#msxdev Compo 2012 results

N/A

Graphics
It clearly shows the graphics have had quite some attention to get such drawings. A good artist.
Too bad the movement animations of the characters are rather stiff.

Gameplay
Too bad the gameplay hasn't had the same attention as the graphics. Half the time my attacks miss the opponent, while they certainly hit me.
As this entry has just 1 level, I consider it more a demo than a game.
It also has a bug where sound is interrupted while moving up at some point in the game. I'm sure this will be fixed eventually though.

Audio
Very fitting to the game. Brings a good atmosphere.

Conclusion
Awesome! I hope this game will get finished some day, as it is a good work in progress MSX2 game. The gameplay can still use some tinkering. Graphics are good with nice animations in the lifebar in the shape of a heart. Could've used a bit of explanation though, even though it's more of a demo of the game.

Score: 8.0
Wonderful graphics, particularly the intro screen and beating heart in the bottom of the screen. So great to see large characters moving around in an MSX game! And the sole idea of getting a bone as a weapon after beating the first skeleton really put a smile on our face. Makes us wonder about the plans for future levels. Music gets a little monotonous, and it is such a shame it is only one level...

Originality: 8.5
Entertainment value: 8.0
Technical: 8.0
Graphics: 9.0
Music: 7.5
Replay value: 7.0

Gamecast failed to fulfill its obligation to submit a report.

This entry is a nice action-platformer by MSX-scene newcomer Aetherbyte. Due to time constraints, we are only offered one single level which, because of its difficulty, proves to be more than enough.

The game scores well on visual presentation: Big multicolor sprites at a decent animation rate and good looking overall graphics are its main selling point. Technically this is a job well done. Everything is well-drawn, nice and detailed. Some variation in animation may be welcome, but it may be a challenge to add more different animation frames.

Sound-wise is a mixed bag. The intro music is very nice and the game over music does its job well. The in-game music on the other hand, started to annoy me pretty fast. Sound effects are okay. They aren't anything special and could use some work here and there, but don't distract much while playing.

The gameplay is decent but not without problems. The main issue is that there are numerous bugs that hold me back of enjoying this game as it was intended: Other than glitches in graphics and sound, there are bugs preventing the controls of being 100% responsive. For example on many occasions, it was impossible for me to crouch down while attacking. Also, it would seem some attack button presses won't register, making attacking somewhat of a gamble occasionally.

Another problem is lies within the level design. There are situations where your hero would move onto the next screen and it will be impossible to avoid getting hit by enemies who are running towards you. Not even when you attack right away. This makes the game unnecessary harder than it already is.

On the other hand, general player control (walking/jumping) is pretty responsive and the weapon system seems interesting. I am curious about how this will be expanded in the full version. Will we see other body parts as weapons? How about an intestines whip or flame breathing dragon skull?

Regarding replay-value, I found myself returning to the game to try completing the one level in this demo numerous times, but have yet to succeed. As said before, this game is hard.

Score: 6.5 (out of 10)
All in all, I enjoy playing game. Despite its flaws and bugs I admire its technical aspects. Multiple big sprites on screen are something that is not seen on the MSX system very often.The bugs prevent me from giving this game a higher score, even though I kept in mind this game was made by someone who is new at programming z80 assembly AND the fact that the game was created in a relatively short timeframe (points which were taken into consideration during the review). Nevertheless (or maybe because of all this) I am REALLY looking forward to the final release version.

Another newcomer in MSX development, Aetherbyte enter with a platform game. With one multi-screen level the game looks finished. More levels are planned for the game in the near future.

The game starts with a very cool and eerie looking title screen. For their first game they also decided to use software sprites, which are colorful and detailed. The game over screen isn't has cool as the rest, though. The game has fitting MSX-MUSIC music and nice PSG sound effects. The gameplay is smooth and has no slowdowns. A very nice detail adding to the atmosphere is the life gauge being represented by a heart beat. It takes some time to unpack the graphics after starting the game before movement is actually possible. It's a very promissing game.

