And the Winners Are...

[+intvsteve]

IntyBASIC Programming Contest 2018 Results

What a wonderfully fun trip it's been! I am pleased to announce the results for the IntyBASIC 2018 Programming Contest.

 

A few quick notes:

 

Thanks to Óscar Toledo G. (nanochess) for IntyBASIC, to Albert for providing us a subforum for the contest, and to our awesome judges: -^Cro§Bow^-, DZ-Jay, Intymike, mthompson, nanochess, and Tarzilla. Like the authors of this year's entries, our judges reside around the globe, and put a great deal of thought and effort into their deliberations.

Additional thanks go of course to our main sponsors: Rev, cmart604, intvnut and Albert.

Here are the brave souls who took the challenge (in alphabetical order): artrag, atari2600land, boardgamebrewer, carlsson, decle, digress, emerson, Kiwi, mmarrero, postpostdoc, PuzZLeR, and Zendocon.

Blah blah blah. Tell us who won already!

With the fascinating mix of offerings here, it is clear that IntyBASIC offers the power and versatility to enable people to unleash their creativity. With six stellar judges on hand this time out, the maximum possible score was 510 points. As the results rolled in, a clear winner emerged. Even so, our creative classic computing colleagues created consternation as the next few finishers were separated by wafer-thin margins.

 

The winners of the 2018 IntyBASIC Programming Contest are:

• Deep Zone (434) - By artrag
• Upmonsters (399) - By atari2600land
• The Crimson Tower (397) - By emerson

Congratulations to artrag for a truly impressive effort on many fronts! All of the entries proved entertaining in unexpected, surprising, and fun ways. The talents and creativity of this community continue to show no limits. A heart-felt Thank You! to each and every one of you for devoting so much time, care, and attention to your entries.

 

The runners up:

4. MazezaM (387) - By postpostdoc

5. Boot Hill (383) - By digress

6. Princess Lydie (379) - By mmarrero

7. Dwarven Mine (364) - By boardgamebrewer

8. A Sparrow Goes Flapping (349) - By Kiwi

9. Ouranos! (340) - By carlsson

10. Deadly Balls (299) - By PuzZLeR

11. Hunt the Wumpus (287) - By Zendocon

12. mINTY (260) - By decle

Downloads

• Final Score Card: IntyBASIC Contest 2018 - Judges Scorecard - Final.pdf
• All Entry ROMs: IntyBASIC Contest 2018 - Entries.zip

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Contest Entries

Following are links to each entry's results post.

• Deep Zone results
• Upmonsters results
• The Crimson Tower results
• MazezaM results
• Boot Hill results
• Princess Lydie results
• Dwarven Mine results
• A Sparrow Goes Flapping results
• Ouranos! results
• Deadly Balls results
• Hunt the Wumpus results
• mINTY results

Here is the full score breakdown:

 

============================================================================================================================================
Title               Originality    Concept   Execution   Graphics   Sound   Presentation   Game Play   Lasting Appeal   Source Code   Total
============================================================================================================================================
Deep Zone                48           49        50          49        59         53           48             48             30         434
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upmonsters               45           46        46          41        44         50           49             48             30         399
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Crimson Tower        51           54        47          42        41         43           43             46             30         397
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MazezaM                  54           57        46          38        10         44           56             52             30         387
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boot Hill                51           48        48          49        45         49           45             48              0         383
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Princess Lydie           47           46        40          46        43         48           39             40             30         379
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarven Mine             56           47        44          33        35         35           45             39             30         364
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Sparrow Goes Flapping  47           47        46          47        34         40           44             44              0         349
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ouranos!                 44           44        40          33        33         39           39             38             30         340
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deadly Balls             27           35        40          37        31         28           37             34             30         299
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunt the Wumpus          33           32        37          17        36         33           36             33             30         287
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mINTY                    56           35        36           9        43         36            6              9             30         260
============================================================================================================================================

[+intvsteve]

Deep Zone

Programmed By: artrag

Overall Score: 434

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Deep Zone.zip

First Prize

Classically inspired, Deep Zone immediately reminds you of Gyruss - but with its own unique twists.

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

This game is quite something! It is obviously a Gyruss-like inspired game in the way your ship moves and enemies coming in from off screen etc. But it does make it its own with additional power ups, different types of enemies and boss battles. The music is just excellent and I have found myself just leaving the Intelly on the Deep Zone title screen to have the title theme as background music while doing other stuff. I do think that many of the enemies are unfair in their off screen appearance frequently hitting the player with no warning at all and I tried but just couldn't find a pattern to them. I also like the idea of the powerups building on themselves, but they aren't random. You always start off with speed up spheres coming out first and then the double shot, bombs..shield. Always in that order as you take out enemy waves. I think the power ups should really be more random on which type comes out. Still the game is a lot of fun and I could easily see this game being in a top selection of games on the Intellivision.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

A good concept of a cross between games like Gorf and Gyruss. The game has some very impressive features such as tunnel perspective with distance scaling, clever mix of music tracking and sound effects, voice sample playback, etc. And although they almost come together in a cohesive whole, the game feels more mechanical than fun.

 

The sprite graphics seem pedestrian, just taken from early space shooter games like Space Invaders and the like, and the two-frame animations on everything, in my opinion, limit the visual quality of the game. The 3-D "warp/starfield" effect is good, but its slow animation and clutter of star elements affects its effectiveness.

 

The circular motion of the player's sprite is well done, and the controller decoding seems solid and effective, but movement is initially too slow, making the initial impression of the player a frustrating and lackluster one. All sprite movements could use some tuning.

 

The music tracking is excellent, apparently forgoing the IntyBASIC music tracker for a custom one which allows for greater flexibility. The mix of sound effects over the music is done exceptionally well. I took one point off the sound score because the music is not original and some of the sound effects are just generic and "noisy."

 

The animated title screen is good, and although the song is catchy and exciting, it seems like it belongs on a different type of game.

