2006 Mini Game Compo

[+atari2600land]

www.minigamecomp.org.uk also has the same problem.

Results are available now, and my Coleco minigame got the lowest number of votes.

You may have gotten the lowest number of votes, but my games sucked the most, coming in at last place.

[jbanes]

I'm really curious to see the individual votes once the site is back up. I imagine that Deimos Lander probably had the largest spread. It seems the judges either loved it or hated it.

 

From the data that's presented, though, it looks like a lot of games didn't get voted on as much if the concept was difficult to grasp. For example, Realms only had 8 votes (tied with Squares!) but grabbed second place. Makes for some interesting data points.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the results. The opinions of the judges varied wildly, so it seems that everything sort of floated into a few different categories. How much polish a game got was probably the biggest differentiator. Congrats to... um... whoever wrote Rainbow Invaders?

 

/me goes and searches forums for answer

 

Congrats to Silvio Mogno! Great work on your game!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I'm really curious to see the individual votes once the site is back up. I imagine that Deimos Lander probably had the largest spread. It seems the judges either loved it or hated it.

Yes, it really looks like that.

 

From the data that's presented, though, it looks like a lot of games didn't get voted on as much if the concept was difficult to grasp. For example, Realms only had 8 votes (tied with Squares!) but grabbed second place. Makes for some interesting data points.

I am most concerned about the low number of votes in general. With just above 10 people interested in trying the games and voting at all (even less writing comments), this contest is not looking very strong.

 

Last not least: Congratulations Silvio :!:

[Cybergoth]

Uihjah, first time a VCS title won the 4K contest! Congrats!

[+Nathan Strum]

I am most concerned about the low number of votes in general. With just above 10 people interested in trying the games and voting at all (even less writing comments), this contest is not looking very strong.

 

I just didn't have the time to go through the entries and give them a look.

 

Beyond that though, a mention now and then on the front page of AtariAge might help garner some more interest. I don't know how many people read through the homebrew forums on a regular basis.

[s0c7]

I didn't vote (a bout of mono kept me sidelined for most of the voting period), but I'm really glad I participated this year. I got very specific comments (and a couple I found amusing). In retrospect I see the radar should have been wider, but as you're writing it you lose sight sometimes. To be honest, I was expecting to get ripped for making it too easy instead of too hard. Looks like another revision is in order.

 

Congrats to everybody who participated and Silvio for winning!

Edited October 4, 2006 by s0c7

[jbanes]

I am most concerned about the low number of votes in general. With just above 10 people interested in trying the games and voting at all (even less writing comments), this contest is not looking very strong.

It did seem to get ignored a bit this year. Most of the 2600 games seem to have been entered on a lark. (As my own was.)

 

BTW, I was just reading some of the other comments and came across this little gem:

Good start. Needs more bugs. (DaveNeuman)

That's probably the first time I've ever heard someone ask for more bugs in a game!

[+5-11under]

It looks like all 3 of the ColecoVision games got into the bottom 6. That's got to be some kind of record, no?

 

Congratulations to Rainbow Invaders for first place, and to Realms of Quest SE for a close second! Actually, there's a lot of games that had very close scores.

 

I agree that the competition could use some more advertising. It'd be great to see a lot more votes coming in from game players.

 

5-11under

[vdub_bobby]

My comments aren't up..? I wonder if my votes were counted...

 

Anyway, this comment about Twisty Passages:

I always test without reading manuals. After only a few seconds, I reached a dead-end, then I pressed the fire button to see what will happend. Well, I was jammed there and decided to try another game.

Seems as good an argument as any for RTFM.

[jbanes]

Anyway, this comment about Twisty Passages:

I always test without reading manuals. After only a few seconds, I reached a dead-end, then I pressed the fire button to see what will happend. Well, I was jammed there and decided to try another game.

Those comments are there, but they're attributed to "newcoleco". You're not "newcoleco" are you?

