The CGE exclusive Intv game BLIX is limited to 30 copies

[wolfy62]

Sleeve alone? Sleeve alone? Tears in my beers..... Great pickup!

 

The Shark! Shark! shirts were $20. and you got that for $10.?

 

If I had 1 choice I would take the,,,,,,or two of.....

[+intvsteve]

 

That's Gavv's "IQ" Contest prize Flashback up for sale (he's not hiding anything, or gouging anyone. And he divulges everything in the auction).

 

Good luck, bidders!

Ruh Roh! Signed up for the contest but totally missed it! Grats on the cool prize!

[Rev]

Just sleeve? Crap! Cmart will pay for this!!"!!

[wolfy62]

Rev, I think neither one of us thought of it .we are both.......guilty as charged!!!!!

[+TrekMD]

I was debating what to do for a while and then I decided to ask and was just gold I could do it, so I went for it!

[gavvv]

It was worth being in the contest just for the awesome game of Biplanes in the finale against Jason. I already had bought FB #27 of 200. Ended up going to a local flea market and buying a suitcase just to take the two FBs and other gotten-goods home. (a good reason for a Southwest flight).

[JasonlikesINTV]

It was worth being in the contest just for the awesome game of Biplanes in the finale against Jason. I already had bought FB #27 of 200. Ended up going to a local flea market and buying a suitcase just to take the two FBs and other gotten-goods home. (a good reason for a Southwest flight).

It was a great game to the end Well done, Sir.

[wolfy62]

I would have been shot down by both of you, great job!

 

Biplanes is an awesome game,

[+nurmix]

We had a lot of fun doing that contest too. And having Tommy Tallarico help me with the 'MC' duties was great. I think it turned out to be a pretty exciting competition; especially Biplanes at the end.

[+Lathe26]

I contented Michael and he sent me these preliminary instructions. He is planning to post official instructions soon. If anyone doesn't know how to play, here is enough to get you going...

 

Press any key to start the game. Music will begin to play.

• Use the action buttons to select another tune if you prefer. <-- not implemented
• Use the directional disc to adjust the music volume.
  • East is 0% (music is silent), and it increases as you rotate counter-clockwise.
  • East-South-East is 100%.
  • The recommended action is to start from West, which is nearly 50%, and rotate in either direction until you have the desired volume.
• Use the keypad keys marked with arrows on your overlay to move the three strips.
  • Line up three of the same shape in a column to clear those shapes.
  • Clear more shapes in the same move to score a bigger combo.
  • Keep going until you run out of energy. When the game ends, press any key on the keypad to start a new game. Keep trying to beat your best score.

First, look at the Combo line at the top. There are four marks in this example, two of which are white. The two white marks indicate the last move cleared two columns simultaneously, or had a combo of 2. The presence of black marks indicate a higher combo was achieved earlier in the game. In this case, there are four marks in total, so the highest combo so far was 4.

Next is the score. The point value for clearing shapes is n² * 10, where n is the combo, or the number of columns you clear at once. The “ones place” of the score is one less than your max combo.

Finally, at the top is your energy level. It is represented by a white bar in a black field. You begin with 6 units and can increase to a maximum of 12 units. Failing to clear any shapes costs 2 units. Clearing shapes earns energy depending on the combo. Running out of energy ends the game.

At the bottom are the high scores for the current play session. The six highest scores are retained until you stop playing.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Lathe26

[cvga]

If there's anyone interested in selling or trading their Blix cart please PM me!

[+SoulBuster]

I saw Trek get his sleeve and I bought 2 and took them up to my room immediately. I drove to Las Vegas, so those sleeves made it home still flat. Signed by 10 of the 12 BSRs. My Flashback was signed by all 12.

[JoeM_Intellivision]

Same here - also interested in Blix if someone wanted to trade/sell PM me.

[+Lathe26]

I made an edit to the instructions above. Everything works as expected except selecting another tune with the side action buttons. This was likely a planned feature that didn't get finished. However, of all the things the game needs to do, this was probably the lowest priority to get done.

[Rev]

The screen shot above, is there any more screens/boards, or does that represent the whole game graphics.

[+intvsteve]

The screen shot above, is there any more screens/boards, or does that represent the whole game graphics.

As far as I know, that's the extent of the graphics. Haven't tried to find any Easter Eggs. I've only gotten up to 600-something points, so no idea if there are more kinds of symbols.

[+intvsteve]

I had no idea about the music -- I haven't been able to hear it on the consoles I've tried, but perhaps have unwittingly selected very low volumes.

[gavvv]

I had no idea about the music -- I haven't been able to hear it on the consoles I've tried, but perhaps have unwittingly selected very low volumes.