 

In my opinion, the game tries too hard to combine disparate mechanics from various other games and does not succeed in all of them: varied attack patterns, power-ups for speed and shots, boss levels, etc. It sometimes feels like a collection of technology demos than a cohesive game.

 

The author is obviously very talented and the engineering at work in the game is superb and impressive, but the game design needs some editing and tweaking, and the difficulty needs to be tuned. Deep Zone has fantastic potential to be a flagship title for the Intellivision, but needs more work on the "fun factor" to get there.

 

Intymike

Comments:

You can easily say that this is the most polished game in the competition. It's a enhanced version of Gyruss but the extra weapons brings it to a new level. Great steering with the disc. Awesome music (even with 6 channel support) that reminds me of the home computer era of the 80s/90s and impress graphics. This is game is ready to be published immediately.

 

mthompson

Comments:

Deep Zone has wonderful sound and a nice title sequence. The game talks! But I wish I could understand it! Despite my ship seeming too slow at the start, this is a fun and addictive game to play. Great use of the disc. Holding the top button down gives you continuous fire, giving my thumb a break. It's not what I'd call rapid fire, but maybe that's the idea. This game could sure use some kind of indicators to remind me what the on-screen numbers mean (except for the score, of course). The music is very cool, if not quite matching the game play.

 

nanochess

Comments:

This is one of the games with the best music and sound effects. The visuals also are really impressive and look very polished.

 

The music is pretty compelling but the stars and enemies come more slowly than the rhythm of music.

 

The gameplay is kind of unfair, although apparently there are enemy patterns, I didn't knew where enemies would appear, coming from back these crashed into my spaceship.

 

Also I found an enemy that circled just near my spaceship and destroyed me. No idea about what mean the numbers in top, except that these increase as I take a capsule.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Not a fan of the scrolling text on the title screen. Great music and sound. 3d effects incredibly well done. I felt some of my deaths were cheap, particularly from enemies coming from off screen. The power-ups are nice but I'd prefer they were random, not stacked. I was unable to understand any of the speech but it is a cool idea.

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[+intvsteve]

Upmonsters

Programmed By: atari2600land

Overall Score: 399

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Upmonsters.zip

Second Prize

Your job is to help aliens from the planet Upp find their way back to their ship hovering high above the Sahara. Hop to it!

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

I was quite surprised by this game when I fired it up. I do like the title screen and while the music may not have me tapping my feet or anything, it at least is there and I can really appreciate it. I actually felt that the monster jumping was quite smooth and easy to control. Anytime I missed a cloud it was my fault and not me fighting the controller. I can understand the need for the bird, but there needs to be a way to fight back against it. Many times it would appear before I had a chance to react and I was only able to get past level 2 once. Level 1 was not problem in most cases but I would still lose a life or two because of that crazy bird. I think with some graphical polish and some way to fight back against the bird and perhaps even add a few more obstacles it would have the challenge it needs and not feel so unfair as well. This was one I found myself playing quite a few games and coming back to.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

This game is a variation of the old Doodle Jump, but playing to the strengths of the Intellivision's smaller resolution. I find the concept of the "Upmonster" story intriguing and interesting, and adds depth to an otherwise simple mechanic.

 

The jump is very smooth, although the control detection could use some damping in order to let the player make more accurate adjustments; but overall, it plays nice, with responsive controls, and quick action.

 

It is an addictive game, so I can see it having some lasting power for casual gaming with friends. The two-player game is a neat idea too.

 

The end-level sequence is cute and entertaining and adds depth to an otherwise simple game.

 

The graphics and sound effects are a bit simplistic, but effective. A simple game like this should put the brunt of its resources in the audio/visual space for higher impact. Overall, it feels polished and solid.

 

Intymike

Comments:

Inspired by Doodle Jump it brings the gameplay very solidly to the Intellivision. Cute graphics and nice sound. A 2-player mode is always great. This is a game you want to play once in a while.

 

mthompson

Comments:

Upmonsters has a terrific title screen! It's a simple concept but a fun little game that had me more engaged than I thought it might. The Upmonster's direction changes seemed very abrupt, and I kept wishing they were a bit smoother. It seemed a bit strange that I had to press a button to resume play after falling instead of the Upmonster simply reappearing after a few seconds. The bird makes for a simple but effective adversary. I found myself restarting the game over and over to try to do better.

 

nanochess

Comments:

This entry is very polished. Its main defect is the non-inspiring music tunes but surprisingly the sound effects are pretty good. The monsters jump very nicely, and your hands sweat trying to move carefully to jump to the next cloud. Very addictive. It's a nice detail the sound warning you of the coming bird.

 

Each game has different positions for the clouds so that definitively adds to the replay value.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Nice adaptation of Doodle Jump. The music is a little slow, controls seemed a bit loose, jumping arc felt too abrupt. Progress meter is a nice touch. Level ending animation is nice but maybe we should see the ship come down from the top of the screen (or at least the bottom of it) so we know what is doing the beaming.

 

Two player mode is a nice addition.

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[+intvsteve]

The Crimson Tower

Programmed By: emerson

Overall Score: 397

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-The Crimson Tower.zip

Third Prize

Explore the hallways of The Crimson Tower to recover magical instruments and return them to their musical masters. Be sure to bring a map - each time you play, the tower changes!

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

I had higher hopes for this to be honest. I will first go and state that I really like the movement within the levels as there really isn't anything else like that on the Intellivision. It would have been nice to have different colors on each floor to give them each a unique feel from the others. I also like the animation of the doors opening but saw some interesting graphical glitches if you open a door several times over and over. Nothing game breaking just odd overlay graphic issues really. I also like and dislike the concept of waiting to open different chests and felt this was just a way to pad the game time more. I think finding keys of matching colors to the chests on different floors would make more sense. I do like RPGs, but was honestly never a fan of the make my own map kind but I do think it is really cool how the game changes the floor layouts on each power on of the console. Technically it is impressive but gameplay wise it doesn't keep me wanting to keep at it I'm afraid.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

Another fantastic concept with a lacking execution. The game has a great potential, but feels too spartan and incomplete. What is there is solid, but needs a bit more to fill the boring plodding through a vast and (mostly) empty dungeon. I believe the author intended to add more features, enemies, and hazards, but was limited by the time available.

