53 replies to this topic

[CrimsonCasio]

BASIC Category: 1st Place Winner: Gang Fight 2 - Brazzucko 1) Graphics- 10 2) Speed- 10 3) Gameplay- 9 4) Replay Value- 9 5) Quality- 9 6) Programming Skill- 9 7) Originallity- 7 (its a fighting game with no original features, but the graphics and speed are unheard of in a BASIC program) Overall: 63/70 I honestly never expected to give a game this high a rating, but its beyond incredible. 2nd Place Winner: Minigames - casiokingdom 1) Graphics- 4 2) Speed- 9 3) Gameplay- 8 4) Replay Value- 10 5) Quality- 8 6) Programming Skill- 7 7) Originallity- 9 Overall: 55/70 Things like Minigames have been done before, but this is the first one I've heard of that has full multiplayer support, its also quite challenging and well made though the games and graphics are a bit simplistic, he could have improved the graphics by moving it to the graph screen and having a set background that would not hinder gameplay. 3rd Place Winner: Sprite - genesis 1) Graphics- 8 2) Speed- 6 3) Gameplay- 4 4) Replay Value- 9 5) Quality- 7 6) Programming Skill- 10 7) Originallity- 10 Overall: 54/70 genesis would have one but he provided no explenation of the keys or scoring or anything else so I had to lower his gameplay score... once I figgured the game out though it was quite original and well done (with the exception of being a bit slow). 4th Place: DBZ - Spank 1) Graphics- 3 2) Speed- 7 3) Gameplay- 3 4) Replay Value- 3 5) Quality- 2 6) Programming Skill- 4 7) Originallity- 6 Overall: 28/70 I'm rather disappointed by this game, at first it seemed extreamly challenging (mabey to the point of excrutiating bordom), but I quickly discovered that by taking on superior enemies (despite having no chance of winning) you level up almost instantly, thus making the level system somewhat pointless... it gets boring very quickly in my opinion. On the plus side the fighting is a bit uinque, though dull. but any points scored for that are offset by graphical glitches... 5th Place: Cible - fantasy 1) Graphics- 2 2) Speed- 5 3) Gameplay- 3 4) Replay Value- 4 5) Quality- 2 6) Programming Skill- 3 7) Originallity- 7 Overall: 26/70 Compared with the other games submitted for the contest this didnt come out well. many many things could have been done to improve this game, especially the menu interface. gameplay on anything but very easy is quite difficult, and I cant say I understand the real point to the game. ah well, better luck next time, I have a feeling people didnt really understand the scoring system but next time should be better. ASM/C Category: Only Winner: F-16 Falcon - Roeoender Mohamed's results: 1) Graphics- 6 2) Speed- 10 3) Gameplay- 6 4) Replay Value- 8 5) Quality- 8 6) Programming Skill- 10 7) Originallity- 10 Overall: 58/70 2072's results: 1) Graphics- 5 2) Speed- 10 3) Gameplay- 5 (a lot of little annoying things that are easy to correct) 4) Replay Value- 8 5) Quality- 8 (It's a real good flight simulator) 6) Programming Skill- 10 7) Originallity- 10 (the first game of his kind on a calculator ) Overall: 56/70 I have promised to create a review for the game so there you go: Introduction: --------------- As you can imagine, this type of game is a real challenge on a calculator due to the small low-resolution B&W screen, and it's quite a challenge for the programmer to go through all the physics and dynamics of flight simulation which Roe did well at. Of course as you can notice from the scoring, Roeoender himself gets all the 10s, while the other low scores are due to the type of the game (Flight Simulation). Graphics: ----------- I thought that a competition game coming out at that time (where all those beautiful grey scale games exist), it should have utilized the grey scale and higher quality menus/graphics (memory limitations?) The game uses Roe's 5*5 pixels tiny font which helped a lot to keep the busy areas while playing small. I really wished there would be better graphical menus, with several options (saving & loading) and a quick help/buttons guide/map symbols guide. Maybe we could see that in next releases. As far as the in-game graphics are considered, well, they have never been good on the PC Flight Simulation games, so it wouldn't be much better here, would it? But I must complain about four things: 1) The radar map, all those tiny dots makes me crazy, I don't know which one is the SAM coming after me, and which is the enemy fighter or base I should destroy. 2) Again in the radar map, if a SAM comes after me from behind (while my fighter is located at the middle bottom of the radar screen), wee, I can't know it's there, I want the plane to be in the middle. 3) When an enemy fighter/SAM is coming infront of me, I see something like 4 pixels forming a cross flickering, nothing more!! See? I'm the worst in playing flight simulations. The game has a campaign mode, and a single mode that keeps providing you of different missions each time. This keeps the game of a high replay value, which could be increased if a score system was implemented. The thing I'm sure of, is that people familiar with the type of the game will find it very entertaining and nice, which I hope I will be some day. Features & Quality: ---------------------- The game is of very good quality, it has a very informative/properly organized HUD, with a perfect utilization of the AFX's tiny screen. Considering the features, they are a lot, you should find them on your own, but the one I like the most is when the HUD gets destroyed and it flickers, it looks so real. Lovely! 2072's opinions: ------------------- Well I'm almost completely agree with Mohamed execept I've been very disappointed by the 2 colors only graphics since now it's possible to make graphics with 5 levels of grey... and especially in that type of game where we have a lot of different things to identify like SAMs Buildings Fighters and often no more than 1 pixel represents them. The gameplay is really very difficult to learn but once you're used to it it's OK, I'm still unable to destroy ennemies with bombs or rockets (which are not IR or Radar guided) but well at least it's a game that requires to get some skills... in that way it has a good replay value. The radar isn't handy at all, like said Mohamed the plane should be in the middle of it and when a target is locked it would be great if we could see it on the radar because as it is now you cannot evaluate the distance between your fighter and the locked target. Something is missing is the HUD: the artificial horizon! Sometimes I don't know where is the ground. What I like very much is that this game is a real simulator physic laws are respected, it's difficult to take off... (i didn't try to land yet ). So this game reach is goal: it's a real flight simulator, Except for the graphics and the gameplay (including navigation and targetting) that could be _easilly_ improved. Bottom Line: --------------- This game could be nice for anyone, I like spending more time playing it trying to be better and finish the mission, but sometimes it gets real furstrating and I just throw the calculator on my bed. As for Flight Simulator geeks like Roe (who watch their sixes - if you don't understand this, read the read me file carefully-), it's a cool game which would entertain you everywhere. One more credit for Roeoender, this game is the first of it's type for calculators ever, which is an acheivement in itself. Congrats Roe. The results page will be created very soon, and as for the prizes, the @ucnetwork mail won't be available since 2072 will own the domain next July. You could download the games by clicking on their names. Congratulations everyone, and hope to have more non-quitting-in-the-middle competitors to get better results and games/programs in next competitions. Have fun everyone. 2072 - CrimsonCasio - Mohamed

