itch.io

Reason could also be, that the C64-mini has a noticeable input-lag, compared to a real C64 or a good FPGA-hardware and also compared to a software-emulator with a RunAhead function. Therefore the mini is not really suitable, for all kinds of games.

A version, in which the gems can be rearranged in both directions (downwards with normal "Fire" and upwards with "Fire2" or with direction "Up") can be found on the CSDB, in the meanwhile. This clearly improves the playability, especially in the higher levels of the game. The highscore-saving bug of the original version, was also fixed on this occasion, by the way.

Just a short question. Is the available source-code from Pillars (on Github) from version v1 or v2 of the game?

Nice game with cute graphics.

Good work!

"BGB" is a good GameBoy emulator for Windows, for example.

Well, normally i am a good player and i have good highscores in alot of different retrogames, better than alot of my friends back then. :-) In Serpland, as long as there aren't many intersections close together, I can't find any problem. But if you have to turn in different directions in the game in quick succession, then it gets difficult sometimes, I've found, at least with my different "Competition Pro" joysticks, this is the case. I have the feeling, that the joystick then sometimes don't get back to it's zero-position fast enough and when i then move the stick into a direction again, then the snake sometimes don't react. I guess, because the joystick was not brought back into the neutral middle-position fast enough before. Maybe it plays better with a gamepad, I'll have to try it out? But if I compare the game, for example with this snake game here

https://gb64.com/game.php?id=22844&d=18&h=0

then I don't have any such problems there, even not, when alot of intersections are close together. But the snake there is a bit slower also, which certainly plays a role too?

Great version of this classic game. Nice!

Okay, thanks. Looking forward to the rewritten game. :) One suggestion for this. I found out, that sometimes it can be hard in Serpland, to steer the snake in the way i wanted, when several crossroads are close together. Sometimes i steer in a direction, but then the snake no longer reacts, probably because, either the player is not fast enough with his controller-inputs, or, because the player has not brought the joystick back to the zero-position (the middle) in between, I assume? I think the latter is more likely to be the problem. Then the snake sometimes don't use that way, which i wanted, in one of these crossroads, that are close together. Maybe something can be improved in this point, that the snake reacts better, in the rewritten game? But this problem can only be noticed, when intersections/crossroads are really close to each other, otherwise not.

Sounds good, that you think about implementing additional features. Looking forward to future versions of Pongy. Best regards

In the meanwhile, a Deluxe version of this 2-button-hack exists (can be found on the CSDB). Now the player can either use "C64 Fire 2", the "Space-Bar" or "direction up", to turn the falling pieces counterclockwise. This is perfect for different available controller-adapters, with which the user can have "Up", "Space" or "Fire2" on a controller-button. And also with normal 1-button-joysticks or -gamepads, the players now have a possibility, to turn the pieces in "Oy Up" in the other direction (simply steer upwards to do so). Such a 2-button-option (Fire2/Space/Up) would also be perfect for "Pillars" and alot other puzzle-games on the C64, in which falling pieces must be turned in different directions (Tetris, Dr. Mario, and so on).In addition to this, a bug in the original version of "Oy Up", has also been fixed, on this occasion. In the original version, the cpu-opponents (of the 1-player mode), no longer react, if a 2-player game was played directly before. Looks, as if the cpu-AI has been forgotten, to be switched on again.

Nice that cpu-opponents was inserted, now the game can also be played alone. What you think about new things like "special shots" for example? Every player (and also the cpu-player) could have three or five of them in every game and they could be used, for example, to make the ball faster for one shot. The player could use such a special shot, by pressing the firebutton, when hitting the ball, for example. Then the ball comes faster to the opponent, for this single shot. Something like this, could bring more variety in the classic Pong. What you think about it?

Okay, understand. Then it was planned this way from the beginning on. I think, i can get used to this jumping-behaviour, when i play the game more often. In any case, you published a good game.

Hy. I inserted the poke and it works. In the very first game then, i already made it to level 5 now :)

Nice game with good graphics. I also like the playability. But one thing, i wanted to ask. Why was it made, that the player-sprite constantly jumps, when you hold "direction up" on the controller? In the vast majority (~99%) of jump-and-run games on the C64, the sprite then only jumps once and then stands. The fact, that this behaviour is different in "Jump'n Crate", had cost me a few lives in the gameplay so far, because often my sprite jumped once too often and then it collided with an enemy over it. Was this point implemented this way in "Jump'n Crate" for a specific reason? Because if not, maybe that could be changed, to the normal jumping-behaviour, which means "pressing up once, only jumps once - pressing up several times, jumps several times."