[vdub_bobby]

Anyway, this comment about Twisty Passages:

I always test without reading manuals. After only a few seconds, I reached a dead-end, then I pressed the fire button to see what will happend. Well, I was jammed there and decided to try another game.

Those comments are there, but they're attributed to "newcoleco". You're not "newcoleco" are you?

I know those are there; that's why I quoted it.

 

I believe that's Daniel Bienvenu.

[jbanes]

I know those are there; that's why I quoted it.

Oh, sorry. I thought you were saying it was a comment you were trying to make.

 

If you still have your comments, feel free to share! (That goes for you too, Cybergoth! )

[+5-11under]

My comments aren't up..? I wonder if my votes were counted...

 

Anyway, this comment about Twisty Passages:

I always test without reading manuals. After only a few seconds, I reached a dead-end, then I pressed the fire button to see what will happend. Well, I was jammed there and decided to try another game.

Seems as good an argument as any for RTFM.

 

It seems valid, though. Everyone's got their method/priorities of voting for and/or enjoying a game, whether it's graphics, gameplay, background plot, fitting a lot into a small ROM space, having a game with obvious enough rules so you don't have to read a manual to figure it out, complexity of game, pushing a specific system to its limit, lack of bugs ( ), addictiveness, artificial intelligence level, etc.

 

Thanks,

5-11under

[vdub_bobby]

Sure, I'll share:

Ants (2600)

Gfx: Clean, but not very good. Sprites look like blobs. Hard to interpret extra-life bar at a glance. Some color combinations are hard to look at.

Sfx: Not really appropriate sounds. A beep for killing an ant?

Controls: Good in-game controls, though some momentum and friction would have added a lot to the replay value. Console controls not well done: after game over, have to hit trigger, then RESET to begin a new game?

Fun/Replay: Very little replay value. Difficulty doesn't increase at all!

Other/Score: Should have been expanded and improved (2K free space!). 3/10

 

Atari 2600 Soccer (2600)

Gfx: Nice big, colorful sprites. Very pretty field as well.

Sfx: Not much there, but what's there is ok.

Controls: Controls are responsive. Collisions seem mushy.

Fun/Replay: More ball angles, speeds are a necessity. Opponent AI is rudimentary, if that. "Difficulty" doesn't change, game never ends...definitely unfinished.

Other/Score: Very unpolished. 2/10

 

Deimos Lander (2600)

Gfx: Colorful, clean, very nice. No explosion when you crash?

Sfx: Ok. An explosion sound would have been better for crashes.

Controls: Tight, responsive. Excellent.

Fun/Replay: Well done, very fun. Nice increasing difficulty, Hard/Normal option adds a lot also.

Other/Score: Title screen tune (something as simple as in "Master of Arcturus" would have been perfect) would have added a lot. 7/10

 

F-4 (2600)

Gfx: Nothing special, and kinda blocky, but some touches are very nice: the radar effect, the scrolling clouds.

Sfx: Nicely done. I'd prefer a more explosive explosion effect, but what's there is good as well. The presence of music is appreciated, though the actual tune, um, shows the 2600's limitations.

Controls: Excellent.

Fun/Replay: Nice challenge, and the unlockable bonus stage gives you something to shoot for. I thought the nighttime stages were a bit too dependent on blind firing, but overall I can't complain too much.

Other/Score: Lots of options, title screen, music, increasing difficulty, unlockable options - well done. 7/10

 

Rainbow Invaders (2600)

Gfx: Beautiful! Funky, colorful, animated aliens with lots of personality. Spaceship also looks good, the multicolored jet exhaust is an excellent touch. The different powerups are easily distinguished (though difficult to remember! More practice...)

Sfx: Well done.

Controls: Good.

Fun/Replay: Powerups/handicaps adds depth to gameplay. A lot of fun, somewhat to my surprise.

