HSC Season 7 Game 3: Tail of Beta Lyrae

[atariksi]

Finally disciplined myself ( ) to stay out of it on the first sector; I stayed above and nipped in for easy kils where there was space to pull up if a 'monkey-ball' came on... made it right through to second level but then got splatted! I think the first sector is the hardest so try and make it to the caves folks.

 

113,532

 

Don't forget to vote for the next game

 

5110. First few shots at after getting it going (mostly).

[+therealbountybob]

If anyone's bored I've started a discussion on ttobl on the main forum here. If you're playing the Homesoft Version it doesn't have the 'monkey balls' enabled and is therefore easier, so please try and avoid that one, bit late now I suppose

 

The game's well worth a blast holding down fire, forgetting about the score and getting all that tension out of the system!

1 day to go folks

[atariksi]

If anyone's bored I've started a discussion on ttobl on the main forum here. If you're playing the Homesoft Version it doesn't have the 'monkey balls' enabled and is therefore easier, so please try and avoid that one, bit late now I suppose

 

The game's well worth a blast holding down fire, forgetting about the score and getting all that tension out of the system!

1 day to go folks

 

Did you get 113K score just by going up to 3rd level? If that's the case, that's pretty good.

[Divya16]

23332!

Scored 30K last night but it takes me a dozen re-loads to get the game working properly! Worth checking out the other difficulty levels (press 1-6 on the title screen) as the game will loop though them and there are some nice things added... that you can destroy

 

It looks like sector 5 is a points bonanza. The early sectors are hard and I think it might be best to concentrate on surviving more than killing stuff, though it's just too darn tempting to get down low and a pulsing ball thingy pulls you into a mountain

 

p.s. have updated the overall HSC table - any more corrections please let me know.

 

I made it to the radioactive wasteland part but still not a big score:

[AB Positive]

Divya - after that you see a sort-of, sort-of-not harder Caves level... then you get 'bonus round' territory where it's all stationary non-lethal targets. Well, unless you ram into them of course but still.

 

Keep trying and you'll see a huge score boost after that sector.

[+therealbountybob]

If anyone's bored I've started a discussion on ttobl on the main forum here. If you're playing the Homesoft Version it doesn't have the 'monkey balls' enabled and is therefore easier, so please try and avoid that one, bit late now I suppose

 

The game's well worth a blast holding down fire, forgetting about the score and getting all that tension out of the system!

1 day to go folks

 

Did you get 113K score just by going up to 3rd level? If that's the case, that's pretty good.

I started as a cadet on sector 1 and made it through to the first sector again Have been playing several goes every day but only had 3 goes over 30k, still losing too many lives on the first sector

[atariksi]

If anyone's bored I've started a discussion on ttobl on the main forum here. If you're playing the Homesoft Version it doesn't have the 'monkey balls' enabled and is therefore easier, so please try and avoid that one, bit late now I suppose

 

The game's well worth a blast holding down fire, forgetting about the score and getting all that tension out of the system!

1 day to go folks

 

Did you get 113K score just by going up to 3rd level? If that's the case, that's pretty good.

I started as a cadet on sector 1 and made it through to the first sector again Have been playing several goes every day but only had 3 goes over 30k, still losing too many lives on the first sector

 

Okay, I finally made it to sector 4-- almost past it but no time to try again.

 

11118.

 

May need to do forensic analysis on the image to see the score.

[AB Positive]

I gotta say thanks to everyone involved with this HSC, I've really picked up on a lot of games I never would have known about before. Thanks to this place I have a steady rotation of great A8 games to play (when not competing of course...)

 

Tail of Beta Lyrae

Drol

Super Pacman

Bristles

Mountain King

 

 

to go along with my other favorites. I'm going to give this a few more runs tonight before the deadline but doubtful I can beat my personal best. Good luck to everyone going into next game!

[mimo]

4925:(

[mimo]

5883

[mimo]

6337

6666

6851

[atariron82]

One of the better games I never heard of. A little hard though with just keyboard controls.

I was pretty happy to break 5,000 and make it to the city. The steep incline/decline in the cave is where I lose most of my ships. The screen scrolls too fast to clear it most of the time:

5,483

[Divya16]

One of the better games I never heard of. A little hard though with just keyboard controls.