 

The very interesting and compelling story is thus diminished by the lack of content and the sparse environments.

 

The title screen is beautiful, although the font of the title could use some tightening to smooth them out. The music is excellent as well, but sorely missing in the rest of the game.

 

Whatever sound-effects are available (door/chest openings, etc.) are pleasant and well executed, but again they are missing in many places.

 

The visual 3-D presentation of the dungeon crawling is very good, but needs some variation to make it more interesting. All the walls and all the rooms look exactly the same, which makes traversal confusing and disorienting.

 

The game could use a built-in map and other navigation aids, but with manual mapping, the game is very playable.

 

Overall, an excellent and solid base for a great and memorable dungeon crawler, which fits very well the Intellivision aesthetic and traditional style of gaming. The current implementation has a limited re-playability and appeal, but the author would do well to follow through and complete it.

 

Intymike

Comments:

Nice title screen and music. The 3d graphics are very impressive. At this time it is more of a wandering around instead of real gameplay (no doors to unlock). Didn't find any of the game elements like the chests during testing. Maybe I have to spend more time and effort to dig into the whole gameplay. But I can already see that there is quite a lot in the game to discover.

 

mthompson

Comments:

There's no question that The Crimson Tower has depth most games will never approach. I found it frustrating that all of the walls looked the same and that doors that I'd opened were closed when I revisited them. I wanted landmarks. Personally, I don't have the patience to make meticulous notes and record my every movement to play a game. But I realize that others love this very thing about this genre. The disc was effective for moving about the tower, but it would have been more intuitive for me if a side button would open a door instead of the 5 key. A great title screen, but it is a stark contrast to the tower's vanilla hallways.

 

nanochess

Comments:

This game is significantly long, it can take hours to explore the 4 floors composing the map, searching for the instruments and bringing them to the musicians.

 

The author promises a full-blown RPG but already this game is immense and the labyrinth changes each time, so we can only wait in awe for the full version.

 

Be prepared to have paper at hand to take note of labyrinth and several hours to complete the game without distractions.

 

My comments here would be to add at least another color for walls. Also pressing inventory when a door is open and exiting leaves trash in screen. The music has some discordant chords. Other than that is a pretty impressive work than can compete with the classic Intellivision RPG games.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Nice title screen, good music, no info on what to do to move past title so any button or disc should be able to be used to proceed. Needs more wall differentiation, especially to tell what floor you are on and open doors should stay open.

 

The maze generation and movement execution is great. Nice long playtime and concept, with some more polish and a map feature the game would be more fun.

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[+intvsteve]

MazezaM

Programmed By: postpostdoc

Overall Score: 387

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-MazezaM.zip

Fourth Place

Five children went exploring in MazezaM and have become trapped! You play as the fearless explorer Hannah and it is your mission to travel through the 30 levels and to bring the five children back to safety. A unique adaptation of the puzzle game originally created by Malcolm Tyrrell.

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

Wow what a surprise this little guy ended up being. There are only certain puzzle type games that I tend to like. Luckily this is one of them! It plays similar to the game Shove It on the Genesis in that you are your own worst enemy. The goal is to move your person from the left side of the room to the right. But doing so requires logical thinking to move rows of boxes out of the way and arrange them so that openings between them allow you to move around the room and progress. Your score is the number of stars you earn based on the number of moves you make to complete the room. The first levels are pretty easy but a good way to understand the mechanics of what is needed. The graphics are simple and perhaps that is good but I do wish there were move variety in the objects being pushed and the layouts of the rooms. All the rooms are just larger rectangular affairs and it would be interesting if additional room shapes were implemented to add additional challenge. I do think that since we are able to choose the level we left off at, at least at the beginning that the password system might be a bit much. Still I don't recall any other Intellivision games I've played that used such a system so I do have to give it that. I assume the game while powered on allows you to choose any level completed and the password system exists so you can literally pick up where you left off. I was only able to get through the first 4 levels as I wasn't able to 3 star all of them. I'm assuming that is the requirement to unlock the next series of levels. Sound is nearly non-existent with essentially the only sound being the movement of the block rows. So the game could really benefit with some additional sound or music. One thing I do think is needed is that with all the extra left over space on the game play screen, there needs to be a note that the left bottom fire button resets the level. I ended up restarting the whole game several times because I wasn't aware of that. Also it would be nice if there was a way to pull rows of blocks to immediately undo a movement. If there is a way to do this, I didn't discover it. All in all a really cool little game that I think with some added detail to the graphics and a catchy tune, could really be that more excellent!

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

The game is a variation of an old puzzle game, but rather than just treating it like such, the author turns MazezaM into an adventure. The story concept is fresh and interesting, and works exceedingly well on top of the simple (yet challenging) puzzle mechanics.

 

The graphics are simple, but workable. They fit the typical Intellivision aesthetic, but considering the simplistic nature of gameplay, more effort should be put in the audio/visual presentation. This game is ripe for cute animations, cut-scenes, incidental or idle sprite actions, and other interesting elements to elevate the game from a simple puzzler, to the epic, character-driven adventure it purports to be.

 

The game is virtually devoid of any sound, which is a pity, but perhaps it's due to the limited time and experience available to the programmer. That said, the very few sounds provided (for menu selections and such), are appealing and fitting. There just isn't much of it at all. The game could also use some interesting background tunes during the puzzle levels.

 

Gameplay is solid, challenging and addictive. I haven't been able to get to the higher levels, but it certainly invites me to continue.

 

The password system to restore progress is a very nice addition and perfect for this type of game. The author should be commended for including such features.

 

Overall, a solid and addictive game, well implemented and executed, but lacking some final spit-and-polish to turn it into a sparkling classic.

 

Intymike

Comments:

Simple puzzle game at first sight. Easy to play, hard to master. With its level and password system its very well presented.