[Andy.Davies]

well done everyone! but in the asm/c catagory, what happened to CnC?

===edit====

i almost forgot, are all of the basic games AFX compatable? if they are, you will be keeping me occupied for a long time

[Fantasy]

i'm sorry to gave a so bad game but my real game was not finished...
congrulation for the others participant !
i explain the scoring system : more you are at the center more your score up that all !

[X-thunder28]

really good game, roe.

[mastermage]

in the pictures: it's not prograMing but prograMMing

Brazzucko you game is beautiful, but There is a little bug in the .cat provided: you have to modify the first "GetKey"...

Roe: I'm impressed

[Andy.Davies]

i found that bug too, easily solved tho all very impressive

[CrimsonCasio]

that getkey was added manually by me with the fa-123, thats probably the problem.

btw: i fixed the spelling error on the graphics.

andy: the games should all be AFX compatible. though sprite and minigames both have color so you may lose out on some of the graphical effects.

[Casto Productions]

Not to steal anyones thunder or anything, but there was one other game that attempted to be a flight simulator on the calculator, even though it was in BASIC, and for the CFX. It was made by Jean Luc Vanier a few years ago.
But as you can imagine it was VERY limited, but by definition it still was a flight simulator
Congrats Roe and Brazz, very nice! I can't wait to try out the games myself, now just need to figure out where I put my AFX

[casiokingdom]

Thx Crimson, for the results. i'm pleased with my place, as i knew i wouldn't beat brazzucko....i was just hoping to beat Genesis, as his game is good too.

btw can i change my avatar back to my original one, and place the award in my sig, thx

also, i was wondering: what's the difference between runner up and 2nd place?