Playability: 9
Some of the collisions seem too friendly. Other than that it plays very nicely.

Graphics: 7
The scenery is kind of bland/repetitive. The sprites look pretty goofy. I think they are supposed to be bugs. They remind me of Atari 2600 games, and I do not really like that. I do like the health-meter though.

Sound: 9
The background music is excellent. The sounds are pretty cool too.

Technical Difficulty: 5
This version in ASM was cranked out in about a week with the sprites thrown in at the last minute. It's just hardware sprites and scrolling/repetitive background. I don't think that is too difficult, given the hardware capabilities.

Hardware Utilization: 6
The hardware sprites are multicolor, so that is a nice touch. The backgrounds could be more varied. There really isn't alot going on in the game. I don't see why this couldn't be an MSX1 game instead. The background is almost uncolorful enough to be MSX1. I am comparing it to something like Hydlide 1 or 2 and don't see much reason why it could not be an MSX1 title, aside from the scrolling. The health bar is monochrome!

Quality: 7
The title screen/music/scrolling/controls are all very nice, but the graphics are a bit bland and the overall gameplay is very boring. It gets very tiring by level 3. I think if it had a shooting element, it might be more fun. This version is too easy and boring.

N/A

Score: 7.9
Graphics and music match very well together. The game looks and sounds like a professionally released Japanese MSX2 game – and that is very cool on our book! Levels are sometimes a bit on the long side. Although we did not consider it when rating the entry, making the source code available is a great gift to the MSX community. Thanks!

Originality: 7.0
Entertainment value: 8.0
Technical: 8.0
Graphics: 8.5
Music: 8.5
Replay value: 7.5

Gamecast failed to fulfill its obligation to submit a report.

Designed by Lord Zett of Darkstone and coded by Edwin of Infinite, Pixiedust is a mix between a race game and a dodging game. The goal is to reach the finish of each level without dying due to collision with enemies.

Of all the #msxdev compo entries, this one is the definite winner in the polish department: It is a complete game, offering different levels, responsive controls and no notable bugs. Graphics-wise it ranges from decent to very good. The opening and game over splash screens are great and the in-game graphics are good as well. The downside is that there is not much sprite animation going on besides the player-controlled pixie. The one song played during the entire game is good but gets boring eventually, which is a shame. Sound-effects are sparse, but the few that are used do fit the game and music well.

One thing that makes this game stand out from everything else you may have played is the reversed scrolling. It does take a short while to get used to but that is not a problem. The biggest problem of this game is that is on the repetitive side. Although there are different levels, the graphics do not change much other than in palette/color shading. Enemies are the same throughout the game with only a few more types added later on. Combined with the single-song-soundtrack this game doesn't feel varied at all.

Controls are responsive, but sometimes it is hard to dodge something because in almost most cases you cannot go back behind an enemy or item. When you are behind them you can move past them, but for example if you are across a power-up item, you cannot go back to get it. This is inherent to the game design, where items and all but one enemy-types are moving at the same speed, the exact speed you will be traveling at when you move backwards/up. I don't regard this as a bug or flaw, just something that I felt was a bit awkward when playing, but eventually got used to.

Score: 7 (out of 10)
A great entry for the #msxdev compo: A complete package, slightly let down by its repetitiveness. Pixiedust would have been awarded with a higher score if only there were some more variation in music or enemies. But despite this, I feel it is still worth trying out and it will certainly warrant a few, if not many hours of playing.

With their first game completely in assembly, Darkstone enter with a road fighter and river raid inspired evasion game. The coding was done by Infinite's Edwin, who wasn't able to finish their own entry in time and volunteered to code this game.

The pixie in the title and game over screens look very detailed. The game graphics look good and the display mode is well utilized. There are a few returning map glitches. The music is MSX-MUSIC only and catchy. The sound effects are nice and fitting, although the delayed launch enemy could've used a sound effect. The game is fun to play and can be slightly addictive at times. The downward gameplay needs a little getting used to and the pixie will never crash into the tree as it automatically pushed back onto the road. The levels have a well balanced increase of difficulty as more enemies enter the scene and their numbers increase. The game isn't very MSX standard due to the hard-coded port access. It isn't very clear when the game enters the actual next level.

