Waiting for Good Dot
WAITING FOR GOOD DOT
Controls: Arrows. Get to the highest level you can before you run out of shoes.
____________________________________
HISTORY
Okay, let us travel back to ... 1980!
Our family got an Apple ][+ on June 9th, 1980. I LIVED on that computer all summer. Making text adventures, graphics demos...
One of the first games I made was WALK INTO THE DOT. It was in Apple ][+ lo-res graphics. There are BAD DOTS. Do not walk into them. There is a GOOD DOT. Walk into it to win the level! Get to the highest level you can!
It wasn't great, BUT it did bring up some subtle game design ideas, and was part of me learning, 39 years ago, how to design games.
But how to re-make it now? Make it with cool graphics? NO. I would make it like it was. Crappy, primitive, but hiding some interesting lessons.
So, I programmed the old Applesoft lo-res commands of PLOT, HLIN, and VLIN and re-made this crappy old game.
HOWEVER, there is something about it! As you get above level 10, level 20, you start feeling that "slot machine" feeling and "I almost made it"! That weird frustration-success feeling is addictive, and is worth study, even in such a primitive game as this! Also, you can learn the secrets of the game's collision: if ANY pixel of your dude touches the good dot (even if other parts touch the bad dots), you win the level! Often you may see you can win when it looked hopeless.
Caution, this is a quickly done game, BUT it's an interesting study in very raw game design. AND... there is... A CHALLENGE.
THE WORLD RECORD IS LEVEL 36. (By my sister... who's in her sixties!) Playing, you will see how hard that is to get!
CAN YOU GET HIGHER?
____________________________________
BONUS! CRT-shader version (If you are aren't in Chrome on a Mac):
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Wow, thanks for the follow Mr. Tom Hall! Looks like we have a shared interest in DOS games, Pico 8 games, and re-making your own old games!
Am I right in concluding the reason it's so hard to get to level 36 is because the random placement makes everything unwinnable?? I got to 28 :)
Yeah! I've been making games since the early Apple ][, even before DOS. Pico-8 kinda feels like that old game making.
Yep, it's more about the "roll" like a slot machine. I kinda talk about it in the description below... after level 23 it is kinda just what happens, but it still feels good to sneak around a corner cleverly because of the player shape. Good job getting to 28!
Thanks, heheh :) Yeah programming for Pico 8 is giving me an appreciation and nostalgia for 8 bit computing that I never had. (Personally I started out in QBasic in MS-DOS! Making text based adventure games at first, like you, and then crummy graphical ones)
I was showing my partner page 63 of "Masters of Doom" where you deliver your pitch for Commander Keen's back story to the rest of the team, then showed her this thread, and she giggled when she saw your user name. I said "Yes... THAT Tom Hall!"
I'd love to know what in particular caused you to follow my Itch profile, was it my Alex Kidd Pico 8 de-make? What did you think?
VERY FUN PICO-8 GAME! I love the dropping animation.
Thanks! Heh.