Ideas for games - The first idea for people in creative crisis.

Game ideas
                         by CyberDaemon

In December 2000, I bought the six hundredth Amiga and actually left with
Sinclair. The reason is that I felt cramped. I was no longer interested in games.
It’s not that games stopped interestin me at all, but
Sinclair's. Of course, there were hits that I enjoyed
played. But if we remember and characterize it with modern
by any standards, these were hardcore arcade games. And I always have more
I liked games with calm gameplay. And I also wanted to
any point in time could be preserved, as in most
games on PC. Of the genres at that time, I liked RPGs and quests
(especially from Lucas Arts). Naturally, nothing like that on Sinclair
there wasn’t, but the Amiga, more or less, could provide it.
And in terms of programming, it also became cramped. Because all I could
write - has already been written. I remember I suffered such terrible
nonsense that culturally it can be described as
programming for programming's sake. There were no ideas at all.
It was not possible to take them from a PC then - on this platform
There was a race between gigahertz and graphon. This is now, on a wave of nostalgia
in the old days, indie games began to appear, dismissively
called shkolota "turkey meat". Be with me in those times
today's ideas, I would not switch to another so soon
platform and would also write a couple of games.

I hope this article will help someone who wants andcan write games for Sinclair, but is in creative
crisis and has no ideas. Perhaps the ideas I will talk about are not
new and someone has already thought of it. But not everyone is like that
smart...

The first idea for people in creative crisis. The simplest and 
many, I know, are already using it. But suddenly someone doesn’t know.
So, go to Google Play or App Store and with surprise
we discover that all the simplest games can be played practically without
changes to be transferred to Sinclair. Well, of course, you'll have to schedule
simplify. And don't get carried away with MMOs. Cut the Rope and Angry Birds
due to physics, they won’t fit either. And so, almost any
puzzles and arcades. My favorite is Roll the Ball. Yes
I liked the game so much that I wanted to write it on Sinclair. Or else
- Knight Saves Queen. In general, I indicated the direction, and there
everyone can choose for themselves what to pay attention to.

The second idea is for those who are not afraid of large texts. Visual 
novellas. Originally appeared in Japan, where young people are crazy about them
loves. They also began to appear in other parts of the world, even on
come out in Russian. There are many free ones on Steam. The most
The first game in this genre that I played was Red Space.
This was about ten years ago. But in order. What is visual
novella? This is a very simplified text quest in which
tells a story accompanied by pictures, music and
sometimes videos. Also similar togame book, but without
branched plot. For those interested, read more at
Wikipedia.

How can such games be transferred to Sinclair? We throw out the majority
graphics and all videos. As a rule, they are not important for the plot.
Their role in the game is like pictures in a book, just illustrations. The most
important - text. I recommend using a proportional font. On
Sinclair used it back in the late 90s. I definitely remember seeing
some kind of electronic magazine with this font. And in some other
The ZX-Review issue provided the source code for the printing procedure. Read
there will be a lot needed, have mercy on the eyes of the players, do not use
monospace. If you really can’t do without it, I recommend using 42
character in a line. I consider it the most optimal for the screen
Sinclair. Because 32 characters are too large letters, and 64 is goodbye
vision.

The third idea is for those who are strong in spirit, time and skill. We will 
simplify games to Sinclair's level using "The Final Station" as an example.
This game is a prime example of "turkey". Thanks to simple
pixel graphics are easy to adapt. For those who haven't seen
- I advise you to play. Goes through pretty quickly, I finished it in one
evening along with the addition. Take note as you go
features of the game - where and what can be removed or simplified.

Here are my ideas for porting this game:
- completely remove the background - saving space and
speed;
- we simplify the graphics - only black and white, but moredetailed;
- we remove episodes on the train during travel between stations -
they don’t really affect the plot - they can be replaced with simple text,
telling in literary form what happened during
moving;
- reduce the size of the levels (cities, stations) - so that it fits
in memory;
- Make NPCs static (except for enemies), chatter can be disabled
clean up - in the game it gradually reveals the plot.

                             * * *

All. Well done to those who read it. I indicated the direction, I will be very 
I'm glad if someone uses my ideas. And I’ll be three times glad 
if someone moves The Final Station. I'll be happy to go through this 
game again, but on Sinclair. 

P.S. About 20 years ago, when the game Fallout came out, it appeared 
I have a strong desire to make a text based on its plot 
linear quest with RPG elements. But the idea remained an idea... 

P.P.S. I still have the Amiga 600. Somehow I even wanted 
buy new things for her: adapters for 
modern mice, accelerators, ROM with a new kickstart, 
floppy drive with USB port for flash drives, where you can record immediately 
floppy disk images. Well, ide2sd adapters are also available on Aliexpress 
in bulk... But the price of all this is such that 
nostalgia turns out to be very expensive. 

                           Hippiman:

You can also look towards indie arcades. Very many of them
can be transferred toSpectrum.
As an example, I can offer VVVVVV, Super meat boy or
You have to win the game. 