Playability: 10
It plays. It's a demo, so this is sort of irrelevant?

Graphics: 7
The scrolling text is sort of illegible. The picture that shows up looks really corny.

Sound: 10
Listened to the song on Turbo R. It sounded nice.

Technical Difficulty: 7
I don't think scrolling text is too hard. The amount of text might have been, but there really wasn't anything else other than the text and one picture. The fact that it requires a Turbo R to have music/effects is a bit unexciting.

Hardware Utilization: 5
For the fact that it can support a Turbo R, I am not very impressed with the demo. It didn't do much.

Quality: 7
The demo was fairly boring. I am not a fan of reading long, drawn out, forced-humor demoscene text. I prefer to see cool effects and graphics.

Graphics
SCROLLDEMO!!!!
Graphics don't really match perhaps and the font makes the fast scroll even harder to read.

Gameplay
Man, what a speed in the scroll itself. Even with a CRT screen it feels too fast (though I'm not a very fast reader, so this could be just me).
It's very fun to see the Flying Bytes logo again!

Audio
Nice tune which doesn't bore while trying to read the scroll text.

Conclusion
Simple demo, nice, but too bad about the font/speed. Carry on and make more. Judging by what was created in the past, that should be possible, shouldn't it?

N/A

Gamecast failed to fulfill its obligation to submit a report.

I personally missed a lot of the (in?)famous '90s MSX Demo scene. Yes I have seen a dozen or so demos back then, but not all of them. I have never heard of Flying Bytes. If I understand correctly, the people who made No Pressure were musicians in the old Flying Bytes, but this time around they have taken over coding as well. Talk about moving upwards in your career!

The demo basically consists of a scrolling message and some effects. As mentioned by others, it doesn't run well in emulators, which unfortunately happen to be my only way of enjoying MSX at the moment. Because of this, I had a hard time reading the text, but luckily someone was nice enough to post a transcript of it on the net.

Graphically this demo is well designed. Nice colorful art as you may expect from an msx2 demo, but technically the main effects used are not that impressive. On the other hand, I loved the drawing of the crew, and a cool "wave" effect, as if the crew is greeting us, the viewers. Nice touch!

I think the thing that carries the demo is the soundtrack. The one song played from start to the end has a full sounding bassline, nice chords combined with a dreamy lead melody and some PCM samples make it a pleasure to listen to, although it can get old after a while.

A few nitpicks: The transition between the "chiptune" part and the main part of the music seems a bit too abrupt/sudden. The same for the end of the demo: no fade-out. But these are small things, which are not taken into account into the rating.

Score: 7 (out of 10)
Although technically this demo may not be the most technical impressive thing ever, I would say it is a job well done considering it was made by people who are new to coding in Assembly. Flying Bytes managed to come up with something that is somewhat enjoyable to view and listen to. It is obvious they had a lot of fun creating this demo, fun that is reflected onto the audience very well in my opinion.

Back after 15 years of being dorment, Flying Bytes enter with a multi-part demo. Also beginner coders, but well known for their music in several demo and game releases in the past, Latok and Snout show their newly learned skills they (well, mostly Latok) picked up from chatting in #msxdev over the years. Due to some lacking effects when running on MSX2 and MSX2+, a MSXturboR would've been a better requirement.