Edited by casiokingdom, 08 January 2004 - 02:39 AM.

[Andy.Davies]

i think the runners up are the people who arnt 1st 2nd or 3rd

[CrimsonCasio]

runner up is third, honorable mention is anything else, thought they dont get the benifits. full prizes will be awarded asap or asaiht (as soon as i have time )

and yes, if you want you can put anything in your avatar and put the graphic in your sig.

[casiokingdom]

Can you go through the prizes again, as i think someone delelted the comp prize topic. thx

btw: does 2nd place receive the prizes too?

=========EDIT===========
I changed my avatar back as how it was in the past. i like my chess piece. i think avatars individualise a member.

Edited by casiokingdom, 08 January 2004 - 01:56 PM.

[Mohamed]

btw: does 2nd place receive the prizes too?

Yes, just search for the prizes topic, it's unpinned, and the last post was way too old, so you'll find it at the bottom of the posts.
Just search for it!

Oh, and winners starting to look for their prizes.

[Roeoender]

Thanks for a very detailed, in-depth review.

Some history:
When I was younger I bought computer mainly to play flight simulation games
(and just by "accident" I became interested in programming).
First I played fs for 8bit computers:
Fighter Pilot (by Digital Integration - still alive)
and Tomahawk - for a long time the most realistic helicopter sim.
After switching to PC some very good sims follow by Microprose:
1. F15 II Strike Eagle (later F19, F117)
2. F15III & F14 Fleet Defender
3. Gunship 2000
and others (F-16 falcon 3.0 by Spectrum Holobyte, EF2000,F-16 by DI and so on)

F15 II was the first simulator that had a realistic feeling
but still was very playable and designed for "normal" people
(and was a bit propaganda of the U.S. airforce ).
It was so good that soon F19 and F117 similiar fs were released.
Me and my friends spent *days* playing all of them.
F15III & F14 were made by a team of a semi-professional
fs programmers and were aimed at realism-freaks and modelled
all most important electronic systems of those fighters
(only a few of current fs are as advanced, for example
Eurofighter2000 is a peace of cake comparing to them).
They were very popular among die-hard fs lovers.

When I programmed this calculator version I've returned
to the memories of plaing F15 II, but I had in mind also
it's simplifications. Anyway I really suggest gaining some
experience by playing F15II on the PC before/while
playing my game (it has a good manual for a first time fs player,
176 kb of plain text ).

Now some clarifications:
I totaly agree with the scores. I know that not many
people like fs.
I'd like just to explain some of my decisions in the game design.

I understand that everyone loves grayscale, but rememer that
every sprite/screen is 2* bigger and when I was finishing
the game I was out of mem (for example I had to remove some plane damage
simulations to add plane indicator on the map). I prefer to
add some campaign scenarios, 3D vehicle models than just a better looking
background screen. But I agree that some things like in-flight
map look a bit obscure.
I understand people's demand of grayscale I am just different. )

>>I really wished there would be better graphical menus, with several options (saving & >>loading)
Campaign is remembered in the BASIC file between game-sessions.
In-flight save game would allow cheating. Pilot has only one life.
Symbols/keys/etc guide - too big memory-eater.

To maintain good frame ratio I implemented visibility ranges (not visible,
visible as small object, visible as 3D object).
Well, 3D objects are in real scale, but many PC flight sims cheat and enlarge
objects (like ordinary building - 100 meters high).

Abount complaints:
1) well, real radars (put in the plane's nose) are even more obscure (just play F15III/F14):
- they have very limited "field of view" (horizontally and vertically),
commonly you have to carefully fly 360Deg around to look for enemy fighters
and even then you can't be sure that the enemy isn't below/above you.
- rarely they identify target (they rather identify enemy/friendly state)

2) as explained above it wouldn't be realistic.
And don't you love thise nervous feeling when you see message "Intercept take off" or "SAM launch"?
When you would have the full view of the combat area the game would be boring and nothing
unexpected would happen - just fire your missiles and forget.

3) yes, normal fighters have separate passive radars for missile/enemy radar detection.
I don't know how to do it better.
Well a golden rule: if it can't be locked then it's a missile.

4) I agree that missin map is obscure, anyway "out of mem" for now.
Real fighters have nice in-flight next waypoint indicators.

