IntyBASIC Programming Contest 2020 WINNERS!!!

[+nanochess]

Hi everyone.

 

This has been a great year for the IntyBASIC Programming Contest, a lot of impressive games have been built for the contest and I want to give thanks to their developers and teams for the effort put into these. In alphabetical order: ARTRAG, Black_Tiger, cmadruga, decle, digress, fsuinnc, Kiwi, Nyuundere, and TIX.

 

Now for people reading this: Thanks for your patience! So let us start the showdown!!! ?

 

These are the score tables from each judge: (anonymized)

 

 

These scores were added and collected automatically in a final table:

 

 

The final table created automagically this graphic:

 

So the places remain as this:

 

1st place. Infiltrator (cmadruga, ARTRAG, Nyuundere, and TIX)

2nd place. The Pandora Incident (Pandora Team: cmadruga, ARTRAG, Black_Tiger, and Nyuundere)

3rd place. TV Powww! (decle)

4th place. Eggerland Mystery demo. (cmadruga, and Nyuundere)

5th place. The Depth of Nitemare. (kiwi)

6th place. Mr Turtle. (digress)

7th place. Space Combat. (fsuinnc)

 

The special prize awarded by Mark/Space Inc. to the best entry using ECS and/or Intellivoice goes to Infiltrator (cmadruga, ARTRAG, Nyuundere, and TIX)

 

Further some judges wanted to contribute with comments to each entry:

 

Quote

 

Nice mix of games this year, some semi-random thoughts:

Depths of Nitemare:

Enjoyed playing but found the black and white off-putting. Even a simple color scheme such as enemies red, shops/inns green, etc would have greatly improved the experience, same with any text overlayed, some work into using text box popups that appear on the main map would greatly improve the presentation instead of just overwriting the map.

 

Mr Turtle:

I've really grown to dislike using the Intellivoice when used for anything other than robot voices in niche scenarios, it really doesn't fit here

Unfortunately we are all used to Super Mario so the jumping and walking collision detection for the environment needs improving.

 

TVPowww:

I really want to try it with the microphone someday.

Love the title screen

Needs some more user controlled setting like the ability to set the game time to whatever the player wants, I'd like to play the space game for 5 minutes straight, not just the arbitrary times 15 or 30 second times. 

Also allow multiple, named players with high score tracking (LTO Flash saving would be great)

 

Infiltrator:

The stealth aspect is a well done MSX Metal Gear clone

The digital audio was awesome and appropriately used.

Great Graphics and attention to detail, definitely worth finishing and releasing on cart if it can add some randomization so the play value is extended and add lto saving between levels

 

Pandora:

I never played the original game it is based on but great graphics. I really appreciated the arrows showing where you could go.

Definitely worth finishing and releasing on cart if it can add some randomization so the play value is extended, maybe LTO save slots available at certain terminals

 

 

Quote

 

Depths of Nitemare has a lot of potential. I am thinking it is supposed to be a direct port and is the reason no color was added. It is a shame the games was not updated to the console's features.

I think TVPowww is supposed to be a direct port of what they saw in the videos. For that, I think they did a great job though, they are not games I would want to play.

What is interesting about the judging is how we see scoring differently. I am not a fan of ports unless you make it something special and more "Intellivision-like". I think of Ms-Pacman and how it has more screens, different options but still looks like it would have been made back in the day. As much as I love Infiltrator, it just does not seem like an Intellivision game to me.

 

 

Quote

 

The Depth of Nitemare - Another roguelike game?  Why not.  The first thing I noticed was the monochrome motif, making me feel like I was playing on a low-res version of an old Macintosh computer.  Charming, but not what I'm expecting when playing Intellivision.  Each cell is 2x2 background cards which took only a moment to get used to.  Thankfully the controls were very responsive, and I could hold the action key to speed-run through the fights, which usually get repetitive very quickly.  I also enjoyed the difficulty selection.

 

Eggerland Mystery Demo - A port of a classic game from a classic series.  The simple puzzles and music remind me of when I first played The Adventures Of Lolo on NES (known as Eggerland on the Famicom).  There was an issue that happened a few times when not touching the disc squarely in the direction I wanted, that I moved in the wrong direction, which is an issue in games like this where steps often have to be precise to avoid getting stuck.  Still, it's a good effort and otherwise plays well, and I recognized the enemies from the original game.

 

Infiltrator - Right away, I recognized this as a miniaturized Metal Gear game for Intellivision.  The graphics are very well polished and recognizable; the one thing I failed to recognize was the security camera in my first gameplay.  Immersive environment, responsive controls, very good sound effects, and a completion percentage at Game Over to encourage players to try again - this is basically a solid commercial package ready to box and ship.