I was pretty happy to break 5,000 and make it to the city. The steep incline/decline in the cave is where I lose most of my ships. The screen scrolls too fast to clear it most of the time:

5,483

 

Yeah, I think that's why I'm losing men-- need a joystick to maneuver better. And those caves are impossible in some cases especially with some antennae at the top and you have to go up and shoot the antennae and then come down. And add to that that the shots don't always hit the antennae (they go through) and even if it does hit they waver for a second or two before going down.

[+therealbountybob]

One of the better games I never heard of. A little hard though with just keyboard controls.

I was pretty happy to break 5,000 and make it to the city. The steep incline/decline in the cave is where I lose most of my ships. The screen scrolls too fast to clear it most of the time:

5,483

 

Yeah, I think that's why I'm losing men-- need a joystick to maneuver better. And those caves are impossible in some cases especially with some antennae at the top and you have to go up and shoot the antennae and then come down. And add to that that the shots don't always hit the antennae (they go through) and even if it does hit they waver for a second or two before going down.

Yes definitely benefit from a joystick for games where diagonals are useful unless you are super skilled on the keyboard (can map a keyset with the diagonals on single keys). This thread covers joysticks and emulators. If you need any help let me know.

 

I'm glad that some people have found a new game they like, I've played quite a few games (still downloading like mad!) but occasionally still find a little gem that I missed. I imagine the difficulty is getting people to vote for games they haven't heard of when there up against a big name title e.g. River Rat vs Defender

[+therealbountybob]

Aw shucks congrats to me - where were you Fandal when I wanted a fight Well done everyone hopefully the next game Atari Invaders will be a bit easier to get working :!: (someone has kindly created a working ATR version of ttobl, without the grav balls being enabled, on main forum)

NO, I didn't use that version to win... YES, I can read your minds

 

Final table

1st therealbountybob 113,532 12pts

2nd AB Positive 40,677 11pts

3rd cebus capucinis 19,498 10pts

4th jetset 14,937 9pts

5th atariksi 11,118 8pts

6th divya16 8,919 7pts

7th preppie!! 6,851 6pts

8th atariron82 5,483 5pts

9th a8isa1 4,663 4pts

10th spookt 4,447 3pts

11th goochman 3,454 1pt

12th roadrunner 3,235 1pt

13th mapa 3,064 1pt

14th bluecat 2,906 1pt

 

any corrections please post

[_Fandal_]

Aw shucks congrats to me - where were you Fandal when I wanted a fight

 

Congratulations to your victory!

 

I didn't participate because I really hate this game and I'm going to play only my favourite ones this year. I played too much games in HSC in the past and I really got a lesson: it must be fun to play something on A8 for hours, not a torture. And The Tail of Beta Lyrae would be a nightmare for me. This game is simply unplayable. Besides that, I'm pretty busy with my newest A8 game. It must be finished in just one month...

 

F.

Edited February 20, 2010 by _Fandal_

[atariksi]

Aw shucks congrats to me - where were you Fandal when I wanted a fight

 

Congratulations to your victory!

 

I didn't participate because I really hate this game and I'm going to play only my favourite ones this year. I played too much games in HSC in the past and I really got a lesson: it must be fun to play something on A8 for hours, not a torture. And The Tail of Beta Lyrae would be a nightmare for me. This game is simply unplayable. Besides that, I'm pretty busy with my newest A8 game. It must be finished in just one month...

 

F.

 

In this game if you just press START and don't do anything (even have joystick disconnected), you can get about 1500 points. That's enough to beat their default champion high score of 1000.

[atariksi]

Aw shucks congrats to me - where were you Fandal when I wanted a fight Well done everyone hopefully the next game Atari Invaders will be a bit easier to get working :!: (someone has kindly created a working ATR version of ttobl, without the grav balls being enabled, on main forum)

NO, I didn't use that version to win... YES, I can read your minds

 

Final table

1st therealbountybob 113,532 12pts

2nd AB Positive 40,677 11pts

3rd cebus capucinis 19,498 10pts

4th jetset 14,937 9pts

5th atariksi 11,118 8pts

6th divya16 8,919 7pts

7th preppie!! 6,851 6pts

8th atariron82 5,483 5pts

9th a8isa1 4,663 4pts

10th spookt 4,447 3pts

11th goochman 3,454 1pt

12th roadrunner 3,235 1pt

13th mapa 3,064 1pt

14th bluecat 2,906 1pt

 

any corrections please post

 

One correction I suggest is that you remove the space between "11,118" and "8pts".

