
36. Stingray [3]
    
37. khryssun [3]
    
38. 128bytes [2]
    
39. Voch [2]
    
40. iguana [2]
    
41. Chris++ [1]
    
42. awsomo3000 [1]
    
43. madbutscher [1]
    
44. Scooterb23 [1]
    
45. bjk7382 [1]
    
46. Gateway [1]
    

Member List

• Robert M, Dan Iacovelli, iguana, Gateway, gospeedde, KaeruYojimbo, bjk7382, Christophero Sly, yuppicide, madbutscher, the 5th ghost, Scooterb23, khryssun, Malc74, chubsta, Keir, Philflound, candiru, kemsted, keilbaca, Cybergoth, sku_u, Chris++, cvga, LarcenTyler, 128bytes, Goochman, mikeftrevino, StanJr, Osbo, Numan, vdub_bobby, Dones, Gamemaster_ca_2003, awsomo3000, Voch, Stingray, scogey, Bubbledragon, video game addict, pitfallaimee, Blackjack, racer raul
  

Scoring Points in Oystron

• Space Oysters: 10 points each hit
  
• Enemies: 30 points each formation destroyed
  
• Oystron: 1530 points killed with a bomb plus a bonus of 100 points for each remaining bomb.
  
• Extra ships are awarded every 4,000 points except for between 75,000 to 99,990.
  
• (Thanks to gospeedde for providing this information!)
  

Hints and Tips

As always, you really should read the manual.

 

What's that? You don't have the manual? Well, neither do I! But luckily, Malc74 posted the entire thing, so here are the hints it provides:

 

• 
   
   
  
• This seems to be a good strategy: stay on the right part of the playfield, off the pearls zone, shooting left and right. Collect pearls here and when you've enough of them, rush down and complete an entire row.
   
   
   
  
• There's only a kind of enemy (except the Oystron itself) that can jump from a row to another; however, they will never jump on a row already occupied by something else. So when these enemies come out, busy rows are usually a safe place to stay.
   
   
  

Ok, my tips:

 

The hint from the manual about staying to the right of the pearl zone is a good one. 

What you should really aim for is to have the pearl zone completely empty of pearls.

 

Then, stay in the middle of the screen, just to the right of the pearl zone, and move rapidly up and down, facing right, holding the fire button down. 

Collect pearls, shoot/dodge enemies, and when you have a break in the action go straight to the left and complete a row of pearls for a bomb.  Try to do it quickly, quickly enough that you leave no stray pearls behind.  Then, repeat.

When the Oystron comes out to kill you, quickly get directly to the left of him, drop a bomb, and then move further left (to the edge of the screen).  He will run into your bomb and die. 

Then, while warping (i.e., while things move super fast), stay at the far left of the screen, shooting to the right continuously.  Don't move up and down unless you absolutely have to because things move so fast that you will probably die.

When done warping, move back to your old, comfy position directly to the right of the pearl zone and repeat.

 

Note: You don't have to kill all the enemies!  Choose your battles.  It's easy to get killed careening all over the screen.  Keep it under control, pick  your spots, and collect pearls.  Also note that you only get points if you destroy an entire formation of enemies - no points for picking off two of three.

 

Also: learn the behavior of your enemies!

• 
   
   
  
• The flashing brown circles, once they reach the left edge of the screen, will eat all the pearls on their row before leaving, rightwards, with the last one.  If they are headed for a row with a lot of pearls in it kill them quickly because, even if they eat 6 pearls, you will only get 1 back if you kill them after they are finished eating.
   
   
   
  
• The green bombs will destroy all pearls instantly in their row once they reach the left edge of the screen.  Kill them quickly if they are headed for a row with pearls in it.  These enemies are a good candidate to ignore if they are headed for an empty row since they won't bounce back and attack you from the rear.
   
   
   
  
• The hammer-head looking fellows can only be destroyed from behind (i.e., by shooting LEFTwards).  When they reach the left edge of the screen they will steal the pearl at the far left edge of the screen (if there is a pearl there) and then shift all pearls in their row left by one.  Then they will exit to the right.  Note that they won't steal a pearl if there isn't one at the far left edge.  So in many situations they can be safely ignored, and won't steal anything.
   