 

Mr. Turtle - Although I know this is a port from Colecovision, I'm not a follower of that indie scene there, and so I didn't know what to expect when I first tried this game.  With the platforming action that sprawled out in front of me at the start, it promises to be a lot of fun once it's finished.  The play control is relatively simple but unpolished, the kind of thing I'm accustomed to when trying out platforming adventure games on Commodore 64.  The Air meter isn't fully implemented yet, and I noticed once that it displayed as "AAAAAAAAAI" which suggests failure to syncronize with the Intellivision scrolling logic.  Most of the obstacles like spikes I was able to recognize, but with some of the other stages it was a matter of trial and error.  The IntelliVoice produced some weird garbled dialog every time I got hit, mixed in with what sounded like "TEST" in the voice from Space Spartans that announces one of your starbases is under attack.  I do look forward to the finished game.

 

The Pandora Incident - I never played the original game, and so this was an interesting treat to play on Intellivision, which to this day is devoid of adventure titles like this.  A professionally-done intro storyline gave me plenty of anticipation for the gameplay that was to follow.  I enjoyed the cutscenes in the gameplay, like the first one where the main character finds a bloodied dead body and tries to abort the mission but can't.  Stopping at terminals is another game element I enjoy, and I hope to see this in future games.  The graphics throughout the whole experience looked like something that shouldn't be possible on the Intellivision, which is saying a lot since I've been playing for 40 years and know what can and can't be done.  My only criticism is that the play control seemed a little too responsive - the character seems to move too fast, especially when there's no combat, and a few times I accidentally backtracked into the room I had just come from.  This is a game that definitely should be boxed and released for the broader community to enjoy.

 

Space Combat - Even if it wasn't clearly a nod to the original Computer Space that has been around many years prior to the Intellivision, it feels like something that should be bundled in another Triple Action title, with a few other games like it.  Being 2-player only is somewhat forgivable, since that was a staple of the early sports games, but AI should be feasible since games are no longer constrained to 4 Kilobytes of ROM.  Hardly anything in the way of sound effects, like the early implementations.  I do think that the ships should at least face more directions though, to make the game feel less like something I would have typed into a BASIC interpreter on the Apple IIc at school.

 

TV Powww - Every programming contest is obligated to have one or more "honorable mention" entries like this one, an attempt to recreate the reason behind Mattel's release of Sharp Shot.  As it is, the decent graphics and sound effects demonstrate that it's a good effort, not just something that was built as an afterthought.  Although I don't have the apparatus to play it with voice activation (and probably don't care to), I've learned from my early days of mobile phones to enjoy "single button" games.  I can see this being released with said apparatus.

 

 

Thanks to all our judges: intvdave, intyMike, nanochess (myself), Tarzilla, Zendocon, and ZillaRUSH.

Special thanks to our entry validator senior: intvsteve.

 

Finally thanks to all our sponsors (who just have been properly informed about the winners): Intellivision Revolution, Elektronite, Côte Gamers, Mark/Space and Project Argon, and Collectorvision.

 

As a surprise, Intellivision Revolution will be providing to every contestant a cartridge with their game on it. All 7 places!!! Thanks for this generosity!

 

Zip file of all the entries: intybasic_2020_programming_contest_entries.zip

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by nanochess

[+cmadruga]

Wow!!! Thank you very much!!! ?

 

This was my first time participating in this event (and in any programming contests in general), and I feel honored.

A few years ago, I remember looking at the results of previous Intybasic contests and wondering if I would ever be able to produce anything even remotely playable.

So this is a special moment.

 

I just had a great time putting games together as part of the contest, and learned a LOT along the way.

 

Big thanks to the organizers and sponsors, I hope this contest continues to happen and become better and better!

Also thanks for the time spent by judges testing each game and providing feedback. If there are any additional comments or suggestions, I'm open ?

 

If I may provide a correction, could you please credit "The Pandora Incident" to the "Pandora Team" instead of cmadruga. 

It was truly a team effort and it was a blast working with Arturo, Justin and Adan. All very talented guys, and I hope we can continue to collaborate going forward!

Also thanks for all the folks who tested and provided feedback along the way.

 

Congrats to other participants as well, great to be part of this community with you and be able to see your work. Big fan of decle in particular.

 

Thanks!

Edited March 28, 2021 by cmadruga

[Kiwi]

Congratulation cmadruga,

Those games are top notch and deserving the 1st place trophy.  I did play Infiltrator on the real Intellivision.  I do need to play Pandora soon.

 

I disagree with this judge's opinion, "As much as I love Infiltrator, it just does not seem like an Intellivision game to me."  Does he want more primitive graphic and 20 fps?  Not sure why he have to say this statement.

I'll probably make improvement to Depth of Nitemare.  I'll colorize the game since the handheld system Arduboy only have black and white.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Kiwi

[+cmadruga]

Thanks @Kiwi, I did have a lot of fun playing Nitemare. Great job on that game!

