Tunnel Vision Typist - PROSM
Challenge Entry "When I'm 64 (Pixels)"
Following in the competition's long tradition of games based on visually
impairments, is this entry in the 8 × 8 pixel challenge; which
simulates the hardships of typing while suffering from an extreme (and
strangely geometrically perfect) case of tunnel vision.
One letter at a time appears on the screen and you must press the
appropriate letter on the keyboard. A single mistake results in game
over. Since there is no scoring, no time limit (other than the life-span
of the player and/or keyboard membrane) and no way of winning (other
than retaining your sanity)– it would be safe to call the game
"minimalist".
Bonus crapness points are awarded for the game not turning on caps-lock,
despite only checking for capital letters; and for exploiting the
reduced pixel area to create what is quite possibly the most painful to
read message scroller in computing history.
Loading:LOAD "", then RUN
Controls:
Type letter | A-Z (capitals only)
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Password - Shaun Bebbington
This small, but perfectly formed game from Shaun Bebbington; combines
both the heady world of Hollywood style computer hacking, with the
gritty reality of social engineering and its application to cyber
security (sort of). Player one provides a password and optional "hine"
(which is quite impressively the only typo in the game given the
awfulness of the ZX80's keyboard); which player two must guess.
Presumably the security system was outsourced to Yahoo Mail, since you
are given both unlimited time and unlimited attempts to guess the
password with no penalty for incorrect guesses.
As there is no feedback about the password other than a
correct/incorrect message, success at the game largely depends on how
well you know the other player. Since this is quite possibly the first
two player only game of the competition so far this year; you'll need to
find a friend, relative, well-trained pet or passer-by to play the game
to its full positional. If none of these are available (or more likely,
they are available, but they don't want to play a crap guessing game
for a 37 year old computer), then you could opt to enter the password
yourself when monumentally intoxicated; then try and guess the password
at a later date when you've sobered up.
For what it is, the game is well executed, and is reminiscent of the
functioning, but crap type-ins that would often be used to fill an
annoying gap on a page of Sinclair Programs
Loading:LOAD, then RUN.
Controls:
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Bothersome Bats - textvoyage
Challenge Entry "When I'm 64 (Pixels)"
Somewhat unusually for a CSSCGC entry; this latest game from textvoyage
has a plot! Even more unusually, the plot is longer than two lines;
correctly spelled, vaguely original and ends on a positive, yet
cautionary ecological message. The words even wrap correctly at the end
of lines! None of this bodes well in the crapness stakes, but I'll keep
an open mind and prepare to be disappointed. I'll leave the entire plot
for you to enjoy when you play the game, but suffice to say it involves
extra-terrestrial flying mammals of a vexing persuasion that are
destroying the world's computers and (because you've been unfortunate
enough to be posted to the only military base in the world, that's
poorly funded enough to be equipped with a ZX Spectrum) it is your job
to defeat them.
Once the game begins, I was glad to see that my expectations of
disappointment were met. To meet the challenge criteria; this is another
entry in the new gaming genre I'm christening "squinto-vision" with all
the flickery action compressed into 64 pixels in the middle of the
screen. Making out any kind of detail at this resolution can be a
problem, however the game thoughtfully begins with an extreme close-up
image of a bat, just in case the player is unable to visualise what
three pixels in a V-formation might look like.
Rather than turning to the dark side of Speccy game development and
using machine code (which would be the sensible language of choice for a
pixel perfect shooter with tiny sprites) textvoyage has opted for BASIC
and all the break-ankle speed it commands. Despite this, the graphics
move surprisingly quickly, although this is probably helped by the fact
that they are only visible for about half the time.
Fortunately these particular bats are considerate enough to only attack
one at a time; which is just as well since there's barely enough room to
move your turret out of a single bat's way – multiple bats would have
significantly increased the difficulty and probably caused the bit of
the Spectrum ROM that controls PLOT to burst into flames.
The controls are disappointingly responsive, and the bat(s) never appear
at the edges of the playing area (that you can't reach with your
turret), so two obvious opportunities for crapness have been missed.
There are even sound effects and what I initially thought was some
fiendishly clever multi-colour routine, but turned out to be an optical
illusion resulting from the flickering graphics and the migraine that
develops after more than 10 minutes of playing.
Overall, this is a quite a fun and well implemented game. There isn't a
great deal of longevity, but fortunately you won't be able to play it
for very long anyway without needing a lie-down in a darkened room while
a loved-one makes enquiries about emergency opthamologist appointments.
Loading:LOAD ""
Controls:
Move leftwards: | Z
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Do likewise, but rightwards: | X
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Don't move: | None
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Fire BatBusterLaser: | SPACE (without CAPS-SHIFT)
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