 

mthompson

Comments:

I personally like puzzle games, and MazezaM delivers. Great story to give this slide puzzle some purpose. Nice title screen graphic. The game would benefit greatly with just some subtle sound effects when Hannah moves the blocks. This game has quite a bit of depth, though I admit I haven't solved level 5 yet (#shame) but I'll get it eventually!

 

nanochess

Comments:

This is a puzzle game, the puzzle is so interesting (for my taste) that you don't see the graphics, but when you see them, well, these do their job barely.

 

Only a brief sound when finishing a level.

 

The player moves pixel to pixel when enters into the game, but then moves in card size increments, it could have been polished to push the blocks by card and then move the player pixel to pixel to next block.

 

I've read the story behind the game and it's very well explained and interesting, this made me to put concept to 9 because it triggers the imagination.

 

The game is incredibly challenging and a welcome addition to the Intellivision library.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Title screen needs music and maybe some animation. Intro story screen could have some graphics to go with the text (like Oregon Bound)

Needs better refined movement and animation on the main game screen, needs movement sounds and some background music. Password and Stars system will keep you playing just one more game in order to progress, very addictive puzzler.

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[+intvsteve]

Boot Hill

Programmed By: digress

Overall Score: 383

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Boot Hill.zip

Fifth Place

Clean up your six-shooter and practice your draw, because it's a shootout! This classic makes the move to our favorite console. Just be careful out there near the cemetery, pardner!

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

Boot Hill is interesting in that it does give us a Duel type game on the Intellivision which is a genre not previously seen on the system. The different environments and obstacles are really well done and fit in the atmosphere of the theme of the game taking place in the Old West. However, I was never quite able to figure out the aiming mechanic between the 3 button and 1 button use and and stuck with the 1 button method such that, once it shot in a direction toward the AI player, I would just leave it and fire the same each time. I do think the fire control needs some work, or a better way to execute the shots. Also I've seen videos of the game play and it appears that on actual hardware, the shots have a graphical glitch, in that the shots look like big triangles shot at each other and just not right. Still the game is impressive with all the starting options including the ability to change your own color for your gunman! The AI is too easy to fool and shoot as well, so it is best played with a buddy instead of against the AI.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

This is an old micro game ported to the Intellivision. The twist with the Zombie battle is very cool, and I wish the author would have made that the main theme of game-play. As it is, it seems an afterthought.

 

The graphics are quirky and the animation is too slow. The scenes are a bit cluttered, and the black background gives them an "unfinished" look. The controls are a bit wonky and need to be made more responsive. The music seems purely placeholder (I think the author mentioned this during development), and most of it does not match the theme of the game.

 

The concept is interesting but needs a lot of polishing in the execution.

 

Intymike

Comments:

Great graphics and sound (very nice music tunes). Different game modes (Zombie) and 1 or 2 player. With title and option screen, I love that. My only complaint is the way to shoot over the 3 different fire buttons. I would prefer it like Tron Deadly Discs with the keypad to aim. Otherwise a solid game where you easily can see that the developer put a lot of heart and thought into it.

 

mthompson

Comments:

This version of the classic arcade Boot Hill is arguably way more enjoyable than the simplistic original. The zombie variation is a fun addition. While the single player mode is good, in two-player mode it's quite a bit more fun. One bug is that if you've got the Stay on Side option enabled, the "reload bullet" may not be accessible to the player who needs it. Also, pressing Enter seems to pause the game, but the only recovery from there is a side button press to start over, and I'm not sure that's the intended behavior. Very nice title screen! The varied backdrops seem well designed, even if the colors overwhelm the action at times.

 

nanochess

Comments:

This game is very polished. It's a clone of the popular arcade game but at the same time includes some interesting twists.

 

The graphics are very well done, the music is properly done and changes smoothly. The sound effects are nice.

 

The options are slightly confusing, for example when you select 1 player or 2 players, the option apart of showing the new status also changes color, making one to thought it goes enabled/disabled.

 

When the game ends I was surprised to rush again to play another game.

 

It has a bug somewhere in the code that makes the game crash, it happened to me in the zombies mode in 3rd level.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Lots of variety from the original black and white arcade game. Zombie mode is fun, the graphics are sometimes too busy. Red text on blue background messages like "Get Ready" seems out of place. Game Over text with the stats would be better off as a distinct graphical screen, with the disk or any button continuing back to the menu. 2-player is fun.

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[+intvsteve]

Princess Lydie

Programmed By: mmarrero

Overall Score: 379

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Princess Lydie.zip

Sixth Place

Hop on top and bop til you drop your enemies with a kick or a stomp!

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

Princess Lydie's Bubble Bobble inspiration is obvious and as no other game like that exists on the Intellivision I find that alone to be very original in concept and design. The sounds are nice but don't really stand out to me still. I do like the title screen though! Very nice and I do like the different characters and level layouts that went into the game. But I do wish that Lydie was easier to control. The jump seems too short and fast. It also wasn't ever clear to me on which platforms I could jump through and which I was not. While I understand not wanting the game to be the same as Bubble Bobble, there needs to be another way to take out those enemies besides bouncing off their heads. Still with a bit more polish this game would be a well received and remembered release for the Intellivision.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

This game is an example of a great concept but lackluster execution. It's a cross between Bubble Bobble and Mario Bros., with some other platform mechanics thrown in. The main criticism I have on the implementation is that the mechanics are awkward.

 

You are accosted by a large number of enemies which can kill you on contact, and killing them requires you to jump on their heads. The problem is that most of the play-area consists of layered platforms with low-ceilings, preventing you from doing the one thing that can save you.

 

The jumping mechanic is also not great: you can jump upwards at varying heights from rest, and you can jump side-ways from a run, but you cannot do both at once. Thus, it adds a factor of timing your moves in order to get a side-ways jump, which is affected by control responsiveness.

 

The mixture of jump and kicking mechanics seem confusing, and hard to apply in practice with the hand-controller. The timer seems like adding insult to an already painful injury.

