Commodore Free Magazine, Issue 79 - Part 10
From
Stephen Walsh@39:901/280 to
All on Tue Apr 15 19:49:01 2014
ell help is at hand; and you can rejoice once more; because you
can play Flappy Bird on the Commodore 64! (And there is a VIC version by a different developer)
The game flappy bird originally created by .GEARS, who are a small
independent developer from Vietnam. www.dotgears.com/ some controversy
seems to be around the game; and it was finally removed from the app store; apparently the programmer was overwhelmed with the attention, the game made
its money from the in game adverts. A great many clones appeared but all seemed to want money from you! Now finally the game has been ported by Sos
to the Commodore 64. Not only that but you can download the game for free
here sos.gd/flappy64/ and it doesn't have a single advert! The game is supplied as a single PRG file.
BEWARE!
The game is so simple, so difficult; and just impossible to put down, you
could waste endless time playing and still find your score is less than 10! Developer Sos Sosowski has already created multiple games; he says he is
"an old generation low-level programmer. "He created the conversion
project for the fun of it, Sosowski does give credit to Dong Nguyen for creating the original game,
PLAYTIME
So ok that's all out the way what exactly is this controversial game, the
game involves a bird (flapping its wings) hence the flappy bird title, the
bird is affected by heavy gravity and must flap to stay up in the air, you
do this with the joystick pushing up or pressing fire will cause the bird
to move up, (by flapping harder) then the scrolling landscape starts moving towards you with these green tubes come down from the top and raise up from
the ground, they appear in random positions and have a gap between them ,
you need to ensure flappy bird moves through the gap; you do this by
keeping him up in the air, You can't control his forward movement, the landscape scrolls at a constant speed. The game is just the most
simplistic thing you could imaging! However it's got some sort of "one
more go" hook that keeps you going back again and again. You score points
by passing through the tubes gaps so you can see that a score from my
good-self of 5 isn't that good, or is it! I have seen other people
claiming 7 but getting to 10 seems impossible!
Of course the minute you stop tapping the bird falls from the sky, tap too
many times and you go to high, there isn't much else to say about the game
SCORES
Graphics: 6/10
animation is cute and nice 3d Mario
columns
Sound: 5/10
spot effects only no music
Gameplay: 6/10
depends on your frustration levels
Overall: 6/10
nicely presented but frustrating
OVERALL
It's a simple idea; well ported to the Commodore 64, the machine handles
the game play with ease and the elements from the original seem to be all
here, it depends on your frustration levels as to if you find the game addictive or just to frustrating, I would love to see a Commodore 64
version with someone scoring over 10. if you port something and add more features then it could ruin the game, people would then say" it's not like
the original", but some "SID" music would be a welcome.
*************************************
REVIEW: VICCYBIRD
for the Unexpanded Vic 20
*************************************
Name: ViccyBird
Author: Misfit
Requirements: Unexpanded VIC-20
+ Joystick.
Description: Flappy Bird clone
Tested on: VICE 2.4 and PAL VIC
Download the game from here
www.riimukivi.net/data/viccybird.prg
Discussion on the game here
sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6881
As you would imagine from the title, ViccyBird is a conversion of the
Flappy bird game but for the unexpanded Vic 20, you may like to read the Commodore 64 review for a mode in-depth history of the game. Basically released on the google play market then removed, now playable on the Vic20 computer!
The game itself is so simple, you press the fire-button to keep the bird in
the air, you need to pass between 2 gates or columns to score a point, the screen slowly scrolls towards your from right to left, you have no control
over this, your only control method in fact is to press the fire button to
make the bird go up a bit (or flap harder), the bird is weighted with heavy gravity, so not pressing fire results in lack of altitude and almost
instant death! Press too many times and the bird will jump or flap to high
and hit something, like the sky; although this doesn't kill you. Of course
if you hit the columns without passing through the gap, it's just instant death.
This version for the Vic is insanely difficult! If you were frustrated by
the original you will be pulling your hair out on this version. It's just
too hard to even be even frustrating!
Graphics and animation is acceptable rather than remarkable, with some in
game blips and pops for sounds its functional but nothing more, However it
does show that even the Vic can play these new mobile games, albeit in a
rather cut down version. It may not have the wow factor but it's a
competent conversion of what could be the world's most frustrating game
ever!
SCORES
Graphics: 6/10
acceptable but not outstanding
Sounds: 4/10
just some blips and pops
Gameplay: 4/10
way too hard to play
Overall: 5/10
SUMMARY
It's just too hard to play! Although it shows even the unexpanded Vic can
play mobile games, although not easily on the move
*************************************
REVIEW: PULSE
For the unexpanded VIC 20
By Commodore Free
*************************************
Name: pulse
Author: pixel
Requirements: Unexpanded VIC-20,
Joystick
Description: A horizontally smooth-scrolling shoot-'em-up, inspired by "Gradius"
SYNOPSIS
Our enemies now attack us from the 20th dimension! We hastily created a
drone remote control software. You are one of the last pilots with the
right hardware to use it out there. We don't know what to expect. We
count on you. Good luck! Hit fire!
JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED THE PLOT
You control a ship with the Joystick, and can move freely up, down left and right. However the screen scrolls from right to left at a constant speed
and enemies appear in waves, shoot a full set of aliens (or a wave) and you
get the option to pick up a bonus, you do this by flying over it. The landscape then starts to form, giving you further problems, trying to avoid flying into the landscape, and either kill or avoiding the land based
enemies shooting upwards at you. If you die then your bonuses are lost
along with your life; and you are reduced to your standard firepower as if
you had just started, albeit at a harder part of the game.
Let's not mess about here, this sort of game needs fast action, fast
reactions not to mention a fast machine and tightly programmed code, so we
have most of the options; but just an unexpanded VIC 20 to run the software
on!
Actually that seems all we need! This is an unbelievably fast game! true there are one or two slight glitches, (some flickering on the bases mainly)
and an odd bug where you can disappear into the landscape, the screen still scrolls but you seem to be invisible, moving up and down seemed to bring me back, and occasional ghosting of the main ship. I don't think it's
anything to spoil either the speed of the game or the game play, even when
All options are thrown on screen at a time the machine just keep on pumping
out the action with only the smallest amount of slowdown.
This version has all the elements; tightly thought out and expertly
executed code. Sounds are blazing and if you hold down the fire button;
the amount of ammo coming from your ship is just unbelievable, especially
when you collect a few bonuses! It's sometimes hard to believe, some would claim this is "JUST" a VIC 20! Let's just say, it's not that the VIC isn't
a cable games machines, but an unexpanded machine! Well let's be honest
the resources are tight to say the leas
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