   
   
  
• The brown Tie-fighter kinda looking guys have the same pearl-stealing behavior as the hammer-heads, but they can be shot from any direction and will sometimes reverse directions when they are shot.
   
   
   
  
• The large roman-numeral IIIs will move up and down into adjacent, consecutive, empty rows.  They are probably the most dangerous enemy, IMO.  The move up and down very quickly and can jump more than one row at a time, and will kill you if you are anywhere in their path (as long as all of the inbetween rows are clear).  Kill them quickly or very carefully, quickly hide from them by keeping a row with an oyster/pearl between you and them.  I think their pearl-stealing behavior is the same as the hammer heads also.
   
   
   
  
• Some Space Oysters take many, many hits!  So many that they will run you over, killing you, before they turn into a pearl!  This happens much more frequently at the higher levels, so be prepared to dodge stubborn oysters.
   
   
   
  
• At the higher levels some pearls that bounce off the left edge will turn into enemies!  Keep an eye out for this.
   
   
   
  
• Starting at level three the green, square cheese-like things (what the pearls turn into if you let them escape off the right edge of the screen) will linger in the pearl zone, bouncing back and forth and shifting all the pearls in the zone up a line with every bounce.  If you have kept your pearl zone empty, that isn't such a big deal, but in any case you have to shoot them off the left edge of the screen to get rid of them.
   
   
  

A lot of headaches can be avoided by keeping the pearl zone empty, especially at the higher levels.  The green cheeses are less of a hassle; you don't have to worry about pearls being stolen way at the top of the screen while you are at the bottom; it is just a little easier to keep things under control in general.

 

I hope this is useful!

 

Good luck everyone!

 

--Ze_ro

[Osbo]

"Your objective in Oystron is to shoot the Space Oysters and convert them to pearls, collecting the pearls and then depositing them into the Pearls Zone. When you complete a row of pearls, you will receive a bomb to use against the Oystron. The game also includes a Warp Phase, where you travel at high speed between Space Oysters and enemies."

 

last score was 3,400.

[gospeedde]

Manual says:

left difficulty controlls bounce of the ship against the borders, B = advanced

right difficulty, A = NTSC, B = PAL

 

space oysters = 10 points each hit

enemies = 30 points each formation destroyed

oystron = 1530 points killed with a bomb

 

extra ships every 4,000 points except for between 75,000 to 99,990

 

 

gameplay:

Shooting repeatedly at the Space Oysters turns them into pearls.  Collect the pearls and drop them in the Pearls Zone.  Your ship glows when it is ready to drop a pearl.  Enemies that reach the left border will try to steal your pearls.  Shoot the theif to rescue them.  Be careful: stolen or lost pearls will bring undesired guests in.

 

Oystron phase: near the end of each level, you'll hear a warning signal and the screen will flash.  After a few moments the Oystron will appear and your standard shots will be disabled.  From this moment you can either kill the Oystron by dropping bombs and letting him step over them, or wait until he gets bored and mutates into a Space Oyster.  You lose bonus points if you let the Oystron escape.

 

Warp phase: You travel at high speed between Space Oysters and enemies.  The risk of collision will be high, but now everything is worth 100 points.  A new level will start immediately after the end of the warp phase, with more enemies and troubles waiting for you.

[Osbo]

another bit of info...

 

"In Oystron, the player must collect perals out of "space oysters," while dodging all kinds of enemies. By collecting perals and depositing them in a line in the grid on the left side of the screen, the player receives bombs, which he can use to destroy the Oystron that appears at the end of every level.

 

Oystron, which came about a year after Okie-Doke, was one of the first new games for the Atari. It started out as a programming exercise, but quickly grew in to a full-fledged game. And it was surprisingly good.

 

The graphics are detailed and colorful, and they have a "classic" feel to them. The sound is fairly good. The wide variety of enemies is another plus. But, most of all, Oystron has simple, but original, gameplay. It's also insidiously difficult, but then that is probably another positive feature."

[Lauren Tyler]

This is a tough (but fun!) game.