Sounds good, looking forward to a future version with cpu-opponents. Best regards.

Sounds good mano, that you rewriting the game and also, that you want to improve graphics and some other things. Looking forward to this new version. 

The Poke you mentioned, you could write it here on the side. Maybe also other players of "Serpland" want to change Level3 to normal-speed? Or, i think this would be even better, you change this thing in the game and then release it as v1.1 here. Then even some C64-beginners, don't have to be afraid, that they can't manage this thing with the Poke themselves.

Best regards.

Game is nice, especially the V1.30 and i also like, that it can be played with paddles.

CPU-opponents with different difficulty-settings would be great too, for future versions of the game. Most of the time, you don't have a second human player on hand, i think that will be the case for many people and then, the computer would be a good opponent and the game could also be played alone.

Nice, that you already changed this in V1.0a, now i hope for a really strong cpu-opponent in v1.1.

And I asked myself, how a play-mode with three lightcycles at the same time could work? Two human players and the cpu-player too, all against each other. Maybe for future versions of the game, this could be a fun? What you think?

Hm. When i look at the video of "C64 Masters", i ask myself, how level 4 is solvable at the moment? There are two dead ends in the maze in this level. Or maybe, the level can be solved, if you immediately get the object in the middle at the beginning? Because then the snake isn't that long and maybe you can then turn around there, in the middle? And the object in the other dead end, the player then must collect at the end. This seems to be the only solution of this level, or am I missing something? So far, i have always failed in level 3 myself.  :)

I've now played the game in more detail, against the cpu-opponent and it's definitely fun. Good work! In my eyes, the computer-opponent could play a bit stronger, because I now regularly beat him, even on the "hard" setting. Maybe in a future v1.1, a “superhard” mode can be added, that would be nice for experienced players.

And a second suggestion. For sure, the most players will use a controller for the game (joystick/gamepad), so it would probably make sense, to leave the setting "joystick" by deafult, in the game-menue for "F7 controls". If anyone wants to play with the keyboard, they can change it there, but as the default-setting, always this should be set in the menue, what the most people will use.

Overall, nice game.

Nice game!

Superb! Thanks. This greatly improves the playability of "Oy Up", especially in the high levels, against the strongest cpu-opponents.

Really good game and the 2 player function is also great. A cpu-opponent would have been fun too, but i guess probably not easy to implement, AI-wise. Good work here!

Hallo Andira, schönes Video wieder von dir (wie jedesmal). Eine Info, die du zum Spiel gabst, stimmt allerdings nicht ganz. Der Kasten darf schon ganz leer werden, nur muss es dann vom Zahlenwert her, genau aufgehen. Also nimmt man zum Beispiel -3, wenn nur noch 2 im Kasten sind, dann hat man verloren, -2 könnte man in dem Fall dann aber noch gefahrlos nehmen. Wirst du auch wissen, vermute ich, denke das war mehr so etwas wie ein Versprecher im Video. Ansonsten mag ich deine Videos, weil du immer mit Enthusiasmus dabei und auch immer gut gelaunt bist.

Indeed, a good game in the Amidar style.  Hope you will release more games for the C64 in the future.

Today i played the v1.01 a bit more extensively and noticed, that from level 3 onwards, three of the four ghosts are permanently broken in their graphical representation. They are yellow with stripes inside then. And in level 2, in one of my games today, a ghost walked around outside the labyrinth for a short time, before he came back then. There's probably some more broken in this concept version, but it was pointed out before in the infos, that there can be such kinds of problems with the ghosts, because it's just a concept version. But I have to say, that a full version of the game with this labyrinth here, would also be interesting. It's a bit harder than the normal one and I also like the idea, with these corridors, that have no exit and in which you have to turn around.

Cool, thanks for fixing. Will try it out later.

I like this concept-version, because this labyrinth (maze) is harder to play, than the original one. But this version has some smaller problems left, which are not solved so far. I don't really wonder about that, because it's only a concept-version and not a final game, but nevertheless, i want to mention the problem i found.