 

The sprites are good; the custom font-set is a very nice touch, although a bit hard to read; and the music is catchy, pleasant, and very fitting for the type of game. The sound effects are a bit generic, but still fit the theme.

 

The animated title screen is very good, but the colors chosen seem an odd fit.

 

The enemy sprites could use some damping to smooth out their movements: they sometime appear to "twitch" as the AI choses their direction, which makes it look clunky.

 

Overall, a great concept with great potential, but needs a more fine-tuned jump mechanic and more fitting level design. As it is, appeal and re-playability are limited by the execution.

 

Intymike

Comments:

Undoubtedly inspired by games like Bubble Bobble or Mario Bros. It's very beautiful with great sound. The stages are a bit to narrow in my opinion and the countdown is nerve-wracking. With some experience it can be a lot of fun. Password system is great!

 

mthompson

Comments:

You can tell that the programmer spent a lot of time giving Princess Lydie a distinctive look. But sometimes form gets in the way of function, and this was the case for me as I found myself doing extra work to read the text on the screen. I also found it hard to make the character do what I wanted her to, and I never did quite figure out how to score more points. I think that with some refinement, this could be lots more fun beating up on the bad guys.

 

nanochess

Comments:

This game looks very nice. It's a good approach to a Bubble Bobble clone. It has also some nice music although looks like some melodies are missing (for winning or death).

 

The control is confusing. When jumping you should press direction at same time, otherwise Lydie only jumps in vertical. When jumping in vertical you cannot pass through floors, so you cannot use it to jump to an upper level, HOWEVER when you do it with a direction you CAN pass through floors.

 

When falling you can control slightly the direction of Lydie moving to left and right, however it's not enough movement to control where you want to land. Sometimes it looks like you can reach a platform, but not. My mind somehow expected jump to be controlled the same way.

 

Given Lydie has inertia but jumping and falling logic doesn't follow same inertia, it makes very hard to land on monsters. This made me to lower score in Game Play and Lasting Appeal, but the chances are here to make this game more addictive just by tuning control.

 

Nice animation of Lydie in pre-game screen, could it be made a 16x16 detailed little woman?

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Title screen and overall graphical execution shows great knowledge of Inty graphics. The custom font is cool but I found it hard to read, menu doesn't ignore the keypad presses. In game physics felt off when jumping and controls felt non-intuitive. Great use of graphic tricks for the monsters to get multi colors.

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[+intvsteve]

Dwarven Mine

Programmed By: boardgamebrewer

Overall Score: 364

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Dwarven Mine.zip

Seventh Place

Just how greedy a Dwarf are you? Will you keep what you've found, or go for more? Based on the board game Diamant by Alan Moon and Bruno Faidutti, Dwarven Mine brings the strategy and tension -- and fun! -- of the game to your Intellivision!

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

With two players this would be a blast. The AI is pretty simple and easily beaten if you are willing to take a bit more risk. I like the idea of this game quite a bit and is crazy simple to play but in a good way. It would have been cool to see other dangers and to see the actual mine route change between mines. A few more options to make things interesting at the beginning and perhaps a way for the dwarves to find items to help combat some dangers to extend the exploration would be cool to add. Like finding a pickaxe to help remove the danger of a cave in. Or finding some weapon to negate a danger from the scorpion or snake. Little more work on this, beef up the AI and it would be quite a 'gem' to play.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

I've never played the original card/board game, but this game seems to be a very nice adaptation for the Intellivision. I think the concept of making it into an interactive video game translates well, but it is a very simple implementation.

 

The sound effects are nice and fitting, although they need some additional polish. Some of them seem to keep the noise channel active after completion.

 

The animated title screen is nice and interesting, but it could use some music. The main game-play stage could also be elevated with some short tunes or jingles as the various actions take place.

 

The graphics are much too simple. It is sometimes hard to tell what the hazards are by just looking at them. They work for the adaptation, but the Intellivision can do so much more that they feel very uninspiring.

 

The screen layout is well designed, providing enough information to keep the player aware of his situation, but the graphical elements could use some additional pizzaz, such as animated hazards, interesting background scenes, etc.

 

Game-play is a bit confusing: the instructions come with a picture describing the screen layout, which is good, but do not explain the individual graphics, nor what the bottom row is for or how it works. It seems to require some pre-existing knowledge of the original game.

 

Multiplayer ability is great for a party game; and single-player mode is a nice feature, although the A.I. seems too simplistic.

 

Overall, a very good video game adaptation of an old-school board game, but its appeal is affected by its genre/type, its confusing game-play, and simple audio/visual presentation. It would do well to add a bit more visual and action elements to broaden its appeal.

 

Intymike

Comments:

I find the way a board game was brought to the Intellivision very well done. After a moment of "what the heck" I found out how to play and it's actually a nice little game of strategy and chance.

 

mthompson

Comments:

Dwarven Mine is surprisingly fun to play. The sound effects are well done. This seems like a better game with two human players competing against each other (and the AI dwarves), which I'm guessing is really the intent. The graphics, though simple, get the job done.

 

nanochess

Comments:

This is a risk game where each player or AI handles a dwarf.

 

Over a number of mines, in each turn each player should choose if he/she wants to continue going inside the mine searching for gold, but caveat, if he/she finds two continuous dangers then he/she loses all the treasure from that mine.

 

There are sound effects for each danger and also a tiny dwarf that moves. It would have been appreciated a better title screen.

 

Nice game to play between several people.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Needs more graphics and animation but is a fun multiplayer game. Hard to play unless you've read the instructions.

---

[+intvsteve]

A Sparrow Goes Flapping

Programmed By: Kiwi

Overall Score: 349

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-A Sparrow Goes Flapping.zip

Eighth Place

What's a sparrow to do? Well, how about go flapping through the forest! Explore the forest and move on to even more challenging and perilous parts of the planet.

