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avatar_Shaun M. Neary

CPC games you've finished? Story time!

Started by Shaun M. Neary, 14:34, 10 January 23

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BZHGames

Bruce Lee,

My very first game on Amstrad CPC 6128. It took me a long time to figure out how to move on to the first 3 screens.
And the first time I managed to pass the blue room, what happiness.

Bruce Lee is still one of my favorite games today.
Online games : Tetris, Connect4, Reversi, Marvel Memory, Laby and Amstrad games
https://bzhgames.xyz/

BZHGames

Samurai,

I didn't know about this game before I put it on my site.
One of the dumbest games I know. It finishes in 1-2 minutes always going straight ahead
Online games : Tetris, Connect4, Reversi, Marvel Memory, Laby and Amstrad games
https://bzhgames.xyz/

Gryzor

Quote from: jaymanu on 11:22, 18 January 23RELIEF ACTION

I had this game on tape in the old days, came with my 2d hand 464.
In modern terms, it would be called an Alien-themed first-person 3D escape-the-room.

I managed to reach the 2d floor, but I could never survive for long there, as suddenly the "monster" comes in and kills you.

In modern times I could never find any walkthrough or help, besides a map of the 3 floors from a magazine and a very incomplete guide.

So someday out of obsession, as I was on my own I started to learn how to use winape debugger in order to analyze the game.
I managed to sort out some POKEs to disable the monster, which allowed me to explore the entire ship without sudden death.

And I discovered to my surprise a very immersive and dense adventure game. The atmosphere of loneliness and helplesness in space is very well rendered (though the crude and slow wireframe graphics wouldn't have allowed anything else, they do fit here).

I was feeling like just playing a good game, not just playing and old nostalgic game.

It's a pity that it was hardly plagued by 3 defaults which sadly hide the gem :

- the monster logic is unforgiving and spoiled the whole experience
- the timer is very frustrating (after some minutes the ship explodes -> sudden death again !)
- moving is sooo slow. It becomes enjoyable on emulation with 400% speed

The monster and timer might have been added to artificially harden the gameplay, but this was too much in my opinion and spoiled an otherwise very good (even more for the time !) game.

You can follow my advances in another thread of this forum.
I got quite obsessed and extracted all the text / objects / rooms from memory, to be sure not to miss any detail.
"amstrad maniaque" posted a youtube longplay using my solution and pokes.
Sounds like I'm searching for that thread and video next 🙂 thanks! 

Gryzor

Quote from: eto on 12:10, 18 January 23Elite -

OK, I mean, it's impossible to finish and I also did not reach the rank "Elite". But I reached the moment, that there was nothing left to do.

Elite is probably THE game I spent most time with. It was also the most expensive game I ever bought. 20% more expensive than any full price game. But it was worth it. The box, the poster, a novel related to the universe you will be about to exploring - and the manual. The manual is not written like a game manual, it's a manual for a space ship. I was just blown away by all of that already.

And then the game itself. It was just not like anything I have ever seen. And it was SO hard. It took ages to manage landing on a space station without a landing computer. It was insane to even survive the attack of a tiny pirate ship without better laser weapons.

Once you had the right equipment it started to become fun. Exploring more parts of the galaxy, searching the best trade routes, battling pirates for fun - or even surviving a Thargoid attack the first time. So many awesome moments.

But then there was also a point were it began to become a routine. Buying, delivering, selling goods. With the occasional pirate attack. Exploring a galaxy was not rewarding and in some areas you were just stuck. The variety of planets was small. Either it was a pretty easy flight or, especially in anarchic systems, it took ages as there were dozens of pirate attacks on the way to the planet. Seriously, after 20 attacks you are just bored and want to get to the station. The most frustrating part was, that again, it was not rewarding. The prices on the planet were exactly like the ones on safer routes. And you couldn't even buy illegal stuff that would give you a high margin when sold in other systems.

And then I had enough money to buy a galactic hyperdrive. So I set off for the next galaxy. Just so see: It's no different than any previously unknown area in the first galaxy.

So I checked out the galaxy map for any interesting area, stayed there for a bit, jumped to the next galaxy and so on...

At the end I came back to my "home" galaxy. Now with a Cobra MK III with full equipment, status of "deadly" (one before Elite), lots of money in the bank - and didn't know what I could do else.

