hypp 2021-04-26 16:35
Great game, as usual. This is how I remember games from my youth! Impressive that it is for the ZX Spectrum. I got to a throne, and then I didn't know what to do???
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → Crown of the Mountain King
By vilcans
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 435 | 3.47 | 25 | |
| Fun | 413 | 3.37 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 488 | 3.13 | 25 | |
| Theme | 470 | 3.54 | 25 | |
| Graphics | 496 | 3.37 | 25 | |
| Audio | 670 | 2.35 | 23 | |
| Mood | 589 | 3.02 | 24 |
Great game, as usual. This is how I remember games from my youth! Impressive that it is for the ZX Spectrum. I got to a throne, and then I didn't know what to do???
@hypp If you land on the throne, you pick up the crown. (Admittedly, it's not that obvious that this happens.) Then you just have to find your way back to the surface. But be careful - the crown is heavy!
It's always awesome seeing games created for older systems during these competitions - this is the first time I've seen an MSX game!
The graphics feel exactly as they should - you obviously had to stick with the limitations of the hardware, and you made good use of it. The mechanics also worked well - this would feel right at home in the era of the ZX Spectrum in my opinion. I was a little bit sad about not having a real end state, but of course, game jams are very limited. (Especially when you're working with a limited system, that likely doesn't have much in the realm of game engines to build off of.)
Thanks for a fun entry!
@cppchriscpp Thanks for the comment. I think this game feels a bit different from many other Spectrum games, as it sacrifices graphics quality for 50 FPS and smooth scrolling. Where is the MSX game?
Sorry! I meant this was the first time I had seen a ZX Spectrum game, not an MSX game. I even wrote the right computer later in the comment, not sure why I got it wrong. :laughing:
I'll admit, I'm not intricately familiar with the differences in computers of that era. I was born in the late 80s so I only experienced them much later. So, that difference from other ZX Spectrum games was lost on me. Either way I really liked it!
@cppchriscpp Oh, I was hoping to see an MSX entry. That's a cool platform. It has better graphics and sound than the Spectrum. As far as I understood it, the Spectrum was designed primarily to be cheap and simple.
This is actually a fun game! Not that hard to understand, which is nice because I just got back from sports and then my head doesn't process difficult games anymore :sweat_smile: I like how this is compatible with the ZX spectrum, I haven't seen that in a LD entry before
Well done sir!
Question: did the ZX spectrum support sounds/beeps? That is the only thing I'm missing from this game; some audio feedback :innocent:
Not sure if it's the game's fault, but I'm so sad my webpage crashed while I was playing. This is a really simple but effective game. The amount of level design and subtlety you achieved with this kind of limitations ("hardware", gameplay, 2 types of tiles...) is really impressive.
I might retry it later, very good job !
Surprised to see a submission for the ZX Spectrum - that's very impressive work. In my opinion the trade-off between graphics and smooth movement was worth it. Very creative entry with a neat mechanic, I enjoyed it!
Great game! Really good feeling in the controls, and obviously great nostalgia. I think also that the quality of the level design was apparent on the trip back, where you usually reached the refuel pad just in the last second -- great fun! Nice little touches as well like suddenly there is a giant tree there underneath the ground :) Just wish there would have been some little reward for finishing the game at the end though, like the ship flying off into space or something.
Love seeing retro projects like this ^^ Unfortunately didn't finish it since my browser crashed due to low memory (might be my system, but could be a memory leak in the project).
Also it took some time for me to realize that I had picked up the crown, so that is an area for improvement :D
Good job!
Nice game, however I didn't get to play past the 6th part of it due to it crashing occasionally. :c Other than that though, the game was great! It looked great and controlled nicely, also loved the arcade cabinet look to it as well!
I played this one for longer than I was expecting! Simple, but engaging. And tough! Not that the ZX Spectrum was known for difficult games, of course...
Great game! I played all the way through (sat on the throne, then made it back up). I enjoyed exploring the levels, and learning how to control the ship. I also liked how the ship got heavier on the way out, making the controls much more difficult.