There are enough graphics to go by. Starting with the standard MSX font, in which they claim not having a # character and therefore being unable to properly write #msxdev in that part of the text, to a nicer looking, yet not very readable, font in later segments. It contains a nice and detailed 'flying bytes' logo, which looks converted from SCREEN 12. Nice detail in the title graphics is the integrated pressure gauge. The sound part is covered by the music, which is only played on both MSX-MUSIC and MSX-AUDIO on MSXturboR, otherwise only MSX-AUDIO is audible. The music also has a seamless change over the different parts. The separated bounce effects are very nice. A wave effect is only visible on MSXturboR, otherwise the picture remains without any effect. The readability of the font mentioned earlier isn't improved by the speed of the scroller. Some of the used line interrupts are glitchy which also shows the requirement of MSXturboR. If the demo code would've moved down in the memory more, the requirement for a CTRL-boot would disappear. The hard-coded port access is typical for demos which also shows the demo being more of a MSXturboR one, which in turn wouldn't make it an impressive demo. With some more optimizing the demo would run fine with all effects on MSX2 and MSX2+ as well. Very impressive logo and scroll demo for first time coders. I do wonder who those people are.

Playability: 4
It's so slow. The maps are sort of haphazardly designed and tedious. What is the point of the game?

Graphics: 0
There are graphics ripped off from various games, including Q*Bert. Automatic fail. You do not rip off Q*Bert's speech bubble.

Sound: 5
Nice songs, but you can tell they are ripped off, especially when compared to the jingles that were not ripped off.

Technical Difficulty: 6
It's a BASIC game and you can tell the second you take a step.

Hardware Utilization: 7
The game does look pretty nice for an MSX1 game, but once it starts to scroll, it sort of ruins everything.

Quality: 3
The slow gameplay makes it painful to play for more than 10 minutes at a time, if that. Why are there swastikas.

Graphics
Most gfx look familiar.

Gameplay
Slow, bugs like walking to a wall and enemy stops moving and the sound fx are long and makes you wait to continue playing. But all well nice game.

Audio
Cool music sound fx makes the game slow so start to hate them.

Conclusion
It's a game and it's not bad.

Score: 5.9
The music is nice, but gets interrupted very frequently for SFX. Such a shame not all GFX are self-drawn, but good to see Gamecast is gradually improving.

Originality: 5.5
Entertainment value: 6.0
Technical: 6.0
Graphics: 6.0
Music: 6.5
Replay value: 5.5

N/A

Up next are the entries by Gamecast, a MSXdev'xx contest regular, now entering in this first edition of #msxdev compo with not one but TWO games. There has been some controversy surrounding these entries because they contain numerous "borrowed" graphics and sounds. And because it is unclear what the source of each element is, or may even be original content, it makes this harder to judge. So for his games I will disregard graphics and sound all together and focus on the gameplay and entertainment factor.

Burner Burst is a maze game, its goal being to collect a number of treasure chests to progress to the next level. Other than the collectable objects, the playing field consists of a maze, including dead ends and death traps. To make it even more of a challenge, at times a ghost will be attacking our hero. I found playing this entry somewhat enjoyable and I do see potential in it. It has a sort of Pac-man feel to it: Collect items in a maze while trying not to get caught by the enemies (or in this case, enemy).

The biggest problem of this game is its flow. Movement is slow and unresponsive, to a point where you need to start dodging the enemy when he is half screen away from you or else you will not be able to escape his wrath. Another problem is the jerky scrolling. It gave me a headache at times. Another thing that can be headache-inducting is the fact that whenever the hero picks up an item, the music stops temporary and a loud jingle is played instead. Also, is it really necessary to hear 15-20 seconds of 2 different songs after dying before I can start again?

Score: 4 (out of 10)
With better level design, original graphics and music, and better controls/scrolling by improved coding, this can actually be a very nice game. But for now, it is not something I would play again very often.

From Gamecast, previously known as A.G. Software, comes Burner Burst. A scrolling maze game in hybrid BASIC and assembly.

Some of the graphics have a familiar look. Many of the wall graphics are resized Pippols wall graphics. The ghost looks a lot like the one in Knightmare. The music sounds nice, but when picking up a chest an annoying long sound effect is played and the game only continues after the sound has finished playing. The scrolling feels very BASIC when it comes to speed. The game does have nice maze designs. It has an annoying CTRL required boot. It takes a long time to enter a level because the game waits for the music to get finished. After dying, the player starts to swear and you need to wait another time for a tune to finish.