[Dan Iacovelli]

I happen to have this game on the stella CD v.2.

but before I play I would like to know if we are going to use borders or not.

[Malc74]

Here's the complete manual text, as taken from the text file included with the ROM image.

 

 

                           O Y S T R O N

                           

    <<.....In the Irata solar system lies the planet Stella.

               It is surrounded by an energy belt.

             In this belt there live space oysters.

    They make good food, so there are other outer space creatures

              living among them, that eat the oysters.....>>

               

 

Piero Cavina presents OYSTRON: a new arcade action Atari 2600 game.

Bring new life to your Atari VCS!

Have more fun with a free 4K game, than with an expensive multi-media waste of time!

 

 

LOADING THE GAME

 

The easiest way to play Oystron is to use one of the available Atari VCS emulators.

I recommend PCAE 2.0 by John Dullea, but I've also tried it on the Windows 95 and Mac versions of Stella with very good results (Stella for W95 seems to have some problems with sound, but maybe it's just me).

But for the real 2600 experience, play it on the real thing!!

If you have a Starpath Supercharger, you can load the .BIN file from your PC or MAC computer into the Supercharger with one of the BIN to WAV utilities available.

Being a 4K game, Oystron can also be put on self build, Eprom-based carts. You can do this for personal use, but please do not distribute the game on Eproms!

If you don't have a Supercharger and can't burn Eproms... don't worry, just wait for the official cart release!

 

 

USING THE CONTROLLER

 

Use your Joystick Controller with Oystron. Be sure the Joystick is firmly plugged into the controller jack at the back of your ATARI Video Computer System game. Oystron is a one-player only game, so use the Joystick controller plugged into the LEFT CONTROLLER jack. Hold the Joystick with the red button to your upper left, toward the television screen.

 

 

CHOOSING A TV STANDARD

 

This is very important if you want to play Oystron on a real Atari 2600.

OYSTRON has been designed to be playable on both NTSC (American) and PAL (European) TV sets. Use the Player 2 (right) difficulty switch to choose your TV video standard: position A = NTSC, B = PAL. Please note that the game runs slightly faster in NTSC, and since most modern TV sets can sync to both NTSC and PAL modes, I recommend to play the game in NTSC mode even if you've a PAL TV.

 

 

THE SCREEN

 

The screen is divided between an upper game area, and a lower status area.

The game area includes the special Pearls Zone, delimited by a grid of white dots. There's room for eighth rows of eight pearls each.

In the status area you can find, from top left to bottom right:

- an horizontal bar, which shows your progress in the current level

 from the beginning to the Oystron Phase

- the life indicator, it can show a maximum of 4 lives

- the score (when playing), or various alternating information

 when the game in Game Over status.

- bombs count (when playing), or current variation number.

 

 

DIFFICULTY SWITCHES

 

Player 1 (left) difficulty switch is used to control the bounce of player's spaceship against the borders of the playfield.

When the left switch is in position B (advanced), the spaceship will bounce making the gameplay more difficult.

Switch to position A (novice) for an easier to control spaceship.

 

Player 2 (right) is reserved for tv standard selection (see above).

 

The Color/B&W switch is not used in Oystron.

 

 

CHOOSING A VARIATION

 

There are three game variations in Oystron: beginner, intermediate and expert.

Press GAME SELECT to choose the desired game variation. The current variation number is shown in the bottom right part of the status area.

 

 

STARTING THE GAME

 

Press GAME RESET or push the fire button to start. You start the game with four lives and zero bombs.

 

 

CONTROLLING THE SPACESHIP

 

Your ship will move in whatever direction the Joystick is pushed. The red "fire" button will fire the missiles. Keep the red button pressed for continuous firing.  

 

Fire button has two additional uses:

 

- drop off a pearl in the collect zone during normal playing;

- drop off bombs during the Oystron attack.  

 

 

GAMEPLAY

 

Enemies and Space Oysters will enter the screen on the right and attack you moving towards the left border.

Some of them will bounce and go back to the right, others will disappear.

Learn the behavior of the different kinds of enemies.