Thanks for playing and commenting!
@wouter52 Yes, the Spectrum had a beeper. It was controlled only by the CPU, not by a timer chip as on the IBM PC, so the only way to play a continuous beep is to dedicate all CPU resources to it. But the game has sound when you accelerate and an explosion when you crash. Maybe there was something wrong with your sound settings?
@thegreenworm @gaminghamster @rateddfordegenerate Thanks for letting me know about that problem. It should be impossible for the game to crash the browser as it's running inside an emulated machine with only 48 K of RAM. But maybe it's a bug in the Javascript-based emulator, or the browser itself. You can try downloading a Spectrum emulator like Fuse (http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net/), which I used while developing, or Zesarux (https://github.com/chernandezba/zesarux/releases), which I haven't tested the game on. There are lots of others too.
@generic-games Thank you! Yes, I think very few Spectrum games run at 50 FPS, so I'm a bit proud of it.
@omid-ghavami Thanks for noticing the level design. I put some thought of it, and in combination with some happy coincidences, it turned out very good. Good idea flying off into space in the end!
@vilcans thanks for your explaination, I find this stuff very interesting ๐ I'll try your game again later this week, maybe my browser did not play the sound right ๐คจ
I enjoyed this game a lot, is all about skill and contol. I wish there was a category for technical archivement, this been in spectrum deserves recognition. Good entry.
I remember this kind of game from when I was a kid controlling you descent with a limited amount of fuel (Should I go for sucide burn vs controled descent ?). So much nostalgia. I was bad at them! I thought that it was because I was a kid. But apparently not, I am still very bad at it!
Thank you for your entry
I really enjoyed this. I don't have experience with the ZX Spectrum, but I have a lot of reverence for games of this era. I felt so nostalgic playing it. It's awesome that you made such a dedicated throwback.
I thought it was a perfect challenge and length. The level design is really spot on. The checkpoints were well placed and I felt like I was always making good progress. It was nice having some choice with alternative paths and a bit of exploration. I thought it was really clever having to get to the throne and work your way back. The added weight and new perspective created a fun challenge. I just barely got to a few of the checkpoints and it was very satisfying.
Great work on it, I had a lot of fun.
Great game! I liked the idea! :)
It crashed my browser after a couple screens in, but I got the idea. Great job for a compo entry!
@thegreenworm @gaminghamster @rateddfordegenerate @cheesepencil (who experienced browser crashes): What browser are you using on which operating system? Maybe I can report a bug to the emulator creator (even though if the browser crashes, it's the browser's fault).
I'm using chrome, on a Windows 10 PC
@vilcans Latest Firefox on Windows 10. It was just the tab that crashed, not the entire browser.
I was not able to reproduce it just now, however. I may fuss with it some more later in case there's any debug output.
@vilcans Win10, Opera. Just as cheesepencil clarified it was just the specific tab that crashed.
Its cool you have made a game for the ZX Spectrum computer! Great work!
It's always impressive to see a game made for an old system, especially when you push it to its limits with 50FPS. It's refreshing after playing dozens upon dozens of Unity games that need [redacted]MB of memory to draw a square. I love the level design; it works both ways and it's significantly harder on the way back, giving you time to learn the mechanics. The lack of x axis inertia is a bit strange although it works fine.
I didn't rate it in audio because frankly the beeps got quite annoying pretty fast but I'm not familiar enough with the ZX Spectrum to be able to blame you for it.
[I played it live](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1011129873?t=1h18m45s)
This game is a little too difficult for me to beat, but I had a lot of fun trying. I love games like this: a real blast from the past. I've never used a ZX Spectrum, but everything about this game, from the color scheme to the primitive sound effects, feels authentic. It brings back the days when I used to play the Atari 2600. This is definitely one of the best entries here.
@alaah Thanks for playing and streaming it! And I'm sorry for wasting your time after you had picked up the crown. I didn't have time to implement something confirming that you had picked it up and should head back to the surface. Also thanks for noticing the level design.