Wednesday 13 January 2016

C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition - Status Update #2

Important(!) After holding a group-email discussion with the entrants, we've decided to extend the competition deadline by two months - so the deadline is now midnight between the 31st March and the 1st April (00:00 GMT on the 1st April 2016).

James here, back again with an update on our ongoing competition and some surprisingly good news; not only are (most) of the projects mentioned in my previous post still active, but there are also a couple of new ones too!

We still don't have any prizes sorted out yet, but we are working on it :)



Competition Entry #1: Unknown
(Developer: Georg Rottensteiner - Status: Withdrawn!)

However, starting off on a more negative note, sadly Georg has opted to pull out of the competition. He explained that he "did start something but it just didn't work out" and that the extension wouldn't make any difference to him as he hadn't invested any time into the project for months. He does however intend to enter again next year - so we'll see you in the next round Georg!



Competition Entry #2: Vortex Crystals
(Developer: Richard Bayliss - Status: Complete & Submitted!)


In the previous update I left Richard a public request for enemy spawn animations to be added to Vortex Crystals, but it seems that there's just no memory space left for it in the 16KB compo build. However, as with his entries in previous competitions he does intend to work on a 'full' version later this year so maybe we'll see them in that?




Competition Entry #3: Unknown
(Developer: Christian Gleinser - Status: In Progress)

Not a lot to say here other than Christian has been in touch to say that although he wasn't going to be able to make the original deadline, he'll try to finish in time for the new extension.



Competition Entry #4: Creepy Crawlers
(Developer: P1X3L.net - Status: In Development)

Again, not much to report other than ALeX and Retrofan have said that they're still in the competition.



Competition Entry #5: Unknown
(Developer: John Ames - Status: In Development)

And again, as above.



Competition Entry #6: Icicle Race
(Developer: Saul Cross & John Christian Lønningdal - Status: In Development)

At last! Some actual news! John wrote to me over the weekend with the following update:

"Saul and I actually have had a 90% finished game for over half a year (or more) - you know me and those last 5% of code! There are also a lot of levels to map out, but that will be easy, it's just something we need to do. I will certainly focus on finishing the game and had planned to do that before the deadline, but I dont mind if you stretch it as that would also give Saul and me more time to polish it further."



Competition Entry #7: Platman
(Developer: Saul Cross & Andrea Schincaglia - Status: In Development)


Frustratingly, I received one of the shortest updates ever regarding what is undoubtedly one of my personal favourites this year (for nostalgic reasons). In his email Wanax simply explained that "Platman 16K version is almost ready" - which is great I suppose, but after seeing and sharing the YouTube video above on Twitter I was really hoping to be able to play the damn thing! ;)

Come on Andrea, let's have a proper preview next week!



Competition Entry #8: QWAK
(Developer: Saul Cross & Daniel Hotop - Status: In Development)

No news on QWAK, but I do at last have a contact address for the developer now, so I'll start pestering him for updates. Hopefully I'll have some information to share next time I write.



Competition Entry #9: Blap N Bash Revisited
(Developer: Richard Bayliss - Status: In Development)


Whilst discussing Vortex Crystals with Richard via email, I suggested that he should look into the possibility of fitting his recent bat-and-ball game Blap N Bash into 16KB - after all, at the time of writing it was still hit-or-miss whether or not we'd achieve the minimum of six completed entries required for the competition! Richard suggested initially that this might be achievable, and after a few tests wrote back with some good news. "I have made a 16KB version of the game, but I had to sacrifice the hi-score table", he explained, and then added that rather than entering it into the compo straight away he would design 16 new levels for the game. Nice work Richard!



Competition Entry #10: Unknown
(Developer: P-a Bäckström - Status: In Development)


Finally, a new entry from a member of acclaimed demo group Booze Design! With Booze behind some of the most popular and impressive demos in recent years I'm super-excited to see what P-a 'ruk' Bäckström has been working on. Only starting a few weeks ago (and with just over two months left), I'd like to wish him - and the rest of you - the very best of luck!

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