 

About the opinion you mentioned, it doesn't bother me. Still, it would have been helpful if that expectation had been set up front.

[Sinjinhawke]

Congrats to all those who participated.  I have enjoyed playing your creations.  Some very talented developers, designers, composers and artists here.

 

Maybe one day I will take the plunge and learn to code.   How different can it be from the Atari and Commodore BASIC I grew up with?  ?  

[+cmadruga]

2 minutes ago, Sinjinhawke said:

Maybe one day I will take the plunge and learn to code.   How different can it be from the Atari and Commodore BASIC I grew up with?  ?  

If you start now you will be in great shape for the next contest!

[Kiwi]

5 minutes ago, Sinjinhawke said:

Maybe one day I will take the plunge and learn to code.   How different can it be from the Atari and Commodore BASIC I grew up with?  ?  

Start small like text adventure(menu, pathing), then work your way up.  Only different that it doesn't compile in real time like Atari/Commodore BASIC, which made games run slow.  Buy nanochess's book.  It's good start to learn.  

[+intellivotion]

congrats to all those who partecipated.

Lots of amazing stuff here!!!

I can't but be surprised every time I see what people aiming to have fun are able to do

[digress]

Thanks for running the contest and Congratulations to the winning entries. I actually thought "The Pandora Incident"

would be #1 but a close second is good too. Reminded me of the original space quest.

 

Any feedback is useful for improving my game is appreciated. I will remove the intellivoice for sure. 

[+Steve Jones]

9 hours ago, Kiwi said:

Congratulation cmadruga,

Those games are top notch and deserving the 1st place trophy.  I did play Infiltrator on the real Intellivision.  I do need to play Pandora soon.

 

I disagree with this judge's opinion, "As much as I love Infiltrator, it just does not seem like an Intellivision game to me."  Does he want more primitive graphic and 20 fps?  Not sure why he have to say this statement.

I'll probably make improvement to Depth of Nitemare.  I'll colorize the game since the handheld system Arduboy only have black and white.

I have to say, although it took me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the black and white graphics, once they did I really enjoyed DoNM, and it’s one of the few games these days I took the time to complete all the way

(on easy level at least haha)

There is quite a bit of strategy involved to win and personally it would have made my top 3.

(No offense to decle)

[Intymike]

13 hours ago, Kiwi said:

Congratulation cmadruga,

Those games are top notch and deserving the 1st place trophy.  I did play Infiltrator on the real Intellivision.  I do need to play Pandora soon.

 

I disagree with this judge's opinion, "As much as I love Infiltrator, it just does not seem like an Intellivision game to me."  Does he want more primitive graphic and 20 fps?  Not sure why he have to say this statement.

I'll probably make improvement to Depth of Nitemare.  I'll colorize the game since the handheld system Arduboy only have black and white.

I love the b/w appeal. Maybe do two versions. B/w and Color. 

[+The Intellivision Gamer]

Thank you to everyone that continues to make great games for us to enjoy and collect. Much appreciated. 

[+Black_Tiger]

Congratulations to cmadruga, ARTRAG, Nyuundere, and TIX. Infiltrator is a great game and another unique addition to the Intellivision library.

 

Thanks to nanochess, the judges and all the sponsors.

 

I loved watching the progress of entries in the 2018 contest and never dreamed that I'd have the opportunity to participate in the very next contest, let alone work with such a talented team.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how any future contests shape up. Hopefully more and more people will continue to be drawn to Intellivision development.

[+fdr4prez]

Congrats to cmadruga and all the participants!!!

 

19 hours ago, Kiwi said:

I'll probably make improvement to Depth of Nitemare.  I'll colorize the game since the handheld system Arduboy only have black and white.

As mentioned by Intymike, you can certainly keep both and have a menu screen, or from the title screen you press one keypad button to start a B&W game and press another button for a Colorized game.

 

12 hours ago, digress said:

Any feedback is useful for improving my game is appreciated. I will remove the intellivoice for sure. 

If the intellivoice can be improved, then give it a shot.  For people that don't like it then they can play without it.

[Zendocon]

On 3/28/2021 at 12:32 AM, Sinjinhawke said:

Congrats to all those who participated.  I have enjoyed playing your creations.  Some very talented developers, designers, composers and artists here.

 

Maybe one day I will take the plunge and learn to code.   How different can it be from the Atari and Commodore BASIC I grew up with?  ?  

If you have experience writing in BASIC, then you should be okay.  The biggest difference is that IntyBASIC is a compiled language as opposed to interpreted.  What that means is you run IntyBASIC in a command prompt to translate your code into Assembly, and then use as1600 to translate that into object code (your ROM image).

 

If your biggest problem is having a suitable environment to program in (I'm very fussy about my own environment), then you could give my PIDE a try.  By "environment" I mean the platform you're developing in, but since you'd be using a mobile device (phone or tablet), you can also be anywhere while coding.  I wrote parts of FUBAR in my car during meal breaks, on days when that was all the free time I had.  I also worked on Blix & Chocolate Mine in a cat café one time.

