HSC15 Round 17: Starquake Pong Bertyx

[+therealbountybob]

Starquake

 

We take the foot off the gas in this round and finish off the Hi-Res games section with the explorer Starquake and a couple of bonus games Pong from Mirage Software and Bertyx (requires BASIC, press return to skip over text screens at start, press fire and press up to use the storage area on top right of screen, any key for pause).

 

Starquake Fandal has info on the teleport codes - if you use this please say so when posing; if you want to play it fully on your own you willl get more points. From memory the items' positions change on each go SHIFT-P is pause. Here is a MAP

>>>
Teleports "ARGON", "ARTIC", "ATARI, "COSEC", "CRASH", "DELTA", "KERNX", "MINIM", "QUARK", "PENTA", "SALCO", "SECON", "TRAID", "WHOLE", "Z.A.P"

<<<

 

Scoring we'll play it by ear, if you complete a game expect some serious points. If anyone knows about the games please share some hints for the rest of us Starquake 2pts for playing plus bonus for highest % complete and bonus point for each item "repaired"? Other games 1pt per place.

 

Round Finishes Sunday 14th October 10am - we can extend this if required.

[Sikor]

Bertyx: 850

[carlsson]

Bertyx - 800 pts
Pong - 1655 pts
Starquake - 10875 pts (6%)

 

So a themed round of arcade adventure collect 'em ups in glorious hires! All three quite similar, but with enough differences to make them last two weeks. It turns out that Dariusz Bartoszewsk is not a fan of displaying your final score after you died, so when you fear the end is near, better memorize your score in Bertyx and Pong. I suppose if you play in an emulator, you can record a video of your playing and grab both scores and screenshots from that afterwards.

 

[youxia]

As awesome as the last round was, this one leaves me totally cold. Think I will just put some token scores up and be done with it. That is, need to figure out how to score in Pong at all

[McKong]

1st go on Starquake - 23487 8%

2nd go 32250 16%

Edited October 5, 2018 by McKong

[carlsson]

That is, need to figure out how to score in Pong at all

 

You bounce around until you find bright coloured boxes and land onto those. They will give you 25 - 500 pts each. Some are orange, some are red, some are green etc.

[+therealbountybob]

As awesome as the last round was, this one leaves me totally cold. Think I will just put some token scores up and be done with it. That is, need to figure out how to score in Pong at all

These aren't my favourite type of games either, mainly as I can never remember where to go but I'll give them a whirl. Trying to keep everyone happy so as we only have a few rounds left this season how about your selection of 4 games for the next poll?

[youxia]

Trying to keep everyone happy

 

You're doing a fine job too I like a lot of genres/styles but obvioulsy not all of them, so it's natural some rounds may happen to be less entertaining.

 

I would've made some proposals but of all the games for assorted systems out there, Atari micro library is the one I know next to nothing about. Hopefully by the next poll I will have some candidates ready.

[McKong]

I think I've got zero chance of finishing Starquake without a map. The teleport codes aren't really much use unless you know where you're being transported to.

 

I think even with a map with all the teleporting points marked on it'll will still be difficult to finish.

 

I've started using this map, which is the best one i've found so far. It doesn't have the teleporting points named though. Maybe I'll try to add the names as I go

 

https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Starquake

[McKong]

47250 22% Core elements replaced 3. Using map.

 

Using the map I was able to locate and name 5 of the teleporters. Only 10 more to go!

[McKong]

Shift/P is supposed to be pause in Starquake but it doesn't seem to work for me.

[+therealbountybob]

 

 

Shift/P is supposed to be pause in Starquake but it doesn't seem to work for me.

No wonder I couldn't find it! Works fine on my 130XE

will add the map link to the 1st post

 

Starquake - had a couple of plays best so far 53,487 23% 0 found.

Will base tables % and bonuses for each item "replaced" and highest score

[+therealbountybob]

Pong 1050 2 items collected. Pong is really unfriendly to control and not much fun at all.

 

Bertxy 1100 5 pieces of the picture collected (BASIC) is my favourite of the 3 games by far, it's steady and you soon start using the items you have found without going through tens of screens. Superb artifacting too, perhaps the best in of all the games we have played recently

Got to a dark room but when you press pause (any key) you can see the layout - the text translates to something like "it's awfully dark here!"

[carlsson]

Bertyx - 1650 pts

 

I was ready to take a picture, but miscalculated the number of robots left. When it says 1, that is your last life. I don't know how/where to use the dynamite though, and I haven't found out where the drill fits. At least I collected 6 out of 9 pieces of the puzzle to the left. However I find the movement jerky and unreliable, probably because it is a BASIC game.

 

Pong - 1685 pts

 

Opposite to TRBB, I believe I like this one more. You can control the ball somehow by moving in the opposite direction it bounces, pulling down multiple times seems to make it lay flat. The boxes bring in 0 - 500 pts each, sometimes an extra ball is awarded. The ball counter also is of the kind that when no balls are displayed in the bottom left, you're on the last ball so time to bring out the camera.

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by carlsson

[+therealbountybob]

Bertyx 1950 - at least 6 pieces found. I used the torch from after the 2nd door on the dark room, found a stack of blocks there but dynamite wasn't correct - might be for the wall next to the space shuttle You are not penailsed for trying an item in the wrong room. Though it needs BASIC to load it's not a basic game as such as it's way too good.

 

Played Pong again and still don't like it!

 

I want to like Starquake but I find myself just flying about aimlessly then when I find a piece it's luckiy if I can find a place to park, then you can also get stuck somewhere even with several lives left you can't seem to get out.