>>Gameplay
lol!
Keep trying, play F15 II on PC,
Central-Europe map is easier (although still difficult).
I will make a simplier scenario (less SAMs,AAAs, more non-offensive targets) to practice.
Anyway although a bit paranoically difficult still it simulates the stress
that a normal pilot has when flying a combat mission.
This game for a beginner is just a bit like "Nethack" -
you are sure you'll die, you just never when.

>>This keeps the game of a high replay value, which could be increased if a score system was implemented.
I totally agree, I'll do that.
Different score for different target,
primary/secondary target destoryed bonus,
plane condition at the end etc.


2072>> Something is missing is the HUD: the artificial horizon! Sometimes I don't know where is the ground.
Wow! So you really did wild maneuvers! :rlol:
Well this game's graphics isn't much better than the real plane's artificial horizon
>>i didn't try to land yet
well you missed the biggest fun (dog-fighting enemy planes with cannon is another one)
just remember that you can cheat and not land perfectly on the runway.

In current "production" version I also added more delicate roll controls.

Thanks for suggestions
they are really needed because, you know, when you make a game for 6 months everything looks obvious to you.
So I hope that more questions will follow.



And once again I suggest playing F15 II Strike Eagle by Microprose to gain experience.
-------------
About a BASIC "flight simulator":
I found it 2 years ago, barely able to run it (CFX color) but looked at it's source-
believe me it isn't a fs (just like my game won't be a fs for real fighter pilots).

As soon as I buy new batteries I'll try BASIC games.

Roeoender.

[casiokingdom]

I have just updated my site and added the comp results to my homepage. So to all members with sites: Add the competition results to your sites now.

[Andy.Davies]

slightly off topic: oh great! he's back to using the rock smilie

[casiokingdom]

well, it isn't really off topic, as the admins did ask in the past for all member to announce the results on their site.

about the rock smilie, i thought i'll just use it occasionally. I like it. Crimson has his fav smilie and i have mine.

[genesis]

hello again, i haven't posted in a long time. The holidays have been really busy and i've had relatives over. when i read this post i almost forgot about the comp . Congratulations to everyone who participated.

About the keys and instructions, i did send a readme AND an update of the readme you must have not received it. About scoring, it is pretty obvious that lives go down by one each time and each kill is worth one. I didn't put things you unlock in the readme, otherwise it ruins the game. Do you want me to send it again?

@ Casiokingdom, congrats and thanks for the modesty, oh crap i used sarcasm...

I don't care anyway, at least I qualify for prizes, lets see, delete post, this will be funny... and more storage just as I hit 100%

[CrimsonCasio]

lol, you sent so many fixes I guess I missed the ones with the readme...

[genesis]

If that's the case, you missed the complete game, which was the second one I sent you BEFORE the due date (and I even had a days extension because my cable broke). That means you judged the incomplete game, which isn't even playable and THAT MEANS the file above is not the game!!! People, go to my site for the real game...

[casiokingdom]

congrats Genesis, too bad about your game mix ups, next time make sure you send only one version to Crimson in the future.

Crimson, not trying to be pushy, but can you please award brazzucko and me our prizes as usually prizes are given straight after comp results. And why does Genesis have his prize..he's already a super member! not fair

so Crimson, stop reading your SK and get to work.

as i said, i'm not trying to be pushy.

[CrimsonCasio]

for your information Im reading dean koonts right now.

sorry, i didnt know you hadnt recived your awards yet. (must have been confusion between me and mohamed)

as for the game mix up, i'll see if the files are the same and sort out the downloads.

[genesis]

Gang Fight 2... hmm, so I would get more points if I named it Sprite 2? Unbelievable.

BTW, try to be fair next time and test ALL GAMES on AFX (don't try and kid me into thinking that Gang Fight 2 is a CFX game). I know by experience that graph mode is faster and text mode is slower on AFX.

Sorry about this, Gang Fight 2 looks like a very good game with a lot of effort put in.

[CrimsonCasio]

for your information I did test the games on both models (except gang fight cause i knew it wouldnt work), yours will not work on an AFX because of your view window settings. if you doubt the fairness of my grading let me explain a few things I counted you off for:

1) I had to create Mat B manually, and as far as I know there is no documentation that says you need to do this.
2) you did not generate the matrixes and lists need by your program in the program. (fantasy lost points for this too)
3) no known documentation.

therefore I had to rate you lower than kingdom, though I do think your game is excelent.

if you have complaints about the scoring state them, but dont make unfounded accusations please.

btw: Gang Fight 2 is a sequal to Gang Fight.