And then I retired as a space captain on the Coriolis space station in the system Lave - home sweet home ;-)


Hope the pilot is enjoying his pension on a save game on a disk somewhere safe🙂

eto

Quote from: Gryzor on 15:04, 18 January 23Hope the pilot is enjoying his pension on a save game on a disk somewhere safe🙂
Most likely not. I have not expected that over 30 years later I will come back to the CPC when I sold my CPC with everything in 1989, so I did not keep any disks. 

norecess464

Quote from: BZHGames on 12:24, 18 January 23Samurai,

I didn't know about this game before I put it on my site.
One of the dumbest games I know. It finishes in 1-2 minutes always going straight ahead
LOL, "this" Samurai I guess ??
Longplay video is 2:58, and that includes the start menu + final congratulations screen :) 
Thanks for the reference.
Please take note that was probably a "type-in listing" published in a magazine.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJsK-CTSsc
My personal website: https://norecess.cpcscene.net
My current project is Sonic GX, a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog for the awesome Amstrad GX-4000 game console!

jaymanu

Quote from: Gryzor on 15:04, 18 January 23Sounds like I'm searching for that thread and video next 🙂 thanks!
Did you find them ?
My advice would be to apply the pokes and try to solve the game on your own before getting spoiled !

Gryzor

Quote from: jaymanu on 17:38, 18 January 23
Quote from: Gryzor on 15:04, 18 January 23Sounds like I'm searching for that thread and video next 🙂 thanks!
Did you find them ?
My advice would be to apply the pokes and try to solve the game on your own before getting spoiled !
Nope didn't have the time yet, but thanks for the tip🙂

BSC

Quote from: norecess on 17:35, 18 January 23LOL, "this" Samurai I guess ??
Longplay video is 2:58, and that includes the start menu + final congratulations screen :) 
Yeah, but only because that's the Any% world-record speed-run. Normally it takes hundreds of hours.
** My SID player/tracker AYAY Kaeppttn! on github **  Some CPC music and experiments ** Other music ** More music on scenestream (former nectarine) ** Some shaders ** Some Soundtrakker tunes ** Some tunes in Javascript

My hardware: ** Schneider CPC 464 with colour screen, 64k extension, 3" and 5,25 drives and more ** Amstrad CPC 6128 with M4 board, GreaseWeazle.

BZHGames

#34
Quote from: norecess on 17:35, 18 January 23
Quote from: BZHGames on 12:24, 18 January 23Samurai,
I didn't know about this game before I put it on my site.
One of the dumbest games I know. It finishes in 1-2 minutes always going straight ahead
LOL, "this" Samurai I guess ??
Longplay video is 2:58, and that includes the start menu + final congratulations screen :)
Thanks for the reference.
Please take note that was probably a "type-in listing" published in a magazine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJsK-CTSsc
Yes that's right.
The best time is 1:25 https://bzhgames.xyz/?CPCGAME=CPC_Samurai
You cannot view this attachment. :
Online games : Tetris, Connect4, Reversi, Marvel Memory, Laby and Amstrad games
https://bzhgames.xyz/

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: BZHGames on 12:21, 18 January 23Bruce Lee,

My very first game on Amstrad CPC 6128. It took me a long time to figure out how to move on to the first 3 screens.
And the first time I managed to pass the blue room, what happiness.

Bruce Lee is still one of my favorite games today.
Bruce Lee is great but it's extremely bug ridden. I found out accidentally that one can bypass a few screens by going to the third screen all the way to the black gate underneath the bull and crouching down! Try it and laugh your ass off. :)

That being said, I have done so many loops of that game until I got 999,9999 which is the highest score you can get on it.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

BZHGames

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 09:26, 19 January 23
Quote from: BZHGames on 12:21, 18 January 23Bruce Lee,
My very first game on Amstrad CPC 6128. It took me a long time to figure out how to move on to the first 3 screens.
And the first time I managed to pass the blue room, what happiness.
Bruce Lee is still one of my favorite games today.
Bruce Lee is great but it's extremely bug ridden. I found out accidentally that one can bypass a few screens by going to the third screen all the way to the black gate underneath the bull and crouching down! Try it and laugh your ass off. :)
That being said, I have done so many loops of that game until I got 999,9999 which is the highest score you can get on it.
Yes I also know the shortcut, you finish the game faster. But to score points it's not the best solution because by taking the shortcut you quickly reach the blue room, and it's the most difficult stage , where lives are lost.
With the number of lives at 99, over several attempts to pass the blue room. But after a few loops (around 250,000 points I believe), the number of lives drops sharply. And then we no longer have the right to make mistakes to pass the blue room.
Shaun M. Neary, I keep trying to break your record  ;)
Online games : Tetris, Connect4, Reversi, Marvel Memory, Laby and Amstrad games
https://bzhgames.xyz/