Playability: 5
It's so slow! There's only 1 enemy and he often just appears in a wall! There is no challenge. It's just tedious boredom as you wander down corridors and grab things. The key element was neat at first but is poorly executed and doesn't offer a challenge.

Graphics: 8
The player sprite looks really cool, and the mummy is funny.

Sound: 5
Nice songs, but again, I am fairly certain it is ripped off (given the Source code supplied with the game).

Technical Difficulty: 6
It's a BASIC game and you can tell the second you take a step.

Hardware Utilization: 6
No scrolling, one enemy sprite, and slow speeds? :(

Quality: 3
The slow gameplay and empty levels make it very boring to play.

Graphics
Again known gfx but are redrawn to new ones. If you can't draw it sometimes this is the way.

Gameplay
Slow real slow and does not work in the emulator on tr.

Audio
Can't hear any, but on the movie of FiXato it sounds nice.

Conclusion
I don't like this game, it's too amateur feeling.

Score: 5.7
Ah, now the music is playing continuously! But now the song is a little over the top to our taste. Maps are layed out very nicely, but again we see some familiar GFX that don't even really fit in with the game. Keep it up, Gamecast, but please find yourself a nice graphician!

Originality: 5.5
Entertainment value: 5.5
Technical: 5.5
Graphics: 5.5
Music: 6.5
Replay value: 5.5

N/A

Like the other Gamecast entry, because of the many borrowed elements, I will disregard the graphics and sound entirely and instead focus on the gameplay.

This game is roughly based around the same concept as Burner Burst, this time without the horrible scrolling, without the death traps. Instead we get some more bonus items and a door-key mechanism. Also the maze has a set goal now: an exit button. This game is easier than the other Gamecast entry due to the one enemy having close to no AI at all. He just walks around randomly. I completed a number of screens and it would seem it is an endless loop. Because in the 30 minutes to 1 hour I spend on this game I noticed I am seeing the same few screens over and over again, which became very boring after a while.

One small improvement though: The music and sound effects now blend together instead of having either music or sound effects. A downside however, is that there is only one song playing in the screens/levels I played through.

Score: 4 (out of 10)
Gamecast should combine elements of Burner Burst and Baruko into one game, with original, not ripped graphics and sound, while improving his coding. The result may be enjoyable and have a decent shot at a higher score and ranking.

From Gamecast, previously known as A.G. Software, comes Baruko. A multi-screen maze game in hybrid BASIC and assembly.

Some of the graphics have a familiar look. It looks as if skeletor comes from The Goonies and the mummy comes from King's Valley 2, both with some modifications here and there. The game starts with unidentifyable sounds, but continues with funny music. The game has a nice puzzle element with the keys and the doors. The controls and movement are still quite slow though. Sometimes enemies start within the wall, depending on the side you enter that room. Time spent begging for code would've been better spent on learning assembly and finding someone to do original graphics for the game.

Playability: 10
The controls and collisions are excellent. I don't care if there is hardly anything to the game. It just feels good. Once it's fleshed out into a real game, it will be excellent. The foundation is solid.

Graphics: 8
They leave a bit to be desired, but they are very nicely done hardware sprites that appear to be aliens! I would just thin them up a bit so they look less Atari 2600.

Sound: N/A
There is no sound, so it is not fair to judge this at all. I bet if it did have sounds, it'd be awesome sounds.

Technical Difficulty: 7
Getting solid vertical shooter controls/collisions/speeds is a pain.

Hardware Utilization: 6
As of now, it doesn't utilize much of the hardware, but in time I bet it will.

Quality: 8
In time, this will likely become a game I play alot on my MSX, right next to Exerion.

The game has alot of promise, controls excellently, and was a great accomplishment overall for the developer who only worked on the game for ~6 weeks with no assembly experience. That deserves recognition.