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

A Sparrow goes Flapping I guess is what you get when you mix Flappy Bird with Scramble. The graphics on the two levels given are quite cool and I especially like the parallax like effect. I also feel this game is pretty darn original given that there isn't anything else like it on the Intellivision currently that I'm aware of. The first level is fun and just right. But the second level needs to give the player more time to move up and down between the caves. Too many times you take out some boulders with your dash attack and find that you are now not able to get up to the top part of the opening in time without taking damage. With a few more levels added and bosses with some power ups perhaps would make this game an excellent release. The animation of the bird and when you die with the flying feathers is a very cool touch as well!

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

An interesting combination of Flappy Bird and a side-scrolling shooter, with a mixture of mechanics from various games. Although the graphics are conceptually good, the colors chosen make them hard to read and a bit unpleasant to the eye at times. This particular art style perhaps does not work well on the Intellivision color palette.

 

The sound effects are good, but are too much of the "generic" pinball/arcade sounds.

 

The controls are fine, although a bit twitchy, especially in the menu screens. I think moving forward and backwards could use some acceleration factor to make them smoother and avoid the frustration of constant-time movement while enemies or obstacles approach.

 

I encountered some bugs (sprites kept active when transitioning between stages), so the game could still use some polish, but overall it's a game that has some great potential.

 

Intymike

Comments:

First one can think it's only a simple Flapee Bird clone. But soon I discovered that this is a sideway scrolling shooter. With extra stuff to pick up, fighting an end boss. Pretty nice graphics. With a bit better presentation (title screen, music) and polish on the game play it can evolve to a stand alone release title.

 

mthompson

Comments:

A Sparrow goes Flapping is a simple but enjoyable game with more fun and less frustration than Flappy Bird. I like that I'm not fatally punished when I collide with or just brush against an object. But why does the game want to start on Level 2 instead of Level 1? The disc seems overly sensitive to me, and the "Game Over" is rather abrupt. A bit of music there and at the start would add polish. But this is another "jump right in and play for a bit" game that many people will like.

 

nanochess

Comments:

You play with a sparrow flapping. The controls are very good and smooth. The graphics for level 1 and 2 are pretty nice and really get you into the forest.

 

The sparrow's "superpower" is interesting. In level 1 the apples and branches fall too low, so these are hard to avoid. The way the owl fights you back is cute because you can actually defend against "impossible" looking attacks using the dash. I was unable to complete level 2, as the difficulty curve ramps up brutally.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised by this game. It could have got a better score with a graphical title screen and some background music.

 

A very promising game.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Massive improvement over Flappy Bird type clones. Not dying instantly is a welcome element as is the boss battle. Difficulty curve and obstacle spawning needs some adjusting and the addition of more levels would be welcome.

---

[+intvsteve]

Ouranos!

Programmed By: carlsson

Overall Score: 340

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Ouranos!.zip

Ninth Place

With great power comes great responsibility. In this case, your great power is the ability to control the Forces of Nature, and it's your responsibility to wipe out your annoying neighbor's house! What this says about Human Nature is open for debate, but what Ouranos! does do is bring the classic based on the Commodore PET game by Kathy Higby to our favorite console!

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

This might be the first game like this I've played on the Intellivision so that alone gives it high originality marks. I'm also a fan of these kinds of games and this one really does need an AI opponent so that one player games can be nail biting on whom takes out whom's house first. I like the idea of the different weather attacks, but don't feel that they are that vastly different from each other besides their graphics. The lightning might be the only real exception as it has a very finite line of attack. But I also felt that many times there wasn't anyway given the current wind and cloud placement for me to actually get a strike on the opponent. There shouldn't ever be a time when I have the power at 99 and still can't even get close to the opponent. I also feel that taking out ever block of the houses is too tedious. Perhaps take a cue from warlords and just have a central object in each house that once struck awards the win to the player making that strike? More detail is needed on the houses as well. But I do like the idea of the random acts of nature!

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

This game is a variation of an old micro game, and does not appear to be updated much to take advantage of the Intellivision's strengths other than some simple animations.

 

The game has good potential to be more interesting. The mechanic of choosing the weather is good, but perhaps it could be combined with a more active element. A single-player mode would also help make it more appealing.

 

The graphics are very simple, but workable, and I see that there are some animations in the weather events, but the blocky-tile presentation limits their visual impact.

 

Not a bad start, but in my opinion, if this game wants to increase its appeal in order to get published, it should focus on updating the game-play and graphics. I've seen the work of this author before, so I know he can do a great job at it.

 

Intymike

Comments:

The original game comes from the Commodore PET. And thats easy to see. It's a simple but effective game idea. With two players it could be quite fun to play. A computer player would be a good addition.

 

mthompson

Comments:

Ouranos! is just begging for an AI opponent. Maybe it could be the government, as we all know they're the ones controlling the weather. Anyway... Right now either controller can be used for either player, and that should be fixed. The weather graphics are adequate, but some really awesome sounds would bring the game to life. And that lightning should flash the whole screen. Clever title for this game, and I enjoyed trying it out.

 

nanochess

Comments:

Pretty original game for the Intellivision. Two players battle to destroy their opponent launching "nature" attacks, it can become pretty fun and I'm sure some people would like to launch a lightning to the neighbor. Some interesting animation and use of color.

 

Noticed that any controller moves the two players, it would have been a lot better to separate left controller for player 1 and right controller for player 2. The final scoring is non-centered on screen, and also didn't had any info on how the final score is calculated.

 

A tiny AI would have been nice.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

A nice take on the old artillery duel games. A 2 player game needs to separate the controllers for each player otherwise a player can just waste the other's turn. Even a dumb AI would be nice for single player games.

 

The top cloud should have animated movement between turns instead of just jumping to new spot.

---

[+intvsteve]

Deadly Balls

Programmed By: PuzZLeR

Overall Score: 299

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-Deadly Balls.zip

Tenth Place

Bowl over your competition in this mash-up of Tron Deadly Discs, BurgerTime and Deadly Dogs.