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: BZHGames on 09:42, 19 January 23
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 09:26, 19 January 23
Quote from: BZHGames on 12:21, 18 January 23Bruce Lee,
My very first game on Amstrad CPC 6128. It took me a long time to figure out how to move on to the first 3 screens.
And the first time I managed to pass the blue room, what happiness.
Bruce Lee is still one of my favorite games today.
Bruce Lee is great but it's extremely bug ridden. I found out accidentally that one can bypass a few screens by going to the third screen all the way to the black gate underneath the bull and crouching down! Try it and laugh your ass off. :)
That being said, I have done so many loops of that game until I got 999,9999 which is the highest score you can get on it.
Yes I also know the shortcut, you finish the game faster. But to score points it's not the best solution because by taking the shortcut you quickly reach the blue room, and it's the most difficult stage , where lives are lost.
With the number of lives at 99, over several attempts to pass the blue room. But after a few loops (around 250,000 points I believe), the number of lives drops sharply. And then we no longer have the right to make mistakes to pass the blue room.
Shaun M. Neary, I keep trying to break your record  ;)

There is a patched version that fixes the random crashes later in the game. It also fixes the 99 lives bug.

Get 999,999 with that version, then we'll talk. ;) 
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 09:55, 19 January 23
Quote from: BZHGames on 09:42, 19 January 23
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 09:26, 19 January 23
Quote from: BZHGames on 12:21, 18 January 23Bruce Lee,
My very first game on Amstrad CPC 6128. It took me a long time to figure out how to move on to the first 3 screens.
And the first time I managed to pass the blue room, what happiness.
Bruce Lee is still one of my favorite games today.
Bruce Lee is great but it's extremely bug ridden. I found out accidentally that one can bypass a few screens by going to the third screen all the way to the black gate underneath the bull and crouching down! Try it and laugh your ass off. :)
That being said, I have done so many loops of that game until I got 999,9999 which is the highest score you can get on it.
Yes I also know the shortcut, you finish the game faster. But to score points it's not the best solution because by taking the shortcut you quickly reach the blue room, and it's the most difficult stage , where lives are lost.
With the number of lives at 99, over several attempts to pass the blue room. But after a few loops (around 250,000 points I believe), the number of lives drops sharply. And then we no longer have the right to make mistakes to pass the blue room.
Shaun M. Neary, I keep trying to break your record  ;)

There is a patched version that fixes the random crashes later in the game. It also fixes the 99 lives bug.

Get 999,999 with that version, then we'll talk. ;)
Nich's patch here: https://cpcrulez.fr/f/9hj
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Shaun M. Neary

#39
Ok another game story coming up.

The Galactic Plague (Amsoft 1984)

Many people have cursed this game, but I had a fondness for it ever since I got my trusty CPC464 in 1986. It is as tough as nails, but if you look closer at the game, the aliens have set movement patterns and only certain ones have a tendency to blanket bomb. Figure that out especially for the later sheets (after sheet 5 maybe) and you'll discover that as tough as it is, it *is* beatable.

Of course, it loops and you get to do it all over again. I didn't get to beat it for the first time until 2019, and no, I didn't have to press the magic button that automatically skips you a level because that's cheating and real players don't use cheats!  ;)

I have done this a few times since then. most recently as last July with a score of 5,900.You cannot view this attachment.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ComSoft6128

#40
1988/1989 - Playing ATF till three or four in the morning until the enemy had been annihilated.
I can still hear the "whistling" white noise effect that the plane made blaring out my speakers.
But to be honest I have to admit I won at the Rookie level ::)



Poliander

I found most games either very boring or very frustrating which got me into programming and so into professional software development later on.

But there was one exception: I tried to play Arkanoid all the way to the end. But in the last level (not sure, level 63?) the ball got into an endless loop. I even left the computer on overnight, but even so, the next morning the ball was still spinning in circles between 3 indestructible blocks. I took this as another confirmation that software development is a more worthwhile lifetime investment.... even today.
Schneider CPC 664 • X-MEM • Vortex F1-X Drive • CTM 644 • DMP 2160
Schneider CPC 6128 • Z-MEM • M4 Board • MultiPlay + Amiga Mouse • OSSC

Gryzor

Damn those kill screens (essentially) are awful. Krakout had such instances where the ball would bounce between two adjacent indestructible blocks, however I guess the game featured some logic that would free the ball after several bounces. 