 

Shoot repeatedly the Space Oysters and they will eventually turn into pearls. Collect the pearls and drop them in the Pearls Zone. Your ship glows when is ready to drop a pearl.

 

You get a bomb putting 8 pearls in a row.

 

Beware of the enemies that reach the left border of the playfield, since they will try to steal your pearls. Shoot the thief enemy to rescue the pearls.

 

Floating pearls that reach the left border may mutate into enemies.

 

Stolen or lost pearls bring undesired guests in... these guys become very annoying from level 3 onwards, so get rid of them as sooner as possible! You can't kill them, but you can send them out of the playfield pushing them left with your shots.

 

Oystron phase: near the end of each level, you'll hear a warning signal and the screen will flash. After a few moments the Oystron will enter and your standard shots will be disabled. From this moment you can either kill him dropping the bombs and letting him step over them, or wait until he gets bored and mutates into a Space Oyster. You lose the bonus points if you let the Oystron go away. In both cases, you'll enter the Warp phase.

If you're killed in the Oystron phase, you'll be put a little back in the level, and you'll have to face the Oystron again.

 

Warp phase: during the warp phase, you'll travel at high speed between Space Oysters and enemies. The risk of collision will be high, but now everything is worth 100 points!

A new level will start immediately after the end of the warp phase, with more enemies and troubles waiting for you.

 

Scoring:

Space Oysters (each hit): 10 points

Enemies (formation destroyed): 30 points

Oystron (killed with a bomb): 1530 points + (no. of bombs left)x100 points

 

Extra ships: you win an extra ship every 4,000 points. From 75,000 to 99,990 points there are no extra ships. Why? Guess it! :-)

 

 

HINTS

 

This seems to be a good strategy: stay on the right part of the playfield, off the pearls zone, shooting left and right. Collect pearls here and when you've enough of them, rush down and complete an entire row.

 

There's only a kind of enemy (except the Oystron itself) that can jump from a row to another; however, they will never jump on a row already occupied by something else. So when these enemies come out, busy rows are usually a safe place to stay.

 

 

GIMMICK

 

There's a way start the game near the end of the level with a load of bombs...

 

 

OYSTORY

 

Basically, Oystron started as an exercise in Atari 2600 programming early this year, when on Stellalist (the Atari VCS programmers mailing list) we were discussing about how to reuse a sprite to put more objects on the screen. After many lines of code I realized that I almost had all the elements for a full game. This was only the beginning of the real challenge: the Atari 2600 is a classic videogame system, so this had to be a game with a true classing feeling. I've tried to recreate the fun and excitement of the great early games, so you may find elements of Sinistar, Defender and Rip Off in Oystron. But you'll have to be the judge...

 

 

FEEDBACK

 

I would really like to hear your comments, suggestions, doubts about Oystron. Send your mail to: p.cavina@mo.nettuno.it.

Playing Oystron, you might think of some features that you would like to see in the game: please note that, sadly, this is almost impossible. There are no more than 10 bytes available for the program, and this is not enough for any serious feature (before you ask, yes, the code has already been heavily optimized). Anyway, if you've something cool in mind, let me know... a less important feature might be dropped for a better one!

Also, please tell me if you think that the various gameplay elements aren't balanced well enough.. this is the last chance to fine-tune the gameplay, since sooner or later we'll have to burn eproms for the cart release.

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 

That this project wouldn't have been possible without Stellalist, the Atari 2600 programmers mailing list:

http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html

 

Thanks to the nice people on the list I have found the encouragement, the information and the advice needed to bring this project to completion.

Jim Nitchals deserves a special mention, because he helped me a lot in optimizing the 6502 code. You should see what he can do to save just 1 byte! Without his help some features, like the Swiss-cheese guys, wouldn't have been possible.

 

Also, I received a lot of encouragement and gameplay advice from Glenn Saunders, and I can't avoid mentioning Eckhard Stolberg, Nick S Bensema, Robert Colbert, Greg Troutman...  

 

 

LEGAL STUFF

 

Oystron ©1997 Piero Cavina.

