Short review of 2022 ABBUC entries
Verfasst: 18.10.2022 07:02
I previously posted this on AtariAge, but I wanted to post it here for any developers who do not use AtariAge. My apologies for posting in English. I do not know German.
Unrelated to the individual games, I would be interested in how I can use the Ctrl-S option on the documentation screen to save the instructions as a text file so I can extract the text file from the ATR and translate it to English. I have tried deleting files on the ATR in order to make space, but I always receive an "Error" message when attempting to save the files as a DOC.
Obviously, the short reviews are just my opinions. However, I have been playing the contest games for a little while and I have some questions and opinions on the programs:
Midicar player - Unfortunately, I don't have the Midicar hardware so I can't test the player.
List-XEX - I was able to get it to work, but I'm not a developer so the information it gives me doesn't mean anything to me.
Battle of Eris - I'm not good at games where the terrain can kill you. However, I seem to do better at the game when playing in PAL on my MiST. Unfortunately, my XEGS is only NTSC. I've had some weird collision detection issues where I seem to go through an area that hasn't been cleared out. The more I have played the game, the better I have gotten on it. I have still seen a few collision detection problems, but it is not as frustrating as it was the first few times I played the game. I also like that it saves my high score.
Arcadia - Really nicely done Zuma clone for the 8-bit. The graphics are well done and I was surprised that using the joystick to control the pointer works quite well. I've gotten beaten easily in the Normal mode. However, I'm getting a bit better with each game I play. Getting the power-ups is key to having any sort of success in the game. Otherwise, the marbles go too fast to the end of the maze.
Trax - @shanti77 - I have collected as many objects on the ground as I can. I have used keys to open up parts of level 1. However, I have not been able to find an exit to go to another level. I have shot the planet inhabitants. Unfortunately, I end up wandering around level 1 with nothing to do. I learned from @shanti77 on AtariAge that I had to destroy the towers before the entrance to the next level would open up.
Retro Dschump - I need to play this game more to get better at my timing. However, the instructions are clear and it looks like a well made game. I have been playing it more, but I have not gotten past level 2 yet.
Der Schraenker, Der Schraenker 2 - It took a while to figure out how to open the doors (I didn't know I would have to press fire several times in order to open a door). I'm hoping the instructions are translated to English after the contest. They are nice little platform games where you can spend a few minutes. I have had problems saving the instructions as text files from the menu. I assumed the problem was because the ATR is almost full. However, when I deleted several files, I still had problems saving the instructions as a DOC. If I could do that, I could use Memo Pad to export the ATASCII file as an ASCII file that can be used with Deepl Translate to translate the instructions.
Break It 2022 - This one really surprised me. I was expecting yet another Breakout clone. I wasn't expecting an Arkanoid clone. For those of you with PAL Ataris, you can play the commercial version. However, Arkanoid is really unplayable on NTSC Ataris. This game plays perfectly on NTSC and with my paddles. I can quibble with the fact that the ball is square and the shots from the "L" pill are square instead of round, but that's just being picky. There are some new pill effects that are different from Arkanoid so it isn't a 100% clone. In addition, the pills can be destroyed by a ball or other obstacles so that is different than Arkanoid. A number of the early screens seem to be taken directly from Arkanoid. I'm ok with that. I hope the developers make a couple of minor changes after the contest (change the key to move past the splash screen from the space bar to either the fire button or the Start key, allow you to enter your initials on the high score screen and save your high scores and initials to disk).
PacMen Evolution - Ok, it's PacMan but it's still done very well. I like the different difficulty levels so I have a chance of getting a decent score.
Bunny Hop (PAL and NTSC) - I've only played this a couple of times because it requires 128K. That means I can't play it on my only Atari (64K XEGS). I have to play it either in emulation or on my 8-bit MiST core. I tend to only do that when I want to test something in PAL. If I had a 128K Atari, I would play this a lot more. From what I've read, the early levels were meant for kids but it gets more difficult as the levels increase.
Binary Parasite - @matosimi - I did not quite understand the game until I watched Saberman's YouTube review. Then, after watching the video for about 20 seconds, the game made perfect sense. It's a nice puzzle game. I can only vote on the four levels that are in the ABBUC version, but the version to be released after the contest looks to expand the game quite a bit. As I wrote on AtariAge, I hope there is a key to restart a level.
Dark Keep - @popmilo - I appear to have the worst luck ever with your game. Every time I play, the Gorgon appears almost immediately before I can reach an exit and I die yet another death since there appears to be no weapons to pick up to defend myself. Popmilo confirmed there are no weapons and you have to run away from the Gorgon. You can also try to put barriers between the Gorgon and you. I have done better once I started running and stopped trying to fight it.
Dye Heritage Edition - A follow-up to the nicely done and unique Dye game from a couple of years ago. @Irgendwer - I hope there will be a way to select another adapter in case the SNACK adapter is incorrectly detected. That's an incompatibility with my MiST and not the fault of your game. On my XEGS, it works great. I have been able to do a bit better in the game after my initial post on AtariAge.
Moon Quest - I haven't gotten too far in this adventure. However, it's nice to see a new graphical adventure on the 8-bit.
Hi-Res Transfer - Unfortunately, I do not have any graphics to convert so I have not tried this utility. I will have to try this on one of my Atari emulators so I can easily see the ATR contents and see if I can view the graphic that has been converted. Until I understand the utility, it is easier to start on my modern computer before trying to use it on the XEGS.