[casiokingdom]

therefore I had to rate you lower than kingdom, though I do think your game is excelent.

of course you had to Crimson, i paid you heaps.....j/k

anyway MiniGames is better
Don't stress genesis, the comp is over. You are a super member anyway.

[genesis]

Ok, I didn't know. So, what are the dimensions of the AFX screen? 317x183?

@ casiokingdom, I'm very happy with my ranking and don't care about it. I just want to let the public know that I DO follow criteria.

@ Crimson, sorry, Mat B wasn't included in the final package. {10,10}->Dim Mat B, everyone.

[CrimsonCasio]

Ok, I didn't know. So, what are the dimensions of the AFX screen? 317x183?

its the same as the CFX, but they disabled the Plot=Pixel widow settings for some reason. I may be wrong, but I think you can do ViewWindow 1, 128, 1, -1, -64 and then just neg the y coord for plots, but that would require pleanty of conversion.

[CrimsonCasio]

of course you had to Crimson, i paid you heaps.....j/k

yeah right! you paid me in austrialian currancy!

[huhn_m]

does roes game run on an AFX+ calculator and when yes why does it crash after I selected the payload. (it simply
returns to the main menu without displaying an error messsage. May this be because of lack of memory?

I used the bigger version of main.exe

[mastermage]

on plus models you have to use maxmem (by roe ) or shineos ( http://shine.sourceforge.net ) because there isn't enough free ram,it's the same problem as scorch

[huhn_m]

@roeoender:

can you implement an auto-pilot feature (as seen in F-117A).

It makes you stay at the current level over ground and simply navigates to the direction where the target is.
(i.e. controls plane to a degree position where it can fly straight to the target) (first the primary then secondary).

Other things that were great:

*Range to looked object (tank, fighter ...)

[Roeoender]

Sorry for such late reply.

Autopilot:
1. It wouldn't be that hard (I would use enemy fighter's aiming procedure) but I fear I could run out of memory (for the final release I had to rip some Borland's C code to cut down size by aroung 100 (hundered) bytes!)
2. I am really busy currently and don't even have time to buy new batteries and look at notepad and basic compo games.
I only managed to add a new less difficult scenario "Southern France" and add less sensitive roll controls (to make landing maneuvers easier).
When my exams will be over I try to cut down size (compile with optimization for size for all "plus" owners) and maybe add somethings
Roeoender.

[miltonthemoose]

i downloaded normal G-fight and theres syntax error when the game begins was i suppose to download both files?

[CrimsonCasio]

normal g-fight? what do you mean?
also, for g-fight you must have an AFX

[casiokingdom]

Dw Crimson, milton solved the problem.....and about the "normal" word....i have no idea what he means

[Roeoender]

Finally I got time and batteries to test one gasic game (gang fight2).
And lol the comp results game indeed has an error (by normal he means not "rapido" version - got it?) and I also tried to launch normal version - the problem is in main G-FIGHT2 file near it's begining:

For 1->T To 300
If GetKey!=0
Then Break
IfEnd

Where GetKey is errously a set of characters (G,e,t,K,e,y) not a token "GetKey" so an error is reported and
"thanks" to "password" protection normal user cannot fix it. So I had to remove this pathetic password manually and then could fix the problem. So what is the point in using this pathetic passwords, come on people forget about it!

To enyone needing a fix: open the CAT file in a text editor on PC and remove a text string after each "password:" occurance in this file. Send file to the calc and then change GetKey to GetKey token(command).

BTW. GF2 - very funny way of drawing things!
Roeoender.

[CrimsonCasio]

that getkey might be my fault, I added the ucf screen at the begining of each program and it seems that some of them have that problem.

[Mohamed]

The problem is in main G-FIGHT2 file near it's begining

That problem was due to the UCF screen Crimson had to add manually because the competitors didn't.
The game we all received was bug-less.

About the password, one main reason I use it for, was never protection, but when I accidentally (or intentionally sometimes) keep pressing [ON/AC] and other random buttons (from anger) to exit the game, I delete some of the lines by accident.
That's why I use it.

[huhn_m]

Finally I got time and batteries to test one gasic game (gang fight2).

is this a special kind of game for the gaspad?