This game is freeware, but copyrighted; it may be freely distributed, but it must be always accompanied by this documentation file. This program may be included on websites and shareware or freeware compilations, but please contact me first.

You can't distribute Oystron on Atari 2600 cartridges without my explicit permission.

Piero Cavina make no guarantees on this software. I'm not responsible for any damage due to the use of this software.  

 

 

FINAL WORDS

 

Have a lot of "classic" fun with Oystron. Isn't this the game you would have bought for Christmas 1981?!

 

---

 

Documentation for the binary file release of Oystron v. 2.9

Version of this document: 1.2 (12/12/1997)

 

I agree with Dan, what settings are we using for the left difficulty switch? My high score so far is 6650, that's with the bounce switched off. Obviously, if we're playing with the bounce switched on then please disregard this score.

[sku_u]

I happen to have this game on the stella CD v.2.

but before I play I would like to know if we are going to use borders or not.

 

I'd also like to know. I think it'd be nice to keep this one set on the easier level since monst people have never played this game before.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Great!

 

Who made this brilliant selection?

[Dan Iacovelli]

you beat me Malc, (I happen to have intructiuons from the stella cd as well)

 

I also assume we are playing the beginer level(there are three levels beginer,intermediate and expert. we should be playing expert since it more difficult to play)

[keilbaca]

Enjoy the lead while you can Stan Jr... once I get internet... Beware I LIVE!

[sku_u]

you beat me Malc, (I happen to have intructiuons from the stella cd as well)

 

I also assume we are playing the beginer level(there are three levels beginer,intermediate and expert. we should be playing expert since it more difficult to play)

 

I disagree. This game's difficult even at the default (beginner) level.

[vdub_bobby]

Once you get into this game it is pretty fun

 

11850

[Dan Iacovelli]

you beat me Malc, (I happen to have intructiuons from the stella cd as well)

 

I also assume we are playing the beginer level(there are three levels beginer,intermediate and expert. we should be playing expert since it more difficult to play)

 

I disagree. This game's difficult even at the default (beginner) level.

ok, but we still have determine if we are using borders or not, until then I won't be playing.

[khryssun]

first score : 790

[vdub_bobby]

Little better. This is default game, both difficulty switches at easy/B.

 

14010

[Ze_ro]

Here's the complete manual text, as taken from the text file included with the ROM image.

D'oh, I guess I should have looked around a bit harder to find the manual... strange that the text version is in included with the ROM, but isn't linked to from AtariAge's Oystron page... Oh well.

 

As for the difficulty, we'll go with Beginner mode, Left Difficulty A (Novice game). I would encourage people to use Right Difficulty B (NTSC), but if you're stuck playing on a PAL TV, then go ahead and use A instead. I realize there will be a slight speed difference, but oh well.

 

--Zero

[Dan Iacovelli]

thanks for the update now I can play.

[Dan Iacovelli]

thanks for the update now I can play.

 

for my first score: 2450

(sorry no pic)

apearantly my sharp flatscreen tv is sort of pal because when Ihad it on A the picture was rolling but on B it was at normal.

had left setting on A.

[StanJr]

Enjoy the lead while you can Stan Jr... once I get internet... <Sinistar>Beware I LIVE!</Sinistar>

 

Actually, I may have to sit this week out. I have two papers to write and loads of research to do. Plus I don't own this one (yet) and I am not terribly good at playing it in the emu.

 

I might sneak in a score later in the week if my papers make progress.

 

Bon apetite!

[the 5th ghost]

Drats!

 

I finally crack the top ten then have to sit out a week. I don't have this game and will only play on the real system, no emulation.

 

Sounds like a very good game though, maybe some day I'll pick it up.

 

Frostbite was a blast to play, I may try to get a better score on it. I noticed that Ze_ro didn't update my final score, although it wouldn't make a difference in the standings. (congrats to StanJr. on that one!)

[Malc74]

Well, now that we have the difficulty switch situation sorted, I can submit a score improvement of 14880.

[Malc74]

...make that 21470.

 

Excellent game!

[vdub_bobby]

Bah. Teensy improvement. 14100.

[vdub_bobby]

Ok, some real improvement now: 19550