I am grateful to ABBUC for running the software contest each year. It brings a number of new programs (mostly games) to the platform. It is the reason I became an ABBUC member.
Bob C
Unrelated to the individual games, I would be interested in how I can use the Ctrl-S option on the documentation screen to save the instructions as a text file so I can extract the text file from the ATR and translate it to English. I have tried deleting files on the ATR in order to make space, but I always receive an "Error" message when attempting to save the files as a DOC.
Obviously, the short reviews are just my opinions. However, I have been playing the contest games for a little while and I have some questions and opinions on the programs:
Midicar player - Unfortunately, I don't have the Midicar hardware so I can't test the player.
List-XEX - I was able to get it to work, but I'm not a developer so the information it gives me doesn't mean anything to me.
Battle of Eris - I'm not good at games where the terrain can kill you. However, I seem to do better at the game when playing in PAL on my MiST. Unfortunately, my XEGS is only NTSC. I've had some weird collision detection issues where I seem to go through an area that hasn't been cleared out. The more I have played the game, the better I have gotten on it. I have still seen a few collision detection problems, but it is not as frustrating as it was the first few times I played the game. I also like that it saves my high score.
Arcadia - Really nicely done Zuma clone for the 8-bit. The graphics are well done and I was surprised that using the joystick to control the pointer works quite well. I've gotten beaten easily in the Normal mode. However, I'm getting a bit better with each game I play. Getting the power-ups is key to having any sort of success in the game. Otherwise, the marbles go too fast to the end of the maze.
Trax - @shanti77 - I have collected as many objects on the ground as I can. I have used keys to open up parts of level 1. However, I have not been able to find an exit to go to another level. I have shot the planet inhabitants. Unfortunately, I end up wandering around level 1 with nothing to do. I learned from @shanti77 on AtariAge that I had to destroy the towers before the entrance to the next level would open up.
Retro Dschump - I need to play this game more to get better at my timing. However, the instructions are clear and it looks like a well made game. I have been playing it more, but I have not gotten past level 2 yet.
Der Schraenker, Der Schraenker 2 - It took a while to figure out how to open the doors (I didn't know I would have to press fire several times in order to open a door). I'm hoping the instructions are translated to English after the contest. They are nice little platform games where you can spend a few minutes. I have had problems saving the instructions as text files from the menu. I assumed the problem was because the ATR is almost full. However, when I deleted several files, I still had problems saving the instructions as a DOC. If I could do that, I could use Memo Pad to export the ATASCII file as an ASCII file that can be used with Deepl Translate to translate the instructions.
Break It 2022 - This one really surprised me. I was expecting yet another Breakout clone. I wasn't expecting an Arkanoid clone. For those of you with PAL Ataris, you can play the commercial version. However, Arkanoid is really unplayable on NTSC Ataris. This game plays perfectly on NTSC and with my paddles. I can quibble with the fact that the ball is square and the shots from the "L" pill are square instead of round, but that's just being picky. There are some new pill effects that are different from Arkanoid so it isn't a 100% clone. In addition, the pills can be destroyed by a ball or other obstacles so that is different than Arkanoid. A number of the early screens seem to be taken directly from Arkanoid. I'm ok with that. I hope the developers make a couple of minor changes after the contest (change the key to move past the splash screen from the space bar to either the fire button or the Start key, allow you to enter your initials on the high score screen and save your high scores and initials to disk).
PacMen Evolution - Ok, it's PacMan but it's still done very well. I like the different difficulty levels so I have a chance of getting a decent score.
Bunny Hop (PAL and NTSC) - I've only played this a couple of times because it requires 128K. That means I can't play it on my only Atari (64K XEGS). I have to play it either in emulation or on my 8-bit MiST core. I tend to only do that when I want to test something in PAL. If I had a 128K Atari, I would play this a lot more. From what I've read, the early levels were meant for kids but it gets more difficult as the levels increase.
Binary Parasite - @matosimi - I did not quite understand the game until I watched Saberman's YouTube review. Then, after watching the video for about 20 seconds, the game made perfect sense. It's a nice puzzle game. I can only vote on the four levels that are in the ABBUC version, but the version to be released after the contest looks to expand the game quite a bit. As I wrote on AtariAge, I hope there is a key to restart a level.
Dark Keep - @popmilo - I appear to have the worst luck ever with your game. Every time I play, the Gorgon appears almost immediately before I can reach an exit and I die yet another death since there appears to be no weapons to pick up to defend myself. Popmilo confirmed there are no weapons and you have to run away from the Gorgon. You can also try to put barriers between the Gorgon and you. I have done better once I started running and stopped trying to fight it.
Dye Heritage Edition - A follow-up to the nicely done and unique Dye game from a couple of years ago. @Irgendwer - I hope there will be a way to select another adapter in case the SNACK adapter is incorrectly detected. That's an incompatibility with my MiST and not the fault of your game. On my XEGS, it works great. I have been able to do a bit better in the game after my initial post on AtariAge.
Moon Quest - I haven't gotten too far in this adventure. However, it's nice to see a new graphical adventure on the 8-bit.
Hi-Res Transfer - Unfortunately, I do not have any graphics to convert so I have not tried this utility. I will have to try this on one of my Atari emulators so I can easily see the ATR contents and see if I can view the graphic that has been converted. Until I understand the utility, it is easier to start on my modern computer before trying to use it on the XEGS.
I am grateful to ABBUC for running the software contest each year. It brings a number of new programs (mostly games) to the platform. It is the reason I became an ABBUC member.
Bob C