 

OK let's start the next poll Poll STARTED!

 

 

first tables

Starquake (2pts for playing +1pt for highest% +1pt per item replaced)
therealbountybob 23% 0 items 2pts+1pt

McKong 22% 2 items 2pts+2pts

carlsson 6 % 0 items 2pts

 

Bertyx
1st therealbountybob 1,950 3pts
2nd carlsson 1,650 2pts
3rd Sikor 850 1pt

Pong
1st carlsson 1,685 2pts
2nd therealbountybob 1,050 1pt

Edited October 8, 2018 by therealbountybob

[youxia]

Thing that gets me about Starquake is the respawning-enemies-that-go-through-and drain-you style, a pet peeve of mine. It was quite a trend back in the day, with lots of of games like Atic Atac using it and me loathin' on it. Not sure why...just gimme these solid hit boxes already. Apart from that it's quite a good, cute game.

 

About Pong, I'll be blunt: I hate it I did give it a fair chance and got 500 points and lots of frustration for it. Carlsson, you have a patience of a buddhist monk to persevere with it.

[carlsson]

The buddhist monk strikes again... I had a really good game going, all five balls left after picking up three treasure boxes, then I began to be sloppy and lost a few lives too many. I do believe I have the capacity to beat 2K before this round is over.

 

Pong - 1737 pts

[McKong]

Yep Starquake is so huge that I presume that most people who ever played it dismissed it as too hard after a few tries. There are far too many screens to complete the game without the aid of a map.

I guess people who wanted to complete the game made their own maps. Although even with a decent map it's still very difficult. I tried the other day to discover all of the transporter names but some are unreachable without the security passes.

 

I found two secret tunnels near the top of the game which allow you to access parts that would otherwise require a long trip round and maybe a security pass.

 

It's a shame that this game doesn't have a built in map, even one that just shows the parts you've visited, as it would have made it much more playable

[+therealbountybob]

Go Bertyx! 2,150 I went around trying trying to dynamite everything without success so I wonder if that thing that looks like 3 bullets is not bullets and does something? I had a vision, distant flashback, you get the idea, that those diggers in the dark room come to life and clear the boulders on the next screen... makes me wonder if I have played this before

 

Perseveiring with Pong 1,077 with 3 things collected

[carlsson]

What you call 3 bullets is what I call a drill bit. At least that one disappears if you try it in the wrong place, it only seems the dynamite remains until you found the right place to use it.

 

Anyway, I can't reach much further than 2000 pts into Bertyx. The drill bit/bullets disappear whenever I try to use it, the dynamite remains but is not suitable anywhere I tried. Sorry for the very blurry screenshot, my camera is about to go out of battery and I don't have any spares at home so I tried to be quick to take a picture.

 

Edit: Ok, I can camp and wait for enemies all night and increase my score by 50 pts for each baddie killed, but that is not really fun and besides eventually you get stuck between a rock and a hard place and can't shoot to kill the baddie.

 

Edit 2: I can safely say that out of these three games, Starquake is the one I like the least! I keep moving around seemingly randomly, baddies all the way. I pick up things, I move on transporters or fart myself into the air. Perhaps it has qualities I don't understand, but for the remainder of this round I don't see myself putting much time into the main game, instead the two bonus games.

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by carlsson

[carlsson]

By the way, I tried another path in Pong and found that it has teleports, if you know the name of the place you want to go. Also some boxes are numbered and contain letters instead of awarding you points. I got the letters RU though a much lower score, so apparently there is more to it than just picking up points.

 

Edit: Wow! The more I play Pong, the more I love it! Great exploration, no timers or energy counters to worry about. Now I should write down the teleport codes for easier access. It might seem hard to control to begin with, but after you fall down into the caves, it gets pretty exciting.

Edited October 9, 2018 by carlsson

[+therealbountybob]

Go Bertyx! 2,150 I went around trying trying to dynamite everything without success so I wonder if that thing that looks like 3 bullets is not bullets and does something? I had a vision, distant flashback, you get the idea, that those diggers in the dark room come to life and clear the boulders on the next screen... makes me wonder if I have played this before

 

 

What you call 3 bullets is what I call a drill bit. At least that one disappears if you try it in the wrong place, it only seems the dynamite remains until you found the right place to use it.

 

Anyway, I can't reach much further than 2000 pts into Bertyx. The drill bit/bullets disappear whenever I try to use it, the dynamite remains but is not suitable anywhere I tried. Sorry for the very blurry screenshot, my camera is about to go out of battery and I don't have any spares at home so I tried to be quick to take a picture.

Bertyx 2700 tried that "drill bit" thought it might be tracks for the diggers - on the diggers screen, the one above it and the one after it with the rubble all failed. I did go back out to the start to see if it respawned but I didn't get back in, however, you can use the dynamite on the first screen to destroy the radar dish!

 

Pong 1655 got three collected and figure a way to get that one that's top right on a ledge by bouncing off the left wall to get some momentum - was killed by thing on the ledge but next time I'l get it!

 

Round 18 POLL

[Sikor]

Pong - 525

Starquake:

[McKong]

Starquake 63500 30% Elements replaced 1

 

The access card is the most important item to find as this lets you into the security doors and allows you to use the exchange points to swap items.

There are other doors that require a key so this is also useful to find.

 

I've managed to map out all of the teleporters now

Edited October 11, 2018 by McKong

[RedThunder]

Starquake

5375

Pong

500 (Still quite like this one)

Bertryx

0 (Loaded but corrupted :-( )

 

 

I'll concentrate on Pong.

Edited October 11, 2018 by RedThunder