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

Yeap I'm going to be harsh on this one. First this is not only NOT an original concept since it is basically Discs of Tron with BurgerTime characters but even that isn't original since the Blue Sky Rangers did create Deadly Dogs which is Tron Deadly Discs using the wieners from BurgerTime as the enemies. So I honestly can't see it as being all that original. It also lacks quite a bit in the gameplay because it just seems to be an endurance fest to see how long you can last against the enemies. They don't get any more difficult as you play so it really starts to drag pretty quickly. I also never understood the difference in the two attacks you can launch besides the speed of the disc/ball you fire.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

It's a variation on another variation of an original game, so it lacks originality. I do like the little story introducing the game in the instructions, which gives it depth, but why not go all out and turn it into a completely different game? Why keep the Deadly Dogs theme with a new story?

 

The title screen music is quirky and a bit too "experimental" for my taste, but it does have a "spooky" undertone in it. Music and sound effects during game-play are serviceable.

 

The mechanics are good (they are Tron's), and the implementation seems good, but I think this game would do better by distancing itself completely from the Tron and Deadly Dogs themes, and using all new graphics and motifs.

 

Intymike

Comments:

It may be at first sight be a pure rip off of Tron or Deadly Dogs. But it has a few new ideas like the ricochet. The steering is done very well and it is great to play. The sound is not that bad, with the dramatic humming during playing.

 

mthompson

Comments:

Deadly Balls struck me as a variation of Tag-Along Todd only with multiple opponents & weapons. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I deducted originality points for that reason. The game graphics were clever, but they made the title and game over screens seem even more stark. This is a good game to jump into for a short play.

 

nanochess

Comments:

Tron Deadly Discs meets BurgerTime. It's a good idea and found attractive the visual style. The physics of disc actually are interesting.

 

Good concept test game. For future releases I would suggest a graphical title screen, clearing the sprites on game over, and different attack patterns for the enemies. (Maybe a boss?)

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

A decent riff on Tron Deadly Discs VS BurgerTime. Some suggestions:

 

Clear the sprites on game over, title screen is too plain, add some of the animated in-game characters on the title, add an different game over screen that takes you back to the main menu after, display the score and high score there or on an attract screen. Mazes should change and have better graphical design.

---

[+intvsteve]

Hunt the Wumpus

Programmed By: Zendocon

Overall Score: 287

Entry Thread: N/A

Download: IBC2018-Wumpus.zip

Eleventh Place

The classic text adventure lands on the Intellivision. Can you find and kill the unspeakable horror that is the Wumpus, or will you perish as you navigate the beast's lair, or emerge victorious?

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

Having played Hunt the Wumpus on the TI-99 I'm a bit spoiled on more polished graphics for the game. Not to mention that even the 2600 homebrew of this game honestly has better graphics. Having said that, I do think the animation of the bat grabbing you and placing you in a random part of the cave and other animations such as when you get eaten or shot by your own arrow were a nice touch. I do like the sound effects, but again without a real map to know what is going on, it makes it way more difficult than it should have been since you can't know if the route you choose will be death or not. In the TI game you have an idea as you are basically warned about pits coming up, etc., and can move around those areas until you locate where the Wumpus is. I was able to take him out twice. But not sure if it randomizes or not because each time I took him out when I was notified about a stench and I simply pressed 5 to shoot the arrow in the direction that 5 does. I also feel that we should get a better screen when taking him out. Overall if the game had some onscreen map system, even if it used symbols, so you had an idea on how the cave was laid out, it would be much better.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

It's an interesting idea to try to make this terminal game into an Intellivision game. I think the added features of sound effects and the little graphics of the actions are very nice, but not enough to fit the typical (and expected) Intellivision experience.

 

Perhaps it should have much less text and a more graphical navigation.

 

I also found the controls cumbersome and the navigation was very confusing. Maybe a map of the explored areas would help.

 

Intymike

Comments:

I was lucky to shoot the Wumpus in the third room. It's a game from the era of non-existing graphics and sound. With slight improvements as flying arrows and warning sounds it gives a bit more in-depth experience. A game for strategy players. Great use of the keypad.

 

mthompson

Comments:

Hunt the Wumpus is a text game with a few graphic animations sprinkled in, so the cool sound effects were welcome. I'm glad I spotted the overlay; it reduced the learning curve in playing this title. I couldn't figure out if the room choices were arbitrary, but they often seemed to randomly give me only two choices for movement and shooting. I never did catch on as to what the trick is to consistently winning the game. I mostly got shot by my own arrows or otherwise died a horrible death. Note to self: stay out of dark caves!

 

nanochess

Comments:

It's a good idea to bring David Ahl's Hunt the Wumpus to Intellivision.

The text screens would benefit of a little color to separate sections.

In a part of the game I saw "Back" to return, it was a little confusing for me as the Intellivision keypad only has "Clear".

The instructions didn't provide any information on the keypad usage, so I had to try keys until I understood how to navigate the cavern (1-3 to Move, 4-6 to shoot) I later found the instructions but the information wasn't listed.

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Hard to play without overlay, unnecessarily confusing without the maze on-screen like the TI. The sound effects do help. Nice "being eaten" effect.

---

[+intvsteve]

mINTY

Programmed By: decle

Overall Score: 260

Entry Thread: Here

Download: IBC2018-mINTY.zip

Twelfth Place

Do not abandon your retirement plans just yet. Although mINTY may be able to help you mine some Bitcoin, you may need to invest first in life-extending technologies so you can reap the benefits of possibly the world's slowest mining hardware.

 

-^Cro§Bow^-

Comments:

It is original I have to hand them that, but this isn't a game and it honestly more like a good torture test for your Intellivision. The music is okay but just I couldn't get into it and it just keeps going. The text is funny in some cases but it repeats too quickly as well since there are only a few phrases that I saw. I'm just not sure what else to say on it, as again I don't feel this is really a game and more like a interesting proof of concept demo.

 

DZ-Jay

Comments:

It takes some serious balls to implement a Bitcoin miner on an Intellivision -- and even bigger to submit it to a game development contest! However, this is a toy program that serves only as a one-time joke.