When i played the game yesterday, a ghost suddenly came from the outside of the screen (from the side) into the labyrinth and i wondered about that. Then i thought about, how the original labyrinth looked like and i remembered, that there is this path on the side, that you can use for running out on one side of the screen and coming in, at the other side and also the CPU-ghosts sometimes use this way. Here in this changed labyrinth, this way is closed and not available, but some of the ghosts still use this path anyway from time to time, even when it's closed by a wall here. It is, as if the ghosts are already programmed for the normal labyrinth, although they are still in a changed concept labyrinth here.

Nice!

Actually, there is a learn curve in these games too. Practice definitely makes perfect, also here. I see this, since i started playing videogames as a child. :-)

That sounds great, thanks for that. Looking forward to an updated version in the future. At least a 2-player mode, in which the user can play against a human friend, would be great to have.

Even better of course would be, when CPU-players could be chosen too, because often you don't have a human friend within reach, when you want to play *LOL*. But i can imagine, that it might can get problematic, to add a good playing A.I. here on the C64, because "Dr. Mario" is a complex game, when an A.I. should play it really well. On the N64 for example, i have played the game so often and improved, that i now can compete against the A.I, when they is on level "superhard" and on "fast" for the falling-pieces speed.

The N64 then really plays very good, don't know, if something like that is possible on the C64 too, because the N64-console is two generations ahead in technical terms, but it would be fantastic. :) There is a "Puyo Puyo" clone on the C64 named "Oy Up" and there the player can compete against CPU-players and they play pretty well in the higher levels, but "Puyo Puyo" is not as complex as "Dr. Mario", when it should be played really good from an A.I.

Good port and i am really happy to see a good version of this famous puzzler on the C64 now, because i play the SNES, GBA and N64 versions regularly and really love them, especially the N64 version is a highlight, with all it's different play-modes. Three suggestions/questions for the new C64 version, i would have.

(1) When the player speeds up the pill descent, the pill could fall a little bit faster (compared to other versions of the game, where that is the case) and the pill also falls jerkily.

(2) These somewhat jerky movements of the pills are also my second point, because this sometimes make it difficult, to turn a pill correctly in time, when you are at the beginning of higher levels (lv19 or lv20 for example). Would it be possible, to implement this falling movement of the pills a little less jerkily, i mean in a more smoothly movement?

(3) An integrated "2-player mode" and additional CPU-players for this mode, would have been fantastic. Is there a chance, that this comes in a later v1.1 of "Dr Maria"? Playing the 1-player levels already is fun, but the best you can get out of this puzzler, when playing it against another human player or against a good CPU-player, like it is possible for example in the SNES, GBA and N64 versions of "Dr. Mario". I know, that this is stronger hardware, but maybe something like this could also be realized on the C64 version?

Thanks for the info, then this is clear. I think i prefer to use the smartbombs manually, but i will see, when playing the game more often in next weeks.

Superb shooter. Already the first part of "Zeta Wing" was great, but part two is even better. Very good programming-work, nice graphics, good gameplay and especially the places, where these opponents come from the depths and this 3D-effect occurs, are great to see. The music is also nice, although there are also other shooters on the C64, where the songs fascinate me even more. But nevertheless, you can't complain about the music in "Zeta Wing 2" either, it sounds good. And i also have a question for Sarah, namely the following.

If i set the Smartbomb to "automatic", what causes it to be triggered then? Is it, "when there is a lot going on, around the player on the screen", or is it "when the player threatens to lose a life, for example because an opponent has already come very close to him and the game-logic then assumes, that the player can probably no longer avoid a collision"? Or is it something completely different? In this regard, i haven't quite figured out the automatic release-mechanism of the smartbombs yet, so it would be interesting to know, what exactly activates it's release?

In general I have to say that, you've already delivered a few really good shooter gems, Sarah and that's one of my favorite game-genre, so I think, it's really great, that someone is always making sure, there is a good supply of new C64-games in this genre. *lol* :) For a possible part 3 of the "Zeta Wing" series in the future, a selectable teamplay function (two players simultaneously), could be a great experience. Only a suggestion, that came to my mind today.

