By Jason Railton
Genre: row 'em up
Genre: row 'em up
I’m most pleased to show this entry from Jason (Buzzsaw) Railton. Most speccy fans will know Buzzsaw+ is the first finalised 'proper' game with Spectrum multicolour graphics. This involves some expert coding twinned with skilled game design, which obviously has no place in this competition so no more will be said about it here, but imagine my surprise to see a CGC entry from him! Well maybe not so surprising as it was one of the winning entries in the coding competition held at the Spectrum 30th birthday event in Cambridge last year. Even still, I had my doubts that Jason was actually capable of writing a crap game, well I was almost wrong…
After loading we get a nice cyan screen and an uncomfortable wait for some vertical blue stripes to fill it, which are then removed by a CLS shortly after! An auspicious start. The main game is a different matter, and here is the authors description of the gameplay:
It's a kayaking simulation designed to be played by anyone with a range of physical disabilities as it requires only one button press to play. The kayaker only paddles on one side at a time, so goes round in circles if you don't intervene. Press any key to make him swap sides. Keep pressing with a steady rhythm to go in a straight line. Stop pressing to turn. Try to reach the black exit square before the time runs out to complete each course. Pick up magenta tokens to open the exit, or green keys to let you remove barriers.
It's a kayaking simulation designed to be played by anyone with a range of physical disabilities as it requires only one button press to play. The kayaker only paddles on one side at a time, so goes round in circles if you don't intervene. Press any key to make him swap sides. Keep pressing with a steady rhythm to go in a straight line. Stop pressing to turn. Try to reach the black exit square before the time runs out to complete each course. Pick up magenta tokens to open the exit, or green keys to let you remove barriers.
Sounds crap, but is it? Not really, a well animated sprite appears on an ok looking gaming area and to see rotation of this type in BASIC looks like something clever has gone on. P.O.K is quite good fun and is reminiscent of Albatrossity (a good Spectrum game for those not in the know), so this game is a kernel of a great idea that has been restricted by BASIC and the 4 hours the author had to create it.
Bonus crap points are gained by the fact that it is possible for the kayak to whack its way out of the gaming area, and thus bring forth a stop to the game and a return to BASIC (the holy grail for any crap game coder). So despite his upsetting show of skill, there is a glimmer of hope he can write a proper crap game! (just make sure it’s 2 colours per square mind…).
Having said all this, I'm still surfing the anti cynicism tidal wave that was the 2012 London Olympics, so anything Olympian or Paralypian is brilliant, including this game, and erm.....even Stonkers! Thankyou Jason!
Tipshack: try playing with a bodily protuberance other than fingers, for a more challenging gaming experience.
HACKPACK: Infinite time: in line 21 remove LET t=t-1 (or change it to LET t=t or LET t=10, but nothing else at all will work)
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