Other/Score: Nice freshening of an old theme. 8/10

 

Space Battle (2600)

Gfx: Colorful, detailed sprites. When less than 3 enemies in a group they don't appear/disappear at the edge of the screen. A little disconcerting. I think I saw a few graphics glitches.

Sfx: A little harsh, but all in all pretty good.

Controls: Good.

Fun/Replay: Different stages, options add to replay value. Pretty fun, and jerky alien movements plus juggling shields and energy add a nice challenge.

Other/Score: 7/10

 

Zyx (2600)

Gfx: Primitive sprites. Graphic glitches when banana goes off bottom of screen. Bananas should disappear when eaten. Using a variable-length stick for a lives indicator is not a good idea.

Sfx: None.

Controls: Why not use the whole screen?

Fun/Replay: No challenge. Difficulty doesn't appear to change. No replay value.

Other/Score: This games needs a lot of polish and rewrites before I'd consider it a good 1K game. 1/10

 

Raster Fahndung (2600)

Gfx: Nice title screen. Other graphics are serviceable and appropriate.

Sfx: Ok tune, other sounds are good. An effect when you lose would be nice, though.

Controls: Nice, though it is hard to tell the boundaries of the box.

Fun/Replay: Good replay value, keep coming back to try to get one pattern further; counteracts the simplicity of the game to some extent. The options help also.

Other/Score: I like that it shows where the pattern is when you lose. Pretty good version of a simple concept. 7/10

 

Twisty Passages (2600)

Gfx: A little blocky, but clean. Nice use of color on the timer and I like your status bar.

Sfx: Some more sounds would be nice.

Controls: A little stiff. Sometimes unresponsive, almost like I get stuck in corners. Are you not reading the joystick every frame?

Fun/Replay: Lots of mazes to work through here! They are daunting at first, but with practice it is fun to whip through the mazes, racing my evil twin. Good replay value, though starting with a random maze would be better - having to wait through the maze creation process twice to play a new maze is a little annoying.

Other/Score: Well thought-out, no-frills maze race. Big mazes, and lots of them, means no lack of challenge. 7/10

 

JETP4K (CV)

Gfx: Nice colorful asteroids, spaceman is a little...ugly. No title screen?

Sfx: Minimal. Needs jet pack firing sound. Needs more sounds in general.

Controls: Good. Nice simulated physics, controls are responsive.

Fun/Replay: Difficulty doesn't seem to increase? Lackluster graphics, lack of sounds, and little challenge leaves the game to live or die on the gameplay - which is good, but not good enough to carry the whole game.

Other/Score: Needs fleshing out; good game skeleton. 4/10

 

Jump or Die (CV)

Gfx: Nice, cute graphics.

Sfx: Tune is ok, needs more sound effects.

Controls: A little too slippery for me, but still playable and responsive.

Fun/Replay: One level, though difficult, does not make a game. Once you've mastered this level there's not much to come back to.

Other/Score: Unfinished. 3/10

 

Squares! (CV)

Gfx: Well, they're squares. Colorful, though. Clean, intuitive display.

Sfx: None?

Controls: Responsive.

Fun/Replay: Difficulty doesn't increase? Wears thin pretty quickly.

Other/Score: 5/10

 

Bomb Catch (C64)

Gfx: Nicely detailed sprites. Could do without the whole screen flashing when you miss a bomb, though.

Sfx: No sound effects?! Tune is nice, though, sets a good urgent mood.

Controls: Responsive, but you can't move the pipe fast enough! Needs to move faster or support a spinner/mouse.

Fun/Replay: Difficulty doesn't seem to increase? All bombs are pretty much easily catchable or impossible to catch - with nothing in between. Kills replay value.

Other/Score: Pretty, but not much to the gameplay. 4/10

 

D-Fuse 4K (C64)

Gfx: Cute, colorful sprites.

Sfx: No sound effects?! Tune is ok, though it doesn't really fit the game very well.

Controls: Controls are not good. Can't jump off an elevator unless you center the joystick? Yuck.