Manolober, a better alternative to "infinite lives" pokes could be, to release a v1.1 of your game (alot of people, who publish a game here, later make updated versions of it) and in this v1.1 you then could wipe out some of the weaknesses from v1.0, like for example the big speed-increase that happens from level-2 to level-3 and so on. The game is already good, but it's normal, that in a v1.0, often not everything is absolutely perfect. Using "infinite lives" pokes is no longer a playing-challenge for the users then, because they can go on forever and play as bad as they want with this, but an improved v1.1 could be a great idea. Maybe you also have own ideas, what else could be improved, then also this could be realized in a v1.1 ("giving points" (depending on the used time) and a "highscore-saver to disk" would be nice, for example). Some people here release five or more updated versions of their game in the time after, so this would not be a problem. Maybe you can do it by your own, or you find someone, that could help you (on CSDB maybe, we already wrote about it). That would be great.

I know the CSDB site since some years. Don't wonder, nearly all new C64 games were cracked there sometime, it's like back in the 80`s *lol*. Why they do this? I don't know, maybe they want to maintain the classic cracking-culture, which the C64 has, since the 80's? 

Because of your question, if some people there could improve your game. There are alot of C64-specialists there, for example graphicians, musicians, programmers, crackers etc. Specialists for nearly everything regarding the C64, so i am sure, that somebody there could improve your game or help you with the game, if you would need help? This announcement, you should make in the forum there then. When you look at the entry of the Serpland-crack there, then you see the point called "Discuss this release". When you are a CSDB-member and you click this point, you can make a new forum-entry and there you can make your announcement. Other members then can read this and answer. Best regards.

Hello  :-)

Aaah, i hadn't recognized, that this tempo indicator belongs to this stop-time. Then it is already limited and the player can not stop as long and as often as he wants. That's good, then this point is already done.

Sadly i have no tool installed here, to record gameplay and in next three weeks i also have not much time to play, because of my job.

Yes, the C64 scene is really amazing. On the CSDB internet-side, nearly every day, new demos, games, pics, songs or tools, were released for the C64. Crazy, it's almost like this retro-machine is back in the mainstream again.  :-)

No, i am not a programmer. I was involved in some productions on the C64, but mostly for graphics, tester or as an idea-giver. On the CSDB it's very easy to get in contact with alot of specialists for various fields, so it's possible to realize own ideas, together with other people (musicians, programmers and so on) there on this internet-side.

Hope you will go on, programming games for the C64. Best regards.

Nice new Nibbler variant. The game plays really fresh and good. Only thing i wondered a little bit was, that the speed-increase from Level 2 to Level 3 is really dramatic. In Level 3, the snake suddenly is more than double as fast, as it was in Level 2, which makes this Level not so easy to solve, because of control-problems, not because of the difficulty of this level. Maybe a slightly slower increase in the snake speed from level to level would be better playable here?

And then, I was surprised that the player can stop at certain corners of the game, so that he then has enough time, to think about the next step. This stopping-time, that the player can take here, could (and should) be limited, for example in a way, that the snake continues moving after around 2 or 3 seconds, because otherwise the player can make good use of this thing by constantly stopping in corners and then thinking longer, where to go now and this actually shouldn't be possible in a Nibbler game, i think (at least his is not possible in the original Arcade version). So I would change a few little things, then it's a really good new Nibbler variant for the C64.

By the way, i think the game should not only be tagged as "Game for Windows" (over an emulator) here in itch.io, but additionally also as a C64 game (what it actually is). Otherwise C64-fans could easily overlook it and C64-fans are not so few in the meantime, since this retro-computer is experiencing something like a second spring, with all its new software-releases, that are constantly coming out for it.

Really a nice game and a good variant of the "Puzzle Bobble (Bust a Move)" game-principle. Would it be possible, to realize a VERSUS mode and add CPU-players, against which the human player can compete then?

That would be great, especially if you had these CPU opponents in different selectable levels of difficulty. Puzzle Bobble style games are by far the most fun, when they are played against each other, but unfortunately you usually don't have any other human players at hand, so CPU-opponents would be really great to have.

Of course, the game-size then would be bigger than 4kbytes, when this would be added, but that wouldn't matter, cause a Deluxe Version of the game could follow the original 4kb version.  :-)