[+therealbountybob]

Aw shucks congrats to me - where were you Fandal when I wanted a fight

Congratulations to your victory!

 

I didn't participate because I really hate this game and I'm going to play only my favourite ones this year. I played too much games in HSC in the past and I really got a lesson: it must be fun to play something on A8 for hours, not a torture. And The Tail of Beta Lyrae would be a nightmare for me. This game is simply unplayable. Besides that, I'm pretty busy with my newest A8 game. It must be finished in just one month...

 

F.

In this game if you just press START and don't do anything (even have joystick disconnected), you can get about 1500 points. That's enough to beat their default champion high score of 1000.

Keep up the good work F - let me know if you want any play testing. Let's hope there are a few more you like, maybe we'll play one of your games as a bonus round sometime

I've updated the Current Standings. Nice try atariksi

Will be adding Atari Invaders tomorrow.

trbb

[Cebus Capucinis]

Wow! Very close match for this HSC starting off! Gonna be stiff competition I bet! Excellent!

[Philip Price]

Here's an update: 4742. This time I didn't keep shooting so I got more points and didn't even reach the city. Some of the missiles go right through the rockets-- perhaps a bug in the emulator or in the game.

 

Nope, not a bug. Your shots are not always in phase with matter, nor do they always pack the potency one wants.

 

(Technically I did depend on realtime player missle detection [ I did not write a software collision detector for this game in 1982/1983], and I did allow the missle and ship to move discretely which could cause PM misses, but for storyline it is due to ship and missile/plasma mechanics that sometime cause the matter to be out of phase)

Edited July 24, 2013 by Philip Price

[Philip Price]

One correction I suggest is that you remove the space between "11,118" and "8pts".

 

Congrats to all who played this three years ago. I do hope you all had fun. Congrats to the real bounty bob for high score!

[Philip Price]

Congratulations to your victory!

 

I didn't participate because I really hate this game and I'm going to play only my favourite ones this year. I played too much games in HSC in the past and I really got a lesson: it must be fun to play something on A8 for hours, not a torture. And The Tail of Beta Lyrae would be a nightmare for me. This game is simply unplayable. Besides that, I'm pretty busy with my newest A8 game. It must be finished in just one month...

 

F.

 

Unplayable? (I may not know the full context of why you feel this way, but I respect a players opinion even if I don't fully understand it)

The game is meant to play with the Atari joystick (I really didn't think when I wrote it in 1982/1983 that a buyer of the Atari 400 or 800 would not have a joystick since it came with the computer, and I didn't have the foresight people would play it thirty years later without one [Kudos to those who can do so, I would only play it with joystick, a keyboard would just frustrate me for this side shooter]

Edited July 24, 2013 by Philip Price

[Philip Price]

I gotta say thanks to everyone involved with this HSC, I've really picked up on a lot of games I never would have known about before. Thanks to this place I have a steady rotation of great A8 games to play (when not competing of course...)

 

Tail of Beta Lyrae

Drol

Super Pacman

Bristles

Mountain King

 

 

to go along with my other favorites. I'm going to give this a few more runs tonight before the deadline but doubtful I can beat my personal best. Good luck to everyone going into next game!

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Hmm, I got to get an emulator up or find one of my old Ataris and try some of those games. A few ring bells, some don't, and I thought I played almost everything out there back then.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Philip Price

[Philip Price]

One of the better games I never heard of. A little hard though with just keyboard controls.

I was pretty happy to break 5,000 and make it to the city. The steep incline/decline in the cave is where I lose most of my ships. The screen scrolls too fast to clear it most of the time:

5,483

 

Yes, few heard of it, though more heard of the next game I did (Alternate Reality). I am real glad you enjoyed it, and I would agree, I think Tail of Beta Lyrae would be real hard to play in the caves with a keyboard, the physicality of the joystick was important to the gameplay.

 

P.S.

I sure hope I didn't put the gravity objects in the cave, if I did, I guess it would be that at the highest levels I wanted a really, really hard challenge.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Philip Price