Fun/Replay: Not a lot of depth to the gameplay. That and frustrating controls hurt replay value.

Other/Score: Less flashy music, more work on the gameplay. 5/10

 

ELAV (C64)

Gfx: Nice big monster! Not many other sprites is kind of a bummer, though.

Sfx: Ugh. Should have scrapped out-of-place tune for a few sound effects.

Controls: Ugh. Can't jump. Hard to climb buildings. Controls are clumsy (trigger should be normal punch, trigger plus stick should be long punch).

Fun/Replay: Less there than first appears. Levels don't seem to increase in difficulty, not much to distract you from the annoying controls and music.

Other/Score: Less flashy music, more work on gameplay. 4/10

 

Realms of Quest II (VIC-20)

Gfx: Clear display. Map is rather small and the tiles are pretty ugly.

Sfx: Sound effects don't add much, nor does the short tune. Ok.

Controls: Joystick would have been better than the keyboard for movement, attacking, and entering towns.

Fun/Replay: Difficulty seems skewed - was way too easy to die, and took too long to increase level, so had to spend all my time levelling up around the castle. Wandered for a while and never found the dungeons - ? [EDIT: I played it since and found a dungeon (dunjon?) - but it had a single empty room; nowhere to go!?] OTOH, Save and Load really add to replay value. Good, if standard, RPG fun.

Other/Score: A fun, though simple, RPG in 4K - well done. 8/10

 

Napolean Simulator (VIC-20)

Gfx: All text. Colorful, clear, though I could have done without the ugly border. Also would have been nice to display the number of units killed/lost after each action.

Sfx: None. A title tune and a little audio feedback would be appreciated.

Controls: Fine.

Fun/Replay: Nice gradually increasing difficulty. Would be nice to have an option to skip the easier levels. Good depth and strategy. [EDIT: since then, played more and found that harder levels become impossible and/or dependent on luck.]

Other/Score: No graphics, no sounds - still a fun little game. 7/10

 

Zombie Marbles (INTV)

Gfx: Clear and colorful. Marble colors are easy to distinguish. Saw a glitch, though, when a marble didn't roll all the way to the right to fill an empty space.

Sfx: Simple; good.

Controls: Ok. Prefer not to have to recenter stick/disc after every move.

Fun/Replay: Starts slow, but picks up and requires some strategy. Maybe too easy.

Other/Score: Simple and well done. 7/10

 

Pong Master 4K (SMS)

Gfx: Options icons are a bit too small - hard to distinguish. Score has the same problem. Other than that, pretty good looking, as far as pong goes. A "net" would have been a nice addition.

Sfx: Are there any? Didn't hear any in my emulator.

Controls: Pretty good handling with a joystick, actually - though a spinner would be better.

Fun/Replay: Pretty fun, the spin option adds a really nice touch, though it seems worthless as an offensive weapon against the never-fooled CPU - would make for some wicked-fun 2P games; too bad I couldn't test that out. AI was pretty simple.

Other/Score: Spin option was an inspired addition to an old classic. Well done. 6/10

 

Police Force (MSX)

Gfx: Bright, clear, colorful, detailed. Excellent. Chunky scrolling and jerky movement of crosshairs are only bad marks.

Sfx: Excellent. Only quibble - an audio cue that your time is running out would be a big help.

Controls: Good, though it is easy to overrun where you want to go with the crosshairs, due to the slow, jerky movement of it.

Fun/Replay: Does it get harder? I played through 3 rounds without noticing any change in the difficulty. That and lack of variety in gameplay hurt replay value - the addition of targets that should not be shot (i.e., hostages) would really help.

Other/Score: Nice game that needs a few tweaks. 7/10

 

ZX-Othello (Spectrum)

Gfx: Clear, colorful. Cursor is easy to see.

Sfx: None?

Control: Good.

Fun/Replay: AI is pretty easy, which hurts replay.

