High Score Competition (April: Starfort)

[+arcadeshopper]

Better

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

[MarkSetGo]

10,380

Not an easy game!

[+OLD CS1]

[pixelpedant]

Alright, presuming I've got everybody's numbers straight, our results for this one are the following:

 

 

I really enjoyed this one.  It was great to get so much more out of a game that I've had since 1988, but never really put the work into learning. 

 

I'll think about options for this month, and get back to folks sometime Sunday.

 

[Count9929A]

3 hours ago, pixelpedant said:

Alright, presuming I've got everybody's numbers straight, our results for this one are the following:

 

 

I really enjoyed this one.  It was great to get so much more out of a game that I've had since 1988, but never really put the work into learning. 

 

I'll think about options for this month, and get back to folks sometime Sunday.

 

Hi, this is my best score, obtained yesterday!

 

12220, MAME 60hz, with keyboard.

I also liked a lot the game, perfect for Halloween!

 

 

[Count9929A]

I just saw on this month's Yesterday News a score of 27100 in Midnite Mason!

Wow!

[pixelpedant]

So here's a game for November: Superfly

 

 

Game is here for use via FinalGROM or emulation:

 

suprflyG.BIN

 

It is also available on http://js99er.net/ under Software->More

 

Manual is here:

 

Superfly.pdf

 

It can be played via the MBX, using joystick and voice commands, but does not require these features.  Personally, I think I prefer just using a regular joystick and skipping the MBX.  Though some might prefer turning via the rotation axis of the MBX joystick.  The keyboard can also be used, but I find the joystick preferable, given diagonals are significant to gameplay. 

 

Another justification for skipping the MBX being that this is a case where I prefer the TI synth samples to the MBX synth samples, so MBX doesn't have that advantage (where I prefer the MBX in most other cases). 

 

For any MBX owners who wish to play via MBX, note that playing the above dump with the MBX via FinalGROM seems to present issues, and the original cart is at this point required for unproblematic MBX play. 

 

As well, note the commands for setting long or short attack distance, and using the "exterminator spray". 

 

 

 

 

[pixelpedant]

And incidentally - prizes had once upon a time been a concept behind this competition, subsequently abandoned.  But I'm going to trot that out here again in a minor way. 

 

Since I've picked an MBX (optional) game with support for voice commands, I'm going to offer an MBX prize. 

 

The MBX headset has foam covers on the earpads and microphone.  But after 37 years, those foam pads tend to be in pretty rough shape.  Foam is not quite as eternal as aluminum and black plastic. 

 

Consequently, I've managed to track down replacement pads of dimensions suitable to both the earpads and mic.  And now, I've got extras.  If the winner has an MBX and would like me to mail them replacement ear and microphone pads for their MBX, I will do so.  Here is what they look like, on mine:

 

 

 

 

[Tursi]

Huh, never played that one before!

 

32300, level 7, Classic99

 

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Oh, YES!!!

[Count9929A]

Never played, but in my wish-list ...

Is it true that this game is supposed to be a sequel of "The Attack" ?

[globeron]

Speech is great: never trust a worm. Where's the Fly? Get it.

 

34200

 

 

 

 

[pixelpedant]

On 11/2/2020 at 4:05 AM, Count9929A said:

Never played, but in my wish-list ...

Is it true that this game is supposed to be a sequel of "The Attack" ?

I'm semi-skeptical of this idea.  Now, on the one hand, The Attack was a very successful game for Milton Bradley on the TI-99, which has certain gameplay elements in common with Superfly.  So the idea that some unknown MB programmer would have looked to it for inspiration or expanded on the formula is certainly appealing.

 

However, most of the MBX games which were developed by Milton Bradley (rather than farmed out) were initially developed for their Gemini game console prototype.  And based on photographs of that prototype and its library, a "Bug Attack" title with similar art to Superfly appears to have been one of the action titles for that console, which was subsequently ported to TI-99/4A and MBX, when the MBX became a TI-99/4A add-on (and an intended Apple II, Atari 2600 and Atari Computer add-on, though none of those ever came to fruition).  This title is, incidentally, not to be confused with "Bug Hunt", which was the initial title for I'm Hiding, and which was not developed by MB, incidentally.

 

And given that Superfly (as Bug Attack) was initially developed for a Milton Bradley game console prototype (as were Bigfoot, Championship Baseball, and Terry Turtle's Adventure incidentally), it seems a bit of a stretch to regard it as a literal "sequel" to a game developed for a Texas Instruments computer two years prior.  At least to the extent that it would have made little sense to plan, market or present it as such, on a newly minted game console platform.

 

So indeed, the idea that inspiration from The Attack fed into whatever unknown programmer's work on Superfly is a compelling idea.  But since we don't know who programmed Superfly (or at least, nothing I've been able to find provides any hints), and it wasn't being developed for the same product/market as The Attack, it seems like an appealing idea without any concrete corroboration, which probably isn't literally accurate (i.e., it wasn't a "sequel" so much as a game whose gameplay might have been inspired by The Attack).

 

 

[globeron]

41300 real TI.

[pixelpedant]

Real TI, standard joystick, no MBX:

 

 

 

[pixelpedant]

I'm concerned that as with last month with Midnite Mason, I hit a high point in one of my earliest attempts here, and the rest of the month is going to end up wasted, as I fail to live up to my own sudden, brief and excessively immediate success.

[jwild]

32200 Real TI


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jwild]

44800 Real TI


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pixelpedant]

High Score Strategy Suggestions:
- Do not kill worms, if you can avoid it.  The spider it creates will be worth more points than the worm itself.
- Purple spiders are worth more than red spiders.  Killing purple spiders quickly, while they exist, maximises your score.  
- Spiders accelerate as they decrease in number, and become extremely fast, in the later levels, during the endgame.  Use the Exterminator Spray to kill off the last few spiders, once they start to become too fast for you.

- Use eggs as temporary barriers around which to establish defensive positions in the later levels. 

[Count9929A]

41300, MAME 60hz, keyboard

 

[pixelpedant]

 

The winning score for Superfly was jwild's 44800.

 

Scores were:

 

62,600 - Pixelpedant (picked the game)

44800 - jwild (winner)

41,300 - Count9929A (tie)

41,300 - Globeron (tie)

32,300 - Tursi

 

[Count9929A]

1 hour ago, pixelpedant said:

 

The winning score for Superfly was jwild's 44800.

 

Scores were:

 

62,600 - Pixelpedant (picked the game)

44800 - jwild (winner)

41,300 - Count9929A (tie)

41,300 - Globeron (tie)

32,300 - Tursi

 

Well done jwild!

 

I'd like to declare two noticable scores that I achieved, but that are not valid for the competition:

- 41500, MAME 60hz, keyboard that I reached just this morning (already december)

- 67300, real PAL TI99, with joystick. In 50hz PAL the game is considerably slower

 

[+arcadeshopper]

What's this months @jwild?

[jwild]

Game of the Month for December 2020 is

 

Astro Fighter

 

This game requires 32k RAM expansion.

 

Good luck everyone!

astrofG.BIN

[pixelpedant]

Nice pick!  Looking forward to it, as I've never really dug into this game before.  Only played it in passing.