Graphics
Hmm, come on syn, try harder or ask a graphics artist. :P

Gameplay
It's not really much yet, but as it is his first game I hope he'll soon shows more.

Audio
What? Which?

Conclusion
I know syn is very busy to learn asm and he's making nice progress. Make sure that this knowledge brings you a first place on the next #msxdev compo.

Score: 6.2
Yay, we're not the only ones in this competition to publish a first release! Very daring to attempt a game engine as a first release (we did not have that confidence in ourselves) and although not a lot is happening, the basics of a game engine are there and things are moving very smoothly.

Originality: 6.0
Entertainment value: 5.0
Technical: 7.5
Graphics: 7.0
Music: N/A
Replay value: 5.5

Gamecast failed to fulfill its obligation to submit a report.

N/A

With a few weeks of coding experience under his belt, newcomer syn enters with a tech demo of a shooting game he's working on. It shows what can be done in such a short time.

The graphics are hardware sprites and are simple. A funny detail is the smiley when building up fire power. The sprite mode used isn't very well utilized though. The sound is completely absent. The gameplay includes smooth an responsive controls. It does lack collision detection between player and enemy, so there's no death or game over sequence. As it's more of a tech demo rather than a complete game, the polish of the game isn't much of an issue. A somewhat strange choice was made to store unused sprites in the upper right corner (they're still visible for one column) and the game part won't start on MSXturboR. All in all a promissing entry by a equally promissing coder.

Playability: 10
It runs nice! YEAH. Smooth/fast

Graphics: 10
The second image is creepy and awesome. I like the firey effects and palette jive diddling.

Sound: 10
The song is catchy and fun.

Technical Difficulty: 9
I am pretty sure vertical scrolling, and palette fade inversion stuff is hard to do, especially in screen 3. I could be wrong.

Hardware Utilization: 8
I would have liked to see some obnoxious scrolling besides the side text, and some raster crap. Other than that, it is awesome.

Quality: 9
I really like it. I just wish it did some more things. I can't fault TNI too much for this though, since they were busy assisting everyone with their entries.

The colors and effects are great and the music is nice (and the TNI team was very helpful to everyone involved).

Graphics
Awesome SC3 graphics, though with little variation. Nice fire animations throughout the 2 screens.

Gameplay
Well, not a lot of 'gameplay'. Too bad it isn't more elaborate. More things would've made it really awesome; something you'd watch more often.

Audio
Not bad, but it starts to become irritating after hearing it for a longer period, though since the demo isn't that big, the chance of overexposure to the tune is small.

Conclusion
I really love SC3 and was hoping for it to be a big demo. Too bad, it could've been so much more.

Score: 7.2
An amazing display of programming skills – and also something completely different from what we've seen before. Very original! A bit of a shame the scroll is so short, we do like them long scrolltexts! A bit more variation and/or extra parts might have added extra entertainment and replay value to this demo.

Originality: 9.0
Entertainment value: 5.0
Technical: 9.0
Graphics: 7.0
Music: 7.5
Replay value: 5.5

Gamecast failed to fulfill its obligation to submit a report.

This demo was a last-minute entry by MSX veterans TNI, who are famous for many different projects throughout the years. The thing that makes this demo stand out is the fact that it is shown in screen 3, a screen mode that is much underused on the MSX.

It starts with a main title screen with some vertical 90's style text scroller and very nice equalize-like effects. There are two types of screens available (selectable by pressing right and left), the second one being some scenery involving buildings and fire. Each screen also has two possible color schemes as well, selectable by pressing INS and DEL. An interesting fact is, that on both screen the same effect is used, leading to different interpretations. Personally I didn't care much about the screens/palette, other than the main one.

The interesting graphics are accompanied by a nice song. Not your typical demo music, but it suits the graphics very well and sets the mood very well.

Score: 6,5 (out of 10)
I really like the effect and it would probably look great as a live wallpaper or when played in the background. However it does not offer enough to make me keep watching this one over and over again. Would have been nice if there was a bit more to this demo.

N/A