Other/Score: Nice little version of Othello. 6/10

 

Those scores might not reflect what I actually ended up giving the games, though they are close. I edited the comments slightly, also.

Edited October 4, 2006 by vdub_bobby

[jbanes]

Thanks!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Very good comments (I mostly agree) which should provide a lot of help to the programmers.

[vdub_bobby]

Thanks!

You're welcome.

Very good comments (I mostly agree) which should provide a lot of help to the programmers.

Thanks.

[+atari2600land]

I've improved since Ants (June), right?

[+5-11under]

vdub, nice work on the comprehensive reviews!

 

By the way, the difficulty in JETP4K should increase over time, as the rocks get closer together, and they increasingly "gravitate" up/down toward you.

 

Thanks,

5-11under

[jbanes]

I've improved since Ants (June), right?

Yes. You're still learning how to ramp up the difficulty and add 'sharks', but your programs have been getting more and more playable.

[Cybergoth]

Here's some notes I took regarding the 2600 titles. No scores though, as I ususally try to put them in the context of the whole contest. Considering previous years 4K titles, I'd think they'd have ranged from 1/10-7/10.

 

Ants

Uhm...

Atari 2600 Soccer

Unfinished demo it seems.

Deimos Lander

Pretty good for a BASIC title. Maybe a bit too hard, it takes a while to get used to.

F-4

Best of the BASIC titles. I really liked it. In a way it even manages to beat the Arcade original, as it's actually less hectic and more fun to play.

Rainbow Invaders

Solid variant(s) on Space invaders. Plus point for the colorful and nicely animated graphics, minus point for the Gorf shots.

Space Battle

Gorf shots suck, how often need I say that? Nice title screen.

Zyx

Uhm...

Rasterfahndung

Cool intro followed by an unspectacular game.

Twisty Passages

The Elyzium for Maze fans, I'd prefer seeing this engine continued with Rally-X though

[jbanes]

Deimos Lander

Pretty good for a BASIC title. Maybe a bit too hard, it takes a while to get used to.

F-4

Best of the BASIC titles. I really liked it. In a way it even manages to beat the Arcade original, as it's actually less hectic and more fun to play.

GASP!

 

Okay, that's it! The gauntlet's been thrown. I'm gonna find you, and I'm gonna beat you, and it's gonna hurt... because... um... I don't know.

 

Seriously, thanks for the feedback. I also was impressed by sc07's work on F-4. As far as I'm concerned it was the most professional bBASIC title I found when I first got into the language. It's really too bad the bBASIC contest didn't go through, because I thought it had a good chance.

 

Q: I wonder whatever happened to Jumper? That was also pretty high on my list of favorites.

[+5-11under]

Okay, that's it! The gauntlet's been thrown. I'm gonna find you, and I'm gonna beat you, and it's gonna hurt... because... um... I don't know.

 

I hear you. I've got a few people to beat up, too.

5-11under

[jbanes]

I hear you. I've got a few people to beat up, too.

I suppose I should probably explain that one. At the Sony E3 conference, they had a commercial where this kid uttered that exact line. Between his "I don't know" and some other doofus's "I heard 'da graphics wuz crazy!", Sony wasn't exactly putting their best foot forward. So now the whole "It's gonna hurt because... I don't know" has become a personal favorite of mine.

[Dave Neuman]

Sure, I'll share:

 

Space Battle (2600)

Gfx: Colorful, detailed sprites. When less than 3 enemies in a group they don't appear/disappear at the edge of the screen. A little disconcerting. I think I saw a few graphics glitches.

Sfx: A little harsh, but all in all pretty good.

Controls: Good.

Fun/Replay: Different stages, options add to replay value. Pretty fun, and jerky alien movements plus juggling shields and energy add a nice challenge.

Other/Score: 7/10

 

 

Thanks!

 

The comments are very helpful.

They give me some motivation to open it back up and fix a few things