Denial

The interview led me to download the game... today I played it on a real Vic20 and all I can say is that it blew me away! This game and the machine are made for each other. I daresay that the minimal memory configuration and the Vic20' graphics probably led to focus on the pure game experience. Defi...

Good stuff, no "cutesy" chiptunes. I particularly enjoy the first 20 seconds which you could extend and possibly speed up a bit. The VIC sounds are suited for a darker 8bit sound.

orion70 wrote:Ehm, one VIC and a sd2iec device both costing more than the average eBay auction, a video cable, and five common spare carts. That's all .

Well, he had to start somewhere..

I recently stumbled across a "Vic-20 only" store http://vic20.biz - has anyone used this? All the current activity on the web for the Vic20 is great.

Incidentally there was UK pirate swap-by-post scene for the Vic circa 82/83. Adverts could be found in the classified section of popular computing weekly etc. I wasn't aware of the video game crash either. Yes, I remember this "distribution channel" too. However passing on stacks of disks...

I believe the C64 contributed way more to the demise of consoles and video game companies. Virtually ever teenager in my town with an interest in games in the mid-80ies was using a C64 with tons of pirated software. Why buy cartridges when your friends could give you a deck of disks with every game ...

I never liked PETSCII at the time (i.e. 80ies) as this often meant that the games were sloppy and poor. Besides, the possibility to define hires graphics was too alluring.

Nowadays PETSCII is retro-cool again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYe5Fyf2rm4

I periodically join my kids typing in BASIC programs from the VIC user guide to begin to foster a sense of programming. The simplicity and accessibility of the VIC is great for a first understanding of programming. And I think it still beats the newer browser-based "learn to program" sites.

Great looking game!

It reminds me of a recent game released by Revival Studios (Avalanche), where you also have to flip your "game element" to match the inbound objects prior to shooting.. see here: http://www.revival-studios.com/?page=139

Great talk on youtube, btw. On the note of programming for kids: I am currently getting my boys to type in BASIC programs from the VIC20 manual into my VIC20. The manual is a great friendly book, superb for children. I was surprised how good it was and wonder if there is anything as accessible (for ...

When I bought my VIC20, the competitors were the Atari400, the TRS80 and the TI99/4a. The C64 came out a year after I got my VIC20. While the C64 was more impressive and quickly became more popular when I was a kid, the VIC20 was the system which introduced me to 6502 machine code (VICMON), which bl...

I also prefer the VIC20 version. I am still amazed at putting out 300 pages about a single line of simple code. The book is sold out on Amazon at the moment.

I am not sure who of you had noticed this book "10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10", which is roughly 300 pages about a single (!) line of code.. You can download it here: http://10print.org/ Whilst the book is primarily about the Commodore 64 and has an ostentatiously academic overton...

After browsing through more of twitter feed from Jeff I cam across this little gem, which has all the chunky Vic20 graphics and sounds mashed into an iPad game:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gridrunner/id502840657

Recently I stumbled across Jeff Minter's twitter feed @llamasoft_ox, which is full of links to ads and reviews for his games from the 80ies. It seems as if Jeff is currently digitizing piles of old computer magazines, mostly centered around own stuff. One of the links is to his 210 page autobiograph...