You can look towards the early games from the Famicom (aka NES, it
aka Dendy). Almost all of them can be
transfer to ZX as well. And then there's the GameBoy, which is a little more powerful
Spectrum, but with the right approach it can turn out to be an excellent port.
Newly released Ninja Gaiden Shadow Warriors by Jerri is good
an example of this. However, you should be wary of simple porting. After all
why would anyone play a game on the Spectrum if there is exactly one like it?
the same, only more beautiful on a more powerful and adapted for
this platform.

You either need to add something from yourself, or just take the mechanics
donor game and build something of your own on its basis, as I did
Sanchez in his Mighty Final Fight demake. He, in fact, took for 
based on the game on the Famicom, completely remade it to suit reality
ZX Spectrum, having received a completely new game in which
it will be interesting to play even for those who are already up and down
the original came from. He did the same with the port of Castlevania 2.
The graphics are taken from the original, the general idea of walking back and forth across
huge map and obtaining items - also from there, but itself
the map, quests, plot, etc. are completely new.

By the way, here's another problem. Why are these games fun to play? (Well,
besides the fact that they are made with high quality.) The answer is they have
more or less modern gameplay!

About thismore details. Classic Spectrum gameplay
in my understanding, this is a small amount of content (or
a small number of different rooms, or a large
quantity, but very similar to each other), fierce complexity
(which is built on a small number of lives, infinite or
a very large number of enemies and instant punishment of the player
for any mistake) and the frequent lack of obviousness of the player’s actions.
Of course, there are always exceptions. There were a lot of games on the Spectrum,
of which there was both reasonable complexity and a normal number
content, and the player without half a liter could figure out where to go and what
do. As a rule, these games are still remembered today. For example,
Dizzy series. However, the vast majority of games fell under
the above criteria. In the 80s, when these games came out,
this kind of gameplay was the norm. But progress did not stand still.
Standards have also changed. The players of that time have grown up, they now have
there is little time, but the choice of games is huge and it is unlikely that anyone will take it seriously
sit in the evenings trying in vain to pass some
arcade when he has plenty of opportunities to spend time playing
more enjoyable game. I don't mean "press X to win". I have
in view of the fact that the games from the ordeal are gradually
turned into entertainment.

If you look at the indie market, you can see a huge
number of games stylized for the 8-bit era. If we discard
any slag, then you canhighlight the common features of these games:
- Difficulty varies within some limits. From very simple
up to endless lives, to very difficult with one life
for the whole game. So to please any type of player.
- A large number of different situations.
- Some training if needed, plus tips along the way
games. So that the player does not need to regularly look into
manual, or memorize it before starting the game.
- The game tries to be enjoyable for the player, and not mock
him.

A good example of this approach is the game VVVVVV. At first sight
this is a banal arcade game in the C64 style, with a simple picture,
screen-by-screen movement and simple mechanics with changing
gravity vector, in which you need to avoid obstacles and
move from room to room. There were thousands of them. But not everything
so simple. On the one hand, it is quite complex. Die player
will be often and a lot (as it was before), on the other hand in it
endless lives, and checkpoints are generously scattered in front of each
complex in place and after it (and these are modern realities). B
As a result, an average player with an average skill is quite
can pass it in an hour and a half - two, by dialing 300 on the counter -
400 deaths and getting a lot of impressions. And the hardcore guy will take it
yourself by searching for secrets that are in very
hard to reach places. There are many different game situations in it:
starting from simple selection of the right momentjump to hit
on a moving platform, until protracted falls after a dozen
screens along a narrow tunnel strewn with spikes or situations when
the screen loops and going one way is easy
teleports the player to another. It contains a huge amount
screens that are simply fun to explore. In the end
the result is an explosive mixture of classic graphics, simple and
clear game mechanics and gameplay, with one
on the one hand, quite complex, and on the other hand, very loyal
to the player (sooner or later any obstacle will pass,
Moreover, he will not need to go through the entire
game). In situations where the player has nothing to lose except a quick
running through a couple of rooms, dying in a difficult situation is not
annoying, even if it is the 10th - 20th in a row, but overcoming
This situation gives me great pleasure.

Such games have a lot of content, different game situations, they have
reasonable, gradually increasing complexity. The player is allowed to enter
to taste and only then, when the player gets excited, do they start
experience. It is to test, not to mock!

Let me summarize this bunch of letters. I wanted to say that ideas for new games
just darkness, they can be taken from anywhere. But there's no need
do copying. You need to take ideas a little at a time and
collect your game, but do not forget that it will be played
not an 80's player with plenty of time and no other alternatives,
amodern adult guy 30 - 40 years old, who has time in
sawn-off shotgun The game should be a game first and not hardcore
test.

If you follow these simple rules, you can do
an interesting and enjoyable game for everyone, even on the Churrera or
everyone is tired of AGD. Just remember the game "Three Octopuses" from
kas29.