Denial

Dear all,

I would like to annouce my new Vic20 game. It is called FiZZ ported from my C64 version. It is a challenging puzzle plattformer with a lot of game mechanics, you can switch gravity in all four directions, have a laser mechanic, portals etc. The game has a single player and Co-Op with 47 single player and 30 multiplayer levels. You can download it for free (donations welcome) on itch.io

https://fleischgemuese.itch.io/vic-fizz

The game was made with TRSE, very cool plattform for making retro games. Especially Vic 20... www.turbo-rascal.com

Regards,
Andy

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uenP2JW2djs[/youtube]

We reviewed FiZZ in the last issue of Zzap64, hope you enjoyed it (I certainly did!)

Looks really good thank you for sharing your amazing game, looking forward to playing it !!

Hi,
For the C64 I have added a level builder for FiZZ as external Tool, you can edit a JSON file with new Levels and transform into a disk file . Any interest to add it for vic 20 too?

Andreas

Mayhem wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 2:00 pm We reviewed FiZZ in the last issue of Zzap64, hope you enjoyed it (I certainly did!)

Thank you for reviewing it, I Didn’t know it yet. Could you send me the article?

Excellent game, nice to see it on the Vic.

Seems like a game that allows for very complex puzzles It reminds me in some ways of Match Buster (2012) for the C64, though that is a digging game and this a platform game. But just like FiZZ it also has portals and rolling boulders.

FiZZ might be too complex for me though... I have a hard time figuring out the rules for the portals. I am pretty much stumped on level 9 where the boulder appears.

I really appreciate that I can choose the starting levels so that I don't have to repeat the introductory levels again and again. And the option to play the levels co-operatively seems very intriguing!

fleischgemuese wrote:[...]

Hi, Andy!

First of all, a warm welcome to Denial!

FiZZ will get an extensive playthrough on original hardware this weekend, together with a good friend. I told him the VIC-20 got a "2D" version of Manifold Garden, to which he replied: "You gotta be kiddin' me???" - note: we both have solved Manifold Garden for the original run and the "0% run".

Some remarks in advance:

• Please be more accurate in stating the memory requirements for the game: the game actually needs +35K (it definitely accesses $0400..$0FFF), but you state +32K at several places - the thread title here and also on your itch.io web page.
• The splash intro "sits" there until the player presses the fire button. Either a caption "Press FIRE to start" or continuing the load after a few seconds would be a better option. Actually I hammered at [SPACE] and [RETURN] before realizing the screen asks for joystick fire, other people already might think the game has crashed, ...
• ... I addressed this issue, and also the off-center display by transforming the splash intro picture into a MG picture (download - you may want to view this in MINIPAINT).
• The loader built from the new intro screen just waits two seconds before continuing. The main program is loaded while the title stays on screen ... ... both "INTRO" and "BOOT" are now crunched (with Exomizer), so the game loads faster.

Here is the reworked version of FiZZ for download.

Greetings,

Michael


P.S. I split off your Announcement as first post of the "VIC-20 Software Releases in 2024" and edited your post to bring it more in line with the Rules for Announcement posts.

Thank you very much for the feedback to my game! The inspiration for the game has many sources, mostly Sutef but also Deflektor, Boulderdash, Portal and others. The game Manifold Garten is new to me, fine for me that you compare a PS5 game

Of course I will change the 35Kb memory layout setup, my mistake. Yes I needed all the memory I could get plus disk load....

I will take your feedback and try to modify a few things (yes the Space Button check in the intro...) Regarding the bitmap I'm not fully sure how to integrate it in TRSE, but Exomizer is possible. For me getting the game to life was more important.

Anyway thank you for taking time for playthrough (maybe you record it for YT?) ... I hope you have fun with it, some people find it a bit hard but after a few tries It is likely that you find the solution, so its a puzzle game...

BTW: This is my first game after 38 years on the Vic20, funny to bring something to life on this machine again... (My other games are now in the Commodore nirvana)

Regards,
Andy

I solved level 9 but now I am stuck on level 12 There are so many new elements introduced in these levels that I have not really come to grips with all aspects of their mechanics yet.
But I do appreciate the text hints that are specific to each level! They are a nice touch and allow for a little storytelling as well as much-needed help.

Ola H wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:24 pm I solved some level 9 but now I am stuck on level 12 There are so many new elements introduced in these levels that I have not really come to grips with yet.
But I do appreciate the text hints that are specific to each level! They are a nice touch and add some storytelling as well as much-needed help.

I tried to make a slow learning curve, but the levels can vary a lot in difficulty I know. I hope it is not too hard. If you need help you probably find it from the C64 version playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyhzMakO75A&t=206s

Thanks! A video is great. I am reluctant to cheat, however, so I'll try to use it just to study the levels I have already completed and thus hopefully learn the rules better from other solutions than my own (which sometimes seemed more due to luck than to skill...)

Mike wrote:FiZZ will get an extensive playthrough on original hardware this weekend, [...]

So we did on Sunday evening. After roughly 1 1/2 hours, we arrived at Level 22 ...



... but then, the delivery boy rang the bell and brought the lunch order: two big Hamburgers and French Fries for the two hungry puzzlers.

On the way to Level 22 we encountered some nice puzzles, The Trap being one of the more memorable ones. It is quite funny how one "runs" outside the rectangle in the middle of the screen to find a way in - and then find the way out.

We will continue the game on one of the next weekends - thankfully there is a level selector so we can re-start the game at Level 22 then.

fleischgemuese wrote:(maybe you record it for YT?)

Sadly, I do not have the necessary equipment at my place to do this. Anyhow, I concur with Ola H here: seeing the solutions would spoil most of the fun.

Things such as that is why I rated the C64 version so highly. Not everyone agreed though.

Mayhem wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:51 am Things such as that is why I rated the C64 version so highly. Not everyone agreed though.

FiZZ.png

Cool, thank you for sharing...