 

That said, for the joke that it is, the implementation and presentation are solid (if not very usable as a game at all). The music chosen is very good, so there's that.

 

I did find a bug in the text layout, so that makes the entire hash computation suspect. (Har! Har! )

 

I only gave it as many points as I did because it made me smile really big when I first saw it, and that should count for something.

 

Intymike

Comments:

To use the Intellivision for Bitcoin mining is a crazy idea. Of course it's no game at all (and it's no game contest, it's a IntyBASIC contest), but the whole idea brings a smile to your face. Awesome music and that's the reason why I gave 4 points for lasting appeal, just to hear the music once in a while.

 

mthompson

Comments:

You have to give mINTY credit for originality! Who would think of mining cryptocurrency with a late 1970s-vintage home game console? The music is great, and it's fun to read the scrolling text. But it's not going to get many plays. I want my money back!!

 

nanochess

Comments:

It's a Bitcoin miner for Intellivision that would take centuries to generate something meaningful. The music is the strong point. I had to take points off lasting appeal because I didn't get any cash from the Intellivision

 

Tarzilla

Comments:

Nice music, very original (if not very useful) concept. Let us know when we can network the Inty's together to mine faster

---

[boardgamebrewer]

Woot! Thanks for judging!

Congratulations to all the participants and to the winners!

Can't wait to play all these games.

[+intvsteve]

On a personal note:

 

I'd like to thank DZ-Jay for the scoring spreadsheet and formatting info from the last contest - it helped a great deal!

I also want to thank nanochess for his patience with some of my questions early on in the code validation phase.

Thank you, Albert, for your help with the forum -- even as frantic preparations for PRGE must be killing you!

Also, thanks to the judges for their patience waiting for me to get the darn ROMs all together in one place for them to judge:

• -^Cro§Bow^-
• DZ-Jay
• Intymike
• mthompson
• nanochess
• Tarzilla

Your contest judges also have "real lives" outside this place (believe it or not!) -- and literally span the globe!

 

Last, but not least, THANK YOU to all those with the guts to lay it all out there and enter the contest!

• artrag: Deep Zone
• atari2600land: Upmonsters
• boardgamebrewer: Dwarven Mine
• carlsson: Ouranos! (will all your entries end in !, or is that just a coincidence? )
• decle: mINTY
• digress: Boot Hill
• emerson: The Crimson Tower
• Kiwi: A Sparrow Goes Flapping
• mmarrero: Princess Lydie
• postpostdoc: MazezaM
• PuzZLeR: Deadly Balls
• Zendocon: Hunt the Wumpus

Everyone here should give them hearty congratulations! I have a feeling that somehow, some of these may end up in our grubby paws in a more ... tangible ... form one day!

[+eebuckeye]

Great work everyone! What an amazing community!

[artrag]

Thanks a lot for the news and thanks for the efforts the organizers and the judges have spent in keeping alive the competition.

Joining has been really exciting and motivating.

Without the competition, Deep Zone would probably have stayed unfinished (and pirated, but this is a different history)

I need to thank in special way Oscar Toledo for Intybasic, that has resurrected the interest for coding the Intellivision even opening a new homebrew market, and Joe Zbiciak for his huge work at the foundation of modern Intellivision coding.

Edited October 13, 2018 by artrag

[+DZ-Jay]

My most sincerest congratulations to artrag, atariland2600, and emerson for their well-deserved wins; and a heartfelt "thank you" to all the competitors for putting up a great show.

 

I enjoyed all the games, some more than others, but still all of them. It was a very pleasant and fun experience to try out such varied themes and mechanics, and I think that perhaps with a bit more polish, each and every one of these titles can aspire to be a flagship title on the Intellivision.*

 

Thus, I urge you all to heed the judges' comments, which were all offered in earnest sincerity for our appreciation of their potential, and to continue working on your games. I want to see these games finished and published.

 

In the end, it is the Intellivision community as a whole who wins!

 

-dZ.

 

 

* Well, maybe with the exception of mINTY, which will take an exceptionally hardcore collector to put on a shelf!

[digress]

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I'll probably work on it some more in the future. Main problems I was having was performance issues when you get too many characters on the screen and trying to balance that with reasonable collision detection without too much slowdown.

 

As i was only able to try it on a pc in an emulator the actual mechanics of the 3 button shooting might have been something that i might have noticed more on a real system.

 

I'll reference the feedback when I look at it again. Thanks for running the contest and taking your time to give everyone some feedback.

[+Steve Jones]

Digress please keep working on this, it was one of my faves, definitely in my top 3, too bad I wasnt a judge

[+intvsteve]

Yikes! I forgot to thank mthompson for providing almost all the screen shots! The entry posts wouldn't look quite so good without those! The full-size versions are in the .zip files containing the entries.

[digress]

Well I didn't allow the source code to be released so that would have helped my score too. I just ran out of steam in july and I'll get back to it eventually. I'm pretty happy with where it's going.

 

 

Digress please keep working on this, it was one of my faves, definitely in my top 3, too bad I wasnt a judge

Edited October 13, 2018 by digress

[+Steve Jones]

Yeah with the 30 points you lost for no source code you would have come in 2nd place

[carlsson]

Congratulations to all the winners, greetings to all the other participants, arrangers, judges, sponsors and other people supporting the contest. I would have been extremely surprised if Deep Zone had not won, by far the most advanced and worked through game. As for the others, it is clear we've all upped the output from IntyBASIC in the past 2.5 years, and one can only imagine what IntyBASIC games in 2020 will look and play like if this evolution continues.

[+intvsteve]

A couple of quick notes...

 

I made an error in mentioning the use of Intellivoice in the instructions.txt file for Deep Zone. The game actually plays back digitized voice data using the sound chip - which is an impressive technical feat in and of itself. The main download and game-specific .zip files have been updated to remove the mention of Intellivoice.

 

Also, regarding Boot Hill: yes, had the source code been released, it would have indeed finished in second place. Second and third place were separated only by two points -- and fourth, fifth and sixth place were extremely close as well!