 

Isn't that the sound bug that was talked about and that intvnut gave the explanation about during the roundtable?

[+TrekMD]

I took the liberty of converting the instructions into a PDF file, for those who may want to print them. It's just a single page PDF but it should be useful until something official becomes available. The file is attached.

BLIX Intellivision Instructions.pdf

[+intvsteve]

 

Isn't that the sound bug that was talked about and that intvnut gave the explanation about during the roundtable?

Yes - the question is whether it's consistent for all consoles, or only certain ones. There was some discussion about the behavior resulting from revisions to the sound chip.

[+Lathe26]

Other than the title screen, the screenshot is the entire game. The game play is easy to understand when you know the rules. However, it is surprisingly challenging to play well at so I'd say that it is fun.

 

My high score is a mere 1362.

 

I'll add that you can see that the game had some polishing left to be done:

 

-I run into the reported sound bug. Mostly, just the music is affected that makes it sound like patterned boops and fart noises. However, the innovative volume control via disc trivially makes the music go away.

 

-When you complete a column, just the column appears to video glitch for a moment (just those 3 tiles). Perhaps this was just placeholder animation until thethe final one was written. Minor issue.

 

-Once, the whole screen turned light green. I could raise and lower the music volume and I got error sounds when I pressed invalid buttons so I knew the game was still running but just the video was mucked up. I made a game move (blindly, obviously) and that fixed the video back to normal. Looks like the video just needed a redraw due to a bug.

[Rev]

I took the liberty of converting the instructions into a PDF file, for those who may want to print them. It's just a single page PDF but it should be useful until something official becomes available. The file is attached.

Cool, how about any strategy tips?

 

 

Now you need a back story!

 

Perhaps an alien invasion seeking world domination? LOL

[wolfy62]

I contented Michael and he sent me these preliminary instructions. He is planning to post official instructions soon. If anyone doesn't know how to play, here is enough to get you going...

 

Press any key to start the game. Music will begin to play.

• Use the action buttons to select another tune if you prefer. <-- not implemented
• Use the directional disc to adjust the music volume.
  • East is 0% (music is silent), and it increases as you rotate counter-clockwise.
  • East-South-East is 100%.
  • The recommended action is to start from West, which is nearly 50%, and rotate in either direction until you have the desired volume.
• Use the keypad keys marked with arrows on your overlay to move the three strips.
  • Line up three of the same shape in a column to clear those shapes.
  • Clear more shapes in the same move to score a bigger combo.
  • Keep going until you run out of energy. When the game ends, press any key on the keypad to start a new game. Keep trying to beat your best score.

Blix.png

First, look at the Combo line at the top. There are four marks in this example, two of which are white. The two white marks indicate the last move cleared two columns simultaneously, or had a combo of 2. The presence of black marks indicate a higher combo was achieved earlier in the game. In this case, there are four marks in total, so the highest combo so far was 4.

Next is the score. The point value for clearing shapes is n² * 10, where n is the combo, or the number of columns you clear at once. The “ones place” of the score is one less than your max combo.

Finally, at the top is your energy level. It is represented by a white bar in a black field. You begin with 6 units and can increase to a maximum of 12 units. Failing to clear any shapes costs 2 units. Clearing shapes earns energy depending on the combo. Running out of energy ends the game.

At the bottom are the high scores for the current play session. The six highest scores are retained until you stop playing.

Thank you Lathe!

 

I got the sound working on my Intv 2 and sounds like just what you said.

 

I will play and try to top 1000 that was my goal when I started playing it.

 

Glad to know it can be done!

[+TrekMD]

Cool, how about any strategy tips?

 

 

Now you need a back story!

 

Perhaps an alien invasion seeking world domination? LOL

A back story, eh?

[+Lathe26]

Other than the title screen, the screenshot is the entire game. The game play is easy to understand when you know the rules. However, it is surprisingly challenging to play well at so I'd say that it is fun.

 

My high score is a mere 1362.

 

I'll add that you can see that the game had some polishing left to be done:

 

-I run into the reported sound bug. Mostly, just the music is affected that makes it sound like patterned boops and fart noises. However, the innovative volume control via disc trivially makes the music go away.

 

-When you complete a column, just the column appears to video glitch for a moment (just those 3 tiles). Perhaps this was just placeholder animation until thethe final one was written. Minor issue.

 

-Once, the whole screen turned light green. I could raise and lower the music volume and I got error sounds when I pressed invalid buttons so I knew the game was still running but just the video was mucked up. I made a game move (blindly, obviously) and that fixed the video back to normal. Looks like the video just needed a redraw due to a bug.

 

Just to be clear, I do like the game Blix and I find it fun. I view the above items as just a little polishing; not trying to be hyper-critical or anything.