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Poliander on 13:25, 20 January 23I found most games either very boring or very frustrating which got me into programming and so into professional software development later on.

But there was one exception: I tried to play Arkanoid all the way to the end. But in the last level (not sure, level 63?) the ball got into an endless loop. I even left the computer on overnight, but even so, the next morning the ball was still spinning in circles between 3 indestructible blocks. I took this as another confirmation that software development is a more worthwhile lifetime investment.... even today.

You sure you're not talking about Krakout? Krakout has 100 levels I think, but Arkanoid only has 32.

I do know the endless loop in Arkanoid. It's on something like screen 13 or something like that. I was clocking up an insane score at the time and it got stuck. I wanted to smash the machine up so badly, it induced that much rage!
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:40, 20 January 23Damn those kill screens (essentially) are awful. Krakout had such instances where the ball would bounce between two adjacent indestructible blocks, however I guess the game featured some logic that would free the ball after several bounces.
On some screens in Arkanoid, sometimes moving the joystick around would trigger something and it would shift them. I've only ever managed to shift stuck balls on the rare occasion, but it is doable.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Poliander

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 14:14, 20 January 23
Quote from: Poliander on 13:25, 20 January 23I found most games either very boring or very frustrating which got me into programming and so into professional software development later on.

But there was one exception: I tried to play Arkanoid all the way to the end. But in the last level (not sure, level 63?) the ball got into an endless loop. I even left the computer on overnight, but even so, the next morning the ball was still spinning in circles between 3 indestructible blocks. I took this as another confirmation that software development is a more worthwhile lifetime investment.... even today.

You sure you're not talking about Krakout? Krakout has 100 levels I think, but Arkanoid only has 32.

I do know the endless loop in Arkanoid. It's on something like screen 13 or something like that. I was clocking up an insane score at the time and it got stuck. I wanted to smash the machine up so badly, it induced that much rage!
It was "Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh" and I know for sure the level number was (2^n)-1, although the value of n might have been inflated over the years :D
Schneider CPC 664 • X-MEM • Vortex F1-X Drive • CTM 644 • DMP 2160
Schneider CPC 6128 • Z-MEM • M4 Board • MultiPlay + Amiga Mouse • OSSC

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Poliander on 15:45, 20 January 23
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 14:14, 20 January 23
Quote from: Poliander on 13:25, 20 January 23I found most games either very boring or very frustrating which got me into programming and so into professional software development later on.

But there was one exception: I tried to play Arkanoid all the way to the end. But in the last level (not sure, level 63?) the ball got into an endless loop. I even left the computer on overnight, but even so, the next morning the ball was still spinning in circles between 3 indestructible blocks. I took this as another confirmation that software development is a more worthwhile lifetime investment.... even today.

You sure you're not talking about Krakout? Krakout has 100 levels I think, but Arkanoid only has 32.

I do know the endless loop in Arkanoid. It's on something like screen 13 or something like that. I was clocking up an insane score at the time and it got stuck. I wanted to smash the machine up so badly, it induced that much rage!
It was "Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh" and I know for sure the level number was (2^n)-1, although the value of n might have been inflated over the years :D
Oh God! Revenge Of Doh was even worse for ball trapping than it's predecessor!! That game is the stuff of nightmares and I haven't gone near it since about 1989. It was a graphical improvement and a nice use of overscan, but play wise... it was not an enjoyable experience!
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?


SerErris

#48
A game that I actually finished very late (after the internet arrived and I actually understood what it is about) was Tau Ceti.

You cannot view this attachment.

I finished it in 2020 and this was with pure willpower. I mapped out the whole thing and visited really each and every map in the city to then finally turn of all the reactors and get into the main reactor to shot down all the robots.

Phew ... that was quite an achievement. Never had the patience to do it as a kid. And before I could finish it - I sold my CPC464 (with my Vortex Ram expansion and Vortex 5.25 disc  :-X ) and bought myself an Amiga 2000 ... to continue on the task to never finish a game ;-)
Proud owner of 2 Schneider CPC 464, 1 Schneider CPC 6128, GT65 and lots of books
Still learning all the details on how things work.

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