Games we want to see

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 7:30 am

Mike wrote:one game I'd be interested in is 'Stricken', which is mentioned in 'The Player of Games', a SF-Novel by Iain Banks.

The description of the game resembles Stratego. However the pieces are put in shells, and placed inside a cube(!). The possible pieces are known, but what is inside a shell is only revealed, when a player first makes a move with it. So some part of the strategy involves placing the shells in a way to make the upcoming battle robust against the lack of knowledge in the opening.

Ultimately, you defeat the opponent by capturing all his pieces. Then, when all your remaining pieces at that moment could reach all places of the cube, one achieves a 'full web'

I've been pondering what could be playable with a 3d cube "board", and I think diagonal movement is out of the question. Therefore, my idea for the pieces would be:

kings - can move one space in any of the 6 directions
pawns - can only move one space toward the opponent's corner
rooks - can move any number of spaces in any of the 6 directions
prooks - can move any number of spaces toward the opponent's corner

On a given turn, the player may either move one of his pieces or he may perform a "swap". A "swap" lets you swap the positions of two revealed pieces (a piece can only be revealed with a move). A pawn may swap with a king; a rook may swap with a prook.

This swap mechanism is the only way a pawn or prook can "backtrack". If all of your kings and rooks are captured, then the remaining pieces can only inexorably move toward the opponent's corner.

Hopefully, this is enough variety of pieces without becoming a visualization nightmare.

Here's how the display could look:

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      dd      dd      dd      dd
    cc      cc      cc      cc
  bb      bb      bb      bb
aa      aa      aa      aa


      dd      dd      dd      dd
    cc      cc      cc      cc
  bb      bb      bb      bb
aa      aa      aa      aa


      dd      dd      dd      dd
    cc      cc      cc      cc
  bb      bb      bb      bb
aa      aa      aa      aa


      dd      dd      dd      dd
    cc      cc      cc      cc
  bb      bb      bb      bb
aa      aa      aa      aa

This consumes 16x22 characters of screen space. Each depth is a different color to aid visualization.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:11 am

I'd like to see Phutball

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It's an abstract soccer game...sort of a cerebral Subbuteo.

I think the 19x15 dimensions look nice on the VIC20 screen, and of course implementing the graphics is trivial.

Implementing an AI would be the challenge.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:40 am

The discussion on Sensei's page is funny. Two players decide to try the game, and after a few moves they start considering if the ball should be headed up/down or left/right. Different sources of rules give different answers.

Yes, the AI would probably be a challenge. Brute force would be relatively easy: remove as many players as possible, don't bother where the ball ends up. More strategic thinking would be desired. I can definitely see this kind of game as a 1K or 2K in the MiniGame compo, but then it needs at least the BF algorithm. I'm sure 1K is well within reach. I made an Othello game in 2002 which takes up exactly 1K and it has a brute force AI. Then again it seems this strategy works somewhat well in Othello but not in this particular game.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:36 am

carlsson wrote:Brute force would be relatively easy: remove as many players as possible, don't bother where the ball ends up.

Since the score is determined by where the ball ends up, this strategy doesn't seem useful.

Instead, the rating for a particular leaf node should be (AI_SCORE - PLAYER_SCORE)*32 + BALL_Y. This rating assumes that the AI scores on row 19+.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:46 am

I still want to see Donkey Kong Jr.!

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:52 am

I'd like to see a port of the original black & white TRS-80 version of Crazy Painter. You controlled an "x" and tried to fill in the screen while avoiding various random enemies which would leaves "footprints" of empty pixels in their wake.

This game seems to be obscure now...I can't find any references to it. It looks like there was also a CoCo version, but with sprite graphics instead of the abstract pixel graphics of the original.

Crazy Painter was sort of a training simulator for mowing the lawn...you always started off with a default strategy of spiraling inward from the edges, just like mowing a lawn...

Diddl · Post by **Diddl** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:29 am

I would be glad to see a game like "Space Taxi" on my VIC.

It should be possible cause only a the taxi must be redrawn every time. other things could be easy done by charset changes. Gameplay is not very fast and all in all it seems to be a simple concept.

Maybe a Space Taxi which is easy configable so everyone can make a own level.

ral-clan wrote:I still want to see Donkey Kong Jr.!

Yes Donkey Kong Jr. was also a favourite game of mine. I made first level of Kong Jr. on my CBM 8032 in 1980 ...

link

stycer · Post by **stycer** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 3:54 pm

How about creating Wizard of Wor , Dog Patch or Space Vultures for the Vic. These are missing carts and it would be cool to see them created.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:27 am

stycer wrote:How about creating Wizard of Wor...

This is an old dream - it should definitely be considered as a priority.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:41 pm

nippur72 wrote:talking of berzerk...

I demand this game be developed now! The graphics are already done. Heck, the voice may even be possible now.

Obviously, the demand isn't as urgent as, say, Wizard of Wor. We already have Amok, etc. But I really feel like this would be a relatively painless program for an experienced ML programmer (and much more simple than WoW).

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:27 am

^
Yes indeed! There's a new version being finalised for the C64. I've been playing the demo of late as it's really pretty good.

A Vic version would be awesome, maybe a port of the new code would be possible? As far as the voice goes, I see no reason why it couldn't be done. The voice synthesis on the Vic is definitely up to the job.

I'm with Jeff on this one!

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:13 am

How many games are still to be created! WoW! (<- Subliminal message

).

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:20 am

orion70 wrote:How many games are still to be created! WoW! (<- Subliminal message ).

Yeah, an online multiplayer RPG would be great. Perhaps a ethernet-enabled multiplayer version of Realms of Quest III?

With Jim Brains C64 Cart to VIC 20 cart adapter it should be possible to connect a 64NIC card to a VIC, right?

One can always dream...

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:33 am

Er- not World of Warcraft, I meant Wizard of Wor.
My dreams are smaller.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 1:14 pm

I demand this game be developed now!

YIKES!! Won't Atarisoft sue you for (1) reverse-engineering, (2) graphic ripping, and (3) same title?