 

Definitely buy the books @nanochess has written, all of which are full of examples of complete games.  They will give you all the information you need to get going.

[+cmadruga]

6 minutes ago, Zendocon said:

I wrote parts of FUBAR in my car during meal breaks, on days when that was all the free time I had.  I also worked on Blix & Chocolate Mine in a cat café one time.

I mentally pictured an ad with a person sitting at the center of the screen looking down at a laptop, and the background changing from scene to scene in rapid succession.

"With Zendocon's PIDE, you can program the next Intellivision masterpiece anytime, anywhere..."

[Zendocon]

1 minute ago, cmadruga said:

I mentally pictured an ad with a person sitting at the center of the screen looking down at a laptop, and the background changing from scene to scene in rapid succession.

"With Zendocon's PIDE, you can program the next Intellivision masterpiece anytime, anywhere..."

That would be pretty accurate, in fact.  I remember in October 2009 working on a game I never finished, at home with all the lights out and a mug full of hot mulled apple cider, fancying myself in an underwater coffee nook somewhere near the Arctic circle.  Green screen apps these days could make that a pretty easy commercial to shoot.

[carlsson]

Late congratulations to the winners and all the other participants!

 

As for how IntyBASIC differs from classic BASIC versions, obviously you don't have line numbers here but use more of a structured approach to programming. Well, I suppose if you really must you can use some kind of numbers for labels on each row but it would make little sense. Another difference as noted is that is compiled and will run from ROM with only a small amount of available RAM for variables. For most action games it doesn't matter, but for other types of games where you'd have larger maps or other arrays in memory, you need to think differently, how to access static data from ROM, how to optimize the RAM usage. Also IntyBASIC only does integers and some rudimentary strings, so a program that uses text input, comparisons and string splitting would be more of a challenge. You can to some extent use fixed point math if you get to a point where integers are not enough. Usually this isn't much of a problem to begin with, but better to have an idea of differences from the start than getting stuck later.

 

Perhaps this should be a separate topic in the main programming section, unless it has already been discussed before: what you can and can not do, how you would solve typical constructs not currently available, which benefits and improvements you have that you normally wouldn't expect to find in a BASIC language.

[Mik's Arcade]

Congrats to everyone, especially the winners!

 

You all rock and inspire me to work harder !!

[Peripheral]

Will there be a zip file coming with all the entries, as in past contests, or should we

assume the latest and greatest roms can be found in the individual threads?

 

A *huge* thank you to all the entrants.  These games clearly took a lot of time and effort!

 

FWIW I agree with the final outcome of Infiltrator in 1st place, Pandora in 2nd.

While I enjoy both, with Infiltrator I can get to a safe area, relax for a bit while

planning a strategy, and enjoy the nuances of the scenes.  With Pandora it's more

hectic.  Once the action starts, there are no breaks.

 

As echoed in some of the earlier posts, a few comments from judges

left me scratching my head.  But to each his own.

[tanuki]

Congratulations to the winners and to all those who participated!

We'll contact the winners for their prize(s)

[+DZ-Jay]

I meant to post this yesterday, but better late than never ...

 

CONGRATULATIONS to all participants, and a special tip-o'-the-hat to @cmadruga and his crew for three spectacular entries.

 

As the tools get polished and the community's experience and acumen grows, the power of the Intellivision becomes even more pronounced!

 

It is amazing how far the IntyBASIC programming community has come from the early days of the compiler, and I want to see you all produce even more impressive titles next year.

 

I want to thank you all, the contestants, the judges, and the community at large, for keeping our little console alive and for sharing your expertise, creativity, and the product of your hard work, with the rest of us.  This is truly a new Golden Age of the Intellivision.

 

Cheers, everyone!

 

     -dZ.

Edited March 29, 2021 by DZ-Jay

[+nanochess]

5 hours ago, Peripheral said:

Will there be a zip file coming with all the entries, as in past contests, or should we

assume the latest and greatest roms can be found in the individual threads?

 

The latest and greatest roms can be found in the individual threads.

 

Sorry, never thought in making a ZIP with everything because the usage instructions are mostly listed on each thread.

 

[+Steve Jones]

1 hour ago, nanochess said:

 

The latest and greatest roms can be found in the individual threads.

 

Sorry, never thought in making a ZIP with everything because the usage instructions are mostly listed on each thread.

 

Is the latest Mr Turtle rom there? I saw a rom with level 1 then just videos after that.

[+nanochess]

2 hours ago, Steve Jones said:

Is the latest Mr Turtle rom there? I saw a rom with level 1 then just videos after that.

Ouch! Forgot the rule that says that ROM will be released. Let me ask to first place before building a ZIP.